2021 National Pickups - Signed 87s For The Set

Six cards were crossed off of my 1987 Topps checklist when I found a few cards at different tables.  A few of them were purchased from the Signatures For Soldiers booth, which has the proceeds go to a good cause; helping veterans and wounded soldiers.

I had someone set to get me this Keith Hernandez card signed, but COVID messed that up.  I went ahead and bought this one, since it helped out a good cause, and it got the card out of the way.

I joined a private signing for Mitch Williams the same time I joined one for Charlie Leibrandt, and I have to say, I will never use that promoter again.  They have stopped answering my emails, and my cards never came back.  I'm out the $25 or so that I sent in for that signing.  They say that they sent me my cards, but that was supposedly over a year ago.  They would have gotten here by now.

I had sent to Mike Krulow TTM, and if that card comes in, I will upgrade this one.

Someone had told me they had the Mike Boddicker for me, but I haven't seen that, either, and I'm not about to pester someone to get it, so if that one comes in, it will be an upgrade, as well.

Finally, I added Tracy Jones and Jorge Orta, and both cards look pretty decent.  Both are signed in thin marker, so if the TTMs I sent out ever come back, maybe those signatures will be better.

These 6 cards put me well within 100 remaining for the set (actually, I need 97 more to complete the set.  They are going to be fewer and farther in between, unfortunately.  I think I can get close, but there are still several that I don't think I have a chance of completing.

National Free Signer - Mitch Williams

One of the first signers that I was able to get at the National was Mitch Williams during the VIP party on the Wednesday of the show.  They were supposed to have Steve Garvey there as well, but he backed out at the last minute and was replaced by Roy White and someone else (I can't remember who).  I got White on a baseball for my good friend, Drew, but since I didn't have any cards of the other guy, I didn't bother.  I did have a bunch of cards of Mitch Williams and ended up getting three signed.  Two of them went to my friend, Max, and I kept the above 1994 Score.

Williams (b. 1964) played in the majors from 1989 to 1995 and 1997 for the Rangers, Cubs, Phillies, Astros, Angels and Royals.  He had a career record of 45-58 with an ERA of 3.65 and 192 saves.  He was an All Star in 1989 while with the Cubs and finished as high as 6th in the NL Cy Young voting in 1991.

I got this 1994 Score out of one of the boxes of cards that Mom picked up for me.  One of them (a 5,000-count box) is almost all 1994 Score.  This was a really nice set back then, but was prone to sticking together if the cards got hot.  Luckily, the cards were well taken care of, and I have been able to use some for graphing.  They look really nice with blue sharpie.