Friday, February 14, 2025

3rd New Lankford of 2025

Things have been slow on the Ray Lankford card front this year.  I have most of his Panini cards released in the last 2 years, other than a few of them numbered to five or less.  My daily EBAY search has not produced any new cards, so I have added a few different searches in hopes of getting a match.  Last week, I found a card I needed for less than $3 delivered.

    


I will add buyback cards like this one from 2017 Bowman when they are cheap.  I did find 1991 Topps buyback, but I am not paying close to $20 for it.  I had seen this card listed on TCDB before but never got around to searching for it.  It now sits in my binder next to the other four Bowman buybacks.  

Thursday, February 13, 2025

2024 Hits

Yesterday was the official release day for 2025 Topps.  I did not bother checking my local Walmart to see if any blaster boxes arrived.  I have weaned myself off of opening packs.  I occasionally miss the thrill, but the value is not there for a budget-minded collector like myself.  I will wait a few weeks until the inflated prices go down, then work out a trade or hit up value boxes at shows to find the Cardinals I need.  Until then, I still have plenty of 2024 cards to chase after.  TCDB member Trouttrader sent a nice package full of team set needs.


My 2024 Archives team set is complete, minus the four variations.  I do not consider those part of the set.  


This is my first 2024 Finest card.  Plenty of work left to do on this set.  I am not a big fan of the design.  It is too dark and has too much going on.  


I have always been a fan of Topps Holiday.  It is a simple set that offers some nice elements like the Metallic Snowflake parallels and affordable photo variations.


Like the Christmas lights necklace on Winn's card.  This one did complete my team set.  The New Breed insert is a nice salute to 1999.  That was back when I was opening a few boxes of cards every year.  Getting married and having kids put a stop to that pretty quickly.    



    

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Card Show Recap

Saturday was the second consecutive week I attended a card show.  The first one I did recap.  I was only there for about 45 minutes and found only some trade bait in dime boxes.  Some nice cards, but you come here to see Cardinals.  For the second show, my son and I spent nearly two hours walking the aisles of a 200-table floor.  If the show had been arranged better, we could have seen everything of interest in half the time.  We had no interest in the nearly 35-40 tables of Pokemon cards.  It would be great if they had their own area.  

We spent $19 at the show with three different dealers.  There were not a lot of value boxes to be found for less than $2.  Some of the ones we saw were a mix of sports, which we did not waste our time on.  It amazes me that dealers can not take the time to sort their cards by sport.



These were from the first dealer who had dime boxes.  We spent $2 there, most of which was for trade bait.  A majority of those cards are already off to other collectors.  His box was full of 2024 cards, inserts and base.    


We spent another $2 at the second dealer's dime boxes.  His boxes were full of 1990s and early 2000s cards.  This 2004 Topps Total Pujols insert is the only keeper.  The other cards I pulled were of Griffey Jr, Ripken Jr,  and other Hall of Famers.  


My big purchase of the day was this 1961 Topps Bob Gibson for $15.  It has a couple of fuzzy corners but is in great shape otherwise. 

I saw several vintage Cardinals I needed at another dealer's table, but they were in screwdown holders without prices.  I am not one to really negotiate.  I prefer to see a starting price on cards I am interested in.   

  

          

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #107

Now that the Super Bowl is over, it is baseball season. The Cardinals first day of spring training is tomorrow, when pitchers and catchers are due to report to Jupiter, Florida.  A lot of other players are already in camp getting early work done.  It will be interesting to see what happens between now and Monday when everyone is expected to be in camp.  Will Nolan Arenado be there, will he be traded, or will he be at home waiting things out?  Time will tell.

Until games get in full swing, I will have plenty of cardboard to keep me busy.  First trade today came from member smitha1.


A few years ago this 2021 Finest Carlson rookie card would have been hard to trade for.  Now, it can be bought for cheap on most online sites.   


Two more shiny cards to mark off my wantlist.  I was not a fan of short prints in Finest.  Topps should leave that to just the Heritage set.

The second trade package came from member dcoulmanjr.


1979 Hostess cards are hard to find in nice shape.  This one is not bad, just cut a little close.


I did not know there was a 1980 Topps Burger King set until this trade.  These came in 4 card packs with the purchase of a large fries.  I would be eating a lot of fries if they still had that deal today.


The non food part of the trade are these 1984 Milton Bradley cards.  These were included in the Championship Baseball game.  


