eBay Wins #245

To finish off my big cheap pile of 1989 Donruss, I have the most primitive of inserts, Donruss's MVP cards.

1989 Donruss - Bonus MVPs
#BC-2 Mike Scott
#BC-10 Andy Van Slyke
#BC-12 Kevin Gross
#BC-17 Alan Trammell
#BC-21 Wally Joyner
#BC-22 Will Clark
#BC-24 Gerald Perry
#BC-25 Alvin Davis (x3)

I had 8 unique cards, 3 of which were Cardinals. I didn't even have the Cardinal representative in this one-per-team set, Ozzie Smith, nor Andres Galarraga.

Like the other 1989 Donruss cards these came out of the half-cent box, so all ten set me back a nickel. In total I had 318 cards from the set.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	4645
Total Spent	$59.85
Per Card	1.288 cents
Change	-0.002 cents

eBay Wins #244

I've still got more 1989 Donruss to show. I had a comment on my last eBay post to the effect that he was glad I didn't pay much for these. I definitely am glad about that too. To be clear, I didn't actually go buy a whole bunch of 1989 Donruss from someone, but rather I buy a lot of cards listed as "Random" which I fully understand will be cheap junk wax, which often includes some of these types of cards. Generally there are a few from other sets worth a little more to me, so it all balances out.

1989 Donruss
#452 Rex Hudler
#453 Bob Brenly
#455 Daryl Boston
#456 Mike Fitzgerald
#458 Bruce Sutter
#460 Joe Hesketh
#461 Bobby Witt
#463 Scott Bankhead
#466 Luis Alicea

This post is a lot more dense with Cardinals than the last two. This first scan alone has Rex Hudler, Bruce Sutter, Bobby Witt, and Luis Alicea.

1989 Donruss
#467 John Cerutti
#471 Sid Fernandez
#472 Terry Puhl
#477 Craig Reynolds (x2)
#478 Frank Williams
#482 Eric Show (x2)
#483 Garry Templeton
#486 Tim Crews
#487 Mike Maddux

Garry Templeton was obviously another Cardinal.

1989 Donruss
#493 Jack Armstrong
#499 Zane Smith
#500 Checklist
#505 Doug Jennings
#506 Ken Oberkfell
#512 Mike Bielecki
#516 Larry McWilliams
#520 Craig McMurtry
#521 Ray Hayward

Ken Oberkfell, Larry McWilliams...

1989 Donruss
#523 Mark Lemke
#525 Bryan Harvey
#534 Luis Aquino
#537 Randy Bush
#540 Gene Nelson (x8)
#542 Ken Caminiti
#543 Duane Ward (x2)
#554 Steve Lombardozzi
#559 Dennis Rasmussen

Those 8 Gene Nelson's came in that huge lot of A's I'll be showing forever.

1989 Donruss
#560 Pat Borders
#564 Todd Burns (x9)
#566 Darnell Coles
#570 Johnny Paredes
#572 Barry Lyons
#576 Andres Thomas
#579 Chad Kreuter
#583 Andy Hawkins
#586 Van Snider

Pat Borders bounced around a few teams after Toronto, including the Cardinals, before returning to Toronto to finish his career. And I got enough Todd Burns cards to fill a whole binder page.

1989 Donruss
#587 Todd Frohwirth (x2)
#591 Ernie Whitt
#593 Spike Owen
#598 Hipolito Pena
#600 Checklist
#601 Carmelo Martinez
#602 Mike LaCoss
#603 Mike Devereaux
#604 Alex Madrid

1989 Donruss
#607 Terry Clark
#610 Jay Howell
#613 Kevin Brown
#614 Dave Valle
#616 Andy Nezelek
#619 Adam Peterson
#620 Todd Stottlemyre
#625 Ernest Riles
#629 Scott Sanderson

I'll always take another cheap Todd Stottlemyre card, even if I already have several copies.

1989 Donruss
#631 Marvin Freeman (x2)
#632 Mike Young
#636 Scott May

I've got 66 cards shown here, 5 of them had doubles, and one each had 8 and 9 copies! By my reckoning that's 86 total cards, for 43 cents out of my half cent box.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	4635
Total Spent	$59.80
Per Card	1.29 cents
Change	-0.015 cents

eBay Wins #243

Let's see some more of the thinnest major-brand cards in history (probably), 1989 Donruss, until I run out of space to tag all the Cardinals.

