Some Color, Some Macs, Some Refracs from TCDB

My incoming trades are slowing down some, but everything is still arriving.  With not much going on in the evenings, I should be doing a trade or two a day.  Instead it has been 2 or 3 a week.  That just makes things more sweeter when a trade does arrive like Monday when a package from TCDB member abide was waiting in mailbox.  He included a nice variety of Cardinals for various team sets.

Bowman Foil cards do not scan well.  These 2 are from the 1996 set.  I will have to add more of these parallel sets to my wantlist.

These 1997 Pacific Prisms Gems of the Diamond could pass for Topps Gold cards.  There are 8 Cardinals in the set.  Other than Ozzie Smith, there are no big names.  No Lankford, Gant, Jordan or McGee.  Instead Pacific use Mejia, Fossas, Barber, and Bell.  

Abide is also a McGwire collector, so we were able to exchange some duplicates.  I now have 10 of the 15 cards from the 1999 Ovation Remarkable Moments set.  There are 7 McGwire cards in the 1998 Upper Deck Prime Nine set, but only 2 are Cardinals cards.  I now have both of them.

I did finish the 2005 Topps Update Chrome set with these 2 cards.  On to the refractor set next.

I still think 2012 Topps Gold cards look more like bronze borders.  They just look too dull to be gold.  There is no mistaken the Blue Border from Walmart.  I am glad Topps has gotten away from given every retailer a different colored parallel.  One is hard enough to track down, let alone 3 or 4.

I love refractors, even the less exciting ones like regular and sepia.  Topps does a good job of using photos of players in retro uniforms like on the Holliday card that shows the pullover 1980s style uniform.  Reyes looks a lot different now than he did on the 2018 card.  He has lost a ton of weight and now wears #29.  I still hold out hope he will be a starter next year, but will be thrilled if he stays healthy and contributes in any way.  He debuted in 2016, but only has appeared in 32 career games due to injuries and Covid.  

  

Cardinals 3 Card EBAY Lot

I took a break from hunting for Cardinals Clearly Authentic autos on EBAY to search for some Cardinals lots last week.  I was not looking for anything in particular, just wanted to find a good deal.  I happened to find a 3 card lot that had a very poor title.  No mention of the players in it.  It amazes me how some sellers will not do a simple quick search of similar items to make sure they get the most out of their cards.

I still like jersey/bat cards even though most were never used in a game.  These 2 are both from 2020 Ginter.

The main card for me was this 2020 Gold Label Kim autograph.  These cards are very heavy and look awesome in person.  Completed auctions for this card are going north of $25.  I paid just shy of $15 for all 3 cards.  That is a win in my book.

  

PWE From TCDB

Happy Monday everyone.  Hope you had a pleasant weekend.  I did not do anything too exciting.  The wife and I managed to start wrapping some presents for our kids.  Other than that, it was pretty quiet.  That left plenty of time for me to sort a few cards and open a nice pwe from TCDB member irish77.

You can never go wrong with a Stan Musial card, even if it is a mini.  It pains me to say it, but I plan to add all the A&G minis to my want list in the next few weeks.  Not sure if I will add all the back variations, but I may get bored and do them too.  

It is amazing I still need some base cards from the early 2000s.  All of these 3 are from 2003 Fleer sets.  The Tino finished my Platinum team set, while I still need a JD Drew card from Double Header.

I had to double check my son's Altuve list to make sure he did not have the 2020 Topps card.  Not sure how I never traded for that one yet, but now it and the 2020 Update card are safely in his binder.  

  

A PWE Full of Stickers

I am pretty sure my first exposure to baseball stickers was the 1988 Red Foley book.  My mom won a contest from the local radio station for a group of books, and this was in it.  I remember spending an entire day putting all the stickers in the correct spot.  I am pretty sure I still have it somewhere in my collection.  Sometime in the near future I will have to dig it out and write a more in depth post about it.  In the meantime, you can enjoy the stickers I received in a pwe from TCDB member distirbed1 last week.

Topps cranked out a ton of stickers in the 1980s.  A lot of them featured dual players.  Who would not love the 1985 Neil Allen rocking the warm up jacket with the baby blue uniform.  The other 3 are from the 1990 set.  That one has a ton of variations to it.  The sticker fronts are the same, but the player on the back is different.  

The red border on these 1989 Panini stickers go really well with the Cardinals uniform.  There are 18 Cardinals in this team set including stadium, logo, and script card.  About the only thing missing is the manager.

Unlike previous years, the 1994 Panini set is almost standard sized.  The green border is not bad, but I still prefer the red like on the 1987 Fleer McGee card.  It was the only non sticker in the trade.  Kind of a weird color schem with red and purple borders to go along with blue and white text.  Leave out the purple and it would be pretty sharp.  

  

2 EBAY Autos

 My EBAY kick continues today with 2 more autos that I purchased last week.  Both arrived at my doorstep yesterday.  

This is the last 2020 Archives Cardinals auto I needed.  I bought the Todd Worrell and Tom Pagnozzi cards earlier this year.  I was hoping to find Felix for around $5 since he was not a bigger name, but ended up paying close to $7.  Still not a bad deal.

I think I am developing an addiction to Topps Clearly Authentic.  Tommy makes my third one in the last few weeks.  The 1985 design just adds to the eye appeal.  This one was a little less than a blaster.  

4 Big Macs

I have never eaten a Big Mac in my life.  Lettuce, pickels, and mayo are a few things I cannot stand.  I can stand cards of Big Mac, aka Mark McGwire.  TCDB member travis_january is a McGwire collector who had a few duplicates he sent my way in exchange for some of the same.

I opened quite a few packs of 1998 Ultra, but cannot remember seeing any Notables inserts.  Now I have one.  The 1998 Leaf is a short print that leaves me one card short of the team set.  Of course it is also a short print.  

The 1999 SPx card did not scan well at all.  It looks like a bird did its business on the right side, but I assure you the card is clean.  The 1999 Pacific base card completed my team set.  Travis sent a message after he mailed my end saying the SPx card had a slight ding in the upper left corner.  If you look closely you might see it, but even in hand it is hard to notice.  He included a 5th card because of the ding.

Not very often do I receive a 1962 card in excellent condition as a throw in.  This card is in great shape for being almost 60 years old.  I have a handful of other 1962 Cardinals, but this one is by far in the best condition.  

Clearly This is a Great Auto

 A few weeks ago I won an EBAY auction for my first Topps Clearly Authentic auto .  I was very impressed with how great the card looked once it was broken out of the one touch holder.  So impressed that Cardinals Clearly Authentic autos have become one of my daily searches.  Last week I found a nice deal on another 2020 card.

This is my 4th Flaherty auto, and maybe my favorite.  I love the 1985 design.  This card set me back less than the price of a blaster of Topps Update.  I say Update because that is the only brand I can find at my local Wal-Mart.  All other blasters I see are marked up to crazy prices online.