Some COMC odds and ends

I recently got my COMC Spring Cleaning box, and almost all of the cards were for either my 1955 Bowman set or my 1972 Topps set.  There were just a few odds and ends otherwise, which I'm mainly showing here.  It's been an incredibly hectic two weeks of work and of family life, so this post is a nice way to start to return to normalcy.

Dick Allen.

Ichiro.

First up we have the best player not in the Hall of Fame, Dick Allen.  I don't know all of Allen's cards, but I like his 1974 Topps a bit more than this, except that this has him back with the Phillies.  I work in Philadelphia, and I think I'm going to tack this card to the wall of my office.  Then, since my collection is about 98% pre-1994, I don't think I had any cards of Ichiro, so I wanted to pick up a couple.  And I figured, why not with snowflakes?  Makes as much sense to me as most modern cards.

Ichiro.

Francisco Cervelli.

Here's the other Ichiro I picked up, and also a Bucco, Francisco Cervelli, on this year's Heritage.  This Ichiro is the only Archives card I own, as far as I know.  I have a couple other Heritage that I picked up that I've shown before (Chad Kuhl and Josh Harrison).  I'm not sure I understand what's supposed to be different between Heritage and Archives, but this Archives card looks and feels more like a baseball card to me, with the people in the background, and also with the look/texture of the card back (not pictured!).  I don't expect to buy many of either Archives or Heritage in the future, but I guess I prefer Archives, even if I can't really tell what the difference is supposed to be.

Thanks for reading!

I bought some modern cards: 2019 Topps Series 1

I said in my last post that I had bought some 2019 Topps and some 2019 Donruss, which is a big departure for me as I hardly own any modern cards.  I showed some of the more interesting Donruss cards last time, so today I'll show a selection of the Topps cards.  I bought two blasters at Target, for about 200 cards.

Hank Aaron and Mike Trout.

Greatness has returned, according to Topps.  I really like the picture of Hank Aaron batting here.  I don't know if Mike Trout is a new Hank Aaron, but he's certainly also great.

Nick Ahmed and Cesar Hernandez.

I got two numbered parallels.  This stars-and-stripes Nick Ahmed is numbered 20/76, and the gold Cesar Hernandez is 1932/2019.  I heard a lot about Ahmed in the offseason as a possible shortstop for the Pirates to pick up.  They didn't, and they do have some trouble at shortstop.  As I write this, Ahmed and the Diamondbacks are pummeling the Buccos.

Willie Calhoun.

Rich Hill.

I guess you'd call these two rainbow foil parallels.  We have a Future Stars, Willie Calhoun of the Rangers, and also Rich Hill, pitcher for the Dodgers.  Just like when I was a kid in 1987, it is nice to pull Future Stars and All-Star Rookies from packs of Topps.

Then we have a selection of stadiums I've been to.

Fenway.

I have a friend and longtime research collaborator at Boston University, so I visit there often.  BU is just a short walk from Fenway, so I've availed myself of the opportunity to catch a game a few times.

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

Another good friend and research collaborator is at University of California at Berkeley.  So when I was visiting him once, I asked him to take me to an A's game.  We met up with a couple of friends, one from high school and one from college, who both moved to San Francisco.

Citizens Bank Park.

In the 80s and 90s, I would say that Dad and I went to about 50-75 Phillies games at the Vet.  Then when I wasn't living in the area anymore, they tore down the Vet and built Citizens Bank Park.  I moved back to the area at some point, and Dad got sick.  I wanted to take him to see the new park before he died, so me, my wife, Mom, and Dad all went to a game together.  The game started but then got rained out.  We got a rain check and came back for the completion of the game.  I'm so glad Dad and I got there before he died; he's been gone over six years now.

Mike Piazza.

Randy Johnson.

Finally, I'll close with these commemorative patch cards, which are guaranteed at one per blaster.  The back proclaims "Congratulations!" for receiving the card, which strikes me as odd since you're definitely getting one per blaster.  I'm not quite sure what the point of these is, but I do like both Randy Johnson and Mike Piazza, so it's good to have more cards of them, at least.

Overall, despite the lack of logos, I think I actually prefer the Donruss.  I would describe the design of the Topps cards as overwrought, while the Donruss cards seem to capture more fun to me.  Anyway, thanks for reading!

I bought some modern cards: 2019 Donruss

For the first time I bought a significant number of modern cards, with some 2019 Topps Series 1 and some 2019 Panini Donruss, all at the local Target.  Here are some of the more unusual Donruss cards I got.

Two shiny pink Aaron Judge cards.

One of the boxes I bought had "pink fireworks" as a selling point, and every pack had at least two shiny pink cards inside.  These two are of Aaron Judge.  The first is in a "nicknames" subset, and the second recalls the old oversized Donruss All-Star cards that I've posted about several times.

