First to 20

Most of my frequent trade partners are fellow Cardinals collectors.  It is an excellent way for both parties to reduce duplicates while getting back something you need.  A win-win situation for both sides.  Last week, I completed my 20th trade with TCDB member timriess.  We completed our first trade in November of 2020, and have been going strong ever since.  This lot featured a great mix of cards.

The oldest cards were 3 1982 TCMA cards and a 1976 SSPC.  Although Medwick appears in a Dodger uniform, the back lists him as a Cardinal.  That is what I am going with.

I am slowly getting both versions of 1996 Flair.  Look closely; you will see Pagnozzi in silver text and Mabry in gold text.  

2001 Bowman Chrome is a team set I will not complete.  The Pujols autographed rookie card is too pricey for my budget.  

 A few other Bowman cards, including two 2022 Draft 1t Editions, a 2023 Bowman Chrome, and a 2019 Bowman Heritage.  I had to double-check the back of Mejia's card to make sure he was a switch hitter.  You never know when Topps may try to pull a fast one.

Ozzie Smith is one of timriess's main player collections, so he usually has some duplicates I need.  Ozzie is my fourth most collected player behind Lankford, Pujols, and McGwire.   

This last scan is a hodge podge of cards I did not want to scan separately.  I share the same view as other collectors who miss the Pacific brand.  Some of the base card designs were way ahead of their time.  
 
  
  

 

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #106

I do not have many cards to show off today from the two trades.  Both are less than six cards, but very much appreciated.  First package came from member Sharpie0226.

I love the mix of young and old players in Archives.  1994 is my favorite of the three designs.

The second package came from member TimR.

These are my first 2024 Panini Prizm cards.  They look about the same as the last few years other than the background.

This card leaves me one short of completing the 23 card team set from 1998 Topps Chrome.  I will most likely find it on Sportlots.    

    

Letting the Other Guy do the Work

I love it when other traders take the time to look at my want list and offer a trade on TCDB.  I propose 90% of my trades, so having someone else take the lead is nice.  TCDB member Balzer sent me an offer last week that arrived over the weekend.

Hats off to this member for sending cards that I needed that were not on my want list.  He took the time to check my have list to see if I needed these Bowman Heritage cards.  I greatly appreciate the extra effort.

These are my first cards from 2024 Topps Archives.  I wish I had this Victor Scott card at the Cardinals Caravan a couple of weeks ago.  It would look great autographed.  

The second Scott of the package is from 2024 Stadium Club.  This is the Chrome parallel, not to be confused with the Stadium Club Chrome set.  Very confusing.  Always nice to add a Musial to the collection.  I am almost to the 400 milestone.

Maysn Winn is being hyped as the next face of the franchise.  Tall order for someone who was a rookie last year.  He has a great attitude, but I am not sure he will be the big time All Star everyone is hoping for.  Solid player yes, outstanding not sure.  The blue metallic parallel from 2024 Topps Holiday is a great looking card.  

  

   

Largest Trade in a Long Time

Over the years, I have shown off many cards from Trading Bases member Ron B on my blog.  We exchange cards three or four times yearly, with Pirates headed his way and Cardinals and Altuve cards coming my direction.  Last year, he took the plunge and joined TCDB with an id of Ronsolo1.  He was very busy with almost 400 trades in his first year.  I highly recommend trading with Ron, as he is easy to deal with and is a great spot to send all those unwanted Pirates cards other than Paul Skenes.

Ron and I have been accumulating cards for each other for a couple of months.  Last week, we decided it was time to ship them out.  My end included over 50 cards, making it my largest trade package in quite a while.

My son gained 10 new Altuve cards for his push to 800.  A nice variety of colors, shiny, and a Topps Heritage cloth parallel.

These were the only two base cards out of the 50 different Cardinals I received.  Mize left me one card short of finishing the 2023 Topps Chrome Platinum teat set.  That set should get done soon.  The 1959 Topps set will not.  Bob Gibson's rookie card is a little pricey.  I will keep adding cheap cards like Cunningham.

