Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XXXIII

College football will be here again before we know it IS HERE IS OVER, 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 XX
XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX
XXXI XXXII


With the pro football season winding down, I'll run through these a little faster now. Today's them is "Horizontal cards and others in the same set or with the same player". Catchy, right?

1996 Topps #167 Danny Jackson
1999 Upper Deck Victory #439 Mark McGwire
2000 Skybox Dominion #37 Mark McGwire
2000 Skybox Dominion #102 J.D. Drew

I like the shiny sets from 98-2000, which was really the heyday of collecting for me the first time around. Skybox Dominion just reminds me of when there were so many products I couldn't keep track, and would buy maybe a pack from each product per year.

1996 Topps #431 Jaime Bluma/David Coggin/Steve Montgomery/Brandon Reed
1998 Fleer Sports Illustrated World Series Fever #34 Ron Gant
1999 UD Choice #130 Mark McGwire
2000 Skybox Dominion - New Era #18 Adam Kennedy

Here are the aforementioned horizontal cards. Can you tell 98-99 was the homerun era? Also, for its time, that prospect card had a decent hit rate, with 3 out of 4 players making it to the major leagues. Steve Montgomery is shown as a Cardinal, because they drafted him, but he was traded for Dennis Eckersley before he made it to St. Louis.

Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XXVII

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 XX
XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI


There's another randomish collection of Cardinals cards today, some draft picks, some 2000 Topps, and some Eli Marrero. To enter this year's Bowl Pick 'Em, go sign up at Cards on Cards before Saturday's bowl games begin.

1997 Bowman #409 Brent Butler
1997 Bowman #430 Adam Kennedy
1997 Bowman - Rookie of the Year Favorites #ROY12 Eli Marrero
1998 Skybox Dugout Axcess #92 Eli Marrero
1999 Upper Deck MVP #174 Eli Marrero
2000 Topps #68 Eli Marrero
2000 Topps #190 Eric Davis (x2)
2000 Topps #192 Joe McEwing
2000 Topps #212 Chance Caple/Jason Jennings

Brent Butler never played in the majors for the Cardinals, having been traded to Colorado in the deal that brought Darryl Kile to St. Louis. Adam Kennedy played for the Cardinals two different times, but he really had his best years in Anaheim.

1999 Fleer Ultra #45 Eli Marrero
1999 Upper Deck UD Choice #132 Eli Marrero

Eli Marrero arrived in 1997, and looked like he could bloom into a star catcher for the Cardinals, but in 2002 they got Mike Matheny, and tried to move Eli more often to the outfield, and infield a little. He was eventually traded to the Braves with J.D. Drew to acquire Adam Wainwright.

Zistle Trade #9

These cards cost me some Thomes, some Cabreras, some Ortizes, and a couple of Ichiros. But I got a few Cardinal managers, and closer to completing 2012 Update. It's win/win, like any trade should be.

1987 Topps #68 Tony La Russa
1988 Topps #344 Tony La Russa
1988 Topps #744 Whitey Herzog
2012 Topps Update #US3 Adam Kennedy
2012 Topps Update #US26 Santiago Casilla
2012 Topps Update #US27 Cesar Izturis

Several of the Update cards happened to be Cardinals too, including Adam Kennedy and Cesar Izturis.

2012 Topps Update
#US58 Manny Acosta
#US69 Brett Jackson
#US80 Jered Weaver
#US92 Chone Figgins
#US102 Brandon League
#US115 Jason Grilli
#US121 Johnny Damon
#US141 R.A. Dickey

2012 Topps Update
#US162 Yu Darvish
#US169 Steve Cishek
#US205 Travis Ishikawa
#US219 Brian Fuentes
#US235 Marc Rzepczynski
#US279 Ryan Cook
#US289 Prince Fielder
#US302 Lucas Harrell

The sportscasters here liked to call Rzepczynski "Scrabble". I don't know if that nickname predated his time here, or just reflects our relatively low Polish population.

2012 Topps Update
#US17 Joe Smith
#US170 Jerry Hairston
#US238 Shawn Camp
#US294 Sergio Santos
#US316 Ryan Theriot

Finally I got one more Cardinal middle infielder, short-timer Ryan Theriot.

If my Zistle want list is to be believed - and it usually is - I still need over 70 cards to finish the Update set. But, this knocked out about a quarter of the list.

Contest Winnings, Part I

A good friend of mine likes to say - jokingly, I think - that second place is the first loser. When Daniel of It's like having my own Card Shop, opened up a contest to help Pack War reach 100 followers, I joined in, and the Randomizer put me in 6th for 4 prizes. But, since 2 people won the top 4 prizes, he was kind enough to throw some cards to the 5th and 6th position to still have 4 people as winners. Consequently, I got some cool stuff for being the 5th loser.

