A Discounted 2012 Topps Rack Pack

This rack pack was 40% off the original price at Walmart, so down to $3 from $5. I picked it up awhile ago, don't think they've suddenly restocked some old packs.

2012 Topps
#342 Kosuke Fukudome
#344 Nelson Cruz
#357 Aaron Harang
364 Brandon Beachy
371 Jim Thome
378 Brandon League
385 David Murphy
422 Austin Jackson
425 Carlos Zambrano

2012 Topps
440 Chien-Ming Wang
465 Michael Schwimer
473 Evan Meek
484 Hisashi Iwakuma
492 Rickie Weeks
497 Andrew McCutchen
500 Alex Rodriguez
506 David Ortiz
514 Brian Roberts

2012 Topps
527 Aaron Hill
543 Josh Johnson
547 Jason Giambi
577 Dallas Braden
580 Tony Campana
607 CC Sabathia
611 Neftali Feliz
618 Eric Chavez
658 Juan Pierre

2012 Topps
247 Craig Gentry
397 Hector Noesi
410 Jeff Locke
460 Thomas Field
591 Aubrey Huff
Career Day #CD-4 Stan Musial

There were no Cardinals base cards in this pack, but it redeemed itself with a nice Stan Musial card, commemorating the day he hit 5 home runs. Those of you with important baseball stats committed to memory probably know the record in a game is 4, but there was a double-header that day, and Stan hit 5, a feat that has only been done one other time since then.

2012 Topps
Gold Sparkle #438 Juan Uribe
1987 Topps Mini #TM-53 Matt Kemp

I'll finish the pack with the other two inserts, a Gold Sparkle Parallel and a 1987 Mini. I had forgotten 2012 was Topps' year of gold, and at first I thought this was a more rare yellow parallel, but that was 2011. As for the 1987 mini, it looks like it really could be from 1987, thanks to the Dodgers uniform consistency through the years. The only think that really gives it away as new is the sharp photo, and of course Matt Kemp.

eBay Wins #190

Today's eBay card takes you all the way back to the days of the Florida Marlins.

2010 Topps #558 Ronny Paulino

I only have 150 base cards from 2010 Topps, out of the 660 total, but one was indeed Ronny Paulino. So that's one more card on my trade list.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3362
Total Spent	$52.12
Per Card	1.55 cents
Change	0 cents

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part XI

Part I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X


This is it. The end. There is no more, after one final card.

1933 Goudey #94 Bill Walker

Now clearly, this card isn't in great shape, but it's over 80 years old! This is easily the oldest card in my collection, beating the previous oldest by 20 years. At first I assumed this must have been from the reprint set from 1983, but it doesn't have the telltale "Galasso" mark on the back. Bill Walker was actually from East St. Louis, IL. After a few years with the New York Giants, he played for the Cardinals from 1933-1936, with one All-Star game appearance in 1935.

A big final Thank You to Junior Junkie for the giant box of cards, tailored perfectly to my collection.

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part X

Part I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

Today's post finishes off the McGwires, and almost finishes the whole box that was sent to me.

1999 Topps #201 Mark McGwire
1999 Upper Deck #518 Mark McGwire(x2)
1999 Upper Deck - Opening Season Superstars #S2
2000 Topps #232 Mark McGwire
2000 Topps #469 Mark McGwire

The card companies were in full "post-homerun photo" mode by 1999, which I'll admit did capture Big Mac's 1998 pretty well.

2000 Topps - Own The Game #OTG6 Mark McGwire
2000 Topps Opening Day #1 Mark McGwire(x2)
2000 Upper Deck Ovation #18 Mark McGwire
2000 Upper Deck #537 Mark McGwire
2001 Fleer Genuine #54 Mark McGwire
2014 Topps - Future Stars That Never Were #FS-13 Mark McGwire
2014 Topps Archives #69 Mark McGwire

It still seems weird that McGwire only played one full season and 2 half seasons after setting the home run record at 70. Finishing off his cards from this package are two from just last year, featuring him back in his Oakland days. I'm glad to see him showing up in current products, even if it does just keep expanding my ever-growing wantlist.

