Exchanging Numbers

Today's trade recap features another batch of cards for which I traded one card from the EBAY numbered lot.  I sent The Bench member Scobes a 2022 Topps Update Gold Bryce Harper card for these five numbered Cardinals.

One gold parallel deserves another.  I have very few from the 2002 Topps set, so this Williams is a most welcome addition.

This is my second numbered rookie from 2000 Omega.  When I filed this one away, I noticed the other one is also numbered 785/999.  Small odds that happened.  

While the 2011 Bowman is numbered lower, I was happier to get the 2010 Triple Threads base card.  The green Carpenter is numbered to 450, while the Triple Threads is numbered to 1350.

This John Gall numbered to 699 finished my 2004 Fleer National Pastime team set.  I have stated it before, but Fleer made it tough on team collectors by short-printing many rookie cards in the early 2000s.  

This trade worked out great for me.  The gold card I traded cost me less than 20 cents.  Even adding the postage of close to $1, I still came out very well.  
  

2 From 1972

It has been a long time since I purchased cards from a Twitter member. Yes, I still call it Twitter; X does not sound right. Every Wednesday evening, there is a vintage sale thread that I follow. It is cluttered with overpriced graded cards, but every now and then, you can find some ungraded gems. Last week, a collector had 2 high-number Cardinals from 1972 Topps that I purchased for $10.   

The Clendenon is in great shape.  It is off center left to right, but not as bad as the scan shows.  The team card has a minor issue on the left border, but for $5, I will not complain.  I need one more high number to complete my team set.  With any luck, I can find it at a show next month in St. Louis.

      

   

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #96

 Both of today's trade recaps involved cards from the EBAY lot I won last month.  First up is a 4 pack of Cardinals from member royals.  Take a wild guess what I traded him. (three numbered Royals)

Getting multiple Topps Gold needs in a trade is always a good thing.  One of them being a Wainwright is icing on the cake.

Base cards from premium brands like this 2013 Triple Threads are just as nice.  

This is the second day in a row I get to show off a Matt Morris card. This one finished my  2003 Standing O team set.

The second trade came from member hiflew.

Two more gold parallels to cross off the wantlist.

I hope Carlson gets regular playing time in Tampa and becomes a solid everyday player.  I have always liked him since watching him play in Peoria.  Silent spoken guy who just needs to stay healthy to show what he can do.

Finishing up with a pair of base cards from 2003 Bowman Heritage and 1998 Pacific Online.  Renteria finished my team set, while Mararrero left me two shy.  I did not realize there were 28 Cardinals in the Online set.  

  

Cut to the Cards

Getting straight to the cards today, as I have to be somewhere shortly.  I have a nice stack of trades to get to this week, so I did not want to miss a post.  These cards came from TCDB member BNWallgren1220.

1994 was the first year I bought a lot of cards.  I was a senior in high school with a full-time job.  Gas was less than a dollar per gallon.  I purchased two boxes of Upper Deck SP looking for the Arod rookie.  I did hit one.  Funny, I do not remember the die-cut cards.  I must have traded them shortly after.

Matt Morris was inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame this year.  He was one of my favorite pitchers in his prime.  He had the bulldog mentality of getting the ball and going 7 innings each start before injuries hit.

This is my first card from the 30-card 1999 Upper Deck McGwire Tribute set, which came in a lunch box. This is McGwire #808 in my collection. With all his cards produced from 1998-2000, I would have guessed I had 1,000 by now.  

Larger Bench Trade

My second trade from The Bench website arrived earlier this week.  This time, I traded a few cards from the EBAY lot and some other numbered Giants to member 89Giants.  He sent back a nice stack of various Cardinals.

I received 3 gold parallels, 2 of the numbered variety and one from Upper Deck.  The Pagnozzi would have been a great photo if UD had panned out to show the runner.

The other numbered card came from 2019 Inception.  Ponce had a decent Cardinals career as a reliever until he got into an argument with Yadier Molina in 2021.  He has bounced around the minor leagues ever since.

It is an Andrew Knizner type of trade, including a 2019 Heritage Minors short print.  

