A PWE, In Order

A few cards from a longtime fellow blogger to pass the time. 

I've been trying to increase the flow of envelopes, small as they can be, full of cards to keep myself and hopefully others occupied with hobby-related things. It was nice, of course, to recently receive some cards in the popular PWE format from The Angels, In Order. There were a few Cardinals needs and a few set needs. Let's take a look.

I don't know how I missed out on this card when this set was first released, but it apparently wasn't the only base card I needed. I now just need card #217 from the 2018 Donruss set, which was one that Yadier Molina shared with Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor. I also need countless numbers of parallels, of course, because Panini.

Despite not being heavily respected across the league and even internally, Dakota Hudson made it into the official record as a bona fide NL pitching leader. Cool!

Ah, those pesky retail exclusives. I nabbed another one! This is the black set from 2013 Heritage.

In the department of set needs were the first couple of 2007 Bowman Heritage acquisitions for me in quite awhile. I have no idea who Chuck Lofgren is. It sounds like the name of some sort of not-quite-famous actor.

The Mick! We don't see him in Topps products anymore, but I guess we were probably overexposed in the late '00s.

We end things with a sketch card of the newly crowned champ Ryan Zimmerman. I hated the way the NLCS went down as it reminded me an awful lot of the 2004 World Series, with the Cardinals suddenly completely punchless and useless after being anything but previously. It was cool to see the veteran Zimmerman get to win a ring, I suppose.

Some Old Throwbacks

I enjoy these older new sets fashioned after much older cards. 

Mr. Haverkamp was the big winner way back in January for the annual Cards on Cards bowl pick 'em dealie, and as a big thanks for his prize, he sent me a big stack of old cards from sets I collect. Specifically, these are mostly from sets that came out before this blog was a thing (10+ years ago) and I wasn't really collecting. I really like these sets, and should probably spend more time on them. Fortunately, thanks to one gracious contest winner, I am a bit closer to these goals. I am in the process of digging up some stuff to send back because I certainly wasn't expecting to receive anything back for sending out a prize.

There were a bunch of cards in the package, so I just chose my favorite from each set.

Carl Everett doesn't (or didn't... does anyone know what he's been up to these days) believe in dinosaurs, and almost in a comical way. I have no recollection of him actually playing for the Mariners. He was one of the guys who showed up on prospect cards in the early '90s when I was still a teenaged collecting geek who went on to have a career largely out of my consciousness.

Every card I've ever seen from the 2002 Bowman Heritage set has a facsimile autograph on the front where Freddy Garcia's name is. Did they misplace his rookie contract? Did his autograph look like something mildly offensive? I don't know the story behind this. It's strange to think that Garcia was at one point considered Seattle's ace.

Did you know there was another Garciaparra? Me neither. His tale isn't nearly as tragic as Larry Yount's, but his Wikipedia entry is rather short (and short of intrigue).

Mr. Haverkamp sent me two foil parallels from the 2007 Bowman Heritage set, and the other one was a good-for-nothing Cub. We get cheatin' Manny by default.

Speaking of cheating... nah, this obviously isn't Starling Marte. I like the older Heritage sets before MLB and Topps came to the agreement to tighten up their rookie card/prospect rules because they contain a lot of names that came and went before I ever heard mention of them. I do think it limited their collecting appeal a bit, though.

A Brick of Heritage

Where do unwanted doubles go? To me, that's where.

The Topps Baseball Fanatic is one of those people as crazy as me that goes out and collects all of the Heritage every year. The thing is, for the past several years I've ended up with his (and others') hand-me-downs because I'm usually pretty slow out of the gate in collecting these sets. In any case, I know it's nice to have a place to stash your extras besides your own closet, so hopefully I've provided a good outlet for getting rid of junk over the years. Now, I should probably do something about my own junk...

The Fanatic sent over a brick's worth of cards from the most recent set, including Adam Wainwright #206 (for the collection - which means I still need a copy of his card for the set proper) and a guy by the name of Matt den Dekker. I didn't know such a player existed.

I'm usually shy about giving the Cubs any time on this blog, but Ernie is one of the all-time greats. Even though it's a totally made up design as far as I know, I am a fan of this year's Flashbacks look.

Since these cards came my way, I actually got my hands on a second Felix Hernandez SP from this set. Let me know if there's any interest out there, or for a big stack of Spring Cleaning Mariners for that matter.

The Topps Fanatic also sent over a couple of cards from last year's set. I'm now apparently finished with this set from 1 through 425, although I still need some inserts and a ton of SPs, of course. Of course.

