A surprise mailer of cards from the spring.
Back in April I was the lucky recipient of another interesting package of cards from Padrographs. I've been deep into the World Cup lately and feel like I've barely had a minute to do much with the blog or the collection, but I found some time during a weather delay before tonight's Mexico/Ecuador knockout match.
First up are a couple of aqua-tastic Cardinals parallels. Matt Svanson, who appears on a rookie year card numbered to just 299, has been in and out of the St. Louis bullpen this year. Willson Contreras has found a new home in Boston this season after finding a new position (first base) beginning with last season.
Next on the docket is a pair of Bo Nix rookie year cards. The Broncos card on the left is the retail version of Nix's card from 2024 Panini Illusions, while the Ducks card is from a Panini Prizm draft type set.
The biggest surprise of the whole package, however, was a team set (?) or at least team lot of some locally issued cards of the 1989-90 Oregon State Beavers basketball team. While I don't normally collect cards from my rival school, like many Oregonians from my era, I grew up rooting for and watching a lot of Beavers basketball. After some hugely successful seasons under Ralph Miller in the early '80s, Gary Payton's final season essentially marked the endpoint of me following the team and rooting for them.
The "Orange Express" nickname will always remind me of listening to their old radio play-by-play voice Darrell Aune. Scott Haskin was just a freshman here, but he would go on to be picked in the 1st round in the 1993 NBA Draft.
