Rainbows & Cognac - A Saturday Night COMC Blaster

Welcome to the latest edition of the longstanding feature here on Shoebox Legends known as COMC Blasters.  You know the drill by now, $20 spent on COMC instead of on a retail blaster at my local Target.  Let's see what tonight's selections consist of...

Life got a little crazy right after the Red Sox won the World Series, and I never got to really congratulate the team here on the blog.  I'll take this Xander Bogaerts as an opportunity to do so.  2018 was actually Xander's second World Series championship already, as he was a late-season call-up for the 2013 World Series winning team.

This one is a short-print variation of Xander's 2016 flagship card, with a photo from Jackie Robinson Day.  I paid $2.55 for this, which seems like a lot for a base card from 2016, but Bogaerts has been my favorite player for about 5 years running now.  This is  my 111th card and counting of the Boston shortstop.

How about a nice trio of '59 Topps cards towards my slow set build?  Not big names by any means, but I pushed three cards off the want list with Don Cardwell at 81 cents...

...Hobie Landrith at just 55 cents...

...and Mike Baxes in fantastic shape for 70 cents.  I now have 288 different cards from the 1959 Topps set, which means with this trio I have officially crossed the 50% threshold!  That feels pretty great.

You knew I'd sneak a soccer card in here.  I've mentioned numerous times that I've got a very small collection of former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho, and this 2016-17 Select Multi-Color parallel was just too shiny for me to leave behind at $1.35.  Besides, it pairs nicely with the Ronaldo from this set that I posted over the summer.

Perfect timing to have pulled this Mookie Betts Toys 'R' Us Purple parallel for posting.  Congrats to your 2018 American League MVP!  I was able to get a pretty decent Betts collection going before he became an absolute superstar, but these days I don't pick up too many since prices are so insane.  I'm surprised that I was able to secure this parallel for just 70 cents.

I'm fascinated by dinosaurs.  I'm sure in large part due to the fact that Jurassic Park was released when I was an impressionable 10-year-old.  Anyway, I've shown quite a few Upper Deck 3D Dinosaur inserts on the blog in the past, but here's another dinosaur-themed set that I'm collecting.  These "Monsters of the Mesozoic" minis are from 2010 Allen & Ginter.  There are 25 of them in all.  I was recently able to score Allosaurus...

...and Oviraptor for a combined price of $1.10.  I'm up to 7 of the 25 cards in this set now, getting there slowly but surely.

David Krejci was my favorite player for years after he broke into the league with Boston about a decade ago.  These days I'm not even sure I could name my favorite active player.  Krejci's still at it with the Bruins though, and I couldn't resist this Gold Rainbow parallel (#'d /149) from O-Pee-Chee Platinum when I stumbled across it at just 85 cents.

Here's another Bruin to pair with it.  I really enjoyed that inaugural Prizm set from Panini, and all of its very bright, colored parallels.  At $1.79, this Blue Prizm parallel of Carl Soderberg's rookie is the third most expensive card in tonight's post.  I wouldn't really seek this one out these days, however I picked it up all the way back in November of 2014 when he still had some buzz around him in Boston (yes, it took me that long to scan and add this card to my digital collection).

Running total is at $10.40, just over halfway there.  Let's see what remains...

Topps Chrome Atomic Refractors are some of the most beautiful parallels out there if you're a fan of shiny cards, and the 2011 set was the only time they made them even relatively attainable.  Typically these were numbered insanely low, like to /10, however in 2011 Topps produced 225 copies of each.  I have an insane goal of collecting the entire 220-card set in Atomic Refractor form.  Maybe not that insane, as Jered Weaver here puts me at 182 down, or 82.7% complete.  88 cents well spent.

This was a case of sort all of the 2018 Boston Red Sox cards by lowest price, and pick some low-hanging fruit.  I thought these Tarot card based inserts from Gypsy Queen were sort of interesting, so I snagged Chris Sale at just 40 cents.

Who doesn't love the lenticular cards from Kellogg's from the '70s and '80s?  I'll take any card I don't have from any of the sets, and I'll certainly throw a Red Sox great that I was missing from the '82 set into my cart for the low price of 35 cents!

1993-94 Leaf had some truly excellent inserts in my humble opinion.  I've always loved these Painted Warriors cards, featuring the goalie masks that fans of the '90s all know and love.  I plan to collect all 10 of these at some point, Kirk McLean gets me started for just 47 cents.

Here's your 2018-19 NHL goal leader at this stage of the season, winger David Pastrnak.  This is one of those Gold Rainbow Foil parallels from the 2016-17 Upper Deck release.  I bought this quite a while back at $1.47, and I'm really glad I did because due to his league-leading 17 goals the cheapest one available on the site currently is north of $8.

I shelled out $1.65 for this Opening Day Blue parallel of third baseman Will Middlebrooks from the 2013 set.  I really only picked this one up because I think the photograph on Will's 2013 Topps releases is just fantastic, so I've attempted to pick up as many different parallels of this card as I can find for relatively cheap coin.

Obligatory 2011 Topps Legends variation!  I'm constantly on the prowl for these, and after recently adding Monte Irvin's base card I've now got the Cognac Diamond Anniversary parallel to compliment it.  My cost?  69 cents.  Yes, please.

From the same O-Pee-Chee Platinum set as the David Krejci card above, here's a Rainbow Color Wheel parallel of future HOFer Jarome Iginla.  I really like how colorful these are, and thanks to the e-Pack promotion between Upper Deck and COMC they are dirt cheap.  Iginla cost me just 30 cents in credit.

