Red Cardboard's Mostly Reds Cardboard Draft, Part 1

A long, long time ago, Red Cardboard held a draft, and I received my cards, looked through them, and put them in my "to post" pile. I'm going to have to implement a queue rather than a pile, I think, or else some stuff's just going to never get posted.

As a Reds fan, most of the prizes offered were Reds, but I managed to find the former/future Cardinals in disguise, along with cards from a few sets I just like. Here are the first few cards from the results.

1970 Topps Super #31 Vada Pinson
1975 Topps #623 Rookie Infielders (Phil Garner, Keith Hernandez, Bob Sheldon, Tom Veryzer)
1977 Topps #23 Dan Driessen
1993 Denny's #22 Joe Oliver
1996 Metal Universe #149 Barry Larkin
1997 Bowman - International #76 Brett Tomko
1999 Fleer Ultra - Gold Medallion #10G Brett Tomko
1999 Fleer Ultra - Gold Medallion #146G Dmitri Young
2003 Upper Deck Victory #29 Adam Dunn

I envisioned this looking a bit more like a collage and a bit less like a poorly played round of Tetris, but what can I say? That Vada Pinson really threw off everyone else. It's got some markings on it, but it's my first card from 1970 Topps Super. Since I keep the bulk of my cards in standard sized boxes, I now even more urgently need to implement some sort of plan for oversized items, much like a library does.

Two other nice vintage cards are Keith Hernandez in his pre-mustache days, and a rough looking Dan Driessen. All 3 of the oldest cards features guys who made at least a stop with the Cardinals, along with Dmitri Young and Brett Tomko. For some reason I always think Joe Oliver was a Cardinal too, but he wasn't, and I can't figure out who I must be confusing him with.

There are plenty more, but as usual, the blogger label limit tells me when I've had enough for one day.

eBay Wins #257

There's still a whole lot of 1990 cards left, and here's the smallest stack out on my table, 60 cards from Topps Traded, cut down to just the Cardinals.

1990 Topps Traded
#15T Tom Brunansky
#39T Keith Hernandez
#90T Tony Pena
#117T Bryn Smith
#122T Bob Tewksbury
#124T John Tudor

When I arranged these by number, I figured that the set was arranged by team, but then I saw Cleveland's Keith Hernandez splitting up Boston's Tom Brunansky and Tony Pena. It's alphabetical order by last name, and I just happened to get some Cardinals all between S and T. Keith Hernandez is a player I'd really like to get an autograph from, but with him having a solid job in the Mets booth, he doesn't seem to get back to St. Louis for appearances.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	5302
Total Spent	$65.39
Per Card	1.233 cents
Change	-0.003 cents

Bowl Pick 'Em Contest Winnings, Part VII

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

1974 Topps - Team Checklists - Cardinals
1978 Topps #143 Keith Hernandez
1978 Topps #170 Lou Brock
1979 Topps #371 Keith Hernandez
1984 Donruss #475 George Hendrick
1985 Topps #60 George Hendrick
1985 Topps Traded #15T Bill Campbell
1985 Topps Traded #30T Ivan de Jesus

I decided to post some of the oldest cards in this prize package today. Above we see clear evidence Keith Hernandez should always keep the mustache. I'm still pondering a purchase of a powder blue Hernandez jersey, the style of which you can see much more clearly on the George Hendrick cards.

1974 Topps #204 Tommy Harper/Lou Brock
1976 Topps #205 Al Hrabosky/Rich Gossage

These are some nice league leader cards, with a bit of wear around the corners of course. They're 40+ years old after all. If you're like me, you might be wondering how Al Hrabosky and Goose Gossage scored 35 "points" in 1975. Never fear, I'll do your research for you. The Sporting News gave out a "Fireman of the Year" award to each league from 1960 to 2000. The scoring appears to have changed over time, but at least through 1975, relievers got 1 point for a save and 1 for a win in relief, and the top point earner in each league was the winner.

eBay Wins #217

Once again, collating all my miscellaneous penny wins by set has led me to a large amount of cards that won't fit in one post. Enjoy the first 96 1987 Topps, and their woodgrain borders that remind me of the old paneling in my parents family room. I actually had duplicates of a few, which I noted in the captions. I didn't think I really needed to see scans of all 3 Marvell Wynne cards.

