Zistle Trade #29, Part II

Today's the rest of the Zistle trade I started on Thursday. It's all 1989 Upper Deck, and all Cardinals.

1989 Upper Deck Main Set #281 Luis Alicea
1989 Upper Deck Main Set #306 Pedro Guerrero
1989 Upper Deck Main Set #348 Tim Jones
1989 Upper Deck Main Set #514 Jose Oquendo
1989 Upper Deck Main Set #531 Greg Mathews
1989 Upper Deck Main Set #602 Tom Pagnozzi

However, we can play the old game of "One of these things is not like the other". The first five all show the Cardinals in BP gear, most likely in spring training. Tom Pagnozzi, on the other hand, is in full game uniform, and almost looks like a painting. I can't really explain it, though. He was on the team in 1987 and 1988, so surely would have been at 1989 Spring Training, since they bring in a whole lot of catchers to work with all the pitchers.

eBay Wins #241

Today's eBay post covers the first ever Upper Deck set 1989. As you probably know, this set is widely credited with the shift from brown to white cardstock, which seems to be just slightly thinner and stiffer as well. I can definitely attest that these are easier to line up on a flatbed scanner than other cards of this era I've been scanning, as they still mostly lie flat. There were a handful of duplicates, some from a big lot of Oakland A's I bought awhile back.

1989 Upper Deck
31 Kevin Gross
33 Jeff Calhoun
93 Albert Hall
246 Von Hayes
269 Kevin Elster
316 Scott Bankhead
317 Milt Thompson
337 Mike Campbell
338 Mike Maddux

When I was a kid and the web was relatively devoid of the minutiae you can now find on it, I had to make up my own back story for players with interesting names, especially if they were not Cardinals and thus much less likely to be discussed on a broadcast I would watch. I always figured Von Hayes was Dutch or Scandinavian, just based on his first name. Of course, his card lists his birthplace as California, and I still don't know where the name Von came from.

1989 Upper Deck
392 Curt Young (x2)
393 Jeff Treadway
409 Don Carman (x2)
412 Pete Smith
430 Jackie Gutierrez
433 Jerry Royster
443 Glenn Davis
474 Randy Ready
476 Kelly Downs

I think I've said it before, but to me Randy Ready sounds like a professional wrestler or some sort of local TV commercial mascot name. Wait no, last time I went with Superhero in a low budget Syfy movie.

1989 Upper Deck
478 Shawn Hillegas
492 Mark Parent
501 Chuck Crim
510 Kevin Seitzer
531 Greg Mathews
539 Jim Gott
544 Atlee Hammaker
550 Mickey Brantley
583 Mike Gallego (x2)

Finally, a uniformed Cardinal, Greg Matthews. Mike Gallego also finished up his career with the Cardinals, presumably coming here because of Walt Jocketty and Tony La Russa's experience with him in Oakland. Milt Thompson above was also a Cardinal.

1989 Upper Deck
585 Doug Jennings (x2)
623 Bill Swift
637 Charlie Leibrandt
640 Danny Jackson
641 Greg Booker
642 Jim Presley
679 Cory Snyder/Cleveland Checklist
688 Eric Davis/Cincinnati Checklist
758 Mike Moore (x2)

Finally there are two more Cardinals before they were Cardinals, Eric Davis and Danny Jackson. Eric Davis was signed pretty late in his career, but actually played here two seasons, and one more in San Francisco. Danny Jackson was traded away during his final season and finished in San Diego. When I look at that trade, it's not immediately obvious to me who was buying and who was selling, and it wasn't even a deadline deal; it happened June 13. The Cardinals traded Jackson, Rich Batchelor, and Mark Sweeney, and got Scott Livingstone, Phil Plantier, and Fernando Valenzuela. I guess Sweeney was the big piece in that trade, because Jackson, Plantier, Batchelor, and Valenzuela were finished in 1997, and Livingstone in 1998. Sweeney was 27 and played through 2008. At the deadline in 1997 the Cardinals picked up Mark McGwire, so maybe they were trying to clear some salary space. I really have no idea what they were thinking.

I added 41 total cards (the 36 pictured plus the 5 duplicates noted), for 41 cents.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	4327
Total Spent	$58.26
Per Card	1.346 cents
Change	-0.004 cents

Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XXXI

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 XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX

If I've done the math right, I'm eliminated from this year's Bowl Pick 'Em contest already, with the final nail in the coffin coming sometime during the January 2nd games. So there will be no giant pile of Cardinals for me to dig through this year. But this one's still not done. It's getting close, though.

