Show Has Appeal for Novice, Investor : Sports memorabilia: Promoters expect 70,000 to 100,000 to gather this week at Anaheim Convention Center for national event.

ANAHEIM —  When Mike Berkus and his fellow promoters were preparing for the first National Sports Collectors Convention, in 1980 at the Marriott Hotel near LAX, they were faced with a sobering thought.

“When we decided to do it,” Berkus said, “the first fear we had the week before was, ‘Is anybody going to come to this thing?’ ”

Eleven years later, their major worry is whether they’ll have room for everyone. When the National, annually the showpiece event in the world of sports memorabilia, returns to Southern California this week, record crowds are expected at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Jack and Patti Petruzzelli, co-promoters of this year’s convention, and Berkus, who is serving as business manager after co-promoting the 1980 and 1985 shows, are expecting from 70,000 to 100,000, from advanced collectors and investors to the curious being exposed to the hobby for the first time. That would easily top the record of 40,000 last year in Arlington, Tex.

Those who squeeze into the 300,000 square-foot space at the Convention Center Thursday through Sunday will be greeted by a sports fan’s dream come true, including:

--More than 700 tables staffed by some of the nation’s top memorabilia dealers.

--A corporate island of 144 booths, at which most of the companies doing business in the hobby will have a display; many will be giving out promotional items.

--The 1909 Honus Wagner tobacco card that Los Angeles King owner Bruce McNall and Wayne Gretzky purchased at a Sotheby’s auction in March. The card, one of approximately 40 in existence of the hobby’s most sought-after collectible, was purchased with a bid of $410,000.

--Jerseys worn by Wagner, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Cy Young and Joe Jackson, from the collection of New Jersey collector Barry Halper.

--A display of rare material on loan from the top private collections in the country, assembled by Action Packed cards.

--Seven seminars, Tuesday through Friday, featuring panels of hobby experts.

--A panel of autograph signers, including Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Carl Yastrzemski, Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Steve Carlton, Brooks Robinson, Lou Brock, Warren Spahn, Don Drysdale, Pee Wee Reese, Willie Stargell, Duke Snider, Luis Aparicio, Jim Brown, Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor, Tom Fears, Elroy Hirsch, Archie Moore, Bobby Hull and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Drysdale, Spahn, Snider, Killebrew, Stargell, Starr, Robinson, Moore and Hull will be signing at no charge.

“At any given show, you walk around and you see virtually the same stuff on every table,” Berkus said. “The beauty of the National is that you see stuff you have never witnessed before. People have called me and said they’ve held back, not putting out certain items they’ve acquired for sale, because they want to really put on the dog at the show.”

And there will be plenty of people eager to pay the price for those items. Despite a small slump during the winter that mirrored the national recession, the hobby has continued in a decade-long growth. Collectors and investors had fueled that growth, which has included skyrocketing prices of older collectibles and an increase of new material on the market.

Consider that in 1980, only one company, the Topps Chewing Gum Co. of Brooklyn, N.Y., was making collectors cards, with one set each in baseball, football, basketball and hockey. This year, five companies are expected to produce nine full sets of baseball cards. Almost every sport will be represented, with eight sets planned in football, four in hockey, three in basketball and four in boxing. According to one estimate, the five major baseball card producers are expected to print 7.5 billion cards a year, although the companies themselves won’t say.

And there apparently are plenty of buyers for those cards. But even for those who don’t buy, the National will have something to offer.

“I think that most people who go to Disneyland don’t go to go on a ride, but yet it was built as an amusement park,” Berkus said. “At the same time, I think this National is a cross between the Smithsonian Institute and the All-Star Game, between the items you’re going to see and have the opportunity to look at, to the names of the players and personalities that are going to attend.

“If it’s an incredible, All-American event that’s happening near your house, and it can only be there once in a while, how can you say it’s not worth checking out? A person can walk into this show for $5, and walk away with $2,000 worth of free promotional items, just for coming through the door.”

That the glamour event of the industry has returned to Southern California is largely the work of the Petruzzellis, who were part of a group that failed to land the 1990 National.

Berkus said he was frustrated by what was perceived as a campaign to lessen the influence of his group, all longtime hobbyists. But the Petruzzellis were ready for another attempt.

“Jack and Patti were real fresh with it,” Berkus said. “They hadn’t been here since the first one the way I had, and they didn’t take it as personal.”

“Naturally we were disappointed,” Jack Petruzzelli said. “At the time there were things that I thought could have been done differently, so I thought, ‘This is our chance to get our niche in the hobby.’ ”

So Petruzzelli spent his weekends away from his job as an undercover agent in the Fullerton Police Department working the national show circuit, trying to gain support for his vision of what the National should be. He was joined by his wife, who added an important touch to the effort.

“Patti’s more personable than I am, and a lot of the people in the hobby like the personal touch,” Petruzzelli said. “She’s the organizer in the family. She’s the one that held it together. The people that I couldn’t convince, Patti could.”

They persuaded enough people to win by a vote of 228-135 last July in Arlington, over the bid for San Diego by Frank and Vivian Barning, publishers of the monthly Baseball Hobby News.

Having spent more than $40,000 of his own money on his campaign to get the bid, Petruzzelli, a 42-year-old Corona resident, went to his superiors at the Fullerton Police Department, seeking a six-month leave of absence. They offered two weeks. He retired, staying on as a reserve officer, teaching new officers. Suddenly, his career had become his hobby, and to make the transition complete, he turned his hobby into a career, opening a Fullerton hobby store called 59 Innings.

After winning the bid, the Petruzzellis turned the planning for the corporate booths over to Berkus.

