Oscar. Popsicle. Joey Votto.

Yesterday was the start of Teacher Appreciation Week at my school.  

I received an Oscar. 

I also got a raspberry cheesecake popsicle after lunch.  

I also got a pack of 2023 Topps Big League from one of my students. I should have taken a picture of the pack of cards, but did not.  I borrowed one from the internet.  

I made a post about these cards a few weeks back. Fun cards that are kid-friendly. You're not likely going to pull something to big from one of these packs.

Somedays you beat the odds.  

I feel appreciated.  

2014 Topps Stadium Club Box

Another trip into Big D's card shop and another great box.  Today I opened up a box of 2014 Stadium Club.  I'm not sure I can do this in three pictures and a video like I did the 2014 Bowman Chrome box the other day.  A few more pictures and I apologize is the video is too heavy on love for this set.  I love Stadium Club.  Great work by Topps on this product.

New Ginters

I have always really liked the Allen & Ginter cards.  They are part baseball card and part mail catalog encyclopedia.  That's how the original Ginter cards were designed though and Topps always gives a really good effort with making this recreation as close to the original as possible.  Last year I spent a few posts steering my readers through my favorite non-sport Ginters which included the likes of D.B. Cooper, the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, dogs, flags, and so much more.  That's a huge link.  This year's Ginter offer much of the same as previous years.

This year's insert sets feature World's Capitals, Fighter Jets, and Parties (not shown, but they're there) ...........

There are some baseball inserts too.  I think these Pastime's Pastimes cards look sharp with the dark background and the white writing and frame around the player picture......

Of course there are hit cards too.  I did not land an autograph in my box, but I did have three relic hits.  I had two baseball hits with a Joey Votto and David Price.  My non-baseball hit belongs to Mike Pereira who was the head of the NFL's referees and then did some TV work after his career with the NFL.  I had never heard of him until I pulled his card, but he sits on some sort of Fried Chicken Sofa and gives shouts out to kids watching football....

Here are my hit cards......

and then there are the cards from the base set.  There are young players, old players, swimmers, weight lifters, comedians, ESPN personalities.  Chuck Todd.  All kinds of people.  Here's a look:  

Lastly, I would like to offer this piece of advice.  After you have opened up your packs of Allen & Ginter, sort back through your cards carefully and check through all of your cards.  You never know.......

when something that's looks ordinary, is going to turn into something that is extraordinary.......

2011 Topps 60 Joey Votto Jersey/Autograph

There are cards that are pretty self explanatory.  A Joey Votto card is in that category.  He's a great player and has not signed much over the years keeping his autographs in high demand and high priced. There are some cheap options out on the secondary market, but if you are going to go for a big card than you might as well go for it.  I figured that this copy of a 2011 Topps 60 Joey Votto Jersey/Autograph would be a good addition to the collection.

2011 Topps 60 Joey Votto Jersey/Autograph

As a Cardinals fan there have been many rivals that have annoyed and been avoided in my collection.  For example, I will usually trade anything and everything from the mid 80s Mets teams.  Dwight Gooden.  Not a fan.  Same with Strawberry, Hernandez, and Carter.  Trade Bit.  There have also been plenty of Cardinals rivals over the years that I have respected and enjoyed watching.  The Bagwell and Biggio Astros teams of the late 90s and early 2000s come to mind as a team that butted up with the Cardinals every year, but I did not mind the players on the team.

Votto comes to mind as a player in the same category as the great Astros teams.  I am not a huge fan of Reds, especially Dusty Baker, but I really enjoy watching Votto.  I was fortunate enough to see Votto play for the Louisville Bats in AAA and was impressed with him as a hitter.  Votto's first two and half years in the majors were nice, but the last three have been great.  Basically, Votto is an on-base machine with a good glove and good power.  He's led the National League in walks the past two years and on-base percentage the past three.  In fact, he led the National League in walks despite only playing 111 games.  ESPN writer Jayson Stark compared his season, prior to injury, to Babe Ruth.

Since it's Friday and I have a few extra minutes I will go ahead and post a bonus card for this evening.  My newest Votto card is my second copy of his autograph in my collection.  I was able to pull a copy of his 2004 Bowman autograph out of a pack shortly after the set was released.

