TCDB 2 for Tuesday #32 with a Bonus

January has flown by this year.  Other than a few really cold days, the weather has not been that bad in my area.  I hope February is the same.  The colder weather makes it seem like baseball season is so far away, but things are looking up as spring training will be here very shortly.  Until then, I will get my baseball fix by trading small pieces of cardboard.  It is 2 for Tuesday, but since I have quite the backlog of cards sitting on my desk, I will show off 3 trades today.  First is a pwe trade with member jackal726.

My 2022 Allen & Ginter team set is now complete.  It was great finding 1 trader with the last 4 I needed.

This 2020 Topps x Steve Aoki Ozzie card was a very welcome extra card.  I have very few of these Topps online exclusive cards in my collection.  

The second trade package came from member CCC_Collects.

I completed another set with the 2022 Topps Fire Flaherty.  The 2 Mosaic cards did not scan well, but look a lot nicer in person.  My printer/scanner hates anything chrome.  After spending $60 on both ink cartridges last week, I am starting to think it may be time for a new one.  

The third package was courtesy of member sparkchaser41. 

 

I may call my 2022 Stadium Club team set complete with these 3 cards.  There are some photo and design variations I do not have, but some of those are very hard to find.

My favorite card from today's recap is this 2013 Topps Update Emerald card.  I have always loved this parallel.  Really wish Topps would bring it back.  

        

Card Show Recap

My son and I hit up our first card show of 2023 on Saturday.  It was held at the same mall a little over an hour's drive from our house that we attended a few times last year.  Many of the dealers were the same, but there were a few new ones this time.  We only bought from 3 different tables.  First was a new dealer with 6 binders of vintage cards for $1 each.  On the drive to the show, I mentioned to my son that I was looking to buy a few vintage singles.  We managed to find 15 Cardinals from my list.

 
I am not very picky regarding the condition of cards from the 1960s.  I will pass on cards with writing and major creases but I am willing to buy almost anything else if it is priced accordingly.  The 2 1964 cards are very close to mint, while the 1965 Javier card is not.  I will mention my son loved how easy it was to pick out the Cardinals in the albums.  

There were a lot of 1966 cards in 2 of the albums.  I found these 4 that passed my condition guide.  Groat and Jackson are in very good condition, the Sadecki has a rough corner, and the Briles has some surface issues.  

 I will finish the 1960s with a 1967 Joe Hoerner, 2 Hall of Famers from 1968, and a couple of 1969 cards.  The Cepeda is an upgrade to the copy I have.  Carlton has some major issues, but I could not pass it up for $1.  The 2 1969 cards are in great shape.
       

There were fewer 1970s cards in the binders, but I did find a nearly mint 1971 card from my list.

I also found a couple of oddballs.  The 1975 mini Brock is very close to mint.  The 1977 Kellogs McBride has a ton of cracks, but I loved the color of it, and once again, I could not pass it up for $1.

The same dealer had 2 showcases full of vintage stars priced 6 for $25.  I found quite a few Cardinals but settled on these 6.

The 1967 Gibson and Carlton are not in the best shape, but I have seen a lot worse.   The 1958 Ken Boyer is in great shape.  The 1969 Torre is in great shape, but the Carlton does have some soft corners.  The 1971 League Leaders card is almost mint except for being miss-cut.  Overall I was very please with the $40 spent on these 21 cards.

The second table we bought from had various quarter, fifty-cent, and dollar boxes.  My son managed to find 2 Altuve cards for $1 total.

The 2021 Gallery card was a great find as it is a blue parallel numbered to 75.  

I spent most of my time at the quarter boxes.  I managed to pull a few Cardinals.

I was too lazy to check my list, otherwise I would have not bought the Mikolas refractor and Wong orange parallel.  I did need the other four, with the 2014 Update Peralta camo numbered to 99 being the best find.

All of these will be headed to Trading Bases member Ron B.  

I wanted to make it an even $5, so I pulled these 7 cards for trade bait.  

The final dealer had a few 6/$1 boxes.  Most were base cards from the last couple of years, but I managed to find 6 cards.

The 2 Cardinals are keepers, while the 4 Tek Luplow cards are for Ron B. 

