Tis The Season Winnings, Part I

Sometimes, I procrastinate posting and sorting some cards. Normally I don't pay too much attention to how long a particular item has been sitting on my desk, but given that this one was the Tis the Season contest from 2013, I've probably had it in my possession for a little over a year now. But, even with the long delay, I still want to throw Jeff at 2 by 3 Heroes some referral traffic while I show off my prize.

2008 Allen and Ginter #276 Oscar Wilde
2009 Allen and Ginter #311 Gavin Floyd
2010 Allen and Ginter
#14 Shane Victorino
#15 Carlos Quentin
#42 Mark DeRosa
#46 Chad Billingsley
#67 Carl Crawford
#91 Carlos Zambrano

This really has nothing to do with anything, but Oscar Wilde always brings a missed comedic opportunity to my mind. In college, my friend and I went to a video rental store, and his roommate asked him to pick up a DVD of The Importance of Being Earnest (written by Oscar Wilde) so that he could avoid doing his assigned reading. I told him we should bring him Ernest Goes to Jail, then play dumb when he inevitably blew up about it being the wrong movie. Either he didn't think it was that funny, or we didn't want to spend the extra few bucks to rent a second DVD, so we didn't wind up doing it. Learn from my mistakes: never miss a chance to make a joke.

I believe the Gavin Floyd card is a short print, though I'm unclear on the numbering of SPs over the last few years. Also, Mark DeRosa represents the only former Cardinal in this post.

2010 Allen and Ginter
#100 Matt LaPorta
#103 Niccolo Machiavelli
#128 Hans Florine
#133 Nelson Cruz
#146 Carlos Lee
#184 Jake Peavy
#186 Jose Reyes
#187 Jair Jurrjens

I always find myself drawn to the non-baseball subjects in Allen and Ginter, possibly because the players have become mundane by comparison. Only in Allen and Ginter can you pull a Niccolò Machiavelli.

2010 Allen and Ginter
#211 Johnny Strange
#226 Brian McCann
#271 King Tut
#280 Koji Uehara
#294 Buster Posey
#197 Johnny Damon

I always forget Johnny Damon played for Detroit, but this card is here to remind me. I tend to think of him as a member of the Red Sox, then the Yankees, then the A's, then Kansas City, then Tampa. Another of his teams that doesn't come to mind until I look it up is Cleveland. He's got to be one of the best players ever to play for 7 different teams.

2008 Allen and Ginter #75 Travis Hafner
2010 Allen and Ginter
#140 Brandon Allen
# The Parthenon
2010 Allen and Ginter This Day in History
#TDH16 Carlos Gonzalez
#TDH18 Felix Hernandez
#TDH25 Ryan Zimmerman

Mostly to avoid weird unbalance scans, here are the horizontal cards from 2008-2010 Ginter in the package. There was just one 2008 base card, and the rest were from 2010, including the 3 This Day In History inserts.

2013 Topps Update Jumbo Pack #6

The last pack had a recently acquired Cardinal in it, and this one did too.

2013 Topps Update
#US142 Yadier Molina
Chasing History #CH-107 Babe Ruth
1971 Topps Mini #TM-14 Troy Tulowitzki

The more I see of the Chasing History set, the more I like it, especially as it deals with the history of the game and statistical milestones. Some of its stats are a little esoteric, but this one is straightforward. Babe Ruth is the only player to hit 3 Home Runs in a World Series game twice. Albert Pujols, Pablo Sandoval, and Reggie Jackson have each done it once.

2013 Topps Update
#US93 Adam Wainwright
#US96 Mark DeRosa
#US239 Justin Masterson
Emerald Parallel #US115 Drew Stubbs
Gold Parallel #US94 Joba Chamberlain #0433/2013
Making Their Mark #MM-34 Nolan Arenado
Postseason Heroes #PH-20 David Wright
Making Their Mark Autograph Redemption #MMA-AH Aaron Hicks

This is the first card I've shown of new Cardinal Justin Masterson. He didn't have a stellar first game on Saturday, but the offense scored enough to earn a victory for him. Also in this bunch is the second hit of my box, an autograph redemption for Aaron Hicks. This will be the first redemption of this type for me since I mailed in a Topps Black Gold winner card in 1993 or maybe 1994. This is also the reason I started going through these boxes, because I knew there was a chance there would be a card that would eventually expire. However, I have another 2 years to send it in. Hopefully I'll take care of it before then.

