Meanwhile At GalaxyCon - Ric Flair

While I was at the National, my wife and son were in Raleigh at GalaxyCon.  I gave Chris some money to meet Ric Flair and get this WWE Heritage card signed for me.

The card looks awesome, and my son got to meet Flair.  He said Flair was looking a bit rough, but told him the autograph was for his dad.  Flair told him to tell me that he'd rip my shirt off and give me a good Ric Flair chop to the chest. Wooooo. I thought that was pretty awesome.

2023 National Free Signer - Paul Popovich

Paul Popovich was the next free signer that I got at this year's National.  I had received a TTM from him prior to leaving for the show, but those cards haven't been scanned yet.

I ended up with 4 vouchers for Popovich, and got a 1975 Topps Mini, 1969 Topps, 1972 Topps and a 1975 Topps signed.

I only brought the two cards with me, so I picked up the 69 and 72 at the show Thursday morning prior to the scheduled signing.  I was glad to pick them up cheaply, since the 1972 is a high number.

Popovich (b. 1940) played in the majors in 1964 and from 1966 to 1975 for the Cubs, Dodgers and Pirates.  He had 403 hits, 14 home runs and a .233 batting average.

2023 National Free Signer - Al Weis

The first free signer for Thursday at the National was Al Weis.  I had pulled a couple of his 1964 Topps from Conrad's boxes, along with a 1969 Topps that was extra from back when I put that set together.

I ended up with three vouchers for Weis, so I got two 1964s and the 1969 signed.

I had gotten Weis TTM before on a 1968 Topps, so that's good that I was able to add a couple new ones to the album.

2023 National - A Couple Random Auto Pickups

Navigating the National is often like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Especially when the show is so crowded, you can barely get to any tables.  Fast forward to the last day of the show, and I finally had time and access to a table with albums of signed cards by set.  There were maybe 3 different dealers at the show with this setup, and the other two had very slim pickings for 1987 Topps.  One of them has a very helpful checklist of signed cards by year; I buy from that guy all of the time, it seems.  This year, his list said he had a signed 1987 Topps Orel Hershiser.  When I asked about it "oh that sold already, I need.to cross that out." Darn.

Well, on Sunday, this table DID have an 87 Topps that I needed, the above Eric King.  So, it took all show, but I did knock an 87 Topps off of my list.

I looked through their other albums and found a couple other vintage Topps cards to add to the album, just for fun.  I missed an opportunity to send to Spook Jacobs before he passed away, so I was glad to find this one, and picked it up.  I also saw the 1956 Topps Enos Slaughter at a good price, and added it to the album, as well.

I probably could have added a lot more vintage cards to the album, but I had to meet up with someone prior to heading over to the autograph pavilion for the list signers at the show.  Still, I'm happy with what I got, and I'm one card closer on my 87 set.

2023 National Free Signer - Mark Carrier

Another National is in the books, and this year's was definitely a challenge.  In the end, I had a good time, which is all that matters. I'll be breaking down the National over the next several weeks, starting with the first free signer I got, Mark Carrier. 

I got the above card from Max the day before the National, and it overrode the card I had.  I skipped the VIP signers on Wednesday, since none of them were baseball guys and I didn't have ant cards of any of them.  I mistakenly grabbed a couple cards of the other Mark Carrier, but quickly realized before I left on the trip that there was another Carrier, of whom I had found one card.

Carrier (b. 1968) played professionally from 1990 to 2000 for the Bears, Lions and Redskins.  He played collegiately at USC.  He had 32 interceptions and 1 touch down in his career.  He led the league in interceptions in 1990 with 10 and was named the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Carrier was super nice, and the card turned out great. Lots more to come regarding the National, so stay tuned.

2023 National - Pre-Show Dinner With Max

One of the (many) benefits of having the National in Chicago ever other year is that I can get there and visit with one of my very best and longest friends in the card community, Max.  He and I are approaching 10 years of knowing each other, and it has been really cool watching him grow up and also helping each other add to our respective binders.  Over the course of this season, so far, Max has been helping me get a bunch of cards out of my boxes.  We have our long-standing agreement of providing cards for each other, knowing a lot of what I send will be coming back my way, signed.

