Contest Results: Did You Win?!

On Tuesday, I announced a contest where all you had to do was guess which of the 18 scanned cards (from a package courtesy of The Dutch Card Guy) was my favorite.  Today, it's time to reveal my favorite - and since I'm writing this post before I even posted the contest post, I have no idea who the winner is yet (or even if there is a winner in case no one bothered to enter).

*Editor's note:  The winner has been decided - see the addition to the bottom of the post!

Anyhow, enough of that, let's get to my rankings!

First of all, it was important to remember that the goal was figure out what card was my personal favorite.  Not which card was worth the most, or the rarest, or even the shiniest.  You had to take what you've learned about my collecting tastes...and then apply that knowledge to the contest.

As a quick reminder, here are the 18 cards you had to choose from (with the same lettering as before):

And now, let's get on with it.

Here is my ranking of the 18 cards, from worst to first:

18.  (Q)  Johnny Cueto

This particular card ranks dead last because 1)  It's Bowman and 2) it's a terrible image.  You can't even see Cueto's face (unless you count seeing his chin).
17.  (B)  Edison Volquez
16.  (A)  Tony Cingrani
15.  (J)  Guillermo Garcia

I figured this card might catch some people off guard since I have expressed my love for (almost) all things Pacific a number of times on my blog.  Unfortunately, 'ol Guillermo seems to be a card that must have been super common - I think I've had five or six copies of this card sent to me over the years.  There's nothing wrong with the card (or card design) per se but it is a boring player that I don't six copies of.
14.  (F)  Pokey Reese
13.  (D)  Sean Casey
12.  (I)  Barry Larkin

It's tough to have a Larkin card ranked so low...but this is only barely a Larkin card seeing as how it is both a checklist AND Larkin shares the card with Mo Vaughn on the other side of the card.
11.  (R)  Mat Latos
10.  (M)  Scott Williamson
9.  (C)  Dusty Baker
8.  (H)  Jeff Branson
7.  (E)  Reds' October
6.  (G)  Norm Charlton

This was the toughest card to rank in the entire stack of cards.  On the one hand, it's incredibly boring and obviously posed.  On the other hand, it screams both summer and fun times - and Charlton's enthusiasm is more infections than Ebola.  
5.  (O)  Devin Mesoraco
4.  (L)  Jeff Reed
3.  (P)  Brandon Phillips
2.  (K)  Eric Davis

The Davis mini is numbered 004/199 on the reverse which certainly adds to the so-called value of the card.  I like the card a lot though because Eric Davis is one of the other players that I collect (though no where near as actively as Larkin).  Speakin of 'ol Barry...
1.  (N)  Barry Larkin

It's a much nicer card than the scan might otherwise imply, I promise.

If you picked any card other than a Larkin card as the card I'd most like you must not read my blog much...or else you thought I was trying to trick you!  No, this Larkin takes the cake as "best in package" because it's new to my collection!  That, my friends, makes for a great trade - so thanks again Jeroen!  


And there you have it - my full ranking of all 18 cards!  How did you do?

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The winner!

The winner of the contest was Joe Frecker - he was the only person to correctly guess letter "N" as my favorite card.  A bunch of people had that card in my Top 5, but only Joe guessed it as number one (which means I don't have to go to the tie breaker).

Joe, send me an email with your address and I'll get a prize package out to you!