A Season Starting PWE, Part II

Way back in March, Stealing Home sent out some PWEs to celebrate the start of the season. I saw a few others post theirs at the time, but I'm just now getting to mine.

Part I

This isn't one of my giant 40-part series posts, since, after all, it was just a PWE. Today I have the vertical cards, just because that's a nice way to split up the scan.

2014 Topps #157 Matt Adams
2015 Topps #261 Lance Lynn
2015 Topps #286 Trevor Rosenthal
2016 Topps #46 Jhonny Peralta
2016 Topps #106 Jordan Walden
2016 Topps Chrome #132 Stephen Piscotty
2016 Gypsy Queen #215 Matt Adams
2017 Topps #99 Michael Wacha

The danger of waiting too long to post some cards of current players is that if your team hits a swoon, they might not all be there anymore. Matt Adams went to Atlanta when Freddie Freeman got hurt, and Jhonny Peralta was just released. Jordan Walden has been a free agent since November, so he wasn't lost specifically during this season. That shiny chrome Piscotty saves the post, though.

Christmas Cards, a Few Months Late

I seem to always be trying to catch up, so here's some cards that arrived sometime in December, from ATBATT's 3rd Annual Operation PWE. There's something about an envelope of mostly different players and sets that just brings joy to opening the mail.

1991 Topps #343 Jose Oquendo
1992 Pinnacle #381 Andres Galarraga
2015 Topps #220 Shelby Miller
2015 Topps #336 Matt Carpenter
2015 Topps - Archetypes #A-11 Mark McGwire
2016 Topps Heritage #89 Trevor Rosenthal

I'm bad at staying on top of acquiring the Cardinals inserts when new sets come out. That Mark McGwire is a card I definitely should have already had, but didn't. As always, I'm surprised when I don't already have junk-era cards I receive, because it seems like I have so many cards from those years. But both the Oquendo and Galarraga fill holes in my collection.

1988 Topps UK Minis #72 Ozzie Smith
2016 Topps #254 Matt Holliday

I like these UK Minis, and I actually have a couple copies of the Ozzie card now. All the more reason to chase down the Vince Coleman and Willie McGee cards from that set. Then there's Matt Holliday, who just won't seem right in a Yankees uniform this year.

Thanks to Stealing Home for the PWE!

Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part VIII

College football will be here again before we know it, 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

2011 Bowman - Prospects
#BP13 Alex Castellanos
#BP40 Deryk Hooker
#BP75 Brian Broderick
2011 Bowman Platinum
#22 Daniel Descalso
Prospects #BPP87 Adron Chambers
2011 Bowman Chrome #195 Daniel Descalso
2011 Bowman Chrome - Prospects
#BCP13 Alex Castellanos
#BCP40 Deryk Hooker
#BCP90 Adron Chambers

Bowman really just vexes me, with a lot of confusion around whether certain inserts are part of Bowman flagship, Bowman Chrome, or Bowman Draft. I really like the look of the cards, it's just the organization that bugs me, because I want to get it perfect. I'm pretty sure I found the right sets for all these, and since the sets are pretty small, the three cards each nearly completes the Cardinals in the Prospects insert set for both Bowman and Bowman Chrome.

2013 Topps - Blue Parallel
#190 Daniel Descalso
#261 Trevor Rosenthal
2011 Topps #87 Daniel Descalso

I'll finish off with a few more Daniel Descalso cards, and a Trevor Rosenthal just because it's from the same blue parallel set.

Discounted 2015 Gypsy Queen Hanger Box #2

I enjoyed my first hanger box enough to go back for another, but that was the last one on the shelf, so I probably won't have any more after this one.

2015 Gypsy Queen
#57 Jason Vargas
#70 Adam LaRoche
#85 Jon Singleton
#88 Justin Upton
#109 David Cone
#120 Joe DiMaggio
#129 Drew Smyly
#133 Ernie Banks

2015 Gypsy Queen
#146 Matt Cain
#153 Wade Boggs
#160 Hyun-jin Ryu
#173 Jayson Werth
#246 Brian McCann
#284 Trevor Rosenthal
#287 Brian Dozier
#292 Aaron Sanchez

Only one of the base cards was a Cardinal, Trevor Rosenthal, but they're all duplicates anyway since I purchased the non-SP base set.

2015 Gypsy Queen
#321 Dave Parker(SP)
Glove Stories #GS-11 Norichika Aoki

I got an SP in this one, Dave Parker. I'll probably have to buy a full set of all 50 if I want to complete it, though.

2015 Gypsy Queen
Walk-Off Winners #GWO-24 Neil Walker
Mini #110 Justin Verlander
Mini #297 Homer Bailey
Mini Silver #51 Anthony Rendon #041/199

I got another numbered mini in this box, the Silver which is #/199, slightly less rare than the red I got last time, numbered to 50.

2015 Gypsy Queen - Framed Paper White
#70 Adam LaRoche
#95 Corey Kluber
#202 Juan Lagares

I got 3 new Framed Paper parallels, so I've only got 94 more to go now. Also, the hanger pack advertised that it contained 24 cards. If I counted correctly, I got a bonus card in this box, for a total of 25.

