COMC order #1 - Angels material

I had about 40 cards in my account and in November decided to finally have them delivered - the shipping charges of around $15 hit me like a brick, where I was hoping for a flat rate of $6 perhaps.

I knew there were grumbling about how COMC jacked up shipping over the past year and I didn't quite know what to make of it - in my case, I just factored the extra costs [$5.99 for the first item and $0.25 per additional item] into what I paid for each card, where what any single card actually cost was OK to a certain pont.

The bulk of my cards have been in my account for past two or three years, where I could have acted on getting my cards shipped then rather than now - I was probably content to let my cards sit in my account, but in case something unexpected happens, I didn't want to let another year go by without having them in hand.

Even with the shipping fee increased, I wasn't expecting a quick ship time - maybe the original ship date was early December, but checking back on updates changed the date into a January ship date.

I actually got notification where my order was shipping out days before Christmas, so that was better than expected - where I didn't have to wait much longer to thumb through the cards that were in someone else's possession for all this time

The only problem with my shipment was getting an email letting me know a card couldn't be added due to a warehouse error - my account was eventually credited for the cost [$2.85] of the card, but maybe I don't get that clean break from the grasp of COMC just yet, where I found a different card to add.

I am going to see if I can get on a run of showing my COMC cards - where it'll have some content to post through the new year.

2018 Topps Update Series SP Legend Variation Nolan Ryan #US1 - a classic posed image of the strikeout king in his prime.

Looking back to when card was printed - 2018 will ring the same way in collector's ears, the way 2011 once did, for one singular player, then maybe a couple more.

1996 Pinnacle Team Pinnacle Tim Salmon / Barry Bonds #5 - regardless of value, I feel a shiny card like this ends up a centerpiece to my Salmon collection.

Maybe the more prominent, infamous player is on the reverse - no one would ever think that Salmon or Bonds would meet in the World Series years later.

1990 Topps TV Glossy All-Star Set Chuck Finley #14 - Finley was one of the all-time pitching greats in Angels franchise history, but his cards spawned during the junk wax era.

For a guy like Finley, it ends up being fun to find an oddball card - that was a little different than the glut of mainstream cards printed.

A quartet of miscellaneous Angels cards - the Garret Anderson and Mike Trout boyhood inserts might go a perpetually work in progress Angels themed curated set, where I set aside 100-108 cards for sentimental purposes.

The first year 2024 Bowman Draft card of Christian Moore was among the few 'new' cards I was able to tack on before shipping my cards out - where I added $25 to my account, but $15 of that amount had to go into shipping my cards out.

Finally, there is a Logan O'Hoppe insert pictured, where he was a promising young player when he first came up - but has had a rougher go with things the past couple of years, where his future is a little uncertain.

Mini-collection finds - at a crossroads Pt. 2

The following pick-ups represents the other part my latest finds - where it shouldn't be all that serious and if I'm not having fun, I should just quit collecting cold turkey.

Beyond the glory - Octavio Dotel - I don't want to use a former player's untimately passing as reason to collect them now, where I didn't do so before.

However, I might give a player like Dotel [R.I.P.] a second look - where it's a more recent guy I remember playing just 10-15 years ago.

Awesome outfield action - Eric Davis - I like cards of guys trying to do something unique in the outfield.

Hats-off - Barry Bonds - my decade / binder star collections supersede any mini-collecting considerations, regardless of quality; on the other hand, I might prefer to have some star power in my mini-collections, where it doesn't matter what I do with a $0.50 card.

Inking it up - a part of me misses going to MLB games and spring training, trying to get stuff signed by players in-person, where seeing card pictures of players doing some fan service almost ends up bittersweet where my glory days are ancient history.

Pitchers hitting - it's still fun seeing the occasional, dated cards of pitchers hitting or in some cases, doing some baserunning like former big leaguer Alex Fernandez.

Players interviewed - Pedro Martinez - I don't remember claiming the Martinez from a sale online, but it looks like I did make it a keeper.

It could do double duty as a players smiling card - but a microphone is visible, where I assume he is doing an interview.

Players smiling - Dave Henderson - not even considering the ALCS home run he hit against the Angels in 1986, where it was before my time, Henderson was not a player [R.I.P.] who I'd built up a lingering sentiment for to ever collect.

On the other hand, maybe I've read or seen somewhere, where he always had a smile on his face and was part of those great late 1980s / early 1990s Oakland Athletics teams - maybe I can find the space for an occasional mini-collection card or a card for my team boxes.

Shades - Phil Nevin - I got this as a bonus card as part of an occasional '2-for-1' deal [with the Gwynn shown above] offered for sale from a seller online I claim and buy cards from.

I don't know if I can use a Nevin card in 2025 - taking a closer look at the batting image, Nevin is wearing sunglasses of some sort, so I collect those cards too where players are shown with sunglasses or shades.

Mini-collection finds - at a crossroads Pt. 1

I've probably hoarded mini-collection cards for at least the past 18 years - I'm kind of bored with having 25-30 themes I have to keep up with, where it's mostly salvaging bulk cards in a perpetual, 'in my own little world' chase.

