A Barrel Full of Cardinals

(Or is that barrelful?) Here's another trade post from a frequent trader: Ed from Roll Out the Barrel. This wasn't really a trade for anything specific that I recall, but I did recently send him a stack of Brewers and stuff from his want lists.

While everyone seems to be stressing out about what the Cardinals will do at 3rd base should fairly green David Freese prove to be ineffective, I am a bit more concerned about who will be the 5th starter this season, how soon Kyle Lohse will be bounce back and be effective and if Brad Penny will be even somewhat competent. Yikes.

I love this card! This is my first Maris Cardinals card, and I definitely plan on it not being my last.

I do have to say that I miss the Baseball Heroes set. I like all of the rainbowy parallel cards for some reason. I would hope that it made a comeback this season if it wasn't for the fact that there's no way Upper Deck could do a baseball set the right way anymore. I'm not sure what color of the rainbow this is supposed to be. Light Brown? Bran Flake? Raked Leaves?

I love Topps gold cards. I don't know why. I am really not impressed by gold foil and I think gold as a color usually looks bad. Something about their marbled/sparkly borders usually make these look nice for whatever reason. Hopefully Spiezio is able to bounce back from the off-the-field issues that plagued him at the end of his Cardinals career.

I finally bought my first pack of 2009 Upper Deck X not too long ago. I have been hoping blasters would eventually show up with 50% off tags like last year's stuff, but I haven't seen it yet. The Xpontential inserts are pretty nice once again for a cheap set.

Here's a long-coveted Dmitri Young from the 2008 Topps 50th Anniversary All-Rookie Team insert set. I've been considering collecting the entire insert set (which means I'd need another one of these) and have so far held onto whatever inserts I've accumulated from it.

No, this isn't a 2010 Turkey Red insert. Ed also sent a few of the 2007s, including the last non-short printed card I needed (Mariano Rivera) and two SPs. I still need a ton more, so if any of you has any of this stuff laying around, I would love to hear from you.

Finally, with this Jason Bay card I'm down to needing just 7 cards from the 2008 Allen & Ginter set. I really need to make finishing off these older sets a priority. In fact, there's an upcoming set that I will not even name that I'm planning on not collecting for once... at least, initially.

1996 Pinnacle Series 2, Part 1

Inspired by the recently flurry of mid-'90s breaks by the likes of The Collective Troll and possibly others, I found myself grabbing a 1996 Pinnacle Series 2 hobby box from a recent card show on the cheap. Lately, I've found it hard to resist passing up stuff like this as long as it is in my extremely small price range. I had a somewhat stealth poll about what to do with this box and the results were a split decision between posting it all in a recap-style post or just doing a full blow-by-blow report in a few parts. I'm opting for the latter this time, but I will keep my comments brief and let the images tell the story.

Pack 1:

216 - Pete Schourek

280 - Eddie Murray Hardball Heroes (You can see right away that there's no shortage of gold foil on these cards.)

285 - Carlos Garcia

237 - Paul O'Neill (With this only being a 200 card set, aside from the usual crop of unproven rookies and youngsters, this is a pretty star-studded offering. Paul O'Neill is about as bad as you can get, and that's not bad.)

193 of 200 - Hal Morris .300 Series Starburst (Starburst is a near-parallel set - there's only 100 cards per series rather than 200 - made with Dufex technology. I don't know what that is, but it looks kinda crazy. These are inserted at a 1:7 ratio.)

329 - Royce Clayton (First Cardinal of the box.)

369 - Paul Wilson Rookie

302 - Will Clark .300 Series

350 - Mike Blowers (I never knew Blowers played for the Dodgers. He's been a broadcaster with the Mariners for awhile now.)

379 - Alan Benes Rookie (Rookies get their names in red instead of black on the gold foil background on the front of the card.)

Pack 2:

239 - Edgardo Alfonzo

259 - Jeff Bagwell Hardball Heroes

209 - Fred McGriff

293 - Shane Andrews

14 of 18 - Manny Ramirez Project Stardom (More Dufex here, and I guess this would be considered the first "hit" of the box. These are inserted at a 1:35 ratio.)

304.9 - Carlos Baerga .300 Series (This is numbered oddly to distinguish it from other players who hit .304 in 1995.)

352 - Lance Johnson

381 - Jay Powell Rookie

333 - Ron Gant

310 - Ozzie Guillen

Pack 3:

288 - Benji Gil

240 - Terry Pendleton

260 - Barry Bonds Hardball Heroes (What do I do with Barry Bonds cards? Seriously...)

210 - Dennis Eckersley

294 - Julian Tavarez

395 - Frank Thomas A.L. Checklist (Kind of a strange concept here. The checklist only shows American League players on the back so the numbering is not very sequential.)

359 - Jack McDowell

327 - Benito Santiago

367 - Wally Joyner

300 - Jeff Conine .300 Series

Pack 4 can be found here at A Pack to be Named Later.

Pack 5:

309 - Butch Huskey

241 - Harold Baines

271 - Gary Sheffield

219 - Larry Walker

106 - Moises Alou Starburst (That's a lot of... effex.)

