eBay Wins #248

I left probably the biggest pile of 1989s for last, Topps. I'd guess there were more Donruss cards, but the thicker Topps cardboard made these stack a bit higher and look more daunting.

1989 Topps
#6 Doug Jones (x2)
#11 Bruce Sutter
#13 Doug Sisk
#15 Robby Thompson
#18 Rick Rhoden
#20 Steve Bedrosian
#22 Tim Crews
#27 Orestes Destrade
#35 John Tudor

Sutter and Tudor were both Cardinals, and would make a good name for a comedy duo.

1989 Topps
#38 Paul Runge
#40 Steve Sax (x2)
#47 Carney Lansford
#52 Bob Brenly (x4)
#54 Steve Trout
#56 Pat Tabler
#57 Alejandro Pena
#62 Alfredo Griffin
#64 Alex Trevino

Somehow I had 4 Bob Brenly cards in there.

1989 Topps
#68 Darrell Miller
#76 Terry Blocker
#79 Scott Bankhead (x2)
#83 Jeff Blauser
#84 Bill Bene
#89 Dave LaPoint
#92 Jeff Kunkel
#93 Ken Howell
#94 Chris Speier

Bill Bene was the only player Baseball-Reference's linker couldn't find. It would  appear he never made it to the majors, despite being a high first round pick.

1989 Topps
#102 Mike Gallego
#105 Ron Darling
#113 Lloyd Moseby
#114 Bob Kipper
#117 Dave Anderson
#121 Garry Templeton
#126 Sid Bream
#130 Gerald Perry
#131 Dave Otto

Maybe it's just confirmation bias, but  I seem to be picking up a lot of Garry Templeton cards lately.

1989 Topps
#132 Curt Ford
#133 Bill Long
#142 Mike Diaz
#144 Jay Bell
#145 Dave Stewart (x2)
#154 Don Carman
#158 Mike Aldrete
#160 Jeffrey Leonard
#165 Mike Dunne

Curt Ford was the only uniformed Cardinal in this first batch, a player I used to confuse with Curt Flood as a kid.

1989 Topps
#166 Doug Jennings (x14)
#169 Mike Jackson
#174 Todd Burns(x2)
#175 John Shelby
#179 Ozzie Virgil
#186 Pat Perry
#198 Danny Heep
#210 Dale Murphy
#212 Scott Sanderson

There were 14 of those Doug Jennings cards. 14!

1989 Topps
#217 Joe Price
#218 Mike LaValliere
#219 Jim Clancy
#225 Ramon Martinez
#232 Ricky Horton (x2)
#236 Charles Hudson
#237 Glenn Hubbard (x2)
#241 Brett Butler
#244 Jim Acker

I need more Rick Horton cards, and more importantly, I've got to track him down for an autograph one of these days, since he's in town doing Cardinals broadcasts.

1989 Topps
#248 Tony Phillips (x2)
#249 Tim Leary
#252 Billy Hatcher
#253 Jose Alvarez
#272 Ron Hassey
#273 Jose Lind
#277 Mike Davis
#280 Bob Knepper
#281 Gary Redus

As with the other 1989 posts, there are more of these, but  I'm out of tag space for Cardinals players 86 of these cards were in my half-cent box, which is cleared out for now. Along with all the duplicates, there were 96 total, for a purchase total of 53 cents. The empty half-cent box means I can only asymptotically approach 1 penny per card in the below chart by continuing to buy cards for cent each.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	4861
Total Spent	$60.98
Per Card	1.254 cents
Change	-0.015 cents

eBay Wins #246

I'm firmly entrenched in the junk wax era, going through my eBay purchases sorted by year. Today I've got more cards from the half cent box, from 1989 Fleer.

1989 Fleer
#1 Don Baylor (x2)
#2 Lance Blankenship
#3 Todd Burns
#4 Greg Cadaret
#6 Storm Davis
#8 Mike Gallego
#9 Ron Hassey
#10 Dave Henderson
#11 Rick Honeycutt

There are 4 (!) Cardinals in this scan, counting their former hitting coach Don Baylor.

1989 Fleer
#12 Glenn Hubbard
#13 Stan Javier
#14 Doug Jennings
#15 Felix Jose
#16 Carney Lansford
#18 Gene Nelson (x2)
#19 Dave Parker
#20 Eric Plunk
#21 Luis Polonia (x2)

Felix Jose was one of my first favorite players, as one of the heavy hitters for the 1992 Cardinals.

