1971 Topps, Ed Stroud

#217 Ed Stroud

This is the last card that I sent out to get signed TTM. I sent it out on February 23 and I got it back on March 4.

I have had this card in my collection since I was in grade school. Back in the day, the local card shop had a commons bin with random cards in it. I think that the only cards I ever bought out of it were a few '71 Topps cards. But, I didn't buy just any old '71. I would only buy cards of the Senators. When I was that young, I thought it was pretty cool that I could buy cards of a team that no longer existed. I doubt that I had any clue that the franchise had moved to Texas and I know I didn't know that this was the second Senators franchise. But, even if I had known that, I doubt that it would have mattered much.

Ed's Major League career lasted just six seasons and it was spent with the White Sox and the Senators. He played in just 529 games and he hit .237 with 14 homers and 100 RBI. His best season came in 1970 when he had career highs in just about all the offensive categories except triples.

When I got back into autographs a few years ago, I always hated ballpoint pen signatures. But, over the years, I have grown to appreciate them on older cards. I still do not like them on this set, though, just because of the pre-printed signature. This set looks OK signed in Sharpie, but the pre-printed signature drowns out the ballpoint.