2026 National Free Signer - Wendell Davis

The next free signer at this year's National was former Bear, Wendell Davis. I ended up with a few vouchers for him and picked up some cards from a vendor that I have seen at several past Nationals who always has cards of the signers. It made life so much easier when I could just go by his tables and pick up the guys I needed. We ended up making a coupke trades later in the show, and then I also got him some of his own cards signed.

Davis (b. 1966) played professionally from 1988 to 1993 for the Bears. He had 207 receptions for 3,000 yards and 14 touchdowns receiving.

Davis was pretty cool and talked to everyone. He seemed really happy to be there.

2026 National Free Signer - The Godfather

While walking around the show floor at the National on the Wednesday Sneak Peek day, I walked by the Ebay booth and saw retired WWE superstar, The Godfather, signing a bunch of cards. I stopped by and asked the folks in the booth what was going on and they told me that The Godfather was going to be handing out signed cards and photos to folks during an Ebay live event. I joined in on the event and bid on a few things, but didn't win anything. It was a lot of fun, though. I ended up getting a signed 8 x 10 and a signed card. They were both really cool, and I also got to meet him and talk to him for a bit. I also posed for a photo

The Godfaher (Charles Wright) (b. 1961) was a professional wrestler from 1989 until his retirement in 2002. He is best known as The Godfather, but also wrestled in WWE as Papa Shango and Kama. He never held the World title, but was the Intercontinental Champion once. He was elected to the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016.

He was really nice, and I'm glad that I stopped in the Ebay booth and checked on what was happening.

2026 National VIP Party Free Signer - Jerome Walton

The next free signer, Jerome Walton. He was really cool and signed a card the first time through the line.

After the VIP party, we went back through his line, and I had him sign the other cards I had. He took the two I had, signed them and said "That's all you got?". Unfortunately, I didn't have anything else.

Walton (b. 1965) played in the majors from 1989 to 1998 for the Cubs,  Angels, Reds, Braves, Orioles and Devil Rays. He had 423 hits, 5 home runs and a .269 batting average. He was the 1989 NL Rookie of the Year and finished 13th in the NL MVP race.

2026 National VIP Party Free Signer - Cecil Cooper

The next free signer at the VIP party at this year's National was Cecil Cooper. He was a free signer at two past Nationals that I had been to, 2015 and 2021.

At the past shows, I had gotten Cooper on a 1983 All Star Game ball, 1987 Topps and a 1986 Donruss. He also signed TTM for me, which added a  1976, 1984 and a 1988 Topps. I was running very low on Cooper cards, but found a few that I didn't already have.

Cooper was really nice and commented on my hat. I was glad to get him again. I'm out of his cards now, so if he comes back, I'll need to add some more. 

2026 National VIP Free Signer - Gregg Jefferies

Gregg Jefferies was one of the VIP party signers on Wednesday at the National. Nate and I went through the line initially and got one card signed, each. Later on, we went back through and got the rest of our stuff signed. 

Jefferies was really nice and chatted with us the two times through the line. The 1994 Score Gold Rush is what I had him sign initially, then he signed a: 1993 Topps, 1992 Topps, 1991 Topps, 1989 Topps, 1996 Fleer, 1991 Fleer, 1988 Fleer and 1988 Donruss. Everything turned out great.

They had three VIP party signers, and the others will be posted shortly. 

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.