We spent about 2 hours at the show and managed to hit most of the tables.  I will mention 1 dealer had a few tables of Cardinals stadium giveaway items.  I had my eye on a $10 bobblehead, but the 2 times I stopped at his table, he was nowhere to be found.  Maybe next time.   

  

Angelic Package

I had a somewhat unexpected pwe show up last week.  Tom from The Angels, In Order sent me an email before he mailed the cards to ensure I still needed them.  Not only did he take the time to check my want list, but he also made sure it was current.  I love when other collectors go that extra mile.  

Any Stan Musial card is welcome in my collection.  I wonder if we can say this 1989 Starting Line Up card was the first sepia parallel.

My 1995 Ultra Gold Medallion set is almost finished thanks to receiving this Brian Jordan card.  I am down to needing the Checklist from Series 2.  I am one of those strange collectors who count checklists as part of a team set.

Finishing things up with a 1992 Classic Best minor league card.  I cannot say I have ever heard of Mr. Meier.  I was surprised I have another card of his from the 1993 Fleer Excel set.  A quick check of his Baseball Reference page shows he never reached the Major Leagues.  He still made it farther than most of us.

Big thank you to Tom for the great package of Cardinals!

      

TCDB/Blogger Trade

Today's trade package can count as a TCDB and a blogger trade.  Marc B of Remember the Astrodome Fame reached out to me on TCDB with a nice Astros for Cardinals trade offer.  He may not use that blog title anymore, but he still writes about his TTM successes.  He is also a great person to send my unwanted Astros to.  

I now have all the Cardinals' minor leaguers from the 2021 Panini Prizm Draft set.  It is not a very attractive set, but I do enjoy seeing players in their college or high school uniforms.

I also finished the 2022 Bowman Chrome veterans team set.  I have plenty of work to do on the prospect side yet.

I finished the prospects portion of 2022 Bowman Platinum.  Unlike Bowman Chrome, I don't have a single card from the veteran set.  

The only non-base card was a green Gypsy Queen parallel of the 2022 NL MVP.  This makes 250 Goldschmidt cards in my collection.  That total should really increase this year thanks to his great 2022 season.  Topps and Panini are sure to flood the market with his cards, but I am not complaining one bit.

  

First Ron B Package of 2023

My favorite online trader Ron B from the Trading Bases group sent me a huge stack of Cardinals last week.  Last year I lost track of how many packages he sent, so this year I plan to do a better job of tracking them.  I am always amazed at the bargains he finds at the card shows.  Living in the North East part of the US, he often finds a ton of Cardinals in value boxes.  All of the cards from today's recap were less than $2, with the bulk of them being quarter cards.  

There were only 2 base cards in the lot, one being this 2022 Select Ozzie card.  

The other base card was the Carlson from 2021 Topps A&G Chrome.  Lots of nice shiny cards including a sweet Lou Brock numbered to 99.  The rest of the cards are refractors including the blue DeJong numbered to 150.

A few more refractors including a 2017 purple Dexter Fowler numbered to 299.

A few more shiny Topps cards, this time the mini variety.  The A&G Chrome minis look great in hand.

Not all cards were shiny.  3 2022 parallels include a rainbow foil, gold foil, and blue border.   The 2019 Update Knizner is a Father's Day parallel numbered to 50.

The last of the Topps cards include a 1994 Team Stadium Club 1st Day issue card of Omar Oliveras.  It makes me feel old to think this card is almost 30 years old.  I graduated from high school in 1994.  The 2019 metallic snowflake Goldschmidt completed my team set.  

Moving on to the Panini brads, there were quite a few shiny parallels here as well.  I pride myself on knowing minor league players, but I had no clue who Luis Pino was.  The Cardinals signed him as an international free agent in 2021.  He has not played any full season ball yet.

It was a Jack Flaherty kind of trade.  These make 5 from the package.  The red, white, and blue optic is numbered to 150.

The last 5 cards all came from Absolute Memorabilia.  The top 2 cards are lava parallels from 2022 Absolute retail.  I never knew that parallel existed.  Good thing TCDB has pictures for most insert and parallels sets.  

  

    

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #31

After taking last week off to recap my Cardinals weekend, I am back today with a 2 for Tuesday.  Both of these trades have been sitting on my desk for a while.  In fact this first trade package from member philhigh arrived over 2 weeks ago.  

