COMC - misc regional related cards

2002 Fleer Classic Cuts Game-Used Pants Ted Kluszewski #TK-P - I needed a Kluszewski to fill a hole in my Angels Opening Day collection and I figured this card with an 'old-timey' looking relic swatch added a little wrinkle to the loose card project.

2016 Topps Archives Snapshots Topps Online Exclusive [Base] Autographs Sandy Alomar #AS-SA - serial #'d 218/350; the patriarch of the Alomar [Sandy Jr. and Hall of Famer Roberto] baseball family, Sandy Sr. played six seasons for the Angels back in the 1970s.

2013 Panini America's Pastime Rookie Autographs Alfredo Marte #252 - serial #'d 94/125; the fun of working on an all-time team collection of autographs is having guys to add that I wouldn’t normally consider; Marte played all of five games with the 2015 Angels after being with the team’s AAA squad for most of that season.

2005 Upper Deck USA Baseball Future Match-Ups Dual Autographs Blue Ink Sean Doolittle, Shane Robinson #N/A - serial #'d 58/75; Robinson played in 65 random games for the Angels this past season and hit only .173 in 98 at-bats.

2015 Panini Elite Extra Edition Prospects Autographs Grayson Long #105 x2 - if he sticks around and climbs up the ranks in the next couple of years, he might be a decent contributor to the big league team.

COMC - 1987 Donruss Will Clark #66

Decades after the fact, prominent rookie cards from the 1980s have been exposed as worthless - featuring more than a few players who just didn't make the leap from superstars to Hall of Famers.

Under inauspicious circumstances, I owned this rookie card for about two weeks, when Clark was among the hot players of his era - things caught up with me soon enough and ever since, the closest I ever got to a Clark rookie was his 1987 Topps.

To square things away, I finally picked up a copy this card - since it represents one of the cards from my early years of collecting, even if that first copy of the card I had in-hand wasn't actually mine.

COMC - miscellaneous certified auto cards

1999 Upper Deck SP Signature Edition Autographs Corey Koskie #CK - I pulled a Koskie autograph from 1999 Upper Deck HoloGrFX back when the product came out and I'm tempted to say it may have been one of my first autograph pulls, when there was still some allure with certified autographs.

I probably got Koskie's autograph at least a few times as a player but this autograph card replaces that previous pack-pulled card - same era, similar 'kind of messy' scribble [though this card was a more common pull out of a one autograph per pack product rather than a card inserted in every couple of boxes or so of a low-end product].

Even if Koskie didn't post year-to-year all-star numbers as a player - he was a lot steadier and productive in his 9-years in the big leagues than I gave him credit for and had overlooked the fact his career was cut short prematurely with a post-concussion syndrome.

2016 Bowman Inception Prospect Autographs Manuel Margot PA-MM - Margot is one of the best prospects in baseball [currently #26 among MLB's Top 100] and while he may not develop into a true superstar, Margot seems to be an athletic guy with the potential to be a pretty good all-around player [think Andrew McCutchen lite].

2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars Miguel Montero #158 - he is more of a 'scratch an itch' guy for me, a rank-and-file player whose autograph I haven't gotten otherwise.

Montero lost playing time to David Ross and rookie Willson Contreras during the regular season - but got some redemption in the postseason as a contributor in the Chicago Cubs' run towards their first World Series championship since 1908.

Montero hit a grand slam in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series - and also chipped in with had an RBI single to extend the Cubs lead in the deciding Game 7 of the World Series.

COMC - pitchers hitting relic cards

I picked up eight cards of pitchers who are pictured hitting as a late year push to boost my mini-collection totals - a wrinkle is that they feature relics.

When I think of bat cards, I associate them with position players who go to the plate 500 times a year - however, if card companies had access to purchase bats supposedly used by the players pictured, why not make them into cards?

While no particular card might not hard to find, it’s not like I can go to card shops or a card show on regular basis - to piece together a handful of these obscure themed cards.

It's kind of a treat when I'm casually browsing through listings on an online site like COMC and find relics of pitchers hitting - I might as well grab them on the cheap, so even if there are more cards to seek out, these ones have been accounted for.

Because they are junky and were never considered legit hits, I suspect they maybe buried in a stash somewhere or maybe the repack companies have hoarded the cards - to put them in their future releases.

