2022 Heritage Box Break

My most recent box break loot arrived yesterday.  I paid $7 for the Cardinals spot in a 1 hobby box break on The Bench website.  I was not expecting much in the way of big hits, just hoping to get one of the 3 Cardinals short prints.  I came away with 7 base cards.

This is the first Cardinals card of Matz.  Topps did a decent job of airbrushing this one.  Wainwright is in line to start what should be his final opening day.  The only way I see him coming back for 2023 is if he and Molina do not make 20 starts together to break the all time battery mark.

Shortstop is the only real question mark in the field for the Cardinals.  Sorry for management is giving DeJong every chance to reclaim his starting role, which I hope he does.  If not, Sosa will see the bulk of the playing time unless he falters.  Plan C would be to shift Tommy Edman to short and start Nolan Gorman at second.  

These 3 should be in the lineup every day barring injury.  Molina has yet to play in a spring training game due to reporting late, but he should be ready for the first game on April 7.  Bader may miss a day or two due to his arbitration hearing.  I hope he can duplicate his 2021 season.  A gold glove and average offense would be great.  Goldschmidt should be his usual self.  30 home runs, 100 rbi's , and a .300 average is what I expect from him.

At $1 each, these cards were a little overpriced but that is the risk you take sometime with box breaks.  I will call this one a wash.

  

Cheap Relic

2 weeks until Opening Day, but is sure does not feel like it today.  Mother Nature has rolled things back a few months.  The feel like temp is in the upper 30s the next few days.  I hope this is last bit of cold weather.  I am ready for sunny and 75.

My latest EBAY standard envelope arrived yesterday with a reminder of the cold weather.

DeJong's blue jersey goes well with the blue snowy sky on this 2021 Topps Holiday relic.  I still find relic cards neat even though a lot of collectors have grown tired of them.  I just think of them as a higher end insert.  I already have 4 other DeJong relics in my collection, but it was an easy decision to add this one for $0.84 delivered.  

Opening Day

It is hard to believe that opening day is about 2 weeks away.   2 weeks ago it looked like this season may never get under way, but thankfully the owners and players found some middle ground and we will have baseball in 2022.  What better way to celebrate than to show off a recent trade with TCDB member supergajit that contained nothing but 2022 Topps Opening Day cards.

There are 7 Cardinals in the team set, 4 of which had cards in Series 1.  Just like previous years, Topps uses the same photo with the additional of the Opening Day logo.

The other 3 Cardinals give you a sneak peak to cards that should be in Series 2.  Nice to see Carlson get the gold cup treatment.  

This collector must have opened a hobby box because he had a ton of base cards and quite a few inserts for trade.  It was great to get my team set and the Altuve base card for my son all in 1 trade.  I will be chasing after the blue foil parallels and the Fredbird mascot card.  

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #12

 I missed 2 for Tuesday last week, but am back at it this week.  First up is a trade with one of my more frequent TCDB partners Themissionguy.  

These are my first 2021 Contenders cards.  Not much to like about the cards other than they feature Cardinal players.  I keep telling myself to shy away from these types of cards, but the hoarder/collector in me usual wins out.

These Arenado cards have much more eye appeal, even the 2021 Chronicles Certified.  I think it is strange that Topps included the Chrome Stars of MLB in 2022 retail packs, but the hobby packs have the base version like this one.  You would think the nicer card would be in the hobby packs.

I sound like a broken record, but Cardinals cards that have red backgrounds, borders, or nameplates look awesome.  The Yadi Revolution is the Fractal version.  I am glad this trader did not value his Ozzie reprint as much as the dealer from the card show last weekend.  

The second trade package arrived from member jackal726. 

It never gets old finding cards of Cardinals Hall of Famers.  The Slaughter is from the online 2021 Topps 206 set.  I am glad other collectors buy these and trade their unwanted cards so I do not have to.  

Mr. Motte does not really fit in with the other 2 players, but I did not want to scan just 1 card.  I guess his blue border matches the blue uniforms on the other 2 cards.  It is nice to see Topps use some fielding shots of Gold Glove winners like Arenado and Goldschmidt.  I really like the photo on the Metallic Snowflake of Goldy scooping out a low throw.  

