Better than a Blaster Gant & Gilkey edition

# of cards in lot: 123 (no doubles).
# of cards added to out collection: 55
Cost of lot with shipping: $14.75
Cost per card of unduplicated cards: .12 cents per card for all cards.
Cost per card of cards added to collection: .27 cents per card.
Quality: 3 Blasters (very little “Junk Wax”)
Value: 3 Blasters
Expectations: 2 Blasters (thought we would add the majority to our collection)
Average # of Blasters: 2.67

Lot descriptions:

"Bernard Gilkey 68 DIFFERENTcard lot.  All are NRMT or better.  NO DUPLICATES!   Includes 2001 Topps Gold #'d/2001" & "Ron Gant Cardinals 57 different card lot 1996-1999 1998 SPx #'d/9000"

All in all not a tremendous value as I prefer to hit .20 cents or less per card for the nicer premium issues when we buy these lots but being able to add a significant chunk of Gilkey and Gant cards to our collection was highly satisfying.

When one looks back at the Redbirds of the past many fans will easily identify Bernard Gilkey and Ron Gant as being the face of the Birds in the early to mid 1990s.

Bernard was born in the STL in 1966 and made his MLB debut with the club September 4th, 1990. He spent 5 years with the Cardinals before being traded to the Mets. He would also spend time with the D'Backs, Red Sox, and Braves. He had a career batting average of .275 with 118 home runs, and 546 RBIs.

Ron Gant was born in 1965 and would play for a total of nine MLB teams including the Cardinals. Ron would spend 1996-1998 with the Birds although he wasn't particularly effective as he broke his leg in 1994 and wouldn't play again in 1995. In 1997 he struck out 162 times and had an average of .229. He eventually was traded along with Jeff Brantley and Cliff Politte to the Phillies for Ricky Bottalico and Garrett Stephenson.

Some day I will write an exhaustive post about my love of the cards issued in the Mid to late 1990s and thankfully it was this time when RG and BG played for the Cardinals. Having a large hole in our RG & BG collection I bid on these two lots from a dealer on EBay that had provided us with some really excellent lots in the past. Both lots I put together for one Better than a Blaster. Total cards for both were 123 cards. Of these we were able to add 55 to our collection with some of the others going out to fellow Cardinals' collectors. Here are the highlights of the lots.

1988 Springfield Cardinals

1995 Score Select 

1997 Flair

1996 Pinnacle Aficionado Gant

1997 Bowman Best

1998 Stadium Club Gant Beefcake