Card of the Day: 3/21/16

2015 Panini Father's Day Jumbo Relics Kolten Wong

My dad always told me to never be satisfied where you're at. -Kolten Wong

Card of the Day: 3/14/16

2015 Topps 1st Home Run Medallion Matt Carpenter

Baseball, in general, is a game of failure. If you live and die only with your success in this game, or any tangible thing, you are just never going to be happy. There are too many ups and downs. You can go a week or even a month without getting a hit. Having faith is the only way I can possibly imagine living life and also playing the game. -Matt Carpenter

Card of the Day: 3/7/16

2008 Topps Allen & Ginter Relics Albert Pujols

My dad always supported me. Sometimes we didn't have anything to eat for breakfast, but if we could eat lunch and dinner, we weren't poor. -Albert Pujols

Card of the Day: 2/29/16

2011 Topps Lineage '75 Mini Relics Chris Carpenter

I can only control what I can control and that's go out and try to make pitches and keep my team in the game and give them a chance to win. So that's all I'm going to do. -Chris Carpenter

Card of the Day: 2/27/16

1992 McDonald's/Pacific #10 Terry Moore

     Terry Bluford Moore was born in Vernon, Alabama on May 27, 1912. He spent his entire eleven-season career with the Cardinals. Terry compiled a career .280 batting average and was a four-time All-Star. In addition, he was a member of the 1942 and 1946 World Series Championship teams. Moore passed away in Collinsville, Illinois on March 29, 1995.

Card of the Day: 2/22/16

2007 Topps 2006 Highlights Relic Albert Pujols

     In 2006, Albert led the Major Leagues in home runs during the month of April. August, however, tends to be the month when Albert really comes alive. Of his 560 career home runs, Albert has tallied 106 during the month of August. That's slightly better than the month of May which accounts for 100 career home runs and is at least 10 homers better than he has hit in any of the other months of the baseball season.

Card of the Day: 2/15/16

2010 Peak Performance Relics Rick Ankiel

The frustration that built up, it seems like it was really eroding my spirit and starting to affect my personality off the field. It just became apparent that it was time for me to move on and pursue becoming an outfielder. -Rick Ankiel

Review: 2016 Topps Series 1 Jumbo

     It's been a while since we've been excited about an upcoming release. Perhaps it is the full-bleed design on this year's cards or just the fact that Illinois basketball is terrible this year and has left us poking around the house, staring out the window, and waiting for spring, but whatever the reason, the three weeks leading up to Topps' flagship release seemed nearly unbearable.

     We'll start with some background. Topps Jumbos include 10 packs with 50 cards per pack. The checklist sports 350 cards plus several photo variation short-prints and super short-prints. In addition, the product includes rainbow foil parallels, gold parallels, black parallels, vintage stock parallels, and clear parallels. A variety of insert, game-used, and autograph sets are thrown in as well. Each Jumbo box contains at least 2 relics and 1 autograph. Plus, Topps inserted original buybacks stamped with the 65th Anniversary logo.

Let's start with the base:

Collation: 350 out of 350 (100% completion) plus 80 duplicates

It's always good when you can get all the cards you need for the set out of one box. We have to admit that we snaked the Cardinals for our PC and only got duplicates of the Lance Lynn so we're still eight cards short of the set.

Design: Full-Bleed

     We love the full-bleed design. It's clear that Topps is riding the success of 2015 Stadium Club by incorporating the full-bleed into their 2016 flagship set. They feature great photography and crisp logos.

Cardboard Quality: This year's Topps are still a little flimsy, but for the price and taking the photography into account, we don't think it detracts much from the overall product.

Next up, let's have a look at the parallels.

Rainbow Foil (6)

     The Rainbow Foil cards aren't much more than shiny, unnumbered parallels.  For the most part, our rainbow haul was less than impressive. We received Nathan Eovaldim Mike Zunino, Luke Gregerson, Chris Coghlan and Alcides Escobar. Our standout rainbow foil was this Chris Davis/Nelson Cruz/Mike Trout card:

     We'll follow up with the Gold parallels which weren't any more impressive.

Gold Parallels (4)

     We received four gold parallels which are base cards stamped with a gold honeycomb on the edges and numbered to 2016 on the back.

     Besides the Wainwright that we unveiled in yesterday's Cardinals post, we missed on these as well. The names Marcus Semien, Justin Turner, and Chad Bettis inspire fear in the hearts of no one.

Our vintage stock parallel pull wasn't any better.

