COMC order #2 - Todd Helton

I passively end up making keepers out base cards / inserts and parallels of prominent players to reflect the fabric of a decade / era - this may not mean I actively collect everyone as if they were all my personal favorites, where being obligated to mindlessly hoard 'numbers' seems overwhelming.

On the other hand, besides my regional favorites, I've settled on a short list of 5-10 guys from a decade / era I've chosen to really focus on - Helton is one of those former players who ends up a non-geographical guy for me whose cards I can look for, where it becomes a mission to claim or rummage for his cards I assume I don't have.

Go figure in my COMC order, I only ended up with a couple of Heltons - it could have been a trio of them, but the card that was missing in my order was actually a Helton card.

1998 Leaf Fractal Foundation Gold Leaf Rookie /3999 Todd Helton #184

Helton has his share of rookie era issues, but it's not as big of priority to chase and pay a premium for any one particular card - when his true rookie card [1993 Topps Traded #19T; Team USA] ends up pre-dating his professional career.

2001 Donruss Class Of 2001 Scrapbook /525 Todd Helton #SB-7

Maybe unique design jersey / relic cards might be fun to track down on the cheap - even when it's a type of card that other collectors don't value at all, they fill out my player collections.

Card show trip - picking through binned singles

These were more pick ups from the last show I went to over the summer - I may have a couple of more things to show, though it might be up in the air whether future roundup posts will ever be made, where I drag things out through the end of the year.

At a pit stop at one table, there was a Todd Helton game used base card I thumbed through and put back - Helton has ended up one guy whose cards I end up looking for as a non-geographical player / Hall of Famer to collect.

Maybe a philosophy I have digging through binned singles or value boxes is never looking back, where I may have interest in a card - but I put it back and it gets lost amongst endless cards, I'm not bothering to find it again.

However it might have been a self-imposed challenge to find the table again and see whether I can dig for the unique Helton card - time is a valuable thing, but I find myself languishing at a card show where there is a little personal intermission where I'm just wandering around.

I find the table with the binned singles and start digging - I even find a Helton sticker / hologram auto that may have tempted me, but the signature was running off the label.

I eventually find the Helton I was looking for, but maybe $20 was still a bit steep - there was some corner wear, though it's a thicker card, so harder to avoid such a blemish.

Instead, I settled on a Helton relic [$5], which gave me the satisfaction of picking up a unique [if decidedly low end] Helton single for my collection - while I tried to build on other odds and ends, that I ended up being charged $35 for.

I made a Johnny Cueto pack pulled autograph a keeper - he was a longtime star for sure, but it goes into my all-time Angels autograph collection, for his short, odd stint with the team in 2024.

I picked up a relic card of Dick Allen - the card maybe at least 25 years old already, which is kind of hard to believe how long ago since it was made.

Allen probably wouldn't have registered besides just another old-school / vintage player who may have had a case for the Hall of Fame - since he was eventually inducted where that certifies him as a legend, I'm more inclined to keep an eye out for his cards in general [even as others have done so, long ago].

1993 Topps Traded Todd Helton RC #19T

As a non-geographic fan of the player, I liked the idea of Helton being a pure hitter, even if he played half of his home games at Coors Field and his power numbers actually dipped mid-career - maybe it got boring searching eBay listings of his first card, so to finally scratch the itch, I grabbed a copy.

I don't see Helton as an outright Hall of Famer, but with the idea of the nerds rejiggering the advanced stats of retired players - there are more ways to view Helton's playing numbers, where he at least has a case to be a borderline HOF guy.

Helton's one or two DUI issues doesn't make the one-team, face of a franchise fan favorite for the Colorado Rockies look good - but for the right players, their off-the-field missteps may not be enough for any particular writers not to give them a Hall of Fame vote.

COMC finds - binder stars / decade stars

I had a haul of cards I'd gotten from COMC come in - after I'd started the shipping process, my order only took about a week, which was a pleasant surprise.

On their Web site, COMC lists when to expect delivery depending on the service chosen - I figure I don’t have a claim to anything otherwise if it they ship within the estimated window for the $3.99 economy charge, even if it takes two or three weeks.

I've had misgivings about a typical COMC order taking too long, but I actually got my shipment about five days earlier than expected - maybe the Web site might be an option again as far as picking up the most random cards and having them shipped sooner than never.

I kind of see COMC as a glorified swap meet of sorts - however they always seem to package cards well enough, regardless of shipping method chosen.

It’s nice to finally go through the cards I've had sitting in my account - though there maybe a caveat with some of the random cards I’ve chosen to pick up as far as finding an actual spot for them in my collections.

I’m trying to list and put away as many of the cards I purchased - while trying to feel something for most cards, so they aren't meaningless after the fact.

