Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XXXI

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 XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX
XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX

If I've done the math right, I'm eliminated from this year's Bowl Pick 'Em contest already, with the final nail in the coffin coming sometime during the January 2nd games. So there will be no giant pile of Cardinals for me to dig through this year. But this one's still not done. It's getting close, though.

1992 Stadium Club Skydome #115 Tom McKinnon
1991 Fleer Ultra #289 Pedro Guerrero
1990 Post #22 Pedro Guerrero
1990 Fleer League Leaders #16 Pedro Guerrero
1989 Kmart Dream Team #33 Pedro Guerrero
1989 Kmart Dream Team #30 Tony Pena
1986 Fleer Update #U-73 Greg Mathews

The majority of this post is Pedro Guerrero, probably best known for playing for the Dodgers. He came to the Cardinals during 1988, and finished his career with the team after the 1992 season. Pedro's listed as a first basemen on 3 of the cards, but as a Pinch Hitter in the Kmart Dream Team set. He played plenty of 1B in 1988, so I'm not sure why that is. He played a little bit of outfield, too, in 1988 and in his final season.

Tom McKinnon never made it above high A, which is kind of surprising for a guy included in a mainstream set in 1992. The reason is because the selections weren't based on scouting per se, but there are 100 top picks in the set, and he was drafted #28.

All-Star Winnings, Part 9

Way back in July 2012, I won a contest at Cards On Cards. The premise was to pick the Cardinals player who would have the biggest impact on the game, determined Sabermetrically. I picked the right player, and got a pile of Cardinals for my trouble. They've been sitting in that same pile, haunting me, for quite some time, so now is the time to show them to you.
Part [ I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII ]

1991 Panini Canadian Top 15 #1 Willie McGee
1991 Stadium Club - Charter Member #20 Willie McGee
2005 Topps Rookie Cup #50 Willie McGee

Not only were these 3 Willie McGee cards I didn't have, but they're from 3 sets I had no cards from either. I have some 1991 Stadium Club, but nothing from the Charter Member set. That card commemorates one of the odder moments in baseball history, as Willie was traded away in late August to Oakland - in the AL - but still had enough at bats to qualify for, and win, the NL batting title.

1986 Topps #740 Ozzie Smith
1989 Donruss All-Stars #37 Ozzie Smith
1989 Upper Deck #265 Ozzie Smith
1990 Score #285 Ozzie Smith
1990 Kmart #4 Ozzie Smith
1991 Fleer Ultra #296 Ozzie Smith
1991 Stadium Club #154 Ozzie Smith
1992 Post #8 Ozzie Smith

What more can I say about Ozzie Smith I haven't said since starting this blog? As the long-reigning franchise player when I started watching the team, he was obviously one of my early favorites. I'm rather glad he played in an era of such baseball card variety, aka the overproduction era to some. It means I'll probably never get every card of his, and I'll always be adding new ones to my collection, and discovering new oddball or unlicensed sets, like the Kmart and logo-less Post card above.

eBay Wins #2

Catching up on my eBay card wins should keep my blog busy for quite some time if I lack material.  Here is the oldest yet to be blogged:

1991 Upper Deck Brook Fordyce, Scott Aldred

1989 Donruss Rookies Ken Hill

1988 Topps Traded Tino Martinez

1991 Topps Traded Charles Johnson

1991 Topps Stadium Club Jim Mecir

1991 Bowman Roberto Hernandez, Todd Ritchie

1991 Fleer Ultra Juan Guzman

1991 Line Drive Rusty Meacham

1987 ProCards Roberto Hernandez

1990 ProCards Juan Guzman

12 cards for 16 cents.  Can't complain about that.  The listing was actually only for the first 10, but the  Hernandez and Guzman penny sleeves contained their minor league cards as well.  The big draw for me was Tino Martinez (a Cardinal from 2002-2003) and Ken Hill (1986-1991 and part of 1995).  So how do I make this post interesting?  Well, Ken Hill came to the Cardinals from Detroit along with the infamous "Player To Be Named Later".  That wound up being Mike Laga, who is the only man known to hit a ball out of Busch Memorial Stadium (the 1966-2005 version).  Recently, a local radio station tracked down the video, and I've been looking for an excuse to post it...but during the time I left this post in my drafts, the video went slightly viral (is it possible to go slightly viral?) and MLB ordered a takedown.


The Mike Laga Foul Ball from JoeSportsFan.com on Vimeo.

Oh yeah...it was a foul ball.  I promise you this video was real and amazing.  And now I know my Dad was telling the truth when he told me about it as a kid.