July Card Show Purchases

In addition to my autographs, I did make one purchase at the card show; a full set of 2015 Gypsy Queen, without the SPs.  I have so many sets I haven't quite completed, that this one felt like a good idea when I saw it. I might still buy a few packs for a smattering of insert, and put the extra base cards in my trade list.

I decided to pull out all the Cardinals and players I collect to show, and as it turns out there were 24 of them, so I split them into two posts so I can tag them all. I tried a few different ways to sort them into two equal groups of 12, and couldn't quite get there, so I just sorted them numerically. Here's the second half first.

2015 Topps Gypsy Queen
#141 Nomar Garciaparra
#184 Michael Wacha
#197 Matt Adams
#228 Jhonny Peralta
#238 Carlos Beltran
#263 Mark Buehrle

I went with the second half of the cards first because today is Nomar's Birthday. He's 42 today, and I'm glad to see him showing up in current products. In addition to the 4 Cardinals, there's also my hometown compatriot Mark Buehrle.

2015 Topps Gypsy Queen
#265 Jason Heyward
#271 Lance Lynn
#273 Allen Craig
#274 Dan Haren
#284 Trevor Rosenthal
#299 Kolten Wong

Some local sportswriters have talked about the possibility of Dan Haren making his way back to the team by the trade deadline, although I don't know how likely that really is. All told from this half I got 7 uniformed and 3 former Cardinals.

2013 Topps Jumbo Pack #6

We're on the downslope now, with the first pack of the second half of the box.

2013 Topps
#24 Dan Haren
#261 Trevor Rosenthal
#321 Allen Craig
#327 Jhonny Peralta

I pulled 5 current/former/future Cardinals from this pack, including new SS Jhonny Peralta, which is why I said "future".

2013 Topps
#207 Matt Holliday
Gold Parallel #81 NL ERA Leaders #0013/2013
Chasing History #CH-34 Robin Yount
Chasing The Dream Relics #CDR-CS Chris Sale

Here's the 2nd of the 3 hits promised in the box, a Chris Sale relic. It could simply be confirmation bias speaking, but there seems to be an awful lot of Chris Sale in this box.

2013 Topps
Chasing the Dream #CD-9 Devin Mesoraco
Emerald Parallel #318 Hiroki Kuroda
1972 Topps Mini #TM-45 Cal Ripken, Jr.

Of course, the 3 Chris Sale inserts are at least of a current player. This is the second Cal Ripken, Jr. insert in as many packs. I'm not complaining, just noticing.

There were 41 base cards in this pack, and 25 were new to me. The set is starting to come together, and with 60% of the box busted, I've got over 60% of the set. I will need a little over 28 new cards per pack to finish it off.

Series 1 Completion: 217/330 (65.8%)

A Trevor Rosenthal Autographed Baseball

Last Saturday, Trevor Rosenthal made an appearance at a local car dealership, and so did I.

I showed up 90 minutes early on advice of an employee of the dealership, and wound up about 15th in line. Based on the eventual length of the line, I could have perhaps pushed it until about 15 minutes early and still made it, but he was only signing for an hour and I didn't want to miss my shot like I did with David Eckstein. On the plus side, I got my autograph after about 5 minutes, gave Fredbird a high five, and went about my day.

Trevor Rosenthal
                        26

This makes 2 Cardinals closers of whom I now have autograph balls. Hopefully one day I can add a Dennis Eckersley, and then a Bruce Sutter for good measure.

Happy Birthday to Me

Ok, it's not my birthday today. I'm a few weeks behind on posting stuff. My age this year is neither low enough nor round enough to warrant a huge party, but I got a few gifts, including this beauty from my parents.

It's not your eyes, the photo's a little blurry

Despite the fact that the Cardinals never wear a red jersey, these red t-shirt jerseys, sometimes called shirseys, seem pervasive in St. Louis. They're one of my favorite things to wear anytime I can get away with a T-shirt, which is clear to anyone I know. And my Dad actually picked this out before Rosenthal became our closer due to Edward Mujica's troubles. Unfortunately for Trevor, the Cardinals got a few too many runs for him to earn a save for his scoreless 9th inning tonight.

College Bowl Game Contest Win, Part 1

For the 2012-2013 College Football season, I entered the College Football Pick 'Em contest hosted by madding of Cards on Cards. I've won several of his contests over the years, and he always dumps a ton of Cardinals on me when I do. Yet, I think this time he may have outdone himself. I may have to work hard to get them all posted before the 2013-14 College Football season starts August 29, and I start posting my Power Rankings again.

I've decided to go more or less in backward chronological order with these, so for this post, you get some of the 2013 Series 1 cards. Specifically, the pitchers.

2013 Topps
#50 Adam Wainwright
#54 Jaime Garcia
#96 Edward Mujica
#130 Jason Motte
#146 Kyle McClellan
#188 Brian Fuentes
#235 Jake Westbrook
#261 Trevor Rosenthal
#305 Shelby Miller

I realize you could say this about just about any MLB team, but if all of these guys had stayed healthy (and with the team in the case of McClellan and Fuentes), I think the Cardinals would be running away with the division today, not struggling to hold back or catch the Pirates and Reds.