Opening Day... OF MY NEW TOURNAMENT!

Oh. Yeah. Some of you may remember The Red Cardboard Ridiculous Cardboard Tournament. Six wonderful months of whittling down 512 excellent pieces of Red cardboard to one grand champion. Well I'm back, with a much less intense tournament this time. Presenting...

The Red Cardboard Ugliest Card Ugstravaganza

Woot. This time, I'm trying to find the ugliest Reds card in my collection. All sorts of wonderful cards get showcased on all of our blogs. It's time to recognize the hideous. The grotesque. The plain old ugly. You'll find 90's inserts, disembodied heads, disinterested mugshots, and the 1980's. Here are my selection rules:

1. Reds only. Not even multi-team-including-a-Red ugliness. There shall be just Reds ugly.

2. Do not confuse nostalgia with non-ugliness. I love those gaudy 90's inserts as much as you do. I was a 90's child. But man are some of them ugly.

3. Do not confuse boring with ugly (hello, early 80's Fleer)

4. Upon viewing, I must have said "Ew." Or "Ugh." Or any variant thereof. 

Unfortunately, some of the ugliness was too ugly for my scanner, due to glare. Good thinking, if you're ugly, to sabotage the machinery.

I will most definitely be offending some of you with my choices. I am eager to hear about it in the comments.

Tourney setup:

Opening Round: 10 rounds of 10 ugly cards each. Vote for 5. Top 6 move on.

Brackets: Seed the 60 "victors" of the Opening Round into a classic single elimination bracket, with the top 4 vote-getters receiving a bye.

The first round of voting is up now. Here are your first 10 candidates, selected randomly.

Voting ends Friday at noon eastern.

 Card #1 - 1990 Donruss Scott Scudder

Card #2 - 1996 Metal Reggie Sanders

Card #3 - 1984 Ralston Purina Dave Concepcion

Card #4 - 1994 Bowman's Best Tim Belk

Card #5 - 2005 Donruss Zenith Z-Bats Adam Dunn

Card #6 - 2003 Upper Deck Vintage Reds Team Lineup

Card #7 - 1993 Score Bip Roberts Season Highlight

Card #8 - 1988 Fleer Baseball All Stars John Franco

Card #9 - 2005 Bowman Heritage Mahogany Felipe Lopez

Card #10 - 1996 Stadium Club Midsummer Matchups Ron Gant

Go Reds.

TTM Goodness: Four from the 80's

Bill Scherrer was drafted by Cincinnati in 1977 and debuted for them in 1982, pitching in 124 games over three seasons. He was traded to Detroit mid-1984 and would pitch for them in their World Series win that year. He would come back to Cincy in 1987 for 17 games and would finish his career with brief stints in Baltimore and Philadelphia. Scherrer won two more World Series' as a scout, once for the Marlins and once for the White Sox. Signed is a 1984 Donruss #203.

Joe Nolan was drafted by the Mets in 1969 and debuted for them in 1972. He spent a few years with the Braves then came to the Reds in 1980. In 1981 he famously replaced Johnny Bench behind the plate in the twilight of his career. After two seasons with the Reds he finished his career with 4 years in Baltimore, which included a World Series win. Signed is a 1981 Topps #149.

Rafael Landestoy was drafted by the Dodgers in 1972, debuting for them in 1977. After four years in Houston, he came to the Reds in 1981, playing in 92 games over three years. He would spend two more years with the Dodgers at the end of his career. Landestoy is currently the coach of the Tigres de Licey in the Dominican Republic. Signed is a 1983 Fleer #595.

Kelly Paris was drafted by St. Louis in 1975 and would debut with them in 1982. He would then spend his only year with the Reds in 1983, batting in 56 games. Paris would play 24 more big league games for the Orioles and White Sox before retiring in 1990. Signed is a 1984 Donruss #384.

Go Reds.

Cameo Week - Day 7

It's Cameo Week here at Red Cardboard. For the sake of these posts, a cameo is any uncredited appearance on a card, no matter how minor. It could be some poor bastard sliding out of frame, some dude hanging out in the background, a celebratory high five, a posed shot, whatever. I think we all have the same definition.

The plan will be the following seven posts, in some order: All Stars, NL East, NL Central, NL West, AL, and two Reds-only posts.

