More Chronicles

My last few trades have brought an influx of 2023 Panini Chronicles into my collection. Until a few weeks ago, none of these cards were on my want list.  Now I have some of the subsets complete, and I am adding the missing ones to my TCDB want list.  Member stdolan1 sent 3 more to help with my team sets.

My team sets for Pinnalce, Luminance, and Vertex are now complete.  The Lou Brock is very sharp even without the logos.

I did receive some cards with logos.  The Stadium Club red foil cards go great with the Cardinals uniforms.  

Nice looking die cut insert from 2023 Stadium Club.  I really hope Arenado can find his power stroke the second half.  8 home runs in the first 96 games is a major disappointment.

Last but not least is a card of last year's #1 draft pick.  After a tough start to 2024, Davis has turned this around in the last month.  He may have a small chance to get promoted to Peoria before the end of the year.     

    

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #84

My home run derby prediction did not pan out last night.  I was really surprised to see how poorly Alonso did. It may be time for the Polar Bear to retire from the event.  I will be watching the game tonight, or at least the first few innings.  I hope there is some excitement in the game.  Skenes should be fun to watch for an inning or two.

My first trade package today came from member BumgarnerBoys.  

Chrome cards have been drying up in value boxes at the last few shows I have been to.  Nice to trade for a couple of needs.  

This is Ozzie number 782 in my collection.  I do not recall seeing this photo on a card yet.  Nice to see Topps digging into the archives for a player that is in a ton of sets.

Second trade package came from member WikkiWikkiWikki.  That username is a mouthful.

More 2023 Chrome Platinum cards to show off.  Mr. Brock always had a nice autograph compared to current players.

Gorman would be my pick of the current Cardinals to compete in a home run contest.  He can hit them a long way when he does make contact.

This 2024 blue parallel does a great job of capturing Contreras' fiery nature.  I am not a big fan of the outspoken look at me attitude of this generation.  I am more of the old fashioned type who favors shut up, play the game, and act like you have been there.  

Monday Six Pack

Happy All-Star Break, everyone.  I'm not sure I will watch the home run derby tonight, but my pick to win is Alonso.  He has been there before and knows how to pace himself.  I am more interested in the draft that is happening right now.  The Cardinals got an excellent pick at #7, drafting JJ Wetherholt.  There was talk of him being a top 2 pick before he hurt his hamstring.  

Moving ahead to today's trade recap of 6 Cardinals I received over the weekend from TCDB member PIANELLI.  He is also a member of the Trading Bases group, with whom I have traded many times.   

Not counting the variations, there are 23 Cardinals in the 2023 Topps Chrome Platinum set.  These give me 8 total.  Most are available for trade on TCDB, I just need to find a trade match.

Some collectors are not fans of brands like Just and Best, but I love adding these obscure cards of former major leaguers like Wilson and Politte.  Jack Wilson never played for the Cardinals, being traded in 2000 for reliever Jason Christiansen.  
  
      

Just Because it's Thursday

I could not think of a good title or theme for today's trade recap, so I will jump right to the point.  TCDB member SaintOrm sent me a nice variety of 7 Cardinals in a pwe that arrived over the weekend.

2000 SP Top Prospects cards do not scan very well.  The dark foil background makes it difficult to get a good picture.  At least the player names are legible.  

My 2000 Crown Royale team set is now complete, thanks to adding this short print.  I believe the rookie cards were short-printed, although they are not numbered.

I never buy the team sets that are sold at box stores.  Other than the numbering on the back, there is not much difference between the cards and the base set.  Maybe a different image or two.

Orange and red go together well on this 2021 Big League parallel.  It is nice to see DeJong having some success this year on a bad White Sox team.  His average is not great, but the power numbers have returned.  I would not be surprised to see him traded to a contender looking for a backup infielder.

  

Card Show Pickups

This past Saturday, my son and I had the chance to hit up a card show less than an hour away from home.  This is a quarterly show that we attended back in March.  We arrived about five minutes after the doors opened.  Right away we spotted a dealer with three monster boxes of quarter cards and a couple of boxes full of cards in top loaders marked 25% off.  We spent $8 at his tables.

The quarter boxes produced 3 Cardinals and 13 cards for trade bait.  Some of the other trade bait is already in the mail.  Loved finding the Tink Hence Elite Extra numbered to 999.

These Altuve cards came to $2 each.  Nice find for my son's collection.  A dealer a couple of tables over had some boxes of autos and game used for $5 each.  Found some Altuve jersey cards there also, but he did not budge on price, so we moved on.  

The next dealer had some vintage commons marked $2-5.  I pulled three 1960 Topps I need for $8.

These are in great condition.  Four sharp corners and no creases.  The team card is my favorite.  I talked to this dealer for a few minutes and found out he has a large inventory of 1950s and 1960s in good condition.  Hope he brings them to the next show in September.

The next dealer also had some vintage cards.  Not quite as many, but I did manage to find a 1962 Topps I needed.

This Minoso was marked $10, but the dealer looked it over and gave it to me for $5.  It is not as miscut as my scanner shows it to be.  Some fuzzy corners but no creases.  I would have been happy paying $10.

My last purchase came from yet another vintage dealer.  I browsed his table earlier and spotted a card I was interested in, but I wanted to finish walking the show floor before I bought it.

This 1971 Topps Bob Gibson was $20.  Once again, my scanner cut off the right edge.  It has a couple of soft corners, but overall, it is in great shape.  I am down to 2 more high number short prints to finish this team set.

We spent a total of $41 in the 2 hours we spent at the show.  Not crazy by any means, but still a nice haul of old and new.    

  

      

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #83

You know the Tuesday drill by now.  2 small trades from TCDB members.  Today is very small, as I only have 6 cards to show off.  The first 2 are from member Whoosh610.

  

2 of my favorite parallels in 1 envelope.  It was nice to see Juan Yepez back in the majors this past series, playing first base for the Nationals against the Cardinals.  He was always a nice guy when I had the chance to interact with him at minor league games.  The Freese 2013 Topps red brought my team set of 23 cards down to just needing Lance Lynn.  I may have to hit up EBAY or Sportlots since there is not a copy for trade on TCDB.

The second trade came from member drew_engquist.  This one contained 4 cards from 2023 Panini Chronicles.

I like the simple design of the Classics set with the green border, although I have seen the Smith image used on various cards.

The prospect portion contained a Vertex card and a base card.  The Cho Vertex card may get autographed next trip to Peoria.  

  

EBAY Cardinals Lot

It has been quite a long time since I bought a Cardinals lot on EBAY.  Most of my online funds have been going to Ray Lankford cards.  I had a small Paypal credit burning a hole in my pocket, so last week I found a lot for about $7.50 delivered.  It pictured about 20 cards, with 4 of them being the most interesting to me.  

I would have been happy with these cards for $7.50.  The Holgate is numbered to 99.  

I could see some 2023 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary cards in the auction scan but I was not sure which ones they were.  Did not matter as I did not have any until these arrived.  

Mojo refractors are not quite as sharp as sapphire cards, but still very nice.

A few other Topps inserts including a lunar glow from 2024 Bowman.

Some old timers were also included.  Ozzie Smith looks storage in his college uniform.

A trio of 2022 Donruss purple parallels.

The last 2 cards I needed were also the Panini variety.   The seller also included another 50 base cards and 20 inserts I already had.  Some of them are on their way to other Cardinal collectors, while a few will be used for autographs on my next trip to Peoria.  All in all a great lot.