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.

eBay Wins #160

Today's eBay win is one lonely penny card from 1993 Upper Deck. I've got a pile with a bunch of cards with only 1 or 2 from any given set in my eBay pile, so maybe I'll start combining more than one set at a time soon.

1993 Upper Deck #724 Greg W. Harris

There were two Greg Harris's in baseball, and both were playing in 1993. Greg W. played for the Padres, and Greg A. played for the Red Sox. Both of them finished playing after 1995, though Greg W. is over 8 years younger. I can sympathize with these guys, as my high school class of only about 150 people had another person who shared my first and last name. Worse still, our middle initials rhymed, so when one of us was called over the ancient fuzzy PA system to come to the office, we'd both have to go and sort out which one was needed when we got there. Thanks to that experience, I picked up a habit of putting my middle initial on everything, which I still do to this day

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3261
Total Spent	$51.11
Per Card	1.567 cents
Change	0 cents

Donuts from Johnny's Trading Spot, Part II

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

I don't have much time to write much today, so just enjoy these donuts, along with an inordinately large number of Dan Walters cards.

1994 Score
#478 Jeff Gardner
#556 Darrell Whitmore
1998 Score Rookie/Traded #RT165 Matt Williams
1995 Collector's Choice Special Edition
#31 Chili Davis
#77 Ray Lankford
#111 Robby Thompson

1993 Topps
#85 Sandy Alomar
#273 Dan Walters
#318 Willie Wilson
#324 Willie Randolph
#326 Gary Varsho
1993 Topps - Gold
#85 Sandy Alomar
#318 Willie Wilson
1993 Stadium Club #175 Dan Walters
1993 Upper Deck #632 Chris Gwynn

1994 Score #60 Lenny Dykstra
1995 Stadium Club Members Only #46 Manny Ramirez
1993 Upper Deck #172 Dan Walters
1995 Studio - Gold Series #44 Lenny Dykstra

Zistle Trade #4

There are no small trades, only small traders, or something like that. However, I manged to snag these 5 cards for just a Bryce Harper base card in a PWE. This trade came in when Zistle.com first announced their free trial of their enhanced features, which seem to allow for easier matching of want and trade lists, and my trading partner found me.

1993 Upper Deck #428 Dmitri Young
1997 Collector's Choice #471 Matt Morris
2007 Upper Deck Future Stars #87 Scott Rolen

The cards above were nice, and on my want list, but the two below are of players I really collect.

1990 Leaf # Ozzie Smith
1997 Fleer #193 Mark McGwire

Even though these are two base cards of fairly common sets, I didn't have them yet. The McGwire is especially surprising to me given how much wax I was buying in 1997, and how much McGwire stuff I bought from my LCS in 1998-99.

eBay Wins #84

1993 Upper Deck #214 Brian Barnes

Sometimes I just grab a penny card because I don't have it yet. This was one of those times. I've got no particular attachment to this card or Brian Barnes. It did knock me back for a second, though, when I realized this set is 20 years old this year. It causes a little cognitive dissonance because I was collecting for a full year by 1993, yet I still think of myself as being 20ish years old, even though I'm now a touch over 30ish.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2440
Total Spent	$43.25
Per Card	1.773 cents

Zistle Trade #2

I got this trade proposal within a day or two of my last Zistle trade. They seemed to come out of nowhere, although I had added a lot of cards to both my have list and want list in the preceding weeks. I didn't recognize the name, so I don't think this person is a blogger, but if you are, and you sent me these cards, please let me know.

1990 Fleer #151 Andy Benes

The pride of Evansville, Indiana, Andy Benes. He was born there and went to college there, something I learned when browsing college brochures back in high school. I wonder if they know he's on a SLU Billboard in town.

1992 Score #223 Ray Lankford

1993 Upper Deck #461 Ray Lankford

Ray Lankford should have been even more of a fan favorite than he was. After all, he refused to sign with the Cubs the first time he was drafted, and signed with us the following year. And we love giving the Cubs a hard time.

1992 Fleer #592 Ozzie Smith

1992 Score #590 Ozzie Smith

1994 Pacific #604 Ozzie Smith

I'm surprised there were 3 Ozzie commons I didn't have, but here they are. Pacific is a little more believable, but surely I would have had an opportunity to pick up the Fleer and Score cards sometime in the past.

1996 Topps #211 Nomar Garciaparra

1998 Score Rookie and Traded #RT35 Nomar Garciaparra

And we finish with one of my favorite non-Cardinals, Nomar Garciaparra.

