Just 1 For This Week

After a flurry of trades 2 weeks ago, I only completed 1 last weekend.  This one was with TCDB member chadslagter.

One of these days I will have to try to complete a Topps Gold team set.  I have a handful from every year, but doubt if I am close in any.  These 2 are from 2016.

I doubt I am close on any of the Foil team sets either.  I imagine these will be easier to complete, just have to make it a point to do so.

I will never try to complete a mini set, but it may happen by accident.  It won't be the 2016 GQ set though, as these 2 put me at 6 out of 18.

Glad we are not getting any snow where I live.  My 2 brothers who live in Colorado have over 2 feet as of noon today.  I will just stick with the snow flake parallel from 2019 Topps Holiday.

I added to my son's Altuve stash with a sweet looking 2018 Topps Purple.  I was always taught to keep your head down and see the bat hit the ball.  Guess Jose learned a different way.  His results are obviously better than mine though.   

Wrapping Up Saturday's Mail

Only 1 more package left to go from last weekend's mail.  Wish I could say I will get 7 more packages this weekend, but I am only expecting 1.  The last one came from TCDB member jcouvy.  My first trade with him finish off a 2019 set.

I can file away the 2019 Fire Cardinals set.  It was a small one with only 6 cards, but one of my favorites. 

Red parallels always look good with the Cardinals uniform.  This 2019 Stadium Club parallel shows off Yadi's massive neck tattoo.  That just looks too painful to me.

I added 2 more Altuves to my son's collection.  There are still a ton of base cards like these to track down.  Good thing because some of his inserts and game used can go for big money.

 

4 of 5

Today I will show the 4th trade package out of 5 that arrived Saturday.  This one came from  new TCDB member tkicker182.  He joined the site at the end of October and has jumped right into the thick of trading. 

I need 2 more cards to finish this years Archives team set.  I was never the biggest fan of the 1993 design, but it has grown on me the more I see it.  Or maybe it is just the better player selection.  To say the Cardinals were not a very good team in the early 1990s would be an understatement.  An old Ozzie Smith and a young Ray Lankford was about the only standouts.

It was nice to get all the Cardinals from the Chrome Update set in one trade.  The insert was icing on the cake.

Optic parallels are pretty sharp.  The catcher cards are right up there with any Topps parallels.  The shock parallels look a lot better in hand.

I also received a couple of new Altuves for my son's collection.  I am thinking I will save these and any others I get in the next few weeks to make 1 big Christmas package.  I am not for sure how many he started the year with, but he has 227 different cards now.  Tons more to go. 

2 More From Saturday

Continuing with my trade recaps from Saturday's mail, today I have a golden package and a PWE 2 pack.

The 2 card PWE was courtesy of TCDB nozzlemaster who is also a member of Trading Bases.  We have exchanged quite a few small packages over the years.  I had the Lankford for my player collection, but needed another to finish the 1998 Revolution team set.  The Carpentere is an insert from 2019 Big League.

The second package was from TCDB member SShifflett.  He sent a handful of 2019 Big League gold parallels.  I have a long way to go for this team set as these 3 only put be at 6 out of 16.

I am a lot closer on the 2018 set.  Just 2 more to go.

I am also close on the 2019 Pro Debut set.  I need to track down the Andrew Knizner card and I will be finished with another set.     

Some Snow and Update

One of my trade packages from Saturday came from TCDB member wags6817.  He sent along my first 2019 Topps Holiday cards and a few 2019 Update inserts.

I like the design this year compared to previous years.  The green holly border gives it more of a Christmas feel.  I was able to get all but one of the base cards in this trade.  Just need to track down Tyler O'Neill to finish the team set minus the 2 Molina short prints.

Topps continued the Metallic Snowflake parallel.  I have always liked these for some reason.

I only had a handful of 2019 Update inserts until this trade.  The Molina is my favorite of the bunch.  The baby blue uniform is not quite the same as Sutter's, but it is close.  Growing up in the mid to late 1980s, these are a classic Cardinals uniform. 

Full Mailbox

After a downer of a week that saw my furnace go out, it was great to receive a mailbox full of packages on Saturday.  7 packages from 5 different trades and an EBAY win brighten my weekend.  It also helped that the cost of the furnace was about $500 less than I had planned.

I will save the trade envelopes for another day.  My latest win is a card that you may have seen recently on The Snorting Bull.

Just like Eric,  I won this card for less $10 shipped.  I was looking for one of his cards signed in blue ink, but those are less abundant and still going for $10 plus. 

     

Wish I Had My Son's Fire

Illinois is going through the same cold spell that a lot of the nation is experiencing right now.  These last 3 days have been pretty nasty, starting with a mixture of sleet and snow Monday afternoon.  I am someone who would rather be cold than hot, but yesterday morning I had a change of heart. 