373 - George Arias Rookie

315 - John Smoltz (I think this was in the height of the Chicks Dig the Longball era.)

344 - Andy Benes (I like horizontal cards and all, but it's really annoying that you only get the first initial of the player on these. It's especially annoying when you're talking about a player who shares the same last name, first initial and team of another player also in this set.)

383 - Wilton Guerrero Rookie

399 - Chase Checklist (This is just a terrible looking card all the way around. I think a card that just said "CHECKLIST" in bold print without any pictures on the front would have been better than this.)

Pack 6:

202 - Michael Tucker

233 - Brian Jordan

242 - Roberto Alomar

272 - Dante Bichette Hardball Heroes

220 - Denny Neagle

316 - Ariel Prieto (I've never heard of this guy.)

393 - Cal Ripken A.L. Checklist

384 - Eric Owens Rookie

312 - Kenny Lofton .300 Series

356 - Danny Tartabull (Or D. Tartabull if you prefer.)

Pack 7:

257 - Frank Thomas Hardball Heroes

207 - Albert Belle (Coming off a .317, 50 HR, 1.091 OPS season.)

291 - Andy Pettitte

223 - Jason Isringhausen

232 - Lenny Dykstra

378 - Jeff Ware Rookie

321 - Trevor Hoffman

341 - Kenny Rogers

388 - F.P. Santangelo

323 - Frank Thomas .300 Series (Completing the Frank Thomas Pack.)

Pack 8:

225 - John Olerud

269 - Wade Boggs Hardball Heroes

251 - Bret Saberhagen (It's weird to see Saberhagen on the Rockies. You don't get to see it, however. I'm holding this card hostage until someone can find a Rockies fan to take all of these Rockies cards off of my hands.)

250 - Rafael Palmeiro

217 - Darren Daulton

342 - R. Sandberg (What's his first name? I can't remember.)

390 - Bob Abreu Rookie (Just Bob.)

397 - Greg Maddux N.L. Checklist

362 - Greg Gagne

330 - Tom Gordon

I'll try to finish off parts 2 and 3 before the week is out. I think I could come close to completing the series 2 set with this box as I have yet to get a double so far, but I have no interest in it so everything here is up for trade or claim besides the Cardinals cards.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1987 Topps #207

As this has become known as the week of the Topps Million Card giveaway, I found the overall distribution results a bit interesting. I have yet to see anyone get a great vintage Cardinals card (or Ozzie Smith rookie) on any of the blogs that I frequent, but not everyone has been inundated with late '80s junk. Apparently you can get 2009 Topps cards in the redemption promotion, which just seems like a dirty trick since there are still plenty of stores out there with 2009 stuff on the shelves. Thanks to bdj610's Topps blog, I now know how you can even look up today's featured airbrushed card on the Topps giveaway site. If I run short on ideas, maybe I'll start browsing through their archives. I wouldn't even need to do a scan, come to think of it. Thanks, Topps!

George Frazier was a career reliever who primarily pitched in the '80s. He had the odd distinction of being a member of my top two favorite teams, my least favorite team (Cubs) and the team that defeated the Cards in the '87 World Series (Twins) before his career was through. He's now a TV broadcast announcer for the Rockies.

Why did Topps airbrush George's photo? Frazier was involved in a late-season trade in 1986 involving a bunch of players nobody's really heard of. See the transactions section on his B-R page for further details. Incidentally, 1987 would be his final season in the majors, giving no one an opportunity to airbrush another one of his photos.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Although more subtle than most airbrushed cards I've featured here, this still has some of the telltale signs to go along with the late deadline Topps must have faced with his August trade. His cap changes colors from the top to the bill and the logos are okay but a little shaky, giving evidence of some added "handiwork". Some further, non-airbrush-related thoughts: Would this qualify as a "night card"? Is this a "dusk card"? A "sunset card"? And, George, what's up with those ripped sleeves?

Cardinals and Blazers Go Great Together

On a day in which I'm even more embarrassed to be a Duck than ever before, I thought I'd reach into the faithful bag of trade post tricks. Tim of the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame sent over a Duck-free package of Cardinals and Blazers that I don't... think... that I was expecting. Was I? It's hard to even remember yesterday, let alone a month or so ago.

Here's Mr. McGwire, brand new hitting coach. Today was his first real day on the job, which you can read about here. I hope he can coach even half as well as he could hit home runs. As far as I know, there's no performance enhancing drug for coaches.

I got several of these 1992 Panini album stickers. I don't remember this design very well at all. I think our local grocery store only carried Panini albums for a year or two, which is unfortunate. Maybe it was the store itself that closed, now that I think of it.

As mentioned, there were quite a few Blazers included. This one has me the most puzzled, though. There aren't too many late '80s / early '90s Blazers cards (or basketball cards in general) that I wouldn't recognize, but I don't recognize this one as far as I know. This is in the inaugural Upper Deck basketball design, which was for the 1991-92 season, but it is also commemorating the 1992 NBA Finals as you can see. Also, this was a Blazers winner, so it's pretty good to see even if the series didn't turn out so well. Lots of stupid shrugging Jordan cards were burned.