  

Small Card Show Report

This past Saturday was one of the last free ones I will have until the middle of June.  With my son's travel baseball season starting in 2 weeks, leisure time on the weekends will be almost nonexistent.  Saturday also saw a full day of rain, so we decided to make a quick shopping trip.  My wife and daughter were looking for spring clothes, while my son needed a new helmet and bat.  As luck would have it, one of the malls we hit up had a small card show.  

I guess I should not call it luck, as I checked the Beckett show calendar and knew it was going on.  With it only being 30 tables, I was not expecting too much.  I would not have spent the time or money to drive 1.5 hours for a small show, but since we were in the area and had time to kill while the females shopped we spent about an hour looking through the tables.  I ended up spending $14 with 2 different dealers.  

The first dealer had a few showcase cards and a couple of boxes with $1 and assorted game used and autographed cards.  $10 got me the following lot.

I was pleased with finding 2 vintage Cardinals for $1 each.  The 1965 Topps Schoendienst is in great shape minus 1 soft corner.  The 1976 Hostess Brock does not have the best edges since it was cut so close, but that really does not bother me.  Lane Thomas is no longer with the Cardinals, but I could not pass up a 1985 auto for $3.  The Altuves were $2, and the Brubaker auto numbered to 250 was also $3.  It will be headed to Ron B later this week.

The second dealer had a couple of boxes marked $1 each, or 25 for $20.  I ended up with 4 cards for $4.

The Flaherty Scope parallel is the only card I will be keeping in this lot.  The Taillon numbered to 75 and the Gonzales numbered to 99 are also headed to Ron B.  I picked up the McCutchen jersey card with Collecting Cutch in mind.  If he does not need it, I know of a couple of Phillies collectors who might.  Hard to go wrong with a jersey card for $1.

I have to share a rather amusing exchange I had with another dealer.  He had a large box of 2022 cards not marked.  I pulled out a 2022 1987 35th Anniversary insert of Ozzie Smith and asked how much.  He stated book value was $10, so he could let it go for $5.  I have not owned a Beckett in years, but know that card is not worth $5.  I quickly put it back and moved on.  The dealer mumbled something about me being a cheap skate as I was walking away.  After I got home a quick EBAY search shows the Ozzie can be had for about $2-3 delivered.    
  

Cards from Buddy Ron B

I have lost track how many times Trading Bases member Ron B has sent me cards over the years.  I did make a note to keep track this year.  Anytime either of us head out to a card show, we check with each other to see what is on our want list.  I search for Pirates and Yankees for him and his son, he looks for Cardinals and Altuves for me and mine.    His third package of 2022 arrived earlier this week.  My son was disappointed there were no Altuve cards, but I came away with a great lot of Cardinals.

You never know what you may find in bargain boxes.  Both of these came from quarter boxes.  The 1998 SPx Polittle is numbered  to 2500.   The Musial is a great looking card from 2005 Upper Deck Mini Jersey collection.  

I am not for certain what these minis cost.  The Adams GQ purple is numbered to 250, the Hicks to 100.   

Arenado had a ton of nice cards last year.   This year should be even more.  The Stadium Club Sepia parallel is a great looking card, but I will give the edge to the Revolution Groove parallel.  Even without logos, the color matching on the card works great.

A couple more parallels from 2021 including a pink Optic Yadi and a French Text back parallel  Goldschmidt Heritage.  I thought about scanning the back of the Goldschmidt, but who wants to see a bunch of numbers and French text that you most likely cannot read.

Wainwright will be starting the Cardinals first spring training game later today.  Most fans believe this will be his and Molina's last season.  Flaherty reported to camp with a sore shoulder.  No news yet on what exactly is wrong, but he is getting a second opinion from another doctor.  That does not sound very good to me at all.  

After spending the last 11 seasons in St. Louis, Carpenter is one of the many remaining free agents.  The defensive shift killed his career a few seasons ago.  He might be able to sign a low cost deal as a DH, but I would not be surprised if his career is over.  I still will chase after this cards.  The 2014 Heritage Chrome refractor is numbered to 565.  The 2019 Heritage is a short print.

