Byline: Jim McKeever Staff writer
For Don Heffernan, opening the Triple Crown Sports Cards store was a logical extension of the hobby he shared with his son, Sean.
It also was a good way to clean out the shed.
'We started (collecting) together in 1978, when he was 8,' Don Heffernan said. 'After he graduated from F-M (in 1987), we opened the store. He had accumulated so many cards.'
Heffernan opened up Triple Crown in a tiny storefront in Fayetteville at 404 E. Genesee St. Hundreds of boxes of sports cards went from the family shed to the 9-by-27-foot space just west of what is now Kirby's restaurant.
The shop is no bigger than it was 17 years ago, but the card collection has grown and Don Heffernan has a fancy title: vice president/janitor.
Last fall, when Heffernan retired from CSX after 43 years working with the railroad, he turned the business over to Sean, who is president/treasurer and also works at Turning Stone Casino Resort in Verona.
The Heffernans have fun with a business that caters to the kid in everyone. They sell all varieties of sports cards, accessories, some collectible items like Yankees wastebaskets and even non-sports cards like Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh.
The best-sellers are, of course, anything connected to Syracuse University sports (Carmelo Anthony rookie cards and Donovan McNabb cards are popular), the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, the Buffalo Bills and New York Giants and Jets.
And then there's LeBron James, the pro basketball phenom who's just a year out of high school.
'This year with Anthony and LeBron, it just took right off,' Heffernan said. 'It boosted the business.'
It's a business that's cyclical, Heffernan said, with traffic slowing down in the warmer months.
'This is more of a winter hobby,' he said.
Triple Crown is open three days a week now, five days in the winter.
But if there's a stretch of bad weather that cuts into the Heffernans' golf time, the store might be good place to visit on a rainy day. Just call the store first at 637-5541 to see if it's open.
The Heffernans also take part in occasional 'collector fests' at the state fairgrounds and at Great Northern Mall in Clay.
Don Heffernan said he gets calls every day from collectors looking to unload cards, but he and Sean are choosy about what they're willing to buy - the store already has more than a million cards, ranging in price from the common seven-for-$1 variety to the rare cards that run several hundred dollars.
What's the inventory worth?
'I have no idea,' said Don Heffernan, who's not about to try to figure it out. 'It'd take forever, and it's constantly changing. We don't know.'
The biggest-ticket item in the store is a $500 autographed photograph of Thurman Munson, the great Yankees' catcher who died in a plane crash in 1979.
Other high-end merchandise includes a limited edition autographed LeBron James rookie card for $400, and a rookie card for current Yankee Alex Rodriguez ('A-Rod') for $300.
Triple Crown also carries the newest line of 'cloth cards' that include tiny swatches of jerseys worn by the player or a sliver of a 'game-used' baseball bat held by the player on the card.
Some of the more popular cards are in glass display cases that adult customers have to scrunch down to examine. But they're at the right height for young collectors.
'Parents get frustrated because the kids don't want to leave,' Don Heffernan said. 'Sometimes they just leave them here and go shopping for a while.'
Triple Crown Sports Cards
Where: 404 E. Genesee St., Fayetteville.
Phone: 637-5541.
Hours: Closed Sundays and Mondays. Open 1 to 6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays; the Heffernans occasionally set up at Regional Market in Syracuse 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. Winter hours include Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Web site: None yet, but may get one soon.
CAPTION(S):
PHOTO
Stephen D. Cannerelli/Staff photographer
DON HEFFERNAN, of Triple Crown Sports Cards, in Fayetteville, holds up a signed rookie card for LeBron James (left) and the rookie card for Carmello Anthony. Color
