It was a great pleasure to have an opportunity to visit the SoCal Baseball and Sports Collectors Expo on Sunday. I was fortunate to have won a free ticket to the show and a free autograph from Paul LoDuca on twitter. So, I made sure to make the most of it.
I took a few photos inside, as well as, a handful of photos of some memorabilia. Above are pics of a Baseball toss contraption, and a spread of some of the tables in the show. (Click any pic to embiggen) There were about 20 or so dealer tables filled with Baseball cards and memorabilia, and surprisingly there were a good amount of vintage goodness to look through. I was worried that I would be inundated with modern shininess, but found myself pleasantly surprised. In fact,
Mile High Card Company had a table in order to display some items they will have on auction starting tomorrow, and they were kind enough to allow me to take some photos. On the left is an autographed Roberto Clemente Baseball, and an autographed Babe Ruth Baseball is on the right.
Now, on to what I picked up at the show. First, I briefly met with Paul Loduca and had him sign a Baseball. Thanks again Paul for the autograph ticket!
I also picked up this Dodgers pin that commemorates the great Dodgers infield of Cey, Russel, Lopes and Garvey for $4. I'm not entirely sure where the pin comes from, but I think it may have been a stadium giveaway. If you happen to know please pass along that information.
I also picked up the below vintage c. 1910's comic postcard. I just couldn't stop laughing at the image, so I struck a deal with the seller and walked away with it.
The remaining items came from a dealer who, unquestionably, had the best stuff at the show- at least in my mind. This seller had a small table with only older Dodgers collectibles, and I found myself hanging out over there for most of the afternoon. All of the items below were purchased in two lots, and I paid a total of $45 for everything.
Directly below are some oddball Dodgers memorabilia. I have no idea about the backgrounds of any of these items. The Sandy Koufax item on the left appears to be from a photo that has been trimmed down, and the two items to the right are pages from an unidentified book. Usually I would stay away from this kind of stuff, but it was so cheap I had to take them home.
This next item is beyond cool. It is a 1977 Dodgers Christmas card that appears to have a signature of Peter O'Malley on the bottom. I was especially happy to have found this.
Above is the inside of the Christmas card, and below is the outside.
The next item is fairly scarce- at least it's not something you run into very often. It is a 1958 Los Angeles Dodgers facsimile autographed fan sheet. Back in the day, fans would write to their favorite team, and they would send the fan all kinds of promotional items. Back in the 40's to 50's this would include a facsimile autographed sheet of the entire team. Over the years, I've picked these up when they crop up, but this is the first Dodger auto sheet I've purchased. BTW, this kind of item is not highly collected and can be purchased at prices ranging from $5 to $15.
The next two items were the cream of the crop. I picked up these two vintage LA Dodgers ashtrays that date to the 60's and 70's. I've watched these items for sale on eBay over the years, but always found the shipping cost to be far to great to justify the purchase. So, being able to find them at a show was a big win for me. Frankly, I couldn't believe my lucky stars. The last thing I expected to find this weekend were these two beauties.
