Cards on Cards

Airbrushed Fridays: 2011 Topps Opening Day #59

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

There's only 22 days until pitchers and catchers report. 22 days! That's only three weeks until we can start talking about baseball for real instead of just checking mlbtraderumors.com periodically to find out if anyone is going to hand Edwin Jackson a big contract.

Russell Martin is a three-time All-Star catcher who does a little bit of everything, but doesn't seem to do anything extremely well. Having the benefit of playing in major markets his whole career seems to have helped him to the accolades he's received. He will enter his 7th major league season in 2012.

Why did Topps airbrush Russell's photo? Martin was a surprise free agent acquisition by the Yankees last offseason. He had a strong start last year and found his way to the All-Star team by virtue of being a Yankee, and not being as bad as end-of-career Jorge Posada. However, he had not appeared in a Yankees uniform at the time this set was released.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? As far as Photoshop jobs go, this isn't bad. It's probably not too difficult to go from Dodger road grey and blue to Yankee road grey and navy blue. This is more of a case of knowing that the season hadn't even begun when this set was released.

I'm Officially Old

2012-01-25T00:45:00.000-08:00

Sometimes discussion of one card leads to a big box in the mail, which is exactly what happened last month when I received a huge haul of Cardinal cards from GCRL. I was trying to think of a Cardinal equivalent for the Garvey, Cey, Russell, Lopes arrangement and all I could come up with was Ozzie, McGee, Hernandez, Porter. I don't think a '70s foursome would quite work as the Cardinals by all accounts were pretty awful during that decade.

J.D. Drew is apparently retiring. That makes me feel extremely old. He's officially the first megaprospect from the days where I started to regain a little bit of interest in sports for the first time since I was in college to actually hang it up. Even though I never liked J.D. Drew, this makes me sad.

Tino Martinez is looking like a middle infielder here. Weird.

I'm not entirely sure what this set it is, but it curiously has some airbrushed logos. It was produced in 1995 and has a Coke logo and an unfamiliar Sonic logo on the back.

This is actually from the 2008 Topps Cardinals team set and stood out to me because I don't think Spiezio ever got a regular issue 2008 Topps card.

I'm actually less interested/disturbed by Looper's presence here than I am by John Patterson and this Aqua Diamondbacks look. Yikes.

This is a busy design, but it still looks nice. A lot of the current Topps cards with old timey players just look lazy.

Token Edmonds Card.

Token Ankiel As A Pitcher Card

Tino Martinez doesn't get a ton of mention here at Cards on Cards, as his role with St. Louis was effectively to bridge the gap between superstar Mark McGwire and Super Scrooge. I really like the look of this card, though.

Somewhere among the chaos of this huge box was a Bob Gibson fold-out poster from some sort of Fleer / SI set. It's a nice thing to have.

I received no less than three of the "My Name Is Not Jeff" Pendleton rookie cards in this box, but sadly I am still on the quest for the corrected "Terry" version of this card.

Always nice to get a Willie rookie card! If there's anyone I'd like to see the Cardinals break their "we don't retire numbers if they're not in the Hall" policy for, it would be Jim Edmonds. Willie would be a close second, though! I do believe that, unofficially, #51 is retired since no one seems to ever wear it. Unfortunately, there's been a fair amount of #15s since Edmonds left, including the current holder Rafael Furcal.

Man, I miss '80s Donruss artwork.

So here is the real impetus of the trade. At long last, I finally get to put a Jamie Moyer card in one of my Cardinals binders. This is a big moment for this blog, considering that it was (and continues to be) one of my collecting goals to actually get Moyer in a Cardinals uniform. I don't remember Moyer ever being a Cardinal even though his time with the team coincided with my high school years and days when I kept up with baseball cards pretty closely. I still don't actually have Moyer in a Cards uniform, but I'm close now. I didn't know this card actually existed (as far as a Cardinals team collector would care) until I read about it on GCRL's most excellent O-Pee-Chee blog. I highly recommend it.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1974 Topps #208

2012-01-20T18:37:00.001-08:00

It was a big week for me, as I actually managed to successfully get three packages out the door. Little successes!

Mike Marshall was a former All-Star screwball-tossing reliever who played for an impressive 9 major league teams over the course of 14 seasons. He has previously appeared in this feature here. Also pictured is John Hiller, as this card highlight's the top firemen of the 1973 season, based on a ranking system that gives equal weight to a pitching win as it does a save. Marshall led the NL in saves, but he also had 14 wins (and 11 losses) over the course of a 179 IP season in which he started no games at all in some sort of bizarro version of pre-Tony La Russa managed baseball.

Why did Topps airbrush Mike's photo? It's rare that I can say this, but I honestly have zero idea. Marshall had spent the last 3+ seasons in an Expos uniform before an offseason trade to the Dodgers as noted in the previous Mike Marshall post. Can anyone explain this? He is actually airbrushed into his former uniform.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? That Expos logo is awful. It's like two different people handled each side of it or something. Also, Marshall appears to be wearing a ghostly baseball equivalent of a hospital gown instead of a proper uniform. Maybe I'm just letting my imagination run wild tonight.

JABO Break Results

2012-01-17T21:28:00.000-08:00

If it seems like my only card purchases lately are through group breaks, well... then... you've probably noticed that it's the truth. I am certain that I'll get back in the swing of things with new 2012 stuff on the horizon, but I'm definitely in a serious collecting rut at the moment. Fortunately, there have been a few of these group break type of things to keep the embers going. JABO has had a number of such events already in its relatively short time of existence. If you get an opportunity, you should consider participating.

I got three teams in the break, plus some extras. Of course, the Cardinals were represented and included players I'd never heard of! Awesome! I think? Kenneth Peoples-Walls was apparently a 4th round pick in the most recent draft. Let's hope that I get to hear announcers say his name at some point down the road.

There were also some kids in the package. When I say "kids", I actually mean people that were born in 1995. 1995! That's crazy. People shouldn't be allowed to own these. They may as well make Little League World Series cards. (They probably do, sadly.) I am guessing that the cards for players who were not affiliated yet with a major league team ended up getting randomly distributed among the participants. I will hang on to these in hopes that they all become supermegastars someday.

White Sox! This was a team that was randomly assigned and one that I do not often find trading partners for, so of course most of the "hits" in the package were White Sox cards. This here is one of those refractor type thingies.

Dodgers! I selected this team purposefully after taking the Cardinals, because I never have a problem getting rid of Dodgers cards. In fact, I am so going to get rid of some Dodgers cards tomorrow... provided that the Postal Service still exists by then.

Airbrushed Fridays: 2008 Topps #532

2012-01-13T20:34:00.001-08:00

Welcome to another edition of Late Night Airbrushed Fridays: Tebow Free since 2009!

Tim Lahey is a minor league pitcher who found his way onto a Topps MLB rookie card under dubious circumstances. He's never appeared in a major league game, yet has spent time on a roster. I'm not certain that he technically qualifies for a Topps card in this day and age, but he didn't come into the league with the fanfare of, say, Alex Gordon.

Why did Topps airbrush Tim's photo? Lahey was drafted by the Twins, and then made his way to the Rays via the Rule V draft. He was cut before the season started, claimed by the Cubs before ultimately landing with the Phillies - who also cut him a week into the season. He was returned to Minnesota before this set even came out. It appears that he's actually out of baseball completely at this point, with no stats available for the 2011 season.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? The colors... the logos... they are just not right looking.

Let's Put A Bow On This 1993 Upper Deck Thing

2012-01-11T21:27:00.000-08:00

Here is my one final plea to help me finally finish off my first substantial set since I've started this blog. I am down to needing just two cards from the main set along with two "SP" cards, which I honestly know nothing about, from the 1993 Upper Deck set. Here's the want list, officially:

21 Melvin Nieves
66 Tim Wakefield
SP5 G.Brett/R.Yount
SP6 Nolan Ryan

I know I've had a copy of the Wakefield card before, but it was in rough shape. Considering that, no matter how much I like the design and quality, this is still at its core a junk wax set, I am making sure that each card in the set is in better than acceptable shape. Can anyone help? I will just go ahead and look online for the two SP cards if I can get the Nieves and Wakefield.

I also want to show off these portfolios that Erin found for me and included with my Christmas haul. I had never seen or heard of these before. They instantly reminded me of the 1988 Topps portfolios that were gaining popularity back when I was still in middle school. The design on these particular folders contains representations of actual cards from the set, but as seen on the reverse, they are merely empty place holders for actual cards. The inner flap also gives an interesting guideline to card conditions, or "rating your cards", something you probably don't actually care about if you're about to slip something into these pockets.

Strangely, the back pocket shows off what the cards on the front would look like in reverse as if they were real cards, which they aren't.

A second portfolio that I received has a different color and shows off some of the Triple Crown inserts from this set. I wonder how many different portfolios were made. I finally found an auction that purports the existence of at least 6 different designs and 4 colors.

Any information about this stuff would be greatly appreciated. If I end up finishing up a few more sets, I may go ahead and pursue some or all of the insert sets as well. For now, I need to get the base set knocked out.

Contest Winners and Group Break Results

2012-01-10T23:42:00.000-08:00

All the college football games are over for the year, which means the Bowl Pick 'Em Contest has also drawn to a conclusion. Congrats to AJ of The Lost Collector for taking top honors, while last year's champ - Stats on the Back - came up just short and took second place this time around. Third place goes to hiflew of Cards from the Quarry, while Joseph's GRAVITRON entry managed to be the least successful. Winners (and "winner"), please email me your mailing addresses so I can get your prizes out to you soon. I am aiming for getting these packaged up this weekend and dropped in the mail on Monday in order to avoid 2011-style procrastination.

Meanwhile, the cards featured in this post are from a group break hosted by My Cardboard Mistress. A bunch of random products were opened which led to me getting quite a variety of Cardinals cards, many of which I didn't own already. I kind of like this group break thing.

I completely missed out on the whole 2011 Topps sticker craze. I need some more of these in Cardinal form.

I did like the Legends of the Game inserts and wasn't so pleased with some of the other things Topps tried in 2010 and 2011. One issue was photo selection, however. It would be really great to see Topps sign up with some other third party with access to a lot of archives for some of these retired/Hall of Fame cards.

There are so many shiny and sparkly J.D. Drew cards made of all sorts of interesting materials. It's just too bad that the Cardinals go-to marketable young player at the time was J.D. Drew.

This is a great card and a great get for me. I am glad that Ozzie played in an era where there were plenty of photo ops.

Finally, here's another "manupatch" that goes straight in my collection. I wonder if Topps will still be doing this for this year's set. I can't even remember what this year's set looks like, but I'm pretty sure I was not very impressed.

Patches

2012-01-07T19:54:00.001-08:00

I managed to win two fantasy baseball leagues this year, which I've probably mentioned before. One of them actually ended in a tie, which I didn't think was possible, and I ended up with the prizes (at least in theory). I received a few cards in the mail from a couple of locations, and there was a common theme: Topps manupatches. This Dizzy Dean patch card from 2010 Topps Series 1 is a keeper for sure. I received it from The Daily Dimwit.

Two more patches, from 2011 Topps, came over across the pond from Martyn. I have to admit that I have no idea who Josh Bell is, but I'm sure that somebody does! I find it rather strange that they chose to use a 1997 commemorative patch for the Orioles, since that wasn't even a World Series year for them.

Here's a guy we're all probably a little more familiar with. Anyway, these patches are up for grabs to anyone who is interested, except for the Dizzy Dean. I will be looking forward to trying to duplicate my success somehow in the coming fantasy season.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1972 Topps #213

2012-01-06T09:18:00.000-08:00

THREE Rookie Stars. AH AH AH AH AH!

Billy Parker was a second baseman who logged 278 plate appearances over three seasons with the California Angels. He was taken by the Yankees in a Rule V draft where he spent three additional seasons at their AAA level before concluding his career.

Art Kusnyer was a backup catcher who played in parts of 6 MLB seasons with 3 teams, spending most of his time with the Angels. He hit just .176 in his career with an unsightly .461 OPS. He later became a coach for Tony La Russa during his time with the White Sox and A's.

Tom Silverio was an outfielder who had a few cups of coffee in three separate seasons with the Angels, logging just 32 plate appearances in 31 games. He had an 8 year minor league career that was apparently cut short by today's standards at the age of 26 and was a productive hitter throughout.

Why did Topps airbrush these photos? There's a common theme here, of course, and it's that these players probably didn't make enough appearances in the majors for Topps to get a decent photo of them in their proper team's gear. It should be noted, however, that all of these players played for the Angels at some point in the previous season (1971) so they must have come to spring training with California as well.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? If you assume for a moment that Billy Parker's photo is the only one that isn't actually airbrushed (certainly possible), his cap provides a stark contrast to Kusnyer's and Silverio's. They glow. And the little halos look more like tiny footballs for some reason.

Perceived Rarity Trumps Reality?

2012-01-04T23:00:00.000-08:00

Has anyone else noticed how easy it is to pull these so-called "short print" cognac diamond parallels from the Topps Update set? How is it that I've pulled three of these in 20-something packs while I've only pulled one actual short print from a Topps set in the three years that they've been doing these retired/legend SPs? It seems like there's been no shortage of these popping up in blog posts and auction listings over the past few months. It begs the question: who decided that these were truly short prints, especially when I believe no stated odds are listed on any of the Topps packaging?

Is it any more difficult to get a Reggie Jackson vomitcard than it is, say, Coco Crisp? Just curious. I'm always fascinated by how these things come about.

Yeah, Right

2012-01-04T20:30:00.001-08:00

I'm not doing that.

... or that, either.

I do wish I had more codes, though. I only ended up with one thing worth shipping this year.

Some Updates and Some Community Gum

2012-01-03T23:17:00.001-08:00

Hey! The Ducks won the Rose Bowl! Hey! The Blazers are off to an impressive 4-1 start! Things are looking up at Cards on Cards Central, even with the fun of the Cardinals World Series run still fresh in mind.

Here's an update on the bowl pick 'em contest before I get to some cards I received from a big Community Gum group break. 'The Belk Bowl is Best' (defending champion Stats on the Back) is in the lead with just a handful of games remaining, but The Lost Collector is sitting in the best position right now with the most possible maximum points. Meanwhile, a number of people unfortunately failed to make picks for all of the games, leaving 'GRAVITRON' by Joseph as a near-lock to take worst place.

As mentioned, there are cards to be posted about, cards such as this nifty Topps Laser card featuring a smoldering Dennis Eckersley.

I still don't understand the Topps Tek concept, nor do I really want to. The cards are fun, though. I wonder how someone could think that it wasn't economically, let alone environmentally, feasible to continue to produce cards like these en masse.

It's really odd to see what's essentially a 1991 Topps common card get the refractor treatment, but that's exactly what we have here. I wish we could get a real Topps Archives or Fan Favorites set instead of what Topps is apparently planning to roll out next year as some sort of insert.

