Diamonds and Snow

Picking back up with my trade recaps, late last week I received a nice puffy from Trading Bases member Jack D. 

I wish Topps would bring back the Diamond Anniversary cards from 2011.  These were some of the best looking parallels in recent memory.  It does not hurt the set is from the last year the Cardinals won the World Series.

It was great to see Adam Wainwright have an outstanding game against the Cubs last Sunday.  8 innings of shutout baseball on 120+pitches.  I am not feeling very confident that he can do it again this weekend in Wrigley. 

Topps Holiday is one of those money grab sets to me.  It releases during the holiday season when collectors do not have much new product to open.  You may also get the occasion relative who wants to buy you cards, but does not know what to get.  As a result, they will pick up a box for you at Wal-Mart.  These metallic versions are somewhat better than the base cards. 

Vince Coleman seems surprised that someone would want to take his picture for this 1990 Topps Sticker Back card.  Jim Abbott is in a much better mood. 

Some random inserts round out the package.  The 2019 GQ Green is my favorite, but the 2018 Topps Chrome Prism refractor is a close second.  The 2017 GQ Missing Black Plate is just too bland for me. 

Big League Box Break

Taking a break from the trade recaps today to highlight a box break.  Over the weekend my son played in a wooden bat tournament in Terra Haute, IN.  We had some down time in between games on Sunday, so we ventured to the local Wal-Mart to pick up some snacks and to see what the card aisle had.  We were looking for Bowman, but settled on a value box of 2019 Topps Big League.  Hard to beat 5 packs for $10.

The Blast Off inserts are my favorite, although the player is not.  The Nickname set is kind of cool since it does showcase the Player's Weekend jerseys.

Each box has a four pack of blue parallels.  I did pretty well with a Trevor Story and Juan Soto. 

The gold cards are one per pack.  I did not do as well with these other than the Ryan Braun.   But I did get another gold card.

Most of the time I would be overjoyed to receive an autograph #ed to 99 out of a $10 retail box, but this card has 2 strikes against.  The obvious one is that it is a Cub.  The second is had to tell from the scan, but both bottom corners have damage.  I contacted Topps and filled out the paper work for a replacement.  I mailed the card along with the receipt and wrappers today.  I did request a Cardinals autograph as a replacement.  I will keep you updated with how I come out.    

 

Back At It

I have fallen off again with my trade recaps.  I also have a couple of in person recaps that I need to highlight.  One of these days I will get caught up.  Today's cards came in about 2 weeks ago from one of my favorite TCDB trading friends pjdionne12.

I am not sure how this 1990 Topps Batting Leaders card was packaged, but I do love the oddball card just the same.  Maybe it was include in a rack pack like the All Star Glossy cards.  Any ideas?

Pujols will be back in St. Louis later this month for the first time since 2011.  Tickets for the game are pretty high, but I may try to go to one.  Ankiel may have to wait until next year for his Busch Stadium return because of his arm injury.

All base cards look better in blue.  Enough said.

We all know Topps cranks out gold parallels each year, but did you know Upper Deck did also in 2006?  I like the Topps design better, but the Rolen photo is pretty nice.

Monthly Ron B Trade Envelope

It is almost the end of May already.  My kids are out of school now, but the running after them does not stop for very long.  June brings summer activities like volleyball and band camps, more travel baseball, and your general friend gatherings.  Good thing my wife who is a teacher can run after them. 

May almost passed without a package from Trading Bases member Ron B, but he snuck one in over the weekend.  I had sent him some in person autographs from some Pirate prospects a few weeks ago. I  told him not to send anything in return, but that request fell on deaf ears.  I won't complain.

It would nice if the Cardinals could get fired up like these 2014 Opening Day inserts.  Yesterday was another loss.  Score 3 runs in the first, then manage only 2 hits the rest of the game.  Wainwright did ok while taking the loss.  He struck out 10 with no walks, but allowed a go ahead 2 run home run in the 4th inning.  May cannot end soon enough.

