Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XXIX

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 XIX XX
XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII

We're starting to run out of bowls, but I've still got some cards to show. I'm doing decently in this year's contest, too. I'll finish today in the lead, but not the top Max Points Possible, so I'm not quite in control of my own destiny.

All of today's cards are from a fun time in collecting and in my baseball-watching life. 1993-1995 weren't great years for the Cardinals, but for whatever reason, it's when I really started getting deep into baseball despite their struggles.

1993 Fleer - Rookie Sensations #RSA9 Mike Perez
1993 Fleer Ultra #111 Mike Perez
1993 Fleer Ultra #462 Rheal Cormier
1994 Leaf #110 Rheal Cormier
1994 Leaf #130 Mike Perez
1994 Upper Deck #357 Mike Perez

That Leaf Rheal Cormier is in rough shape. It was actually what I would consider packing material, stuck on the outside of one of the bricks of cards to protect the good stuff within. I'll still throw it into my collection, but noted with it's bad condition so I don't accidentally try to trade it off to an unhappy partner.

1994 Upper Deck #422 Rheal Cormier
1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #229 Mike Perez
1995 Leaf #351 Tom Henke
1995 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #196 Tom Henke
1995 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #199 Mike Perez
1996 Donruss #320 Tom Henke

Tom Henke's glasses always made him look old to me. He came to the Cardinals for his final, age 37 year. He even made the All-Star game in 1995, and he wasn't the only player from the team, since Ozzie Smith also went. (I have this theory that having 2 players from a given team in the All-Star game legitimizes both of their appearances, whereas a lone player could arguably be below All-Star caliber, but the best on his team at a position the league needs for the game, and so make one despite not really "deserving" it.)

1994 Upper Deck #529 Alan Benes
1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #464 Tom Pagnozzi
1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #481 Rheal Cormier
1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #641 Alan Benes

To finish off, I have some Alan Benes and Tom Pagnozzi cards, left out of the previous posts to feature those two, and one last Rheal Cormier, who is wearing 52 on all the cards in this post, but later switched to my favorite jersey number, 37.

Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XXI

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 XIX XX

Today's post is all John Mabry, a guy who my dad always seemed to call John Mayberry. I was surprised to learn later in life that was the name of an actual player, too. But I don't think he was confusing them, he just got the name wrong.

1995 Fleer #502 John Mabry
1995 Fleer Ultra #432 John Mabry
1995 Pinnacle #151 John Mabry
1995 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #21 John Mabry
1996 Donruss #253 John Mabry
1996 Leaf #197 John Mabry
1996 Score #293 John Mabry
1996 Topps Stadium Club #46 John Mabry

I think every one of these Mabry cards was on my wantlist, so these were probably a purposeful inclusion rather than random collection of Cardinals duplicates. It's always nice to knock a few cards off my gigantic list.

1997 Metal Universe #233 John Mabry
1997 Topps #102 John Mabry
1997 Upper Deck #163 John Mabry

This is the first 1997 Metal Universe card I've ever posted, though I do have about 20 in my collection. It was certainly flashy compared to the Topps and Upper Deck of its era, though I think that Upper Deck design has aged pretty well and would still be a viable design in the current day.

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 XV

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

1992 Donruss Rookies - Phenoms #BC-14 Brian Jordan
1992 Upper Deck - Scouting Report #SR11 Brian Jordan
1994 Donruss Triple Play #63 Brian Jordan
1994 Leaf #272 Brian Jordan
1996 Leaf #142 Brian Jordan
1996 Topps Laser #9 Brian Jordan
1997 Leaf #116 Brian Jordan
1997 Score #55 Brian Jordan
1998 Score #184 Brian Jordan

Since I stick a little notecard in my card storage boxes to mark the start of each set or insert set, I take special notice each time I have cards from a set new to my collection. This time that includes 1996 Topps Laser and the Phenoms insert set from 1992 Donruss Rookies.

1996 Select #90 Brian Jordan
1996 Topps #126 Brian Jordan
1995 Collector's Choice #192 Brian Jordan

I believe that's Todd Zeile in the Collector's Choice card. Most likely warning Brian not to let the Cardinals move him out of his natural position for some young up and comer.

Junior Junkie's Generosity Part III

Part I II

Today I've got the rest of the Bo Jackson cards, a few Ozzie Smiths, and some other miscellaneous minor leaguers and a logo sticker. There's still a huge stack to go.

1990 Fleer - Action Series Stickers #STL Cardinals Logo
2013 Pinnacle #16 Bo Jackson
2014 Allen and Ginter #61 Bo Jackson
2014 Elite Extra Edition #19 Cole Lankford
2014 Elite Extra Edition #52 Danny Diekroeger
2014 Stadium Club #67 Ozzie Smith

Old players in new sets mean a player collector's job will never be done. These card companies might have something about us figured out.

