Latest COMC Order Highlights

Which was more than a month ago, but hey, I gotta get back in the habit of posting (and just writing in general) again.  Nothing I post is even gonna be as timely as this anytime soon, and I’m buried in tons of stuff needing to be scanned again.  So just enjoy the pretty pictures of cards & politely tolerate my struggles to saying something of note about them, eh?

Starting off big with a Boog Powell RC!

I couldn’t pass it up at the price.  Condition is surprisingly decent too.  Ol’ Boog was intended for Project ’62, but he already has three apparently.  Thus, it remains with me.  I will entertain offers, but I’m in no hurry at all to let it go.

Jamaal Charles Number Patch..

Jamaal Charles Number Patch..

I put Jamaal Charles back in my full-on collection category after his amazing return to form last season.  Due to being by far the best player on a historically sucky team, his return from serious injury got overshadowed, but it’s no less impressive than Adrian Peterson to me.  To put up the same kind of yardage & yards-per-carry Charles did before the injury, with the total QB incompetence he was working with in 2012 (at least Ponder bothered to show up for AD & didn’t actively hurt the Vikings chances of winning most weeks), damn impressive.  I think, due to his penchant for breaking off more big runs than maybe anybody else going right now, Jamaal Charles could easily break 2000 yards with a more competent team around him.  And he might be able to do it with fewer carries than anyone that’s come before.

It would be safe to say I’m a huge Jamaal Charles fanboy at this point.  Also, I hope whoever the dipstick that let Orton go and replaced him with Brady f*cking Quinn got fired so hard he’s never allowed to make any even the most marginal of what could be considered important decisions for the rest of his days.  Because HOLY CRAP dude!

1974 Topps Bob Gibson..

1974 Topps Bob Gibson..

Just about the only Cardinal I’ll allow in my random baseball binder (only Lee Smith as a Card, Ozzie Smith as a Padre, & maybe crazy-hot prospect Oscar Tavares have exceptions made for them).

In the meantime, my asshole neighbor just threatened to call the police on me for noise right after she just slammed the hell out of her door.  Have I mentioned lately how much I absolutely HATE this godforsaken hellhole in which I live?  Moving on.

Andre Dawson Leather Nameplate ManuPatch..

Andre Dawson Leather Nameplate ManuPatch..

Monte Irvin Leather Nameplate ManuPatch..

Monte Irvin Leather Nameplate ManuPatch..

I never really cared for these nameplate things until I finally got the above two in my hands.  Much nicer in person.  Got them for what totaled out to just over $2 apiece, if I recall collectly.  I’ll gladly do that anytime.  These cards are also pretty much the upper limit of thickness that will fit in my current favored binder pages.

Matt Murton UD auto..

Matt Murton UD auto..

Japan’s single-season hit king (last I checked), and quite probably my favorite “failed” Cubs prospect.  He might’ve been the name I gave my ginormous 3 foot tall stuffed bear from my toddlerhood if I were a wii youngling in the mid-2000s rather than the late-1980s/early-1990s (it was named after Jerome Walton, for the record).  Anyway, thanks to this and an ’06 Chrome Black refractor, I think I’ll be up to 4 or 5 keepers of Murton, once the I get ship one I picked up after this, and once my Just Minors auto turns up.  That auto being from the infamous 4-Just Minors auto lot I picked up for $6-something years ago just for Murton, that also included some guy named JOEY VOTTO.  No, I never get tired of mentioning that Votto auto falling into my lap before he became a thing.  Thanks for asking. 😛

Harold Baines auto!

Harold Baines auto!

I picked up freakin’ sweet (though the photo is kinda depressing) Harold Baines auto for my dad, because I finally brought the Gordon Beckham Heritage auto back to my place, because he’s one of dad’s all-time favorite White Sox.

Vintage George Brett..

Vintage George Brett..

Not exactly minty fresh, but it was cheap as can be.  Looks nice on a page across from the above Bob Gibson.  Can be had for something I’d like more.

Bonds rookieness..

Bonds rookieness..

What a pleasant looking fellow.  I’m sure he’ll never turn into a giant raging ego case that will topple records through questionable means and bring (preposterously overblown) scandal to the game.  Nope, never gonna happen.  Straight class, this guy.

A trio of Fergie-Ferg-Ferg..

A trio of Fergie-Ferg-Ferg..

I now have Fergie Jenkins RC & 2nd year cards.  I’m trying to get all the regular issue cards from his playing career.  It is going to take awhile, but progress is being made. 🙂

1955 Bowman Bill Wightkin..

1955 Bowman Bill Wightkin..

Random Bears vintage!  This feller immediately became my oldest football card by far upon landing (and 4th oldest overall), by about a decade.  I believe my prior oldest football cards were two Bears defensive backs from the same year, from sometime in the mid-1960s.