Can I just say that I'm not a fan of this Topps Gallery design? Okay. Moving along...

What's better than a bunch of Topps products saturating the market? How about a Topps product combining a bunch of their already existing products in one big confusing heap of a set!

More refractored junk wax, this time featuring The Wizard.

DramaTEK. I get it!

...

Red Turkey Red Cardinal cards might be the best cards in all of the land. Just sayin'.

Good Luck Ducks: Rose Bowl Edition

2012-01-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012, everyone! The Ducks are off to Pasadena to take on Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. The prolonged bowl season makes it really weird to start thinking (and writing) about college football again after a month off. I really wish they would do something about the whole BCS and bowl situation, but it doesn't seem likely that any major changes are going to happen anytime soon, especially with ESPN just getting started with a new BCS TV contract this year.

I was hoping Michigan State would end up winning the Big 10 because Wisconsin's size scares me as a Duck fan. Much has been made of Chip Kelly failing to win big games and games in which the opponent has extra time to prepare. The blame probably doesn't begin and end with Kelly and it's still a pretty small trend, but until the Ducks can win a game like this we will keep hearing about it. That being said, I am usually optimistic about Oregon's chances in games like this because they are so talented and explosive, but I am going to go in a different direction here. I think the Ducks will lose.

How can the Ducks avoid another big game loss? They simply cannot turn the ball over or play conservatively. Mistakes plagued them against LSU and that game still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth even with LSU's so-far undefeated season on the books. I am still convinced the Ducks beat themselves more than LSU beat them. As far as conservative play goes, I think the coaches need to practice what they preach and truly treat this game as if it were any other game. This isn't the Washington State Cougars that they're preparing for, but it may as well be. If Oregon plays the way Oregon can play, they should at least have a shot at reversing their fortunes. I still expect a loss. Prove me wrong, Ducks!

Above footage from Oregon's last meeting with Wisconsin in 2001 at Autzen, where they won 31-28.

Game time is 2:00 PST with national coverage on ESPN. Go Ducks!

Hook 'Em

2011-12-31T18:14:00.001-08:00

I received a few sports card-related gifts for Christmas, all of which were ready made for posting on the internet about. Hooray, internet! I already posted one of the gifts over at APTBNL. Here is, for some reason, a little write-up on the 2008 Texas Longhorns baseball set.

Brandon Belt gets front of the set billing, and of course his card is the only one that shows any wear at all. I didn't know that he also had a role on his college team as a pitcher. I think Giants fans are still hoping this guy becomes one of the centerpieces of their lineup, but it seems like it's probably tough to develop power while playing half your games at Phone Company Park.

Here's the other major leaguer in the bunch, Chance Ruffin. Ruffin was a Tigers draft pick and had already reached the majors when he was part of the trade that brought Doug Fister to Detroit.

Cameron Rupp is a Phillies draft pick and he's topped out at A-ball so far.

Austin Wood is famous for one 13-inning relief appearance with UT, the first 12 of which yielded no hits. 169 pitches later, nearly everyone agrees that what he did was colossally stupid. He eventually got injured, obviously, but has so far played as high as AA with the Tigers organization.

In the Everybody Gets a Card Dept., here is your volunteer assistant coach. Sorry, I mean, volunteer assistant to the coach. Weird.

Airbrushed Fridays: 2007 Topps Updates & Highlights #UH294

2011-12-30T19:05:00.000-08:00

How can you just leave me standing alone in a world that's so cold? Maybe I'm just too demanding. Maybe I'm just like my father: too bold. Maybe you're just like my mother (she's never satisfied.) Why do we scream at each other? This is what it sounds like when doves cry.

Todd Wellemeyer was a right-handed reliever that the Cardinals scooped up off the scrapheap (er, Royals system) and tried to perform the Dave Duncan Conversion Project magic on him. He had some success, especially in 2008, but was mostly a league average (if not below) pitcher as a starter in St. Louis. He's also a Colonel, however.

Why did Topps airbrush Todd's photo? As mentioned, Wellemeyer was an early season waiver claim from Kansas City. That being said, this card is from the Updates & Highlights set and he had been on the team since May, so there's really no excuse.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? This is just an awful example of Photoshop work. You can barely even see what are supposed to be the Cardinals cap and jersey logos.

The NBA Is Back, But Where Are The Cards?

2011-12-27T23:35:00.000-08:00

Actual factual NBA basketball is back now, which means I can resume posting the occasional basketball card here on the blog. I'm sure this thrills my reader base to no end. In any case, I'm kind of excited to at least see the Portland Trail Blazers play again, and they've gotten off to a reasonable 2-0 start. Here's a few cards that I didn't post before because I was bitter.

These are all from the 2010-11 Donruss set, one that I really should have bought more of before that whole lockout thing happened. Especially annoying is the fact that there has been virtually no sign of new NBA cards (no doubt lockout related) for quite some time. There was talk of an NBA Hoops revival, but it seems that those plans were scrapped or at least put on the shelf indefinitely. The only thing I've read about any imminent releases came from this article posted a few days ago. In the wake of the lockout, the shoddy economy and the whole Occupy thing, does Panini really think that a set that contains nothing but autographs and multi-swatch booklets is a great idea for the average collector?

Until an actually affordable set is released, I will at least consider restarting my attempt to collect the 2010-11 Donruss set. This idea never really got off the ground before, but I do still like the way this set works.

Also... go Blazers!

Just Another Group Break

2011-12-27T00:43:00.000-08:00

Pardon the dust around here. I fully acknowledge that things have been really, really slow at this blog. I think that things will turn around to near-normalcy sometime soon after the New Year. Yes, yes, they will. In the meantime, let's take a look at a few cards from a group break hosted by Cardboard Collections at some point in the past. In the future!

1996 Pinnacle Aficionado (better known as Aficionado by Pinnacle, apparently) is an interesting set. I would venture to say that it's a great looking set if it wasn't for the shiny pixelated face close-up on the left edge of each card. The other, normal looking player photos are either in full color or sepia tone, but I'm not sure what the criteria is for choosing either style. Among others, I got another Ozzie Smith card for the collection and one of new assistant hitting coach John Mabry.

This here is a Men of Summer parallel of young Matt Morris from the 1997 Pinnacle XPress set. This wasn't his rookie year in baseball card terms, but it sure looks like it nonetheless.

I think I've mentioned this card on this blog before, but I still am fascinated with the wrong-logoed Terry Bradshaw card. He never played for the Brewers as far as I know. Also, isn't the mid-'90s Brewers look the worst?

Ahh, the old medicine ball look. Does this still exist? Does anyone use these anymore? Maybe I should be a medicine ball supercollector.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1974 Topps Traded #319T

2011-12-23T17:37:00.000-08:00

Two updates here on a Christmas Eve before the Eve. First off, for those of you who weren't on the email, check out this cool thing that is going on at Crackin Wax. It all ends up going for charity, and I've always considered myself a charitable guy. Secondly, in looking at some early results for the Bowl Pick 'Em Contest, The Lost Collector has jumped out in front of the pack. He leads both the group standings and the total possible points. It's that latter point that is the most crucial, especially if all your heavily weighted games are still to come.

Randy Hundley was a former All-Star and Gold Glove winning catcher who logged 14 seasons in the Majors, spending most of his time with the Chicago Cubs. And if you're my age, when you think of catching Hundleys, Randy's son Todd comes to mind. Todd Hundley spent 15 seasons in the bigs himself.

Why did Topps airbrush Randy's photo? Hundley was dealt to the Twins by Chicago in the offseason for one George Mitterwald. After a season with the Padres, Hundley would eventually return to the Cubs to finish out his career.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Well, it's a '70s Topps Traded card. Do you have to ask? I've seen worse, of course, but Hundley's cap has that dark/blotchy/glassy look that is evident on a lot of doctored card photos in this era. Of course, that TRADED banner conveniently blocks out a good portion of the photo that might also have needed some dressing up.

Pick 'Em Contest: Still Time Left

2011-12-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

There's less than 24 hours left to sign up for the College Bowl Pick 'Em Contest (win free baseball cards!) Technically, you could sign up after tomorrow morning's deadline and still be eligible for some of the prizes, but not locking in your picks for the first games will certainly hinder your chances at winning.

Good luck to all of the participants! We already have more involved this year than ever before.

No "Airbrushed Fridays" post today because I feel like giving Topps a break. I'll make up for it later or something.

Another Cardinalcentric Trade Post

2011-12-14T21:41:00.000-08:00

Reader Tim from OH, a long time supporter of the blog (by which I mean he sends me stuff from time to time) sent over another package of Cardinals stuff last month. And it was pretty great. Here are just a few of the cards I received that caught my eye.

A 40 Man Roster themed set seems exactly like the kind of set I would design if things were left up to me and there were no restrictions. This is why things aren't left up to me. I imagine this set, if it truly contained 40+ cards for each team, to have been a pretty large one. Has anyone bought any of this stuff?

I'm not sure that Reggie Sanders is the first name that comes to mind when you think of October heroics, but here it is. I still can't figure out what all of that black dead space is for on these cards.

I'm fairly confident that this card features Bud Smith chatting with Tony La Russa during batting practice, as Smith had just recently pitched a no-hitter which gets a mention on the card back. I can't even imagine what Topps was thinking when they designed the 2002 set. There's nothing appealing about it. As with a couple of other years (or maybe it's just 2001?), there's sort of a foil background on some of the subset cards.

I never thought I'd see the day where Mark McGwire would return to being the most popular Cardinal first baseman in town, but that's where we are. I think it's fair to say that you'll be seeing quite a bit more of him than the other guy on this blog in the future.

Free Contest Time! Football Picks With Baseball Prizes!

2011-12-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

Ladies and non-ladies, it's time once again for the annual Cards on Cards College Bowl Pick 'Em Contest. We've had some fun in previous years, and last year's contest was totally owned by Stats on the Back. It was also very non-possessed by "é rayhahn, rayhahn". Both the winner and "winner" along with some runners-up (or is that runner-ups?) came away with some prizes, even though I think I took months to distribute them. I'm sorry for that.

There are prizes again this year, although I'm scaling things down a bit so I don't lose focus and procrastinate again this year. There are rules as well, which I know you are dying to read, but let's take a look at the fun stuff first.

First place will receive: a blaster of current retail big box store product OR $20 blind card show mystery pack shopping spree (basically, $20 in random packs that I pick out at a card show)... as well as a small plastic pouch of cards from your favorite team/player(s)/etc.
Second place will receive: a small Priority Mail mailer/box full of cards from your favorite team/player(s)/etc. (this usually ends up being around 8 bags/pouches or so)
Third place will receive: at least five cards from my next Rummage Sale post... as well as a small plastic pouch of cards from your favorite team/player(s)/etc.
Worst place will receive: whatever I feel like sending you (these are the risks that you take...)

Because every thing that involves getting stuff has to have rules, here they are (basically copied from last year):

Participants must sign up through the official Yahoo link. Unfortunately, this means that you must have a Yahoo account. I am only doing this because I am lazy, not because I want you to sign up with Yahoo who gives me $27 every time someone reads one of my blog posts.
Promote this contest! No, that doesn't mean you need to "follow" my blog, nor does it mean that you'll gain any competitive advantage by posting about this contest. I just want to see a lot of people participate, and will be willing to award more prizes if there are more participants. 16 23 people joined the Yahoo group last year - let's increase that total! Put a subliminal message on your blog post. Send a mass email. Casually tell your co-workers in the break room while discussing ~~Brett Favre's latest injury~~ Tim Tebow's latest game winning prayer. The possibilities are endless!
Points are scored according to the Confidence System. This basically means that while you are predicting which team wins which bowl game, you will also be responsible for ranking how confident you are in each pick. For example, if you are insane enough to think that Washington will beat ~~Nebraska~~ Baylor and are willing to bet your street cred on it, you will want to assign that matchup a higher confidence rating (30, perhaps) than you would with your misguided "~~Alabama~~ Georgia will totally stomp Michigan State because the SEC is *AWESOME*" pick.
Email me your contest information after you sign up. You can't assume that I will automatically recognize your clever Yahoo Pick Set name, nor will I necessarily disbelieve your "friend" who claims your prize after everything is said and done because he swears he's CowboysFan4Ever and is the "most right" about his "sweet picks".
You can change your picks at any time, so long as your pick is made before the official start time (usually the TV broadcast time) of each game.
You must make a pick for every game to be eligible for the "worst place" prize. Also, once again this year... please... no tanking it on purpose! The prizes aren't that great, folks. I'd much rather award the prize to someone who failed in spectacular fashion than someone who intentionally went with picks like ~~Arizona over Oklahoma State~~ LA Tech over TCU.

Through the power of internet technologies, Yahoo has already sent out an invitation to everyone who participated last year. If you did not get the email or simply did not participate before, click here to sign up! It's free! First timers are welcome.

Group ID: 29698

Password: quackquackquack

DEADLINE: There's a hard deadline of Saturday, December 17th at 11:00 AM PST. That's the start time of the first bowl game.

#7

2011-12-12T00:30:00.000-08:00

As the flood of Brandon Roy tributes continue far and wide across the internet, I figured it was time for me to say something. I have many great memories of Roy on the court and was fortunate enough to witness some of them in person. This is just one of many exciting games I got to see him put his stamp on. The Blazers have Hall of Famers in their annals, but before Brandon Roy they had never had someone who you could just put the ball in their hand and expect to come out with a victory, no matter what the circumstance. This was just one game that I got see, up near the rafters in the 300 level at the Rose Garden.

Feeling Blue

2011-12-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

I try my best to avoid all things Wal-Mart, and for the most part I'm pretty successful at it. I live in a progressive city that tends to frown upon big box stores inside its retail core, so one has to really hunt for these places and make them a destination rather than just stop by on your way to somewhere. After seeing the Target red parallels in the 2011 Topps Update set, I knew there would be a blue counterpart in the Wal-Mart exclusive packs and decided to at least see what they were like.

This is kind of disappointing, however. Topps apparently used the same weird metallic light blue that they use for the recent Opening Day parallels, minus the little sparkles. I guess I was hoping for something more along the lines of the 2003 Topps base set. Speaking of which, I really need to make some headway on that set.

Here's some other junk that I got in the five Wal-Mart looseys that I snagged. This one is going in the Play at the Plate pile. I don't actually know who Craig Gentry is, even though he was on the World Series roster and made some appearances. It hasn't been THAT long since October, has it?

This is just bright... really bright. Correia's card just barely missed out on my Pirates post from the other day.

I could complain about the Fish overspending when they don't really have a fan base, but I guess they'll figure out on their own why throwing a bunch of money around will come back to bite them soon enough.

I find the title of this card, "Career Grand Slams Through 2010", to be a little strange considering Lou Gehrig is on it. Sadly, A-Rod is close to catching him according to the back.

Okay.