On the other hand, maybe I'm just not done at all with my mini-collection adventures - to amuse myself, I'm still keeping an eye out for miscellaneous cards through online sales and even paying a premium for certain mini-collection cards outright, even if they are dated pieces of cardboard that no reasonable collector would want through 2025.

The following pick-ups represents my latest finds - where it shouldn't be all that serious and if I'm not having fun, I should just quit collecting cold turkey.

Fun cards - Oddities - this junk wax era card of Fred McGriff seems like a pretty basic [Studio] shot card, but giving it a second glance, the Hall of Famer is posed balancing a bat [knob] on his finger.

I don't know if this ends up for my junk wax era curated set or another card that ends up being sort of unique - where it's kind of goofy.

Awesome action - Actual on field game action - I have cards with standout fielding images by position and cards with standout throwing images, for infielders making regular throws and second baseman and shortstops in particular, making double play throws.

Game face cards - Focused and Men at Work - Kevin Brown looks like his day is done but he has his right arm wrapped up, so that is kind of a unique shot, with him still looking like he paying attention in the dugout.

Richard Hidaldgo was a decent MLB player back in his day - but here he is shown as a young pro, doing soft toss duties in some minor league outpost somewhere.

I had to have the Russ Ortiz card and ends up my pick to click here - where I assume he is running sprints through the stands inside Scottsdale Stadium, where the San Francisco Giants have their spring training games.

Navigating through a Japanese repack

I was fortunate to be able to travel for a couple of weeks to Japan the past year - mostly taking photo ops at various sighteeing sites.

When I could, I tried to look for cards and seek out places where they were sold - this blog was instrumental in helping find a few card shops, where I sought a few places out to get a look at the Japanese baseball card scene.

In my second trip to Yellow Submarine Akihabara, where it's part of a multi-floor 'department store,' made up of different shops for various hobbies / interests I might be too old for [or not] - there was a dedicated section for sports cards and other trading cards with bulk bins to rummage through, packs for sale, supplies and single cards displayed behind glass.

There might have been a display table with repacks and after browsing around for miscellanous 'non-sport singles' featured behind glass - I grabbed a couple of bulk baseball card repacks in plastic for 200 yen or around $1.30.

I saw another person grabbing and stacking 5-10 repacks together and while it wasn't all that serious - I wondered if I should stake my claim before they all disappeared for the day.

I do not know about Japanese baseball cards at all, so maybe the nuances about collecting specific ones didn't matter as much as getting a bunch of cards to take home with me - I ended up thumbing through the contents and while these might not be valued cards, I tried to separate them where I had keepers for my collection.

Cards of Atsuya Furata and Shigeo Nagashima - I didn't know who Furata was and his card ends up an odd duck for me, but looking him up online, he ends up being a legendary catcher and Japanese baseball Hall of Famer.

Nagashima ends up a legend I may have heard of in passing where an American collector on YouTube collects him - go figure, I ended up buying a copy of the card from the bulk bins of the card shop, where I didn't go through the repack until I was back home.

Some retro cards of Japanese baseball legends - adds some historicity in my pack, even if the cards are actually fairly recent.

Japanese cards of guys who played in the big leagues - just like the Nagashima, I may or may not have picked up a copy of the Masahiro Tanaka card I found in the repack

A couple of cards of a pair of Japanese players expected to sign with big league teams - the cards may only be regular cards, but it's a novelty where I only really have the chance to collect MLB cards.

Cards of a couple of gaijin players who played in Japan - after a dominant season pitching in Korea, Cody Ponce signed a three year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays to see whether he can build on his overseas performance.

Some odds and ends - a couple of the same cards found of Shinnosuke Ogasawara, a Japanese pitcher who played for the Washington Nationals in 2025 and a trio of gaijin players.

These may not be the best example, but for guys who have had their share of mainstream American cards - it's always interesting to see examples of their Japanese cards.

Parallels / inserts - these might not be high brow cards of better players, but anything different besides regular cards ends up as a teaser.

Standouts - even if only regular cards, I went ahead and used Baseball Reference to check up on players and see whether they were 'good or not.'

I wanted to separate the bulk repack cards of guys who might be better than the rank-and-file players at best - where maybe if young enough, have the chance to eventually big leaguers, if that is a path they decide to choose.

Maybe I will look to get a beat on keeping up with the Japanese baseball season in 2026 - where it might be fun keeping up with certain guys whose cards I've pulled and made keepers of.

More standouts - maybe I can make a themed curated set out of this repack, where it ends up being a scrapbook, rather than trying to squirrel the cards in different places.

There were a couple of instances were I was bipped with the same player - I wasn't sure who Sachiya Yamasaki was, but he pitched for the Nippon Ham Fighters the past three seasons and has generally been a solid veteran.

Cards of old dudes - there might be a more cards of older players set aside in my standouts portion, but these end up as notable 'super veterans.'

I found a card of Takumi Kuriyama, a 41-year old who hung on to play his 22nd season with one team, the Seibu Lions - where everyone gets old, it's pretty neat to see a pro baseball player still active in his 40s.

I also found a card of Masanori Ishikawa, who is even older at 45 and was still pitching through 2025, all with the Yakult Swallows - he has a losing career record of 198-203, but it looks like he chasing 200 wins, so he might be back next season.