Chrome Help

I have yet to score many 2020 Bowman Chrome cards.  I have bid on a few EBAY box breaks, but with no luck.  There have not been to many matches to my want list on TCDB either.  Guess I will continue to wait until something pops up.  Meantime, I did score a few Chrome cards for some older team sets thanks to a trade with TCDB member dwunder20.

Although there is only 1 Bowman Chrome card, I will gladly take the Topps Chrome Traded cards as well.  The blue border on the 2003 Girardi card really makes the card stand out.

We had our first snow flurries today.  While I do not hate snow, I prefer the type on this 2016 Holiday Metallic card.

I am embarrassed to say I have not completed the 1999 Fleer Musial set.  I still need 4 more.  It is not like they are high priced or hard to find.  It is just a set I have overlooked for a long time.  I will have to make a note to finish this one next year.

  

Giving Some Late Thanks

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving.  My family of four had a nice little dinner to ourselves followed by an afternoon of putting up Christmas decorations.  My daughter is in quarantine for a couple of more days so we did not venture anywhere.  She was exposed at school, but has had zero symptoms.  I am very thankful for that.  

Another thing I am thankful for are great bloggers like everyone's favorite Andrew McCutchen collector  Brian.  I was a lucky winner of one of his contests during the Saving Second Base event.  For guessing Justin Turner would hit the first double in the World Series, I won this beautiful Cody Bellinger patch card:

I love the Stamp of Approval relics from Tribute.  It is great to see there are some gamed used cards with jerseys that were actually worn during games.

Brian also slipped in some Cardinals in his package.

I have some of these already, but there is no shortage of Cardinals collectors to pass these on to.  The Walden card was a much needed hit from 2015 Platinum Series.

This is my 9th different Edmonds jersey/bat card.  I remember breaking 3 or 4 boxes of 2002 Upper Deck Diamond Connection trying to get the quad bat cards.  Multiple relic cards are some of my favorite Cardinals cards.

Thanks again Brian for the great cards and also running a wonderful blog!

  

Trade Full of All Stars

 My latest batch of cards that arrived on Monday were courtesy of TCDB member eortiz01.  He managed to fill a pwe with a bunch of Cardinals all stars.

Dizzy Dean made 4 All Star teams from 1934-1937.  This 2019 inserts highlights his 1934 season when he was the last National League pitcher to win 30 games in a season.  This 2017 Pujols highlights his 2004 All Star game, one of 9 he appeared in as a Cardinal.  He also made the 2015 team as an Angel.  

Goldschmidt made 6 All Star games with the Diamondbacks, but none so far with the Cardinals.  If their is a full season in 2021, I bet that will change.  Holliday made 4 of his 7 All Star appearances as a Cardinals.  The other 3 came as a Rockie.  I love the Berkman cameo on this 2012 Topps Red parallel.  Not sure which guy hit the home run that they are celebrating.  Lance only played 2 seasons in St. Louis, but managed to be an All Star in one of them.  Along with 2011, he appeared in 5 other games as an Astro.

Only DeJong and Wainwright have been on All Star teams from this group, but they all get a 2019 Topps All Star game parallel card.  Nothing too exciting about these cards.  This is a parallel set I could do without it, but the collector in me will try to complete the team set.  

Two For Tuesday

Not much to write about today except for a pwe that arrived Saturday from TCDB member nwcardsupplies.  I have traded with him on 3 different sites over the years.  All have been top notch.  This time he sent me 2 cards of 2 different Cardinals.

I am digging the 2020 Topps Choice Molina.  I admit I have a thing for the 1987 wood border.  I believe this is the silver version of the 2015 First Home Run insert.  I like the idea, but 1 would have been enough.

I read recently that MLB Showdown cards are seeing a rise in demand due to people playing during the pandemic.  I have not seen it, but I will gladly take a foil parallel anytime.  Edmonds has stated he would like to work with the Cardinals outfielders next year, but not as a full time coach.  I would be all for it if he could teach them how to hit.

