Torsos and Such

Catching up on trade recaps with some @breakdowncards Cardinals. 

 

I haven't been keeping up with the card blogs all that well lately, and trade package exchanges have been a bit sparse. Still, I've found some time to send some stuff out and have seen some things trickle in. It hasn't just been all box breaks around here, folks. That can get expensive. Let's check out some Redbirds from fellow Portland resident Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown.

Alex Reyes has one of those pitcher's curses that so many are afflicted with. He has tons of talent and physical ability, but he can't seem to stay healthy. After an All-Star season where he lost his grip on the closer's job by season's end due to lack of control, he is back on the shelf in '22. (Where is this so-called shelf, by the way, and where did it come from?)

Continuing with the Reyes theme, along with the low numbered 1990-ish Topps On-Demand card at the top of the post and a Bowman Platinum insert from 2016, this one might be my favorite. Reyes is wearing a throwback uniform, and one of my favorite recent Stadium Club designs gets the Chrome treatment.

There isn't an easy way to segue from three shiny modern cards to a beat up 1960 card. Here it is: beat up George Crowe! The scanner even gave up hope on this card before it finished.

I'm pretty sure I've expressed my disdain for disembodied torso cards, but that seems to be a pretty common feature of on-card autographs.

Rob Kaminsky was a Cardinals first round pick at one point, but spent most of his career in the Cleveland system before finally making it to the big leagues with the Cardinals in the 2020 pseudo-season. He hasn't been back since his 5 appearance stint. It looks like he's bounced around a bit and dealt with injuries.

Oscar Mercado is another former Cardinal pick (2nd round, 2013) that ended up with Cleveland, but he has stayed there as a regular outfielder since 2019. It's another torso auto!

Well, I don't even need to talk about who this guy is or what he has accomplished. It looks like Yadi's final season will consist of less playing time than he's used to, but the hope is that he'll be healthy for any pivotal games down the stretch as well as the playoffs. I've always loved the Allen & Ginter framed minis and am glad they are still making them, even though they've reduced in number over the years.

Cards from Across the Border: Cardinals Edition

A trade so nice I split it thrice.

Occasionally I'll get a package of cards in the mail so generous that I can't conceivably do it justice with my typical five-images-and-a-few-comments approach. A package arrived from Sportscards From The Dollar Store recently that felt deserving of a little extra attention, so I will be splitting it up into three entries. And since I am admittedly pretty stingy with baseball (and Cardinals) content this time of year, I am rolling out the Cardinals portion of this trade first. It does not disappoint.

Breyvic Valera was a name I'd never heard before I opened this package. A quick scan of his Baseball Reference page reveals that he was signed out of Venezuela at age 18 and has hit for average while playing all over the field in his 5 years of pro ball.

Siegrist, the super late round draft pick, basically had a lost season in 2014 after debuting last year as a flame throwing southpaw no one had heard of. It will be interesting to see if he can return to the level of promise he showed at first blush.

I was really excited to pick up a pair of Cardinals certified autos, including this Carlos Martinez card from last year's Bowman Sterling set. Martinez's friendship with the late Oscar Taveras goes way back, and he has switched his familiar number 44 to 18, which Taveras wore in his brief time in a Cardinals uniform.

The other autograph is from the same set and is of another Oscar. Mercado was a 2nd round pick last season and is a young shortstop that has years ahead of him to develop in the Cardinals farm system. The strange thing is that these two cards appear to be from the same set, yet one has an on-card autograph while the other is signed on that familiar shiny sticker. It's not like Topps has ever heard of continuity, though.