A Jumbo From the Pack Stash

Today I have a Jumbo Pack of 2008 Upper Deck. That's 36 cards, including two Rookie Debut cards visible through the clear wrapper on the back of the pack.

2008 Upper Deck
#54 Francisco Cordero
#93 Livan Hernandez
#131 Felix Hernandez
#132 Jeff Weaver
#154 Billy Wagner
#270 Magglio Ordonez

Jeff Weaver played half a season for the Cardinals in 2006, won a World Series, then promptly priced himself out of St. Louis's range. I'll admit when he left I was wondering if we'd regret it, but he regressed a bit and in the end I think it was in the Cardinals best interest not to pay him as much as he got in Seattle.

2008 Upper Deck
#318 Kevin Hart
#341 Bronson Sardinha
#363 Grady Sizemore
#390 Jake Peavy

A few weeks ago, someone called no-grass cards like Peavy's "Tattooine cards" after the desert planet. Now that's all I can think of when I find one.

#14 Chad Qualls
#36 Gregg Zaun
#37 Aaron Hill
#112 Barry Zito
#114 Brad Hennessey
#115 Jack Taschner
#151 John Maine
#152 Tom Glavine
#153 Orlando Hernandez

Check out that Gigantes jersey on Brad Hennessey. I'm glad when the photographers show up on special uniform days. The three Mets cards show different jerseys, too, and clearly the two Blue Jays cards do as well.

2008 Upper Deck
#191 Jamie Moyer
#193 Kyle Lohse
#209 Ryan Doumit
#231 Bronson Arroyo
#232 Matt Belisle
#248 Kazuo Matsui
#269 Gary Sheffield
#287 Jim Thome

Here I've got two former Cardinals playing for the Phillies, Kyle Lohse and Jamie Moyer.

2008 Upper Deck
#271 Matt Garza
#327 Jonathan Meloan
#359 B.J. Upton
#377 Magglio Ordonez
#386 Frank Thomas
Rookie Debut #7 Ryan Hanigan
Rookie Debut #23 Dave Davidson
Yankee Stadium Legacy #YSL3088 Moose Skowron

Since the Rookie Debut cards are what's immediately visible outside the pack, I'd wager that's the reason this particular pack made it to the repack factory. Ryan Hanigan and Dave Davidson weren't exactly the hottest prospects in a set with Ian Kennedy, Joey Votto, and Clay Buchholz. That Yankee Stadium Legacy set is kind of cool, but I don't think I'll be tracking down the other 6000+ cards for it. It'd be pretty awesome to have something like this for Busch Stadium, but I definitely understand the New-York-centricity of the card collecting world.

Turkey For Me, Turkey For You III: Turkeys in Time

If you get that sequel reference, you're probably just about my age, and, like me, you felt that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could do no wrong in 1993. Anyway, let's see the last of the Turkey Red trade from 2 by 3 Heroes.

2008 Upper Deck - Star Quest #SQ-16 Albert Pujols
2008 Upper Deck - Star Quest #SQ-32 Albert Pujols
2006 Fleer Ultra #38 Jim Edmonds
2007 Fleer Ultra #149 Jim Edmonds
2013 Gypsy Queen #80 Bob Gibson
2007 Topps #660 Yadier Molina
2003 Upper Deck Victory #88 Mark McGwire
1993 Topps #191 Sean Lowe

That's a nice pile of Cardinals to finish off the trade. With all the Cardinals cards I have stockpiled, I'm always kind of impressed to see just how many simple base cards are out there that I don't have, even though I know that shouldn't surprise me.

Tis The Season Winnings, Part IX

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 VIII

More Cardinals, Red Sox, and Yankees!

2007 Bowman Heritage #250 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2007 Upper Deck First Edition #289 Juan Encarnacion
2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes #92 Jon Lester
2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces #14 Daisuke Matsuzaka
2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces #85 Chris Carpenter
2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces #66 Robinson Cano

The 2008 Masterpieces set is one I really like, and I even have a full set of 2007 thanks to a contest on Play at the Plate.

