What Bob Gibson says about the Cardinals’ Bullpen

I hope the Cardinals have lots and lots of good friends.

Trade with Thorzul

We finished up a trade with Thorzul that started with this card: http://thorzul.blogspot.com/2011/05/100-best-finds-in-30-dollar-lot-12.html


and turned into a larger trade that included these -
2008 – UD Heroes Mark Mulder 253 of 499
2005 – UD All Stars Albert Pujols 250 of 499
2010 – Triple Threads Bob Gibson 986 of 1350


2009 – UD Piece of History Rick Ankiel / Josh Hamilton 73 of 99
2005 – Donruss 04 World Series Red Schoendienst 228 of 500
2004 – Donruss World Series Records Bob Gibson 205 of 1000


And then a cool Bob Gibson jersey card from 2007 SP Legendary Cuts:


Thanks!!!

Arizona Finds

Dad here – I took my bi-annual trip to Arizona last month. While I could not, sadly, find time time to hit any Spring Training sites I did make a stop at Batter’s Box on the drive North and visited an antique mall on the return drive.
I picked up a few things for Isaac at Batter’s Box. The shop focuses nearly entirely on vintage but I did find these at very reasonable prices: much cheaper on ebay – especially for the Pujols.



The antique mall, the Brass Armadillo, had a ton of baseball display cases but I didn’t have time to ask the clerks to unlock each and every one just to see if they had anything interesting. One case had these two staring out at me. I grabbed both for less than $20 total... not bad for two HOF’rs. Not sure why they’re in screw down cases but it makes scanning difficult. I’ll take these out of the cases and re-scan so they’re better in focus.

1968 Springfield Cardinals

I bought a 2010 Springfield Cardinals team set for Isaac at the Winter Warm Up in case he wanted to get autos of some of the AA prospects. As you can see, the team set is a nice interpretation of the 1968 Topps design. The team circle has been appropriated with a dedication to Stan the Man… you really have to look for the “Springfield Cardinals” in that logo.
While you’ve already seen a few of the AA Cardinal Prospects in our Winter Warm Up posts, I thought I’d post a card of a non-prospect featured in this set… El Presidente!

While we’re at it, here are a few of the ‘68 Cardinals we have. In this case, few = almost all. Have other 68’s for trade if anyone has spare Cardinals of that vintage though.

Retro Mini’s

As Isaac builds sets, hoards Cardinals, and fills his favorite player binder, I’ve been gravitating towards vintage Cardinals and mini’s of any flavor, though lately just Cardinals. Here are a few of my latest additions from a newly discovered local shop with a huge, well sorted selection.

1975 Topps Mini's of Gibby and Brock

2003 Topps 206 Sweet Caporal

A trio of 2006 Bowman Heritage mini's including Wainwright's "rookie" in mini form.

The 2009 A&G Conor Jackson 6/10 silk card I mentioned a while back.

Playing with Dolls...

Ok... figures. Thought it would be fun to post Isaac's ever growing collection of bobbleheads, figures, etc...

Click on the image for a larger file.
Left to right:
Back Row - Padres & Mets Baskin Robbins sundae helmets from my childhood my parents found during their last move; Fredbird Bobble Belly, Matt Morris / Albert Pujols bobbleheads, Pujols SGA bobble, Gehrig Starting Lineup, Musial Starting Lineup, Pujols figure, Griffey & Big Mac big head figures. The Gehrig, Musial & Pujols figures sit on three autographed baseballs: Aaron Miles, Brad Thompson, and.... ???

Front Row - Lou Brock bobble, Red Schoendienst SGA bobble, Isaac bobble, Gibson Starting Lineup, Ruth Starting Lineup, Ryan Howard figure, Ruth pitching as a Yankee, McFarlane Jim Edmonds McFarlane, Jackie Robinson stealing home McFarlane, Lou Gehrig speech McFarlane.

Flea Market Mini's

Made our monthly visit to the local flea market yesterday. Isaac was disappointed the $1 pack guy didn't have any 09's but he picked up a few Pujols' at another booth. We also picked up these Cardinals for the mini binder (not sure what to do with non-T205/206 sized cards yet though). I liked how the dealer framed the 08 A&G's in red cardboard.

Note to self: Next time, take the cards out of the toploaders before scanning. I didn't realize how scuffed up the plastic was until I saw the scans!

1999 Pacific - Rick Ankiel

2001 Bowman Heritage - Red Schoendienst

2001 Bowman Heritage - Stan Musial

2001 Bowman Heritage - Enos Slaughter

2005 Heritage Play Ball - Albert Pujols

2006 A&G Black Border w/ A&G Back - Frankie Frisch

2006 A&G Black Border - Bob Gibson

2006 A&G Base w/A&G Back - Bob Gibson

2007 A&G Black Border - Albert Pujols

2008 A&G w/A&G Back - Rick Ankiel

2008 A&G w/A&G Back - Troy Glaus

2008 A&G w/A&G Back - Adam Wainwright

1975 Cardinal Combo’s

I think 1975 Topps may have been the first packs I opened as a kid. Tough to remember these days as my collection was lost in a house fire when I was in junior high school. I picked these up at the last card show. I like the design but the little curly-cue print defects bother me.

1964 MVP’s – Boyer was great player lost in the shuffle of stars on those 1960’s Cardinal squads. He and Ron Santo suffer in comparison to the other third baseman on the card. I understand the pleas by Cubbie fans for Santo to make it to Cooperstown; I just hope Boyer isn’t lost in the shuffle (again) simply because he passed away at an early age and didn’t have Santo’s 30+ years to contribute to the game after retirement.

1967 MVP’s – I bought this card thinking we might get it autographed in person but Isaac was sick for that show.

1968 MVP’s – The year of the pitcher: Wins vs ERA with McClain’s Tigers beating the Cardinals in the World Series. Funny how history remembers Gibby’s ERA that year as the reason for lowering the mound while McLain’s 30 wins (!) have all but gone by the wayside.

1974 Stolen Base Leaders

Bob Gibson Tasco Poster

Thanks to Blue Heaven’s post on a Drysdale Tasco poster, we’re the proud new owners of the Gibson version. It’s roughly 12 x 16 and on its way to be framed. I bought it from a different dealer, but there’s a two poster package (Gibby & Frank Howard) from another seller listed. This scan is from the auction I won ($9.99 BIN). I’ll try to post a better picture of the framed poster.

Trade With All Tribe Baseball

Isaac loves coming home and seeing a package in the mail. I was out of the country last week and it was nice hearing how excited he was each evening as he told me what state the package came from, opened it up, and told me about each card inside. It felt like we were opening the package up together… almost like I was home.

This was our usual trade: a stack of your favorite team for a stack of Cardinals. This time, All Tribe Baseball sent a box of Cardinals our way along with a nice note about collecting with his sons for 16 – 17 years. He sent a ton of nice cards. These are Isaac’s favorites.

Brian Barton – 2007 UD Timeline. More on one of Isaac’s favorite players here.

Two Jim Edmonds Mini’s – Another of his favorite players, even if he wore Cubbie blue last year.

Two Musial 2004 Diamond King Variants

Two Brocks & one Gibson

Grady Sizemore – 2008 X. Not sure when he became a fan of Sizemore, not to mention Ryan Braun, but he’s started pages for both of them in his Favorite Players binder.

Thanks again, Jack. We’ve filled up the box with Indians and will be sending them tomorrow!