A Minors & Update Trade

 The pwe trades continue to roll in.  Late last week I received one from TCDB member RedSoxChip that contained 7 cards, 6 for me and 1 for my son.

Hard to believe Altuve has been around for almost 10 years.  I did not realize how good he has been.  It will be interesting to see how he bounces back from the cheating scandal and a bad 2020 season.   This 2020 Update insert does a great job of highlighting all his accomplishments.

I added a couple of Update inserts to my collection.  The KK Turkey Red is nice, but I am a sucker for a HOFer on a classic design from my early days of collecting.  

For some reason I did not have a want list for the 2010 Topps Pro Debut set.  I do now.  7 more to track down.

What is even better than minor league cards?  How about some from sets you did not know existed.  The Reyes card is from 2006 Grandstand Hyundai Triple A Legends set.  Not sure why it was broken up into 2 series.  Cardinals fans will remember his best for beating Justin Verlander in Game 1 of the 2006 World Series.  His career did not last long, but he continues to have a great story serving as a fire fighter in California.

OZ-Some Trade

 Yesterday's post showed a bunch of Harrison Bader cards from a recent trade.  Today I  will show a handful of Ozzie Smith cards from TCDB member timriess.  He is a fellow Cardinals fan who collects Ozzie and Ray Lankford.  The man has great taste.

I love oddball/box set cards.  Here we have a 1992 Score 100  Superstars and a 1988 Fleer Hottest Stars.  

I don't know the percentage, but it does not seem like very many Ozzie cards show him batting.  The 1995 Flair is one of them.  I guess when you win 13 Gold Gloves most of your cards will show you in the field.  This was the last card I needed for my 1992 Leaf Black team set.

My only non Ozzie was this 1996 Topps Chrome Brian Jordan.  This card does a great job of capturing his hustling style of play.  

A Bader Good Trade

 As a player collector, there may come a time when you question whether you want to keep hoarding the same player's cards.  Whether the player is traded, leaves as a free agent, or done something wrong like PED use, there are many reasons to stop collecting someone.  Vince Coleman was my first player collection, but that came to a very quick halt when he signed with the Mets as a free agent.  I even took a break from my Ray Lankford collection after he was traded to the Padres.  It only last a few months though.  

Last week I worked out a trade with TCDB member Burefreak.  Like myself, he collects with his son.  His son had a nice Harrison Bader collection, but decided to collect Paul Goldschmidt instead.  I swapped some Goldy doubles and a few other cards for a batch of Baders.

There were 2018 cards like a Sepia Refractor and a Topps Rainbow Foil.

There were 2019 cards that shared the same photo.  Strange that Topps moved the Rookie Cup logo to the left side on the Opening Day Blue Foil.

Maybe I should start a rainbow of the 2019 Panini Prizm cards.  I might have around 5 of the 20 some variations by now.

2019 Leather & Lumber used die cuts instead of color variations.  Looks like the photo may have been from the same at bat as the Prizm card.

The last of the Baders including 2 2020 parallels and a 2019 mini.  I love the action shot on the Topps Rainbow Foil card.

I did receive a couple of Goldscmidt cards back.  Still pecking away at 2020 base card sets.

The last card I received was a 2019 Chrome Prism Refractor Molina.  He is a free agent, but I cannot see the Cardinals letting him go somewhere else.  I would prefer he only get a one year contract, but the Cardinals will most likely give him two.  

EBAY Auto Pick Up

I broke away from EBAY habit of buying into box breaks or Cardinals lots to look for a new Cardinals auto last week.  I had some money left over from my birthday a few weeks ago that was burning a hole in my pocket.  I set my sites higher than my usual $10-15 card this time.  My collection is missing autographs from 3 first basemen:  McGwire, Pujols, and Goldschmidt.  I decided to go the cheap route and get a Goldy.

