Giant Pile of Prizes from Jaybarkerfan's Junk, Part 3

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, 2

Yesterday included a giant stack of 1981 Topps. Today's stack is decidedly more modern.

2012 Topps
#72 Rex Brothers
#161 Dee Gordon
#280 Ryan Howard
#289 Casey Kotchman
#330 Matt Kemp
#367 Chris Volstad
#381 David DeJesus
#398 Buster Posey
#415 Rafael Furcal

2012 Topps
#424 Vladimir Guerrero Checklist
#428 Jordan Schafer
#438 Juan Uribe
#476 Ramon Hernandez
#288 Nick Swisher
#493 Ryan Madson
#505 Fautino De Los Santos
#513 Gaby Sanchez
#519 Gio Gonzalez

2012 Topps
#520 Ryan Adams
#525 Paul Maholm
#526 Casper Wells
#529 Luke Hughes
#570 Zach McAllister
#571 J.J. Hardy
#572 Hiroki Kuroda
#574 Kerry Wood
#593 Marco Scutaro

2012 Topps
#601 Dan Haren
#610 Cody Ross
#615 Luis Marte
#632 Joe Nathan
#634 Jose Contreras
#635 Brett Gardner
#645 Kyle Seager
#656 Carlos Santana
Gold Futures #GF-37 Jordan Walden

2012 Topps
#347 Craig Gentry
#397 Hector Noesi
#410 Jeff Locke
#460 Thomas Field
#585 Jimmy Paredes
Golden Moments #GM-9 Ryan Howard

I'd hardly call the 2 inserts junk. Though I suppose we'll have to give Jordan Walden a few more years for a final verdict on that card. After all those 2012 Topps, there were also some 2012 Topps Update cards, including Randy Choate, the old man of our extremely young pitching staff.

2012 Topps Update
#US21 Buster Posey
#US50 C.J. Wilson
#US77 Miguel Batista
#US100 Ryan Dempster

2012 Topps Update
#US101 Casey McGehee
#US107 Randy Choate
#US293 Shane Victorino

And to finish off today, here's another sampling from the cards with no set-mates in the box.

1997 Collector's Choice - All Star Connection #39 Vinny Castilla
1996 Collector's Choice #538 Quinton McCracken
1999 Skybox Premium #246 A.J. Burnett
1995 Bowman's Best #B63 Alex Ochoa

There's still so much left in the box...

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...

Giant Pile of Prizes from Jaybarkerfan's Junk, Part 1

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.

First up, we have the subject of the contest itself, a serial numbered card. The contest was simple: guess the number, out of 199.

2012 Topps Chrome
Blue Refractors #11 Ian Kennedy #177/199

I was the 4th person to guess, went with #177, and nailed it. The logic for my guess was simply to try to pick a number far from the others, so I didn't do the classic The Price is Right jerk move of outbidding someone by a dollar.

2012 Topps Chrome
Blue Refractors #11 Ian Kennedy #177/199

1984 Topps #115 Andre Thornton
1984 Topps #129 Bill Laskey
1984 Topps #180 Manny Trillo
1984 Topps #188 Bryan Little
1984 Topps #616 Don Robinson
1985 Topps #271 Tim Foli

I got 5 1984 Topps cards, and my scanner's not that wide, so luckily I had a 1985 to even out the scan. Gotta love 30 year old cards.

1990 Donruss Best of the AL
#70 Junior Felix
#71 Craig Worthington
#73 Johnny Ray
#74 Ozzie Guillen
#75 Brook Jacoby
#76 Chet Lemon
#78 B.J. Surhoff
#97 Sandy Alomar

1990 Donruss Best of the AL
#110 Willie Randolph
#113 Tony Fernandez
#116 Luis Polonia
#117 Carney Lansford
#118 Bud Black
#119 Lou Whitaker

I have never seen this blue 1990 Donruss "Best of the AL" set. It's almost like the color parallels you see today, except I think all the images are different from the 1990 red base set. Once I finally finish my 1990 Donruss set, this set would be a nice addition. There's also an NL set, which is also blue.

1991 Score 100 Superstars
#43 Randy Milligan
#46 Brian Harper

Superstars, eh? I beg to differ. Still though, here's another set I don't think I've ever seen.

1994 Tombstone
#19 Juan Gonzalez
#29 Frank Thomas

I vote for MLB to bring back food issues. Surely Topps can allow a little leeway in its exclusive license.