I decided against collecting the Kimball Champions card, but I won't say for sure whether or not it has anything to do with my frustration that my scanner always cuts off at least one of the borders when I scan them.

I also got one of these code things...

...which turned into this. B-Webb 4 Life!

Airbrushed Fridays: 2007 Topps #361

2011-12-09T20:30:00.000-08:00

All I can say is that it was not a great day to be a Blazer. Here's a late night edition of Airbrushed Fridays to forget that the NBA exists for awhile longer.

Adam Kennedy is a second baseman who has been converted to a utility player in recent years. Kennedy was originally a Cardinals first round draft pick in 1997 and began his career in St. Louis before being shipped to Anaheim, where he would spend his most productive years, as a piece in the Jim Edmonds deal. He won a ring with the Angels while gaining a reputation for his "dependability" and "not terribleness".

Why did Topps airbrush Adam's photo? Kennedy was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals in what was supposed to be a glorious reunion between Kennedy's first team, who happened to be defending champions. It didn't work out so well. The Cardinals were expecting more "not terribleness" and instead got "mostly terribleness".

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Kennedy was assigned uniform #7 (sadly, not 47, because AK47 would have been easier to root for) and never wore #2 with the Cardinals, a retired number reserved for Red Schoendienst. As a sign of things to come, Kennedy was also at the plate without a bat in this shot.

Still The Man

2011-12-08T23:38:00.000-08:00

Well, there is no danger of anyone else becoming the best player in Cardinals franchise history anytime soon. Stan The Man is the best.

30 Teams in 30 Posts: #12

2011-12-07T21:55:00.000-08:00

At number 12 on the charts is the last remaining Cardinals division rival to make the list. The Pirates found themselves in unfamiliar territory last season when they occupied 1st place at one point after the All-Star Break. Just as soon as they seemed to realize it (basically as soon as fans started showing up to the games) things went horribly wrong and Pittsburgh collapsed even faster than Atlanta did down the stretch. The midsummer signs of success in Pittsburgh is a sign of an improving team, and Pirates fans can only hope they hang on to some of the young talent (Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, some of the pitching) instead of letting it go the second there's a chance to go somewhere else.

I think I dislike the Pirates the least among the NL Central foes because they're sort of the anti-ESPN cool. Interesting uniforms, homegrown talent and some sweet disco-era history. Barry Bonds notwithstanding, there's not much to be ashamed of in the Pittsburgh legacy - except the losses, of course. And there have been quite a few of those.

I hear that PNC Park is absolutely gorgeous and, by the attendance it usually draws, it seems like it's not just me that's missing out so far. Albert Pujols has absolutely owned anything and everything that has taken place in that park, which will make it a shame if he ends up with some crummy American League team like the Angels. (Note: First person to guess tomorrow's hot bidding team on Pujols wins a prize.)

Favorite current Pirates player: Jose Tabata. His name is fun to say. He's one of those guys that tempted me into spending a fantasy pick on, only to disappoint with his injuries and overall Pirateness. His name was still fun to say, though.

Least favorite current Pirates player: Joel Hanrahan. With Ryan "Demon Eyes" Doumit gone, I guess I had to pick Hanrahan simply for being good. He shut down the Cardinals on multiple occasions as I recall.

Favorite Pirates player of all-time: Willie Stargell. I was a little too young to remember Stargell as a player, but I heard plenty of stories. My dad often recounted seeing Stargell hit a home run onto a ridiculously unreachable balcony at the old Civic Stadium here in Portland during an exhibition game. Well, I got to see Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield at Civic, so there's that!

Least favorite Pirates player of all-time: Barry Bonds. I was always firmly on the Bobby Bonilla side of the Bonds/Bonilla debate, and if I had invested heavily in '80s rookie cards I would have probably lost a lot of money on this. It's easy to dislike Bonds now that we know what a monster he was, but I didn't even like him then. He was just really unlikable.

The Pittsburgh Pirates snag a spot at #12 in my reverse-ranking of favorite teams as of the moment I picked them on October 4th, 2010. Yes, that was more than a full calendar year ago! All of these cards are very much up for trade, so please contact me if you're interested.

The Sky Is Falling, Kind Of

2011-12-06T21:21:00.001-08:00

It's full blown panic time in Cardinalville, at least if you're one of those sorts who reads the internet texts and the breaking bottom lines on the TV. Pujols may well be a Miami Marlin by the time you get around to reading this. Or, perhaps, he will be a member of Mystery Team C, whoever that ends up being (it usually doesn't exist.) I hate getting caught up in reading about contract negotiations, so I think I am going to bow out of the speculation and just see what happens. If some team is going to offer an an insanely lengthy contract with a ridiculous amount of money attached, so be it. It doesn't seem right that he'd leave after being the face of the organization for a decade-plus, but it could and certainly may happen. I'm okay with it.

Here's my first 2011 Topps Chrome card, and like the rest of the cards in this post, it came to me in the mailbox from Rod at Padrographs. Rod is giving away a bunch of stuff (postage donations gladly accepted) and I hear that people like stuff, so if you're into stuff you should check it out. Meanwhile, when I look at Colby Rasmus, it's hard for me to believe right now that he won't be the biggest name that leaves the team this year.

And this is what we call a vomitcard. And that's not just because the craptacular Ryan Theriot is the featured player. Hey-o!

Back to happier thoughts, here's another puke encrusted card. This time it's World Series MVP and All Around Good Guy David Freese.

In other, lesser known Hot Stove talk, the Cards are looking at possibly shaking up their starting rotation a little bit with rumors involving the departures of Kyle Lohse and/or Jake Westbrook. Carlos Martinez is one of the hot young prospects waiting in the wings, but he's probably got quite a ways to go. I'm also still trying to come to grips with the marriage of Topps Heritage and minor league baseball. I would probably be all over this if it wasn't a hobby-only release. In any case, I certainly appreciate the Cardinals-affiliated cards.

Good Luck Ducks: Inaugural Pac-12 Championship Edition

2011-12-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

Just six days after the conclusion of the regular season that saw a crushing Civil War victory by the Quack Attack comes the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game. Not only is it scheduled on an odd night, but the decision was made prior to the season to award the team with the overall best record in the conference the right to host the game. Therefore, this marks the third consecutive week that the Ducks will play at Autzen Stadium. Attempts will be made to make this a "neutral site" game, but the game will likely be sparsely attended by the blue and gold clad UCLA Bruins fans.

UCLA comes in as the de facto Pac-12 South Champions despite an overall record of 6-6. The Bruins had to petition (successfully) the NCAA governing body in order to be permitted to play in a bowl game should they lose to the Ducks tonight and are only in the game because of an upset loss by Utah last week against Colorado. The Bruins did themselves no favors by losing to USC last week 50-0 and just fired their head coach, Rick Neuheisel.

Speaking of Neuheisel, who went 21-28 in his 4 seasons in L.A., Oregon fans don't like him very much. I believe it all started when he ran up the score against the Ducks in a bowl game way back when against Colorado by calling for a fake punt with his team up 38-6 late in the game. He cemented his legacy when he took the head coaching job with the rival Washington Huskies, with which at one point he celebrated a victory at Autzen by jumping up and down on the 'O' in the center of the field. Neuheisel's Bruins have not been competitive in recent years against Oregon, however, with the Ducks outscoring UCLA 84-33 in the last two games. Tonight's game is not expected to be close, either, but you can never tell what a team who has just lost their coach will do. (Neuheisel will coach the team for this game.) This is big for the Ducks as a victory means they will play in the Rose Bowl for the second time in three seasons.

Above footage from the 2010 UCLA/Oregon game at Autzen.

Game time is 5:00 PST with national coverage on FOX. Quack Quack!

Airbrushed Fridays: 1974 Topps #399

2011-12-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

Big Ducks game tonight, but first there's some business to attend to of the airbrushed variety.

Mike Paul was a left handed pitcher who spent parts of seven big league seasons with Cleveland, Texas and the Chicago Cubs. He appeared in 228 games in his career, starting 77 of them and finishing 59. As we flip over the card, we are also about to learn that he's a fan of swimming. Go Mike!

Why did Topps airbrush Mike's photo? Paul was traded to the Rangers for a PTBNL right before the trade deadline in 1973. That player eventually turned out to be one Larry Gura.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? He has a glowing cap and a mysterious collar, the stripes of which lazily disappear for some reason.

A Well Rounded Trade

2011-11-29T21:40:00.000-08:00

I tend to think that the best kind of card trades hit multiple areas of your collecting interest and also manage to throw in something surprising and fantastic at the end. This can be something totally unnecessary, yet it adds to the fun (and surprise) factor. I should note that I have next to zero expectations when I enter into trades with people over the internet as I just hope that I can get rid of cards and offer something useful to someone for my part. Such was the case with a recent trade exchange with Kyle4KC of the Chris Farley-adorned Juust a Bit Outside blog. Kyle is a fellow Cardinal fan, though in an ideal world I feel like he'd lean more towards Royal Blue.

As mentioned, Kyle hit a number of areas of interest with this trade, including the recent Allen & Ginter and Heritage sets. Aroldis Chapman is approximately 7'8", can throw 147 MPH and is reportedly made of a platinum-titanium composite.

Kasper Hauser is... I don't know... spoooooooooky?

I really like the Baseball Flashbacks cards from this year's Heritage offering. Since this is just a insert set concept that is rehashed from year after year, the design isn't really based on anything authentic, but I still like the look.

As with any good trade worth its salt (just kidding, people who don't do this!), there was a healthy amount of Cardinals cards. This 2004 Fleer Greats set with the embossed style frame is one of my absolute favorites. I wonder how much a box would run me.

It's curious that Topps chose this photo for just a Matt Holliday card, rather than one of their multi-player dealies. It also just looks odd with a certain someone missing from the picture. Albert had bad timing with his forearm break last season as it cost him an almost certain All-Star appearance.

Speaking of which, I was certainly surprised and excited to get this Pujols XFractor. X-Fractor? Xfractor? XFRACTOR? I'm not sure how to properly punctuate and/or capitalize that made up word.

Finally, here's a really cool jersey swatch from everyone's favorite: J.D. Drew. Sure, J.D. may not go down in history on any team's All-Time Fan Favorite list, but it is a really nice little jersey piece.

Thanks again to Kyle4KC. Now, don't mind me as I run off to listen to the Education Connection song yet again...

30 Teams in 30 Posts: #13

2011-11-28T20:37:00.001-08:00

The '30 Teams' posts are back, which means that I'm ready to start trading again. I got a tad bit overwhelmed with non-cardboard related duties lately and was temporarily avoiding anything involving responsibility that I wasn't getting paid for. Hopefully, things are on the right track again. As always, the real point of these posts are to get rid of cards. If anyone has contacted me about a trade and hasn't heard anything, feel free to give me another nudge.

Baltimore somehow fails to evoke much feeling out of me one way or another. It's probably because the team has been largely irrelevant and invisible for so long that sometimes I forget that they exist. If it weren't for baseball cards, I'm not even sure I would have the faintest idea who guys like Nick Markakis and Brian Roberts even are. I know Luke Scott because he's a gun-toting nutjob and I know Adam "Not PacMan" Jones because the Mariners gave up on him and he turned on to be a solid player.

I also know that the Orioles play in Camden Yards, which was the greatest thing since bread came sliced... when I was in high school. There's also the cartoon bird, a World Series title that I somehow missed completely and... oh yes, The Streak. What's missing from this post? Probably that 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken card. Of course, if I still had a copy I would probably hang on to it and you wouldn't see it here anyway. I think I sold one for $20 back in the day.

Favorite current Orioles player: Adam Jones. He seems talented but pretty unspectacular at the same time. I just don't know very many of these players.

Least favorite current Orioles player: Luke Scott. Like I said earlier, Luke Scott is a gun-toting nutjob and I've disliked him ever since I first learned of his existence when he played for the Astros.

Favorite Orioles player of all-time: Mike Mussina. Yeah, I know, he went on to be a dirty rotten Yankee, but Moose came into his own as an Oriole and was a pretty great pitcher.

Least favorite Orioles player of all-time: Cal Ripken. Two shortstops always stood out to me when I would have fits of Ozzie Jealousy. This was the phenomenon where I would suddenly get frustrated with anyone who might dare suggest that Ozzie Smith wasn't the greatest shortstop in the game at any given time, let alone the greatest player who ever lived. I think my dislike for Ripken came from overexposure. My dislike for Barry Larkin didn't last like the Ripken thing, so that has to be the reason.

The Baltimore Orioles check in at #13 in my reverse-ranking of favorite teams as of the moment I picked them on October 4th, 2010. Yes, that was more than a full calendar year ago! All of these cards are very much up for trade, so please contact me if you're interested.

Trade In The Ballpark

2011-11-27T15:53:00.001-08:00

I recently completed a trade with The Gooch of In The Ballpark, which consisted mostly of some 1993 Upper Deck (remember those?) cards as well as some other fun things. I already have the only card worth anything (Jeter), so I really don't know what my excuse is for not having this junk wax era set wrapped up by now.

I don't use this word often, but this is just a badass card.

Also included in the trade were some Allen & Ginter minis, which are always welcome around Cards on Cards Central. I have to say that the Monsters of the Mesozoic mini set is among my favorite insert sets ever. Dinosaurs!

Falcon! It's funny, because I remember thinking that animal themed cards were incredibly lame when I was growing up. I remember having some sort of set of wildlife safari cards and not being terribly thrilled by them.

A few Cardinals were thrown in the lot for fun. This is an insert from the 1999 Fleer Tradition set, honoring the two grand slams that Fernando Tatis hit in the same inning. The most surprising thing about that whole affair is that both slams were hit off the same pitcher - Chan Ho Park.

Good Luck Ducks, Week 13: Let the Civil Beatdown Begin

2011-11-26T05:00:00.000-08:00

The best way to turn the page and get past last week's stunning, heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the Trojans is to put a colossal beating on the next opponent. Fortunately, Oregon should not have much trouble working up some animosity towards its final opponent of the regular season: those pesky Oregon State Beavers.

The Beavers have had a miserable season, though they snapped a three-game losing streak with a convincing win over an overrated Washington Huskies crew. Their senior leader, James Rodgers, has virtually zero experience around him and it shows. They are a pass first offense this year (albeit with a freshman quarterback) that could give the weaker by the week Ducks secondary the fits.

On paper, the Ducks should have no trouble with the Beavers, although Chip Kelly has cautioned that Oregon is "as banged up a group as [he's] ever been around." I will be a bit disappointed if this is anything less than a cathartic beatdown. A win today, of course, will mean the Ducks will host the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game. Meanwhile, feel free to read up on me waxing nostalgic over past Civil War games in previous years.

Above footage from the 2008 Civil War, where Jeremiah Johnson made the Beavers look awfully silly.

Game time is 12:30 PST with national coverage on ABC/ESPN2.