1989 Donruss
#236 Glenn Davis
#237 Frank Viola
#238 Kevin Seitzer
#239 Gerald Perry
#240 Dwight Evans
#241 Jim Deshaies
#242 Bo Diaz
#243 Carney Lansford
#244 Mike LaValliere

Gerald Perry and Mike LaValliere were both Cardinals, and Carney Lansford coached on Tony La Russa's staff for awhile.

1989 Donruss
#246 Roberto Alomar
#247 Jimmy Jones
#253 Steve Lyons (x2)
#258 Mike Krukow
#261 Scott Bradley
#263 Pete Smith
#265 Roger McDowell
#266 Bobby Thigpen
#267 Jim Clancy

To me, part of the fun of older cards like this is seeing players who later became better known in other areas. Steve Lyons was a broadcaster by the time I started watching baseball. It still works if I knew the player as a player first, but I tend to feel a little more critical of them in the booth for some reason.

1989 Donruss
#269 Mike Dunne
#270 Dwight Gooden
#271 Mike Heath
#278 Lance Parrish
#282 Tom Niedenfuer
#284 Jose Guzman (x2)
#286 Charlie Puleo
#287 Joe Orsulak
#288 Jack Howell (x2)

Tom Niedenfuer finished his career with the Cardinals in 1990, and Mike Heath was one of 3 different players to wear #5 for them in 1986.

1989 Donruss
#290 Jose Lind
#292 Cecil Espy
#293 Bill Wegman
#294 Dan Pasqua
#295 Scott Garrelts
#297 Ed Hearn
#298 Lou Whitaker
#302 Mike Brumley
#304 Curt Young (x2)

Would the ESPY awards still be called that if Cecil Espy was still playing?

1989 Donruss
#305 Jody Reed
#306 Bill Doran
#308 Ron Robinson
#310 Julio Franco
#311 Jack Clark
#316 Mike Davis (x2)
#320 John Farrell
#321 Franklin Stubbs
#322 Kurt Stillwell (x2)

It's interesting to me that Jack Clark became primarily a DH the year after leaving the Cardinals for the Yankees, but then returned to the NL for 2 seasons in San Diego. It seems like DH is primarily a last stop these days. John Farrell is another future manager card in this post.

1989 Donruss
#323 Shawn Abner
#324 Mike Flanagan
#326 Pat Tabler
#328 Rick Honeycutt (x2)
#330 Rey Quinones
#331 Johnny Ray
#332 Bob Welch
#334 Jeff Parrett (x2)
#337 Ken Williams

Rick Honeycutt and Jeff Parrett both played for the Cardinals in their final season, though Jeff Parrett was released and finished up in Philadelphia.

1989 Donruss
#364 Tim Flannery
#370 Jeff Robinson
#372 Mike Witt
#376 Joe Price
#400 Checklist (x2)
#403 Jeff Russell (x2)
#404 Pat Perry
#405 Jose Alvarez
#406 Rick Schu

Pat Perry's the only Cardinal in this scan. More interesting to me is Jeff Robinson, which is the second guy named Jeff Robinson in this set. The first was actually in my last eBay post.

1989 Donruss
#407 Sherman Corbett (x2)
#408 Dave Magadan (x2)
#411 Bob Brower
#412 Chris Bosio
#413 Jerry Reuss (x2)
#414 Atlee Hammaker (x2)
#416 Mike Macfarlane
#417 Pat Sheridan
#418 Pedro Guerrero

It's always good to get a Jerry Reuss card. And an in-uniform Cardinal finally shows up with Pedro Guerrero.

1989 Donruss
#419 Allan Anderson
#420 Mark Parent
#422 Mike Gallego (x3)
#423 Bruce Hurst
#424 Dave Meads
#425 Jesse Barfield (x2)
#426 Rob Dibble
#427 Joel Skinner
#428 Ron Kittle (x2)

I now have so many Mike Gallego cards from the big lot of A's I bought. including 3 of his card in this set.

1989 Donruss
#429 Rick Rhoden
#430 Bob Dernier (x3)
#431 Steve Jeltz (x2)
#432 Rick Dempsey
#433 Roberto Kelly
#434 Dave Anderson (x2)
#435 Herm Winningham
#437 Jose DeLeon
#438 Doug Jones (x2)

Jose DeLeon is my second uniformed Cardinal.

