Better Than a Blaster

It has been awhile since I have bought any cards other than a few singles off of EBAY.  Even if I could find retail blasters, nothing really appealed to me the last few weeks.  Of course with Bowman and Diamond Kings out this week, that may change.  I may have to venture to a couple of Wal-Marts to see if the flippers missed something.

Instead of throwing money at packs, I spent just under the price of a blaster for a Cardinals lot from The Bench member STLSHOEMAN.  He took the time to go through my wantlist and found quite a few duplicates from his own collection.  Here is what $19 bought me.

I am not very picky about the condition of vintage cards.  My only real hard pass is writing on the card.  The 1966 Gagliano and 1967 Briles pass the test.  The corners may be soft and there are some minor creases, but they are not bad for being over 50 years old.

There was an assortment of base cards that hit a few team sets.  The Duncan is a 2007 Heritage shortprint.  I love the Musial picture on the 2009 Tristar Obak card.  

The rest of the base cards were from 2013 Bowman Chrome and Chrome Draft.  

Moving on to the inserts, I gained 3 different Topps Gold cards.  The 2017 Update cards features 3 outfielders no longer with the team.  It seems like the Cardinals go through them pretty quick.  I hope Dylan Carlson breaks that trend.  

I knowingly bought a mini card.  Sounds strange, but it happens.  Waino is going to miss his next start due to Covid exposure, but since he is vaccinated he will only miss a few days.  Good to hear because his last 2 starts have been great.

Flaherty is Wainwright's heir apparent as the Cardinals ace.  He is also off to a good start.  I will gladly take any refractors of his, especially great ones like the 2018 Chrome Update pink.

Sepia refractors do not stand out as much as the colored ones, but they do have a nostalgic look to them.  

Different players on both these 2019 inserts, but the stance looks very similar.  It seems to be working for Knizner, not so much for Thomas.  

There was a nice group of 2020 inserts including a mojo refractor, another Flaherty insert, and 2 DeJong inserts that make me think of Christmas when looking at them side by side.  

I will finish up with 3 2021 inserts.  The silver pack is my favorite of the bunch.  When I was done, the lot included 2 vintage, 10 base cards, 1 shortprint, and 18 inserts/parallels.  Money well spent in my opinion.