Zistle Trade #21

This trade was proposed through Zistle, but was with a fellow blogger, Mark Kaz, of This Way to the Clubhouse. Here's his post on my half (or I guess it's now his half) of the trade.

I put a lot of cards on my wantlist. I probably shouldn't do that, because I'll never acquire all of them unless I come into enough money to buy them all, and also enough money to quit my job to focus on tracking them all down full time. But at least it gives traders a wide swath the choose from in order to snag some of my duplicates. This small trade covered some set fillers and some Cardinals-specific wants as well.

1986 Topps Traded #82T Jose Oquendo
1990 K-Mart #12 Joe Magrane
2011 Topps Opening Day - Superstar Celebrations #SC-12 Matt Garza
2012 Topps Update #US185 Donovan Solano
2012 Topps Update #US285 Ian Kinsler
2012 Topps Update #US319 A.J. Pollock RC
2012 Topps Update #US322 Jordan Danks RC
2012 Topps Archives #134 Chris Carpenter
2012 Topps Opening Day - Elite Skills #ES-2 Alex Gordon

The old cards in the trade were a 1986 Topps Traded of Jose Oquendo, the secret weapon, who also played for Mark's New York Mets. The regular 1986 cards seem fairly easy to come by, but the traded sets, as usual, are a bit less common to find. The only other card from that set on my wantlist is Todd Worrell, though a quick look tells me I never went through and exhaustively added all the Cardinals. That would cover the two in uniform, but I collect all Cardinals in any uniform, so I'll be adding Will Clark, Dane Iorg, Joaquin Andujar, and more to my want list. You can see how it balloons so easily.

The full 33-card 1990 K-Mart set is on my want list, and Joe Magrane leaves me with 12 cards to go. I'll bet Nolan Ryan is the last one I'm able to acquire.

Opening Day is a set so cheap that I often decide I'm going to try to acquire every insert among the more common sets, basically everything but autographs/relics/printing plates, and the Alex Gordon and sideways Matt Garza cards are two of those inserts from 2011 and 2012.

I think I completed 2010, 2011, and 2013 Update, but never 2012 for some reason. But, I'm now 4 cards closer on that quest, too.

Finally there's Chris Carpenter from 2012 Archives. I really haven't jumped into Archives with both feet, but I do like getting the Cardinals from the sets. It's a level of restraint rarely seen from me when making my want lists.

Thanks for the trade, Mark! You knocked 9 cards off my want list, but thanks to the attention I paid to 1986 Topps traded, I added 12 more to it.

Zistle Trade #15

This was another trade where I only had to send one card to my trading partner, but at least it was a 2011 Heritage SP this time. I'd say it balanced these well enough.

2012 Opening Day - Fantasy Squad #FS-13 Victor Martinez
1992 Topps - Gold #151 Jeff Hamilton
2011 Topps - Kimball Champions #KC-24 Josh Johnson
2011 Opening Day - Superstar Celebrations #SC-10 Carlos Pena

1992 was when I first started collecting cards, so the first current-year packs I bought were 1992 Topps. The Gold parallel set has been one of my biggest wants ever since then. I felt like I had a lot of them many years ago, but my collection currently only has 12, now 13 with the addition of Jeff Hamilton. It's possible I believed 10 or so was a lot back then, and it's possible I'll unearth a box of cards somewhere with more Golds in it when helping my parents clean out their basement one of these days.

This trade was full of inserts, with a card from the 2011 Kimball Champions set I've been so enamored with, and two Opening Day inserts. Opening Day always seems like it'd be an easy set to complete a bunch of insert sets from, but so far I haven't bought any full boxes to try to do so the easy way. Instead I'll let them trickle in through the years in trades like this.

Journey to the Center of the Pack Stash

Let's be honest, I'm nowhere near the center of my stash. But I'm on the journey, I suppose. Today I've got a pack of 2012 Topps Opening Day, which is yet another $1 pack from my 10 for $20ish repack.

