Kerry Hits Me Hard

Kerry from Cards on Cards has been a busy man lately.  He started up a Free Stuff Friday like quite a few other generous bloggers have been doing.  It seems like most of May he was already sending out packages to other collectors.  I was the lucky recipient of one of those earlier this month.  That was a great package, but last week he sent an even larger package that blew me away. 

There were so many great cards it is hard to choose where to begin.  I will start with my first Cardinals from the 2020 Bowman First Edition set.  I did not get in on any breaks for this or regular Bowman yet.  Both have been pretty rich for my blood.  Still holding out hope that Bowman will show up at my local Walmart.

 

Kerry also sent my first 2019 Bowman Heritage Cardinals.  I love the nice simple design, although the photos could be a little more zoomed out.

It is a great feeling get cards from a new set, but an even better one when you can complete a team sets.  Kerry finish 2000 Bowman Draft and 2003 Bowman Chrome Draft for me.

He also sent the last 5 cards I needed for the 1993 Classic Best set.  I love the Canseco card.

 
There were quite a few other minor league cards from various sets.  These were heavy on Adam Kennedy cards. 

I receive some nice oddball cards also.  The Tewksbury card is the dark gray back variation from 1990 Topps Traded. 

2003 Fleer Hardball was somewhat of an oddball issue due to the shape of the cards.  It would have been awesome if Fleer somehow made the stitches feel real.

It would not be a package without some type of parallels.  The Craig is a Copper parallel from 2014 Museum Collection.  When base cards can be tough to find, getting a parallel is great.

I have made no secret of my feelings about mini cards.  I will always prefer a normal sized card, but if minis are nicely done like these 2 then I can stand them a little more.

There were a few other cards from Kerry, but I did not want to ramble on too long.  Once again a big shout out for the great package!

Almost a Failed Trade

I was really excited to work out a trade a couple of weeks ago with TCDB member CubinSTLsets.  I have traded with him a couple of times this year where I send Cubs his way and he sends Cardinals my ways.  The cards are always great, but this time he was going to be in my area and we were going to swap cards in person.  It was not in the cards though, as I had a meeting the same night he was in town.  We ended up missing each other by a couple of hours, but the cards did find their way to each other.

 I was surprised to see how many Ozzie cards I still need from 1980s sets.  One less off the list now.

I finished off 2 1995 sets with these cards.  After Ray Lankford, Brian Jordan was one of the best players on the Cardinals in the mid 1990s.  His football background led to an all out hustle style on the diamond.   Fun player to watch.

I almost finished the 1994 Leaf Limited set.  Anyone have an extra Todd Zeile laying around?

Pinnacle Dufex technology is awesome.  Wish Topps had a way to produce cards with a similar finish. 

Topps does have the gold theme down.  Whether on a border on a Stadium Club parallel, you usually cannot go wrong with it.

Last are 3 set hits from the early 2000s.  The Pujols is a photo sp. 

Largest Package in Awhile

If you read my blog very often, you know there are usually 2 types of cards I trade for:  Cardinals I need and Jose Altuve cards my son needs.  I try to keep this pretty simple.  There does come a time when working out a trade that I also acquire cards to pass along to certain trading partners.  I have been accumulating a decent stack of cards for Trading Bases member Matt S for about a month.  Last week we finalized a deal for about 20 Topps inserts headed his way for over 20 Cardinals and Altuves that arrived at my house over the weekend.

It is not often I show off a 1994 Extra Bases card, but this one completed my team set.  This could be the last time you see this set on my blog.

These are the 2 cards that started the trade.  Not having a Walgreens close to me makes it difficult to track down any of these yellow parallels.  These are my first from 2019.  They look pretty cool in hand.

 
Among all the inserts/parallels I have been adding to my wantlist are the metallic snowflake cards from Topps Holliday.  These should not be too hard to track down.  It is just the point of remembering to do so.

I need to make wantlist for quite a few Topps Chrome refractor sets.  The more recent ones like these from 2018 will be easier to complete than ones from the late 1990s or early 2000s.

I also need to finish lists for Heritage Chrome cards.  Not as many of these to track down.

I love this oddball group of cards.  It includes a Texas League All Star card Flaherty, a 2018 New Era Martinez, a 2010 Update Gold, a 2011 Elite Freese that finished a set, and a 2019 Bowman Holiday. 

My son's march to his next 100 Altuve cards got a nice boost with these 6.  A few cards similar to the Cardinals cards I received, but also some new ones like 2014 Turkey Red, a Heritage 1951 card, and a A&G insert.

This was one of my largest trade packages this year, until I got a huge package yesterday.  More to come on that one later this week.

Were the 90s Really That Long Ago?

