Let's Throw it Back

A Cardinals-centric collection of @batcavelv cards from today and back in the day. 

Tracy's Box Breaks is known for posting cheap box breaks periodically, which I always enjoy. Tracy also finds time to kick some other Cardinals my way from time to time. Let's check out a bunch of cards I got back in late November.

It's a rare Toys 'R Us parallel sighting! With the toy chain's demise, the purple parallels were pawned off on another chain store that we don't have around my neck of the woods. I'm not sure if they're continuing to do this for 2020 or not. The Walmart and Target colored parallels ceased years ago, but the idea continues to live on (see Walgreen's for example.)

Speaking of retail exclusives, here's one from the Topps Fire set that you can usually only find at Target. This is a nice gold parallel of Brock's base card.

Carson Kelly showed some power last year in his first shot of regular catching duty, albeit with another team. I wonder how Diamondbacks fans feel about him. This is kind of a busy card design, but I kind of like it.

More parallel madness, with former Cardinal (for six games at least) Tim Cooney appearing on a silver prospects Bowman card. Hey, that's six more games than most people have played in Major League Baseball!

I love "framed" cards a whole lot, so I'm always happy to get these. Goldschmidt is still in Diamondbacks uniform here, and I like that Panini didn't do a whole lot to disguise that other than the usually logo wipes that they do.

Another card of Goldy, shown here on last year's Panini Leather & Lumber base card. I think I missed out on a big opportunity when I didn't buy up all of the discount blasters of this stuff at a card show last year. I did have fun with the one that I opened, at least.

The photo itself doesn't get a ton of space here, but it's great to get a numbered card of any Hall of Famer.

The thing that really kickstarted this particular package was Tracy contacting me about going in with him on one of those Topps online exclusive set deals. That particular week's Throwback Thursday checklist had two Cardinals on it, and I was feeling adventurous and bought in.

They have a very 1990ish Score feel to them, although who knows if that's what they were going for here? There's next to nothing on the back, but I do appreciate the thickness of these cards as well as the overall look. One of the biggest reasons I never got on the Topps Now train even once is that I suspect that, once in hand, the cards weren't going to look or feel much different than any old insert card from the flagship set. These TBTs are really nice, though.

And speaking of throwing it back, check this totally '90s card from Topps Magazine. I love it.

Thanks again to Tracy, who has had a box break up for quite awhile now. I bet there's still time to buy in if you check with him.

Speechless

Contest winnings "and a few extras" render me speechless. Well, almost.

They always say "you can't play if you don't win". I feel like I don't win many things, but I also am probably guilty of just not even entering the prize pool more often than not. I even forgot to buy a Powerball ticket during all of the hysteria earlier this month. Fortunately, I did manage to enter Bob Walk the Plank's 600 Posts contest back in November, and I couldn't believe what I got in return... when I won!

It's a high end on card auto of Big City! I'm hoping Adams can put the injury unpleasantness behind him and seize control of the starting 1B job this season. Hey, it's 2016! I love being able to call it "this season".

Not one, but TWO Albert Pujols pieces of game used bits? This was certainly unexpected. I know that plenty of people are "over" the whole game used card thing due to fraud and market saturation, but I'm not! Since you can't see the number, I'll also mention that it's 52/75.

Here's a mysterious Scott Rolen numbered card from a 2005 Throwback Threads set. I think this is one of those deals where there's parallels of parallels on parallels, but I don't care. I like this.

If all that wasn't enough, check out this game used card from an old-time Hall of Famer! This is fantastic.

And finally... a Pujols game used patch?! Are you kidding me? This is just too much! Who gets future HOFer patch cards in the mail?

Support your local Pirates blogger, folks! Or, at least, support Bob Walk the Plank.

Up For Grabs Cardinalpalooza: Red Schoendienst and Enos Slaughter

Previously on the Cardinalpalooza: Bruce Sutter | Albert Pujols | Ray Lankford | Mark McGwire | J.D. Drew | Colby Rasmus | Yadier Molina | Allen Craig | Stan Musial | Rick Ankiel | David Freese | Keith Hernandez | Steve Carlton | Lance Berkman

Perhaps no other Hall of Famer embodies the team he played for more than Red Schoendienst. At 90 years old, he still participates in team activities to this day. He was a 10-time All-Star and won 5 World Series rings. He's the oldest living person to manage a World Series winner, and he came back to the post twice on an interim basis, bookending the Whitey Herzog era.

Had I planned things better, this would have made a great Veterans Day post.

The list:

1990 Topps Traded Factory Set #113T
1992 Studio (Checklist) #262
1994 Ted Williams Card Company #83
2001 Topps Archives '62 #400
2005 Upper Deck Classics #80
2007 Topps Distinguished Service #DS24 [2 available]
2008 Donruss Threads #47 [5 available]

Like Red, Enos "Country" Slaughter spent some playing years with other organizations. His most prolific years were spent wearing the Birds on the Bat, however. I know embarrassingly little about Slaughter beyond the fact that he was a terrific player with a terrific name who played for a terrific team.

The list:

1993 Ted Williams Card Company #92

1998 Fleer Sports Illustrated Then and Now (Legends of the Game) #31

1998 Fleer Sports Illustrated World Series Fever (Magnificent Moments) #26
2005 Upper Deck Classics #32 [3 available]