Plain White Heroes

Compact trade packages from a White Sox guy.

I haven't quite gotten into the plain white envelope craze, mostly because I have too many cards to get rid of. In fact, if you contact me out of the blue, you're more than likely to get a bunch of team bags full of cards than just a couple that you think you need. Trust me. You need all my cards. Fortunately, there are people out there who are great at the PWE thing, like Jeff from 2x3 Heroes!

I responded to a couple of Jeff's posts over at APTBNL, and he was kind enough to set aside a couple of things for me and send them off with some odds and ends. One of the cards he sent was a Ducks card I'm holding out for a future GLD post as is my usual practice, so I'm just going to show off the other card here. This is another one of a seemingly unlimited number of Jim Edmonds cards from the decade of oughts that I didn't have in my collection. Now I have it. Isn't that fun?

I never expected to get a vintage card in a plain white envelope, but they make great vessels to carry well worn older cards. This flat-topped mug has a couple of creases, but it's going to look great in my Cardinal binders anyway.

Jeff also sent a few 2013 Topps Heritage needs that I was able to tick off of the want list. I'm down to needing just 7 plain old base cards while trying not to think about all of the SPs, variations and inserts that I don't have.

Finally, here's a card I needed from the nearly forgotten 2008 Upper Deck Goudey revival. I can't bring myself to scan a dreaded Lakers card and post it on this blog, especially not one of this jerkface. Instead, I scanned the back. And now that I'm reading the text on the back, I'm wishing I hadn't looked at it at all. AHH! IT BURNS MY EYES!

One Down, Three to Go

It's late at night and I'm kicking back, watching some time-shifted baseball. Things seem right with the world. What's this February thing you say? Surely it cannot still be winter? I must say, in watching this morning's Cardinals/Mets matchup that I put on the DVR, I am thinking this Michael Wacha I've been hearing so much about may just have a future in this here baseball game.

But I digress. Thanks to a certain White Sox fan, I am now just three cards away from completing a set I started 4 1/2 years ago, around the very time I started this blog. Here's a few more cards that JediJeff sent me in the plainest, whitest envelope that he could find.

I am a sucker for these lenticular cards, which is why I added the Archives 3-D set to my ever growing list of things that I am trying to accumulate more of. It would only make sense for me to have added the similar insert set from 2011 Topps Lineage, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet!

This one isn't bound for the Cardinals collection at all. It's my second Albert Pujols Hit Parade of Chumps Champions from the 2008 Goudey set, which means it finally gets knocked off the set want list.

Gettin' Political

I just finished up a hellish day that included three fantasy baseball drafts. I'm mentally exhausted. You know that feeling you get when you're through with three final exams, yet don't feel super confident about how well you did on any of them? I'm relieved that it's all over, but who is to say how badly I screwed things up this time.

Here's a trade package to calm the nerves and switch things up a bit. Duane of Democratic Roadkill recently sent me a box of trade fun to my hippie/commie neck of the woods. He is the latest in a recent string of contributors that has me oh so close to finally completing the 2010 Allen & Ginter set.

Placido Polanco is a frequent target of mine, being that he's not horrible and he's usually eligible at a middle infield position. You never feel great about drafting him, but he's always around somewhere, like an old shoe.

I'm sure that this was well covered last summer, but this has to be one of the worst baseball cards to ever be a baseball card.

Duane hit up a few less active want lists of mine, including the 2008 Goudey set. A mini Yogi Berra still fills a pretty huge hole in a set that at this rate won't be completed until sometime in late 2033.

Many great trades that I've completed include a bonus helping of random Cardinals cards, and this was no exception. I'm a bit surprised that Bowman's Best hasn't made a comeback. Are there any fans of this stuff out there?

Thanks again to Democratic Roadkill, who should expect a package from me by the end of the week.

Gabillions of Goudey

Earlier this month I received an entire cardboard box full of 2008 Goudey cards, courtesy of The Sewingmachineguy. Not only did he knock off every last base card need from this set, but he also sent a ton of short prints and inserts. Erin and I are working on this set together - a new experiment in collecting for certain - and are currently still quite a ways away from finishing up this challenging set. Challenging is probably putting it nicely. What I mean to say is that this set has WAY too much SPs.

One of my personal collecting issues is that I am a team collector above all else, so when I get Cardinals like these next four that you'll see, I actually have to plan on purchasing two as these go straight into the team collection if I don't have them already. Since this set is a joint venture, I am going to make it a priority to purchase another copy of these cards on my own (or at least try and trade for them.)

I also have my own separate Ozzie Smith binder. This does not, however, mean that I need 3 cards of every Ozzie Smith card from every set I am trying to put together. I consider the Ozzie cards part of my Cardinals collection as well, aside from his Padres years.