Berkus has been down this road. In fact, he was one of the people who built the road. Berkus, a 45-year-old Villa Park resident, came to Southern California from St. Paul, Minn., in 1970, after being contracted to build a Dancing Waters show for the Disneyland Hotel. He was a founding member of the Southern California Sports Collectors Club, which put on the area’s first shows.

Ten years later, he and fellow club members Gavin Riley and Steve Brunner hosted the first National, then suggested that it be hosted by different groups each year. Berkus, Riley and Brunner successfully bid for the show again in 1985, when it came to the Disneyland Hotel. They were joined by Jerry Williams and Petruzzelli, who had impressed them with his own promotion of shows in the Southland.

While Berkus didn’t want to take part in the promotion of this year’s show, he was willing to offer his telemarketing firm, P.T.S. of Anaheim, to help produce it. And he had an idea for expanding corporate participation, in an industry in which relations between dealers and makers of collectibles have at times been strained. He took advantage of the Convention Center’s new 300,000-square-foot hall to set up an area for corporate displays and give-aways.

Twelve such sponsors took part at the Arlington National. This year, 144 booths will be filled, featuring most of the manufacturers of hobby materials, plus such names as Disneyland and Nike. Many will be giving away promotional items, and some are expected to have top athletes on hand as their representatives, including Pele, Steve Garvey, Oscar Robertson, Bruce Smith, Gale Sayers and UNLV’s Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon.

With all the planning done, all that’s left is to enjoy.

“I’m 45 years old, and I’ve been living for this moment,” Berkus said. “My kids can’t sleep at night. I hate to say it, but if you offered them the 12th National or Christmas, well, it’s a good thing for Christmas that it isn’t till December.”

FACTS AND FIGURES Schedule

Event: 12th National Sports Collectors Convention

Site: Anaheim Convention Center, July 4-7

Show hours: Thursday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Admission: $5 per day, $15 for a four-day pass. Tickets are available in advance at the Convention Center box office.

National banquet: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., Disneyland Hotel (sold out). Special guests: Roy Firestone and Ronnie Lott.

Autographs

Thursday: Lou Brock, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., $15; Steve Carlton, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., $15.

Friday: Steve Carlton, 11 a.m.-1:45 p.m., $15; Warren Spahn, 11:30 a.m.-1:45 p.m., free; Don Drysdale, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., free; Lou Brock, noon-4 p.m., $15; Pee Wee Reese, 1-4 p.m., $20; Duke Snider, 2:30-5 p.m., free; Paul Hornung, 1:30-4:30 p.m., $7; Jim Taylor, 1:30-4:30 p.m., $5; Tom Fears, 2-4:30 p.m., $5; Elroy Hirsch, 2-4:30 p.m., $5.

Saturday: Archie Moore, 10 a.m.-noon, free; Steve Carlton, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., $15; Lou Brock, noon-4 p.m., $15; Rod Carew, beginning at noon (1,000 limit), $15; Hank Aaron, beginning at noon (1,000 limit), $20; Sandy Koufax, beginning at noon (1,000 limit), $20; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, beginning at 12:30 p.m. (800 limit), $20; Harmon Killebrew, 1-3:15 p.m., free; Willie Stargell, 2-5 p.m., free; Carl Yastrzemski, 3-6 p.m., $20; Luis Aparicio, 3-6 p.m., $15.

Sunday: Jim Brown, beginning 11 a.m. (600 limit), $8; Bart Starr, 11-a.m.-1:30 p.m., free; Steve Carlton, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., $15; Lou Brock, noon-4 p.m., $15; Hank Aaron, beginning at noon (1,000 limit), $20; Brooks Robinson, 12:30-3 p.m., free; Carl Yastrzemski, 1-4 p.m., $20; Luis Aparicio, 1-4 p.m., $15; Bobby Hull, 1:30 p.m.-4 p.m., free.

Notes: No pre-sale of autograph tickets. All sales will start at 10 a.m. the day each athlete is signing. Free autographs are limited to one per admission ticket, unless time permits. Some athletes may have additional charges for bats, or restrictions on what items can be signed. Schedule is subject to changes or cancellations.

Seminars

All seminars will be held in Convention Center room ‘C’ and are open to the public. Seating is limited to 500.

State of the Hobby--Tuesday, 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m.; Moderator: Bob Wilke; Panel: Bill Weslund, Wayne Grove, Bill Goepner, Dave Kohler, Tom Charlton.

Publications and Price Guides--Wednesday, 10:30 a.m.-noon; Moderator: Kit Young; Panel: representatives from Beckett Publications, Krause Publications, Sports Card Trader, Trading Cards Magazine, Tuff Stuff, Baseball Hobby News, Legends Sports Memorabilia and others.

Card Shows and Promoters--Wednesday, 1-2:30 p.m.; Moderator: Clay Pasternack; Panel: Walter Hall, Larry Dluhy, Bill Goodwin, Harvy Brandwein.

The National, ’92 and ‘93--Wednesday, 3-4:30 p.m.; Hosted by Smith, Bucklin and Associates.

Hobby for Investors--Thursday, 8-9:30 a.m.; Moderator: Steve Ellingboe; Panel: Gary Bruening, Bill Hughes, Alan Rosen, Tony Galovich, Greg Bussineau.

Card Manufacturers: What Lies Ahead?--Thursday, 3:30-5 p.m.; Moderator: Mike Berkus; Panel: representatives from Upper Deck, Score, ProSet, AW Sports, Fleer, Kenner, Classic Games, Impel Marketing, Action Packed and others.

Autographs and Memorabilia: Authentics or Fakes?--Friday, 3-4:30 p.m.; Panel: Mike Gutierrez, Stan Marks, Mark Jordan.