The National Isn’t Just Cards, It’s a Sports Museum
People come to the National Sports Collectors Convention for a variety of reasons. Sports cards take up the majority of the floor space, but there’s plenty of other memorabilia to be found. But you don’t have to necessarily even be a collector to get a lot of of the show. It’s a museum of sorts for well over a century of sports history.
Game-used gear, important documents and historic photos are just some of the things up for sale and on display at the National. And we’re not just talking about your average gamers. At the show this year, Heritage Auctions has a Jackie Robinson game-used jersey from his rookie season on display. Not far away, a cap worn by Robinson that same year is on display at the Lelands booth.
Want to see Lou Gehrig’s rookie contract? How about the bat that Pete Rose used to become the all-time hits leader? A Mickey Mantle bat from when he won the Triple Crown? These are just a few of the artifacts at the show. And that’s just scratching the surface.
Championship rings, trophies, unique signed pieces all tell stories from the distant and not-so-distant past.
And not all of it celebrates sports. For example, Lelands has letters hand-written by Aaron Hernandez while he was in prison. While we can be disgusted by his actions, they are a look behind the headlines at a convicted murderer who also happened to play football. They’re history.
And we haven’t even gotten to the cards. You’ll find several 1952 Topps Mickey Mantles, a couple of T206 Honus Wagners and all sorts of incredible cards from the hobby’s earliest days. You can see the photo that was used to create one of the greatest football cards of all-time, the 1965 Topps Joe Namath. There’s also the photo that was the basis for half of the dual-image 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle.
A sports history buff could spend hours at the National simply looking at what’s inside the display cases and behind glass at various booths. A big source of the memorabilia comes from the many auction houses that are set up at the show. But the show floor and dealer booths can also be a great source, not just for cards but other unique items.
So even if you’re not interested in buying right now or collecting in general, the National offers plenty of sights and a deep look at the rich history of sports.