The following are too random to be stand alone A-Z singles or PC cards - yet I’d rather showcase them as highlights within others cards of the same player, than be obscured as rank-and-file additions within my A-Z inserts collection.

2002 Topps Gold Label Awards Ceremony Relics Class 1 Gold Andy Pettite ACR-AEP [$4.75] - considering their franchise history and late 1990s dynasty run, I'd probably be a New York Yankees fan, if not rooting for the Angels.

I was doing a random search and this card caught my eye - it's kind of shiny card featuring an image of a relevant Topps card in the inset image and a window with a pinstripe jersey swatch.

Pettitte is hardly a favorite but on the down low, maybe I want to build up a micro-mini collection of selected cards - featuring the Yankees Core Four [Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada].

1997 Topps Team Timber Frank Thomas #TT5 [$1.05] - I thought it would be cool to have a card in hand that was printed entirely on some sort of simulated wood material.

I've never seen these cards except for a Rafael Palmeiro on a page of scanned cards - these may have been long forgotten inserts and wanting a ‘sample’ card from the set, a more appealing player choice [Thomas] wasn't that much more than a Palmeiro.

The card fronts actually feature a more conventional glossy surface and not a 'wood' feel like I'd anticipated - it's actually the back of the cards that have a sort of matte / textured surface that may resemble a wood finish.

I suspect it's to make the cards seem like they actually came from a piece of wood - but it looks like someone poured water on the surface to create some depressions going down from top to bottom.

2003 Donruss Diamond Kings DK Evolution Barry Bonds #DK-16 [$1.25] - Bonds may not be going to the Hall of Fame since he was presumably both a perpetual ass and an alleged PED abuser, however I was drawn to his bad ass act when he broke the single-season and career home run marks through his 40s.

2003 Donruss Diamond Kings DK Evolution Tony Gwynn #DK-21 [$0.99] - unlike Bonds, the player was considered a saint where he was universally loved as a professional baseball player and a person, R.I.P.

I was vaguely aware of these lenticular cards but had just forgotten about them over time - I might have thought there might have been a time elapse image where a picture of a player early in his career is contrasted with a current [as of 15 years ago] picture, but this clears things up.

1998 Upper Deck Blue Chip Prospects Todd Helton #BC11 [$1.70] - serial #'d to 2000; it’s not a rookie or anything ‘special,’ but I guess I’d collect the retired Helton on the down low and this one caught my eye as a ‘film cell’ material card.

2015 Topps Update Series MLB All-Star Game Access Albert Pujols MLB-2 [$0.98] - this captures a poignant moment where another big leaguer [Joc Pederson] is hugging Pujols at the 2015 All-Star Home Run Derby for presumably all Pujols has done for Pederson’s developmentally disabled [Down Syndrome] brother Champ in particular.

A pair of Todd Helton inserts

Like Hideo Nomo from the previous post, there is some recognition and affection for this 17-year MLB veteran, even he did not play for my team - the pair of cards caught my eye and I picked them up for the 'ownage' factor.

The 1998 Flair Wave of the Future card inserts was mentioned on another card blog back in 2014 and I wanted to see how a card from the set felt and looked like in-hand - maybe it's because the card came out more than 15 years ago, but the intended effect isn't quite on point, though it's not created like a conventional trading card.

I like the image on the 2000 Topps Stadium Club Chrome refractor #193 - even if though Helton's face is kind of obscured, it's taken from a unique angle.

Made my way to a card shop and picked these up

I have all sorts of random Todd Helton cards but decided to pick this one up just because.

2008 Topps Randy Johnson #396 - shows him hitting; a card I might not have.

2009 Topps Heritage Brandon Moss #113 - if I dig around my 2009 Topps Heritage box, I may find this card.

2009 Topps Heritage Jesse Chavez #145 - I might have gotten this card signed.

2011 Bowman Jonathan Villar #BP 110 - x2; I'll save these for next year, even though I might have gotten similar cards signed already.

2011 Bowman Draft Blake Snell #BDPP 52 - x2

2011 Bowman Draft Austin Meadows #BDPP 100 - from the USA insert set x2

2011 Topps Pro Debut Brett Oberholtzer #234

2012 Bowman Draft Paul Blackburn #BDPP 6

2012 Bowman Draft Jesse Winker #BDPP 8

2012 Bowman Draft Kyle Zimmer #BDPP 10 - x2

2012 Bowman Draft Sam Selman #BDPP 116 - x2

2012 Topps Tribute Matt Kemp #58

2013 Topps Heritage Todd Helton #305 - I wouldn't say he's a favorite or anything but he's had an excellent career and might be hanging them up sooner than later.

Helton seemed like as pure of a hitter as there ever even though in his prime - hit a ton more home runs than your typical high-average, contend for a batting title hitter i.e. Tony Gwynn, Rod Carew, Joe Mauer, et al.