Weird Card Wednesday: Why Aren't You Blogging!

Hi everyone,

I know it's been several weeks since I've posted anything significant, and I hope my fellow bloggers won't kick me off their blogrolls for inactivity. I'm trying to put parts of my life together--more on that later--and I just haven't had time to think about my card collection in a while. Thank you so much to my 26 loyal followers and I promise to start posting again soon.

Meanwhile, since I missed last week's Weird Card Wednesday segment, I thought I'd pull another card from my childhood E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial collection for your amusement: #26 "Time for a Snack." (I feel like this card looks lately!)

Speaking of my E.T. cards, I really should sort through them and see which ones I'm missing, just to have a complete set. I remember when it was a big deal for me to walk a few miles to the local convenience store (Q-Mart or Smith's Grocery) with a handful of quarters and buy several packs at once. That was a big deal for me to buy more than one at a time! Ah, childhood memories.

Sorry for the Absence

If only we could collect cards for a living (sigh).

Real life has a way of interfering with our hobbies, and mine has been no exception over the past two weeks. It's nothing that a lot of folks in America aren't battling right now but when it happens to you, everything else stops for a while.

Anyway, Greg over at Night Owl Cards sent me a great little bubble mailer stuffed with Cardinals goodness--Allen & Ginter's, Topps Heritage, regular Topps--which I promise to repay soon. (Thanks so much, Greg!) I'll also post some pics and details about what he sent in a few days.

A few folks have emailed me about possible trades, and I apologize profusely for not responding to you yet. I'll try to do that this week.

I'm also sorry I haven't posted as regularly as I had planned--I even missed a Weird Card Wednesday--for all my loyal readers. I'll do my best to get back in the swing of things soon.

Weird Card Wednesday: The Tipsy Alien #32

OK, this one's not a baseball card, but it's still weird all the same.

Before I collected baseball cards, I saved my quarters and bought packs of Star Wars, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial cards at Smith's Grocery on North Royal in Jackson, Tennessee in the early 80s. (Sometime I need to complete some of those sets.)

This week, while looking for some cards to trade, I came across one of the E.T. cards (#32) and thought it would be an excellent candidate for Weird Card Wednesday honors.

Trade Bait: 1995-96 Upper Deck NBA Basketball Factory Set

Here's some trade bait for anyone interested in basketball cards:

I have a boxed factory set of the 1995-96 Upper Deck NBA cards I'd be willing to trade for Cardinals cards from my want lists. Just email me or post a comment below if you'd be interested in a trade.

Trades with Crackin' Wax, Foul Bunt, Get the Bat Off Your Shoulder, and $30 a Week Habit

The past two weeks have been good for cards in the mail!

Crackin' Wax sent me a package of Cardinals cards--but I'm ashamed to say I can't remember which ones. (I really need to start keeping track of my trades--sorry about that.)

William at Foul Bunt sent me three cards I needed for my 1990 and 1991 Topps and 1982 Donruss team sets, even though I had no cards he needed. Thanks so much, William!

I sent Anthony at Get the Bat Off Your Shoulder a few 2012 Topps cards to help him complete Series I and he sent me a few Cardinals to help fill my team set--thanks, Anthony!

Today, I received a bubble mailer filled with recent Cardinals cards from Robert at $30 a Week Habit. Almost all of them were ones I needed (the ones I didn't had just been bought at a card shop last weekend). Needless to say, I now have a head start on a few sets I didn't even know about.

Let's start with a new favorite of mine--and many other fellow bloggers, I've learned: Allen & Ginter's. Robert sent me four cards to start my 2011 set: #188 Daniel Descalso, #132 Colby Rasmus, #BHS-5 Albert Pujols (Baseball Highlight Sketches), and #HH9 Adam Wainwright (Hometown Heroes).

Another favorite set is the Topps Heritage, of which I received a 2009 #507 John Smoltz (my first Cardinal card of him) and 2011 #223 Ryan Theriot. (I also received several other 2011's, though they were the ones I just got at the aforementioned card show.)

There were four 2009 O-Pee-Chee cards for #493 Yadier Molina, #568 Jason Motte, #215 Ryan Ludwick, and #587 Colby Rasmus. Call me old fashioned, but I like these cards: no gold, no gloss, no stamping of any kind. A baseball card like it was meant to be. These give me a great start on this Cardinals set!

