Back to 2018 For a Day or Two

Today's post brings us back to more 2018 team set hits.  All of these cards came from Canada via TCDB member karsal. 

I can cross one set off my list with this Bowman Platinum DeJong.

My first 2018 Gallery cards represent half of the team set.  I am not a fan of these cards at all.  The cartoonish looking photos are just flat out bad.  The O'Neill card is the worst of this bunch, but the Miles Mikolas card I do not have is a close second.

I have a better chance of finishing the Big League gold set than the flagship one.  I have never completed a team set of Topps gold cards. 

I scored a few 2018 inserts as well.  The Wainwright Donruss Holo Green is pretty sharp in hand. 

The last 2 cards came from 2017.  The Diaz Sepia did not scan well at all.  The Martinez is a Silver Foil parallel from Honus Bonus. 

Something Big from 1992

The trade envelopes keep coming in the last few days.  One arrived on Monday from TCDB member Lugnut80 that put a huge dent in a team set.  Unlike my recent posts, this one is not from 2018 but goes all the way back to 1992.

 

The 1992 Conlon Collection offers 49 different Cardinals in it, although some players have more than 1 card.  It almost makes some Topps Total team sets look small.  The 19 cards I received in this trade brought my wantlist down to 7.  It is great seeing some of the lesser know Hall of Famers like Jesse Haines, Frankie Frisch, and Chick Hafey in the set.  I also love seeing the obscure players I had no idea they played for the Cardinals until I read the back of the card.  Guys like Bill Sherdel, Hi Bell, and Les Bell.

I did receive 3 other cards in the trade. The 2 1988 Fleer Glossy cards above and the 2000 MLB Showdown card below. 

Some 2018 Hits Before 2019 Rolls Around

So I survived one holiday, only one more to go before 2019 hits.  I have made some progress on a few 2018 team sets, but still would like to finish more.  A trade with TCDB member BenG76 provided some help towards my goal.

Only 3 more Topps Fire to go to complete the set.  This one will not get done before 2019 unless a miracle happens.

Archives is down to needing a couple of Sps, while Bowman platinum is down to just one more card that should arrive in any day now.

While not a base card, this 2018 Update insert was on my wantlist.  It was nice of Topps to use a photo of Brock I have never seen before.  I would bet it will make an appearance in 2019.

I also have a lot of recent sets to finish.  These 2 2013 Topps mini cards knocked my needs down to 5.  Not bad considering there are 23 cards in the team set.

Tis The Season

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday.  Mine has been somewhat calm other than the oldest child waking up at 5:30 to see what Santa brought.  A soon to be 14 year old should know better.  After tearing into presents and attending church at 8:30 this morning, we have all been in our pjs and spent the day putting legos together, playing new Xbox games, and watching some movies. 

I did not receive any cards myself, but did help my son open a blaster of 2018 Topps Update.  I hope to highlight what he got in a few days.  He will inherit all of my Cardinals collections some day, so he wants to trade his cards for Jose Altuve cards.  My favorite present were two passes for him and I to the Cardinals Winter Warm Up next month.  I also receive some items to be autographed, but will wait to show them off.  I will however highlight 2 trade packages from the weekend.  The first came from Bench member reickholt.

My first taste of 2018 Topps Tek brought 2 Yadis, a Flaherty, and a Dejong Orbital Diffractor.  Glad there is not 81 patterns to chase like the 1998 set.

The next trade came from TCDB member paulie3jobs.

I am making good progress on the Big League Gold set.  These cards would be very sharp if they made a refractor type version.

Two set hits from 2009 Topps Wal-Mart Black and 2000 Topps Gold Label Class 2.  Nothing big, but 2 sets that have not been hit in a while. 

Enjoy the rest of your night and Merry Christmas to all!

Another Trade Recap Before a Busy Few Days

First off I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.  After surviving 3 meals this weekend, I have only 2 more to go.  Today will be very hectic as we will be having about 40 people over to our house for lunch.  At least there is some calm before the storm that I can spend with my cards.  Another trade package arrived late last week from TCDB member Berton Russell that knocked out a few Cardinals wants.