1989 Fleer
#22 Terry Steinbach
#23 Dave Stewart
#24 Walt Weiss
#25 Bob Welch
#26 Curt Young (x2)
#53 Dave Anderson
#54 Tim Belcher
#55 Mike Davis
#56 Mike Devereaux

1989 Fleer
#57 Kirk Gibson
#58 Alfredo Griffin
#59 Chris Gwynn
#60 Jeff Hamilton
#61 Danny Heep
#63 Brian Holton
#64 Jay Howell
#65 Tim Leary
#66 Mike Marshall

1989 Fleer
#68 Jesse Orosco
#69 Alejandro Pena
#70 Steve Sax
#71 Mike Scioscia
#72 Mike Sharperson
#73 John Shelby
#74 Franklin Stubbs
#75 John Tudor
#77 Tracy Woodson

Tracy Woodson was a curious case, who played in parts of 3 seasons before spending 2 whole seasons at AAA. He then played parts of 1992 in AAA and St. Louis, and all of 1993 in St. Louis, before again being in AAA from 1994-1996.

1989 Fleer
#78 Marty Barrett
#94 Larry Parrish
#95 Carlos Quintana
#114 Brian Harper
#131 Paul Gibson
#172 Van Snider
#201 Rafael Belliard
#203 Bobby Bonilla
#204 Sid Bream

Here's your annual reminder that the Mets still owe Bobby Bonilla his deferred salary for another 18 years.

1989 Fleer
#205 Benny Distefano
#206 Doug Drabek
#207 Mike Dunne
#208 Felix Fermin
#209 Brian Fisher
#210 Jim Gott
#211 Bob Kipper
#212 Dave LaPoint
#213 Mike LaValliere

I was curious if Dave LaPoint and Mike LaValliere were battery-mates on the Cardinals, but they didn't quite overlap, with Mike arriving and Dave leaving between 1984 and 1985.

With 63 cards and 4 duplicates, these 67 total cards cost me 33.5 cents. Obviously I didn't actually find a way to spend half a cent, but I ran out of space to add Cardinal players to the tags on an odd numbered card. It'll even out by the time I finish off the cheap cards from this set.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	4712
Total Spent	$60.185
Per Card	1.277 cents
Change	-0.011 cents

eBay Wins #224

Today I've got the end of my 1988 Donruss half-penny pile, which is 72 more cards. 

1988 Donruss
#454 Terry Pendleton
#455 Dave Meads
#460 Jay Aldrich
#464 Tim Crews
#467 Steve Ontiveros (x2)
#472 Dave Stewart
#475 Dave Anderson
#484 Mike Bielecki
#488 Jim Sundberg

I remember as a new baseball fan, my dad telling me Terry Pendleton used to be on the Cardinals. This would have been around 1992, and I could barely believe it. I knew he played for the Braves, and in my mind it just seemed like players were always on the same team. Of course I'd quickly encounter more and more players that joined or left the Cardinals.

1988 Donruss
#499 Tracy Woodson
#501 Ken Schrom
#502 Angel Salazar
#503 Eric Plunk
#506 Geno Petralli
#508 Robbie Wine (x2)
#511 Mark Grant
#513 Jeff Blauser
#514 Bob Walk

Tracy Woodson finished his career in St. Louis in 1992 and 1993, after being out of the majors from 1990-1991. According to my tags, this is my first Tracy Woodson card posted.

1988 Donruss
#515 Craig Lefferts (x2)
#516 Manny Trillo
#517 Jerry Reed
#518 Rick Leach
#525 Jeff Hamilton
#528 Greg Cadaret
#534 Eric Nolte
#537 Charlie Puleo (x2)
#538 Tom Prince

No Cardinals in this bunch, and barely any names I recognize.

1988 Donruss
#540 Jim Lindeman
#546 Mike Devereaux (x2)
#548 Jose Rijo
#552 Dave LaPoint
#554 Rocky Childress (x2)
#555 Wally Ritchie
#558 Jeff Robinson (x3)
#560 Ted Simmons
#562 Keith Miller

Apparently this is my first Jim Lindeman card posted too. Dave LaPoint was another Cardinal, and Ted Simmons is here in his final season, his 21st, after his first 13 were in St. Louis.

