TCDB 2 for Tuesday #156

Since last week's post, we have seen the baseball playoffs move to the second round.  Once the Cubs lost, I really do not care who wins the Series this year.  It would be nice to see a team like the Rays win.  By this time next week, we will have a clearer picture.  On to the cards.   Today's first package came from member charles hamilton.  

Donruss Elite was one of my favorite brands back in the early 2000s.  The Panini version is not quite as sharp for obvious reasons, but I have seen worse.

I will gladly take any  Rainiel Rodriguez card.  This is an orange parallel.  He is the Cardinals #1 prospect , and should be in all national top 20 lists by the time the season starts next year ( I hope it starts anyway.).

The second trade came from member bplay24.

Topps added a Baseball Seams refractor to the Chrome rainbow this year.  I admit it looks better than the Xfractor.

I was almost shocked to see a new image on this 2026 Chrome insert.  Nice to see Topps does not save them all for Stadium Club.

It is rare for me to show off a card that is not a Cardinal or Altuve, but this Trout card looks so great.  The red and blue border really matches well with his uniform.  I doubt I have this card for long, as I have three trade offers for it already.

  

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #155

I found myself extremely bored last night due to the lack of baseball.  I cannot stand the Bears or Eagles, so Monday Night Football was not an option.  I believe my wife was watching women's college volleyball when I decided to leave the room and scan cards for today's post.  At least there will be playoff baseball to watch later today.  My first trade came from member stdolan1.

Normally I am not a big fan of trades consisting of less than 4 cards, but when the other member goes to the trouble of proposing the trade, I will make an exception.  When both of these cards look great, it was hard to so no to the deal.

The second trade came from member bdhrbob.  

My 2026 Donruss team set is now complete with the additional of the Doyle card.  Rodriguez will have a very good chance of being a top 10 prospect in all of baseball next year.  Check out his stats as a 19 year old in Double A this season.

These Optic Blue Velocity parallels look great in hand.  The blue and red really stand out with the glossy finish.  I bet Cubs fans love the color match.

My favorite cards of the trade was this Scott Red White and Blue refractor.  I hate to say it, but I think he has played his last game as a Cardinals.  Marmol did not use him very much after he was recalled when the rosters expanded.  Even this last week after the Cardinals were eliminated, he did not play very much.  I admit he cannot hit right now, but maybe he can turn things around like Jordan Walker.  Not to the same extent, but if he could hit just .250, his speed and defense would be well worth a roster spot as a 4th outfielder.

  
    

Trading with My #1

One of my favorite features on TCDB is the stats tab in your transaction history.  You can see how many trades you have completed in any given month, how many cards you have traded, and who you have traded with.  I have a group of members who I trade with often.  My #1 most frequent partner is member timriess.  He is a fellow Cardinals fan who I often exchange duplicates with.  Last week we completed our 22nd trade on the site.  

  
Starting off with some base set needs including a couple of nice 2024 Bowman's Best.

A trio of Chrome base cards from different brands.

A couple of nice cards from 2024 Topps Black & White.  Always nice to get cards from the online sets.

Some miscellaneous cards including a Musial Topps Marque, a Walker Cracker Jack sp, a numbered 2002 Upper Deck Rookie Update, and a 1987 Topps Traded Tiffany.

A pair of Bowman Top 100 prospects.  Bernal from 2026, Wetherholt from 2025.  I like the 2025 design better.  I do not like cards with dark and busy backgrounds.

Last but not least are a couple of Jordan Walker cards.  I really hopes he hits home run #30 in today's last game of the season.  Despite a terrible month of September, he has had a great season.  Normally he would be a lock for a long term deal, but with the looming lockout who know what will happen. 

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #154

It has been almost a month in between my Tuesday posts.  Some of that is my lack of trading, but some is also the continuing decline of the post office.  I have a couple of trades that I have been waiting over three weeks for the cards to arrive.  So far this year I have not had any trades go missing, but sooner or later it will happen.  Today's first trade from member ILLRIMESAYA only took four days to arrive.

Did Topps need to produce a set with an All Star Game background?  No, but they knew collectors like me would buy/trade for them.

Even Allen & Ginter is getting away from the traditional base cards and minis.  Now we get silver portrait and chrome parallels.  

Neither of these JD Drew cards scanned the greatest, but they are very cool.  The 2000 Ultra Crunch Time insert has a fuzzy feel to it.  Older inserts like this of Griffey Jr., Ripken, Gwynn, etc. are becoming very popular.  The 2002 Donruss Production Line insert is numbered to 1027, but only has a print run of 927.  Not sure what is behind that logic.

The second trade came from member Mrwhite1978.  

2026 Topps Holiday went on presale yesterday.  Hard to believe that time of year is getting closer.  My 2025 base set is complete, but I need a lot of the parallels.

These are my first 2026 Topps Chrome cards besides a Wetherholt base card I won on EBAY.

Speaking of Wetherholt, here is a nice refractor.  His chance of winning Rookie of the Year are very slim following his injury.  Sal Stewart should have it wrapped up.