Airbrushed Fridays: 2011 Topps #512

2011-11-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

Octavio Dotel Week continues here at Cards on Cards with his second obviously airbrushed card in the past year. This one isn't quite as bad as last year's Topps Update card, which had so many things going wrong with it that it probably deserves another post of its own.

Octavio Dotel is a right-handed reliever who was most recently with the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. He became a heavily relied upon piece of Tony La Russa's bullpen down the stretch and on into the playoffs where the Cardinals pulled off quite a stunning run.

Why did Topps airbrush Octavio's photo? Dotel, who has now been with 10 teams since 2005, was signed by the Blue Jays in the offseason. Dotel first made appearances with Toronto at the beginning of April, but apparently Topps took their sweet time in finding a current photo of him.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Dotel didn't wear #35 with the Jays (he wore #29) and the whole logo and number have that weird fake wrapping effect to them. Also, I think the single stripe look to his black sleeves is more of a Rockies thing than a Blue Jays thing.

If you are interested in obtaining a card featured here, please send me an e-mail. If you have a card you would like to nominate for Airbrushed Fridays, please get in touch as well. I will require that I am able to see the card in person, either on loan or as a donation, so that I can examine the card and experience it in all its cruddiness. Also, if you are reading this in the middle of the night because you're participating in some Black Friday shenanigans, you may want to seriously reconsider your priorities.

I Traded Anything

2011-11-22T21:53:00.000-08:00

Trade Me Anything is an annual October tradition over at Thorzul Will Rule. Thorzul buys a bunch of the new Topps Update and trades off the unwanted extras to others who feel like being adventurous. You can see what I sent here. (Hint: I try to keep things at least somewhat "anything".)

Allen Craig's card is a bit on the strange side, especially in that he's not actually playing the outfield. With Tony La Russa's retirement (that seems so weird to type, much less say), we've probably seen the last of the Craig At 2nd Experiment. It was fun while it lasted! I'm not so sure that he enjoyed it, however.

The kids affectionately call these abominations "liquorfractors". I will stick to my assessment that they look like pure vomit. And yet, I find myself compelled to collect them if Cardinals are involved.

We just learned today that with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement rules in place, the Cardinals will receive a supplemental draft pick as compensation for Octavio Dotel's departure even if they don't offer him arbitration. I wouldn't mind seeing him come back, however. He was certainly the one who came to embrace the high socks look the most.

Good Luck Ducks, Week 12: Danger!

2011-11-19T13:33:00.000-08:00

Ah, USC, we meet again. Sadly, one of the negative aspects of the new conference alignment is that Oregon will only host the Trojans every 4 years, as they alternate seasons between playing UCLA and USC. The Trojans can really go for broke in tonight's game as they really have nothing to lose. They are still on probation, which means no postseason play, no Pac-12 South title... it's just this game and the UCLA game left for Lane Kiffin and his annoying marching band.

USC has a lot of offensive weapons, and now that Oregon has conquered Stanford all the focus seems to be headed towards Matt Barkley. I don't really get that, personally. Didn't Stanford and USC play to a virtual dead heat this season? Isn't Andrew Luck still the proverbial Man? Unfortunately, despite any accolades you feel like throwing towards the Trojans, a win over USC tonight will not mean as much in the polls and to the computers as the win over Stanford.

Still, this is the best opponent Oregon will face until their bowl game. I am confident that Oregon will not be looking past this game. USC is very dangerous, and it could easily be a much closer game than last week's. Oregon must again play mistake free football and keep the offense moving in order to keep pace with the dangerous Trojans team. Autzen Stadium will be loud tonight.

Above footage from the 2010 Oregon/USC game in LA.

Game time is 5:00 PST with regional coverage on ABC. Go Ducks!

Airbrushed Fridays: 1978 Topps #539

2011-11-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

I can barely contain my rage at the way Bud Selig is intent on ruining MLB. The moving of the Astros nonsense is bad enough, but I can't believe the 1-game playoff idea is going forward, perhaps as soon as next season. Interleague play every day? Is there any major professional sport worth watching anymore?

Vic Davalillo was an All-Star outfielder turned utility player and defensive specialist who spent 15 seasons in the majors, logging 5 postseason appearances with 3 teams. He became such a prolific pinch-hitter in later seasons that he actually set a National League record with 24 pinch hits in 1970 with St. Louis.

Why did Topps airbrush Vic's photo? Vic spent three years in the Mexican League leading up to his return to the majors with the Dodgers late in the 1977 season, as he was acquired for their stretch run to the playoffs. This likely dates the photo used on this card back to 1974 or before.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Well, it looks like Davalillo's shirt was used as an experimental painting canvas. The LA logo on his cap isn't the worst I've seen, but there's a really goofy electric blue halo on his head.

Getting Current

2011-11-16T22:28:00.000-08:00

I'm about as close to being caught up with trades (and trade posts) as I have been in months, and that's exciting news to me. It also means that I just might be ready to take on some more trades, although I'm going to have to choose wisely and carefully the ones I accept. I haven't purchased many cards lately, so it's becoming more difficult to find things that other people might want. (I wish that meant that I'm clearing up storage space and reducing my cardboard inventory, but it's not really the case.) I did pick up an Allen & Ginter blaster tonight and knocked off quite a few things off my want list, so that's a good thing. It's updated now if you're interested.

This post is about the package I got from the once and former (and now current) Potch Wheeler and The Cardboard Heroes. Allen & Ginter was once again on the menu, and this package was certainly full of heroes (and not too many zeroes.)

Rafael Furcal apparently is looking for a multi-year deal, which certainly is within his right. However, with the money he's asking and the fragility he's dealt with in recent years, it seems decreasingly likely that he'll remain a Cardinal. It's too bad, because he had the greatest impact on the team's overall turnaround that eventually led to their stunning playoff run. The Cards have some infield depth and, if John Mozeliak is to be believed, are set to pencil in Tyler Greene on many lineup cards next year. That could be interesting.

The pride of Madras, Oregon... which is kind of in the middle of nowhere. As most of you know, I am an Oregonian, which I guess is the only thing that keeps me from despising Jacoby Ellsbury like I do the rest of the Boston roster. He's far from a player I really like, though, but I guess it's kind of cool to see your home state on a card.

Somehow I let on that I like the Cardinals, so a few St. Louis cards found their way into the package. Donruss had a few oddball releases in the '80s that I am not familiar with, so I usually enjoy receiving these kinds of cards in trades.

Birthday Box: Packs 17-24

2011-11-15T22:03:00.000-08:00

And here we have the frighteningly uneventful conclusion of the 2009 Heritage High Series box. With pictures!

Pack 17:

552 - Daniel Schlereth (Son of Stink)

603 - Jody Gerut

643 - Mike Carp (Mike Carp debuted in the majors in 2009 and then disappeared for awhile, only to reemerge this past season as one of the few reliable offensive options in the Mariners lineup.)

UH158 - Wilson Valdez

UH38 - Justin Upton All-Stars

505 - Adam Everett

564 - Emilio Bonifacio

588 - Jake Fox

Pack 18:

507 - John Smoltz (It's already weird to see Smoltz in a Cards uni. Did that really happen?)

547 - Craig Stammen

587 - J.P. Howell (Howell has some temper on him.)

UH175 - Jody Gerut

UH174 - Omar Vizquel

719 - Ricky Romero

627 - Kyle Farnsworth

650 - Jim Thome (Thome fits the Everyone Eventually Plays For The Dodgers theory, even if he only got a few lousy at-bats.)

Pack 19:

520 - Bobby Scales

679 - Scott Downs

UH166 - Mike Redmond

UH17 - Derek Jeter / David Wright Classic Combos Checklist

TN-1 - Roger Maris / Dustin Pedroia Then and Now

658 - Pat Burrell

630 - LaTroy Hawkins

Pack 20:

644 - Mike Hampton

672 - Aubrey Huff

529 - Brett Cecil

UH103 - Evan Longoria All-Stars

UH9 - Jonathan Broxton (Can broken closers ever be fixed?)

CHR131 - Brandon Wood Chrome 0501/1960

580 - Graham Taylor

541 - Clayton Mortensen (Former Cardinal who departed in the Matt Holliday trade.)

Pack 21:

622 - Kevin Gregg

664 - Randy Wells

683 - Bill Hall

UH161 - Andrew Bailey All-Stars

UH111 - Livan Hernandez

CHR165 - Matt LaPorta Chrome 0505/1960 (If any of these Chrome cards catch your eye, just let me know. I only collect them if they're Cardinals.)

511 - Andrew Bailey

591 - Felipe Lopez

Pack 22:

628 - Landon Powell

581 - Gregg Zaun

542 - Clayton Richard

UH206 - Chris Burke

UH294 - Josh Anderson

711 - Trevor Cahill (Here's another SP. Do I have it? I'll have to consult the want list.)

615 - Juan Rivera

585 - J.A. Happ

Pack 23:

503 - Aaron Poreda

666 - Rich Hill

655 - Omir Santos

UH185 - Kevin Correia

UH156 - Heath Bell All-Stars

FB-06 - Albert Pujols Flashback (I definitely needed this one!)

673 - Yuniesky Betancourt

661 - Freddy Sanchez

Pack 24:

506 - Adam Kennedy

565 - Endy Chavez

589 - Jamey Carroll (Ahh! Demon!)

UH148 - Jason Bay All-Stars

UH78 - LaTroy Hawkins

CHR158 - Jeff Francoeur Chrome 0474/1960 (Like I said... lots of Chrome.)

554 - David Eckstein

524 - Brad Penny (A couple of ex-Cards round out the box.)

Heritage Overload

2011-11-14T21:01:00.001-08:00

The only thing I regret about coming around to the idea of collecting baseball cards again was that I did it so late in the game, and only because I missed out on some not very affordable sets that I still covet. Precisely, any Topps Heritage prior to 2007, the first two Allen & Ginter (retro) sets and the 2005-06 Turkey Red set will always be just out of reach to me. I rarely see anything from any of those sets in unopened form, and when I do it's usually too cost prohibitive for me to even entertain the idea. Fortunately, Robert from $30 a Week Habit backed a truckload of 2003 and 2004 Heritage cards up to my front door and unloaded a bunch of them on me. Here's just a few images highlighting a mammoth sized package.

Shin-Soo Choo is another case study in my ongoing You Can Make An All-Star Team Out Of Ex-Mariners project.

This is kind of a goofy card. Did anyone know that there was a Jake Mauer? Are his parents proud of him, or do they just say that they are?

When this card came out, Jamie Moyer was already 40.

As Big Papi prepares to possibly move on from Boston, it might seem strange that the former David Arias actually spent 6 seasons in another uniform other than a Red Sox one.

Jimmy! The only bittersweet thing about the Cards winning the World Series this year was that Edmonds almost was part of it all. Of course, who can say what a different player would add to the mix of a championship team that only made the postseason by a hair and was down to their last strike in the World Series multiple times.

They named a street in Seattle after this man. Put him in the Hall! I may not have much respect for the designated hitter "position", but he was the best there was at what he did.

This is a pretty cool "old logo" variation. Unfortunately, there were a lot of variations in the earlier Heritage sets.

Hey, it's the new White Sox manager. Is there some rule that states that every player that plays for more than a couple of franchises must be a Dodger at some point?

Sadly, one can only drool at the idea of a Wainwright/Carpenter/Haren/Garcia rotation, with insert-your-favorite-young-prospect taking the 5th turn.

Thanks again to Robert for the huge haul! If anyone out there knows about any deals on any pre-2007 Heritage cards, please let me know.

Birthday Box: Packs 9-16 (The Hit)

2011-11-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

This post is about the second group of packs from the 2009 Heritage High Series box I first posted about last week. This is the "middle row", if you will. As suggested by the title, the hit came in this section.

Pack 9:

626 - Tim Redding

651 - Nick Green

501 - Shane Robinson (Robinson has received a few call-ups in his Cardinals career, but has largely been invisible.)

UH70 - Wilkin Ramirez

UH227 - Edwin Jackson All-Stars

RP-09 - Chris Coghlan Rookie Performers (It seems like Coghlan is one of those one-year wonders.)

642 - Micah Owings

684 - Sean O'Sullivan

Pack 10:

550 - Daniel Bard

582 - Homer Bailey

UH7 - Brayan Pena (I wonder how you say his name... Bray-N?)

UH54 - Gerardo Parra Season Highlights

695 - Elvis Andrus (So many Rangers in this set.)

CHR128 - Vin Mazzaro Chrome Refractor 468/560 (Shiny.)

577 - Adam LaRoche

611 - Victor Martinez

Pack 11:

614 - Josh Outman (Great name for a pitcher. It's a good thing he didn't decide to play first base or something.)

641 - Micah Hoffpauir

657 - Vin Mazzaro

UH249 - Brian McCann All-Stars

UH270 - David Ortiz / Alex Rodriguez Classic Combos Checklist

CHR136 - Ryan Garko Chrome 0829/1960

675 - Ryan Garko (Ugh, again?)

654 - Omar Vizquel

Pack 12:

671 - Ross Gload

659 - Rafael Soriano

616 - Juan Uribe

UH41 - Xavier Paul

UH240 - Jason Marquis All-Stars

688 - Andrew McCutchen (Anyone need this short print?)

612 - Jose Contreras

595 - Jason Kubel

Pack 13:

586 - J.J. Putz

555 - David Freese (I hear this newly minted media darling is going to make an appearance on some new ABC sitcom at some point. Sounds hilariously awful!)

525 - Braden Looper (Looper is a reminder of the dark years between the recent Cardinals World Series wins.)

UH56 - Wes Helms

UH126 - Matt Tolbert

TN-6 - Roger Maris / Grady Sizemore Then and Now (One held the single season home run record for decades while the other is a free agent just looking for a second chance.)

560 - Derek Holland (Pre 'stache days... teenstache, that is.)

531 - Brett Hayes (Who is?)

Pack 14:

640 - Melky Cabrera

685 - Sean West

537 - Chris Gimenez

UH2 - Felipe Lopez

UH50 - Gary Sheffield

CHR185 - Jerry Hairston Jr. Chrome 1314/1960

513 - Andruw Jones

519 - Bud Norris (The bane of the Cardinals existence.)

Pack 15:

556 - David Hernandez

590 - Jarrett Hoffpauir

UH233 - Ramon Santiago

UH266 - Jonathan Broxton All-Stars

CCDR-PM - Jorge Posada / Mickey Mantle Clubhouse Collection Dual Jersey 32/60 (Did you forget that I mentioned "hit"? Wow, how did this happen? I was expecting something more along the lines of a plain white Adam Dunn jersey card, or at best a piece of plastic shaved from a chair at Olympic Stadium in Montreal. I suppose there are better Yankees that could have appeared with Mantle, but this is still great. I have no idea what's up with the ultra fuzzy Posada swatch, though.)

