Mission Almost Done

I have spent the entire month of May trying to catch up on my trade recaps.  My mission is almost complete.  After today, I have a box break recap and 2 trades left to go.  I have not started any other trades due to a busy schedule and the upcoming holiday.  It will feel good to start fresh in June.  

Today's cards are courtesy of TCDB member Themissionguy.  I received his pwe full of cards about a week ago.

2020 Topps Chrome Sapphire Update was only available from Target.  We all know how hard it has been to find anything in person or online from Target since last year.  It was nice to see this morning there were 2021 Bowman and Bowman Mega boxes available.  I was lucky enough to get some, but will save the details until the boxes arrive.

The Brock 2021 Heritage insert was hard for me to find for a little while.  I think that had more to do with the other guy on the card.  It is still weird to see Wong in a Brewers uniform.  Tommy Edman is doing a great job at second and leadoff this year, but I still wish the Cardinals found a way to keep Kolten.  I will always root for him when he is not playing against St. Louis.  The 2021 Donruss red parallel looks great with Cardinals colors.

My son almost received as many cards as I did in this trade.  Panini did well to hid the logos on both these 2 cards.  
  

  

Back At It

I admit I have been lazy when it comes to keeping up with the trade recaps.  It has been almost a week since my last post.  Lots of things going on right now in the household including plenty of baseball games and other school activities to end the year.  Trading has also slowed, but I still have some recent cards to show off including today's Cardinals batch from TCDB member mjones68.  This was another Cardinals for Cardinals exchange.

First up is a trio of Donruss cards from the late 1990s.  I remember opening a few tins of 1998 Preferred when they came out.  I was looking for the McGwire tin, but settled for Rolen and Garciaparra.  I did trade for the McGwire some time ago, but have no clue where I put it.  

Drew was seconded only to McGwire in the number of cards put out during his Cardinal days.  Most of the small base sets  would be those 2 and maybe Jim Edmonds.  Hard to believe I still need quite a few base cards like the 2001 Pros & Prospects and 1999 Private Stock.  

I loved the Sports Illustrated sets.  They were colorful and featured a nice mix of players from the all time greats to then prospects like Marrero.  Marrero and Drew were the 2 players the Braves received in exchange for Adam Wainwright.  That deal worked out ok for the Cardinals.  The Butler is from 1999 SP Tops Prospects.  He was part of the Darryl Kile trade with the Rockies.

The final 2 cards are from 2005 Upper Deck First Pitch and 2009 Upper Deck Spectrum.  I was never much of an Upper Deck fan.  Of the 4 major companies during the 1990s and 2000s, I would rank them fourth.  I would rank Fleer just above them because of the Sports Illustrated and Greats of the Game sets.  Other than 40 Man, there was never an Upper Deck release that I was very excited for.  

  

Back to the PWE Trades

Trades continue to arrive at a steady pace to my mailbox.  Most have been the pwe variety.  I think the combination of the cost to mail a bubble envelope and having to wait at the post office has turned a lot of collectors to this method.  As long as the cards arrive safe and sound, I am ok with it.  For the most part, everyone uses a cut up 9 pocket page taped to a thin piece of cardboard.  TCDB member Americana sent me five cards last week this way.  All arrived in perfect condition.

This is my first card from the Topps Living Set.  Will I ever buy these directly from Topps?  No, unless for some reason a Ray Lankford card is made (which I highly doubt).  Will I trade for these?  You bet.

Some of the Topps Opening Day inserts look better than the flagship ones.  Case in point this 2021 Legends of Baseball Ozzie Smith.  Nothing very flashy, just a nice clean design.  About the only thing I do not like is the close up photo.

Both of these guys are now playing in Double A Springfield.  Burleson started the year in Peoria, but was promoted earlier this week after hitting 4 home runs in 11 games.  Gorman started the year in a slump, but has come around the last week to raise his average to .267.  He only has 1 home run so far, but he should heat up along with the weather.

My son's march for 500 Altuve cards has started.  He thinks it can be done by the end of the year.  That will depend on if we attend any card shows.  It is nice to hear more are happening, but we will have to wait until his travel baseball wraps up in late June.  Either that or hope for a rainout some weekend.  