2004 Bowman Signs of the Future Joey Votto Autograph 

I've been posting a lot lately about different sets in my collection.  The Bowman sets are an annual addition to my collection, but I usually put the cards into a box and set them aside for a few years.  I try not to get too high or too low on players for a few years until they have some established value.  Every once in awhile I get something good to show off and I cannot complain about this pull almost a decade later.  The Bowman autographs from 2004 are not the nicest looking cards, but the autographs are on-card and are pretty highly sought after on the secondary market.  

Two More Cards Shops In The Lou

I usually try to hit three card shops in the St. Louis area when I return home, but this spring trip has been really busy and I have only been able to hit up two different stores.  I will plug my third store this summer perhaps. 


First Stop: The Sports Card Dugout In Webster Groves, Missouri

I actually lived a few miles from this store for a number of years and kind of consider it to be my home store.  Every store has it's strengths and the best part about the Dugout to me is the selection of wax.  The owner, Randy, does have a lot of singles and will definitly help with lists and singles.  However, like most stores in St. Louis the store is extremely baseball heavy and there are premiums placed on Cardinals players.  I don't often buy single cards from the Dugout, but when I do, I focus away from the Cardinals and get some great deals. 

So, now for my wax plug.  Again, it's baseball heavy, but if you need a box of football, basketball, or hockey it's going to be there, or the owner will help you find it.  The owner does two things to make the wax shine: knowledge of product and competitive pricing.  When a known product comes out it is usually a great day to visit the Dugout.  Randy, the owner, will often bust open several boxes (or a case) and isn't shy about sharing details and opinions about the product.  He will show you some good and some ugly, but he will keep you away from bad boxes and steer you towards the great ones.  The pricing is also really good.  It's not going to beat the mega-stores on-line, but for a local store nobody can touch him. 

I walked in the other afternoon and was happy to see the store.  He had four different lines of baseball wax in stock: Topps I, Topps Heritage, Topps Tribute, and Musuem Collection.  He talked me through each box of cards and gave me the run down of pros and cons.  I eventually decided on a box of Heritage.  I was told that the boxes this year had great collation, great design, and I would get some good parallels, a jersey or autograph, and a few inserts.  I know I have pretty much put together my set, but I went ahead and got the box. 

So how did I do?  In the twenty-four packs I had zero doubles, a few inserts, and eight short prints.  My highlights are pictured below:

Top Row (L-R) 1963 Topps Craig Andeson, Recollection, Chris Ianetta Chrome, Joey Votto Chrome, and Vance Worley Chrome

Bottom Row: Matt Kemp Reverse, Jacoby Ellsbury Jersey

Second Stop: Southtown Sluggers In Saint Louis, Missouri

This is a great little card shop located in the southeast suburbs of the city.  The main thing you need with this store is time.  If you walk into the store looking for something specific you are going to be disappointed.  The store owner, Dave, is really helpful and will work hard to find what you want, but you have to give it itme.  If you go in, decide you are going to spend forty-five minutes looking and have X amount of dollars to spend you are going to be very happy.  The store literally has something for eveyone.  Like vintage?  He's got it.  Like shiny and new?  He's got it.  Cheap, expensive, and everything in between.  I use this store to find single cards that are hard to find.  I generally try to find cards to add to my Ray Lankford collection, fill in from recent Cardinals sets, and just generally good deals.  I probably looked through eight or nine five thousand card boxes, two or three large notebooks of autographs, and two eight-hundred count boxes of mateials cards.  I set my budget at $10.  You read that right.  Here's what I got:  

Three Ray Lankford Parallels: 2000 Topps Stadium Club First Day Issue, 1997 Topps Gallery Players Private Issue, and a 2000 Topps Finest Refractor.  The first two are serial numbered.  

2009 Donruss Brian Friday Autograph  

2011 Topps Heritage Dan Johnson Jersey

3 Cardinals Inserts/Parallels - 2001 Fleer Genuine Jim Edmonds High Interest, 2007 Topps Juan Encarnacion Parallel, 2011 Topps ALlen & Ginter Matt Holliday Insert

1998 SPX Delino Deshields.  I was missing this card to complete my Cardinals team seat. 

1988 Topps Danny Cox autograph