Tis The Season Winnings, Part XII

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI

Today I have the last of the Red Sox and Yankees. When I sorted roughly by year, no Cardinals showed up in this last bunch.

2012 Bowman #102 Clay Buchholz
2012 Bowman - Prospects #BP105 Xander Bogaerts
2012 Topps Update #US310 Kelly Shoppach
2012 Topps Chrome #4 David Ortiz
2012 Topps Heritage #20 Derek Jeter
2013 Topps Update #US177 David Ortiz

I don't buy much Chrome, for some reason, so it's always nice to get them in the mail. Bowman products are sort of in that same category, because the sheer number of sets and subsets just overwhelms me. But, just like Chrome, I like getting them in the mail, because they're very rarely duplicates.

2011 Topps - Kimball Champions #KC-6 CLay Buchholz
2011 Topps Update - Kimball Champions #KC-130 Adrian Gonzalez
2013 Topps Update - Blue Parallel #212 Alfonso Soriano
2012 Topps #50 Adrian Gonzalez

Kimball Champions are one of those insert sets that Ambitious Me thought I would finish by now. Maybe someday.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part XI

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X

You can tell from my ordering by year that we're getting close to the end, considering how long ago this prize was sent. This post spans 2009-2011.

2009 Goodwin Champions #75 Carlton Fisk
2010 Topps Attax - Silver Foil "Hot Streak" #39 Victor Martinez
2010 Topps #483 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2010 Topps - Turkey Red #TR4 Albert Pujols
2011 Topps Heritage #101 Jacoby Ellsbury
2011 Topps Heritage #336 John Lackey
2011 Topps Attax #178 Robinson Cano
2011 Topps - Gold #448 Colby Rasmus #1947/2011
2011 Topps - Walmart Black #610 Josh Beckett

I've never purchased any Goodwin Champions or Topps Attax directly, though I've acquired a few through trades. I didn't have the Pujols or Rasmus cards yet, so those are nice to knock off my want list.

2011 Bowman Platinum #31 Adrian Gonzalez
2011 Lineage
#32 Jon Lester
#38 Chris Carpenter
#48 Carlton Fisk
#90 Tris Speaker
#122 Paul O'Neill
#175 CC Sabathia
#178 Albert Pujols

I really like the 2011 Lineage set, but I think I'm one of the few, as evidenced by Topps' decision not to have it return in 2012. I still need 7 cards to complete the base set, but these were not those 7, and they'll go into my trade list.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part X

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

Now for more of the teams everyone loves to hate, the Cardinals, Yankees, and Red Sox.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition #321 Julio Lugo
2010 Upper Deck
#346 Andy Pettitte
#347 Jorge Posada
#473 Kyle Lohse
#589 New York Checklist

The Yankees aren't the team I follow the most, but it's hard to escape stories about them. As an outsider, I'm really indecisive about whether Pettitte and Posada's numbers should be retired. On one hand, they were great players for the team, but it just feels like too much too soon, and it lowers the bar for number retirements. I think the Cardinals have a decent unofficial policy on this, which is that for the most part, only Hall of Fame entrants get their numbers retired.

2009 Upper Deck #562 Kevin Youkilis
#883 Adam Wainwright
2010 Upper Deck
#97 Jed Lowrie
#100 Takashi Saito
#462 Skip Schumaker
#470 Mitchell Boggs

Today, someone told me Waino was already hurt. It made me hurt. It was listed as abdominal pain, so I'm hoping it's nothing that will keep him out of baseball for long, and to a greater degree nothing serious for his overall health.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition #189 Mike Lowell
2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update
#314 Josh Beckett
#320 Jacoby Ellsbury
#420 Mariano Rivera
#473 Troy Glaus
2009 O-Pee-Chee #239 Mike Lowell

I remember when the Cardinals and Blue Jays traded third basemen, one for one. We sent Scott Rolen, and we got Troy Glaus.  I don't believe any cash changed hands, and no minor league add-ins were involved. I remember thinking "someone's going to get the clearly better end of this deal, and someone's getting the worse end". I'm pretty sure the Cardinals got the worse end. Rolen only played 1.5 seasons in Toronto before being traded to Cincinnati for another 3.5, which at least got the Blue Jays Edwin Encarnacion. Glaus played 2 years in St Louis, one good and one not so good due to injury, and was granted his free agency to play one final year in Atlanta.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part IX

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I II III IV V VI VII VIII

More Cardinals, Red Sox, and Yankees!

