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.

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part VI

Part I II III IV V

I hope you like Mark McGwire cards, because I've got another post full of them. Actually, I hope you don't like Mark McGwire cards, so you'll send them all to me.

1991 Topps #270 Mark McGwire
1992 Studio #226 Mark McGwire
1993 Duracell #9 Mark McGwire
1993 Donruss Triple Play #87 Mark McGwire (x3)
1993 Pinnacle #58 Mark McGwire (x2)
1993 Topps Stadium Club #595 Mark McGwire

I actually got 4 Triple Play cards, but 18 cards scan much nicer than 19. And, I figured you got the gist of it after 3 of them.

1993 Studio #141 Mark McGwire
1993 Upper Deck #566 Mark McGwire (x3)
1993 Upper Deck #493 Mark McGwire
1994 Pinnacle #300 Mark McGwire
1994 Topps Stadium Club #358 Mark McGwire
1994 Donruss Triple Play #5 Mark McGwire
1994 Upper Deck #67 Mark McGwire

Either the photos on the Pinnacle and Triple Play cards were taken at the same time, or this was one of Big Mac's daily drills. Even if it was, he's got the exact same jacket, and the sun's at about the same angle based on the shadow of his hat bill. I vote for two photos of the same practice.

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 #102

I bought more "filler" cards on eBay, this time from 1992 Studio. I won 5 auctions for lots of 2 cards, for a total of 10 cards. With such a small set, I was bound to find a few stars, or at least recognizable names.

1992 Studio
#73 Darren Daulton
#108 Gary Sheffield
#134 Tim Naehring
#137 Jeff Reardon
#138 Jody Reed
#140 Frank Viola
#141 Jim Abbott
#227 Mike Moore

 Were flat-tops still big in 1992? Both Sheffield and Mike Moore have one here.

1992 Studio
#98 Ozzie Smith
#135 Tony Pena

I'd consider 20% Cardinals (current or former) a good ratio for a stack of mystery cards. Of course, it's also at least 50% Red Sox by that measure. Still, the Ozzie Smith card is worth more to me than I paid for the whole pile. I declare this mystery lot a success.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2555
Total Spent	$44.21
Per Card	1.73 cents

eBay Wins #99

I came across a seller with an interesting listing. He had a bunch of individual auctions for Lots of 2 1992 Studio "common filler" cards, starting at a penny. Not one to pass up some cheap cards, I bid the minimum on a bunch of them, and won 9. So these 18 cards cost me half of a cent each.

1992 Studio
#11 Doug Dascenzo
#16 Chuck McElroy
#19 Gary Scott
#36 Pete Harnisch
#101 Andy Benes
#102 Jerald Clark
#105 Greg Harris
#109 Kurt Stillwell
#110 Tim Teufel

1992 Studio
#117 Darren Lewis
#118 Bill Swift
#119 Robby Thompson
#145 Chuck Finley
#171 Milt Cuyler
#172 Rob Deer
#227 Mike Moore
#228 Randy Ready
#241 Julio Franco

These are mostly commons, though Pete Harnisch and Julio Franco are definitely better-known names. In fact, Julio Franco was a 10 year veteran at this point, but wouldn't retire for another 15 years. I also got 2 Cardinals in other uniforms, Andy Benes and Chuck Finley, which were both on my want list.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2539
Total Spent	$44.13
Per Card	1.738 cents

All-Star Winnings, Part 4

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 ]

Today's subject is a man who managed the Cardinals too many times to count, and coached most of the time he wasn't managing, Red Schoendienst.

1972 Topps #67 Red Schoendienst
1981 Donruss #431 Red Schoendienst
1990 Topps Traded #113T Red Schoendienst
1992 Studio #262 Red Schoendienst
2006 Fleer Greats of the Game #74 Red Schoendienst
2007 SP Legendary Cuts #93 Red Schoendienst
2007 Topps - Distinguished Service #DS24 Red Schoendienst
2008 Donruss Threads #47 Red Schoendienst
2011 Topps Gypsy Queen #62 Red Schoendienst

As the cards get more recent, Red's picture seems to get younger. Of course, that's because the first few picture him past his playing prime as a manager, and the rest are throwbacks to his playing days. Upon my reentry into collecting in 2010, I was happy to see cards of guys like Red showing up, even though he's no longer manager or even a regular-season coach for the Cardinals.

As a side note, 1981 Donruss cards are paper-thin, aren't they?

eBay Wins #24

I decided to splurge a little and spend 6 cents apiece on these two cards.

1992 Studio #61 Bobby Bonilla

 Fun fact: The Mets are paying Bobby until 2035.

1990 Score #405 Rafael Palmeiro

I may eventually try to put together a 1990 Score set. The cards are usually dirt cheap, so it'll be fun and easy on the wallet.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	1887
Total Spent	$35.03
Per Card	1.86 cents

A Prize For My Prescience, part 4

[Part 1]
[Part 2]
[Part 3]


Ryan at The Great Orioles Autograph Project sent me a whole bunch of cards for picking the Cardinals to win the World Series, and it is of course my duty to show you the cards and link to his blog.

In this edition, random cardinals Ryan threw in!

1992 McDonald's Cardinals #46 Bob Gibson

1992 McDonald's Cardinals #30 Lou Brock

1992 McDonald's Cardinals #9 Joe Medwick

1992 McDonald's Cardinals #16 Grover Alexander

1992 McDonald's Cardinals #52 Bruce Sutter 

Somewhere deep in my basement, I think I may more of these McDonald's cards, because they look really familiar. One day I hope to get time to dig in and find out.

1993 Ted Williams #90 Bob Gibson

1994 Yoo-hoo #6 Bob Gibson

I think I need this set. The yellow is even more garish in person. Plus I love Yoo-hoo, and there are only 16 cards.

1992 Studio #262 Red Schoendienst/Checklist

I don't care if it is a Checklist, I'll always take a card of Red.

1988 Donruss - HOF Diamond King Puzzle Stan Musial

I found myself wondering how hard it might be to find this completed puzzle. Surely lots of folks who didn't complete the puzzle discarded the pieces, or at least didn't keep them in very good shape. Also I don't think Stan had quite the god-like status he now holds in St. Louis in 1988. Sure, he was loved, but the way the fans react these days, you'd think he invented the game. That's not to say it's undeserved, just makes me wonder how precious collectors would have found this puzzle card 20+ years ago.

1995 Summit - Nth Degree #8 Ken Hill

OK, so Ken Hill doesn't really belong in this crowd. But the card is so shiny!