Fun at the Card Show

It was a baseball-themed weekend for my son and me.  I posted about our Sunday trip to a Peoria Chiefs game already.  Saturday we were able to make it to a 150 table card show a little over an hour away.  Hard to pass up a big show that close to home with only $1 admission.  We arrived a few minutes after the doors opened at 9:00.  There was a good-sized crowd already roaming the floor.  

Our plan of attack was to hit up bargain boxes on the initial walkaround and stop at some vintage tables as time allowed. We had about two hours to kill before we needed to leave. About halfway through, we abandoned that plan to save some time.  We ended up buying cards from 6 different dealers.

Our first buy was $2 worth of quarter cards highlighted by these 2023 Big League short prints.  These are not as difficult to find as Heritage sp's but do have some good value for a quarter, especially the Votto.

The next dealer had mostly basketball with a small box of modern baseball.  Nothing was priced, but he said he was looking to get out of baseball so he would give us a good deal.  This lot cost $4.  I already have the Graceffo auto, but I am sure another Cardinals fan will give it a good home.  

We only found 1 dime box dealer that contained inserts.  We spent $2 at his table.  I found 4 Cardinals I thought I needed.  The McGwire ended up being a duplicate.

I pulled some nice trade bait, including some Topps Gold cards, a couple of mojo refractors, and some colored parallels.  

My first vintage buy was this 1968 Topps Lou Brock for $10.  I was a little shocked to hand the dealer a $20 bill, and him not have change.  He put the card back until I returned with the exact change.  I hope he did not do business like that all day.  

This 1962 Topps Flood was marked $10, but the dealer sold it for $8.  I love it when I get a discount without asking.  My scanner cut off the bottom of the card.  It has a minor stain on the back, but overall is in great shape.

My final buy was these 2 1968 Topps for $80.  A little of an overpay, but these are in great condition.  I do not grade cards, but would guess they would be at least a 7.  The dealer had them marked $100, but came down.  Thrilled to mark off a couple of big ones from this team set.  

We barely managed to see all the tables in the 2 hours we were there.  I believe there will be another show in the fall at the same location.  I will make sure to allow more time at that one.  

  

    

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #77

The Cardinals' first full month of the season ends today with a doubleheader against the Tigers.  It will be strange watching Jack Flaherty throw to Carson Kelly in the first game.  Both former Cardinals were players I followed closely.  I wish them the best after today's games.  With a sweep, the Cardinals can get back to .500.  I would be happy with a split.

I could not think of a theme for either of today's recaps, so I will jump right into it.  First envelope came from member Mrwhite1978.

Another 6 cards were crossed off my 2024 Heritage wantlist.  Topps did a good job with the dual MVP cards.

Also grabbed the Altuve for my son.  I thank Topps for not making his card a short print this year.  

The second trade envelope came from member el_cid91.

I was not a fan of Topps including short prints in Gallery.  After receiving this Molina, I only need the Musial sp to finish the 2020 team set.

I received 2 shiny cards with this Silver Portrait McGwire and a Topps Chrome Update Arenado.  Arenado and the rest of the team could really use McGwire as their hitting coach.  During his 4 seasons as the Cardinals hitting coach, they had a great offense.  Some of that had to do with Albert Pujols being on the team, and some had to do with McGwire.  

The blue border Topps Update parallels look very sharp.  Not refractor sharp, but still very nice.

     

Peoria Chiefs Game

Yesterday was a beautiful day to watch a baseball game.  It was a little overcast, with temps in the mid-70s.  My son and I took advantage of the nice day and made the 3 hour drive to Peoria to catch our first Chiefs game of the year.  Game time was 2:00, which worked out great for us to leave after church and also return home before 9:00.  

Sunday is team autograph day in Peoria.  After the game, players signed autographs in the concourse for 15 minutes.  Most of the roster was there except for the pitchers who pitched in the game, which was quite a few because the Chiefs lost 14 to 6.  2 of the starting position players did not show up as well.  I cannot blame them because they were a combined 1 for 8.  We managed to get 20 autographs from 8 different players.

Won Bin Cho is the Cardinals 9th rated prospect.  Being from South Korea, I was curious to hear how well his English was.  He had quite a line of people wanting his signature, so all I heard was thank you.

I always take my camera to Chiefs games.  With less than 1,000 people in attendance, it is easy to move around to take pictures.  The Chiefs have not installed netting past the home plate side of the dugouts yet, so the view is great.  I plan to have Cho sign one of these next to we go to a game.

Joshua Baez is the 29th rated prospect.  He did play in the game.  He is a very large young man with a ton of power who also strikes out a lot.

Cooper Hjerpe was the Cardinals first round draft pick in 2022.  He is the 6th rated prospect.  I hope to see him pitch sometime this year.  He has a somewhat submarine delivery that is hard to pick up the ball from.  Very nice kid who thanked us for coming.

