Phil Niekro Appreciation

Happy Birthday to the man, the legend, the knuckleballer, Phil Niekro.

1988 Score #555 Phil Niekro

Despite being very Cardinals-centric collector, I've had Phil on my blog not once, not twice, but four times before:

eBay Wins #5
eBay Wins #121
eBay Wins #217
eBay Wins #233

Ok, so I'm no superfan, his cards have just shown up a few times in my sometimes random eBay lot purchases.

Happy Birthday Phil!

eBay Wins #226

Today's eBay lot is some brightly bordered 1988 Score.

1988 Score
#78 Will Clark
#334 Billy Jo Robidoux
#406 Ken Howell
#473 Darren Daulton
#511 Steve Ontiveros
#590 Harold Baines
#591 Bill Buckner
#593 Rick Manning

Steve Lake is shown in uniform for the Cardinals here. The other two Cardinals today are Will Clark and Les Lancaster, both of whom finished their careers in St. Louis.

1988 Score
#596 Steve Lake
#598 Ross Jones
#602 Les Lancaster
#603 Ozzie Guillen
#604 Tony Bernazard
#657 Mike Schmidt

These cards were again out of my half-penny box, so I've added 7 cents to my total eBay bargain purchases.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	4050
Total Spent	$56.17
Per Card	1.387 cents
Change	-0.003 cents

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 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.

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.

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.
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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.

eBay Wins #33

I bought this lot of 23 cards with some stars peppered in for 49 cents. They're from 1988-1991, but for just over 2 cents apiece I figured I couldn't go wrong, and I'd get a nice long blog post taking me, and maybe you, down memory lane

1988 Score #7 Wally Joyner

1988 Score #275 John Tudor

I only vaguely recall John Tudor as a Cardinal, and I think mostly I've just heard the name over and over, I don't actually remember him playing.

1988 Score #278 Jerry Browne

1988 Score #481 Kevin Mitchell

The yellow border goes nicely with the Giants, so much so I didn't even remember Score has colored borders by card number, not by team, until I went to file this one with the rest of them.

1989 Donruss - Bonus MVPs #BC-22 Will Clark

Speaking of the Giants, it's MVP and former (future?) Cardinal Will Clark.

1989 Score #193 Dwight Evans

1989 Score #221 David Cone

1989 Score #429 Tim Leary

1989 Score #534 John Costello

Another Cardinal I've never heard of. Maybe he was traded to whichever team Jim Abbott was on to give the local sportswriter an easy headline season.

1989 Topps #5 Orel Hershiser

1989 Topps #300 Darryl Strawberry

1989 Topps #390 Darryl Strawberry

1989 Topps #478 Doug Drabek

If I was going to get some 1989 Topps, these are pretty good cards to get. I always think of the guys who were aging superstars in 1992-1995ish as the greatest cards ever, corresponding with the first time I started paying attention to baseball. And of course Doug Drabek was on the last successful Pirates teams.

1990 Donruss #269 Kirby Pucket

The lone 1990 Donruss was one I already had, so this will go on my trade list. Not that anyone will trade me for a 1990 Donruss, so it'll probably languish there for awhile until I clean house.

1990 Fleer #314 Ruben Sierra

1990 Fleer #399 Orel Hershiser

I like the look of 1990 Fleer, and another Orel Hershiser isn't bad either. I'm kind of surprised to see he fell off the Hall of Fame ballot in 2007 on just his second try. He seemed like a plausible candidate to me.

1991 Donruss #433 Ryne Sandberg

1991 Donruss #490 Kirby Puckett

I like the green 1991 Donruss better than the blue for some reason, but both designs scream 90s.

1991 Upper Deck #193 Mitch Williams

1991 Upper Deck #418 Jeff Reardon

1991 Upper Deck #744 Bo Jackson

Of all the non-Cardinals out there, Bo Jackson is a player I've really considered collecting for awhile. I really like every time I get one of his cards, but I can't bring myself to add another player to my list. Although, there must not be too many of him out there for the few years he played, right? That's it, I've talked myself into it. Bo Jackson is now a player I collect.

1991 Upper Deck #768 Vince Coleman

Here's Vince Coleman trying not to get run over by a tarp.

1991 Upper Deck #769 Mitch Williams

In case I lost you along the way, notice that's the second Mitch Williams from 1991 Upper Deck. Without looking it up, I assume the cards were put out in two or more series that year, giving them time to print up a new card with Mitch on his new team. According to baseball-reference, he was traded April 7, the day before opening day for the Phillies. That seems strange, but I don't see any "crazy" stories about the trade online anywhere.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	1926
Total Spent	$37.52
Per Card	1.948 cents

eBay Wins #6

I was in a random mood, so I bid a penny on a bunch of "Random 1980-90s baseball card" auctions.  The results weren't bad, actually, at least for a collector of Cardinals.  In all, I won 41 of them.

1988 Score

181 Carmelo Martinez

1990 Fleer

183 Randy Milligan

192 Jay Tibbs

205 Keith Hernandez

241 Gerald Young

324 Jim Gantner

1990 Score

88 Steve Lyons
222 Jesse Barfield
447 Ernest Riles
453 Bob Melvin
467 John Kruk

1990 Topps

135 Dave Magadan

1991 Donruss

384 Norm Charlton

1991 Score

Even for a Junk Wax set, I had to scan all 3 former Cardinals

22 Kevin Gross

81 Lee Smith

82 Dave Martinez

84 Bill Spiers

87 Tracy Jones

112 Mike Heath

115 Barry Jones

125 Jay Buhner

128 Greg Hibbard

130 Mike Greenwell

192 Jeff Robinson

197 Tom Gordon

234 Marquis Grissom

237 Don Carman

241 Larry Walker

257 Steve Buechele

299 Omar Vizquel

322 Mike Harkey

325 Gary Gaetti

328 Frank Tanana

330 Barry Bonds

336 Jeff Schulz

339 Mike Bordick

393 Wade Boggs AS

399 Roger Clemens AS

401 Bobby Thigpen AS

415 Ken Caminiti

418 Bobby Thigpen

All in all, I'm happy with my random assortment for 41 cents.  I seem to have an attachment to the 89-92 years because I started collecting in 1992, so although I know most of them are overproduced, it's a nice cheap way to get nostalgic.