I always dug the Donruss cards as a kid. Definitely different from Topps and I always tried to pick up some of the set every summer. I even went for those blue plaid ones in 1988. The Donruss run came to an end at some point during the spring of 1998. There were still some 1998 Donruss products, but the company disappeared for a few years in the late 1990s and early 2000s until Playoff picked up the name in 2001.
One of the gimmicks of the 2001 Donruss product was that Playoff magically created sets for 2000 and 1999 which were inserted into packs. The Imaginary Years of Donruss even included some of their usual parallels that went into their current year's base set. Back in 2001 I picked up a box of Donruss, opened it, but that's about as far as it went.
I know that I do not have a complete set of the cards and I have never really made an attempt to add any of these cards to my collection. However, recently a copy of a serial numbered Ray Lankford card from the Imaginary 1999 Donruss set popped up on Ebay and a friend alerted me to its presence. I actually had thought about taking a pass on the card and it sat on my watch list for awhile.
Well, I finally pulled the trigger and am know the owner of a Ray Lankford card from the 1999 Donruss set. That Donruss set that was never really a set.
A look at the front of the card. This is a StatLine card for his 1998 season. If you aren't fimiliar with the old Donruss sets, the company picked a stat from either the players career, or the previous season, and then made a parallel numbered to that stat. They were slightly maddening for player collectors. Like those of us who collect Ray Lankford cards.
Here is the back of the card with the serial numbering to Lankford's 1998 hit total. I think I might have a few Fleer cards similiar to this card, numbered to a statistic, but not any Donruss. 2000 and 2001 were sort of the beginning of these types of parallels, but this was also the end of Lankford's first run as a Cardinal. He came back to the Cardinals in 2004 for the team's National League Championship team, but nobody made a card of him that season.
It's been awhile since the Cardinals have lingered in the middle of the baseball pack, but it appears that this year's roster is a little thin on talent and Mike Matheny is proving himself to be one of the most idiotic managers currently employed by a Major League team. There are still some bright points to watching this year's team with rookie shortstop Aledmys Diaz leading the highlights.
Currently the former Cuban national is in the top ten in several offensive categories including batting average, on-base percentage, runs, hits, total bases, doubles, runs created, extra base hits, and at bats per strikeouts. However, no card company has made a card of Aledmys and there are not even whispers of one coming out soon. ToppsNow? Nothing. Maybe his lack of baseball cards has something to do with the fact that Mike Matheny won't bat him higher than seventh or eighth. (insert eye roll emoji).
The Aledmys Diaz rookie card will happen at some point, but it is hard waiting around for it. While we are waiting I decided to dig back through my boxes of cards and find my five favorite Cardinals rookie cards of the modern card era (1981-current). I will do some vintage Cardinals sometime soon along with a broader rookie card countdown that will encompass a few more teams.
The list is based on players who were pictured as a Cardinal in their rookie card. Yes, I love Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, and Chris Carpenter, but they all played somewhere else besides St. Louis at the time of their rookie cards. Sorry, Brendan Ryan and Pete Kozma did not make it.
Without further delay, my top 5 modern Cardinals rookie cards......
Honorable Mention - 1990 Upper Deck Ray Lankford
I know this is my favorite 1990s Cardinals player, but seriously the guy has some solid career numbers and ranks high in numerous offensive categories amongst the Cardinals all-time leaders. If Lankford had his rookie card put out at some other point, other than the early 1990s, his rookie card might hold more weight. As it stands now, its a fun card to own of an underrated player that I really enjoyed watching. On to the others....
5. 1986 Topps Vince Coleman
All I wanted in third grade was a Vince Coleman rookie card. I know a lot of collectors like the looks of the 86 Topps set, but it does not really have a great rookie card. Well, for some of us who grew up collecting cards in the 1980s the Coleman rookie is pretty great even if you can now buy copies of this cards for a dime. Coleman left the Cardinals for the Mets in the early 1990s and I really stopped watching him. His stolen base totals fell off too. Over the last couple of years I have kind of rediscovered Vince Coleman and his cards. Fun player.
4. 1983 Topps Willie McGee
Another favorite Cardinals rookie card from my childhood. Willie McGee spent a long time with the Cardinals at the beginning of his career helping the team win a World Series and win two National League Championship Series. Willie also won the 1985 National League MVP and two batting titles. Interestingly enough the last batting title he won in the National League happened while he was playing for the A's. Willie is not a Hall of Famer, but is a real favorite with Cardinals fans. As a kid this was a great card. Again, like Coleman, it has a lot more sentimental value than actual monetary value.