2001 Fleer Game Time Lumber Kevin Brown #KEBR - I didn't want to pick up any cards of Brown, but this card isn't bad looking at all.

At times, collecting is literally about what the cardboard represents, rather than the player pictured - to me, it's another card for a mini-collection, not an endorsement of any particular player.

Admittedly, Brown had a successful big league career, but seemed like a salty guy who was the big money free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the early 2000s - his career ended with a whimper and after the fact, he had a cameo in the Mitchell Report.

2001 Fleer Game Time Lumber Randy Johnson #RAJO - his best season as a hitter came in 2003, when he hit .194 in 36 at-bats, launching his only big league home run.

2001 SP Game Bat Edition Milestone Piece of the Action Bound for the Hall Greg Maddux #B-GM - anytime he is pictured as a batter, Nike's Chicks Dig the Long Ball commercial of the late 1990s always comes to mind.

2001 SP Game Bat Edition Piece of the Game Kevin Brown #KB - maybe his best year with the bat was in 1998 when he hit .207 and had 10 RBI.

2001 SP Game Bat Edition Piece of the Game Randy Johnson #RJ

2002 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Ultimate Game Jerseys Tier 4 Mark Prior JR-PR - serial #'d 69/199

2004 SPx Winning Materials Mark Prior #WM-MP

2009 SPx Winning Materials 2 Jake Peavy and CC Sabathia #WM2-PS

COMC - modern Hall of Fame cards

Inspired by a Web site or two and hardly an original idea, I'm trying to put together a Hall of Fame collection - featuring at least one card [if available] of a Hall of Fame inductee [players, umpires, executives, etc] as a loose card project to work on for fun.

I picked up 11 retro cards of Hall of Famers to give my HOF collection a small boost [I'm up to about 140 different subjects] - I went on a little 'sampler' run, picking up at least two of the same type of insert / parallel from Panini releases from the past several years.

The wood motifs on the 2013 Panini Cooperstown Collection Cooperstown Lumberjacks inserts caught my eye - though modern, shiny UV cards featuring long deceased old-timers are kind of anachronistic, the newer cards are much more interesting to look at as opposed to comparable junk wax era retro cards featuring the same subjects.

2013 Panini Cooperstown Collection Green Crystal Shard Dan Brouthers #13

2013 Panini Cooperstown Collection Red Crystal Shard #23 Hack Wilson - serial #28/399

2013 Panini Cooperstown Collection Cooperstown Lumberjacks Roger Bresnahan #36

2013 Panini Cooperstown Collection Cooperstown Lumberjacks Chief Bender #99
2013 Panini Cooperstown Collection Cooperstown Lumberjacks Eddie Plank #100

2014 Panini Classics Timeless Tributes Silver George Kelly #53 - serial #’d 98 of 149

2014 Panini Classics Timeless Tributes Silver Willie Keeler #144 - serial #’d 129 of 149

2014 Panini Hall of Fame Blue Shield Red Frank Chance #15 - serial #’d 24 of 50

2014 Panini Hall of Fame Red Shield Red Zack Wheat #29 - serial #’d 7 of 50

2014 Panini Hall of Fame Crusades Red Herb Pennock #20 - serial #’d 40 of 75

2014 Panini Hall of Fame Crusades Red Mordecai Brown #22 - serial #’d 23 of 75

COMC - a couple of award winners adds

Through COMC, I've picked up assorted cards in bits and pieces to fill holes in my loose card projects - while the Web site is still an option for finding cards, with COMC's shift towards eBay consignments over the past year, shipping wait times for stuff bought on COMC are longer unless an expedited option is chosen.

My latest order cards were shipped through their Black Friday promo and while it took three weeks to finally get my cards - the Web site gives an estimated time of when to expect your cards, so I knew what to expect.

I'm still whittling away at an award winners collection and to upgrade the 1982 Topps K-Mart #42 I have for Don Drysdale [1962 National League Cy Young] - I picked up a 2002 SP Legendary Cuts S-DDr relic card for $7.

I figured the card adds a wrinkle in my collection - even though relic cards have been proven to have iffy historicity and aren't really valued as much.

Compared to a dingy, 35-year old card from a boxed set produced in the billions - I'll keep the cutesy one with the supposed game-worn swatch.

