A PWE of Kindness from 2 by 3 Heroes, Part 2

JediJeff of 2 by 3 Heroes is a fellow 2010 Topps Turkey Red collector, and we traded some awhile back. When he picked up a handful for his wantlist and got some duplicates, he kindly forwarded a few to me, along with some other Cardinals.

Here's the rest of the PWE, the other Cardinals.

1996 Score #430 Scott Cooper
2008 Upper Deck X #91 Albert Pujols
2009 Topps 206 #254 Johnny Mize
2009 Upper Deck #355 Ryan Ludwick
2009 Upper Deck Icons #5 Albert Pujols
2014 Panini Prizm #183 Kolten Wong
2008 Topps - 50th Anniversary All Rookie Team #AR41 Albert Pujols

Collecting cards has taken on a different feel since I started getting in-person autographs often. Of the 4 modern-era players here, I've met 2 of them in person, Scott Cooper and Kolten Wong, and had them autograph baseballs. One of these days I hope to meet Albert Pujols in person. I think the irrational anger at him for taking more money to go to the Angels has probably quieted down enough he could now do a signing in town.

Thanks to JediJeff for the Turkey Reds and Cardinals!

eBay Wins #185

I'm getting ever-closer to the present day with my eBay penny cards. I'm up to 2008 Topps now, with 2 cards. It's now been so long since I resorted my cards that I have no idea if I got these at the same time or not.

2008 Topps
#51 Erik Bedard
#143 Willie Harris

I've got 286 unique cards out of the 660 or so from 2008 Topps, which I mostly got in discounted old packs. I wasn't collecting in 2008, so this set is in the gap I'm still sort of filling in. These two cards both added to my set.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3320
Total Spent	$51.70
Per Card	1.557 cents
Change	-0.001 cents

College Bowl Game Contest Win, Part 12

For the 2012-2013 College Football season, I entered the College Football Pick 'Em contest hosted by madding of Cards on Cards. I've won several of his contests over the years, and he always dumps a ton of Cardinals on me when I do. Yet, I think this time he may have outdone himself. I may have to work hard to get them all posted before the 2013-14 College Football season starts August 29, and I start posting my Power Rankings again.
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2008 Allen and Ginter
#287 Chris Carpenter
#326 Adam Kennedy

2008 Allen and Ginter
#44 Adam Wainwright
United States #US29 Chris Carpenter

Has anyone heard if 2013 Allen and Ginter is out yet? That United States insert is needlessly thick. At first I thought maybe it was a relic, but no, it's just a very thick slide of cardboard. I'm guessing this set contained each state's most famous native ballplayer.

2008 Topps
#244 Adam Wainwright
#272 Anthony Reyes
#285 Tony La Russa
#353 Brendan Ryan

2008 Topps is a set I have a decent chunk of, by virtue of finding a lot of cheap packs at one point. Consequently, I'm chasing its completion in my mind, though I haven't gone so far as to put the missing cards on my want list yet.

2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces
#83 Ozzie Smith
#85 Chris Carpenter

I could come up with any number of excuses for putting the Ozzie in the wrong orientation, but you know the real reason. I wasn't paying attention. And I'm not going to go de-sleeve and re-scan it. Carpenter knocked a card off my want list, so I just have a few Cardinals to go in this set.

2007 Topps Co-Signers #67 Anthony Reyes

I feel like I've heard of Co-Signers many times, but this is the first card of it I own. That's probably because I'm not a huge autograph seeker, except those I acquire from an in-person meeting, and autographed inserts were the big gimmick of this set.

All-Star Winnings, Part 2

Way back in July 2012, I won a contest at Cards On Cards. The premise was to pick the Cardinals player who would have the biggest impact on the game, determined Sabermetrically. I picked the right player, and got a pile of Cardinals for my trouble. They've been sitting in that same pile, haunting me, for quite some time, so now is the time to show them to you.
Part [I]

2010 Topps - Topps Attax Matt Holliday
2011 Bowman #122 Matt Holliday
2011 Lineage #9 Matt Holliday

First up in this batch is the player who won me these cards, Matt Holliday. If you can figure out what to do with it, the code from the 2010 Attax card is all yours. Matt changed jersey numbers for 2011, but Bowman apparently went with a 2009 shot in the 2011 product.

2011 Topps Update
#US114 Lance Lynn
#US260 Matt Holliday
#US294 Edwin Jackson

Here are 3 cards from 2011 Update, and right in the middle, Matt Holliday is celebrating that he had slightly more statistical impact than his 2 teammates at the All-Star Game. I don't think this pick is from the game, however, because Molina was on bereavement leave at the time.

1999 Topps #433 Adam Kennedy/Mickey Lopez/Jackie Rexrode
1998 Bowman #77 Adam Kennedy
2008 Topps #542 Adam Kennedy
2008 Topps #285 Tony La Russa

Here's a little sunrise-sunset on Adam Kennedy, since he started his first stint with the Cardinals in 1999 (drafted in 1997), and finished the second one in 2008. Also from 2008, Tony La Russa, who probably didn't want to pose for this shot.

2010 Topps
Peak Performance #PP-80 Ozzie Smith
Vintage Legends #VLC9 Ozzie Smith

And finally for today, here are 2 Ozzies from 2010. Cards like this make me appreciate Topps reaching back to the past for card subjects. They even got the logo era-appropriate on the Peak Performance card.

A Trade with Too Many Grandersons

I never know the right proper noun to use when referring to another blogger.  Do I use the blog name (as in the title of this post), the user name, or the name signed to the post?

Dennis at Too Many Grandersons sent me a pile - and I do mean pile - of 2008 cards.  There were 135 in total.

5 of the biggest stars and/or Cardinals from the beginning of the stack

He also gave me 5 2010 Topps Update cards to replace the misprints I have.  I'm still looking for US-40 to make a mostly complete set.

Ooooh, Updatey.

I really didn't come up with enough to satisfy my end of the trade, but he graciously sent along all he had of 2008 for me anyway.  Once I come into some cool Tigers, I definitely owe him one.  I've updated my wantlists for both sets, so take a look and make me an offer.

Thanks, Dennis!

2008 Topps

I've been delaying posting because I bought a scanner at a garage sale, hoping to get some better images on my blog.  It was only $5 so I took a chance on it.  As far as I can tell it doesn't work, so you get camera shots for now.

I saw a few fellow bloggers post that Target's "Hot Packs" boxes had some 2009 and 2010 Heritage packs for $1.59, and I immediately became interested in finding some of these discounted cards.  I had to check out the 3 stores near my work and home (hooray for urban sprawl!).  I didn't find any Heritage, but I did find a total of 6 packs of 2008 Topps.

I ripped the packs and threw away the wrappers before I had a chance to take a proper blog picture, but I don't think this was the original way 2008 was packaged.  The packs were red and clear plastic, in 2 sections.  One section has 22 cards, and the other has a rather wide piece of pink bubblegum.  Due to the clear plastic, I could clearly see who was on the front and back of the 22 card stacks.  Not that it mattered, since I bought every pack I could.  There were no inserts, but that's OK, since I'm focused on the base set for now.

Mmm, 3 to 4 year old gum.  And yes, I've chewed 2 pieces, and my wife even had one, and we're still alive.

I also noticed the packs didn't even say "2008" anywhere on them, and I'm pretty sure I've seen similar packs for 2011 at a local grocery store.  After counting up the cards I have, I have a feeling they were split by series (though I didn't pay attention when I opened them), as I have exactly 44 numbered below 330 and 88 above.

So, now I have 132 2008 Topps cards.  There were 14 doubles, so that leaves 542/660 on my want list, and 14 on my trade list.