All Caught Up

Thanks to the over 10 inches of rain I have received in the past week and a half, my outside activities have been limited.  I could not think of another better way to spend my evenings then to organize all my recent trades.  I only had two trade packages left to scan, but there must have been a pile of 200 cards to file away. 

These 3 2017 Opening Day cards came from a PWE trade with a TCDB member.  I hate to jinx it, but the Cardinals are playing a little better and are only 1/2 game behind the Reds.  It helps to play the Brewers and Braves.

This card also came in a PWE.  It was not so much a trade.  The Trading Bases member who I sent all the Indianapolis Indians autos to sent this 2017 Topps Luke Weaver auto #ed to 199 without warning.  Very sharp card with the only downfall being the sticker.  I know some players did autograph the card itself.  Weaver has made 2 nice starts in Triple A since coming off the DL.  I would guess he will be the first starter called upon when a current Cardinals starter gets hurt or sent to the bullpen.

TCDB Trade with Birds from the Past and Present

My latest trade package from a TCDB member had Cardinals a few different eras.  There were some current Cardinals:

I guess you can call Reyes a current player even though he will spend the year on the DL.  Grichuk maybe taking over centerfield after Dexter Fowler injured his shoulder last night.

 Long gone are the days when I felt pretty good about the Cardinals' chances of winning a game that Wainwright started.  Last night he was spotted a 3-0 lead and only made it through 5 innings.  He is looking more like a .500 pitcher who only goes 5-6 innings each start. 

I wish Adams could play somewhere else other than first base.  His outfield days did not look that graceful.  It was not Chris Duncan bad, but if the team is serious about playing better defense Adams should only play first and pinch hit. 

Gotta love the Mascot cards.  Fredbird even has an autographed card from this set that sells for more than cards of most of the Cardinals current roster.

The Cardinals from past teams bring out mixed emotions.

There is no question that Musial is the greatest Cardinal of all time.  Pujols may have came close if he played his entire career here, but he left for the higher money in Anaheim.  It is nice to see him getting closer to some milestones like 600 home runs. 

Red still makes appearances around St. Louis even though he is 94 years old.  He is one of the few people to win a World Series as a player and manager with the same team.  I do not have anything positive to say about Heyward other than I am glad the Cardinals are not paying him anymore.

Should Have Waited One More Week

I am a firm believer in delayed gratification when it comes to baseball cards.  More times than not, I do not run out to the store or shop on the internet for the latest card releases.  It can be hard seeing the new cards on blog posts or EBAY, but a majority of the time prices for the new cards are inflated.  One of my saved searches on EBAY is for Cardinals autographs under $5 delivered.  A lot of those are prospects autographs.  One popped up last week for $3.99 delivered for a player I did not have a certified autograph card from.

This auto is from 2016 Bowman Chrome, a set that has been out for a long time.  It arrived on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, I get a private message on the Bench trading site offering the same card in trade for a low dollar auto of mine.  O well, at least I did trade my card for another auto that a collector I owe needs.   

Top 10 Ray Lankford cards and a Contest Plug

I like to think I have a fairly complete player collection of Ray Lankford.  Since he played the majority of his career in the 1990s, there are not a lot of 1/1s or rare game used and autos to chase.  I do need a ton of printing plates and some lowered numbered parallels, but for the most part I have about every card that has seen the light of day. 

My collection pales in comparison to Collecting Cutch's Andrew McCutchen stash.  Autos, game used, buttons, bat knobs, nameplates, printing plates, 1/1s.  You name it, he has at least one if not multitudes of each.  He is running a contest challenging other player collectors to show off their top 10 cards.  I had a fun time going through my binders trying to figure out my 10 favorite Lankfords.

10. 1999 Finest Gold Refractor 68/100
     

I am a sucker for gold refractors.  These feature a deckle edge, although my scanner failed to show it.  I am on the look out for another copy so I can peel the film. 

9. 1998 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems 48/50

I love cards that use city landmarks in the background.  There are quite a few cards that feature the arch, but I have not seen another with the old St. Louis Courthouse.

8. 2001 Stadium Club

Horizontal cards usually feature great action shots.  This one features the brick wall at AT&T Park in San Fransisco.  I would guess from the flight of the ball this one did not leave the park, but Lankford did have great arm extension. 

7. 1995 Pinnacle Museum

I wish Topps or Panini would use the dufex technology like Pinnacle did.  These cards just jump out at you. 

6. 1998 Bowman's Best Atomic Refractor 47/100

This almost looks like a cracked ice parallel rather than an atomic refractor.  I was glad to see Topps brought back the Bowman's Best brand.

5. 1996 Select Certified Mirror Gold

Although these are not serial numbered, it is believed there were only 30 copies made.  Cards of big stars like Griffey Jr. and Jeter go for crazy high money when they surface.  Commons usually go for at least $30.

4.  1998 Score Rookie & Traded Showcase Series Artist Proofs 1/1

You do not see too many 1/1 cards with a huge stamp on the front.  When I first saw this card, I did quite a bit of research to make sure that is the way it was suppose to look.  This was my first Lankford 1/1 card.  I bought it off the Pit website (anyone remember that site) for around $25.

