Zistle Trade #8 Part A

I recently completed a trade on Zistle. I like getting random Cardinals from fellow bloggers contest prizes or throw-ins for trades, but there's something immensely satisfying about checking off something from my want list on every single card in a package.

1989 Donruss - Bonus MVPs #BC-24 Gerald Perry
1992 Topps - Gold #645 Deion Sanders
1992 Topps Kids #28 Lee Smith
1992 Donruss - Diamond Kings #DK-9 Andy Van Slyke
1993 Topps - Gold #700 Nolan Ryan
2011 Topps Heritage - News Flashbacks #NF-7 Mariner 2

Gerald Perry, Andy Van Slyke, and (obviously) Lee Smith were on my want list because they were all Cardinals. I'd like to complete the 1992 and 1993 Topps Gold sets, so all the remaining cards from those sets are on my list as well. These were no commons, though. In fact, both are Hall-of-Famers...though Deion's in the football hall of fame. Finally, much lower on my priority list, but still there, is an insert from 2011 Heritage.

There are actually slightly more cards to this trade, but I like to be able to search out my cards using blogger's tags, and I'm out of space for this post. So instead, I'll share a mildly amusing anecdote.

A family member of mine who was a bit older was, for some reason, trying to come up with Deion Sanders' name. I don't recall why exactly, probably because he had made a play in a recent game against the Cardinals and we were talking baseball. He kept saying "you know" and "uh" and was getting increasingly frustrated and the name that was on the tip of his tongue. He finally blurted out "you know, Fancy Pants!", referring to Neon Deion's flashy ways. We were in the middle of a restaurant at the time, and everyone had only heard him say "Fancy Pants" rather loudly. We got a few weird looks, but we all laughed it off. I'm pretty sure I'm the one who figured out who he meant, too. So from then until today, Deion Sanders is always "Fancy Pants" in my mind.

eBay Wins #58

In this edition of eBay Wins, I have not 1, not 2, not 3, not eveen 6, but 7 penny cards. Let's have a look from youngest to oldest.

2001 Fleer Futures #195 Jace Brewer

I know MLB draft picks don't always pan out, but I would think a 5th rounder would have made it to the majors. Jace here appears to have finished with baseball in 2007, never reaching the Rays. That's the downside to sets like Fleer Futures, or modern Bowman. Normally you haven't heard of many of the players when the set is made, and odds are you'll never hear of some of them.

2000 Upper Deck MVP #77 Gerald Williams

If I really wanted to stretch, I could call Williams a former Cardinal. We signed him after his release from the Yankees in 2002, and sold his contract to the Reds about a month later. He never played a game for us (or Cincinnati), so I'll leave him off the list.

1997 Bowman #127 Anthony Sanders

1992 Topps Kids #120 Harold Baines

Topps Kids is one of the sets I'd like to complete, though it's not a priority yet. This card brings me to 1/12 of the set, 11 out of 132.

1991 Bowman #278 Mike Jeffcoat

I think Texas should stick to blue hats. This is just a classic look, and it's what I think of when I remember Nolan Ryan pitching for them.

1982 Fleer #186 Warren Cromartie

1982 Fleer #371 Von Hayes

And now we've jumped all the way back to 1982 with these 2 Fleer cards. The photos really are that fuzzy. For some reason I can remember Von Hayes as a player when I started watching baseball in 1992, despite him playing in the AL. I probably can't say that about many guys in the 1982 set. And apparently Warren Cromartie thinks he can bring MLB back to Montreal, or did as of last August.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2086
Total Spent	$39.33
Per Card	1.885 cents

A Trade Post is in Order, Part I

Can't...resist...bad...puns...

Thanks to my obsessive need to scan and post every insert card I receive, I got an email from The Angels, In Order about the Tyler Chatwood in this contest win post. He sent me a pile of Cardinals, and - I must admit - I still owe him his card once I get a big enough pile of Angels together to send along. Here's the first part of the trade.

1992 Pinnacle
#6 Ozzie Smith
#69 Tom Pagnozzi
#186 Omar Olivares
#195 Lee Smith
#239 Jose Oquendo
#341 Jose DeLeon

 Now I have to try to get a full team set from 1992 Pinnacle. I can't have this many and not try for more!

1992 Topps Kids
#26 Pedro Guerrero

Topps Kids is one of the sets I like for some unknown reason. I think I'm drawn to the simpler, cheaper, kid-targeted sets.

2002 Topps
#245 Jim Edmonds

I think this is the first 2002 Topps card I've owned. I took a little hiatus from 2000-2010 from collecting.

2004 Donruss Studio
#179 Dan Haren

This card hurts me. To think, Dan Haren could still be in St. Louis, along with Carpenter and Wainwright. Although, I think it's that same type of rotation the Cardinals desired that led him to be traded for Mark Mulder in the first place. He's now with the Angels, so maybe I'll be sending one of him back.

A Trade with Cards on Cards, part 3

See part 1 here

See part 2 here

As mentioned before, Cards on Cards sent me way too many cards to label in one post.

2009 Topps Heritage Cardinals

5 more Ozzie Smith cards:

1991 U.S. Playing Cards All-Stars

1992 Topps Kids

1991 Stadium Club

1993 Leaf Studio

1994 Donruss Triple Play

Playing cards is big in my wife's family, mostly Poker and Hearts.  I learned early on not to expect to win any money against the in-laws.  Maybe I can complete the 1991 U.S. Playing Cards All-Stars set to bring me a little luck next time.

eBay Wins

I'm not one to chase rare inserts and spend inordinate amounts of money on them.  So cards numbered to 50 with a relic and autographed are not in my typical eBay search.  I go for the cheap stuff that will be interesting or somehow special to me.

I found one seller who listed a ton of cards at 1 cent with free shipping.  I thought, "how could I lose?".  I noticed a Todd Stottlemyre and bid my penny, then started at the top with the intent to bid on most of them.  Apparently eBay has a mode to allow you to restrict how many items people buy from you in a 10 day period, and his limit was 1.  The only logic supporting that is that I believe feedback only counts once per user, so maybe he's trying to buy a good feedback rating.  No matter, I waited 7 days and won my auction, and shortly after, this showed up:

Another auction I won was for 4 random packs of baseball cards.  The winning bid was $0.92.  Now I assumed a fair amount of junk would be involved, but for under a buck I thought I'd take a shot.  It turned out ok, though it may wind up costing me more in supplies.  The haul:

1989 Topps Big 2nd Series

1989 Topps Big 3rd Series

1992 Topps Kids

1994 Topps Series I

Not a terribly impressing lot, and now I need some big pages or sleeves.  Here are the cards.

These are 2.75" by 3.75".  Are there any cheap options for storing these?  I usually use sleeves but I could be convinced to go with pages.

19 year old gum? Yeah, I'll probably still chew it.  Also, there's a steroid joke in here somewhere.

By 1994 Topps was inserting 1 topps gold card in each pack, and in this random pack it was none other than:

Todd Stottlemyre

I already have a 1994 factory set, so all but the Gold Stottlemyre are for trade.  Conversely, I didn't have ANY Topps Big and I had a single Topps Kids (Tony Gwynn), so those are all for trade as well.