  

   

Finally 400

I have been doing some thinking lately about changing the looks of my blog.  The background, banner, and layout has been the same ever since I started back in 2015.  Not sure when I might change since my schedule has been full with my son's baseball games, but one of these days you may see a new look.  

Another thing I briefly considered changing was the blog name.  My son brought up this point because I not only show off Cardinals, but also the Jose Altuve cards that go into his collection.  In the end, I think I will keep the same blog name.  It is hard for me to think of anything by a different name other than the one I know.  My sister has been married for over 20 years and I still refer to her by her maiden name.  Nothing against my brother in law, it is just a habit.  

You may be thinking what does this have to do with today's post.  All of this started when I received a trade from TCDB member Jgamble almost 2 weeks ago.  It contained the usual Cardinals goodies, but also 4 different Altuve cards that pushed my son's total over 400.

His collection now sits at 402.  I received this trade on a Thursday.  The next Saturday we went to the not so local card shop to get him another album and some Ultra Pro pages so he could keep them all organized.  It was fun spending about an hour going through the cards with him.

My portion of the trade started with a 1990 Louisville Redbirds team card.  I found it strange that the other collector only had 1 card from the team set, but maybe he received it in a lot or one of those repack boxes.  

Not much in common about these cards other than the colored borders.  I guess you can call the 2019 Topps Gallery Wood card a colored border.  

This week it is finally suppose to get warm in Illinois.  Highs should be in the 80s by the weekend.  Of course after a couple months of hot weather, I will be wishing for colder weather like what is pictured on these Topps Holiday Metallic Snowflake cards.  

I am not very big into the Leaf Draft products, but I will gladly take cards of a couple of #1 draft picks. Walker was the Cardinals pick in 2021, Carlson in 2016.  The Carlson card shows him in his Peoria uniform.  

It was neat to get a card picturing 3 Cardinals greats, then separate cards of each of them.  Maybe I should have shown the Molina card in this group instead of the Snowflake cards.  

Not much in common with these 2 cards either, but they are the last 2 cards from the package and I did not want to scan them separately.  Hopefully Gorman hits as many home runs in a Cardinals uniform as McGwire did.  
  

  

  

Oddball Trade

One of my biggest recent trades came from TCDB member mac412.  I sent 34 assorted Pirates to him in exchange for 17 Cardinals.  Once again an addition by subtraction trade where I get half as many cards as I sent out.  What was even better is that I only received 2 base cards.  Everything else was either an oddball or insert.  

These 1988 Topps Stickers have a ton of variations due to the different backs.  If I ever get around to filing these away, I will have to show off them off.  Until now, it is just the fronts.  I did not have either of the top 2 stickers.

Before this trade, I did not have any Cardinals bookmarks.  Now I have all 4 from the 1993 Diamond Marks Bookmarkers set.  These cards are similar in size to 1994 Fleer Extra Bases, measuring 2.5 inches by 5 inches.  

It is really hard to get a decent scan of a Sportflics card.   These 2 are from the 1994 Traded set.  

The top card is from the 1995 Megacards Babe Ruth set.  This 25 card set highlights different moments throughout his life.  Cardinal greats Dizzy Dean and Frankie Frisch are pictured with Ruth during the 1934 World Series.  The bottom 2 base cards are a short print from 2002 Donruss Fan Club and 2003 Fleer Double Header.  The Drew completed my team set.

I almost had to chuckle when I saw this group of 2004 MLB Showdown cards.  The Reggie Sanders card at the bottom is priceless.  I had a copy of the Lankford card for my player collection, but needed this one for the team set.  Lankford wore #16 during his first 12 years with the Cardinals but switched to #12 in 2004 because Sanders had it.

The lone insert from the lot was this 2006 Bazooka Blue Fortune Eckstein.  This reminds me of the Big League Blue parallels.  2021 Big League is set to release next Wednesday, but I have heard very little about it.  I am hoping it does not double in price like the rest of the 2021 releases.    

