Finished 2018 Donruss

Nothing too exciting in today's post other than another finished Cardinals team set.  I was able to trade for the last 6 2018 Donruss Cardinals I needed by sending a few Cal Ripken and Rickey Henderson cards to TCDB member twprkj.

The Wainwright card is by far the best looking out of this 6 pack.  The Ozuna cards look really bad with the ghost white uniforms.  The Ozzie/Sandberg card looks like Panini cut each player out of a magazine and cropped them together.  I was looking forward to the Diamond Kings set, but those cards are not much better.  Maybe Optic will offer some nice looking base cards.

Trading Bases Trade

Before I joined TCDB, the majority of my online trading was done through the Trading Bases group.  It does take a little more time to trade with members because you have to search their webpage for your wants and theirs.  I will say the members are some of the most generous and courteous you will find on the internet.  I am not sure how long I have been a member or how many trades I have done, but I know I have never had a problem.  Last week member Jerry R took time to go through my needs and proposed a nice trade.

These 1989 Pro Cards are not worth much, but I love finding them or getting them in trades.  These 4 completed my team set.

Jerry also completed my 1991 Line Drive Triple A set.  That is the same Al Nipper who pitched for the Red Sox in the late 1980s.   

The last of the minor league cards were these 2 92-93 Fleer Excel cards an the last 1994 Classic Best Gold card I needed.

These 2005 Bowman Draft Chrome cards are not technically minor league cards, but are close.  The quality of the card is a lot better, but like most of the minor league cards I showed, these 2 players never sniffed the majors.

The Gregg Jefferies cards is my first 1993 Topps Traded card.  I guess this is a set I have overlooked as the cards are not that hard to find.  I love the 1998 EX-2001 McGwire card.  This set was made of thick plastic.  The Essential Credentials cards look great if you can find them.  I have no comment on the 1998 Pacific Online card as it is just another Pacific set that was a bad idea.

 

My First Opening Day

Like every baseball fan, I have a few things on my bucket list when it comes to my favorite team.  I would like to attend a playoff game.  I would say it should be a World Series game, but they way the Cardinals have played the last few years that may not happen anytime soon.  The cost would most likely be more than I would want to pay also.  At this point I would settle for a wild card game.  I would also like to attend an Opening Day game in St. Louis.  Once again cost plays a factor, but more has to do with work and weather.  Until I decide to bite the bullet, I will have to settle for my first taste of 2018 Topps Opening Day cards.

These cards came courtesy of a trade with TCDB member Tgrs_4_me.  It is nice to get a sneek peak of cards that are not in Series 1 like the Matt Carpenter card.

All 3 of these guys hit home runs last night in the 13-4 win over the Reds.  It was great to see the Cardinals finally score some runs, but it could have been a ton more.  Ozuna alone left 11 runners on base.  I would not be surprised to see them score less than 13 in the next 3 games.

The lone insert in the package was this 2016 Heritage Rookie Performers.  Diaz has been getting the bulk of the playing time at short for the Blue Jays since Tulo is hurt, but he is not making the most of it.  As of yesterday he has 3 home runs, but with no walks and a .212 average.  Hard to believe he made the All Star team in 2016. 

 

Robert Feeds My Habit

I have mentioned before how online traders tend to use numerous sites to feed their habit.  Last week I discovered that Robert from $30 a Week Habit was also a member of TCDB.  We were able to put together a small trade that sent a few Blue Jays his way in return for 2 Cardinals and a Pirate.

I usually do not trade for Pirates, but I am planning a trip to Indianapolis in a few weeks to watch their Triple A team and do some autographing.  Holmes has already been promoted to the Pirates, so this card may sit in my box for a while.

 Now this is more like it.  A nice 2016 insert of Wainwright.  It was good to see him have a quality start yesterday after his first outing stunk.  I will continue to root for him to do well, but the Cardinals may be better off with Jack Flaherty in the starting rotation.

Martinez also had a nice start this week.  This 2017 GQ purple parallel is numbered to 250.

Thanks for the trade Robert, and good luck getting all your Blue Jays sorted and logged. 

Got My First Taste of Queen

Most of my trades these days come through the Trading Card Database (TCDB) website, but I still check in on a few other places.  The Bench was the first online trading community I joined back in 2003.  It was my favorite site for a long time until a few years ago when the member base shifted from collectors to more prospectors/investors.  I still visit the site daily, but am lucky to make 1 or 2 trades there a month.  I was able to swing a deal with member pac_rat_76 last week that brought my first 2018 Gypsy Queen cards.

It was nice to get 5 of the 9 Cardinals base cards in the set.  To my knowledge there are not SPs, just some photo or logo variations.  I like the design this year, although it is not much different from last year. 

There were a few other inserts in the package like these 2017 Foil cards.  It was great to see Martinez have a strong game last night after his dud on opening day.  Now if he could only be that dominant on a more consistent basis he would be a true ace.

I have never completed any of the Stadium Club Triumvirate sets.  This one is from 2016.  I am not expected much from Wainwright in today's home opener in St. Louis.  He may have rushed back from a hamstring injury in order to make this start. 

My son is scheduled to have a baseball tournament this weekend, but mother nature may say otherwise.  Friday night and Sunday forecasts both show a chance of show.  I would much rather have the 2016 Topps Holiday type than the real thing.

Trading With Berton for His Doubles

One of my frequent trading partners on TCDB is Bertons doubles/Berton Russell.  He uses two different ids because of his large collection.  One is his wantlist, the other his trade list.  He is a set collector with over 83,000 cards on his wantlist.  He breaks a decent amount of boxes, so I always go to him when newer products come out.

Mr. Russell opened some 2018 Donruss recently and must have pulled quite a few duplicate Cardinals.  He put a nice dent in my team set.  Both the Molina and Ozuna cards are the so called short print variations.  Judging by the quantity of the cards, Panini has a much different definition of a short print than Topps does.

These are my first 2015 Panini Contenders cards.  These may not seem like Cardinals cards, but the back shows what team drafted them, so I consider them part of my team collection.       

Hit the Century Mark

Happy Easter everyone!  Hope the bunny left you something nice.  I usually do not post on Sundays, but have a little of down time in between family dinners to share my 100th trade package on TCDB.  It arrived yesterday from member mheilenman.  This was my third trade with him since the beginning of February. 

These are the last non SP cards I needed from 2018 Heritage.  Now I need to track down the 4 SP Cardinals.  Nice to see DeJong hit 2 home runs today to help the Cardinals win a game. 

These are my first 2017 Topps Gallery Canvas cards.  I have not kept up with how all the former Cardinals are doing so far this year, but did hear Grichuk hit a home run yesterday.  I would bet he has a handful of strikeouts also.