COMC mail #3 FIN - the rest of the mess

Mini-collection cards #1 - I'm sure there are other cards that look like Mike Jackson does on his 1975-76 Topps card, but I've wanted it for the past 2 or 3 years just because the giant afro he sports is symbolic a different era of pro sports, where it was big hair, facial hair for baseball guys, afros for many of the pro basketball players through the 1970s.

At some point last year, I was hunting for more oddball mini-collection adds and I found some Venezuelan Winter League cards - the card pictured shows a manager arguing with an umpire, so that added 'awesome action' is a nice touch on a type of card that wouldn't register in my mind.

I grabbed the 2020 Topps SP Photo Variation of Xander Bogaerts because I'd passed up another copy of the same card in-person and while not worth much - it's a nice picture where Bogaerts in a tux looks like he's at a party somewhere looking classy.

I grabbed the 2020 Topps SP Photo Variation of Rhys Hoskins because gum card images are harder to find - I always make them keepers regardless of player.

2007 Topps Chrome Mickey Mantle Story - I'm ambivalent over Mantle retro cards where they fairly plentiful and not that hard to find, but this particular insert has him playing the violin, so that's a fun card to add to my oddities collection.

Mini-collection cards #2 - I saw the 2019 Topps X Vlad Jr. “The Legend” Vladimir Guerrero Sr. off another card blogger's post and was inspired to grab one for inking it up collection; off the same set came the Lourdes Gurriel Sr. card, which ended up being a keeper for my bloodlines collection because he was a Cuban baseball legend who is the father of two big leaguers in Yuli and Lourdes.

More Venezuelan Winter League cards, featuring guys inking it up this time around - it's always nice to have a little change of pace, when my collections consist of mainstream branded MLB cards.

The last oddball card was a 1984 7-Up Chicago Cubs team issue of Tim Stoddard - it may have been a misfit purchase, but I've had on my mind as a 'bonus baby' card since Ryne Sandberg is supposedly the player lurking in the background.

Go figure, I end up finding a complete set, with Stoddard and all at a card show and paid $4 for the entire set - I might have grabbed the Stoddard for about $0.65.

Pitchers hitting photo variations - for potential mini-collection additions, it's a mini challenge for myself to grab cards off COMC featuring players I'm not really emotionally attached to.

I don't know if Noah Syndergaard will hit any home runs in 2022, whether there will be a normal MLB season or if the universal DH will come to play - I'm hoping his arm is sound to pitch in at least 150 odd innings for the Angels.

Maybe needlessly, I actually spend time wondering whether I should pick up these misc cards - where it gets especially harder when I only have so much left in my account [at one time] where I really play around whether I can still grab something at the dollar and under mark.

The 1973 Luis Alvarado seems like a card blogger cult favorite - though I actually grabbed the O-Pee-Chee version, so it's a little odder than his actual Topps card.

The 2017 Topps Museum Collection Roger Maris may not be a type of card that hard to find - but I wanted to find a keeper of an eternal fan favorite and a retro card from a higher end set might just hit the spot.

2019 Bowman Heritage Chrome Prospects Joey Bart - I'd grabbed this cheap chromed up parallel of a top prospect since I thought it might have been a nice find on the down low.

2020 Topps Home Run Challenge Mookie Betts - Betts seems like a type of player I wouldn't go out of my way to collect, but he's that nice, all-around player where I would pick up random cards if I saw them out in the wild.

I don't think the winner cards end up being worth much, but they might be nice oddballs - for the 2021 version of the challenge, I had some fun playing and guessing correctly some winning dates where players would homer.