A Massive Haul

All the cards from all the sports. 

I don't use the words "massive" or "haul" all that often, let alone together. I just couldn't think of better words to describe what I got from Sportscards From The Dollar Store back in November. All the big sports were involved, including hockey -- not pictured here because, while I enjoy the sport, I barely have time for it (and never know what to say about it) because I spend so much time watching all of these other dumb sports.

Cardinals cards are the first order of business here, and we kick things off with a couple of Harrison Bader rookie cards. Bader was my favorite Cardinal last season, and I'm thrilled to be piling up his rookie cards. The Stadium Club card is actually a black foil parallel with a low print run (I think?).

I don't talk about minor league cards enough here, but I love them. Jordan Hicks, who made the huge leap from A ball last season, is showing his best Pitcher Face here.

Here's another minor leaguer. Game used championship banner?! In baseball cards, you see something new every day.

With Jose Martinez somewhat surprisingly in the mix in the Cardinals suddenly crowded outfield, it will be interesting to see what Tyler O'Neill brings to the table in 2019. This is his "action" photo variation from last year's Heritage High #s.

I avoided Panini Chronicles blasters when they were on the shelf because I didn't fully understand the set, but it apparently gives Panini the chance to show off a bunch of set designs they didn't fully commit to. There's also a "base" design which is entirely exclusive to this set. This is a Press Proof parallel of the base design.

And this is what Score would have looked like, if Panini had released a Score set for baseball. I'm honestly not sure why they didn't. Score usually equates to affordable, and it was a well known thing back in the day. I think the budget looking design blends well with Panini's lack of an MLB license. If anything, the fancier high end stuff is where they start to embarrass themselves in the baseball realm.

Here's the "Select" design, which was not a thing -- except in Chronicles!

Switching gears to basketball, and the Blazers specifically, here's a super thick fancy card from the 2015-16 Panini Black Gold set. The cards are kind of impossible to describe in words. The whole thing is sort of encased in plastic, and lighter part of the design is kind of like a window. The cards are also kind of... hollow?

It's a huge Dame jersey card! Wait, no, it's... MASSIVE.

Current Denver Nugget and namesake of my fantasy hoops team Mason Plumlee also makes a fancy basketball card appearance.

I also like football... specifically, the Oregon Ducks! I bet you didn't know that (you totally knew that.) Like almost all things in the card world, Panini is responsible for this set. I wonder if they're planning on bringing it to the NBA.

It's a silver ink auto! Royce Freeman had a pretty solid rookie season, and I'm hoping he continues to do big things on the football field. Do NFL people collect him?

I've actually managed to catalog all of my Oregon Ducks cards, so I actually finally can keep track of what I have and still need in this area. This includes basketball cards. Tyler Dorsey was a big part of the Ducks Final Four team of a couple of years ago, and he's sense moved on to the Memphis Grizzlies. I do like the swatch used for this card an awful lot, with the Hawks diamond cut pattern on the jersey.

(I'm sorry I was mean to you, hockey. Go Blues!)