Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XXII

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

1996 Topps #232 Matt Morris
1997 Bowman's Best #197 Matt Morris
1998 Donruss #110 Matt Morris
1998 Score Rookie/Traded #RT56 Matt Morris
1998 Score Rookie/Traded #RT203 Ron Gant
1998 Topps #128 Matt Morris
1999 Upper Deck MVP #173 Matt Morris
2002 Topps Total - Award Winners #AW25 Matt Morris

Matt Morris came along just as the Cardinals were starting to get good for the first time in my baseball-watching life. He had several really good years, culminating in a third place finish to Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling for the Cy Young award. He couldn't quite get them to split the vote and sneak in there.

1999 Topps #131 Ron Gant
1998 Upper Deck #203 Ron Gant
1998 Fleer Tradition #380 Ron Gant

Ron Gant was in my first in-person baseball game, although on the Braves at that time. In my head it feels like he was a big part of the team for a long time, but he was only here 3 years, and played 5 seasons afterwards and 9 before.

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.

eBay Wins #53

For some reason there were 2 auctions up for 2 copies of each of these cards. It never hurts to have one to trade, I guess, especially since I won these for a grand total of 2 cents.

1998 Upper Deck #279 Adam Riggs

I've noticed that Bowman commons can be had cheaply on eBay after a few years, because the guys who didn't become stars are often not even interesting to any team collectors. I'd guess the same thing is at play with the Riggs card, since he managed just 61 games over 4 seasons, including the 9 in 1997 that likely got him on this card.

1998 Upper Deck #277 David Dellucci

As for why legitimate MLB journeyman David Dellucci's cards were half a cent each, I'd guess it's partially because he was taken by the Diamondbacks for 1998, but shown as an Oriole here. In fact, I didn't notice until writing this post that this is a Diamondbacks card. Kudos for Upper Deck for not trying some ridiculous airbrushing to get him into the purple and turquoise. Purple and Turquoise: Oh, how I miss the 1990s.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2070
Total Spent	$39.17
Per Card	1.892 cents