Set Appreciation Post #5 - 1979 Kellogg's

I am glad to be out of the 2000s cards for this week's post.  I figured a 1970s set would be fun for this week, so I am going with the 1979 Kellogg's set.  It's a smaller set, like all of the Kellogg's sets, but there is still plenty of to talk about. 

Here are my highlights:

Design 

Two posts in a row with a Bruce Sutter card.  Totally on accident, I always scan the first card in the set for this section of my post.  It's pretty typical of the Kellogg's cards from the 1970s and 1980s. 

It's got the lenticular front with a Kellogg's logo at the top.  It's not my favorite Kellogg's set design (1970).  It's not the worst Kellogg's design (1978).  It's sort of in the middle, maybe the bottom of the middle.  A lot of the design elements on the Kellogg's cards reappear frequently, but I still love them.  There is something about the arch way thing at the top that I don't love.  I think the arch is supposed to be 3-D, but the Kellogg's script on the front of it is 2-D and crosses lines.  That's really picky. 

THE BELL CURVE OF KELLOGG'S CARDS 

I went ahead and put this set on a bell curve of Kellogg's cards.  I will do more Kellogg's sets in the future.  We can revisit the Kellogg's bell curve when I get to the other sets.  The 1970 Kellogg's Johnny Bench might need to be further to the right.  

The card backs of the Kellogg's sets are always really busy.  The small dissertation is a common element, although they feel shorter on the 1979 cards.  Still, there is some good information in the blurb.  I like how this card describes Bruce Sutter's "forkball", which he calls a "split-fingered fastball".  Those are two different pitches nowadays, but I guess not back in the late 1970s.

The Busch Stadium Cards 

You know, there are not a ton of cards that have photographs taken in Busch Stadium.  The Kellogg's cards always seem to have cookie cutter stadium backgrounds though.  We all know the best cookie cutter stadium was Busch Stadium, so it was inevitable that the two ended up together. 

Not all of the photos were taken at Busch for the 1979 Kellogg's set, plenty of Three Rivers and Veterans in there too, but there are a few cards in the set that are obviously in Busch Stadium.   

Pete Rose. 

Red seats and arches, definitely Busch Stadium.  I think the Stadium Club, which was a restaurant in left field, is over his left shoulder. 

Lee Mazzilli.  Busch Stadium. 

I only picked out two cards, but I know there are a few others.  If my life had a few less things going on, I would have spent the time to examine and scan each card taken at Busch Stadium.  I would like to think that the inclusion of Busch Stadium in this set will help it in the rankings when we get to the bottom of the post. 

The R. Jackson Cards 

I had not been around for very long in 1979, so I don't know that this is a fact, but I am guessing the average baseball fan was aware of Reggie Jackson at this time.  When I was a kid, he was an old guy on the Angels and A's. 

He also tried to kill the Queen of England in the Naked Gun movie. 

If you saw Reggie Jackson on a baseball card wearing a Yankees uniform, would you need a first or middle initial to be able to tell him apart from another baseball player?  Would you confuse him for someone, say an Angels infielder? 

Well, the good people at Kellogg's decided to make sure you did not confuse Reggie Jackson and Ron Jackson in this set.  No relation by the way.  Reggie Jackson is identified as R.M. Jackson on his card...

and Ron Jackson has R.D. Jackson on his card.  

What does the M stand for? 

Martinez.  

Now that I have a second card back in the post, I like how these have the player's favorite hobby listed along side their height and weight.  Bruce Sutter liked hunting.  Reggie Jackson likes automobiles.  I cannot find anything about Bruce Sutter hunting, but apparently Reggie Jackson fixes up old cars, and is really good at it.  

I don't know what kind of card Reggie is driving here, but the tail fins on the back are making me think something from the 1950s or 1960s. 

Best Cardinals Card 

I only had two Cardinals to choose from in the 1979 Kellogg's set.  There is a card of long-time pitcher Bob Forsch, along with catcher Ted Simmons.  I went with the Simba card.  There was not a lot of separation between the two in terms of quality, but I kind of like the background on the Simmons card. 

It's a blue blur for some reason, rather than the cookie cutter stadium mentioned earlier.  I am not sure it would make for a great set, but this card it works.  Fits in nicely with the powder blue Cardinals uniform, which you guys know I always like to see on cards. 

The back of Simmons Kellogg's card.  Check out that hobby.  

Not sure that would fly anymore with modern baseball contracts.  

