So after waking up at 3am (because I couldnt sleep) with much excitement for this National as it was going to be my first one I must say I left kind of dissapointed. The show opened at 10am and I am home by 1:30pm

If was def the biggest show I have been to but I almost feel like the Tuff Stuff Shows I went to back in late 1990s were close to it in size. I'd only say this show was 25-30% bigger than those. I was expecting a show so big that you would need a gps to navigate.

Game used:

The amount of game used in terms of what I was expecting was more than I was expecting as others made it sound like there is nothing in terms of game used there. There were a few vendors who had hundreds of game used jerseys (mostly of lesser known players) and a few vendors who had current stars game used bats... A lot of Hanley Rameriez and Miguel Cabeara game used bats in the $300-600 dollar range.

I was able to pick up a few cheap game used bats of guys who once played for the Braves (my collection focus)

Cards:

One thing I noticed about this show though there was a lot of vintage cards for sale more than I was expecting.

A lot of high priced items.

I did see a lot of dealers with "50-80%" off bins, cases but since I am mostly out of the card collecting game I really didnt stop to rumage through those bins...


Autograph guest/Prices:

I know its in Baltimore and they wanted to draw Maryland collectors to the show by having Former Orioles there but it was a waste of guest if you ask me. The ones they had are a bunch of the guys all Maryland Collectors often see at free signings in the area all the time so to have these guys come and charge what they did made no sense to me. Example Boog Powel was like $30 bucks (he is often at O's games signing for free at his bbq stand.

Looking at the rest of the autograph lineup it is mostly just the same HOFers you see at every show around the country and to me the prices were higher so it was nothing special. They really failed booking the show this weekend as they limited themselves on football hall of famers as the hof inductions are also this weekend in Canton, OH...



Bargins:
I was really hoping to find some bargins and cant walk away from prices on just about anything but I did not see many. I was one of the first people in and I did a very quick up and down of the booths and did not see any real eye popping deals of sellers trying to basically get out of the hobby or to move some inventory. I was hoping to see just above ebay priced deals but I did not see many.



So despite my negative review I am glad I went as I had never been before and I am glad they brought it to Baltimore so I could experience it first hand without having to spend a lot of money in travel.