Women On Cards (and My Favorite Card of 2017)

P-town Tom is once again running a contest for baseball card bloggers to write about their Favorite Card of 2017. I really did not expect to have an entry this year. For one thing, I have so many topics to blog about that I didn't want to delay them any further for fear that I'd forget what I want to say.

That's a lame excuse though. The truth is, I didn't purchase many new releases this year. Most of my spending cash went to singles on COMC, discount retail boxes of 2015 and 2016 products, and my 5-box break of 2017 Topps Heritage baseball. That's certainly my favorite set of 2017 but no single card stands out - other than the Carlos Correa 19/68 autograph that I sold on COMC later in the year.

2017 Topps flagship didn't interest me at all; I don't even think I bought a single pack of S1, S2, or Update. Stadium Club was fantastic as usual, and the set supplied plenty of great candidates for card of the year - Billy Hamilton, Tim Raines, and Jameson Taillon were three of my faves. But I don't own any of them; Stadium Club packs never hit the shelves at my local Target.

Though I did purchase hundreds of single cards on COMC there were no 2017 issues in my collection that immediately came to mind. Well, that's not entirely true...

There was one card I had waited on for most of the year. A basic insert, nothing rare or autographed or anything. When it wasn't part of the checklist for 2017 Topps Series 1 I assumed it would be in Series 2. I waited...and waited...and waited. It wasn't in Series 2.

What the hell, Topps? How can you make an MLB Network insert set without Heidi Watney?

Finally, the card we've all been waiting for - in Update. Well I wasn't about to purchase packs of watered-down rookies and all-stars just for the possibility of pulling this gem. I had to get one on COMC.

Once Update hit shelves I started searching for Heidi. Two or three times a week I'd check to see if any singles had hit the site. Every other MLBN personality was available - except Heidi. I assumed there were lots of other collectors out there, coveting this card as much as I was. Why would anyone sell such a gorgeous card? Luckily, someone did.

When COMC's Black Friday sales began I didn't have a whole lot of cards to focus on. There was this Brett Favre card from 2017 Panini Pantheon that might have bested Ms. Watney as my Favorite Card of the Year - if only it hadn't sold before I had the funds for it. That Favre card sold for over $20. My Heidi card only cost a buck - and she looks a lot better in a dress.


Here are some other women on cards that I purchased throughout the year:

Kristen Bell is one of my favorite actresses, on and off screen. When Veronica Mars was in its first season on WB/CW Kristen promoted the show on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. I thought she was cute and kinda quirky and the show sounded interesting - but when she revealed her love of hockey I was sold. 

Check out this old ticket we found with a picture of actress Kristen Bell in a Wings jersey next to Lord Stanley! pic.twitter.com/j6kjjFTj

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 28, 2012

*I'm not sure if Kristen is a stage name or a middle name or what, but she does look more like an 'Annie' to me

I didn't expect to like Veronica Mars as much as I did - and I didn't expect Kristen to become the big movie/TV star that she is today. I also didn't expect to find any decent trading cards of hers, since the autographed cards are way out of my price range and the PopCards base is kinda plain. The cards above cost $0.89 each.


Since Kristen Bell is the only actress I like who has appeared on a trading card (someone make a Jennifer Lawrence card please) the rest of of this post features women in sports. And since there aren't too many women other than Heidi Watney who appear in baseball card sets, these are women from sports I don't really follow.

I never got into wrestling, but how can you not love Stacy Keibler? The Divine Divas cards were $0.43 each, while the Absolute Divas card on the bottom right was $0.82. I've seen other wrestling divas on COMC and the blogosphere but none of them appealed to me like Stacy.

There were some MMA cards that caught my eye - mostly ring girls and whatnot - but nothing I wanted to spend any cash on. Then I saw this card:

Again, I know nothing about fight sports but I know Ronda Rousey was huge a couple years ago. Like, literally. Before she lost to Holly Holm you could have made that case that she was the most dominant athlete in any sport. Now I'm not even sure she's fighting anymore. $2.75 is a bit more than I wanted to pay, but this is such a badass card I had to bring it home. 

There are still more than a few females missing from my collection. I might become a fan of a Winter Olympian in the next few weeks like I did in 2014 when skeleton racer Noelle Pikus-Pace legit made me cry. I might decide to spend some COMC cash on Danica Patrick or Alex Morgan, or maybe the US women will win ice hockey gold and Upper Deck will finally show them some love. (No disrespect to Team Canada, but Americans are starting to figure out this ice thing. Hope you enjoyed it.)

Anyway, that's my entry for Favorite Card of the Year - and my first official post of "The COMC 500" If you haven't entered P-town Tom's contest yet, head on over to his blog and read all about it. The contest is open until January 8th. Good luck to those who enter!


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