1987 Topps
#3 Dwight Evans
#11 Indians Leaders
#24 Tony Walker
#29 Jimmy Key
#37 Marvell Wynne (x3)
#38 Dennis Leonard
#51 Mel Hall
#69 Lonnie Smith
#70 Charlie Hough

Fun fact about Lonnie Smith: He was traded from the Cardinals to the Royals in 1985, and became the first player to face the team he started the season with in the World Series.

1987 Topps
#83 Mike Davis
#85 Kevin Bass
#92 Urbano Lugo (x2)
#93 Jim Leyland (x2)
#117 Jim Beattie
#127 Vance Law (x2)
#133 Jose Oquendo
#135 Mike Easler (x2)
#137 Jerry Willard

I met Jose Oquendo a few months ago. He looks younger now than he does on this card.

1987 Topps
#138 Roy Lee Jackson
#145 Charlie Kerfeld
#152 Toby Harrah
#156 Mariners Leaders
#162 Mike LaValliere
#165 Jeff Reardon (x2)
#166 Bob Boone
#170 Bo Jackson
#175 Bob Stanley

I also met Mike LaValliere. He doesn't have Jose's fountain of youth, but he's one of the funniest players I've met.

1987 Topps
#181 Cardinals Leaders
#183 Andy Hawkins
#187 Mark Huismann
#198 Lee Mazzilli
#202 Ricky Wright (x2)
#213 Randy Myers
#221 Vern Ruhle
#240 Steve Balboni (x2)
#241 Danny Heep

LaValliere and Ozzie Smith make an appearance on that Cardinals leaders card.

1987 Topps #243 Whitey Herzog
#245 Willie Upshaw
#249 Jim Pankovits (x2)
#253 Eddie Milner (x2)
#263 Stan Javier (x2)
#267 Howard Johnson
#271 Mike Brown
#274 Jeff Hearron
#278 Gary Pettis

For whatever reason, I didn't have this Whitey Herzog card until now. That's one more off the want list.

1987 Topps
#280 Jeffrey Leonard (x2)
#289 Bob Kipper
#308 Don Slaught
#309 Mike Young
#318 Jim Fregosi
#321 Mike Laga
#325 Garry Templeton
#333 Ken Phelps
#334 Ed Correa

Mike Laga is the only guy to hit the ball out of Busch Stadium II. He did it with a foul ball, though.

1987 Topps
#341 Mike Brown
#344 Joe Niekro
#347 Mickey Brantley
#350 Keith Hernandez
#362 Luis Quinones
#363 Jose Guzman
#366 Mark McGwire
#373 Jeff Dedmon
#385 Orel Hershiser

I've been seriously considering purchasing a 1980s powder blue Keith Hernandez jersey from Mitchell and Ness, because not only was he a great player, but he wore my favorite number, 37. Plus I don't see many Hernandez jerseys around town, whereas McGwires are still everywhere.

1987 Topps
#387 T.R. Bryden
#388 Geno Petralli
#401 Billy Jo Robidoux
#402 Mike Trujillo (x2)
#407 Jim Acker
#411 Darnell Coles
#438 Kelly Downs
#441 Dave Leiper
#461 Craig McMurtry

No Cardinals in this scan? Boooo.

1987 Topps
#464 Butch Wynegar
#465 Todd Worrell (x2)
#466 Kal Daniels
#467 Randy St. Claire
#468 George Bamberger
#469 Mike Diaz
#479 Bob Sebra
#480 Jim Rice
#497 Dale Mohorcic

And we wrap up with Todd Worrell's card featuring the Rookie Cup.