Have I mentioned I love blue cards?  The Wisdom 1984 Silver Pack #ed to 150 is really sharp.

Panini made good use of up close photos on these 2016 Diamond Kings Memorable Feats cards.  No need to airbrush the uniforms.  Even though players like Frankie Frisch are Hall of Famers, a lot of fans do not know them well because they played back in the 1930s.

I think Molina is starting to show his age this year.  He has remained healthy so far, but a lot of his defensive stats are down.  I would say that about his hitting also, but that would apply to all the Cardinals right now.

Allen Craig finally retired this year after never being able to regain his hitting stroke.  He was an All-Star in 2013, but was traded to Boston a year later and bounced around the minors for the rest of his career.  He now has a front office job with the Padres.     

   

Something Old, Something New, Something Blue

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend.  I managed to get a lot of things done around the house that had been neglected for a few weeks.  About the only downfall from the weekend was the performance of the St. Louis Cardinals and Blues.  The Cardinals managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on Sunday night by giving up a 3 run lead in the ninth.  The Blues were not much better last night in game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  They were up 2-0 after 1 period, but came out slow and committed some bad penalties that led to a 4-2 loss. 

One of my goals this weekend was to clean up my card table.  I have all trades scanned and ready to be blogged about.  Today's post is a package from Canadian member karsal from TCDB. 

 

The 1995 Henke Silver Signature may not be considered old in terms of vintage cards, but it is 24 years old.  The Gibson is from 2015 Diamond Kings.  The cards itself is not old, but Gibson is getting there.  Gibson will turn 84 later this year.  I saw him last year at a card show and he still looks to be in good shape.

One card from each of the last 3 years in this group of pitcher's cards.  The 2019 Donruss Independence Day parallel is my favorite.  Reyes is scheduled to make another rehab start tonight.  Maybe his return could help kick start a winning streak.  Nothing else seems to be working for the Cardinals right now.

These 2018 Donruss cards are really blue even though my scanner turned them purple.  They are not quite as sharp as a blue refractor, but not far behind.

The last card is really pink.  This 2016 Donruss Pink Piscotty arrived a few weeks late for Mother's Day this year, but is still a sweet card.

 

Yes It Is a Weekend Post

I seldom make a post on a weekend, but I am trying to get my trade recaps caught up.  I hope to this done by the end of this week.  This package came from TCDB member tigerhead.

DeJong has been one of the few bright spots for the Cardinals so far this year.  He has been hitting close to .300 all year while being among the league leaders in doubles.  If he stays healthy, he looks to be the Cardinals representative on the All Star team.  Jordan Hicks has a chance also, but he has not been getting the save chances because the Cardinals have been losing so much.

This card completed my 2017 Bowman Draft Chrome team set.  Hurst has been up and down between High A and Double A this year.  There is nothing too flashy about his game.  He has some power and is good defensively.  There are quite a few other outfielders ahead of him in the minors, so I doubt he makes it to St. Louis barring a huge breakout season in the next year or two.

A couple of nice inserts and a not so great Topps cards.  I am a big fan of the 2019 150 year inserts that highlight past great players like Slaughter.  I also love the 1987 Topps design no matter what card it is used for.  As for the Rediscover cards, not a fan.  I do not see the point of re-issuing a 2012 Topps card five years later. 

Late on Opening Day

It is almost embarrassing to say how long it takes me to finish some common team sets.  It is even worse when the team set is from the current year from a low end product.  Such was the case with this year's Topps Opening Day.  OD had been out since early March.  A trade with TCDB member NorCalCards707 brought be the last 2 cards I needed. 

Nothing very exciting to see here.  I am just happy to finish my team set with these 2.

Maybe I will go after the blue foil set since I finally finished the base set.  I thought these were numbered in years.  The 2019 version is not.  Still a nice looking card though.

I like the base 2019 GQ cards better than the green parallels.  I have said it before, but all I can think of when I see that much green is the Oakland A's.  Green works better as a refractor color.