Cards Of the Week 08/25/08

Think of this as the Olympics Closing Ceremony on Cardboard Junkie. I've posted several times about Crystl Bustos lately and it prompted me to go out and see if she had any cards manufactured. As it turns out, there are several USA Softball team sets out there and I managed to find a seller on The Bay that had several of them plus combined shipping! So in honor of her 6 home runs and her Silver Medal performance during the Beijing Olympics, I present you all the Bustos Cards a ten dollar bill will buy:

2000 Roox

I think this is technically her rookie card, although I've never read of Roox before. This card is extremely glossy and has a nice pic of Crystl fielding at shortstop.

2002 Upper Deck

I'm not sure if this is from a box set or if it was an insert in UD packs, but this was the closest thing I could find to a mainstream card of Bustos. I'm pretty sure Crystl is the second from the left on the podium.

2007 USA Softball Team Set

This card is from the 2007 Team set and it has the look and feel of a modern minor league set. This is my favorite of the bunch, I like the flag motif and the great photos on the front and back.

2008 USA Softball Team Set

This is from this year's team set with can be bought at the USA Softball official store. I'm pretty tempted to pick up a team set meself actually. Crystl is obviously admiring one of her tape measure homers on the front of the card.

Even though Team USA lost a heartbreaker in the finals, it ironically might end up saving the sport. One reason the Euro-dorks in the IOC cited for discontinuing it as an Olympic sport is that It was an American sport that America would dominate. Team Japan took care of that idea. Dinged Corners links to a fantastic New York Times article on Crystl (so good I printed it out, and I'm very stingy with my ink) if you're interested in learning more about Softball's Babe Ruth. I've got my fingers crossed that Topps finally puts Crystl in their 2009 Allen & Ginter set.