Today will be the NL Central, the biggest one of the bunch. The Astros still count here, by the way. It's silly they left.

Hopefully I didn't screw any of these up. Let's ride. 

Day 1 - All Stars can be found here.   

Day 2 - NL West can be found here.

Day 3 - Reds Part 1 can be found here. 

Day 4 - NL East can be found here. 

Day 5 - AL can be found here.
Day 6 - Reds Part 2 can be found here.

Pittsburgh Pirates

2001 Stadium Club Aaron Boone ft. John Vander Wal

2010 Topps Alex Gonzalez ft. Nate McLouth

2003 Stadium Club Adam Dunn ft. Jason Kendall

2001 Stadium Club Pokey Reese ft. Jason Kendall

1994 Score Jeff Branson ft. Ben Shelton

2004 Donruss Team Heroes D'Angelo Jimenez ft. Reggie Sanders

1987 Topps Ron Oester ft. Mike Brown

Houston Astros

1995 Score Bret Boone ft. Kevin Bass

1997 Stadium Club Barry Larkin ft. Tyler Houston

2008 Upper Deck Documentary Brandon Phillips ft. Darin Erstad

2009 Upper Deck Brandon Phillips ft. Darin Erstad

1997 Pacific Pokey Reese ft. Bead Ausmas

1997 Stadium Club Eric Davis ft. Sean Berry

Milwaukee Brewers

None

Chicago Cubs

2000 Stadium Club Pokey Reese ft. Johnny Damon

1997 Topps Barry Larkin ft. Rey Sanchez

1994 Donruss Barry Larkin ft. Rey Sanchez

1997 Collector's Choice Ed Taubensee ft. Luis Gonzalez

1997 Donruss Bret Boone ft. Luis Gonzalez

2007 Upper Deck Adam Dunn ft. Henry Blanco

2011 Topps Gold Zack Cozart ft. Rickie Weeks

1997 Collector's Choice Pokey Reese ft. Roberto Petagine

St. Louis Cardinals

1996 Upper Deck Jeff Branson ft. Bernard Gilkey

2008 Stadium Club Joey Votto ft. Carlos Ruiz

1986 Topps Bo Diaz ft. Tom Herr

2012 Topps Cyan Printing Plate Juan Francisco ft. Edwin Jackson.

Go Reds.

Cameo Week - Day 6

It's Cameo Week here at Red Cardboard. For the sake of these posts, a cameo is any uncredited appearance on a card, no matter how minor. It could be some poor bastard sliding out of frame, some dude hanging out in the background, a celebratory high five, a posed shot, whatever. I think we all have the same definition.
 

The plan will be the following seven posts, in some order: All Stars, NL East, NL Central, NL West, AL, and two Reds-only posts.
 

Today will be the second half of the Reds cameos. Hopefully I didn't screw any of these up. Let's ride.
 

Day 1 - All Stars can be found here. 

Day 2 - NL West can be found here.

Day 3 - Reds Part 1 can be found here. 

Day 4 - NL East can be found here. 

Day 5 - AL can be found here.
 

2012 Topps Todd Frazier ft. Brandon Phillips and Zack Cozart

1989 Score Tom Browning ft. Luis Quinones

2004 Topps Jason LaRue ft. Sean Casey

2003 Ultra Adam Dunn ft. Sean Casey

2002 Upper Deck Victory Ken Griffey Jr. ft. Sean Casey

2003 Upper Deck Ken Groffey Jr. ft. Sean Casey

2002 Upper Deck Barry Larkin ft. Ken Griffey

1998 Stadium Club Jeff Shaw ft. Joe Oliver

2012 Leaf The Living Legend Pete Rose ft. Pete Rose Jr. (hey, he DID make the majors)

2012 Topps Gold Sparkle Alfredo Simon ft. Ryan Hanigan

2002 Upper Deck Todd Walker ft. Pokey Reese

1993 Stadium Club Kevin Mitchell ft. Robert Kelly

2007 Upper Deck Javier Valentin ft. Rich Aurilia

2002 Upper Deck Sean Casey ft. Kelly Stinnett

1994 Collector's Choice Jose Rijo ft. Rick Wrona

1996 Donruss Ron Gant ft. Reggie Sanders

2011 Topps 60 Joey Votto ft. Scott Rolen

1996 Score Benito Santiago ft. Schottzie.

Go Reds.