2025 National Pickup - Judy Johnson Signed Baseball

Another Hall of Famer was added to the collection at last year's National when I got a great deal on this baseball signed by Judy Johnson. He was a former Negro Leaguer who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975.

Johnson (b. 1899) played in the Negro Leagues from 1923 to 1927, 1929 and 1932 to 1936 for Hilldale Club, Homestead Grays, Pittsburgh Crawfords and New York Cubans. He had documented statistics that included 481 hits, 32 home runs and a .288 batting average. 

I'm pretty sure Johnson is my 177th Hall of Famer on a baseball. 

TTM Success - Bill Greason

There is an assortment of generic cards that I keep handy in order to send to folks who normally don't have cards.  In the case of Bill Greason, I had this cool Topps Stadium Club ad card that would have looked cool, had Greason signed the front.  Still, he did sign my card, and his autograph has been added to my album.

I also had sent Greason a 2010 Topps Cardinals team card.  He signed the back of this one as well.  I'll keep trying with guys like this, but some signatures on the fronts of the cards would have been nice.  I'm honestly just happy with a response.  TTMs got pretty dry this summer, and any return was welcome.  Things have picked up lately, but the goal is to catch up on posts before the year is out.  We'll see if I can reach that goal.

Greason (b. 1924) played in the Negro Leagues in 1948 for the Birmingham Black Barons and in the Majors in 1954 for the Cardinals.  He had a career record of 3-3 (including his Negro League stats) with 36 strike outs and a 5.15 ERA.

I mailed to Greason on May 10 and got the cards back signed on May 25, for a 15-day TAT.  He also signed my note.