Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XIX

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

1992 Fleer Ultra - All Stars #15 Tom Pagnozzi
1993 Studio #198 Tom Pagnozzi
1994 Pinnacle #439 Tom Pagnozzi
1995 Pinnacle #37 Tom Pagnozzi
1995 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #193 Tom Pagnozzi
1996 Donruss #278 Tom Pagnozzi
1996 Topps #131 Tom Pagnozzi
1998 Topps #431 Tom Pagnozzi

Tom Pagnozzi was a member of the Cardinals when I started watching baseball, and never went to another team, so he was one of my favorite players as a kid.

1995 Fleer Ultra - Award Winners #10 Tom Pagnozzi
1996 Score #403 Tom Pagnozzi
1997 Topps Stadium Club #274 Tom Pagnozzi

Being a catcher also bumps him up on my favorite players list, although I just learned that in 1988 he actually started more games at first than catcher. He had to wait around awhile for Tony Pena to leave and Todd Zeile to be moved to third before he became the everyday catcher.

Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part IV

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

1992 Fleer Ultra - All-Rookies #10 Donovan Osborne
1992 Studio #95 Donovan Osborne
1992 Upper Deck - Scouting Report #SR19 Donovan Osborne
1993 Fleer - Rookie Sensations #10 Donovan Osborne
1994 Fleer Ultra #269 Donovan Osborne
1994 Fleer Ultra #563 Brian Barber
1994 Fleer Ultra #265 Rich Batchelor
1996 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #24 Brian Barber
1996 Pinnacle #167 Brian Barber

Once again I'm always surprised how many Cardinals I'm missing from relatively common sets. These were all new to my collection, even the Donovan Osbornes that I was sure I've seen before.

1992 Upper Deck #702 Brian Jordan / Donovan Osborne / Mark Clark

Horizontal cards are always a pain when trying to put like cards together because there's no nice way to scan them together. So this one stands here alone, staring you down like these three menacing Cardinals rookies. The 1992 team wasn't really that good, though.

Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part II

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

1991 Stadium Club #379 Gerald Perry
1992 Stadium Club
#10 Joe Carter
#58 Rich Gedman
#103 Luis Alicea
#338 Gerald Perry
#386 Omar Olivares

I have less old Stadium club in my collection than I expected, but now I've got a half-dozen more. I think Joe Carter a buffer card stuck on the outside of a stack of Cardinals, but it's in decent enough shape to go into my collection too.

1992 Fleer Ultra
#563 Cris Carpenter
#566 Rich Gedman
1992 Upper Deck #478 Omar Olivares
1993 Leaf #438 Omar Olivares
2015 Topps
#628 Peter Bourjos
#678 Sam Freeman

I think I've said this before, but Cris Carpenter was the cause of much confusion on my part when the Cardinals brought in Chris Carpenter in 2004, and I thought they had reacquired Cris. I figured Cris had to be ancient by that point, though he was actually only 39.

Bourjos and Freeman are the first cards in my collection from 2015 Series 2, which is sort of splitting hairs because I do have some Series 1.

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part V

Part I II III IV


I've got a lot of McGwires to go through. I'm nowhere near the St. Louis years yet.

1990 Starline Long John Silvers #9 Mark McGwire
1990 Starline Long John Silvers #11 Mark McGwire (x2)
1990 Kmart #32 Mark McGwire
1991 Donruss - Bonus Cards #BC-9 Mark McGwire
1991 Score 100 Superstars #39 Mark McGwire
1991 Score #324 Mark McGwire (x3)

I think those Green-Bordered cards were some sort of Long John Silvers giveaway, from some searching around the web.

1991 Upper Deck #174 Mark McGwire
1992 Donruss #348 Mark McGwire
1992 Fleer Ultra #115 Mark McGwire (x2)
1992 Pinnacle #217 Mark McGwire
1992 Upper Deck Fanfest #32 Mark McGwire

The 1992 Upper Deck FanFest set is another new one for me. It's increasingly rare for me to get a card from a set I don't already have cards from, but that one and the Starline cards were both new sets to my collection.

Turkey For Me, Turkey For You

Here it is, nearly Easter, and I've got Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving Song stuck in my head. No, my family doesn't have some weird holiday-swapping tradition; I traded some Turkey Red cards with a fellow fan of the set, JediJeff of 2x3 Heroes.

