Long Live the Streak

Some brief comments on the Cardinals season, plus a PWE round-up and @coffeebreaks40 nets me a stylish Bob Gibson card. 

 

Admittedly, I never addressed the Cardinals unprecedented seventeen game winning streak that launched them into Wild Card position because I didn't want to jinx it. I'm not that superstitious, but things seemed to be going along pretty well for awhile without me talking about it, so I just... didn't. In truth, this 2021 team never felt like it was worth talking about much. I see their big streak as sort of... regressing to the mean in reverse? (progressing to the mean?) This is a good team with good players that were just performing badly for a long stretch of time. Maybe it was due to continuing adjustments to barely playing anything that resembled baseball for all of last year or maybe it was something else. In any case, in the solidification of their 2-3-4 punch of Goldy, O'Neill and Arenado, the other bats started to come around as well, as they often do. Other pitchers were pulled off the scrap heap to put a stop to the endless parade of free passes. Suddenly, we have a team in a Wild Card play-in game. Let's check back in a couple of days before we get excited about the playoffs.

Here's the man that at age 40 will take the hill against the Dodgers. These cards come courtesy of cards as i see them, a fan of the team that has unlimited resources. When you already have the highest payroll in the game and then you go out and grab two of the biggest stars (Trea Turner and Max Scherzer), well that's... I don't know, some people like the Dodgers for some reason. I don't!

I won't throw too much shade, though, because I get great cards from this Dodger fan all the time, including a low numbered Mother's Day parallel of the Cards starting centerfielder. Harrison Bader is pretty ridiculous, and I mean that in a good way.

I also ended up with a nice assortment of old Heritage set filling needs. Many of these seem like Dodgers doubles. I think at this point, more than half of all of the expendable cards in my collection are Cardinals cards, so I know how this is.

Here's more Heritage cards from 2001 and 2002, including a guy I redacted (mostly because I didn't realize I'd scanned one of his cards until it was already done, and I thought it was funny to do this) and one David Jonathan Drew. Yes, that's right: J.D. Drew's initials are actually D.J.

Next up is an envelope stuffed with more Heritage cards and a needed Tommy Edman Holiday base card from Diamond Jesters. Matt is a big Red Sox fan, and his team faces the Yankees tonight in the AL Wild Card game. After all of the excitement this past weekend, I couldn't think of a more boring outcome than a Yankees/Red Sox game (and nothing else?), but I don't make the rules. I'm sure it's exciting for Red Sox fans, whose team wasn't expected to do a whole lot this year.

Here's a few cards for my 2021 set build. I've actually made some headway into all of these Heritage sets recently, but the cards are tied up in my COMC account and I haven't pulled the trigger on a shipment yet.

Of these six, only Aaron Judge advanced to the postseason.

Finally, because I didn't know where else to fit this, I recently participated in my first Coffee Breaks break, which was a baseball "mixer". (This essentially means that there's boxes from a variety of products rather than one specific set.) I didn't do so well, as is often the case with these things, but I didn't land this shiny Bob Gibson insert parallel from the 2021 Panini Prizm set. It's numbered to 99.

Enjoy the playoffs and Go Cards!

Two Dodgers Fans and a Rockies Fan Walk into a Bar

It's not a joke, it's a PWE round-up from @nightowlcards and more! 

 

It's time to look at the contents of a few more stamped small envelopes sent my way this spring. First up is a few cards from Rockies fan hiflew of Cards from the Quarry. There's been a near-weekly feature at Cards from the Quarry where a serial numbered card from each team is offered up for trade. I've claimed a few of these this year and was able to jettison some extra Rockies cards in the process.

Say what you will about Panini's Donruss sets, but they've definitely improved since the first offering back in 2014. This is one of the stat line parallels, which does have an interesting foil effect on it at least. The design is pretty rough, though, with the only really welcome element being the throwback baseball pattern on the sides.

The last card from hiflew is this Luke Weaver Prizm Draft card numbered to just 35. 

Next up is some cards from Dodgers fan Night Owl Cards, who has sent me a lot of cards over the years to put it lightly.

Night Owl keeps hitting my set wants, which is always appreciated. As a Cards fan, I'm bummed that Kris Bryant is a thing again. Sometimes that walk year will do that to a guy.

Luke Gregerson was a former Cardinals draft pick that was traded before he hit the majors, but finished his career in a Cardinals uniform. I try to forget his time in that uniform, honestly.

Dude.

Night Owl also found a couple of Cardinals cards that I needed. This one was chunky enough to warrant its own envelope. I haven't looked at the Series 2 checklist all that carefully yet, but I'm guessing there's another one or two of these manupatch cards that I need to track down.

