July Card Show Autographs II

There was another, much smaller - as detailed by CardinalsFan16 on All Cardinals All the Time - card show at the same location as the normal monthly one, but just 6 days later. I've been to their Saturday shows before, and they are typically smaller, but this one was practically nonexistent. There were 3 autograph signers though, all relatively recently retired former Cardinals that I didn't yet have in my collection.

Fernando Tatis          Octavio Dotel 28         Skip Schumaker 55

I promise that says Fernando Tatis on the left. It's at least consistent with other images I see online of his signature, but I made sure to catalog that one right away, because I might never decipher that if I had to. He's probably most well known in St. Louis for hitting 2 Grand Slams in one inning against Chan-Ho Park in 1999. Several people had him inscribe something related to that, though I wonder if those turned out legible.

Octavio Dotel was only a Cardinal for half a season, but it was the second half of 2011, meaning he was part of the World Series team.

Skip Schumaker was also a part of that 2011 World Series team, and was the player at the plate when the infamous Rally Squirrel ran through the batter's box, as you may recall seeing in 2012 on a Topps short print. That card is still tough to find reasonably priced, but there were several people with giant photos of the event for him to sign.

2013 Topps Jumbo Pack #10

It's the end of the road for my Jumbo Box; one last shot to get the final 36 out of 330 cards. Do I have faith in Topps' collation?

2013 Topps
#50 Adam Wainwright
#182 Randy Choate
#220 Octavio Dotel

First we have a few Cardinals base cards. The Randy Choate and Octavio Dotel were new to me in this pack, so that's 2 towards completing the set.

2013 Topps
#4 Yadier Molina
#125 Matt Holliday

And here are some horizontal Cardinals base cards, with Matt Holliday also filling a gap in the set.

2013 Topps
Calling Cards #CC-14 Pablo Sandoval
Chasing History #CH-2 Roberto Clemente
Chasing the Dream #CD-23 Jose Altuve
Emerald Parallel #224 Jon Jay
The Greats #TG-14 Stan Musial
1972 Topps Mini #TM-8 Dan Uggla

Finally there's a nice collection of inserts, except the Altuve I already got in Pack #2. I actually wound up with 3 duplicates from the Chasing the Dream set. The Jon Jay card is particularly green, I think because he takes up less space on the card in this far-away shot than the average close up you see in the base cards above. So the greening of the background got almost the whole card. The Musial card is the second one from the "The Greats" set that I got, but the other was Albert Pujols (though as an Angel). Since I'm 2 for 2 on Cardinals, I thought I'd check the checklist, and so I added 2 more to my want list: Bob Gibson, and John Smoltz just for completeness (yes, he was a Cardinal for a bit).

But the grand drama that has been building is whether or not I could complete the base set. I'm happy to say, I did, though when I first checked, my list showed I was missing Jason Isringhausen, which I knew I pulled in a previous pack. Once that was rectified, I've got all cards 1-331 (minus 7) checked off.

Series 1 Completion: 330/330 (100.0%)

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.