Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part X

College football will be here again before we know it, so I've got to get my prize from last season's Bowl Pick 'Em contest at Cards on Cards posted! My prize for a second place tie was a very generously sized box of cards, so I felt a bit overwhelmed even sorting through them. I finally sorted them out by player, and, as usual, I'll plan to post them all eventually, but I might quit halfway through, we'll see.

Part I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

1986 Fleer Update
#U-29 Tim Conroy
#U-50 Mike Heath
#U-65 Mike LaValliere
#U-85 Rick Ownbey
#U-89 Pat Perry

I sorted out my cards by player, but lots of the stacks were only one card deep. That was the case for each of these cards from 1986 Fleer Update. This makes up 5/6 of the Cardinals from this set, so there's one more card on my want list now. These are also the only cards from the set I have so far.

1982 O-Pee-Chee #348 Darrell Porter
1984 Topps
#389 Ozzie Smith
#561 Whitey Herzog
Glossy All-Stars #12 Whitey Herzog
1987 Topps - Glossy All-Stars #1 Whitey Herzog
2013 Panini Cooperstown - Colgan's Chip Disks # Whitey Herzog

I figured that Whitey Herzog disk was from some obscure food issue from the 80s that I'd never track down, but it turned out to be a well-made insert from 2013 that mimics the 80s style well. The two All-Star cards made me realize there's a 2-year lag from a World Series appearance for a manager to appearing in an all-star set. For example, the Cardinals made the World Series in 1982 and 1985, thus Whitey Herzog managed the All-Star teams in 1983 and 1986, and so these cards are in the 1984 and 1987 sets. It's no huge insight, but I just like to keep those sorts of things in mind. I already have his 1989 card in my want list.

April Card Show Purchases

When I got Whitey Herzog's autograph, I had some time to shop while waiting for my number to get called into line. Here's what I found that I felt was worth buying:

1987 Topps #243 Whitey Herzog
1990 Topps #590 Ozzie Smith
2013 Gypsy Queen #144 Red Schoendienst
2016 Heritage #14 Jhonny Peralta

4 base cards? Of course not, that'd be quite the waste of space for the sellers paying for table space. I bought 4 complete sets, but I decided to just post a representative card from each here. The 1987 and 1990 Topps came from a seller who said he just bought a large collection of hand-collated sets. In fact, he had so many junk era sets, he didn't have time to go through each one and verify they were complete, so he instead put them on his 2 for $5 table with a sign disclosing they may or may not be complete. He told me he trusted the guy personally, but he didn't want to upset anyone if they had missing cards. I flipped through them pretty fast, but mine did appear to be complete.

From the same seller, I also bought the 2013 Gypsy Queen base set, after looking up in Zistle and seeing not only was I nowhere close to completing it, I only owned one card from the set. I was kind of surprised by that, but that's just one of the sets that I never got around to buying in 2013. I'm really glad I have Zistle as a resource to look up my collection in cases like that; I would have guessed I already had most of the base set.

Finally, I purchased the 2016 Heritage base set (without short prints), saving myself the cost and time that go with opening retail blasters, which is how I usually buy Heritage. I think I did OK on the price of $35, based on what they're going for on eBay. I certainly saved myself $5 off the cost of the first two blasters I would have bought, and I probably would have bought a few more. I won't get any insert cards, but I rarely chase those anyway. They're just nice bonuses that come with my set building.

I've started to feel like buying full sets is the better way for me to go. I'm not making some huge change to my collecting, except I'll probably purchase full sets a little more often, and slightly fewer packs. I'll still buy packs and boxes for some sets, like the relatively cheap Opening Day, or ones where I really like the inserts.

eBay Wins #218

Now I finish off my pile of 1987 Topps with the last 52 cards. 48 are scanned here because there were 4 doubles.

1987 Topps
#499 Bruce Ruffin
#504 Mickey Hatcher
#505 Bryn Smith
#519 Curt Young
#521 Rick Reuschel
#525 Phil Bradley
#528 Ken Dixon
#536 Terry Mulholland
#538 Tom Niedenfuer

Tom Niedenfuer and Bryn Smith both eventually came to the Cardinals after these teams.

1987 Topps
#539 Reid Nichols
#541 Rafael Belliard
#549 Bob Melvin
#551 Frank Wills
#552 Larry Sheets
#553 Mike Maddux
#568 Earl Weaver
#574 Manny Lee
#592 Chris Welsh

I like manager cards, like this Earl Weaver, and future manager cards, like Bob Melvin.

