Monthly Ron B Trade Envelope

It is almost the end of May already.  My kids are out of school now, but the running after them does not stop for very long.  June brings summer activities like volleyball and band camps, more travel baseball, and your general friend gatherings.  Good thing my wife who is a teacher can run after them. 

May almost passed without a package from Trading Bases member Ron B, but he snuck one in over the weekend.  I had sent him some in person autographs from some Pirate prospects a few weeks ago. I  told him not to send anything in return, but that request fell on deaf ears.  I won't complain.

It would nice if the Cardinals could get fired up like these 2014 Opening Day inserts.  Yesterday was another loss.  Score 3 runs in the first, then manage only 2 hits the rest of the game.  Wainwright did ok while taking the loss.  He struck out 10 with no walks, but allowed a go ahead 2 run home run in the 4th inning.  May cannot end soon enough.

Have I mentioned I love blue cards?  The Wisdom 1984 Silver Pack #ed to 150 is really sharp.

Panini made good use of up close photos on these 2016 Diamond Kings Memorable Feats cards.  No need to airbrush the uniforms.  Even though players like Frankie Frisch are Hall of Famers, a lot of fans do not know them well because they played back in the 1930s.

I think Molina is starting to show his age this year.  He has remained healthy so far, but a lot of his defensive stats are down.  I would say that about his hitting also, but that would apply to all the Cardinals right now.

Allen Craig finally retired this year after never being able to regain his hitting stroke.  He was an All-Star in 2013, but was traded to Boston a year later and bounced around the minors for the rest of his career.  He now has a front office job with the Padres.     

   

Something Old, Something New, Something Blue

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.  I managed to get a lot of things done around the house that had been neglected for a few weeks.  About the only downfall from the weekend was the performance of the St. Louis Cardinals and Blues.  The Cardinals managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on Sunday night by giving up a 3 run lead in the ninth.  The Blues were not much better last night in game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  They were up 2-0 after 1 period, but came out slow and committed some bad penalties that led to a 4-2 loss. 

One of my goals this weekend was to clean up my card table.  I have all trades scanned and ready to be blogged about.  Today's post is a package from Canadian member karsal from TCDB. 

 

The 1995 Henke Silver Signature may not be considered old in terms of vintage cards, but it is 24 years old.  The Gibson is from 2015 Diamond Kings.  The cards itself is not old, but Gibson is getting there.  Gibson will turn 84 later this year.  I saw him last year at a card show and he still looks to be in good shape.

One card from each of the last 3 years in this group of pitcher's cards.  The 2019 Donruss Independence Day parallel is my favorite.  Reyes is scheduled to make another rehab start tonight.  Maybe his return could help kick start a winning streak.  Nothing else seems to be working for the Cardinals right now.

These 2018 Donruss cards are really blue even though my scanner turned them purple.  They are not quite as sharp as a blue refractor, but not far behind.

The last card is really pink.  This 2016 Donruss Pink Piscotty arrived a few weeks late for Mother's Day this year, but is still a sweet card.

 

Yes It Is a Weekend Post

I seldom make a post on a weekend, but I am trying to get my trade recaps caught up.  I hope to this done by the end of this week.  This package came from TCDB member tigerhead.

DeJong has been one of the few bright spots for the Cardinals so far this year.  He has been hitting close to .300 all year while being among the league leaders in doubles.  If he stays healthy, he looks to be the Cardinals representative on the All Star team.  Jordan Hicks has a chance also, but he has not been getting the save chances because the Cardinals have been losing so much.

This card completed my 2017 Bowman Draft Chrome team set.  Hurst has been up and down between High A and Double A this year.  There is nothing too flashy about his game.  He has some power and is good defensively.  There are quite a few other outfielders ahead of him in the minors, so I doubt he makes it to St. Louis barring a huge breakout season in the next year or two.

A couple of nice inserts and a not so great Topps cards.  I am a big fan of the 2019 150 year inserts that highlight past great players like Slaughter.  I also love the 1987 Topps design no matter what card it is used for.  As for the Rediscover cards, not a fan.  I do not see the point of re-issuing a 2012 Topps card five years later. 

Late on Opening Day

It is almost embarrassing to say how long it takes me to finish some common team sets.  It is even worse when the team set is from the current year from a low end product.  Such was the case with this year's Topps Opening Day.  OD had been out since early March.  A trade with TCDB member NorCalCards707 brought be the last 2 cards I needed. 