Dustin Fowler autograph.

I pulled two autographs, this one in the "Bleachers Inc." series, of A's player Dustin Fowler.  Fowler was with the Yankees for one game in 2017 and played in 69 games with the A's in 2018.  So far in 2019 he's in the minors, at Las Vegas of the Pacific Coast League.

Patrick Wisdom autograph.

My second auto is of the pink fireworks kind, in the "Signature Series" subset, of then-Cardinals player Patrick Wisdom.  Wisdom is with the Rangers this year, but has also been at Nashville of the Pacific Coast League.

Mike Trout and Chris Archer.

Here are a couple more pink shiny cards; Mike Trout in the "Elite Series" and Bucco Chris Archer.  I bought three varieties of Donruss; I don't know all the terminology, but I think one was a hanger pack, one was what you call a Blaster, and one called itself a "Mega Box."  All but the Mega Box had a fair number of Pirates.  Archer here is one of the only Pirates from the Mega Box.

Albert Pujols and Ronald Acuna, Jr.

Here are two very shiny silver cards, both in versions that recall those classic 80s Donruss Highlights and All-Star sets.  These throwback designs are absolutely a reason to buy the cards for me. 

Patriotic variations for Gerrit Cole and Nick Markakis.

Here are some American flag-themed parallels for former Pirate Gerrit Cole and Nick Markakis of Atlanta.

David Bote and Rated Rookie Kyle Tucker.

Here we have some blue shiny parallels, David Bote of Chicago and Kyle Tucker, Rated Rookie of Houston.  Like the Highlights and Action All-Stars, it's good to see that Rated Rookie logo coming out of a pack of cards.

Hunter Renfroe.

Patrick Corbin.

Finally, here is a red shiny parallel of Hunter Renfroe of the Padres.  And I pulled one stamped numbered card, this 1985 retro of Arizona's Patrick Corbin.  I would say that of the regular cards I got, about 1/3 were the 1985 retro design and about 2/3 were the 2019 design.  This one among the 1985-ish cards was numbered.  The front looks just like the others except for the 70/99, but the back is shiny.  I scanned the back but the effect didn't come through, so it's not worth showing I think.

So, of approximately 200 of the 2019 Donruss cards that I now own, these are the ones I wanted to show.  I think I don't fully "get" modern cards, with all the things shining and sparkling, and with photo parallels and name parallels and all that, but this was still fun.  Thanks for reading!

Harmon Killebrew in my collection

I've meant for a long time to do a post of the Harmon Killebrew cards in my collection.  I've had two good cards of him, and a handful of others of him, in my collection for a long time, and I've picked up some more good ones recently.

1959 Topps Harmon Killebrew.

1959 Topps card back.

This is one of the two good ones, his 1959 Topps card.  I was most familiar with the 1959 design in the late 80s and early 90s from the Baseball Cards magazine repli-cards of then-current players.  But I did manage to pick up exactly one 1959 Topps card back then; I wish I knew where I got it or how much it cost.  As you can see on the card back, the card has been written on.  Getting damaged cards was a strategy I employed back then to get vintage Hall-of-Famers.

1969 Topps Killebrew.

1982 K-Mart MVPs.

The other good card of Killebrew from my original collection is this 1969 Topps.  You can see the damage very clearly -- it's got what I think is a wax stain across the front, and it's got multiple creases including a big one all the way down the front.  As the 1982 K-Mart 20th Anniversary card shows, Killebrew had a good year, being named the 1969 AL MVP.  This K-Mart card was also part of my original collection from the 80s and 90s.

1972 Topps Killebrew.

1972 Topps Killebrew In Action.

I've picked up a couple more vintage Killebrew cards as part of building a 1972 Topps set.  He has a regular card and an In Action.  He was getting towards the end of his career, but still appeared on Topps cards through the 1975 set.

1972 Topps AL RBI Leaders.

Killebrew had one more appearance in the 1972 set (I'm not counting a Twins team picture) on this 1971 AL RBI leaders card.  He led the AL with 119, which was third in the majors behind Joe Torre of the Cardinals with 137 and Willie Stargell with 125.  Next in the majors were Hank Aaron with 118, Bobby Bonds with 102, and then the next AL player was Frank Robinson with 99, tied with Willie Montanez of the Phillies.  Next in the NL were Lee May with 98 and Rusty Staub with 97.  Placing third in the AL was Reggie Smith of the Red Sox with 96.  So these three, Killebrew, Robinson, and Smith, were the only three AL players in the MLB top ten in RBI in 1971.