1994 Finest
#53 Ricky Guitierrez
#161 Ben McDonald

1995 Finest
#184 Tim Naehring

1996 Finest
#204 Randy Myers
#210 Ben McDonald
#303 Steve Gibralter

Here's a little evolution of Topps Finest, though 1996 is only "Common" cards. One day I'll finally get the urge to peel the protective film off of these and other Finest cards I have, and immediately regret it.

That's it for today, but there's plenty left in the box...

eBay Wins #101

An eBay seller offered some base filler cards from 1992 Donruss, and I won 2 of the auctions for the minimum bid of a penny each. Since they were lots of 2, that's 4 half-cent cards added to my collection. Not bad, even considering the lack of choice.

1992 Upper Deck
#304 Mike Heath
#457 Harvey Pulliam
#471 Steve Chitren
#478 Omar Olivares

Is Omar Olivares filler? He's the only one of these 4 I know from memory, but maybe I only know him because I'm a Cardinals fan. He played 12 seasons total, 5 in Saint Louis before being released. As I've probably mentioned every time I've shown one of his cards, he wore #00 for 1993, saying it was for his initials.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2545
Total Spent	$44.16
Per Card	1.735 cents

2013 Opening Day Blaster

Nearly a year after its release, I'm finally opening this Opening Day blaster. I haven't had it for a year; I think I bought this one toward the end of the season, but my "to blog" pile is getting ridiculous. At some point I may just have to declare blog pile bankruptcy, and rip open every pack without scanning and sharing them. But today, here are some new-to-me 2013 Opening Day cards.

2013 Topps Opening Day
#9 Mark Buehrle
#13 Carlos Beltran
#91 Adam Wainwright
#197 Jhonny Peralta
Mascots #M-2 Phillie Phanatic
Mascots #M-3 Mariner Moose
Ballpark Fun #BP-21 Jurickson Profar
Ballpark Fun #BP-22 David Price
Opening Day Edition #179 Wade Miley #0670/2013

I threw a bit of everything in this first scan. I pulled Buehrle and Wainwright last time I opened some packs of these, as well as the Jurickson Profar card. Here I've also got a card of new Cardinal Jhonny Peralta, and now-former Cardinal Carlos Beltran. The Mascots are one of my favorite insert sets, and I got 2 in this box. Finally there's a parallel with too many colors: the blue border, red team color, and purple throwback uniform. I challenge you to find me an uglier card in this set. Nothing against Wade Miley, of course.

2013 Topps Opening Day
Superstar Celebrations #SC-8 Ryan Zimmerman
Play Hard # Dustin Pedroia
Superstar Celebrations #SC-20 Prince Fielder
Play Hard #PH-18 Carlos Ruiz
Opening Day Edition #65 Will Venable #1584/2013
Play Hard #PH-16 Matt Kemp

3 packs had a Play Hard insert, and one had another Blue parallel that could have been used on a Play Hard card as well. The Prince Fielder is yet another duplicate from my previous packs.

2013 Topps Opening Day - Opening Day Stars
#ODS-16 R.A. Dickey
#ODS-19 Bryce Harper

I dare you to enlarge the scan of these 3D cards and stare at them for 2 minutes without getting a headache. I dig 'em in person though.

2013 Topps Opening Day
#141 Yadier Molina

To finish up, here's Yadier Molina, with a nice cameo from Adam Wainwright, since I couldn't scan 7 horizontal cards in one nice block.

Two Contests

There are two contests (that I know of) going on right now, and both will give me a bonus entry for telling you about them, so here we are.

First we have Chavez Ravining returning to his entry-a-day contests, for this brand new 2014 Ben Zobrist Relic.

2014 Topps
Trajectory Relic #TR-BZ Ben Zobrist

Next, at My Cardboard Habit, an accidental purchase of a Lot of 2 instead of a single card means he's got an extra copy of this Bryce Harper to give away.

2013 Panini Black Friday
Panini Collection Checklist #4 Bryce Harper

Go leave a comment on each post to enter, and mention this post on the Harper contest if you'd like to give me a bonus entry.

eBay Wins #100

It's post #100 in a series, which means I must have a big milestone-sized post planned, right?

Wrong.

To be honest, it sort of sneaked up on me (fun fact: snuck isn't considered proper English), so rather than one of the larger piles of eBay winnings waiting to be posted, today you get 2 cards, purchased for a total of 1 penny.