I've got one more post to go in showing off this massive mailing from Junior Junkie.

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part IX

Part I II III IV V VI VII VIII


Today I've got even more McGwires, including a good chunk of an all-McGwire set.

1998 Upper Deck Mark McGwire's Chase For 62
#1, #2, #3, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #11

1998 Upper Deck Mark McGwire's Chase For 62
#12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19

There are 30 cards in Upper Deck's Chase For 62 set. I got 2 of them in a prize package 2 years ago, but I believe this was a boxed set, so I would expect most people would either want all 30 or none of them, and most of the sets are still together. But, I now have 17 of the 30, so we'll see how it goes.

1998 Collector's Choice #220 Mark McGwire
1998 Topps #325 Mark McGwire
1998 Topps #478 Mark McGwire (x2)
1998 Metal Universe #110 Mark McGwire
1998 Fleer Sports Illustrated Then and Now #113 Mark McGwire
1999 Topps HD #70 Mark McGwire
1999 Upper Deck Victory #429 Mark McGwire

Those last 2 cards - the 1999s - are both from sets I didn't previously have in my collection. My collecting started waning in 1999, so it's fun to see "new" sets from around that time. Sometimes I still get that "new set" rush and want to collect the whole thing, and Topps HD might become one of those.

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part VIII

Part I II III IV V VI VII


Today, it's still McGwire time.

1997 Donruss #270 Mark McGwire
1997 Donruss #413 Mark McGwire
1997 Upper Deck SPx #SPX38 Mark McGwire
1998 Upper Deck #150 Mark McGwire

I always finish off my posts with horizontal cards, like they're second-class or something. But I like them, there's usually just less of them. The only second-class thing about this SPx card is how difficult it is to square up with other cards to scan.

1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #57 Mark McGwire/Andres Galarraga
1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #190 Mark McGwire
1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #330 Mark McGwire (x2)
1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice - Stick 'Ums #25 Mark McGwire
1997 Leaf #38 Mark McGwire
1997 Pinnacle #52 Mark McGwire
1997 Donruss Studio #8 Mark McGwire

There are 5 cards out of 1997 Collector's Choice, with 3 distinct ones from the base set. That's actually two copies of the same card in the upper right, but one has a slight dent in it that, I guess, changed the angle just enough that the scanner got a totally different color out of the shiny background. There's also studio, one of my favorite sets from when I really started collecting in earnest. One of these days I'll have to dig around and see if I have all of the 8x10s from that set. I believe I do.

1997 Upper Deck #297 Randy Velarde
1998 Upper Deck #9 Mark McGwire
1998 Upper Deck #205 Mark McGwire
1998 Pinnacle #63 Mark McGwire
1998 Topps Stars - Bronze #135 Mark McGwire #4269/9799
1998 Pinnacle Plus #196 Mark McGwire

After a McGwire cameo on Randy Velarde's card, we've made it to the Cardinal years. As you may or may not know off the top of your head like I do, McGwire was traded to the Cardinals at the trading deadline in 1997. He finished with a ridiculous-at-the-time 58 total HRs on the season, and broke the record with 70 in 1998.

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part VII

Part I II III IV V VI

It occurs to me I haven't been doing the kind thing and actually linking to Junior Junkie's blog, for you, or for the search engine robots to boost him up.

I've got more McGwires today, slowly but surely approaching the end of his A's years.

1994 Donruss #335 Mark McGwire
1995 Donruss #460 Mark McGwire (x2)
1995 Score #377 Mark McGwire
1995 Topps Stadium Club #289 Mark McGwire (x2)

I had neither the 1995 Donruss or Stadium Club cards of McGwire, and now I have 2. It's always good to have a backup.

