Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ Things Overheard at the Shop......., Read This for a Good Laugh !!!

[sportscollector4life]

Unreal, how can some people be so dumb?

[Gforce083]

keep these coming Chad!!! Great laugh!

[Gforce083]

I was just reminded of a story of my own. My wifes grandfather (mind you is up there in age and dosen't know a thing about sports cards) found about 30-40 1990 Donruss Baseball cards out in the middle of a field wrapped together by a rubber band many years ago. He's kept these cards in his desk drawer ever since thinking they could be worth somthing. When he found out I collected he pulled them out for me to look at and to tell him if they where worth anything.

He pulls them out of the drawer (still wrapped in a rubber band ) and hands them to me. Obviously these where left out in the field for a long time! They were faded by the sun, looked like they been through a few rain storms and some other natural elements! Right away (on top of know that set it worthless) I knew the cards weren't even worth the time of day. I didn't want to break the old mans spirits though, he's been holding on to these for years! I spent some time and went through each one of them with him, seeing a few "big names" and we'd talk about the player for a minute...and when all was said and done luckly he forgot to ask me if they were worth anything and he just stuck them back in his drawer.

[road_runner_1964]

Absolutely, hilarious....

Thanks, Chad. I can say I remember those same questions from when I set up at shows back in the early 90s...some people....

[Mike Lindegarde]

I have a story from the National two years ago (in Cleveland). I was walking past this booth that had a lot of high end cards including several LeBron autos: one of which was a rookie auto I believe.

At the booth was a little boy (maybe 8-ish) and his mother that clearly knew nothing about cards. The little boy found two LeBron autos he wanted so the mother asked the seller how much the two of them would be. The seller said something like 12 50 ("twelve fifty"). The mother eventually worked the price down to 10 25 ("ten twenty five"). All the while the seller was convincing the mother how good of an investment this was.

Once the price of "ten twenty five" was reached the mother told the little boy to get out his wallet and pay the nice man. The little boy proceeded to put $10.25 on the counter. Of course those of us who know cards knew that the seller meant $1,025.00. Awkward moment for the seller.

I don't blame the mother though, the seller never used the word "thousand" or "hundred" and I'm willing to bet she never imaged two cards could cost $1,025. I think the seller is the fool for not realizing what was going on sooner.

[Lew47]

I had a customer, an older man...UNC Grad (being a Duke fan..that explains alot), who would only collect cards from 1989-1993. His theory was "More people collected cards during that time, and more cards were produced from those years, so they eventually were going to be extremely valuble".

I tried to convince him otherwise over the years, about how overproduced that stuff was, but he couldn't be swayed in his beliefs. Unfortunately he has moved away.

[captkirk42]

Those are real gems. Thanks for sharing.

It reminds me of my local news radio station, each Monday morning has a segment called "Knuckleheads In The News" where they tell 3 knuckle head news stories and listeners call or email in which they think is the best. Things like bank robbers leaving the "this is a stick up" note on the back of their account statement or a business card.

[RGBII]

Nice stories Chad, I'm sure you've heard this one . . .

How do I go about getting a Distributor's License
from Topps, Upper Deck etc?

Collect Hard!,
RGBII

[broscards]

Great Stuff, keep em coming!

[dodgerblue38501]

Nice stories Chad, I'm sure you've heard this one . . .

How do I go about getting a Distributor's License
from Topps, Upper Deck etc?

Funny you should mention that! A guy came in a few weeks ago and asked me that very question. He wanted to buy cases of unopened material "to put up for his son". He said that he would prefer to buy in bulk. All the while he was talking about his intentions to buy cases and cases of unopened products he was scrounging around digging through his pockets counting loose change trying, very hard I might add, to get together $2 to purchase some Titans base cards that he had picked out. I've seen the guy before and he is always trying to show off a card he has pulled somewhere else. Needless to say I have yet to see anything impressive. I swear some of these people are from another planet. It is so ridiculous to hear some of the stories. It really wears on me sometimes. Other times it is funny. One thing for sure, it is always interesting!

[2000 rushing yards]

NFC, he is on the Chicago Bears you know! 

Or would he be AFC with the cool Baltimore Ravens?

I like the Ravens one

the SPhan one was great. But i don't get the manning cowboys story could someone explain?

[vicsten]

I like the Ravens one

the SPhan one was great. But i don't get the manning cowboys story could someone explain?

Manning never played for the Cowboys but the guy wouldn't be convinced of that.

[msuwendy]

Here's one I heard some time back at my hobby store (which I no longer go to....reasons below )

A customer walks in and enquires about a Charles Barkey auto'd 8x10 photo hanging on the wall....he asks, "If I buy this, what can I use to remove the autograph? I just like the photo".....I kid you not!!!

