Seasons Greetings from Oren

A timely big bundle of cards that is finally revealed a few months later. 

 

'Tis the season (*checks calendar*)... oops, it's March! Well, as the sun breaks are starting to increase and daylight savings is in full effect, let's check out a fantastic batch of stuff from super generous trader Oren.

For one reason or another, Dylan Carlson seems to have settled into a role as fourth outfielder after arriving in the dreaded 2020 season with much hype. Assuming some semblance of health, Gold Glove-winning infielder Tommy Edman is the anointed starting center fielder (?), but I felt like the outfield had the best overall balance with Carlson in center over the last couple of seasons. That's not to knock what Edman has done in the outfield, as I feel like he could probably capably hold down any position on the field. I'd just prefer Carlson in center for now, at least since Harrison Bader was sold off.

I had never seen one of these white bordered 2020 Topps Heritage cards. In fact, I had completely forgotten that they existed. I think my scanner gave the red printing more of a pinkish glow than it really has, but this is still pretty striking.

I'm a sucker for a black bordered refractor. I also really like the rare black bordered flagship cards a lot, especially during the days when they shared a bit of sparkly magic with the much more attainable gold parallels.

Matty Mo is looking pretty formidable on this busy Donruss Leather & Lumber design. I feel like this brand is one that Panini has unleashed rather sparingly since acquiring the DLP portfolio (though how they didn't retain the L part of that conglomerate is a story I've long forgotten about.)

Here's a young, beardless Jason Motte who was still trying to be a catcher, in a weird photo that makes it look like he was trying to look like he wasn't just caught doing something weird in the locker room. Is that even a locker room? What's going on in the background?

It felt like it took Rob Kaminsky forever to make it to the Cardinals major league team since he was drafted in 2013, and it really did. It was only in his second stint with the club in 2020 when they were keeping an active stable of, I don't know, like 45 pitchers because at any given time a third of them were getting sick. This was all in an attempt to salvage what ended up being a 60 game season. Let's just pretend none of this ever happened, at least in baseball.

I wish this was still a time when a Hall of Fame election meant a serious boost to card values, but if you take even a slight glance at any Scott Rolen cards on the market you'll see that is sadly not the case. Of course, that means all the more for me. People would still rather throw money at some young prospects who may or may not pay off big someday. (They won't.)

Next up is a pair of Cards cards from the much delayed 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum... something, something. I kind of nodded off before I could complete my thought here.

These cards look nice, but yet another variation on the first full scale Topps baseball card set was not perhaps the most original thing that they could have thought of. I do prefer these (and their parallels) to the 2022 set, which likewise happened to be released a year late. The 2022 set looks very off, like most of the photos were AI generated or enhanced.

It's not all just Cardinals here, although that would certainly be nice enough. Thanks to Oren, I was fortunate to add another numbered card to one of my very favorite player collections.

CJ Elleby was a solid Pac-12 (RIP) player, but it didn't seem like he was cut out for the NBA. He's still just 23, but it doesn't seem like he's up to much at the moment.

The Blazers have been a sad mess for the past few seasons. Elleby probably won't evoke many feelings of nostalgia for this specific era, unfortunately.

I will get nostalgic about the Jusuf Nurkic days, however. Like many a Blazers center before him, he eventually became a scapegoat for fans' negative feelings about the direction of the whole team, but this is a guy who went out and did his often thankless job night in and night out in an NBA era that isn't really built around big men like him anymore. He's doing fine in Phoenix.

Noah Vonleh was a lottery pick who played for a lot of NBA teams in his near-decade long career. He's with the Shanghai Sharks these days which is basically a meme, even though he's still just 28.

There were even football cards on offer. Today was apparently some sort of NFL free agency day as my phone kept blowing up with Eagles notifications. They were busy! 

This is just a good looking card. It's probably the green. Blount is an Eagle here but a Duck first, so he goes into the Ducks collection.

I wanted to like Nelson Agholor, especially after the Eagles wisely moved him to the slot and started taking advantage of his speed more than his pass catching ability, but... I don't know, never trust a guy from USC, I guess.

Well, we've reached the end of the scans, but there is so much more. What all can you spot in this photo? There is some amazing stuff!

Printing Plate Surprise

Hoopsters, a stack of Heritage baseball needs and something unique from a long time trader. 

 

It's been a pretty good year for me as far as my basketball card collection goes. It was never a big focus of my overall goals, but once they really took away the opportunity to buy basketball cards in stores (thanks in large part due to hype over certain rookie cards), I've really appreciated the basketball cards that I am able to get. Thanks to fellow traders like buckstorecards, as well as online sales and TCDB trades, my hoops collection is alive and well. Let's look at the buckstorecards envelope that came over here back in June.