  

  

  

    

Another 2 For Tuesday

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with my trade recaps.  After today, I have 2 more stacks on my desk to scan.  I do have more trades coming in and a few EBAY lots, but it feels good to almost be caught up.  Today's recap features 2 pwe envelopes that had 3 cards each.  

First up is a trade from TCDB member propmaker.

It has been some time since I received any Flair Showcase cards in a trade.  I always think of Flair as Fleer's version of Stadium Club.  The photography is not quite as good, but the premium stock is excellent.  Both of these are from 1997.  The Benes is a Row 1, the Gant is a Row 2.  The Gibson card is from 2005 Donruss Champions.  It is a large team set with 19 Cardinals, but you wonder why guys like Abraham Nunez and Roger Cedeno are included in a set that features champions.

Next up is an unexpected pwe from long time friend Mark Z.  I have lost track how many times we have sent each other our Cardinal duplicates over the years.  I believe we started back in 2012 shortly after we met at a Memphis Redbirds game.  

Any Pujols or Molina inserts are always welcome, even the mini type.  Brian Barton is more famous for his degree in aerospace engineering than his baseball career.  He played in 82 games during the 2008 season, then only appeared in 1 other big league game.  That is still 83 more games than I have appeared in.  

Thinning Out 2021 Heritage

I have a problem when it comes to opening packs.  I am not talking about the ability to find retail to open, though that is also an issue.  I am referring to my immediate need to get rid of any cards that do not fit my collection, namely any non Cardinals.  I always try to get rid of cards as quick as possible.  The OCD in me cannot stand unwanted clutter, whether it is on my sorting desk or in a trade box.  

For the most part I have pretty good luck, as I have less than 5,000 cards for trade.  Most of those cards are from 1998-2003.  That time frame was right after I graduated college and before my wife and I built a new house.  Disposable income was more plentiful back then, so I busted quite a few hobby boxes each year.  Even before the pandemic hit, it was down to a few blasters.

This year I have opened a few packs of Topps Series 1 and 2 Heritage blasters.  I still have quite a bit of Series 1, but I have had good luck trading away the Heritage base cards.  Last week TCDB member Kaline6 send me a nice Cardinals lot in return for 20 of those Heritage cards.  

These 1981 Topps Scratchoff cards remind me of a Connect 4 game.  It is tempting to scratch away, but I will resist the urge unless I find duplicates.  

These 2 1987 Topps Traded cards are the Tiffany version.  Very glossy in hand.  

More Topps Traded Tiffany cards, this time from 1988.  

I should have pulled out my 1991 Topps cards to show that this is a dark logo variation, but I was too lazy.  Variations are not a big part of my collection.  When they are clearly visible like this I will go after them.  When it comes to the late 1980s Donruss cards with a dot or no dot after Leaf Inc, I will pass.

I remember thinking Jose,  Bernand Gilkey, and Ray Lankford would roam the Cardinals outfield for a long time in the 1990s.  Jose was an All Star in his first full season as a Cardinal in 1991, but would only last 1 more full year before he was traded to Kansas City for Gregg Jefferies.  Glad I chose the outfielder to collect who had the best Cardinals career.  

  

      

Staying With the Trend

For the third day in a row, I will highlight a couple of trades from TCDB members.  This has been a good way for me to stay close to current on my recaps.  If only it was as easy to file the cards away.  I hope to have some spare time this weekend to work on my card stacks as I must have 200+ cards that need to be put away.  On to the recap.

First up is a 3 pack from member 49ants.

These 1996 Bowman Foil cards did not scan the greatest.  I have been slowly adding the Bowman parallels from the 1990s sets to my wantlist.  I like the hometown/international parallels a little more than the foil ones, but any are welcome additions.  

The second trade was also 3 cards.  This one was from member alanskontra.    
 

This is my first 1980 Topps Superstar Photo.  These are huge, measuring almost 5"x7".  There are two different variations to track down, one with a gray back and one with a white back.  This is a gray back.  Hernandez was elected into the Cardinals Hall of Fame yesterday.  It is easy to forget he played 10 years in St. Louis.  I always remember him as a Met first, but he was a very good player as a Cardinal.  He won 6 gold gloves, made 2 All Star teams, shared the 1979 MVP award with Willie Stargel, and won a World Series in 1982.  