As for the shop owner himself, we once had a big argument where he insisted watching Pay Riley and Patrick Ewing play as teammates for the Knicks....ok then.....

[pokerstar6]

I was just reminded of a story of my own. My wifes grandfather (mind you is up there in age and dosen't know a thing about sports cards) found about 30-40 1990 Donruss Baseball cards out in the middle of a field wrapped together by a rubber band many years ago. He's kept these cards in his desk drawer ever since thinking they could be worth somthing. When he found out I collected he pulled them out for me to look at and to tell him if they where worth anything.

He pulls them out of the drawer (still wrapped in a rubber band ) and hands them to me. Obviously these where left out in the field for a long time! They were faded by the sun, looked like they been through a few rain storms and some other natural elements! Right away (on top of know that set it worthless) I knew the cards weren't even worth the time of day. I didn't want to break the old mans spirits though, he's been holding on to these for years! I spent some time and went through each one of them with him, seeing a few "big names" and we'd talk about the player for a minute...and when all was said and done luckly he forgot to ask me if they were worth anything and he just stuck them back in his drawer.

I am a 1990/1991 Donruss magnet. I have people bring them to me all the time and ask me "how much would you give me for these?" They're shocked when I reply "Actually, how much will you pay me to take them?" Then, I get sense think I'm trying to rip them off as they point out to me again "these cards are 18-19 years old!"

Man, some people have a loose definition of vintage

[PBamber16]

"My all-time favorite story involved a guy that dropped in and studied my autographed photos for quite some time. He then approached me and said, "I thought Warren Spahn was dead." I said that he had indeed passed away a few years ago. He then asked, "How did you get his autograph then?" To which I replied, "I went to his funeral." The man didn't even flinch. His reply, "Oh, ok." He then just walked away."

I have to say that this story is the one I found most amusing!!

[road_runner_1964]

Here's one I heard some time back at my hobby store (which I no longer go to....reasons below )

As for the shop owner himself, we once had a big argument where he insisted watching Pay Riley and Patrick Ewing play as teammates for the Knicks....ok then.....

Nice...

[www.fpcards.com]

We had a full fledged retail shop for several years before moving into an office where our walk in traffic is about 1/2 it was when we had the storefront. We did it for two reasons. First being we wanted to make internet sales the top priority and second our shop when not being used by customers became a place where moms dropped their kids off while they went into the gym next door. Now those kids had some straaange questions but they had an excuse being that they were kids. Now when the moms came back in and started talking I came to two conclusion that they had better keep working to get those extra pounds off and their good looks back because the minute they opened their mouths and tried to speak intelligently it was over!

[www.fpcards.com]

Ok... I'll add a story too.
I set up at the national some years ago when beanie babies were HOT.

My booth was set in between two booths that had a ton of that crap.
People could not get to my cards because of the women crowded around the tables that had the beanies.
Finally I had enough. I turned to both tables and said "which one of you has the most expensive beanie because I am buying it"
Turns out if was a bear that carried a price tag of $250.
Out went the cash, in my hands went the bear. I stood up on a chair and said "This is what is going to happen to another one every five minutes if you all don't clear out from in front of my tables" I then proceeded to cut the bears head off in front of a shocked mass humanity.
You'd swear I was Moses because after the faces of these women stopped turning red and white, they made a nice clear path to my table where I was MORE THAN able to recoup that $250.

[Tarasadie17]

Okay, I am surprised no one has mentioned this one yet.... back in the late 90's when I had my store every other week I would have at least one person come in and try to sell me "autographed" baseball cards... you know, cards from sets like 1982 Topps or 1995 Studio... often when I would try to explain that they were just facsimile autos, not the real deal, I would be accused of trying to rip them off....

[vslyke]

Ok... I'll add a story too.
I set up at the national some years ago when beanie babies were HOT.

My booth was set in between two booths that had a ton of that crap.
People could not get to my cards because of the women crowded around the tables that had the beanies.
Finally I had enough. I turned to both tables and said "which one of you has the most expensive beanie because I am buying it"
Turns out if was a bear that carried a price tag of $250.
Out went the cash, in my hands went the bear.  I stood up on a chair and said  "This is what is going to happen to another one every five minutes if you all don't clear out from in front of my tables"  I then proceeded to cut the bears head off in front of a shocked mass humanity.
You'd swear I was Moses because after the faces of these women stopped turning red and white, they made a nice clear path to my table where I was MORE THAN able to recoup that $250.

I've enjoyed all these stories, but this one might be my favorite.