Reve up your engines Gint-A-Cuffs VI is here.

I have been reading on several card blogs over the last 2 years about Gint-A-Cuffs and asked Mark the Gint-A-Cuffs VI commissioner to let join in and he graciously did. I hope not to disappoint and the A&G Box gods are good to me. I checked my EBay account a few minuets ago and saw that my box was delivered yesterday-so I just checked the inside of a huge flower pot my wife has placed on our porch-and alas it was there-our mail carrier is great since I burden him with all types of packages and he has to find places to hide them.

So over the next few weeks I will be processing the box and hope that I do well, score some Redbirds, and blog my thoughts.

Better than a Blaster #6 Part Dos.

What is better than a blaster of 2012 A&G at 40% off retail? Two 2012 A&G blasters at 40% off.

How did I do with the second blaster? How about some more Cardinals' love!

I have been trying to complete the 2013 A&G minis and their parallels. But I am not sure I will try 2012 but I sure do like 'em . A Mo, a Miggy, and a Cargo, watching the Rockies and Pirates game-not good, unless you are a Pirates fan.

A mini insert Musical Masters Dvorak  1:5 packs.

A few Hall of Famers and a possible future one.

 I loved to watch this one but I sure wouldn't have wanted to play for him-Mr. Bobby Knight.

Better than a Blaster #6

What is better than a blaster? An Allen & Ginter 2012 blaster for 40% off $19.99 from the local box store and because I rarely find a decent reduced blaster this is a double win for me. What did the blaster provide me? Here are highlights.

                                                            Nice hit out of the first pack!

                            Holler at your boy! Scored only run in today's victory of the North Siders.

Nice Stan "The Man"

Another Cardinal Legend

A trio of minis-Regular Ortiz,

an A&G Back Street

and a Black Brandon Beachy

Also a supper cool mini 1:5 packs a World's Greatest Military Leader and Missouri native Dwight Eisenhower.

Worst card in the blaster? Kung Fu Cueto

The bad ol' days of Cardinals' cards

Yeah, I know this is a blog about all things related to Yadi cards etc., but since we have been expanding to Cardinals cards in general I have been forced to recall how bad the Cardinals were from 1990-1995.  This was a bleak time for the Birds. After Gussie Busch died in 1989 his son and Anheuser-Busch began running the team like a bad business. 

In 1996, the Brewery (as it is called) sold the team to a local group under which it began to turn around. I feel terrible for Joe Torre who was the manager from 1990-1995.

I would have given up too Joe.

Obviously it was not Joe for he led the Yanks to several World Series. He worked for a crappy owner and often took the blame for the mediocre play on the field. During this time the Birds were 351–354 with a winning % of  .498. If I didn't know how bad they were I could have figured it out by the nearly complete lack of Redbirds in insert sets-yeah, Ozzie,

Ray Lankford

, and some guy by the name of Gregg Jefferies

were included from time to time but it wasn’t too common for a Redbird to among the hot rookies and stars included in inserts etc. This makes the task of collecting them easier to say the least. However, I guess these days there are enough inserts for us to collect.

Yadi card of the week

Back to it I say. Since I haven’t posted a Yadi card of the week for several weeks I am going to stop numbering them. This week’s Yadi card of the week is 2007 Upper Deck #447. It depicts Yadi in a happier time. It looks like he just ripped a double and went into second standing up. I have to say; as I wade through Cardinals’ lots I have really come to appreciate Upper Deck and the incredible selection, style, and quality of cards they produced from the mid 1990s on. However, some ideas were good but a bit confusing. Hence 2007 Upper Deck #447, which has a base set and parallels  based on “predicting” the MVP, Postseason, and Rookie of the Year winners for 2007. There were three 150 card sets in Green, Blue, Purple, and Silver. Not sure why they decided to name the parallels “predictors” since you didn’t have to predict anything, you just had to have the card Baseballcardpedia describes it like this:

“The 70 MVP and 30 Postseason Predictors were randomly inserted into Series One packs, while the Rookie of the Year cards were in Series Two. If the player/team depicted on the card won the MVP/ROY or qualified for the 2007 MLB Playoffs, the respective Predictor card could then be redeemed for a special Series One (MVP and Postseason) or Series Two (Rookie of the Year) factory set.”

There are three different Series One factory sets. Collectors redeeming one of the eight-playoff qualifiers (EXCEPT the Red Sox) received a 520-card "Green" factory set. The Red Sox (2007 World Champions) got a special "Blue" factory set. The two MVP winner's cards, Alex Rodriguez and Jimmy Rollins, were good for a "Purple" set. For the second series, none of the players selected by Upper Deck were named Rookies of the Year (Dustin Pedroia and Ryan Braun). 

