Drinking Spirits, or Sprits Drinking, on the Job

I don't know about you but I always get a kick out of those TV shows where they just happen to have a bottle of bourbon and two glasses in their desk drawer! How do I get a job where that is allowed! Recently I have begun to pick up a few of the only 19 Spirits of St. Louis ABA basketball cards.  As I mentioned here in a post on Bowman STL Bombers cards the Spirits were the only professional basketball game I have ever attended.  I noticed two cards in my pursuit that show the player on the bench either drinking from a cup, or with a cup in their hand. These two are from the 1975-76 Topps issue. First Marvelous Marvin Barnes and Maurice Lucas.

So I began to think there must be other cards that show players drinking, or with cups in their hands. Granted I haven't looked at every card but a quick peruse of The Trading Card Data Base and Google Images turned up a few more but it seems like this really is a basketball and perhaps a football thing-I think? My search didn't find any basketball Topps cards before 1975-76 that showed players drinking. Here are some from 1976-77 Topps cards that do, Rick Barry and Dr. J-really you are going to have Dr. J drinking from a cup as his card picture! WTH

I am a Winner, I am a Winner

A number of years ago we took our nephews and nieces to put put golf down in San Diego and after a round of go karts a little blonde boy, probably 4 years old or so, won. He got out of the car and proclaimed  while pointing "I beat you", "I beat you!" with his dad not stopping him from doing so. I wonder what kind of person he grew up to be? None the less I am a winner, or one of several of a contest held by Corky, over at Pack War. What generosity, so what did I win? Some excellent items most of which, 99%, were added to the Redbird collection.

First up, 1993 Upper Deck Runnin’ Redbirds. I really appreciate the design of the card-the sunset in the background with Geronimo Pena, Ray Lankford, Ozzie, and Bernard Gilkey. Dear Topps I want fan favorite autos of Gilkey and Pena! Ray was interviewed during a recent Redbird game and he is still involved with the team-I wish he was a little more involved-he spent nearly his entire 13 year career with the Birds.

From 2014 Topps Heritage  Gateway Arch-for those that haven't been to the Arch you can go to the top and look out. You do this by taking an elevator that holds a couple of people. I cannot get my wife to go to the top-not sure I would do it now as it does freak me out-but the view is fantastic.

2001 Fleer Team Leaders Albert.

2000 Fleer 3000 Hits The Man. Fantastic card, this is a box hit from 2000 Fleer Focus odds being 1:36 packs. There is a relic version  which would be sweet-I will be on the look out for it a good price. 

2013 Topps Opening Day Fredbird. Who can't love this mascot-

2013 Cooperstown Green Shard Red. He is very excited with about his gloves.

2011 Gypsy Queen Rogers Green and 2011 Gypsy Queen Rogers Home Run Heroes. He is one of those players that I would have loved to see-but also how would he have performed in the desegregated era of baseball?

1989 Bazooka Vince Coleman and Todd Zeile. Back in the day I worked at a grocery store and bought a ton of Bazooka boxes to get these, fool! 

 2007 Topps Flashback Fridays Albert. I think these are very interesting. From what I understand they were LCS give aways.

Speaking of LCS give aways. There is a special place in my heart for the Spring Fever cards and here is a beauty from 2013-Stan Musial.

Corky threw in some cool oddballs. First one is a Andrew Jones 1997 Topps Screen Play. What a trip, it is pretty cool and originally sold for $4. Nestled in foam in the inside is Screen Play. Pretty darn cool-I don't see any Redbirds on the checklist-no surprise. I am not taking the protective film off of it. 

This is what it would look like if I did. 

He also included the lid from a tin of 2005 Upper Deck Legends with Satchel Paige-pretty cool.

I have saved the best for last! A 2016 Donruss 1982 Pink Yadi! Finally I can add a new Yadi to the collection. Fantastic!

Thank you so much Corky for your generosity and your blog!

