Because I have
the best girlfriend in the world, I now own the book The Card, which is about... well...
The Card. I was also lucky enough to receive from her my first ever Ozzie Smith relic card, which automatically moves it near the front of my Ozzie collection that I started way back in high school. The jersey swatch is road gray, but has some stitching visible which is pretty cool.
Along with other lovely birthday gifts, there were a few packs for me to open.
2008 Topps Heritage:
238 - Todd Helton
307 - Kelly Johnson
340 - Hank Blalock
217 - Jered Weaver
213 - Ricky Nolasco
267 - Xavier Nady
467 - Ryan Theriot (SP)
- David Wright thinks you should stay in school
322 - Richie Sexson Black Back
Well, if you've read this blog more than a couple of times, you're probably already sick to death of seeing me talk about this set. It's a relative large set by today's standards, and apparently there's a "high series" coming out at some point, so my work is hardly done. This is, hands down, my favorite set since I got turned on to the junk again, so I'm not done talking about it. This pack had a few cards I didn't recognize in it (good) and a Ryan Theriot SP, the only reason I would actually show a Cub here. Unfortunately, I received another Theriot card in a random pack I bought the very next day, so if anyone needs one, let me know.
2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces:
23 - Jim Thome
19 - Ryne Sandberg
34 - Gary Sheffield
13 - Curt Schilling
This is the first pack I've ever opened of this set, because at its current price it violates my Bang Divided by Buck Rule. I do really like last year's set (at the low, low price of 40 cents per card in pack form) though I think this year's stuff is darker than it needs to be. I haven't had time to fact check these cards, so I'll have to leave that to the experts. Ryne Sandberg makes two Cubs images in one post, as he is the only retired player in the pack of players I'm either not overly fond of or ambivalent about.
2008 Upper Deck X:
77 - Chase Utley
91 - Albert Pujols
22 - Kosuke Fukudome Die-Cut
X-CP - Carlos Pena X-Ponential
62 - David Wright
97 - Vernon Wells
This set is hilarious, from wrapper to design, but something compelled me to buy another pack the next day after I opened this. Maybe I can just chalk that up to a boredom with the bulk of the offseason looming. Apparently I pulled one of two Cardinals base cards in this small set, the other being Rick Ankiel. I only showed the Fukudome card, the third (!) Cubs image in this post, so Erin could see what the die cut cards look like since I don't think I do a very good job of describing things verbally. The X-Ponential whatever cards are indeed all they are cracked up to be, designwise anyway.
2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes
98 - Ben Sheets
120 - Ian Kennedy (RC)
88 - Brad Penny
155 - Erik Bedard
115 - Alex Rodriguez Charcoal or whatever shade of black that you prefer
These are packs that I don't mind dropping a couple of bucks on. I guess they just remind me of the inserts in the early Upper Deck packs. I do have a feeling when I buy packs like this that I'm not really going to get any lousy players, though this pack doesn't really do that idea justice. I have a feeling I'll end up sending the A-Rod card to Eric the Yankees fan eventually. I wish I had more birthdays.
Nothing!
Except, well...
They're all represented on cards sent to me recently by TheBrooklynMet from Clear Cut Cards. With his help, I turned my cool looking (but ultimately useless to me) hit from a box I bought last month into a slick Chris Carpenter serial-numbered jersey card.
Congratulations to Roy Halladay, a fantasy league staple of mine and one of my favorite non-Cardinal pitchers in the league on his perfect game today. Coincidentally, I picked up a discounted blaster of 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes today and opened it shortly after the Phillies victory. This was the highlight of the box. It's doubtful that I'll post the rest of the box here unless I hear some heady objection from the readers here. The contents of the entire box is up for trade, though.
I made it out to the monthly card show last weekend, but with such a busy week last week I'm taking today to go through the stuff I purchased. Here are my top 5 purchases, all of the serial numbered variety.
I've never been one to go "chasing the rainbow", but it was hard to resist three Chris Carpenter parallels from the 2008 Baseball Heroes set that I found in a 10 cent box. I also picked up a few Ian Kinsler and Carlos Zambrano cards of a similar variety and plan to get rid of those as soon as possible.
Green contrasts strangely with Cardinal red. Maybe I should have hung onto this one until Christmas time or something.
My very last purchase was actually from a completely disorganized box marked "1/2 off all baseball cards".
I picked up both of these last two cards for a total of $6. I have no idea when Holliday played for Team USA, but I'm assuming it wasn't in 2004 when this card was issued.
Late last week I received another package, this time from the blog Nachos Grande, containing a supersized portion of tasty Topps Heritage treats with a side of cards from my general want list. In exchange, I 
I can't believe how many players are gone from the 2006 Cardinals championship club already. Guys like Taguchi, who is on a minor league deal with the Cubs now, have been gone for awhile. A lot of guys that were significant contributors to that team such as Tyler Johnson and Randy Flores have seen their departures fly under the radar, by and large. The Cardinals renewed focus on building their team from within their own system is very interesting, at least.
Brian Fuentes was one of a number of players the Cards have seemed to covet in recent times, but ultimately passed on (or were passed on by.) I never saw the sense in throwing a lot of dollars at a guy who couldn't even keep hold of his own closing role at Colorado, though, so I wasn't disappointed when trades never materialized.
Seeing Shane Victorino reminds me that it's almost fantasy baseball time. Victorino has been on one or more of my times for the past couple of seasons, providing just enough on the basepaths to be tantalizing yet not enough anywhere else to really justify keeping him in a constant starting slot. There are so many players who tread this line. At least he's not Corey Patterson.
One of the cards I received was the disembodied head version of the Albert Pujols Upper Deck Timeline card. After initially thinking this set was awful, I've really come to appreciate some of the designs and am still working towards hopefully completing the Cardinals team set, SPs and all.
This is the very last 2008 Baseball Heroes card I needed to complete the Cardinals team set. I had several opportunities to buy this card cheaply at a card show I attended in January, but I couldn't remember if I needed it or another Cardinal legend. Ultimately I ended up passing on both. I'm still interested in getting some of the rainbow of parallel cards that are rampant in this set.
Finally, here's ex-Cardinal Dmitri Young and the state flag of Mississippi in all of their respective glories. This is the last flag card that I needed from the A&G set. Finally, a sense of completeness!
Because I have the best girlfriend in the world, I now own the book The Card, which is about... well... The Card. I was also lucky enough to receive from her my first ever Ozzie Smith relic card, which automatically moves it near the front of my Ozzie collection that I started way back in high school. The jersey swatch is road gray, but has some stitching visible which is pretty cool.
238 - Todd Helton
467 - Ryan Theriot (SP)
19 - Ryne Sandberg
91 - Albert Pujols
22 - Kosuke Fukudome Die-Cut
X-CP - Carlos Pena X-Ponential
115 - Alex Rodriguez Charcoal or whatever shade of black that you prefer