And finally one more 2026 Chrome card.  The Perspectives inserts are very sharp.  Hard to go wrong with a Pujols card.  

Saturday at the Cardinals Museum

I have been a member of the Cardinals Museum since 2019.  Besides being able to visit anytime I want, there are other benefits.  Every year there are 2 exclusive bobbleheads that are very well made.  Members also receive a discount at the Cardinals Authentics store and a restaurant in Ballpark Village.  The Museum also holds autograph signings with former players on select Saturdays, along with a question and answer session about an artifact from the player's career the Friday evening before.  I have blogged about some of them in the past.    

Living over two hours away I do not attend as many Museum events as I would like. This year in fact I did not make it to any except for this past Saturday.  The last Museum event is always member appreciation day.  I have attended this day once since I have been a member.  It always seemed like one of my children had a high school band competition the day it was held since then.  Now that both of them have graduated, I should hopefully not miss this day again.  

Saturday's event starting at 1:00 with a short recap of the year followed by some trivia.  Light snacks were served during the presentation.  At the end 20 random numbers were drawn for door prizes to be given out after the autograph signing.  I was lucky enough to have my number chosen.  My wife was close, but with over 120 people in attendance I was not expecting either one of us to win.  

Brian Jordan was the autograph guest.  I have met him twice before, but am always happy to get a free autograph or two.  Museum member and their guests each received two autograph tickets.  My wife handled these two cards while I got something else signed.

I forgot I had a copy of this old scorecard.  I should be able to get Lankford and Gaetti to sign it without much trouble.  Ron Gant may be a challenge.

Before leaving the Museum , we each received a Whitey Herzog bobblehead.  I already have one, so these will either be sold or traded.  

Our last stop was claiming my door prize.  The prizes were various autographed items from former players who signed at the Museum this season.  I did not get to pick, the item was given out according to your number.

How ironic is it that a Ray Lankford super fan received a ball autographed by the player he was traded for.  Even though Woody Williams had 3 good seasons with the Cardinals including being an All Star in 2003, I had a hard time rooting for him for obvious reasons.  The Padres could have traded Tony Gwynn to the Cardinals in 2001 and I still would have been mad.  This ball will be a neat conversation piece in my Lankford display case.

Overall it was a great experience at the Museum.  We found some $10 tickets for the game that night.  The stadium giveaway was a nice hooded sweatshirt.  The game itself was not so great.  Besides being the hottest temperature at first pitch all year, the Cardinals lost in 11 innings in a game that lasted almost four hours.  They had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the 9th.  Bases loaded with the winning run on third and one out.  Jordan Walker struck out and Leo Bernal grounded out.  The teams traded runs in the 10th, but the Nationals scored four in the top of the 11th.  We left before the Cardinals came to bat.  They put up a come back but fell short again.  Down 8-5 with the bases loaded and one out, Walker struck out again and Bernal popped out.    

2026 American Cancer Society Day at Busch

On Sunday my wife, son, and I attended the annual American Cancer Society Day at Busch Stadium.  This is our fifth consecutive year and sixth overall attending this event.  The format has remained the same.  The day features autographs from current and former players, pictures with the 2006 and 2011 World Series trophies, tours of the home dugout, and a chance to walk the warning track.  We stick to the autograph lines, as we have done the other activities multiple times.  There were six current and five former players signing at five different locations throughout the lower level of the stadium.  Current players signed for one hour, while the former players signed for one hour and fifteen minutes. 

Quinn Mathews was our first stop.  The current players are usually rookies or players with less than three years of experience.  

Our next stop was Nathan Church and Anthony Reyes.  Church signed at the event last year, but did not have any MLB cards yet.  This was our first time getting Reyes.  He was in town for a reunion of the 2006 World Series championship team.  He beat Justin Verlander in Game 1 of that series.

Graceffo also signed last year.  Thompson has signed at a lot of events since his retirement.  

Our final autograph was Gary Bennett.  He was also a member of the 2006 team.  He was wearing his World Series ring that was huge.  

The Cardinals beat the White Sox 3-1 in a game that took a little over two hours.  During the game, I met up with another Cardinals collector from a Facebook group and traded for this sweet bobblehead.

I love dual bobbleheads.  This one was given out in 2022, but I never found one that was in good shape.  For some reason the two I previously bought had an arm or two broken off.  I was able to return those.    Overall is was a great day.  It was nice to spend a day with our son for the first time since he went to college.    

Vintage EBAY Win

Well the first game of the battle of the birds did not go well.  The Cardinals lost 13-1 to the Orioles. For the second time in three games catcher Pedro Pages pitched the last inning.  It looks to be a long final month of the season.  I did not have many cards to keep my mind off the game, as the only incoming mail was a couple of cards from an EBAY purchase.

These 1962 Topps cards in about as close to mint as you can get.  I was thrilled to get these for less than $10 delivered.  Both of these are from Series 7, making them short prints.