TCDB 2 for Tuesday

I am not one to keep up with a regular theme posting schedule, but it seems most Tuesdays I recap a couple of small trades.  Not sure how long I will continue, but I will keep it up for a second straight week with 2 more small trades.  First up is a couple of cards from TCDB member pdmkam.

My 2021 Topps Pro Debut team set is now finished.  I have set a small goal to try to finish up a few team sets before 2022 rolls around.  Some should be easy, while others will be a little more difficult due to short print cards.  

The second trade package came from TCDB member Tigers 727.  He sent 6 card, but 3 of them were not the correct cards.  He is making things right though by sending a nice 2014 parallel that I will show off later.  

The Cardinals portion of the package included a 2014 Topps Chrome Xfractor and a 2010 Topps Attax Silver Foil card.  I never even heard of the Silver Foil parallels before this trade.  Shows you can learn something new everyday in the card world.

My son added this 2016 Topps Update Gold to his Altuve collection.  I doubt you will see too many more of his cards with Correa on them.  Unlike quite a few of the big free agents, I have not heard much news about him.  With the lockout looming at midnight Thursday morning, he may have to wait until it is over to sign.  There was a rumor he may go to Detroit, but they signed Javier Baez today.  I guess the Tigers could still sign him.  The Rangers signed two middle infielders in Marcus Semien and Corey Seager earlier this week.  

  

First Taste of Update

I have slowed down quite a bit with buying into box breaks.  There is either nothing that really excites me right now, or the brands I do like are going for more than I want to pay.  As a result, I have not had too many new 2021 Cardinals base cards arrive.  Good thing there are plenty of traders on TCDB with these cards available.  A recent trade with member jlcre2003 brought my first 2021 Topps Update Cardinals.

There are 14 Cardinals in the set if you do not count the short prints.  Half of them are pitchers, which can be expected considering the larger amount of injuries the Cardinals staff suffered this year.  Ali Sanchez managed to get a card even though he played in just 2 games.  

I received my first Update gold parallel along with a rainbow foil from Series 1.  Ramirez played in even fewer games than Sanchez.  In 1/3 of an inning, he gave up 3 runs.  

My son added to his Altuve collection with this All Star Game insert.  At first look I thought this was a base card.  In previous years they were, but for some reason Topps changed things this year.  

The non Update portion of the trade were these 2 2020 Turkey Red Chrome cards.  Unlike other Chrome variations, these were included in packs instead of a separate release.    

Quick EBAY Auto Show Off

I have had some luck recently adding some cheap autographs to my Cardinals collection from EBAY.  Other than the Jordan Walker auto, nothing has been over $10.  I added another new Cardinals to my collection Monday when an EBAY standard envelope arrived.

I won this Bedell refractor from 2020 Bowman Chrome Draft for less than $5 delivered.  I think the standard envelope scared a few bidders away.  This one came in a top loader and a team bag inside a photo mailer.  Cost the seller $0.93 to mail.  Great deal for both of us.  Bedell was a 4th round draft pick in 2020 who only pitched in 2 games in 2021 before undergoing Tommy John surgery.  He should make it back for the second half of the 2022 season.  Maybe I will get a chance to see him pitch in Peoria.

2 Small 2 for Tuesday Trades

It has been a few weeks since I did a 2 for Tuesday recap.  I have a few smaller trades sitting on my desk right now, and with holiday coming up later this week I wanted to get a few things posted.  First up is a 2 pack from TCDB member dettigersmlb.  If you could not tell by his name, he is a Detroit fan.  I sent him 3 Tigers from my 2021 Heritage Minors box for a couple of Cardinals.

There are so many different parallels from 2014 Topps.  It is very easy to forget about a certain color.  The yellow ones do not show up very often, so it was nice to cross Mr. Kelly off my wantlist.  The die cut Gibson is a 2021 insert.  

The second trade was with The Bench member mcgwirenut.  He is a Cardinals and McGwire collector, but I traded him some Heritage Minors inserts in this deal.  

It has been a long time since I crossed any 2008 Upper Goudey cards off my list.  Mostly because I just need short prints.   Glad to get these 2 Pujols cards.  The Gorman is a 2021 Heritage Minors insert sticker.   