1995 Pinnacle Zenith #71 Mark McGwire
1995 Upper Deck #35 Mark McGwire
1996 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #710 Mark McGwire
1996 Topps - Profiles #AL18 Mark McGwire
1996 Topps Finest #B162 Mark McGwire
1996 Upper Deck #151 Mark McGwire

I've seen those Oakland Oaks throwbacks on other cards before. They're a little odd on the typically green-and-gold A's.

1995 Pinnacle #196 Mark McGwire
1996 Sportflix #117 Mark McGwire

I needed both of these cards, which both show the best thing you can on a horizontal card of a slugger, the full swing extension.

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part VI

Part I II III IV V

I hope you like Mark McGwire cards, because I've got another post full of them. Actually, I hope you don't like Mark McGwire cards, so you'll send them all to me.

1991 Topps #270 Mark McGwire
1992 Studio #226 Mark McGwire
1993 Duracell #9 Mark McGwire
1993 Donruss Triple Play #87 Mark McGwire (x3)
1993 Pinnacle #58 Mark McGwire (x2)
1993 Topps Stadium Club #595 Mark McGwire

I actually got 4 Triple Play cards, but 18 cards scan much nicer than 19. And, I figured you got the gist of it after 3 of them.

1993 Studio #141 Mark McGwire
1993 Upper Deck #566 Mark McGwire (x3)
1993 Upper Deck #493 Mark McGwire
1994 Pinnacle #300 Mark McGwire
1994 Topps Stadium Club #358 Mark McGwire
1994 Donruss Triple Play #5 Mark McGwire
1994 Upper Deck #67 Mark McGwire

Either the photos on the Pinnacle and Triple Play cards were taken at the same time, or this was one of Big Mac's daily drills. Even if it was, he's got the exact same jacket, and the sun's at about the same angle based on the shadow of his hat bill. I vote for two photos of the same practice.

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part V

Part I II III IV


I've got a lot of McGwires to go through. I'm nowhere near the St. Louis years yet.

1990 Starline Long John Silvers #9 Mark McGwire
1990 Starline Long John Silvers #11 Mark McGwire (x2)
1990 Kmart #32 Mark McGwire
1991 Donruss - Bonus Cards #BC-9 Mark McGwire
1991 Score 100 Superstars #39 Mark McGwire
1991 Score #324 Mark McGwire (x3)

I think those Green-Bordered cards were some sort of Long John Silvers giveaway, from some searching around the web.

1991 Upper Deck #174 Mark McGwire
1992 Donruss #348 Mark McGwire
1992 Fleer Ultra #115 Mark McGwire (x2)
1992 Pinnacle #217 Mark McGwire
1992 Upper Deck Fanfest #32 Mark McGwire

The 1992 Upper Deck FanFest set is another new one for me. It's increasingly rare for me to get a card from a set I don't already have cards from, but that one and the Starline cards were both new sets to my collection.

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part IV

Part I II III

The cards from the giant box continue. I've got mostly McGwires left. And this is going to take me awhile.

1988 Donruss #1 Mark McGwire (x5)
1988 Donruss #256 Mark McGwire
1988 Donruss - Bonus Cards #BC-23 Mark McGwire
1988 Topps #759 Athletics Leaders (x2)

Yes, there's a few duplicates, but with cards like Diamond Kings, who cares?

1988 Score #5 Mark McGwire
1988 Score #659 Mark McGwire
1989 Classic Travel Purple #190 Mark McGwire
1989 Topps #70 Mark McGwire
1989 Upper Deck #300 Mark McGwire
1990 Classic Update #T33 Mark McGwire
1990 Donruss #185 Mark McGwire
1990 Donruss #697 Mark McGwire

I was glad to see a few of the slightly harder-to-find cards, like the 89 and 90 Classic cards. Not that those are impossible, but there are certainly more 1990 Donruss or 1989 Topps around.