2008 Upper Deck
#588 Wilson Betemit
#592 Shelly Duncan
#773 Josh Beckett (x2)
#229 Manny Ramirez

I just realized this whole post would have been Upper Deck if not for the Bowman Heritage interloper up above. I got a few cards from the 2008 flagship product, and naturally we have an example of Manny being Manny, having the only horizontal card and forcing me to make and awkward scan. Shelly Duncan has 2 connections to the Cardinals: his brother is Chris Duncan, who played for the team and is now a local radio host, and his dad is Dave Duncan, Tony La Russa's longtime pitching coach, including his years in St. Louis.

College Bowl Game Contest Win, Part 10

For the 2012-2013 College Football season, I entered the College Football Pick 'Em contest hosted by madding of Cards on Cards. I've won several of his contests over the years, and he always dumps a ton of Cardinals on me when I do. Yet, I think this time he may have outdone himself. I may have to work hard to get them all posted before the 2013-14 College Football season starts August 29, and I start posting my Power Rankings again.
[ Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 ]

2008 Goudey
#171 Albert Pujols
#173 Lou Brock
#174 Chris Duncan
#175 Vince Coleman
#193 Troy Glaus

In his rush and/or zealous generosity (or is that generous zeal), madding sent me 2 of each of these cards. That's an easy mistake to make though, and I didn't even realize it the first time I looked through them, because there were simply so many cards. Eventually I sorted them out by set and lo and behold, my 10 Goudey cards only had 5 unique. So, I've got one each of these to keep, and one to trade.

2008 Upper Deck #70 Rick Ankiel

I'm starting to build up quite an Ankiel collection now. I wasn't collecting during either of his heydays with the Cardinals, so I never pulled one of his cards in a current pack.

2009 Upper Deck SP Authentic
#78 Matt Holliday

SP Authentic is a set that makes me want Upper Deck back in the game. It's got a very clean look that appeals to me.

2009 Upper Deck X #97 Colby Rasmus

And on the flip side, we have Upper Deck X. It's a little too busy for my taste, but I always love getting a new Cardinal card.

All-Star Winnings, Part 5

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 ]

Today's theme, besides "The Next Few Cards I Grabbed from the Pile" is 2000s Pitchers.

2002 Donruss Originals #417 Scotty Layfield
2002 Upper Deck #509 Scotty Layfield
2003 Donruss #60 Scotty Layfield

I must admit I don't know who Scotty Layfield is, but the fact that there were multiple cards prompted me to look him up. Of course the go-to source is baseball-reference.com, which showed he climbed up a level in the minors each year from 1999 through 2003 when he was at AAA, so it makes sense that companies would try to jump on the soon-to-be MLBer. Then, 2004 and 2005 show no stats, and 2006 and 2007 show him playing in the dreaded independent leagues. Not that there's anything wrong with Independent League ball, but it's a far cry from AAA. I couldn't find any other information, but I assume a bad injury took place in 2003 and he never quite recovered.

2002 Upper Deck #652 Darryl Kile

Next we have Darryl Kile, probably batting 8th. Tony La Russa loved doing that, and Kile was one of our better hitting pitchers at that time. I still remember finding out he had died during the night before a day game at Wrigley Field, and watching Joe Girardi announce the game's cancellation to the fans. It was rather jarring at the time to see that even a pro athlete could be taken down by bad health. Just a few days prior, Jack Buck, the longtime Cardinals broadcaster, had died, but he was elderly, ill, and it was expected to happen soon. The news of Darryl Kile was much more shocking.

2002 Upper Deck #653 Jason Isringhausen
2004 Upper Deck First Pitch #164 Jason Isringhausen
2006 SP Authentic #85 Jason Isringhausen
2008 Upper Deck #64 Jason Isringhausen

And finally, listen up, MLB. Despite his gig as pitching coach for SIUE, Izzy is apparently still looking for a chance to pitch. I can think of a few bullpens that could use an extra arm in September.

eBay Wins #73

Another day, another penny card.