Topps did a nice job of including rookies in this year's Heritage High Numbers set.  Donovan and Pallante both played big roles in 2022.  That other guy pictured helped some too.

My 2022 Topps Gallery needs were down to 2 after this trade.  Nice closeup of Ozzie wearing the pullover jersey and no flap helmet.

The second trade arrived last week from member Martinma21.

Now I only need 1 more Gallery card.  

My son gained 2 nice numbered Altuve cards for his collection.  The 2020 Donruss Season Stat line is numbered to 275, while the 2021 Panini Fearless card is numbered to 199.  He has set a goal of 200 new Altuve cards this year.  I think that is a little high, but with over 10,000 cards that he does not have it may be doable.  

  
    

Odd Trade

It seems forever since I added any oddball Cardinals to my collection.  Unless I drive to St. Louis, it is rare to find any at the card shows I attend.  I have some on my TCDB want list, but there are so many sets out there I do not know about.  Such was the case with a recent trade with member Ymmat.  He had a Jake Woodford card I needed to replace the one I recently had autographed.  A quick search of his trade list revealed some Cardinals I had never seen before.  

This Ray Washburn card is from the 1981 TCMA The 1960s set.  There are 10 Cardinals in this set, including a card that features long-time owner Gussie Busch.  I will definitely have to add that one to my collection sometime.    

I added all 4 Cardinals from the 1984 Topps Stickers Box set.  I assume these were on the bottom of the wax box.  The backs are blank.  Nothing flashy about them, but I love them anyway.

I don't recall ever adding 2 Gregg Jefferies cards to my collection in the same trade.  The SI for Kids card is from 1994.  I did not realize the magazine was that old.  The Queen of Diamonds card is from the 1994 Bicycle Aces set.  

These last 2 cards are not really oddballs.  These gold border minis are from 2020 A&G.  I am still not a big fan of minis, but I have grown to accept them.  There are even a few mini sets on my want list.

     

2022 Ginter Help

Now that I have finished with the highlights of last weekend, it is back to the trade recaps.  I received a few trades while I was away over the weekend and a few more earlier this week.  Today's recap is from a Friday package I received from TCDB member theduckmanz.  

I was able to put a nice dent in my 2022 A&G needs by crossing off these 3 base cards.

I also received the final 2 short prints I needed.  I am glad Topps decided to make DeJong a short print instead of Arenado or Goldschmidt.  DeJong is by far easier to trade for.  Topps included Herzog in a few 2022 sets.  He has an autograph in Topps Archives that I need to add to my collection.

This Ron Gant completed my 1998 Topps Stars team set.  These base cards were numbered to 9799.  The red lettering goes great with the Cardinals uniform.  
    

The Finish of a Cardinals Weekend

My son and I had a very busy Cardinals themed weekend.  A quick recap was attending a Cardinals Caravan on Friday, and the Cardinals WWU on Saturday and Sunday.  We had 1 more stop on our agenda.  There was another caravan on Sunday evening at 6:00, a couple of hours away from St. Louis.  We were lucky to get through our 3:00 autograph signing quickly, so we made the drive and arrived with about 15 minutes to spare.  This caravan allowed children 15 and under to get autographs.  My son was happy to not have to wait until the end.  I believe adults and older children were allowed to get autographs after the 15 and under crowd, but we did not stick around.  After 3 days of traveling around 800 miles, it was time to go home.  Our 5 autographs for the night included 2 former and 3 current players.

This was the second time we saw Jason Motte over the weekend.  Some people may not know he was drafted as a catcher and played a few seasons in the minors before converting to pitching.  He was confident this swing resulted in a foul ball.  

Kerry Robinson still works for the Cardinals as a scout and makes a lot of appearances.  This is the fourth or fifth time we have gotten his auto.

James Naile has a few minor league cards, but nothing from the big leagues.  He appeared in 7 games as a reliever in 2022.  I doubt he will get much of a chance to pitch in St. Louis this season unless there are a lot of injuries.  

This is the second time we have gotten Liberatore's auto.  The first was almost 2 years ago.  Liberatore made a handful of starts in his rookie year with mixed results.  He was either really good or really bad.  I believe he is a lot better than his almost 6.00 ERA showed.   He should start the year in Triple A, but as soon as a starter or 2 gets injured like they always do, he will get another chance in St. Louis.

