Temporary Title (or is it?)

 

A huge variety pack of Cardinals cards and card-like things. 

Coming up with a blog post title is not typically the easiest thing to do, and I often end up throwing a temporary title in while I work on the other aspects of the post, like the images and the words and what have you. For whatever reason, nothing was really speaking to me today even though this collection of Cardinals cards I received from Tracy's Box Breaks several months back was outstanding.

This Old Judge-inspired card from the 2005 Upper Deck Origins set is a really nice way to kick things off here. This is reminding me once again that I really need to get my hands on some real vintage cards sooner or later.

Cast aside by the Cardinals in the midst of last season when he couldn't hit his way out of a wet paper bag, Edmundo Sosa caught fire with the Phillies and ended up facing his old team in the abbreviated playoff series. This "orange ice" parallel is numbered to 299.

I know that a lot of people are down on vintage buyback cards, but I kind of dig them. I don't know that I would pay more than a buck for any particular one of these, but I enjoy getting them in the mail from time to time.

The Stadium Club would have never had me as a member back in the day, but I am glad to enjoy the perks of its membership from time to time.

Somewhat stunningly, this is actually the second copy I own of this Troy Glaus gold parallel from 2008. (There's only 75 copies in existence, supposedly.)

Panini's Cooperstown sets were a fun idea, and I wish they had stuck around longer. Mostly, I just want more round cards.

This is from one of those Topps online exclusive sets. Blake Jamieson designed this set and presumably drew the portraits of each player, modeled after the 1951 Topps sets, of course.

This is a "Fractal Materials" parallel. That makes it sound like there should be a lot more going on with this card other than it being super shiny/glossy.

Tracy included a couple of these metallic looking things that were modeled after the 1986 Topps set, still in their respective wrappers. I'm not sure of the story behind these, but they will settle nicely into my box of curios that don't easily fit into card binders.

Panini probably has a different name for these parallels besides "green ice", but that's what I'm going to call them for now. Now that the beleaguered card company has no active license with the MLB players association, I wonder what it would take to see Cooperstown make a comeback in the future?

Airbrushed Fridays: 1989 Bowman #448

There is perhaps nothing more frustating to me in terms of baseball cards than cards that are larger than the modern standard size of 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches. I can handle smaller cards, and I'm even drawn to the tobacco sized minis that we see in current products. Oversized cards can and often do look awesome, but they're really frustrating to store. At this time, there's hardly any 1989 Bowman cards worth keeping (I think I sold or traded off my Griffey rookie card long ago) but I'm still left with a stack of these stashed in a half-filled box that also contains a long neglected Cubs mini batting helmet that I got from a Dairy Queen when I was a kid. Don't fret - I had no choice in the matter. But rather than deface the thing, I put it to good use: as a bookend prop for a set full of suck. If I had been a more enterprising child, I might have even shaved an eighth of an inch or so off of these cards to make them conform to my standards.

Andy Benes was a right-handed starting pitcher, college star, Olympian and one-time Major League All-Star (1993) who pitched in two separate post-All-Star stints with the Cardinals. He spent the majority of his career with the Padres, but came to the Cardinals for their playoff season (Tony La Russa's first) of 1996. He became a free agent after the 1997 season and was signed just moments after midnight - just past the free agent deadline. His contract was voided and I remember being very upset as Benes had become one of the strongest pieces in the Cardinals rotation at the time. He could have sat out the first month of the 1998 season before resigning with the Cardinals legitimately, but instead opted to play right away by signing a 2-year deal with the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks. This is when despicable agent Scott Boras first came on to my radar.

Why did Topps airbrush Andy's photo? The back of the card says it all. Andy was fresh out of college and had not yet pitched for the Padres or even in the farm system at the time of the set's release. He was on the 1988 Olympic team so he presumably got the rest of the summer off after being drafted by San Diego.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Topps/Bowman was clever and used a photo where Andy's cap was obscuring at least half of the logo, so they would only have to airbrush half of a logo. Unfortunately, half of an airbrushed logo is no less obvious than an entire airbrushed logo. Add in the wavy uniform pinstripes of an unsteady hand and the little button and you have an airbrushed winner.

(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.)