This pack had 43 base cards, and all 43 were new, so I'm still reasonably well on track to finish the set, and maybe even find another fully redundant pack like pack 5.

Update Series Completion: 211/330 (63.9.%)

Sixth 2012 Update Hanger Pack

Despite the fact that I show the inserts on my blog, I really buy these for the base cards. I figure with 5 of them, I'll get 360 cards total, but about 50 will be inserts, leaving me with 310. So 6 is a good number, in theory, to try to get enough base cards to complete 1 for 1 trades to complete the base set. In practice it doesn't really work that smoothly, and I bought quite a bit more of 2010 and 2011 Update. I've thought about getting a Hobby box, but at a current price of $57.95 for 36 packs of 10 cards, even perfect collation would leave me short after inserts. So if you're in the same boat as me, check my trade list and want list, and let's complete each other's sets.

2012 Topps Update
#US72 Carlos Beltran
#US242 Joe Kelly
#US251 Kyle McClellan

Beltran in the KC themed All-Star uniform might have been a little painful for Royals fans, who have seen many young prospects leave and become big stars.

2012 Topps Update
#US25 Joe Mather
#US60 Edwin Jackson
#US123 Jamie Moyer/Checklist
#US149 Octavio Dotel
#US227 Mark DeRosa
#US247 Ryan Ludwick

Every single former Cardinal was a duplicate this time. Anyone out there have a Joe Mather PC?

2012 Topps Update - Gold Border
#518 Jake Peavy #0284/2012
#636 Chris Heisey #1815/2012
#US249 Angel Pagan #1092/2012

Here we have 3 more golds toward my impossible but inevitable quest.

2012 Topps Update
Blockbusters #BB-15 Babe Ruth
Gold Sparkle #US317 Marco Estrada

Babe Ruth to the Yankees, that was kind of a big trade.

2012 Topps Update - WalMart Blue Border
#US170 Jerry Hairston
#US294 Sergio Santos

My curse is finally lifted for good, with a blue-bordered Dodger and Blue Jay.

2012 Topps Update
Golden Moments #GM-U11 Yu Darvish
1987 Topps Minis #TM-102 Reggie Jackson

This Reggie Jackson is another good-looking mini, with a great classic Orioles logo.

That's it for the big hanger packs. I did buy a rack pack as well, which I'll post in a few days, then it'll be time to start filling in the gaps in the set.

2012 Update Hanger Pack #3

I'm moving on to my 3rd 72-card hanger pack.

2012 Topps Update
#US242 Joe Kelly
#US251 Kyle McClellan

Here are two Cardinals I didn't have yet, Joe Kelly, and Kyle McClellan. Kyle left us for Texas this year, but Joe's made his way into the rotation. And with those glasses, he reminds me of a cross between Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn and Bill Hader recently of SNL.

2012 Topps Update
#US60 Edwin Jackson
#US227 Mark DeRosa
#US247 Ryan Ludwick

With the Red and/or Navy uniforms, I can almost pretend these guys are still Cardinals. Unfortunately all 3 are duplicates.

2012 Topps Update
#US25 Joe Mather
#US149 Octavio Dotel

Two more former Cardinals. If everyone collected like me, demand for Octavio Dotel cards would skyrocket, since he's played for 13 teams.

2012 Topps Update
Blockbusters #BB-12 Tom Seaver
Golden Greats #GG-89 Lou Brock
Gold Sparkle #US321 David Carpenter

The 70s pinstriped helmets make an appearance on the Lou Brock card. Also, it's Lou Brock! I don't have many of his playing-days cards, so I'm always glad to see him included in insert sets.