2012 Topps Opening Day
#17 Pedro Alvarez
#90 Derek Jeter
#102 Jesus Montero
#126 Danny Valencia
#181 Clayton Kershaw
#201 Jose Reyes
Fantasy Squad #FS-17 Billy Butler

I purchased a bunch of 24-card packs of this set back when it came out, but didn't quite finish it off. I still have 49 cards missing, actually, which is a lot out of just 220 base cards. My scatter-shot approach to set building is starting to catch up with me, but I've got an idea about how to focus in and finish some sets. If it comes together, you who read my blog will certainly see it here. Unfortunately, all 7 of these were duplicates, including the Billy Butler insert card.

College Bowl Game Contest Win, Part 3

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]

2012 Heritage
#172 Yadier Molina
#226 Skip Schumaker
#336 Jon Jay
#250 Fernando Salas
#375 Daniel Descalso

Jon Jay must not have been at camp the day they posed for Heritage. He definitely stands out in this bunch of 5, with the road cap, and no close-up mugshot.

2012 Gypsy Queen
#41 Yadier Molina
#55 Matt Holliday
#138 Chris Carpenter
#202 Jason Motte
#208 Adron Chambers
#297 Lou Brock

Say, whatever happened to Adron Chambers? He had enough MLB time to get a card in 2012, but he's back in the minors for now. I'm sure we'll see him again in September when the rosters expand.

2012 Opening Day #96 Chris Carpenter

Here's another guy I'm hoping to see in September, or I'll even take just October. The latest rehab news doesn't sound good, though, and it's appearing more and more likely he's done for the year, and done - at least as a Cardinal - for good.

182 Packs Giveaway, Part IV

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 ]

2006 Opening Day #19 Scott Rolen

I'm sure I've noted this before, but I was at Rolen's first home game for the Cardinals, sitting in a friend's rich uncle's close seats. As he ran from his stretches in right field back to the dugout, someone in my section yelled out "Welcome to St. Louis, Scott!" and everyone around me cheered. A little schmaltzy, but it got a smile out of him.

2009 Upper Deck Icons #85 Rick Ankiel

I was at Ankiel's first game as an Outfielder too. I wasn't nearly as close that time, I had tickets we bought through my wife's cheap company. Luckily they were in foul ground on the third base side, so we had a clear view of RF that night. Also, now I have 3 of the 4 Cardinals in this small set.

2008 Goudey #193 Troy Glaus

Glaus was obviously supposed to be pictured as a Blue Jay in 2008 Goudey, because he's surrounded by Blue Jays in the checklist, and the Cardinals are a few cards back.

2012 Gypsy Queen
#197 David Freese
Hallmark Heroes #HH-SM Stan Musial
#237 Bob Gibson

Ah Gypsy Queen, one of my weaknesses, because I'm a bargain shopper, and they're 50 cents a card in retail packs. Yet, I feel the need to collect it. I've actually got 2 of the Musials now, after pulling the same card from a discounted blaster.

2012 Opening Day #60 Adam Wainwright

2012 Opening Day #206 David Freese

We've see these two guys together before too. More Cardinals for my trade list.

2012 Topps #559 Brandon Dickson

I can't get enough of this guy either. I was hoping he'd be our next young fireballer, but he has left for the Orix Buffaloes in Japan.

2012 Opening Day Rack Pack #12

I'm a weak man, so when I saw one final Opening Day pack hanging at Target this weekend, I went ahead and bought it. Another reason was that I still had 70+ holes to fill in the set. This pack did an alright job of filling those in.

First up, the obligatory Cardinals:

2012 Opening Day #60 Adam Wainwright

2012 Opening Day #64 Dan Haren

This post starts off suspiciously like Pack #5, but that's about it for the similarities.

2012 Opening Day - Elite Skills #ES-6 Andrew McCutchen

2012 Opening Day - Superstar Celebrations #SC-13 David Wright

2012 Opening Day - Opening Day Stars #ODS-1 Ryan Braun

I think I like this set because it's condensed down to the stars, especially the inserts. I kind of disliked that in the past, because when there were 26 teams and 792 cards, you'd get over 30 from your team on average, meaning most of the major league roster would show up. Of course, as I get older and my collection grows, I shudder to think how much more space it would take up if I was chasing big sets instead.