2010 Topps - Turkey Red
#TR2 Miguel Tejada
#TR15 Hank Greenberg
#TR19 Cal Ripken, Jr.
#TR21 Johnny Bench
#TR25 Ernie Banks
#TR31 Mel Ott
#TR51 Torii Hunter
#TR66 Nelson Cruz
#TR69 Brooks Robinson

I bought a lot of 2010 Update, but not much of Series 1 and 2, so I'm still rather far from completing the 100 cards from those series. After these are added into my collection, I believe I will still need 74 more. However, for the 50 from Update, numbered 101-150, I only need 17 more.

2010 Topps - Turkey Red
#TR73 Chad Billingsley
#TR75 B.J. Upton
#TR79 Raul Ibanez
#TR86 Billy Butler
#TR88 Eddie Mathews
#TR95 Ty Cobb
#TR135 Orlando Cepeda
#TR144 Cy Young
2009 Topps - Turkey Red
#TR6 Ian Kinsler

Jeff threw in a few extras for me, including the 2009 Turkey Red card. I was surprised to find I didn't actually have any of those yet. Maybe that'll spur me on to collect that year's set too.

1992 Fleer Ultra #570 Donovan Osbourne
1992 Triple Play #118 Jose Oquendo
1993 Pinnacle #174 Geronimo Pena
2009 Topps Updates and Highlights #UH327 Julio Lugo

Speaking of extras, here are some Cardinals Jeff was nice enough to add into the package. And, I've still got a few more of these to scan and post for next time.

Donuts from Johnny's Trading Spot, Part III

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

It's a busy week for me. So, let's just see some more donuts, featuring 3 Cardinals this time, though all in other uniforms.

1991 Topps
#139 Jeff Treadway
#604 Billy Hatcher
#726 Phil Stephenson
#781 Darryl Hamilton
1991 Fleer #75 Joe Oliver
1991 Upper Deck
#3 D. J. Dozier
#291 Joey Cora
#340 Larry Sheets
#502 Bob Boone

Bob Boone doesn't look nearly old enough on this 1991 card to be the father of Bret Boone, on the 1992 card below.

1991 Upper Deck
#560 Chris Gwynn
#675 Hensley Meulens
#754 Tony Fernandez
1992 Upper Deck
#121 Hal Morris
#327 Kevin Seitzer
#771 Bret Boone
#737 Dan Gladden
1992 Topps
#333 Pat Tabler
#647 Marquis Grissom

1991 Donruss
#80 Kevin Reimer
#109 Ken Oberkfell
#253 Glenn Braggs
#255 Kevin Mitchell
#445 Kirk Gibson
#530 John Olerud
1992 Donruss #759 Dave Anderson
1992 Triple Play #24 Reggie Jefferson
1992 Fleer Ultra #279 Thomas Howard

Ken Oberkfell and Thomas Howard are the two Cardinals in this bunch, along with Royce Clayton below. The Howard card has a sneaky donut on it, on the bat of the player on deck.

1992 Leaf #272 Royce Clayton

Tis The Season Winnings, Part IV

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 III

Today I've got some more of the miscellaneous Cardinals, Red Sox, and Yankees from the prize package.

1990 Donruss #82 Milt Thompson
1990 Leaf #499 Greg Harris
1991 Topps - All Stars #16 Ozzie Smith
1992 Fleer #44 Phil Plantier
1992 Donruss #628 Greg Cadaret
1992 Donruss Rookies #34 Mike Draper

The Topps Glossy All Stars are definitely cards I should have in my collection, so this Ozzie along with yesterday's Vince Coleman were good additions. Guys like Phil Plantier are the reason I always look up players before assuming they weren't Cardinals. He apparently played for the Cardinals in the second half of 1997, coming over in the trade for Fernando Valenzuela. He played in the outfield in 32 games, and yet I had no memory of him.

1990 Topps #206 Nick Esasky
1990 Topps #409 Tom Brunansky
1990 Upper Deck #191 Don Mattingly
1990 Upper Deck #782 Billy Jo Robidoux
1992 Fleer Ultra #12 Tom Brunansky
1992 Fleer Ultra #15 Roger Clemens

Not only did I get two different Tom Brunansky cards, but as Red Sox and Yankees go, Clemens and Mattingly are two all time greats. A few years ago, I figured Mattingly would continue climbing up the Hall of Fame balloting and eventually make it in, but he's finally officially off the ballot. I suspect Clemens will eventually make it, once the fervor over PEDs dies down a bit, which may already be starting to happen now that Andy Pettitte is getting his number retired with the Yankees.

eBay Wins #151

As I continue on my journey through my eBay bargain hunting, the logical - or at least alphabetical - next step after 1992 Fleer is 1992 Fleer Ultra. Today I've got 2 catchers, in gear. That's my favorite type of catcher card. Anyone can be shown batting or attempting to steal a base. Only catchers get their own special equipment, differently shaped fielders' mitts notwithstanding, and it should be shown as much as possible.

