#DONE

Putting to bed a set I started collecting (in my head) ever since I was a child. 

With the help of a generous blogger and trading partner, Dennis of Too Many Verlanders/Manninghams, I finally am able to put down a set I've admired since I could barely grasp what baseball cards were. A lot of people find the 1985 Fleer baseball set to be ugly or boring, but to me it was one of the first idealistic looks at what baseball cards could be, outside of the venerable The Topps Company. With team color-coded borders, SuperStarSpecials and plenty o' stats on the back, I always wanted a complete set of this stuff. The various rookie cards made it a bit outside of my meager budget for much of my collecting youth, but not many of those rookies (Clemens aside, I guess?) held their value over the years. More than once, I could have snagged a more or less complete hand collated set at a card show for a bargain price, but I decided to put it all together the old fashioned way. I bought some packs (okay, not too many) and put a want list online, occasionally whittling away at it throughout the years. Now, it's done and all slapped away in a binder. I couldn't be happier about it.

Dennis likely was sweating out the MLB trade deadline today, which passed without a trade of his (current) blog namesake. He did find some time to send me a bunch of Cardinals cards that I needed. I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but I used to really like the Topps gold bordered parallel cards. They don't look so great anymore, though.

This may look like a simple base card from the 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings set, but the logo is shiny and reflective and the card itself is numbered to 100. This set is one of the best examples of what people complain about when they talk about modern sets having endless numbers of parallels that are barely distinguishable from each other. And while I agree that it's all pretty silly, I really like these cards. They sort of feel like vinyl.

Speaking of the best things from the '00s, Fleer Greats are... great! Yeah, that's pretty much all I've got. I received another half dozen or so cards of the Wizard for my collection. I've temporarily lost track of how many unique Ozzies I own thanks to the demise of Zistle, but I'm (slowly) working on replacing my online checklist outlet.

Speaking of endless parallels. What was Topps thinking with this Co-Signers stuff? It didn't last, of course.

I don't have many slabbed cards, but since I'm guessing the only way to get this Tyler Johnson silver parallel from 2003 was in uncirculated form, I'll leave this in its cardboard prison for now.

More Edmonds, because... why not?

It certainly wouldn't be a "Too Many" package without a great crop of Ducks cards, and Dennis certainly didn't disappoint on that end. I usually save most of these for the college football Saturdays, but there were so many great cards to be had that I couldn't hold everything back.

Prior to receiving this, my collection of baseball cards in Ducks uniforms was comprised entirely of anything I pulled in that Panini Oregon Ducks Collegiate blaster from awhile back. Cleavinger was a 3rd round pick a couple years ago and was just dealt from the Orioles to the Phillies before the trade deadline. He's been playing at the AA level this year.

They were never my favorite, but I was a defender of the Ducks tire tread or steel grating or whatever the hell uniform look from the late '00s. In recent years, the team has strayed further and further from their primary colors, which is why it was actually refreshing to hear new head coach Willie Taggart announce plans to scale it back and stick to a more basic look.

Yeah, it's uh... a signed card of a shirtless Ducks football legend. Those fringe draft picks/prospects card companies are super weird. I don't actually collect a lot of football cards, but when I do I'm continually surprised at how willing people are to buy cards of players doing everything but actually playing their sport.

Finally, I have to say that I was really happy to get a Max Unger card. Unger plays positions that are generally overlooked when the card companies are setting out to print up some cards. Even though he's been to the Pro Bowl, won a ring and has been a league mainstay since he entered the league, I would be willing to bet that he doesn't have many cards out there.

Cards to Play With

At least I have 4 1/2 more months of baseball season to look forward to.

The Blazers were eliminated last night. It's not that important in the grand scheme of things. It would be easier to take if, say, the Cardinals weren't as mediocre as a Subway sandwich this year, but there's plenty of time for things to turn around there. Fortunately, the very generous Ethan from Playing With My Cards has a cure for the blues in the form of some very key singles from the 1985 Fleer set.