And the last base I'll buy...for now:
36 Dexter Fowler
42 Mark Reynolds
48 Adrian Beltre
60 Adam Wainwright
61 C.J. Wilson
62 Ervin Santana
64 Dan Haren
69 Tim Lincecum
90 Derek Jeter
97 David Price
103 Mike Leake
121 Mark Teixera
124 Grady Sizemore
127 J.P. Arencibia
131 Scott Baker
152 Neil Walker
180 Ted Lilly
182 Seth Smith
184 Michael Bourn
198 Carl Crawford
(220) Carlos Lee

The Lee is unnumbered, hence the (220). Like I said, this pack did a decent job of filling up some holes in the set. And, some hard-fought trades with my nephew filled a few more.

2012 Opening Day Rack Pack #11

11 packs at 24 cards each is 264 cards. Each one had 3 inserts, so that's 231 base cards and 33 inserts. That's enough for a full set in theory, of course I've got more than 11 duplicates, so I'll need to update my wantlist soon.

2012 Opening Day #128 Lance Berkman

I pulled yet another Berkman, which now means I've got 3 if anyone needs one.

2012 Opening Day - Opening Day Stars #ODS-4 Adrian Gonzalez

This card doesn't pop quite like the others, except for Mr. Gonzalez's knee. Nothing more exciting than a knee, am I right?

2012 Opening Day - Elite Skills #ES-5 James Shields

I've heard the old fake-to-third, throw-to-first, do-the-hokey-pokey move will be disallowed this year. My guess is that it has no discernible impact on stolen bases.

2012 Opening Day - Superstar Celebrations #SC-11 Jacoby Ellsbury

It's funny how many of these cards mention the futility of the players on the back. Apparently Ellsbury was 0 for 4 on the day until this play.

Here's my final (maybe, who knows) set of base cards.
10 Jose Valverde
12 Jason Heyward
14 Buster Posey
24 Brandon Morrow
32 Anibal Sanchez
47 Nick Swisher
50 Ichiro
53 Alex Rodriguez
75 Justin Upton
79 Hanley Ramirez
89 Drew Pomeranz
106 Josh Johnson
128 Lance Berkman
136 Justin Morneau
150 Jose Bautista
158 Mark Trumbo
189 Mariano Rivera
201 Jose Reyes
214 Alex Avila
217 Ryan Zimmerman
219 Brandon Phillips

Speaking of duplicates, there were 15 between this pack and pack #9, including the Berkman above. Given that these are cut from identical sheets and packed by machine, I'm sure packs are not truly random collections of cards. My guess is that maybe stacks of 3 always come together, and I happened to land 5 of the same stacks, as the Berkman packs all 3 also contained Ichiro and Nick Swisher. That could be total bunk, though, and these packs just randomly lined up closely.

2012 Opening Day Rack Pack #10

Why do I put so much effort into this set? Maybe it's the bunting in the Opening Day logo.

2012 Topps Opening Day #206 David Freese

Another pack, another Cardinal. This time it's another copy of World Series MVP David Freese.

2012 Opening Day - Macsots #M-9 Rangers Captain

I thought I had this card already, but some deep investigation (i.e., using Blogger's search feature) has revealed that I was thinking of the 2011 Opening day card of Rangers Captain I received in a trade last year.

2012 Opening Day - Fantasy Sqaud #FS-14 Brian McCann

Catchers should always be shown in gear. I approve of this card.

2012 Opening Day - Opening Day Edition #148 Shin-Soo Choo #0074/2012

As much as I wish teams would stick to one home and one road uniform, and maybe even just 1 hat, I like alternates and throwbacks on cards. I feel so conflicted.

Never mix acids with these bases:
15 Jeremy Hellickson
17 Pedro Alvarez
18 David Ortiz
26 Drew Stubbs
27 Chase Utley
34 James McDonald
58 Justin Masterson
90 Derek Jeter
98 Ben Zobrist
102 Jesus Montero
120 Matt Garza
121 Mark Teixeira
122 Neftali Feliz
123 Ryan Roberts
151 Johnny Cueto
161 Hunter Pence
179 Zack Greinke
180 Ted Lilly
188 Paul Goldschmidt
206 David Freese
212 Daniel Hudson

2012 Opening Day Rack Pack #9

It's time to open another pack of this product that is apparently designed for kids. But it's simple, it's cheap-ish, it's a small set, and I dig it.

