Here are some Cardinals cards to get you through the afternoon as we get set for tonight's game against the Fish. These all came to me courtesy of Smed's Spring Cleaning bonanza, the gift that apparently keeps on giving. Some of us opted into receiving "grab bags" which ended up being large boxes full of miscellany. Some of that miscellany turned out to be some really high quality Cardinals fare. Great stuff! If you have any cards at all, Smed's probably needs 'em, so make sure you stop by.
Here's a Matt Holliday card in bedazzled form. I enjoy a good parallel card, but I will be glad when 2012 Topps rolls around so I don't have to look at these gawdy diamond things anymore.
My scanner hates Kimball Champions for some reason. It's a good thing I don't.
There must have been a point that was reached where teams just simply gave up on trying to throw Lou Brock out and played it safe.
Mini Berk! I'm trying to resist the urge to go out and buy another A&G blaster, but it's really hard.
Here's a fantastically miscut Ted Simmons card. I may end up putting this in my binder along with my non-miscut version.
Here's the Gooch in the full-rendered splendor of Heritage, Chrome and Refractor.
While this season's hopes might be tethered to Rafael Furcal, some new faces in the bullpen and the splintering backend of the pitching rotation, the future is very much dependent on someone else.
Out of all of the cards in the box, however, this was by far my favorite. Lance Lynn's emergence has been one of the bright stories in the 2011 Cardinals storybook. He looks like a keeper and at this point could probably close or start. Only time will tell. Just the day before I received this card, I was wondering if I would ever get my hands on a Lance Lynn card. Well, here you go. I can't claim that he has the most amazing signature in the world, but I have always thought that people put way too much focus on that.
Where did this baseball season go? Where did this year go? As it stands now after last night's Fish Disposal, the Cards have completed 112 games with 50 remaining. I'm afraid that if I sleep in a little too long once or twice that it's going to be October all of a sudden. Summer (all 82 degrees of it) finally took hold here in Portland in these past couple of weeks and the lawns have finally turned white, but I'm already fearful of the imminent doom of crisp clear nights. This is about the time of year where I need to stop taking baseball for granted, no matter how frustrating the team I root for can be.
Jorge Cantu is a journeyman first baseman who most recently appeared in the majors with the Padres. He struggled with San Diego this season and was released last month. Just prior to the recent trade deadline, he signed a minor league deal with Colorado.
Why did Topps airbrush Jorge's photo? Cantu spent his first few seasons with Tampa Bay, following up a breakout 2005 season with a disappointing 2006 and 2007. The Reds made their own trade deadline deal for Cantu in 2007, not long before the Updates & Highlights set was born.
What's wrong with this picture, anyway? From the short sleeves to the striping running down his pants, Cantu looks more Devil Ray than Red even if you look at the card up close. The helmet is weird, as well. I am not positive, but I think that Cincinnati used nothing but solid red batting helmets at this point. And wait... there's more. Cantu's nameplate is goofy, especially the 'C'. And last, but certainly not least, Jorge wore #15 for the Reds instead of the #3 he donned in Tampa. You see, there was a certain veteran in that clubhouse who had a preference for that particular uniform number. His name was Ken Griffey, Jr. Perhaps you have heard of him?
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. Last week's offer still stands, by the way.
It's tearing up the internet! It's trending on Twitter! It's facing on Facebook! It's... er... plussing on Google+! That's right, folks, it's the internet sports card blog's most popular and funtastic event of the year. It's... Gint-A-Bluffs! Knees were weakened and pantaloons were lowered (just a smidge) during last year's amazing festivities. This year shall be an unsurpassed treat! Let's get the ball rolling, this time with a scoring system so complex even Mighty Mathocles cannot comprehend it with his brain system of instant calculations.
Pack 1:
83 - Mat Hoffman (+1 for being the Tony Hawk of 2-wheeled competition, -3 for being a "Mat")
272 - Wee Man (-5 for being part of Jackass)
60 - Brandon Belt (Sales Guys' Favorite Team = +1. I'm just glad the Cardinals aren't in a divisional race with the Giants or I'd have to deal with annoying baseball talk all day at work.)
333 - Carlos Lee (-2 for being on a franchise with a 10 year rebuilding plan, +2 for being an SP)
AP12 - Snow Leopard Animals In Peril (+5 for being ferocious!, x2 for being a mini)
MMF19 - Bernhard Riemann (+1 for being smarter than you.)
Pack 2:
254 - Denard Span
56 - Scott Kazmir
54 - Austin Jackson Code (-3 for Topps not learning their lesson with pointless code parallel nonsense two years ago. Also, don't those patters look like flat butterflies?)
BHS-10 - Ryan Howard Baseball Highlight Sketches (-5 for being a consistently lousy insert set, -2 for being indecisive about its orientation.)
141 - Vernon Wells A&G Back Mini (-1 for A&G back because I swear that regular back minis have been harder to find ever since last year, x2 mini)
HH60 - Alex Rodriguez Hometown Heroes (How do you score "meh" exactly?)
