eBay Wins #156

I haven't posted much 1993 Donruss on my blog, except for an Ozzie Smith I got in a prize package, and an Andy Van Slyke Diamond King from a trade. This penny card puts me up to 94 out of the 792 base cards.

1993 Donruss #223 Mike Greenwell

Mike Greenwell is one of those players that crusty old sportswriters lament is all too rare these days, the guy who spent a whole career with one team. I supposed there are plenty of those among the 1- or 2-season guys, but he actually played over 1200 games during 12 seasons in Boston.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3255
Total Spent	$51.05
Per Card	1.568 cents
Change	-0.001 cents

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.

A Prize For My Prescience, part 1

Way back in the few days between the 2011 Regular Season and Playoffs, I managed to predict the Cardinals would win the World Series in a contest at The Great Orioles Autograph Project. Amazing, right?

OK, I had multiple entries and picked the Phillies over the Rangers in #1. No matter; the point is I won, and Ryan took his time combing my want lists and putting together quite a pile of cards for me. So many that, as always, I'll have to split into multiple posts because I have an overwhelming need to

I have a feeling that image will stick around on this blog for awhile.

First up, some 2011 Topps Heritage to chip away at my want list, including 6 short prints.

2011 Topps Heritage #438 Shaun Marcum

2011 Topps Heritage #446 Carlos Marmol

2011 Topps Heritage #455 Joe Saunders

2011 Topps Heritage #456 Jeff Keppinger

2011 Topps Heritage #484 David Eckstein

2011 Topps Heritage #489 Brandon Morrow

2011 Topps Heritage #56 NL ERA Leaders

2011 Topps Heritage #18 Managers' Dream

The full list of 2011 Topps Heritage was:

10 Andrew McCutchen
11 Joe Nathan
15 Fausto Carmona, aka, Roberto Hernandez Heredia
18 Managers' Dream - Pujols/Braun
22 San Diego Padres
38 Coco Crisp
42 Nelson Cruz
46 cole Hamels
56 NL ERA Leaders
89 Jake Peavy
101 Jacob Ellsbury
105 Max Scherzer
115 Alfonso Soriano
125 Vladimir Guerrero
130 Omar Infante
134 Brett Cecil
135 Babe as a Boy
136 Babe Joins Yanks
138 The Famous Slugger
142 Babe's Batting Record
146 Placido Polanco
152 Jim Riggleman
156 Hank Conger
181 Dillon Gee
184 Kurt Suzuki
188 Freddy Sanchez
227 Cliff Lee
249 Vance Worley
257 Scott Kazmir
263 Rangers Danger - Hamilton/Cruz
267 B.J. Upton
271 Jeremy Jeffress
278 Derek Lowe
307 Jair Jurrjens
308 Jason Bay
309 Yonder Alonso
355 Brian Matusz
368 J.P. Arencibia
392 Ryan Zimmerman
399 Roy Halladay
422 Kendry Morales
423 Fear the Beard - Wilson/Posey
438 Shaun Marcum
446 Carlos Marmol
455 Joe Saunders
456 Jeff Keppinger
484 David Eckstein
489 Brandon Morrow

Next, some Ozzies to round out Part 1.

1993 U.S. Playing Cards Aces #3H Ozzie Smith

1994 Bowman's Best (- Refractor?) #R3 Ozzie Smith

Can anyone tell from the scan if this is a Refractor? It bugs me when parallel sets don't announce themselves clearly, but of course if this is a base card maybe the backs of the refractors are perfectly clear.

1993 Post #26 Ozzie Smith

Check out that sweet airbrush job for this MLBPA set. The Red cap and grey uniform can only mean this was a spring training game, as the Cardinals had ushered in the Navy road caps by 1993.

1993 Select #15 Ozzie Smith

1993 Donruss #520 Ozzie Smith

I think what I remember most about this set is excitedly buying the blister-packed full team sets of the Marlins and Rockies. One of these days I'll have to dig those up, scan them, and share the story.

I'll have more of the great prize package Ryan sent me in my next post, tomorrow if all goes well.