583 - Garrett Jones

575 - Scott Rolen

Pack 16:

617 - Julio Borbon

638 - Matt Maloney

636 - Orlando Cabrera

UH127 - Shane Robinson

UH271 - Frank Catalanotto

693 - Chris Coghlan (Another short print here.)

636 - Ben Francisco

605 - Alex Gonzalez

I'll be back later this week with the anticlimactic conclusion.

Your New Cardinals Manager

2011-11-13T17:37:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Mike Matheny, who was an excellent Gold Glove catcher and a favorite of mine in his playing days. He will be named the Cardinals manager tomorrow.

It will be interesting to see how this affects the Albert Pujols negotiations, if at all. I think there was probably some truth to the idea that promoting Jose Oquendo to head skipper would have increased Albert's chances of returning, but I can't disagree with this move. His lack of experience may be worrying to some, but considering the recent successes of this team, if this all goes south I won't be too upset. In any case, I am glad that the Cards will be managed by someone with strong ties to the team.

Good Luck Ducks, Week 11: That Tree

2011-11-12T12:06:00.000-08:00

Some have suggested that this week's matchup between the #7 Oregon Ducks and the #4 Stanford Cardinal is the biggest conference game in Oregon's history. I'm not going to say it's not, but here are some other games that come to mind that had enormous significance: the 1994 Civil War (though as it turned out, Oregon would have gone to the Rose Bowl even if they lost), the 1998 Civil War, the 2000 Civil War, the 2009 Civil War... hmm, see a pattern here? I think I will just agree that this is one of Oregon's biggest conference games not involving Oregon State and leave it at that.

The details are well known, but Oregon has lost just one conference game since Chip Kelly took over as head coach, so there should be no reason to expect a Ducks loss here or at any other time. Unfortunately, that one loss was to today's opponent in the same venue. I never go into a game anymore fully expecting an Oregon loss, and I don't today. If I was a betting guy, though, I would begrudgingly put my money on Stanford.

That said, beyond just aggregate success, there are other reasons to be optimistic about the Ducks today. Stanford has piled up some significant injuries, while the Ducks are relatively healthy at their skill positions. Oregon knows Stanford and their gameplan well in the Andrew Luck era, and I don't think anything the Cardinal does will be a surprise. And USC certainly exposed Stanford's defense. If Oregon can consistently score touchdowns on their drives, there isn't another team in the country that can stop them. As usual, Oregon's worst opponent tends to be themselves. To win, they need to avoid the mistakes that plagued them in the LSU game and just run the offense with a zero tolerance for missteps.

Above footage from the 2010 Stanford/Oregon game, where the Ducks stormed back from a large early deficit to blow out the Cardinal.

Game time is 5:00 PST with national coverage on ABC. I can't wait!

Airbrushed Fridays: 2008 Topps #390

2011-11-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

Today's airbrushed wonder was nominated by reader James (thanks, James!)

Troy Glaus was already well covered on this blog in a previous Airbrushed Fridays post, so much of the same applies here as well. Sorry, this is what happens when you have exactly seven spare minutes in three days to post on your blog. Glaus spent 2010 with the Braves but has not played since, though he has not officially retired. I could see him getting a non-roster invite to spring training, health permitting.

Why did Topps airbrush Troy's photo? Even though Glaus was an everyday cornerstone of the 2008 Cardinals offense, Topps did not get a real photo of him in their series 2 product for reasons unknown. He was traded by the Blue Jays to St. Louis, straight up, for Scott Rolen in the offseason.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Other than the fact that it just looks ridiculous, but the Cardinals do not wear red jerseys during baseball games... not even in spring training.

Trolling for Sports Cards

2011-11-08T21:57:00.000-08:00

Everyone's favorite Troll, a frequent trading partner over the course of this blog's existence, was kind enough to supply me with some more wares to get me through a long winter. Most of the cards were from set-building want lists, but there were some really nice Cardinals nuggets in the pile as well that I will get to shortly.

I'm down to missing just 4 (!) of the cards from the 2008 Allen & Ginter main set. This is the closest I've come to completing any of the big and somewhat (for me) expensive sets that I set out to do as a side project of this blog. Of course, my main focus has always been to turn my unwanted non-Cardinals (and Cardinals dupes) into useful cards, but some of these sets proved to just be a little too tempting.

Yes, I'm still collecting these. I would really like to work on the 2005 and 2006 Turkey Red sets, but they are still pretty cost-prohibitive from what I hear. In the meantime, I still need some more of the Turkey Red inserts from the 2009 and 2010 products.

I'M A BIG MAN AND I NEED A BIIIIIIIIG SANDWICH! And monies. Lots and lots of sweet, sweet monies.

New managerial candidate Terry Francona may not have the connections to the Cardinals organization that some of the other interviewees have, but his father did spend a couple of seasons in the Birds on the Bat.

First Jon Jay relic! Awesome. Jon Jay may not be the "star outfielder" that the back of this card proclaims, but he's a pretty capable center fielder and may yet have room to grow. He led the team in games played and style points.

But the Jon Jay card can't top this... a Bob Gibson / Jake Peavy dual relic. Of course, I wish this had Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright as the 2000s representative, but I'm in no position to be choosy.

Thanks again to the Troll!

Birthday Box: Packs 1-8

2011-11-07T22:24:00.000-08:00

Here's the first third of the 2009 Topps Heritage High Numbers box that I got for my birthday. I should have plenty of dupes when I get these all sorted out, so check back periodically if you're interested in anything here.

Pack 1:

680 - Scott Hairston

676 - Ryan Perry

652 - Tyler Greene (Tyler Greene barely played for the Cardinals this season, yet ended up leading the team in steals. It'll be interesting to see if the team's philosophy towards baserunning changes with a new manager in tow.)

UH315 - Jerry Hairston Jr. (I probably won't spend a lot of time talking about the Updates cards that unfortunately littered this product. I do wish that Topps would just dispense with the pretenses and just call it what it is - Series 3.)

UH319 - Ramon Castro

CHR190 - Nyjer Morgan Chrome 1900/1960 (Ha. It figures I would get this clown in my first pack as my first insert.)

571 - Francisco Cervelli

544 - Coco Crisp

Pack 2:

613 - Josh Bard

596 - Jason Marquis (Marquis' run as being a member of a playoff team in every season came to an end last year when he spent the entire year with the Nats, but he started a new streak this year when Arizona traded for him just before the trading deadline.)

561 - Derek Lowe

UH173 - David Robertson

UH123 - Ryan Braun All-Stars

FB-05 - Carl Crawford Flashback (The once and former Mr. Devil Ray)

516 - Bartolo Colon

528 - Aaron Bates

Pack 3:

510 - Alfredo Figaro

543 - Cliff Floyd

570 - Fernando Nieve

UH235 - Joe Nathan All-Stars

UH189 - Rangers Classic Combos (Uhh... nice.)

CHR105 - Jason Marquis Chrome 1588/1960

598 - Jeff Baker

574 - Gabe Kapler

Pack 4:

532 - @str8edgeracer

514 - Anthony Swarzak

UH44 - Seth Smith

UH97 - Juan Castro

700 - Huston Street (Here's a short print, but it's a dupe.)

CHR114 - Eric Byrnes Chrome Refractor 101/560 (I think I've pulled at least two regular Chrome versions of this card. Great?)

618 - Jarrod Washburn

634 - Mark Loretta

Pack 5:

610 - Jordan Schafer

633 - Tony Gwynn (Jr.)

653 - Nyjer Morgan

UH241 - Dewayne Wise

UH292 - Yuniesky Betancourt

RP-04 - Rick Porcello Rookie Performers

548 - Cristian Guzman

521 - Nick Evans

Pack 6:

515 - Antonio Bastardo

559 - Delwyn Young (Not to be confused with Delmon.)

573 - Fu-Te Ni

UH32 - Kris Medlen

UH22 - Brett Gardner

708 - Mark DeRosa (Ugh, I think this makes four times that I've gotten ahold of one of these short prints... and yet, no Matt Holliday for me. Life is unfair.)

557 - David Huff

545 - Neftali Feliz

Pack 7:

533 - Carl Pavano

635 - Matt Diaz (Local guy.)

606 - Joel Hanrahan (The pride of Norwalk, Iowa.)

UH114 - Chris Coghlan

UH108 - Chris Tillman

714 - Nelson Cruz (Again, I think this is a double. Bad luck on the SPs all around.)

623 - Kevin Millar

563 - Pedro Martinez (It's really easy to forget that Pedro Martinez pitched in 2009.)

Pack 8:

572 - Frank Catalanotto

546 - Craig Counsell

518 - Blake Hawksworth

UH321 - Hunter Pence All-Stars

UH139 - Brian Moehler

CHR113 - David Aardsma Chrome 1269/1960 (Aardsma is done as a Mariner, but I guess that's not that surprising.)

619 - Justin Masterson

538 - Chris Jakubauskas

Next up: a hit, perhaps?

Good Luck Ducks, Week 10: Dirty, Rotten Huskies

2011-11-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

Oregon puts their 17-game conference winning streak on the line tonight when they face their hated rival Washington Huskies up north in Seattle. With a highly anticipated match up against Andrew Luck and the Cardinal next week, it would be easy to overlook this game and consider it a trap game. I don't see that happening here, however, because Washington appears to be a team on the rise.

The Huskies haven't beaten the Ducks since 2003 and have lost the games since by an average of more than 26 points, so it's easy to see why this rivalry has cooled in recent years. Oregon's defense will have their hands full tonight with Keith Price and the talented Chris Polk on the purple side of things. I can see why fans of these schools would root for a close, competitive game, but for some crazy reason I feel much better when the Ducks are blowing people out.

(Check out the sweet helmet stickers!) Even though this is a road game against a tough opponent, I still think Oregon walks away with a comfortable victory tonight. Barring any of the QB-swapping hijinks that we saw last week in the WSU game, I just don't think the Huskies can stop Oregon's offense. The Ducks have probably already played their worst game of the season (WSU) and should be fired up for a big win.

Above footage from the 1994 UW/UO game, where The Pick happened. Remember, it couldn't have happened at all without playmakers like Alex Molden.

Game time is 7:30 PDT with national coverage on FSN and Root Sports.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1972 Topps #521

2011-11-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Kyle4KC over at young blog Juust a Bit Outside has a group break going on, and it runs the gamut from the inaugural releases of Donruss and Stadium Club baseball to some brand new 2011 shtuff. Go check it.

Alan Foster was a right-handed starting pitcher who bounced around 5 organizations in 10 big league seasons. He put up decent numbers over his career, but usually could not find the winning side of the ledger. He's also known for giving up the longest home run in Dodger Stadium history, off the bat of one Willie Stargell.

Why did Topps airbrush Alan's photo? After his time with the Dodgers was up, Foster spent a year with Cleveland before returning to the greater LA area as a member of the Angels immediately following the 1971 season as part of a trade that also involved Vada Pinson.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Unfortunately, there were no teams with misshapen electric sky blue caps back in the day, so this one is certainly the result of a bit of trickery. Do the Angels ever wear the lowercase 'a' with a halo logo anymore? That would make a decent retro cap.

Birthday Box: The Box Toppers

2011-11-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

My lone baseball card related birthday gift this Halloween ended up being a hobby box of 2009 Heritage High Series thanks to my friend Kevin. Seeing as how I rarely open hobby boxes, and never have gotten around to getting a Heritage one, this was a special treat. And speaking of special treats, here's a look at the box toppers that came with said box.

Does anyone else feel like these buyback cards would be a lot cooler without the permanent gold stamp? That being said, this is a pretty nice card, imperfections and all. I really like the look of the team cards from this set, much more so than team cards from other sets that Heritage has featured of late. But, seriously, the gold stamp? It would be nicer if they just encased it in specially marked plastic or something, so that people could "free the vintage" if they chose to.

An old-school unmarked checklist! Nice. Has anyone pulled a marked up checklist in their buyback experiences?

I was really looking forward to the ad panel since I somehow did not own any of my own.

And then I pulled this. Jamey Carroll is in the center of this, somehow making things even worse than they could be.

I have never really seen these cut up, not that I'd really approve of this sort of thing. Anyway, this is up for trade, but I'd prefer to either get one with a Cardinal on it or maybe just any old one from 2008. I don't see a lot of demand for Tim Redding stuff these days, however, so this will probably go in the archives somewhere.

Gold Gloves, Pujols and Beavers

2011-11-02T23:26:00.000-07:00

I know that this news is more than 24 hours old, but I wanted to give my congratulations to Yadier Molina for capturing his fourth Gold Glove award as the top NL catcher in 2011. Yadi had a few down moments this year, but with the way they choose to award these things nowadays, I would have been pretty disappointed if he hadn't won considering that he had one of the best offense years of any of his competition this year. I realize that the Gold Glove is purely a defensive award, but it seems like in the current climate, it actually takes a standout season at the plate to have a chance. It makes no sense, but if someone is going to tell me there's a better catcher out there than Yadi, I'm going to probably laugh.

Reader David from IL was kind enough to send me some goodies in a package recently, and hopefully is kind enough to continue to be patient while he waits on me sending my end of the deal. I really should not agree to trades when things are this busy in my life, but I've had an unexpected run of chaos that started at the beginning of September and is only now beginning to show signs up letting up.

Along with some Cardinals merch and a cool Pujols (sign him already!) die-cut insert, I also got something I don't see every day: old Portland Beavers minor league cards. I received several cards from the 1980 TCMA team set. Not only is it a fun design, but it also gives me a great chance to look at some of the old Beavers gear that I'm almost too young to remember. This Gene Pentz card shows off a close-up of his face and their white cap.

Here's a white home uniform with a dark cap, sported by Rick Rhoden who would go on to quite a bit of success with the Pirates. His stats suggest he was injured and probably had to play his way back to the majors as a member of Pittsburgh's AAA affiliate at the time.

Here's a red uni and another black cap.

Finally, what's up with the stars on Odell Jones' cap? Does anyone know? I want to know.

Portland really needs AAA baseball again. Stupid disinterested jerks.

Free (Empty) Boxes

2011-11-01T21:49:00.001-07:00

I'm in a bit of a housekeeping/house-cleaning mode right now, both in terms of this blog and my actual living situation. I have a ton of empty baseball card-related boxes (mostly blasters and a few hobby boxes) that I've been hoarding for no good reason. I'm not looking for anything in return. I'm simply just looking to see if anyone is interested in saving any of this stuff from being recycled in a few days.

Let me know if you're interested or have any specific needs. I think I'm probably keeping one of each for the few sets I actually care about and will discard the rest.

Check APTBNL in a bit for a post about actual baseball cards.

Good Luck Ducks, Week 9: Beware the Lobster

2011-10-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

News flash! The Ducks are good. Washington State is not very good. They seemed to be making progress last season after several truly horrible years, but injury bugs and other calamities have once again derailed their season. At this point, Oregon has seen more of their backup QB Marshall "The Lobster" Lobbestael than anyone who has been in front of him on the depth chart.

