COMC order #6 - A variety pack

2007 Upper Deck 1989 Reprints Casey Stengel #89UD-CS - I saw this card somewhere and had to have it, with the image of the legendary manager looking at a baseball that is supposed to a crystal ball of sorts.

I am not sure how many times the image has been reprinted on a card - I saw it on one of the base cards from an early 2000s Upper Deck retro themed set, but that did not deter me from keeping this card on a wantlist somewhere.

I wasn't sure if a copy of the card was worth paying a premium for - but finally grabbed one I saw on the COMC Web site for about $4.

2020 Topps Legend Variation SP Legend Variation Reggie Jackson #206 - I have never gotten a beat on the Topps legends variations and kind of feel like I'm missed out on a thing, but I've gotten a few over the past 5-10 years I guess.

This can end up as either a binder material centerpiece as a highlight for my inking it up collection - having had the pleasure of attempting to get Jackson's autograph after he was a player, I am sure he is telling these late 1970s era fans to keep their distance and to calm down, as he grabs a ball to sign.

2021 SkyBox Metal Universe Champions Fresh Foundation Paige Spiranac #FF36 - between the time I added a copy to my account, to when I had it shipped with my COMC order, it looks as if I picked up another copy.

What am I supposed to do from here [?]

Things may end up a little fuzzy as far as spelling out what I maybe doing with my cards at the moment - if nothing else, this is basically a post where I change up the purpose [and change the title] as far as an ongoing collection of cards that goes on and on.

1. I've seen myself as an in-person autograph collector over the past decade - now that fan interaction is officially done, I have to do something with my blocks of cards I've made for big league teams.

2. I think my setup came about from trying to build a semi-comprehensive 'team set' of cards through each year - seeing how some acquaintances have these stashes of cards to try and get inked up.

3. It may be a force of habit to go through loose cards, pulls and finds and separate them like I've done - to make like there is still a mission to jump into as far as seeing big league teams [or at least the closest affiliates] with hopes I get cards off my own stashes signed.

4. Regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic, it hasn't really been the case for the past 5 or 6 years where I've been able to go autograph hunting on a regular basis - while I don't want to admit it, I probably aged out of the chasing aspect real hard and my blocks of cards have been sitting in mothballs.

5. To nerd out a bit and play with my cards in the 'here and now,' I'm going through a 'trip' through my cards for the 30 big league organizations to see what can be weeded out and added into in the here and now - I feel stupid referring to my block of cards as something 'for autographs' or as 'ammo' for an in-person outings.

6. Going forward, I will refer to my collection as a 'active team boxes' that sort of mirrors my collection of 'team boxes' I funnel random cards into for fun and games - the difference is I might be more invested in what goes in and out of my 'active team boxes,' as an old-school way of keeping up with MLB team transactions as a fan and the players pictured on the cardboard as a collector.

A look back into a 2020 collecting goal

Like everyone else it seems, I have a yearly set of collecting goals, but maybe it gets too long winded to fully break down on a blog - I feel like a goof when I don't catch up to any of them and so maybe it is easier to keep them offline.

Looking at my generic goals I'd written for 2020, stuff that made sense at the beginning of the year - doesn't end up ringing quite as true, like trying to add some high-brow cards for my personal collections, notably old-school / vintage rookie cards of selected Hall of Famers for example.

The ongoing pandemic makes me skittish about throwing money into something that only sounds good on paper - when values have supposedly been artificially pumped up across the board, I find myself priced out in general.

Maybe I've shifted to lower-end interests in my collections, whether talking about strictly baseball cards or anything to do with autographs - one of the listed goals I had for 2020 to see if I can pick up 10-15 autographs of one-time Angels players.

I was able to ramp things up and 82 new autographs for my collection, though I have to officially list them - to make sure they are physically in my collection or otherwise accounted for.

