Live Blogging from the Chicago Sun-Times Show in Rosemont, Illinois

The Chicago Sun-Times and other sponsors organize at least two to three card shows (rather large card shows) at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center here in the heart of Rosemont. The place is literally down the street from my house. So when there is a show happening down here, I try to attend at least one day of it to see if I can find cards for my collection. Today just happens to be that day.

So why am I now just sitting here at a table with fellow collectors eating a somewhat dry burger (really, should have gone for the hot dogs) and typing to get this post online? Well, just like in November, I am finally taking a break. I've been walking up and down the aisles looking for dealers who cater to guys like me. And to be honest, there aren't that many. These shows normally attract vendors who specialize in cards pre-1970. There is a whole section of booths with binders and boxes full of cards from the 40's through 60's and guys and gals just plugging away at them, looking to fill want lists with bargain priced cards. What is a guy who normally scours the Bay for cards from 1976 and beyond to do? Well, he hopes and prays that the dealers he has bought from before are at the show today.

And they are. Yay!!!

With a menial budget, after about two-and-a-half hours of walking, I have purchased the following cards to add to my collection:

• When I bought my 2013 Topps Series 1 Master Set, the seller didn't really sort out the different cards from the Chasing History insert set. So there was a mix of regular, retail exclusive, and jumbo pack exclusive insert cards. Well, that doesn't work for me. After sorting through the cards I had, I was able to whittle down the "variants" to nine cards. My first stop was a dealer that had full boxes of inserts. Found all 9 that I need. Total price? $7.00.

• Do you remember that the 2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites product featured autograph cards of players that were not part of the base set? I have 20 of the 21 cards of those players (Tug McGraw...didn't happen). So I wondered if Topps decided to do the same thing when they re-introduced 2012 Topps Archives with All-Time Fan Favorite autographs. There were 40 of these SP cards in the base set. Sure enough, all 40 have autograph cards. But there were 33 players who have autos in this set that were not a part of the "base set" and that doesn't include the 8 other Jose Oquendo auto cards that honor his 1988 season of playing at least one game at every position, including pitcher and catcher. Now, the bad news is that one of these cards is a short print (Hank Aaron...go figure). So unless I want to shell out more than $200.00 for it, I am never owning that card. That leaves 32 other players to find. I found five of them. Total price? $45.00.

• My favorite sellers at the show are here all the way from New York City. Now, she (yes, that's right...SHE) didn't bring any of the Original Back cards from 2010 and 2011 (I'm now down to FOUR...will explain later), but she did have Lego Minifigures on sale. My son sent me a text to find some Lego minifigs from series 7 and 9. The bad news? Nothing from S9. The good news? Three packs from S7. Now she didn't allow me to try and figure out which ones she had by the usual method (of feeling for the prop). No problem there. In my haste, I found one that I "thought" we needed (the Aztec) from 7. Bought it for $4.00. The bad news. Not the Aztec. The good news? It was the space guy and we needed that one. Dodged a bullet.

• Now she also sells tons...and I mean TONS of insert cards from current releases. I have always managed to rely on her to find the cards I need on those rare occasions that I try to build an insert set from scratch (which I still do for sets that are either massively expensive or are of cards that are really hard to find). As you all know, I am still looking for the legend SP's found in 2010 and 2011 Topps. I finished the 2009 set, have all five cards from 2012 Topps Series 2, and all 25 cards from 2011 Topps Update Series (will show those off at another time).  After going through the cards, I found 11 from various series from 2010 and 10 cards from 2011 Series 2. I'm not going to say how much I spent, but after what she was going to initially charge for some, she cut me a deal since I am a "regular" customer of hers when she comes to Chicago.

Add one Beckett 2012 book (finally bought one) for $10.00, one admission ticket for $10.00, and another $8.75 for food, I am now down to just about $100, with another 2 hours before I leave for the day (I asked to be picked up at 2:30 pm, we'll see if that really happens).

I'm going to go run around a bit since I have a bit more time to kill. I don't plan on spending much now, but unless something catches my eye...

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama