Annual Local Card Show is Must for Central PA Collectors
This past Saturday was the annual Shikellamy Card show.
Better known as the Shik Show, this is the largest local card show and one that's within walking distance for yours truly.
Annual Shikellamy Sports Card Show draws hundreds | News | dailyitem.com
The first Shik Show was held in 1991, and every year since, as a major fundraiser for the Shikellamy Marching Band. Local collectors keep the first Saturday in January open on their collective calendars for this fun, long running event.
Sam Smith spearheaded the show for years until it was recently passed to the more than capable hands of James Sanders.
As a proud member of the class of 1996, this Brave is more than happy to support our local card collecting community every chance I get.
For being in a relatively small town, this 40 to 50 table show always offers a strong showing with cards and collectibles for any age group, price range, or want list. Make no mistake, its a local show but we see plenty of people from out of state, including collectors from New York, Ohio and Virginia.
Mike Mussina deserves to be in the Hall of Fame - Sports Illustrated
The show always offers an autograph guest, with Baseball Hall of Famer and local hero Mike Mussina being the first featured guest many years ago. This year, St. Louis Cardinals 2018 fifth round draft pick and Shikellamy alum Nick Dunn was on hand to sign for fans before heading to Spring Training for the Seattle Mariners organization.
The past few years at the show, I've managed to find a spectacular addition to my PC including my 1950 Topps Felt Back Joe Paterno RC that I found at just the second table I stopped at last January.
There was a change of venue this year as the show is usually shout at Shikellamy High School in Sunbury but with some renovations to the cafeteria, it was moved across the river to the almost brand new middle school, in Northumberland, which is within walking distance of my house.
Unfortunately, it was showing single digits on our thermometers, so walking wasn't the best option but I sure was more than happy to drive the whole five blocks to school.
Not only do I love this local show for the surprising level of high-quality inventory but also for the turnout and interactions with of all the awesome people in our card collecting community.
The first person I saw was my cousin Dave Hummel, who I've been trading cards with since we were in elementary school. He would be the first to tell you he got the better of me in each of those deals, by the way.
He mentioned a name that I've heard a lot over the course of the years from our local shows. A guy who goes by the name of "Pittsburgh Jimmy" walks around with a briefcase consistently buying out dealer tables for substantial sums of money. Apparently, he bought out two or three tables within a few minutes of the doors opening, so that was the big news initially.
I told myself I'd make it a point to track down this Jimmy at some point and dig into his backstory a bit as I find it super interesting. Today was not that day.
At the shows I see a number of people I knew from my time working at the sports card shop in town. People have stayed connected and in touch with over the years, which is what its all about. I even had a few people congratulate me on this very gig, my recent signing with SI Collects.
Seeing and chopping it up with all of my card friends is awesome but, unfortunately, I was on a bit of a time crunch today as I only had about an hour to play.
The show didn't disappoint as I found a wide range of sports and sports cards including everything from ultra-modern to pre-war and everything in between. The Shik Show delivers again!
I knew going in that I wanted to grab myself a late Christmas present and add one big card to my PC. So, with my short list in mind, I made my rounds as quick as I could.
One small table stopped me in my tracks. This tiny display held as much bang for the buck as any in the place. It housed a number of pre-war cards, including a 1932 Sanella Babe Ruth graded SGC 4. This, my friends, was high on the list.
Well, Merry Christmas to me as that was the card I decided to purchase. After talking down on the sticker price that was near double of recent comps, I overpaid a tad just to get this card in my hands today.
I made a quick lap around the rest of the gymnasium and talked to a number of local dealers that I've come to know over the years, who are having a great shout even though it was relatively early on in the day.
One thing that caught my eye as I was talking with Kevin from COMC, who surprisingly only lives about an hour away, was something that took me right back to my local childhood barbershop. I was no more than eight or 10 years old, when Mike Daddario was the man behind the scissors on this head of hair. Mike had a huge Penn State display in the shop and I know for certain he had one of these Joe Paterno Penn State serving trays, which I picked up for a few dollars. I really have no idea why, other than the fact that it was a jolt of instant nostalgia and trip in the time machine back to those glory days. After all, that's what collecting is all about. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going do with it, but I'll find a home for it somewhere in my office.
As I said my goodbyes and made my way out of the gym, I walked out into the freezing cold and unbelievably full school parking lot as there were only one or two open spots in the entire lot.
It was another awesome outing at the Shik Show and one I'm already looking forward to again next year.
Tony Reid spent more than a decade covering combat sports at the highest level. He has written hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of interviews about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and Sports Collectors Daily. Reid worked full time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania for a number of years. A lifelong collector, Tony treasures his rookie card collection of star players in baseball, basketball, and football. If you want to discuss the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey Jr., you can reach him at @tonyreidwrites on all social media platforms