Favorite Former Durham Bulls Player 

I had to flip through the stack two or three times to make sure this was the right answer.  The right answer, because there is only one former Durham Bulls player in this set.  No Joe Morgan, Greg Luzinski, Ken Singleton, or Rusty Staub.  Those are the go-to names when looking for the 1970s Durham Bulls players in stacks of cards.  

Those were good players too.  They were in all the 1970s sets.  

None of them are in here.  I was really genuinely surprised that none of them are here.  I had to go find out what happened to these players in 1978.  Craig Reynolds in this set. Craig Reynolds.  

Joe Morgan - He had the worst season of his career.  I will give you that Kellogg's.  It's still Joe Morgan though.  Everyone loves Hall of Famers, even when they have down seasons.  

Rusty Staub - Hit 24 home runs and drove in 121 runs.  Could be a bit of an omission.  Possibly.  

Greg Luzinski - Hit 35 home runs, drove in 101 runs, and made the National League All-Star team.  That home run total, 35 home runs, was better than Mike Schmidt by 14. Schmidt got a card, because he's Mike Schmidt.  I want to point you back up to Joe Morgan, but let's keep going.  

Ken Singleton - He only hit 21 home runs, drove in 81 runs, walked more than he struck out, and batted .293.  

None of that gets you into the 1978 Kellogg's set?   

The lone Durham Bulls player was a solid Major League pitcher, and 1978 was his best season in the Majors.  I am not arguing that he shouldn't be here.  Just surprised that the other players listed above were not on the checklist.  

The answer is Jon Matlack.  

He was in the top 10 for a bunch of important stats during the 1978 season including ERA and Strikeouts.  Matlack's back of the baseball card numbers sometimes did not look the best, but the Sabermetrics really have helped show how good he was at times during his career.  

Here is the back of his card. 

First, I love that his hobby is listed as "sports", and he's a professional athlete.  

Good job Kellogg's.  

According to his baseball card, he won 15 games and had an ERA just below 3.  Looks like a good enough season.  However,  go over to Baseball-Reference, and he had the second highest WAR for a pitcher in 1978, along with the second highest Adjusted ERA+ and FIP.  Basically, he was better than every pitcher in the American League in 1978 who wasn't named Ron Guidry.  

Nolan Ryan isn't even in the top 10 for some of those categories, but he did strikeout a bunch of people.    

Best Non-Cardinal/Non-Durham Bulls Card 

You watched baseball in the 1970s?  

Yes?  Then you know Vida Blue.  

No?  Then you might not know Vida Blue.  

I started watching baseball in the 1980s.  Vida Blue was an old guy who was a mediocre pitcher on the Giants.  I likely did not bother to turn his card over to see that he won a ton of games for the A's in the early 1970s.  If I did turn it over to give it a glance, Topps included facts about him throwing touchdowns in high school.  

Thanks a lot 1987 Topps.  

A Cy Young Award and three World Series rings weren't good enough to be a fact?  

Beyond appearing mediocre to the 10 year old me, Vida Blue always seemed like the happiest guy on all of his baseball cards.  He is always smiling on his cards, not just on one, but seemingly all of them.  It's one of the things I look for when I find a stack of 1970s or early 1980s cards.  

He actually was not happy on all them, but there is a high percentage where he is smiling.  

The 1979 Kellogg's is no different.  Vida Blue seems genuinely happy to be on this baseball card.  It wouldn't surprise me that he ate a bunch of Kellogg's cereal in an attempt to find this card.  

I will do more research on the number of cards where Vida Blue appears happy and report back a different day.  

How Does It Compare?  

Not sure we need a lot of discussion here.  

5. 2000 U.D. Ionix 

4. 1986 Topps Mini League Leaders 

3. 2001 Fleer EX 

2.1979 Kellogg's 

1. 2002 Topps Super Teams 

I am putting it second.  This isn't even my favorite Kellogg's set.  I will do an 80s set next week.  Super Teams might be in trouble.  

A 1980s Card Part 49 - 1982 Topps Bruce Sutter

The 1982 Topps Cardinals cards were my very first team set.  My parents bought me the cards at a flea market in Pennsylvania at some point either in 1983 or 1984.  I still have all the original cards.  I should have pulled out the Sutter from the set and used it for this post.  You can tell that it was owned by a 6 or 7 year old.  Some might consider the card in "poor condition", but it was well loved for many years.  

