Two of a Kind from EBAY

Some how I forgot I had a few dollars remaining on an EBAY gift certificate, so last week I went shopping.  I managed to find a couple variations of one of my favorite cards from 2024 Topps Archives.

The black and yellow foilboard cards are not tough to find, but it was nice to get both for less than $2 delivered apiece.  Usually I prefer action photos over poses, but there is something about the bat over the shoulder pose that I like.  After getting the red version a few weeks ago, I decided it would be fun to see how many of these I can track down.  Scott is my favorite current Cardinals player.  He reminds me a lot of Vince Coleman, my first player collection.  If he could somehow manage to hit .250 next year, 50 stolen bases should be very attainable.  This season he was 34 for 38 while hitting .216.  

2025 Lot

It is already December.  2025 has really flown by.  I guess when you get older time can get away from you a lot quicker.  Before the calendar turns to a new year, I hope to finish up some 2025 team sets.  A TCDB trade that arrived over the weekend helped me cross off a few cards.

This is the complete 2025 Topps Holiday team set.  Glad to get them all in one trade.

3 of the 5 Cardinals from Panini Crusade.  Some of the colored parallels look great this year.  

These 3 started my Prizm team set.  Only 9 more to go.

2025 Topps Chrome is almost done.  Only 1 more to go.  Seems like I have been working on this one for months.  Hope to get it done before Chrome Update comes out.

I was glad to see Topps used a different photo for Winn's 2025 All Star Game card.  Only 2 Cardinals in the 100 card set, Winn and Michael McGreevy.  The only insert in the package was this 2024 Archives yellow foilboard.

The final card was from 2021 Panini Chronicles.  There are too many brands to figure out how close I am to completing this set.

I was happy to add all these cards to my collection, but you may notice I did not name the member.  He waited until 3 days after he received his cards before mailing mine.  If he would have communicated with me, I would have been fine with a delay.  He also shipped all 16 cards in a single pwe.  If any of the cards arrived damaged, I would have left him negative feedback.  Instead I did not leave any, and added him to my no trade list.  

  

Card Show Recap

Saturday brought the final quarterly card show at the Effingham Events Center.  This show has been great the previous 3 times this year.  Close to 100 tables with a good mix of returning and new dealers each time.  A major positive is most tables are sports cards.  I believe there were only 2 that were exclusive Pokemon/gaming tables.  

I was able to spend close to 3 hours digging through a lot of value boxes.  I also had the fortune of meeting another Ray Lankford collector from TCDB.  It was great talking about our collections and finding out where some of the more rare cards are hiding.  I spent $59 on everything below.

These 6 cards were in a quarter box.  The dealer did not want to make change, so he only charged me $1.  I would have paid that alone for the 2017 Update Ozzie photo variation.  I also found a needed Arenado insert and some trade bait for a couple of good TCDB members.

Another dealer had 4 quarter boxes full of inserts and parallels.  I found these 4 Cardinals and Altuves cards my son and I needed.

I also pulled these 12 cards for trade bait.  Got a small deal on the lot, only paying $3 instead of $4.  Nice to get a discount without asking for it.

The next table had some boxes of $2 autographs and a few $1 cards.  Nothing big, but I was happy to get a Mautz autograph.  He was the Cardinals 2025 minor league pitcher of the year.

The next dealer was my favorite.  He had 4 tables full of quarter boxes sorted by team along with another box of assorted inserts.

I did well finding some nice Altuve and Cardinals we needed.

I also found a lot of trade bait for TCDB member and long time trading friend Ron B.  I was shocked to find the Konnor Griffin parallel in the quarter box.

After finding so many nice quarter cards, I spent $4 each on these 2025 parallels.  The team border cards look great.

My final purchase was from the Ray Lankford collector.  He did not have any Lankfords I needed for sale, but did have a nice selection of vintage Cardinals.

I believe this is the first graded card I have ever purchased.  It will most likely be broken free of the holder soon.  The corners are a little fuzzy, but overall it has no creases and looks great.  It was marked for $45, which I was willing to pay, but I got it for $30.  

  

10th New Lankford of 2025

I always get excited when I find a new  Ray Lankford card I need.  The majority of them have been recent Panini products.  While I do love adding them, especially the autographed cards, the thrill of marking an older card of my want list is unmatched.  Last week I won such a card on EBAY.

This is the 1997 Flair Showcase Row 0 Legacy Collection numbered to 100.  Beautiful looking card in person.  I bid on a copy a few years ago that went for close to $50.  This copy was a little more than Lankford's uniform number 16.  

This card completed my run of Legacy cards.  1997 featured Row 0, 1, and 2 all numbered to 100.

1998 had Row 0, 1, 2,  and 3 numbered to 100.

1999 changed things up with Row 1, 2, and 3 numbered to 99.  For some reason the Row 1 cards are numbered on the front.  

    

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #128

It has been 3 weeks since my last Tuesday post.  My trading has been very slow lately.  Lack of new trade bait has a lot to do with it.  Hopefully that will change in a week or two with a trip to a card show.  One of the better ones in my area is on the 22nd.  I plan to have 2-3 hours free that morning.  In the mean time, I will plug away with a couple of small trades.  First up is a two pack of cards from member guags.

It was great to see Winn win a gold glove last week.  Maybe next year he can make his first All Star team.

Stars of MLB is an insert I hope Topps discontinues next year.  Not much demand for these.  Even the bigger stars like Judge and Ohtani can be found in dime or quarter boxes.  

The second trade package came from member sgill08.

Slow trading equals slow progress on team sets, like 2025 Topps Chrome.  Maybe this one will get done before the new year.

I do not get very many Topps gold parallels in trades.  Always happy to mark one of the want list.

As a Cardinals fan, I feel obligated to chase after red parallels.  Good thing 2024 Stadium Club made a base version and not a refractor one.  Great photography and a color match background is hard to pass up.  

Birds for Birds

You would think from today's title post I traded some Cardinals duplicates to another Cardinals fan.  As much as I love to do that type of trade, my latest TCDB trade involved birds of a different type.  This time, I traded a handful of Orioles to member George1369 in exchange for a great package of 5 Cardinals.

What collector does not love Kellog's 3D cards?  This 1983 Hernandez completes my team set.  

Topps had decided to flood each brand with numerous parallels.  Heritage used to consist of a handful of inserts and some short prints.  Now you get countless cards like this 2025 Chrome Light Blue Sparkle Refractor.  Not a bad looking cards, but a red version would match the Cardinals uniform.

I was thrilled to add these Fox Sports Midwest oddballs to my collection.  To my best guess, these were issued starting in 1998 and concluding in 2023.  Some years more that one card was issued.  I first saw these cards at the 2012 Cardinals Winter Warm Up where the David Freese card was given out to anyone in attendance.  There are 27 cards in the set.  The 9 I still need are from 2008 and earlier.  

 

More EBAY Winnings

Four more EBAY envelopes arrived since my last post, each one costing me nothing other than a portion of my gift card.  It is almost like getting cards for free.

I am not sure why this 2014 Stadium Club Ozzie Smith was hard to find, but now I can cross it off my wantlist and mark the team set complete.

These 2 Heritage short prints finished my 2022 and 2016 team sets minus the image variations.  I have to draw the line somewhere.

I guess you can call this 2024 Archives red foil an EBAY 1/1.  It is numbered 50/50 on the back.  I love the color match with Scott's uniform.  For less than $5 delivered, I thought this was a steal.