As basketball card prices continued to escalate, the Panini sticker sets continued to provide an opportunity to get the latest players at reasonably prices. I know stickers aren't for everybody, but I enjoy them. If only we could find some appealing way to display them in binders without peeling them.

The recent sticker packs also come with full-sized cards. This one is a bronze parallel and is numbered to 99!

The bulk of the package was a big chunk of 2022 Topps Heritage cards. I was able to finish off the non-SP base set long before High Numbers came out this year, something I am very proud of.

The finishing touch comes in the form of this printing plate of former Ducks star Reuben Droughns. Droughns was the lead back on the 1998 and 1999 Ducks teams that went to the Aloha Bowl and Sun Bowl, respectively.

The card is a yellow plate from the 2005 Topps Draft Picks & Prospects set. I only own a few printing plates, so it was really cool to see this one pop up in the mail as a surprise.

Pictures from a COMC Purchase

I bought cards! 

While the Trail Blazers were making their playoff run, I went a little wild with some purchases from COMC. I didn't really feel like turning on the scanner today, but I wanted to get a post up, so I am just showing off the scans that I did for the cards I bought that needed to be added to TCDB. If this post is a little Blazers-heavy, it's not entirely representative of all that I purchased.

If you're familiar with my purchasing habits, I only go for the stuff that is cheap. This Moe Harkless auto (Magic uniform, Blazers logo) certainly fit the bill. I was more excited about the Buck Williams auto, of course, but it's nice to pick up a few gems of players from the memorable 2018-19 team. I wonder if I should look into getting a Seth Curry auto while I'm at it.

I've never even see a pack of 2018-19 Panini Certified, but that didn't stop me from snagging a few insert and parallels from the set.

These red-white-and-blue candy striped Prizm parallels are particularly impressive when in hand.

Can anyone tell Select designs from different seasons/subsets apart? I certainly can't. For some reason, no one had scanned or uploaded a single Select base card image to TCDB from the current year's set. I don't think there's a heavy basketball card base there.

More candy striped madness. CJ was the MVP of the Denver series after Dame's heroics vs. OKC.

Meyers Leonard picked an interesting time to play his best basketball of his seven year NBA career. With an increased offensive role in the doomed series against the Warriors, he went off in games 3 and 4. It was fun to see, kind of like these awkward draft day photos.

Here's a slick red numbered parallel of big man Nurk.

More stripes, more Nurk!

Actual proof that I did buy Cardinals cards. Hey, they didn't need my scans, I guess!

Postage Rates are Out of Control

In better news, it looks like someone checked the want list. 

I've had to restrict my shipping to Canada of late, with the rates to send tiny packages with just a handful of cards from US to Canada threatening to overtake the cost of a decent dinner. PWEs are the way to go these days when shipping internationally, which unfortunately introduces increased risk that your stuff isn't going to show up (or might get eaten by wolves.) Fortunately, the envelopes I sent off recently to Condition Sensitive seem to have arrived in passable shape.

Domestically speaking, we're suffering through our second major postage increase in just the past four months. This is hitting people (like me) hard -- people who like to ship some team bags around the country without breaking the bank. Check this chart out below, which is for First Class Package Retail service:

Ouch! Now, just consider the fact that the "Old Rate" column was actually the NEW rate increase from September 2017. Bad news all around. If you have the means, definitely take advantage of the cheaper rates that come with online shipping through third party commercial arrangements.

It's not all bad news, though. We have some great cards to look at, thanks to Condition Sensitive. Although he caught on briefly with the Red Sox minor league system last season, Johnny Peralta may have played his last big league game. If so, he did it in a Cardinals uniform, which is certainly the best uniform.

In addition to some Cardinals cards, because... well, that's I do here... I also snagged a healthy stack of Blazers cards. There was a common theme with these cards. (No, they're not all little known outside of NY Erick Barkley.) I needed them all! Someone clearly checked the want list, or at least the "haves" list I have posted up at TCDB. What do you call a "haves" list, anyway? A reverse want list? I'll go with reverse want list.

Nurk! Jusuf Nurkic came to Portland in a trade deadline deal last season with division rival Denver. Nurkic has had his ups and downs, but I'm generally in favor of him being the starting center of the Blazers. There aren't a lot of quality centers in the league (there never has been), and he will sit for stretches when the team goes small to match up with the other trendy small lineups out there. I'm not sure how they're going to afford to pay him, though.

Scottie Pippen was the first in a long procession of past-their-peak star players to wind up in Portland in the early '00s. For all things considered, he was probably the best.

I don't want to say the same things I always say when I write about a Sabonis card here, so I'll just say this: Sabonis was legend. Is legend. Is. Legend.

Our local alt-weekly's cover story this week is about the so-called Jail Blazers era, and leaves us with this artistic gem featuring Rashe... oh, just click on it!