The Ducks have had their own injury issues to deal with, but they are getting healthier as their schedule has hit its breezy portion. That being said, there's no reason to take any game for granted, and last year's Cougars game was especially brutal to watch - at least physically. Let's hope that no more serious injuries are incurred, and that no Ducks players drive to or from the game illegally.

Above footage from the 2001 WSU/Oregon game, where Onterrio Smith rushed for a school record 285 yards (recently broken by LaMichael James.)

Game time is 12:00 local time at Autzen with regional coverage on FSN and Root Sports.

The Zombies Have Overtaken the Perimeter!

2011-10-28T21:33:00.001-07:00

There is no escape! AHHHHH!

I can't believe this season. I can't believe this team.

Much respect goes out to the Rangers, who have a hell of a team. I swear that Nelson Cruz and Mike Napoli batted in every single inning of this series, somehow. At least, it seemed that way.

This championship will make the long offseason that much sweeter.

(Thanks to VEB for the picture.)

Airbrushed Fridays: 2008 Topps #592

2011-10-28T01:00:00.000-07:00

Game 6! Zombies! I don't even know what to say. Monkeys! Bananas! Monkey bananas!

Matt Morris was a right-handed starting pitcher who was, at a couple of different points in his career, the ace of the St. Louis Cardinals staff. After a hot start to his major league career, he suffered an eerily similar fate as current Cards ace Adam Wainwright as he was injured during spring training in 1999 and needed Tommy John surgery.

Why did Topps airbrush Matt's photo? Morris started his steep decline in the second half of the 2005 season with the Cardinals, but he was still able to parlay his past success into a three year deal with the Giants. San Francisco gave up on him during the 2007 season right before the trade deadline, and was shipped to Pittsburgh as part of a perplexing reverse-"seller" trade that saw Rajai Davis become a Giant. Sadly, one of my favorite pitchers was done as a player by April the next season.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? That 'BURGH' and '35' on his jersey just... doesn't quite seem like it's on straight. Just sayin'.

Tonight's Post Has Been Postponed By Rain

2011-10-27T00:33:00.000-07:00

I guess it doesn't matter that it stayed fairly dry for quite awhile tonight in St. Louis or that, when it did rain, it resembled more of a drizzle than a full on flood.

Don't mind me - my irritation is only exacerbated by the fact that my internet was down for several hours tonight. I planned on posting this a full four hours ago.

And now there could be the temptation of bringing Chris Carpenter in to start Game 7 on three days rest, despite the fact that a starter on 3 days rest pretty much never works out. They've already tried it once. Don't get me wrong, though. Carp is basically my favorite active player in all of baseball and I would love to see some unprecedented heroics from him. I just think it's a terrible idea.

Let's just hope that there is a Game 7.

The Zombie Narrative

2011-10-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

It wouldn't be fitting if it didn't come down to elimination games for the Zombie Cardinals. Their thirst for brains has been stymied by equal parts mismanagement and shotgun blasts to the head by the likes of Adrian Beltre and Mike "Second Cleanup Hitter" Napoli. The series stands at 3-2 with a fantastic finish set for the next two nights. Let's hope that is actually two nights, of course.

I think that, pre-blog days, I was blissfully unaware of most Cardinals hatred. Yes, I realize that only the Yankees have won more titles than St. Louis. However, it seems like there's some festering perception that the Cards always win. Does 2 championship rings in the past 43 years sound like "always win" to you? Yes, they have a rich tradition, but I still get a bit excited when I run into a Cardinals fan out here on the west coast. I vividly remember being one of three people in a crowded bar during Game 1 of the 2004 World Series that wasn't rooting for the Red Sox, the others being the friend that I came with and a stray bartender. I remember sitting at a table full of Tigers fans the night that the Cards clinched their first title in my rooting lifetime (since I was a clueless American League fan for my first few years of existence, I didn't revel in the 1982 series as much as I wish that I did.)

I do feel like an underdog as a Cards fan. (Hell, no one around here even seems to like baseball anymore.) And yes, even though St. Louis still holds the home field advantage, they have fallen into that underdog role once again this year. They have been left for dead, many times over. Let's hope they're still some brainthirsty monsters ready for one last feast or two. (Please, let it be two.)

Big thanks to Cardboard Heaven for the cards in this post. Cards are heading back in your direction soon. I'm in a bit of a trading rut at the moment.

Good Luck Ducks, Week 8: Second Half Starts Today

2011-10-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Having survived an injury to the best running back in college football as well as an injury to the starting quarterback, the Ducks get a reprieve this week when they head to the road to take on a struggling Colorado Buffaloes team in the first Pac-12 meeting between the two schools. Oregon may or may not be without Darren Thomas and almost certainly will not have LaMichael James, but this isn't shaping up to be a game to be concerned about. Oregon's backup tailbacks were far too much to handle for a usually impressive Sun Devils squad, while Colorado is also banged up and searching for answers with only 1 win on the season.

Oregon hasn't played Colorado since the 2002 Fiesta Bowl. Oregon failed to reach the national title game that season despite their #2 ranking in the polls. Nebraska, who was completely destroyed by the 2-loss Buffaloes late in the season, ended up as the #2 BCS team while the Ducks were relegated to a lower bowl where they beat Colorado in a cake walk. Some bitter feelings linger in the Ducks fanbase because of previous appearances against a Rick Neuheisel-led team. This is long in the past, however.

It's easy to worry about every game during a football season, and the prospects of having a redshirt freshman in his first start at the helm don't make things any easier. However, this really shouldn't be a close game and should even help to give the young players even more experience. Darron Thomas may play after all depending on who you listen to, but let's hope that there's no urgent need to go with any of the starters for too long.

Above footage from the 2002 Fiesta Bowl. Check out Maurice Morris's rollover play, one of the best I've ever seen in Ducks history!

Game time is 1:30 local time (12:30 PDT) in Boulder, CO with coverage on FSN and Root Sports in most markets.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1972 Topps #645 & 1974 Topps Traded #648T

2011-10-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

Airbrushed Fridays was dark last week for reasons I can't really even explain. To make it up to you all, here's two times the airbrushed fun: a card representing each team in the World Series. Enjoy!

Jim Maloney was a hard throwing right handed pitcher who starred in the '60s with the Reds. He threw two no-hitters, won 20+ games twice and made the 1965 All-Star team.

Why did Topps airbrush Jim's photo? Here's something else about Jim Maloney: he never really played with the Cardinals. Arm injuries shortened his career, and after a rough stint with the California Angels, the Cardinals signed him as a free agent in the offseason with an eye on 1972. Unfortunately, things didn't work out with the Cards and he was released in early April without so much as a single Major League appearance. The Giants were next to take a run at him, but he wasn't able to return to health and retired in June, making his last appearance in the majors as an Angel.

(Feel free, of course, to ignore the fact that I used a Topps Archives version of this card because I don't own the original.)

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Well, it's a sure sign of airbrushing when the card is capturing that "bill pointed to the sky" look.

Terry Crowley was a lefty first baseman and corner outfielder who spent the better part of his 15 year career as a bench player and occasional platoon guy. Crowley spent the bulk of his career with the Orioles, spread out over two lengthy stints. He's currently a coach in the O's organization.

Why did Topps airbrush Terry's photo? Much like Jim Maloney before him, Crowley never played for Texas. The Rangers purchased his contract in December 1973 for what I can only assume was an extra large bag of salted in-shell peanuts, and he in turn was "purchased" again a few months later by the Reds before the next season even started.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? What's even more suspicious than a bill pointed to the sky? No cap at all! I suppose Topps figured there was no reason at all to mess with the Orioles colors on his neckline.

You Can Thank the Dodgers

2011-10-18T22:50:00.000-07:00

The Cardinals sunk to a new low this season when they were swept by the Dodgers in late August. In the midst of the sweep, I made an uncharacteristically negative post about the team that was actually rather tame compared to how I really felt inside. There was no life in the team. They had given up on the season and it showed. La Russa needed to go. The Rasmus trade was terrible. Furcal had arrived several months too late. A season that kicked off with such promise, featuring an offensive juggernaut that would rival the 2004-2005 years, had basically circled the drain by the time the final out was recorded against Los Angeles at Busch of all places. The team had a heart-to-heart after the game - clearly, something stirring must have been said - and the rest of the story is well-documented now that they are officially under the World Series microscope. It's meant as no slight to the Dodgers, who have two of the league's greatest talents in Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw, but the Cards had no business being swept at home by a team that for the most part spun its wheels all season long. What a strange season.

Now that you've suffered through that paragraph, here are some cards to look at. These all came out of one of those Boxes Formerly Known As Cereal Boxes that Topps put out this year.

With a postseason run that's involved squirrels, pet turtles and a childlike "happy flight" chant, I think Brendan Ryan would have fit in with this bunch wonderfully. It's too bad that he was one of the first casualties of last season's underachieving squad.

I guess I see what Topps is doing with this card. Just do yourself a favor and don't look at the stats comparison on the back, unless you like humor or something.

Topps has gone from inserting cheesy refractors in this product to still cheesy but not shiny exclusive inserts to just straight up colored parallels.

At least you get two?

I'll have you know that I redeemed a 1990 Dennis Eckersley card with this code. Also, no one wants to trade anything I'm interested in for my die-cut Yovani Gallardo, but that's another story.

Goldie Big Papi. You like?

Bedazzled Yankee... a fitting match, I guess.

I will have a Kimball Champions trade post coming up soon. I am officially not collecting them.

Here's a very nauseating Mets parallel.

Part of me was really hoping the Tigers would make it to the World Series this year, just because it worked out so well last time.

I guess it's too easy to thank the Dodgers for the Cardinals success this season, when there are so many other things that happened in the last month that could have easily gone against St. Louis. One of the more obvious things was the Braves collapse, which the formerly unhittable Craig Kimbrel had a heavy role in.

Ahh, I'm going to make some Tigers fan very happy considering all of the Tigers stuff I've pulled lately.

If you're looking for some Topps Update stuff, just drop me a line and let me know. I'm not keeping any of it unless it involves the Birds on the Bat and/or Ozzie Smith.

Ranger Danger!

2011-10-17T22:25:00.000-07:00

The strange saga of the 2011 Cardinals continues this week as the Zombie Redbirds face their biggest threat in the high octane Texas Rangers. Despite having now won back to back AL Pennants, the Rangers largely remain an unknown quantity. The two teams have faced each other exactly three times in history, all during a series in the 2004 season which saw the Cards score 12 runs twice and take 2 out of 3. This year's model certainly hits like the 2004 team, but the only similarity in the pitching staffs is that both featured Chris Carpenter as the ace. (Carp, incidentally, lost the middle game of that series back in 2004 to someone named Ryan Drese.)

Jon Jay appears to be gaining confidence at the command post of the outfield. He started every game of the postseason so far and led the team in games played this season.

I should mention that this post is brought to you with thanks to reader Matt from VA, who sent over a good stack of 2011 Allen & Ginter cards. Shane Victorino, in code parallel form, represents one of the vanquished foes of the brain-thirsty Cards. I was fortunate enough to pull his base card in a rack pack yesterday, so I'm all set in the Flyin' Hawaiian department.

Is that a squirr... er... no.

Florence Nightingale revolutionized hospital hygiene and sanitation! This has nothing to do with the Cardinals or baseball, really. I just like the card and I like Allen & Ginter.

All-Topps Group Break: You Could Win a Baseball*

2011-10-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

Community Gum is hosting a Topps-based overlooked products and hidden gems style group break and you can win an actual, factual autographed baseball signed by a Retired Great. (Please note: Joe Morgan qualifies as a Retired Great according to Topps.) They are opening tons of interesting boxes, and group breaks need participants... so... what are you waiting for?

*Actual baseball may differ ever so slightly from the image above. Consider yourself warned.

Good Luck Ducks, Week 7: Something to Prove

2011-10-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

Every week in college football, you could argue that there's "a lot on the line" for any team hoping to achieve some level of success - a bowl game, perhaps. Bust out any of those tired cliches and they will apply here. The Ducks are trying to remain in contention for a BCS bowl (or better) while the Arizona State Sun Devils, #18 on the charts depending on who you ask, basically have the Pac-12 South locked up already and have a legitimate shot at a conference championship.

The Sun Devils are led by Vontaze Burfict, a linebacker who (again, if you listen to the cliche spouters) is Godzilla, Superman and Jesus all rolled in to one football sized human. He's also kind of dirty. Go ahead, just Google him. It won't take long. However, if the Ducks allow just one person to take them out of their game plan, it doesn't say much for their chances at greater success this year. Meanwhile, ASU's starting QB Brock Osweiler makes his second career start at Autzen Stadium. His last visit saw him as a freshman fill in for an injured starter before he was forced to leave the game himself due to injury. He's tall and can throw.

The biggest story is that the Ducks will almost certainly be without LaMichael James, barring some sort of Willis Reed-esque surprise appearance on the field, something you don't really see in collegiate sports because there's too much at stake and the players aren't being paid to be heroes. LaMike dislocated his elbow in the last game, but there is some hope that he won't miss a lot of time. Oregon has plenty of talented backs to carry the ball, but James just has the explosion thing that you don't really see in anyone else.

Above footage from ASU's 2009 visit to Autzen Stadium.

Game time is 7:15 PDT with national coverage on ESPN. Lee Corso's into it; what about you?

5 on the 5: 2011 Topps Update Series

2011-10-12T23:18:00.000-07:00

I'm still rather speechless about tonight's NLCS game. This is the type of game that the Cards have lost all year. They scored early, but not often. In fact, this is the exact same game they lost to the Phillies in the NLDS, when they got to Roy Halladay early but couldn't do anything for the rest of the game. They scored 4 tonight off of Gallardo, who is like a reverse Bud Norris to the Redbirds for some reason, but didn't so much as sniff home plate for the rest of the game. Fortunately, Carp battled through 5 and the bullpen was up to the task, pitching 4 scoreless innings capped off by another maniacal 4-out save by Jason Motte.

And now, baseball cards...

Pack 1:

US301 - Tom Gorzelanny

US220 - Adam Dunn ("Yo, guys... no offense... but you probably don't want me to bat.")

US121 - Jon Rauch

US324 - Melvin Mora

US66 - Andy Dirks

US151 - Cory Gearbin (Sometimes I don't know the names that I am looking at or typing.)

US71 - Jeff Francis

KC-103 - Zach Britton Kimball Champions

US72 - Colby Rasmus (Ugh.)

US86 - Rafael Furcal (The single most important in-season acquisition. I'm convinced that the Cards would have been eliminated from playoff contention with plenty of days to spare without the Furcal deal. It's bizarre, because until this very moment when I looked it up, I could not have told you who the Dodgers got in return for Furcal. It turns out it was someone whose name I only recognize from his 2011 Bowman card.)

