Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XIV

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

You're wondering when I'll mess up these Roman numerals, aren't you?

1999 Fleer Tradition - Rookie Flashbacks #6 J.D. Drew
1999 Pacific #352a J.D. Drew (Headshot)
1999 Upper Deck #522 J.D. Drew

The great thing about collecting players from about 1997-2002 is that there are so many sets from each year, a random package is pretty likely to contain all new cards for me. The Pacific card is a Headshot variation. It's unclear to me if those were any rarer than base cards though.

2000 E-X #34 J.D. Drew
2000 Fleer Tradition #85 J.D. Drew
2000 Pacific Omega #115 J.D. Drew
2000 Topps Gold Label - Class 1 #78 J.D. Drew
2000 Upper Deck Ovation - Diamond Futures #DM1 J.D. Drew
2000 Upper Deck Victory #75 J.D. Drew
2002 Fleer Maximum #8 J.D. Drew
2002 Upper Deck Ovation #37 J.D. Drew

Lots of shiny and thick cardstock cards here. The Topps Gold Label stuck out to me, because as you can see, it's a bit narrower than the rest of the cards.

The Cardinals got a few good years out of Drew, but then traded him to the Braves in the trade that included Adam Wainwright. Drew still had success after the trade, but ultimately I think the Cardinals came out ahead in that deal.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part VI

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.
Part I II III IV V

I'm having fun going through all the different sets of the 90s and now the early 2000s, so let's continue with more Cardinals, Yankees, and Red Sox.

1998 Score #159 Reggie Jefferson
1999 UD Choice #65 Jason Varitek
2000 Fleer Tradition #325 Rod Beck
2000 Upper Deck #447 Mariano Rivera
2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers #47 Whitey Ford
2001 Upper Deck MVP #98 Troy O'Leary
2001 Upper Deck Vintage #95 Pedro Martinez
2001 Upper Deck Vintage #99 Carl Everett
2001 Upper Deck Vintage #156 Glenallen Hill

By waiting so long to dig through these, the stack added one Hall of Famer, Pedro Martinez. I like these Upper Deck Vintage cards, which are clearly based on 1963 Topps, like 2012 Heritage.

2001 Topps
#104 Will Clark
#138 Jeff Nelson
#159 Thomas Howard
#258 Jason Grimsley
#756 Boston Red Sox
2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers #81 Bob Gibson

I only got 3 Cardinals from this bunch of cards. Two were in the stack of 2001 Topps. It's odd to see someone other than Pujols wearing #5 for the Cardinals, but Thomas Howard did it for 2 years right before he arrived. Of course I know other guys wore it too, like Ron Gant and Felix Jose, but 5 certainly became synonymous with Albert while he was here. Less jarring is Will Clark in #22, which became Mike Matheny's number next. He took it back when he became the manager, but has given it to Jason Heyward for 2015 and beyond. Finally, the last Cardinal was this excellent card commemorating Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA in 1968.