Me Too!

I've seen lots of 2015 Update boxes with the Chrome cards on your blogs, and had to get one myself. Let's see how I did. As usual I like to show off the Cardinals and inserts, lest I spend a ton of time scanning 9 cards at a time.

2015 Topps Update
#US106 Shelby Miller
#US214 Yadier Molina
#US338 Pete Kozma
#US373 Mitch Harris
#US393 Dan Haren
Pride and Perseverence #PP-8 Jon Lester
Rarities #R-3 Daniel Nava
Rookie Sensations #RS-6 Nomar Garciaparra
Rookie Sensations #RS-20 Tom Seaver

Shelby Miller's got an ugly hat, and Yadi's got a ridiculous gold chest protector, but I like All-Star game cards. It's not Topps' fault the game has started to look a bit silly.

Pride and Perseverance is a good idea for a set, featuring players with unique challenges, mostly medically related from the checklist. I think it might have been better if it didn't just look like a brown parallel, though. The other insert card of note in the first bunch is the Nomar Garciaparra, one of the very few players I collect that hasn't played for the Cardinals.

2015 Topps Update
Highlight of the Year #H-76 Hank Aaron
Tape Measure Blasts #TMB-11 Mark McGwire

Here are two more retired players feature on inserts. I guess it's a nice easy way to please everyone, having insert sets featuring not only the biggest stars of today, but all time. The McGwire card features a specific long home run he hit just a few months before being traded to St. Louis in 1997, and breaking the single-season record in 1998.

2015 Topps Update - Chrome
#US237 Craig Kimbrel
#US238 A.J. Cole
#US309 Howie Kendrick
#US308 Joey Butler
#US319 Will Harris
#US392 Odrisamer Despaigne
#US398 J.T. Realmuto
2015 Topps Update - Rookie Sensations Chrome #RSC-2 Ichiro Suzuki

Here's the big draw for these boxes, the Chrome parallels. There were 8 and they scanned nicely this way, so apologies to Joey Butler's card for being sideways. I didn't get any Cardinals in the Chrome packs, but I did get an Ichiro insert. The exclusive nature of these means I might be tempted to grab another box or two, and then try to trade for or buy the rest secondhand.

September Card Show Autographs

Last weekend I attended another local card show, and this one had plenty of current Cardinals players and 1 coach/former player. Originally there were to be 7 total signers, and I bought a ticket for each. Tony Cruz was added after I purchased my tickets, so I was going to buy an autograph ticket for him on the day of the show. Right around the time Xavier Scruggs was designated for assignment a few weeks ago, I also saw a note on the website saying he would not be at this show, so I figured I could swap his ticket for a Cruz, which I did.

Tommy Pham	Kolten Wong 16
Mitch Harris 40	Jose Oquendo
Sam Tuivailala 64	Tony Cruz 48

Tommy Pham

Kolten Wong 16

Mitch Harris 40

Jose Oquendo

Sam Tuivailala 64

Tony Cruz 48

If you did the math up there, you can see I still should have had 7 autographs. Well, as it passed 11am, when all the signers were supposed to start at 9:30, 10, or 10:30, an announcement came over the PA that Pete Kozma would not be coming. The announcer wasn't very diplomatic about it either, and placed the blame squarely on Kozma's agent.

I've run out of plastic cubes for my autographed balls, so these are still in half of the box of a dozen I purchased.  I'm probably going to try to get a bunch that are identical so they stack nicely, or maybe even some multi-ball cases.

The show itself was one of the most crowded I've been to. Part of that is because there were 7 autograph tables set up in close proximity, and the lines of people were all crossing each other. It was pretty cool to meet 5 different players all in one day. Tommy Pham had the longest line by far, because his price was set back when he was called up, and he's been playing really well lately. Kolten Wong had a bit of the opposite issue, with a price set when he was really doing well, but he's been struggling a bit lately. People asked for some pretty funny inscriptions from Tommy Pham, including "Phamtastic" and "Phambino". He looked almost embarrassed to write it, but he obliged. Another interested moment came at Jose Oquendo's table. Apparently he won't sign "The Secret Weapon", I assume due to some exclusivity deal he's got. The guy in front of me purchased Jose's full uniform from the 1985 throwback game against Kansas City earlier this year, and had him sign the jersey, pants, and cap. He asked Jose to write "1985 NL Champs" on one of the items, but Jose quickly reminded him he didn't get here until 1987. He wasn't really declining, he just said "I don't want to mess up your jersey, you know?".  But the collector agreed that probably didn't make sense, and had him write something else.

All in all, it was a fun morning, and I got to meet 6 Cardinals. There should be some more opportunities to track down Pete Kozma for an autograph, if nothing else perhaps at the annual Winter Warmup run by the Cardinals.