1987 Topps
#604 Fernando Valenzuela
#614 Roger Clemens (x2)
#617 Al Nipper
#619 Jerry Reed
#623 Kurt Stillwell
#636 Darren Daulton
#641 Domingo Ramos (x2)
#650 Hubie Brooks
#655 Jesse Barfield

I didn't mention it before, but some of these cards were actually from 2 unopened packs I had in among my bargain purchases. The second Roger Clemens was one of those from the unopened packs.

1987 Topps
#658 Robby Thompson
#670 Jose Cruz
#682 Jerry Reuss
#685 Jerry Hairston
#689 Darrell Porter
#702 Greg Gross (x2)
#703 Dave Schmidt
#706 Rick Manning
#713 Tom Brookens

I can't seem to get cards from the 80s without picking up a Jerry Reuss.

1987 Topps
#714 Dan Quisenberry
#722 Bob Knepper
#734 Bill Madlock
#735 Rickey Henderson
#737 Floyd Bannister (x2)
#738 Jorge Orta
#748 Mike Flanagan
#762 Gary Ward
#768 Dennis Lamp

I'm always happy to get a Dan Quisenberry card, since I modeled my pitching motion after his. This was only for pickup games, of course. I'd bet any kids' team's coaches would probably discourage that style.

1987 Topps
#778 Jack Morris
#785 Terry Francona
#789 Dan Schatzeder

And we finish off with another future manager, Terry Francona.

Once again, these were in my half-cent box, so they add 26 cents to my eBay purchases.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3749
Total Spent	$54.65
Per Card	1.458 cents
Change	-0.013 cents

eBay Wins #217

Once again, collating all my miscellaneous penny wins by set has led me to a large amount of cards that won't fit in one post. Enjoy the first 96 1987 Topps, and their woodgrain borders that remind me of the old paneling in my parents family room. I actually had duplicates of a few, which I noted in the captions. I didn't think I really needed to see scans of all 3 Marvell Wynne cards.

1987 Topps
#3 Dwight Evans
#11 Indians Leaders
#24 Tony Walker
#29 Jimmy Key
#37 Marvell Wynne (x3)
#38 Dennis Leonard
#51 Mel Hall
#69 Lonnie Smith
#70 Charlie Hough

Fun fact about Lonnie Smith: He was traded from the Cardinals to the Royals in 1985, and became the first player to face the team he started the season with in the World Series.

1987 Topps
#83 Mike Davis
#85 Kevin Bass
#92 Urbano Lugo (x2)
#93 Jim Leyland (x2)
#117 Jim Beattie
#127 Vance Law (x2)
#133 Jose Oquendo
#135 Mike Easler (x2)
#137 Jerry Willard

I met Jose Oquendo a few months ago. He looks younger now than he does on this card.

1987 Topps
#138 Roy Lee Jackson
#145 Charlie Kerfeld
#152 Toby Harrah
#156 Mariners Leaders
#162 Mike LaValliere
#165 Jeff Reardon (x2)
#166 Bob Boone
#170 Bo Jackson
#175 Bob Stanley

I also met Mike LaValliere. He doesn't have Jose's fountain of youth, but he's one of the funniest players I've met.

1987 Topps
#181 Cardinals Leaders
#183 Andy Hawkins
#187 Mark Huismann
#198 Lee Mazzilli
#202 Ricky Wright (x2)
#213 Randy Myers
#221 Vern Ruhle
#240 Steve Balboni (x2)
#241 Danny Heep

LaValliere and Ozzie Smith make an appearance on that Cardinals leaders card.

1987 Topps #243 Whitey Herzog
#245 Willie Upshaw
#249 Jim Pankovits (x2)
#253 Eddie Milner (x2)
#263 Stan Javier (x2)
#267 Howard Johnson
#271 Mike Brown
#274 Jeff Hearron
#278 Gary Pettis

For whatever reason, I didn't have this Whitey Herzog card until now. That's one more off the want list.

1987 Topps
#280 Jeffrey Leonard (x2)
#289 Bob Kipper
#308 Don Slaught
#309 Mike Young
#318 Jim Fregosi
#321 Mike Laga
#325 Garry Templeton
#333 Ken Phelps
#334 Ed Correa

Mike Laga is the only guy to hit the ball out of Busch Stadium II. He did it with a foul ball, though.

