Via @TRISTAR1: HOFer, 2x AL MVP, 3x All-Star, 3,000 Hit Club Robin Yount at #TRISTAR Autograph Pavilion

Today is the final day of this year's National Sports Collectors Convention inside the Atlantic City Convention center -- the finale after some busy days you can see in a gallery here, can see in a gallery here and also can see in a gallery here.  (Oh and there was plenty of prep and a preview night that you can see here, too.)

Keep reading for more and to see a gallery that will grow throughout the day as the doors have just now opened for everyone.

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Pulled from Breakers Rowe at Blowout booth on Saturday at the National Sports Collectors Convention.

Today should be the busiest day of this year's National Sports Collectors Convention inside the Atlantic City Convention center after a pair of busy days you can see in a gallery here and also in a gallery here.  (Oh and there was plenty of prep and a preview night that you can see here, too.)

Now it's time for Day 4, which has the largest slate of signers and plenty of action. Joe Namath, for example, is set to sign at 11 a.m.

Keep reading for more and to see a gallery that will grow throughout the day as the doors open soon.

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Update: This post started on Monday and its gallery is updating throughout the preview night on Wednesday. There will be new galleries to come beginning on Thursday.

The calm before the storm is here.

On-floor preparation for this year's National Sports Collectors Convention has begun inside the Atlantic City Convention center. What you see here is the view of what will become Booth No. 1220, the home of BlowoutCards.com for the show, which begins Wednesday evening and runs through Sunday evening.

But that's not the only early scene seen so far ...

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Upper Deck has remembered the late co-founder of the National Sports Collectors Convention with a memorabilia card that will be in limited supply at the upcoming show on Aug. 3-7 in Atlantic City, N.J.

It's a Piece of History memorabilia card for Mike Berkus, who lost a brief cancer battle in November. He was 69.

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It's nearly July 4, so it's time for a few hot dogs to be eaten -- and depending on where you are that could mean about 70 in 10 minutes.

Well, at least that's the goal tomorrow in Coney Island, N.Y.

At noon on ESPN3 will be the men's version of the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest where current champ Matt Stonie will try to fend off past winners. Earlier in the morning at 10:50 is when the women compete. (Click the schedule at right to see when it re-airs.)

While competitive eating is a world of its own -- and something that doesn't often hit ESPN airwaves the other 364 days a year -- at least a half-dozen eating champs have appeared on trading cards that are available nationally. In fact, Stonie is an odds on favorite to appear as a "World's Champion" in Topps' popular 2016 Allen & Ginter baseball card set when it arrives later this month, which is fitting because that brand is where the trend first surfaced when it comes to eaters on cardboard.

Here's a rundown of the super six competitive eaters on cards so far ...

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The first promotional items that Topps is producing for this year's National Sports Collectors Convention is a tribute to its first set and notable players from that era.

It's a 1951 Topps Red & Blue Backs set and it will only initially be available to VIP ticket holders at this year's show beginning on Aug. 3 in Atlantic City, N.J.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Prospecting disappointments, 2016 Topps Archives, big NFL breaks, comics and ongoing NSCC chatter.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Big case finds, even bigger blasters, NSCC preparation and the newest UFC matchup.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Behind the scenes at Topps in the early 1990s, The National autograph tickets, 2016 Topps Archives, I got you Babe and ... four 1/1s in one case?

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Big pulls, retro breaks, baseball hauls and The National.

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The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Showing off barrels, big pulls, best & worst designs and NSCC tips.

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You may have seen competitive eating champ Matt Stonie in the headlines this week after another of his videos went viral -- this one being a 7,700-calorie feast of Cinnamon Toast Crunch -- but there's another way that he'll be getting some attention now.

(And he doesn't have to eat a thing -- though you can bet he would.)

How? He's got a "Rookie Card."

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This year's National Sports Collectors Convention is a couple of months away and thanks to its non-traditional location -- Atlantic City, N.J. -- there are perhaps a few more guests on tap that we've not expected to see at the annual show.

It's been a long time since the show was last in New Jersey -- it's largely been located in the Midwest for most of the last decade -- so regional autograph guests such as Hideki Matsui and countless others who wore pinstripes and starred for other teams in that area make sense. They'll also help draw in locals who might not normally hit the show ... just to get that ink.

Autograph ticket pricing for the show will come soon, but Buzz has picked seven top names that may not break the bank -- one per sport -- at the show.

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Update: The card sold for $465,000.

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The greatest copy of The Great One's greatest card will be sold later this summer.

It's the only PSA 10 copy of Wayne Gretzky's 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Rookie Card, and it will be on the block for the first time in five years as part of the Goldin Auctions sale during the National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City, N.J., on Aug. 4.

"The fact that just one card has achieved this perfect grading is remarkable," said Ken Goldin, the founder of the auction house. "With the recent surge in interest among serious collectors for high-grade examples of Rookie Cards, we expect this Gretzky card to establish a new benchmark. The average sales for a PSA 9 Gretzky's has increased 600 percent in the past five years. If this card were to see a similar increase, it might become hockey's first $500,000 trading card."

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This year's National Sports Collectors Convention is set for Aug. 3-7 in Atlantic City, N.J., but that hasn't stopped Upper Deck from revealing the first promotional cards that will only initially be found at the event.

The company will produce a five-card VIP set along with a wrapper redemption program.

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Former New York Yankees star and 2009 World Series MVP Hideki Matsui has been added to the autograph roster for this year's National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City, N.J.

He's scheduled to sign on the final day of the five-day show, Aug. 7.

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Mike Berkus, the executive director and a founder of the National Sports Collectors Convention, lost a battle with cancer on Friday night. He was 69.

A University of Minnesota alum and native of St. Paul, Minn., who lived in Villa Park, Calif., Berkus was among a group who decided back in 1979 that there needed to be an annual convention for sports collectors. It all started with the idea of getting back to something simple -- an idea that it's still about to this day.

"This is time travel, this is where you go back to a happy time in your life," he said in an interview with CSN Chicago, "to a time where your whole world was peeling the wax apart, putting the gum in your mouth and seeing you who got."

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