Series 2 is also carrying on the 70 Years of Topps theme with star players (old and new) on designs of the past. We'll hopefully check out a few of those next week. It sometimes produces weird results, because I swear I've seen a card just like this before.

Last up is another 70 Years card, sent from Dodgers fan gcrl of cards as i see them. I think I end a lot of my posts with a Yadi card, but I think it's always a good way to go out.

Feel free to actually write my joke in the comments, if you're so inclined.

It's April, so... Merry Christmas?!

My Secret Santa gifts from @GeoffCards are right on time. 

 

No, I can't blame the postal service for severe mail delays. I am still very behind in catching up on sorting and posting about the stuff I've received from people lately. There's actually a pretty good chance that I will catch up relatively soon, however, as my mailbox in 2021 has been pretty quiet. I entered a Secret Santa type group with some fellow Crackin' Wax break regulars and ended up with some pretty nice stuff.

Payton Pritchard's cards haven't quite gotten the attention than Justin Herbert's football cards have, of course, but I'm still seeking them out whenever I can find them. This is my first signed card of the guard who was a four year starter for the Ducks, running the point even as a freshman on the team that made it to the Final Four back in 2017.

There are actually two Pritchard cards in this Prizm Draft Picks base set, and I still need to track down a copy of the other one -- it looks like the green parallel at the top of this post.

The gift package wasn't all Pritchard and the Ducks, however. A few choice Cardinals were included as well, like this Tommy Pham black insert numbered parallel from a few years back.

There was also a KK auto from last year's Panini Absolute, a set that mostly escaped me, probably due to the cost.

Lastly, there was a Project 2020 card of the late, great Bob Gibson, shown here with the full stash of cards in the package from this photo that I put out on Twitter shortly after receiving the goods. This is actually the second Project 2020 card that crossed my desk last year, both of which were a complete surprise. I've since re-gifted the other card since it wasn't a fit for my collection, but a Gibby card clearly must be.

I'll say this much. There's so much about Project 2020 and other similar offerings that Topps has produced of late that embodies exactly what I don't want as a card collector. And yet... now I will forever own an actual piece of cardboard history from the craziness that was (and pretty much still continues to be) 2020. For a better look at the card, you can check this out from Topps.

Another Bunch of Breaks

More box break fun from @batcavelv includes some unique Cardinals stuff. 

If you haven't checked out Tracy's Box Breaks before, and you're on a budget like I am, I highly suggest that you do so at your next opportunity. Tracy runs some of the cheapest breaks in town, and you literally never know what you're going to find inside. A new box just arrived on my porch from him today, but I'm going to look back at what I received back in May.

Right off the bat, it's an autograph of Edmundo Sosa, in Panini's "Carolina Blue" flavor. Sosa made the so-called Opening Day roster this year, which is a bit of a step up for him as he's seen very sparing time at the big league level so far. With the expanded roster this year, this might not change a whole lot, but it's nice to see someone get a little recognition.

At some point I believe Tracy had a handful of packs that were up for dibs, and I claimed this one. It's never going to be worth anything, but I think it's an interesting addition to my Ozzie collection.

I really liked these one-per-blaster chunky cards this year, so it was cool to get a copy of the Gibby. I still need to track down a copy of Ozzie Smith's iconic Padres rookie card replication from this set.

What is Topps Gallery without the awkward artwork? This Hall of Fame insert set features a very closely cropped Lou Brock.

This is a great photo of late career Willie McGee. I feel like he's featured in a ton of great shots over the years, even if he's not always the most photogenic guy.

Yadi says 'SUP. (I don't know if this is a thing Yadi actually ever says.)

Here's another purple Molina. This is yet more proof that the MLBPA-only license always looks best on cards of catchers.

While it won't be Trevor Rosenthal closing out games this year, it's nice to look back on a card that surely signaled a big Cardinals victory. Yadi will be catching pitches from Kwang-hyun Kim in the 9th in 2020.

Speaking of which... wow, real baseball tonight? It all feels so surreal.

Greetings From Busch

A big batch of cards from a longtime reader. 

Friend of the blog OhioTim recently sent me a bunch of stuff from nearly all corners of my collection. If you've been around the blogs (and chances are, if you're reading this, you have), you've probably seen or dealt with Tim at some point. In addition to a bunch of great Cardinals stuff, he also sent over some football cards and a couple of other things.

I often end posts with Yadi cards for some reason, so I figured I'd switch it up a bit this time. This insert card from Topps Fire has a very sci-fi feel to it.

