The Year in Cardinals Cards, So Far

If it seems like this blog has been unusually quiet about the release of a certain baseball card set, it's because... well... it has. I am really trying to focus more on past set needs and better organizing my Cardinals and player collection needs, which means there is less time for brand new cards. I've bought exactly one pack of the new stuff, just for tradition's sake, but I decided not to post anything about it here. What I did do, however, was participate in a couple of group breaks which netted me the entire Series 1 Cardinals team set - and then some.

The Daily Dimwit broke a hobby jumbo box, which included nearly all of the base cards that I needed, plus this Lou  Brock Chasing History insert. Apparently there may be as many as four versions of each of these insert cards, which is appropriately annoying for a set I'm trying to limit my purchases from. My lone gold card from both breaks also came from the Dimwit.

Cardboard Collections hosted the other break that I participated in, which included two hobby jumbo boxes.

Yes, these Cut to the Chase inserts are every bit as good as I imagined they would after reading everyone else's giddiness over them. They're great. I'd consider putting the whole set together, but I could see this being stretched out to all three series by Topps. Not only that, but it's not like I'd exactly be the only person with this idea.

Still, they're amazing, right?

I'm not so wild about the 1972 Minis, but they're okay. They're just... I don't know. There are probably dozens of old designs to use that would have been more fun than this one.

There were no retail inserts to speak of, of course, but I did get 3 of these blindingly garish Emerald parallels. I've sang the praises of the Jon Jay card in this set multiple times already, but Descalso's card has to be my early favorite for runner-up best card of the year if I actually kept track of such things.

Kyle McClellan was a dead redbird walking as soon as he fell victim to shoulder issues last season. He was getting to be rather expensive for a long reliever and had proven to be a bit shaky in both starting roles and late game situational positions.

This should be the year of Shelby Miller, Megaprospect, but so much has happened with the youth on this team and so many other players look capable of doing great things right now. Shelby's taken a bit of a backseat as far as all of the attention is concerned, but I still think he'll do well in St. Louis.