They're All Here

I started two set projects last month that both involved trying to complete small Upper Deck insert sets from the early 1990s.  One of the sets was the Now & Then cards from the 1993 Upper Deck set, the other was the Top Prospects cards from 1992 Upper Deck Minors.  They are both holographic card sets, which is so 1990s Upper Deck.  

I am close to having both sets done, but for the moment I have closed out the 1992 Upper Deck Minors Top Prospects set.  I started with 2 of the 9 cards, they're all here now.  I wish these scanned better....

I know the print on the back of the cards is still hard to read in the scans, but still felt like they were worth posting.  Prior to working on this project, I owned copies of the Dmitri Young and Chipper Jones cards for obvious reasons.  They fit into my collection.  Out of the seven other cards the hardest to find was the Brien Taylor.  He's pretty popular locally, a legend of sorts in North Carolina.  There are a lot of people who saw him play, or played against him, etc.  You know the stories.  

This is a good looking set, glad to knock this out.  

A 1980s Card Part 20 - 1988 Donruss Jim Lindeman

Another 1980s Cardinals prospect. 

This week I am going with a position player, former first baseman and outfield prospect Jim Lindeman.  I also wanted to post a Donruss card this week.  So many places to go with the Donruss sets from the 1980s.  The 1988 set is an all or nothing design.  I know people who love these cards, I know people who hate them.  Not sure I have ever heard anyone say something neutral about this design. 

Strong opinions. 

I personally place it towards the bottom of the Donruss base set designs from the 1980s.  I have heard some people call the 1988 set the "Flannel" or "Plaid" set, but I do not think it's quite right.  Maybe it's just the blue color though, which seems very institutional. 

It reminds me a lot of the walls in the old Busch Stadium during the 1980s. 

Not their best effort, but then again, it's not like 1988 was a banner year for the vast majority of card companies.  It's still better than the Fleer design.  Yawn. 

Back of the card and a little bit about Lindeman. 

The Cardinals used their first round pick in 1983 to take Lindeman out of Bradley, which is not too far from St. Louis in central Illinois.  While he was in college he played wit Kirby Puckett.  Lindeman hit in the Minors, but never really did much in the Majors save for one month, which should get him a little more notoriety with Cardinals fans. 

Lindeman only played 11 postseason games in his career.  All for the Cardinals, all in 1987 replacing Jack Clark in their lineup. 

He hit over .300 in both the NLCS and World Series that fall.  In Game 3 of the NLCS, the Cardinals were trailing the Giants 4-0 early in the game.  Lindeman hit a 2 run home run off of Atlee Hammaker to cut the lead in half, and then later hit a sac fly which gave the Cardinals the lead.  While his career never panned out for the Cardinals, he was a big part of one World Series run. 

Lindeman hung around the Majors and upper Minors until the mid 1990s when his career ended.  A few years back a newspaper in Peoria did a "Where Are They Now?" article about the former Bradley baseball player.  Lindeman is currently working at a high school outside of Chicago where he teaches and coaches baseball. 

Vacations Are Good

I feel like I have not had a break in awhile.  I know there are plenty of people who go long stretches with no vacations, and I am a teacher so I often hear the, "you just sit around all summer" line more times than I can count.  Actually, I usually teach for a two to three month stretch before I get a vacation that usually lasts for roughly three weeks.  I have been on the same schedule for more than decade, my clock is sort of used to the schedule by now.   

I am now going to yell at a few clouds, but before I do here is a Stadium Club autograph of Brandon Lowe that I picked up.  I had not posted it yet, but here it is now....

I drove more than 3,000 miles this summer.  I went from Raleigh to St. Louis, to mid-Missouri, and then on to northern Michigan.  Eventually I ended up in Grand Rapids for a wedding before driving home (13 hours with 2 kids) the day before the beginning of the school year started.  I switched grade levels, moved classrooms, and ended up running a committee.

I feel a little stretched thin.

This is a Steven Souza autograph that I also did not get a chance to post.

This card cost me $2.00.  It's Steven Souza, but he once won the International League MVP Award in a season where he only played 90 games.  His numbers were insane. 

Friday was my last day at work for the next three weeks.  I am not going anywhere, or doing anything the least bit responsible during that time.  I am going to spend some serious time doing non-work things.  Kids going to parks and museums, home improvement projects, and baseball cards.  I have actually been planning on doing some writing on a project I have been working on for awhile with my baseball cards.

I am pretty excited about it.

This is Tanner Houck.  I once saw him pitch a no hitter.  I didn't have time to post this when I got it a few months back. 

Definitely needs a post or two next week since the project has been six years in the making.  

This picture was from way back when I started a project with my cards.  The original post is here.  My baseball card room used to be really red.  It's not that color anymore. I am going to get a little bit of rest and probably take my kids to the park first.  

A 1980s Card Part 19 - 1986 Topps Kurt Kepshire

The 1985 Cardinals should have won the World Series against the Kansas City Royals.  They were a bad Don Denkinger call away from capturing the team's second title of the 1980s.

