2012 Topps Cardinals (Series 1) Needs

I've bought several packs and jumbos of the 2012 Topps over the past few weeks, but out of the goodness of my heart (and to encourage my 13-year-old son to collect) I've let him keep all the Cardinals and I take the duplicates.

So far, the only ones I have for myself are Matt Holliday #320; David Freese #273; World Series #53, and #124 Active Leaders (Pujols/Guerrero/Helton).

Thanks to Paul over at Wrigley Wax, I now know which ones I'm missing:

Base Cards:
#3 Jaime Garcia, #44 Edwin Jackson, #77 League Leaders (Albert Pujols), #92 Active Leaders (Chris Carpenter), #264 Chris Carpenter, #192 Active Leaders

Minis
TM-19 Lance Berkman, TM-21 Matt Holliday

Golden Moments:
GM-6 Red Schoendienst, GM-27 Lance Berkman, GM-29 Albert Pujols

Golden Moments Relics:
GMR-AP Albert Pujols, GMR-DD Daniel Descalso, GMR-MH Matt Holliday, GMR-SMU Stan Musial

Golden Moments Autograph Relics:
GMAR-RS Red Schoendienst, GMAR-SM Stan Musial

Timeless Talents:
TT-19 Stan Musial/Lance Berkman

Timeless Talents Dual Relics:
TTDR-TTH Bob Gibson/Roy Halladay

Gold Standards Inserts:
GS-2 Stan Musial, GS-5 Bob Gibson

Golden Greats Inserts:
GG-66 Albert Pujols, GG-67 Albert Pujols, GG-69 Albert Pujols, GG-70 Albert Pujols

Golden Greats Autographs:
GGA-AP1 Albert Pujols, GGA-AP2 Albert Pujols, GGA-AP3 Albert Pujols, GGA-AP4 Albert Pujols, GGA-AP5 Albert Pujols

Golden Greats Relics:
GGR-66 Albert Pujols, GGR-67 Albert Pujols, GGR-68 Albert Pujols, GGR-69 Albert Pujols, GGR-70 Albert Pujols

Golden Greats Autograph Relics:
GGAR-AP1 Albert Pujols, GGAR-AP2 Albert Pujols, GGAR-AP3 Albert Pujols, GGAR-AP4 Albert Pujols, GGAR-AP5 Albert Pujols

In The Name Jumbo Relics:
ITNR-LB Lance Berkman, ITNR-MH Matt Holliday, ITNR-YM Yadier Molina

Variations:
#93 Skip Schumacher (Rally Squirrel) (I can dream, can't I?)

Note: Cards in red underlined = Cards promised in TTM

I have a list of 2012 Topps trade bait cards here. Thank you!

Opening Night for 2012 Topps Cards

Tonight after church, I drove to Wal-Mart and picked up two standard 12-card packs and two jumbo 36-card packs of the brand new 2012 Topps Series One cards. When I got home, I let my son Braden pick one of each type pack and we opened them at the same time. It was a cool experience and reminded me of opening a brand new pack of cards with my own dad. It's been a while since I've bought him any cards, so I was surprised when he spent a few minutes spreading his best finds out on the coffee table and placing a few into his album.

Of course the Cardinals cards are the ones we're really looking for and together we netted three standard cards for Yadier Molina (#174), Jon Jay (#258), and Kyle Loshe (#26), as well as a 2011 World Series Game 6 card for David Freese (#291).

For me, the best Cardinals card was a nice Gold Standard one for Stan "The Man" Musial (#GS-2), which highlights his 3,000 hit at Wrigley Field on May 13, 1958. It's great that Topps introduces younger collectors to superstars from the past, and even though this one was part of my packs, I gave it to my son. He really liked it.

Another old-school hero Braden found was Mickey Mantle (card #7 of course!). Again, a great way to introduce younger fans to stars from the past. Plus it's a really sharp-looking card!

There were a nice surprise in these packs. We found two "mini" cards based on the 1987 Topps set, which meant a lot to me because it was the first Topps cards I ever collected. (I remember buying the jumbo packs at the local Kroger in my hometown of Jackson, Tennessee.) They were Mariano Rivera (TM-36) and James Shields (TM-41).

Hopefully Braden and I can have a few more moments of tearing into a few packs this season!