Vintage Stock (1)

     Don't be disheartened by the lack of star power surrounding this Chris Colabello parallel numbered 92/99. As retro product connoisseurs, we appreciate Topps' effort with these parallels. The fronts feature the glossy base design with an old-school Topps logo. The backs have no gloss cardboard. There's nothing like the feel of a vintage baseball card. These are numbered out of 99.

Once again, the Topps brand is heavy with insert sets, many of which we didn't get our hands on. Nonetheless, we were more than satisfied with the insert designs and the players we pulled from the box.

First Pitch (5 and a duplicate)

     We know some people like these First Pitch inserts, but if asked, we would leave them out of the lineup. Not to mention, it's irritating when we pull insert duplicates from the same box if we haven't gotten the complete set. With that said, it's still pretty cool to see Bill Withers on a baseball card.

Wacky Packages (1)

     How bout some New York Deli Mitts? Granted, they aren't Cardinals Eggs, but we love this product. What can we say? We grew up in the 80s hoarding Garbage Pail Kids stickers. We're sad that we only pulled one of these promos.

Berger's Best (10)

     Berger's Best is a collection of 65 reprints. One for each year of Topps beginning in 1952. Rather than reprinting the card backs, Topps included a short essay regarding the player. Once again, we pulled a duplicate without completing the set.

     Fortunately, that player is Willie Mays on the 1952 Topps design so it didn't sting all that much. We think we did pretty well with the Berger's Best. We pulled these active players:

     How can you go wrong with Kris Bryant and Clayton Kershaw rookie reprints? We also pulled a slew of Hall-worthy players:

     Bench, Ricky, Murray, Smoltzy, and Piazza. Not too shabby. We've loved Topps reprint issues since 2001. These make the grade.

Pressed Into Service (6)

     Sure, it's fun to know that some of these guys appeared on the mound, but did they really require their own insert set? At least it added another Musial card to the checklist and to the Cardinal Sauce collection.

100 Years at Wrigley (6)

     The 100 Years at Wrigley insert set is fun although we take issue with non-cubs being included in the set. Especially since we didn't pull the Musial. The Cubs have gotten so little over the past 100 years that we just think it's twisting the knife a little to include The Man and The Babe in this set. 

Perspectives (10)

    Besides some of the autograph and relic cards, we think Perspectives is the best offering in this product. We managed to land some up-and-comers, some HOFers, and even a couple Cardinals. Perspectives is a big win for Topps this year.

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The Hits (2 relics and 1 autograph)

Scouting Report Relic CC Sabathia

Commemorative No-Hitter Pin Clayton Kershaw

Scouting Report Autograph Kurt Suzuki

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 

Concluding Thoughts: As always, Topps' flagship product was fun to bust. It is neither overwhelming nor underwhelming, it just is what it is. Overall value for the money spent is pretty close to even and the variety of parallels and inserts make for an interesting break. We do admit that it is a bit disheartening when a manufactured pin is the best card in the box. Luckily, the collation was great and we won't have to crack another one open until Series 2 is released.

In the meantime, Collect Hard!

Marc

Card of the Day: 2/8/16

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Relics Mark Mulder 49/50

     Mark Alan Mulder was born on August 5, 1977 in South Holland, Illinois. The Cardinals acquired him from the Oakland Athletics on December 18, 2004 in exchange for Dan Haren, Kiko Calero, and Daric Barton. Mark was a solid pitcher during his first year (2005) in St. Louis when he won 16 games and posted a 3.64 ERA while striking out 111 batters. The next three years were plagued by injury and he won only 6 games while losing 10. Mulder retired during the 2008 season due to seemingly insurmountable injuries.

Card of the Day: 2/1/16

2006 Artifacts Relics Chris Carpenter 204/250

     If you saw our January 29th article, then you know Carpenter is our top pick to be inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame in August. As mentioned in the article, Carp is the only Cardinals pitcher other than Bob Gibson to win the Cy Young Award. That's pretty good company to be keeping. In addition, he's fourth on the Cardinals All-Time strikeout leaders list with 1085. He's also fifth among WHIP leaders with 1.12 WHIP. Carpenter was better than Gibson in at least one category as he sits fourth all-time in K/9 with 7.24, slightly better than Gibson at 7.22 K/9. 