Just to give you an idea of the size difference.

The last 2 cards are a pair of shortstops who were traded for each other.

The Templeton is a gray back version just like the Hernandez.  The Ozzie is an oversized 1987 Donruss All Star.  At the time of the trade in February 1982, Ozzie wanted a new contract from the Padres while Templeton had worn out his welcome in St. Louis by flipping off fans 3 times during a game in 1981.  I am pretty sure most fans see the trade as a landslide win for the Cardinals.    

2 More For Today

It is not Tuesday, but I will continue with a couple more recaps in my effort to get caught up.   First up is a 4 pack of Cardinals from TCDB member boho23.

My 1992 OPC set is now complete.  The 1990s cards have been easier to track down than the 1980s that I need.  

I now have 3 of the 4 cards from the McGwire 1998 Pinnacle Stand Up Guys.  If I even find the 4th, I will have to put them together and take a picture.  I have never heard of the 1994 Pinnacle Run Creators insert before this trade.  There is also a Gregg Jeffries card I need to track down.  

I have made good progress on the 2019 Topps Gold team set.  This Hudson makes 16 out of 25.  Hudson will not throw a pitch this year due to Tommy John surgery.  Seems like every year the Cardinals have at least one pitcher with this injury.  

Next trade was another 4 pack of Cardinals.  This one was courtesy of TCDB member jbostic.

It was great to listen to a minor league baseball game last night.  It has been far too long since the last one.  Neither one of these 2 teams are affiliated with the Cardinals anymore, but I will gladly take the cards.  

I was surprised to see I needed the 1998 Collector's Choice card, but then I realized I needed the version with the home plate hologram on the back.  I already had the diamond hologram version.  The 2000 Chrome card actually came in its own pwe as the trader mistakenly sent the base Topps card the first time.  Nice of him to make things right.

2 For Tuesday

I am still playing catch up with my trade recaps.  I was almost caught up until a few busy trading days last week resulted in one or two daily packages since Thursday.  I will not complain about getting new cards though.  That is always a good thing.  First recap today is from TCDB member Mets86Champs.  

I had to do a double take to make sure both of these were base cards from 2004 Bowman Heritage.  They are even though the borders are different.  

These are the last 2 base cards I needed from 2021 Heritage.  Now to track down the shortprints.

Speaking of short prints, I did add one from the 2007 Heritage set.  I do not remember anything about Nelson's career.  Could be because it lasted on 8 games in 2006.  

Next trade was the pwe variety from TCDB member suorange93.

Though it contained only 3 cards, they were very welcome additions.  The Molina finished my 2021 Donruss team set.  The Flaherty is one of those pesky 2021 Heritage short prints.  Only 2 more to track down.  The Hudson brings my 2020 Stadium Club Chrome team needs down to 5.  Love the high socks look.  

  

Swapping Duplicates

I have kept my mailman busy the last few days with daily deliveries of 2 or 3 trades coming and going.  Most of have been of the pwe variety.  Of course all of the trades have a goal of getting rid of my clutter in exchange for needed Cardinals.  

One of the best ways of doing this is trading with other Cardinals collectors.  One of my favorite such collectors is TCDB member timriess.  We have completed 5 trades since last November.  I have sent close to 250 Cardinals duplicates his way.  I have not received near that many in return, but that is fine with me.  Our latest completed trade arrived late last week.

I am very close to completing my 2021 Donruss team set.  The last card should hopefully arrive this week barring a USPS disaster.  

I am also getting closer to the 2021 Heritage team set.  This one will take a little more time because of the short prints.  

The exchange was not all base cards, as I gained 2 2021 inserts and a 2020 Donruss parallel.  I already have the Goldschmidt, but my son and I are going to try our luck at the challenge this year.  We have about 10 codes from different players, but have yet to try any.  I prefer to wait until the weather warms up some or the team has a doubleheader.  Last year we tried only one.  It was a Juan Soto code that we entered with only 2 games left.  We picked the wrong game, as he went deep in the other.