2007 Bowman Heritage #250 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2007 Upper Deck First Edition #289 Juan Encarnacion
2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes #92 Jon Lester
2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces #14 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces #85 Chris Carpenter
2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces #66 Robinson Cano

The 2008 Masterpieces set is one I really like, and I even have a full set of 2007 thanks to a contest on Play at the Plate.

2008 Upper Deck
#588 Wilson Betemit
#592 Shelly Duncan
#773 Josh Beckett (x2)
#229 Manny Ramirez

I just realized this whole post would have been Upper Deck if not for the Bowman Heritage interloper up above. I got a few cards from the 2008 flagship product, and naturally we have an example of Manny being Manny, having the only horizontal card and forcing me to make and awkward scan. Shelly Duncan has 2 connections to the Cardinals: his brother is Chris Duncan, who played for the team and is now a local radio host, and his dad is Dave Duncan, Tony La Russa's longtime pitching coach, including his years in St. Louis.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part VIII

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I II III IV V VI VII

Now we're moving into the mid-00s, when Upper Deck issued so many sets they're hard to track.

2005 Donruss #127 Pedro Martinez
2005 Topps #576 Matt Clement
2006 Topps #355 Jon Papelbon
2007 SP Legendary Cuts #7 Cy Young
2006 Upper Deck - Play Ball with Derek Jeter #PBDJ-5
2007 Upper Deck Artifacts #3 Manny Ramirez

I always have to double check whether Matt Clement ever played for the Cardinals, no matter how many times I find the answer is: No, he signed for 2008, but injury recovery kept him from ever reaching the majors before he was released. Cy Young, on the other hand, played for the Cardinals under their current and previous name, the Perfectos.

2007 Fleer Ultra #152 Adam Wainwright
2007 Upper Deck #69 Dustin Pedroia
2007 Upper Deck #590 David Ortiz
2006 Fleer Ultra #135 David Ortiz
2007 Upper Deck #573 Josh Beckett

Wainwright was the only modern Cardinal from the cards I got for these years, and he's one of my favorites. I also enjoy the two David Ortiz cards, showing him in his two natural positions: swinging, and homerun trotting.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part VII

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I II III IV V VI

Yes, this prize package is still going. The Cardinals/Yankees/Red Sox singles continue with the early 2000s.

2002 Donruss Fan Club #162 Edgar Renteria
2005 Fleer Showcase #62 Scott Rolen
2005 Upper Deck MVP #80 Scott Rolen
2005 Donruss Team Heroes #54 Curt Schilling
2005 Donruss Team Heroes #64 Tim Wakefield
2005 Donruss Team Heroes #298 Reggie Sanders
2005 Topps Update #UH8 Matt Lawton
2005 Topps Update #UH126 October is Month of Reggie
2005 Upper Deck All Star Classics #11 Derek Jeter

These Cardinals are the team that started the resurgence that has resulted in success over the last 11-12 seasons or so. The 2004 Team was swept by the Red Sox, but they returned to the NLCS in 2005, and would win the World Series in 2006. I enjoy cards with cameo appearances, like the clear shot of Larry Walker on the Reggie Sanders postseason card. Jeter, Schilling, and Wakefield are some nice additions too.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part VI

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I II III IV V

I'm having fun going through all the different sets of the 90s and now the early 2000s, so let's continue with more Cardinals, Yankees, and Red Sox.

1998 Score #159 Reggie Jefferson
1999 UD Choice #65 Jason Varitek
2000 Fleer Tradition #325 Rod Beck
2000 Upper Deck #447 Mariano Rivera
2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers #47 Whitey Ford
2001 Upper Deck MVP #98 Troy O'Leary
2001 Upper Deck Vintage #95 Pedro Martinez
2001 Upper Deck Vintage #99 Carl Everett
2001 Upper Deck Vintage #156 Glenallen Hill

By waiting so long to dig through these, the stack added one Hall of Famer, Pedro Martinez. I like these Upper Deck Vintage cards, which are clearly based on 1963 Topps, like 2012 Heritage.