This year is finally starting to bring a bit more appreciation of the classic 1985 Topps design. Primarily known for the Mark McGwire Olympic card instead of the main base cards, this is a rare design that Topps hasn't quite overused and abused just yet. The original set was released the year before I started buying baseball cards, so it has a nice nostalgic feel to me, too.

Here's a rare purple parallel of Harrison Bader. I believe that these were exclusive to Meijer stores, something that doesn't exist around where I live.

This 150 Years parallel of a reprinted Bob Gibson rookie card from the Iconic Card Reprints set (whew) is numbered to 150 as well. A nice touch.

I didn't realize until now how much the color purple was going to feature in this post. This is a purple "paper" parallel of Carlos Martinez's 1st Bowman card. I don't think Martinez cards have much value these days, but they have plenty of value to me. This is definitely worth, like, forty-five Cards on Cards bucks.

More purple! It's another rookie, too.

Another Yadi managed to sneak in here. This is a numbered to 2020 "touch of gold" parallel. That's what I'm calling these from now on.

Tim included a couple of Dame cards for my collection, including this classy Court Kings insert. I like that there's multiple photos and multiple uniforms here.

A large portion of the package consisted of Eagles cards. This is an area of my collection that will probably start getting some more attention, soon. Did I ever joke that it would take some sort of global pandemic to get me to organize my Eagles cards? No? In any case, I really like this photo of Alshon Jeffery most likely celebrating a first down.

Miles Sanders was drafted last year and immediately slid into the #1 RB spot. It's easy to see why people are excited about him.

All of these newfangled Eagles are fine, but to me, nothing beats the early '90s kelly green team. Also, Randall is my all-time favorite. I should probably get more of his cards.

This card from 1992 is the earliest example I have seen of a card with "chromium" technology. Even though it's not a refractor, it's very bright and shiny.

It's back to present day Eagles here with a sparkling Carson Wentz insert.

Finally, Tim also included a few Busch Stadium postcards. Having only been there for the first time last summer, it was nice to a few more glimpses at the stadium. This shot is from before Ballpark Village was constructed. The area in left-center field is much more built up now.

Let's Throw it Back

A Cardinals-centric collection of @batcavelv cards from today and back in the day. 

Tracy's Box Breaks is known for posting cheap box breaks periodically, which I always enjoy. Tracy also finds time to kick some other Cardinals my way from time to time. Let's check out a bunch of cards I got back in late November.

It's a rare Toys 'R Us parallel sighting! With the toy chain's demise, the purple parallels were pawned off on another chain store that we don't have around my neck of the woods. I'm not sure if they're continuing to do this for 2020 or not. The Walmart and Target colored parallels ceased years ago, but the idea continues to live on (see Walgreen's for example.)

Speaking of retail exclusives, here's one from the Topps Fire set that you can usually only find at Target. This is a nice gold parallel of Brock's base card.

Carson Kelly showed some power last year in his first shot of regular catching duty, albeit with another team. I wonder how Diamondbacks fans feel about him. This is kind of a busy card design, but I kind of like it.

More parallel madness, with former Cardinal (for six games at least) Tim Cooney appearing on a silver prospects Bowman card. Hey, that's six more games than most people have played in Major League Baseball!

I love "framed" cards a whole lot, so I'm always happy to get these. Goldschmidt is still in Diamondbacks uniform here, and I like that Panini didn't do a whole lot to disguise that other than the usually logo wipes that they do.

Another card of Goldy, shown here on last year's Panini Leather & Lumber base card. I think I missed out on a big opportunity when I didn't buy up all of the discount blasters of this stuff at a card show last year. I did have fun with the one that I opened, at least.

The photo itself doesn't get a ton of space here, but it's great to get a numbered card of any Hall of Famer.

The thing that really kickstarted this particular package was Tracy contacting me about going in with him on one of those Topps online exclusive set deals. That particular week's Throwback Thursday checklist had two Cardinals on it, and I was feeling adventurous and bought in.

They have a very 1990ish Score feel to them, although who knows if that's what they were going for here? There's next to nothing on the back, but I do appreciate the thickness of these cards as well as the overall look. One of the biggest reasons I never got on the Topps Now train even once is that I suspect that, once in hand, the cards weren't going to look or feel much different than any old insert card from the flagship set. These TBTs are really nice, though.

And speaking of throwing it back, check this totally '90s card from Topps Magazine. I love it.

Thanks again to Tracy, who has had a box break up for quite awhile now. I bet there's still time to buy in if you check with him.