I remember opening a few packs of 1998 UD3 and trying to figure out how the set was numbered.  It was so much easier when card companies put a single number on the back of a card instead of things like technology, set, and subset.

Fleer put out a ton of sets in 2002, but at least some were bases on retired players like Fall Classics. Sweet picture of lefty Steve Carlton before the terrible trade with Philly.

Rounding out the package are a couple of 2018 cards.  Hard to believe 2019 Topps will be here in about a month.    

A Little Snow Before Christmas

Yesterday was my last day of work until the 27th.  Five days off sounds like a lot, but throw in 5 different family gatherings to attend and I am sure time will fly by.  I hope to have some time for cards, but we shall see.  I was lucky to receive 3 different trade envelopes yesterday.   The first pwe  from TCDB member Shaggy69 added to the holiday mood.

This is the first year I have not broken down and bought a blaster of Topps Holiday.  These are my first cards from the set

The last card in the pwe finished my 2003 Opening Day team set.  Topps put Renteria in a few sets this past year including some autographs.  I need to get one as the only one in my collection right now is a smudged 2005 Leaf card.

From the Archives

I have been doing a lot of trading of the last week, but not much posting.  That should change as the trades start rolling in and the weekend comes around.  Although I have 5 different gatherings to attend from Saturday to Tuesday, I am off work all next week.  The first pwe that arrived came from Bench member Al S. who hit my 2001 Topps Archives set.

There are 28 different Cardinals in this set.  These 3 knocked my wants down to 7.  I love getting cards of Maris in a Cardinals uniform.  He did not play here long, but did manage to win a World Series in 1967.

Another Bench Trade

Keeping with my theme from yesterday's post, I made a second trade on The Bench last week.  This one was with member Scobes who traded me a nice lot of Cardinals in exchange for some junk game used/autos. 

These 2008 Tristar Propects Plus cards are about as ugly as a card can get, but minor league Cardinals are too hard for me to pass up. 

The McGwire promi is from 2003 UD Play Ball.  The front looks the same as the base card.  Lankford makes a nice cameo on the 99 SP Authentic HR Chronicles card.  I don't go out of my way to hunt for cameo cards of Lankford, but have a few floating around in my Cardinals collection.

I was surprised I did not have the 1993 Fleer Final Edition Ozzie Diamond Tribute card.  I have seen lots of them and just assumed I had it.  Love the pic on the 2017 Diamond King Expressionists insert.

Two more Cardinals HOF players with a 1987 Leaf Special Olympics Musial and a 2011 Topps Lineage Cloth Sticker Gibson.

The 06 Opening Day Team vs. Team has a neat photo.  The other two inserts are rather bland, but Cardinals none the less even if they picture a player with 2 teams.

Panini was not very creative naming this 2015 Prizm insert Prizms.  Add an S and you get a new card.  The refractor style finish does look great in hand.   The colored versions are even better.

Diaz was traded to the Astros last month after spending 1 year as a Blue Jay.  Maybe the short left field porch in Houston will help is batting average. 

It would be great to see Ozuna put up his Miami numbers in the cleanup spot next year.  I will assume Goldschmidt will hit third with Ozuna behind him.  If both stay healthy, Ozuna should have a monster year going into free agency.

Inserts From the Bench

In recent weeks I have been able to make a few trades on The Bench website.  It seems more of the true collectors are coming back.  For a while it seemed all anyone wanted to trade for was Soto, Ohtani, Judge, or whatever rookie was hot at the moment.  I was able to ship a stack of 2018 Topps Update cards from my Black Friday buy to member Billy J. in return for 4 Cardinals.

I had the blue version of the Molina, now the regular version also.  The recently departed Kelly is from 2017 Panini Chronicles.  I really hope he gets some regular playing time in Arizona.  Always a nice guy who never complained about being sent down to Triple A or having to sit and watch Molina play 28 out of 30 games in a month.  Best of luck Carson.

