First Day Cardinal Gems

We're a little ways in to game 6 of the ALCS right now, which has proved to be entertaining so far - as entertaining as a scoreless game can be, that is. No, I'm not going to liveblog the game. Instead, while I'm thinking about baseball, I thought I'd knock out another trade post. This one is from Bud of First Day Issue. Bud is a Griffey fan who I've traded with before, but was kind enough to send along another package of Cardinal gems such as the Chris Carpenter Turkey Red chrome card at the top of the post. As I've mentioned before, they scan a little strange, but this one really looks like a painting. Being a sucker for both Turkey Red and serial numbered cards, I want all of the chrome Cardinals from this set, even the rainbowy ones.

Is Pristine truly the top of the line for Topps? Or is it Finest? Can anything be finer than Finest? But is there anything flawed about Pristine? Maybe they should make a set called Topps Perfect.

Here's some more shiny - my favorite Cardinals player from this decade on a chrome 2006 Heritage card. Nice! I would love to get my hands on more 2006 Heritage cards, not just the ones with the Redbirds on them.

This one is just like '85 Donruss, only it's '85 Leaf. You can tell because there's a green leaf on the front. Pretty smart, huh? I need to work on figuring out what O-Pee-Chee and Leaf cards I'm missing from the '80s. There's probably a ton.

I had a request to put more Gibby on this blog, so here he is. I don't think this Topps Archives set exactly nailed it with this one - the lettering is way off.

This is a fun little insert from the 2003 Fleer Hardball set. I couldn't even tell you what a base card from that set looks like. This card has raised stitching for the "ball" and reminds me of the circular shaped cards from some '80s oddball sets.

Wow, you're too close, Eck. Wayyyy too close. I'm backing away now.

Carp sat out the entire 2003 season due to injury after coming over from the Blue Jays, but Topps was kind enough to give him a card in the Traded set anyway. What he did the next 3 seasons was pretty amazing.

I love Bazooka cards and I love minis, so this Pujols is a perfect hybrid for me. In the background is a Casino Queen sign from Busch Stadium II. I'll never get their garish TV ads out of my head for as long as I live.

Here's more Turkey Red goodness courtesy of Matt Morris. It was a shame the way his career petered out. This is from the 2005 set.

I'm totally baffled that Upper Deck put out an extra glossy version of the 2006 base set (already a very large one.) Apparently you could get them in their own separate packs. Naturally, they included some of the same inserts in extra-glossy/shiny form as well.

I just watched the last couple of innings of the 1985 NLCS game 5 win over the Dodgers today on MLB Network. We all know what happens at the end. This Ozzie card was high on my list of things to get from 2009 sets that I won't be collecting, but I didn't really have to do anything for it to land in my lap. Isn't that great? Apparently, there's a more rare "night" version of this card and others in this set. And my birthday is coming up on Halloween...

Finally, here's a game worn pants (!) card from 2009 Allen & Ginter. I imagine Bud felt about the same as I did when I pulled the Eric Gagne card. I guess that's what happens with extra unused relic pieces that sit around the storage facilities of these card companies. No matter what happens with Mulder - I hear he's looking to make a comeback with the hated Brewers - it'll be interesting to see how long we continue to see Mark Mulder Cardinals relics in products.

Thanks again to Bud, who has another bunch of Mariners cards and more headed his way soon.