Card Show Recap

My schedule for this past Saturday was open for a change.  No household chores that had to be done, and no ball games to attend.  A quick check of the Beckett online show calendar showed 3 different shows with in a 2 hour drive.  I have been to 2 of them before with some luck, but I chose the new location.  It was in a mall that we have shopped at before.  I figured this would give my wife and daughter something to do while my son and I browsed the 50 tables.  

We arrived about 30 minutes after the mall opened.  We did a quick walk through of all the tables to scope out where the bargain boxes were.  We ended up buying cards from 4 different dealers.  I will go in order of the purchases.  First up was a father and son combo that had 3 monster boxes of $1 cards.  At first I was not going to spend much time at their table, but the father was very friendly.  His boxes were a mix of sports, but he said there were some good Cardinals and a few bargains to be found if we spent the time digging.  

We found 4 Cardinals that I needed.  The Carpenter is numbered to 150.  The Molina 2019 Archives purple numbered to 175 has a slight bend in a corner, but not too bad.  I will gladly take any Cardinals autograph I need for $1 even if it is a sticker and has no logos.

I also pulled these 5 cards for a $1 each.  The dealer was not lying when he said I would find some bargains.  3 autographs including 1 numbered to 199, a relic card of the NL MVP, and a nice Chipper Jones insert numbered to 99.

Our next stop was a dealer who had his card separated by player.  I did not find any Cardinals I wanted for the price he was charging, but my son did find 5 Altuve cards for $5.

Included in this lot is 2020 Topps Foilboard numbered to 264, a 2020 Bowman Platinum Teal numbered to 299, a 2021 Bowman Chrome, a 2021 Prizm Fearless, and a 2021 Prizm Fearless Red Wave numbered to 99.  I was thinking closer to $3 instead of $5, but did not want to haggle over $2.  I printed out my son's Altuve have list that he checked to make sure he needed all these.  He had pulled 3 others, but put them back after checking his list.  

Our next purchase was by far the best.  I have dug through many dime boxes over my card show adventures, but never a 12 for $1 box.  This dealer had a 5,000 count box full of 2020 and 2021 cards.  I told my son pull anything that was numbered, colored, or looked like a shiny insert.  We pulled 72 cards in about 30 minutes.  Here is what $6 bought.

My first 2021 Bowman Platinum cards.

A handful of colored parallels.  The 2021 Fuschia Shimmer card is numbered to 199.

2020 Topps Foilboard cards numbered to 229.

Topps Gold cards from 2020 and 2021.

2020 Optic Green parallels including 2 Cardinals for the personal collection.

2020 Prizm Red, White, and Blue parallels.  I had both Cardinals, but should be able to trade them pretty easily.

These were the last 3 cards I pulled to make an even $6.  I always seem to have people wanting to trade for Red Sox cards.

We found a huge run of 2021 Topps Chrome refractors.  There many have been some base refractors, but those can be hard to spot.  

Pink refractors.  That is the same Goldschmidt I paid $1 for early in the show.  

Prism Refractors.

Xfractors. 

Sepia refractors.  I did need both of these Cardinals.  Quite a few big names over all the refractors.  Last but not least were some Bowman Chrome Mojo refractors.

All of these except the Liberatore are from 2021.  It is from 2020.  I did not need it or the Gorman for my pc.  Once again some big names like Volpe, Kelenic, and Rutschman were had for less than a dime.

The last card we bought was the most expensive for $13.

There are not many Templeton autographs in a Cardinals uniform.  He played 6 seasons in St. Louis before being traded in the Ozzie Smith deal.  

That wrapped up our shopping.  We spent $33 in about 2 hours.  The females actually finished shopping before we did.  They spent a lot more than us.  

 

 

More Gold and Base

Just like yesterday's recap, today's post features some Topps Gold Cardinals and some base cards from some sets not hit very often.  All of these came in a trade with TCDB member CubinSTLsets.  

Both gold cards are from 2011 Topps.  I now have half of the 26 card team set.  I talk a lot about finishing a Topps Gold team set.  I am pretty sure this will not be the first.

Some of my favorite cards are from the early 1990s.  They are not worth a lot, but they remind me of my early collecting years and when I had time to listen to almost every game.  I remember many nights falling asleep to the sound of Jack Buck's voice.  This 1993 Team Stadium Club card is not a bad design, but would look a lot better without the green bar on the right side.  