More Fergie!

More Fergie!

We’ll finish out this post with THE card of the order.  Leaf Legends of Sport Fergie Jenkins auto #’ed /20.  I’ve been wanting an inexpensive Fergie auto ever since I gave mine to Mario back in the day.  This only set me back a little over $6, I believe.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but it turns out these cards (or at least this one) are super thick, so I had to pick up an extra 130pt magnetic holder for it.  Weirdly, despite the sorry state our local K-Mart is in (corporate raider suck ‘er dry tactics, from what I understand), they still have these things with two extra thick Ultra Pro magnetic holders + a stand for $4.99 that I’ve seen nowhere else.

Update: The cretin next door actually did call the police on me.  So I politely informed the officers that those two started things in the first place with their constant door slamming & how utterly useless the office has been, then sent them upstairs to deal with the stompy jerkass up there.  It was all very pleasant and easy, and it feels like a weight has been (at least temporarily, cuz THIS F*CKING PLACE) lifted off my shoulders.

So I guess that be that.  Apologies for the weird tangents and asides, and that unintended dramatic subplot, and thanks for stopping by!

My soul is gentle, but don’t doubt my fire…

Flea Market Finds #8: Fifth Binder Page

Better get back to these, the next flea market might be this weekend.

2003 topps Barry Bonds, Kevin Youkilis RC, Pedro Martinez Opening Day Game Card thing, UD Victory Nomah, 2000-something topps Total Junior Griffey, 1980 topps Yaz, Future Stars (feat. Jesse Orosco, Joe Morgan, and Jim Palmer.

 Why Purchased: For the almost-vintage Hall of Famers.  I didn’t even notice the Youk rookie till I had already decided to purchase it.

Keepers: None I guess.  The Griffey doesn’t interest me very much, and the others I can probably find good homes for.  Let me know if one is to your liking, but keep in mind the 1980 cards are not in the best of shape.  I’m beginning to think that pre-1983 cards in mint condition don’t, and maybe never did, exist, because I’ve never seen one.  And the only minty fresh ’83s I’ve seen were pack pulled by me.  Oh dear, I’m ranting again aren’t I?  Terribly sorry.

Notes: I didn’t recognize Youk without the facial hair.  It’s so inherent to him that I must’ve figured he was born with it.

More cards need rounded corners.  I can’t believe we haven’t started moving in that direction already.  How much easier keeping cards in proper condition would be without having to worry about dinged corners.

Feelings mixed on Topps Total, but without any other companies producing any baseball cards of note, it would probably be good to come back during whatever the biggest lull in the card-buying year is.  I guess I’d like it personally just so there would be an easily attainable and relatively affordable rookie card on a clean (if uninspired) design of whoever is deemed the hot player of the moment.

Man, Jesse Orosco looked so young!  No wonder he went on to pitch so long, he was the inspiration for Rookie of the Year, making his debut in his very early teens.  It’s like those “when they were young” cards, except it’s actually his rookie!

I like to think Joe Morgan is saying something all haughtily & getting basic information wrong in the interview taking place on his card.

All I can think of for Jim Palmer is “The hair, man. The hair…”

Mind-Blowing Statistics: In his very first year of professional baseball, Kevin Youkilis had a .504 OBP (in 276 plate appearances), walking 73 times to only 31 strikeouts!

Flea Market Finds #3: Second Binder Page

Now for the second binder page.  Keep in mind these pages only cost me about 60¢ apiece.

1992 Fleer Nolan Ryan, Barry Bonds, Vinny Castilla RC, 1990 Score Frank Thomas RC, Juan Gonzalez RC, Larry Walker RC, Bernie Williams RC, Curt Shilling RC, Mark McGwire

Why Purchased: The ROOKIES!

Keepers: The ROOKIES!  At least for now anyway.

Notes: Somehow, this all-junk wax page might be my favorite of the entire bunch (maybe).  It’s so cool to see so many rookies of stars that I grew up watching, even if The Big Hurt and The Big Shill are the only likely Hall of Famers (holding out some hope for Walker too!) of the bunch.

It’s so weird to see Shilling in an Orioles uniform.

I miss the Expos… 😦

The color scheme on the Castilla makes me keep having to remind myself that he’s a Brave, not Pirate.

Mind-Blowing Statistics: The only one that’s really coming to mind is that when I punched up ’92 Fleer on Check Out My Cards, that top row were the top three ungraded cards listed, and the only ones with a book value of at least $1.  Sad.

Also sad, is that someone got a ’92 Fleer card graded.

Page two is awesome, but it is done.  More pages to come.

Until our next…