Knocking Off a Few from 2022

Before you know it 2023 is going to be here.  I have zero plans for New Year's Eve.  The 3 couples my family usually spends the evening with all have someone in their household sick.  My family will most likely play a few games, watch some Disney Plus, and call it a night before midnight rolls around.  Not very exciting, but we are all safe and healthy so I will take that.

A recurring theme in quite a few of my recent posts is how far behind I am on completing some 2022 team sets.  I mostly blame Topps for that with all of the late releases.  Sets like Stadium Club, Gallery, Archives, Heritage, and Fire all have cards on my want list that are not short prints.  I will have to kick things in gear in January before 2023 cards start to show up.  Completing more trades like a recent one with TCDB member TheHawk will help matters.

I need 1 more Fire card and 3 Gallery cards to finish my team sets.  Surely there is someone out there that has all 4.  

These are my first 2022 Stadium Club cards.  Hard to believe that with only 1 day left in the year.  Lots of work yet to be done one this one with all the variations to find.  I do not have a want list yet for parallels like red foil and chrome, but will add them when I can.  As always Stadium Club features wonderful photography.

I will finish with a couple of green parallels from 2022 Gypsy Queen and Archives.  The Ozzie is numbered to 125.  Will be added a want list for the GQ cards, but not the Archives.  I cannot complete gold parallel sets numbered to over 2000.  No way I can complete a parallel set numbered to 125.

  
    

  

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #29

I will manage to make a final 2 for Tuesday before 2022 comes to an end.  This one is short and sweet and earlier than usual.  I was told the family is going shopping today.  Both my kids have Christmas cash burning a hole in their pockets, and the wife is hoping to find some things on clearance.  I am hoping traffic and the crowds are not that bad.  

First trade is from member 49ants.  This is our 10th trade on the site.  Most involve Giants going his way and the usual Cardinals coming mine.

I knocked off 3 Topps Gold cards from my want list.  2 from 2001 Topps Traded, and 1 from 2002.  2001 will never be complete thanks to the 2 Albert Pujols rookie cards.  2002 has 25 Cardinals in it, so that one will be nearly impossible as well.

Second trade is from member alan nyc.  This one also was 3 cards, but 1 of them is for another collector.  

I love the gold sparkle parallels from 2012.  They look like they are on fire when scanned.  These 2 are from Topps Update.  I now have 9 of the 14 Cardinals in the set.  Maybe this one will get finished before the gold parallel one.  
  

Trade with some Fire

I was a little surprised to receive mail on Saturday.  My mailman did not deliver on Friday due to bad road conditions.  Things improved some on Saturday, but not much.  If it was me, I would have taken a very long weekend, but props to my carrier for working on Christmas Eve.  Along with a couple of Christmas cards, I received a nice pwe trade from TCDB member ntlwhlr.  We have traded 8 times over the years.  It is nice to have a partner to trade my unwanted Brewers to.  I am sure he thinks the same about his Cardinals cards.  

I almost bought a box of 2022 Topps Fire a couple of weeks ago while Christmas shopping, but resisted the urge.  It is a fun break, but my cart was already fun with gifts.  I will stick to the trade route to get my team set and any other inserts/parallels like the Wainiwright gold minted and Arenado flame.  

2021 Topps Gallery featured 2 common parallels, rainbow foil and printer proof.  Neither is very unique, but at least Topps included cards of Hall of Fame players like the great Bob Gibson.

With this 2019 holo purple and the 2022 Topps Holiday relic from yesterday's break, my son has 597 different Altuve cards.  Barring something strange, he will just fall short of 600 by the end of 2022.  I do not have any trades incoming, nor do I plan any trips to a card shop or show.  He will be plenty busy the next day or two adding about 40 of them to his new album.
  

 

Christmas Goodies

Merry Christmas everyone!  After waking up around 7 this morning and having a quick breakfast, my family and I opened our gifts.  I have come to cherish the last few years doing this as I know it will not just be the 4 of us together at home very much longer.  My daughter is a senior in high school this year and has a steady boyfriend for 2 years.  Sooner or later she will move on.  My son is only a freshman, but is already chasing girls.  They do not stay little forever.  

After we ate lunch, the other 3 settled down for a nap while I retreated to the card room to take inventory of my goodies.  I received 3 baseball related presents this year.  Two I picked out myself, the other I did not know about.  

2 gifts I picked out myself when my wife and I went Christmas shopping a few weeks ago.  We stopped at the Busch Stadium gift shop to get my son a Tommy Edman jersey.  We also visited the Cardinals Authentics store across the street.  I spotted a couple of items I did not have in my Ray Lankford collection.

I have seen this decal before, but never pulled the trigger.  Hard to pass it up for $3.  

This is a beautiful glass replica of Lankford's plaque that is in the Cardinals Hall of  Fame Museum.  I plan to put it in my display cabinet next to a few other items of his.  I was not going to purchase it for myself, but my wife picked it out anyway.  It is wonderful to have someone that supports my hobby.