I ended up re-collecting the majority of sets from my childhood, including the 1982 set, but still have all the old early 1980s cards hanging out around my card closet. 

The Bruce Sutter card always stood out to me because of that beard.  There were not too many 1980s players who had that much facial hair.  I cannot really think of another off the top of my head? Currently, we have players like Charlie Blackmon and Dallas Keuchel who have large amounts of facial hair, but it feels like this was a little less common look in the 1980s.  Mustaches would be a different story....

Also some bonus points go for Sutter having the powder blue Cardinals uniform on in this card.  I think almost all of the 1982 Cardinals cards have pictures that were taken at Wrigley or Shea Stadium, with a few Spring Training photos mixed into the bunch.  The wall behind Sutter does not offer much of a clue. 

The card back. 

Let's work our way down the card. 

The fact boxes on the back of some of the 1982 Topps cards are puzzling.  One box is about Dan Graham, he played for the Orioles, hitting against the Texas Rangers in 1980.  The other is about the San Diego Padres playing the Cincinnati Reds in 1980.  Sir, this is a Bruce Sutter card.  We get one Bruce Sutter fact under the stat box, but two non-Bruce Sutter facts at the top?  

This card was in the middle of Sutter's career as far as time goes, he played until 1988, but he was not very good after the 1984 season.  His last year or two with the Cubs, first few seasons as a Cardinal were his peak years, with 1984 being his best season.  The thing I notice most about the stat line is the fact that the innings pitched and the games are not identical.  Sutter was a great closer, but often came into the game before the ninth inning. 

I went and looked up a few of the Cardinals closers for the past few seasons.  Last year, Carlos Martinez closed games for the Cardinals.  He pitched in 48 games, and 48 1/3 innings.  In 2018, the Cardinals used Bud Norris, who pitched in fewer innings than the number of games in which he appeared.  I have a hard time believing that we will ever see a closer again who pitches two and three innings at a time again outside of the Postseason.  

Sutter is also a Hall of Famer, and shown as a Cardinal on his plaque.  

I think of all the modern Cardinal Hall of Famers he is probably the player I have written about the least on here.  Maybe a few more Sutter posts in the future.  

Cutting Corners For Conciseness

I have been working on putting together the 1980s, and the lone 1990s, Topps Glossy Mail-In sets over the past two months.  So far, I have finished up the 1983, 1986, and 1989 sets.  This post is all about my completed 1985 set, so I am down to 1984, 1987, 1988, and 1990.

No, I am not going to make my goal of finishing these sets by the end of February. 

Yes, I am fine with it.

The 1985 Topps Glossy Mail-In set is on 40 cards, so it would actually be easier to scan than some of the other glossy sets I have posted.  Yet, I am not going to do it.  Those posts dragged out.  Way too long.  We are going to give the big guy an easy day......

So, I am going to go with my favorite five cards out of the 40. 

You know there are Cardinals players, so let's get those out of the way first. 

Joaquin Andujar was a good pitcher for the Cardinals during the first half of the 1980s.  He was the starting pitcher in Game 7 of the 1982 World Series, which the Cardinals won, and picked up 20 wins in both 1984 and 1985.  This was the last season that Andujar was on the Cardinals, although he is in many 1986 products as a member of the Cardinals.  He doesn't seem like the type of player who would garner a spot in a set like this, always surprised he is in here over the Nolan Ryan and Fernando Valenzuela types.  You know, popular.  

This was also the end of the line for Bruce Sutter with the Cardinals.  Best remembered for striking out Gorman Thomas to end the 1982 World Series.  

I was always surprised that he made the Hall of Fame.  Even more surprised that he still pops up in baseball cards.  Not complaining.  

Love the 1980s Tony Gwynn cards.  Look at that brown uniform.  That's how the Padres are supposed to look.  I am a big fan of baseball cards with action shots, but this a nice look for a staged photograph.  I am sure that this was taken during Spring Training, but it sort of looks like it could also be at some random high school stadium.  

Last two cards are rookies.  

Any Dwight Gooden card from the mid 1980s was gold when I was a kid.  At one point I traded my 1985 Topps Dwight Gooden card, good story.  I ended up with a bunch of his 1985 and 1986 cards after his career fell off in the mid 1990s.  This Gloss Mail-In card is one of my favorites.  I like this picture a lot.  If you had to describe the things that made Gooden unique to watch, this follow through would have to be somewhere on the list right?  

This is the rant portion of this post.  

