PWE From TCDB

Yesterday's mail brought a nice PWE trade envelope from TCDB member engine614.  He is one of the most active traders on the site.  I sent him a handful of recent Phillies cards in exchange for some Cardinals.

Poor Alex Reyes just cannot stay healthy.  After a few bad starts at Triple A, he is now on the DL with a pectoral strain.  The Cardinals could really use a solid starter or 3 right now.

I thought at the beginning of the year Flaherty was going to be one of those guys.  He still strikes out a ton of batters, but cannot seem to keep the ball in the park.  He gave up 3 home runs in less than 5 innings in a loss to the A's last night.  DeJong is also in a funk after a strong start, but I think you can say that about any Cardinal player right now.  It is a miracle they are only 2.5 games out of first place.  Shows you how bad the NL Central is right now.

One guy that is not in a slump is former Cardinals Tommy Pham.  When healthy, he has played great for the Rays.  I would not be shocked to see him make the All Star team this year.  His attitude rubbed some people the wrong way, but there is not doubt about his talent. 

Big League Trade

Late last week I received my monthly trade package from Trading Bases member Ron B.  He felt the need to return fire for a handful of in person Pirate autos.  It was not necessary, but I am glad he did.

Ron sent along 11 2019 Big League Cardinals.  My scanner can only show 9, so I did not show the league leader cards.  I was hoping to find the last 3 I needed for my team set at the Indy card show, but no such luck.  I doubt they will be very hard to find.

Not all the base cards were from budget brands as I received a 2019 Inception and 2015 Topps Tribute card.  Both are very thick with a glossy finish.  I never buy the premium brands so it is nice when I can get base cards in a trade.

I received a Inception insert #ed to 99.  I guess Topps calls this color magenta.  Looks pink to me.  At least Panini keeps things simple with a red frame parallel from 2019 Diamond Kings.

Panini did not make this 2019 insert as easy to identify.  After consulting the Baseball Pedia website, I am guessing it is a pink firework parallel.  Topps did better with just a simple blue 2018 Topps Update 1983 card.

These inserts do not have much in common other than outfielders.  The 2018 Optic Shock O'Neill is my favorite.

Indy Card Show Recap

This past weekend it rained again.  It is crazy how many days it has rained in the last 2 months.  I believe the longest stretch of days without some trace of rain has been 3 or 4.  The farmers around here are looking at a very tough year.  The rain has also put a damper on the baseball season.  My son had 1 more travel tournament to play, but it was called off on Friday night due to the forecast.  At least that allowed us to make some weekend plans. 

A quick check of the Beckett site showed a card show in Indianapolis on Saturday that we attended back in April.  We made a day of it as my son and I hit the card show in the morning for 2 hours while my wife and daughter shopped, then we killed the afternoon at the children's museum.  Everyone had a great day as we found some great cards, the women found some sales, and we all enjoyed the museum.  On to the cards.

It was nice to see that a lot of the same dealers from the April show were set up in the same spot for this one.  It saved us a lot of time trying to find the bargain boxes.  Our first stop had a mix of nickel to quarter cards.  These 9 cards cost us $1.  

The Altuve is for my son's player collection, the Torres cards are for someone I owe, while the top 3 are for trade.  The Diaz is numbered to 250, while the Cliffton is a refractor numbered to 499.

I needed the top 2 cards for my Cardinals collection.  I already had the 2019 Topps base card, but picked this up to use for in person autographs.   These stadium cards work great for players who do not have a Cardinals card.

The next table had dime boxes of recent product that was separated into retired and current players.  I picked up this lot for $1.  All are base cards, but it is hard to pass up Chrome cards of top prospects.  

 The 3 Chrome cards in the second scan are still available.  All the rest are spoken for.

The same dealer had a huge box of inserts, game used, and autographs marked 3 for $5.  I spent $10 for these.

All are for my personal collection except the 2017 Donruss Signature Kevin Pillar.  My son picked out the Tarasenko jersey card.  He has a handful of hockey cards, but this is his first relic card.  It was great to see the Blues finally win the Cup a few weeks ago. 

The dealer also had a box of relics and autos for $1.  I give this guy credit for keeping his boxes well organized by sport.  Quite a few of the table we hit had all 3 major sports mixed in.  That is usually a quick pass for me.

We stuck to strictly Cardinals for these.  The Rolen is numbered to 250. 

Another deal has various boxes ranging from a quarter to $5.  We picked through a few of the quarter boxes for these.

Hard to believe I found a 1966 Topps in great condition for a quarter.

My son gained a couple Altuves from the boxes.  I picked up the McKay refractor for trade bait.  Go check out his stats from this year.  He is a two way player in the Rays system.  His hitting is not the greatest, but he has been lights out as a pitcher.