2001 Topps
#104 Will Clark
#138 Jeff Nelson
#159 Thomas Howard
#258 Jason Grimsley
#756 Boston Red Sox
2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers #81 Bob Gibson

I only got 3 Cardinals from this bunch of cards. Two were in the stack of 2001 Topps. It's odd to see someone other than Pujols wearing #5 for the Cardinals, but Thomas Howard did it for 2 years right before he arrived. Of course I know other guys wore it too, like Ron Gant and Felix Jose, but 5 certainly became synonymous with Albert while he was here. Less jarring is Will Clark in #22, which became Mike Matheny's number next. He took it back when he became the manager, but has given it to Jason Heyward for 2015 and beyond. Finally, the last Cardinal was this excellent card commemorating Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA in 1968.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part V

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I II III IV

Today I've got even more of the miscellaneous Cardinals, Red Sox, and Yankees.

1992 Leaf #152 Scott Sanderson
1992 Score #420 Kevin Morton
1992 Stadium Club #522 Scott Terry
1992 Topps #724 Kevin Morton
1993 Select #142 Kevin Maas
1994 Collector's Choice #592 Jeff Reardon
1994 Collector's Choice #550 Roger Clemens
1998 Pinnacle #54 Hideki Irabu
1996 Topps #131 Tom Pagnozzi

In somewhat of an odd coincidence, I just posted another copy of the Score Kevin Morton card last week, and now I have a second copy of it, and another Morton.

Scott Terry wore my favorite number with the Cardinals, #37, a number which has almost always belonged to a pitcher on the team since Keith Hernandez left in 1983.

1992 Topps #498 Gerald Perry
1994 Upper Deck #223 Brian Jordan
1994 Collector's Choice #296 Bob Wickman
1994 Collector's Choice #432 Melido Perez

Here we have the horizontal cards from this bunch, two Yankees pitchers, and two Cardinals. Perry's stats don't look all that impressive from his Cardinals years, but I remember him as a key bench player. And Brian Jordan was one of the most talented athletes I've ever seen play in person. He could hit, steal, and field pretty well too. I even bought a Jordan jersey t-shirt in late 1998, which naturally was right before he ended up leaving for the Braves. I still have that shirt and wear it from time to time, along with my #4 Fernando Vina I picked up at a thrift shop looong after that number was handed over to Yadier Molina.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part IV

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I II III

Today I've got some more of the miscellaneous Cardinals, Red Sox, and Yankees from the prize package.

1990 Donruss #82 Milt Thompson
1990 Leaf #499 Greg Harris
1991 Topps - All Stars #16 Ozzie Smith
1992 Fleer #44 Phil Plantier
1992 Donruss #628 Greg Cadaret
1992 Donruss Rookies #34 Mike Draper

The Topps Glossy All Stars are definitely cards I should have in my collection, so this Ozzie along with yesterday's Vince Coleman were good additions. Guys like Phil Plantier are the reason I always look up players before assuming they weren't Cardinals. He apparently played for the Cardinals in the second half of 1997, coming over in the trade for Fernando Valenzuela. He played in the outfield in 32 games, and yet I had no memory of him.

1990 Topps #206 Nick Esasky
1990 Topps #409 Tom Brunansky
1990 Upper Deck #191 Don Mattingly
1990 Upper Deck #782 Billy Jo Robidoux
1992 Fleer Ultra #12 Tom Brunansky
1992 Fleer Ultra #15 Roger Clemens

Not only did I get two different Tom Brunansky cards, but as Red Sox and Yankees go, Clemens and Mattingly are two all time greats. A few years ago, I figured Mattingly would continue climbing up the Hall of Fame balloting and eventually make it in, but he's finally officially off the ballot. I suspect Clemens will eventually make it, once the fervor over PEDs dies down a bit, which may already be starting to happen now that Andy Pettitte is getting his number retired with the Yankees.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part III

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I II

In addition to some Allen and Ginter cards, the prize included some Cardinals, as well as some Red Sox and Yankees. Today I've got some of those to show.