1989 Donruss
#440 Jeff Montgomery
#441 Dickie Thon
#443 John Fishel (x2)
#444 Jerry Don Gleaton
#445 Paul Gibson
#446 Walt Weiss (x2)
#447 Glenn Wilson
#448 Mike Moore
#450 Dave Henderson

Finally, there's another pre-manager card, Walt Weiss.

This time I fit in 11 scans for 99 cards. 23 had doubles or more, and 2 had triples, for a grand total of 124 cards. Again, these were out of the half-cent box, costing 62 cents. I should cross below the 1.3 cent mark with the next post.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	4549
Total Spent	$59.37
Per Card	1.305 cents
Change	-0.023 cents

eBay Wins #242

If you buy a bunch of random cheap cards, you're going to get a fair bit of 1989 Donruss. I've got enough that I'll have to split it across at least 2 posts.

1989 Donruss
#3 Pete Incaviglia
#8 Cory Snyder
#10 Kevin Seitzer
#11 Rick Reuschel
#12 Johnny Ray (x2)
#14 Andres Galarraga
#15 Kirk Gibson
#16 Fred McGriff
#18 Jeff Robinson (x2)

I've always liked Diamond Kings.

1989 Donruss
#19 Vince Coleman
#20 Dave Henderson
#21 Harold Reynolds
#23 Frank Viola
#26 Don Mattingly
#27 Checklist
#30 Cameron Drew
#32 Erik Hanson
#34 Greg Harris

1989 Donruss
#37 Carlos Quintana
#39 Cris Carpenter
#41 Dave West
#42 Randy Johnson
#43 Mike Harkey
#44 Pete Harnisch
#45 Tom Gordon
#47 Alex Sanchez
#57 Greg Brock

There aren't a ton of huge stars past the Diamond Kings, but here's a Randy Johnson card I've wanted for awhile.

1989 Donruss
#59 Craig Lefferts
#61 Danny Tartabull
#65 Mark Davis
#67 Dennis Eckersley
#69 Mike Scott
#71 Tom Browning
#73 Mel Hall
#76 Juan Samuel
#89 Charlie Leibrandt

1989 Donruss
#90 Frank Tanana
#94 Mark McLemore
#99 Kevin McReynolds
#100 Checklist
#102 Dave Martinez
#107 Pete O'Brien
#111 Keith Moreland
#114 Brook Jacoby
#115 Keith Brown

1989 Donruss
#118 Bob Forsch
#120 Willie Wilson (x2)
#121 Tommy Gregg
#122 Jim Rice
#123 Bob Knepper (x2)
#124 Danny Jackson
#125 Eric Plunk (x2)
#126 Brian Fisher (x2)
#127 Mike Pagliarulo

1989 Donruss
#129 Lance McCullers
#133 David Palmer
#135 Greg Walker
#136 Kirk McCaskill (x2)
#138 Andy Allanson
#139 Rob Murphy
#142 Scott Fletcher
#143 Steve Balboni
#145 Ozzie Virgil

This is the first time I've tagged a Rob Murphy card. I don't remember him playing for the Cardinals at all, but apparently he did in 1993 and most of 1994, making 123 appearances in relief. Those weren't the greatest years for the team, including the strike season, so maybe that's why he doesn't stand out in my mind.

1989 Donruss
#149 George Bell
#156 Tim Wallach
#160 Von Hayes
#175 Ted Higuera
#180 Alan Trammell
#181 Vince Coleman
#186 Mike Greenwell
#187 Billy Hatcher (x2)
#191 Cory Snyder

1989 Donruss
#192 John Candelaria
#194 Kevin Gross
#198 Kal Daniels
#200 Checklist
#201 Joe Magrane
#212 Mickey Brantley
#222 Rick Mahler
#225 Mitch Williams
#226 Chuck Finley

1989 Donruss
#227 Mark Langston
#228 Jesse Orosco
#229 Ed Whitson
#230 Terry Pendleton
#231 Lloyd Moseby
#232 Greg Swindell
#233 John Franco
#234 Jack Morris
#235 Howard Johnson

These all came out of the half-cent pile, so the 90 cards plus 8 duplicates were just 49 cents.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	4425
Total Spent	$58.75
Per Card	1.328 cents
Change	-0.018 cents

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.