Hey, wait a sec! That's Spanish. Even more intriguing...

Finally, here's a card of former Blazers center, bricklayer (in the basketball sense) and Oregon gubernatorial hopeful Chris Dudley. I admire his efforts, I guess, but he's not getting my vote. I do remember that one time that he chucked a ball halfway down the court at Shaq back when he played for the Knicks. That was awesome.

Start it at about 3:40 if you're interested.

Keith Olbermann Video Pack Break and Late Tuesday Night Miscellany

Here's just a few some notes in lieu of a big post tonight as I watch the tape of the Blazers/Clippers game. Keith Olbermann took a couple of minutes out of his Countdown show tonight on MSNBC to open a pack of 2010 Topps on air. The real treat is right after the 2010 Topps pack, though. I won't ruin it for you, but let's just suffice it to say that he opens a pack of something Your Mom Probably Really Threw Out. You can see the "podcast" here as well as a couple of other video formats that don't require a podcast subscription. The segment airs roughly between the 23:00 and 25:00 minute marks, so check it out. It's worth it. I would cut it up and put it on YouTube but I don't have the time. This is the page where all of the current MSNBC shows are housed. I'm not sure where exactly it will be archived on their site after the evening of 2/17/10, so consider this your warning. (I stole the image above from Fielder's Choice, which has returned on a limited basis. If someone can explain to me how to do a screenshot from VLC Media Player or Windows Media Player, please feel free.)

B-Roy is back in the Blazers lineup for the first time in nearly a month, or at least he was in the first half. At this point I am afraid to ever hear anything from the Blazers medical staff again. Marcus Camby is now a Blazer and Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake are doomed to Clipperdom. I I liked Camby as I was a pretty big fan of the Knicks in the late '90s but grew tired of him in his Nuggets years. I miss the old Nuggets and their crazy '80s unis.

As I did with the Andre Miller offseason signing, I'll reserve judgment on the trade right now as I am not sure how it will all play out. I knew it would be hard to find minutes for Travis Outlaw who was just getting ready to return from his own injury with the continuing development of Nicolas Batum and Martell Webster, but it is rough to suddenly say goodbye to your most tenured player. Meanwhile, I felt like Steve Blake was playing some of the best all-around basketball of the season, if not his career in recent days. He plays well enough with Roy that you could see him coming back to Portland in another year or two, but then again, do you really want to return to a team that has cast you aside two times now?

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8 packages were mailed out today by the Cards on Cards Postal Team. Watch your mailbox if you follow this blog! You never know...

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In other Cards on Cards news, I put a poll up a few days ago that only 4 of you have bothered to vote in. If I don't see a few more votes up there before the thing closes, I'll assume that nobody wants anything to do with reading about another mid-'90s junky hobby box. That's okay, though, I'll understand.

Gabillions of Goudey

Earlier this month I received an entire cardboard box full of 2008 Goudey cards, courtesy of The Sewingmachineguy. Not only did he knock off every last base card need from this set, but he also sent a ton of short prints and inserts. Erin and I are working on this set together - a new experiment in collecting for certain - and are currently still quite a ways away from finishing up this challenging set. Challenging is probably putting it nicely. What I mean to say is that this set has WAY too much SPs.

One of my personal collecting issues is that I am a team collector above all else, so when I get Cardinals like these next four that you'll see, I actually have to plan on purchasing two as these go straight into the team collection if I don't have them already. Since this set is a joint venture, I am going to make it a priority to purchase another copy of these cards on my own (or at least try and trade for them.)

I also have my own separate Ozzie Smith binder. This does not, however, mean that I need 3 cards of every Ozzie Smith card from every set I am trying to put together. I consider the Ozzie cards part of my Cardinals collection as well, aside from his Padres years.

I'm not certain why I decided to go after the Hit Parade of Champions but, for the most part, pass on the regular minis. I think the HPCs are kind of strange, but most of them are pretty affordable.

This is from one of the many short-printed subsets within the set. By the way, is anyone looking forward to 2010 Goudey? I hear it should be out fairly soon. I am predicting it will be awful, based on the licensing issues and last year's unpleasantness.

This one is for my friend Kevin, the only Habs fan I know (and possibly the only hockey fan I know personally) and also for Erin because I was just explaining to her today that Patrick Roy's last name is not pronounced like Brandon Roy's. Roy (Patrick, that is) is also the only Canadiens player, past or present, that I could actually name off of the top of my head.

I failed to post a single president card on Presidents' Day. Actually, as I prepare this post, it's still technically Presidents' Day in my time zone, but I'm saving this for you all to read tomorrow (which will be today by the time you see it.)

This is a really nice looking card. There were several missteps in this set (again, nothing like the horror-filled 2009 Goudey) but this is not one of them. I think the blue background works great. I also wish the Brewers were still an American League team and that Bud Selig hadn't screwed up everything for all eternity.

I just scanned this card because she was an Olympian and I'm watching the Olympics right now... the colder version, that is.

And finally... get ready to dance... SLURPEE DISC TIME!!! I love these, if you couldn't tell.

Thanks again to The Sewingmachineguy. Your package should be on its way in the next 24 hours.