Great Weekend at Busch III!!!

Despite the rain and tornados, it was a great weekend at the ballpark. The Cards took 2 of 3 from the Reds (and blew the lost game late… a common theme this year), Isaac took his Aunt and Uncle (White Sox and Cubbie fans from Chicago) to their first Cardinals game, and we had great Easter weekend with family.
The Cardinals honored two HOF greats on Saturday and Sunday, offering fans a Red Schoendienst replica statue and – amazingly – the first ever Stan Musial bobblehead giveaway. I also took advantage of a coupon from the 2011 Winter Warm Up to buy some game used and stadium used memorabilia… more on that in another post.

Saturday Giveaway


Sunday Giveaway


And if you’re wondering where our seats are this year… here’s the view of the field.


And here’s the view to the right… aisle seats next to the Cardinals Bullpen!!! Here’s Carp warming up before Saturday’s game.

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.

1952 Red Schoendienst Redman

I've been meaning to post about this card since I won it off of ebay a while back. The post isn't really about the card though, that its in great shape despite missing the tab, that the man pictured on the card is still an active part of the Cardinal Family. No, this post is about the note attached to the card.

The seller included the following thank you note and while the top half is certainly just a form letter, albeit one I'm not used to receiving after my ebay transactions, the bottom half is what makes baseball and, by proxy, baseball card collecting great.

If you can't read the hand writing in the pic...

"Hope you enjoy your "Red" Schoendienst 1951 Redman Baseball Card. I used to live in Belleville, IL (where my family lives now) years ago before transferring to Kansas City with TWA. I have followed the St. Louis Cardinals since I was a young boy in the '50's. Good Luck. Art"

Now how cool is that? I remember placing a low bid on this card thinking we'd never get it at that price. Sure enough, the cards aligned and Red and this note arrived a few days later. With all the talk about the MLBP and UD, notes like this help Isaac see how cool the hobby can be and that we're lucky to be fans of sport and franchise with so much history and, more importantly, good will... reinforcing the importance of writing thank you notes doesn't hurt either!

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

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.