1989 Fleer #634 Jose Canseco/Terry Steinbach/Mark McGwire (X3)
1988 Score #648 Mark McGwire/Matt Nokes
1990 Fleer #638 Don Mattingly/Mark McGwire
1990 Upper Deck #36 Oakland A's Checklist
1989 Topps Big #34 Mark McGwire

I wonder how many cards featuring both McGwire and Canseco are out there. I got two different examples in this bunch, counting the one with Terry Steinbach. Don Mattingly and Matt Nokes also made appearances. I think my favorite cards of this post is the Topps Big, although now I've got even more of a need to figure out how exactly to store cards from that set. I'd be glad to hear any good ideas anyone has.

Junior Junkie's Generosity Part III

Part I II

Today I've got the rest of the Bo Jackson cards, a few Ozzie Smiths, and some other miscellaneous minor leaguers and a logo sticker. There's still a huge stack to go.

1990 Fleer - Action Series Stickers #STL Cardinals Logo
2013 Pinnacle #16 Bo Jackson
2014 Allen and Ginter #61 Bo Jackson
2014 Elite Extra Edition #19 Cole Lankford
2014 Elite Extra Edition #52 Danny Diekroeger
2014 Stadium Club #67 Ozzie Smith

Old players in new sets mean a player collector's job will never be done. These card companies might have something about us figured out.

1994 Upper Deck #117 Bo Jackson
1994 Upper Deck - Diamond Collection #C7 Ozzie Smith
1995 Collector's Choice #200 Ozzie Smith

In retrospect, I should scan 3 horizontal cards side by side instead of verically stacked. Look at all that wasted space on the sides. Oh well. On to Part IV tomorrow!

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part II

Part I

Next up from Junior Junkie: More Bo Jackson.

1990 Stadium News #BJ Bo Jackson
1991 Topps #600 Bo Jackson
1991 Upper Deck #545 Bo Jackson
1991 Upper Deck #744 Bo Jackson
1992 Donruss #470 Bo Jackson
1992 Score #361 Bo Jackson

That first card has no copyright notice on it, but 1989 Stats, so I assumed it was a 1990. A reverse Google image search led me to find that the set is called Stadium News, which I should have assumed, and I found several other cards from the set in Zistle.

1992 Topps #290 Bo Jackson
1992 Triple Play #164 Bo Jackson
1992 Upper Deck #555 Bo Jackson
1993 Leaf #316 Bo Jackson
1993 Topps #400 Bo Jackson
1994 Sportflics 2000 Rookie/Traded #150 Bo Jackson

These cards have brought me to a decision. I must find a black White Sox jersey T-shirt with Jackson #8 on it.

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part I

Back in March, Junior Junkie sent out packages to over 60 bloggers, and I was one of them. I'm notoriously slow to want to sit down and sort out large packages for posting, so here's a very late thanks. Also, I'm notoriously insistent upon posting every card I get in a trade or prize package, including tagging the set and players among those I collect, so strap in, you're in for at least a week of posts.

First up is the first half of the Bo Jackson cards. Which wasn't even the largest stack.

1988 Donruss #220 Bo Jackson
1988 Score #180 Bo Jackson
1990 Bowman - Art Inserts #4 Bo Jackson
1990 Donruss #1 Bo Jackson
1990 Donruss #61 Bo Jackson
1990 Donruss - Bonus Cards #BC-1 Bo Jackson
1990 Donruss - Grand Slammers #12 Bo Jackson
1990 Fleer #110 Bo Jackson
1990 Score #687 Bo Jackson

Somehow, I was relatively unaware of the Grand Slammers inserts from 1990 Donruss. A quick internet search told me they were in the factory sets and cello packs. As 1990 Donruss has been a longtime project of mine, including all the error variations, I'll probably be adding those to my want list.

1990 Topps #300 Bo Jackson
1990 Upper Deck #75 Bo Jackson
1991 Fleer - Pro-Visions #5 Bo Jackson
1991 Fleer #561 Bo Jackson
1991 Score #5 Bo Jackson
1991 Score #412 Bo Jackson
1991 Score #420 Bo Jackson
1991 Score #692 Bo Jackson
1991 Score 100 Superstars #2 Bo Jackson

I was kind of stunned to see Bo got 4 cards in 1991 Score's base set, until I looked it up and saw he actually had 5. He only had 2 cards total in 1991 Fleer, and I got both of those.