1986 Donruss Highlights #47 Bruce Hurst
1988 Fleer #350 Steve Crawford
1988 Fleer #353 Rich Gedman
1988 Score #384 Tim Controy
1989 Donruss #37 Carlos Quintana
1989 Donruss #311 Jack Clark
1989 Donruss #516 Larry McWilliams
1989 Donruss #630 Dale Mohorcic
1989 Donruss #633 Dennis Lamp

Besides the obvious Cardinals that I collect, some of the Red Sox and Yankees are players I collect too, since they once played for the Cardinals, like Jack Clark and Rich Gedman. That's not to say I don't like the other cards. One of my long-term, low-priority goals is to complete all of the relatively cheap and abundant sets from about 1987-1993

1989 Topps #402 Mike Greenwell
1989 Topps - All Stars #17 Vince Coleman
1990 Kmart #4 Ozzie Smith
1990 Bowman #427 Don Heinkel

This Vince Coleman card is one I needed, so that's nice to knock off my massive wantlist. Just for fun, I found all three posts of my previous copies of the Ozzie Smith card, since I get a lot of random piles of Cardinals, much like this prize. I really like that set, though, so at the very least, perhaps it will help me eventually trade to complete the 1990 Kmart set.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part II

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I

The prize nearly filled an 800 count box, so I've got a few more posts to write. This one's all 2012 Allen and Ginter base cards and inserts, and a pretty good start on completing the set. There were a few duplicates too, which will pad out my trade list a little bit.

2012 Allen and Ginter
#1 Albert Pujols
#4 Yu Darvish
#5 David Price
#7 Mickey Mantle
#19 Bob Knight
#20 Miguel Montero
#21 Matt Moore
#27 Ricky Nolasco
#28 Dustin Ackley

2012 Allen and Ginter came right out of the gate and poked me in the eye with card #1 featuring Albert Pujols in his new uniform. I've made peace with him leaving, though, helped greatly by the Cardinals making it to the NLCS all 3 years he's been gone, and to the World Series once.

2012 Allen and Ginter
#37 James McDonald
#43 Josh Johnson
#44 Brandon League
#51 Don Denkinger
#55 Colin Montgomerie
#56 Jordan Pacheco
#63 Zach Britton
#65 Alex Rios
#69 Kurt Suzuki

Don Denkinger is a well-known umpire in St. Louis, for making the wrong call in the 1985 World Series against Kansas City. Some like to blame that call for the loss of the series, but that was game 6, and the Royals won game 7 11-0.

2012 Allen and Ginter
#73 Joakim Soria
#73 Jordan Zimmermann
#82 Giancarlo Stanton
#86 Nyger Morgan
#89 Edwin Jackson
#92 Craig Kimbrel
#99 Sandy Koufax
#102 Huston Street
#107 C.J. Wilson

This post has been dotted with former Cardinals, including brief Cardinal Edwin Jackson. That's a nice looking Sandy Koufax card too.

2012 Allen and Ginter
#111 Wandy Rodriguez
#115 Carlos Santana
#116 Brandon Beachy
#120 Mariano Rivera
#129 Michael Phelps
#135 Michael Morse
#146 Josh Beckett
#157 Roger Federer
#165 Alex Avila

2012 Allen and Ginter
#181 Joe DiMaggio
#186 Jemile Weeks
#194 J.J. Hardy
#196 Lou Gehrig
#197 Ty Cobb
#202 Jaime Garcia
#208 Martin Prado
#214 Yunel Escobar
#216 Corey Hart

I'm not sure what Jaime's doing in this photo.

2012 Allen and Ginter
#217 Brian Wilson
#225 Roger Maris
#232 Kate Upton
#256 Brandon Morrow
#258 Doug Fister
#259 Wade Davis
#260 Alex Liddi
#264 Brian McCann
#265 Chris Parmelee

2012 Allen and Ginter
#266 Carlos Ruiz
#269 Mike Schmidt
#270 Anthony Rizzo
#271 Mark Reynolds
#279 Brett Gardner
#286 Neal Walker
#289 Brandon Phillips
#290 Derek Holland
#292 Greg Gumbel

This is my first card of Mark Reynolds since he became a Cardinal. I'm not sure how he'll work out, but hopefully they'll slot him in the right situations for success.

2012 Allen and Ginter
#299 Jeff Niemann
#303 Ivan Nova
#310 Russell Martin
#314 Michael Buffer
#330 Mike Napoli
#331 Carl Crawford
#340 Marty Hogan
#341 Colby Lewis
#342 Ryan Dempster

2012 Allen and Ginter - Worlds Tallest Buildings
#WTB2 Taipei 101
#WTB3 Petronas Towers
#WTB5 1 World Trade Center
#WTB6 Empire State Building
#WTB8 40 Wall Street
#WTB10 Metlife Building
Historical Turning Points
#HTP4 The Reformation
#HTP10 Discovery of Electricity
#HTP19 Sputnik I

Ginter always has some curious insert sets, like 2012's Tallest Buildings and Historical Turning Points. They're not exactly chase cards, but they're at least interesting. Also, a fun game to infuriate people is to insist that Russian satellite's name is pronounced "Spootnik".

