The Greater Boston Sports Collectors Club holds it's 21st annual convention this weekend. And yes, they still call it a convention. That tells you all you need to know about one of the nation's longest running, most successful shows.
Before the "boom". Before $10 wax packs became normal. Before grading and authentication. If you remember those times, you might recall when card shows were called "conventions". Collectors got together so infrequently and so informally, that's what they were called.
The Greater Boston Sports Collectors Club was formed in those times, a quaint early 1980s group that's not only survived but changed very little throughout the last twenty-plus years.
"It started with just a handful of guys who used to meet informally at different houses. We collected cards, but we really just had fun and tossed out some trivia questions," President Bill Carvallho of Reading, MA told SportsCollectorsDaily.com in a phone interview. "The number of us grew to where some of the wives weren't real thrilled to have ten or fifteen guys in their living rooms. We decided we should probably rent a hall someplace. We grabbed the local Knights of Columbus Hall for $50. We spread the word and wound up with 46 or 47 guys signed up. Everyone chipped in a couple of bucks and that's how the club got off the ground."
The club's first meeting in April of 1985 proved that the card hobby was hot. "It was unbelievable," Carvalho said. "We had people lined up around the building. We decided it was time to have a bigger show."
For the rest of the story
click here. Sports Collectors Daily
Now that I work days, I can join.
Throwbacks: Boston Sports Collectors Club, Still Going Strong
Nov 5 2009, 08:13 PM
