Trade with Baseball Dad

I just finished my second trade with Baseball Dad: Indians for Cardinals. The trade was for one of my Josh Tomlin autographs for a 2007 Sweet Spot Scott Rolen jersey card. I wish Rolen and LaRussa could have found a way to work together… it sure would be nice to still have him at third.

Jack also sent a 2010 Bowman Chrome Green Xfractor of Tommy Phan. I’m saving this one to get autographed at Winter Warm Up if Phan is invited to sign.

 

He also sent a bunch of cool base cards that I’ve never seen before. I really like this 2004 Fleer Dan Haren card. It says “Gold Medalion” on the back and has the die cut curved corner. If anyone has the Yadier Molina version of this card (that’s one of his rookie cards) I have plenty to trade.

 

And finally Jack sent these cool Cardinal Hall of Famer cards from 2005 SP Legendary Cuts and 1983 Donruss Hall Of Fame Heroes. These are awesome!

Thanks Jack!!!

More Fleer Autographs

Two more Cardinal autographs from 1999 Fleer – one from the Greats of the Game set, the other from the Sports Illustrated set.

The Brock is a double. We have the Forsch, Gibson, and Schoendeinst. The Musial is really pricey or we’d go for all the Cardinals in either set.

1999 Fleer Sports Illustrated Lou Brock Autograph

I picked this up (two of them actually – by mistake) on ebay for surprisingly little money… around $10. I’ll have to check the other card but maybe its because the “L” in Brock goes off the card.

I haven’t looked at a checklist but it looks like Brock, Gibson, Hrabosky, Slaughter and Musial are the only Cardinals in the set. I’ve entertained thoughts of collecting all of the Cardinals in this set but the Musial is really, really pricey for some reason.

Thorzul’s March Group Break

Thorzul’s March Group Break is open. Thorzul has always been lucky pulling Cardinals for us. These are my favorites from last month.
Diamond Kings Jim Edmonds regular card and brown card.

Diamond Kings Lou Brock insert.

And finally, the best Cardinal of the break. I wish he could have pulled the gold Sabathia for himself but I really like this gold Pujols numbered 34 of 50.

Dad – Isaac has been begging me to help him do a group break. I really like Thorzul’s Pick ‘em Plus One format (I need to trademark that) but am hesitant to make the plunge b/c of time and $$$ concerns. I’m more worried about the time really, as I *think* the cost may actually be lower as we’re usually just interested in the Cardinals out of the boxes we open --- so even just a few people signing up is better than eating the entire cost. So – how much time and effort are we talking about? Thoughts and input appreciated.

Mystery Vintage Cards

Here are the rest of the mysterious vintage Cardinals cards found in my laptop bag. There other five were Cardinals team cards. Let’s start at the most recent and go backwards…

1969 Lou Brock World Series Home Run

1967 Curt Flood

1961 Curt Flood

1960 Curt Flood

1959 Curt Flood

The Flood streak ends with a 1959 Ken Boyer

And the stack ends with a 1952 Enos Slaughter!

Not a bad haul for $11.53! I just wish I could remember where I got these so I can go back on my next trip for another raid.

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.

More ‘70’s Brock…

Bought these on ebay months and months ago and only just received them last week… wrapped in a paper towel and held “together” with a folded piece of cardboard. Did I mention the package was sent with insufficient postage?!?!?

1970 Topps

1974 Topps – This one is a double and is headed to another Cardinal fan.

 

1975 Topps

 

1977 Topps

 

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

Lou Brock Via eBay

Took a flyer on these on the ‘Bay. I sniff a player collection…

1965

1972

1973

Highlights

1980 – Brock & Yaz 1979 Highlights

Now this is a highlight card. Not one of those modern manufactured highlight or year in review insert cards, this card celebrates two legends from two of baseball’s most storied franchises eclipsing the 3000 hit mark in the same year. The card is appropriately #1 in this set and it certainly is fitting that the Brock photo appears to be at Wrigley.

Trade With Blue Heaven

A by product of Jawdy’s Basement Heroes January Break was a trade with Ernest at Blue Heaven: a stack of Cardinals for a stack of Dodgers. I returned from a trip to Guadalajara to find Blue Heaven’s very generous package. He sent a mix of 80’s & 90’s Cardinals, a smattering of vintage cards and then some really, really vintage cards.

Isaac loved the Ozzies, especially the action shots.

Two current Cardinals. Ankiel’s story truly is amazing and I’m reminded of it every time I see his older cards as a Pitcher.

A few vintage cards… plus four 1972 Topps not pictured.

 

Three interesting Victorian cards from the 1800’s. Check out these links from Blue Heaven for more info: Victorian Baseball Cards, Merchant’s Gargling Oil Cards. Click on the cards for larger images. I doubt we’ll go search these out but, like Japanese cards, they’re fun and interesting.

       

And finally a pin for Isaac’s jean jacket.

Thanks again to Blue Heaven for a great trade. I only hope the cards we sent in return came close in offering the sheer enjoyment with these cards. Check out his blog for Dodgers info and vintage baseball card and memorabilia information. It truly is a great resource and has pointed us to several items of note we would not have known about.