1987 Topps
#341 Mike Brown
#344 Joe Niekro
#347 Mickey Brantley
#350 Keith Hernandez
#362 Luis Quinones
#363 Jose Guzman
#366 Mark McGwire
#373 Jeff Dedmon
#385 Orel Hershiser

I've been seriously considering purchasing a 1980s powder blue Keith Hernandez jersey from Mitchell and Ness, because not only was he a great player, but he wore my favorite number, 37. Plus I don't see many Hernandez jerseys around town, whereas McGwires are still everywhere.

1987 Topps
#387 T.R. Bryden
#388 Geno Petralli
#401 Billy Jo Robidoux
#402 Mike Trujillo (x2)
#407 Jim Acker
#411 Darnell Coles
#438 Kelly Downs
#441 Dave Leiper
#461 Craig McMurtry

No Cardinals in this scan? Boooo.

1987 Topps
#464 Butch Wynegar
#465 Todd Worrell (x2)
#466 Kal Daniels
#467 Randy St. Claire
#468 George Bamberger
#469 Mike Diaz
#479 Bob Sebra
#480 Jim Rice
#497 Dale Mohorcic

And we wrap up with Todd Worrell's card featuring the Rookie Cup.

These were again out of my half-cent box, which I created to even out the less-than-a-penny-per-card lots I bought. So these 96 count for 48 cents in my tracker.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3697
Total Spent	$54.39
Per Card	1.471 cents
Change	-0.026 cents

eBay Wins #199

I now interrupt my slow progression through the years by set to bring you an actual eBay lot that I didn't break apart for later posting. It was only 1 card, and the seller sent a second just to be kind, so I closed the gap by one card in my quest to average below a penny per card. Just 1,847 to go.

1987 Topps #662 Frank DiPino
1991 Topps #593 Mike Walker

Frank DiPino played for the Cardinals from 1989-92. I don't really have any firsthand memories of him. 1992 was the first year I started watching baseball, and he only appeared in 9 games for St. Louis, all in September.

The Walker card is the one I actually bought. The seller didn't list it as such, but it is apparently an error version. The error is very small; his 1990 stats are missing one of his minor league stops on the way to Cleveland. There is a corrected version, though.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3389
Total Spent	$52.36
Per Card	1.545 cents
Change	-0.001 cents

Zistle Trade #11 Part II

[Part I]

Yesterday I showed some cards from a recent Zistle trade, all from the junk wax year of 1990. As you can see, the rest were from about the same era.

I'm not sure why I put the Bill Buckner card on my want list, unless his name just stood out due to the famous play he didn't quite make for the Red Sox, while I was adding some other 1989 Fleer to my want list. Ultimately I hope to complete most of the easy-to-find sets like Donruss, Fleer, and Topps from these years, so I'm glad to have it. The rest of the players were all Cardinals at one time or another. I was sort of surprised I didn't have the 1987 McGwire, but I double checked my sorted cards and sure enough, I didn't.

1987 Topps #366 Mark McGwire
1989 Fleer #278 Bill Buckner
1990 Topps #261 Whitey Herzog
1991 Donruss #155 Todd Stottlemyre
1991 Fleer #635 Ken Hill
1993 Score #241 Ozzie Canseco

When I first started watching baseball, two of my favorite players besides Cardinals were the Bash Brothers, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco. Imagine my surprise in September 1992 when I found out Jose's twin brother was in the minor league system, and came up to the big leagues when rosters expanded. He actually played 9 games in a row that year, from September 2-12 with a few off days, then disappeared for the rest of the year. Then in 1993, he played 6 consecutive games, May 7-13. That was the end of his major league career, though, after 15 games in St. Louis and 9 in Oakland.

Zistle Trade #9

These cards cost me some Thomes, some Cabreras, some Ortizes, and a couple of Ichiros. But I got a few Cardinal managers, and closer to completing 2012 Update. It's win/win, like any trade should be.

1987 Topps #68 Tony La Russa
1988 Topps #344 Tony La Russa
1988 Topps #744 Whitey Herzog
2012 Topps Update #US3 Adam Kennedy
2012 Topps Update #US26 Santiago Casilla
2012 Topps Update #US27 Cesar Izturis

Several of the Update cards happened to be Cardinals too, including Adam Kennedy and Cesar Izturis.

