Featuring Daniel Descalso

More sports cards from an old trading pal. 

 

I've been pouring my time into adding wants and don't-needs to TCDB of late, but I still need to find some time to show off some stuff that people have been sending me this year. This latest edition features cards from Sportscards from the Dollar Store. If you're familiar with past packages of his (or have just traded with him yourself), you probably know that this is going to cover all of the sports! It's been awhile since anyone has had a Daniel Descalso card to send me, so that was already a big highlight.

The America's Pastime cards from last year's Panini Chronicles set are absurdly thick. I'm sure there are autographed versions of these, but it still makes me wonder what they were thinking they these rolled (or, I don't know, plopped?) off the press.

Hell yeah! Daniel Descalso and Greg Oden in the same package? Now we're talking! This gold parallel features a nice above-the-basket shot that you pretty much never see in Panini's cards these days. I don't have a lot of nice things to say about Panini right now, but I'll save that for some other time.

Doug also sent some junk wax era Blazers cards. While the Terry Porter card was just a SkyBox base need (yeah, really), you've probably already noticed that the otherwise normal looking 1991-92 Clyde the Glide card has a strange number on it. It's actually a Tony's Pizza insert (food issue alert!) While I ate a ton of Tony's Pizza back in the day (I was a teenager), I didn't discover that they had basketball cards until the following season. Those 1992-93 Fleer cards were unnumbered, but otherwise looked just like the base set. It's possible that the 1991-92 cards never made it out to my neck of the woods, but I have no way of knowing at this point.

Here's a trio of Ducks players on their 2021-22 NBA Hoops cards. I'm glad that Chris Boucher is finally making his way into card sets.

Here's a really nice, very limited signed card from Joseph Young. Young is the son of Michael Young, the star from Phi Slamma Jamma that wasn't Drexler or Olajuwon. He had a couple of big seasons at UO after transferring from his father's alma mater but has mostly played overseas since turning pro. Doug also sent me a couple of really nice Ducks football cards, but I am going to save them for certain Saturdays in the not so distant future.

There was also a healthy stack of St. Louis Blues cards in the package, including a bunch from the most recent O-Pee-Chee set. These photos all suffer from the boring, closely cropped thing that are a fixture on so many modern cards: entirely devoid of action. Still, it's nice to get my hands on some cards of the players I know from the recent teams. I did not watch a ton of hockey this past season for whatever reason, but I'm always up for watching a game in theory. I wish Portland would get a team.

Airbrushed Fridays: 2015 Topps #587

Dirty Dan Does Denver.

Who is he? Daniel Descalso is a utility infielder who won a World Series with the Cardinals in 2011. While he was essentially a replacement level player, he filled in at a number of positions when the Cardinals were short-handed and even pitched an inning or two. He isn't much of a hitter, but did provide some key hits in some of the Cardinals recent playoff runs.

How did he get here? The Cardinals eventually let Descalso hit free agency after the 2014 season, and he ended up signing a two year deal with the Rockies, filling a similar role in Colorado

Repeat offender? No

Other versions of this card: None, but here's the source photo --

View image | gettyimages.com

Airbrushed Score: 9

Comments: This is dreadful Photoshop, folks.

A Trade Fit for a King

I may have messed with royalty with my latest trade. I worked out a deal with The Diamond King and, shockingly, still haven't sent my end of the deal yet. I really hate doing these kinds of posts but I am so far behind that I am hoping my posting this will motivate me to actually get the return package in the mail. The smaller trades I've been pretty on top of lately, but I've struggled lately to get the bigger packages out the door. I keep telling myself that if I just take some time off from work I will get all of this done, but...

Oh, sorry. Hi. You don't want to hear my excuses. You just want to see the cards. I received some shockingly nice vintage from The King, including this late period Lou Brock card. I really need to work on my older Cardinals wants (pre-1980) but... there's that whole time crunch thing.

Even better? Check out this Gibby card. I love it. Gibson had already amassed more than 200 victories by the time this card came out. This is a good one.

Cody Haerther was a 6th round pick in 2002, but he failed to crack the majors. He finally reached the AAA club in 2008. Someone at Topps must have decided that Haerther was about to have a big break in 2005 because I received not one but two "first year" cards of his from that season.

Here's a goldie. There are tons of goldies in this year's Update set, in case you didn't know. And I like goldies. You can send them to me, if you'd like.

Here's one of those fancy pants Chrome cards from the Heritage line. Or perhaps this was a Heritage card in the Chrome set. How would I even know?

It's a new card for the Ozzie binder. That's right: I have a binder full of Ozzies.

Shelby Miller was relegated to backup mop-up guy duty (and emergency starter?) in the playoffs this year. He may get a shot at the rotation next year, especially if Jaime Garcia isn't fully recovered from his recent injury woes.

This was the impetus of the trade, a certified autograph of the Cards' current starting second baseman. Descalso has a nice arm but a questionable glove and isn't the most gifted at the plate. Still, I am comfortable with him as long he's buried somewhere very deep in the lineup.
 

I also received a very nice stack of Portland Trail Blazers cards, including this pretty sweet team card from my want list. You can barely see him, but there's a flash of the old Bullets jerseys in the photo on the right. The current Washington Wizards jerseys were modeled after that look.

I guess Upper Deck has been in the "predictor" game for quite awhile. I have a feeling "Uncle Cliffy" scored 35 points in a game that year at some point, though I don't feel like looking it up. He was quite an offensive force in the '90s.

This is just ridiculous. There's a lot going on here. Martell is an ex-Blazer I root for. He's dealt with some nagging injuries over the years and failure to meet up to lofty draft expectations, but he's still young. (And doesn't that sound like every Blazers player drafted in the last 5-10 years or so?)