Listia Pickups and New Stickers

Spending more money on cards from home. 

I picked up a couple of cards recently on Listia that I was pretty excited about. I don't focus a ton of my posts on things I've bought/won online, but occasionally something will stick out. This Harrison Bader bronze Donruss Optic autograph seems to have been on the sight for at least six months (possibly longer, because who can keep track of time anymore?) I finally pulled the plug on it in the past week or so, and wasn't disappointed at all.

I don't go seeking out Eagles cards all that often, if at all, but I really liked this card of Nick Foles that commemorates the Eagles thrilling and fulfilling Super Bowl win.

I also bought a brand new blaster of 2020 Topps Stickers from an eBay seller. This year's set once again carries over the full-sized sticker-plus-card back concept from 2019. This time, the card/sticker numbers are printed on both sides of the sticker/card, which makes it even more confusing to figure out which part is the card and which part is the sticker.

Yes, they are still making Albert Pujols Cardinals cards (stickers?) in 2020. No, I am not that upset about this.

I think this might be a stickercard back, because the copyright verbiage is featured below Kolten Won's name. The main base sticker design, which I didn't show off here because I didn't pull any Cardinals, can also be found as an insert (preview) in the 2020 Topps Opening Day set. I'm not sure if those are actually stickers or not.

I'm not sure about any of this, really.

This Week in Breaks

Another week, another batch of @crackinwax #CrackinWaxMailDay group breaks. 

Crackin' Wax has increased its amount of daily group breaks of late, so I've been trying to be more judicious in how I pick my spots. Here are just a few highlights of some of last week's breaks, which included 2018 Topps Fire, 2018 Donruss Optic and 2017 Panini Chronicles.

Panini drives me crazy with their sort of vaguely colored parallels, but this one is unmistakably bronze. Honestly, the worst thing for me is trying to figure out pink vs. purple vs. blue, but I have been told that I'm a bit colorblind, even though I don't really understand it.

Panini Chronicles is a strange product with a very small base set. Still, I needed this Yadi card from its debut offering. I'm wishing I had bought more of the 2019 stuff before it disappeared. There again wasn't a ton to offer the Cardinals fan, but it seemed like there was a Vlad Jr. and/or a Pete Alonso in every pack.

My hits o' the week were both from my randomly assigned Brewers slot in the Chronicles break. Here's a really nice looking sparkly jersey auto of Lewis Brinson, numbered to 99. He's spent the past couple of seasons with the Marlins and hasn't quite figured out how to hit, which seems to be a pretty crucial element of being a professional baseball player at the highest level.

 

The other pull was an expired redemption of another offensively challenged Brewers player. At least he's a current starter with the team. I submitted this to Panini and am kind of hoping they send me a different card, although I'll try and make sure it finds its way to a Brewers fan if I actually get this one.

Trading Turkeys

I've got dupes, and maybe you've got needs? 

I'm working on the 2020 Topps Turkey Red insert set pretty aggressively at the moment. After a lot of success with a blaster I picked up on Tuesday (went 7 for 7 on needs), I thought I'd shine a light on this area of my want list.

I've completed just over half of the 100 card set (for Series 1).

Here are the dupes that I have accumulated so far: 3, 7, 10, 25, 29, 50, 69, 77, 85

Of course, I have plenty of other non-Turkey Red cards to send your way, especially (but not exclusively) if you're a fan of teams like the A's, Marlins and Phillies... just to name a few!

I still am hoping to wrap this up before another set of 100 of these drops, although at this case I am not sure of the status of Series 2 at at all. I guess that remains to be seen.

My First Two '52s

Glorious vintage. 

After a recent card exchange, P-Town Tom contacted me to let me know that he had a cousin (we'll call him Mark, because that seems to be his name) who had a few old cards that he wanted to find a new home for. Color me intrigued at this point. Inside of the mystery envelope that came to my mailbox later were a couple of 1952 Topps Cardinals cards! These aren't technically the first '52s to ever reach my home, as Erin has a signed Cliff Mapes card that her grandfather gave her. These are the first cards from the famed Topps first proper set that are for my own collection, which is simply awesome.

This is another terrific looking cad. Eddie Stanky became the Cardinals player-manager in 1952 and is a familiar name to me, even if I can't claim to be the perfect Cardinals historian.

Of course, Cloyd Boyer is a familiar name as well, as one of the three Boyer brothers who were MLB players.

Stanky's card is a black back version. Someone evidently wanted to write something on this, only to later decide to scribble it out. I would love to know the story behind this.

Thanks again to Mark (and P-Town Tom!) You may have made my year, in cards at least!

A PWE, In Order

A few cards from a longtime fellow blogger to pass the time. 