Ginter Birthday

This year's 2016 Allen & Ginter release day coincided with my birthday. Box ordered and waiting for Gint-A-Cuffs VIII to begin next month. I feel good about this year's contest. We shall see. Enjoyed some beers at Lupulo Craft Beer House to celebrate both days.

Bargain HOFer Certified On-Card Autos

Reading The Snorting Bull's most recent post on Fleer Greats of the Game Autographs it made me think about revisiting one autograph set that I think, in my amateur collector opinion, are very under rated and affordable given the checklist. I have covered the 1999 Fleer Greats of the Game Sports Illustrated autos Here. For an opening bid of $7.99 you can bid on the following HOFers-Bob Gibson, Harmon Killebrew, Al Kaline, Bob Feller-now I know these will not go at the price but for $22.95 you can BIN football great Gayle Sayers’ auto,

or if you are looking for non-HOFers there is Sparky Lyle opening bid (0 bids and ending soon) of $4.99, and for Redbird collectors Lou Brock Bin $13.30, Enos Slaughter BIN $19.99, and Bob Forsch BIN for $8.49 (Bob didn’t sign much before his death a few years ago).

I also believe there is another issue, though unlicensed, that allows for someone to pick up HOFer autos for a reasonable price.

This issue is the 1994 Nabisco All-Star and All-Star Legends has several HOFers for excellent prices-if you can put up with logoless cards. Duke Snyder BIN $11.99, Frank Robinson BIN $14.98, Cardinals Great Bob Gibson BIN $14.99, Jim Palmer BIN $8.99, and Mr. Cub Ernie Banks at BIN price of $15.99 and if that is too high for ya best offers accepted!

According to the PSA website :

“About this set: Nabisco had 4 autos for this set that were available only through the mail. They were Bob Gibson, Duke Snider, Frank Robinson and Jim Palmer. Nabisco also had 9 others sign for for this set. Those cards were given out at local events. They were Al Oliver, Bill Mazeroski, Sparky Lyle, Tug McGraw, Jim Wynn, Paul Blair, Boog Powell, George Foster and Willie Horton. The 9 cards that were given out at local events are much more scarce than the cards given out through the mail.”

Card Show in a Box Finale.

Wrapping this series up with the non-Topps cards that I thought were interesting enough to share, or least those I thought you all would like to see.

1997 Pinnacle Certified Blue #1599/1999 Brian Jordan. I really enjoy the colors and look of the Pinnacle Certified cards. Very nice, but only thing for me that is off is the film.

2001 Upper Deck Evolution Esix Snead  #0662/2250. This is the first Esix I have picked up for some time. Esix of course was a subject of a previous post What ever happened to?

2000 SPx Untouchable Talents Mark McGwire. Another fantastic late 1990s/early 2000s McGwire insert. What are the odds of getting every single insert of his? Very slim or course.

1996 Leaf Preferred Steel Gold Alan Benes. I have never been a fan of metal, music that is, but these cards are pretty interesting and again except for the pesky film are freaking cool.

1996 Leaf Preferred Leaf Steel Brian Jordan. Ditto for this one as well.

2004 Playoff Prestige Extra Matt Morris #006/150. I think most of us would consider the Playoff line to be up there with the later Pacific issues in regards to near perfection and what sports cards should hope to be.

1999 Skybox E-X Century E-X Quisite J.D. Drew. Not living in the STL towards the end of his tenure with the Cardinals I missed most the drama, thankfully.

2000 Fleer Focus Focal Points Mark McGwire. More Big Mac goodness.

2004 Donruss ThrowBack Threads Keith Hernandez #009/100. Often forgotten Cardinal great.

2005 Donruss Studio Portraits Mark Mulder #03/50 I will end with a little Mandy for those whom appreciate it.

All in all, I really enjoyed going through the box-I wish there were fewer multiples. Some cards had many, but I was able to add a number of new cards to our collection, spend some enjoyable hours immersed in cardboard all for less than the cost of a hobby box.