3. 2004 Bowman's Best Yadier Molina
Yadier has been another nice part of 2016 so far. After a pair of down years with some thumb injuries Yadi is hitting again and doing what he always does on defense. Yadier also has a few nice rookie cards. It's a little hard to narrow it down to just one, but I am going to go with his Bowman since it has the on-card autograph. Always thought it was a little Tony Gwynn-esque that Molina has a bunch of rookie cards wearing 74, instead of 4, like Gwynn is sporting 53 instead of 19.
2. 2001 Fleer Premium Albert Pujols
The whole Pujols rookie card craze in 2001 was pretty ridiculous at times. Lots of short prints and serial numbered cards, autographs, etc. One of his first cards put out in the beginning parts of the 2001 baseball season was an exchange card in Fleer Premium. This was one of the first Pujols cards I owned, still one of my favorites.
2001 Bowman Heritage Albert Pujols
No serial numbers, foil, or autographs. Just a really nice looking Albert Pujols card.
Late last week I picked up a box of cards from a college friend. The box was filled with all sorts of oddball stuff that he was jettisoning from his collection to save a little bit of space. This is a skill that I myself am working on mastering. In fact, a bunch of the cards in the box are Cubs giveaways that I have already found a home for with a local collector. They just need a little sorting.
My primary interest in taking on this package of cards was one old Ozzie Smith card. I have never seen this card in person, but I once wrote about it over at my other gig. I can proudly say that I now own a very nice copy of this card, the finest oddball in my collection. No doubt.
The Padres gave away a set of Family Fun Center cards for a few years during the late 1970s and early 1980s. I believe that they gave the cards out as single cards every so often throughout the season. As a Cardinals fan, I am really happy to add this to my collection. Everyone has a Topps Ozzie Smith rookie, not sure a lot of people have this one.
Topps is now making cards that feature in season highlights the day after they happen. Jake Arrieta throws a no-hitter, Topps Now card. Melvin Upton has a walk off hit, Topps Now. Supposedly Topps got the idea for the Topps Now cards from this scene from SpaceBalls.
Since its inception Topps Now has drawn a lot of talk around social media. Some good, some not good. Recently I took the Topps Now plunge. At $9.99 a card I was expecting something really cool. I received my envelope a week, or two, ago and all I can say is "sigh". Let me review a few reasons for my sigh of disappointment.
1. Shoddy Packaging - Seriously, a $10 card with no penny sleeve in the cheapest, flimsiest Ultra Pro that money can possibly buy. If someone had sent a card like this off of Ebay the would at least get a stern message about their packaging. Luckily in this case nothing happened to my card, but if you have not bought from Topps Now, just beware that this is how your card is shipped.
2. Remind Me What's So Special? - I took Bryce out of his flimsy Ultra Pro to scan him, he's felling better in a penny sleeve and a sturdier top loader. I had to check out the front and back of the card, but outside of the date on the front of the card I cannot really find anything that sets the card apart to make it special. Is there a serial number? No. Is there some sort of cool certification statement on the back? No. So, it's printed on some sort of cool card stock, something? No. Anything? No.
3. So This Will Be Great For Team Collectors? - Some of this is a little bit tricky. If you are going to make roughly two cards a day, there are going to be days where there are some really tough choices. As a Cardinals fan, I was happy to see Jaime Garcia get a card for his near no-hitter, but I have also been disappointed that Topps has missed getting a card of Aledmys Diaz out. You know, the rookie shortstop is has been hitting .400 during April and leading the world in OPS, OPS+, and WAR. So, maybe I am biased. I asked around.
I decided that I would check out a Cubs collector or two who had said something about Topps Now cards. After all, nobody is having a better season than the Cubs....Both liked the Arrieta no-hit card that Topps put out the day after, but that was sort of a no-brainer. Both mentioned a few different plays and games that could have been a Topps Now card, but both wondered why Dexter Fowler had gone unnoticed for the first month of the season? Fowler has had a spectacular start to the season, several huge games, yet nothing.
Dropping down further in the standings, there are several other collectors who have teams that currently reside near the bottom of their divisions. For example, as a Durham Bulls fan and collector, I have the chance to interact with a lot of Rays collectors. Many have expressed doubts about the Rays getting a Topps Now card anytime soon short of a no-hitter. After all, Drew Smyly accomplished almost the same thing that Jaime Garcia got a Topps Now card for, but where is his card?
Way back in the fall I spent a little bit of time searching for some cards of former St. Louis Stars player Willie Wells. Wells was one of the superstars of the Negro Leagues back in the 1920s and also spent time playing in Cuba where his play is also legendary. I found a Perez-Steele postcard of Wells, but several of his other cards were really difficult to find.
