More Contest Thanks

This time I'm showing some cards I won from All Cardinals All the Time, a blog that obviously caters to my interests. The contest to celebrate 2 years was a simple game guessing the serial number of one of two Alex Reyes cards, and I won with lucky #13.

2014 Bowman Draft - Top Prospects #TP-62 Kris Bryant
2014 Bowman - Chrome Prospects #BCP47 Alex Reyes - Autographed
2015 Topps Tier One - Dual Swatch Relics #DSR-VG Vladimir Guerrero

The first part of the prize were these Bryant and Vlad cards. The autographed Reyes was a nice throw-in, if you can call an autograph of a team's #1 prospect a throw-in. We'll have to wait another year to see if he lives up to his hype, since he just completed Tommy John surgery after feeling some arm problems in the first days of spring training.


The rest of the prize was a Jumbo pack of 2017 Topps. Since I'm not terribly proactive when it comes to baseball cards, these are my first 2017s.

2017 Topps
#99 Michael Wacha
#302 David Freese
First Pitch #FP-21 Jon Lovitz
Gold Parallel #159 Justin Verlander #1690/2017
MLB Awards #MOY-2 Dave Roberts
Silver Slugger #SS-11 Mike Trout
Topps Salute #S-47 Trevor Story
Rediscover Topps Promo Mark McGwire

With 6 inserts and 30 base cards, one in-uniform and one former Cardinal seems like a pretty fair rate. Even though it pictures him in a Cubs jersey, I really like the Jon Lovitz first pitch card.
At first I thought that McGwire card was one of the 1987 style inserts, then I thought it was just kind of a throwaway advertising card after seeing the back, but upon looking at the checklist, it appears this is an actual insert set called Rediscover Topps.

My First Minor League Autograph

I should have waited and posted this autographed ball with the last two, but I had already written that post by the time I was getting this ball. This time I got to meet a true Cardinals prospect, who hasn't even been above AA yet, Alex Reyes. Hopefully he'll make it to the big team and not get traded away, which is always a possibility, especially when if need an extra arm or bat at the trade deadline next year.

Alex Reyes

It's not the most legible signature, but then, neither is mine when I sign a check.

With the Cardinals in the heat of a pennant race, even a AA guy can draw a crowd. I was 62nd in line, if the line ticket numbers are to be believed. I'm sure I'll take a bit more interest in the minor league news for the next year or two as Reyes rises through the system, and eventually gets a September callup.