Brycen Mautz is prospect #20, while Pete Hansen is #26.  We were lucky none of the started pitchers we had cards for pitched yesterday.  

The last of the cards are from the 2022 and 2023 team sets for players who are not ranked.  

Leonardo Bernal is the Cardinals' #7 prospect.  He does not have any cards besides a 2023 Bowman Chrome autograph.  These pictures are during his first at bat when he hit a home run.  I will print out the bottom picture next time we go to Peoria with hopes of getting it signed.  

Zach Levenson is the #22 prospect.  I did have a card for him to sign, but he did not come out.  Maybe next time.  I liked this picture showing a ball he fouled off to the backstop.  

Despite the lopsided score, the game was very entertaining.  23 hits and 20 runs scored between the 2 teams.  Peoria's manager and a bench player were ejected during the 7th inning for arguing balls and strikes.  All that in a little under 3 hours.  

Cubs for Cardinals

Last month, I worked out 2 trades with TCDB and Trading Bases member bdhrbob.  It worked out great for both of us to have a dumping ground for our least favorite cards, Cubs for me and Cardinals for him.  This will turn into an ongoing transaction as we both manage to accumulate cards for each other.  We completed our third trade a few days ago.

I was thrilled to get a nice-sized lot of 2024 Heritage in one trade.  The upper right shows the horrible mistake by Topps of using a Whitey Herzog photo on a Red Schoendienst card.  

My 2001 Topps Chrome team set is down to needing 5 more cards.  4 commons and a Pujols RC will finish it.  

Donruss Classics sets can be difficult to complete thanks to the short print rookies and legends.  I need one common and the Musial legend short print to finish the 2005 set.  The card would look so much better if the ballpark in the background was in color.

  

9th & 10th New Lankford cards of 2024

The Cardinals reverted back to their old ways last night, losing 14 to 1.  2 different pitchers gave up 7 runs.  In a post game interview, manager Oliver Marmol said starter Steven Matz did a pretty decent job despite giving up 7 runs in less than 5 innings.  I guess I am old school, thinking that is a lousy job.  I have never really cared for Marmol since the beginning of last year when he called out Tyler O'Neill.  There is a time and place to confront a player.  Doing it to the press early in the season is not it.  I doubt there are many Cardinals fans who were pleased that Marmol received a 2 year extension at the end of spring training.  Does not make much sense to award someone after he manages a team to last place.  

Enough of my complaining.  Time to show off some nice additions to my Ray Lankford collection.

This is my 5th version of this card.  I  have the version numbered to 15 to track down.  There is a copy listed on EBAY, but the starting bid is close to what I paid for the one of one.  

This is the 2nd version of this card I have.  It does not have the eye appeal of the first card, but it does have a better write-up on the back highlighting the game Lankford hit for the cycle.         

      

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #76

I guess my boo hoo post about the Cardinals yesterday brought some good luck last night.  Paul Goldschmidt managed to hit a home run for his first extra base hit since opening day, and Nolan Gorman only needed 1 pitch to hit a walk off home run .  Everything is right in the world for a few hours.  Time to celebrate by showing off a few cards.  The first lot came from member Burnsie42.

Maybe Goldschmidt was striking this pose after he hit the home run last night.  

Altuve has started the season well despite Houston's struggles.  This 2017 Diamond Kings Aurora does a great job of complimenting the team colors.  

The second trade came from member TeddyBallGame68.

These are the last non short print Cardinals I needed from 2024 Big League.  There are 2 lower end short prints I should be able to obtain, but 2 more rare ones that most likely will never find a home in my collection.  

You do not see too many locker room photos on cards.  Stadium Club does a nice job of capturing these types of moments.  

 

Bright Spot to a Bad Baseball Weekend

It was not a good weekend to be a Cardinals fan.  The Brewers came to town on Friday and proceeded to sweep the Cardinals.  The 3 losses left St. Louis in last place.  As of today, they have the same record as they did last year and have scored fewer runs.  Something needs to change sooner rather than later to avoid another dreadful season.  

Until the Cardinals play better, I will have to rely on card packages to keep me happy baseball-wise.  Thankfully, I had a nice package arrive Saturday from TCDB member jeffburk, which brightened my weekend.

I am not a big fan of the UK or Japan sets, but I will not turn them away either.  

I opened a ton of 1994 Bowman, so I was excited to see the design return for 2022 Bowman Heritage.  If  mother nature cooperates, I should see both of these guys play in Peoria this weekend.

 

I am almost done with 2023 Stadium Club.  2 more Cardinals to track down.  2024 Big League will most likely never be complete thanks to the unnecessary short prints.  
 

It was bittersweet to receive a nice Herzog card after his passing last week.  This Prizm does a good job of showing his firey spirit.