I'm still bowled over by the generosity of receiving the Clemens rookie. While he's pretty much the scourge of the Earth, it's still the most sought after card in the set and I feel very fortunate to get a copy in such nice shape. Rob Deer was a big deal back when this set was still fairly new, so getting his rookie card is a treat even though this is a card worth pocket change these days.

Don Mattingly is the quintessential '80s guy to collect as far as I'm concerned. I always got more excited about his cards than the flavor of the month like Dwight Gooden or Billy Jo Robidoux. It's a big reason why at least a tiny shrivel of me is fairly sympathetic to the Yankees to this day.

I never liked Ripken, though. I don't know what is wrong with me. I guess I have shortstop envy.

Ethan also sent along a couple of colorful old Cardinals cards. Here's current hitting coach John Mabry making two of his derpiest faces.

Eat fresh!

Trading with Swing and a Pop-Up

Trades, trades, what do they mean?

We just recently celebrated the 8 year anniversary of Lidge vs. Pujols (somewhere Andy Pettitte is still saying "oh my God!") I've seen highlights of Albert's big blast off of the Astros reliever in the 2005 NLCS so many times, and it's been made into countless GIFs, but it wasn't until recently that I had gotten a full look at the HD version of that moment captured in time. One of the best things about that shot is that Brad Ausmus is looking back at the umpire, calling for another baseball. That one isn't coming back.

My Brad Ausmus moment in time comes courtesy of Swing and a Pop-Up, who sent me some cards to fill a few want list needs awhile back. (I've been seriously deliquent on my end of the deal, but that package was mailed out last Friday, I swear!) There will probably come a time where I will need to hit up some website like sportlots to fill out the rest of some of these cheaper sets, but for now I'm still enjoying the cards that trickle in.

I received some Cardinals, too. This card had eluded me for a long time. I was having a hard time keeping track of which 1983 Topps Super Veteran cards that I needed, but now I think I finally have them all. Maybe.

I have pretty much no recollection of Tracy Woodson as a baseball player, which is troubling because he played for the Cardinals when I was still in high school (and therefore, still collecting cards.) The Joe Torre years were just that forgettable, I guess.

2 Games Up, 10 to Go

The season is flying out the window. A trade post will set us straight.

St. Louis has pulled ahead of the Pirates by 2 games, which is the largest lead they've had in the NL Central since July 26th. Yes, the race has been that tight, with the Pirates and the Cards running neck and neck for the entire second half. With 10 games left, it's still anybody's division. Nevertheless, it's time for some cautious optimism, which we'll celebrate with some truly excellent cards from Play at the Plate.

A bit of sobering news: Matt Adams left the game early tonight with soreness in his elbow, the same elbow that he had surgery on late last year. Let's hope that it isn't a big deal, because with Allen Craig likely out until the playoffs (at least), losing his capable replacement and team's top pinch hitter (when everyone else is healthy) is the kind of thing that could tank a division race. Who knew that we'd be saying this about Matt Adams, say, a year ago?

Seth Maness has been a pretty solid option out of the bullpen, a pen that has been completely reworked even since the early part of the season. The Cardinals have already faced their former setup man and would-be replacement closer Mitchell Boggs in this series. Boggs fizzled out and the Rockies picked him up on the cheap. Maness has effectively been his replacement, emphasis on the word "effectively".

I'll never get tired of Topps framed relics. I don't know what it is. They make me just a little bit excited about a bit of jersey that I'm not supposed to be excited at all about anymore.

Speaking of excitement, PATP sent over this neat insert card of the Future Excitement, Oscar Taveras. Taveras didn't play a whole lot this year and injuries cost him a shot at a late season call-up. The organization is counting on a strong offseason and spring from Taveras, especially if they opt not to resign Carlos Beltran.

Shelby's been a little shaky lately, but he's stayed in the rotation. He never returned to the levels of his early season dominance, but I think we'll still look back favorably at his rookie year on the whole. Hopefully, this season serves as a building block for better things to come. Like in the playoffs. Yeah!

PATP also sent over a few set building needs, and I selected a couple of 1985 Fleer cards to show here. I remember this Shawon Dunston card fetching a little bit of coin back when I was a kid. Dunston didn't exactly become the next Ernie Banks, but he carved himself out a pretty solid career. I love getting cards like this that I could probably snap up for a quarter now but couldn't afford back in the day.

