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?

Night Owl is All About the Shiny

Surprisingly shiny stuff from @nightowlcards includes a batch of Redbird parallels. 

 

When most of us think of Night Owl Cards and baseball cards, the '70s immediately jump to mind. (Specifically 1975 and minis.) Imagine my surprise, then, when a bunch of sparkly new Cardinals fell out of an envelope I received back from the Dodgers enthusiast back in February.

I've never been one to desire to "chase the rainbow" (we should really call this "Skittlesing") because I consider myself a team collector before a player collector. The conundrum is that a team collector like me still feels the need to hoard every version of every card of every player in that certain uniform.

These red ice (or whatever... actually, Cardboard Connection lists these as "red foilboard" for some reason) cards are serial numbered to just 199 copies. I'm not sure if I've ever pulled one personally.

Topps uses that "ice" effect on their base cards and a similar effect on their fancy Chrome Sapphire sets (see below), but the way they name these parallel designs is maddeningly inconsistent. Panini also does a version of this, and a version of the same pattern you see on X-Fractor cards like Jon Lester here (Panini calls these "building blocks" at times.) It makes me wonder if anyone has any original ideas anymore.

Acquiring a Chrome Sapphire card is a fairly rare achievement these days. I'm always appreciative when someone sends me one out of the blue. Otherwise, I seem to end up with a few of the cheapest ones whenever possible, similar to how I've treated Topps Now cards over the years. I really have a hard time bringing myself to spend more than one dollar on any single card.

I don't think I've seen this particular parallel pattern out of Topps before, but it looks like something Panini has used quite a bit on certain Chronicles and Revolution cards. (Go back to Pacific Revolution to see its origins, I think.) I'm not sure if this was pack pulled or one of those factory set parallels that must drive rainbow chasers closer to the brink of card madness.
 

Of course, we also have the familiar Stadium Club parallels to contend with. At least these are usually easy to identify, with mostly a foil color change here (red, in this case) or a chromium finish there. I'm glad we got one last card of Adam Wainwright as a batter, now that pitchers mostly don't bat anymore.

We're finally back to familiar Night Owl ground here with this four-pack of Allen & Ginter minis. My stack of unsorted A&G minis is getting disturbingly big at the moment, which means it's probably time to do some more of that dreaded organizing soon.

Thanks again to Night Owl and everyone else who has sent me some interesting parallels over the years.

Farewell, Edmundo Sosa

A trade envelope featuring a couple of autographs and an embedded coin. 

 

The Cardinals bid farewell to Edmundo Sosa last month before the trade deadline, a backup shortstop who had been in the organization since he signed as a sixteen year old more than a decade ago. Sosa finally found regular playing time with the Cardinals for the first time in 2021 and even won the starting shortstop job over a faltering Paul DeJong down the stretch. He couldn't repeat his success this year and was having a hard time even finding at-bats when he was dealt to make room for, you guessed it, Paul DeJong.

Cards as I See Them (gcrl) sent me the Sosa autograph and some other Cardinals goodies in an envelope last May, and I'm just getting around to them now. Let's check out a few more.

Last year's Donruss Diamond Kings design (not to be confused with the Diamond Kings set) featured Jack Flaherty making a weird face.

In 2020, the manufactured relic item of choice for Topps flagship sets was an embedded coin. These ended up being a lot heavier than what they've put into the blaster boxes of the past couple of years.

Here's another pesky '90s parallel down. There are many to go.

You can tell that this photo isn't from the current season, because Yadi has been sporting some seriously glowy yellow pads on his arms lately.

Jon Jay retired back in April, so the timing on this really fancy Topps Tribute signature card was pretty exquisite. I really need to figure out which players from the 2011 team I am still lacking autographs from.

Wong Gone

 

Cards from the @dimeboxman help say goodbye to Kolten Wong, plus more players that are sticking around. 

 

Every off season generally sees players leaving your favorite team, but it feels like it's been awhile since the Cardinals have lost a player from their core in free agency. Kolten Wong became the first significant player to leave from the Matheny days in awhile, as he comes off back to back Gold Glove award wins to join up with the rival Brewers. This Wong Big League parallel is just one of a bunch of Cardinals cards sent to me by Nick of Dime Boxes late last fall. While Wong's departure will certainly be felt, the Cardinals do see the rest of the core returning along with the huge trade for Nolan Arenado.

Dexter Fowler was recently dealt to the Angels to give other younger outfielders more of a shot at playing time, like Tyler O'Neill here. What this really means is the opportunity for Dylan Carlson to continue the big role he had at the end of 2020, but it should mean ample opportunity for others like O'Neill, Lane Thomas and maybe even Justin Williams.