1992 Stadium Club Skydome #115 Tom McKinnon
1991 Fleer Ultra #289 Pedro Guerrero
1990 Post #22 Pedro Guerrero
1990 Fleer League Leaders #16 Pedro Guerrero
1989 Kmart Dream Team #33 Pedro Guerrero
1989 Kmart Dream Team #30 Tony Pena
1986 Fleer Update #U-73 Greg Mathews

The majority of this post is Pedro Guerrero, probably best known for playing for the Dodgers. He came to the Cardinals during 1988, and finished his career with the team after the 1992 season. Pedro's listed as a first basemen on 3 of the cards, but as a Pinch Hitter in the Kmart Dream Team set. He played plenty of 1B in 1988, so I'm not sure why that is. He played a little bit of outfield, too, in 1988 and in his final season.

Tom McKinnon never made it above high A, which is kind of surprising for a guy included in a mainstream set in 1992. The reason is because the selections weren't based on scouting per se, but there are 100 top picks in the set, and he was drafted #28.

eBay Wins #222

I've got another giant stack of cards as a consequence of splitting up my eBay wins by set, so here's the first group from 1988 Donruss, until I run out of space to tag the Cardinals players.

1988 Donruss
#3 Benito Santiago
#10 Julio Franco
#13 Shane Rawley
#14 Kal Daniels
#18 Andy Van Slyke
#22 Glenn Hubbard (x2)
#24 Bob Welch
#28 Mackey Sasser
#30 Mike Campbell (x2)

Let's see if every scan has at least one Cardinal. First up is Andy Van Slyke. He counts, despite his Pirates uniform.

1988 Donruss
#35 Shawn Hillegas
#38 Jose Lind
#39 Kirt Manwaring
#45 Vicente Palacios
#52 Pat Clements
#53 Fernando Valenzuela
#54 Mark Gubicza
#55 Jay Howell (x2)
#58 DeWayne Buice

Fernando Valenzuela and Vicente Palacios represent the Cardinals in scan 2. This is the first Vicente Palacios card I've posted, according to my blogger tags.

1988 Donruss
#59 Jose DeLeon
#60 Danny Cox
#63 Tom Browning
#65 R.J. Reynolds (x2)
#66 Kevin Mitchell
#67 Ken Oberkfell
#70 Scott Bankhead (x2)
#78 Dale Murphy
#79 Doug Drabek

Jose DeLeon, Danny Cox, Ken Oberkfell...this one might ruin it for the others.

1988 Donruss
#80 Scott Garrelts
#81 Ed Whitson
#84 Greg Mathews
#87 Donnie Hill
#97 Curt Young
#101 Bobby Witt
#103 Mickey Tettleton (x2)
#106 Mike Scioscia
#111 Bob Forsch

Greg Mathews, Bobby Witt, and Bob Forsch keep the streak alive.

1988 Donruss
#115 Bob Kipper
#121 Mark Eichhorn
#123 John Franco
#130 Ken Howell (x2)
#133 Gene Nelson
#138 Bob Knepper
#143 Ozzie Virgil
#144 Felix Fermin
#147 Scott Bradley (x2)

And, the dream is over.

1988 Donruss
#154 Wayne Tolleson
#155 Mariano Duncan
#156 Julio Franco
#158 Terry Steinbach
#165 Bruce Ruffin
#166 Ron Robinson (x2)
#167 Zane Smith (x2)
#168 Junior Ortiz
#176 Steve Sax

Two Cardinal-free scans in a row. At least there's a Terry Steinbach, who played my favorite position for my second favorite team.

1988 Donruss
#178 Carney Lansford
#186 Bo Diaz
#187 Stan Jefferson
#188 Sid Bream
#190 Dion James
#198 Rey Quinones
#202 Ken Griffey
#203 Tommy Gregg
#207 Von Hayes

I always debate with myself, but ultimately decide Carney Lansford counts, since he wore the uniform as a coach with the Cardinals.

1988 Donruss
#209 Craig Reynolds
#212 Vance Law
#213 Ken Gerhart
#218 Franklin Stubbs (x2)
#221 Tony Phillips
#224 Steve Buechele
#225 Frank White
#226 Alfredo Griffin
#229 Mike Marshall (x2)

No Cardinals to finish off this post, but there's a Frank White, one of the top Royals of all time.


This post had 72 unique cards, but with 12 doubles mixed in I didn't bother to scan, for a total of 84 cards, out of the half-penny box, costing me 42 cents total.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3841
Total Spent	$55.12
Per Card	1.435 cents
Change	-0.021 cents

eBay Wins #130

If you paid any attention to my last eBay post, you noticed the card numbers stopped right around the middle of the set. That's because I had a total of 88 cards from 1987 Topps in my penny card piles. Here are the rest.

