The Philly Show was Discovered by Me.

The Philly Show was discovered by me. Oh sure, they've had the Philadelphia Baseball Card and Sports Memorabilia Show since 1979. And yes, they've had some decent-sized crowds. But until I starting writing about it a few years ago, no one outside the greater Philadelphia tri-state area knew it even existed. Hell, no one outside the greater Philadelphia tri-state area even knew they had the best card show in America right in their backyard! That is, until I started to write about it. Ergo, The Philly Show was discovered by me.

Oh sure, there were card shows in the Philadelphia area. But did you ever see Pete Rose signing autographs at the George Washington Motor Lodge? Did Shane Victorino ever make an appearance at the Ft. Washington Expo Center? Were Cliff Lee, Steve Carlton, and Mike Schmidt ever within 20 miles of Reading, PA? No. And why not? Because I didn't write about them. Sometime around 2001, I posted my first review of The Philly Show to this very website. The Hobby, and The Philly Show, hasn't been the same since.

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First off, I want to say that DC drivers are the worst. It took me four and a half hours to get from Fairfax, VA to Valley Forge, PA -- a drive that should have taken no more than three hours. Yes, it snowed. It snowed a lot. It snowed all the way to Baltimore. But that doesn't give you an excuse to drive 40 MPH on the Beltway.

I finally arrived around 2PM. Unlike earlier this year, the card show did not need to share the facility with a gun show. Just as well, I brought that can of "Chemical Billy" I got here back in March. You know, just in case. You never know when you'll need to soak a Joe Collector with Bear Mace.

Speaking of JC, he was out in force in Valley Forge. Your humble correspondent personally saw Joe rip a box of the new Topps Unique, pick out the "hits" and (and I'm not making this up) throw away the commons. As in, throw them in the garbage. I attempted to recover them, but the coffee grounds and nacho cheese sauce made them a terminal case. This guy deserved a Macing on pure principle.

In the end, I picked up a Hobby box of '09 Topps 206 for only $72. I also bought $100 worth of assorted inserts and SPs for $65, and $6 on top-loaders.

Total Spent on Cards: $143
Admission: $6
Tolls: $9
GRAND TOTAL: $158