A common theme among the free signers at this year's National was that most of them were guys I already had, either due to them signing TTM, or I got them through past paid signings. I'm not complaining, but the past successes made it tough to find cards in my boxes, such was the case with Stan Bahnsen. I cleaned up a bunch of cards I had for him once I got him TTM. So, at a card show in Raleigh back in June, I picked this 1975 Topps up. I figured it would be nice to add a 75 to the album, since it has been a while, and the card looks really nice. Even with my bad crop job.
I also got these cards, a 1977 and 1978 Topps signed. I also had him sign a 1980 Topps, but I realized I already had one signed by him, so that one will go in my trade bait pile. One of these days, I'll make a list of the cards I have extras of and may be able to pull off some trades.
Bahnsen was nice, even though he was questioning whether or not my wife really did approve of all the cards I have in my collection. If he knew about the signed movie memorabilia she had; or her signed hockey stuff, maybe he would have understood a little better about the dynamic of our relationship. It was funny, though, and I definitely didn't take offense. That being said, I tried to have conversations with every signer that I met at the National, and all of the conversations were great. I didn't meet a single signer at the show who didn't seem to want to be there.