2012 Opening Day #128 Lance Berkman

Here's another Berkman, which I also got in the last pack. I'm glad they pictured the ball in his glove instead of a split second earlier, otherwise his panicked face would make him look like he's going to miss the play. I'm pretty sure he's got this one.

2012 Opening Day - Mascots #M-12 Paws

I didn't know the Tigers had a mascot, nor that they reused a Tony the Tiger costume for it.

2012 Opening Day - Opening Day Edition #127 J.P. Arencibia #1280/2012

I like the solid gray look J.P.'s created with his gray catching gear. Although blue might have looked better with this card's blue border.

2012 Opening Day - Fantasy Squad #FS-17 Billy Butler

I guess there's some sort of All-Star Game every-team-gets-a-player rule for the Fantasy Squad set. Billy Butler's a good guy, but I don't think he'd be picked near the top of any fantasy drafts.

All these base cards are belong to me:
6 Bud Norris
7 Mickey Mantle
10 Jose Valverde
12 Jason Heyward
23 Troy Tulowitzki
32 Anibal Sanchez
47 Nick Swisher
50 Ichiro
74 Cameron Maybin
75 Justin Upton
79 Hanley Ramirez
89 Drew Pomeranz
106 Josh Johnson
126 Danny Valencia
128 Lance Berkman
158 Mark Trumbo
189 Mariano Rivera
201 Jose Reyes
214 Alex Avila
218 Clay Buchholz
219 Brandon Phillips

2012 Opening Day Rack Pack #8

Yet another Opening Day rack pack. How many could there be? I'll give you a hint: at least enough to try to build the 220 card base set through 1 for 1 trading.

2012 Opening Day #78 Matt Holliday

I liked these late 80s/early 90s throwbacks, so this is a great card. Plus it has both Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman.

2012 Opening Day #128 Lance Berkman

Speaking of Berkman, here's his base card. That's a World Series patch on his hat, for anyone who likes playing Name the Game.

2012 Opening Day #200 Albert Pujols

And here's another 2011 World Series winner, although airbrushed into his new duds for 2012.

2012 Opening Day - Superstar Celebrations #SC-10 J.J. Putz

Funny story, I'm related to a guy named J.J., who is also kind of a putz.

2012 Opening Day - Opening Day Stars #ODS-2 Albert Pujols

Another Albert, in the same post-swing pose.

2012 Opening Day - Elite Skills #ES-3 Prince Fielder

If we had to lose Albert, I"m sure glad Prince Fielder left the NL Central division as well.

I already showed you a quarter of the 24-card pack, but here are the base cards anyway.
1 Ryan Braun
14 Buster Posey
38 Brett Myers
47 Nick Swisher
50 Ichiro
53 Alex Rodriguez
57 Adam Lind
78 Matt Holliday
100 Matt Kemp
118 Miguel Montero
128 Lance Berkman
163 Heath Bell
166 Peter Bourjos
175 Jason Bay
185 Jeff Niemann
186 Martin Prado
190 Stephen Strasburg
199 Felix Hernandez
200 Albert Pujols
204 Cory Luebke
205 Chad Billingsley

2012 Opening Day Rack Pack #7

2012 Opening Day #96 Chris Carpenter

The only Cardinal in the pack is one who's been in the sports news lately. I can't believe Carp might be done for good. He's certainly had some injury issues, but he always seemed to come through in big games.

2012 Opening Day - Mascots #M-19 TC

I think the Mascots subset is what really drew me to Opening Day in 2011, but they seem to be more rare in 2012. I hear there are autographs coming in 2013, though that's a little too gimmicky for me to chase, since I know one of the two Fredbird actors.

2012 Opening Day - Fantasy Squad #FS-29 Roy Halladay

One of Carpenter's more memorable recent performances came against Roy Halladay, when we needed it most. He threw a complete game shutout to let the Cardinals win 1-0 in Game 5 of the 2011 NLDS. Halladay allowed a leadoff triple followed by a double in the first, but no more runs the rest of the way.

2012 Opening Day - Opening Day Edition Parallel #211 Ben Revere #0543/2012

With this blue parallel, it becomes apparent there are 2 standard insert configurations for 2012 Opening Day. This is the second pack with one from these 3 subsets, after the first pack I opened. All the others had an Opening Day Stars, Elite Skills, and Superstar Celebrations card. I suppose that's why they're all 1:2 on the 24-card rack packs.

