Show Report: Authentic Expo, Philadelphia Airport

It was a busy weekend for Phillies fans, with the annual Alumni Weekend again delivering great promotions and festivities at the ballpark and returning players making several autograph appearances throughout the Philadelphia area.  On Saturday morning, Doug and I braved the never-ending roadwork between South Jersey and Philadelphia to drive to the DoubleTree Hilton by the Philadelphia Airport.  A small-ish baseball card and memorabilia show was being held, with the key attraction being several returning players from the 1983 and 1993 National League Champions squads.

We quickly made our way around the room of tables, finding mostly slabbed and overprice Phillies cards, and very little of anything more than a few decades' old.  Luckily, I spotted a cheese box of "Older Baseball Cards" at one table, and came away with a nice stack of 1955 Bowmans and 1959 Topps cards, two sets I'm not yet officially collecting.  (My 1969 Topps blog and set build is on pause until our summer schedules calm down a little.)

The autograph process was slightly disorganized, given all signers were seated in the same medium-sized conference room.  Doug's only goal was getting Ron Reed to sign his Wall of Fame print from last summer, and I took advantage of the timing of Reed's visit, buying autograph tickets to a few favorites of mine signing around the same time.  All four former players we interacted with - Ozzie Virgil, Reed, Sixto Lezcano and Dave Hollins - were gracious with their time and happy to chat with fans.  None of them hesitated when Doug asked if we could take a quick photo.  Overall it was a good experience and if Authentic Expo hosts something similar in 2024, we'll be back.