One of the best sets of Negro League cards were produced by author, and speaker, Phil Dixon. He has a few books out, like Wilber "Bullet" Rogan and the Kansas City Monarchs, and you can find some of his public appearances around the internet. I have found single cards from the set floating around on sites like COMC and Ebay, but I have never been able to track down certain singles. Most of the single cards that I have been able to find have run north of $5, especially on COMC, and I had never really tried to find the set.
Well, after letting the Willie Wells card slip down my list, I did a little looking a week or two ago and was able to land the entire 45 card set including a Willie Wells card. Here's a look at my newest card of the St. Louis Stars Hall of Famer....
The cards are on white postcard quality card stock. The Dixon cards are a quarter inch wider than the standard card and an inch taller. The pictures are all black and white photographs. Really simple design, but I like the look of these cards. The backs of the cards feature a short biography.
I am not sure that I want to cram 45 cards into one post. After all, I am sitting here trying to complete sets, show off the sets as I finish them, and take a little time to display my accomplishments. Sure, I just bought all 45 cards, but it's still a completed set and you're not going to see many blog posts about Negro League cards. So, I am going to split the set up and display a few at a time over the next two or three weeks. We've done Willie Wells, here are four more including the bios on the backs of the cards. The scans are aligned top and bottom.
It has been a long week of baseball in my world. The Durham Bulls had a rough week and the Cardinals did not fair much better. While both teams have had a great run of success in recent years this season has not started as expected. Honestly, I think that the Durham Bulls will turn it around at some point. There are a few players off to a slow start who will eventually turn it around and the team will be fine. The Cardinals are a different story......
There have not been many lean years of late as a Cardinals fan. In fact, over the last 20 years the Cardinals have finished below .500 a grand total of three times: 2007, 1999, and 1997. The 1997 team was easily the worst of those three teams finishing with just 73 wins. That team still had McGwire for half of season and Ray Lankford hit 31 home runs. The top three starting pitchers, Matt Morris and the two Benes brothers, won a total of 31 games with ERA+ all over 130. They didn't lack talent, they just did not win.
The worst Cardinals team I remember was actually the 1995 team. The outfielders were good with Ray Lankford, Brian Jordan, and Bernard Gilkey all putting up good splits with a good blend of power and speed. Lankford and Jordan both hit more than 20 home runs and stole more than 20 bases. However, the rest of the position players and pitchers were a complete disaster. The only regular position player, outside of the outfielders, with an OPS+ above 100 was John Mabry. He was at exactly 100. Pitching?
The team employed six different starting pitchers. Allen Watson lead the group with seven wins. No, he did not get screwed out of a bunch of wins, he wasn't really that good. In fact, Rich DeLucia lead the team in wins that season with 8. In summation, the 1995 Cardinals had three position players and a relief pitcher.
The relief pitcher was the best part of watching the Cardinals that summer. Well, Lankford. Name player from the 1980s and 1990s, but I am not sure many people remember playing for the Cardinals....
"The Terminator" spent his last season playing for the Cardinals in order to be closer to his hometown of Jefferson City, Missouri. Henke ended his final season with 36 saves, an ERA+ of 229, and 2.3 WAR. A great last season and one of the few highlights of some of the Cardinals team sets from the 1995 and 1996 seasons. Well, Lankford. Anyway, if you are a Cardinals collector and looking for some sort of positive from the mid 1990s Tom Henke, don't forget Ray Lankford, is a great choice.
The baseball season starts and I always have to check out the rosters for my teams to find a few projects for the season. New players, new cards. Old players, new cards. All sorts of combinations of those words. So, this post started sometime last fall when the Cardinals brought up outfielder Tommy Pham. He's been in their system forever, just never stayed healthy.
He had a good end of the season and had a nice Postseason moment when he hit a home run against the Cubs in Game 1 of the NLDS.
and all of the Cardinals collectors lost their minds over Tommy Pham cards. He has an autograph in the 2015 Topps set, but they are fairly expensive. I decided to wait for the excitement over Tommy Pham to die down a little. I went on Ebay, put a few of his cards on my watch list, and kind of ignored them for awhile.
Prices came down a little bit on a few of his cards and I found a really cool looking Topps card of Pham that I thought looked really cool. There was a Buy It Now and also one or two floating around in auctions.
Pretty nice card. I didn't know much about this card when I first started watching it, so I did a little digging and found that there was also a Stephen Piscotty card in this set. Then I found out there were only 13 cards in the whole set. Then I found a set for $10. I bought them all. They are all numbered out of 99 and are print run 99. Pretty cool. I guess Topps sold these sets in their online store. Kind of cutting out the card shops there big guy....
The cards are also oversized at 5x7. Not only are they postcard sized, but they also appear to be made out of the same material as the common postcard. Perhaps an Office Max Brand index card. The cards are really thin and the George Springer card has a little ding on the bottom right corner. Here's a look at the other 12 cards......