Happy Memorial Day to everyone!  Please take a moment to remember the true meaning of this holiday.  For those who are lucky enough to still be working, it is nice to have a day off to catch up on things.  For the most part the weather looks to be decent today in my area.  When the morning dew is gone, we plan to be outside most of the day.  Until then, I have a few minutes to highlight a trade package from TCDB member tr1908.  It was heavy on cards from the 1990s.  Hard to believe that was 20 years ago.

The 90s were so long ago that stores like Toys R Us are not open anymore.  I never really did shop there as there was not any close to me growing up.  It was always fun walking through the aisles with my kids and seeing all the cool toys that were never around when I was growing up.  One constant has been baseball cards.  These 1993 cards are part of a 100 card set.  These 4 completed my 7 card team set. 

Stadium Club always had great photography, even in 1994.  Where else will you find shots of a back up catcher eating fruit in the dugout, or a relief pitcher sliding into home.

Sports Illustrated even had cards in the 1990s, though they were produced by Fleer.  With so much emphasis on going digital now, you wonder how long hard copy magazines like SI will be around.  Pacific barely survived the 1990s, going bankrupt in 2004.  I still miss some of there sets, but do not miss the many parallels that went with them.  Pacific was too lazy to distinguish what the parallel was on the back of the card.  I remember having a hard time trying to figure out all the 2000 Prism cards.  The Dean card has nothing to do with the 1990s, just had to show it off. 

Some of my favorite parallels from the 1990s were the silver and gold signature Collector's Choice cards.  Even the inserts like this 1997 Big Shots had parallels.  Love the spring training shot of Jordan sliding head first into home.  The Piscotty also does not fit into the 1990s.  I had to show off this short print from 2016 Diamond Kings because it finished my team set. 

Expect the Unexpected

One of my favorite things to do is send Cardinals duplicates to other traders.  It helps me reduce clutter while also helping out fellow St. Louis fans.  I have a handful of traders I send to, but I believe Mark Z is my longest such trading partner.  We first traded in the Trading Bases group, then met face to face at a Memphis Redbirds game, and finally continue to trade on TCDB. 

A few weeks ago a sent Mark a small package with a note saying no need to send anything my way.  Of course he did not listen.  Late last week I received an unexpected pwe from him with a nice assortment of Cardinals I needed.

As bad as we knock Panini for the lack of logos, they do make some nice colored Optic parallels.  These 2 2016 Blue cards are #ed to 149.

The Beltran may also appear to be blue, but Topps calls this 2013 Bowman Platinum parallel Sapphire.  No confusion with the 2006 Heritage Encarnacion.  It is a foil parallel.

This is the short print version of Wong's 2016 GQ mini.  Not sure why, but his eyes look weird on this one.  It looks even worse to the naked eye.  Once I scanned it it made him look a little more normal.

I guess you can call this my first fishing card.  This 1992 Legends Sports card shows Herzog doing one of his favorite hobbies.  I had never heard of this set before receiving this card.  Good thing TCDB allows you to search player cards by year to help identify what card you have.

This Trade Was So Good

With all the trading I do on TCDB, I sometimes forget out the Trading Bases Group.  It is a great group of traders who are very easy to deal with.  About the only downfall is there is not a central website.  If you want to trade, you either search the message board or view each trader's website.  Last week I posted some Cubs for trade that I received in this lot.  Member Al S jumped on a handful of them and sent me some great Cardinals in return.

So Taguchi was the Cardinals answer to Ichiro.  He was nowhere near the player, but did play a key part on the 2006 World Series team as a fourth outfielder.  The 2002 EX card #ed to 2499 finished my team set.  The 2002 Pristine card is a refractor #ed to 700.  It was still in its original Topps case, but I cannot stand those.  So is now free to join the rest of my Pristine cards.

I am not a huge fan of the Diamond Kings framed parallels.  I have a few of them with very bad chips in the frame.  Topps did a better job with the Gypsy Queen cards.  I love the 1999 Invincible design.  I am all for team logos in the background, even if it is partially covered up. 

Rounding out the trade were 3 cards featuring past greats.  The 2002 Topps Super Teams Retrofractor is numbered to 1967.  That is the year these 4 players won the World Series.  The 2005 Donruss Champions set included all sorts of players.  It featured current greats like Pujols, retired greats like Enos Slaughter, and common bench players like Roger Cedeno.  Guess which one I need for my team set.  Yep Cedeno.  The second Carlton card finished my 2005 Elite team set.  These cards do not scan the greatest due to the rainbow like finish, but they look great in hand. 
 

My Son Hit 300

It is rare that I do not show off some type of Cardinals card in the first scan of a post, but today is one of those days.  Yesterday's trade package from TCDB member cubsfanstan allowed my son to pass the 300 mark for his Jose Altuve collection.