1962 Post Killebrew.

1968 Topps Embossed Killebrew.

These two, the 1962 Post and the 1968 Topps Embossed insert, are also recent acquisitions since I've resumed collecting.  I posted these both already when I got them.  In both cases, I bought a small number of cards to represent these sets in my collection (and in my main binder).  I posted all of the 1962 Post cards, but my other couple of embossed cards I never posted.  I'll show them soon.

1985 Circle K Home Run Kings.

1987 K-Mart Stars of the Decades.

One of my favorite acquisitions since I restarted collecting is the 1985 Circle K Home Run Kings set.  Here's Killebrew's card from that.  The guys in that set are, to me, the real deal.  I think the worst part of baseball's steroid era is the use of those drugs to destroy baseball's great records, baseball's history.  The home run records mean nothing today.  But back then, when local hero Mike Schmidt finished 7th all time, I loved learning about the guys in front of him -- Reggie Jackson, Harmon Killebrew, Frank Robinson, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron.

Then we have another K-Mart card, from the 1987 set featuring stars of the decades.  Killebrew would have been one of the stars of the 60s.  We'll see if K-Mart is around much longer; it's not looking good.  My wife and I have moved a lot, but in different places over the years, when we've lived near a K-Mart we've shopped there, and my family shopped there sometimes when I was a kid in the 80s.  All of that is commemorated in my collection with my three K-Mart sets.

1988 Pacific Legends Killebrew.

2018 Donruss Killebrew, in the 1984 style.

Finally we have these two, a Pacific Legends that I pulled from a wax pack back in the day, and a current Donruss card in the 1984 style, that I pulled from a dollar store pack last year.

Thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas to you! And, some autograph pickups

Merry Christmas, to all who celebrate Christmas.  And if you don't celebrate Christmas, then happy Tuesday to you!  Today I'll show some nice presents I gave myself, you could say.  They weren't really Christmas presents, but they had been in my COMC account and arrived in my Black Friday box. 

Timeless Treasures Mike Schmidt.

Card back, numbered 35/50.

I restarted my collecting when I had the epiphany that as a grown man, I could afford the Mike Schmidt rookie card that was impossible when I was a kid.  And there are other things possible, too, like a Schmidt autographed card.  I don't have a great concept of what all of the early-2000s sets were, but this appears to be from Donruss Timeless Treasures, and Donruss back then must have still had a license to show team logos.  Schmidt and Carlton were the two huge Phillies stars of my day and I did manage to get Carlton's autograph at a show with Dad back in the early 90s.  A Schmidt auto is something that I think my collection really needed, and now I've got it.

Donruss Optic Rated Rookie Josh Bell.

Card back, numbered 29/150.

I've been enjoying watching Josh Bell play for the Bucs, so I wanted to get an autograph of his, too.  There are a bunch to choose from, and I picked a Rated Rookie.

Triple Threads Gregory Polanco 41/50.

I've been enjoying watching Gregory Polanco, too, at least when he's healthy enough to play.  So I got this Triple Threads of him, marking him as a Future Phenom.  I like the emerald color.

2016 Topps Archives Signature Buyback Kent Tekulve, numbered 38/134.

Finally there's this Topps Archives Signature Buyback (or something like that) of Kent Tekulve.  Back when they won the World Series in 1979, Teke was a premier reliever.  He may have never led the league in saves, but he put up solid numbers and did lead the league in games pitched and games finished several times.  He spent a few years with the Phillies and Dad and I got to see him pitch at the Vet a few times.

Happy holidays, and thanks for reading!

In which I pick up a few modern Topps cards

I struggle a bit with the question of whether I want to buy any current cards.  I've bought very few so far since I resumed collecting in 2017.  I find the modern concepts of parallels and inserts and hits all to be a bit overwhelming; when you bought a pack of 1989 Topps, for example, it was a lot clearer what you were getting.  Of course the modern situation could be more interesting than a pack of 1989 Topps.  So I haven't bought any blasters yet, but I am wondering if I might want to when next year's cards are released.  I have a while still to think that over, I guess.

2015 Topps NL Batting Leaders.

In the meantime, an eBay seller included some bonus cards for me.  I had purchased a number of small sets that I've been featuring, such as the 1978 Topps Phillies team set, the 1988 Chef Boyardee, 1987 M&M's, and so on.  I have a few yet to feature as well.  I'm not sure which order came with the modern cards as a throw-in, but it's always nice to get a bonus.  I even got this league leaders card with Harrison and McCutchen; that means that of all the small number of modern cards I own, four of them now have Cutch.