1990 Fleer #532 Dave Gallagher
2004 Topps #270 Mike Hargrove

I actually only bid on the Mike Hargrove card. For some reason, Dave Gallagher showed up in the same sleeve. I doubt the seller had them stored like that, at least not on purpose, since the cards are so many years apart and picture different teams. Gallagher did play 15 games in his rookie season for Cleveland, but that was 2 years after Hargrove last played for them and 4 years before he managed them. He also played for the Baltimore in 1990, 10 years before Hargrove managed there. I'll never know exactly what link, if any, caused me to get both of these cards for the price of one.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2541
Total Spent	$44.14
Per Card	1.737 cents

Contest Winnings, Part III

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.

Part I | II

The end of my prize package posts has the 2011-2013 cards, with players who are mostly still on the team.

2012 Topps Archives
#14 Yadier Molina
#34 Jaime Garcia
#85 Matt Holliday
#114 Jason Motte
#125 David Freese
#197 Allen Craig

Here we have half of the 2012 Archives Cardinals. I almost have to get the other 6 now. Freese is gone to the Angels, but the other 5 are still here.

2012 Topps
Red Parallel #363 Fernando Salas

2013 Topps
Red Parallel #125 Matt Holliday

I really like red parallels, especially for Cardinals cards. Completing the red parallel team sets is on my long list of collecting goals. Also, Salas was another part of the same trade that sent Freese to the Angels, but like any former Cardinal, I still collect his cards.

2013 Gypsy Queen - Mini #322 Jason Motte
2011 Allen and Ginter - Mini #303 Jaime Garcia

Finally, we have 2 minis. Like I said in the last post, I think everyone loves minis. Motte and Garcia are both coming off injuries this year, so I'm hoping they'll strengthen our already very good bullpen, Garica indirectly as a starter.

Thanks to Daniel from It's like having my own Card Shop for all the Cardinals!

Contest Winnings, Part II

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.

Part I

The cards in this portion of my prize cover the years I wasn't collecting, which means it's quite probable any card will be a card I didn't have.

2002 Fleer Tradition
Glossy #462 Bill Ortega #057/200

Hmm. Bill Ortega. Doesn't ring a bell. According to baseball-reference he had 5 ABs in 5 games in 2001, likely as a PH, but no further MLB stats. Such is the risk with prospect cards. This one's a glossy parallel of the base set, and numbered to just 200.

2002 Fleer Ultra #251 Bud Smith

Here we have the 4th most popular Smith to play for the Cardinals, after Ozzie, Lee, and Lonnie, but probably ahead of Bryn. Bud Smith caused an uproar when the Cardinals assigned him recently-retired Willie McGee's number 51, and they actually switched him to 52 mid-season because of it. People get a little number-retirement-happy here, and there's still a movement to retire #51 for Willie.

2006 Upper Deck
Star Attractions #SA-AR Anthony Reyes

Anthony Reyes wasn't a big star at the time this set was printed, so I'm curious about the Star Attraction title. Maybe it was speculative, like Mr. Ortega up top. This one turned out a little better though, as Reyes played a few years for the Cardinals.

2007 Topps
Own The Game #OTG22 Chris Carpenter

I can't quite tell what patch is on Chris Carpenter's hat here. It could be from the 2006 All Star Game, but I think it's from game 3 the World Series, which he won 5-0.

2008 Upper Deck Documentary
All Star Game #ASG-RL Ryan Ludwick

2010 T206
Mini Old Mill Back
#150 Ryan Ludwick

Finally, for today, here are 2 Ryan Ludwick inserts. For some reason there was no controversy around him getting Lee Smith's number, likely because 7 other players had it in between. We love handing out #47 for some reason, though John Mabry may have a claim to it now that he's coaching for us after 3(!) playing stints. I can't help but root for former Cardinals like Ryan Ludwick, even though he played for division rivals Pittsburgh and now Cincinnati. And everyone loves minis, right?

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.

Big 44 Sports Cards Contest

I don't remember who, but someone recently posted about a trade with Big 44 Sports Cards, causing me to add that blog to my reading list. That's become one of the biggest reasons I read trade posts, to find more blogs to follow. Anyway, now he's running his first contest. Go leave a comment, retweet his contest tweet, and/or promote it on your blog for an entry each. The prize is two cards, Justin Upton and Troy Tulowitzki jersey cards, with a nice stripe on the Tulowitzki.

This is my second consecutive Troy Tulowitzki Relic contest promotion. That's kind of odd. Anyway, you've got until February 10th to enter, but go do it now before you forget.

Superbowl XLVIII Projections Recap

Seattle Wins!

My projections went fairly well this year. Of course, you could have also used the simpler NFL seeding to predict the Superbowl participants as well, since both #1 seeds won their respective conferences. I had Seattle favored for much of the year, and in fact they were the NFC favorite at the end of every week except Week 1 and Week 5, right after their first loss.