1. 2014 Panini Donruss The Rookies Signatures Series autograph Tommy La Stella #68 [$1.75] - COMC; listed as a ‘Atlanta’ [Braves] card

2. 2012 Topps Allen & Ginter Framed Mini Autographs Julio Teheran #AGA-JT.1 [$3.99] - COMC; listed as a Atlanta Braves card

3. 2014 Bowman Prospect Autographs Chrome Mike Mayers #BCAP-MM.1 [$1.25] - COMC; listed as a St. Louis Cardinals card

4. 2019 Bowman - Chrome Prospect Autographs Jose Suarez #CPA-JS [$3.85] - COMC

5. John Verhoeven - TTM card

6. Al Spangler - TTM card

7. Chris Knapp - TTM card

8. Dave Sells - TTM card

9. 1989 Fleer Update Claudell Washington CAS Certified Sealed auto #U-17 [$5.45] - COMC

10. 2014 Topps Pro Debut Autographs Matt Ramsey #PDA-MR [$1.99] - COMC

11. 2013 Panini Pinnacle Autographs Tony Campana #TC [$1.08] - COMC

12. 2011 Topps Pro Debut Solo Signature Autographs Thomas Field #SSA-TF [$1.14] - COMC

13. Dustin Garneau - IP card

14. Dick Lange - TTM card

15. Steve Kealey - TTM card

16. Don Kirkwood - TTM card

17. Jack Hiatt - TTM card

18. Tom Donohue - TTM card

19. Lloyd Allen - TTM card

20. Tom Egan - TTM card

21. Larry Harlow - TTM card

22. Dave Parker - TTM card / $10

23. Merv Rettenmund - TTM card

24. Roger Repoz - TTM card

25. Jason Castro - IP card from 2012 era

26. Trevor Cahill - IP card from the 2012 era

27. Steve Renko - TTM card

28. Jason Gurka - TTM card

29. Ken Oberkfell - TTM card

30. Rudy Meoli - TTM card

31. Terry Humphrey - TTM card

32. Ed Ott - TTM card

33. Tom Bradley - TTM card

34. Billy Cowan - TTM card

35. Eddie Fisher - TTM card

36. Jim Barr - TTM card

37. Don Robinson - TTM card

38. Jack Lazorko - TTM card

39. Paul Hartzell - TTM card

40. Mike Bielecki - TTM card

41. Jim Hibbs - TTM card

42. Bob Botz - TTM card

43. Ike Hampton - TTM card

44. Balor Moore - TTM card

45. Tom Griffin - TTM card

46. Doug Rau - TTM card

47. Richie Scheinblum - TTM card

48. Frank LaCorte - TTM card

49. Bob Sprout - TTM card

50. Jim Walewander - TTM card

51. Bill Grabarkewitz - TTM card

52. Dave Goltz - TTM card

53. Gary Lucas - TTM card

54. Ron Tingley - TTM card

55. George Hendrick - purchased card (s)

56. Bill Melton - TTM card

57. Steve Lubratich - TTM card

58. Syd O’Brien - TTM card

59. Jarrett Grube - TTM card

60. Ken Berry - TTM card

61. Bill Voss - TTM card

62. Dyar Miller - TTM card

63. Ed Halicki - TTM card

64. Billy Moran - TTM card

65. Rick Burleson - purchased card (s)

66. Bart Miadich - purchased card (s)

67. Rich Rodriguez - purchased card (s)

68. Skip Lockwood - TTM card

69. Leo Burke - TTM card

70. Bob Duliba - TTM card

71. Sherman Corbett - TTM card

72. Tom Murphy - TTM card (s)

73. Vic Davalillo autographed custom card [$4 plus $1 PWE plus $0.99 = $5.99]

74. Jose Lind - purchased card (s)

75. Pete Coachman - purchased card (s)

76. Craig Gerber - purchased card (s)

77. Tim Fortugno - purchased card (s)

78. Lee Thomas - TTM card

79. Ken Tatum - TTM card

80. Dave Lemanczyk - TTM card

81. Chuck Dobson - TTM card

82. Dick Drago - TTM card

Maybe it’s ‘easier’ to have a looser goal where I can cobble things together where I’m not restricted by specifics or standards - being able to add a number of random autograph cards featuring rank-and-file guys that played for a random big league team may make me more like a hoarder, but it’s fun nonetheless to see what I can nerd out on as far whose random autographs I can find and add.