The third item was somewhat of a surprise.  Earlier last week, we found some Topps Holiday Mega boxes at Walmart.  My son and I did pretty good with that rip.  My wife decided I needed another one, so she was lucky to get the last one on the shelf on Wednesday.  The results were better than the first box.

Betts was about on par with the Ohtani ornament from our first box.

I received 1 of the 2 Cardinals I needed for my team set.  Jake Walsh should not be too hard to find.

I received the usual 5 metallic parallels.  Scherzer was the biggest name.

My short prints were better this box with a rare Trout and a Suzuki.  

My son opened half the packs.  It was great to see his expression pulling this Altuve relic.  Needless to say pulling this $5 card made his morning.  

I will give major props to Topps for the coalition on the boxes, as I did not receive a single duplicate from the 2 I opened.  We are 26 cards short of the complete set, with O'Neil Cruz being the biggest name.  We plan on trading the metallics and short prints to finish it.  

   

Got a Little Snow Yesterday

Like many of you, winter storm Elliott paid my area a visit yesterday.  My area was somewhat lucky as we only received about an inch of snow.  We are going through the artic blast and the 20-30 below wind chills.  I cannot remember ever feeling that cold.  Hope everyone stays safe.

Elliott was not the only bringer of snow yesterday.  My mailman braved the cold and delivered a pwe trade from TCDB member cr74 that also contained a few flakes.

I sent him a few 2022 Topps Holiday metallic parallels for some base cards I needed.  Just 2 more to track down along with a couple of photo variations. 

Altuve # 595 also arrived for my son.  I wrapped his new album and 50 Ultra Pro pages last night.  It will be fun to start filling them up Christmas morning. 

    

Exchanging Numbers

Last week I worked out a trade with The Bench member Scobes that has to be one of my top 5 of 2022.  Nothing really high dollar was exchanged, but the content was outstanding.  I sent him 12 numbered Phillies cards I found at the last card show a couple of weeks ago.  Those cards cost me $1.  In exchange, he sent 8 Cardinals from the early 2000s.  All of them are short-printed rookies, with 7 of them being numbered.  It has been forever since I have knocked off any of these from my want list.

I will start with a couple of 2001 cards.  I guess the Snead Topps Traded gold is not really a short print but rather a numbered parallel.  The Ortega is an SP Authentic short print numbered to 1250.

These 2 short print rookies numbered to 2025 are from the 2002 Donruss Best of Fan Club set.  My scanner did not to a good job of capturing the glossy fronts.  Donruss went crazy in the early 2000s producing set after set.  Why they made a Fan Club and Best of Fan Club in the same year can only be explained as a money grab.  

These 2 Crudale cards are also from 2002.  The Fleer Premium is numbered to 2002, the Fleer Box Score is numbered to 2499.  Ever wonder who decided what number to put on these cards?  Why not just make it easy like Topps Gold cards.

The Dan Haren portion of the trade features a Fleer Genuine numbered to 1000, a Playoff Absolute numbered to 1000, and a Fleer EX short print.  Haren had a ton of rookie cards in 2003.  At the time of his trade to Oakland, I though the Cardinals got the better end of the deal receiving Mark Mulder.  Mulder had 1 good year in 2005, then spent the next 3 years being injured before retiring.  Haren would win 147 games and make 3 All Star teams.  No doubt who won that trade.

  
  

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #28

I thought last week was going to be my last 2 for Tuesday post, but I received 1 trade package and a pay it forward package from TCDB members, so I will squeeze 1 in today.  First up is the pay it forward from member mzentko.

Mark is a fellow Cardinals fan that I have traded/exchanged cards with many times, even once in person.  I joked with him that these would be a gold mine if they were from this year instead of 2019.  They will have a nice permanent home in my collection.

The second package was a trade from member Dmurry.  

Drew was a very good player in his 6 years in St. Louis, but he is more remembered for being the main piece going to Atlanta in the Adam Wainwright trade that happened 19 years ago.  I doubt anyone thought Wainwright would be playing longer than Drew.  12 more years, to be exact, after he pitches in 2023.  I need quite a few of his rookie cards thanks to a lot of them being short printed.

  
I am now 1 card away from completing the 29-card team set from the 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary after adding these 2 cards.  Just have to track down a Carlos Martinez.  I was able to complete the 2022 Topps Chrome set now that Nootbaar has arrived.  Now to start working on the Update series.

My son's Altuve collection sits at 594 different cards.  600 is in site, but I doubt he will reach it before 2023.  We plan to organize his 2 binders over Christmas break to verify all the cards.  Should be a fun time.  

  

2022 Topps Holiday Mega Box Break

I have been looking for 2022 Topps Holiday Mega Boxes for a week now.  Santa came early to my Walmart over the weekend.  It has been years since I saw the card aisle that stocked.  There were at least 10 blasters of all the newest releases: Stadium Club, A&G, Bowman Platinum, Bowman Mega Boxes, and Topps Holiday.  The Bowman Megas were tempting until I saw the $50 price tag.  They may sit there awhile, along with the $35 Topps Chrome blasters.  

I settled for 1 box of Holiday that my son and I opened after getting home.  I love the value in these boxes, even with the $5 increase to $25.  100 cards per box with an auto or game used along with the chance for some cool-looking variations.  

