Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XXXIX

College football will be here again before we know it IS HERE IS OVER, 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 X
XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX
XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX
XXXI XXXII XXXIII XXXIV XXXV XXXVI XXXVII XXXVIII

And now for a few oddballs.

1987 Fleer - Stickers Baltimore/Atlanta with Cardinals backing (x2)
1988 Fleer - Stickers Chicago White Sox/St. Louis with Busch Stadium
1991 Studio #133 Joe Carter
1992 Score #433 Cal Ripken, Jr.

There were actually two of the 1987 Fleer Stickers, so I decided to scan the back of one. There was only one 1988, but it looks pretty much like 1987 with a green background on the front. On the back you see Busch Stadium, which is now often called Busch Stadium II since the Cardinals are now in their third stadium by that name.

The Carter and Ripken cards were more packing material. Those are two pretty big stars to be throwaway cards, but there's a slight crease in them, and the sets are pretty common ones to begin with. Carter also played for Baltimore, so I might pass these two along to a friend of mine for his kid, so he can try to indoctrinate him into his Orioles fandom.

Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XIII

College football will be here again before we know it IS HERE, 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 X XI XII


Games have started and I have a whole lot more cards left unposted. I'm about ready to say uncle. At least it's only been one FBS game so far, so I've got about another week before the season is really in gear.

1982 Topps #86 Dane Iorg
1985 Fleer #226 Tom Herr
1987 Boardwalk and Baseball #25 Jack Clark
1988 Donruss #208 Tom Herr
1988 Fleer #31 Doug DeCinces
1988 Fleer - All Stars #11 Jack Clark
1990 Fleer #249 Frank DiPino
1992 Topps - ToppsGold Winner #664 Ken Hill

I'm having a harder time matching players by era, so this post spans from 82-92. I had never heard of the Boardwalk and Baseball set, but apparently it was a theme park in Florida around that time.

1986 Fleer Mini #8 Tom Herr
1986 Fleer Mini #6 Jack Clark

You can't tell by my scan, but these are indeed mini cards. The height is just slightly more than the width of a normal card, and the ratio appears to be about the same, unlike Allen and Ginter minis. These are bigger than Cracker Jack cards, but smaller than the 19xx-style minis Topps has been inserting the last few years.

Zistle Trade #24

I made another smallish trade on Zistle, for some needs from the overproduction era. A few are base cards, but 6 of the 9 are either from traded sets or inserts, so they're a little harder to track down.

1988 Fleer #276 Jose Canseco
1988 Fleer Update #U-68 Todd Stottlemyre
1989 Donruss Bonus MVPs #BC-15 Cal Ripken
1989 Score Young Superstars II #20 Todd Stottlemyre
1989 Upper Deck #674 Ozzie Smith
1989 Upper Deck #754 Todd Zeile
1990 Donruss Bonus MVPs #BC-10 Ryne Sandberg
1991 Topps Traded #83T Phil Nevin
1993 Topps Gold #3 Ryne Sandberg

I've long been working on the 1990 Donruss set, and Ryne Sandberg was one of the two Bonus MVPs I didn't have yet. I've got the other on the way in another trade, too, so that insert set is nearly complete along with the base set, which I think is almost complete except for some errors and variations. I have a lot of 1989 Donruss base cards, but not many bonus MVPs, so the Ripken is a good get for me. The two Todd Stottlemyre cards are just because I collect Todd Stottlemyre, much like the Ozzie, Todd Zeile, and Jose Canseco cards. I put the Team USA cards from 1991 Topps Traded on my list after getting a few of them in the past and liking them, and finally there's a 1993 Topps Gold, also of Ryne Sandberg. I've still got over 780 of those to go to complete that set.

eBay Wins #221

Today I have a half-dozen cards from 1988 Fleer, from my half-cent box.

#6 Randy Bush
#99 Jose Uribe
#125 Duane Ward
#216 Mike Pagliarulo
#318 Kent Tekulve
#360 Jody Reed

In this group, only Jose Uribe played for the Cardinals, in 1984. He played only 8 games, but is listed under 2 different uniform numbers, 5 and 7. He was part of the trade that brought Jack Clark to St. Louis from San Francisco.

These cards were from the half-cent box, so it knocked down my average another .001 cents per card.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3757
Total Spent	$54.70
Per Card	1.456 cents
Change	-0.001 cents

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.

Zistle Trade #10

This was my first trade with a repeat partner on Zistle, BucCollector. Much like last time, these cards just cost me some Pirate duplicates.

1990 Donruss
#10A Brian Downing DK ERR (Reverse neg- on card front)
#650A Bo Jackson AS ERR (Stat header titled Recent ML Performance)
#700A Checklist 640 - BC-26 ERR (Missing #716)
#659 Nolan Ryan 5000K

I copied the exact description for each card directly from Zistle, since these were all error or variation cards from 1990 Donruss, and I'm not sure I could explain them any more concisely. I'm now about 35 total cards from finishing the full base set with errors, and with the Nolan Ryan and Checklist card, I believe I now have at least one variation of each card in the set.

1982 Fleer #113 George Hendrick
1988 Fleer #27 Vince Coleman
1989 Fleer #285 Bo Jackson
1991 Topps Traded #51T Jeffrey Hammonds USA RC
1992 Studio #96 Tom Pagnozzi
1992 Studio #170 Mark Whiten

How is it possible I've never posted a George Hendrick card before today? He even coached for the Cardinals for awhile. Bo Jackson is one of the few non-Cardinals I like to collect, so that's why his 1989 Fleer card was on my want list. At some point I decided I'd like to at least get the Team USA cards from 1991 Topps Traded, so that's why Jeffrey Hammonds was part of this trade. Pagnozzi and Coleman are obviously Cardinals here, and Mark Whiten joined the team a year after this card. I've still got 14 more current/former/future Cardinals to track down from 1992 Studio, though.