2008 Upper Deck #766 Johan Santana (New York Mets Checklist)

About a year ago, June 1, 2012, Santana no-hit the Cardinals with 134 pitches. Popular opinion (at least in retrospect) is that he probably shouldn't have been allowed to go that deep into the pitch count - especially after missing all of 2011 - and his season was later shortened by an injury that's costing him 2013 as well. It was strange to see him in a new uniform when he left Minnesota, but now that I'm used to him as a member of the Mets, I think it will be strange again to see him on a new team in 2014 if the Mets buy him out and he makes a comeback elsewhere.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2350
Total Spent	$42.35
Per Card	1.802 cents

182 Packs Giveaway, Part VII

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 | VI ]

2006 Sports Illustrated for Kids
#8 Jim Edmonds

Some said Jim Edmonds was a showboat, some said he only had to dive for all those balls because he was bad at getting a jump off the bat, but one thing's for sure, he had the coolest hair on the team. I was glad to see him back in camp this year.

2005 Fleer Ultra
#10 Matt Morris

I like Fleer Ultra, and I like Matt Morris. I approve of this card. I think I tend to like the Matts on the Cardinals more than anyone, since that's also my given name. This year's been a good Matt year, with Holliday and Carpenter getting plenty of playing time, and Adams even showing us he deserves some too.

2008 Upper Deck
#654 Skip Schumaker
#702 Brian Barton

I don't quite understand the decision to move Skip to 2B, except that he was probably our least tenured OF at the time. I think he's still got a lot of potential, so I really hope the Dodgers - and reunifying with Mark McGwire as his hitting coach - will treat him well.

2008 Topps Updates and Highlights
#UH136 Classic Combos Hanley Ramirez and Albert Pujols

This is a great card, but sadly the only Albert Pujols I managed from the whole giveaway. Since both players and teams could be claimed, someone got in and claimed Albert before I got the Cardinals, so this must have been a duplicate.

March Radness Win, Part III

[Part I]
[Part II]

I "won" a prize, in that I managed to have the worst bracket of all in Cards on Cards March Radness contest. I legitimately tried to win, in fact I didn't even realize there was this consolation prize until the contest was over, because I stopped scoreboard watching about 2 rounds into the tournament because I did so poorly to start off. The good thing about winning cards from a fellow Cardinals fan is that he can't resist dumping a whole bunch of his Cardinal duplicates on me, which I'm more than happy to take.

First up in this batch of cards is the Series I 2008 Upper Deck Cardinals I needed.

2008 Upper Deck (Series I)
#61 Adam Wainwright
#62 Joel Pineiro
#63 Brad Thompson
#65 Troy Percival
#67 Albert Pujols
#68 David Eckstein
#69 Jim Edmonds
#70 Rick Ankiel

Together with the 8 cards from part II, and the 4 from a previous contest win, I have all of the Cardinals from this set, and never bought a pack.

2011 Gypsy Queen
#38 Walter Johnson
#117 Dallas Braden

That's 2 more off the wantlist, leaving me just 125 left to go for Gypsy Queen. It would seem I tend to get a little over ambitious with the wantlists sometimes, desiring a whole set after getting a few packs.

1988 Donruss Wax Pack

Ah, the mystery of an unopened pack. I'm not going to open this yet. Maybe I'll wait for the 30th anniversary in 2018. More likely, I'll break down and open it when I finally sort through my 1988 Donruss cards, because I'm a weak, weak man.

March Radness Win, Part II

[Part I]

I "won" a prize, in that I managed to have the worst bracket of all in Cards on Cards March Radness contest. I legitimately tried to win, in fact I didn't even realize there was this consolation prize until the contest was over, because I stopped scoreboard watching about 2 rounds into the tournament because I did so poorly to start off. The good thing about winning cards from a fellow Cardinals fan is that he can't resist dumping a whole bunch of his Cardinal duplicates on me, which I'm more than happy to take.

2008 Upper Deck (Series 2)
#651 Chris Carpenter
#652 Mark Mulder
#653 Juan Encarnacion
#654 Skip Schumaker
#655 Troy Glaus
#657 Cesar Izturis
#659 Chris Duncan
#660 Matt Clement

2007 Topps #207 Mark Mulder

Another Mulder to go with his 2008 UD above.

