2021 National Sports Collectors Convention - Part 1

NSCC 2021 Iowa Connections

The 2021 NSCC is alive again after coming down with COVID last year and not being able to show up to Atlantic City.  This year its back stronger than ever and visiting Chicago July 28th - Aug 1st.  It's a great place to find some of those hard to find items for your collection, and hopefully I'll be coming home with stacks of cards for my Iowa Collection.

The list of autograph guests is pretty large this year, but it is severely lacking in Iowa Connections.  Out of them all, I could only find one guest that qualifies: Stan Bahnsen from Council Bluffs.  Which is great, but we just want more.  

If we expand out a bit further past the Iowa Connection, to maybe an Iowa Acquaintance, an Iowa Affair (still workshopping the name), we can add few more names.  These are the players who have played for team in Iowa (a minor league team, an arena team, etc), and will be at the show:

Rich Gossage - Iowa Oaks 1973 

Ron Kittle - Clinton Dodgers 1977/78

Chuck Knoblauch - Clarinda A's 1987

Denny McLain - Clinton C-Sox 1962, Iowa Oaks 1973

Ted Simmons - Cedar Rapids Cardinals 1967

Ozzie Smith - Clarinda A's 1975/76

Dave Stewart - Clinton Dodgers 1977

Tim Stoddard - Iowa Oaks 1976

Larry Walker - Burlington Expos 1986

A few notes on these.  Clarinda is an amateur baseball team, not affiliated with any major league team.  The rest of them are minor league teams.  No basketball/football/hockey players made the list this year.  1973 Iowa Oaks had both Rich Gossage and Denny McLain!  1977 Clinton Dodgers had Dave Stewart and Ron Kittle!  

Now, I probably won't do it because of the cost, but man wouldn't it be fun to gather signatures from all these stars with an inscription of their time in Iowa!  Dave Stewart, 1977 Clinton Dodgers.  Well, maybe just cool to me.  Anyway, here's the cost breakdown for that (not accounting for wait in line time):

Name - Iowa Connection $(auto price) + $(inscription price)

Stan Bahnsen - Born in Council Bluffs $30

Rich Gossage - Iowa Oaks 1973 $60 + $30

Ron Kittle - Clinton Dodgers 1977/78 $30

Chuck Knoblauch - Clarinda A's 1987 $50 + $30

Denny McLain - Clinton C-Sox 1962, Iowa Oaks 1973 $40 + $15

Ted Simmons - Cedar Rapids Cardinals 1967 $90 + $50

Ozzie Smith - Clarinda A's 1975/76 $70 + $35

Dave Stewart - Clinton Dodgers 1977 $40 + $20

Tim Stoddard - Iowa Oaks 1976 $30

Larry Walker - Burlington Expos 1986 $100 + $30

Total autos + inscriptions = $750