This wasn't a big trade, neither in number of cards nor total "book value", but it fell right in the wheelhouse of my collecting habits. Those are the most satisfying trades. Now I just need to finish entering all of my collection in Zistle, and of course, add more cards to my want list.

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 Prize For My Prescience, part 5

[Part 1]
[Part 2]
[Part 3]
[Part 4]



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 no particular order, some Mark McGwires!

Did you know Mark appeared in no less than 6 cards in 1993 Upper Deck? It might have been more, but I'm sure not going to go look it up. I do have evidence of 6 though, all sent in this package.

1993 Upper Deck #566 Mark McGwire

1993 Upper Deck #493 Award Winners - Mark McGwire

1993 Upper Deck - On Deck #D18 Mark McGwire

1993 Upper Deck - Future Heroes #60 Mark McGwire

I have other cards from this Future Heroes insert set. I must say I don't really get it, as it features current stars. Maybe it should have been Future Legends or something.

1993 Upper Deck #420 Checklist/Mark McGwire

There's a nice play at the plate in the background in case you can't see it. Mark appears to have decided to hit the catcher in the face rather than slide into home.

1993 Upper Deck #49 Bash Brothers Ruben Sierra/Mark McGwire

I think we could have let the Bash Brothers thing go when Jose Canseco left.

1988 Bazooka #13 Mark McGwire

Here's another oddball set I like. At just 22 cards, I think 1988 Bazooka is going to go in my want list as well.

1988 Rite-Aid Team MVP's #23 Mark McGwire

This one will probably not go on my want list. If nothing else, because of the misplaced apostrophe in MVP's.

1995 Collector's Choice #130 Mark McGwire

1995 Collector's Choice - You Make the Play #25 Mark McGwire

1995 Collector's Choice Special Edition #45 Mark McGwire

1993 Stadium Club #478 Mark McGwire

1993 Fleer #710 Mark McGwire

The back of this card refers to Mark as the "Lone Basher" now than Jose Canseco left. Fleer must not have gotten the memo about Ruben Sierra's promotion.

1994 Fleer #268 Mark McGwire

I always though Mark had squinty eyes for a baseball player, which you can really see in this card. Maybe they just caught him after contact here, but he always looked like he was struggling to see in St. Louis.

That's it for today. I'll wrap up the end of this package in post #6.

A Prize For My Prescience, part 3

[Part 1]
[Part 2]

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.

Once again, I'll start with some set-completion needs:

2011 Topps Opening Day - Presidential First Pitches #PFP-4 Ronald Reagan

2011 Topps Opening Day - Presidential First Pitches #PFP-6 Woodrow Wilson

2011 Topps Opening Day - Spot the Error #3 Jose Bautista

Clearly, the error is a Canadian team in the American League. Though I guess it'd make even less sense in the National League.

2011 Topps Opening Day - Stadium Lights #UL-6 Chase Utley

2011 Topps Opening Day - Stadium Lights #UL-1 Joe Mauer

2011 Topps Opening Day - Stadium Lights #UL-10 Ryan Braun

2011 Topps Opening Day - Mascots #M-21 Fredbird 

He's missing a bat. This would have been a good Spot the Error card. Oh well.

Here's the full list of 2011 Opening Day Ryan sent:
1 Carlos Gonzalez
24 Andrew Cashner
27 Andrew McCutchen
40 CC Sabathia
45 Desmond Jennings
51 Ben Revere
64 Miguel Tejada
78 Garrett Jones
79 Heath Bell
81 Jay Bruce
103 Jose Bautista
104 Victor Martinez
105 Roy Oswalt
113 Wandy Rodriguez
147 Josh Hamilton
160 Carlos Lee
161 Jose Tabata
168 Tim Lincecum
173 Joakim Soria
176 Jason Heyward
181 Josh Beckett
190 Elvis Andrus

And now, more Ozzies!

1993 Score #562 Ozzie Smith

1994 Topps Stadium Club Team #301 Ozzie Smith

1994 Select #30 Ozzie Smith

1990 Kmart #4 Ozzie Smith

1988 Donruss - Bonus MVPs #BC-22 Ozzie Smith

1992 Donruss #432 Ozzie Smith

1993 Pinnacle - Cooperstown #9 Ozzie Smith

1994 Bowman #424 Ozzie Smith

1993 Upper Deck #146 Ozzie Smith

1994 Topps #320 Ozzie Smith

That's all for this installment. Believe it or not I think there's probably at least 2 posts-worth more cards to go.