I've been trying to increase the flow of envelopes, small as they can be, full of cards to keep myself and hopefully others occupied with hobby-related things. It was nice, of course, to recently receive some cards in the popular PWE format from The Angels, In Order. There were a few Cardinals needs and a few set needs. Let's take a look.

I don't know how I missed out on this card when this set was first released, but it apparently wasn't the only base card I needed. I now just need card #217 from the 2018 Donruss set, which was one that Yadier Molina shared with Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor. I also need countless numbers of parallels, of course, because Panini.

Despite not being heavily respected across the league and even internally, Dakota Hudson made it into the official record as a bona fide NL pitching leader. Cool!

Ah, those pesky retail exclusives. I nabbed another one! This is the black set from 2013 Heritage.

In the department of set needs were the first couple of 2007 Bowman Heritage acquisitions for me in quite awhile. I have no idea who Chuck Lofgren is. It sounds like the name of some sort of not-quite-famous actor.

The Mick! We don't see him in Topps products anymore, but I guess we were probably overexposed in the late '00s.

We end things with a sketch card of the newly crowned champ Ryan Zimmerman. I hated the way the NLCS went down as it reminded me an awful lot of the 2004 World Series, with the Cardinals suddenly completely punchless and useless after being anything but previously. It was cool to see the veteran Zimmerman get to win a ring, I suppose.

A Scarce One

A fresh batch of #CrackinWaxMailDay box breaks from @CrackinWax includes an SSP (super short print), new Gypsy Queen and more! 

Another week, another batch of box breaks. Hey, it beats going into a crowded store right now, doesn't it? Late last night I discovered that in one of the daily box breaks I bought into last week from Crackin' Wax contained a rare card of a guy I collect that went largely unnoticed. It was the only card I needed in the break from 2017 Stadium Club, but I'm super glad to have it. Apparently these are a 1:72 pack pull, which means you typically need to open a few boxes of the stuff to even get one.

The big break of the week for me was the brand new 2020 Topps Gypsy Queen. This is my first look at the new set and also my first look at Austin Dean as a Cardinal. I don't even think I caught any of his at-bats in the interrupted Spring Training. Of course, this isn't a real jersey that he's wearing (it's not a spring jersey, and he has no uniform number.)

I do think that the player's first initial right next to their position looks a little strange. It makes it seem like it could be part of his name.

On the other hand, you could say - here's DeJong, he's a pitcher AND a shortstop. Except that he's not. But there are guys who pitch and hit these days, so you never know.

Goldschmidt, P. 1st B. (?!) It does look strange. I am looking forward to a full year of non-Photoshopped Goldschmidt cards, at least.

M.P. Mikolas!

All in all, though, I don't mind this design. It doesn't really stand out in any way over other Gypsy Queen years, but I like it. Maybe I just like it because it's new?

I also snagged this Paul DeJong Fortune Teller mini(ish) insert from the new set.

I also was in on a 2013 Pinnacle break. Not much happened here for the Cardinals, but with this Matt Holliday card I was able to polish off the base set. I ended up with some nice trade bait, though, with my second (random) team.

From P-Town to P-Town

Another Cards/Cubs exchange. 

I've never fully embraced the moniker of "P-Town" give to my home city by some as it always feels like it's uttered by someone who hasn't lived in Portland long enough to remember life before Salt & Straw or remember that the Blazers didn't always play in a place called the Moda Center. From a town that must have a much more legit claim to the name P-Town comes P-town Tom and a bunch of Cardinals cards he sent my way recently. Tom mentioned that he had recently acquired a collection, and being that he's a Cubs fan, I'm sure he had no use for this stuff. Let's dig into a few of these while we wait for the day that someone starts talking about the day that we can start talking about when baseball might be able to happen again.

Right off the bat, here's a glorious cut-off-the-cereal box card of Ken Boyer. While some of us might dream of a time machine, an expensive pair of scissors and a steady hand, I think a lot of the charm of old cards is lost when the edges are straightened and sharpened.

Albert Pujols is just dropping in to say hello.

Oh man, I was worried about this Ted Simmons card, and decided to leave it in a penny sleeve. I don't want anything more traumatic to happen to poor Ted.

I'm starting to slowly work closer to completion of this 1992 Pacific McDonalds set that commemorated the centennial anniversary of the Cardinals franchise. I'm assuming this was at least a semi-regional release.

I tend to totally ignore the draft picks/college baseball type sets that trickle out each year, so it's always great when someone sends me stuff like this trio of young Wizards.

Back to vintage here, which has been a welcome theme on the blog of late. There must be a ton of Cardinals in the 1959 set, because I feel like I acquire some every month and still have so many to go.

The true standout of this lot, however, was this wonderful 1956 Topps Cardinals team card. It's in great shape and is great to look at. I should really have a bell to ring or some sort of ceremony to perform every time I acquire another card from the '50s.