- Stupid Ugly Code Jerk (I HATE this guy. He looks like a cross between Seth Rogan and a particularly awful ex-roommate of mine. I don't need to see either of them ever again. I'm pretty much as much of a pacifist as they come, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over giving this guy a solid beating if I ever met him. -17! I don't care what you clock says!)
Pack 3:
185 - Justin Upton
23 - Aubrey Huff (+1 Sales Guys' Favorite Team)
162 - Mat Latos (-3 for being a "Mat")
350 - Joe Mauer (+2 for being an SP, -1 for hindering my fantasy team's chances.)
213 - Xavier Nady Mini Black (+3 for ex-Portland Beaver, +3 for Black Border, X2 Mini)
HH88 - Roy Oswalt Hometown Heroes
- Checklist Four of Five
Pack 4:
188 - Daniel Descalso (+56 for being a Cardinal!)
243 - Mike Nickeas
180 - Kyle Drabek
7 - Mickey Mantle (+1 for not being a Mickey Mantle insert saturating every product that Topps puts out.)
UG1 - Bachelor's Grove Cemetery Uninvited Guests (-2 for being creepy, x2 mini)
HH14 - Carl Pavano Hometown Heroes
Pack 5:
30 - Hanley Ramirez
205 - Kendrys Morales (-5 for being injured all the time.)
AOM20 - Hominina Ascent of Man (+20 for being a key cog in the evolutionary chain, +3 for reminding me of a video game in a way I can't even begin to explain.)
347 - Josh Thole (+2 SP)
SRU5 - The Human Cannonball Step Right Up (+1 for reminding me of a Modest Mouse video, -6 being clowns are creepy and so is the circus by proxy.)
FF5 - Sovereign of the Seas Floating Fortresses (+3 for not being a landlubber, -1 for no sign of Popeye or spinach.)
Pack 6:
18 - Daniel Hudson
212 - Aramis Ramirez (-12 for being a lousy Cub)
114 - [Expletive Deleted] (-20 for being The Worst)
Let's step aside for a minute and enjoy this commercial interruption.
Breathtaking, isn't it?
43 - Jake LaMotta Mini (+1 because I wouldn't want to mess with him. He looks hungry. Also, x2 mini)
HH16 - Dan Uggla (+5 for being on a 25-game hitting streak and helping my fantasy team. -4 for still being at .215 on the year. Oh, yeah, and those All-Star Game errors... -1. Never forget!)
Pack 7:
107 - L.L. Zamenhof (-2 for inventing something I don't really understand, Esperanto. And -1 for possibly paving the way for the Adam Sandler vehicle Spanglish.)
232 - Picabo Street (+10 for being incredibly awesome)
223 - Chuck Woolery (-9 for being the creep that follows Picabo)
306 - Josh Willingham (+2 SP)
180 - Kyle Drabek (x2 mini, and we all know what nothing times two equals...)
HH21 - Jon Lester Hometown Heroes (+7 for stomping on cancer, -3 Red Sox)
Pack 8:
62 - Alfonso Soriano (-12 Cub)
50 - Carl Crawford (-3 Red Sox)
292 - Wade Davis
BHS-20 - Some Yankees Player Baseball Highlight Sketches (-30 for being completely unrecognizable as a baseball player or human for that matter, -5 for being part of this insert set)
229 - Juan Pierre A&G Back Mini (-1 A&G Back, -1 for having a poorly designed "picture", x2 mini)
HH87 - Jeremy Hellickson Hometown Heroes
- Codemaster (Ahhh! Not him again! Go away! -17)
And that's a wrap! Let's check the scores and see how I stack up to other less worthy competition...
-40!
Ahhh! I want my money back! Curse you, Codemaster!
To illustrate just how far behind I've sunk in trading, I'm showing off a package I received a couple of weeks ago from TexasSurveyor, which included some much needed 2007 Heritage cards along with the usual Redbird suspects. I know that a couple of weeks really isn't a lot of time, but realize that I usually like to actually complete my end of the trade before I post about what I got in return. It looks like I have some work to do. In the mean time, here are some cards!
Lance looks about like he probably felt after last night's marathon of a baseball game. Batters were beaned, homers were slugged, and (inadvertent!) saliva was slung. In the end, the Cardinals picked up a game on the persistent Brew Crew and the All-Star catcher will probably miss a couple of games. Fortunately, the Cardinals have three catchers on their active roster for some reason.
Extra bonus points are awarded here for finally completing the 2009 Topps base team set needs. I'm still missing all of the SP variations, of course, but we won't talk about that right now.
I don't know you, Joe. I'm happy to have your baseball card, however. It looks like Hague spent two seasons as a full-time player with the Cards back in the early '70s, along with a few other seasons where he was more of a bit player.
Speaking of bit players, John Gall never quite fit into the Cardinals mix. He had decent minor league numbers, if not spectacular. His role was eventually filled by John Rodriguez, and countless numbers of other players who are good enough to appear on baseball cards and the occasional Major League scorecard, but don't make much more of an impact. I'm quite happy to receive a certified autographed card of him, however.
Two posts in one day! What kind of crazy world do we live in, anyway? Here are some packs that I bought at a card shop recently. I try to pick these up whenever I see them because they're usually cheap and are full of great and/or notable players from the past. All of these cards are up for trade if you happen to be interested.