First Time Twitter Buy

I am not really a big user of social media.  I surf a few pages on Facebook daily, but they are mostly sports related.  I don't use Instagram, Tik Tok, or just about any other platform you can think of.  I don't have the time nor I do care to see what everyone is doing for every second of their day.  If something is important, most people know to email, call, or text me.  Simple and old fashioned is the way I like to keep things.

I recently decided to sign up for Twitter.  Most sports teams post content during the season along with some of the players.  I have also seen many collectors use Twitter as a card platform.  Buy, sell, trade, you name it.  Last week I made my first purchase.  Not really knowing how things work, I kept it to $5 for 3 Cardinals.  They arrived safe and sound yesterday afternoon.

The Walker card is the one that caught my eye.  Both of these were $1 each.  

This Carlson was $2.  Shipping in a pwe was $1.  I came out better than if I bought them on EBAY.  Not sure how often I will buy on Twitter, but it is fun to look at all the different cards for sale along with the spring training pictures the Cardinals are posting.

Yet Another EBAY Auto

On Saturday the mailman dropped off what seems like my weekly EBAY standard envelope autograph.  I have discussed the benefits of buying this way multiple times, so I will just get right to the card.

McGreevy was the Cardinals #1 draft choice last year.  The Cardinals have a history of drafting college pitchers who project to advance to St. Louis pretty quickly.  Think Michael Wacha or Dakota Hudson.  McGreevy should follow in their footsteps.  My guess is he starts this year in high A Peoria, but will finish in triple A Memphis.  Unless he gets injured or forgets how to throw strikes, I can see him in the Cardinals bullpen in 2023.

This 2021 Bowman's Best auto was a little over $6 delivered.  He does a Bowman Chrome auto, but for the price difference I am happy with this one.  Like a lot of other collectors, I am tentative spending money on young pitcher autographs.

Something Extra

It is always nice to receive something extra in a trade.  In my book it does not have to be worth a lot of money.  It is the thought of the other collector that makes the item special.  The other day I showed off a common Fleer sticker that I received in a trade.  Just seeing it included brightened my day.  With everything that is going on right now with the strike and Russian invasion, it is nice to know there are still plenty of courtesy people out there.  

Monday I received a pwe from TCDB member Johnsogr.  It included 9 cards, 3 of which he added as a bonus.

The minor leaguers are getting plenty of attention right now since they started spring training Monday.  That might change in the next few days, but I will still follow them closely.  I like to know who I might get a chance to see play in Peoria this year.  Minor league cards like these 1994 Fleer Excel and 1992 Classic Draft Picks are great to take along in hopes of getting an autograph.  Even without an autograph, they still have a nice spot in my collection.

It is surprising how many holes I still have in my collection from the 1990s.  I have 1 more 1995 Electric Diamond card to find and that team set will be complete.  The 1999 Fleer Warning Track team set has a lot more work to do.  I only have 7 of the 21 Cardinals from that set.

My bonus cards were these 3 1968 Topps cards.  As you can see they all have some issues, but that does not matter to me.  To receive cards that are over 50 years old as a throw in is a wonderful gesture on the other collector's part.  

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #11

It has been exactly 1 month since my last 2 for Tuesday post.  Being caught up on trade posts and not trading as much has cut down the flow of incoming mail.  I did not intend to slow down my trading, it just kind of happened.  I managed to pick it up a little last week and 2 of the smaller trades arrived yesterday.  First up was a 1 for 1 swap with member  ChrisGreg13.

Card numbers 150-200 in the 2003 Topps Gallery set were short printed with the odds of pulling 1 being 1 in 2 packs.  It does not sound like they should be tough to find, but I have not seen this card in a while other than a few overpriced ones on EBAY.  This was worth the 58 cents and 1 card I sent the other direction.        

The second and slightly larger trade package came from member Coleman23.

It was a foil filled package from 2020 Topps with 2 rainbows and 1 gold.  I do not really see the need for the gold foil cards.  They can easily be mistaken for the numbered gold parallels if you are flipping through a stack of cards too fast.  I guess Topps needed to add some perceived value to the hobby packs.

