The National

Our 2nd National together, and it lived up to the hype. We flew in Tuesday and out Sunday. Staying at the Hyatt was a huge win, with the lobby being packed with the show's unofficial trade nights for the duration. We did as much buying and selling at the Hyatt as we did on the show floor.

I had a goal of selling my non-essential Mantles and vintage Yankees, which I did on Wednesday afternoon. In the process I learned a bit on the lack of value of Beckett vintage slabs. Collectively, I got $16k for the cards, which we needed to build out our cases for our first upcoming show.

Grayson was chasing Kabooms and Downtowns, as they were at their peak at the show. We were able to get some at 90–95%, but some dealers were just not willing to move on their stickers. Our big purchase was an Immaculate Josh Allen Patch Auto PSA 8.

For my collection, I bought a Mantle and a DiMaggio signed and graded photo, and a Jeter signed glove. Autographs were Pete Crow-Armstrong, Patrick Ewing and CC Sabathia. We also had photos with all three. The Ewing experience was the highlight for me, and I had him sign a pair of his Dream Team model shoe (pictured).

We were able to get some fun time in as well. We made a trip to the Home Alone house and then took an Uber to the city for pizza and sightseeing.