There was a nice mix of 2024 parallels from Chrome and flagship.  The Liberatore team border parallel was my favorite.  The Contreras red foil is also pretty sharp.

A handful of other 2024 cards.  

2023 cards were mainly of the Panini variety.  The Walker orange flash prizm is a great looking card.

Back to all Topps brands for 2022.  The A&G cards are the silver portrait parallels.

The second orange parallel of the package is from 2022 Mosaic.  This one is reactive orange.  The second Carlson card is my second relic of his.  He is still a free agent.  I hope he signs with an American League team and has a rebound season.

A couple from 2022 and a nice dual from 2023 Topps Update.  How can you go wrong with a card featuring Musial and Pujols?

4 from 2021 and 1 Heritage Chrome from 2020.  The DeJong is a Father's Day parallel numbered to 50.  The Ozzie is a 2021 Topps 1951 Blake Jamieson mini.

I will finish things up with cards from the last decade.  Of course the 2011 black border Pujols is my favorite.  
  

2025 Cardinals Caravan

In conjunction with Cardinals WWU, they also have the Cardinals Caravan.  This four-day event consists of 6 different groups of players and alumni that visit different cities within a few hour's drive of St. Louis.  We have attended these for over 15 years at various different sites.  The Caravan started last Friday and finished up Monday.  My son, wife, and I were able to attend one of the last stops Monday evening in Centralia, IL.

The Caravan consists of two alumni and three or four younger players talking about the upcoming season, answering a few questions, and then signing some autographs.  Autographs are advertised for the first 400 kids 15 and younger, and then, as time permits, others can go through the line.

Some Caravans charge admission, others are free.  Centralia charged $10, which included a ballpark meal of a hot dog, a bag of chips, and a soda.  The money went to a local baseball league for disabled children, so it was well spent.  We arrived a few minutes before the gates opened, not knowing if there would be a crowd.  I think the cold temperatures kept the crowd to a minimum.  I would guess 150-200 people in total.  I was surprised that the workers gave my 16-year-old son an autographed ticket without asking his age.  Less than 100 kids were in attendance, so adults had some time to get autographs as well.  We ended up getting two autographs from each player.

My son and I got Simontacchi and Cooper on Saturday at the WWU.  This is the first time we have gotten Rom's auto.  

I did not have another card for those three, so I used a postcard handed out at WWU.  Glad I grabbed a few extras of these.  

Tink Hence is the Cardinals' #2 prospect and #68 on Baseball America's Top 100.  If he can stay healthy, he should be in St. Louis by the end of the year.  My guess is as a reliever.  I love the way the Bowman Top 100 card turned out.

Victor Scott was the main reason we made the hour and half drive.  I was very impressed with him on Saturday when he gave us a fantastic autograph.  I hope he gets a fair shot at earning the starting centerfield job in spring training.  Nothing against Michael Siani, but I believe Scott has more potential.

The best part of the evening happened toward the end.  One of the workers asked my son to help play a prank on Victor Scott.  At other caravan stops, they had him sign some strange things, such as a pair of Daisy Duke shorts, a plant, and a spatula.  They gave my son some rap lyrics and a CD for Scott to sign.  Wish I could upload the video, but it is too large.  If you have Facebook or X, visit the Cardinals page, and you will see it.

  

It was a great way to end an awesome Cardinals weekend.  

  

                    

2025 Cardinals Winter Warm Up Day 2

Day 1 of WWU was great.  I met my favorite player, and our time management worked out great.  We did not have to stand in autograph lines very long, allowing us time to browse the vendor area and sit in on a couple of presentations.  The day could not have gone any better.

Day 2 did not start out the greatest.  Around midnight, a couple a few doors down from us at the hotel started arguing.  Two hours later,  the front desk finally called the police to break things up.  I made it very clear at checkout that I would not be staying there again.  If you are ever in O'Fallon, IL, do not stay at the Sleep Inn.  We bypassed the bleak breakfast, ate at a nearby IHOP, and returned to the WWU.