Therefore, the two "Wild Cards" were declared the winners and each was good for a 500-card Series Two "Silver" factory set.”

The green “Predictors” were limited to 70 copies, I am not sure how many of the blue were issued but I do know the Purple parallel was limited to 49. There is also a non-predictor gold parallel. The card itself is vertical with a non-bleed photo of Yadi in his home uni standing at second base. Yadi’s name in just below his knees and is somewhat difficult to see. The team name and his position are along the left and right respectively. The Predictor parallels have “Predictor Edition” in blue, green or purple below his name. Each predictor edition is trimmed in the appropriate color. The reverse of the card is boring to say the least. A small box in the top third of the reverse contain his MLB stats, a little story about the 2006 World Series and a head shot in the top right corner and a Bird on a Bat in the right. The back is a let down and seems to me UD phoned this in because it is blah and there is enough blank space to jazz it up a bit. The base card is inexpensive and easily found/ However, I have only seen the Predictor Editions on EBay occasionally and when they do make their appearance there is some serious active bidding. The first two below are the base cards, followed by the gold parallel, then the green Predictor front and back.

Not Wainos' World Tonight

I am bummed for Waino for his one inning of work. Can't say I watched the whole game. I got off at 6pm PST and got home a little after 7. So I scanned through the shindig that kicks off the game. So we were pumped to see Adam go for the National League. However, by the end of the second inning I tuned out and ended up scanning through a good part of the game. Do you remember when they assigned the World Series home field advantage by odd and even years.

Waino needs a hug too.

Bad news, but not the worst news ever.

Today of course we received word that Yadi is most likely out for the season because of what was thought to be a sprained wrist but turns out to be a torn thumb ligament and now he is out for 8-12 weeks which at the high end is October and the low end September. Forecasts are cloudy for the Redbirds and their post season hopes. I would like to think that a single player shouldn't bring down a team. We lost Waino and won a World Series so I am optimistic for the "Boys".  I hope this is the inspiration for the team to play harder.

Yes Yadi needs a hug.

Tony Gwynn

I haven't written anything about the passing of Tony in large part because he passed right before we left on vacation. I have always had a soft spot for the Padres and for Tony Gwynn and I married a girl from San Diego to boot. I will never forget the story I heard about him in which he would practice his swing in a full swimming pool. There may never be another hitter like Tony. Too many players now days swing for the fences and don't seem to appreciate the art of the single. The best card I pulled this year.

A rookie card framed reprint #ed out of 99. R.I .P Tony.

Blaster box from hadies

My wife and I stopped by our local Target today and I spotted a couple of the those $12.99 blaster boxes that our Target rarely has when I visit. So I picked up a 2013 Bowman and a 2013 Bowman Platinum. All was good with the regular Bowman. But when I opened the first pack in the Platinum blaster I noticed the pack was open and the back of some junk wax was peeking through. Wtf!!!!!! Sure enough every pack had been slit open rifled through with the first being all 1988 Leaf!!!!! I examined the blaster wrapping and I could see where the a#@ H*&@ slit the plastic then reshrunk wrapped it after taking all of the hits out. I should take it back but who the heck would believe me. The best card in the pack?

Has any one ever had this happen? I sure haven't.

All-Star Yadi!

A big congrats to Yadi who, in spite of a negative election, was elected to be the All-Star starter for the fourth time. Honestly, because the Birds are not playing up to Cardinal Nation expectations and because we have been busy my wife and I didn't vote once. I don't believe in voting for a player just because he is on your team. I want to see the best because "it counts" and and who wins can influence who wins the World Series. But I will be watching on the 15th.

Better than a Blaster #5

Number of cards in lot: 594 minus doubles and ones we have gave us a total of 212.
Cost of lot with shipping: $29.99
Cost per card of unduplicated cards: 14 cents per card. Ouch!
Quality: 1 Blasters (some “Junk Wax”) 205 dupes, trips, quads etc.
Value: 1 Blasters
Expectations: 3 Blasters
Overall: 1.67 Blasters

Sellers Description.