 

Three of these four players should have a big impact in 2019.  Flaherty should be the #2 or #3 starter, Bader the starting center fielder, and Reyes should be back healthy hopefully to contribute in some way.  I believe Mejia is a minor league free agent, so unless he just loves Memphis, he will be with another team.

Small Trade and a Big Buy

Yesterday I had 2 envelopes waiting for me in the mailbox.  One was a PWE trade, the other EBAY win.  The PWE was a quick deal with TCDB member bravefan1.

The Allen & Ginter World Talent Yadi is ok, but I really dig the Topps Fire Blue Chip Pham.  I know a lot of people do not like Fire, but it is a brand like no other in my eyes. 

About 2 weeks ago a Ray Lankford card popped up on EBAY that I have never seen before.  It was a buy it now with a best offer listing.  I wanted to wait until after last weekend's card show to see what my budget was.  By only spending $15 at the show, I had enough to put in a comfortable offer for the Lankford.  The buyer took it almost instantly, making me wondering if I spent too much.  Hind sight now as I am able to knock another rare Lankford off my wantlist.

So this look like a regular 1998 Studio Gold Press Proof from the front.  Flip it over and you discover why it is rare.

 

It is actually a Studio Media Test Issue.  According to Baseball Card Pedia, these were not released until after Pinnacle's bankruptcy.  I have read that there were not 300 produced, so who knows how many might be in circulation.  

Trade with a Fellow Collector/Blogger

It is always nice to trade with another blogger.  Chris from The Collector blog claimed some Red Sox from my Black Friday packs along with a few other random Sox.  He sent me some nice Cardinals from his TCDB inventory in return. 

I like the Big League parallels.  I may have to try completing one of these sets.  The golds are a lot easier to find than the flagship counterparts that are numbered.

The Upper Deck card reminds me of a  Topps Rediscover card.  The Lynn is a Rainbow foil parallel. 

Finishing out the package are a couple of power threats the Cardinals traded for that stayed with the team as free agents.  I hope new Cardinals Paul Goldschmidt will do the same.

Thanks for the trade Chris, hope we can hook up again soon. 

What I Bought for $6 at the Card Show

Continuing with my card show recap from Sunday, today I will show my dime box finds.  There were 2 different dealers with multiple dime boxes.  The first was nothing but Cardinals.  My son and I spent about 30 minutes going through his boxes.  The second dealer I almost forgot about.  I noticed his table during my initial walk through, but forgot to stop until I only had about 30 minutes left.  I made it through 2 of his 8 monster boxes.  He had a huge variety of base cards and inserts from the last few years.  First up are the Cardinals.
 

I do not remember finding any Topps stickers in dime boxes before.  The Pendelton and Pena are from 1989 Panini.

I did not find very many cards from the 1990s I needed except for a 97 Flair Row 2 and a 1998 Donruss Silver Press Proof.

It was strange to find an oddball minor league card mixed in, but I will gladly take them.

The Perez was the only base card I found from my wantlist, but that just means there were a lot of nice inserts like the Kelly.

Lots of blue in the boxes like the top 3 Bowman paper cards numbered to 500 and the 2 blue wave refractors.

Silver Ice are always nice

Rounding out the Cardinals were some refractors.  I had the 3 on the left, but for a dime each they are good trade bait for other Cardinals collectors.

My son has started an Altuve collection.  He relates to him well because the both are on the small side and play second base.  I like the underdog type player and Altuve plays the game the right way, so I have no problem with buying his cards.

The rest of the cards I bought are trade bait.  I try to pull cards of teams that I know are easily traded.

The two Cubs are available, the Phillies are pending.  Cease is numbered to 150,Wood 175.

Topps golds are popular with a lot of set collectors.  For a dime each I am sure someone will need them.

I know of 3 different  Twins collectors who collect anything.  The bottom two Chrome cards are refractors.

Plenty of Mets collectors out there also

Of course there are a ton of Yankee fans out there.  No huge names here, but some nice inserts anyway.  That wraps up the dime box finds.  In my 2 hours at the show, I spent $15 for 4 minor league sets and close to 70 cards.  Not a bad day.