National Sports Collectors Convention

Cards That Never Were – By Dave Sliepka and Theo Chen

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A few days ago, I shared a post called Celebrating the Reverse – Card Backs With Jim McLauchlin. In it, I shared a fantastic article from the September 1991 issue of Baseball Cards Magazine that jokingly presents the first quasi-annual Sy Berger Awards for Card Back Excellence (or Lack Thereof). Today, I’m doing something similar and sharing another fantastic piece from a magazine, this time from the official program for the 16th National Sports Collectors Convention in July 1995.

16th National Sports Collectors Convention Official Program

The convention organizers included five detailed articles from leading card and memorabilia magazines, and this one was from Beckett Baseball Card Monthly covering Cards That Never Were. Dave Sliepka and Theo Chen offered a visual look at what could have been in baseball cards but wasn’t. They limited themselves to active or recently active players and concentrated only on cards that realistically could have been produced. Given how popular custom cards are now, I think a lot of you will get a kick out of what they came up with. I’ll share the entire article at the end with the details of each card.

1974 Topps Dave Winfield, Washing “NAT’L LEA.”

1974 Topps Dave Winfield, Washing “NAT’L LEA.”

1983 Topps Traded Don Mattingly

1983 Topps Traded Don Mattingly

1986 Fleer Fred McGriff/Ty Gainey

1986 Fleer Fred McGriff/Ty Gainey

1986 Fleer Update Bo Jackson

1986 Fleer Update Bo Jackson

1986 Topps Traded Ruben Sierra

1986 Topps Traded Ruben Sierra

1987 Fleer Greg Maddux/Rafael Palmeiro

1987 Fleer Greg Maddux/Rafael Palmeiro

1988 Topps Gregg Jefferies

1988 Topps Gregg Jefferies

1989 Score Ken Griffey Jr.

1989 Score Ken Griffey Jr.

1989 Upper Deck Joey Belle

1989 Upper Deck Joey Belle

1989 Upper Deck Deion Sanders

1989 Upper Deck Deion Sanders

1990 Donruss The Rookies Frank Thomas

1990 Donruss The Rookies Frank Thomas

1990 Bowman Dave Justice

1990 Bowman Dave Justice

1990 Leaf Travis Fryman and Juan Gonzalez

1990 Leaf Travis Fryman and Juan Gonzalez

1991 Stadium Club Mike Mussina

1991 Stadium Club Mike Mussina

1993 Fleer Mike Piazza

1993 Fleer Mike Piazza

1993 Donruss George Brett

1993 Donruss George Brett

1993 Topps Traded Alex Rodriguez

1993 Topps Traded Alex Rodriguez

Cards That Never Were Complete Article

Cards That Never Were – Pages 50/51
Cards That Never Were – Page 52
Cards That Never Were – Page 53
Cards That Never Were – Page 54

Going To The Trading Card Show

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Joan Rubenfeld’s article about the 1991 Anaheim National in Allan Kaye’s Sports Cards News & Prices Guides premier issue in October/November 1991 is a wonderful piece that still holds up today!

Here are a few of my favorite lines:

  • “The first impression one gets on entering the convention hall is of the people- thousands of people – old, young, in carriages, toddling, serious looking, smiling, intense.”
  • “Despite the long lines for everything…”
  • “Strangely, many of the people seem to be dressed alike…”
  • “The majority of those attending the convention was older adults.”
  • “The array of merchandise for sale was mind boggling.”
  • “Among the stars in attendance the day I was there were Warren Spahn, Pee Wee Reese, Reggie Jackson, Billy Herman, Duke Snider, Lou Brock, Y.A. Tittle, Paul Hornung, Monte Ervin, and Emmitt Smith.”
  • “Nostalgia flooded me…”
  • “By this time, I was worn out, and spying a vacant chair…”

And finally, “Next time there is a sport card show in your neighborhood, and particularly if there is a ‘biggie’ like the National Convention, go to it!”

The Second National Sports Collectors Convention

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Bill Heitman wrote this light-hearted review of the Second National Sports Collectors Convention, held at the Plymouth Hilton in Michigan in 1981. It appeared in the September 1981 issue of Trader Speaks.

A couple of notes: I hadn’t realized the second National was a conversion of an already successful show. Second, it’s cool how tight-nit many “hobby influencers” seemed to be in 1981. Next, I wish today’s National conventions had more seminars like this one. It tracks that Mr. Tiger, Al Kaline, would be a popular signer at a Michigan card show. Bill’s closing quote is PERFECT, “If the spirit of the National Convention survives, we will all still have fun in this hobby.”

PS: The magazine was too big for my scanner, so I did my best to “glue” two scans of separate pages together; this was the “centerfold.”

The Fourth Annual National Sports Collectors Convention

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The marketing blitz is on for this year’s National Sports Collectors Convention, but for a bit of hobby history, here’s an ad for the 4th NSCC show, held at the Holiday Inn O’Hare-Kennedy in Chicago from July 7 to 10, 1983.

The ad is from the April 1983 issue of Trader Speaks.

Here’s the program for the show. More scans from inside of it another time!