A Rodney Hampton Contest Win, Part II

I'm falling a little behind on posting due to several days a week of NFL projections and NCAA Football Power Rankings, so now's the time I start catching up. I won this contest back in September, by guessing how many Rodney Hampton cards were in a lot purchased at Sport Card Collectors.
[Part 1]

1989 Donruss #182 Kirby Puckett
1989 Donruss #193 Mike Schmidt
1998 Donruss #40 Wade Boggs
2001 Fleer Futures #2 Manny Ramirez
2002 Donruss #39 Bernie Williams
2015 Topps - Gold #404 Tanner Scheppers #0528/2015

1989 Donruss is one of those junk wax sets I seem to always have plenty of, but with many of those, I'm often missing the big stars. So the Mike Schmidt card actually fills a gap in my collection. I did have a copy of the Kirby Puckett card already. One of these years I'm going to collect a full parallel set from Topps, like the Gold set of this Tanner Scheppers card.

1995-96 Topps
#277 Michael Jordan
#278 Patrick Ewing
#283 David Robinson
1997-98 Topps
#118 Keith Van Horn
#125 Tracy McGrady

I don't have a whole lot of basketball cards, but these are right in my wheelhouse. I rooted for Michael Jordan during his heyday with Chicago. It's hard to believe his comeback was now over 20 years ago.

1992 Elvis Collection
#23
#90
#167
#207
#247
#346
#397
#437
#457

1992 Elvis Collection
#473
#480
#525
#552

1992 Elvis Collection
#34
#54
#58
#110
#172
#174
#245
#251

1992 Elvis Collection
#425
#520
#603

I got two unopened packs of this 1992 Elvis Collection set as part of my prize pack. They're all new to me, as my non-sports collection is pretty small. I was happy to see the cards didn't have the dreaded melted sticky gloss, as many older unopened packs of cards do. They're all in good shape. There's a good mix of black and white and color images, and images from concerts, movies, and Elvis's life. I'd say my favorite is #425, featuring his white studded jumpsuit from a concert.

That's it for the prize package. Thanks again to Sport Card Collectors for the contest!

Donuts from Johnny's Trading Spot, Part IV

Several weeks ago, I read a post at Johnny's Trading Spot titled Instant mini collections up for grabs. "Up for Grabs" always gets my attention, so I threw my name into the mix. They were supposed to be randomly assigned, but through a lucky draw and one trade, each of the winners wound up with exactly what they originally wanted most. For me, that was cards with batting donuts.

Part I II III

Shouldn't Friday always be Donut Day?

1990 Fleer
#292 Steve Buechele
#301 Pete Incaviglia
#559 Von Hayes
#560 Tom Herr
1990 Topps
#143 Rafael Belliard
#325 Robby Thompson
1990 Topps Traded
#65T Candy Maldonado
#85T Junior Ortiz

I've never heard whether there's any sort of interesting story behind it, but for some reason 1990's Tom Herr was 1987's Tommy Herr.

1987 Donruss
#140 Tommy Herr
#169 Keith Moreland
#183 Terry Pendleton
#485 Bob Brenly
#622 Dave Henderson
1989 Donruss
#309 Rafael Santana
#346 Mickey Hatcher
#355 Gene Larkin
#484 Wallace Johnson

It still fills me with cognitive dissonance that Terry Pendleton was a Cardinal longer than a member of the Atlanta Braves. I started watching baseball in 1992, so I never saw him play for us firsthand, and I didn't find out that he did until years later.

1990 Upper Deck
#86 Neal Heaton
#148 Ernie Whitt
#232 Ron Gant
#240 John Moses
#289 Eddie Williams
#298 Mike Scioscia
#306 Mike Heath
#419 Tim Laudner

1990 Upper Deck was clearly big on the donut photo on the back of the card, favoring action shots for the most part on the front.

1990 Bowman #332 Jerry Browne
1989 Fleer #219 R.J. Reynolds
1989 Fleer #573 Steve Jeltz
1990 Donruss #456 Glenn Braggs
1990 Donruss #798 Chris James
1991 Leaf #36 Spike Owen.