Not only does Max get me current major leaguers, he also gets coaches.  This helps me really clear out some room in the boxes where I would normally have stuff just sitting idle.  Guys like Darnell Coles and John Mabry (above) would normally be buried in these older boxes, but now, these cards have been signed and moved into the album.  The 2001 Upper Deck Jason Hart (bottom row, left) would normally be a needle in a haystack, but now the card is done (and looks great; 2001 Upper Deck is such an underrated set).  I also like that I was able to get a 2023 Topps Jon Berti (top row, right) signed.

Kristoper Negron (middle row, right) is a player that I tried to sent to Spring Training TTM, but never got my cards back.  I had some leftovers that I had pulled, so it was easy to find him and send the remainder to Maxx.  I had gotten Brad Keller TTM before, but had a lot of cards left over, so Max got a bunch more signed for me.  The two Mike Blowers cards (middle row, left and middle) turned out great.  For some reason, I had pulled Tom Murphy.  I think it was because someone was supposed to see him, but didn't.  That made it easy to find his cards, as well.

I had tried to get Logan Gilbert back when I went to Charleston (West Virginia Power) back when I visited my good friend, Josh.  I missed Gilbert, so it was nice to get a card back signed by him.  I also moved a couple Isaac Paredes cards from the box of shame.  That made some room for a few guys that I missed this season in Durham.

The Gabriel Arias 2022 Topps Cosmic Chrome turned out awesome.  I enjoyed opening that box, and I have been able to get a few cards from the set signed.  I was also glad to add some signed cards of former Buies Creek Astro, Myles Straw.

I love the 2019 Bowman Heritage set, so adding the Brad Keller (middle row, left) to the album was great.  I got a couple more 2023 Topps signed in Scott Barlow and Nick Pratto.  The Cubs Sticker is signed by Brant Brown.

Max and I use the team stickers for the same goal; have something with you, in case you run into someone who you don't have cards for.  These two are signed by Eduardo Salazat and Paul DeJong.

There were quite a few landscape-oriented cards, so I had to separate them for scanning purposes.  The 1996 Score Select John Mabry (third row from top; right) turned out great.  Those are some really nice-looking cards.  The bottom two team cards are signed by Kyle Freeland (bottom, left) and Angel Sanchez.

These team cards are signed by (starting top left): Andrew Knizner, Jason McLeod, Danny Hultzen, Tom Ricketts, Peyton Battenfield, Brayan Rocchio. Carlos Estevez and Eduardo Salazar.

These are signed by (starting top left): Steve Cishek, Rich Nye, Pete LaCock, Adam Russell, Cole Tucker, Michael Reed and two more Cole Tucker.

Finally, these are signed by: Freddy Fermin, Jose A Herrer, Jim Hickey, Paolo Espino, Jim Hayes (who couldn't believe Max wanted his autograph.  He does a podcast that Max listens to, and Max wanted to get him to sign something), Jose Fermin and Marty Brennaman with a Hall of Fame inscription.

Thank you so much for adding all of these autographs to my album, Max.  I enjoyed dinner, and hope that we can get together much sooner!

TTM Success - Pat Bourque

Here are some more mid-70s cards that I added to the autograph album.  This TTM success from Pat Bourque afforded me a signed 1975 Topps mini (above), which turned out nicely.

I also got a 1974 Topps (above, left) and a 1975 Topps (above, right).  These also turned out well.  His signature blends will with the faux autograph on the 1975 Topps; his auto hasn't changed much in the past 50 years.

There won't be any completing the above 1973 Topps rookie first basemen card; Gonzalo Marquez has since passed away.  I could add Cabell, though.  I think I still need him on a 1991 Crown Orioles card.

Bourque (b. 1947) played in the majors from 1971 to 1974 for the Cubs, A's and Twins.  He had 87 hits, 12 home runs and a .215 batting average.  Bourque won the World Series in 1973 with the A's.

I mailed to Bourque on January 25 and got the cards back on March 17, for a 51-day TAT.