Robert gave me a great start on a few sets, especially the 2011 Topps set, with nine cards--including this cool #121 of Chris Carpenter.

There were even a couple of the recently departed Albert Pujols.

My take on the whole Pujols defection is: I was upset on the day it happened--because he could have ended his career in St. Louis, held many of the career batting records, and become a one-team franchise icon like Stan Musial and Bob Gibson. But then I was OK with it because he was given way too many years and way overpaid; he basically took the money and left. Still, he is arguably the greatest player of his generation and I can say I had a chance to interview him in his only season in the minor leagues before he became Albert Pujols. (I'll have to tell that story one of these days.) These were two nice cards!

One odd card Robert sent me was a 2011 Topps #57 Mark Trumbo. Who plays for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The team Pujols left St. Louis for.

I'll take this as an honest mistake--both the Cardinals and Angels wear red, after all--and not a jab at a very sensitive spot in this Cardinal fan's heart. (wink)

Thank you to everyone for the trades! I've been writing this blog for less than a month and I already have several trades under my belt. If anyone would like to trade with me, please check out my want lists in the top left column of the blog. Thanks!

Weird Card Wednesday: Bernie Carbo

In this installment of Weird Card Wednesday, we look at Bernie Carbo's 1973 Topps #171 card.

It looks like the Topps photographer failed to take a photo of Carbo down in Florida during spring training. So he shows up at Busch Stadium, walks into the Cardinals clubhouse, and asks Carbo if he would pose for a quick picture. Not having time to tuck his shirt into his pants, Carbo strikes a menacing batting pose beside the dugout. Surely the graphic designer back at Topps corporate will crop the photo above the waist, he thinks.

Nope.

My Weekend: First Card Show in 20+ Years and Visit to Cards-R-Fun

On Saturday, I went to the Middle Tennessee Sports Card Show in Nashville, my first show in over 20 years. It wasn't a large show--only nine dealers, I think--held in a small gymnasium, but I did come away with some Cardinals cards and a great start on 2010 and 2011 Topps Heritage team sets. I also discovered some cards I'd really like to start collecting: the 2010 Topps Vintage Legends.

I love these cards! Jackie Robinson on a 1976 Topps design...Thurman Munson as a '59 card...Jimmie Foxx on an '86 card! I think they're really cool and even though they're not Cardinals, I'd like to finish the set.

I did OK on my spending at the show ($24)...but then I stopped by Cards-R-Fun about five minutes down the road. What started out as "just a few minutes" became four hours! (If you've ever been to this store, you'll know why.) It's a great place to find tons of commons, but man, it's disorganized! I went with the intention of finding some Topps Heritage Cardinals--and a found a few from different years--but you have to search through boxes that contain multiple years and sets. You pretty much have to dive in and find whatever cards you've never seen before. When it was over, I had 150+ cards and a $33 bill. Yikes! There goes my card budget for March.

Overall, it was great to go to the show and one dealer from whom I bought most of my cards said he would bring more Cardinals for the March show. I only wish there had been more dealers to choose from.

Weird Card Wednesday: Bob Forsch

Every Wednesday, I'll feature a card from my collection that has something unusual or weird about it.

This week's Weird Card Wednesday candidate is 1981 Fleer #537 Bob Forsch.

The Fleer Corporation of Dubble Bubble gum fame broke Topp's monopoly of the baseball card industry and produced its own set of cards in 1981. Among them was #537, which shows Forsch sporting a perm. Up to this time, his Topps cards always showed him with straight, longish hair. It's weird because I'm not used to seeing him look that way!

Apparently at some point during the season, Bob abandoned the curly look and went back to his natural look as his 1981 Donruss #69 card shows.

One of the all-time great Cardinals pitchers, Forsch passed away suddenly on November 3, 2011.

2012 Topps Trade Bait and Want List Updated

Just a quick post to let everyone know I've updated my want list for Cardinals cards I need for 2012 Topps Series I and my trade bait list for the same.

I'm also still on the lookout for 1974 Topps cards to complete my set. I have several in the mail right now, which should reduce the number of cards I need to 107.

If anyone can help me out, please comment or email me through my Google profile. Thanks!

2010 Topps Heritage Cardinals Team Set

OK, maybe I'm getting a little greedy with my expanding want lists.