2012 Topps Update
#US58 Manny Acosta
#US69 Brett Jackson
#US80 Jered Weaver
#US92 Chone Figgins
#US102 Brandon League
#US115 Jason Grilli
#US121 Johnny Damon
#US141 R.A. Dickey

2012 Topps Update
#US162 Yu Darvish
#US169 Steve Cishek
#US205 Travis Ishikawa
#US219 Brian Fuentes
#US235 Marc Rzepczynski
#US279 Ryan Cook
#US289 Prince Fielder
#US302 Lucas Harrell

The sportscasters here liked to call Rzepczynski "Scrabble". I don't know if that nickname predated his time here, or just reflects our relatively low Polish population.

2012 Topps Update
#US17 Joe Smith
#US170 Jerry Hairston
#US238 Shawn Camp
#US294 Sergio Santos
#US316 Ryan Theriot

Finally I got one more Cardinal middle infielder, short-timer Ryan Theriot.

If my Zistle want list is to be believed - and it usually is - I still need over 70 cards to finish the Update set. But, this knocked out about a quarter of the list.

eBay Wins #130

If you paid any attention to my last eBay post, you noticed the card numbers stopped right around the middle of the set. That's because I had a total of 88 cards from 1987 Topps in my penny card piles. Here are the rest.

1987 Topps
#433 Ed Hearn
#452 Dave Henderson
#462 Scott Fletcher
#464 Butch Wynegar
#476 Danny Tartabull
#480 Jim Rice
#495 Gorman Thomas
#499 Bruce Ruffin
#502 Dick Schofield

1987 Topps
#505 Bryn Smith
#520 Jack Clark
#524 Bob Shirley
#531 Astros Leaders (x2)
#555 Dennis Rasmussen
#556 Angels Leaders
#567 Greg Mathews
#573 Hal McRae

Hal McRae, like Don Baylor and Bengie Molina, is a player I collect because he coached for the Cardinals, even though he never actually played for them. In this block of 9, which only had 6 player cards, 5 of them were at one time Cardinal players or coaches.

1987 Topps
#575 Pat Tabler
#582 Bruce Berenyi
#593 Chuck Tanner
#599 Tony Gwynn
#604 Fernando Valenzuela
#610 Jim Rice
#622 Glenn Braggs
#650 Hubie Brooks
#660 Bob Horner

Fernando Valenzuela finished his MLB career as a Cardinal, and so did Bob Horner. neither managed a full season, though, which, I guess, isn't that uncommon at the end of a career.

1987 Topps
#672 Chili Davis
#673 Don Sutton
#675 Ed Romero
#683 Gary Roenicke
#689 Darrell Porter
#691 Dave Parker
#698 Ernie Whitt
#704 Jesse Orosco

Jesse Orosco was Jamie Moyer before Jamie Moyer, playing from 1979 to 2003, including a grand total of 2.1 innings for the Cardinals in 2000. Also, I've always seen Darrell Porter in glasses, but these are nearly Harry Caray level frames.

1987 Topps
#705 Bruce Hurst
#711 Ken Griffey
#717 Ed Vande Berg
#746 Bob Ojeda
#766 Don Aase
#767 Ron Cey
#768 Dennis Lamp
#772 Harold Baines

Ron Cey is clearly sick and tired of this post. So I'll end it after pointing out that I crossed 3000 cards purchased via eBay with this lot.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3042
Total Spent	$48.95
Per Card	1.609 cents
Change	-0.009 cents

eBay Wins #129

1987 Topps always reminds me of a wood-paneled station wagon. There's probably a deeper metaphor I could dive into about utility versus beauty, but let's just see some cards.

1987 Topps
#2 Jim Deshaies
#3 Dwight Evans
#15 Claudell Washington
#18 Dick Howser
#26 Greg Brock
#40 Dave Righetti
#68 Tony La Russa
#115 Donnie Moore
#130 Dwight Gooden

I'm always happy to add another La Russa card to my collection.

1987 Topps
#140 Bret Saberhagen
#155 Eddie Whitson
#166 Bob Boone
#174 Henry Cotto
#175 Bob Stanley
#181 Cardinals Leaders
#185 Roger McDowell
#193 Roger Craig x2

I didn't know Roger Craig played for the Cardinals until just now. He went 7-9 in 1964. I've even posted a card with him and Tony La Russa before.

1987 Topps
#194 Kirk McCaskill
#219 Cecilio Guante
#220 Joe Carter
#222 Denny Walling
#230 Don Baylor
#241 Danny Heep
#243 Whitey Herzog
#254 Bob Tewksbury
#266 Jeff Hamilton

Bob Tewksbury was probably the Cardinals ace - on a team that wasn't very good - when I started watching baseball, so I always have to remind myself that my memories of him are a bit twisted by my perspective at the time.

