eBay Wins #256

Today's eBay cards are from 1990 Upper Deck. I've given up on scanning every single card, so I just picked out the Cardinals, and enough other stars to round out the scans.

1990 Upper Deck
#16 Pirates Checklist (Bobby Bonilla)
#230 Mike Gallego
#334 Rickey Henderson
#342 Jack Clark
#393 Lee Smith
#397 Terry Kennedy

Can you pick which one didn't play for the Cardinals? You probably can, it's Rickey Henderson. The Cardinals were not among his 9 teams.

1990 Upper Deck
#402 Rich Gedman
#445 Fernando Valenzuela
#584 Les Lancaster
#659 Dan Quisenberry
#689 Todd Burns
#727 Scott Hemond

Dan Quisenberry is the only uniformed Cardinal in the big stack, even though he actually spent 1990 playing for San Francisco, his final year.

The size of that stack that made me give up scanning every card was 135, all out of the penny box, for a total of $1.35.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	5242
Total Spent	$64.79
Per Card	1.236 cents
Change	-0.006 cents

Zistle Trade #28

While we're all mourning the seemingly inevitable loss of Zistle, I've still got some trades to post from it. This was a pretty small addition for me, but it only cost me 1 card in return.

1982 Donruss #404 Ken Oberkfell
1982 Topps #452 Lee Smith RC
1984 Topps #310 Willie Mcgee
1994 Score - Gold Rush #149 Todd Stottlemyre
1995 Fleer - All-Stars #2 Frank Thomas / Gregg Jefferies

I don't have a whole lot from the early 80s, so two Cardinals, and eventual Cardinal Lee Smith were good to knock off my want list. I've got plenty of 90s cards, but a sparse amount of insert cards, which is where the Stottlemyre and Jefferies come in. The front side of Jefferies shows his 1B counterpart in the American League, Frank Thomas.

Zistle Trade #27

I'm not very good with keeping up a First-in-first-out system of stuff to post, because when this trade arrived in the mail I thought, here's a group of cards I can scan and file away quickly. First, because there were only 6 of them, and second, because they are all from the same 1993 Studio set, making the steps to sorting them much shorter.

1993 Studio
#47 Jose Canseco
#73 Chris Sabo
#117 Terry Pendleton
#119 Mark Whiten
#147 Lee Smith
#188 Joe Girardi

This trade knocked out about half of my remaining needs for this set, which was mostly just the Cardinals in the set. Although, upon further reviewing the set, I missed Bobby Bonilla, Will Clark, Vince Coleman, Royce Clayton, Larry Walker, Andy Van Slyke, Delino DeShields (Sr.), Willie McGee, Lance Johnson, and Tino Martinez. I must not have ever looked through it exhaustively, but added cards while searching for specific players. So, the net effect of these trade is 4 more cards on my want list. This is actually a set I really like, and I may try to finish it at some point, but for now I'll just try to get at least the rest of the Cardinals.

Zistle Trade #23

This Zistle trade was mostly from the junk wax era, but I haven't quite filled all those gaps in my collection, so there's a smattering of them on my want list. Oddly enough, my trading partner wanted some "junk" in return, so I figured, why not. I'm too lazy to look it up now, but I think it was mostly 89 or 91 Donruss.

1988 Topps #642 Bob Dernier
1990 Score #233 Ken Hill
1991 Fleer #633 Bernard Gilkey
1991 Fleer #636 Felix Jose
1991 Fleer #640 Jose Oquendo
1991 Fleer #645 Lee Smith
1991 Topps #112 Frank DiPino
1992 Fleer #589 Gerald Perry
1992 Score #544 Bernard Gilkey

One of these things is not like the others, and that is Bobby Dernier. The others are all Cardinals, and actually mostly guys I remember playing for the team during my childhood, except for Frank DiPino. As for Bobby, I added that to my list awhile back because he was the favorite player of a good friend of mine when he was growing up. I was looking through my collection for a card of his to perhaps try to get autographed through the mail, but I didn't have any, and thus I added a few I should be able to get cheaply to my want list. Now I just need to track down an address for Mr. Dernier, or figure out who he's working for.

