The Philly Show Report - 12 Years Gone in a Flash

Last Sunday, Doug and I made the hour-plus drive to Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of The Philly Show, now a major sports card and memorabilia event with eBay as its corporate sponsor.  Doug's first winter track meet of the 2024-25 season precluded us from going on Saturday and obtaining a So Taguchi autograph, but the word was Sunday's crowds were much smaller and more manageable.  Our oldest son is in his senior year of High School, so it shouldn't have caught me off guard when he commented on the way into the show, "This could be my last one of these for a while."

His first baseball card show was somehow already 12 years ago.  It's been a blur since then.

His interests have changed over the years of course, and in the past his disposable income would have gone to low-numbered autographed or relic cards of recent, fringe Phillies players.  And while he did find a few moderately priced cards of Bailey Falter, Weston Wilson and Hans Crouse that gave him a smile, he ultimately opted to hang on to his money for gas, food, dates and other stuff a typical 18-year-old would spend his money on.  Still, I was glad to have him with me and I enjoyed what could have definitely been our last baseball card show together for a little bit.

The Oaks show floor is massive, and it's expanded since our last visit, last December.  We were there for a little over two hours and I saw maybe 40% or so of the show's offerings.  But I had some goals in mind, and having attained those goals, and run out of money, I was fine with the abbreviated visit.

• 1969 Topps Commons:  I pulled up a folding chair one more time at Uncle Dick's Cards, picking up where I had left off a year ago, and pulling commons I needed between card #500 and the final card in the set, #664.  I crossed 98 more cards off my list, and bundled in the Rollie Fingers rookie card for good measure and at a good price, given the stack of commons I had already committed to buy.

• 1969 Topps Stars:  Along with the Fingers card, I found a dealer with good prices on the Ted Williams and Brooks Robinson All-Star cards.

• 1955 Bowman Wrapper:  My sole non-focused purchase was a fairly beat-up 1955 Bowman wrapper.  Once I finish up my 1956 Topps blog, likely at some point in 2025, I'll officially begin collecting the 1955 Bowman set.  This wrapper will look great in the front of that set's binder.

• 1935 Diamond Stars Jimmie Foxx:  My monster purchase was the Foxx card from the Diamond Stars set I'm collecting, and slowly getting close to completing.  Doug gets credit for finding the slabbed Foxx card in his journeys.  The card was priced at almost twice what I ended up paying for it, and it won't officially enter my collection until Santa presents it on Christmas morning as my major gift for the year.

• 1969 and 1959 Topps Semistars:  Nearing the end of our stay, I added 14 semistars to our 1969 Topps set and six commons to our not-yet-collecting 1959 Topps set.

• 2024 Topps Factory Set / 2024 Topps Heritage Hobby Box:  And finally, before we made our way to the exit, I purchased an obligatory 2024 Topps factory set for Santa to also deliver on Christmas morning and we decided it would be fun to open a box of 2024 Topps Heritage once we were home.  (And I can confirm, it was fun.)

So that's a wrap on the first and only baseball card show we attended in 2024.  I'm excited for the 2025 baseball card shows, but I'm honestly more excited for whatever comes next for Doug in the coming year.