Zistle Trade #26, Part I

In my neverending quest for more Cardinals, I made another Zistle trade that knocked some out from multiple sets. I'm still a long way from even finishing base cards from common sets, partially because I want cards like Will Clark on the Giants, Todd Worrell on the Dodgers, and John Mabry with the Rockies.

1990 Fleer #54 Will Clark
1998 Score #128 Todd Worrell
2007 Topps Opening Day #214 Fredbird
2007 Upper Deck #675 John Mabry
2008 Upper Deck First Edition #53 Troy Percival
2010 Topps - Turkey Red #TR34 David Wright
2010 Topps - Turkey Red #TR57 Jimmie Foxx

I also picked up two more 2010 Turkey Reds, and I still need 62 of 100 from Series 1 and 2, and 12 of 50 from Update.

1995 Fleer - All-Stars #2 Frank Thomas / Gregg Jefferies
2008 Upper Deck First Edition #54 Albert Pujols

I ran out of space to tag all the cards in one post, so the rest are in part 2, but luckily for ease of scanning I stuck both horizontal cards in the same post. I still remember when Gregg Jefferies came to the Cardinals. I was skeptical, but he made it to the All-Star game. It seems like his career peaked around that time though, and he never really turned into a superstar. Albert Pujols was a pretty good first baseman for the Cardinals, too.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part VIII

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 VI VII

Now we're moving into the mid-00s, when Upper Deck issued so many sets they're hard to track.

2005 Donruss #127 Pedro Martinez
2005 Topps #576 Matt Clement
2006 Topps #355 Jon Papelbon
2007 SP Legendary Cuts #7 Cy Young
2006 Upper Deck - Play Ball with Derek Jeter #PBDJ-5
2007 Upper Deck Artifacts #3 Manny Ramirez

I always have to double check whether Matt Clement ever played for the Cardinals, no matter how many times I find the answer is: No, he signed for 2008, but injury recovery kept him from ever reaching the majors before he was released. Cy Young, on the other hand, played for the Cardinals under their current and previous name, the Perfectos.

2007 Fleer Ultra #152 Adam Wainwright
2007 Upper Deck #69 Dustin Pedroia
2007 Upper Deck #590 David Ortiz
2006 Fleer Ultra #135 David Ortiz
2007 Upper Deck #573 Josh Beckett

Wainwright was the only modern Cardinal from the cards I got for these years, and he's one of my favorites. I also enjoy the two David Ortiz cards, showing him in his two natural positions: swinging, and homerun trotting.

All-Star Winnings, Part 14

Way back in July 2012, I won a contest at Cards On Cards. The premise was to pick the Cardinals player who would have the biggest impact on the game, determined Sabermetrically. I picked the right player, and got a pile of Cardinals for my trouble. They've been sitting in that same pile, haunting me, for quite some time, so now is the time to show them to you.
Part [ I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII ]

Guess what? This is the last post in this series. And I'll finish it off with some Ozzies, and a relic.

1993 Leaf - Heading for the Hall #10 Ozzie Smith
1993 Stadium Club #548 Ozzie Smith
1993 Triple Play - Action #3 Ozzie Smith
1995 Topps D3 #58 Ozzie Smith
1996 Fleer #556 Ozzie Smith
1997 Fleer #452 Ozzie Smith

What happened here, did my scanner give up halfway through? No, when I sorted these cards by year the bottom 3 just happened to be the less bold 1996-97 Fleer, and a 3D set called Topps D3. The Triple Play Action card actually unfolds and has a little scratchoff game inside, played much like card-based tabletop baseball games. I didn't scratch it, of course. Despite the scanned appearance, I like 1996-97 Fleer, and it presented a very different look from what was currently on the market when it came out.

1993 Fleer Ultra - Top Glove #6 Ozzie Smith
1988 UK Minis #72 Ozzie Smith
1988 King B #4 Ozzie Smith

Between a horizonal card, a mini, and a round meat snack insert, there was no good way to do this scan. The King B "card" brings a childhood memory flooding back, as I found a similar card featuring Andres Galarraga (on the Rockies, so 1993 or later) on my gradeschool playground. I kept it for a long time, but I have no idea where it is currently. I wouldn't be surprised if I still have it, though.

2007 Upper Deck - Game Materials #UD-SR Scott Rolen

Finally, we have the cornerstone of the prize, a Scott Rolen relic card. I've mentioned this before, but I was at Rolen's first game in St. Louis after we traded for him, and he was such a huge part of our offense and defense for so long, that a Rolen relic is a great addition to my collection.

I want to say thanks one more time to madding at Cards on Cards for being so generous with his contest prizes. And to everyone else, Vote Yadi for All-Star Catcher.

182 Packs Giveaway, Part VI

When I claimed the Cardinals - and Mark McGwire and Todd Stottlemyre - in the pack-per-day giveaway held at TribeCards, I had no idea just how many cards I'd wind up with, and how many different players. So that I can tag all of the sets and Cardinal players, I've broken this up into a series of who knows how many posts. Thanks for all the cards, David.
[ I | II | III | IV | V ]

2005 Topps Total
#492 So Taguchi

I'm surprised this is the first So Taguchi card I'm posting to my blog. I'm still making up for my lost decade of collecting.