We arrived a few minutes after the gates opened Sunday morning.  The feel-like temperature was -5 degrees.  It was a very brisk walk from the parking lot.  Once inside, things started looking up.  We had two paid autographs right away.

Michael McGreevy's autograph was $15.  I wish he signed his name in the white area, but the ticket still looks good.  

Lefthanded pitching prospect Quinn Mathews is the Cardinals #3 prospect and #41 overall on the just released Baseball America top 100.  Remember what I said about a lefty smudging his autograph on a ball yesterday?  This one did some, but I will gladly take it for the $10 I paid for the autograph.

I took this picture at a Peoria Chiefs game on Father's Day last year.  Mathews went 7 innings with 3 earned runs and 11 strikeouts.  His auto and inscription turned out great.  

  

The rest of our autographs were from free signers.  Harris and Scruggs have not been at the WWU since their minor league days, while Horton is there every year.  

We did sit through two different interview sessions.  The first was with three members of the 1985 NL Championship team.  I enjoyed hearing the stories about one of my favorite teams growing up.  The second was with the Cardinals minor league position player and pitcher of the year, Jimmy Crooks and Mathews.  

Overall, we had a great time.  Attendance was down somewhat, but better than what I expected.  The level of excitement was down.  In previous years, people were eager to meet the players.  This year, quite a few people were just going through the motions.  I will say players were all upbeat and optimistic about the upcoming season.  

Two major things I noticed about the weekend.

1) The Cardinals knew attendance could decline. To combat this, they offered a free autograph to early admission ticket holders. They also allowed anyone to watch the presentations/interviews on the main stage without an admission ticket.  Neither had been done before.  I am not sure either made a big difference.

2)  I got the sense some areas were cut back on.  The number of free autograph signers was down.  The number of vendors was also down.  In previous years, the team offered a discount for certain ticket packs.  This year, all they did was waive the fees.  This was not the answer for a team trying to get fans to the ballpark.  

We will attend WWU in 2026 regardless of the team's performance.  It is a father-son tradition that I hope my son will continue with his children.              
  
      

      

2025 Cardinals Winter Warm Up Day 1

Since 2016, my son and I have attended the Cardinals annual fan fest, Winter Warm Up (WWU).  My wife and daughter came with us in previous years, but it is now a guy's weekend.  He missed one year due to illness, and of course, it was not held for a couple of years due to COVID and the strike.  It is held MLK weekend in St. Louis.  Starting in 2023, it moved from a hotel to Busch Stadium and nearby Ballpark Village.  We always look forward to this weekend, around Thanksgiving, when the tickets go on sale.  I am grateful the Cardinals still hold the event, as I have read other teams have stopped holding fan fests.

As in years past, we drive over on Saturday morning and stay for two days. WWU does extend to Monday, but two days is enough time to see and do everything.  I believe we have attended all three days only once.  That was because one of the autograph guests had a flight delayed from Sunday to Monday.

We arrived Saturday morning about 20 minutes before the gates opened.  It felt like 25 degrees outside, which was better than last year.  One of the downfalls of having WWU at the stadium is the walking outside.  I will take that tradeoff instead of the overcrowded hotel.  I like my space.  Once gates opened, we headed to the team store and found a nice $20 cap for my son.  After that, most of the day was focused on autographs.  That is the main reason we attend WWU.  Some are free, while others cost.  In previous years, I have spent north of $300 on autographs.  This year, it was $110.  It makes a big difference when superstars like Wainwright, Molina, Arenado, and Goldschmidt are not around.  This year's most expensive autograph cost $75.  $20 is the most I spent.  New this year was a photo opportunity with members of the Cardinals Hall of Fame for $35.  I purchased one ticket for someone you will see in a bit. 

Cardinals rookie infielder Thomas Saggese signed his debut ticket.  One great thing about WWU is the players will usually sign anything you ask, including inscriptions like this one.  His autograph was $20, while I bought the ticket on EBAY for about $10.

