Small Peoria Autograph Recap

Last Sunday my son, wife, and I made our first trip to Peoria this year to watch the Cardinals High A team play.  My daughter chose to stay home and spend the day with her boyfriend.  Her loss.  Now that my son's baseball season is over, I hope to have a few more weekends free for watching games.  

As with any minor league game we attend, we try get get some autographs.  Dozer Park is a easy park to get autographs in.  The netting only goes to the dugouts right now.  Sundays are also team autograph day after the game.  I believe there were around 15 players who were signing this time.  We only had cards for 3 players, and were lucky enough to get 2 of them.  

Love was a 3rd round pick in 2021.  He has been in the Chiefs starting rotation all season.  His in person autograph is very similar to his certified one below.  

Our other autograph was from relief pitcher Levi Prater.

Prater was a 3rd round selection in 2020.  He has an interesting story.  As a young child he lost 3 fingers on his right hand in a lawn mower accident.  His ring finger and pinky remain.  Not sure how his glove fits, but it must work somehow.  I was hoping he would pitch, but he did not.  His in person autograph is also very close to his certified one.

As for the game, the Chiefs lost 6 to 5.  After being down 4 to 0, they managed to tie the score in the bottom of the 8th.  In the top of the 9th, the other team got their leadoff batter on second.  He was clearly picked off, but was called safe.  After he scored the go ahead run, we got to see the Chiefs manager come out on the field to give the umpire a good tongue lashing.  His efforts got him ejected.  The highlight of the game for my son and I was participating in a snow cone eating challenge.  I waxed him pretty good, but ended up with a brain freeze.  Good thing it was around 90 degrees that afternoon.  

  

Bench Trade

In my recent flurry of trades, I managed to complete one on The Bench trading site.  Before I discovered TCDB, this was my favorite place to trade.  In recent years the membership has shifted from set/team/player collectors to those more interested in the latest and greatest player that can be turned for a profit.  I still search the site daily, but rarely find any posts that lead to a trade.  That changed earlier this month when member davids5505 was looking to complete the 2021 Topps Big League set.  I sent him a healthy staff of base cards in exchange for some nice Cardinals.

This member opened some pack of his own that produced some parallels for trade bait.  I gladly scooped up these 3.

He also had quite a few 2022 Donruss inserts for trade.  I still need the Nootbaar base card, but now have the orange parallel.  The patriot in me really likes the Musial Independence Day parallel.  

I also receive a 2002 Topps insert and a 2021 Update gold parallel.  No offense to Austin Dean, but the Paul Goldscmidt card is a way better card.  I have made no secret of my love for the 1987 Topps design.  Put the NL MVP of the first half on the card and you get a great card.

New Cardinals HOF Autograph

It has been a long time since I added a new Cardinals Hall of Fame autograph to my collection.  I already have cards of the typical Topps guys like Ozzie Smith, Lou Brock, and Bob Gibson.  I did add this Pujols  autograph to my collection a few months ago, but he is not in the Hall yet.  Other guys like Dizzy Dean and Joe Medwick are a little hard to find at a decent price.  

One player I have been eyeing is Ted Simmons.  He does not have very many certified autographs yet, but since his HOF induction in 2020 Topps has been including him in more products.  One of his more recent cards is from 2022 Topps Heritage.

I won this card off EBAY for a little more than the price of a blaster.  I was really hoping to find a copy at the Midwest Monster card show last month, but had zero luck.  There were plenty to choose from online.  This Real One autograph was the best card in my eyes.  It looks a lot better than the Panini products, and is a lot cheaper than his 2018 Topps Archives card.  

TCDB 2 for Tuesday

The first 2 for Tuesday of July only features 3 cards.  2 of them are parallels for team sets that I would love to complete, while the 3rd card I hope to get autographed sometime this season.  

These 2 cards came from TCDB member nwcardsupplies.  He is also a member of Trading Bases.  I am not doing to bad on the 2011 Diamond Anniversary parallel set.  Out of 31 Cardinals, I need 8 more.  4 of those are short prints.  I still need 6 more of the 2014 Update Red Hot Foil cards.  

This LJ Jones card from 2020 Parkside Negro League Draft set came from member glassnickels.  Jones is currently with the Peoria Chiefs.  I made my first trip there this past Sunday, but was not in the right place at the right time to get him to sign.  I should have a couple of more chances later this year.  

Somewhat New Lankford Card

I usually get pretty excited to show off a new Ray Lankford card.  It rarely happens anymore, maybe once or twice a year.  Those rare 1990s parallels I need just do not show up that often, and Lankford does not get any hobby love from Topps since he was not a major star.  He does however get the buyback treatment every now and then.

This 2017 buyback is from the 1993 Bowman set.  If you look closely above the nameplate you will see the bronze foil stamp.  I do not go crazy over buybacks, but for around $2 I will buy up those of my favorite player.  A day after I won this card, one of those rare 1990s parallels I needed was listed on EBAY.  I was thrilled until I saw the asking price of over $200 or best offer.  The card is no longer listed, so I assume someone was willing to overpay.  
  

Cardinals Lot

I had a hard time coming up with a theme and title for today's post.  These 7 cards I received from TCDB member CraigM do not have a lot in common other than all are Cardinals.  Thus the bland title.  Onto the cards.

I am a fan of the unlicensed cards from the overproduction era.  They are not worth much, but they do not pop up very often.  These 2 Zeile cards are from a 1990 MVP set.  

1997 Score Hobby Reserve parallels were inserted in Series 2 packs.  Series 1 packs featured the Premium Stock parallels.  That does not make much sense to me.  It would be like Topps putting gold border in Series 1, then a silver border in Series 2.  Too much confusion.

I really need to complete an Ultra Gold Medallion team set.  This Haren from 2004 is only my second one from that year.  With 8 more to find, I am pretty sure this year will not be my first to complete.  The Rolen insert is also from 2004.  

I liked the Topps Reserve brand even though it was only around for 2001 and 2002.  This Renteria is from the 2001 set.  That set will not get completed for awhile due to the Pujols rookie card.

Trading with a Mission

One feature I often overlook on the TCDB website is the Stats tab in the Transactions area.  Here you can find the number of trades you have completed the last few years along with how many cards you have sent and received.  You can also track how many times you have traded with certain members.  

I know I have traded with member Themissionguy quite a few times, but did not realize he was in my top 3.  He has a large wantlist and is always willing to work out a trade.  Last week we completed our 8th trade that gained me 6 new Cardinals for my pc.

The 2022 Topps rainbow foil parallels seem to be tougher to find this year compared to previous years.  I am guessing the overproduction leads to greater pack odds.

These 2022 inserts are not that tough to find.  The 1987 design combined with a Cardinals HOF player makes for a great card in my biased opinion.  The Stars of MLB insert looks better with the chrome finish compared to the regular version.

Molina has been on the DL for almost a month now with to return date in site.  He and Wainwright need 9 more starts to have the all time battery record.  Hope they can still achieve that before the end of the season.  Yadi almost looks unrecognizable on the Welcome to the Show insert.  That photo should be from his rookie year in 2004.