In addition to filling my standard Cardinals team set needs, I'm already working on the 2012 Topps Series 1 and 1974 Topps sets. But I have a few more followers now and blogs that have kindly added mine to their blog rolls, so I'm going to just throw this out there to anyone who may have some duplicates of the 2010 Topps Heritage set.

I love the vintage card designs incorporated with today's players. Unfortunately, I've not been lucky enough to find a lot of them at the card shop I frequent. I have a few 2004 and 2006 cards, but none for any of the other years.

I'd like to start a Cardinals team set for the 2010 Topps Heritage: I've always liked the 1961 design, and a few of the cards I've seen look pretty sharp. I'm starting from scratch and don't have a single card. If anyone has any Cardinals cards from this set--base cards, inserts, etc.--I'd love to trade for them. Thanks!!

Trade from Wrigley Wax and Redemption Card from Dutch Card Guy

I've been blogging about baseball cards for a few weeks now and reading other blogs to get ideas for my own posts and learn more about potential traders out there. I'll admit up to now, I've been jealous of my fellow bloggers, who've posted about trades they've made and the cards they're received.

Now I'm proud to post my first gift and my first trade!

Yesterday's mail brought a letter from the Netherlands and a small bubble mailer from Michigan. The Dutch Card Guy kindly sent me a 2012 Topps Prime 9 redemption card. I just hope the only card shop in my area--Cards-R-Fun--will redeem it. Thanks so much, Jeroen!

Next came a package from Paul over at Wrigley Wax. On Valentine's Day, I posted about my goal of completing my dad's 1974 Topps set and Paul responded that he had a lot of cards to help me. Yesterday, they arrived--two stacks of 64 cards total sandwiched between two plastic card holders and wrapped in easily-removable painter's tape (a great idea by the way). When I posted the card numbers I needed, I had no idea which players would be on them, and I was surprised by the number of star cards included (or at least players who had respectable major-league careers). Here are the highlights:

Two Hall of Famers--Harmon Killebrew (#400) and Rich "Goose" Gossage (#542)--as well as Manny Mota (#368), Cardinals third baseman Ken Reitz (with chewing gum bubble) (#372) and outfielder Jose Cruz (#464), and Bucky Dent's rookie card (#582). What's the deal with the off-center photo of Gossage, Topps?

Three Hall of Famers--and one who should be soon--Phil Niekro (#29), Frank Robinson (#55), Jim Palmer (#40), and Joe Torre (#15). Jesus Alou, the youngest of the three Alou brothers (Felipe and Matty) and troubled slugger Dick Allen (#70) complete this group. I especially like the Alou and Niekro cards; I'm not sure what's happening to Torre on his card!.

One Hall of Famer in this group: Tony Perez (#230), the great Cincinnati Reds first basemen of The Big Red Machine days. Despite having over 400 career home runs, Darrell Evans (#140) remains outside the Hall of Fame. Jack McKeon (#166) shows him in his first season as a major-league manager with the Kansas City Royals in 1973 at age 42. Last season, thirty-eight years later, he was manager of the Florida Marlins at age 80!

I really do appreciate your help, Paul! I've been putting together some Cubs cards to send your way this week. With his contribution, I now need just 149 cards to finish. If anyone else can help me complete my 1974 Topps set, please check my want list and send me a comment or email.

Remembering "The Kid"

I was sad to hear that Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter passed away today at 57.

I remember well the battles between the Cardinals and Carter's New York Mets for dominance of the old National League East in the mid to late '80s. My best friend in high school was a big Mets fan, so there was a lot of back-and-forth smack talk between us all the time. The Cards won in '85, the Mets in '86, and then a dramatic late September '87 series at Shea Stadium almost saw the first-place Cards drop their lead to the "Pond Scum" (as they were affectionately called in St. Louis). But Terry Pendleton's improbable homer to deep center field won the crucial game for the Cardinals and a third trip in the decade to the World Series. My friend wasn't as trash-talking the next day at school.

Though he could get under the skin of the opposition, Gary Carter was a class act, always smiling on the field but definitely a hard-nosed competitor. Thankfully, he was able to enjoy his election to the Hall of Fame and bask in its glow for several years before he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. God bless you, "Kid."

2012 Topps (Series 1) Trade Bait

Updated February 24, 2012

These are the cards I have available for trade, preferably for Cardinals cards I still need from this set.

