Sunday, April 19, 2020

What Will Become Of The National?

News broke over the weekend that SDCC (San Diego Comic Con) was cancelled this year.  I am not sure how many comic or pop culture fans also read this blog, but this is major news.

For the first time in it's 50+ year history, the most famous pop culture convention in the world won't be happening.

There are already rumors that Disney & Marvel may stream a panel available to fans that would have typically been one of the main events at the con.

This got me thinking about The National Sports Card Convention.  I have never been to The National and was hoping to go this year since it is happening in my home state.  Yay! New Jersey!

As I was busy updating my checklist I came across a few cards that were NSCC exclusives and thought I should finally show them off.


Up first is 2019 Bowman Chrome National Wrapper Redemption.
This "Christmas numbered parallel" is the orange prism refractor found only in the special NSCC packs.

The logo for the convention is seen to the left corner, just above the name of Andrew McCutchen.
In order to receive a pack of these, attendants would need to buy a box of Topps products from a partnered dealer and bring the box along with a special sticker to the Topps booth where they would be rewarded with a pack of these exclusive Bowman Chrome cards.  The set contains 50 cards and offers color parallels and autographs randomly inserted into the 4 card packs.  I will show off some other 2019 Bowman Chrome National Exclusives in another post, sometime in the future.



I also have a pair of Panini product buybacks that are stamped on the front with The National logo
This is a 2016 Diamond King card from the 2016 National.
The Back is stamped directly in the center of the card and is numbered to only 5 copies.



I also have an Industry Summit card buyback.
Dealers, card companies, and others directly involved with the hobby who attended the 4 day event in Las Vegas received a bunch of swag from card companies.

This "Buyback" is actually a 2013 Prizm base card with The Summit 2014 stamp to the left ofthe card, just under Cutch's jersey number.
The card is numbered on the back to the left of the Panini centered logo.  It is numbered to only 5 copies.

8 comments:

  1. I wasn’t going to go, but I would assume zero chance it happens.

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  2. I'm actually kind of glad to hear that the SDCC was cancelled, that show is now so far from what a comic-con should be, it's not even funny! It's basically just a giant corporate cluster f*** these days, most of whom have financial ties (obligations) to China, so it doesn't bother me in the least if some of those companies end up taking a hit.

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  3. I have attended one National, but it was way back in 1984. I suspect that today's version is very, very different.

    I can't imagine this year's show happens on schedule, but hopefully they'll make it up at some point, even if it means having two Nationals in 2021.

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  4. It'll be interesting to see what happens with The National. I know a couple of people who attend every year. I'm sure they would be bummed if it got cancelled... but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

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  5. I was giving it serious thought several months back. Then I had to make two trips to the east coast that I hadn't planned on. No way, even if this COVID think hadn't come along, could I have justified a third. And that's too bad because my 50th high school reunion dovetailed nicely with the National..just up the shore, the following week.

    Hard to see it coming off now even if everything opens up. Lots of dealers will figure that attendees will stay away and lots of potential attendees will figure that dealers are staying away. End result... small, sparse show.

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  6. I was planning on going to the National and/or Cooperstown this summer and it's really disappointing to have to cancel those plans. Atlantic City would have been a blast :/

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  7. It's almost an annual event for me. On the upside, it's late enough in the year that I speculate that it still might happen. Wouldn't be bad if it was just delayed a month or two. Was looking forward to trying to meet some fellow bloggers there.

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  8. I was planning to attend but I don't expect them to be able to have it. This isn't going to be a quickly passing problem. Even if they do have it, I won't go because I have a compromised immune system and several of the other risk factors for this, so...no. I'll try for Cleveland in two years.

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