Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XX

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


No Cardinals prize package would be complete without some Albert Pujols cards. This one still isn't complete with it though.

2002 Topps #719 Albert Pujols
2002 Topps Total - Total Topps #TT36 Albert Pujols
2004 Playoff Honors #177 Albert Pujols
2007 Topps #130 Albert Pujols
2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update - Star Quest Common #SQ-32 Albert Pujols
2009 Upper Deck Icons #5 Albert Pujols
2010 Topps - Factory Set Bonus #RS5 Albert Pujols

Almost all of these were new cards to my collection, except the Upper Deck Icons, of which I oddly enough already have 2, and I've also got 3 Ryan Ludwicks from that set. The Factory set insert is a good pickup since it's one I don't think I'd encounter much in the wild (the wild of card shows, that is), and if I did, I'd probably flip past it thinking it's just a base card.

2007 Bowman #175 Albert Pujols
2010 Upper Deck - Tape Measure Shots #TMS-11 Albert Pujols
2015 Topps Update - Highlight of the Year #H-89 Albert Pujols

That 2015 Update card offers me assurances that I can still get new Pujols Cardinals cards for the rest of his career and beyond.

eBay Wins #184

Today I've got another bundle of penny cards, but thankfully they're unique cards, unlike the 9-of-a-kind from post #183. Today I've got some 2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update
#344 Grady Sizemore
#371 Gil Meche
#401 Francisco Liriano
#450 Jim Edmonds
#451 Jake Peavy

Jim Edmonds was a member of the Padres for less than 2 months of the season before being released, hence this is actually a Cubs card despite the photo.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update
#350 Garrett Atkins
#442 Zach Duke
#492 Scott Rolen

The Cardinals traded Scott Rolen for Troy Glaus, so now I have the other half of this trade, which I first mentioned when I got the Glaus card in this post. That'd be an interesting collection: the cards of players traded for each other, especially if they both showed up in that year's Update/Traded sets.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3318
Total Spent	$51.68
Per Card	1.558 cents
Change	-0.001 cents

Tis The Season Winnings, Part X

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 IX

Now for more of the teams everyone loves to hate, the Cardinals, Yankees, and Red Sox.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition #321 Julio Lugo
2010 Upper Deck
#346 Andy Pettitte
#347 Jorge Posada
#473 Kyle Lohse
#589 New York Checklist

The Yankees aren't the team I follow the most, but it's hard to escape stories about them. As an outsider, I'm really indecisive about whether Pettitte and Posada's numbers should be retired. On one hand, they were great players for the team, but it just feels like too much too soon, and it lowers the bar for number retirements. I think the Cardinals have a decent unofficial policy on this, which is that for the most part, only Hall of Fame entrants get their numbers retired.

2009 Upper Deck #562 Kevin Youkilis
#883 Adam Wainwright
2010 Upper Deck
#97 Jed Lowrie
#100 Takashi Saito
#462 Skip Schumaker
#470 Mitchell Boggs

Today, someone told me Waino was already hurt. It made me hurt. It was listed as abdominal pain, so I'm hoping it's nothing that will keep him out of baseball for long, and to a greater degree nothing serious for his overall health.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition #189 Mike Lowell
2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update
#314 Josh Beckett
#320 Jacoby Ellsbury
#420 Mariano Rivera
#473 Troy Glaus
2009 O-Pee-Chee #239 Mike Lowell

I remember when the Cardinals and Blue Jays traded third basemen, one for one. We sent Scott Rolen, and we got Troy Glaus.  I don't believe any cash changed hands, and no minor league add-ins were involved. I remember thinking "someone's going to get the clearly better end of this deal, and someone's getting the worse end". I'm pretty sure the Cardinals got the worse end. Rolen only played 1.5 seasons in Toronto before being traded to Cincinnati for another 3.5, which at least got the Blue Jays Edwin Encarnacion. Glaus played 2 years in St Louis, one good and one not so good due to injury, and was granted his free agency to play one final year in Atlanta.

Chavez Ravining Winnings

Alex at Chavez Ravining has had at least one contest running every day since I've been following him. A few weeks ago the Randomizer picked me, and I won a David Price Heritage Chrome card. He also threw in a few Cardinals for my collection.