“Lot of about 500 St. Louis Cardinals cards. Most are from about the last 25 years or so, with a few older. Includes insert cards of Albert Pujols including a jersey card, inserts cards of Stan Musial and Bob Gibson, and cards of stars of yesterday and today like Ozzie Smith, Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina, David Freese, Allen Craig, Carlos Beltran, Garry Templeton rookie, Shelby Miller rookie, Keith Hernandez, Jim Kaat, Tony LaRussa, Vince Coleman rookie. Includes a complete Stan Musial Donruss puzzle. Includes cards of well-known Cardinals like John Denny, Jaime Garcia, Todd Zeile, Tom Pagnozzi, Jose Oquendo, Tom Henke, Ray Lankford, John Mabry, Brian Jordan, Willie McGee, Gary Gaetti, Joe Magrane, Jack Clark, Jason Ingrinhausen, Mark Whiten, David Eckstein, Mark Mulder, Rick Ankiel, JD Drew and others. Includes a group of 1983 Topps stickers with Smith, Bruce Sutter, others from 1982 World Series champion team. Newer cards are NRMT fresh from packs. Others range from EX to NRMT, with a few worse. Years and manufacturers vary.”

I am catching up on some Better than Blaster lots that I put on hold before and during vacation. When I first spied this lot what had originally drew me was the Pujols relic (which is going for about $6 BIN on the bay) because I thought for sure there were some other gems but when I sorted the lot and there were multiple (12) copies of 1990 Topps Benard Gilkey I knew I wouldn’t get the value I anticipated. The lesson I learned and should have been aware of is don’t review the purchase on the Bay until I process it.

There were some mid to late 70s Topps including a ’76 John Denny, but most cards were from the late 1990s till now. As I mentioned in an earlier posting these are important for us as we lack many of the post “junk wax” cards.  This period also has some of my favorite Redbirds, Pujols, Rolen, Edmunds, Gilkey, Lankford, Kyle, and Ankiel.

What were the “diamonds” in this rough? 1992 UD Brian Jordan, 1994 UD Road to the Show Alan Benes, 1995 UD SP Ray Lankford, 2000 Topps Finest J.D Drew, 2001 Fleer Rick Ankiel, 2005 Leaf Press Proof Jeff Suppan #37/75, and 2008 Topps Highlights Albert Pujols Relic.

Am I the only one who believes the early Topps Finest sets are some of the "finest" ever? I wish I was busting open packs then! The better doubles will be eventually sent to Wes. I haven’t forgot about ya.

All a lot that had potential but the excessive # of multiples ruined any return on investment for us.

Better than a Blaster #4

Cost of lot with shipping: $27.90

Cost per card of unduplicated cards: 7 cents per card.

Quality: 2.5 Blasters (some “Junk Wax”)

Value: 2.5 Blasters

Expectations: 2.5 Blasters

Overall 2.5 Blasters

It has been a long time since I rated a Cardinals’ cards lot. So this “Better than a Blaster” lot promised 800+ cards including many stars. How did the above description compare against the realty? Actual number of cards was 910 and there were only a couple of doubles. So if we needed all of the 910 cards it would have been 3 cents per. However, as our collection increases the number of cards needed decreases-well most of the time. 428 of the 910 were needed for our collection and this brought the price to 7 cents a card.

The majority of the cards were from the mid 1990s to mid 2000s. The lot included higher “end” base and insert cards from Upper Deck, Fleer, and Topps, as well as odd balls from Ziplock, Purina, Conlon, and Bazooka. Although we only needed a little less than half of the cards what I appreciated was there were nearly complete team sets of several of the “junk wax” era, please don’t stop reading this posting at this point. I don’t have time to bust packs, etc. to complete the early Fleer, Donruss, and Topps sets so I appreciate the ability to do so. The oldest card was a 1978 Lou Brock Topps (#1).

Some of my favorite cards included 1981 Topps Coke Bruce Sutter, 1992 Ziplock Gibby, 1993 Topps Finest Tewks, 1998 Donruss Elite Ray Lankford, 1999 Fleer Showcase Power Ray Lankford, 2001 Topps Finest Fernando Vina, 2001 Fleer Tradition Jimmy Ball Game, 2002 Uper Deck Vintage Night Games King Albert, 2004 Donruss Diamond Kings, Scott Rolen, 2004 Fleer Classic Clippings King Albert, 2004 Playoff Prestige Scott Rolen, and 2011 Topps Heritage Albert.

The real bonus to this lot was the number of late 1990s and mid 2000 cards included. Our collection is really lacking these and we were able to check off several from our want list. I think I really need to get to a card show where I can hit some bargain boxes and add more cards to our collection without wadding through the dupes, etc. Fairly certain there aren’t too many Cardinals fans looking for them too here in Northern Cali. Not sure when this will happen as next week I start studying for an important exam I need to pass in September and the only card time I have is before I go off to work.