These 3 bring his total to 302.  In true collector fashion he said 500 is within reach.  That may take some time, but we have plenty of it right now.  The 2017 Topps Fire Flame card looks awesome in hand.

 

I added a couple of Fire cards to my collection as well.  Both of these are the orange parallel numbered to 299.  Despite what my scanner shows, the cards are more orange than yellow.

The rainbow foil parallel cards keep rolling in.  I should have added these to my wantlist when they came out.

 
I cannot count how many times I have heard fans say meet me at the Musial statue.  I have taken part in this tradition many times.  If you are ever at a Cardinals game, make sure to get your picture taken in front of Stan. 

Monday Mailday Recap

I did not get this package in today.  In fact it was Friday.  I am lacking for a blog title so I decided on something that sounds good instead of something to describe the cards.  Lame I know.  On to the cards that I received from TCDB member yankeedad69.

I do not collect any certain players anymore, but if I did DeJong would be at the top of the list.  I tend to shy away from pitchers so Flaherty would be out.  DeJong just seems like a solid player and a good guy.  Very personable and even takes pride in his autograph.

Speaking of pitchers, I have been getting quite a few Hudson cards in lately.  He had a pretty good rookie year in 2019 with 16 wins, but also led the league in walks with 86.  Carpenter stands to benefit if the universal DH is used.  He was never very good at second or third base.  With Paul Goldschmidt at first, DH would be his best spot.  Maybe he will have a bounce back year if he can concentrate solely on hitting.

For the past decade the Cardinals always seem to have a centerfielder of the future who does not last long as the starter.  Colby Rasmus, Jon Jay, Tommy Pham, Randal Grichuk , and now Harrison Bader.  Maybe young stud Dylan Carlson will take over next year and hold onto the spot.  I have touched on Baker before.  If there was minor league baseball this year, which I doubt, he would have started in Double A.  Playing in a hitter's league should have helped his trade value.  Now he will most likely lose a year.

Wonderful Reminder

About a month ago the Cardinals started to rebroadcast games from the 2011 season on my local radio station.  At first I listened to some of them, but it was hard to get into a regular season game against the Pirates.  I would have it on while doing other things, but would not pay much attention.  Fast forward to last week when Game 6 of the World Series was been played.  I remember watching the game on my birthday, but had never heard the Cardinals broadcast.  Although the TV version is much better, it was great living that classic game.  Of course I am biased, but that has to be a top 5 World Series game.

What does all that have to do with cards?  The day after hearing the game, I opened a trade package from TCDB member chadslagter.  The first card that I saw was this one:

Freese will always be a hero in St. Louis.  He retired last year, and I believe has moved back to the area.  I bet he does not have to pay for a meal when he goes out.

Topps captured the end of game 7 from the 2011 World Series on this  2020 insert.  I believe these cards were only available in the Wal-Mart player tins.  The Hudson is a 2019 Sepia refractor.  These are not bad, but I still prefer color.

Topps is running out of ideas for the manufactured patches.  Instead of including one in each blaster, they should just insert a jersey/bat card.  They have about the same value.

A few random inserts were included.  The Big League Blast Off is a cool idea, but I wish the design was a little better.  I guess the brand is geared more toward young collectors. 

My son added 1 more Altuve to the 300 quest.  Only 3 more to go.  He should hit that sometime next week as long as the mail does not get delayed or lost.  I will give kudos to the USPS during the pandemic.  My service has not been affected at all.  All my incoming and outgoing mail is arriving on time and in good shape.

Heavy On The Inserts

Most of my recent trades have not brought too many hits to my set needs.  I am still getting a ton of Cardinals in trades, but most have been of the insert variety.  I won't complain though, as the inserts are still needed Cardinals.  A trade with TCDB member Hundomatic brought a handful of nice inserts and a few other cards.

It has been a few weeks since I added all the Topps Gold parallels to my wantlist on TCDB.  Quite a few have came in since then.  I prefer the older sets with the gold border over the gold backgrounds like the 2018 Molina and 2017 Fowler.

 I have been adding other parallels to the wantlist like Rainbow Foil and 150th Anniversary cards.  That is going a little slower than the Gold wantlist, but it is coming along. 

I will need a long time to added all the refractors to my list.  I may start with Heritage since that will be shorter than trying to tackle Bowman or Topps Chrome.

I did get a nice 2015 Gypsy Queen short print.  Still need to find the Cepeda and Molina sps to finish this set.

My son's quest for 300 Altuve cards is getting close.  I have to double check his have list, but it should be close to 295.  I did not know about the 2015 GQ Queen's Throwback inserts.  Nice looking cards.