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.

Two Eli Marrero Autographed Cards

Here Fuji goes again, pushing bloggers to write some posts with real substance and stories. This time he wants to know: Describe your best or worst IP autograph experience.  Who was it?  What made it special/memorable?

First I'll show you the autographs, so you won't know if it was good or bad and the suspense will make my writing seem interesting. I should really stop revealing my dastardly plans out loud, like a James Bond villain.

1997 Fleer Ultra #549 Eli Marrero

1997 Collector's Choice #477 Eli Marrero

In case you can't tell, those are in white-bordered toploaders. I'm not sure why, they were probably just the two most special-looking protectors I had at the time.

His autographs were free with admission to a card show near St. Louis. If I recall correctly, I have two because it was 1997 or summer 1998, before I could drive, so I actually convinced my Mom to take me to a card show. In retrospect, I can't imagine how boring that must have been for her, knowing only a little about baseball as it was. But, she was entitled to a free autograph too of course, so I brought along two cards.

As we approached the table I saw Eli seemed to be taking a long time on each item; I thought maybe he was inscribing something. He didn't speak English very well, so there wasn't much conversation, but he did give everyone a "Hi" and a big smile as they handed him their items. I saw why he was taking so long. He was just being extra careful to sign his name very big and very legibly. He signed his full first name, Elieser. I was toward the end of the line, and even after a long time at the table, he still had a great attitude about meeting fans and signing for them, so I count Eli among my best in-person autograph experiences.