Collectors Look to Rekindle Glory Days

The 17th National Sports Collectors Convention, like a prominent card manufacturer, is looking to the past to keep moving forward.

The convention, which starts today, returns to the Anaheim Convention Center for the first time since 1991, when the industry was thriving. Despite long lines and a single entrance that left many frustrated, the event drew an estimated 100,000, which is the record for the convention.

But soon after that show, the nation’s economy started to slow and with it the willingness of collectors to regularly spend large sums of money for cards. Last summer’s convention in St. Louis attracted about 40,000.

Topps helped to invigorate the collecting industry this year by issuing 19 reprints of Mickey Mantle’s cards mixed into the first two series, both of which have sold out.

Things are looking good for other reasons as well.

The baseball season hasn’t been interrupted by labor problems for the first time since 1993. There also is a lot of interest in several kinds of sports and entertainment cards.

“Everybody wanted to take [the national convention] back to what it was in its glory year at Anaheim,” said J.P. Paciorek, marketing director of the Sports Management Group, the promoter of this year’s event. “The Mantle thing was really more of a rallying point. But having baseball back is important. It seems to drive the whole market.”

Even if an attendance record isn’t set, the convention, which will have five entrances this time, will set a size record. It will be spread out over 625,000 square feet and include about 900 booths.

Among the items on display will be at least two of the famous T-206 Honus Wagner cards--considered the most valuable in the world. One of the cards was the one Wayne Gretzky and former Kings’ owner Bruce McNall paid $451,000 for in 1991.

But there will be more to do than look at or buy collectibles.

Major League Baseball, the NHL, the NFL and the NBA have interactive areas that cover 125,000 square feet. Here, participants will have the chance to simulate hitting against Seattle’s Randy Johnson or Boston’s Roger Clemens and also throw a football to a target or have the speed of their slap shot timed.

Autographs will be a major part of the program with a staggering list of celebrities scheduled to attend, including Joe DiMaggio, Sandy Koufax, Carl Yastrzemski, Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Dennis Rodman, Gretzky and Paul Kariya.

“His agent called us about 2 1/2 months ago,” Paciorek said about Rodman. “It’s Southern California, Dennis fits right in to the image out here.”

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Collectors Convention

* What: 17th National Sports Collectors Convention.

* Where: Anaheim Convention Center.

* Tonight: Corporate trade show 4-9 p.m. Cost $30.

* Thursday: Preview day noon to 8 p.m. Cost $17.

* Friday: (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.), Saturday (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and Sunday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) Cost is $7 each day.

* Tickets: Five-day pass is $65.

* Noteworthy: Major League Baseball, the NHL, the NFL and the NBA have interactive areas. Jerseys from the first five baseball Hall of Fame inductees--Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner--will be on display.