On the Beat at the National Sports Collectors Convention

The National Sports Collectors Convention (The National) dates back to 1980, when a bunch of collectors got together at the Los Angeles International Airport Marriott. Since then, it has grown into the biggest event in the sports collectibles industry.

The founders of the National intended the event to move around the country to make it available to as many collectors and exhibitors as possible. It has crisscrossed the country over the years, but Chicago has been a regular location, hosting the National seven times since 2002, including this year. In 2018, it will be in Cleveland, before returning to Chicago in 2019.

This year, I had the opportunity to attend as a member of the media. As a longtime collector and an attendee of several Nationals in the past, I was very excited about this new possibility.

My weekend started on a great note, as I had the pleasure of interviewing Susan Lulgjuraj, the Marketing Communications Manager for Topps. A long-time collector, "Sooz" turned her passion into a career (some would say "dream job").

Sooz is active on social media and is well-known and beloved in the industry. I had been trying to interview or even meet Sooz for years and I was thrilled to finally meet her.

We talked about her passion for cards, her favorite sets and cards, future projects from Topps, the general thought on custom cards and much more. I also asked Sooz if she would ever get her own card and her answer was definitely a pleasant surprise. This interview can be found at On the Beat With Susan Lulgjuraj. I seriously loved interviewing Sooz. To many of us collectors, she is an inspiration, as well as being a source for much entertainment.

After Sooz, I was fortunate enough to talk to three legendary former athletes. John Cappelletti, Chris Chelios and Phil Esposito are three of my favorites of all time.

Cappellettiwon the Heisman trophy in 1973 while at Penn State. He went on to have a successful 8 year career in the NFL. He also is known for his dramatic Heisman speech in which he gave the trophy to his younger brother Joey, who was suffering from childhood leukemia. This is all well-documented in Something For Joey (movie and book).

Esposito started his Hall of Fame NHL career with my Chicago Blackhawks. Espo played 18 seasons for the Hawks, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. He was one of my mom's favorite players and I am sure she would have been in tears if she saw me meet him. (Okay, I confess, I might have shed a tear or two in meeting him...he's Phil Esposito!).

When we introduced ourselves, Espo immediately called me "Johnny," similarly to my Italian uncles. After a few minutes of hockey talk, we actually talked about our eyes (we both suffer from light sensitivity). It was a thrill just standing there with this legend.

Chelios played 27 seasons in the NHL on the way to the Hall of Fame. We talked about our Mt. Carmel High School roots. I also asked him about his son Jake, currently with the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL. Despite being from Chicago and playing her for 9 seasons, I had never met him previously.

After all of that excitement, I ate lunch and browsed the many vendors. I picked up some random cards I needed or discovered, as well as some other collectibles. Simply seeing binders for of cards from my youth brought back so many great meories.

In the evening, I attended a session hosted by several Topps executives. While certainly partly conducted for promotional purposes, I was again pleasantly surprised with how much of this 2 hour program was for the collector.

We had the chance to ask the panel anything and they were open and honest with their answers, even if the answer was not a pleasant one (for Topps or the collector). Among the topics for discussion were auto-stamping signatures on cards, redemption issues, content in various sets and so much more.

The moderator mixed in several contests throughout the night and great prizes were awarded. I don't believe anyone lost on any of the various "challenges" and we were all winners in the end, walkibng out with an autographed card (mine was an Ian Happ card!).

This was an awesome experience. Topps really took the criticism to heart and seemed to genuinely care. Of course, there was also plenty of praise (and justifiably so). Topps has been the leader in this industry for over 65 years. With no disrespect to the other companies, Topps will always be my brand of choice.

One thing they did promote was National Baseball Card Day on August 12. I plan on visiting my local card store on that day and I encourage everyone to join me. It's a chance to get some special cards and to relive a bit of your childhood.

Today (Saturday), I got to the National early and immersed myself in cards, baseballs, autographs, bobbleheads, art and all else related. I talked to dealers and fans. I met several old friends. In short, I had a wonderful day. My 12 year old self could not have had any more fun. Plus, there is still one more day of sun to be had!

A huge thank you to the National, Topps, Susan Lulgjuraj and everyone else who made my experience and the convention in general "tops."