Oh yeah, they all have 21 base cards too:
5 Roy Halladay
10 Jose Valverde
40 Domonic Brown
52 Matt Joyce
55 Miguel Cabrera
59 Alcides Escobar
70 Madison Bumgarner
74 Cameron Maybin
80 Joe Mauer
85 Mike Trout
96 Chris Carpenter
105 Curtis Granderson
106 Josh Johnson
117 Brandon Belt
120 Matt Garza
130 Brett Wallace
137 B.J. Upton
138 Russell Martin
167 Orlando Hudson
174 Brian McCann
219 Brandon Phillips

2012 Opening Day Rack Pack #6

There were no Cardinals, not even former Cardinals, in pack #6. In protest, this post has no base cards.

2012 Opening Day - Opening Day Stars #ODS-8 Jose Bautista

Joey Bats' bat really pops on this 3D card, something that obviously can't come through in the scan. Oooh, I wonder when we're getting mass-market scanners capable of making 3D images.

2012 Opening Day - Superstar Celebrations #SC-17 Adam Jones

The back of this card is almost sad. This celebration was when the Orioles broke a 21 game losing streak, against the Royals. I've given the Orioles trouble for a long time in good fun because one of my best friends is part Orioles' fan, but I was truly glad to see them make their way into the playoffs for 2012.

2012 Opening Day - Elite Skills #ES-10 R.A. Dickey

I'm alright with this guy leaving the National League. He totally befuddled hitters last year.

I guess I can at least list the base and still maintain my protest.
9 Chris Young
30 Shane Victorino
35 Brennan Boesch
45 Mark Melancon
66 Adam Jones
75 Justin Upton
88 John Axford
98 Ben Zobrist
104 Alexi Ogando
123 Ryan Roberts
142 Tommy Hanson
143 Craig Kimbrel
146 Ian Desmond
147 Corey Hart
149 Adrian Gonzalez
161 Hunter Pence
162 Ricky Romero
179 Zack Greinke
181 Clayton Kershaw
202 Starlin Castro
217 Ryan Zimmerman

2012 Opening Day Rack Pack #5

My 5th Target Rack Pack of Opening Day was my most Cardinal-heavy to date, with 3 current and 1 former Cardinal among the 21 base cards. That's not bad considering there are only 7 current Cardinals in the whole 220-card set.

2012 Opening Day #60 Adam Wainwright

I cheated and re-used this Waino scan from Pack 3.

2012 Opening Day #64 Dan Haren

I also cheated and re-used the Haren scan from Pack 1. Some might say I'm cheating by counting him among Cardinals, but it's my blog, my collection, my rules. He's a Cardinal!

2012 Opening Day #96 Chris Carpenter

Finally, a fresh card, and it's a Chris Carpenter to boot.

2012 Opening Day #154 Yadier Molina

Arguably even better than Carpenter is Yadier Molina.

2012 Opening Day - Elite Skills #ES-4 Ian Kinsler

At first I scanned this because it was an insert, but then I noticed who's being doubled-up in the play. It's none other than our own Rafael Furcal. I'm counting it as a half, so that's 4 and a half Cardinals in this pack. Oddly enough, this is the very first Rafael Furcal card I've tagged on my blog.

2012 Opening Day - Opening Day Stars #ODS-24 Dustin Pedroia

These 3D cards lose a lot of the effect when they're put in sleeves, but I'm not sure how else to protect them. Presumably pages would have the same problem.

2012 Opening Day - Superstar Celebrations #SC-20 Martin Prado

Didn't we just see this guy? Hopefully another Opening Day collector (are they any among the adults in the blogosphere?) will come along and pluck some of these duplicates from my collection.

As always, the base cards:
9 Chris Young
11 Michael Morse
19 Mat Latos
28 Michael Young
39 Michael Cuddyer
40 Domonic Brown
45 Mark Melancon
46 Chris Sale
60 Adam Wainwright
62 Ervin Santana
64 Dan Haren
69 Tim Lincecum
88 John Axford
91 Jayson Werth
96 Chris Carpenter
138 Russell Martin
141 Drew Storen
149 Adrian Gonzalez
154 Yadier Molina
174 Brian McCann
191 Ivan Nova