Nothing very exciting to see here.  I am just happy to finish my team set with these 2.

Maybe I will go after the blue foil set since I finally finished the base set.  I thought these were numbered in years.  The 2019 version is not.  Still a nice looking card though.

I like the base 2019 GQ cards better than the green parallels.  I have said it before, but all I can think of when I see that much green is the Oakland A's.  Green works better as a refractor color.   

Jazzed Up Trade

Contrary to the title, this post has nothing to do with the Utah Jazz.  I am not much of an NBA fan.  College basketball is more my thing.  I enjoy watching 5 guys play as a team, not one player going one on one all the time.  Getting back to the point, the title has to do with the interesting user names collectors have.  Some user names are based off the collector's actual name.  Others like most of mine have something to do with a favorite player or team.  Every now and then you come across great names like itsjustoldcardboard, TheMacman, Shaggy69, and WallyCub.  Last week I completed a trade with TCDB member Jazzleader.  This collector has no basketball cards in his collection, so I assume the user name is more about musical preference.  On to the great cards I received.

2019 Diamond Kings base cards are not very different from the 2018 version.  I like the name badge better on this year's cards.

It has been awhile since I received a new Cardinals mini.  I am not really complaining about that since you know my disdain for miniature cards, but I will always take a card of a great Cardinal.

I have yet to see any 2019 Pannini Prizm in hand, but all the parallel cards in the set made me think of 2018 Donruss Optic.  The Martinez is a Shock parallel, while the Carp is a Holo version.

Another Shock parallel along with a sweet Red & Yellow card.  Wainwright is doing ok this year in what may be his final season.  It is nice to see him have some success after 2 dreadful seasons.  His ERA is too close to 5.00, but he is giving the Cardinals a chance to win in most of his starts.     

Just Some Fun Cards

You may have noticed from my trade posts that I am not a high end collector.  Sure I will add the cool autograph or vintage Cardinal to my collection when I can, but I am just as content hunting out those cards with little value that may not be seen everyday or are just fun to have.  A recent trade with TCDB member klimczak brought in quite a few of these cards.

What is more fun than a bunch of 1987 Topps Stickers.  I had some of these when I was younger that I put on 800 count boxes.  Neither the boxes or the stickers are in very good shape.  These will stay in the pack pulled condition unless I happen to get duplicates.

Ozzie was the last card I needed for the 1992 Topps Kids team set.  I doubt if anyone ever thought of the Wizard as a big muscular guy, but he fills out the uniform nicely.

The second Ozzie card is from the 1995 Fleer All Star insert set.  As I stated yesterday, I am not a big fan of the double sided cards, though I understand why Fleer did it with this set.  Frank Thomas is on the Jefferies card, while Cal Ripken is on the other side of the Ozzie card. 

The 1994 Upper Deck Heroes Lou Brock shows him hitting at an old timers game.  Lou has slowed down quite a bit since having his left leg amputated below the knee in 2015 due to diabetes, but he still makes a few appearances in St. Louis during the baseball season. 

Cardinals for Cardinals

Catching up with my trades from last week, today I have a stack of Cardinals from fellow Cardinals fan Jerry J from Trading Bases.  Nothing better than both parties trading away extras for team cards each one needs.

I love these 2014 Topps Red Foil cards.  They remind me of Bowman Shimmer cards.  Does not hurt that the primary color is Cardinal red.

I wonder why Topps called this 2001 set Archives Reserves instead of Archives Chrome.  Either way, I am a sucker for sets built on older players.  These 3 cards finished the 6 card team set for me.

More cards of old timers from a variety of sets.  The 2011 Tier One Mize #ed to 799 is my favorite, although the Gibson Certified Cuts is a close second.

Some sets that I have not received any hits from in a long while.  The 1997 Donruss Limited  set was a nice idea, but I do not like cards that feature players on both sides.  Even the ones with players from the same team.

 A few more recent team sets featured.  The Carpenter was the last card I needed to finish the 2013 Heritage High Numbers.  The Martinez also finished a team set from 2014 Bowman Scouts Top 5 Mini Refractors.