Most of the time I do not both going through the $1 and higher boxes, but my son had some spare time while I was going through the quarter boxes.  He found this in the $3 box.

Even though he is no longer with the Cardinals, I am still a Piscotty fan.  He will not get the same ovation when he returns to St. Louis this week that Pujols got, but I hope it is a good one. 

Our last stop featured some random boxes with base and inserts not marked.  Having never bought from this dealer before, I only pulled out 3 cards.

I should have kept digging because these only cost a quarter.  We were both getting hungry though and the women were waiting in the parking lot, so we left. We spent a total of $25.25 for everything you see.  It was great not having to pay premium prices for Cardinals cards like I do at shows closer to St. Louis.  Relics and autographs these are at least $5.  With Indy being about the same distance as St. Louis, this may become our favorite show.  If you are in the area, they hold monthly shows.  Great deals with no admission make for an awesome show experience.

           

Kerry Sends Some Cards

Last night my son's Little League season cam to an end.  His team lost in the semi finals of the post season tournament 9-8.  Tough way to end , but he did his part going 2-2 with 3 rbis.  We were both a little down after the game, but I found a nice pick me up when I got home.  Some return fire from Kerry B was waiting on my desk.  

Kerry posted a few weeks ago about having some extra 2019 Pro Debut Cardinals from a case break.  These 4 are a nice start to my team set.  This is my second Gorman from the set.  I had hoped to get the first one signed last weekend, but chose a different card instead.  I doubt I will get it signed anytime soon as Gorman was promoted to High A Palm Beach yesterday.

More minor league goodness.  This time from 1992 Upper Deck Minors.  Hands down favorite in this group is Skeets Thomas.  Too bad a guy with a great name like that never cracked the Majors.

Who doesn't love Sportsflics and Denny's Holograms.  The 1991 Guerrero scanned better than what I thought it would, the Pendleton not so much.

Kerry finished my 2019 Bowman set with the last Chrome and BP cards I needed.  Always nice to put a set to bed.

I miss the base Wal-Mart blue parallels from Topps flagship.  They had a pretty short run from 2012-2014.  I would rather receive the parallels from a blaster box than a manufactured relic.

A couple of shiny inserts plus a Delvin Perez 2017 Chrome card.  Even though he was an All Star, I am guessing he will remain in Peoria all year barring an injury.  He has a great glove, but makes very weak contact.
 

I have mentioned quite a few times my love of the Big League gold cards.  The 2019 Topps 1984 insert is pretty sharp too.    

Topps Replacement

Two weeks ago I highlighted a 2019 Big League box break that contained a damaged Wilson Contreras autograph numbered to 99.  I figured I would not be out of much sending it back to Topps asking for a replacement.  I was very lucky to receive it in the first place out of a Wal-Mart blaster.  Noting that it sellw for about $10-15 on EBAY,  I asked for a comparable Cardinals autograph as a replacement.  Yesterday I received a package from Topps that contained this:

Obviously it is not a Cardinal, but it is a comparable card.  I will not complain at all about the speed of service or the packaging used to ship the card.  At least I received a card that I should be able to trade for something nice.  On that note, if you would like to work something out for this, shoot me a message if you have a Cardinals autograph needing a good home.

Weekend in Peoria

As I mentioned in my Saturday post, I spent Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon in Peoria watching the Chiefs play.  It rained almost the entire 3 hour drive on Saturday, but things cleared off by the time gates opened at 5:30.  It was Star Wars night on the concourse as there were numerous characters you could have your picture taken with.  My daughter is a big fan so that made her night.  There was also a T-shirt give away to fans 13 and older that featured 3 players from last years team.  They are nice shirts, but everyone is an adult XL.  My son was the only one out of the family who did not get a shirt, so I let him spin the $1 prize wheel twice.  He did pretty well.

Anytime you can get a stadium giveaway bobblehead for a $1, it is a good deal.  This Carson Kelly was given out last year.  We already have one, but should be able to trade it for one that we need.  The tumbler is not too bad either for a $1.  That was the highlight of the evening.  The Chiefs lost 7 to 1 and did not get a hit until 2 outs in the 9th inning.  I admit I was hoping to see a no hitter even if it was against the team I was rooting for.  At least the fireworks show after the game was pretty good.  We did not try to get any autographs that night because Sunday's game featured a team autograph session after the game.

Sunday was a much better day.  My son and I played catch on the field for about 15 minutes prior to the start of the game.  He was the only one of us that received a stadium give way that day.  Kids 12 and under received a Chiefs mini bat.  He collects mini bats from the different stadiums we visit, so this was a nice freebie.  The Chiefs came out swinging and won the game 7-2.  It was a quick game that last about 2 hours and 30 minutes.  After the game, the players were spread out on the concourse for about 20 minutes to sign autographs.  In between the 4 of us, we got 38 autographs.