1988 Donruss
#571 Pete Smith
#572 Darnell Coles (x2)
#575 Dennis Rasmussen
#576 Steve Jeltz
#580 Ron Hassey
#587 Tim Belcher
#589 Melido Perez
#590 Rick Honeycutt
#592 Curt Wilkerson

I really didn't remember Darnell Coles playing for the Cardinals in 1995, but he did, in 63 games. I do remember Rick Honeycutt, as one of Tony La Russa's favorites that was brought over from the A's.

1988 Donruss
#595 Storm Davis
#598 Alejandro Pena
#604 Tom Newell (x2)
#606 Jim Gott (x2)
#607 Harry Spilman
#610 Mickey Brantley
#611 Jose Nunez
#616 Bobby Meacham

1988 Donruss
#618 Gene Garber
#620 Randy Myers
#622 Domingo Ramos
#623 Ed Romero
#626 Pat Perry
#627 Andres Thomas
#643 Keith Hughes
#654 Ron Gant

Pat Perry and Ron Gant finish off this post for Cardinals. Perry was another Cardinal that wore my favorite number, 37.

With the duplicates I didn't scan, there was a total of 72 cards in this post. As they were from my half-cent box, they cost me 36 cents, and brought my average down another .016 cents per card. My total eBay bargain cards is now over 4000.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	4035
Total Spent	$56.09
Per Card	1.39 cents
Change	-0.016 cents

August Card Show Autographs

I practically had to go to the August card show to get Bill Virdon's autograph, because in July, it was actually one dollar cheaper to buy a ticket good for the three I got plus Virdon. I couldn't let the ticket go to waste. Also appearing at this show were Dave LaPoint and Scott Cooper.

Bill Virdon
N.L. R.O.Y. 55

1982 WS Champs
Dave LaPoint #35

Scott Cooper
All-Star
"93-94"

At this show, specific inscriptions can be requested for an additional fee, which I assume is a normal thing you veteran autograph seekers are familiar with. I haven't purchased inscriptions, though I've heard several people talk about specifically what they wanted written on their items. As it turns out, I got an inscription from all 3 players, despite giving them no requests other than "on the sweet spot, please".



I did a little bargain basement shopping at the show, too, and I have no time to go through this stuff yet, so I'll just show you my haul here, in its unopened glory.

One seller had several tables full of $5 wax boxes. He probably had 30 each of 1991 and 1992 Donruss, along with several of the usual suspects, Fleer, Score, etc. I resisted the urge to load up, though, and restricted myself to a few boxes I don't see everywhere, 1992 Triple Play and 1988 Topps Big. I also picked up the 1988 Topps Traded set mostly on a whim, as I had exactly one card from it in my wantlist, the Todd Stottlemyre.

I'm all-in on autographed baseballs now. There's another show in September with 7 Cardinals attending, and I've already purchased some advanced tickets.

eBay Wins #140

Today I have the set I generally consider the ultimate Topps junk wax set, 1989. This might not beat 88 or 89 Donruss for the overall junk set champion. But, with the 25th anniversary parallels in 2014 flagship bearing the 1989 design, maybe now is the best time to sell. I bet I could get twice my money back! "My money" was just 60 cents for 60 cards, of course.

1989 Topps
#5 Orel Hershiser
#8 Dave Eiland
#30 Doc Gooden
#42 Jim Eppard
#44 Jim Snyder
#45 Kal Daniels
#80 Cory Snyder
#89 Dave LaPoint (x2)

Two Daves don't make a right, right? At least that's what I always told my two friends named Dave in college.

1989 Topps
#105 Ron Darling
#110 Paul Monitor
#129 Terry Clark
#131 Dave Otto
#139 Mike Flanagan
#190 Mike Witt
#196 Denny Walling
#197 Neal Heaton
#200 George Brett

Fun fact, which is only relevant to this particular arrangement of cards: George Brett's first Hall of Fame Ballot was also Mike Witt's. Brett got 98.2% of the vote. Witt got 0.

