Another Similar Twitter Lot

I may have to limit my Twitter surfing.  After buying a rather cheap lot of 2022 Bowman Draft cards the last week of January, a few days later I found a different seller with more 2022 Bowman Cardinals that caught my eye.  The second lot was 4 cards, just like the first one, but it costs me $16.  It was twice as much as the first but did contain a little more quality.

This autograph was the first thing that caught my eye.  Crooks was a 4th round draft pick last year.  With the signing of Willson Contreras and Ivan Herrera waiting at Triple-A, it will be a few years before Crooks even has a chance to see St. Louis.  

This Mejia is from 2022 Bowman Chrome.  The proper name for this parallel is black & white mini diamond refractor.  That is a mouthful to remember.  At least Topps used a different photo for Mejia's Bowman Draft cards.  They also made it easy to tell the difference, as he is batting left-handed on the Chrome card and right-handed on the Draft card.   

My first Twitter lot contained 2 of these Raywave refractors.  I added another one with this lot.  Hansen was the Cardinals 3rd round pick in 2022.  

Last but not least is this Bowman Draft Sky Blue refractor of Cardinals #2 prospect Masyn Winn.  Winn should spend most of 2023 in Triple-A.  Depending on injuries and how Paul DeJong performs this year, he may have an outside chance to get called up before the season ends.  Since he is only 21, my guess is the Cardinals will wait until next year to bring him up. 

      

Blogging Trade Coming to Life

 I  lost track of how many times I have read blog posts about joining TCDB, but not trading due to the amount of work required to enter your collection.  If you have a sizeable collection, it can seem like a never-ending process to enter your have list, want list, and trade list.  I believe it took me the better part of 2 months when I started a few years ago, and my collection was less than 30,000 at the time.  

Almost 2 weeks ago, I was doing my daily blog reading when I noticed Bo of Baseball Cards Come to Life! fame finished entering all of his trade list.  I had no idea he was a TCDB member.  I knew from reading his blogs we should be able to work out a nice trade.  Sure enough, he had a nice batch of Cardinals from my want list, while I was able to help him out with some recent set needs.  I guess we can call this a dual-site trade.

Bo has a nice assortment of cards from sets you seldom see for trade.  A great example is SP Top Prospects.  

I finished my 2003 Bowman Draft set with these 2 cards.  Barton was part of the trade to Oakland for Mark Mulder.  He had a few decent seasons as an A, but never really lived up to his first round pick status.  Glad the Cardinals included him in the trade instead of their other young catcher at the time.  That was Yadier Molina.

I finished a second Bowman set with these 2 cards from 2010 Bowman Draft Chrome.  Tuivailala was listed as a shortstop on this card, but later converted to a relief pitcher.  He as always one of the nicest players in the minor leagues.

A third team set Bo finished for me was 2005 Artifacts.  I guess Upper Deck was too lazy to photoshop Mulder into a Cardinals uniform.  

When Chris Duncan was in the minors, he was more famous for being Cardinals' pitching coach Dave Duncan's son than he was for his ability.  He played parts of 5 seasons with the Cardinals and was a key member of the 2006 World Series team.  He went on to have a career in local sports radio before passing away from brain cancer in 2019.  

I will finish things up with a card of the 2006 World Series MVP.  This Eckstein is from the 2005 Upper Deck Pro Sigs set.  Just like Topps, Fleer, and Donruss, UD put out a ton of sets in the early to mid-2000s that were unnecessary.  Thanks again Bo for the great trade!  

  

       

TCDB 2 for Tuesday #33

Today's 2 for Tuesday post only features 7 cards, but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality.  First up is my 11th trade with member 49ants.  Just like the previous 10, I sent him a handful of Giants for a few Cardinals.

It has been 24 years since Fleer released the Stan Musial Monumental Moments insert set.  I still need 2  more cards after adding this 1.  I am almost embarrassed to call myself a Cardinals fan with this lousy effort.  It is not like the cards are highly valuable or very scarce.  

My quest for a Topps gold team set continues with 2 from 2011 and 1 from the inaugural year the cards were numbered in 2001.  I doubt either of these sets will be the first, as I need more than 10 cards in each one.

Second trade was a 3 pack of Cardinals from member eric51.

I gladly make trades for premium brand base cards like Pristine and Museum Collection.  Every now and then I find some in dime boxes, but very rarely are they Cardinals I need.  I have not seen very many 2022 Select cards at recent shows.  I doubt if too many people opened them with the increased price of blasters.  Those who opened hobby boxes most likely did so for group breaks.

