Tis The Season Winnings, Part X

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.
Part I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

Now for more of the teams everyone loves to hate, the Cardinals, Yankees, and Red Sox.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition #321 Julio Lugo
2010 Upper Deck
#346 Andy Pettitte
#347 Jorge Posada
#473 Kyle Lohse
#589 New York Checklist

The Yankees aren't the team I follow the most, but it's hard to escape stories about them. As an outsider, I'm really indecisive about whether Pettitte and Posada's numbers should be retired. On one hand, they were great players for the team, but it just feels like too much too soon, and it lowers the bar for number retirements. I think the Cardinals have a decent unofficial policy on this, which is that for the most part, only Hall of Fame entrants get their numbers retired.

2009 Upper Deck #562 Kevin Youkilis
#883 Adam Wainwright
2010 Upper Deck
#97 Jed Lowrie
#100 Takashi Saito
#462 Skip Schumaker
#470 Mitchell Boggs

Today, someone told me Waino was already hurt. It made me hurt. It was listed as abdominal pain, so I'm hoping it's nothing that will keep him out of baseball for long, and to a greater degree nothing serious for his overall health.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition #189 Mike Lowell
2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update
#314 Josh Beckett
#320 Jacoby Ellsbury
#420 Mariano Rivera
#473 Troy Glaus
2009 O-Pee-Chee #239 Mike Lowell

I remember when the Cardinals and Blue Jays traded third basemen, one for one. We sent Scott Rolen, and we got Troy Glaus.  I don't believe any cash changed hands, and no minor league add-ins were involved. I remember thinking "someone's going to get the clearly better end of this deal, and someone's getting the worse end". I'm pretty sure the Cardinals got the worse end. Rolen only played 1.5 seasons in Toronto before being traded to Cincinnati for another 3.5, which at least got the Blue Jays Edwin Encarnacion. Glaus played 2 years in St Louis, one good and one not so good due to injury, and was granted his free agency to play one final year in Atlanta.

Happy Trails, Ty and Mitchell

The Cardinals got rid of 2 players on July 9. One was on the 25-man roster, and one was in AAA but had been in the majors for parts of the last 6 years, including all of 2010 and 2012.

2012 Topps #154 Ty Wigginton

Wigginton signed a $5 million deal for 2 years, and was granted his unconditional release after about half a year. My understanding is that any team could pick him up for the league minimum for the remainder of 2013 and 2014, with the Cardinals paying the rest. I would assume a team looking for some cheap depth will pick him up soon. The rumor mill says he'll platoon at 1st for the Yankees, but we shall see.

As far as I can tell, he never even had a Cardinals card produced - with no cards in 2013 so far - so above, you see him as a member of the Rockies in 2011 (in the 2012 set). By the time 2013 Update rolls around, he'll probably be in another uniform, if he gets a card at all.

2012 Topps Update #US131 Mitchell Boggs

Speaking of the Rockies, that's where we sent Mitchell Boggs. The deal was for international signing money. I suppose the advantage for Colorado is that they didn't see any international prospects on which they wished to spend the money this year. Otherwise, a plain old cash-for-player deal would seem to be simpler. As long as the Cardinals have their eye on another $200k worth of player(s), it'll work out for them.

I'll keep collecting cards of these two, of course, since that's just how I collect. If you put the Cardinals uniform on once, you're a Cardinal to me.

My Second 2012 Update Hanger Pack

Sometime a good pack can be determined objectively, with a big autograph, relic, rookie, or some combination of the 3. This is not one of those packs, but it is subjectively good for me.

2012 Topps Update
#US273 Yadier Molina
#US301 Carlos Beltran

2012 Topps Update #US131 Mitchell Boggs

The box had 3 current Cardinals, and if I'm going to get a duplicate, Yadi's a pretty good one to get.

2012 Topps Update
#US25 Joe Mather
#US60 Edwin Jackson
#US247 Ryan Ludwick
#US254 Jason Marquis

There were also 4 former Cardinals. In all, nearly 10% of the pack played for St. Louis at one time.

2012 Topps Update - Gold Border
#475 Chris Dickerson #1750/2012
#521 Ruben Tejada #0999/2012
#US80 Jered Weaver #1277/2012

I'm starting to like these Gold Border parallels. I fear I may be close to adding a 984-card section to my wantlist.

2012 Topps Update - Target Red Border
#US67 Jamey Carroll
#US214 Jeremy Affeldt

The red borders would grow on me too if not for orange teams like the Giants. Not that I find them repulsive, they're just not as awesome as they could be.

2012 Topps Update
Gold Sparkle #US177 Mike Napoli
Blockbusters #BB-14 Yu Darvish

Here I have 2 Rangers, although one has since changed teams, appropriately enough for an Update set post. And the Darvish deal was definitely a Blockbuster, no matter how his stats turn out.

2012 Topps Update
Golden Moments - #GM-U30 Cal Ripken, Jr.
1987 Topps Minis #TM-126 Jackie Robinson

Finally, we have 2 Hall-of-Famers. A good friend of mine since Kindergarten moved to the Baltimore area for awhile, then moved back, and so has a secondary allegiance to the Orioles. Consequently, I give him trouble relentlessly about Cal Ripken, Jr. being inferior to Ozzie Smith as a shortstop, being an old man (since he was gray rather early), and setting the MLB record for perfect attendance. It's all in good fun, of course, and I'm happy to have this card. The Robinson mini is pretty nice too, with his MLB career stats on the back. Obviously the Brooklyn Dodgers and 1987 don't exactly go together, but the retro border and retro shot just meld together nicely on this card.