Weekend in St. Louis: Bought Some Cards and Watched Some Cards

My son turned 11 earlier this month.  Part of his birthday present was tickets to watch the Astros in St. Louis this past weekend.  He got to see his favorite team and his favorite non Cardinal player (Jose Altuve).  We had tickets for Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.  We arrived in St. Louis about 10:00 in the morning.  After dropping off my wife and daughter at the science center, my son and I went to a local card shop.  I have purchased cards from RbiCru7 at card shows before, but never found the time to visit the shop.   They were packing some things to make the trip to the National later this week, but still had a ton of cards to go through.  There were dime boxes of base cards, quarter boxes full of inserts, relics and autographs for $2-$5, and a ton of higher end cards in display cases.  There was also a nice selection of packs and supplies.  Overall a great selection for any type of collector. 

We had about an hour to kill diving through the various boxes.  We managed to find a few bargains.

There must have been 7 or 8 5000 count boxes full of base cards from the last 4 or 5 years.  I picked 10 cards out for an even $1.  I will always grab premium issues like Museum and Inception for a dime.  Even better when I can find Cardinals or Altuve cards.  I will not show the last 4 cards because they are Cubs that my nephew can use.

All of these were $2.  Other than the Altuve, the other 4 are finds for trading friends.  .   The Benson is numbered to 199.   My son wanted to spend some of his birthday money for a few packs.  He settled on 3 packs of 2019 Stadium Club for $6 each.

Not the biggest name, but it is always nice to pull an autograph.  My son has pulled 3 autographs this year out of blasters and a loose packs.  I think I will have him open all my packs from now on.

The inserts featured some big names.  All of these have been traded except for the Pujols.

While we were checking out, the store owner gave my son a free pack of 2019 Finest Cardinals to remember his first trip to the store.  We needed all these except the Molina base and Dejong Blue Chips.   We will definitely visit this store again.

After a we picked up the girls and grabbed a quick lunch, we headed to the Cardinals Museum in Ball Park Village across from Busch Stadium.  Every Saturday with a home game the Museum hosts an autograph signing with a former player.  You must buy admission to the museum to obtain a ticket.  I have a family membership that is good for 1 year, thus to ticket was needed.

My son and I each got a card autographed by Tony Womack.  I have never gotten his autograph before, so it was nice to add a new one to the collection.  Womack was in town for the 15 year reunion of the 2004 NL Championship club.  The Cardinals were honoring that team all weekend with various stadium giveaways.

Saturday night's give away was a replica championship ring of 6 different players for ages 16 and over.  I guess my 14 year old daughter passes for 16 because we received 3 rings.  Our rings were 2 Jeff Suppans and 1 Mike Matheny.  I am not a big ring fan, so these will either be sold or traded.  We arrived in time to watch the Astros take batting practice.  My son brought his glove, I did not.  I should have as I had a Carlos Correa ball hit off my hands.  Correa continued his bp during the game as he hit a grand slam to help the Astros win 8-2.

Sunday's game also featured a nice give away that we ended up with 3 of.

I have never seen a triple bobblehead before.  This thing is huge.  Pujols, Rolen, and Edmonds all finished in the top 5 of the 2004 MVP race.  I should be able to trade my 2 extras for other bobbleheads I do not have.  Sunday's game did not go well for the Cardinals.  They left 10 runners on base and committed 2 errors on the way to losing 6-2.  Altuve had a nice game going 3-5 with a 3 run home run that was his 1,500 career hit.  We did not stay for the end of the game due to the Cardinals poor play and the 94 degree heat.   Still a fun weekend.