I am amazed how many base cards I need from the late 1990s and early 2000s.  Back then I was fresh out of college with no house, student loans, or family to worry about.  I would hate to see how much money I spent opening packs back then.  I was always busting a blaster or hobby box every week.  The above cards are from 2002 Victory, 1999 Topps Stars, 2003 Donruss Team Heroes, and 2002 Upper Deck 40 Man.  I would love to complete the 44 card 40 man team set.  Just 6 more to go after adding the Pearce card.

A long time ago I bought an EBAY lot full of Cardinals Police sets.  At least they were advertised as complete sets.  Some had a card or two missing like the 2004 Edmonds pictured above.  These do not show up very often in singles form.  I always think I will attend a show in the St. Louis area and find them, but most of the time it is just a team set.  I am not to the point yet of paying $8-$10 for a couple of common players.  
  

A Trio of 3s

I had a rare bubble mailer trade show up on Monday from The Bench member liberatemadmess.  I sent him 3 different duplicate Cardinals from Bowman Chrome in exchange for a 9 Cardinals.  There are 3 themes to the cards I received.

The 2019 Topps Tribute cards are very high quality.  They are super thick and very high gloss.  I wish I could find some of these in quarter or dime boxes.

These Topps Gold cards are from 2019.  The top 2 are from Series 2, the bottom is an Update card.  I am about 2/3 of the way done with the Series 1 and 2 set.  Maybe it will be the first gold team set I finish.

The last trio of cards are from Bowman Chrome.  The 2017 Reyes card finished a team set.  I received the photo variation a few weeks ago.  The Dunn is from 2018 Draft.  The Winn refractor is from 2020 Draft.    

 

Action Packed Minors Trade

 Another pwe trade rolled in Monday from TCDB member sparkchaser41.  He is a set builder I have traded with several times before.  This time I sent him some 2019 Topps Archives base cards in exchange for some Cardinals from 3 different sets.

There are 2 different version of 1990 CMC Louisville Redbird cards.  The ones like this Sherrill card that came in packs have a yellow back.  There is also a stadium give away set that has a green back.  Each set features the same 29 cards with the same card number.  It took me a long time to track down the green back Lankford for my player collection.

Fast forward 31 years and minor league cards sure have changed.  The 2021 Pro Debut set features 6 different Cardinals.  I need to find 2 more to finish my team set.  Maybe next year instead of Heritage Minors I will break a box of this.  

  
The last 3 cards are from the 1993 Action Packed All Star Gallery set.  I love the photos from this set.  You do not see too many cards that picture Joe Torre as a catcher.  The sepia photos for the old timers looks good also.  I should have posted a scan of the back of the cards.  Career totals along with a list of highlights make up a good portion of the card.  I never knew Torre was NL Manger of the Year in 1982 for the Braves before having this card.   

2 Autos From EBAY

 Last week's mail brought 2 different autographs from EBAY.  The first is the only Cardinals autograph from 2021 Heritage Minors.

Nothing against Hence, but it was a little disappointing to not see Nolan Gorman or Jordan Walker have an auto in the set even though they had base cards and inserts.  Hence was a second round pick in 2020.  He should make his full season debut this year with Palm Beach, and maybe move up to Peoria before the end of the year.  He just turned 19 in August, so there is plenty of time for him to develop.  This card was little less than $5 delivered.

I spent more of my birthday money on this 2021 Bowman Sterling autograph.  This one was about $25 delivered.  Walker's Pro Debut or Bowman Platinum autographs are cheaper, but I prefer on card autos.  Walker is already #57 on the top 100 prospects list.  I look for him to move up quite a bit if he spends most of next year in Double A Springfield.  Hammonds Field is a hitter's ballpark where he could hit 30 home runs if he stays there long enough.  

Chrome EBAY Lot

One of my latest EBAY purchases arrived late last week.  This lot consisted of various Cardinals Chrome cards.  Most were of the Bowman variety with a few Topps sprinkled in.  This 80 card lot was about $26 delivered.  I did not scan a huge stack of 2020 and 2021 Bowman Chrome cards that were duplicates for my collection.  There were some nice inserts in there and a some base cards that I hope to use for in person autographing next year.  There was also a Bob Gibson Topps 7th Medallion card that was a duplicate.  Here are the cards that I needed.

