2019 National Pickup - 1957 Topps Frank Robinson Rookie

I don't know if I am going to do a full recap post of "this is everything I got at this year's National" or if I'm going to break the stuff up into multiple posts, but at this moment, I am going to post a few things individually, and them maybe do one post talking about my experiences at the National itself.  We'll see.

This card was definitely not the first thing I bought (that was a stack of signed 1987 Topps), but this was one of the first major purchases.  I had wanted a Frank rookie for some time, and saw this one in a case.  It was actually the first of several Frank rookies that I saw, and it ended up being the most affordable.  I didn't even talk the dealer down in price, because I thought the price was amazing.

The card is off-centered, but otherwise sharp.  I am still sad that Frank is no longer with us, but I am happy that I was able to talk to his widow a bit.  I am happy that I have finally added his rookie card to my collection, and this one is such a great one to add!

TTM Success - Bob Henrich

While I was in Las Vegas in December, my son, Chris was responsible for getting my mail for me and putting it on my desk.  He called me the first day I was on my trip to tell me that I had gotten some TTMs, but one of the envelopes was soaked.  He knows how much I enjoy opening my TTMs myself, but he opened this one (and the other one that came that day, because he knew I wouldn't want the cards to get wet.  He called me and said "Dad. you got some TTMs in, but the mail got wet.  The cards are ok.  Do you want me to tell you who you got?"  Normally, I would want to be surprised, but I told him to go ahead and tell be, because I was expecting a big paid signing, and was praying that wasn't the card that got wet.

The cards turned out ok, but when I got home, I could tell this return from Bob Henrich had gotten wet.  You can see it in the autograph itself.  Still, it came back signed, and I am grateful it wasn't badly damaged.

Henrich (b. 1938) played in the majors from 1957 to 1959 for the Redlegs/Reds.  Gotta love that the political times of that era are reflected in the Reds name on the card.  He had 2 hits, no home runs and a .125 batting average.  His stats aren't much to look at, but he played at the ages of 18 to 20.

I mailed to Henrich on October 28, 2017 and got the card back on December 3, 2018, for a 401-day TAT.

TTM Success - Howie Judson

I have been adding more and more vintage cards to the autograph album; so much so, I have had to buy a few more 8-pocket pages in order to fit the cards.  This one is another 1955 Bowman, this time signed by Howie Judson.

Judson (b. 1926) played in the majors from 1948 to 1954 for the White Sox and Reds/Redlegs.  Yes he played for the Reds in 1954 where they were referred to Redlegs due to the McCarthyism of the time.  Pretty interesting subtle piece of history.  The back of the Bowman card confirms this.

He had a career record of 17-37 with 204 strike outs and an ERA of 4.29.

I mailed to Judson on February 13 and got the card back on February 25, for a 12-day TAT.