2012 Allen and Ginter
#26 Hunter Pence
#29 Hanley Ramirez
#40 Jimmy Rollins
#71 Curtis Granderson
#76 Michael Bourn
#84 Andre Ethier
#104 Ian Desmond
#162 Jeff Francoeur
#215 Dan Haren

Back to the base cards, here are the horizontal ones. Dan Haren is another Cardinals in the box, though Jaime Garcia remains the only one actually wearing the Birds on the Bat in 2012.

2012 Allen and Ginter
#229 Ichiro
#231 Todd Helton
#274 Derek Jeter
#317 Jason Heyward
What's in a Name
#WIN14 Chipper Jones
#WIN37 Jason Heyward
#WIN50 Mike Schmidt
#WIN95 Ken Griffey, Jr.

Another new Cardinal for 2015 is Jason Heyward, and I got a short print and insert featuring him.

2012 Allen and Ginter
#346 Lefty Kreh
Baseball Highlight Sketches #BH-21 Willie Mays

Finally, I have the two cards that didn't fit when I scanned all the horizontal cards, and didn't fit with anything else. Why a fisherman is a Short Print, I have no idea, but the famous over-the-shoulder catch by Willie Mays makes a nice sketch.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part I

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.

2008 Allen and Ginter #276 Oscar Wilde
2009 Allen and Ginter #311 Gavin Floyd
2010 Allen and Ginter
#14 Shane Victorino
#15 Carlos Quentin
#42 Mark DeRosa
#46 Chad Billingsley
#67 Carl Crawford
#91 Carlos Zambrano

This really has nothing to do with anything, but Oscar Wilde always brings a missed comedic opportunity to my mind. In college, my friend and I went to a video rental store, and his roommate asked him to pick up a DVD of The Importance of Being Earnest (written by Oscar Wilde) so that he could avoid doing his assigned reading. I told him we should bring him Ernest Goes to Jail, then play dumb when he inevitably blew up about it being the wrong movie. Either he didn't think it was that funny, or we didn't want to spend the extra few bucks to rent a second DVD, so we didn't wind up doing it. Learn from my mistakes: never miss a chance to make a joke.

I believe the Gavin Floyd card is a short print, though I'm unclear on the numbering of SPs over the last few years. Also, Mark DeRosa represents the only former Cardinal in this post.

2010 Allen and Ginter
#100 Matt LaPorta
#103 Niccolo Machiavelli
#128 Hans Florine
#133 Nelson Cruz
#146 Carlos Lee
#184 Jake Peavy
#186 Jose Reyes
#187 Jair Jurrjens

I always find myself drawn to the non-baseball subjects in Allen and Ginter, possibly because the players have become mundane by comparison. Only in Allen and Ginter can you pull a Niccolò Machiavelli.

2010 Allen and Ginter
#211 Johnny Strange
#226 Brian McCann
#271 King Tut
#280 Koji Uehara
#294 Buster Posey
#197 Johnny Damon

I always forget Johnny Damon played for Detroit, but this card is here to remind me. I tend to think of him as a member of the Red Sox, then the Yankees, then the A's, then Kansas City, then Tampa. Another of his teams that doesn't come to mind until I look it up is Cleveland. He's got to be one of the best players ever to play for 7 different teams.

2008 Allen and Ginter #75 Travis Hafner
2010 Allen and Ginter
#140 Brandon Allen
# The Parthenon
2010 Allen and Ginter This Day in History
#TDH16 Carlos Gonzalez
#TDH18 Felix Hernandez
#TDH25 Ryan Zimmerman

Mostly to avoid weird unbalance scans, here are the horizontal cards from 2008-2010 Ginter in the package. There was just one 2008 base card, and the rest were from 2010, including the 3 This Day In History inserts.

eBay Wins #154

Let's finish off 1992 and have a fresh start in my next eBay post with 1993 cards, shall we? I've got a Score, a Topps, and a Topps Gold Winner