So, you watched that short video clip, the last batter was Alvin Davis.  He's one of the oft forgotten, good young players from the 1980s.  Why are there still people running around talking about Wally Joyner, but nobody talks about Alvin Davis?  I talk about Alvin Davis.  

Alvin did win the Rookie of the Year in 1984, so he at least got a little recognition during his career.  His 1984 appearance in the All-Star game was the only time he made it to the Mid-Summer Classic.  In 1987 the American League had Pat Tabler on their roster as a first baseman.  At the All-Star Break Alvin Davis was hitting .303/.384/.476 with 10 home runs, 19 doubles, and 45 RBIs. 

Pat Tabler? 

Pat flippin Tabler.  

That was apart of a three year stretch where he had OPSs of .886, .875, and .920.  His OPS+ were 127, 141, and 156.  I mean his comparable players on Baseball Reference from that stretch are Jeff Bagwell, Adrian Gonzalez, Paul  Konerko, and Ted Kluszewski.  Yes, let's talk about Wally Joyner.  Roll my damn eyes.  

I like Alvin.  He's getting his own post one of these days.  

  

Friday Five: Top 5 Cardinals Relief Pitchers

5. Al Hrabosky 

Cardinals relief pitcher during the seventies, current television broadcaster, and bar owner.  The Mad Hungarian saved 59 games for the Cardinals over 8 years.  His best year in St Louis took place in 1975 when he went 13-3 pitching in 65 games, but also led the National League in saves with 22.   He had a WAR of 4.0 that year and an ERA+ of 228 finishing third in Cy Young voting.  Overall he posted a 40-20 record with the Cardinals in 329 games with a WAR of 7.2 and an ERA+ of 127.  Hraboksy finished up his career with stints in Kansas City and Atlanta.  

4.  Lee Smith 

Lee Smith pitched four seasons in St. Louis and is someone I watched frequently in middle school and into high school.  When the Cardinals first traded for the imposing relief pitcher he was one of the best in the game.  I think of Smith as being one of the first strictly one inning, strictly ninth inning relief pitchers.  He was big, threw really hard, and walked in from the bullpen really really really slowly.  Smith's first season with the Cardinals was in 1990 after the team traded Tom Brunansky to the Red Sox on May 4th.  That season Lee pitched in 45 games, saved 27 of them, and posted an ERA+ of 182.  The next two seasons, 1991 and 1992, Smith led the National League in saves with 47 and 43 and made two National League All-Star teams.  The 47 saves in 1991 were the National League single season saves record until Randy Myers broke the mark with the Cubs in 1993.  He is still the record holder (along with Jason Isringhausen) for saves in a season by a Cardinal.  The end of Lee Smith's time in St. Louis was pretty ugly.  In 1993 Smith made the National League All-Star team somehow, but his ERA doubled and he was barely an average player as measured by ERA+ (103) and below average with WAR (-0.1).  Somehow he bounced back and saved another hundred games or so with the Yankees, Orioles, Angels, Reds, and Expos.  

3.  Todd Worrell 

Worrell came up with the Cardinals in 1985 and was immediately put into the closer's role by Whitey Herzog.  He finished out 5 games late in the season for the Cardinals and appeared in 7 NLCS and World Series games that year.  His first full year, 1986, resulted in 9 wins, 36 saves, and ERA+ of 176, with a WAR of 2.6, and a National League Rookie of the Year.  Worrell would go on to save more than 30 games in each the next two seasons, but ran into arm problems towards the end of 1988 and into 1989.  He would eventually miss the last months of the 1989 season and all of the 1990 and 1991 seasons.  Worrell bounced back nicely in 1992 winning five games with an ERA of 2.11 and an ERA+ of 162.  However, he lost his closers job to Lee Smith and moved on to the Dodgers at the end of the year.  The Dodgers eventually moved him into the stoppers role in their bullpen where Worrell made two All-Star games and led the National League in saves during the 1996 season.  He and Smith were close on my list, but I give Worrell a slight nod since he won a major award and was on a National League Championship team.  

2.  Bruce Sutter

Sutter pitched four years as a Cardinal and was one of the most important players on the early WhiteyBall teams in St. Louis.  The Cardinals briefly ended up with both Sutter and Rollie Fingers during the 1980 offseason.  Herzog, the General Manager of the team, decided to keep Sutter and trade Fingers.  The former Cub would go on to led the National League in saves three of his four years in St. Louis, won 26 games, made two All-Star teams, and sealed the 1982 World Series.  