Card of the Day: 1/25/16

2009 Topps Commemorative Cap Logo Patch Johnny Mize 25/99

Ain't he a wonder? Why he's a big cat. -St. Louis Cardinals teammate, Joe Orengo

Anatomy of a Trade: Knowing When Fair Is Fair

     Seven days ago, our regularly scheduled broadcast was interrupted to make a special presentation of a special card that had made its way into my possession. That card was this:

2015 Topps Heritage Real One Dual Autographs Sandy Koufax/Clayton Kershaw 7/25

     Once I received the card, it posed an interesting challenge for me. Although it's an amazing card, it didn't fit in our collection which is devoted solely to the St. Louis Cardinals. I thought about selling it on eBay, but as mentioned in "Why Would a Grown Man Collect Baseball Cards," I'm completely disenchanted with the business of buying and selling baseball cards, especially through eBay. I thought about taking it to the local card stores around here and seeing what it might bring, but to be honest, the card stores around here leave a lot to be desired. My next step was to contact Blowout Cards and Dave & Adams Card World to see if I could work out a deal for store credit. Chris at Blowout wasn't interested and Steve at DA Card World low-balled me. I realized that I may have to brave the eBay fees if I wanted to move this card. It was a realization that made me shudder in distaste, I brainstormed to think of more alternatives and was left with only two other options: consign with Beckett (even more fees, yuck) or trade it. Honestly though, who can appreciate this card for what it is, who wouldn't immediately flip it for some quick cash, and who has the type of card portfolio that could even come close to filling my Cardinals needs on this level? I could think of only one person: aceecards at Trading Card Central.

     I did a quick scan of his Photobucket and let me tell you this guy's bucket is almost as inspiring as walking into Cooperstown itself. And that's just the baseball. It's the same for the other major sports as well as boxing, golf, Olympics, you name it. The first Cardinals card that I came across was a Dizzy Dean cut autograph. I knew I was in the right place. I sent acee a message and he replied that he was, indeed, interested in the Koufax/Kershaw dualie, but Diz was unavailable. I understood. Although the cards were in the same value range, it isn't every day you see a Dizzy autograph. Koufax is a little easier to come by. I took some time to look through the rest of his Hall of Fame autos and made a list of cards that interested me. It looked like this (in order of priority):

1) Frisch cut auto

2) Medwick cut auto

3) Brock Sterling auto 5/10

4) TTT Ozzie auto

5) SS Sutter auto

6) Gibson/ Brock dual 7/100

7) SS LaRussa auto

8) Tribute Musial auto

9) SS Musial auto

10) Heritage Musial auto

11) Gibson Sterling auto 5/10

12) SI Brock auto

13) Heritage Schoendienst auto

     I sent this amazing list to acee and asked him to make me an offer. It didn't take long before he replied with this:

the ozzie white whale 1/1 from triple threads
the tribute musial
and the gibson sterling
and the brock sterling

     

     At first, I was disappointed that neither of the cut autos were part of the deal, but I understood for the same reason as the Dizzy. When I had made the list, I didn't realize the Ozzie was a 1/1. That was the sole factor in taking the offer seriously and to acee's credit, he admitted that he wasn't sure what the value on the Koufax was. I asked for some time to think about it and I started crunching the numbers. When all was said and done, we were a couple hundred bucks apart in value by my estimate. I asked acee if he could throw in either of the other Musial autos or the Sutter along with the LaRussa and he replied that he could throw in the Sutter, but the others were off the table. I sensed that he thought I was beginning to ask too much. In contrast, I was struggling with the idea that I wasn't getting enough. We were still over a hundred dollars apart in value and I began thinking that I could sell the Koufax, buy all the cards he was offering, and have a little left over. I thought about it a little longer and realized that I was never going to find all those cards in one place, I wanted the Ozzie 1/1, the only way I could get it was by making a deal with acee, and he was saving me a lot of time of searching through listings to find those cards. After I put it into perspective, it didn't seem like such a bad deal. I messaged him back and told him that if he threw in the Sutter it was a deal. For four days, I second-guessed myself, wondering if I was getting enough in the trade. Today, I received a package containing these cards:

2007 Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Silver Lace Bruce Sutter 3/42

2008 Topps Sterling Career Stats Triple Relic Autograph Lou Brock 5/10

2008 Topps Sterling Quad Relic Autograph Bob Gibson 5/10

2002 Topps Tribute Marks of Excellence Autographs Stan Musial

and the card that became priceless the minute that it was added to the Wall of Cards

2006 Topps Triple Threads White Whale Autographed Relic Printing Plate Ozzie Smith 1/1

     It wasn't until I had these cards in my hand that I truly appreciated how much acee gave up for that one card. Sure, I gave up value, but he gave up four amazingly beautiful cards plus a more than decent throw-in. Seeing that we were both seemingly at a point where I may have been asking too much, but by the numbers I was getting the short end of the deal, I can only surmise that this deal worked because of these three reasons:

         1) Mutual respect for each other and each other's situation

         2) A mutual appreciation for the game AND the cardboard, and

         3) A realization that there are more important things than money.