Former Cardinal Stephen Piscotty shows up here on his rookie year "metallic snowflake" parallel from 2016 Topps Holliday. I've yet to figure out what a metallic snowflake is supposed to be, because these never really seem to have much in the way of metal in them. I guess they didn't want to call them glitterflakes?

Jack Flaherty is not yet under contract for the 2021 season, but it looks like an arbitration hearing will settle that. It will be interesting to see how Flaherty responds this season after only throwing 40 innings in 2020.

Nick sent no less than four purple prospect parallels from the 2015 Bowman set. Of the bunch, only Edmundo Sosa has logged any time with the big league club. Sosa seemed likely to be in the mix in 2020 as a utility player, but after adding Brad Miller to the roster it appears that he got squeezed out.

I'm a fan of these vintage World Series cards and really should own more of them considering how many of them feature the Cardinals.

My relative lack of interest in last year's Allen & Ginter set means that I'm not tired of the inserts yet. This Big Mac Longball Lore card still pops!

Nick also sent a quad-pack (a quad-laser?!?) of 2020 Turkey Red cards from the Update set. Most of my remaining needs are from the elusive Series 2, though I still need a couple from Series 1 and Update as well.

Cards of Many Colors

Another great batch of cards from @batcavelv includes some choice parallels. 

 

As mentioned in this space a number of times in the past, Tracy's Box Breaks regularly posts really cheap breaks every couple of months or so. In fact, there's a brand new one up right now. Let's check out some of the stuff I got from Tracy back in July.

Wouldn't you know that shortly after I confessed my love for these parallels on the 4th of July, a Cardinals one happened to show up in my mailbox? I've got a small collection of them going, although I don't know how aggressive I'll be about acquiring them. (I also have a small collection of Mike Trout cards, for example, but I'm not actively buying his stuff of course.)

One of my favorite things year after year about Topps Heritage is their inclusion of insert cards that further pay tribute to the year the original set was released. Can you actually play this scratch off game, though? Has anyone tried?

Next up is a couple of orange refractors from 2013 Topps Chrome, including this rookie year Trevor Rosenthal card. It's nice to see that Rosenthal rebuilt his career as the current Padres closer, although it was tough watching him close out the Wild Card series against his former team.

The other orange refractor was a rookie year card as well. Notice how I didn't say "rookie card", as people tend to have feelings about that sort of thing. Michael Wacha, unfortunately, didn't pitch nearly as well as Rosenthal for his new team.

From licensed to unlicensed here with an older Adam Wainwright Donruss Optic parallel.

Panini Prizm really could be something in baseball if circumstances were different. Check out how cool this one looks!

We end things with back-to-back Yadi cards. This one is a parallel from the 2014 Bowman set, showing off his native Puerto Rico flag. It's fantastic. I never thought I'd have to say this, but let's hope that the Cardinals and Yadi get a new deal done soon.

Another Bunch of Breaks

More box break fun from @batcavelv includes some unique Cardinals stuff. 

If you haven't checked out Tracy's Box Breaks before, and you're on a budget like I am, I highly suggest that you do so at your next opportunity. Tracy runs some of the cheapest breaks in town, and you literally never know what you're going to find inside. A new box just arrived on my porch from him today, but I'm going to look back at what I received back in May.

Right off the bat, it's an autograph of Edmundo Sosa, in Panini's "Carolina Blue" flavor. Sosa made the so-called Opening Day roster this year, which is a bit of a step up for him as he's seen very sparing time at the big league level so far. With the expanded roster this year, this might not change a whole lot, but it's nice to see someone get a little recognition.

At some point I believe Tracy had a handful of packs that were up for dibs, and I claimed this one. It's never going to be worth anything, but I think it's an interesting addition to my Ozzie collection.

I really liked these one-per-blaster chunky cards this year, so it was cool to get a copy of the Gibby. I still need to track down a copy of Ozzie Smith's iconic Padres rookie card replication from this set.

What is Topps Gallery without the awkward artwork? This Hall of Fame insert set features a very closely cropped Lou Brock.

This is a great photo of late career Willie McGee. I feel like he's featured in a ton of great shots over the years, even if he's not always the most photogenic guy.

Yadi says 'SUP. (I don't know if this is a thing Yadi actually ever says.)

Here's another purple Molina. This is yet more proof that the MLBPA-only license always looks best on cards of catchers.

While it won't be Trevor Rosenthal closing out games this year, it's nice to look back on a card that surely signaled a big Cardinals victory. Yadi will be catching pitches from Kwang-hyun Kim in the 9th in 2020.

Speaking of which... wow, real baseball tonight? It all feels so surreal.