This 1992 Score card has eluded me for a long time.  For some reason, TCDB members thought it was worth a fortune and did not want to trade it.  Glad I can finally cross it off my want list.

3 different types of various refractors.  Paul DeJong looks like he is jumping out of a checkerboard.  It was great to see him have some success after the White Sox traded him to Kansas City.  I always root for the nice guys.

Last but not least is a pair of Nolans.  One is a former third baseman for the Cardinals who may return to that spot if the other is traded away this winter.  Maybe Gorman will hit better if he returns to his natural position.  He will have to cut down big time on the strikeouts to earn his spot.      

  

Another Sportlots Order

I placed a second Sportlots order at the end of October after I received the first one a week earlier.  I have decided it is better to spend $15-20 to knock out a chuck of Cardinals wants instead of hoping to find these cards in bargain boxes at shows or buying blaster boxes.  It is less time-consuming and avoids the clutter of unwanted cards.  As the old saying goes, it is better to just buy what you want.

Like the first order, I bought from one dealer to keep the shipping cost down.  This dealer offered 40 cards for $4.25 shipped.  My total was a little over $16.50.  My son grabbed the 2 Altuve cards, so I have 38 different Cardinals to show off.  

Other than the McGriff 1995 Pacific, these cards are all parallels from 1995 and 1996.  I am always a fan of the Pinnacle Museum cards.

I ordered the regular 1996 Select Certified Brian Jordan but received the red parallel instead.  I needed it anyway.  Two more parallels in this lot, this time from Bowman.

Gotta love the black and white cards for Gibson and Musial.  

I was not a fan of the 2003 Ultra Gold Medallion die cuts.  Keep it simple, like the 2002 set.  The 2003 UD 40 Man Cardinals team set consisted of 28 cards.  After getting these 2, I need 3 more.  

Who doesn't love mascot cards?   This Fredbird is actually a sticker.  2004 Gold Medallion die cuts were not quite as bad as 2003.

I can cross off 2012 Topps Pro Debut from my want list.   Nice to get all 5 in one shot.

These 2 Tribute cards and the Museum Holliday were the most expensive cards at 50 cents each.  Still a good buy in my book. 

I also finished the 2016 Topps Pro Debut.  All in all it was a fun batch of cards.

  

  

  

           

First Bench Trade in a Long While

TCDB was not the only site where I listed my numbered EBAY lot cards.  I also listed the cards on The Bench.  It has been close to seven months since I completed a trade there.  I have been able to work out three deals so far.  Not quite as many as I was hoping for, but there are still quite a few cards left.  The first trade arrived on Monday from member B&C Adams.  

I was thrilled to get a 2012 Heritage Minors short print.  I still remember getting his autograph in 2012 when he played in Springfield.  

I was equally excited to get this Musial card.  I still have not completed this 10-card set after 25 years.  I need #6 to finish it.

My son is getting a large stack of Altuve cards on his desk that need to be put in his binders.  This 2023 Archives insert joined the 17 cards he picked up at the card show on Saturday.  That should keep him busy for an hour or so.

  
  
     

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #95

I had no shortage of trade packages to choose from for this week's post.  Two weeks ago, I won an EBAY lot with great trade material for team collectors.  It contained almost 100 numbered cards for less than $0.20 each.  I have made over 10 trades so far from those cards.  Some have already arrived.  One of the first was this package from member bplay24.

I hope to trade for several more Topps Gold needs like this 2022 Matz.

These are my first refractors from 2024 Topps Chrome.  They were hard to scan due to the major curl in the cards.  I wonder if that is typical, as the base cards I have did not have that problem.

This Altuve refractor was not quite as bad as the 2 Cardinals.

Maysn Winn would have been one of the three finalists for Rookie of the Year any other year.  Maybe he will use the snub as motivation for the 2025 season.  With the strong possibility of the Cardinals trading away most of their veterans, I can see him being their All-Star selection next year.

The second trade package came from member frankgifford.

 
My 2024 Update team set only needs one more card for completion.  I should be able to track down Alec Burleson by the end of the month.