1998 Stadium Club
#48 Delino DeShields

When trying to sort through the huge number of cards, I mis-sorted this 1998 Stadium Club away from the others in Part I.

2007 Upper Deck
#948 Kelvin Jimenez

I still can't believe there are over 1000 cards in 2007 Upper Deck.

1986 Topps Traded
#46T Mike Heath

Traded cards are much harder to come by than regular flagship cards, so I'm always glad to get one of these, especially a Cardinal.

2006 Upper Deck First Pitch
#184 Reggie Sanders

I rooted against Reggie Sanders for so many years with the Reds, and in 2001 with the Diamondbacks, I had to flip 180 degrees when he signed with the Cardinals.

eBay Wins #66

Another day, another 22 penny cards. Let's go oldest to youngest this time.

1989 Fleer
#249 Luis Aguayo
#271 Don Slaught
#273 Gary Ward
#468 Dante Bichette

A little '89 Fleer, aka, the prison bars set.

1989 Topps - Rookies #9 Ron Gant

The only Cardinal in the bunch, Ron Gant. To me, 1989 Topps is the definition of junk wax, but the inserts seem to have not been been overproduced nearly as much.

1990 Kmart #14 Mark Davis

Slowly but surely I'll put together this whole Kmart set. If I'm lucky it'll be before Kmart goes bankrupt.

1992 Upper Deck
#250 Billy Ripken
#640 Oakland A's Checklist

Here's Billy Ripken trying to create another quirky card, and two of my favorite players from the 90s (at the time).

2004 Throwback Threads #190 Hank Blalock

Doesn't a set name like Throwback Threads seem like it should include a relic, or at least a throwback uniform?

2007 Topps #269 Fred Lewis

Just a 2007 base card of a career .266 hitter.

2007 Upper Deck
#555 Kelly Johnson
#704 Aaron Boone
#761 Reggie Willits
#765 Justin Speier
#873 Rod Barajas
#926 Ryan Klesko
#993 Jeremy Accardo
#999 Josh Towers

Do you ever scan a bunch of cards, then realize you messed up the orientation? Because I haven't. No sir. Although I don't know how I'd have arranged 7 vertical cards and 1 horizontal card nicely in a single scan, so it's for the best.

2007 Upper Deck Artifacts #1 Miguel Tejada

Again, "Artifacts". Give me a...well...an artifact.

2009 Upper Deck First Edition #352 Francisco Rodriguez

K-Rod looks terrified to be joining the Mets for 2009.

2010 Bowman Platinum - Propects
#PP26 Jose Iglesias
#PP46 Noe Ramirez

And we'll finish off this collection as weakly as possible, with 2 prospect cards. At least it's only 2010, so in 2-3 years I might look back and see these as cards I didn't know would be so great. Although so far in spring training, Noe's got a 20.25 ERA.

That's it for this round, except for the tracker.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2243
Total Spent	$41.28
Per Card	1.84 cents

Spring Training Giveaway, part 3

[Part 1]
[Part 2]

I won another contest at Number 5 Type Collection. After ranking the 5 teams I wanted from what he had to offer, I tied another reader and so wound up with half the Tigers and Red Sox.

Let's start with some minor leaguers we may never hear from:

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus #99 Cale Iorg

 I actually recognized this last name and sure enough, he's the nephew of former Cardinal Dane Iorg. Of course, Dane is from too far back for me to remember.

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus #8 Ryan Dent

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus #76 Brock Huntzinger

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus #85 Anthony Rizzo

2007 Tristar Prospects Plus #94 David Mailman

2007 Upper Deck #574 Matt Clement

 Matt Clement was technically a Cardinal for a bit, but he never saw the majors after an injury and some minor league rehab.

2007 Upper Deck #581 Mike Timlin

 I mostly remember that we had Timlin during 2001 because he was on the team when Bud Smith thew a No-Hitter. My neurons seem to connect in odd ways.

2007 Upper Deck #591 Manny Ramirez

 This would have been a much more exciting card a few years ago. PED suspensions really put a damper on my excitement.

2008 Topps Updates and Highlights #UH123 Matt Joyce

2008 Topps Updates and Highlights #UH153 Armando Galarraga

 Mr. Almost-Perfect himself.

2008 Topps Updates and Highlights #UH195 Chris Carter

I'm a little tired or I'd make a Minnesota Vikings/X-Files reference, and it'd be hilarious.

2008 Topps Updates and Highlights #UH221 J.D. Drew

 Ah J.D. Drew, my first experience in having to root for an outwardly greedy player. I remember thinking he wasn't so great to Philadelphia for refusing to sign and playing in an independent league. Then the Cardinals drafted him the following year. I was a bit conflicted, and I'm still not sure what my opinion would be if he had been drafted by someone else instead.

2008 Upper Deck Timeline #41 Justin Verlander

2010 Upper Deck #99 George Kottaras

2010 Upper Deck #192 Edwin Jackson

Even though he and Colby Rasmus are both gone now, I think this deal worked out pretty nicely for the Cardinals in their 2011 World Series run.

2010 Upper Deck #207 Ryan Perry

Well, I've saved the best for last in part 4. You might be able to guess what's coming based on the teams I chose that I consider it the best.