The first 1000 people received a poster of the 2019 Chiefs All Stars.  We were able to get 2 of these signed.  I thought that was good considering Nolan Gorman the longest line.  He is the Cardinals #1 prospect and may not be in Peoria much longer.

Each one of us made it through his line once.  The Chiefs team set just came out last week, so it was nice to get him on that card.  I had 2 other cards of his, but did not want to stand in line and miss some other guys.  You could tell he was not thrilled to be there.  Gorman did not get a hit in either game we went to and has struck out a ton in the last few weeks.

I had a Seijas program from the first game of the season.  The Chiefs put out a different program each month.  Herrera got the lone hit for the Chiefs in Saturday's game.

Position players from the team set.

Starters from the team set.

We were able to get 18 of the 30 cards from the set signed.  A few of the guys have been promoted or sent down, so the set may not get complete but it will be fun to try.

I had heard that Delvin Perez would sign anything you put in front of him.  Being a former #1 draft pick I had a ton of his cards.  True to form he was happy to sign them all.  Not much of a signature though.

 

I was able to get 2 cards from the 2018 team set done.  Both of these guys started the season in high A Palm Beach, but have since been sent down.  Both are really nice guys, so I will continue to pull for them.

         

2 PWE Trades

Nothing major to post this morning.  I just wanted to post these 2 trades to finally say that I am caught up on trade recaps.  First is a single card that arrived from TCDB member JaybirdOSU.

Most of the time I do not make a trade for a single base card, but Gorman cards are not that easy to come by right now.  I will gladly take this one for the price of a stamp.  It came in just in time as my family is leaving this morning for a weekend in Peoria.  We have tickets to both games this weekend.  Tonight could be a wash out, but tomorrow looks like the game should be played.  I hope to get this card autographed sometime while we are there. 

This 3 pack of various card came from TCDB member Shaggy69.  The Diaz is part of the team set, not just a 2017 Topps base card.  The first 10 cards from the 1999 SPx set highlighted McGwire home runs #61-70.  This one features #68 and his famous gut punch with JD Drew.

I hope all fathers have a wonderful day tomorrow.  I get to spend my weekend with the entire family going to watch minor league baseball.  Does not get much better than that in my book.

Cardinals Kids Clinic

Last Tuesday my son attended a baseball clinic in Highland, IL.  Most of the time I would not leave my house at 5:30 in the morning and drive 2 hours so my son could attend a 4 hour baseball clinic, but this clinic was ran by former Cardinals players and featured an appearance by current outfielder Harrison Bader.  The Cardinals have put on these clinics for a few years now, but this is the first year that I believe a current player attended.  There were other clinics later this month that were closer for a cost of $95, but for an extra $5 I will drive the 2 hours so my son could get a Bader autograph.

 
The clinic consisted of five different stations where kids learned about fielding ground balls, throwing, base running, catching fly balls, and hitting.  The kids were divided up into age groups.  My son's group had about 25 in it.  I knew going in that he would not get any one on one instruction, so 25 did not seem too bad.  Some of the other groups had 40-50 in them.  Parents were allowed to watch, so I followed him around hoping to gain some knowledge of how to teach some things.  I really did not learn anything that he did not already know from attending local camps, but maybe some things sunk in more coming from former players.

After the kids completed the five stations, Bader had a short question and answer session.  After that, the kids returned to their groups for the autograph session.  They rotated in between the former players and Bader.  The former players would sign 2 autographs, one being a furnished baseball and the other being whatever the child wanted.  Most of the time that was the camp t-shirt or the kid's cap.
 

There were 4 pitchers at the clinic.  I found it a little funny that Danny Cox was leading the hitting instructions.

Scott Cooper was by far the best position player there.  I thought he had the best station about fielding ground balls.  I know most former Cardinals players, but had never heard of Neil Fiala before that day.  Could be because he played 3 games in the majors, only 1 being with the Cardinals.  That is 1 more than I will ever play.  My son also had each of the 7 players sign the back of his camp shirt.

Of course the big draw was Harrison Bader.  When we signed up for the camp, it stated the he would only sign baseballs.  My son was fine with that and brought along an official Major League baseball for him to sign.  We did not know that he would only sign a ball that was provided by the camp.

It is a very nice signature on the sweet spot, but I doubt we will be able to read it in a few years.  It is on a cheap ball made in  China with a very slick cover.  I did see some kids had already smudged the signature before they left that day.