2012 Topps Update - WalMart Blue Border
#US99 Chris Johnson
#US321 David Carpenter

If you believe in Fate, Karma, or getting what's coming to you, this is my punishment for complaining about red borders for blue teams. Blue borders for red teams! This box came from Walmart, obviously, hence the blue parallels. Along with the Gold Sparkle above, I can give someone a good start on a David Carpeter rainbow. He's pitched 1/3 of an inning this year and has a 108.00 ERA. But that one out was a strikeout, so there's potential, right?

2012 Topps Update
Golden Moments #GM-U4 Josh Hamilton
1987 Topps Minis #TM-144 Mark Trumbo

Here we have 2 more Angels, one's just in Rangers clothing. I still like those 1987 Minis, and I really didn't think I would when I first saw them.

2012 Topps Update - Gold Border
#131 Ian Desmond #1812/2012
#304 Brandon Morrow #1217/2012
#US199 Nate Schierholtz #1204/2012

Three more gold parallels. I want to not want to attempt this set, but the gold is so...gold. I don't really like the Stars and Stripes program MLB runs with the red/white/blue/camouflage hats/jerseys each Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Canada Day for Toronto, but I do appreciate Topps documenting such events by getting that image of Brandon Morrow. In case you haven't seen it, and can't make it out in the scan, Toronto usually gets the red and white treatment, like the Canadian flag, so there's a red hat with a white front panel, and all-red Blue Jays logo.

As I've said before, my inserts are generally available for trade, though probably not the Lou Brock this time.

I Guess I Know My Stuff

30-Year Old Cardboard held a contest to pick who would win the Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, and MVP awards, with a prize of 4 packs of 2012 Update. To make it more interesting, we had to pick the 2nd place finisher for the MVPs as well. Even with that wrinkle thrown in, there was still a tie for the win. Since I'm writing this post, you can guess that I was one of the two winners, picking each position correctly except for NL runner-up, which I listed as Andrew McCutchen instead of Ryan Braun. Luckily the other winner had the AL MVP vote finishing Cabrera-Hamilton. So, we split the prize. Let's see if I got the better of the two packs. I mixed up the two packs when pulling out my favorite to scan, so here they are together.

2012 Topps Update #US227 Mark DeRosa

I don't care if we only had him for part of 2009, Mark DeRosa was a Cardinal, so he's a player I collect.

2012 Topps Update - Blue Border Parallel #US21 Buster Posey

Appropriately for this contest, the NL MVP. The Blue Border looks pretty good with the All Star Jerseys this year.

2012 Topps Update - Golden Moments #GM-U13 Matt Cain

2012 Topps Update - Golden Moments #GM-U26 Robin Yount

Despite being horizontal, I like these Golden Moments cards. The Yount card commemorates the final game of the season 30 years ago, with an era-appropriate powder blue jersey to boot.

2012 Topps Update - Golden Giveaway #GGC-28

I've got a few of these, but I haven't redeemed any yet. I've got until February 1 to decide if I want to do that or try to trade them away.

2012 Topps Update - Gold Parallel #36 Michael Taylor #1481/2012

2012 Topps Update - Gold Parallel #331 Albert Pujols #0698/2012

This year, as in 2011, Update has a parallel with all 990 cards of Series I, II, and Update. At first I thought I hit a Short-Print jackpot, because I remembered Pujols being a late add as #331 in Series I. Then I realized it was numbered to 2012, just like the others, so it couldn't really be short printed. Then I thought, was there  even a #331 in Series II, or did it start later? So I looked it up, and I don't have a parallel of the SP, which shows Albert in a fielding position, but instead the regular #331 from Series II. I really wish Topps would skip the SP duplicate numbering scheme, it's terribly confusing. Or just be straightforward with it, and number the SP variation #331a right on the card, for example. When I'm in charge, that's what we'll do.

All told, I'd call these a pretty good 2 packs of cards. No Cardinals, but 2 former Cardinals, and you can't beat the price I paid. Thanks to Brian at 30-Year Old Cardboard for the cards!