Sutter is the only player on the list this week who is in the Hall of Fame, he's even a Cardinal, because of his work with the split fingered fast baseball.  Still a great player and one of the last "closers" who would pitch more than one inning.  

1. Jason Isringhausen 

Counting numbers have to count for something and nobody in Cardinals history can touch the relief numbers posted by Isringhausen.  The team signed Izzy, a native to the St. Louis area, after the 2001 season.  He spent a total of 7 seasons with the Cardinals and racked up for than 200 saves while posting a 143 ERA+.  A modern closer, Isringhausen mainly pitched the ninth inning for the 2000s Tony LaRussa led Cardinals teams.  He was good for 30 saves most seasons and recorded as many as 47 in 2004.  In my opinion his best year was actually 2005 when he recorded 39 saves, posted an ERA+ of 199, a WAR of 2.0, and led the Cardinals to the National League Championship Series against the Astros.  Besides being the franchise leader in saves, Izzy also helped the Cardinals to playoff appearances in 2002, 2004, and 2005.  The most successful run of any closer on this list.  He was also on the 2006 World Series winner, but did not pitch in the Postseason that year.  I am also going to mention that he was briefly a Durham Bull, but that does not carry any actual weight, just a cool fact.  

2013 Topps Museum Bruce Sutter Triple Relic Autograph

In case you missed the beginnings of my blog last year, I have a rule about not opening high end wax products.  Terrible luck in the past, plus the ability to control my product hits through trades and purchases has led me done the path of letting others risk most of the danger.  I still get an itch once in awhile and will drop good money and a high end pack, but that is pretty rare.  My rule still does not mean that I will not dabble in the product once the cards have reached the secondary market.

Last year I really enjoyed the first release of the Topps Museum Collection and was excited to get my hands on a few cards this year.  Last week the product hit the shelves and I overcame the temptation of ripping a box or pack to wait out a few cards in trades and auctions.  My first pair of cards came in the mail this afternoon.  Big one first.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Bruce Sutter

Sutter was the last Cardinals player elected to the Hall of Fame and also had his jersey retired at the beginning of last season.  Sutter was one of the dominate relievers of his area and he was also noted for being one of the pioneers of the split finger fastball.  Sutter is a pretty easy autograph to find on the secondary market, but is mainly in a Cubs or Braves jersey on most of the cards.  While I do not like sticker autographs, especially on a high end product, this card was a little too nice to pass by.  Especially since it is my first Sutter autograph in a Cardinals uniform.  The red patch piece on the left-hand side of this card makes it a little bit sweeter.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Jaime Garcia

And I also picked up this jumbo Jaime Garcia jersey card.  It's been a bad day for Jaime, as it was just announced he is out for the season, so I will simply say that this is a pretty cool jumbo piece of his jersey.

30 Year Top 50: 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game

#9- The second entry from the Greats of the Game line comes in one spot ahead of the original set.  There aren't many things to complain about with the original set, but Fleer did a great job of making the second run of this set even better.  Let's start with the best set.  The original Greats of the Game set was tied to the photography and covers of Sports Illustrated.  The 2000 set dropped the Sports Illustrated name and featured a much simpler base card.

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Ralph Kiner Autograph

The older players in the base set were pictured in black and white photos and the more modern players were pictured in color.  The simple border and picture made the clean design of these cards a favorite of mine.  The borders of the cards were susceptible to dings and chipping making the base cards a condition sensitive set.  

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Dale Murphy

If you compare the edges of the Dale Murphy card below to the Ralph Kiner card above you can see the slight white dings along the edges of the Murphy card.  When I first opened a box and a few packs of these cards back in 2000 I was able to complete an entire base set.  However, it took my another year to complete a mint version of the set.  The single cards can be found for less than dollar on the secondary market, but many have the same problems as my Dale Murphy card.  

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Red Schoendienst Autograph 

One of the biggest changes in the 2000 set is the autograph insertion rate.  The 1999 set featured one autograph per pack, but the 2000 set featured one autograph per six packs, or four per box.   Fleer issued a total of 93 autographed cards, but Fleer offered little details about short prints.  It's widely believed that several cards in the set are harder to find then others.  A few of the cards were purposely shirt printed, but others were signer created short prints.  For example, Dave Concepcion signed his cards in both red and black ink even though the signers in the set were all provided black pens.  

