Sportlots Order

It has been almost 3 weeks since my last post.  I took a break from almost everything card-related for a few weeks.  I checked the blogs and TCDB daily but did not work out any trades.  Having no pile of cards to scan or file away was refreshing, but I missed the excitement of checking the mail to find what new Cardinals arrived.  Last week, I worked out a handful of trades that have yet arrived.  I also placed my first Sportlots order in almost a year.

I hoped to hit up a card show last Saturday, but my son's soccer game and band competition did not allow it.  After I got home that night, I decided to surf Sportlots for a few cards.  I was lucky to find 1 dealer with a large inventory offering $4 shipping for 40 cards.  I ordered 38 Cardinals and 2 Altuve cards that arrived earlier this week.  

Most of this order consisted of cards to complete team sets released over 20 years ago.  These were the last 4 1990 Topps O-PEE-CHEE cards I needed.  I am one of those weird collectors who wants the team checklist card.

1992 and 1993 Topps Gold team sets are now complete.  

The Oliva is a 1996 Fleer Tiffany parallel.  It did not complete a set, but for 20 cents, I will gladly take it.  The other 3 cards completed team sets.  

I did finish 2 parallel sets.  1997 and 1999 Bowman International cards do not scan well.  Glad to add all of these for less than a quarter each.

I knocked out several Topps Chrome cards from my want list from 1998, 2001, and 2002.  Some of them have the typical curling, but for the most part, they are in perfect condition.  I need 2 more cards to finish 1998, 1 for 2001 ( the Pujols RC), and 7 for 2002.  

I hoped to find a few Ultra Gold Medallion parallels, but this Morris from 2002 was the only one.

Carlton finished my 2004 Upper Deck Timeless Teams set, while the Bottomley 2002 Topps Tribute card was my most expensive purchase for $0.75.  

2006 Finest and 2015 Bowman's Best sets are also done.  The 2005 Donruss Team Heroes lacks 1 more card from being complete.  

I needed 2 more cards to get to the 40 card shipping limit and was tired of searching for Cardinals, so I found a couple of Altuve cards for my son.

Including shipping, my total for the 40 cards was $14.28.  That was most likely much less than I would have spent at the show.

  

    

  
  
          

A Few of the Many From Kerry

2 weeks ago, I received a very nice package from my favorite Cardinals blogger, Kerry .  We completed a large TCDB trade involving 35 Cardinals going in each direction.  Although my stats show this was our fifth trade on the site, there have been quite a few more.  We help each other out by exchanging duplicates.  

Kerry is a great source of cards for my in-person autographing needs.  I often look at his Cardinals trade list when picking out a card to have autographed.  I always like to keep a copy unsigned for my collection.  Of the 35 cards I received, 28 of them were replacements.  Here are the 7 cards new to my collection.

This is my favorite of the bunch.  2011 Topps Cognac Diamond Anniversary parallels have a great design.  They have more of a gold finish in person instead of the bronze look my scanner gave this card.

Despite his down 2024 season, I am still an Arenado fan.  He may not be the same 35 home run, 120 RBI guy, but I think 25 and 100 would still be in reach.  

It is hard to tell from the scan, but the Lester is Metallic parallel.  This is Goldy #345 in my collection.  Not sure I will reach the 400 mark with his unsure future this offseason.  He is another guy I would not mind having back, but it would have to be at a reduced rate.  

The Panini portion of the package features a nice Wainwright Prizm and one of the many brands from 2022 Panini Chronicles.  Recon is not a bad design.  The photo choice helped to hide the lack of logos.  

  

          

Card Shop Quarters

I spent yesterday afternoon scanning the remaining cards on my desk and filing them away in my team boxes.  Every time I accomplish this feat, it is bittersweet.  I love being able to say I am all caught up, but I do not like the fact I do not have any trades coming in.  

When I was filing cards away, I realized I had a stack of cards I had forgotten about.  On September 1, my son and I had the chance to visit a new card shop.  My wife and daughter wanted to shop, so we found a shop a few miles from the mall.  The shop was well organized, with showcases organized by sport.  Vintage and modern cards were also separated.  I did not spend much time looking at those, but I did notice a stack of 5000 count boxes.  The owner informed us everything was a quarter, and they were all organized by sport.  That was music to my ears.  We spent close to an hour going through 4 of the boxes.  We pulled 20 cards, most of which were former Cardinals.

There was almost a full box of Donruss parallels.  Not very many that I needed, though.

 

There were quite a few other Panini parallels.  The Mosaic red Edman is a great looking card.