2016 Topps Mike Trout.

2016 Topps Albert Pujols.

I'm not showing all of the cards the eBay seller threw in, but I will say that other than the above 2015 card, the others were a handful of 2016 Topps flagship.  Here are two stars, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols of the Angels.  I really only have been watching the Pirates the past couple of years, but I gather people like to get cards of Trout.

2018 Topps Legends in the Making Felix Hernandez.

2018 Topps Legends in the Making Justin Verlander.

Then, the other day, I bought two twelve-card packs of 2018 Topps flagship at Target on a whim.  I reckon this brings my count of post-1994 cards in my collection up to about 75.  I got these two Legends in the Making inserts, and one other insert as well.  Like I said, I've really only watched the Pirates the past few years, so my knowledge of other players, especially in the AL, is spotty.  I have heard of Verlander at least (and featured a card of his once before) but actually don't think I had heard of Felix Hernandez.  Looking him up now, I see that he won the 2010 AL Cy Young; in my defense, I didn't start watching baseball again until the end of the 2015 season.

2018 Topps Adam Frazier.

2018 Topps Gorkys Hernandez.

I am very happy to have pulled one Pirate from my two packs; it was Adam Frazier, who seems to have a promising career if he finds a regular place to play.  Although it's the end of 2018, let me give my brief review of the flagship set: I like the card fronts overall, with many great pictures such as on this Gorkys Hernandez card.  I find the graphic design only slightly annoying in that the wave obscures a bit of the player's name, but otherwise I think the logo and the wave give good energy leading into the photo.  I think I like that the 2019 design has a border on at least some sides, though.  I do find the backs lacking, as there's a lot of white space and I'm not interested in knowing their social media handles. 

Thanks for reading!

Favorite 2018 Card

I think the count of post-1994 cards that I own is about 50.  That's somewhere between one-tenth of one percent and two-tenths of one percent of my collection.  All my modern cards have been acquired in the past 18 months, since I resumed collecting after being on hiatus since 1994.

Of those 50, my number of 2018 cards is 18.  I bought four four-packs of 2018 Donruss at the dollar store, and I bought a Josh Harrison Topps Heritage card from COMC.  My favorite of the 2018 cards I have is this one, Andrew McCutchen from the 2018 Topps flagship Opening Day insert set, also bought from COMC.

2018 Topps Opening Day insert Andrew McCutchen.

It was put out shortly after Cutch was traded to the Giants.  Of the about 50 modern cards I have, three are of McCutchen: this one, a Panini autograph, and a Marketside pizza card.  I've only been watching baseball again (I stopped at the 1994 strike) since 2015, when my son was born.  You could say that I almost perfectly timed that to miss out on the 20 consecutive losing seasons for the Bucs.  I returned in time to see the difference Cutch made to the Pirates, and these three cards are a little tribute to him, and a little nod to modernity, in my collection.

This card also reminds me slightly of a Sean Scully painting, which is a plus.

Thanks for reading!

I bought a few modern cards

I have very few post-1994 cards; I've said this before.  The count is probably about 40, with most of those being 8 4-card packs of recent Donruss from the dollar store.  My collection is probably about 35,000 cards, so the 40 or so modern cards make up a bit more than a tenth of a percent.  I'm winding down this renewed period of collecting, so the total isn't likely to increase much.

So, here are three modern cards that were in my recent COMC box.  They're all Pirates, and this post could be viewed as being in honor of the Bucs scratching out a winning season, with their 82-79 record.  I'm fortunate that my time away from baseball just about completely coincided with their 20 consecutive losing seasons, so I didn't have to see any of that.

Josh Harrison.

I have some specific goals for the modern cards I am picking up.  I've enjoyed watching Josh Harrison play the past couple of years.  He goes out there and really gives his all.  He's probably not going to be a Pirate much longer, so I wanted a card of him in my binder.

Andy Van Slyke.

Andy Van Slyke, Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla made up the offensive core of those late 80s/early 90s Bucco teams I watched so faithfully in middle school and high school.  I wanted to get a few autographed cards to help fill up the box my PSA-graded cards go in; the autographs will go in magnetic holders and not be PSA-graded, but these can help to fill up the box.  I'm not interested in any more Bonds cards, and COMC doesn't show any Bonilla autographs.  So I have this Van Slyke to commemorate those teams amongst my autographed cards.

Andrew McCutchen.

When I started posting some of my old food-issued cards, people mentioned the Marketside pizza promotion.  I wasn't collecting then, and didn't even know what Marketside was, but I'm always up for adding a food-issued card to my collection.  I also still appreciate McCutchen's time with the Bucs, and am happy to add another card of him.  Of my about 40 modern cards, three are of Cutch. 

I have a few more modern cards (all autographs) now in my COMC account, which will ship with my Black Friday haul.  I'll show them when the time comes.  Thanks for reading!