Trading cards are the easiest to store in any sort of quantity so for most of the ‘rank and file’ names, that what the autographs are on - for 2021, the goal to add more one-time Angels player autographs sticks though I need to dig deeper to see if I can add old-school / vintage player content, get the 'here and now' players, while adding different players as I can through TTM requests and purchases.

TTM autograph received: Jeff Russell

I got Russell to finish off my 1990 Fleer Superstar Specials subset card already signed by Mark Gubicza - a few months ago, I saw a success posted with Russell on a forum I belong to and by coincidence, I found the Fleer card in a small loose stack of cards I’d set aside featuring partially completed multiplayer cards.

On those rare occasions when it does happen - it feels good to get a iP / TTM autograph card signed by the two or more players pictured.

I must have gotten Gubicza 20 years ago while he was still writing out ‘Mark’ compared to recent years - when he really shortened up his autograph to basically initials.

I decided to send my card to Russell with $5 since it might have been implied he actually charges a fee - I crossed my fingers I would get an eventual success and about three weeks later, a SASE was returned with my card signed.

Will professional baseball be played this month?

Major League teams have started up summer camps and there is a cautious optimism the highest level of professional baseball will be played - I’m ambivalent because on MLB Trade Rumors or on Twitter, it seems like I'm reading daily news about players choosing to opt out of the 60 game schedule, different players getting sick with COVID-19 and needing to self-quarantine while there are instances where the testing is amateur hour at best.

I’ll watch the games if and when they start up but it's a long 3 weeks from now till that mid season Opening Day start - I'm still hoping to see Anthony Rendon mash for the Angels sooner than never along with what the team can do in a shortened, abbreviated season.

Ironically MLB has turned me off over the past 10-15 years because of the very things they have to do now to protect the self-absorbed players - social distancing and keeping them in this bubble where there might not be any sort of 'non-essential' casual access / contact allowed [ok, to get an autograph if nothing else] between players and fans.

To get overly dramatic, it might be one year from now, two years or five and it might not happen at a MLB game - but I just might cry that first time I get my first in-person baseball autograph from a big league player when an opportunity presents itself.

1995 Raging Color Classics Burlington Bees Jeff Poor #15

For my 'inking it up' mini-collection, I managed to sneak this obscure team set card purchase - picturing this one-time minor leaguer in the act of grabbing a ball along the railing to sign.

To get on a soapbox for a little bit, with people generally being 'weird' about getting autographs and pro teams from the majors to the minors putting up barriers around the field in the guise of protecting fans - the days of player / fan interaction will be reserved for only VIPs and maybe a simple scene like card picture shows will not be a thing, even at your Podunk ballpark [which may not even exist anymore] in the 21st century.

As far as tracking down a copy of the card, maybe I was looking up some Jesse Ibarra cards, because I wrote to the guy TTM over 20 years ago and he had some ‘goofy’ minor league feat like hitting grand slams from both sides of the plate in one game - Ibarra shows up in the set where the Poor card was from and I might have saved a listing for the Poor card on my COMC watch list.

I guess the Bees [a one time farm team of the San Francisco Giants in the mid 1990s] set can still be purchased on eBay, so the card may not be as obscure where no listings are found - still, where was I going to find a copy of the card outright being sold as a single [?]

Goofing off in the middle of the night, I relented to grab the card [for a 'hefty' price of $1.45] just because it might be a card that might be stuck on my wantlist in perpetuity - I wanted to be able to have in my port and be able to wax poetic about it because it's just too random.

Images courtesy of COMC.com

Featured autographs - Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rendon

This space was for a featured autograph of Cole that was going to my Angels all-time autograph collection - how the Angels had brought home the local kid as the centerpiece for an Angels rotation that had fallen on hard times, yadda, yadda, yadda.

As is, after choosing to pick their spots over the past 5-6 years, maybe the New York Yankees decided to keep things real and get their man - there have been supposedly guys that have wilted under the New York spotlight, but if I’m a Type-A personality getting paid the biggest money, I want the challenge of playing for the Yankees.

The Angels can’t really compete in selling itself like the Yankees can and even with baseball's top player, they are a sleepier team - though not everything is glitters with gold, the Yankees now have the legitimate ace to lead them into a deep postseason run.