US302 - Alex Torres

US49 - Rickie Weeks All-Star (I hate Rickie Weeks.)

Pack 2:

US101 - Scott Downs

US120 - Bobby Parnell

US33 - Jayson Nix

US30 - Dustin Ackley (What does it say about Ackley... and the Mariners, for that matter... that this young rookie second baseman has become the heart of Seattle's offense? Wow.)

US55 - Anthony Rizzo

US94 - Ryan Vogelsong (Whoa, settle down there, Crazyface.)

US2 - Ty Wigginton

TDG-30 - Diamond Giveaway Code Card

T60-120 - Ozzie Smith Topps 60 (Great looking card. This goes right into the Ozzie binder. I don't even think I recognize this photo, which is nice.)

US50 - Jered Weaver Red Target Parallel (It looks like in the Update Series they turned the retail exclusive Diamond Gemerald inserts into exclusive colored border parallels. I guess I am going to be suckered into wanting these things if they're Cardinals.)

US60 - Heath Bell All-Star (It's cool when you can instantly recognize a moment from a game you merely watched on TV.)

US306 - Brandon Phillips All-Star

Pack 3:

US5 - Josh Willingham

US176 - Xavier Nady

US54 - Jerry Sands (The future savior of Los Angeles? Of the Future?)

US122 - Alfredo Aceves

US194 - Jason Kipnis

US57 - Tony Campana (Here's another for the Weird Face file.)

US270 - Todd Frazier Bedazzled

DD-26 - Buster Posey / Brian McCann Diamond Duos (These often pair young players with legendary Hall of Famers, but I guess McCann is just playing that role here by wearing a retro uniform.)

US238 - Carlos Beltran All-Star

US175 - Mike Trout (Highly touted rookie.)

US131 - Jeff Keppinger

US294 - Edwin Jackson (Here's another one for the Blurry, Horizontal Pitcher file. This is also a cool TV moment for me, however, as I clearly remember the day and place that I watched Jackson's first start against the Small Bears.)

Pack 4:

US35 - Eduardo Nunez

US32 - Matt Stairs (I should have scanned his stats on the back. They go all the way back to 1992!)

US67 - Miguel Olivo

US179 - Michael Pineda Rookie Debut

US228 - Zach Britton Rookie Debut

US276 - Yuniesky Betancourt (I'm still not over the fact that he hit a HR in Game 1 of the NLCS.)

TTU-14 - Matt Garza Topps Town

477 - Franklin Gutierrez Pukey Yuckarella

US146 - Jordan Walden All-Star

US31 - Curtis Granderson All-Star

US242 - Matt Holliday Home Run Derby (I approve of this card.)

US128 - Mariano Rivera Checklist 3 of 5

Pack 5:

US187 - Bobby Wilson

US311 - Drew Butera

US93 - Matt Downs

US223 - Arthur Rhodes (Rhodes must have come over to the Cards just a little too late for the deadline. This photo is great, although it makes Rhodes look extremely short for some reason.)

US267 - Sam Fuld

US178 - Jason Bourgeois

KC-144 - Reggie Jackson Kimball Champions (I still hate that my scanner likes to crop these borders off.)

425 - Johnny Mize Vomit Parallel (Well... er... yes! Awesome. I have a hunch now that the retired legend parallels aren't more difficult to pull than your garden variety Jason Bartletts, but it's just a hunch.)

US319 - Corey Patterson (Ugh, Corey Patterson would have to show up and ruin all of that good feeling about all of the Cardinals cards I've been pulling here. Oh well, at least he's not on the playoff roster.)

US58 - Tim Lincecum All-Star

US229 - Asdrubal Cabrera All-Star

US170 - Brad Ziegler

Someone Else's Fleer Group Break

2011-10-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

Cardboard Collections has another cheap group break going on right now, and at last count there was something like 11 teams left. Go forth and purchase. In the mean time, here are a few cards from an earlier group break hosted over there.

I'm guessing this is what 1996 Fleer would look like if someone didn't get fired over the whole 1995 debacle. It's all glossy and shiny in its own way, straying away from the minimalist, almost magazine cover thin look of the base cards. This is some sort of glossy "tiffany" style parallel that probably comes one per pack in this set.

I meant to actually scan a 1997 Fleer DK card, but somehow the 1996 version sneaked its way on to my scanner. You're not missing much, actually, aside from a font change.

That's a lot of head and not much else on this Brian Jordan insert.

A few other Cardinal stragglers made it into this package, which is nice. As much as it still stings to remember the 2004 postseason (and the 1996 playoffs for that matter), this current batch of Cardinals is far removed from the 105-win team and has their own path to take. Besides, if an 83-win team can win it all, why can't a Wild Card 90-game winner?

I Don't Get It

2011-10-11T00:25:00.000-07:00

Obligatory NLCS Comment: After the first two slugfests, I'm fully expecting runs to be at a premium when things return to the normalcy of Busch Stadium for three games this week. I don't exactly know what happened to Miller Park this year, but I know that I'm not going to complain about a 12-3 outcome in favor of the Redbirds.

I found myself in a Target store on Saturday because I was in need of a new lamp. It used to be fairly common to find me on a weekend at a place that sells trading cards, but these trips have been pretty infrequent of late. I knew to look for Topps Update packs just because it feels like a requirement, and said cards were available in three different formats. My first opened pack ended up being a rack jumbo pack. I knew absolutely nothing about this product going in.

US226 - Steve Pearce (Yarr! It's a Pirate. Oh, don't worry, it's just Steve Pearce.)

US265 - Willie Harris

US212 - Pat Neshek

US284 - Laynce Nix (In a year when not a ton of big names changed teams during the season, you're going to end up with a lot of Nixes in a set like this.)

US73 - Juan Nicasio Rookie Debut

US136 - Brandon Crawford Rookie Debut (I don't remember if they had these Rookie Debut cards in last year's set. I want to say... yes?)

US164 - Hector Noesi

US251 - Justin Turner

US245 - Kevin Correia (There's been a trend of late for Topps to include wide-angle shots of pitchers in focus while their respective batter is blurry. I think these either work really well or look terrible, and there's not really any in-between.)

US66 - Andy Dirks Hope Diamond Anniversary 03/60 (I guess I realized this wasn't your ordinary bedazzled sparkly card when I saw that it had a blue tint. It's numbered, too, but not in the fun gold foil way.)

TTU-37 - Neil Walker Topps Town (Geez... more Pirates.)

US230 - Miguel Cabrera All-Star

US85 - Roy Halladay All-Star (We've come to the All-Star portion of the pack.)

US140 - Clayton Kershaw All-Star

US192 - Mike Moustakas

US43 - Carlos Quentin All-Star

US72 - Colby Rasmus (Ugh, this kind of makes my stomach turn.)

US162 - Troy Tulowitzki All-Star

US300 - Carl Crawford (Do you mean to tell me that Topps just now figured out that Crawford has a new team for 2011?)

US28 - Adam Kennedy

US87 - Clayton Mortensen (Former Cardinal.)

US214 - Matt Daley

US243 - Chris Denorfia (Nice throwbacks.)

US203 - Juan Nicasio (Same guy with two cards in the same pack.)

US24 - Rex Brothers

US263 - Chad Qualls

US308 - Kyle Seager

US197 - Brandon League (The Mariners are going to regret not trading their closer soon if they haven't already.)

US217 - Elliot Johnson Diamond Anniversary (This is your normal, garden variety bedazzled parallel.)

KC-135 - Carl Crawford Kimball Champions (My scanner still hates these cards. I think I am finally coming to a decision where I'm just going to let these cards go. I don't think I like them enough.)

634 - Mitch Moreland Cognac Diamond Anniversary ("Cognac" is one way to describe these. Another way is "vomit". Also, what the heck is with the card numbering? Perhaps I can put it a better way... why are these parallels of Series 1/2 cards suddenly showing up in the Update product? Is someone trying to make up for past perceived mistakes?)

T60-144 - Zach Britton Topps 60

US287 - Matt Joyce All-Star

US292 - Mike Adams

US50 - Jered Weaver All-Star

US268 - Yadier Molina All-Star (This is the reason this pack was pulled off the shelf and sent home with me. It's always good to start off on a high note, after all.)

So what is it that I don't get? I guess it's all of this sparkly nonsense. I pulled three of them in a $5 retail pack, so I can't imagine that they are worth anything.

Carp!

2011-10-07T21:03:00.001-07:00

Yes!!!!!

Sorry, I got nothin' else. Next game is Sunday afternoon? Yikes.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1976 Topps Traded #80T

2011-10-07T09:10:00.001-07:00

Big game tonight! Super big game. The superist of big games, even. The Cards take on the Phillies in Philly to decide their NL Division Series to determine who will take on the Brewers or the Diamondbacks (hopefully the Diamondbacks, so there are some west coast friendly start times.) My prediction? At least one team will win, and at some point obscenities will be bandied about in a most uncouth manner.

Jim Kaat was a three-time All-Star left-handed pitcher who was an exceptional fielder, amassing 16 Gold Gloves in his career. He took home a World Series ring in 1982 with your St. Louis Cardinals and also has the distinction of playing for the opposing team in tonight's pivotal matchup. My own personal memories of Kaat are primarily as a broadcaster with NBC Sports in the '80s. He now does the occasional game for the MLB Network.

Why did Topps airbrush Jim's photo? Kaat, originally a Washington Senator who played with the Senators/Twins franchise for 16 seasons, was with the White Sox for a short spell before being traded to the Phillies as part of a four player deal at the end of the 1975 season.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? The 'P' on Kitty Kaat's cap is large and kind of ridiculous, kind of like Ryan Howard's contract. Hiyoooo!

Good Luck Ducks, Week 6: Injury Fakers

2011-10-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

Oh Cal, we meet again. Forget the little brother/big brother thing that Oregon supposedly has with Oregon State. The Golden Bears are like the smirking sibling that's always trying to get one over on the Ducks. Last year it was fake injuries and an incredibly stubborn defensive strategy that had the Ducks completely dizzy for all but the last 9 minutes of the game, resulting in a squeaker of a 2 point win for Oregon. Three seasons ago, torrential rains and ridiculously awful field conditions waterlogged an otherwise impressive Oregon team. Go back to 2007, and you see the lone black mark on Dennis Dixon's stellar (but short) senior campaign, stuffed by a game-ending goal line fumble by Cameron Colvin.

Cal is coached by former Ducks Offensive Coordinator Jeff Tedford, who was the most prominent in his position during the Mike Bellotti era. He knows, or at least knew, a lot of things that Oregon football is all about. And to be honest, they are the most likable of the four California based Pac-12 teams. They're a little flashy, a little yellow, and boast prominent recent alums like DeSean Jackson and Aaron Rodgers.

Oregon can't let those good feelings distract them from their goal, and that's still a solid pounding of a lesser conference foe. The Ducks have given up a ton of yards this season and are starting to attract some notice for it, even though their offense in some ways seems even more ridiculous this year than the past few. And Cal's game planning has worked in the past, better than a lot of other teams that they face on a regular basis. This is not a game to be taken lightly, not that Chip Kelly's "Win The Day" philosophy allows for any game to be treated differently than another.

Above footage from a 1996 clash between Cal and Oregon at Autzen Stadium (where it never rains) in 1996. I thought I'd go a little old-school since the Ducks are reportedly going to wear some such Nike "throwbacks" tonight.

Game time is 6:00 PDT with national coverage on ESPN. Thursday Night Football? Go Ducks!

Braaaaaaaaaaaains!

2011-10-05T22:26:00.001-07:00

You can board up the windows and you can bolt down the doors. That's not going to stop the Zombie Cardinals!

MMMmmm... shiny brains.

Wait... Holliday? He was... he was dead, right? Lifeless. Missing several key appendages. D-E-A-D!

Tasty BRAINS!

Old-school brains! Yes sir, Lee Arthur Smith likes it.

Tonight's Cards cards are all courtesy of a Tribecards Random Pack of Kindness. Thanks! That was kind!

30 Teams in 30 Posts: #14

2011-10-04T23:17:00.000-07:00

It was a rough night in Cardinals Land, but they wouldn't be the Zombie Cardinals if they didn't occasionally get a few shotgun blasts to the body on their way to eating some brains. To take my mind off of the ugliness, I submit to you the latest installment of the 30 Teams series. In case you've missed out so far, this is just a thinly veiled attempt to get rid of some cards I'm tired of looking at.

I'll just come right out and say it. The Florida Marlins make me sick. Nobody ever goes to their games. Most times, you'll find a better turnout at a rainy beach in January. Despite two World Championships in their relatively short lifespan, they have an extremely fickle fanbase who has seen its share of fire sales. Next season, the Marlins will open up a brand new stadium (against the Cardinals) but it wouldn't be terribly shocking if they have trouble filling seats by Year 2.

It's hard to see that there are major league teams that can't put people in seats when you live in a major market without a baseball team, let's just put it that way. I rooted for these Marlins in both of their title seasons because they were still something new and refreshing. However, if the current situation in MLB comes around to the unpleasant idea of contraction once again, this team would be at the top of my list.

Favorite current Marlins player: Omar Infante. Ah, why not? I haven't forgotten this.

Lease favorite current Marlins player: Scott Cousins. No, this is not for what he did to Buster Posey itself, but for making me have to listen to people preach/whine/be outraged by the result of his collision with Posey and having to hear endless debates about how it stunted the Giants season.

Favorite Marlins player of all-time: Edgar Renteria. I try not to pick players who spent a relatively short time with their respective teams, but it was Renteria's walkoff Game 7 winner that won the title for the Fish in 1997 and I was pretty excited about it. It doesn't hurt that he had a long, successful run with the Cards.

Least favorite Marlins player of all-time: Josh Beckett. I don't know, I just had to pick someone and Beckett was convenient enough.

The Florida Marlins linger at #14 in my reverse-ranking of favorite teams as of the moment I picked them on October 4th, 2010. Yes, that was a full calendar year ago! All of these cards are very much up for trade, so please contact me if you're interested.

Feeling Good, Feeling Great

2011-10-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

The Cards/Phillies NLDS series is now even at one game apiece as every good baseball fan knows. After last night's remarkable game - Cliff Lee had been 94-1 when staked to a 4 run lead or greater in his career including the playoffs - it's now down to the team that can win 2 of the next 3 games to advance. St. Louis has their lefty, Jaime Garcia, on the hill at home facing Cole Hamels in the early game before the Brewers go for the sweep in Arizona.

I'm feeling good enough about this series to post a Cubs card on my blog. Andre Dawson was no mere Cubbie, however, and for some reason he seems to be more or less exempt from my Cubs-hatred. This is one of several cards sent to me awhile back by Bo of Baseball Cards Come To Life! Even though I don't give it much of a mention here, I have made great progress on the 1993 Upper Deck set.

