2026 National Free Pre Signer - Bill Madlock

The 2026 National started off several days early for me when I went to see Guns N Roses for the 5th time, followed by a trip to GalaxyCon in Raleigh to get two celebrities' autographs. I spent the weekend in Winston-Salem, then drove up to Pennsylvania to meet my buddy Nate at his place so the two of us to drive to Chicago. The map doesn't sound right, I know, but part of Nate helping me out with a sweet deal on the hotel was that he didn't want to make the drive alone. I didn't mind, so that's how we worked it out.

This year, the National did a signing for folks who picked up their VIP packages early. We could get Mitch Williams if we got there between 12-2 or Bill Madlock if we got there between 2-4. Nate is a Pirates fan, so we opted to get there during Madlock's time and got him.

I had gotten him several times before, so I was getting low on his cards, but found the above 1985 Fleer for myself and a 1982 Topps for Nate.

We were in and out of the line for Madlock in less than 5 minutes, so it worked out very easily for us. Madlock was nice, and commented on my WWE Joe Hendry shirt, which was cool. It set a very nice tone for the upcoming show. 

2026 National Card Show Pickup - 1955 Topps Duke Snider

My wishlist has been updated, kind of. I picked this 1955 Topps Duke Snider up at the National this year after seeing it at a table. I have known the vendor for a very long time, so I wanted to make sure I picked something up from him. I also had an upgrade to my 1955 Topps Duke Snider on my blog wishlist for something like 10 years. I figured it was a good time to actually make a change to the list, and cross this card off once and for all. I honestly can't think of anything to ADD to the list, so I may just do away with the top 10 wishlist. It is getting harder and harder for me to think of things I want, save for some set needs, which are already listed below the top 10 list. Having any kind of PC these days just leads to disappointment, it seems. Prospects get overrated, their stuff gets expensive to acquire, and then they flame out. Seemingly good players tease you with a few good years, then their feelings get hurt and they forget to hit (or field, or both). So, the only real player PC I have at the moment is former Wood Duck Cody Freeman, and once Gavin Collyer gets some mainstream cards, I probably will start a PC of him, as well.

As for sets I'm building, I probably could populate a list of cards to upgrade for the 55 set. I may do that for real at some point. This Duke wasn't cheap, but it was nice to have something different to search for at the show. I did buy a stack of 24 cards from 1964 Topps and 4 from the 2013 Topps emerald parallel set that I am still working on. I didn't make an attempt at shaving any cards off of the needs lists for 1955 Bowman, 1962 Topps or 1967 Topps. Those are going slowly, but I do work on them from time to time.

All of that being said, I do still enjoy building sets. I still haven't finished 2025 Topps and need to sort my Series 2 from 2026 to see what else I need from there. I'll get there some rainy weekend.

Oh, and I now have a rough grade 1955 Topps Duke Snider that I would sell, if anyone was interested. Stick around and check out the series of posts coming up from this year's National. I picked up a ton of autographs, but aside from the above-listed set needs, the bulk of what I bought was stuff for graphing and TTMs.

TTM Success - Matt Creighton

A nice 2004 Topps card came back signed TTM when I got this one from Matt Creighton.

Creighton (b. 1979) was an undrafted free agent who played in the Cubs minor league system from 2002 to 2005. He had 258 hits with 27 home runs and a .280 batting average. 

I mailed to Creighton on February 23 and got the card back on April 10, for a 46-day TAT.

TTM Success - Tom Edens

A 1994 Donruss came back signed TTM by Tom Edens recently. This set always looks sharp with a very minimalist design. It can be mixed up with 95 Donruss, which had a very similar design, but more foil.

Edens (b. 1961) played in the majors in 1987 and from 1990 to 1995 for the Mets, Brewers, Twins, Astros, Phillies and Cubs. He had a record of 19-12 with 182 strike outs and a 3.86 ERA.

I mailed to Edens on February 23 and got the card back on April 10, for a 46-day TAT.

TTM Success - Jacob Dahlstrand

This 2015 Topps Heritage Minors card came back signed TTM from Jacob Dahlstrand. I had it in my box to send out for quite a long time, and I finally got it out in the mail earlier this year. The card came back signed and looks great.

Dahlstrand (b. 1992) was a 10th round pick by the Red Sox in the 2010 June Amateur Draft out of Memorial High School in Houston. He played in the minors from 2010 to 2017, all in the Red Sox system. He reached AA Portland by the time he hung it up in 2017. He had a record of 27-29 with 243 strike outs and an ERA of 4.41.

I mailed to Dahlstrand on March 12 and got the card back on April 10, for a 29-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Brett Krill

A pass through my early 2010s Bowman box led me to pulling some players from those years and sending cards out TTM. One of the ones that came back from that batch was this 2012 Bowman Chrome of Brett Krill.

The card turned out great. Some of those Bowman cards from that era are really clean and look great when signed.

Krill (b. 1989) was a 25th round pick by the Giants in the 2010 June Amateur Draft out of UCLA. He played in the Giants system from 2011 to 2014, reaching AAA. He had 284 hits, 13 home runs and a .268 batting average. 

I mailed to Krill on March 23 and got the card back on April 6, for a 14-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Kirk Saarloos

The above 2002 Bowman Chrome of Kirk Saarloos was a card that came in the early 2000s Bowman package that Ryan sent me last year. I am still working on getting some of those cards out, but most of them have been sent.

I got the card back signed TTM, along with this 2004 Topps that I sent. He signed them in silver Sharpie.

Saarloos (b. 1979) played in the majors from 2002 to 2008 for the Astros, A's and Reds. He had a record of 29-30 with 251 strike outs and a 5.02 ERA. 

I mailed to Saarloos on March 9 and got the cards back on April 6, for a 28-day TAT.