Sunday, August 29, 2021

Chasing Alex


Alex Morgan is gorgeous.  Not sure when or where she first popped up on my radar, but I'm guessing it had to do with here body paint photographs inside this 2012 issue of the Sports Illustrated.

This is a family friendly card blog, so I'll hold off on showing scans of her from the above magazine.  Instead... how about the three card collection I've built over the years:

2011 Upper Deck MLS #198

2015 Leaf Sportkings Printing Plate #027

2019 Sports Illustrated for Kids #858

Over the summer, a few bloggers showed off their 2021 Parkside Collectibles NWSL box/pack breaks.  After looking over the checklist, I discovered she has a card (#114) in the set.  That's why I grabbed this box/pack when I found it at my local Target:


The box contains one pack of 25 cards.


Out of the twenty-five cards, six are parallels or inserts and the remaining nineteen are base cards.  A complete set contains 200 cards, which meant I had about a 10% chance of pulling her.

In the end... I was unsuccessful.  In fact, there were only two players in the pack that I recognized:

2021 Parkside Collectibles NWSL #22

Marta has made a name for herself representing Brazil in numerous World Cups and Olympics.

2021 Parkside Collectibles NWSL #84

Raisa Strom Okimoto is a familiar name, because I saw this card over at Torren Up Cards a few weeks ago.  I immediately searched her up and discovered that she's from Hawaii and graduated from UH.  Unfortunately... if you look closely at the card back scan, you'll notice this card suffered from being diamond cut.  But don't worry... there's a happy ending to this story.  Stay tuned.

No way I'm gonna scan every card in the pack.  However I did take the time to show off the four Team USA players I pulled:


And the parallels and inserts:


As for the happy ending... I received a PWE from Kenny last week that contained the Okimoto he pulled a few weeks ago:


The copy he sent was flawless:


He also tossed in a pair of minor league cards featuring two Oakland A's top prospects:

2019 Choice New York-Penn League Top Prospects #23
2019 Choice New York-Penn League Top Prospects #24

Baum and Davidson were the A's first two picks in the 2019 MLB Amateur Draft.  A quick Google search revealed Baum is playing in the Arizona League, while Davidson is in Midland with the Rockhounds.  It'll be fun to track these guys to see if they have the talent to play in The Show.

Thank you Kenny for the PWE!  Plus thanks to any of you who stuck around to read a women's soccer post.  And if you clicked on this post to see Kate Upton, this card is for you:

2012 Topps A&G Relics #AGR-KU

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

11 comments:

Shlabotnik Report said...

I've been keeping an eye out for those NWSL hangers because I feel like ripping something and they were pretty decent cards. If I run across an Alex Morgan I'll let you know :-)

John Sharp said...

What a terrific post...thanks.

Elliptical Man said...

I've heard of 3 of the 4 USWNT players. Have to look up Lynn Williams.

I don't see the difference in the card backs.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Excellent post and I love the variety here. Looking forward to seeing more women’s sports cards in the future.

Dennis said...

This is an excellent post for many reasons. Great collection of the ladies! The women's soccer team deserves way more credit than they get while the men's team continues to be a tire fire.

defgav said...

I had to add Alex Morgan's name to my wantlist recently, too, though she is the current extent of my interest in soccer.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

She's got some great legs

night owl said...

Way to bury the lead there.

The SI swimsuit issue lost me when they started the body paint stuff. But Alex has appeared in the issue in regular swimsuit attire.

Fuji said...

shlabotnik report - if you decide to build the set and need singles, let me know.

john sharp - thanks. figured verlander's wife would catch at least one tiger fan's attention

elliptical man - looks like lynn williams only played in three games... but she did manage to score a key goal for team usa

sumomenkoman - thanks. i'd like to pick up another one of these hangers. it's a cheap break and i really want a morgan for my binder

dennis - so sad that the men's team failed to qualify for the olympics. as for the women, they've been one of the top teams in the world since i started following them in the late 90's.

defgav - if you're gonna follow one soccer player, she's not a bad one to follow

johnnys trading spot - kate or alex?

night owl - i have one other swimsuit issue (maybe 2014) that was given to me. maybe that one has morgan in it.

Nick Vossbrink said...

There are a few Stanford players in that NWSL set. Possibly some other Bay Area graduates too. No idea if there are any hits but I may need to swing by Sportlots at some point.

Fuji said...

nick vossbrink - oh man... i just made a sportlots order this morning. wish i would have seen this comment sooner. then again, i'm too lazy to look up all of those players and their colleges. i'll wait patiently for your post