1992 Fleer Ultra
#45 Sandy Alomar, Jr.
#588 Craig Colbert

1991 Fleer Ultra was an OK set, but 1992 is when it really started to take off, in my opinion. It became a set I looked forward to each year, until I stopped collecting somewhere during the 1999 season. However, with these two cards, I'm only up to 42 unique cards out of the 600 in this set.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3243
Total Spent	$50.93
Per Card	1.57 cents
Change	-0.001 cents

eBay Wins #37

37 happens to be my favorite number. When choosing a jersey number, I always go for it. Casey Stengel has 37 retired for him by both New York teams. Stephen Strasburg wears it. But, this post is about a #23. Eric Karros. I won a 9 card lot of Karros cards for just a dime. I think I'll show them to you in order from least to most favorite, based mostly on my kneejerk reactions while writing up this post.

1994 Donruss #338 Eric Karros

At least on the card in my hand, the photo looks very flat and dull. Also the Donruss logo is too big and regal-looking. It's just Donruss, not a superpremium set.

1993 Upper Deck #490 Eric Karros

This one has a nice action shot, but it's a little awkward-looking. I'm assuming this is a pickoff throw if he's playing first base.

1999 Upper Deck MVP #106 Eric Karros

This is a better action shot, but it's a bit logo-heavy on the left side, especially for a base card. It was 1999 after all.

1992 Fleer Ultra - All-Rookies #1 Eric Karros

I've got a soft spot for Fleer Ultra, so this one comes in at #6.

1998 Collector's Choice #395 Eric Karros

I've always thought subtle red accents go well with the Dodgers because of their lone red uniform element, the front number. So the border earns this card the #5 slot.

1997 Circa #186 Eric Karros

Ah 1997, when the special effects just started getting silly. Luckily, I'm a fan of silliness most of the time.

1998 Fleer Tradition #483 Eric Karros

I like the full bleed photo with minimal logo and subtly colored text on this one.

1999 Skybox Thunder #107 Eric Karros

THUNDER! It's just fun to say. And the background's all gold. THUNDER!

1993 Topps - Gold #11 Eric Karros

Of course, one of my favorite sets, 1993 Topps Gold, is going to take the #1 slot. This could be pretty much anyone from Bip Roberts to Mario Mendoza, and it'd still be #1 in this bunch. The rookie cup is a nice touch too.

It looks like I crossed another little milestone in my eBay purchasing, over 2000 cards now. Not bad for under $40 I guess.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2001
Total Spent	$38.28
Per Card	1.913 cents

A Rookie Contest Win, Part 2

[Part 1]

In Mid-June I won a contest at all the way to backstop by going 3 for 3 in guessing the Rookie cards in his big stack. My prize: the stack, and some other cool stuff he picked out for me.

I can tell my wantlist was well-searched, because I also received 7 cards of one of my favorite players, and a distant cousin, Todd Stottlemyre.

1991 Score #39 Todd Stottlemyre

1992 Donruss #263 Todd Stottlemyre

1992 Fleer #342 Todd Stottlemyre

1992 Pinnacle #240 Todd Stottlemyre

1992 Fleer Ultra #153 Todd Stottlemyre

1993 Fleer Ultra #293 Todd Stottlemyre

1994 Collector's Choice #269 Todd Stottlemyre 

Also from my wantlist, 1993 Topps Gold cards. And some base cards to boot.

1993 Topps #425 Joe Girardi

I've gotta show former Cardinals, no matter how brief a stint they had in St. Louis. Here are the rest of the base cards:

425 Joe Girardi
562 Bob Zupcic
598 Rico Brogna
606 J. Owens
613 Joel Adamson
622 Ben Rivera
699 Chad Curtis
732 Travis Buckley
747 Carl Willis
773 Cliff Brantley
790 George Bell

1993 Topps - Gold #483 Brian Griffiths

Not to be confused with Brian Griffin

1993 Topps - Gold #787 Mike Matthews

I'm trying to complete a set of 1992 and 1993 Topps Gold, and maybe 1994 as well. I haven't organized them all into my have and want list, but I don't have too many so there's a good chance any I get are unique for now, and a quick check of my "to enter in Zistle" box says these two bring me 2 cards closer to the 825 card set.

Once again, thanks to all the way to the backstop for the great cards.