1992 Score #420 Kevin Morton
1992 Topps #183 Brent Mayne
1992 Topps Gold Winner #37 Luis Polonia

Kevin Morton only played in MLB in 1991, throwing in 16 games. Brent Mayne and Luis Polonia had considerably longer careers. But regardless of the player pictured, these 1992 cards are my favorites. They're the first cards I bought in packs, and the first factory set I bought, too. I can remember stopping at the IGA each Sunday morning, and convincing my parents most of those weeks to buy me a pack of Topps cards, while they had them in stock. Those trips alone probably got me about 20 packs per year through 1994 or so, when I started visiting a card shop for most of my cardboard buying. Since 1992 Topps were my first cards, the Gold cards were my first inserts. Thus, I still dream of one day having a full 792 card run of the Gold parallels. These Gold "Winner" cards will probably delay the effort a bit, or at least cause me to build the most subtle frankenset ever, comprised of cards with or without the Winner mark.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3253
Total Spent	$51.03
Per Card	1.569 cents
Change	0 cents

2015 Is Here

Ok, it's been here for a few days. But, I've been entirely too busy to open the hanger box (is that the right term for the 72-card, $10 box?) I bought Friday at Target. I'll probably wind up purchasing a Jumbo box, rendering all of the base cards in this box expendable, but I decided to be less practical and more fun in my collecting from now on, and a $10 bill won't kill my budget. But, enough about my collecting philosophies; onto to the cards!

2015 Topps
#11 Jon Jay
#48 John Axford
#80 Adam Wainwright
#220 Shelby Miller

I consider any pack consisting of over 1/30th Cardinals a success, even if one is pictured as a Pirate and another (Miller) has already been traded away for Jason Heyward.

2015 Topps
Archetypes #A-22 Hank Aaron
Rainbow Foil #279 Coco Crisp
First Pitches #FP-06 Agnes McKee
Robbed #R-12 George Springer
The Jackie Robinson Story #JR-2 Serving His Country
Free Agent 40 #F40-5 Goose Gossage
First Home Run #FHR-05 Derek Jeter
First Home Run #FHR-10 Anthony Rizzo

The first time I flipped through the cards, I didn't notice this Coco Crisp card was a parallel. The Rainbow Foil effect is somewhat hard to discern with the colorful borders. For the First Pitch cards, I thought it was kind of a cool idea when I read about it, but of course I was focusing in on the celebrities like Jeff Bridges and Eddie Vedder. Even though my card has a 105-year-old woman I've never before known about, I'm still in favor of the set. In the second row, you can see I pulled the mandatory Jeter card, which was actually the first 2015 cards I saw in person. I was a little surprised to get 2 cards from the First Home Run set, though.

2015 Topps
Call Your Shot Game Card
Highlight of the Year #H-8 Ted Williams

I doubt that bar code has enough information for you to redeem my Call Your Shot codes, but in case it does, I've already entered, giving me a 1:1,000,000 shot against everyone else who opened 2015 Topps this week.

The Ted Williams highlight card is nice and all, but overall, I'm not that overwhelmed by the inserts from this box.  Usually at least one catches my eye, and the whole set makes its way to my wantlist. Archetypes is obviously full of big stars, so that may be one that I go after. When looking up the Williams card in an online checklist, though, I saw there's a Nomar Garciaparra card in that insert set as well. I'll definitely be trying to track that one down.

Well, that's my first taste of 2015 cards. I'm sure the next will come when I'm waiting in line at Target and feeling froggy, so that could really be any day now.

eBay Wins #153

Today I've got some of the earliest "premium" cards, 1992 Stadium Club. As with most of my eBay penny lots, it's a decidedly non-premium selection of players.

1992 Stadium Club
#202 Rance Mulliniks
#283 Manuel Lee
#532 Dan Plesac

Manuel Lee, normally called Manny, played 1 game for the Cardinals in 1995 to end his career, starting at 2B on opening day, playing for 3 innings, and getting a hit, before being injured and lifted for Jose Oquendo in the top of the 4th. He never made it back to the majors after that.

The other two players here, Rance Mulliniks and Dan Plesac, played a combined 34 seasons. Manny was no slouch either, playing in parts of 11 seasons including that half-game with the Cardinals.