1, 4, 6, 11, 13 (3), 14 (2), 16, 20 (3), 25 (2), 28, 29 (2), 31 (2), 32, 38 (2), 39, 45, 47 (2), 60, 61, 65, 67, 70, 73, 75, 79, 81, 83, 84 (2), 86 (2), 88

101, 107, 111 (2), 123 (2), 126, 128, 130, 131, 132, 136, 138, 141, 155 (2), 161, 177, 178, 181, 184, 187, 188, 195, 197 (2), 198

209, 212, 218, 219, 226, 231, 236, 238, 239, 249, 250, 252, 253, 254, 257, 262, 265, 267, 271, 276, 280, 283, 284, 285, 292, 295, 296

300, 301, 304, 308, 323, 324, 325 (2), 330

Minis

TM-18, TM-50

Special Cards
I have no duplicates for the Classic Walkoffs, Timeless Talents, Golden Futures, Gold Standards, Golden Moments, and Golden Greats cards, but I would be willing to trade one for the same type card for a Cardinals player. Email or comment on this post if you're looking for a specific card or cards.

Refractors
I'm not much for the refractor cards, so I'll offer these up even though I have no doubles for them:

41, 156, 297

Blue-Bordered Parallel Cards
96, 321

If you're interested in trading, just email me or comment on this post. Thank you!

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!

Weird Card Wednesday: 1970 Topps Carl Taylor

Every Wednesday, I'll feature a card from my collection that has something unusual or weird about it.

This week's Weird Card Wednesday candidate is the 1970 Topps #76 Carl Taylor.

Two bad things happened to Carl on this card:

First, because he was traded by Pittsburgh after the 1969 season, he was relegated to a hatless head shot the following year while clearly wearing his Pirates jersey.

Second, on the day the Topps photographer came to spring training, Carl had the misfortune of a bad fever blister on his bottom lip.

It makes you wonder whether Topps ever gave a second glance to the photos they selected?

1974 Topps Complete Set: A Work in Progress

Ah, the Seventies! When players wore long hair and afros, sported mutton chop sideburns,and wore polyester uniforms and stretchy-waist pants.

I was three years old when my Dad starting buying wax packs for the 1974 Topps cards. When I started collecting cards, he gave me his collection, which was rubber-banded together and stored in a cardboard box in the hall closet. The oldest cards were the 1974 Topps. When blogs like Mark's Ephemera and Night Owl Cards renewed my interest in the hobby, I sorted those cards into numerical order to see which ones I needed to complete the whole thing. (This will be a side project to my main Cardinal team set collecting.)

I'm still looking through a few boxes of random cards that are jumbled together, but I've come up with a working need list:

(Thank you to Wrigley Wax for sending 69 cards and Dave Chase for sending 43!!)

Red = Potential TTM cards

1, 2, 3. 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 19, 20, 24, 28, 29, 31, 32, 36, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 50, 51, 53, 55, 56, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 67, 68, 70, 71, 74, 75, 78, 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 88, 89, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103, 108, 112, 114, 118, 122, 124, 126, 132, 134, 137, 138, 140, 146, 151, 153, 158, 166, 170, 173, 175, 176, 179, 184, 186, 190, 194, 195, 201, 202, 204, 206, 207, 209, 212, 213, 220, 222, 223, 227, 230, 234, 236, 237, 239, 240, 241, 245, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 258, 260, 261, 262, 264, 265, 266, 268, 270, 271, 272, 276, 279, 280, 283, 285, 286, 288, 290, 294, 296, 297, 300, 301, 303, 304, 305, 307, 308, 312, 313, 315, 321, 322, 324, 336, 338, 339, 341, 343, 344, 347, 350, 351, 353, 355, 358, 360, 361, 366, 368, 371, 372, 373, 374, 376, 378, 390, 391, 393, 396, 397, 398, 400, 404, 409, 410, 412, 417, 419, 421, 438, 439, 441, 442, 444, 445, 456, 464, 467, 470, 472, 478, 481, 496, 500, 517, 520, 530, 542, 547, 548, 549, 550, 555, 561, 571, 572, 573, 575, 576, 580, 582, 584, 596, 599, 614, 619, 630, 647, 652, 654, 655

So I have 67% 77% 84% of the set and need 220 215 214 148 103 cards to complete it.

If anyone has any duplicates in their collection, please comment below and maybe we can work out a trade.