I see better value in the inserts.  The blue border looks great on the 2020 1985 insert.  The 2020 die cut McGwire is also a nice change from a standard looking card.  The Miller DH Debuts is from 2021.  It was a nice idea for an insert set, but the design is rather bland.  I am pretty sure Miller does not have too many inserts, so it was nice to see a different player get a little hype.  I doubt too many non Cardinals fans share that thought.  

 

Happy Monday

It is Monday.  Usually that is all you have to say to ruin someone's day.  I cannot think of too many fans of Monday.  What is to like?  Another start to the work or school week?  Not too many people would agree with that.  The crazy high gas prices that will only keep going up?  Unless you are in the oil business, I doubt anyone is loving the pump prices right now.  And there is still no end in sight to the MLB strike.  The players made an offer over the weekend that the owners said was worse than the previous one.  It is really starting to look like we will not see MLB games until May.   

There is a little small bright spot though for baseball fans, at least those of the Cardinals.  Minor league spring training opened up today.  It was awesome searching twitter to find pictures of actual players in Jupiter going through workouts before the rain hit.  From what I read, fans are allowed to watch the workouts and practice games.  It may not be major league quality, but it is better than nothing.  

I wish I had some new minor league cards to show off, but you will have to settle for a trade package from TCDB member Lumpy1977 that arrived late last week containing guys who are not playing right now.

Carlson is not playing because of the strike.  Adams is not playing because his better days are behind him.  He did get into some games for the Rockies last year, but was released at the end of July.  Maybe with the addition of the DH in the National League he will catch on somewhere.  I still enjoy going after his cards like this great looking 2016 Opening Day blue foil parallel.  

Much like Adams, Shelby Miller's best days are in the rear view mirror.  He pitched a few games for the Pirates last year before becoming a free agent.  Carlos Martinez is also a free agent.  Someone will surely take a chance on him once the strike is over.  A 30 year old 2 time All Star with a career ERA under 4 should be able to find work somewhere.  Rondon falls under the category of an unlucky young player who is not playing because he is on the 40 man roster.  He only pitched 2 innings for the Cardinals last year and could use more time in Triple A, but that will not happen right now.  

I have a ton of these Fleer stickers floating around in one of my boxes.  Although this was not part of the trade, Lumpy used it as packing matter to fill the pwe.  Great way to send a little something extra to team collectors like myself.

    

2 For Me, 2 For My Son

It feels weird looking out my window today at a sunny day with 50 degree temperatures.  The last 4 Thursdays have all brought snow or ice.  Maybe the weather has decided it is spring a little early.  This weekend should be even better with highs on Saturday close to 70.  I plan on taking my son to the outdoor batting cages for the first time this year.  Unlike MLB, I know he will be playing a game the second weekend in April.  

It seems a little off to me for 2022 baseball cards to be out with the lockout going on.  I have no doubt the season will start sometime, but it would not surprise me to not see games until May.  Until then, I will have to get my baseball fix from trading cards like the ones I received from TCDB member cr74 yesterday.  

My second 2022 Topps insert is the retail only Arenado.  Not a bad looking card.  The Ramirez is a rainbow foil from 2021 Topps Update.  

My son added a couple of Altuve cards to his collection.  After getting the 2022 Topps card, we both agreed there was no need to buy any Series 1 cards.  We will go the card show or trade route to find any inserts we want.  The silver pack card is from 2021 Series 2.  I always liked how the 1986 design matches the name plate to the team color.  It really stands out with the chrome finish.  

  

Another EBAY Standard Auto

It is almost getting to be a weekly occurrence for me to get an autographed card via EBAY standard envelope.  The autographs I am going after are not the high priced prospects that you may want to see.  I go after any Cardinals player that I do not have a certified autographed card from.  I should say any drafted Cardinals player, as some of these guys may never reach the majors.  

My latest EBAY win arrived yesterday.  This one cost a little less than $4.50 delivered.

Mills was the Cardinals 4th round draft pick last year.  He pitched in a few games last year after being drafted out of Washington State.  I have no idea on how good he might be or if he is a starter or reliever.  I do know that a refractor autograph for less than $5 is a good deal in my book.