These 3 cards bring my eBay Bargain total to exactly $51, which sounds amazingly low considering I've made 153 posts out of it so far. Of course, at 3 cents each, I could have made 1700, so I suppose it's not as crazy as it could be.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3250
Total Spent	$51.00
Per Card	1.569 cents
Change	-0.001 cents

Superbowl XLIX Projections Recap

My projections didn't quite nail the result like last year, but they did foretell a close game, one that very nearly could have gone my way. That's not to hand-wave away the miss; I still maintain Seattle was the stronger team through the year, they just didn't deliver this time.

I looked at the graph I posted last year, and I realized it didn't have much useful information. You could see Seattle's championship chances going up each week, but that wasn't really informative without the other teams. This year, I swung all the way back the other direction. Here are all 32 teams' chances at the end of each week of play, in a nice stacked graph.

I realize this is hard to read as a graph, but think of it more like an infographic. Let the pretty (and ugly) colors amuse your eyes. You can see how promising Baltimore and San Diego were in the first half of the season. Baltimore trailed off but made the playoffs and even won one game, while San Diego just trailed off to nothingness by the end of the regular season (Week 17). Among those missing the playoffs, Philadelphia and Kansas City stand out visually to me as well, with large bars around Weeks 10-11. By week 13, or so, you can see Seattle and New England were coming on strong as other teams get eliminated.

The end of the season always triggers some retrospection, and I wonder whether I should continue to run these numbers. There are many places online with similar but more robust systems, and usually on sites completely dedicated to such things. Also, I'm really no statistician. As I love to point out to my friends, I managed to get a degree in mathematics while never taking a stats class. Sure, I studied complex numbers, differential equations, and cryptography, but the statistical analysis stuff is all self-taught. Ultimately I'll wait and see how I'm feeling about the idea when it's time to type up the 256-game schedule into a text file for 2015. If I've got the motivation to finish that step, I'm sure I'll press forward for at least one more year.


First to 10% chance of Superbowl Win: Cincinnati (Week 3, Sunday)
First to 20% chance of Superbowl Win: New England (Week 16, Saturday)
First to 25% chance of Superbowl Win: Seattle (Week 17, Final)
First to 30% chance of Superbowl Win: Seattle (Divisional Saturday)
First to 50% chance of Superbowl Win: Seattle (Championship Sunday)

First to 80% chance of Playoffs: Cincinnati (Week 3, Sunday)
First to 90% chance of Playoffs: Indianapolis (Week 7, Sunday)
First to 99% chance of Playoffs: Arizona (Week 11, Sunday)
First to 99.9% chance of Playoffs: Denver (Week 14, Sunday)
First to clinch Playoffs (sort of): Arizona (Week 15, Thursday)
First to clinch Playoffs (for real this time): Arizona, New England, Indianapolis, Denver (Week 15, Sunday)
First to clinch a first round bye: New England (Week 16, Sunday)
First to clinch homefield advantage throughout the playoffs: New England (Week 16, Final)

First team eliminated: Oakland (Week 11, Sunday)

[Week 1]
[Week 2, Thursday]
[Week 2, Sunday]
[Week 2, Final]
[Week 3, Thursday]
[Week 3, Sunday]
[Week 3, Final]
[Week 4, Thursday]
[Week 4, Sunday]
[Week 4, Final]
[Week 5, Thursday]
[Week 5, Sunday]
[Week 5, Final]
[Week 6, Thursday]
[Week 6, Sunday]
[Week 6, Final]
[Week 7, Thursday]
[Week 7, Sunday]
[Week 7, Final]
[Week 8, Thursday]
[Week 8, Sunday]
[Week 8, Final]
[Week 9, Thursday]
[Week 9, Sunday]
[Week 9, Final]
[Week 10, Thursday]
[Week 10, Sunday]
[Week 10, Final]
[Week 11, Thursday]
[Week 11, Sunday]
[Week 11, Final]
[Week 12, Thursday]
[Week 12, Sunday]
[Week 12, Final]
[Week 13, Thursday]
[Week 13, Sunday]
[Week 13, Final]
[Week 14, Thursday]
[Week 14, Sunday]
[Week 14, Final]
[Week 15, Thursday]
[Week 15, Sunday]
[Week 15, Final]
[Week 16, Thursday]
[Week 16, Saturday]
[Week 16, Sunday]
[Week 16, Final]
[Week 17]
[Wildcard Saturday]
[Wildcard Sunday]
[Divisional Saturday]
[Divisional Sunday]
[Championship Sunday]