1992 Donruss #427 Bobby Bonilla
1992 Donruss #442 John Smoltz
1992 Donruss #564 Deion Sanders
1992 Donruss #610 Bobby Bonilla

I recently purchased a 1992 Donruss Series 1 set, which actually quashed the first trade this particular trader proposed to me. He did it the day after I bought the set, before I thought to remove the series 1 cards from my want list. Luckily my oversight didn't frustrate him, and we worked out a deal removing those cards. Here are the series 2 cards I still needed. If you're not a Cardinals fan, you may have forgotten that Smoltz and Bonilla both finished their careers in St. Louis. It wasn't very long for either one, but I still consider them players I collect. I've waffled about whether I should start collecting Deion Sanders cards. He'd go well with my other two-sport-star collection target, Bo Jackson. He was also a part of the very first baseball game I ever attended. I'll probably complete this base set eventually anyway, so I went ahead and added it to my wantlist, and now I have it.

Giant Pile of Prizes from Jaybarkerfan's Junk, Part 2

Sometimes when I win a contest, I set the prize aside until I have time to fully rummage through all of it. In this case I won a contest back in late September, and I think the "Small Flat Rate Box" arrived by early October. I opened it immediately, but it's been sitting on my desk, too daunting of task to sort, since then. I finally felt the need to dive into it, and give jaybarkerfan his proper thank you post.

Part 1

This part of the prize starts off with a huge pile of 1981 Topps. My collection previously only contained 3 cards from 81 Topps, and only 11 cards from 1981 in all brands.

1981 Topps
#11 Jim Wohlford
#12 Mark Clear
#65 Scott McGregor
#74 Mike Hargrove
#75 Reggie Smith
#87 Rick Camp
#108 Bruce Benedict
#127 Rudy Law
#164 Lamarr Hoyt

1981 Topps
#169 John Mayberry
#172 Gary Woods
#176 Mike Krukow
#207 Ozzie Smith
#252 Victor Cruz
#262 Sammy Stewart
#263 Brian Downing
#268 Jerry Royster
#270 Greg Luzinski

1981 Topps
#283 Billy Sample
#333 Sid Monge
#366 Mike Ramsey
#367 Denny Martinez
#371 Charlie Hough
#376 Ron Reed
#388 Andre Thornton
#398 Ross Baumgarten
#407 Ernie Whitt

1981 Topps
#407 Ernie Whitt
#434 Roger Erickson
#458 Randy Jones
#463 Milt May
#466 Bob Molinaro
#469 Jeff Leonard
#487 Dewey Robinson
#484 Max Venable
#494 Bob Walk

1981 Topps
#506 Phil Huffman
#536 Bob Owchinko (x2)
#542 Larry Bradford
#545 Johnny Grubb
#553 Tim Blackwell
#557 Chris Knapp
#561 Dennis Littlejohn
#581 Roy Howell

1981 Topps
#591 John Lowenstein
#594 Preston Hanna
#597 Rafael Landestoy
#599 Dennis Kinney
#609 Lynn McGlothen
#615 Rick Dempsey
#621 Tom Donohue
#624 Bob Welch
#639 Carney Lansford

1981 Topps
#644 Ramon Aviles (x2)
#645 Rick Reuschel
#652 Jon Montague
#657 Mike Cubbage
#694 Bud Harrelson
#702 George Medich
#705 Ted Simmons
#713 Bill North
#721 Toby Harrah

1981 Topps
#192 Terry Harper / Ed Miller / Rafael Ramirez
#664 Chicago White Sox
#685 San Diego Padres

Some of the cards have some fuzzy corners, or are a bit beat up, but I still wouldn't call 'em junk.

1989 Topps #163 Bob Forsch
1995 Collector's Choice - You Make the Play #37 Lee Smith
1996 Leaf Preferred #73 Mark Grudzielanek
2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces #30 Matt Holliday

To finish up for today, here's a collection of Cardinals in other uniforms.

There's still way too much left in the box...

Contest Winnings, Part I

A good friend of mine likes to say - jokingly, I think - that second place is the first loser. When Daniel of It's like having my own Card Shop, opened up a contest to help Pack War reach 100 followers, I joined in, and the Randomizer put me in 6th for 4 prizes. But, since 2 people won the top 4 prizes, he was kind enough to throw some cards to the 5th and 6th position to still have 4 people as winners. Consequently, I got some cool stuff for being the 5th loser.

Here's the first batch of cards, since I like to split them up to tag every set and Cardinals player.

1992 Donruss Cracker Jack II
#4 Lee Smith

Here we have the minis from before minis were cool, Cracker Jack. This set looks just like 1992 Donruss, but about 1/2 the width and height. I'm certain I've seen these cards before, and even held them in my hands, but according to Zistle, this Lee Smith is the only one I have.