At least Bader would pose for photos across the table.  I will say he was very nice, but the team employee not so much.  There were several times he was waiting for the next group of kids to come to his table.  My wife and daughter talked to him for a few minutes, but the worker stopped them from taking a picture with him.

The clinic finished up about 12:30, so we grabbed some lunch and headed to St. Louis.  I had 4 free tickets to the Cardinals game against the Reds that night.  We spent a couple of hours in the Cardinals Hall of Fame (wish I remembered the camera for that trip) before getting into the stadium.  It was decal give away night featuring 4 different players.

We were lucky enough to get all four players and a few extras from other people.  These are pretty nice and a full 8x10.  About 15 minutes before game time,  the rain started to fall.  It was announced that the game would be delayed with a hopeful start time of 8:30.  Having been a long day already, we decided to head home.  We did not miss much as the Cardinals would lose 4 to 1.   

    

Another IP Recap from Indianapolis

The first weekend in June my son had a wooden bat tournament in Terre Haute, IN.  It is nice to see the kids play with these bats every once in a while.  A little more emphasis is put on small ball rather than trying to pop a 3 run home run.  His team did well taking second out of 7 teams in his age bracket.  The weather was perfect all weekend for the 5 games they played Saturday and Sunday.

As luck would have it, the Indianapolis Indians had a home series that same weekend.  Being only an hour away, my son and I along with another player and dad from his team went to the game on Friday night.  It was Colts night at Victory Field as a couple of players were there to sign autographs.
  

 

The Colts sent 2 very good players in cornerback Malik Hooker and wide receiver T.Y. Hilton.  I made a couple of logo sheets for each of them to sign not knowing if anything would be provided.  Both came out very nice.

My son pulled this Hilton card out of a pack from Dollar Tree.  It looks a lot better in person.

A team sheet was provided if you did not bring along something to be signed, so my son had Hooker sign one.  Both players were very nice to the fans, taking time to snap pictures, shake hands, and thank us for coming.  The line moved slow, but we were withing the first 100 so we made it through before the 1 hour 15 minute time limit.  I do know there were some who did not get an autograph.  It pays to arrive a little early before gates open.

There was about an hour before game time, so we grabbed an overpriced chicken basket and a drink for dinner.  My son and his friend then went down to the third base line to try and get a few autographs from the Indians.  I had a few cards left that I did not get signed last time we were in Indy. 

Will Craig signed both cards that we had for him.  He is having a very good season hitting .280 with 15 home runs and 40 rbis.  He might get a call up in August, but with Josh Bell playing out of this world he could stay in Indy all year.  Too bad each of them only play first base.

Hayes signed all 3 card we had left.  I love his signature.  He is not doing as well as Craig, but is 2 years younger with a clearly path to the majors. 

Unlike the first Indians game we attended, we stayed until the end.  The home team won 4 to 1.  After the game, the team put on a great fireworks show that would put a lot of July 4th shows to shame. 

Big Lot from Bobby

Not counting any of my incoming trades, today's post will get me caught up on trade recaps.  Wish I could say the same about filing the cards away.  I must have a stack of 175-200 Cardinals that need to be put away.  That will have to wait a few days unless it starts to ran again.  Anyway, this large lot of Cardinals came courtesy of TCDB member BobbyL.

 

My sticker collection has really grown this year.  Most of them have come from the 1980s Topps sets, not the current releases.  I hope the current sets don't take me 25+ years to complete.

Flair was one of the first premium brands Fleer put out.  I remember opening some packs that came in a small box instead of a wrapper.  The 1996 set featured silver and gold versions of the base cards.

These 2000 Omega cards did not scan very well.  The name plate at the bottom is not nearly as dark as what it came out.  My scanner hates all things silver for some reason.

I would hate to count how many base cards of Edmonds and McGwire I still need to complete some team sets.  A lot would be from 2000 or 2001 like these cards.

It was nice to finish a few sets with some missing Edmonds cards.  He has turned into a very good broadcaster on the Cardinals Fox Sports Midwest games.  I wish he would do more games, but instead I have to suffer listening to Tim McCarver some times.

Speaking of McCarver, he mad an appearance in the 2001 Topps Archives set.  Strange to see guys like him and Quisenberry along side Musial in a team set, but that is one of the things I loved about the Archives brand.

One of my favorite brands from Upper Deck that somewhat mirrored Topps Archives was SP Legendary Cuts.  Nothing better than an entire set devoted to team legends. 

2004 Donruss Team Heroes mixed Archives and SP Legendary Cuts altogether.  You have legends like Schoendienst, past players who had nice careers like Pendleton, and current players like Edmonds.  This is one of the sets that makes me miss Donruss, but then I think of all the over kill like World Series and Timelines from the same year and I am good living without Donruss.