Thorzul Cheap Group Break Bonanza

I'm in a pretty grumpy mood now after having seen the Cardinals get within one strike of winning their Opening Day game, only to blow a 9th inning lead like it was 2008 all over again. To attempt to cheer myself up, here are some key Cardinals cards that I added to my collection by way of another Thorzul cheap group break. I hope there are more of these in the future, because I love the price ($5.25) and being able to handpick the team.

The ESPN set was one of my first reintroduction to baseball cards. The ESPN brand is always focused on being, graphically speaking, aesthetically pleasing. For Opening Day, they introduced another graphic redesign of The Bottom Line and apparently some of the SportsCenter graphics. Anyway, who cares about all of that? I like getting an insert card of Edmonds here, even if a cable network-themed baseball card set makes no sense in any context.

I only know of the name Niko Vasquez because I've been known to occasionally read the excellent Future Redbirds blog. I don't really consider unlicensed cards to be "real cards", but I will still throw them in my Cardinals binders if they are St. Louis organization players.

I had no idea that there was a traded set version of 1993 Score Select. This would have come out right around the time I started college and became much more interested in building up my music collection than little bits of photos of guys that play sports. There were several of these in the lot, but like most traded sets, not all of the photos were exemplary. I figured Whiten's picture was the best, even though he's at Wrigley.

This Rick Ankiel 2008 Upper Deck card is the last Cardinal card I needed from the set. Nice!

I am still coveting the original 1960 Cardinals team card. Yes, the team is stuck behind a fence, once again.

I am probably in the minority here, but I already have a couple of cards from this Topps Gallery set and I think they are awful looking. I would much rather see players from an earlier era depicted on cards that were not extremely glossy and covered in crappy foil. Bottomley was the 1928 MVP, a fact which came to me after checking out his Baseball-Reference.com page. That site now looks quite similar to Basketball-Reference.com, which is a shame.

I don't even know what this card is supposed to be. It's serial numbered 0043 / 1000. I think it's from a non-sports set. And it's clearly unlicensed, as Gibson's hat logo is airbrushed away. And that "champions" thing that it smack dab in the middle of the photo is easily the worst thing about a card that already gives me a lot to complain about.

I'm not sure if Erin has this card or not, so I'll have to check with her. It looks familiar to me, but I don't think I own it myself. Cleveland socks don't quite have the flair that St. Louis socks have.

Sweet Spot will never even come close to being in my price range, but they do seem to produce some attractive base cards. Other companies (okay, I'm talking about you, Topps) should take note of this.

Another unlicensed guy, Mortensen appears to be starting the season in AA. He definitely has a pitcher name.

Alright, I'm saying it now. Topps Co-Signers cards are ugly. At least, the ones I've seen are. Maybe these look better when there are actual signatures on the cards, but I can't really go for the awkward close-up face shot on one half, and the greyed-out background action shot on the other. There were three different Cardinals in the lot from this set, which means that there are three fewer Co-Signers cards that I ever have to think about trying to obtain.

Nothing I could say about this card or the four others like it that I received could ever be perceived as anything but negative and possibly mean-spirited. So I'll try to keep my mouth shut. The only things I'll let slip is that I don't really understand this set or what they were trying to accomplish (7 runs? Alright!) and that I don't think serial numbers on the front of cards are ever a good idea.

I can now cross another Cardinal off of my 2009 Topps want list with this acquisition. I think I have about 10 Joe Mather cards now, unfortunately. Izturis is now playing with Baltimore, and the Cardinals TV announcers are desperately trying to sell their audience on all of the merits of one Khalil Greene. That's not to say I miss Izturis or anything, but I have a feeling that he will make fewer mistakes on the whole.

161 games left to go.