Organizers Get a Line on Convention Crowd : Memorabilia: They find a way to ease congestion on the main floor at the Anaheim Convention Center.

With traffic problems straightened out, the 12th National Sports Collectors Convention rolled on Friday at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Mike Berkus, business manager for the national convention, said about 20,000 were in attendance Friday.

That figure, added to a crowd estimated at 25,000 to 30,000 for the first session Thursday, broke the convention’s attendance record of 41,000, set at last year’s convention in Arlington, Tex.

Convention organizers also figured out how to handle the crowd, which was shopping from perhaps the largest and most varied collection of sports collectibles.

The convention had been plagued by logistic problems Thursday, because of the popularity of a corporate giveaway program. When long lines at the booths caused overcrowding in the aisles, the distribution was moved to the exits. The lines remained long.

The problem was solved Friday when the promotional items were consolidated into one package, with distribution moved to a large adjacent hallway.

“We worked (Thursday) from 4 p.m. to midnight,” said Tim Turner, the convention’s press manager. “We had 24 people stuffing bags (with the promotional items) for eight hours to get it done.”

Thus, convention goers could make a one-stop pickup for their free collectibles, including Upper Deck cards of Nolan Ryan cavorting with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, a specially minted set of rookie baseball standouts by Score and a prototype of an eye-popping new design for Skybox basketball cards.

But they still had to wait. The room was filled with people in line for the giveaways and a panel of autograph signers that included Don Drysdale, Pee Wee Reese and Duke Snider.

That left a little more elbow room on the convention floor, although full aisles were still the rule of the day.

Turner said the dealers and corporate sponsors thought the situation had improved.

“Lines are moving well,” he said. “We’ve gone over everything to try to make everyone happy.”

Unlike Thursday, when 15,000 were turned away at the box office, all those attempting to buy tickets were successful.

National notes

Today’s session, the longest of the weekend, will run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. . . . Official autograph guests will be Steve Carlton and Archie Moore in the morning, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Harmon Killebrew at midday, and Willie Stargell, Carl Yastrzemski and Luis Aparicio later in the afternoon. . . . Among the new sets announced at the convention are Upper Deck’s second series of comic ball, featuring Nolan Ryan and Reggie Jackson teaming with Warner Brothers cartoon characters; a set of boxers by Kayo; and a hologram card of Ryan, the second in a series by Silver Star Baseball Holograms that began this spring with Rickey Henderson.

* THIEVES STRIKE AGAIN

Sports-card thieves hit the Sports Collectors Convention for the third time this week. B1