1989 Topps
#206 Roberto Alomar
#209 Jeff Bittiger
#210 Dale Murphy
#253 Jose Alvarez
#267 Jeff Robinson
#275 Danny Tartabull (x2)
#330 Eric Davis
#339 Scott Bailes

1989 Topps
#340 Kirk Gibson
#367 Johnny Paredes (x2)
#387 Ryne Sandberg (x3)
#390 Darryl Strawberry
#408 Greg Walker (x3)

As a Cardinals fan, I feel like I'm supposed to have this hatred for the Cubs, but I just can't muster it. I think part of the reason is that when I was first starting to watch baseball, the daycare I attended would let us turn on WGN in the afternoons and watch the Cubs day games. I got to know several of their players well, especially Ryne Sandberg. So this Three-of-a-kind of Sandberg isn't cringe inducing to me, as it might be to some St. Louis fans.

1989 Topps
#410 Jack Clark
#427 Eric Show
#449 Carmelo Martinez
#485 Hubie Brooks
#488 Kevin Coffman
#502 Duane Ward
#527 Dave Henderson
#531 Dave Hengel
#536 Joel Skinner

Jack Clark is all over these late 80s/early 90s posts.

1989 Topps
#571 Billy Ripken (x2)
#584 Randy Velarde
#588 Luis Alicea
#604 Paul O'Neill
#624 Jack McKeon
#651 Tom Niedenfuer
#693 Pat Borders
#704 Carlos Quintana

Here we have a decidedly unfamous Billy Ripken card, relatively speaking, and a Jack McKeon's magnificent mustache. Also a former, current, and future Cardinal as of the printing time of these cards, Tom Niedenfuer, Luis Alicea, and Pat Borders.

1989 Topps
#736 Jeff Hamilton
#744 Roger Craig
#750 Bret Saberhagen
#751 Ken Oberkfell
#579 Astros Leaders
#669 Dodgers Leaders

This last scan is brought to you by laziness and miscounting, but it worked out alright in the end. I thought I only had 59 cards and thus would have a row of vertical and a row of horizontal cards for the last scan. Thanks to the miscount, I discovered my scanner is almost exactly (2 card widths + 1 card length) wide.

Right now I would need about 2000 cards for $1.47 to get my average to 1 cent per card. That's not a particular goal of mine, but that is an interesting round number to help put the change values into perspective.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3194
Total Spent	$50.47
Per Card	1.58 cents
Change	-0.011 cents

eBay Wins #137

In my eventually-ending quest to run through all my eBay penny cards, I'm up to 1989. True, I already posted some from 1990 the other day, but this pile was big and I felt lazy. Today's lot has 21 cards, and the return of Clarkmania™.

1989 Fleer
#97 Jim Rice
#169 Ron Robinson
#174 Frank Williams
#212 Dave LaPoint
#252 Jack Clark
#253 Richard Dotson
#291 Bret Saberhagen
#299 Roberto Alomar
#321 Ed Whitson

This is the first card of Dave LaPoint I've ever posted, though I did receive his 1990 Score card in a trade a few years ago. Clearly I flipped through those cards too quickly and didn't realize I missed a Cardinal. Not only was he a Cardinal, but he played for the team in 1982, and pitched in 2 games of the World Series they won over the Brewers.

1989 Fleer
# 325 Will Clark
#342 Don Robinson
#355 Glenn Davis
#366 Craig Reynolds
#510 Jerry Reuss
#526 Chad Kreuter
#542 Jay Buhner (x2)
#549 Erik Hanson

What is Jerry Reuss doing with a bat in 1989 (likely 1988 in the photo)? He never came to the plate in 1988-89 with the White Sox and Brewers. You see, kids, back in '89, the Brewers were in the AL, and there was no interleague play, so AL pitchers didn't ever bat unless they made the World Series, unless there was a weird injury/double-switch/crazy-like-a-fox-manager situation.

Also, I might be able to let one Jay Buhner card go without doing this, but I simply can't show 2 Jay Buhner cards without this video:

1989 Fleer
#655 Checklist (Twins/Tigers)
#642 Prospects: Brad Pounders/Jerald Clark
World Series #2 Rookie Start Series (Tim Belcher)

Rounding things out are 3 oddballs of the lot: A checklist, a horizontal card, and an insert. That would make for a terrible Carnac bit. Brad Pounders is one of the grayest looking prospects I've ever seen, but I looked him up, and he was born in 1963, so he was a reasonable, though slightly older than usual, age for a prospect in 1989. The World Series card is nice, but now it makes me want to chase a 25-year-old insert set to pick up the other 11 cards, which include Eckersley and McGwire.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3122
Total Spent	$49.75
Per Card	1.594 cents
Change	-0.004 cents