Gibson was my first 2024 Allen & Ginter Cardinal.  Not sure how tough the short prints are to pull this year, but I will have to track down Lou Brock and Ozzie Smith to find out.

Mini madness from the 2022 A&G set.  These three all have the regular back.

2024 Topps Holiday hits shelves later this week.  Just like everything else Christmas-related, it appears earlier every year.  I am trying to finish the Metallic set from 2023.  Arenado is only my second out of seven Cardinals in the set.  I like Topps used the silver border to make it easier to spot these.   

  
    

    
      

Awesome Card Show Recap

Saturday brought another opportunity to attend a card show less than an hour from home.  My son and I have attended shows at this location for 3 years with mixed results.  Some I have walked out spending less than $10, while others cost me $20-30.  It is never a wasted trip, though, as my wife and daughter go shopping, and we eat at my son's favorite fast food restaurant, KFC.  Everybody wins.

We arrived about 15 minutes after the doors opened.  The show was advertised as 80 tables, a little on the high side.  About 30 people were walking the floor, so it was nice to have plenty of room.  I did notice quite a few dealers I had never seen before.  It is great to have new inventory to look through.  We bought cards from 5 different dealers in the 2 hours we were there.  

Our first purchase was from a father and daughter duo setting up at their first show.  I am guessing she was 10-12 years old.  She did most of the talking, which I thought was great.  Their setup consisted of team boxes with most cards marked $1 or less.  My son found these 3 Altuve cards for $2.  The daughter was very polite and thanked us for the purchase.  I wish she had more cards we needed.

The second dealer had a small box of 5 for $1 cards, a small box of $3-5 cards, and a small showcase of graded cards. We spent $6 at his table.

I have a Topps Fan Favorites Tudor auto, but I was not going to pass this up for $3.  The 1985 Cardinals team is one of my favorites.

 

We pulled 15 cards for the other $3, including some needed Cardinals, an Altuve for my son, and some trade bait.  The Chrome Platinum Anniversary cards are all numbered to 200 or less.   

Our third purchase was from a new dealer.  He had 4 tables full of team boxes.  Some cards were in penny sleeves, while others were in top loaders.  I hesitated to buy from him as nothing was marked, but he said nothing would be over a $1, so we dug in.  My son was in heaven as there was a huge stack of Astros to go through.  I went through his Cardinals and Pirates stacks.  We spent $15 on this lot.

The dealer was right with his pricing, 21 cards for less than $1 each.  I wish he had more Cardinals I needed.  Finding a big group of Altuves for my son and some Pirates for a trader I owed was nice.

Dealer #4 had 2 monster boxes full of quarter cards.  $4 got us these.

 

More of the same cards as the last deal: Cardinals, Altuve, and Pirates.  I added a couple of Yankees including a Judge blue border.

The fifth dealer was my favorite.  This gentleman had been a collector for over 40 years.  He recently decided to try selling after purchasing a large vintage collection.  This was his first show.  He had a great setup with 3 showcases full of vintage cards.  What caught my eye was none of them were graded.  My type of dealer.  I found quite a few nice Cardinals I needed but did not want to exceed my $75 show budget.  I settled on these 5 for $50. 

My first Uecker card is this nice 1965 Topps.  He also has 1964 and 1966 Topps cards in a Cardinals uniform that I need.  If you have any Uecker cards, you can agree they can be expensive. This one is in great shape, just 1 fuzzy corner.

There were 3 different copies of this 1967 Brock in various conditions.  I chose the middle of the pack.  Only thing wrong is a slight ding on the left edge.  

I need 2 more 1968 Topps to finish my team set after crossing off this Gibson.  Other than the centering issue from top to bottom, it is perfect.

These two 1973 Kellogs cards are very close to mint.  I was not thinking about buying them, but the dealer threw them in the deal for free.  After my purchase, I spent about 10 minutes talking with him and exchanged emails.  He is more than happy to go through my vintage want list and bring the cards to the next show.  

This was by far the best show we have been to this year.  I did not even see all the tables before I reached my spending limit.  I exceeded my limit by $2, but that is close enough.  Best of all, I met a great vintage dealer who should help me complete some team sets.