1990 Score #566 Bo Jackson
1990 Topps Stickers #24 Lonnie Smith

 Why'd I throw in a random Lonnie Smith sticker to this bunch?

1990 Topps Stickers
Sticker Backs #51 Bo Jackson

Apparently in 1990 Topps Stickers, there were stickers on one side, and the backs had a different player. Thus, this card is doubly collectible for me, with Bo Jackson one one side and former Cardinal Lonnie Smith on the other.

eBay Wins #189

I'm kind of cheating by putting this card into its own post instead of with #188, since 2009 Upper Deck Update was apparently only available in packs with Series 1 and Series 2, according to my 2 minutes of internet research. But, it's a distinct set, so it gets a distinct tag, and in this case, a distinct post.

2009 Upper Deck Update #U2 Garret Anderson

Garret Anderson has now appeared in 3 of my last 9 eBay posts, after showing up back to back in #181 and #182. Here he's in his Braves uniform, which as I mentioned before is very odd to me, probably because he was on the Angels for so long, and only left when my baseball and baseball card interest was waning a bit. I also had him on my fantasy baseball team for many years when he was with the Angels, even in his later years when he was my 4th outfielder for off days.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3361
Total Spent	$52.11
Per Card	1.55 cents
Change	-0.001 cents

August Card Show Autographs

I practically had to go to the August card show to get Bill Virdon's autograph, because in July, it was actually one dollar cheaper to buy a ticket good for the three I got plus Virdon. I couldn't let the ticket go to waste. Also appearing at this show were Dave LaPoint and Scott Cooper.

Bill Virdon
N.L. R.O.Y. 55

1982 WS Champs
Dave LaPoint #35

Scott Cooper
All-Star
"93-94"

At this show, specific inscriptions can be requested for an additional fee, which I assume is a normal thing you veteran autograph seekers are familiar with. I haven't purchased inscriptions, though I've heard several people talk about specifically what they wanted written on their items. As it turns out, I got an inscription from all 3 players, despite giving them no requests other than "on the sweet spot, please".



I did a little bargain basement shopping at the show, too, and I have no time to go through this stuff yet, so I'll just show you my haul here, in its unopened glory.

One seller had several tables full of $5 wax boxes. He probably had 30 each of 1991 and 1992 Donruss, along with several of the usual suspects, Fleer, Score, etc. I resisted the urge to load up, though, and restricted myself to a few boxes I don't see everywhere, 1992 Triple Play and 1988 Topps Big. I also picked up the 1988 Topps Traded set mostly on a whim, as I had exactly one card from it in my wantlist, the Todd Stottlemyre.

I'm all-in on autographed baseballs now. There's another show in September with 7 Cardinals attending, and I've already purchased some advanced tickets.

eBay Wins #188

I've got another larger eBay lot this time, 23 whole cards from the same set. They were still a penny each, lowering my all-time per-card price by .003 cents again.

2009 Upper Deck
#43 Coco Crisp
#44 J.D. Drew
#86 Javier Vazquez
#118 Brian Fuentes
#161 Brandon Backe
#196 James Loney
#285 Emil Brown
#319 Brian Giles
#357 Braden Looper

Drew, Fuentes, and of course Looper were all Cardinals. This card was from Braden Looper's second stint with the Cardinals

2009 Upper Deck
#506 Yusmeiro Petit
#646 Dallas McPherson
#663 Doug Brocail
#686 Erick Aybar
#703 Hong-Chih Kuo
#734 Francisco Liriano
#829 Heath Bell
#839 Chris Young
#986 Huston Street

Huston Street's studio shot looks odd among all these action shots, even if it is a team checklist.