The 1980s Cardinals were best known for their speed and defense, but they also had some pretty solid pitchers.  John Tudor, Joaquin Andujar, and Danny Cox led the 1985 National League Championship team's rotation.  Those three players accounted for 60 of the team's 101 victories.

What about the last two spots in the rotation?

One of the spots belonged to long time Cardinal pitcher Bob Forsch, while the other spot belonged to a younger pitcher the team had picked up a few years earlier in the Rule 5 Draft from the Reds.  The Cardinals gave Kurt Kepshire roughly two years two nail down the fifth starters job.

He got a few baseball cards along the way too.  HIs 1986 Topps card was his last as Major Leaguer.

The backdrop of the card was common on 1980s Cardinals cards.  This was at the team's Spring Training facility in St. Petersburg, Florida. There are at least five or six Cardinals cards in the 1986 Topps set alone that were taken some piece this building in the background.

Kepshire did win 16 games between 1984 and 1985, but he got a lot of support from the team to get to those totals.  He started the season with the Cardinals in 1986, but was quickly demoted to Triple A in favor of Greg Matthews after a few starts.  The team also signed former Cubs pitcher Ray Burris as a free agent, picked up pitching prospect Tim Conroy from the A's, and had first round draft pick Joe Magrane in the wings too.

Kepshire spent the rest of his career in the Minors with the Cardinals, and eventually with the Expos.  He never pitched in another Major League game after his demotion from the Cardinals.  The retooled rotation with Matthews and Magrane, combined with Cox, Tudor, and Forsch, got the Cardinals back to the World Series in 1987.

Back of the card.

Love the centering on the card.

I like when players are young enough that you can see all of their Minor League stats on the back of the card.  I thought it was also interesting that Kepshire was a relief pitcher in the Reds Minor League system, the Cardinals turned him into a reliever.  Usually goes the other way around.

2019 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 20

It has been almost a month since I have posted a Blake Snell autograph.  Just waiting for a good one to post for number 20.  I actually have had some other successes with Blake Snell cards during the past week.  Still hoping for a year end total around 25. 

Snell actually appeared locally last week in a rehab start. 

🦖🦖🦖 pic.twitter.com/LtcJLCZnXb

— Durham Bulls (@DurhamBulls) September 13, 2019

It was on a school night, so the little man and I watched from the comforts of our sofa. 

For my 20th Snell autograph of the year I went with a nice Five Star.  Great looking card. 

This is a Golden Graphs. 

I am not sure that I love the gold pattern around the edges of the card, but I do like the contrast between the gold color and the dark signing surface in the middle of the card.  I also like that Snell autographed the pen using gold colored ink. 

Well done design by Topps. 

Back of the card. 

So, you got an autograph from Topps.......

A 1980s Card Part 18 - Topps Circle K All-Time Home Run Kings Stan Musial

Stan Musial is currently 31st all-time in home runs. When Musial retired from baseball in 1963 he was considerably higher up the list.  Stan The Man ended his career with 475.  He's also still 3rd overall in doubles and 19th in triples on top of all the home runs.  Stan hit a lot of extra base hits, some went over the wall.  I think that's a fair way to describe his home run total.

Anyway, Circle K made a set of home run hitters in 1985.  They are essentially the same design as the Glossy Mail-In sets that Topps used to put on their wrappers back at this time, but the photos were a mix of black and white and color photos. 

White border, name in small print in the bottom corner, similar finish too.  Mine is not really well centered, but I picked this set up for next to nothing a card show long ago.  The set is great, Stan is just a little off.  Might need to fix this at some point.

The back of the card is odd.

I am sure if I sat here and thought about it a little longer I might be able to think of another set that has player stats in two different columns, but one is not popping into my head at the moment.  Just a really bizarre way to design the back of the card.  If the point of the set is to show the players with the highest home run totals, I am sure that they could have come up with a better way than to list all 22 years that Stan played.  Even Ralph Kiner, who only played 10 years, has his stats split into two different columns.

I just look at the front of the card.  It's nice. 

Trending Up

I have avoided really committing to collecting a Cardinals player in recent years, more of just a general interest in their cards.  There will always be Ray Lankford cards.......

There will always be Albert Pujols cards.......

and Stan Musial too.....

The second half of this season really has me contemplating spending a little bit of time and money working on Cardinals starting pitcher Jack Flaherty.  He has pitched really well......

There are already some Jack Flaherty cards hanging out in my card room that are pretty nice.  

They are just kind of cheap considering he is one of the better pitchers in the Majors at the moment.  He's right up there with pitchers like Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.  

I mean he's only won 10 games.  Snark.  

I found a new Five Star autograph of the talented 23 year old for less than $10 last week.  Great looking card of a great pitcher.....

The card stock on these is still super thick, hopefully the edges won't the chip the way that some of the older sets did.  Even if they do, this is probably my favorite Flaherty autograph that I have added to my collection this year.  Not saying he's going to reach the same status as Blake Snell, but for the moment Flaherty is going to be my go to Cardinals player.