Pull Tab Awareness Week Win Part 1

I'm still digging through my pile of packages, unfortunately not in order, so here's one from July 2016 or so. You can read about the reason for the season at Baseball Card Breakdown, and I won a prize by spreading the word. Let's see what I've been letting languish on my desk.

1996 Leaf Signature - Extended Autographs Tom Urbani
2001 Topps Archives #16 Enos Slaughter
2003 Bowman #207 Chris Duncan
2005 Upper Deck Classics #32 Enos Slaughter
2012 Panini Prizm #73 Yadier Molina
2013 Topps Archives #139 Matt Holliday
2015 Topps Archives #71 Matt Holliday

Based on the other images I see online, Tom Urbani didn't quite sign that card where he was supposed to. All of the other signatures are in that big blank space at the bottom. Perhaps he's to blame for the scourge of sticker autographs.

The two Hollidays were both Archives cards I didn't have. Of all the years of Archives, I only had his 2012 card before. In fact, all of these were new to my collection, and I've now doubled my count of Enos Slaughter cards.

There's even better stuff in part 2 of this package. And don't worry, this one's only a two-parter.

Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XXX

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 XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX

I'm not sure I've ever done a 30 part post before. Oh well, let's keep rolling! Today I've got Kyle Lohse, Matt Holliday, a Matt Carpenter, Trever Miller, and Mark Ellis, and a pair of team cards.

2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars #77 Matt Holliday
2011 Topps - Factory Set Diamond Anniversary #373 Trever Miller
2012 Topps - Gold Sparkle #26 Kyle Lohse
2013 Topps Archives #125 Kyle Lohse
2013 Topps Gypsy Queen #343 Kyle Lohse
2014 Topps - Blue Parallel #44 Matt Carpenter
2014 Topps - Red Hot Foil Parallel #329 Matt Holliday

I'm still a little bummed Matt Holliday won't finish his career in St. Louis, but that's sort of the nature of the game when players who are much better hitters than defenders can go to the American League and squeeze in another season or two.

2012 Topps #233 St. Louis Cardinals
2012 Topps - Gold Sparkle #233 St. Louis Cardinals
2014 Topps Update #US272 Mark Ellis
2016 Topps #254 Matt Holliday

I know Mark Ellis played for the Cardinals, but it felt like I never actually saw him play during his one season in St. Louis. He only started 46 games and played in 73 total, so that may be part of the reason. The team cards here commemorate the game that clinched a World Series appearance for the Cardinals, which they ultimately went on to win for the 11th World Championship.

Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XVII

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

2012 Topps Archives #114 Jason Motte
2013 Topps Archives #151 Jason Motte
2013 Topps #130 Jason Motte
2013 Opening Day #202 Jason Motte
2013 Topps Blue Parallel
#96 Edward Mujica
#188 Brian Fuentes
#235 Jake Westbrook
2014 Topps #599 Jason Motte

In addition to a fine collection of Jason Motte base cards, I got a trio of 2013 blue parallels in the prize package too, including Brian Fuentes, who pitched 5 innings over 6 games with the Cardinals to end his career.

2009 Allen and Ginter #157 Jason Motte
2013 Allen and Ginter #283 Jason Motte
2013 Topps #269 St. Louis Cardinals
2013 Gypsy Queen - Mini #322 Jason Motte

Jason Motte had a great 2012, leading the NL with 42 saves, but lost all of 2013 to injury, and never quite made it back to that same level of performance. He's back on the DL in Colorado now, too, with just 20 2/3 innings pitched this year.

Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XVI

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

I had a decent number of Vince Coleman cards in the prize package, along with a few more from the same sets to round out this post.

1985 Fleer Update #U-28 Vince Coleman
1986 Topps #66 Cardinals Leaders
1986 Topps #370 Vince Coleman
1987 Donruss Highlights #36 Vince Coleman
1987 Fleer Limited Edition #10 Vince Coleman
1987 Sportflics #65 Vince Coleman
1991 Post #5 Vince Coleman
2013 Topps Archives #233 Vince Coleman

I'm very conflicted about that 2013 Archives card. On one hand, I like the card, and you can't have it! On the other hand, I first assumed it was 1986 Topps or Topps Traded from looking at the front, especially because it's a picture from somewhere around that time, not like the other Archives cards with modern pictures on card designs from 20-60 years ago. The actual 1986 card above tipped me off to double check the back, and I saw the 2012 copyright. I don't like getting confused by my cards, since I want to keep them all categorized and cataloged as correctly as possible. But, we can't really have modern cards with classic designs without running into this problem, I guess.

Donruss Highlights and Fleer Limited Edition were both sets I didn't have any of in my collection before these Vince Colemans.

1990 Topps Mini League Leaders
#73 Vince Coleman
#74 Jose DeLeon

I like these minis, like most minis, and I only had 2 of this set so far. There are two more Cardinals in the set, although since I collect Cardinals in any uniform, there are several more I'd like to get, too.

Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part XI

College football will be here again before we know it, 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

Let's see some Jon Jay!

2010 Topps Update #US203 Jon Jay
2010 Topps Chrome #178 Jon Jay
2011 Topps - Platinum Diamond Anniversary #295 Jon Jay
2013 Bowman #54 Jon Jay
2013 Topps Archives #7 Jon Jay
2015 Bowman #94 Jhonny Peralta
2015 Topps
#11 Jon Jay
#311 Jhonny Peralta
#527 Carlos Martinez

Jon Jay was traded to San Diego for Jedd Gyorko before this season. So far it seems to have been a decent trade. Unfortunately that means we no longer have a player to lead the team in High Sock Sundays.

2014 Topps Update
#US134 Tony Cruz
#US212 Randy Choate
#US260 Jhonny Peralta

Randy Choate became a free agent at the end of 2015, was a member of the Blue Jays organization (though never played for the MLB team) for part of March, and baseball reference now claims he's signed with the dodgers, but he doesn't seem to be on even the 40-man roster. I really thought Tony Cruz was being groomed to replace Yadier Molina when he retires - or goes to the AL to DH, but the Cardinals sent him to Kansas City, and he has since been sent to AAA. These are the first 2014 Update cards I have. That was a year I just didn't buy much current stuff at all.