2009 Upper Deck
#23 Yunel Escobar
#330 Fred Lewis
#622 Clint Barmes
#833 Cha Seung Baek
#840 Brian Giles

I'm not sure why Brian Giles has 2 base cards in this set. Neither is a checklist or All-Star card. At least he got two different uniforms pictured.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3360
Total Spent	$52.10
Per Card	1.551 cents
Change	-0.003 cents

Zistle Trade #18

It seems like anytime I accept a trade on Zistle, one or two more offers come right away, so here's my second trade post this week. I got the higher volume on this trade, sending just two Mike (pre-Giancarlo) Stanton cards for these 10. Looking at the names in the trade offer, I was expecting to see a bunch of Cardinals, but in 1992, only Jose Oquendo was on the team. The rest became Cardinals later in their careers, except Lance Johnson who started in St. Louis

1992 Donruss
#259 Larry Walker
#267 Lance Johnson
#269 Rick Honeycutt
#277 Delino DeShields
#280 Jose Oquendo
#295 Jeff Brantley

In the background of Jose Oquendo's card, there are clearly two more Cardinals, Andres Galaragga and Ozzie Smith

1992 Donruss
#296 Les Lancaster
#314 Mike Gallego
#325 Mark Whiten
#372 Gregg Jefferies

These are the first cards I've posted of Les Lancaster, Mike Gallego, and Rick Honeycutt, by my reckoning.

It's fun to see a group of cards like this, all with players who were Cardinals, but on lots of different teams. My style of collecting means my "team set" completion takes a bit longer, but the result is more complete, too. I've still got 31 cards on my want list from 1992 Donruss.

eBay Wins #187

Once again I bid on a whole bunch of auctions for the same card without realizing it. This time I won 15 separate auctions for a penny each.

2009 Bowman Draft - Prospects #BDPP10 Telvin Nash (x15)

Telvin Nash hasn't reached the big leagues yet, but he's still in the Astros' system at AA. 14 copies of this card are now on my trade list.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3337
Total Spent	$51.87
Per Card	1.554 cents
Change	-0.003 cents

Zistle Trade #17

Zistle has allowed me to whittle down my want list bit by bit, while helping others do the same with my doubles. I've got a lot of overproduction-era Cardinals still missing from my collection, so every now and then someone finds me and can knock off quite a few of them. This particular trader just wanted a Joe Carter card in return, and as a Blue Jays fan, had a few Todd Stottlemyre cards for me, too.

1985 Topps #683 Whitey Herzog
1990 Fleer #243 Cris Carpenter
1990 Fleer #251 Ken Hill
1990 Fleer #252 Joe Magrane
1990 Fleer #253 Willie McGee
1990 Fleer #261 Scott Terry
1990 Fleer #263 Denny Walling
1990 Fleer #264 Todd Worrell
1990 Topps #6 Vince Coleman RB

These were the last of the 1990 Fleer Cardinals I needed, so that's one more team set off my list.

1990 Topps #591 Todd Stottlemyre
1991 Topps #348 Todd Stottlemyre
1992 Topps #607 Todd Stottlemyre

As I've mentioned before, Todd Stottlemyre and his father, Mel, are distant cousins of mine, which is why I started collecting his cards in earnest. Now since I've widened my collecting net to anyone who has suited up for the Cardinals, I've got two reasons to collect his cards, so I'm glad to have 3 more off my list. The sender wrote a note saying he figured he'd have more Stottlemyre cards I needed, which caused me to check my list and see my want list was far from containing every card of his I don't have, so I've rectified that now. Thus, the net result of this trade for me was my want list increased by several dozen cards. Hooray progress?

eBay Wins #186

Today's eBay lot has 2 more cards, this time from 2009 O-Pee-Chee

2009 O-Pee-Chee
#411 Delmon Young
#524 Kansas City Royals

I only had 5 cards from this set, 4 Cardinals and a Mike Lowell, so now I'm up to 7, or one more than 1%. This is another of those sets that came out while I wasn't collecting, so I'm a long way from completing it.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3322
Total Spent	$51.72
Per Card	1.557 cents
Change	0 cents