Spring Cleaning Cards

This was going to be a show-off post for all the cards I acquired during COMC's Spring Cleaning Sale. But... they didn't have one. Jerks. So I was going to scan and discuss the cards I bought from February-April. And then Kevin hit me with a killer giveaway PWE, Johnny sent me a near set of 2023 Topps, and my brother-in-law surprised me with some shiny cards that didn't fit his collection. 

So this is going to be a little longer than I'd planned. The good news is, it will be my last post for a while.

A good chunk of my COMC order was free, as I'd accumulated a fair bit of challenge credit. (How many challenges have I done? You'll see.) That resulted in a lot of $5-and under purchases where I tried to get the most bang for my buck - such as this Gordie Howe Sportscaster for $3.00. It's the first time I've ever owned one of these. They're flimsier than I expected, but much cleaner.

You know I love Panini Immaculate cards. It's the one set where I will not be picky about which players are depicted.

Nick Williams was a starting outfielder for the Phillies when this card was released (2018) but got shoved out of the way when the team signed Bryce Harper. This is a low-numbered autographed quad relic of a player who was in triple-A the following year. Which is why I was able to snag it for $2.25.

Not all of these were cheap. The green-bordered Dustin Pedroia relic (listed as EX-NM for some reason) was $2.99. The Rick Porcello relic next to it was $1.45. The Ortiz/Pedroia dual on the left was $9.90.

Which is more than I spent on this Gus Zernial 1953 Bowman Color card:

I picked up a mislabeled 1959 Topps Zernial buyback on a whim, thinking I could flip it during the COMC Spring sale. But since they never had one, I'll have to request shipping on another order for this.

 

 Had to splurge for this '63 Topps Ken Boyer. I'd made an offer on a graded copy but the seller refused to take less than $75. I balked and bought this on COMC for $12.70 instead.

 

And a couple of 1956 Topps cards for $3.58 each, bringing my total for the set to 220 out of 342 cards. Almost at 2/3 completion!!

 

Set fillers. Dent is the last 1986 Topps single I wanted to upgrade; close the book on that one. Barrasso completes the 1993-94 Leaf Painted Warriors insert set, though Grant Fuhr needs an upgrade. My Fleer basketball binder (containing 1988-89, 1989-90, and 1990-91 sets) is missing just seven cards now.

 

Shiffy! I have two pages worth of this pose but I'd rather spend $1.36 on a pretty border color than $5.25 on a whole new Mikaela card. Maybe I'll get one during the Black Friday sale unless COMC cancels that, too.

 

Lizzy! The Scarlet parallel at the top looks cooler but doesn't scan as well. It's funny, for all the hype her twin sisters got I feel like Elizabeth is the most talented and interesting Olsen. It would be like if the Sedin twins were constantly hyped in the states, got to the NHL and (instead of becoming Hall of Famers) were gone within a decade. Meanwhile their less heralded kid bro Mattias became a superstar instead.

This would be a good time to show off my hockey acquisitions. 

There's the requisite ePack cheapies. (I wont bother you with my Devils haul.)

 PC players.

And Whalers, including a Pat Verbeek auto. One of those Sebastian Aho Skybox cards was supposed to be a Spectum parallel. Now I have to spend 40 cents on another one. Thanks, COMC :/

Oh, and you see the two SP cards on the bottom left? Those are from 2020-21 SP Signature Legends, a worthy successor to 2004-05 In the Game Franchises. It's fantastic. Guess when it was released?

Two months ago. Upper Deck still hasn't recovered from Covid-related supply chain issues? Yeesh.


I'll speed through the other sports real quick. Here's some basketball, including a Khris Middleton RC:

The wrong guy is doing Taco Bell commercials. I don't care if Fall is playing in China - his name is Tacko!

Picked up some new Packers, including a Dorsey Levens RC that had eluded my collection for nearly 30 years!

Some cheapo baseball including the Bernie Williams TBT single in the Duran Duran design design.

And some more cheapo baseball. The Marcelo Mayer at the top left was not cheap, however. At $20.05 it was the big splurge of the lot, and forced me to add actual money to my COMC account. Really thought my prospecting days were over, but how often do the Red Sox have the "best prospect in the draft"?


I have another 20+ cards sitting at COMC that I need to bring home, but I am officially retired from playing the challenge game because... I hit a major milestone!!

all of that work earned me.. a red icon

600 trades, 600 posts, 500 feedback comments on TCDB, and a million challenge points. After all those milestones, I think it's time to retire. 

Nah, I've still got some sets to finish.

And I don't think I'll ever be completely done with collecting. I do need a break though. After I re-sort all the cards I scanned for those All-Time Teams scans and put these new cards away, inlcuding:

My brother in law bought a Star Trek relic card on eBay and the seller included some random cards with it. For protection I guess? He's more of a non-sports guy though he passively collects hockey.

There were no hockey cards included, so he gave them all to me. The two Red Sox prospects were a welcome sight, and so was all the shiny stuff.

Johnny, Night Owl... holler if you need any of these.

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Okay, I have rambled on long enough. It was a goal of mine to come up with creative posts as I felt like the whole sphere was stagnating. The Young Guns Chronicles and Greatest Non-Hall of Famers were a lot of fun, and I'd been planning to update the All-Time Teams series for a while.

I wrote these long research series because I'm no longer inspired to write about cards. Purchasing and collecting and trading and scanning and cataloging and sorting and protecting cards is so time consuming. After all of that, it's harder to come up with unique ways to discuss them.


That's what I need a break from. I'll always be a writer, and a collector. The rest of it feels like work. 

Thank you very much for reading all of these long posts. I hope you have a fantastic summer. I'll see you around.

~~