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.

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part VIII

Part I II III IV V VI VII


Today, it's still McGwire time.

1997 Donruss #270 Mark McGwire
1997 Donruss #413 Mark McGwire
1997 Upper Deck SPx #SPX38 Mark McGwire
1998 Upper Deck #150 Mark McGwire

I always finish off my posts with horizontal cards, like they're second-class or something. But I like them, there's usually just less of them. The only second-class thing about this SPx card is how difficult it is to square up with other cards to scan.

1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #57 Mark McGwire/Andres Galarraga
1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #190 Mark McGwire
1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #330 Mark McGwire (x2)
1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice - Stick 'Ums #25 Mark McGwire
1997 Leaf #38 Mark McGwire
1997 Pinnacle #52 Mark McGwire
1997 Donruss Studio #8 Mark McGwire

There are 5 cards out of 1997 Collector's Choice, with 3 distinct ones from the base set. That's actually two copies of the same card in the upper right, but one has a slight dent in it that, I guess, changed the angle just enough that the scanner got a totally different color out of the shiny background. There's also studio, one of my favorite sets from when I really started collecting in earnest. One of these days I'll have to dig around and see if I have all of the 8x10s from that set. I believe I do.

1997 Upper Deck #297 Randy Velarde
1998 Upper Deck #9 Mark McGwire
1998 Upper Deck #205 Mark McGwire
1998 Pinnacle #63 Mark McGwire
1998 Topps Stars - Bronze #135 Mark McGwire #4269/9799
1998 Pinnacle Plus #196 Mark McGwire

After a McGwire cameo on Randy Velarde's card, we've made it to the Cardinal years. As you may or may not know off the top of your head like I do, McGwire was traded to the Cardinals at the trading deadline in 1997. He finished with a ridiculous-at-the-time 58 total HRs on the season, and broke the record with 70 in 1998.

Big Pile, part 3

[Part 1]
[Part 2]
Josh at Royals and Randoms had a draft-style contest called Big Pile way back in late 2011, and I misplaced the envelope until this week.

1997 PowerDeck #11 Scott Rolen

I remember when these came out in 1997, thinking they'd be really cool, then seeing a rather high price and never buying any. It probably didn't help that I was 14 with no job.

1997 Upper Deck - Star Attractions #SA10 Kenny Lofton

How could I resist a shiny, diecut card like this?

1990 Fleer #461 Barry Bonds

Junk wax but a star player. It seems like these are a little hard to find, so I went ahead and picked this card.

1996 Fleer Ultra #533 Jason Kendall

I had Jason Kendall on a lot of fantasy baseball teams in the early 2000s, which caused me to follow his career a little closer than I might have otherwise for another team's catcher.

2006 Bowman Chrome - Prospects #BC109 Leonard Davis

Oooh shiny.

1997 Bowman #401 Jason Marquis

Former Cardinal Jason Marquis.

1993 Studio #42 Mark Grace

A Cub?! No matter the team, I appreciate a player who plays the game right and has fun doing it. For example, during a pitching appearance in a blowout during his time in Arizona, he imitated Mike Fetters' idiosyncrasies.