The 35th Annual Ephrata Lions Club Sports Card Show

The Ephrata Lions Club held their 35th Annual Sports Card Show on Saturday, March 29 at the Ephrata Recreation Center.  This is always one of my favorite shows to attend.  It usually has around 40+ dealers all packing Phillies stuff.  It may not be the biggest show in the world, although when I started attending 17 years ago it was for me, but for Phillies fans it has a lot.

This was actually the first card show I’ve been to since the Lions Club held their show last year.  Card shows around my area don’t pop-up like they use to.  The Ephrata Lions Club always has someone signing autographs for about two hours.  Its usually a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame or an older Phillie.  The Lions Club website originally had Brad Lidge scheduled to appear, but for some reason I guess he couldn’t make it.  He was quickly replaced with 1992 HOF inductee Rollie Fingers.

If you want a low ticket number for the autograph signing, you’ve got to get there right when they open or perhaps a little before.  I arrived about 30 minutes before they opened the doors to the public obtaining autograph ticket #22.  It cost $5.00 to get into the show and $20.00 for an autograph.  That’s not bad!  Especially when the inscriptions and photos are free.  If this were the National, you couldn’t pull that off.

Not only do you want to arrive early for a low ticket number, but it gives you the chance to look around.  I recently sold two bobbleheads from my collection on Sports Card Album and was looking to fill those empty spots.  I happily came across two that struck my fancy.  My goal was to find a Larry Andersen/Scott Franzke dual radio announcer bobblehead, but I didn’t see one.  Its funny.  This year I found five Harry Kalas/Richie Ashburn dual bobbleheads for sale that were a stadium giveaway in 2002.  One year I couldn’t find any and this time I found five.

Speaking of Harry Kalas, I’m always on the lookout for the few cards he has.  One of the new dealers I came across had one under glass that I needed for my collection.  Harry Kalas cards rarely show up for sale online, and finding one I don’t have at a one day card show is a long shot.  I now have all the 2004 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Signatures cards of HK.

1981 AL Cy Young Award Winner Rollie Fingers

Harry Kalas 2004 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Black Ink #’ed/100

Arnold Palmer 2009 Pittsburgh Pirates SGA bobblehead

Crazy Hot Dog Vendor/Ryan Howard 2012 Reading Phillies SGA bobblehead

Show was quite busy!