Nolan Gorman was the main reason we made the trip.  His autograph tickets sold out at WWU before I bought one.  Glad I waited as the caravan was free.  If he is not traded, Gorman should see a lot of time as a left handed DH.  If he cuts down on his strikeouts, he will play quite a bit.
    
 

       

Cardinals Winter Warm Up Recap Day 2

We arrived at the stadium about 30 minutes early before the doors opened Sunday morning.  Not many fans were walking around at the time, but we did run into Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera as he entered the building.  I was surprised no one else recognized him other than an older couple.  The huge Rolex on his wrist was hard to miss.  After the gates opened at 9:00, we took it easy and grabbed a chair in front of the main stage at Ballpark Village.  Not much was going on until a 10:00 presentation by the Hall of Fame Museum.  This talk was about the bobblehead selection and how they were made.  It was very informative.

Our next stop was across the street to the stadium for our first paid autograph of the day.  

Adam Wainwright was scheduled to sign 300 autographs in a 2 hour time slot.  It took him almost 3 hours.  He would talk to everyone and made sure they left with a great memory.  He would also inscribe almost anything, such as 1st All Star Game on my 2010 ball.  I paid $150 for his auto since this may be the last time he will be at WWU.

Once we were finished in the Wainwright autograph line, we headed to the 3rd level of the stadium.  I paid $10 to have JSA authenticate the ball.  I also spent the $35 I made yesterday selling the Ken Boyer bobblehead on another bobblehead.

Quite a few people do not realize Harry Caray was a Cardinals broadcaster before he worked for the Cubs.  I am not 100% certain why he left, but there is a story that he had an affair with a member of the owner's family.  This bobblehead has a sound chip of Caray calling Stan Musial's 3000th hit.  Very cool.

After grabbing some lunch, we had tickets for 3 free autographs between 2:00 and 3:00.  2 were at Ballpark Village, the other in the stadium.  I headed over to get the 2, while my son stayed in the ballpark for the third.  

Free autograph tickets were available before I knew Gilkey would be at the caravan we attended on Friday.  I managed to find another duplicate for him to sign.    

I have lost track how many times we have gotten Horton's auto, but I know it is a bunch. I am about out of different cards to have him sign.  I view the free autographs as an added benefit of admission.  Why not take advantage of it. 

My son did not get his free autograph of Joe McEwing.  McEwing was signing in the same location where Adam Wainwright was earlier.  Due to Waino running over his time slot, everyone else was pushed back.  It was a little bit of a bummer not to get McEwing because we do not have his autograph, but we were on a tight schedule.  We needed to leave St. Louis by 3:30.  I will let you know why in tomorrow's post.  

My son joined me as we lined up early for our 3:00 autograph.  All autograph tickets are numbered, with 75 of them being called at a time.  We had #47, so we managed to get in the first wave and ended up being 4th in line.  I was worried we would be late as Brendan Donovan was not done with his autograph session, but we had a nice surprise while waiting.  Dylan Carlson was waiting at the front for Donovan to finish.  He took a few minutes to take pictures with those of us in the front.  My son was one of them.

Not long after the picture, Carlson started his session.  I paid $50 to have him sign an oversized Topps card.

I bought this from Topps on Black Friday in 2020.  Thanks to Covid and the lockout, I waited 2 years to have it signed.  It will look great in a frame next to his bobblehead.  

We rushed back to our car and managed to leave St. Louis by 3:10, thus ending our WWU trip for 2023.  A few quick thoughts about the weekend.  I was a little skeptic about the change of location from a hotel to the stadium.  You never know what the weather will be like in January.  This year things worked out with temps close to 40 degrees on Saturday and 50 on Sunday.  I did like not being in a crowded ballroom waiting on autographs.  Even when we waited in the Wainwright line for 45 minutes, I did not feel like people were on top of us.  I also liked the inclusion of the clubhouse tour with the price of admission.  In previous years that cost $15.  One thing I did not like was having our backpacks checked every time we changed locations.  We received a wristband upon entry each morning.  That should have been good enough.  It was a pain wasting 5 minutes numerous times for a bag check.  Overall I was pleased with the change.  As long as the weather holds out, I will be happy going back to Busch next year for the WWU.