As with all trades, I'm just happy to knock 10 more cards off my gigantic want list, and be rid of some duplicates in the process. 

eBay Wins #128

One of these things is not like the other, and if you really scrutinize, you might be able to spot it.

1988 Fleer
#41 Greg Mathews
#169 Paul Molitor
#177 Bill Wegman
#320 Glenn Wilson
#337 Bob Patterson
#340 John Smiley
#403 Bill Lindsey
1998 Score #292 Randy Bush

Okay, I guess you could pick a few of these cards for that distinction, such as one Hall-of-Famer, one Cardinal, one third baseman, one catcher, and one guy who played less than 10 games in MLB (Bill Lindsey), but I meant the 1988 Score card I used to round out my pile of 7 1988 Fleer cards. I detest wasted space in scanning, and I only had one card from the Score set in my sorted piles. It was a no-brainer.

I never before noticed that 1988 Fleer has different colors - mostly team colors it appears - below the photos. I guess the blue and red of most teams blends into the overall design, and I just never spent much time looking at teams like the Pirates. And of course this was before the purple Rockies or teal Marlins. That's one trivial detail I'll never be able to not notice again.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2954
Total Spent	$48.07
Per Card	1.627 cents
Change	-0.002 cents

College Bowl Game Contest Win, Part 17

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 ]

1987 Fleer Update #U-71 Joe Magrane
1988 Donruss #170 Tony Pena
1988 Fleer #38 Steve Lake
1988 Leaf #181 Jack Clark
1988 Score #202 Todd Worrell
1989 Donruss #466 Luis Alicea
1989 Topps #1 George Bell
1990 Donruss #531 Carlos Martinez

Glorious Junk Wax! There are probably plenty of copies of most of these cards floating around, except perhaps the Donruss Doppelganger that is 1988 Leaf.

By now you've probably heard about Jack Clark's recent troubles caused by his big mouth, when he said he knew for sure that Albert Pujols has been juicing for years. Those are big allegations that require at least a little bit of evidence before you go mentioning them on the air. To give a local perspective, his co-host is notorious for being a sports shock-jock, and fired from nearly every station in town that ever employed a sports talk guy. I can't stand him, and I'm always glad to hear him go, so I don't stumble across his show when radio-surfing. Jack Clark has now retained one of the biggest names in high-priced attorneys in St. Louis, Chet Pleban. It's not clear to me whether this is to sue his (former) employer, or defend himself against the lawsuit Pujols has publicly threatened.

I knew Jack Clark has a bit of a reputation as a hothead, but I guess since St. Louis media don't usually hammer their hometown guys too hard, I never really knew his whole story. Apparently he's had trouble with Hall of Famers ranging from his Managers Frank Robinson and Lou Piniella, his teammates Ozzie Smith and Tony Gwynn, and now likely Hall of Famer Albert Pujols. As a side note, can we get Lou Piniella in the Hall of Fame as a manager please? Clark's apparently just got an attitude problem, and has for years.

I don't like negative posts, so let's end this one with Tony Pena making John Olerud feel silly.

...and then another guy named Brian Johnson.

Stay on your toes out there; it's the only way to save yourself from trick plays.

Number 5 Type Collection's Cardinals Giveaway, Part 3

[Part 1]
[Part 2]
Matt at Number 5 Type Collection gave me way too many Cardinals in a recent contest.  Here's part 3:

Let's start off with some former prospects now traded away.

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus #81 Joe Mather

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus #80 Colby Rasmus

 It's a little weird to see a modern Cardinal wearing Yadier Molina's #4, but this is from the minors (AA) of course.  It does make me wonder if any of the minor league players are allowed to wear the MLB Cardinals' retired numbers

1988 Fleer - 1987 World Series #5 Throw Smoke! (Todd Worrell and Tony Pena)

 These guys are a little before my time, though I vaguely recall Tony's crazy catching stance when my dad watched games and I wasn't too interested. By the time I was really paying attention in '92, Todd Worrell had been reduced to setup man for the powerful Lee Smith.

1993 Hostess #5 Ray Lankford

I actually laughed out loud when I saw this card. It brought memories flooding back to me about seeking out and eating way too many Hostess Baseballs in 1993. What can I say, I was 10. I think I even tried to convince my dad to try them, hoping he'd replace any other sugary snack he might have with a baseball, and I'd get another box with more cards sooner. I went and grabbed my pile of hostess cards and noticed something interesting. I guess I got into the game late, because they're all numbered 17 or higher of 32, which would seem to be evidence they issued the cards in two series.

2005 Topps Total #206 (STL5) Chris Carpenter

2007 Upper Deck Future Stars #88 Chris Carpenter

1990 Fleer All-Stars #5 Joe Magrane

I have a few Joe Magrane autographs, as he hung around St. Louis a few years after he retired, making the occasional appearance. He played with the Cardinals until mid 1993, so I can recall about a year and a half of his career here.

1999 Topps - Lords of the Diamond #LD5 Mark McGwire

2000 Topps - 20th Century's Best #232 Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire was a favorite player of mine long before he came to the Cardinals, so I got even more into baseball when he was traded here. Sadly he was apparently using some illegal substances during his amazing Home Run binges. I'm glad to see he's back with the Cardinals as a hitting coach, hopefully he can rebuild his legacy that was tainted by his bad choices. He's apparently a pretty smart guy when it comes to hitting, though, and the players really seem to get a lot from him. We'll need that experience and confidence with a brand new manager this year.

More to see tomorrow...