I picked up a 1969 Topps Dodgers Rookie Stars card [#552] for a dollar because it features Ted Sizemore [1969 National League Rookie of the Year] - I could have gotten his better looking second-year, single player card [1970 Topps #174] featuring the Topps Rookie Cup, but instead I just stuck with the actual rookie card.

Favorite Card of 2016 - Andrew Benintendi Topps Now #385

There may be a nonzero chance the image of Benintendi robbing a batter of a home run is re-used in a big league card in 2017 - but at the very least this was the first card to use this 'awesome outfield action' image and I had to wait only a month or so after the highlight for a card to be created, printed and be sent out.

I haven't really gotten into the Topps Now hype, but the idea of capturing the moment and putting it on cardboard in a relatively timely manner is something radical - Topps will be probably milk the idea for all its worth, so who knows how much impact future incarnations of the Topps Now brand will have as far as how people collect their cards.

2016 Bowman Draft jumbo pack recap

I'm sure it makes sense for those who bust this stuff heavily, but the $3-$4 single pack of Bowman Draft are no more - there are these 32-card jumbo packs [$13 at my LCS] and there is a super jumbo pack [$45 at my LCS] containing 120 cards with an autograph.

During an LCS trip, I wasn't really tempted by the $45 super jumbo pack because there was some sticker shock - but maybe I take a shot if I'm feeling a little adventurous, during my the next card shop trip.

#BD-35 Joey Wentz
#BD-130 Bradley Zimmer
#BD-117 Joe Rizzo
#BD-184 Brent Honeywell
#BD-101 Bren Rortvedt
#BD-192 Jack Flaherty
#BD-37 Drew Harrington 
#BD-171 Nick Neidert
#BD-89 Corbin Burnes
#BD-127 Dylan Cease

#BD-169 Marcos Diplan - Green border parallel serial #’d 52/99
#BDC-126 Christian Arroyo - Chrome
#BDC-54 Nick Hanson - Chrome
#BDC-65 Kyle Muller - Chrome
#BDC-175 Brett Phillips - Chrome
#BDC-6 Dakota Hudson - Chrome
#BDC-13 Taylor Trammell - Chrome

#BSI-ZC Zack Collins - Chrome Bowman Scouts’ Fantasy Impact

#BDC-57 Eric Lauer - Chrome refractor

#BDC-192 Jack Flaherty - Chrome refractor
#BD-11 Anfernee Grier
#BD-121 Austin Meadows
#BD-107 Connor Jones
#BD-168 Anfernee Seymour
#BD-2 Thomas Jones
#BD-186 Rhys Hoskins
#BD-6 Dakota Hudson
#BD-174 Chase De Jong

#BD-110 Matt Thaiss
#BD-94 Daniel Johnson

#BD-20 Cal Quantrill
#BD-21 Javon Shelby

TTM autograph received: Joey Jay

I probably sent this request out at the beginning of 2012 and got it back the other day - I presume the lengthy hold up was due to an autograph promoter doing private signings with various retired players, who end up only signing through said promoter.

However, once the promoter's business goes kaput, the 'sign for pay' gravy train stops - so some of the players have gone back to go through some of the mail sent to them.

2016 Topps Holiday Walmart Box break

I had to make a pit stop at a random Walmart to see if any of these were on the shelves - I'd been thinking about these for the past few weeks, so I picked up a couple of boxes to see what these holiday themed cards were all about.

The 200-card base set mirrors selected cards from the Topps flagship set as well as from the Update Series - I don't know if Topps needed another release that parallels their flagship set, but these boxes were probably designed to be a relatively inexpensive [$20] holiday themed trading card product.

I busted one of the boxes I bought and it seemed pretty straightforward - I pulled 94 different base set cards with five Metallic Snowflake parallels and one hit [each box comes with either a relic or an autograph].