Bar Charts are in this year.

Seattle was also the team favored to win it all in week 2, 3, and each week from 11 onward. Kansas City was favored in the other weeks, due to their impressive 9-0 start. As you can see below, Seattle was the first to breach many thresholds for playoff and championship chances.

I opted to believe in my system for (Almost) the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web IV, and came up a winner. I was the only person to pick Seattle over Denver, winning the prize. For good measure, through pure dumb luck, hit the point total within 1 (I said 50, the total was 51), and the turnover total dead-on (4).

After a long season and the Superbowl, good or otherwise, I'm almost always ready for a rest from football. But, in 6 months or so, the preseason will be underway, and the Rams will be theoretically on even ground with everyone else for a chance at Superbowl XLIX.



First to 10% chance of Superbowl Win: Seattle (Week 2, Sunday)
First to 20% chance of Superbowl Win: Kansas City (Week 9, Sunday)
First to 25% chance of Superbowl Win: Seattle (Week 15, Sunday)

First to 30% chance of Superbowl Win: Seattle (Week 17, Final)
First to 40% chance of Superbowl Win: Seattle (Divisional Saturday)

First to 60% chance of Superbowl Win: Seattle (Championship Sunday)

First to 80% chance of Playoffs: Seattle (Week 3, Sunday)
First to 90% chance of Playoffs: Seattle (Week 3, Sunday)
First to 99% chance of Playoffs: Kansas City (Week 8, Sunday)
First to 99.9% chance of Playoffs: Kansas City (Week 9, Sunday)
First to 99.99% chance of Playoffs: Denver (Week 13, Sunday)
First to 99.999% chance of Playoffs: Denver (Week 13, Sunday)

First to clinch a Playoff berth: Seattle (Week 13, Final)
First to clinch a First Round Bye: Denver (Week 16, Sunday)

First team eliminated: Atlanta (Week 12, Final)

[Week 1]
[Week 2, Thursday]
[Week 2, Sunday]
[Week 2, Final]
[Week 3, Thursday]
[Week 3, Sunday]
[Week 3, Final]
[Week 4, Thursday]
[Week 4, Sunday]
[Week 4, Final]
[Week 5, Thursday]
[Week 5, Sunday]
[Week 5, Final]
[Week 6, Thursday]
[Week 6, Sunday]
[Week 6, Final]
[Week 7, Thursday]
[Week 7, Sunday]
[Week 7, Final]
[Week 8, Thursday]
[Week 8, Sunday]
[Week 8, Final]
[Week 9, Thursday]
[Week 9, Monday]
[Week 9, Final]
[Week 10, Thursday]
[Week 10, Sunday]
[Week 10, Final]
[Week 11, Thursday]
[Week 11, Sunday]
[Week 11, Final]
[Week 12, Thursday]
[Week 12, Sunday]
[Week 12, Final]
[Week 13, Thursday]
[Week 13, Sunday]
[Week 13, Final]
[Week 14, Thursday]
[Week 14, Sunday]
[Week 14, Final]
[Week 15, Thursday]
[Week 15, Sunday]
[Week 15, Final]
[Week 16, Sunday]
[Week 16, Final]
[Week 17, Final]
[Wildcard Saturday]
[Wildcard Sunday]
[Divisional Saturday]
[Divisional Sunday]
[Mid-Championship Sunday]
[Championship Sunday]

eBay Wins #99

I came across a seller with an interesting listing. He had a bunch of individual auctions for Lots of 2 1992 Studio "common filler" cards, starting at a penny. Not one to pass up some cheap cards, I bid the minimum on a bunch of them, and won 9. So these 18 cards cost me half of a cent each.

1992 Studio
#11 Doug Dascenzo
#16 Chuck McElroy
#19 Gary Scott
#36 Pete Harnisch
#101 Andy Benes
#102 Jerald Clark
#105 Greg Harris
#109 Kurt Stillwell
#110 Tim Teufel

1992 Studio
#117 Darren Lewis
#118 Bill Swift
#119 Robby Thompson
#145 Chuck Finley
#171 Milt Cuyler
#172 Rob Deer
#227 Mike Moore
#228 Randy Ready
#241 Julio Franco

These are mostly commons, though Pete Harnisch and Julio Franco are definitely better-known names. In fact, Julio Franco was a 10 year veteran at this point, but wouldn't retire for another 15 years. I also got 2 Cardinals in other uniforms, Andy Benes and Chuck Finley, which were both on my want list.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2539
Total Spent	$44.13
Per Card	1.738 cents