Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XXXV

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 XXXIII XXXIV

Let's sort some cards!

1998 Bowman's Best #146 Braden Looper
1998 Fleer Tradition #397 Kent Mercker
1998 Fleer Tradition #415 Braden Looper
1998 Fleer Tradition #541 Cliff Politte
1998 Topps #485 Braden Looper/Cliff Politte/Brian Rose
2009 Topps #612 Joel Pineiro

I've apparently never posted a Cliff Politte card, and now here I have 2. He only played one year with the Cardinals, and started just 8 games. I sometimes amaze myself at how much more time I must have had for baseball in those days. I could easily lose track of a guy like that now, but I can easily remember him on the team. Braden Looper is another one I remember from his first stint with the Cardinals, which was only 4 appearances. He came back after some time in Florida and New York, though.

1997 Topps #477 Braden Looper/John Patterson
2009 Upper Deck #880 Joel Pineiro
2014 Munnatawket Allen and Ginter #34 Matt Carpenter

That Matt Carpenter isn't just your average Allen and Ginter mini (which are also good cards, for the record). It's from a custom set made by a friend of Nachos Grande, in the 2008 Ginter style, but with an ad for Munnatawket bats on the reverse. I've seen these on a few blogs in the past, but usually as part of the full set. This set might be harder to chase than something from the 60s, so I'll probably just be content with my anachronistic Matt Carpenter card, appearing to feature him 3 years before his MLB debut and 1 year before he was drafted.

eBay Wins #188

I've got another larger eBay lot this time, 23 whole cards from the same set. They were still a penny each, lowering my all-time per-card price by .003 cents again.

2009 Upper Deck
#43 Coco Crisp
#44 J.D. Drew
#86 Javier Vazquez
#118 Brian Fuentes
#161 Brandon Backe
#196 James Loney
#285 Emil Brown
#319 Brian Giles
#357 Braden Looper

Drew, Fuentes, and of course Looper were all Cardinals. This card was from Braden Looper's second stint with the Cardinals

2009 Upper Deck
#506 Yusmeiro Petit
#646 Dallas McPherson
#663 Doug Brocail
#686 Erick Aybar
#703 Hong-Chih Kuo
#734 Francisco Liriano
#829 Heath Bell
#839 Chris Young
#986 Huston Street

Huston Street's studio shot looks odd among all these action shots, even if it is a team checklist.

2009 Upper Deck
#23 Yunel Escobar
#330 Fred Lewis
#622 Clint Barmes
#833 Cha Seung Baek
#840 Brian Giles

I'm not sure why Brian Giles has 2 base cards in this set. Neither is a checklist or All-Star card. At least he got two different uniforms pictured.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3360
Total Spent	$52.10
Per Card	1.551 cents
Change	-0.003 cents

All-Star Winnings, Part 7

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 | V | VI ]

Today's theme is "The Ghosts of Free-Agents Past".

2006 Upper Deck #807 Braden Looper

I distinctly remember being up in arms when I found out we traded Braden Looper for Edgar Renteria. But a look at the stats shows he pitched only 4 games for the cardinals before that point. 4 of his 10 outs were Strikeouts, but still, I don't know why I was so sure we needed him. We picked him back up just in time for the 2006 season, and he got to pitch in 7 playoff games including 3 in the World Series. Eventually he left for Milwaukee.

2010 Upper Deck #473 Kyle Lohse

2012 Topps #26 Kyle Lohse

Speaking of Milwaukee, Kyle Lohse turned his 16-3 2012 season into a 3-year, $33M deal with the Brewers for 2013-2015. So far it's not going quite as well at 2-6. At least that matches his jersey number, and 2012 card number.

2010 Topps Attax #121 Ryan Ludwick

I'd make a horrible GM. I'd never want to let any players go. It appears the Cardinals traded Ludwick at a good time, but in return we got Jake Westbrook, who is only recently off the DL again.

2009 Goodwin Champions #149 Ryan Ludwick
2009 Goudey #177 Ryan Ludwick
2009 Upper Deck Icons #92 Ryan Ludwick
2009 Upper Deck SP Authentic #47 Ryan Ludwick

These 4 Ludwick cards make me want the Topps monopoly to end. All 4 are Upper Deck products, and I think all 4 look really good.