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Bruce Sutter Autograph

Overall, the quality of autographs was spectacular.  The plain design of the cards lent for an excellent space for the players to sign, as opposed to the 1999 set which featured a small white square with a Sports Illustrated Cover or Photograph.  Fleer did a great job of getting a wide variety of different signers for the set.  This Bruce Sutter autograph is one of my personal favorites.  While Sutter has had several different certified autographs over the years, this was the first one I ever owned.  Love the picture with the polyester Braves uniform and the shaggy beard.  

2000 Fleer Yankee Clippings Willie Randolph Jersey

Beyond the base set and great autograph set in the 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game set, collectors also flocked to this set for the Yankee Clippings jersey cards.  The 15 card set featured a variety of great Yankees players from different periods of time.  When the 2000 Greats of the Game set was first released this cards were hot sellers and could easily push the autographed cards on price.  As time has passed, some of the lesser stars in the set have become easier and cheaper to find.  My Willie Randolph card is my only Yankee Clipping card and cost me right around $10 shipped last summer.  

  

2012 Topps Heritage Minor League Carlos Martinez Magenta Printing Plate

I don't dabble in the 1/1 market very often, but was excited to acquire a printing plate from the Topps Heritage Minor League of Cardinals pitching prospect Carlos Martinez.  The 2012 season has marked the debut of Martinez in licensed sets and I have managed to pick up a couple of his autographs early in the year.

2012 Topps Heritage Minor League Carlos Martinez Magenta Printing Plate 

I found this card over on my Facebook page where it was pulled by Ryan, a great baseball card trader.  He can also be found in several of the trading groups, but is always really cool to work with on trading.  Anyway, I sent over a nice Ryan Bruan autograph for the Martinez plate and we also traded out a few nice relics cards from my side for a few nice autographs and relic card for my end of the deal.

2008 SPX Young Stars Signatures Chris Duncan Autograph

First up is a nice Chris Duncan autograph from the 2008 SPX set.  I actually own almost all of the Chris Duncan autographs, but was still missing this one.  I collected Chris Duncan cards for awhile after the 2006 World Series since he was one of the key players on that team.  He has since retired due to a neck injury and works in St. Louis in talk radio.  

2010 Donruss Elite Tyrell Jenkins

I also received a 2010 Donruss Elite Tyrell Jenkins autograph.  Jenkins is one of the better pitching prospects in the highly rated Cardinals minor league system.  He is considered a little bit raw, but is a fantastic athlete and was recruited to Baylor to play football.  Jenkins is also a great follow on Twitter and really interacts with his fans and followers.  

2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Bruce Sutter Jersey

Lastly, I received a Sweet Sport Bruce Sutter jersey.  The card has a cool picture of Bruce Sutter with the awesome shaggy 80s beard and a piece of powder blue Cardinals road jersey.  

Two New Cardinals Relics

I picked up a pretty cool pair of Cardinals relics cards earlier in the week in a trade with a collector in Georgia.  Both of the cards I received were of Cardinals players who also spent a little bit of time with the Braves.  First up is a 2007 SP Legendary Cuts Bruce Sutter card.  This card is the dual jersey version and has a cool piece of baby blue jersey.

2007 SP Legendary Cuts Bruce Sutter Dual Jersey 

Living in Raleigh and have attended NC State, 90% of the powder blue in my world represents football players who cannot beat State and basketball players with low IQs and lower reading fluency.  However, there were a couple of sweet powder blue jerseys around in the early eighties including the Cardinals.  Throw in a sweet shaggy beard and you've got a cool card.  

My second card is a Futures Game jersey card from the 2003 Bowman set.  I believe that this was the first set and year that the Futures Game Jersey insert set appeared in Bowman.  It's made a regular appearance most years since.  This particular card features Adam Wainwright in a Braves uniform.  He was later traded for the great potential of J.D. Drew.

2003 Bowman Adam Wainwright Futures Game Jersey 

Brock, Gibby, and a Sutter

A few new cards to show off this Saturday.  These cards came from Joshy who trades on Facebook and runs his own trading group.  Really easy to deal and very reliable.  I traded him a Stan Musial Forbes Field Relic card which had been featured in a post last month.  He traded me four cards and added some nice throw in Rays and Cardinals to finish out the trade.  

2005 Donruss Leather and Lumber Lou Brock Jersey 147/250

2001 Pacific Private Stock Darren Dreifort Bat Card

2004 Leaf Certified Cuts Bob Gibson Jersey 39/50

2010 Topps Tribute Bruce Sutter Jersey 24/50