Finally, let us not forget about good ol' 2007 Bowman Heritage, a set I've been working on somewhat in the background for years. I'll get it done one of these days. Joe Smith's so-called Rookie Card became my latest addition to this collection.

Hitting All the Sets

A trade stack for every occasion.

The Topps Baseball Fanatic is arguably the biggest Topps Heritage fan around. His collection is certainly putting mine to shame, but when you are doing as well on your set quests as he is, you're bound to have some doubles. Fortunately, I was once again the beneficiary of some cards he didn't need and was able to punch a few more holes in quite a few different sets that I'm working on. The Fanatic is also a big Dustin Pedroia collector, and I'm working on something to that end that he'll hopefully enjoy.

The 2012 Heritage set is probably the one I'm most sick of, but it's probably because I've opened more of it than any other year other than possibly 2008's offerings. I still have a bunch of doubles from this year, but I was able to snag a couple of short prints including CarGo here.

I actually forgot I was trying to collect these inserts. This is from the 2012 Topps Archives 3-D collection. I like these weird lenticular Sportflics-ish cards that occasionally pop up in recent products.

Josh Hamilton is surprised! And he has no signature. This is one of the variations from the 2007 Bowman Heritage set. I should really put this one to bed soon.

There are so many Dodgers collectors that I've traded with, so I don't get many chances to scan and post Dodgers cards on this blog. They're usually gone almost as quickly as they arrive. This one is staying home.

Here's another Bowman Heritage card of the foil variety. It's also a "no sig" version.

I still need base cards from 2009 Topps Heritage. That's sad. I'm missing 5 non-SP cards from the main set and 2 from the high series.

Finally, my favorite Topps insert set of all-time still has quite a few names on the list to cross off. Someday!

Trading with a Fanatic

Carlos Beltran is ready for the playoffs. Are you ready?

For at least the third time, I received a large package of set building cards from fellow set builder The Topps Baseball Fanatic. His blog primarily consists of wantlists of cards from Topps sets, but if you find something he needs and work out a deal with him I'm sure you're mailbox will be stuffed with cards that you need.

In addition to a few cards from the 2008 Topps 50th Anniversary All-Rookie Team insert set, I also got a healthy amount of needs from the 2007 Bowman Heritage. This short printed Ichiro "no signature" variation is a nice get. I don't exactly like that so many cards in this set have variations, but it's better that than no Bowman Heritage at all, which is the case these days.

Here's a shiny Miguel Cabrera. I don't really know what to say about Miggy, a guy who has put up video game-like numbers for the second straight year. I don't know, it could be that he's really good at the baseball game. I have a ton of these rainbow foil cards, but I need a ton more.

This package also continued where the previous package I received from The Fanatic left off, with a bunch more 2013 Heritage cards to add to my collection. Lance Lynn has been tabbed to start game 2 of the upcoming NLDS series with the Pirates right behind Adam Wainwright. Lynn was roughed up in a few relief appearances in last year's divisional series with the Nats and didn't fare much better in two brief starts versus the Giants in the NLCS. Hopefully he has learned something from his past playoff experiences and can turn that around.

I'm still chipping away at the 2006 Bazooka set, which was once upon a time a repack staple. I like all of the inserts and parallels, and I picked up a few of those in this package.

Well, it's the, uh... rarely seen Larry Bigbie. The right side of this card could tear apart the bozos on the left. That's all I'm saying.

Finally, this is a tough to find (for me) short printed team card from the 2007 Topps Heritage set. On a night where we saw the Reds season end, I had to wonder how long they'll keep Dusty Baker around, especially after he sent an ill-prepared Johnny Cueto to the mound with the season on the line. I guess it was technically the postseason, but it doesn't really feel like it. Much of the country was rooting for the "underdog" story Pirates to come out on top, and I was as well, though for a much different reason. I think the Cardinals, despite the regular season head-to-head records, will have better success against Pittsburgh than I did against Cincinnati. A couple of the Reds not-so-secret weapons (Chapman and Billy Hamilton) had me a bit concerned with the way they can affect a close game.

Surprise Package from Howard

Reader Howard has struck again with another generous package of unsolicited Cardinals cards to add to my collection. The majority of the package was full of '90s Cardinals - not the most prosperous era of Redbird baseball, but still a good one for finding hidden gems and other things that I didn't previously own. Before you read on, you should go on ahead and check out Howard's want list right now. I plan on doing it as soon as I can find some time outside of work and recovering from work.

The 1996 Ultra set is one that has completely escaped me for some reason, and I only know that from looking at the design. Back when there were only a few baseball card sets a year, it would literally take me a microsecond to identify what the set was based on a glimpse at the front of one card. It's pretty tough these days to tell the difference between the designs of most Ultra sets, but I do know what is unfamiliar to me.

