Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Surprise Package from Howard

Reader Howard has struck again with another generous package of unsolicited Cardinals cards to add to my collection. The majority of the package was full of '90s Cardinals - not the most prosperous era of Redbird baseball, but still a good one for finding hidden gems and other things that I didn't previously own. Before you read on, you should go on ahead and check out Howard's want list right now. I plan on doing it as soon as I can find some time outside of work and recovering from work.

The 1996 Ultra set is one that has completely escaped me for some reason, and I only know that from looking at the design. Back when there were only a few baseball card sets a year, it would literally take me a microsecond to identify what the set was based on a glimpse at the front of one card. It's pretty tough these days to tell the difference between the designs of most Ultra sets, but I do know what is unfamiliar to me.

Pacific Trading Cards had a certain kind of "go for it" attitude with their card designs that seems to fall in line with those flashy stickers that you can get at a grocery store vending machine for what it cost to buy a pack of Fleer back in the day.

I'm continually impressed with most things Flair that I've seen over the years. I just don't think any normal person could ever afford their stuff when it was released.

I've been waiting for quite awhile to receive my first Danny Sheaffer Cardinals card. He played for the Portland Beavers once upon a time when they were the Twins affiliate, and I recall his late career stint with the Cards. He also managed the Memphis Redbirds for a number of years after his playing career was over.

I'm probably not enthusiastic about minor league cards enough here, but I really enjoy getting them in trade packages. There also seems to be a healthier chance that I won't have a particular card or a spot in my binders for the player when you send me someone from a low minors ball club. When you're a Redbird, if you stick the names "Ozzie" and "Perez" together you probably think you have a pretty notable player. I'm thinking it's not really the case here.

Howard also added another goldie to my collection in the form of a David Eckstein 2006 World Series card. I'll never get tired of the 2006 World Series.

Howard also sent over some much needed set building needs, including this Pair 'o Papelbons from the 2007 Bowman Heritage Prospects set. A current check of Baseball-reference.com finds that neither Papelbon twin has really progressed much beyond AA nor thrown a meaningful pitch in 2011.

In this crazy day and age of Heritage short prints, it's funny that one Charlie Manuel can be worth a dozen Ryan Howards.

Remember this little insert set? I still want these. These silly baseball propaganda posters surely beat out crazed arbitrary apocalyptic proclamations in my book.

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