I finished off my 2021 Bowman Chrome needs with the Walker and Carlson card.  I also finished the 2020 set with the Liberatore card.  Part of the duplicates included about 10 Walker cards and 5 Carlson cards.  Both will be easily tradeable.  

I needed these 4 nice looking Chrome inserts.  The purple shimmer cards are very nice, but the Gorman is my favorite.  

The only Topps Chrome card I needed was a 2021 Goldschmidt refractor.  

The big draw of the lot were these 4 autographs.  I have both of the base autos on the bottom, but once again should be able to trade them with ease.  I saw both Redmond and Pages play in Peoria this year.  Not sure either will have a major impact with the Cardinals.  Redmond was promoted to Double A Springfield the last couple of months and hit well.  He may get a bump to Triple A next year.  Pages should start the season in Springfield.  As the cards show, he is a big guy.  His defense will be his ticket to the majors.  

Ohtani For Cardinals

Last summer I won large EBAY lot that contained quite a few Shohei Ohtani cards.  Thanks to his great 2021 season, I have been able to trade away most of them for Cardinals that I need.  I did have a few of them left that I sent to TCDB member sfurukawa last week in exchange for some Cardinals needs.

I have not seen too many 2021 Absolute hobby cards for trade.  There is a ton of the retail version available.  

I finally finished my 2021 Topps Chrome team set with this Kim card.  It never fails that the last one seems to take the longest to track down.  The Ozzie Smith card is from 2013 Select.  This is another set I do not see too many cards for trade from.  

The last 3 cards are all former Cardinals first basemen.  Pujols knocked my 2005 Team Heroes needs down to 2.  I am down to just 1 more McGwire from the 1999 SPx set.  I have never seen the 2001 American Pie Hernandez before.  It is amazing how many different cards were produced in the early 2000s.  According to TCDB, there were over 2,700 different Cardinals cards made in 2001.  I am sure there quite a few other low print run cards not in that total so it may be closer to 3,000. 

  

2021 Heritage Minor League Box Break

My birthday was the last week in October.  At 45, I am not sure why some people feel the need to get me something other than a card.  Both my parents and in-laws slipped some cash in my card, so of course like a little kid I felt the need to spend it right away.  I made an impulse buy and bought a newly released hobby box of 2021 Topps Heritage Minors.  I have always wanted to bust a box of this, and the price was a lot lower than most current hobby boxes.  I did pay a small premium by ordering directly from the Topps website, but the box was delivered in 3 days so I can live with that.  My son and I busted the box early last week.  

We pulled 6 of the 8 Cardinals from the set.  Need to track down Ivan Herrera and the Nolan Gorman short print to complete the base set.  I was glad to see we did not receive any duplicates from the box.

Instead of the customary oversized box topper card, Heritage Minors has a 3 pack of these cover cards.  Nothing too outstanding about these.  I would have preferred another standard pack.

Short print odds are 3 per box.  It was great to hit a big name like  Witt Jr.  Maybe I can flip one of these for the Gorman I need.

We also received the 3 expected Boyhood Photos inserts.  I had to do a double take of the Garrett Anderson card when I say the Cardinals uniform.  

  

We did very well with the Pack Cover inserts pulling a nice Walker for the Cardinals collection along with Franco and Witt Jr.

We hit another Witt Jr from the Venezuelan Stamp cards.  The Tork is pretty nice also.

Most box breaks I have seen yielded 2 or 3 colored parallels.  We received a blue numbered to 99 and a green numbered to 75.  I don't know much about either of these guys, but did find out Matos is the Giants #3 prospect.  May have to hold onto this one for a bit to see how he pans out.

Each box contains 2 autographs.  We did ok pulling a black numbered to 50 and a redemption.  Neither one of these guys are big name prospects, but they are both pretty young so that could change in a year or two.  

It was fun busting an entire hobby box.  We have only done this one other time in the last few years.  It was funny watching my son open his share of packs and having no clue who most of the players were.  I told him to pick 3 random guys and follow their progress next year.  That should give him something to look forward to next minor league season.