Sometimes you're just not sure how to end things, and Pete Rose storms in and starts signing autographs and demanding stacks of cash from all of his onlookers. Awkward. I'm just going to back away from this post, slowly...

Grich and the Rookies

I'm down to needing exactly 5% of the 1985 Fleer set thanks to another trade from one of my readers. Reader Jeff sent over erstwhile All-Star Bobby Grich and a couple of young upstarts to get me down to needing just 33 of the 660 cards in this set.

Long before he became Erin's least favorite TV broadcaster, Orel Hershiser was sewing his oats in the Dodgers rotation. I think he had some sort of scoreless streak of some merit going in the late '80s. And he pitched for Cleveland, didn't he? CLEVELAND!

Because of my love for the quirkiness that is Dan Quisenberry, I was a bit conflicted during the I-70 Series as an almost 10 year old. I was clearly no fan of Saberhagen's, though.

It wasn't all peaches and cream and '85 Fleer, though. Jeff also sent over a few Cardinals cards, including one I had never seen before. The Pacific Legends set usually contained, well, legends of a sort. I was surprised to see Bob Horner, in a Cardinals uniform no less, in this early Pacific design. These cards are as dull as dishwater, but considering how few Bob Horner Cardinals cards there are, I am glad to find another one to add to the binder.

Sheer Fleer

I'm still working on the 1985 Fleer set that I was so fond of as a child, so I decided to pick up a couple of packs from eBay on a whim. I'm still missing the biggest rookie (Clemens) along with a handful of other stars and commons at this point. Like the pack I posted over at APTBNL, this pack suspiciously contained 16 cards instead of the expected 15. There's good reason to suspect that every wax-wrapped pack has been searched and resealed, but I'm choosing to believe it was just a factory-made fluke.

Here we go back to the year that the Nintendo Entertainment System landed stateside...

- Mets sticker - Stickers > (flimsy) Puzzle Pieces > (tasteless) Bubble Gum

191 - Ken Singleton - Since I posted the APTBNL pack first, this pack is going to feel like the mirror version (or bizarro version?) Each pack yieleded a different Mets sticker and now I have a rare DH to match Don Baylor.

517 - LaMarr Hoyt - Hoyt found it difficult to duplicate his Cy Young season in 1984, but over the past three years he logged an astounding 735 2/3 innings.

606 - Mark Davis - Davis was coming off a 5-17, 5.36 ERA season at this point, but great things were to come for him. He ended up becoming a Cy Young winning closer in 1989.

277 - Pete Filson - I have no idea who he is, but he's geeked to be there!

365 - Denny Walling - Like Frank DiPino in the other post, Walling was a future Cardinal in waiting. I wonder what led to the decision to spell out "FIRST BASE" as usual but abbreviate his other position.

478 - Jason Thompson - Whew, so much yellow!

316 - Mike Witt - One of the better '80s Angels pitchers.

51 - Warren Brusstar - Brusstar sounds like some '80s satellite TV company.

483 - Dave Beard - Beard was just a regular guy who would drink regular beer with you. He probably had his share of Olys and Rainiers during his Seattle days.

651 - Zane Smith / Paul Zuvella Major League Prospects - Smith would go on to have a 1-13 season in his future, where he would post a 3.49 ERA and boggle the minds of anyone who didn't understand the meaninglessness of pitching wins. Which was pretty much everyone.

569 - Dave Stewart - Stewart was one of my favorite pitchers of the late '80s/early '90s, so I would have been super excited to pull this card back in the day, even though the picture has a weird printing flaw.

617 - Greg Minton - I wonder if hipsters realize they're trying to look like old baseball players.

348 - Bill Dawley - Another future Cardinal of the past.

415 - Keith Atherton

163 - Rick Miller - Miller was a light-hitting outfielder who was apparently so beloved that he spent two separate long tours with the BoSox.

382 - German Rivera - I have no idea who Rivera is, but I love that he's got a 1984 Olympic patch on his sleeve.