Despite the need for pitching, the Angels instead got the best position player on the free agent market - while lineup protection maybe a myth, having another all-world hitter like Rendon adds considerable pop to a lineup featuring Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, Justin Upton, etc.

Signing Rendon doesn't solve the sore need for pitching and the Angels might as well have blown it with Cole signing elsewhere - but they made their big splash move to improve the team and that's a big deal.

The Angels are that much better now with Rendon on the team - mission accomplished, thought it's stupid to assume the Angels front office is done trying to look for a serviceable No. 2 or No. 3 arm [preferably a couple of them] to sign or trade for.

Inking it up collection - a visual guide

Collecting autographs in-person or the idea of getting something signed is one of my last links to what I was doing when I was in my late teens - I would never, ever consider myself too old to get something signed by any person I could get an autograph from, though reality tells me otherwise.

Maybe the opportunities are not there and/or are too commercialized to be as pure as getting a card or a ball signed at a spot like a ball game - but maybe as a nod to years I've spent literally chasing after signatures, I collect the cards picturing players 'inking it up' for fans.

It maybe a random factoid, but I was able to get in-person autographs from 22 of the 27 players pictured on these group of cards, spanning about 30 years - I may have stories from the 22 guys I got autographs from, though I missed out on five guys as far as getting their autograph in-person.

1. Babe Ruth - obviously, though I was going for Lou Gehrig and neither one signed when the New York Yankees came into town one year.

2. Roberto Alomar - I've always seen him as a prima donna of sorts and the only time I'd ever remember him signing was when he was playing for the Cleveland Indians and on a night when I wasn't around.

As the story retold to me goes, someone was heckling him after a game for perhaps ignoring fans on his way out of the ballpark - to shut the heckler up, Alomar proceeds to sign for everyone, but the individual who gave him a hard time.

3. Kirby Puckett - maybe forced to retire the year before I was graphing at my local big league park and my only apparent successes with are TTM.

4. John Smiley - mostly pitched in the National League, before Interleague play was a thing and I was really only getting my autographs at an American League ballpark when I first started.

5. Kim Batiste - I was more into cards when this junk wax era utility man was playing.

Bat Blog Around - My All Autograph Team

I've leaned towards being more of an in-person / through the mail autograph collector than strictly collecting cards, so this newest Bat Blog Around was something I wanted to take part in - I may or may not have better autographs for each position, but I basically went through older blog post posts to see if I can build up a lineup.

1B Rod Carew

2B Ryne Sandberg - I always thought he was the best second baseman of all time, though he starred when I first started getting into collecting and I was oblivious about other greats like Joe Morgan or Rogers Hornsby.

3B Albert Pujols - had to squeeze the guy featured on the Blog Bat Around header somewhere.

SS Maury Wills - I went with a player who made an impact when he first burst into the scene, a vintage player with a unique looking, embossed retro card from the 1990s.

OF Albert Belle - he was a fun player to watch because he was simply nuts and despite his issues, I have to give him his due.

OF Mike Trout - as is, I ride or die with this guy, regardless of how big the spotlight is on him these days.

OF Bryce Harper - he's the most intimidating batter in all of MLB.

With brutish strength to hit the ball 500 feet - he always looks like someone ran over his dog or something.

C Buster Posey

SP Justin Verlander

DH/PH Shohei Ohtani - the expectations are so big for him, but he's 23 and he'll have his share of growing pains.

CL Mariano Rivera

RP Sparky Lyle - I didn't know much about Lyle, except I needed him for my award winners collection, but he was a do it all reliever who collected 238 saves in his playing career.

RP Goose Gossage - I can just imagine Gossage and Rivera co-existing in the same bullpen, with Gossage mostly talking Rivera's head off about how he was the more valuable late inning reliever.

Featured autographs - Cal State Fullerton alumni baseball game

2017 Bowman J.D. Davis #BP 81

2017 Topps Heritage High Numbers Chris Devenski #608

2015 Panini Contenders Thomas Eshelman #90

2017 Bowman Draft Chrome Scott Hurst #BDC-126 - refractor

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter Brett Pill #192

2017 Bowman Draft Chrome Connor Seabold #BDC-77 - refractor