1986 Topps John Tudor

Who is this? 1980s St. Louis Cardinals pitcher John Tudor
 
What is this? An autographed card from the 1986 Topps set
 
Where'd I get it? I wrote to Tudor in February and asked him to sign it; I got it back on Monday.
 
How much did it cost? Not much. I think 1980s Topps cards breed in my storage boxes.
 
Why is this so special? John Tudor spent five seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals and went to the World Series twice. He didn't get a ring until his third trip, but that one came with the L.A. Dodgers.

Tudor's best season was 1985 - he went 21-8 with a 1.93 ERA. He led the league with 10 shutouts. If not for a young pitcher named Dwight Gooden putting together one of the best seasons in the history of the game, Tudor would have won the National League Cy Young Award.

For a lefty, I think Tudor has pretty good handwriting.

1986 Topps Andre Reed

Who is this? Bills wide receiver Andre Reed.

What is this? An autographed 1986 Topps card, number 388.

Where'd I get it? An auction at a card shop in Salt Lake City Utah.

How much did it cost? $1.50.

Why is this so special? I used to travel every week for work, so I'd scout out the local card shops. In Salt Lake City somewhere on the south side, there was a shop that had a weekly auction where customers could put a lot on the wall and other customers would bid on it. I ended up going to Salt Lake for a few weeks so I would go during auction day. It was pretty fun, there were usually about 5-15 people wandering through the store outbidding each other at the last minute before time ran out. I got this card in a lot of four autograph cards I won at the store. They were all hand signed '86 Topps cards and I specifically bid on it for the Andre Reed. The Kutztown State alum, longtime Bill receiver and future Hall of Famer has a really big signature on this card. Great looking sig on a card from one of my favorite football sets.