     Sometimes, the numbers don't match up and the deal is still fair. I gave up a little value in acee's favor because I knew he was giving up a fair amount even though, at the time, I didn't realize exactly how much I was gaining. What I lost in value, I gained in these ways:

   1) 1st 1/1 added to the Cardinal Sauce collection,

2) 1st Sutter autograph in the Cardinal Sauce collection,

3) 1st Brock autograph in the Cardinal Sauce collection,

4) The top three cards in the Cardinal Sauce collection,

5) 2 other excellent additions to the Cardinal Sauce collection, and

6) convenience.

     There is another gentleman at Trading Card Central  who we don't see much of anymore, but whose mantra is: Collect Hard! I'd say, in this instance, acee and I did just that and, in closing, I wish to pass that same sentiment on to you readers.

Collect Hard!

Marc

Card of the Day: 1/18/16

2003 UD Patch Collection Stan Musial Manufactured Patch

     In St. Louis, Stan is the Man. Let's see where he lands on the All-Time MLB leader boards.

H- 4th (3630)

HR- 30th (475)

RBI- 7th (1951)

R- 10th (1949)

AVG- 30th (.3308)

2B- 3rd (725)

3B- T-19th (177)

WAR- 8th (128.1)

Card of the Day: 1/11/16

2001 SP Game Used Edition Authentic Fabric Fernando Tatis

     2001 SP Game Used Edition was packaged in three-card packs. Each pack contained an Authentic Fabric card. The set contained 82 subjects, three of which were Cardinals: Tatis, JD Drew, and Jim Edmonds. 

     

Card of the Day: 1/10/16

2014 Topps Triple Threads Jumbo Jersey Autographs Kolten Wong

     The Cardinals have a long history of outstanding second basemen. Kolten Wong is the current torchbearer in that line. He's played 2+ years at the position and continues to amaze fans with his glove while adding a little pop with the bat. We thought it would be fun to play a game and see how his first 3 seasons stack up against those of Hall of Famers Rogers Hornsby, Frankie Frisch, and Red Schoendienst along with fan-favorites Tommy Herr and Julian Javier.

We'll give you the numbers; you try to guess who posted them.

Batting Average

.316  .302 .291  .270 .260  .250

Home Runs

23  14  14  13  4  0  

Runs Batted In

201  135  129  103  101  62

Runs Scored

274  210  199  154  129  83  

Stolen Bases

98  56  44  38  34  33

Fielding Percentage

.987  .978  .977  .969  .960  .936

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE ANSWERS

Answers:

Batting Average          Home Runs                Runs Batted In (RBI)      

Hornsby- .316             Wong- 23                   Frisch- 201                      

Frisch- .302                 Hornsby- 14               Hornsby- 135                  

Herr- .291                    Frisch- 14                  Schoendienst- 129           

Schoendienst- .270     Javier- 13                    Wong- 103                      

Javier- .260                 Schoendienst- 4          Javier- 101                      

Wong- ,250                 Herr- 0                        Herr- 62                         

Runs Scored                    Stolen Bases                         Fielding Percentage  

Schoendienst- 274           Frisch- 98                             Herr- .987

Javier- 210                       Javier- 56                             Schoendienst- .978

Frisch- 199                      Schoendienst- 44                 Wong- .977

Hornsby- 154                  Wong- 38                             Javier- .969

Wong- 129                      Hornsby- 34                         Frisch- .960

Herr- 83                           Herr- 33                               Hornsby- .935

Card of the Day: 1/4/16

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Framed Mini Relics Ryan Ludwick Jersey

     Ryan Andrew Ludwick played for the Cardinals from 2007-2010. He was traded to the Padres for pitchers Jake Westbrook and Nick Greenwood during the 2010 season. Ludwick posted a career year with the Cardinals in 2008, batting .299 while belting 37 home runs and driving in 113 RBI. It earned Ryan his only All-Star appearance. Despite being left off the All-Star roster, Ludwick produced respectable numbers with the Padres and Reds, but he was often plagued by injuries. 

Card of the Day: 12/28/15

2006 Upper Deck UD Game Materials Jim Edmonds GU Jersey

There's a new stadium, but it's the fans who make this place special. It's hard to describe. Day in, day out they come here and people are cheering. You get used to playing on the field, but you never get tired of hearing them in the stands.            -Jim Edmonds