  


    

Monday, February 10, 2025

Not My Usual Pirates for Cardinals Trade

Most of my Pirates for trade go to my good friend and TCDB member Ronsolo1. We have exchanged hundreds of cards over the last ten plus years. I send him Pirates for himself and Yankees for his son, while he sends Cardinals for me and Altuve cards for my son.  Sometimes, I pick up cards he does not need, which leads to an overflow of Pirates in my trade box.  Lucky for me TCDB member pezNpirates is also a Pirate collector with plenty of Cardinals to trade.  Last week, we worked out a nice trade with over 20 cards going in each direction.


I have received a big chunk of minis recently.  This lot added a nice variety: a gold border, an X parallel, and 2 A&G backs.


The regular-sized A&G cards are all from the 2023 X set.  


I added two short prints to my collection.  Who does not like a candy cane belt variation from Topps Holiday?


I am pulling for Carlson to have a good year in Baltimore.  I am glad he ended up with a young team in the American League.  


There is nothing flashy about these 1989 Star cards.  That is fine with me.  I enjoy getting cards from Cardinals affiliates that no longer have teams.



The last 3 cards include a nice lava parallel from 2022 Absolute of Stan Musial.  Nice job by Panini of using a photo that did not require airbrushing.  

 




        

Thursday, February 6, 2025

First to 20

Most of my frequent trade partners are fellow Cardinals collectors.  It is an excellent way for both parties to reduce duplicates while getting back something you need.  A win-win situation for both sides.  Last week, I completed my 20th trade with TCDB member timriess.  We completed our first trade in November of 2020, and have been going strong ever since.  This lot featured a great mix of cards.


The oldest cards were 3 1982 TCMA cards and a 1976 SSPC.  Although Medwick appears in a Dodger uniform, the back lists him as a Cardinal.  That is what I am going with.


I am slowly getting both versions of 1996 Flair.  Look closely; you will see Pagnozzi in silver text and Mabry in gold text.  


2001 Bowman Chrome is a team set I will not complete.  The Pujols autographed rookie card is too pricey for my budget.  


 A few other Bowman cards, including two 2022 Draft 1t Editions, a 2023 Bowman Chrome, and a 2019 Bowman Heritage.  I had to double-check the back of Mejia's card to make sure he was a switch hitter.  You never know when Topps may try to pull a fast one.


Ozzie Smith is one of timriess's main player collections, so he usually has some duplicates I need.  Ozzie is my fourth most collected player behind Lankford, Pujols, and McGwire.   


This last scan is a hodge podge of cards I did not want to scan separately.  I share the same view as other collectors who miss the Pacific brand.  Some of the base card designs were way ahead of their time.  
 
  
  

 

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #106

I do not have many cards to show off today from the two trades.  Both are less than six cards, but very much appreciated.  First package came from member Sharpie0226.


I love the mix of young and old players in Archives.  1994 is my favorite of the three designs.

The second package came from member TimR.


These are my first 2024 Panini Prizm cards.  They look about the same as the last few years other than the background.


This card leaves me one short of completing the 23 card team set from 1998 Topps Chrome.  I will most likely find it on Sportlots.    


    

Monday, February 3, 2025

Letting the Other Guy do the Work

I love it when other traders take the time to look at my want list and offer a trade on TCDB.  I propose 90% of my trades, so having someone else take the lead is nice.  TCDB member Balzer sent me an offer last week that arrived over the weekend.


Hats off to this member for sending cards that I needed that were not on my want list.  He took the time to check my have list to see if I needed these Bowman Heritage cards.  I greatly appreciate the extra effort.


These are my first cards from 2024 Topps Archives.  I wish I had this Victor Scott card at the Cardinals Caravan a couple of weeks ago.  It would look great autographed.  


The second Scott of the package is from 2024 Stadium Club.  This is the Chrome parallel, not to be confused with the Stadium Club Chrome set.  Very confusing.  Always nice to add a Musial to the collection.  I am almost to the 400 milestone.


Maysn Winn is being hyped as the next face of the franchise.  Tall order for someone who was a rookie last year.  He has a great attitude, but I am not sure he will be the big time All Star everyone is hoping for.  Solid player yes, outstanding not sure.  The blue metallic parallel from 2024 Topps Holiday is a great looking card.  