Everyone Needs a Mantle Card for their Collection

My 1959 Topps Mickey Mantle encased in protective plastic

The Lost Collector posted about his latest eBay purchase of a somewhat beat-up 1967 Mickey Mantle--his first Mantle card. I congratulated him and commented that every collector should have at least one Mantle card in their collection. Mine is a 1959 Topps #10.

When I was 17, our next-door neighbor's brother found his collection of baseball cards and offered to sell me whatever I wanted. This was early in my collecting and I didn't have very many 1950s and 60s cards. It was in October or November, and my father let me pick which ones I wanted and they would be my Christmas gift. The neighbor's brother was kind enough to let me keep that box of cards at my home while I looked through them and decided which ones I wanted to buy.

There were some tough choices in that box. The first picks were easy: all the Cardinals cards he had, which became the foundations for many of the sets I completed over the next 25 years. But I wanted at least one card of superstars like Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Roger Maris, etc. I picked a '55 Williams, '59 Aaron, and a '58 Banks. I remember having to choose between a 1959 and 1961 Topps Maris and going with the '61 because it showed him with the Yankees.

I think I had two or three Mantles to choose from, but this is the one I picked, mostly because I liked the way it looked. He wasn't a Cardinal (although having grown up near the Missouri border, I don't think he would've minded being one), but he was a classic baseball player, warts and all.

If it's within your budget--even if you find a less-than-mint one--I recommend getting a Mantle...any Mantle.

1952 Bowman: Billy Johnson

The 1952 Bowman is perhaps my favorite baseball card set of all time.

Its design is simple vintage--no logos, no gold stamping, no refractoring. Just the player and his autograph.

Each card is a colorful work of art, a portrait of baseball from a bygone era.

I first started collecting them in 1999. So far, I have eight out of 14 Cardinals cards to complete the set. Here are the ones I still need:

• #30 Red Schoendienst
• #62 Joe Presko
• #107 Del Rice
• #160 Eddie Stanky
• #196 Stan Musial
• #232 Enos Slaughter

Wow--three Hall of Famers, including Stan the Man. Presko, Rice, and Stanky are doable. But Red, Stan, and "Country" will take some saving and looking for the right deal on eBay. Still, it would be a great set to have in my album! Another card-collecting goal for 2012.

Happy Birthday, Hal Rice

Today's Cardinals birthday is Hal Rice, who was born 88 years ago today in 1924 in Morganette, West Virginia.

Rice spent six seasons with the Cardinals from 1948 to 1953. As an outfielder on a club with future Hall of Fame outfielders Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter, it was difficult for him to be an everyday player. In 1952, with Musial at first base, Rice played in a career-high 98 games for St. Louis, batting .288 with seven homers and 45 RBIs. The following season, with Musial back in left field and having played just eight games, Rice was traded with cash to the Pittsburgh Pirates for third baseman Pete Castiglione. A lifetime .260 hitter, he played his last major-league season in 1954 with the Pirates and Chicago Cubs. Rice passed away on December 22, 1997 in Bloomington, Indiana, and as a World War II veteran, he was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

Cards in the Mail: Traded and Update Cards

Today's mail brought one of those eBay auction wins that was done for only four cards I needed out of 11 offered, but the price was too good not to buy them all.

This was for a group of Cardinals 1990 traded and update cards. The ones I needed were Fleer Updates #U-52 Geronimo Pena, #U-53 Lee Smith, and #U-54 John Tudor.

Now I just need three regular-set cards to complete the Cardinals team set: #249 Frank DiPino, #255 Jose Oquendo, and #656 Cardinals Checklist. If anyone has these cards and would like to trade, please send me a comment or email. Thanks!

The fourth card I needed was a 1990 Donruss Rookies #31 Todd Zeile.

It still leaves me needing:

• Eight cards for the 1990 Donruss set (#29 Todd Zeile, #161 Jose Oquendo, #163 Joe Magrane, #319 Todd Worrell, #418 Scott Terry, #518 Frank DiPino, #536 Jose DeLeon, and #653 Ted Power)
• Five cards for the NL's Best (#22 Ken Dayley, #34 Terry Pendleton, #71 Todd Zeile, #83 Ozzie Smith, #138 Vince Coleman), and
• Two cards for the Learning Series (#9 Ozzie Smith and #34 Joe Magrane).