Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XXIV

College football will be here again before we know it IS HERE, so I've got to get my prize from last season's Bowl Pick 'Em contest at Cards on Cards posted! My prize for a second place tie was a very generously sized box of cards, so I felt a bit overwhelmed even sorting through them. I finally sorted them out by player, and, as usual, I'll plan to post them all eventually, but I might quit halfway through, we'll see.

Part I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII

Today I'm thankful for prizes, Bernard Gilkey, and Gregg Jefferies. Also family and all that usual stuff too.

1991 Topps Stadium Club #402 Bernard Gilkey
1994 Score #420 Bernard Gilkey
1995 Pinnacle #62 Bernard Gilkey
1996 Donruss #49 Bernard Gilkey
1994 Donruss #9 Gregg Jefferies
1994 Leaf #56 Gregg Jefferies
1994 Studio #51 Gregg Jefferies
1994 Topps - Black Gold #35 Gregg Jefferies
1995 Upper Deck - Trade Exchange #TC5 Gregg Jefferies

I've apparently never posted a 1994 Studio card before, which I find hard to believe, but there it is.

Gilkey was part of the Cardinals when I first started watching baseball. I should really put together some kind of project with members of that team. He's probably better known for his time with the Mets, both due to performance, and being in the biggest market.

1994 Upper Deck
#265 Gregg Jefferies
#406 Bernard Gilkey

I always associate Gregg Jefferies with an episode of Who's the Boss, where Tony was watching highlights from his playing career with the St. Louis Cardinals. I believe it was a game against the Mets, and they didn't show the video, just very fake audio, and Gregg was mentioned as the first basemen.

Junior Junkie's Generosity, Part VII

Part I II III IV V VI

It occurs to me I haven't been doing the kind thing and actually linking to Junior Junkie's blog, for you, or for the search engine robots to boost him up.

I've got more McGwires today, slowly but surely approaching the end of his A's years.

1994 Donruss #335 Mark McGwire
1995 Donruss #460 Mark McGwire (x2)
1995 Score #377 Mark McGwire
1995 Topps Stadium Club #289 Mark McGwire (x2)

I had neither the 1995 Donruss or Stadium Club cards of McGwire, and now I have 2. It's always good to have a backup.

1995 Pinnacle Zenith #71 Mark McGwire
1995 Upper Deck #35 Mark McGwire
1996 Upper Deck Collector's Choice #710 Mark McGwire
1996 Topps - Profiles #AL18 Mark McGwire
1996 Topps Finest #B162 Mark McGwire
1996 Upper Deck #151 Mark McGwire

I've seen those Oakland Oaks throwbacks on other cards before. They're a little odd on the typically green-and-gold A's.

1995 Pinnacle #196 Mark McGwire
1996 Sportflix #117 Mark McGwire

I needed both of these cards, which both show the best thing you can on a horizontal card of a slugger, the full swing extension.

eBay Wins #162

Today I've got one penny card, just like I said I wouldn't do a few days ago.

1994 Donruss #615 Doug Brocail

I don't know much about Doug Brocail, so instead of making something up, here's Dana Carvey singing Choppin Broccoli

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3264
Total Spent	$51.14
Per Card	1.567 cents
Change	0 cents

Giant Pile of Prizes from Jaybarkerfan's Junk, Part 6

Sometimes when I win a contest, I set the prize aside until I have time to fully rummage through all of it. In this case I won a contest back in late September, and I think the "Small Flat Rate Box" arrived by early October. I opened it immediately, but it's been sitting on my desk, too daunting of task to sort, since then. I finally felt the need to dive into it, and give jaybarkerfan his proper thank you post.

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Today I've got 10 singles and a pair of 1992 Score to show you.

1989 Upper Deck #373 Mike Henneman
1993 Conlon TSN #801 Sad Sam Jones
1991 Fleer #281 Joe Bitker
1991 ProCards #2225 Kenny Lofton
1991 Score 100 Superstars #44 Dave Parker
1992 Score #47 Travis Fryman

1991 Fleer is starting to appeal to me. Maybe it'll be the next classically ugly set I collect after 1990 Donruss. Also, that Dave Parker is from the same set with misplaced players I mentioned back in part 1, but this time I think Superstar is a fair label.

1992 Score #83 Jose Rijo
1993 Classic Best #136 Rick Gorecki
1993 Select Rookie/Traded #89T Kevin Roberson
1994 Donruss - MVPs #3 Jose Rijo
1994 Topps - Topps Gold #705 Jose Rijo
1995 Bowman #259 Marc Newfield

This stack was heavy on Jose Rijo. For those of you trivia buffs, he's in the elite club of players who returned to the game after receiving at least one hall of fame vote. Injuries kept him out of the game for 5 full seasons, enough for him to qualify for the ballot, but he returned for parts of 2 more seasons afterward.

There's just a little bit left in the box...

eBay Wins #37

37 happens to be my favorite number. When choosing a jersey number, I always go for it. Casey Stengel has 37 retired for him by both New York teams. Stephen Strasburg wears it. But, this post is about a #23. Eric Karros. I won a 9 card lot of Karros cards for just a dime. I think I'll show them to you in order from least to most favorite, based mostly on my kneejerk reactions while writing up this post.

1994 Donruss #338 Eric Karros

At least on the card in my hand, the photo looks very flat and dull. Also the Donruss logo is too big and regal-looking. It's just Donruss, not a superpremium set.

1993 Upper Deck #490 Eric Karros

This one has a nice action shot, but it's a little awkward-looking. I'm assuming this is a pickoff throw if he's playing first base.

1999 Upper Deck MVP #106 Eric Karros

This is a better action shot, but it's a bit logo-heavy on the left side, especially for a base card. It was 1999 after all.

1992 Fleer Ultra - All-Rookies #1 Eric Karros

I've got a soft spot for Fleer Ultra, so this one comes in at #6.

1998 Collector's Choice #395 Eric Karros

I've always thought subtle red accents go well with the Dodgers because of their lone red uniform element, the front number. So the border earns this card the #5 slot.

1997 Circa #186 Eric Karros

Ah 1997, when the special effects just started getting silly. Luckily, I'm a fan of silliness most of the time.

1998 Fleer Tradition #483 Eric Karros

I like the full bleed photo with minimal logo and subtly colored text on this one.

1999 Skybox Thunder #107 Eric Karros

THUNDER! It's just fun to say. And the background's all gold. THUNDER!

1993 Topps - Gold #11 Eric Karros

Of course, one of my favorite sets, 1993 Topps Gold, is going to take the #1 slot. This could be pretty much anyone from Bip Roberts to Mario Mendoza, and it'd still be #1 in this bunch. The rookie cup is a nice touch too.

It looks like I crossed another little milestone in my eBay purchasing, over 2000 cards now. Not bad for under $40 I guess.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	2001
Total Spent	$38.28
Per Card	1.913 cents