Pacific Trading Cards had a certain kind of "go for it" attitude with their card designs that seems to fall in line with those flashy stickers that you can get at a grocery store vending machine for what it cost to buy a pack of Fleer back in the day.

I'm continually impressed with most things Flair that I've seen over the years. I just don't think any normal person could ever afford their stuff when it was released.

I've been waiting for quite awhile to receive my first Danny Sheaffer Cardinals card. He played for the Portland Beavers once upon a time when they were the Twins affiliate, and I recall his late career stint with the Cards. He also managed the Memphis Redbirds for a number of years after his playing career was over.

I'm probably not enthusiastic about minor league cards enough here, but I really enjoy getting them in trade packages. There also seems to be a healthier chance that I won't have a particular card or a spot in my binders for the player when you send me someone from a low minors ball club. When you're a Redbird, if you stick the names "Ozzie" and "Perez" together you probably think you have a pretty notable player. I'm thinking it's not really the case here.

Howard also added another goldie to my collection in the form of a David Eckstein 2006 World Series card. I'll never get tired of the 2006 World Series.

Howard also sent over some much needed set building needs, including this Pair 'o Papelbons from the 2007 Bowman Heritage Prospects set. A current check of Baseball-reference.com finds that neither Papelbon twin has really progressed much beyond AA nor thrown a meaningful pitch in 2011.

In this crazy day and age of Heritage short prints, it's funny that one Charlie Manuel can be worth a dozen Ryan Howards.

Remember this little insert set? I still want these. These silly baseball propaganda posters surely beat out crazed arbitrary apocalyptic proclamations in my book.

The Heritage Will Roll Right In

2007 Bowman Heritage is one of those sets that just seems to go on forever. I think for every 10 cards or so that I acquire for the master set, I somehow need another 30 more. Contributing to the cause (maybe) was a fellow Cardinals fan at Way Off Base. His is one of about 20 trade packages I've been working on, but I've made a fair bit of progress in all things baseball card-related this afternoon, so it's looking more and more like I'll get caught up with trades in the next few days.

Will I end up at least attempting to overpay for Tulo on a fantasy team or two this year? You bet.

Here's a "no sig" version of Hunter Pence, one of the only remaining somewhat marketable players on the Astros roster. Heck, their website features a big picture of Michael Bourn, who can barely hit the ball past the pitcher's mound.

I'm not sure it was a great idea for me to try and collect all of the thick foil cards considering there's as many of them as the base set, but I'm doing it anyway. Here's the future Hall of Famer Maddux in his stint with San Diego.

I'll never get tired of the hilarious expression on Josh Hamilton's face in this set.

Benny Agbayani's Smorgasbord of Base Manning Ball Players

The first of this blog's few New Year's subtle changes has been implemented. This one is so subtle, in fact, that I'd almost be willing to give up my "Pujols 1/1" to anyone who could actually guess what it is. It's a good thing I said "almost", but I am pretty positive no one will guess it. This one is a trade post brought to you by BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet. I actually have no idea if he named his blog after Mr. Agbayani, but it doesn't seem likely that it's named after himself now, does it? Mr. Benny, if you will, sent me a ton of 2007 Bowman Heritage cards, of which I've just shown a few here.

There were rainbow shiny cards all over the place. I'm not much of a fan, but I find the "wow, can you believe I'm here?" look on Josh Hamilton's face on this hilariously time-shifted "rookie card".

Grinning Matt, a Cards on Cards favorite, has been given the moniker of "Lego" by a certain rabid group of Cardinals fans. Why Lego? Well, have you ever seen the top of a hatless Lego person's head? Have you ever seen the top of Matt Holliday's hatless head? See?

Goldies! Goldies galore! BA Benny did not skimp on the bling here.

I am - do I have to say this every time - a big fan of the Topps gold parallel cards! Why that is... well... I'm not exactly sure. Perhaps I was just deprived of flashy things as a youth.

I don't even really like the color gold, honestly, yet there is something alluring to the sparkling nature of these cards and the serial numbers that accompany them. That, and they're generally pretty easy to obtain compared to all of the other things a card collector could be into.

The three primary staples of my set collecting interests are as follows: Allen & Ginter, Heritage and Turkey Red. I have quite a few A&G relics and several Heritage as well, but I was floored to receive this card. I don't really know why exactly, but I own next to nothing in the Turkey Red "hit" department. I have run into a few of the gold parallels from this set (which I actually think are kind of ugly) but I haven't had much luck in the jersey/bat department. This, however, is great... kinda like Benny Agbayani! Okay, maybe that's understating things a bit...