2004 Topps Total - Team Checklists #TTC27 Albert Pujols
2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update #349 Matt Holliday
2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update #474 Chris Duncan
2012 Bowman Chrome #117 John Axford
2013 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects - Prospects #BDPP125 Jake Stone
2013 Heritage - Chrome #HC60 David Price #139/999

It felt unbalanced to post a scan that Holliday card by itself, and 5 vertical cards, so turn your head a bit if you really want to see it. That's from his time with the Rockies, so along with that orange and black All-Star jersey, he's got some (purple, I believe) pinstriped pants on. That's quite a look.

Also in the bunch was a Pujols card I didn't have, local radio personality Chris Duncan, recent rent-a-reliever John Axford, and a kid who's only played 1 year at Rookie level so far, Jake Stone.

Thanks for the cards, Alex, and all the contests of course.

College Bowl Game Contest Win, Part 11

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.
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2008 Heritage
#223 St. Louis Cardinals

2008 Heritage
#345 Chris Carpenter
#504 Todd Wellemeyer
#507 Skip Schumaker
#558 Adam Kennedy
#603 Joel Pineiro
#630 Ryan Ludwick
#669 Aaron Miles

The single horizontal card and prime number of other cards strikes again. I'm a big fan of Heritage, so these cards are great for me. I'm hoping to eventually complete all the Cardinals from all of the years, and who knows, maybe the full sets eventually.

2008 Stadium Club #130 Brian Barton

A random Brian Barton appears!

2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update
#472 Skip Schumaker

This is the second Upper Deck First Edition Update card I have. That's quite a set name. It looks like this is a set akin to Topps Opening Day for Topps flagship; it looks like Upper Deck but without the foil. Don't let Topps get any idea though, or I'll be chasing the 110 card Opening Day Update set every year too.

A Fantastic Trade, Part II

I always enjoyed using Roman Numerals, except VI sorts lexicographically after IX, which just messes everything up.

In case you missed Part I, go check it out.

It's always good to find a new trading partner, and I recently got an email from Fantastic Catch with an offer of a bunch of cards from my wantlists, and I was able to send him some stuff for his player PCs and set needs.  Of course as a fellow Cardinal fan, he sent so many he triggered my obsessive need to use up my all of my available tag space , so here's part 2 what I got in my 2-piece box:

2011 Opening Day - Superstar Celebrations #SC-21 Matt Holliday

Opening Day is a set I really like, and I've bought enough I've decided to collect the inserts too. I'm working on 2012 too, but I won't put up my wantlist until I've finished buying packs. From this 2011 set I also got:
SC-5 Ubaldo Jimenez
SC-17 Prince Fielder

2011 Opening Day - Mascots #M-23 Rangers Captain

And also:
M-6 Gapper (Reds)
M-24 Toronto Blue Jays
M-25 Screech (Nationals)

2011 Opening Day - Spot the Error #2 Jason Heyward

He also sent a good pile of base cards from my list, with no Cardinals, oddly enough:
3 Jon Lester
13 Carl Crawford
25 Johan Santana
35 Vladimir Guerrero
38 Mike Stanton
43 Jered Weaver
44 Omar Infante
54 Ian Stewart
57 Zack Greinke
61 Jason Bay
71 Jon Niese
91 Andres Torres
92 Nick Markakis
101 Brian Wilson
112 Andre Ethier
120 Roy Halladay
138 Chris Young
156 Ryan Zimmerman
165 Carlos Zambrano
170 Logan Morrison
192 Dustin Pedroia
194 Delmon Young
212 Vernon Wells

I guess I had a lot less of that set than I realized.

2011 Lineage #12 Elvis Andrus

There was just a single 2011 Lineage card, but this is another set I'm working to complete. A lot of people kind of trash-talked it last year, but I liked it; I'm not sure why.

2010 Topps Update - Vintage Legends #VLC-30 George Sisler

2010 Topps Update #TR128 Chris Carpenter

2010 Update was what really brought me back into collecting, and I have a ton of extra base cards, so it's nice to a few inserts, since I definitely won't be buying any more packs of it.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update - Star Quest Common #SQ-32 Albert Pujols

Good old UDFEU for short.

Thanks again for the trade, and go check out Fantastic Catch if you're not following it yet.