2 Smalls

The packages have been flowing in this week, but I have not found the time to write about them.  Work has been crazy for me, leaving me with little energy in the evenings.  Plus I am still adjusting to this time change.  I hate driving home from work in the dark.  Makes me want to eat dinner and just lay on the couch.  Tonight I am feeling a little refreshed with a the outlook of a nice weekend ahead, so I will show off a 2 small pwes that arrived this week.

Trading Bases member Peter P sent me the last card I needed for the 2007 Topps Red Back team set.  I should have scanned the back, but the front looks so much better.

TCDB member Speks sent me 3 Cardinals.  The only base card was this 2019 Leather & Lumber base card.  It is a long way off, but I am guessing 2021 will be Carp's last season in St. Louis unless he has a monster season.  I doubt he gets the icon treatment that Molina and Wainwright will get even though he has only been a Cardinal.

I also received 2 Stadium Club inserts.  I like the graphic on the 2020 Flaherty, but the background not so much.  The red foil Valera is a great shot from 2018.  I am a sucker for photos with the ball in it.

A Big One

I love the pwe style trades.  They are quick, easy, and save on postage.  I also enjoy getting a big chunk of needs all at once.  Last week I worked out a trade with TCDB member tenlbpain for 25 different Cardinals.  That is one of my largest trades in a long time.  It was full of a variety of great Cardinals.

My 1992 Panini Stickers set is now complete with these 2 glitter filled stickers.  If you stare at them long enough you will get a headache.

Unless you are a die hard Cardinals fan from the early 1990s, you will not recognize any of these guys except maybe Arocha.  These cards are from the 1992 Skybox AAA set.  

Big Lee Smith completed my 1993 Classic Game set, while the Copper 1995 Ultra leaves me needing just the checklist card.  My second Maclin card of the package is from the beautiful 1994 Pinnacle Museum parallel set.  Maybe next year these can be part of the Chronicles set.

2000 Topps Tek used some different elements to distinguish the cards besides the background patterns. The card on the left includes Ankiel's birthday, while the card on the right has his home tow of Fort Pierce, Florida.  My family stayed in Fort Pierce during our first trip to spring training in 2016.

I would hate to count how many base cards I have from Fleer brands in the early 2000s.  Without looking I guarantee it is in the thousands.  Despite that number, I still need quite a few.

For the next few months any Brock card will get its on picture.  RIP Cardinals legend.

2009 Bowman Chrome is now finished.  We all know how good Wainwright has been, but Ludwick was sneaky good for a couple of years.  He was an All Star and Silver Slugger in 2008.

I did not know this Freese card existed before this trade.  This card was a bonus in the 2009 Factory set.

Another Chrome set is finished with this Yadi from 2014.  Wish I could say the same for 2014 Stadium Club, but I still need 2 more.

I love the Triumverate inserts from Stadium Club.  Buster Posey and Joe Mauer complete this catcher's set from 2014.

I will finish off the post with some 2018 Stadium Club Red parallels.  As always greats photos.

 

  

Cards and a Quote

Most of the time when I receive a trade package, there is a note included saying who the cards were from and what internet site they belong to.  It makes tracking trades so much easier.  Every now and then someone will write something extra.  TCDB member bluerox81 was one of those members.  He sent a pwe with four cards an a nice quote I have never heard before.

Just 2 Cardinals in this one, but both completed team sets.  2013 Heritage Minors and 2001 Upper Deck Victory sets are now done.  

My son added 2 2020 Altuve base cards to his collection.  He loved the action shot on the Stadium Club card.  

This post it note was also included.  I love the fact he went to the trouble to find a quote from a famous Cardinal.  Wise words to live by if you are a ball player.

Birthday Trade

Last week I celebrated a birthday.  I am north of 40, but not quite to the half century mark yet.  I will let you do the math to figure out my exact age.  As is my custom most days, one of my first stops in my morning internet surfing is TCDB.  One the front page about halfway down is an area for athletes with birthdays.  If you following the link, you will also find member's birthdays.  I did not know any of the members except one, rmitchell6700.  He is better known to most of you as Robert, the keeper of $30 a Week Habit.  Since we share the same birthday, I thought it was only fitting we should strike up a trade.  My end arrived on Halloween.  Instead of candy, I got to open a sweet package of Cardinals.