  

2nd in 2 Weeks

I find it funny how sometimes you make a trade with someone you never had before, then work out another very shortly after the first one.  This was the case with TCDB member jackal726.  We completed our first trade at the end of January, then finished another last week.  The second was just as great as the first.

This trader was a member of the Topps Montgomery club until this year.  He has quite a few nice online exclusives, like the 2 Molinas on top.  The left one is from the 2019 Kenny Mayne set, while the right one is from the 2018 Bryce Harper set.   Both are very nice, but it is hard to beat the 2014 Bowman silver ice parallel.  

It was nice crossing off this 2009 Ticket to Stardom David Freese from my want list.  It may look like a normal card, but the last 25 rookies in the set were numbered to 199.  It looks weird seeing him in a spring training uniform instead of his normal number 23.

Both of these pitchers were All-Stars for the Cardinals but are now without a job.  Rosenthal was a 2015 All-Star, but has been battling injuries for the last few years.  Martinez was a 2015 and 2017 All-Star but has also battled injuries and control problems since then.  Doubt if either one will ever regain their form.

I have no clue how many different set make up 2022 Panini Chronicles.  All I know is some of them look better than others.  The Nootbaar crusade fits in the former category.  Panini does a better job with the Mosaic parallels.  This Edman is from the 2022 set.

  
    

Twitter Lot

My Twitter activity has increased since the beginning of 2023.  I have followed more Cardinals collectors.  I have also found more sellers running their famous stack sales.  I like the option to buy something and hold out on shipping for a week or two in case I find more cards I need.  I have also found Twitter cheaper than EBAY, at least with the cards I am buying.  Last week I bought a nice 4 pack of Cardinals from 2022 Bowman Draft that cost me $8 delivered.  They arrived safe and sound earlier this week in a pwe.

I was not a big fan of Raywave parallels when I first saw them, but they are starting to grow on me.  They do look better in person.  I am guessing I will see Baez in Peoria sometime this season.  Baez is the Cardinals ' rated prospect.  He has a ton of power, but like most young players also strikes out a ton.  Should be fun to watch.  Mejia was an international signee last year.  It will be a year or two before he makes it to Peoria.  He is the Cardinals ' rated prospect and will turn 18 in April. 

I know quite a few collectors who only go after the Chrome parallels.  I am just as happy with the paper ones, especially low-numbered ones like the green Baez.  

This is an aqua parallel of the Cardinals' 12th ranked prospect.  Mautz was a 2022 second round draft pick.  He did not pitch anywhere after he was drafted, so he will most likely start the year in low A Palm Beach.  If all goes well, he could be promoted to Peoria before 2023 is over.

 
        

Astros for Cardinals

Today's recap was a small team trade with TCDB member astrosammy.  As you can guess from his user id,  I sent him a handful of Astros.  In return, I received 4 Cardinals and one of his Astro duplicates.

My 2022 Topps Gallery team set is finally finished after getting the Arenado card.  The 2 nice inserts were icing on the cake.

Topps did a nice job capturing Donovan's hustling style of play on his 2022 Update Chrome card.  Donovan is the newest fan favorite who goes all out.  Players like Rex Hudler, Bo Hart, and Joe McEwing.  I hope he has more long-term success than those guys.

My son added this 2016 Finest Altuve to his collection.  I am not a fan of this design.  The horizontal lines running through the card are not necessary.  I prefer a nice clean looking background.

  
  

5 Pack of Cardinals

Today's recap features 5 Cardinals I received last week from TCDB member ChicoSportsCards.  I was able to thin out my trade box by sending him a few Bowman cards, mostly Cardinals duplicates.  Always nice to take cards out of that box and find a good home for them.  

I received 3 different Bowman cards in return, 2 from this year's Draft set.  I had the Winn before, but had him autograph it at last month's Cardinals Caravan.  The Liberatore is a 2020 insert.  

I still need 5 more Cardinals from the 2010 Topps Pro Debut set.  None are very expensive, but it is an older set that I have forgotten about.  

The best card of the bunch was this 2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary Pujols.  These are about as cool as the 2013 Emerald parallels I showed off yesterday.  I should reach 1,000 different Pujols cards in my collection this year.  I did a little over 20 more.  I am sure Topps will include him in a ton of sets this year.