It's amazing to me that anything from the junk wax era is new to my eyes, but this was the case with most of the 1993 Upper Deck cards remaining on my want list. I am not sure what compelled companies to give subsets their own checklists, but we don't get anything like 800+ card sets anymore so I shouldn't complain.

A number of the cards in the package were also "new to me" Cardinals team needs, including Al Olmsted's only appearance on a MLB card. Olmsted apparently made his debut as a September call-up in 1980, pitching decently in 5 late season starts. He would never crack the majors again, though he was apparently traded away to San Diego and back to St. Louis again as a Player to be Named Later in the Ozzie Smith deal.

I have no idea how I never owned this card before. Mike Warren's career didn't quite compare to Righetti or Forsch's.

This is part of the junkiest of junk wax, but that doesn't make it any less needed. I know the ML Debut sets were out for a couple of years (maybe three?) and I am sure I am missing more than just this Todd Zeile card. I'll figure it out someday when I have time.

Airbrushed Fridays: 2011 Topps #569

2011-09-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

I think I might actually have a baseball hangover. People I know that I actually didn't know cared one inkling about baseball still cannot stop talking about Wednesday night. I've already endured some Phillies smack talk. What is going on? People don't like baseball. All of a sudden now, they do? Maybe this is just a sign that the Red Sox should have never, ever had any ounce of success. Now that they have been defeated, mocked and ridiculed, the timid fans are coming out of the woodwork.

Cameron Maybin was cursed with the five-tool label at a very early age. The next time you hear the words "five tool" associated with any young prospect is the time that you should stay far away from said prospect, for he is moments away from accidentally setting himself on fire and disappointing scouts and baseball nerds for years to come.

Why did Topps airbrush Cameron's photo? Maybin, an outfielder with "no doubt five-tool talent", was part of a big trade in 2007 that saw Miguel Cabrera land in Detroit. By the end of last year, when those five tools still hadn't translated to actual big league success, Florida pawned him off on San Diego for scraps.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? It's Photoshopped! Horribly Photoshopped! His strange uniform would even look out of place on a modern Heritage card. I don't like it.

A Fine Line Between a Good Season and a Bad One

2011-09-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

I often have a really hard time coming up with a title for my blog posts. Aside from the formulaic ones that write themselves, I usually fill in the title at the very end as sort of a throwaway. This one is different as it popped into my head on my way to work this morning. Win, lose, or draw, I knew I'd feel the same way about this season after Game 162.

It's amazing how the result of one game, or even one play, can affect the way an entire season is viewed. I never want to be one to rush to an emotional reaction and trash everything that went on during a season if it just doesn't work out in the end. This season was a very different one to be a Cardinals fan, however. I could have said, with utmost confidence, that 2011 was an abject failure with no regrets if things had gone just ever so slightly differently tonight. I still feel like the Tony La Russa era has run its course and that it's time for some new managerial blood. Horrible decisions were made, both in roster construction and in game management. Corey Patterson should not be on this or any other Major League roster.

But after tonight, we can look back at this team and say that it was a 90-win playoff team. St. Louis has won the Wild Card for the first time since Albert Pujols' rookie season. I will root like hell for this team, even though I felt like they had basically quit on this season back when they got swept by the Dodgers in late August. Playoff fever does strange things to you. And having already experienced the run of an 83-win team take the World Series after two straight dominant seasons with no rings to show for it, you just never know what will happen.

Red Sox and Braves fans will look back at this season as a bad one. I don't really feel sorry for the Red Sox fans, but I'm sure the future is brighter than it seems right now for the Braves with all of their young talent.

Meanwhile, there's more Cardinals baseball on Saturday, and that feels great right now. And a huge tip of the cap to Chris Carpenter for a completely dominant performance tonight.

Starring Roles

2011-09-28T00:27:00.000-07:00

This truly bizarre baseball season just got nuttier, with the Zombie Cardinals falling behind 5-0 to the woeful Astros, before rallying to score 13 of the game's next 14 runs. Tomorrow will decide the Cardinals' fate - or possibly send them to a final tiebreaker on Thursday. Given how this season has gone, I expect nothing less (or more) than a 163rd game.

Here's some trade post cards from Play at the Plate to express my feelings, first starring Lance Berkman as the cagey Photoshopped vet who has every inch of ~~Enron Field~~ Minute Maid Park mapped out in his brain.

Starring: Yadier Molina as the team's batting leader! He's a Top Ten NL Batting Leader! Hey, don't look at me that way.

Starring: Allen Craig as Matt Holliday!

Also Starring: Colby Rasmus as the creepy, disappointing specter that still looms ominously over this season. He hasn't really done anything to suggest that he won't be terrible with Toronto, but many a Cardinal fan remains distraught over his exit.

... And Bud Smith as Ace McNohitter! Wait... ahh!! Bud Smith. Bad luck! Run away! Run awayyyyy!

The Power of Chris Duncan Compels You

2011-09-26T23:48:00.000-07:00

C'mon Redbirds, quit messing around. Now everyone can see why I feared the final series with dreadful Astros and Minute Maid Park so much. I hope the Cards can go out and do it for Chris Duncan, who succumbed to a freakish neck injury. He was the roving corner outfielder for the last World Series winning Cardinals team, but he's been relegated to the TV studio recently.

Thanks to Section 36 for the Duncan jersey card. I can only surmise that he's going through a similar emotion roller coaster right now. Meanwhile, I realized that I haven't put my end of this trade in the mail yet. I'm a terrible person. But not as terrible as the Astros... or... you know... the Cardinals fundamentals this season. Yikes.

Three Days Left!

2011-09-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

It's hard to imagine, but by this time next week we'll already be talking about playoff games, postseason pitching matchups and roster constructions. There are only three games left to play in the regular season. Three!

Apropos of nothing, here's a trade post about a package received from Night Owl Cards, one of the most prolific sports card bloggers and package senderers that you'll find anywhere. Yes, he's a senderer.

I have a feeling that Gypsy Queen is the kind of set that I'm going to really appreciate in a few years, but just haven't had the time for this year. I think I'm actually headed in the opposite direction and have definitely considered not touching anything next year that isn't Heritage or Ginter. I doubt I will have the will to resist the urge to buy random packs, though. That always gets me.

Albert Pujols received multiple, prolonged standing ovations in today's game against the Cubs, the regular season home finale at Busch Stadium. I really have a hard time seeing Pujols in another uniform next year. I think the man will get paid, and I think the team will look at what Pujols is likely to get on the open market and give it to him. They gave Berkman a fair deal, and I just don't see it being advantageous to the team and its fanbase if they try to low-ball the best player in baseball who has been their franchise player for 11 seasons.

Okay, okay... fine. I just broke my season-long vow not to talk about the Pujols situation on this blog! I guess I just couldn't wait.

Here's something different. It seems so long ago that Jim Edmonds was set to join the Cardinals before finding that his injury that he suffered last year with the Reds was much more severe than anticipated. I would have enjoyed that last Edmonds victory lap, and Colby Rasmus would have gotten traded either way.

Most of the package was actually Ginter set needs, but I just couldn't come up with a whole lot to say about any of the cards. That doesn't make them or this package any less important. I just wanted to talk about the Cardinals. Drew Storen makes the cut here, however, as I temporarily became a Nats fan this weekend for... some reason.

Good Luck Ducks, Week 4: Watch Out For Flying Objects

2011-09-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

Oregon faces their first road test this week in their first conference game as a member of the newly reconfigured Pac-12 Conference. One could easily count the LSU game as a road game, but it technically wasn't. One could also easily never remind me of that game again and I would be perfectly fine with that.

The last time Oregon visited the so-called Zona Zoo has to rank up there with one of the greatest Ducks football games I have ever seen. It was the highlight of the brief Jeremiah Masoli era as he led the team to a seemingly impossible comeback after the "Zoo" flooded the sidelines prematurely, waiting for a celebration that would never be. I don't think I've ever had a more satisfying sports moment, aside from the Cardinals clinching World Series win in 2006, than seeing the students have to climb back up into the stands and go home with their tails between their legs. Oh, and some jackass Wildcats fan knocked one of the Ducks cheerleaders out by tossing a nearly full water bottle at her head. Nice.

Tonight's game should be an interesting one. Arizona's senior quarterback Nick Foles is one of the conference's elite and will probably get a chance to play on Sundays. His passing game has torn apart the Oregon defense in the past, but the Ducks have found a way to win each time he's faced them previously. Meanwhile, it will be fun to see how Oregon's passing game stands up to a worthy conference opponent after seeing Darron Thomas torch some lesser quality opponents.

Above footage from last season's Ducks/Wildcats shootout.

Game time is 7:15 PDT with national coverage on ESPN2. Go Ducks!

Airbrushed Fridays: 1976 Topps Traded #158T

2011-09-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

There are six games left in the MLB regular season. Six! What happened to this season? What happened to summer? Where did the time go? Why was last night's season premiere episode of NBC's Community so... blah?

Ken Reitz was a former All-Star and Gold Glove winning third baseman who played most of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals in an era where the Cards were just flat out not very good. St. Louis has had this even/odd decade thing going on, where they have traditionally been far less successful in odd decades. Let's hope that trend ends this decade.

Why did Topps airbrush Ken's photo? Reitz (pronounced like "beets") was dealt to the Giants after 4 seasons with the Cards in December of 1975, only to be returned to St. Louis the following offseason. After three more years with the Cards, he would eventually be involved in the deal that would bring future HOFer Bruce Sutter to town.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Where do I start, with the glowing navy blue cap or the ridiculous smudgy crayon look of the 'SF' logo? Whoever came up with the banner headline on these early Traded set cards was at least thinking straight, knowing that they could usually cover up most of the jerseys.

A Truly Bizarre Season, Represented in Picture Cards

2011-09-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

Things are getting pretty weird now, not that they weren't weird from the beginning this season. I already covered Adron Chambers last night. His card, as with the rest of the cards in this post, were sent to me by reader Ryan in a little want-list-filler-for-Cardinals swap.

Matt Holliday's own personal 2011 season might go down as one of the most bizarre of all-time. One can only imagine what his diary would look like this year, if grown multi-millionaire men actually kept those sorts of things. After a spectacular opening game, Holliday went through an emergency appendectomy. He had a balky quadriceps muscle at one point, which caused him to miss additional time. He's dealt with back problems. He strained his side muscle during a pregame workout. At one point, a moth flew into Holliday's ear and he had to get pulled from a game. His latest malady involves a finger that he strained in the on deck circle. He may or may not return this season.

Okay, Rogers Hornsby has nothing to do with the 2011 season. This is just a cool card.

Just to show that this season was doomed from the start, Adam Wainwright was diagnosed with Severe Elbow Failure before the season even starter and underwent successful Tommy John surgery. The trouble is, Wainwright is one of the premiere pitchers in the National League and all the Lance Berkman Berking in the world can't save a beleaguered pitching staff.

As a cruel reminder of the total bizarreness of the 2011 Cardinals, here's a jersey card of the Cards' top young talent... who happens to be a Blue Jay now.

You Can't Stop Adron Chambers, You Can Only Hope To Contain Him

2011-09-20T23:30:00.001-07:00

The Zombie Cardinals are still roaming the earth, thanks in part to a key bases loaded triple by first-time call-up Adron Chambers. For Chambers, it was his second pivotal late game hit in recent days. St. Louis kept pace in the wild card race (to go along with an Atlanta win and a San Francisco loss) and I will reveal contents of a new Allen & Ginter blaster in semi-celebration.

Pack 1:

87 - Colby Lewis

173 - Mariano Rivera (In case you haven't heard... oh, nevermind.)

22 - Michael Bourn

215 - Andrew McCutchen (It will be interesting to see how long McCutchen remains a Pirate.)

PP2 - Mike Gellner Portraits of Penultimacy (Dude is from Portland. Good town, I hear.)

HH7 - CC Sabathia Hometown Heroes

Pack 2:

98 - Jason Bay (Bay hit a career high 36 HRs in 2009 and has hit just 18 since.)

58 - Alcides Escobar

BHS-17 - Texas Rangers Baseball Highlight Sketches

325 - Mike Stanton (Stanton may yet be a perennial home run king, but he's got to work on that whole strikeouts thing.)

SRU2 - Fire Breathing Step Right Up

FF18 - HMS Devastation Floating Fortresses (Anything with Devastation in the name must be one fortress to be reckoned with.)

Pack 3:

183 - Mike Napoli (Shockingly, Napoli has an OPS over 1.000 this season. Don't pitch to him!)

124 - Chad Billingsley

41 - Carlos Santana (Santana broke the Cleveland team record for most home runs by a switch hitter on Monday. Not bad.)

166 - Geovany Soto

260 - Alex Rodriguez Mini

HH98 - Clay Buchholz Hometown Heroes

Pack 4:

269 - Derrek Lee (I wasn't even used to Lee in a Braves uniform and he's gone and switched teams two more times since.)

53 - Chipper Jones

300 - Ryan Braun

345 - Zack Greinke

182 - Clay Buchholz Mini (Buchholz again.)

HH52 - Ian Kinsler Hometown Heroes

Pack 5:

217 - Shaun Marcum (So many Brewers...)

295 - Chris Carpenter (That's more like it.)

251 - Ian Desmond (Desmond has been swinging a hot bat of late.)

AOM17 - Hominidae Ascent of Man

110 - Jake McGee A&G Back Mini

HH60 - Alex Rodriguez Hometown Heroes (I wonder how long Alex Rodriguez will stick around.)

- Codemaster Jerk (Did anyone solve that thing? I haven't exactly been paying attention lately.)

Pack 6:

285 - Alex Rios

19 - Daniel Bard

127 - James Loney

310 - Matt Kemp (I'm not usually one to praise the Dodgers, but I was happy that they beat the Giants tonight. It makes things a little less complicated in case the Zombie Cards finally bust through the walls.)

AP20 - Bengal Tiger Animals in Peril

MMF22 - Ada Lovelace Minds That Made The Future

Pack 7:

69 - Neftali Feliz

161 - Casey McGehee (AHHHH! What did I do to you, Topps? This isn't nice.)

42 - Heath Bell (The Cardinal that never was. Instead, they have Arthur Rhodes and Octavio Dotel.)

12 - Hope Solo Code Parallel

304 - Madison Bumgarner Mini

HH88 - Roy Oswalt Hometown Heroes

- Binder Offer

Pack 8:

163 - Ian Kennedy (20 game winner... Cy Young contender? How did that happen? How is Arizona a division winner, for that matter?)

219 - The Ghost of Johan Santana

BHS-20 - Alex Rodriguez Baseball Highlight Sketches

327 - David DeJesus

WMF7 - The Man in the Iron Mask World's Most Mysterious Figures (Kinda creepy.)

HH14 - Carl Pavano Hometown Heroes

- Checklist 2 of 5

I will update the want list shortly. If you've engaged with me on a trade lately, thank you for being patient.