1987 Topps
#267 Howard Johnson
#276 Jackie Gutierrez
#283 Doug Drabek
#285 Dennis Boyd
#287 Dave Von Ohlen
#293 Bob Rodgers
#295 Len Dykstra
#316 Brian Fisher
#317 Clint Hurdle

Clint Hurdle is another manager I didn't realize played for the Cardinals.

1987 Topps
#319 Greg Swindell
#343 Hal Lanier
#374 Glenn Hoffman
#399 Curt Ford
#401 Billy Jo Robidoux
#404 Doug Sisk
#412 Eric Davis (x2)
#426 Floyd Rayford

Eric Davis played 2 of his last 3 seasons for the Cardinals, but he was definitely on the downslope of his great career. Still, he was a good, consistent veteran to have around, which is always helpful in a game so focused on bringing up 19-to-21 year old prospects as soon as possible.

Since I like to tag all former Cardinals that I post so that I can quickly access any post by player, I'll have to stop here for the 1987 Topps pile. This is still part of my massive penny card re-shuffling, so these 45 cards add another 45 cents to my eBay Bargain Tracker.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2999
Total Spent	$48.52
Per Card	1.618 cents
Change	-0.009 cents

eBay Wins #85

I feel like I spun a randomizer to get these 6 cards, but they all came from one seller, for 6 whole cents.

2001 Stadium Club #22 Jeromy Burnitz
2003 Bowman #263 Derek Michaelis
2008 Bowman - Prospects #BP11 Jeff Kindel

I remember Jeromy Burnitz as one of the most-feared hitters when Milwaukee came to the NL Central, managing 132 HR over 1998-2001. Of course the other two guys never saw the majors, as happens with many Bowman prospect gambles.

1995 Topps D3 #46 Dean Palmer

I've got one more of these D3 cards, an Ozzie Smith. They don't actually show motion like similar cards from the past, but purely create a 3D effect with multiple images, which of course doesn't come through at all in a scan.

1987 Topps
#682 Jerry Reuss
#775 Joaquin Andujar

Jerry Reuss looks like an old guy on this card, but he's only 38. He started with the Cardinals for the first 3 years of his career. Technically he played in parts of 4 decades, with 1 game in 1969, plenty in the 70s and 80s, and 4 (1 start) in 1990. Joaquin Andujar went 2-0 in the 1982 World Series with the Cardinals, but 0-1 in 1985.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2446
Total Spent	$43.31
Per Card	1.771 cents

College Bowl Game Contest Win, Part 18

For the 2012-2013 College Football season, I entered the College Football Pick 'Em contest hosted by madding of Cards on Cards. I've won several of his contests over the years, and he always dumps a ton of Cardinals on me when I do. Yet, I think this time he may have outdone himself. I may have to work hard to get them all posted before the 2013-14 College Football season starts August 29, and I start posting my Power Rankings again.
[ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 ]

1988 Jiffy Pop
#7 Vince Coleman

Here we have another classic case of the 1980s oddball, which is MLBPA licensed, but not MLB licensed. Thus, all logos are airbrushed away. I'm surprised the Cardinals team name appears, though. I would expect just a "St. Louis" for his team. I'm not sure how I'll store this, because it's just wide enough not to fit in a card sleeve. It'll still fit in a regular storage box, so maybe I'll just put in in one of those and hope for the best.

1987 Topps
#8 Terry Pendleton
#110 John Tudor
#367 Jeff Lahti (x2)
#647 Tom Lawless

We've quickly jumped back far enough that I don't remember these guys as players, except Terry Pendleton, but he looks odd in Cardinal red to me to this day. From my earliest baseball memories, he was a Brave. I actually used to have a very similar jacket to the one Jeff Lahti is wearing on his card, but that when when I was about 10, so I quickly outgrew it.

1985 Fleer
#220 Joaquin Andujar
#224 David Green
#230 Kurt Kepshire
#236 Terry Pendleton
#231 Jeff Lahti

I do have a little context about these players, because my dad and uncle loved to tell me about the Cardinals. In fact, they still do. I appreciate the first-hand accounts of players I've only seen on cardboard or in 5-second blips in highlight reels. Joaquin Andujar in particular brings my uncle's stories to mind, because he had a few completely dominant years with the Cardinals, especially the 1982 season and World Series.

