Brewers Event Draws Over 2,000 Fans
Rich and Max McVey were excited as they slid trading cards into their new collector binders.
It was easily one of the best parts of their day.
The brothers had convinced their dad, Scot, to head to the Milwaukee Brewers–Pittsburgh Pirates game on Tuesday, not because of the action on the field but for what was happening in the American Family Field concourse.
The McVey family, who lives in nearby Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, got to experience the inaugural Trading Card Night put on by the Brewers.
Families with kids young and old, along with veteran collectors, flooded an upper-level area dedicated to the hobby. Twelve dealers, including breaking company SlabStox, had tables at Trading Card Night, where organizers estimated well over 2,000 people stopped by the event.
“This is really cool,” said 13-year-old Rich McVey. “I wish they could do this more often.”
Scot McVey watches his sons Rich (13) and Max (8) put cards into their new Brewers folios they received during Trading Card Night on Tuesday at American Family Field in Milwaukee. (All photos by Greg Bates)
There were vintage and modern cards. Baseball, football, and basketball cards filled the tables. Collectors quickly snatched up Brewers, Green Bay Packers, and Milwaukee Bucks cards. Even cards for Pirates superstar pitcher Paul Skenes — who was in the stadium — were in high demand. Despite being a smaller show, it offered plenty of variety.
“One of my favorite parts was seeing everybody gawk at the higher-end slabs and enjoy it,” said Robert Ireland, who handles business development for Cardlines.com.
As fans entered the stadium before the Brewers-Pirates game, they received a pack of Topps cards featuring five Brewers players. There were 10 cards, with rookie phenom Jackson Chourio being the crown jewel. Once through the gate, fans headed to the upper level and received a Brewers folio if they had purchased a special ticket. Every fan had the opportunity to check out the free card show and get a trading card made of themselves.
Izzy Lugo, Brewers’ director of experimental marketing, called the event an incredible success.
“Any time that you get the teams involved doing cool nights like this, giving away stuff like these binders that we gave out today, it only helps people get into the hobby,” Lugo said. “I witnessed a boy and his sister drop to the floor to put the new trading cards they just got into their trading card folio. So being able to do that type of stuff and see it in real-time, that’s the impact it has.”
Trading Card Night wasn’t just isolated in the stadium’s concourse; it made its way onto the field. Two important hobbyists threw out ceremonial first pitches. Ryan Johnson, known as CardCollector2 in the hobby circle, flew in from Columbus, Ohio, to experience the show and throw a strike from the mound.
“It’s very humbling to be able to do something like that,” Johnson said. “This is a really cool event—a card show at a baseball game. We’ve done the stadium thing; we’ve done that in Fenway, that was cool. CardVault put it on, and that was amazing. But to have the Brewers behind it and to run a show during a baseball game, what a cool experience.”
Johnson hopes young non-collectors who ventured to Trading Card Night were able to associate sporting events with cards. That provided a great entrance point into the hobby.
“I think if you can have a hands-on moment at a game, that’s big. I would love a trading card from the first baseball game I ever went to,” Johnson said. “I picked up a Yelich Dynasty for my first game here in Milwaukee, where I got to throw out the first pitch. The coolest part about cards is the memories associated with them. To give collectors an opportunity to get those while at the game, how cool is that?”
Longtime Milwaukee dealer Rick D’Amore — who runs Name That Card Sportscards, located just 10 miles from the Brewers’ park — was thrilled to take part in the card show and throw out a first pitch for the first time.
“I don’t do a whole lot of card shows. But this is the finest one I’ve ever been at,” D’Amore said. “The people in charge were outstanding, and the customers were great. I’ve got an empty table right now.”
Ireland didn’t know what to expect having a table set up at the first event of its kind.
“It was a steady flow,” Ireland said. “I don’t know how many people came through, but it’s been busy. People looking through the boxes, looking at the cards, constantly, for a few hours.”
After a successful first Trading Card Night, the focus shifts to making it at least an annual event.
“After a night like this, seeing people excited about it, seeing kids very, very excited about the hobby again, that’s what gets our minds going,” Lugo said. “I’m not going to say yes, but we’ll see.”
Interest in hosting card shows in stadiums isn’t just isolated to the Brewers. The Los Angeles Dodgers are having Topps Trading Card Day on July 21, and Lugo mentioned that the Tampa Bay Rays have been in touch with him to get ideas on running a similar event.
“It seems like a no-brainer to have an event that brings collectors and people that love the sport together,” said Johnson. “I was talking to the Brewers before, and they said they hope this is the stepping stone to bigger events. Hopefully, this will be a big part of sporting events in the future.
“This is very early in the infancy stage, and I think you’re really going to continue to see this take off.”