                                                            

Besides being my first Goldscmidt auto, this is also my first Clearly Authentic card. I prefer action shots, but this card was too sweet to pass up.

I love the see through type cards.  Topps did a great job with the design for this set.  There are a few other Cardinals in this set that are not quite as expensive as this card that I may try to add.  This one was around $27 total.    

    

Cardinals Update EBAY Box Break

My son and I were on the prowl for some Update boxes to open the weekend it was released.  Of course we did not find any, so we did the next best thing and checked EBAY for a team break.  We found one for 3 jumbo boxes that cost a little less than $12.  Cheaper than the blasters that finally showed up this past weekend.  We may still get a few packs to satisfy the urge to rip.  The EBAY lot also arrived this weekend.

The team sets consists of 8 cards along with a Molina photo variation.  We received 3 complete team sets and few extra.  

I was surprised the Goldschmidt card pictured him in a Cards uniform since he spent most of the decade as a  Diamondback.  I have seen this Gibson photo numerous times, but not lately.

I was lucky to receive 2 out of the 16 silver pack cards.  Love both of the shots.

My favorite card was this Carlson Prospect insert.  I love that Topps used a minor league photo.  I will give Topps credit for the coalition for these.  These were inserted 1 per jumbo pack.  Out of the 30 packs in the break, there were 27 different cards.  

Lots of Value from an EBAY Lot

Most of the time when I read an EBAY item description I do not pay attention to the similar search items at the bottom.  Sometimes I do not even make it to the bottom of the page.  Good thing I did last week while looking for a Cardinals autograph as I stumbled upon an auction for a Cardinals lot.  The seller did not have a very good title, so I was the only bidder.  He did have quite a few pictures that showed most of the key cards in it.  There was plenty of value of there for me for the $15.50 total that I won the auction for.  

I assume the only reason this auction came up in the similar search was it contained this Bud Smith autograph, although the title did not mention it.  This is my second auto of the former no hit, one hit wonder.  

I also gained a new JD Drew jersey card, the 4th in my collection.  I always liked 2003 Fleer Authentix cards.  I have a small collection of ticket stubs from games my family has attended.  

There was quite a few Drew cards in the 29 card lot.  These 5 are new to me.  I love the 2003 Elite die cut.

There were 3 other 2003 Elite die cuts.  The red cards look awesome with the Cardinals uniform.  The blue Gibson is not to bad either.

There were 2 other numbered inserts and a couple of refractors also.  The Bud Smith is a 2002 glossy parallel numbered to 200.  The 2002 Gold Refractor Polanco is my favorite.  It really shines in hand.

There were 13 other base cards that I did not need.  All these would not have been too bad of a deal.  The last 2 cards made it a great deal.

2 different Molina rookie cards finished the lot.  I have the Topps already, but needed the Fleer Inscribed.  These were pictured in the auction.  I thought for sure someone would have saw them and outbid me, but luck was on my side.   Wish these type of deals came along more often. 

Trade Full of Black

Yesterday's post was all about gold cards.  Today's features a bunch of black borders.  All of these came in from a trade with TCDB member mp775.

There are 330 cards in the 1992 Conlon Collection TSN set.  49 of those are Cardinals.  I love this set because of the obscure retired players in it.  I need to find 2 more to finish this big one.

Speaking of big sets,  I received all 25 cards from the 1988 CMC Louisville Redbirds set.  Not very many big name guys in this one.  Cardinals fans may remember the other Cris Carpenter that played for them.  I guess this card is an uncorrected error since his name is spelled wrong.

I just need to track down the Nolan Gorman short print to finish this year's Topps Heritage Minors team set.  Have I mentioned how much I missed minor league baseball this year?  This may be the 100th time since March.

The only non black border card was this 1990 Topps Sticker.  I have not heard much about Pedro since his stroke in 2017.  He recovered pretty well from that, so I assume he is still going strong.  