Topps does a nice job with the box topper ornaments.  Ohtani was a good start to the box.

I like the garland border and the snowflake background of this year's design.  Quite the festive touch.  

I pulled our 3 Cardinals from the box.  My son was a little disappointed not pulling the Altuve, but I am sure someone on TCDB will have 1 for trade.

Metallics are 1:2 packs this year.  I am glad the colored border makes them easier to spot than in previous years.  The red metallics look really sharp.  

We beat the 1:7 odds of pulling a variation with these 2 cards.  I pulled the candy cane sleeve Buxton, while my son pulled the Melendez candy cane bat.  That one was hard to spot.

Our relic was a blue metallic numbered to 99.  Not a bad way to wrap a fun break.

A New Old Lankford card

The card I am showing off today arrived 2 weeks ago from an EBAY auction.  It is a Ray Lankford card I do not have in my collection.  Sort of.

This 2000 Bowman Bronze buyback was inserted in 2017 packs.  I do not go crazy over buybacks, but for less than $2 delivered, I will grab any Lankford I do not have.  I have added 5 new Lankford cards to my collection this year, 2 of which are buybacks.  I would love to double that total next year, but am not holding my breath.  

Card Show Recap: Trade Bait for Team Collectors

Continuing with my recap of Saturday's card show, today I will show all the trade bait from the 12/$1 boxes.  When flipping through cheap cards, I always pull any card that is numbered, a colored parallel, or a refractor.  I keep in mind team collectors who I have traded with before.  There are no big name players, but quite a few nice numbered cards.  If you see anything of interest, leave a comment.  I have not listed many of these on my TCDB page yet.

Astros

Braves and a stray White Sox on the top row

Brewers

Pirates.  I pulled these with Trading Bases member Ron B in mind, but he had them all.  Maybe there are 2 Pirate team collectors out there.

Cubs.  One of the Clifton Cards in the top scan is number 1 of the print run.  Don't think I have ever had a card like that in my possession other than some Lankford 1/1s.

Dodgers

Giants.  These may already be traded.

Red Sox

Royals

White Sox

Yankees

The rest of the cards, including a Tigers Gold Refractor numbered to 50.  

  

Card Show Recap: Just the Keepers

My son and I were able to hit up a card show on Saturday.  I believe it was advertised as 75 tables, which was close.  It was less than an hour's drive away, free admission, and we needed to do some Christmas shopping in the same town, so it was well worth the trip. 

We spent close to an hour and a half there.  We bought from 3 different dealers and spent a total of $19.  Most of that was with the same dealer from the November show who had the 12/$1 boxes.  Today I will show the cards we are keeping except for 1.  I will go in reverse order of how we purchased them.

The third dealer we bought from had 2 monster boxes of quarter cards.  A lot of them were base cards, but we found 1 Cardinal and 2 Altuves we needed.  I added the Barnes gold I added to make an even $1.  I hate carrying change at a show.

The second dealer had 3 50-cent boxes full of cards from 2021 and 2022.  There were some Cardinals from Stadium Club and Allen & Ginter I could use, but I held off in hopes of trading for them.  My son pulled these 4 Altuve cards for $2.  Funny how I will not pay 50 cents for 2022 Cardinal card but will for an Altuve card.  It is money well spent to grow my son's interest in cards.  I make him check his list to see which cards he still needs.  I pay for them upfront.  He repays me if he gets home and discovers I bought a duplicate.

We spent most of our time at the first dealer's 12/$1 boxes.  He had 4 monster boxes filled with older Bowman cards.  No really big names, but a lot of value for less than a dime per card.  We pulled 120 cards from those boxes for $10 and spent another $6 on other cards.

I will show off the Cardinals by year.  2012 is first with 2 blue refractors numbered to 250 and 2 blue paper parallels numbered to 500.  

The 2013 cards feature 2 blue wave refractors, a regular refractor, 2 blue paper parallels numbered to 500, and an orange paper parallel numbered to 250.

The only 2014 card I found was a refractor numbered to 500.  

There were a ton of 2015 cards in the boxes.  Regular refractors numbered to 499, orange and blue wave refractors, green refractor numbered to 99, yellow paper parallels, silver paper parallel numbered to 499, and a purple refractor numbered to 250.  

There were quite a few 2016 cards.  He had duplicates of a lot of them.  I picked up  copy of the silver parallels numbered to 499, the regular refractors, and a black and gold border.

2017 was the last year I found any Cardinals.  Above is a purple refractor numbered to 250 and a blue paper parallel numbered to 150.  I did not check my have list before buying these, so I ended up with 4 duplicates I did not show.  For less than $3, I added 30 Cardinals to my collection.  Pretty great deal.

At the November show, the dealer told us to check his EBAY page for anything we could use.  I found 3 Altuves cards my son needed for $10.  He pulled them and charged us $6, but made a mistake.  The 2022 Altuve was supposed to be a prism refractor.  He told us to keep the base card and promised to hold onto the prism until we see him again.  

Next post, I will show off all the trade bait I bought in the 120 card lot.