We managed to find a few needs for a small run of Topps Chrome refractors.

A few Topps parallels, including the only current Cardinal Goldschmidt.  

My favorite card was this 1997 Flair Showcase.  I found a few older premium cards from Showcase, Upper Deck Encore, and SP Legendary Cuts, but only this Young that I needed.

The $5 we spent was cheap entertainment for an hour.  We will most likely visit again, as the shop is in the same town as my daughter's college.  

 

  

Shiny Trade

Happy Friday!  Only a few games left in the season for the Cardinals.  They will be eliminated from the wild card with their next loss or a Mets win.  At this point, I prefer that they finish as badly as possible to get a better draft pick.  It does not matter if they finish third or last.  

I plan on listening to the game tonight while I file away some recent trades.  Some of the cards are from today's recap of a trade from TCDB member Sandycoach.

I am slowly plugging away at my 2024 Topps Chrome team set.  4 more to add before this set is complete.

My 2023 Platinum Anniversary team set is a lot farther behind.  I need another 10 cards for this one.

This card makes 785 Ozzie cards in my collection.  I thought I would be closer to 1,000 with as many cards as Topps and Panini put out every year.  I will have to make one of my 2025 resolutions to reach at least 850.    

         

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #91

My trading picked up last week, as I completed four trades on TCDB.  I'm not sure I will have time to scan them all this week, but I will get my customary two small ones out of the way today.  First up are a couple of cards from user JEGoethe.  He also sent a few 2019 Topps Busch Stadium cards I use for autographs, but I have already shown them off plenty of times. 

This is the last non-variation I needed for my 2023 Stadium Club team set.  Flaherty has pitched well for the Dodgers except for his last start.  It will be interesting to see where he signs this winter.

This card shows what a crazy team collector I am.  I am not a big fan of mini cards, and I am even a lesser fan of Heyward.  After being traded, he only spent one season in St. Louis, then left in free agency to sign with the Cubs.  No explanation needed.

The second trade came from member williams3b.

The 1993 Stadium Club Murphy set consists of draft picks and players who made the 1992 All-Star Game. Despite a third-place finish that year, the Cardinals sent four players to the All-Star Game: the three players pictured in the top row along with Ozzie Smith.

That is an extreme close-up of Luis Ordaz on his 1997 Bowman International parallel.  This is another parallel set that I will struggle to finish, just like Topps Gold and Ultra Gold Medallion.    
    

      

2 EBAY Pickups including 15th New Lankford of 2024

Last week was a big EBAY week for me, but not in terms of items bought, as I only made two purchases.  I bought 2 cards, one being a Topps Now card from a game I attended earlier this year, the second a new Ray Lankford card.

I will be the first to admit I am not a Topps Now fan. It seems like another money grab. If they are cheap, I will buy one from the games I attended.  Goldschmidt hit a walk-off home run on July 28 this year.  For less than $5, I thought this was a good buy.  

My newest Lankford card is another autograph from 2023 Panini Flawless.  This is my fourth version of this card.  I still need two more, one numbered to 5 and the 1 of 1.  It was ironic this card was delivered on Saturday, as the back of the card celebrates Lankford hitting for the cycle on September 15, 1991.    
      
  

Topps Hobby Rip Night

Starting yesterday, my next five Saturdays will consist of driving my son back and forth between soccer and band competitions.  It is amazing there are no time conflicts yet, but we still do not know the schedule for the last weekend.  Yesterday the two locations were two hours apart.  After winning his game 5-0 in the morning, we made the drive north.  He arrived 1.5 hours before the band performed, so my wife and I had time to drive another 20 minutes to a card shop.

We had been to this shop back in August  on National Trading Card Day.  This time it was Topps Hobby Rip Night.  This day also involved customers receiving a free pack of cards.  My wife opened hers first and did pretty well.

Always nice to pull a Pujols card I do not have.  The Holliday is a red or orange parallel.  Not sure the odds on pulling one, but it is a nice color match.

My pack was not as good, but still some nice cards.

The Jeter already has a home, while the Will should not be very hard to trade.  Everything in the shop was 10% off.  I passed on all the wax packs and dug through 2 $1 boxes to find 4 cards.

I have the Goldschmidt card, but I was not going to pass up a photo variation for less than $1.  I did need the Crooks sapphire card.

There was a small stack of 2024 Chrome refractors.  I pulled the Williams for another trader on TCDB, while the Butler was an impulse buy.  The A's are not doing well, but Butler is quietly having a good season.  The raywave cards look cool in person.