Philly Baseball Card Show Report - Massive Crowd, Thome, 1965 Topps Haul

For the first time since February 2020, we returned to King of Prussia and attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, known to its friends as the Philly Show.  Doug and I have attended a few mall shows over the past year, but this was our first venture back to the Valley Forge Casino Resort since the Before Times, back when Doug's hair was cut into a neat trim.  We specifically went Saturday so that Doug could get Jim Thome to sign his Wall of Fame print, which in turn was part of Doug's Christmas present from Santa.

The convention room floor was jam packed and we realized immediately there were also way more tables and dealers than usual.  In the past, the show had been somewhat neatly organized into rows and clusters of tables but this show seemed to have a more haphazard feel to it and the walking lanes between dealers were noticeably slimmer.  Doug was there to do some freestyle picking as he's termed it, specifically looking for newer Phillies cards to add to his collection.  The highlight of his day was adding a Zack Wheeler certified autograph card from last year's Topps Heritage set to his collection.  Doug also was lucky enough to win a door prize, which was an Eagles display from their Super Bowl LII victory.

We braved the crowds for Doug's Thome autograph, and the Hall of Famer was very pleasant to us.  I then settled into a chair at Uncle Dick's Cards, which I had often seen but never really appreciated.  All told, I added 94 cards from Uncle Dick's to our 1965 Topps set, which I'll slowly chronicle over at my 1965 Topps blog.  I added three other star cards to the set, including my big purchase for the day, a Catfish Hunter rookie card.  A few 1959 Topps and 1969 Topps cards were added for good measure, as I've already determined I'll be chasing those sets after the 1965 Topps set is polished off.  It was a wonderful day, despite the crowds, and we're already looking forward to the next big show in March.

2021 Chachi Friendly Encounters #5

Memory Lane

Valley Forge 1 - September 2010 - Thinking of my Dad
Valley Forge 2 - October 2012 - Doug's first baseball card show
Valley Forge 3 - September 2014 - Meeting Darren Daulton
Oaks 1 - October 2015 - Meeting Pete Rose and Steve Carlton
Valley Forge 4 - September 2016 - Phillies acquisitions and 4 Phillies Legends
Valley Forge 5 - December 2016 - Meeting Don Money
Valley Forge 6 - September 2017 - Doug's big day
Valley Forge 7 - December 2017 - Ben's first baseball card show with Mike Schmidt and Rhys Hoskins!
Oaks 2 - December 2018 - Meeting Matt Stairs and Cole Hamels
Valley Forge 8 - March 2019 - 5 Phillies Autographs and Vintage Phillies Additions
Valley Forge 9 - September 2019 - Closing in on 1971 Topps set and Andrew McCutchen
Valley Forge 10 - December 2019 - Finishing 1971 Topps set, Starting 1965 Topps set, adding key autographs from Ryan Howard and Brad Lidge
Valley Forge 11 - February 2020 - More 1965 Topps cards, Jimmy Rollins, Mike Lieberthal and Jim Kaat

Valley Forge 12 - December 2021 - Huge haul of 1965 Topps, Jim Thome