The Piscotty finished my 2017 Donruss set.  I thought I was getting the regular 2013 Panini Hometown Heroes Lee Smith card, but instead received the States parallel.  No big deal as I needed either card.  I hope to get the Perez card autographed during my next trip to a Peoria Chiefs game.  I hope that is sometime in June.  
   

Sometimes I Just Forget

Time got away from me last week.  I have quite a few trade recaps to do, but life got in the way last week.  I hope this week allows me to catch up.  I need to because I am starting to forget who sent me what.  If I make a trade on The Bench or TCDB website, I can always go back and find out where incoming cards came from.  Every now and then I make a blog trade or receive cards from a Trading Bases member.  Those trades I usually remember, but not all the time.  This batch of cards I cannot for the life of me figure out where they came from.  They have been in my scanned folder for about 10 days.  If you sent me these cards, please send me a reminder so I can thank you properly.

One of my pet peeves is a card that shows a player in one uniform, but lists the team as another.  The Slaughter card is one of those.  The Eckersley 1996 Select finished my team set.

A few weeks ago was the 20th anniversary of Tatis hitting 2 grand slams in one inning.  His son is not too bad of a ball player for the Padres.

These 2 were all the rage in the collecting world back in 1998-2000.  Neither lived up to the hype, but both had some good  moments.  It will be interesting to see if Ankiel can make it back from an injury to become a reliever.

I love the Stars and Steel cards.  I wonder if Topps will ever bring the brand back like they did with Gold Label and Gallery.  HD would not be a bad choice either.

 

  

Wrapping Up the Week

It was great to see the Cardinals finally put up some runs last night.  17 to be exact, none coming from home runs.  They really need to win 3 of 4 against the Pirates at home this weekend.  I wish I could watch some of the games, but my weekend is booked up.  Today is my wife's birthday, my son has a baseball tournament this weekend, and of course we all know it is Mother's Day on Sunday.  Unless we get a lot of rain (I hope we do not), I will have little time for the Cardinals or baseball cards until next week.  I did receive a trade envelope yesterday from TCDB member madams30 that was a nice end to my week.

It is weird how you never receive certain cards in a trade in a long time, then they come in bunches.  Just like Monday's post, I received some 1990 CMC Cardinals.  I might be over halfway on this set now, but I will have to wait until next week to check.

I usually do not scan the back of cards, but I am sure everyone has seen the front of a 1991 Topps card.  This one is a dark logo variation.  The Young card is from the 1997 Sports Illustrated set.  I loved the SI sets in the late 1990s and was disappointed Fleer did not make more. 

I will never have all the McGwire cards from the Pacific brands, but I will keep trying.  This is one is a 1998 Pacific Omega Online insert.  Love the pose, hate the background.  The Morris card can be a little confusing to identify.  In 1997, Select put out a base set and a parallel Select Company that looked very similar.  The Select Company cards appear to have rays of sunshine shooting from the logo in the upper right.

Envelope Full of Oddballs

I think we all like a little oddball in our collecting lives.  I know I would get pretty bored just looking at your ordinary Topps base cards or inserts.  It is great to receive a trade with cards from sets you have never heard of before or rarely see at shows.  A trade package that arrived early this week from TCDB member gormanvj contained plenty of odd and unique cards of the Cardinals variety.

Two of my favorites together in one set: oddball and old timers.  These SSPC HOF cards look like something from the 1970s disco era instead of 1980-1987.  The pennant on the front is the year the player entered the Hall of Fame.

The blue border on these 1982 Topps Stickers goes well with the Cardinals baby blue uniforms.  They are wearing these throwback uniforms on Saturday away games this year.  I prefer the Saturday alternate home jersey more, but I know I lot of fans love this jersey because of the ties to the 1982 World Series championship team. 

O-PEE-CHEE may not seem very odd to some collectors, but to me they are hard to find.  Anything before 1987 is even tougher to track down.

Back in the early 1990s there were quite a few monthly baseball card magazines that featured card inserts.  Baseball Card Magazine and Sports Card Digest were two of  them.  Although Zeile never lived up to his uber prospect hype, he did manage to have 16 year career playing for 11 different teams. 

There is nothing too oddball about these 2 inserts.  The Ozzie/Ripken is from 1993 Fun Pack All-Star Scratch Off set.  It appears to be a fold out card, but I did not want to bend it to find out what was inside. 

