BIG CROWDS, BIG DEALS, BIG FUN

ROSEMONT, ILL. — After a year off, the National Sports Collectors Convention returned to Chicago, and what a show it was.

Collectors of all ages showed up in what had to be record numbers. Though The National doesn’t release attendance figures, I can’t imagine a bigger show, and I’ve been coming since Baltimore in 2012.

Money was being spent like never before, a combination of post-COVID relief and the boom of the hobby in general.

I wandered the floor for three days. Here are some thoughts and observation on things I encountered.

• First off, the floor in Chicago just keeps growing and expanding, now taking up two more sections of the convention center than the first National I attended there in 2015.