1996 Upper Deck
Retail Predictor - #R33 Ron Gant

I'm kind of curious if this Ron Gant card would have been a winner. He hit 8 home runs in August 1996, and 7 in July. Does anybody have a link to home run totals by month? Even baseball-reference has failed me on this one.

1997 Topps
Season's Best #SB20 Andy Benes

This card's shiny, though not quite chrome-shiny, so it scans well. It's kind of hard to believe Andy Benes got a place in a 25-man insert set, but this was after his career-high 18-win 1996 season.

2000 Fleer Focus
Future Vision #FV8 Adam Kennedy

By the start of the 2000 season, Adam Kennedy had been traded to the Angels, though he'd be back for the 2007 season.

2000 Skybox Dominion - New Era
#16 Rick Ankiel
#18 Adam Kennedy

And finally - for this post - a Rick Ankiel and another Adam Kennedy. I hope Rick can catch on somewhere and get another year or two of playing time, but I suspect he may be finished after being released in May and June by 2 different teams last year. He's definitely a natural athlete, making major league rosters as both a pitcher and later an outfielder. He's also one of the first players to make me start feeling old, as I remember going to a game he pitched when I was 17, and realizing he was only about 3 years older than me.

A New Autographed Ball - Lee Smith

Last July, Fuji's contest question was about Autographed baseballs, and I showed off my small collection. I've got a new one to add - Lee Smith.

Lee Smith #47
478 Saves

A few new Menards stores opened in the St. Louis area, and Lee Smith was signing free one night from 6pm to 8pm. I showed up at 5:30, and got my autograph about 6:45. I really wasn't expected that much of a line since the Cardinals really weren't that good while Lee was here. He couldn't have been nicer to the fans in line, posing for pictures, switching pens upon request, and even trying to get a baby to laugh. He shook everyone's hands after signing, and gave a very genuine thanks. I of course returned the Thank You right back, since I now have a souvenir of meeting the most intimidating Cardinal player I can remember as a kid in 1992. When Lee came in, the game was as good as over.

Unfortunately, the next night was not so fortuitous, as David Eckstein was signing. Eckstein, of course, was the 2006 World Series MVP, so fresher in our memories, and also around at a time with more fans. I showed up at 5pm this time, a full hour before signing was to begin. I estimated the line to be 6 times the length it was when I showed up for Lee Smith. Doing some mental math, at Lee's pace that line would last 4.5 hours, and he was scheduled for just 2 hours. I didn't wait it out to see if Eckstein was lightning fast with the pen, and went home.

On the plus side, I think I have a better shot at having a HOF ball in my collection than if the nights were reversed. Also, Eckstein just retired, so hopefully he'll be around signing for many more years.

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.

A Trade Post is in Order, Part I

Can't...resist...bad...puns...

Thanks to my obsessive need to scan and post every insert card I receive, I got an email from The Angels, In Order about the Tyler Chatwood in this contest win post. He sent me a pile of Cardinals, and - I must admit - I still owe him his card once I get a big enough pile of Angels together to send along. Here's the first part of the trade.

1992 Pinnacle
#6 Ozzie Smith
#69 Tom Pagnozzi
#186 Omar Olivares
#195 Lee Smith
#239 Jose Oquendo
#341 Jose DeLeon

 Now I have to try to get a full team set from 1992 Pinnacle. I can't have this many and not try for more!

1992 Topps Kids
#26 Pedro Guerrero

Topps Kids is one of the sets I like for some unknown reason. I think I'm drawn to the simpler, cheaper, kid-targeted sets.

2002 Topps
#245 Jim Edmonds

I think this is the first 2002 Topps card I've owned. I took a little hiatus from 2000-2010 from collecting.

2004 Donruss Studio
#179 Dan Haren

This card hurts me. To think, Dan Haren could still be in St. Louis, along with Carpenter and Wainwright. Although, I think it's that same type of rotation the Cardinals desired that led him to be traded for Mark Mulder in the first place. He's now with the Angels, so maybe I'll be sending one of him back.

eBay Wins #22

I bought this lot of (15) 1983 Topps Cubs for a whole $0.23. I thought it was well worth it for cards almost as old as I am.

1983 Topps Cubs

1983 Topps Cubs. I should have put Buckner here for maximum mustache

1983 Topps #125 Leon Durham

1983 Topps #699 Lee Smith

Lee and Leon get their own scan for being Cardinals. Lee Smith was the closer for the Cardinals when I first started really watching baseball, so he'll always be a bit of a Herculean legend in my mind.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	1823
Total Spent	$34.29
Per Card	1.88 cents