Sports in Limbo

We still have cards to fill the space. 

Just around the time I was having to get used to staying at home a lot, I got a bubble mailer in the mail chock full of Trail Blazers and Cardinals cards from The Bucs Stop Here. It had been impossible to find basketball cards at reasonable prices even before the pandemic fully hit us, so it was great to get my hands on some new Blazers stuff.

Here's a trio of Blazers from this year's Optic set. Blasters of this shot up to $80 before it even hit the shelves, which makes absolutely no sense. Shenanigans! It's my first card of Hassan Whiteside in Blazers gear, as well as Pau Gasol -- who would never suit up officially for the team in any actual competition. Gasol gets this season's Festus Ezeli Award. I hope there isn't a new winner next season.

This is one of the many cool insets in the Donruss Optic set that I will never have an opportunity finding in a pack myself.

Throwing it back a few years, here's a pretty slick looking insert of Drazen Petrovic. Petro didn't enter the Hall based on his time in Portland, however, as the team quickly shipped him out due to concerns over lack of playing time. Playing behind Clyde the Glide will do that to you.

Someone commented recently about a bad Photoshop job in an earlier post on a Nolan Gorman card, which makes me wonder when we'll actually see Gorman on a card in a real Cardinals uniform. (This ain't it.) I wish they would make use of spring training photos more. Some of these prospects have several springs under them at this point.

Finally, we end with a Yadi X-Fractor with a very familiar photo. If I was ever going to chase a rainbow, this might be it. (I just can't deal with the super rare cards and the competitive eBay bidders.) Jon Jay's card from this same year would be another nice one, and probably more affordable.