Chunk of Bowman and PWE

I do not have a lot of energy today after staying up late to watch the Blues win game 7 against Dallas last night.  Great to see them get to the conference finals again. Maybe this time they can make it all the way.  In between periods I had time to open 2 trade packages.  The first one from The Bench member dragonslayer913 put a nice dent in my 2019 Bowman wants.

I received 4 of the 5 Chrome propsects in the set.  Just need Andrew Knizner to finish it.  It was nice to get the Gorman card in a trade instead of overpaying for it off EBAY or Sportlots.

I also received the Gorman paper card.  I need Luken Baker and Ryan Helsley to finish this set. 

The second package was a PWE from TCDB member 49ants.

I finally finished the 1997 Fleer team set.  It is amazing how a common card can elude someone for over 20 years.  One of the best looking inserts in recent years is the 2012 Topps Gold Sparkle set.  Simply beautiful in hand.   

Older Minor League Cards

One of my favorite sets is coming out in a few weeks.  Topps Pro Debut is scheduled to be out on May 22.  Along with Heritage Minor League, I love using these 2 sets for in person autographs.  Long before Topps produced either of these 2 sets, companies like CMC, Team Best, and Just Minors were cranking out the minor league cards.  My latest trade package from TCDB member WallyCub featured quite a few of these cards.

CMC put out a massive 880 card set in 1990.  There are 32 cards of Cardinals minor league players, most from the Triple A team that was located in Louisville at the time.  A few of these guys pictured made it to the Majors, but only for a season or two.  Ray Lankford was the most successful Cardinal with a card in the set.  I am do not care for the green and yellow border.  It makes me think I have an Oakland A's card.

Also part of the same CMC set were 3 cards of Savannah Cardinals.  Not as classy as the 1987 Topps wood border, but much better than the Louisville cards.  The 2003 Justifiable card by Just Minors was a pretty poor effort.  No mention of the major league affiliate anywhere on the card, and no stats either.

These Team Best cards are from 1999.  I love the logos on the front of the card, much like what Pro Debut cards feature.  The background could use a lot of work.  Why go to the trouble of taking out the actual background?  It just goes to show you how far minor league cards have come in the last 20 years.       

EBAY Win

It is another rainy morning here in Illinois, but that is not an all bad thing.  I should have plenty of time this morning to file away a stack of Cardinals that has been growing for 3 weeks.  I added on card to the stack yesterday with a recent EBAY win.

2019 Topps Inception is a very well done set.  I am not sure if all the autographs are on card, but this one is.  After using my EBAY Bucks, this cost me $1.88.  I doubt Garcia ever finds regular time in the Cardinals outfield barring a flurry of injuries.  He does have some power and a cannon for an arm but struggles with the strikeouts.  He is almost a Tyler O'Neill clone.  This is my first autograph of his and the second new Cardinal autograph I have added this year.

Hitting the Heritage

I have fallen a bit behind with my trade recaps.  You would think with the rainy weather over the past few days I would have some spare time inside, but that has not been the case.  End of the year school activities have started, and baseball practice goes on indoors.  I was lucky to have some free time last night to scan a trade package from Trading Bases member Matt S.

I was able to finish my 2019 Heritage base set minus the short prints and add another sp with the Mikolas card.  Still needing 5 short prints to finish the set.  I doubt this one will get finished anytime soon.

There was a nice variety of Heritage inserts included.  The Goldschmidt is a cloth sticker, the Mikolas a Chrome numbered to 999, and the Yadi is a purple refractor.  The 2 Torre inserts are the standard Heritage inserts you get every year.

 My 2013 Heritage High Numbers set is just missing the Matt Carpenter card thanks to these 3 additions.  Martinez looks very strange with short hair.  He is set to start a minor league rehab soon.  

The non Heritage cards include a 1976 SSPC Lou Brock and a badly miscut 1971 card.  I am not a big stickler on the condition of vintage cards.   Anything I can get is a welcome addition.

More Cardinals Hall of Famers including a 1992 Conlon and the last 1985 Topps Woolworth I needed for my team set.  

Nothing very fancy about these 2 cards: a 2012 Topps mini and 2005 Topps Gallery.  I am not a big fan of the mini card or the blurry painting used on the Gallery card.

Sooner or later Topps will run out of ideas for the manufactured patch/relic cards.  I would love to see them use older team logos.  This 2019 card is about as boring as you can get.