These were again out of my half-cent box, which I created to even out the less-than-a-penny-per-card lots I bought. So these 96 count for 48 cents in my tracker.

eBay Bargain Tracker
Total Cards Bought	3697
Total Spent	$54.39
Per Card	1.471 cents
Change	-0.026 cents

Donuts from Johnny's Trading Spot, Part VI

Several weeks ago, I read a post at Johnny's Trading Spot titled Instant mini collections up for grabs. "Up for Grabs" always gets my attention, so I threw my name into the mix. They were supposed to be randomly assigned, but through a lucky draw and one trade, each of the winners wound up with exactly what they originally wanted most. For me, that was cards with batting donuts.

Part I II III IV V

Last one!

1977 Topps #126 Rod Gilbreath
1979 Topps #165 Frank Taveras
1981 Fleer #545 Keith Hernandez
1981 Topps
#319 Rowland Office
#445 Ellis Valentine
#465 Bill Russell
#558 Barry Bonnell
#723 Bruce Bochte
1982 Fleer #209 Chris Speier

These cards were all "First Row" cards in my collection. I keep my cards stored in bpxes with 3 rows each, sorted by year and set. I always take notice when I acquire a card that is old enough to go in the first row. Right now that's anything 1984 or earlier, though 1984 Topps is getting close to being pushed into row 2. So, in total I've got 12 first row cards here.

1984 Donruss #285 Greg Gross
1984 Fleer #20 John Shelby
1984 Fleer #299 Tim Flannery
1985 Topps #496 Donnie Scott
1985 Topps #647 Rafael Ramirez
1986 Donruss #401 Terry Francona
1986 Fleer #270 Rich Dauer
1986 Fleer #278 Fred Lynn

Thanks again to Johnny's Trading Spot for the kickstart to my batting donut collection.

Jose Valentin

2001 Stadium Club #107 Jose Valentin

I assume this photo is from the 2000 season. I also assume it's a stolen base we're seeing. In 2000 Jose tied his best base-stealing season, with a blazing 19 stolen bases. And I think it's a safe assumption, but this looks like a road uniform, although the shadows make it tricky to tell white from gray. That means it's from one of 9 games in which Jose stole at least 1 base on the road: Toronto (2 in one game), Minnesota (2 again), Oakland, New York (2 games), Anaheim, Texas, Tampa Bay, Baltimore. That's about as much as I can divine from this image alone, although some other shots of road-gray White Sox from the set could provide additional clues.

...

I'm bored with this analysis. The mustache is too much for me. In this shot, he kind of reminds me of Keith Hernandez, actually.

Keith left the Cardinals before I knew much about baseball, but wore my favorite number, 37. The move to the Mets was probably a good one for him, since Al Hrabosky and Mike Shannon have been dominating our former-player-broadcaster positions for quite some time.

But back to Mr. Valentin. He also played for the Mets, although considerably later than Mr. Hernandez. He played all 7 games of the 2006 NLCS against the Cardinals at 2B. He hit .250 with a .333 OBP, not horrible for a second baseman, but the Cardinals pulled it out in game 7 when Adam Wainwright struck out Carlos Beltran looking (sorry Carlos, I know you're one of the good guys now).

Based on the angle of that base, and the angle he appears to be looking, I think he's looking at the ballboy - or ballgirl, we're equal opportunity here at Tenets of Wilson - in left field foul territory. I'm not sure why, maybe for some sort of complicated hidden ball trick. Those are very rarely pulled off on offense, and even more rarely with help from the opposing team's employees. Ah, so that's it, the left field ballboy is a plant!  Jose's just waiting for him to whack the 3B on the head with those tiny stools they sit on so he can advance. My statistical sources say he neither stole third nor got ejected in those 9 games, so the plan must have been interrupted. There can only be one rational conclusion reached from this. The game was in Texas, and this guy saved the day for the Rangers:

2011 Topps Opening Day - Mascots #M-23 Rangers Captain

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