  


   

Monday, January 27, 2025

Largest Trade in a Long Time

Over the years, I have shown off many cards from Trading Bases member Ron B on my blog.  We exchange cards three or four times yearly, with Pirates headed his way and Cardinals and Altuve cards coming my direction.  Last year, he took the plunge and joined TCDB with an id of Ronsolo1.  He was very busy with almost 400 trades in his first year.  I highly recommend trading with Ron, as he is easy to deal with and is a great spot to send all those unwanted Pirates cards other than Paul Skenes.

Ron and I have been accumulating cards for each other for a couple of months.  Last week, we decided it was time to ship them out.  My end included over 50 cards, making it my largest trade package in quite a while.



My son gained 10 new Altuve cards for his push to 800.  A nice variety of colors, shiny, and a Topps Heritage cloth parallel.


These were the only two base cards out of the 50 different Cardinals I received.  Mize left me one card short of finishing the 2023 Topps Chrome Platinum teat set.  That set should get done soon.  The 1959 Topps set will not.  Bob Gibson's rookie card is a little pricey.  I will keep adding cheap cards like Cunningham.


There was a nice mix of 2024 parallels from Chrome and flagship.  The Liberatore team border parallel was my favorite.  The Contreras red foil is also pretty sharp.


A handful of other 2024 cards.  


2023 cards were mainly of the Panini variety.  The Walker orange flash prizm is a great looking card.


Back to all Topps brands for 2022.  The A&G cards are the silver portrait parallels.


The second orange parallel of the package is from 2022 Mosaic.  This one is reactive orange.  The second Carlson card is my second relic of his.  He is still a free agent.  I hope he signs with an American League team and has a rebound season.


A couple from 2022 and a nice dual from 2023 Topps Update.  How can you go wrong with a card featuring Musial and Pujols?


4 from 2021 and 1 Heritage Chrome from 2020.  The DeJong is a Father's Day parallel numbered to 50.  The Ozzie is a 2021 Topps 1951 Blake Jamieson mini.



I will finish things up with cards from the last decade.  Of course the 2011 black border Pujols is my favorite.  
  




Friday, January 24, 2025

2025 Cardinals Caravan

In conjunction with Cardinals WWU, they also have the Cardinals Caravan.  This four-day event consists of 6 different groups of players and alumni that visit different cities within a few hour's drive of St. Louis.  We have attended these for over 15 years at various different sites.  The Caravan started last Friday and finished up Monday.  My son, wife, and I were able to attend one of the last stops Monday evening in Centralia, IL.

The Caravan consists of two alumni and three or four younger players talking about the upcoming season, answering a few questions, and then signing some autographs.  Autographs are advertised for the first 400 kids 15 and younger, and then, as time permits, others can go through the line.

Some Caravans charge admission, others are free.  Centralia charged $10, which included a ballpark meal of a hot dog, a bag of chips, and a soda.  The money went to a local baseball league for disabled children, so it was well spent.  We arrived a few minutes before the gates opened, not knowing if there would be a crowd.  I think the cold temperatures kept the crowd to a minimum.  I would guess 150-200 people in total.  I was surprised that the workers gave my 16-year-old son an autographed ticket without asking his age.  Less than 100 kids were in attendance, so adults had some time to get autographs as well.  We ended up getting two autographs from each player.


My son and I got Simontacchi and Cooper on Saturday at the WWU.  This is the first time we have gotten Rom's auto.  


I did not have another card for those three, so I used a postcard handed out at WWU.  Glad I grabbed a few extras of these.  


Tink Hence is the Cardinals' #2 prospect and #68 on Baseball America's Top 100.  If he can stay healthy, he should be in St. Louis by the end of the year.  My guess is as a reliever.  I love the way the Bowman Top 100 card turned out.


Victor Scott was the main reason we made the hour and half drive.  I was very impressed with him on Saturday when he gave us a fantastic autograph.  I hope he gets a fair shot at earning the starting centerfield job in spring training.  Nothing against Michael Siani, but I believe Scott has more potential.

The best part of the evening happened toward the end.  One of the workers asked my son to help play a prank on Victor Scott.  At other caravan stops, they had him sign some strange things, such as a pair of Daisy Duke shorts, a plant, and a spatula.  They gave my son some rap lyrics and a CD for Scott to sign.  Wish I could upload the video, but it is too large.  If you have Facebook or X, visit the Cardinals page, and you will see it.
  


It was a great way to end an awesome Cardinals weekend.