Scott Cooper and Al Hrabosky were both free autographs.  The free autographs are limited to one person, so we each got one.

Victor Scott was my favorite autograph of the day.  Cardinal Authentics had a booth set up with game used baseball for $25.  I used a gift card from Christmas for this ball that Scott hit for a foul.  He had a great game that day going 3 for 4, stealing a base, and scoring the game winning run in a Cardinals 3-0 victory.  He was more than happy to inscribe his stats, and even mentioned he would take his time to make sure the ball looked good.  It can be hard for left handers to sign a ball with out smearing it.  A great looking autograph that cost me $20.

Robinson, Thompson, and Simontacchi were all free autographs.  They sign almost every year.  

New this year, the Cardinals offered a free mystery autograph for each admission ticket purchased for the first so many ticket sold.  The exact number was not advertised.  I believe the Cardinals offered the free autographs in anticipation of attendance being down.  The mystery autographs were revealed two weeks ago.  One of my tickets was for Jon Jay.

His autograph was $25, so this was a nice freebie.  I was able to find his debut ticket on EBAY for less than $10.  

My other mystery autograph was Ivan Herrera.  I purchased his debut ticket on EBAY for about $8.  Early last week it was announced he could not attend, so I received Daniel Descalso as a replacement.

Wish I had something cooler than a card for him to sign, but the short notice prevented that.  His autograph was also $25.  Admission tickets were $50, so with the free autographs that knocked each one down to $25.  Pretty good deal.

The information booth was handing out free postcards of a few alumni, Busch Stadium, and Fredbird.  I was more than excited to grab a couple of sets and find Ray Lankford was included.  Maybe this will be autographed next time you see it.  Which leads me to the photo opportunity.

For $35, fans could have their picture taken with Ozzie Smith, Vince Coleman, or Ray Lankford wearing their Cardinals red Hall of Fame jacket.  That was a no brainer for me to get Lankford.

I have a goofy grin on my face, but the picture turned out pretty good. We received a free 5x7 also.  You cannot see from the picture, but I am wearing a Lankford replica jersey.  I asked him if it was the first one he had seen that day.  It was, and he was thrilled someone still had one.  Upon seeing it, he offered to sign it.  The workers immediately stated no autographs.  I knew this going in and did not intend to get one.  Ray spoke up and told them, "This is my cousin, I am gonna sign it."

I am pretty sure this was the only autograph he signed that day.  Not sure if I will continue to wear it, or if I will frame it.  May wear it next time I meet him and see if he remembers the story.  

That was an awesome first day for us.  Day 2 recap to follow in the next post.

  

  

  
                    

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #105

I almost forgot it was Tuesday. Yesterday, I had a vacation day to recover from a great weekend in St. Louis, where I attended the Cardinals Winter Warmup and a player caravan. I will have three posts highlighting how things went, but I will stick to my usual Tuesday post for today. First up is a nice four-card package of Cardinals greats from member k_knesh.  

I have never seen these 2019 A&G inserts before this trade.  Nothing too fancy, but I love the baby blue pullover jersey Ozzie is wearing.

TCMA cards do not seem to get much love, but I like them.  These 2 are from 1985.  The orange border on the Gibson card is a strange choice.

The second trade came from member madding, also known as Kerry from Cards on Cards.  Kerry is a great source for Cardinals cards that I can use to get autographed at the Winter Warm Up.  He also sent some other Cardinals I did not have.

These are my first 2024 Topps Heritage mini cards.  Did collectors need another mini set?  Not in my opinion, but as I say this I have added the rest of the team set to my want list.

This will not be the last time you see Victor Scott this week.  I interacted with him twice.  Herrera was scheduled to be at the WWU, but had visa issues and could not make it.  I did watch a kid question and answer session with Burleson.  I did not know he was such a funny guy.  Great to add cards of each one to my collection.

Both Benes and Horton appeared at the WWU.  I got an autograph from one of them.  You will need to read another post to find out which one.  The Horton is a Tiffany version.