2011 Topps - Kimball Champions
#KC-15 David Price
#KC-36 Hanley Ramirez

For awhile I had the idea I'd collect the Kimball Champions set. It may happen, but man is it ever going slow. I still need about 75 of the 100 from Series 1 and 2, and some of the Topps Updates ones as well. My guess is it'll finish sometime in 2027.

2011 Goodwin Champions #55 Bill Walton

This wasn't on a wantlist, and isn't even a baseball player, so I was unsure if this was thrown in accidentally. Then I realized, the fact that it's not a baseball player is probably the key. The Contest was for the NCAA Basketball Tournament, after all, so it's only fitting to have a basketball player in the mix.

Spring Training Giveaway, part 1

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. Here's part 1 of what he sent me (because of my previously mentioned obsession with tagging the sets).

1993 Stadium Club #5 Tony Phillips

2000 Topps #60 Pedro Martinez

2001 Topps Chrome - Before There Was Topps #BT5 Ty Cobb

2004 Upper Deck #107 A.J. Hinch

2005 Topps Total #395 Jeremy Bonderman

2005 Topps Update #UH33 Placido Polanco

2007 Upper Deck Future Stars #14 Curt Schilling

2007 Upper Deck Future Stars #11 David Ortiz

2008 Allen and Ginter - Mini Black Border #204 Julio Lugo

2008 Allen and Ginter - Mini #338 Placido Polanco

2008 Allen and Ginter - Mini A&G Back #333 Coco Crisp

2008 Upper Deck #494 Joel Zumaya

Number 5 Type Collection's Cardinals Giveaway, Part 5

[Part 1]
[Part 2]
[Part 3]
[Part 4]
Matt at Number 5 Type Collection gave me way too many Cardinals in a recent contest. Here's the final part, part 5:

2008 Upper Deck #656 Anthony Reyes

2008 Upper Deck #658 Adam Kennedy

If I remember correctly, Adam was a hot SS prospect when we still had Ozzie. This was my first realization that the players I loved would eventually retire or be pushed out by younger guys. I think my fantasy baseball drafting style shows I'm still coming to grips with this. Anyway, we moved him to 2B, then moved him to Anaheim for Jim Edmonds. He then won a World Series in 2002 with David Eckstein, Scott Spiezio, and Troy Glaus, then joined the Cardinals for 2007 after Eckstein and Spiezio won another ring here.

2008 Upper Deck #66 Yadier Molina

2008 Upper Deck #64 Jason Isringhausen

2008 Upper Deck First Edition #52 Jason Isringhausen

I really like parallels and...whatever you'd call sets like Topps Opening Day. Parallel Sets? So having both of these Isringhausens is a good fit for my collecting style.

2009 O-Pee-Chee - Black Mini Parallel #493 Yadier Molina

2009 O-Pee-Chee - Black Parallel #579 David Freese

Did I mention I like parallels? And in case you missed it, that Molina is a mini.

2009 O-Pee-Chee Box Bottom Albert Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez

Does anyone have any great solution for how to store something like this? It's basically the size of two cards next to each other. I could trim it as intended, but that'd be too easy. Anyway, this is the semi-mystery card promised in the contest post, the O-Pee-Chee box bottom. I'm glad this one has the Albert card on it like the example shown. Also that'd make a sweet 3D card.

That was a pretty awesome prize. I was impressed how many were actually spare #5s from his collection. I owe a big thanks to Matt at Number 5 Type Collection. If you're not a regular reader, go give his blog a look.

A Contest from the Daily Dimwit

Sam from The Daily Dimwit is holding a contest with 5 prizes.  4 are relics, and one is a Fausto Carmona autograph.  I expect tons of entries to this one.  Go check it out.  Comment and promote it to earn one entry each.  If you're not convinced yet, check out the cards:

2008 Upper Deck

From 2010 Topps Update, these are cool looking cards. I have Neftali Feliz in the #d/50 Gold (like this one), and Elvis Andrus and Chris Young in the regular set.

Fausto Carmona autograph on a 2008 reprint from 2011 Topps Lineage.

From 2011 Topps Series I.  He's a Cub, but I'd still like this one.

2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces - Captured on Canvas