I do not trade for many Pujols cards anymore.  I still need thousands of them, but most on my wantlist are his high dollar rookie cards.  Maybe I will make it a goal over the winter to add more of his cards.  It is hard to tell from the scan, but the Piscotty is a foil parallel from 2017.  Love the close up of the grass being kicked up.

Robert had an extra 2019 GQ green parallel from his set build that I needed for my team set.  He also included a lime green and holo red card. Panini has some weird colors in its rainbow.

Upper Deck and Fleer included a ton of numbered rookie cards in their sets in the early 2000s.  If you blink, you may miss the serial number in the lower left corner of this 2002 UD Diamond Connection card.  I know I did the first time.

 

Finishing out the package was a nice two sided 2019 Diamond Kings insert of Altuve for my son's collection.  Craig Biggio is pictured on the other side.  My son claimed this one pretty quick before I scanned the other side.

Rocks for Cards

It was a welcome site this morning to finally see the sun.  For the past three days it has been raining off and on with overcast skies.  If the weatherman is right, next week should be nice also.  I plan to spend my evenings staying caught up in my card room.  It will be dark by 5:00 soon with the time change coming this weekend.  I will have a few Cardinals to put away from a trade package that arrived yesterday from TCDB member Gapporin.  I sent a stack of Rockies and Cardinals extras his way.

Most of my recent trades have been for new cards.  It was nice to know a few base cards off from older sets.  The Polanco is short print from 1998 Leaf Rookies & Stars.

These are the last 2 McGwires I needed from the 1999 McDonald's Milestones set.  They look much better in person.  

I miss Pacific, but not the countless parallels that were hard to identify.  The Ankiel is a Ruby parallel from 2000 Pacific.  Pags is a gold signature from 1995 Collector's Choice.  

I would not be shocked to see Bader become a former Cardinal just like Pham.  I was floored to see the Cardinals decline Kolten Wong's $12 million option for 2021.  Management said the lost revenue due to the virus and the uncertainty of next year played a big factor.  I would bet there will be quite a few other big names around the league who will suffer the same fate.  

    

EBAY Auto

 Not much to show off today.  Yesterday's mail brought my most recent EBAY win.  

This one set me back about $4.  Shortly after 2020 Topps Chrome came out, I was trying to win Ravelo and Arozarena autos from the same seller to save on shipping.  I recall losing numerous auctions that ended around $10-$15.   If I only knew then what I know now.  The Arozarena cards are selling for $100 plus.  

Keeping Up to Date

I have told myself that I will do a better job of scanning and filing away trades than I did a few months ago.  At one time there must have been a stack of over 200 Cardinals waiting to be put away.  With less daylight and no practices/games to run my kids to, I should have enough spare time each day to stay on top of things.  So far I am doing a good job.  Yesterday a package arrived from TCDB member alan nyc.  All cards have been scanned and should be filed away tonight.

I will always think of October as David Freese month.  I think any Cardinals fan who watched the 2011 World Series will agree with me.  Speaking of the Series, congrats to the Dodgers.  It was great to see a good guy like Kershaw finally get a ring.

This photo may have been from the World Series or some other playoff game.  Yadi is a free agent now.  He is looking for a 2 year contract.  I would bet the Cardinals give that to him, but I hope it is for far less money than his last contract.  It would be great if he goes the Wainwright route and signs a contract for a low base salary with a lot of incentives.

I love the Red Hot Foil cards from 2014.  Only 3 more to track down to complete the 21 card team set.  The Power Players set is not quite as big with only 12 cards.  I need 1 more to finish it.  I have never been a fan of contest cards like Power Players.  The Home Run Challenge cards are ok, but other than that I am not a big fan.

  

I have not added all the Rainbow Foil parallels to my wantlist yet.  I don't like these as well as the Gold parallels, but a Cardinal is a Cardinal.  Glad to knock off quite a few in one trade.