1994 Upper Deck #117 Bo Jackson
1994 Upper Deck - Diamond Collection #C7 Ozzie Smith
1995 Collector's Choice #200 Ozzie Smith

In retrospect, I should scan 3 horizontal cards side by side instead of verically stacked. Look at all that wasted space on the sides. Oh well. On to Part IV tomorrow!

Giant Pile of Prizes from Jaybarkerfan's Junk, Part 2

Sometimes when I win a contest, I set the prize aside until I have time to fully rummage through all of it. In this case I won a contest back in late September, and I think the "Small Flat Rate Box" arrived by early October. I opened it immediately, but it's been sitting on my desk, too daunting of task to sort, since then. I finally felt the need to dive into it, and give jaybarkerfan his proper thank you post.

Part 1

This part of the prize starts off with a huge pile of 1981 Topps. My collection previously only contained 3 cards from 81 Topps, and only 11 cards from 1981 in all brands.

1981 Topps
#11 Jim Wohlford
#12 Mark Clear
#65 Scott McGregor
#74 Mike Hargrove
#75 Reggie Smith
#87 Rick Camp
#108 Bruce Benedict
#127 Rudy Law
#164 Lamarr Hoyt

1981 Topps
#169 John Mayberry
#172 Gary Woods
#176 Mike Krukow
#207 Ozzie Smith
#252 Victor Cruz
#262 Sammy Stewart
#263 Brian Downing
#268 Jerry Royster
#270 Greg Luzinski

1981 Topps
#283 Billy Sample
#333 Sid Monge
#366 Mike Ramsey
#367 Denny Martinez
#371 Charlie Hough
#376 Ron Reed
#388 Andre Thornton
#398 Ross Baumgarten
#407 Ernie Whitt

1981 Topps
#407 Ernie Whitt
#434 Roger Erickson
#458 Randy Jones
#463 Milt May
#466 Bob Molinaro
#469 Jeff Leonard
#487 Dewey Robinson
#484 Max Venable
#494 Bob Walk

1981 Topps
#506 Phil Huffman
#536 Bob Owchinko (x2)
#542 Larry Bradford
#545 Johnny Grubb
#553 Tim Blackwell
#557 Chris Knapp
#561 Dennis Littlejohn
#581 Roy Howell

1981 Topps
#591 John Lowenstein
#594 Preston Hanna
#597 Rafael Landestoy
#599 Dennis Kinney
#609 Lynn McGlothen
#615 Rick Dempsey
#621 Tom Donohue
#624 Bob Welch
#639 Carney Lansford

1981 Topps
#644 Ramon Aviles (x2)
#645 Rick Reuschel
#652 Jon Montague
#657 Mike Cubbage
#694 Bud Harrelson
#702 George Medich
#705 Ted Simmons
#713 Bill North
#721 Toby Harrah

1981 Topps
#192 Terry Harper / Ed Miller / Rafael Ramirez
#664 Chicago White Sox
#685 San Diego Padres

Some of the cards have some fuzzy corners, or are a bit beat up, but I still wouldn't call 'em junk.

1989 Topps #163 Bob Forsch
1995 Collector's Choice - You Make the Play #37 Lee Smith
1996 Leaf Preferred #73 Mark Grudzielanek
2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces #30 Matt Holliday

To finish up for today, here's a collection of Cardinals in other uniforms.

There's still way too much left in the box...

Random Cardinals from Josh, Part II

[Part I]
I won a little contest at Royals and Randoms, just for doling out an opinion. The randomizer fell my way, and here's the rest of what showed up in the mail.

1990 Fleer - Stickers - Cardinals

Another sticker to start this post off, doomed to never be peeled or stuck.

1990 Fleer
#15 Mark McGwire
#257 Terry Pendleton

McGwire represents a part of my collection I have trouble explaining concisely - Cardinals in other uniforms.

1995 Collector's Choice - You Make The Play #38 Ozzie Smith

It's hard to tell from the cropping, but these are curved and thin like playing cards. There's apparently some sort of baseball sim game that goes along with it, hence the "Groundout" on the card.

2002 Stadium Club #94 Placido Polanco

This guy seems to be ageless. I guess I didn't realize he was only 26 when the Cardinals traded him away for Scott Rolen. I really didn't expect he'd play another full 10 years or more.

2004 Donruss - Leather and Lumber #135 Jim Edmonds

Jim Edmonds fits into this subset well; he's definitely a guy known for both powerful offense and acrobatic defense, though some detractors say part of the reason for his outfield diving catches was that he wasn't very good at reading the ball off the bat. Either way, he caught most of 'em, I was happy with him in CF.

2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces #83 Ozzie Smith

This is a great set looking set, and I also like it because it had players like Ozzie a full 12 years after he retired.

That's it for the package. Thanks to Josh at Royals and Randoms again for the prize!

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.