I woke about about 5 to eat breakfast and noticed how cold my hardwood floor was.  A quick check of the thermostat showed the house was 58 degrees.  I keep my house about 68 degrees overnight, so something was definitely not working.  A few hours later I get the bad news that I need a new furnace.  My old one was 16 years old.  Just my luck the warranty was for 15 years.  The Christmas fund just got a lot smaller this year. 

I have a couple of space heaters that we used last night in the bedrooms.  It did get down to 55 degrees though.  Guess I should have started a fire with some of my junk wax cards.  Speaking of fire, my son opened up a blaster of 2019 Topps Fire over the weekend.  How ironic is that.

This Altuve Flame parallel was his favorite card.  Wish we could have gotten the base card to go with it.

Among the better base cards were Jeter and Trout.  I asked my son if he wanted to complete the set.  It only has 200 cards with no short prints included.  I figured it would be a nice and easy one to be his first set.  He has not decided yet.  Maybe the other 2 blasters he is getting for Christmas will help make up his mind.

He gave me the 2 Cardinals from the box.  That was nice of him since I needed both for the team set.  I told him one day these will be his again. 

The bonus pack of 4 Gold Minted cards did not yield anything great.

The blaster had 7 packs of 6 cards.  Each pack contained at least 1 insert or parallel.  All of the inserts were of the Gold Minted type.  The players were better than the base cards.

The colored parallels were not bad either.  The Orange Acuna is numbered to 299, the purple Andrus to 99.  All the inserts and these 2 cards are available for trade if anyone is interested.  Since these are my son's cards, would like to get some Altuve cards he needs.  If not, I can always use Cardinals off my wants and make it up to him. 

 

Not Even Close

I was beyond excited last week when a Ray Lankford card I needed was listed on EBAY.  Better yet it was a 1/1 from 1998 Flair.  I knew it was going to be expensive, but had no idea it would go for what it did.

Too Rich for My Blood

 At that price I may have to consider listing some of my Lankford 1/1s.  

Finished One Set

With a little under 2 months left of 2019, I still have quite a few team sets to finish.  Some are sets with only short prints left like Heritage, but I also have sets like Topps Archives and Fire with just base cards.  I hope to knock out a few before 2020 rolls around.

I was able to finish one set with a recent trade package from TCDB member stoob.  This trade was my 250th completed transaction since I joined the site in January 2017. 

These 2 short prints finished my A&G team set.  Ozuna may be playing elsewhere next year, but I am guessing he will accept the qualifying offer and try to have a monster year to regain some free agent value.

I only had 1 2019 Optic Cardinals before this trade.  Only 7 more to go.

This is my first card from any of the Panini Chronicles brands.  This is one of the more boring designs.

The lone insert was a nice action shot of sweet Lou Brock.  I have lost track of the Cardinals included in the Greatest Seasons, Greatest Moments, Greatest whatever that Topps made this year.  I hope this set/sets do not return next year.   

 

One Card EBAY Win

I had a birthday the last weekend in October.  I am getting to the age where a nice dinner with the family is all I want.  I accomplished that for Sunday lunch.  I was not really interested in any of the NFL games that afternoon, so I decided to search EBAY for a birthday present to myself.  I was looking for a certified Cardinals autograph of a player I did not have.  It did not take long to find one.

Not the biggest of names, but for $4 delivered I was not going to pass it up.  Thomas was having nice rookie season before a wrist fracture ended his year.  The Cardinals will have a crowded outfield next year barring a trade or two this winter.  I would like to see Thomas get more playing time, but with Dexter Fowler, Jose Martinez, and Marcell Ozuna still on the team, I doubt that will happen. 

Kerry Kills 2

My favorite Cardinals blogger, Kerry from Cards on Cards sent me an unexpected card package yesterday.  My son loves reading the return address and asking what is in the package.  This time I had no idea what to tell him but Cardinals. 

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I was close to completing the 2019 Update team set.  It is finished now thanks to some extras Kerry had from a group break.

He also sent the 2 1984 insert Cardinals from Update.  Love the powder blue uniform on the Goldy card.

I will not have to look for any more 2019 Bowman Chrome base cards.  Kerry started and finished the team set for me.  The Nolan Gorman is the highlight of this batch.  Even though it is not a rookie card, his cards are still a bit pricey.

I love these Stat Tracker inserts.  There are 3 more that I need to track down.  I think these will look awesome autographed.

The final card was a 2000 Aurora Pennant Fever insert.  I hate the background on this one.  The logo on the front is a plus. 

Big thanks to Kerry.  I hope to find some Cardinals to send your way soon.