1987 Topps
#433 Ed Hearn
#452 Dave Henderson
#462 Scott Fletcher
#464 Butch Wynegar
#476 Danny Tartabull
#480 Jim Rice
#495 Gorman Thomas
#499 Bruce Ruffin
#502 Dick Schofield

1987 Topps
#505 Bryn Smith
#520 Jack Clark
#524 Bob Shirley
#531 Astros Leaders (x2)
#555 Dennis Rasmussen
#556 Angels Leaders
#567 Greg Mathews
#573 Hal McRae

Hal McRae, like Don Baylor and Bengie Molina, is a player I collect because he coached for the Cardinals, even though he never actually played for them. In this block of 9, which only had 6 player cards, 5 of them were at one time Cardinal players or coaches.

1987 Topps
#575 Pat Tabler
#582 Bruce Berenyi
#593 Chuck Tanner
#599 Tony Gwynn
#604 Fernando Valenzuela
#610 Jim Rice
#622 Glenn Braggs
#650 Hubie Brooks
#660 Bob Horner

Fernando Valenzuela finished his MLB career as a Cardinal, and so did Bob Horner. neither managed a full season, though, which, I guess, isn't that uncommon at the end of a career.

1987 Topps
#672 Chili Davis
#673 Don Sutton
#675 Ed Romero
#683 Gary Roenicke
#689 Darrell Porter
#691 Dave Parker
#698 Ernie Whitt
#704 Jesse Orosco

Jesse Orosco was Jamie Moyer before Jamie Moyer, playing from 1979 to 2003, including a grand total of 2.1 innings for the Cardinals in 2000. Also, I've always seen Darrell Porter in glasses, but these are nearly Harry Caray level frames.

1987 Topps
#705 Bruce Hurst
#711 Ken Griffey
#717 Ed Vande Berg
#746 Bob Ojeda
#766 Don Aase
#767 Ron Cey
#768 Dennis Lamp
#772 Harold Baines

Ron Cey is clearly sick and tired of this post. So I'll end it after pointing out that I crossed 3000 cards purchased via eBay with this lot.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3042
Total Spent	$48.95
Per Card	1.609 cents
Change	-0.009 cents

eBay Wins #128

One of these things is not like the other, and if you really scrutinize, you might be able to spot it.

1988 Fleer
#41 Greg Mathews
#169 Paul Molitor
#177 Bill Wegman
#320 Glenn Wilson
#337 Bob Patterson
#340 John Smiley
#403 Bill Lindsey
1998 Score #292 Randy Bush

Okay, I guess you could pick a few of these cards for that distinction, such as one Hall-of-Famer, one Cardinal, one third baseman, one catcher, and one guy who played less than 10 games in MLB (Bill Lindsey), but I meant the 1988 Score card I used to round out my pile of 7 1988 Fleer cards. I detest wasted space in scanning, and I only had one card from the Score set in my sorted piles. It was a no-brainer.

I never before noticed that 1988 Fleer has different colors - mostly team colors it appears - below the photos. I guess the blue and red of most teams blends into the overall design, and I just never spent much time looking at teams like the Pirates. And of course this was before the purple Rockies or teal Marlins. That's one trivial detail I'll never be able to not notice again.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2954
Total Spent	$48.07
Per Card	1.627 cents
Change	-0.002 cents

182 Packs Giveaway, Part III

When I claimed the Cardinals - and Mark McGwire and Todd Stottlemyre - in the pack-per-day giveaway held at TribeCards, I had no idea just how many cards I'd wind up with, and how many different players. So that I can tag all of the sets and Cardinal players, I've broken this up into a series of who knows how many posts. Thanks for all the cards, David.
[Part I]
[Part II]

1991 Topps
#262 Tim Jones
#734 Bryn Smith

Here are Tim Jones and Bryn Smith sporting a look the cardinals have brought back this year, red caps on the road.

1990 Score
#235 Scott Terry
#347 John Costello
#537 Greg Mathews
#556 Ken Dayley

More road shots except for Scott Terry. These cards kind of remind me of the blue and red parallels modern Topps has.

1991 Studio
#65 Storm Davis
#106 Mark McGwire

Storm Davis arrived via the randomizer, and here's the final McGwire I received.

1991 Studio
#232 Pedro Guerrero
#237 Lee Smith
#240 Todd Zeile

Now here are 3 guys I remember well from when I first started watching baseball. I'd have traded you any other 1B, Closer, or 3B for these cards back then.

1995 Topps
#167 Bret Wagner
CyberStats #173 Todd Zeile

Bret Wagner - never heard of him. I enjoy how baseball-reference.com let's me immediately find out what happened to these unknown draft picks, though. Bret made it up to AA, then got traded to Oakland, but stayed at AA. The Todd Zeile card is a parallel set with a dumb name but an interesting concept. Topps jumped at the rare chance to simulate the rest of the 1994 Season after the strike, and put out the projected stats onto cards. Todd would have hit over 50% more doubles than he did in the real season (38 vs 25), but just under 37% more home runs (26 vs 19). I wonder why that is.

That's it for today, and there are still plenty more to go.