Pack 1:
54 - Jesse Orosco (Orosco made 4 scoreless appearances for the Mets in the '86 Series, giving up just two hits and walking nobody with 2 saves to show for it. He also pitched until he was something like 80 years old, or at least it seemed like it.)
26 - Randy Johnson
78 - Roger Maris
7 - John Olerud (Olerud was the first serious threat in what I'll call my era to break .400. He fell way short in the end, which only proved that George Brett's .390 season was all that more remarkable.)
83 - Derek Jeter
Pack 2:
24 - Frankie Frisch
29 - Steve Finley (To me, the 2001 World Series was about as good as they get, although the team I wanted to win did not.)
2 - Jimmie Foxx
76 - Don Larsen
157 - Cliff Floyd Future World Series Heroes (This a short print with a 1:10 seed ratio. After winning a ring in 1997, Floyd did not return to the World Series until 2008 when he was a hobbled pinch hitter on the losing side with the Rays.)
Pack 3:
22 - Robin Yount (Most of the cards honor players who actually won the World Series, but as we all know, the ring eluded the 1982 AL MVP.)
77 - Thurman Munson
53 - Mike Hampton
80 - Babe Ruth
25 - Stan Musial (Nice!)
Pack 4:
44 - Moises Alou
15 - Andruw Jones (Jones is another player who ended up on the wrong side of the World Series matchup. He was one year too late to enjoy Atlanta's title in 1995.)
66 - Joe Morgan
10 - Devon White
87 - Mariano Rivera
Pack 5:
55 - Cal Ripken Jr. (Ripken was 3 for 18 with just one RBI in the 1983 World Series, but his noteworthy status in the game of baseball gave him the nod in this set because there was a shortage of Ripken cards printed.)
59 - Curt Schilling (This was pre-"bloody" sock.)
32 - Kirk Gibson (His stat line for the Series tells the story: BA 1.000, G 1, AB 1, R 1, H 1, HR 1, RBI 2)
5 - Rickey Henderson (How was Rickey so fast with those metal shoes?)
150 - Vladimir Guerrero Future World Series Heroes (Vlad finally made it to the World Series last year with the Rangers, but we all know how that turned out. He's probably going to need to find a new team if he plans on making it back.)
I received another package from the excellent Play at the Plate a few weeks back. Clearly, I'm in catch-up mode here as the number of packages waiting around for my words far exceed the amount of time I've been putting into creating said words. Since I'm sure you already know about Play at the Plate, why don't you go on ahead and enter his August contest already. He seems to have a contest at least once a month and it's usually very easy to participate. In any case... free cards!
The majority of the package included 2011 Topps Heritage cards. Thanks to Play at the Plate and other bloggers and readers, I'm making some good progress on this set. It would be nice to get down to only chasing inserts and short prints by, say, the end of the month or so. I really want to collect all of the Black cards, too, so any help there is greatly appreciated. I haven't seen those value packs on the racks in awhile so I'm not sure how many of these cards exist.
Here's another project I'm slowly chipping away at. I wish I had collected the 50th Anniversary rookie cup cards back when they were still new as I'm sure I would have had better luck in completing this set. I suppose that's what the internet is for, though.
It's a shiny, refractorized Carp card! As I often say, these things are always appreciated around Cards on Cards central.
Finally, here's a really nice looking "manupatch" of Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda from the 2010 Topps Series 2 set. I like receiving these, even if they aren't truly historic. I don't think this particular All-Star game had the most attractive logo, however.
Here are some Cardinals cards to get you through the afternoon as we get set for tonight's game against the Fish. These all came to me courtesy of Smed's Spring Cleaning bonanza, the gift that apparently keeps on giving. Some of us opted into receiving "grab bags" which ended up being large boxes full of miscellany. Some of that miscellany turned out to be some really high quality Cardinals fare. Great stuff! If you have any cards at all, Smed's probably needs 'em, so make sure you stop by.
Here's a Matt Holliday card in bedazzled form. I enjoy a good parallel card, but I will be glad when 2012 Topps rolls around so I don't have to look at these gawdy diamond things anymore.
My scanner hates Kimball Champions for some reason. It's a good thing I don't.
There must have been a point that was reached where teams just simply gave up on trying to throw Lou Brock out and played it safe.
Mini Berk! I'm trying to resist the urge to go out and buy another A&G blaster, but it's really hard.
Here's a fantastically miscut Ted Simmons card. I may end up putting this in my binder along with my non-miscut version.
Here's the Gooch in the full-rendered splendor of Heritage, Chrome and Refractor.
While this season's hopes might be tethered to Rafael Furcal, some new faces in the bullpen and the splintering backend of the pitching rotation, the future is very much dependent on someone else.
Out of all of the cards in the box, however, this was by far my favorite. Lance Lynn's emergence has been one of the bright stories in the 2011 Cardinals storybook. He looks like a keeper and at this point could probably close or start. Only time will tell. Just the day before I received this card, I was wondering if I would ever get my hands on a Lance Lynn card. Well, here you go. I can't claim that he has the most amazing signature in the world, but I have always thought that people put way too much focus on that.