1983 Topps #337 Tito Landrum

Finally, and I do mean finally, we have the oldest card of the whole prize, a 1983 Tito Landrum. Tito won the 1982 World Series with the Cardinals, was traded to the Orioles in 1983 for September and the playoffs, where he won another World Series, then was traded back to the Cardinals before the 1984 season. That's about all I know about Tito, but I do love that powder blue uniform. I understand those were seen as a bit odd or even ugly at the time, but now, they're a classic. It's funny how time does that. Time and World Series appearances, I guess. Also, this card is 30 years old, so it's officially vintage now, right?

That's it. That's the whole thing. I posted them all! A big thanks to madding for giving me a ton of Cardinals, and 18 posts worth of material. It's always fun to go back through the years and reminisce about players I remember seeing, and players I never knew we had, and even see some players before my time.

eBay Wins #78

Happy All-Star Tuesday everyone. Even though "it counts", I don't really feel like I've got skin in the game, so I just sit back and enjoy the matchups, and root for my Cardinals a little too.

This lot had a fairly diverse number of sets and years for just 8 cards, and gave me one more card in my quest for every Cardinal ever.

1987 Topps #127 Vance Law
1987 Topps #245 Willie Upshaw
1991 Leaf #272 Gerald Perry
1991 Leaf #415 Greg Cadaret
1991 Leaf #429 Alvin Davis
1991 Leaf #479 Mike Flanagan
1991 Leaf #524 Tommy Greene
1995 Stadium Club #434 Ramon Martinez

This Ramon Martinez is my first 1995 Stadium Club card. Back when I was but a young collector, Stadium Club was too "premium" for me, and I tended to focus my meager buying into many packs of a few sets. After a couple of years of intentionally skipping a particular brand, it was hard to break the habit, even when I switched to buying a 1 pack of everything. I don't think I ever actually bought a Stadium Club pack, though I have acquired non-1995 cards through the years.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2411
Total Spent	$42.96
Per Card	1.782 cents

eBay Wins #59

This time I bought a lot of 8 cards. 2 were 1987s, and 6 were 1989s, right in the prime junk wax years. No matter, surely they'll bring me some memories of baseball in my childhood.

1987 Topps
#501 Hal Lanier
#343 Craig Lefferts

...

1989 Topps
#267 Jeff Robinson
#279 Scott Bradley
#309 Mario Diaz
#595 Teddy Higuera
#597 Terry Taylor
#631 Dave Bergman

I don't recall any of these guys. I've stated many times I started watching baseball in 1992, so that's not completely crazy, but I feel like I have a decent knowledge of baseball history too. Of course, maybe their lack of memorability is why I picked up 8 cards for 8 cents.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2094
Total Spent	$39.41
Per Card	1.882 cents

March Radness Win, Part V

[Part I]
[Part II]
[Part III]
[Part IV]

I "won" a prize, in that I managed to have the worst bracket of all in Cards on Cards March Radness contest. I legitimately tried to win, in fact I didn't even realize there was this consolation prize until the contest was over, because I stopped scoreboard watching about 2 rounds into the tournament because I did so poorly to start off. The good thing about winning cards from a fellow Cardinals fan is that he can't resist dumping a whole bunch of his Cardinal duplicates on me, which I'm more than happy to take.

How much more can there be? In this post, I'll show a good mix of late 1980s Cardinals.

1987 Topps
#7 Todd Worrell
#440 Willie McGee

It's weird for me to see Todd Worrell as the closer, since he was the setup man by the time I started paying attention. And doesn't the 1987 set just scream wood paneled station wagon?

1988 Topps #380 Joe Magrane

The younger people in town learned the Cardinals used to have a pitcher named Joe Magrane earlier this year, when his daughter was briefly on American Idol.

1989 Topps
#259 Larry McWilliams
#578 John Morris
#640 Willie McGee

Two guys I've honestly never heard of, and St. Louis's favorite standing ovation target, Willie McGee.

1990 Score #68 Jose Oquendo

The Secret Weapon! He's played every position for us, including Manager (fill in), 3B Coach, and I think even 1B Coach (fill in again).

1990 Bowman
#183 Joe Magrane
#185 Todd Worrell
#186 Jose DeLeon
#194 Willie McGee
#200 Jose Oquendo

Some nice 1990 Bowman here, with a lot of repeated players from above, and Jose DeLeon.

1990 Donruss
#516 John Morris
#536 Jose DeLeon

Finally, here's two more 1990 Donruss for my longest project ever, completing this set. I think it's been about 18 years since I bought a bunch of these and started trying for the set.