3.  1991 Fleer

Why do I have a junk wax era card as my #3 card?  Because it was my first ever Lankford card.  I remember buying this card on the school bus for 50 cents back in 1991.

2. 1998 Donruss Crusade Red 20/25

This card is just simply beautiful.  Enough said.

1. 1993 Finest Refractor

I was lucky enough to find this card listed as a Buy It Now for less than $15.  It is believed there are 241 copies of most cards, with some being more rare.  I have seen quite a few Lankfords listed over the years.  I have often thought about buying a second one because it looks so great in hand. 

It is the Little Extras That Mean So Much

A lot of my recent trade posts have featured cards I have received from Trading Card Database members.  The site's trade feature which matches cards to a trader's wantlist makes it very easy to find cards that both sides need.  My trading from my other sites/groups has slowed since I joined TCDB, but last week I was able to make a trade with long time partner Kevin M.  He posted some 2016 Bowman Draft cards on The Bench site that I need for my team set.

These are the last six cards I needed to finish the base paper set.  All of these guys were picked in the first 5 rounds.  Hudson, Flaherty, and Perez were all first round picks. 

The trade also included this blue parallel numbered to 150.  In exchange for these, I sent Kevin two Mets cards.  One was numbered to 50, the other to 999.  I have trade with Kevin dozens of times of the last 10 years or so.  He is also the founder of the Trading Bases group.  He never just send what he should.  He included a handful of other Cardinals set hits.

These 2016 Bowman Chrome cards are from the vending box set , I think. 

Kevin always sends an unopened pack of cards with his trades.  The Oh came out of the 2017 Opening Day pack he sent.  The other two were part of the stack of cards he included.  It means a lot to me for a trader to take time to include a few extras off of my wantlist, even if they are just base cards.  It is traders like Kevin that make our card collecting hobby feel like a big family.

A New Lankford Card!

It is not often I get to write about receiving a new Lankford card, let alone one that I traded for.  A very generous trader from TCDB worked out a trade with me a few weeks back that included quite a few Pacific brand Cardinals.  He was kind enough to include a Lankford from his personal collection.

 

 1999 Pacific Omega Platinum Blue 19/75

I cannot thank this trader enough for this card.  He knew I was a Lankford collector and said this card was just sitting around in a subset that he would never finish.  It is not a flashy auto, but it can be very difficult finding some of the low numbered Pacfic parallels from the late 1990s.  He also sent a huge stack of other Cardinals set hits.

I have shown quite a few of these 1988 Panini stickers in the last few months.  

These 3 1991 Topps Archives cards finished my team set.

The early Pacific cards were not very flashy, but the did give collectors a chance to brush up on their Spanish.  These 2 cards are from 1993.

1995 Pacific are pretty sharp.  The only down side in my book is having the year printed by the logo.

There are not too many traders out there that have 1997 Topps Chrome cards laying around.  I would love to find these in dime boxes, but I guess they are just too old.

The front of 1998 Aurora cards are just a little to busy for me.  I think it is the headshot and large position notation.

1999 Aurora is a little better.  The border is gone, but the cursive names can be a little difficult to read.  Give me block letters any day.

The base version of 1999 Omega would look great if the right side was cut off.  The player background in foil does nothing for me.  I guess it was included to help tell the difference between all the colored parallels like the Lankford.

1999 Pacific has got it down.  Full bleed photo, easy to read text, and a logo that is not too big.  

2000 Paramount cards are not that bad, but I wish they would just use the entire photo instead of the blue background.  

2000 Private Stock returned to the cursive look with a brushed background.  I have seen better, but have also seen far worse.

There was a handful of non Pacific cards in the trade package.  2000 Skybox Dominion seemed like a cheaper set.  I have overlooked the League Leaders cards when looking for Cardinals cards.  I was surprised I did not have the Drew.  

This 1999 Topps Opening Day Brian Jordan card is my favorite photo from the package.  I would guess it was taken after a McGwire home run or a walk off win. 

A Thank You Package Before I Could Send Anything

It is always nice to receive unexpected cards in the mail.  Before I went to the Indianapolis Indians game last weekend, Trading Bases member Ron sent me some Pirate cards that he hoped I could get autographed for him.  He also sent a nice stack of Cardinals along as a thank you for thinking of him.

Panini puts out a fair share of Donruss Molina cards.  Not as much airbrushing of the logos are needed for catcher cards.  2017 Donruss base cards is on the left, 2014 Donruss Diamond King on the right.

I like the 2016 Optic cards.  I know it is a knock off of Topps Chrome, put the cards have a nice look to them.  I guess I prefer my cards shiny.

It is nice to receive base cards from the higher end products like Topps Tier One.  This Ozzie is from 2016.  The card is about as thick as a game used card.

I have not heard any updates about Brock's health since it was announced he was fighting blood cancer.  The 2002 Studio Classic insert is numbered to 1000.  The 1998 Sports Illustrated card is a Classic Covers insert.

I cannot say too many good things about the 2015 Leaf Heroes of Baseball set other than I like the idea of a Musial only subset.  Leaf used a lot of classic photos of Stan the Man, but every one chopped off his cap to avoid the logo.  Leaf also purchased a large amount of Musial sticker autos that he signed during his last few years.  Stan had a beautiful signature in his early years, but the stickers are just horrible.