I'm not certain why I decided to go after the Hit Parade of Champions but, for the most part, pass on the regular minis. I think the HPCs are kind of strange, but most of them are pretty affordable.

This is from one of the many short-printed subsets within the set. By the way, is anyone looking forward to 2010 Goudey? I hear it should be out fairly soon. I am predicting it will be awful, based on the licensing issues and last year's unpleasantness.

This one is for my friend Kevin, the only Habs fan I know (and possibly the only hockey fan I know personally) and also for Erin because I was just explaining to her today that Patrick Roy's last name is not pronounced like Brandon Roy's. Roy (Patrick, that is) is also the only Canadiens player, past or present, that I could actually name off of the top of my head.

I failed to post a single president card on Presidents' Day. Actually, as I prepare this post, it's still technically Presidents' Day in my time zone, but I'm saving this for you all to read tomorrow (which will be today by the time you see it.)

This is a really nice looking card. There were several missteps in this set (again, nothing like the horror-filled 2009 Goudey) but this is not one of them. I think the blue background works great. I also wish the Brewers were still an American League team and that Bud Selig hadn't screwed up everything for all eternity.

I just scanned this card because she was an Olympian and I'm watching the Olympics right now... the colder version, that is.

And finally... get ready to dance... SLURPEE DISC TIME!!! I love these, if you couldn't tell.

Thanks again to The Sewingmachineguy. Your package should be on its way in the next 24 hours.

Roll Out the Minis

Here's a package I received at the end of December. Just in case you haven't been keeping track, it's February now. That is how far behind I am right now. (Thanks, by the way, to Tim of the GSNHOF as I got your package today. Expect to see a post sometime around early March at this rate.)

This one is from Ed from Roll Out the Barrel. Ed is my go-to person for disposal of unwanted Milwaukee Brewers cards and at some point... last year... he was looking to ditch some excess Allen & Ginter minis that he had no use for. Ever the opportunist, I decided to swoop in and put a claim down, and I'm very glad I did. But I'm tired from an exhausting day at work (not to mention a pretty solid Blazers win) so I thought I'd scan every single mini card that Ed sent in lieu of expert commentary on a few key cards. Enjoy.

There were regular minis...

Minis with the Old Planter guy on the back... and some just had the regular backs you know and love...

It was mostly baseball players, but no Brewers (of course)...

But there were even a few non-baseball players as well as a couple of short prints...

And who doesn't like the ol' black bordered minis? Even though I think the 2009 black bordered minis look better, I still like these...

A couple of non-Ginter Cardinals sneaked their way in, including starting third baseman-hopeful David Freese and one of the best pitchers in the National League on a Goodwin mini.

Finally, Ed also sent some regular-sized wants and needs (is there a difference?) from some sets I'm going to be working on until I'm 49. Scott Kazmir represents 2009 Heritage and Jackie Joyner-Kersee has got the 2008 Goudey covered.

Maybe I should only collect minis. At least then I'd be a bit more focused.

2008 Goudey

Want List:

(SPs)

231 George Washington

238 Ulysses S. Grant

242 John Adams

246 James K. Polk

275 Brett Favre SR

282 Cal Ripken Jr. SR

285 Derek Jeter SR

289 Emmitt Smith SR

290 Janet Evans SR

294 Josh Beckett SR

296 Julie Foudy SR

299 Magic Johnson SR

300 Michael Jordan SR

302 Tom Brady SR

303 Wade Boggs SR

304 Dan Marino SR

305 Dave Winfield SR

306 Jenny Thompson SR

307 Kobe Bryant SR

308 Kevin Durant SR

309 Ken Griffey Jr. SR

312 Larry Bird SR

313 LeBron James SR

315 Mark Messier SR

316 Michael Johnson SR

317 Misty May-Treanor SR

318 Bob Gibson SR

319 Nolan Ryan SR

320 Ozzie Smith SR

321 Prince Fielder SR

322 Rulon Gardner SR

323 Reggie Jackson SR

324 Ernie Banks SR

325 Sidney Crosby SR

326 Sanya Richards SR

327 Terry Bradshaw SR

328 Tony Gwynn SR

329 Stan Musial SR

330 Tiger Woods SR

(Hit Parade of Champions)

HPC-6 Cal Ripken Jr.

HPC-7 Carl Yastrzemski

HPC-10 Gordie Howe

HPC-11 Joe Montana

HPC-12 Joe Namath

HPC-15 LaDainian Tomlinson

HPC-21 Michael Jordan

HPC-22 Nolan Ryan

HPC-24 Peyton Manning

HPC-27 Roger Staubach

HPC-28 Manny Ramirez

[updated 11/17/25]