Trade Full of Gold

The trade packages are still coming in from TCDB.  It is nice to see the website getting a lot of attention on the blogs.  It is a great for not only trading, but keeping track of what you have.  I love being able to find out how many Yadier Molina cards I have with just a few clicks.  Of course the trading is the biggest draw for me.  It is very easy to find a trading partner if you take the time to enter a trade and want list.  I just received a package from member jimetal7212.  We both ended up with 14 new cards.  Quite a few of mine were of the golden variety.  

I have added quite a few Bowman Gold sets to my wantlist, but have a ton more to go.  These are not as nice as a flagship gold parallel because of the issues with chipping.  They are also a lot thicker.  These 2005 cards give me 5 out of the 11 Cardinals.  

Seems like every company has some type of gold parallel.  The 1995 SP Top Prospects die cut is of the third Benes brother Adam.  He never made it to the Majors like Andy and  Alan.  I did not even know he had a card.  The 1995 Score Gold Rush checklist card finished my team set.  I am one of those collectors who consider a checklist part of the team.  Strange I know.  There is also a 2001 Bowman Gold of  Ankiel the pitcher and a 1997 Ultra Gold Medallion.

Moving on to some different Bowman parallels are these 2 1997 Bowman International cards.  They are normal thickness, but have the same chipping issues as the gold cards.  I like the concept, but the black border makes them very dark.

What do all these cards have in common?  Not much other than all 4 of these guys played first base.  All of them were also All Stars while playing for the Cardinals.  Jefferies made it both years he played for St. Louis in 1993 and 1994.  

The last part of the trade was this 1983 Fleer Star Sticker of Silent George.  One of the best stories I heard about him was after the Cardinals won Game 7 of the 1982 World Series, he drove from St. Louis to his home in California still in his uniform.  He did not stick around very long after the game to celebrate.  

    

Some 2020 Goodness

Don't look now, but there are only 51 days left to 2020.  I am sure most of us are ready to flip the calendar to 2021.  I know I am.  In between covid and the crazy election, it is a wonder anyone has managed to keep their sanity.  It is nice to have baseball cards as a distraction to keep your mind off these things.  TCDB member Waino2Yadi (how cool is that username for a  Cardinals fan) sent me a pwe over the weekend with handful of 2020 cards.

Goldschmidt was one of the few Cardinals that had a good 2020 season.  It was great to see him bounce back after a down 2019.  This 2020 Bowman Chrome was the last veteran card I need for my team set.  That sound good, but there were only 2 Cardinals in the set not counting the prospects.   The 2020 Chrome is a refractor.

Here are a couple more 2020 Chrome cards including a die cut and a prism refractor.  After a really good first season in St. Louis in 2018, Mikolas was really bad in 2019 and missed all of this season due to injury.  I am sure he is looking forward to 2021.

I snuck in a 2019 Topps gold parallel to go along with a 2020 Stadium Club red foil card.  Hudson would like to forget 2020 also as he had Tommy John surgery earlier this year.  He will most likely miss all of next season.  

EBAY Box Break: You Win Some, You Lose Some

My latest EBAY box break featured 2 boxes of 2020 Topps Gallery and 3 boxes of 2020 Bowman Chrome Mega.  I have not seen either one at my local Wal-Mart, so I figured why not.  The Cardinals spot was about the same cost as a blaster by the time you add in the sales tax.  Needless to say, I should have skipped this one.  Not the best of value, but I did come away with a few cards.

I came away with 2 Chrome cards, with the Carlson Mojo Refractor being the best.

The Gallery boxes produced more cards.  I received 7 base cards, but 3 were duplicates.  Kerry drop me a message if you need an Edman, Flaherty, or Kim.

My 2 inserts were a Flaherty Modern Artists and a Foil Kim.  Topps did a pretty good job with the Modern Artists set.  So for my $21, I received 8 base cards and 3 inserts.  Not the best value, but it was fun watch the break anyway.  Just like playing the lottery, you win some, you lose some.