Here's the first batch of cards, since I like to split them up to tag every set and Cardinals player.

1992 Donruss Cracker Jack II
#4 Lee Smith

Here we have the minis from before minis were cool, Cracker Jack. This set looks just like 1992 Donruss, but about 1/2 the width and height. I'm certain I've seen these cards before, and even held them in my hands, but according to Zistle, this Lee Smith is the only one I have.

1996 Upper Deck
Retail Predictor - #R33 Ron Gant

I'm kind of curious if this Ron Gant card would have been a winner. He hit 8 home runs in August 1996, and 7 in July. Does anybody have a link to home run totals by month? Even baseball-reference has failed me on this one.

1997 Topps
Season's Best #SB20 Andy Benes

This card's shiny, though not quite chrome-shiny, so it scans well. It's kind of hard to believe Andy Benes got a place in a 25-man insert set, but this was after his career-high 18-win 1996 season.

2000 Fleer Focus
Future Vision #FV8 Adam Kennedy

By the start of the 2000 season, Adam Kennedy had been traded to the Angels, though he'd be back for the 2007 season.

2000 Skybox Dominion - New Era
#16 Rick Ankiel
#18 Adam Kennedy

And finally - for this post - a Rick Ankiel and another Adam Kennedy. I hope Rick can catch on somewhere and get another year or two of playing time, but I suspect he may be finished after being released in May and June by 2 different teams last year. He's definitely a natural athlete, making major league rosters as both a pitcher and later an outfielder. He's also one of the first players to make me start feeling old, as I remember going to a game he pitched when I was 17, and realizing he was only about 3 years older than me.

College Bowl Game Contest Win, Part 12

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 Allen and Ginter
#287 Chris Carpenter
#326 Adam Kennedy

2008 Allen and Ginter
#44 Adam Wainwright
United States #US29 Chris Carpenter

Has anyone heard if 2013 Allen and Ginter is out yet? That United States insert is needlessly thick. At first I thought maybe it was a relic, but no, it's just a very thick slide of cardboard. I'm guessing this set contained each state's most famous native ballplayer.

2008 Topps
#244 Adam Wainwright
#272 Anthony Reyes
#285 Tony La Russa
#353 Brendan Ryan

2008 Topps is a set I have a decent chunk of, by virtue of finding a lot of cheap packs at one point. Consequently, I'm chasing its completion in my mind, though I haven't gone so far as to put the missing cards on my want list yet.

2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces
#83 Ozzie Smith
#85 Chris Carpenter

I could come up with any number of excuses for putting the Ozzie in the wrong orientation, but you know the real reason. I wasn't paying attention. And I'm not going to go de-sleeve and re-scan it. Carpenter knocked a card off my want list, so I just have a few Cardinals to go in this set.

2007 Topps Co-Signers #67 Anthony Reyes

I feel like I've heard of Co-Signers many times, but this is the first card of it I own. That's probably because I'm not a huge autograph seeker, except those I acquire from an in-person meeting, and autographed inserts were the big gimmick of this set.

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.

All-Star Winnings, Part 2

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]

2010 Topps - Topps Attax Matt Holliday
2011 Bowman #122 Matt Holliday
2011 Lineage #9 Matt Holliday

First up in this batch is the player who won me these cards, Matt Holliday. If you can figure out what to do with it, the code from the 2010 Attax card is all yours. Matt changed jersey numbers for 2011, but Bowman apparently went with a 2009 shot in the 2011 product.

2011 Topps Update
#US114 Lance Lynn
#US260 Matt Holliday
#US294 Edwin Jackson

Here are 3 cards from 2011 Update, and right in the middle, Matt Holliday is celebrating that he had slightly more statistical impact than his 2 teammates at the All-Star Game. I don't think this pick is from the game, however, because Molina was on bereavement leave at the time.

1999 Topps #433 Adam Kennedy/Mickey Lopez/Jackie Rexrode
1998 Bowman #77 Adam Kennedy
2008 Topps #542 Adam Kennedy
2008 Topps #285 Tony La Russa

Here's a little sunrise-sunset on Adam Kennedy, since he started his first stint with the Cardinals in 1999 (drafted in 1997), and finished the second one in 2008. Also from 2008, Tony La Russa, who probably didn't want to pose for this shot.

2010 Topps
Peak Performance #PP-80 Ozzie Smith
Vintage Legends #VLC9 Ozzie Smith

And finally for today, here are 2 Ozzies from 2010. Cards like this make me appreciate Topps reaching back to the past for card subjects. They even got the logo era-appropriate on the Peak Performance card.

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.