Pack one
#HMW143 Adam Wainwright
#HMW166 Roberto Osuna
#HMW6 Starling Marte
#HMW189 Brandon Belt
#HMW105 Dellin Betances

#HMW141 Mookie Betts - Metallic Snowflake parallel
#HMW67 Mallex Smith
#HMW177 Chris Sale
#HMW147 Michael Wacha
#HMW14 Andrelton Simmons

Pack two
#HMW181 Nolan Arenado
#HMW63 Ryan Howard
#HMW133 Michael Brantley
#HMW37 Raisel Iglesias
#HMW103 Jason Hammel
#HMW91 Prince Fielder
#HMW104 Xander Bogaerts
#HMW80 Josh Donaldson
#HMW5 C.C. Sabathia
#HMW125 Gregory Polanco

Pack three
#HMW146 Addison Russell
#HMW109 Russell Martin
#HMW41 Jake Odorizzi
#HMW69 Zack Greinke

#HMW150 Yasiel Puig - Metallic Snowflake parallel
#HMW142 Michael Pineda
#HMW188 Robinson Cano
#HMW31 Corey Kluber
#HMW167 Craig Kimbrel
#HMW2 Jose Berrios

Pack four
#HMW178 Matt Duffy
#HMW117 Trayce Thompson
#HMW101 Eric Hosmer    
#HMW57 Michael Conforto
#HMW99 Miguel Cabrera
#HMW184 Javier Baez
#HMW108 R.A. Dickey
#HMW45 Aaron Nola
#HMW21 Matt Andriese
#HMW32 Adeiny Hechavarria

Pack five
#HMW34 Michael Fulmer
#HMW17 Jacoby Ellsbury
#HMW94 Albert Almora
#HMW112 Bartolo Colon

#HMW62 Aledmys Diaz - Metallic Snowflake parallel
#HMW15 Adam Jones
#HMW92 Elvis Andrus
#HMW196 Kenley Jansen
#HMW19 Joe Panik
#HMW199 Yoenis Cespedes

Pack six
#HMW48 Andrew McCutchen
#HMW122 Joc Pederson
#HMW39 Anthony Rizzo
#HMW148 Francisco Lindor
#HMW54 Melvin Upton Jr. 

#A-MD Matt Duffy - autograph serial #’d 047/200; even if it's just a more common player, finding an autograph was nice since they seem to be harder pulls than the relics.
#HMW28 Jackie Bradley Jr. 
#HMW86 Matt Harvey
#HMW51 Luis Severino
#HMW155 Nomar Mazara

Pack seven
#HMW61 Brandon Crawford
#HMW43 Masahiro Tanaka
#HMW24 Manny Machado
#HMW174 Martin Prado
#HMW29 Nelson Cruz

#HMW192 Joey Votto - Metallic Snowflake parallel
#HMW9 Justin Upton
#HMW3 Paul Goldschmidt
#HMW85 Neil Walker
#HMW98 Jason Kipnis

Pack eight
#HMW153 Adrian Gonzalez
#HMW87 Steven Matz
#HMW84 Ian Desmond
#HMW111 Daniel Murphy
#HMW172 Blake Snell
#HMW66 Marco Estrada
#HMW176 Ryan Braun
#HMW118 Adrian Beltre
#HMW13 Aroldis Chapman
#HMW65 Mark Teixeira

Pack nine
#HMW10 Brett Gardner
#HMW22 Byung-Ho Park
#HMW82 Justin Verlander
#HMW129 Corey Seager

#HMW107 Joe Mauer - Metallic Snowflake parallel
#HMW145 Odubel Herrera
#HMW169 Jed Lowrie
#HMW114 Yu Darvish
#HMW136 Trevor Story
#HMW119 Yunel Escobar

Pack 10
#HMW116 Sonny Gray
#HMW183 Yadier Molina
#HMW25 Noah Syndergaard
#HMW198 David Wright
#HMW100 Carlos Martinez
#HMW140 Yovani Gallardo
#HMW47 Johnny Cueto
#HMW182 Starlin Castro
#HMW76 David Ortiz
#HMW7 George Springer

Hunting for some star on star cameos

1987 Classic Bret Saberhagen #116 - a quick glance at this card shows Cal Ripken Jr. playing behind the one-time Kansas City Royals' ace of the 1980s and I figure the image used was from the 1987 All-Star game in Oakland.

I was going to put this card in my 'bonus babies,' though Saberhagen was a star in his own right - so this is an add to my star on star cameos collection.

1994 Donruss Will Clark #33 - looks like 'Will the Thrill' scurries past second base with Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg right by the bag.

1994 Donruss Ozzie Smith #35 - I like this card because it features two eventual Hall of Famers, though in the early 1990s, I probably thought of Biggio as just another player who was moved from catcher to second base to prolong his athleticism and longevity.