Almost at the end here, and it's time for the most expensive card in tonight's post.  I aim to acquire the entire 100-card 2014 Topps Finest set in X-Fractor format, as these are right up there with the 2011 Topps Chrome Atomic Refractors as some of my favorite colorful parallels, period.  World Series MVP George Springer's RC is one of the more desirable cards on the checklist, so I was pumped when the seller accepted my best offer of $2.75.  A significant notch in my belt as this project goes, that's 17 down, 83 to go...

I'm also accumulating these 2011 Gypsy Queen "Framed Paper" parallels over time.  There are 100 of them, but there are 999 copies of each so they're not all that tough to come by.  George Sisler cost me 53 cents, which brings me up to a running total of $19.89 on the night.  Since we're just 10 cents short now of the $19.99 retail price of a blaster, that will conclude this evening's COMC Blaster.

Thanks as always for stopping by, hope you saw a card or two at least that you found interesting!

eBay Dollar Boxin' - Blaster Edition

At the outset of this year, I picked up a lot of just shy of 50 hand-selected singles off of eBay at 99 cents per card with free shipping.  I posted some of the goods earlier in the year, including some Starting Lineup hockey cards, some questionable autographs, and even some 1st Day Issue Stadium Club parallels.

While tidying up my office recently I discovered I'd never scanned in the remainder of my haul from that seller.  Seems as good a time as any to get to it.  I just so happen to have 20 cards left to show, so let's think of this as an "eBay Blaster" I guess.  Here's what I grabbed...

I've mentioned this a few times on the blog before, but any Topps Finest refractor from the first three baseball sets (93-95) that I can find on the cheap is coming home with me.

The 1993 Finest refractors are some of the most coveted cards of the entire decade, so I've only got a couple of those.  I think the less popular '94s look beautiful still, and I'm not sure there are many more of them in existence than there are of their '93 counterparts.

In any event, I cleaned this seller out of his '94s at a buck a pop.

Ended up with half a dozen in total.

Not exactly stars, with Tom Gordon being probably the most successful of the bunch.

Still, for $5.94 I was pleased to pick up another batch of these.  I more than doubled my collection of these refractors in doing so, as I have just 11 in total now from the '94 set.

Topps Triple Threads is a mid to high-end product (I think?) that I'd never end up buying any of myself.  I scooped up a pair of Amber parallels from the 2017 release though, each numbered to /150.  Got Dustin Pedroia...

...and even more amazingly, Mookie Betts.  This was before the 2018 season began, doubt I'd be the lone bidder at 99 cents these days.  A nice duo for my Red Sox collection here.

Starting Lineup cards?  Love 'em.  Gretzky cards?  Who doesn't love 'em?  Both combined on one card?  Yes, please.  I was excited about this low-end addition to my modest collection of The Great One.

I picked up this '72 Topps card because I always enjoyed the World Series subsets from the old Topps flagship baseball releases.  Turns out I already had this one, however this was a nice condition upgrade from my previous copy which was fairly well loved.

I'll be honest, memorabilia/relic cards just don't hold much appeal to me these days except in very specific circumstances.  If you give me a chance to grab one of a guaranteed future HOFer from a retro-themed set for a dollar though, I'll bite.  Iginla gets no respect it seems.

Not hard to figure out what drew me to this one.  This seller really had a wide variety of cards available, but I certainly didn't expect a new die-cut parallel and hard-signed Whalers autograph. Easily one of this Whalers fan's favorite cards of this post.

Here are a couple more '72 Topps cards.  If I won the lottery, or if I didn't have a hundred other hobby-related projects already in the works, I'd seriously consider pursuing 1972 Topps.  It's just such a beautiful set.

For now, I picked up this pair just because they're relatively high numbers (both 600+) and in great shape.

While it doesn't strictly fit into my collection, I love the Brooklyn Dodgers and just couldn't leave this Duke Snider behind.  I partially grabbed it just because I love Starting Lineup cards, but it was mostly all about that awesome photograph.

Speaking of Starting Lineup cards, here's one last one for tonight.  I collected Will Clark big time as a kid in the early '90s, and I knew I didn't have a copy of this 1991 Starting Lineup card.  A sweet slice of nostalgia that was well worth the 99 cents I paid for it.

I was fortunate to score a couple of nice Red Sox parallels for my team collection as well.  Both of them are blue parallels, with Daisuke Matsuzaka coming from the 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes set...

...and a Blue Refractor of Mike Lowell from 2009 Topps Chrome.

Just two cards left here, and this one might be the best bargain that I got in this particular batch.  The Canvas inserts have been tremendously popular from Upper Deck, and the short-printed retired legends Canvas inserts typically sell fairly well on the secondary market.

I actually had Brett Hull's Canvas SP from the 2011-12 set, but gave it away in an act of kindness to a collector I knew who was working on a 2011-12 Canvas master set.  So, I feel like this one falling into my lap for a buck was in some way a small result of karma.  Cheapest copy on COMC at the time of this post is north of $10.

Lastly, I may not want to drop $70 or more on a Patrik Laine Young Guns rookie card from 2016-17 Upper Deck, but I'll certainly spend a dollar on a rookie year card from the "Update" series of the very same set.  I like the photograph, and it was an easy call picking up a first year card of the sniper for such little coin.

Well, that's a wrap on this bulk lot of singles.  Only took me 9 months to get through it in the end.  About my usual pace, sadly.  See anything here that you would have grabbed for a dollar yourself?

Thanks for stopping by...

Buyback Franken-set: 6 from '69

I'm not feeling verbose today, after experiencing a very tough loss recently in my personal life.  It's difficult to care much about baseball cards at the moment, but since it's been a few days since I posted any kind of an update here on the blog I figure I can crank through half a dozen buybacks easily enough.

1969 Topps #429 - Willie Horton All-Star

These all come from the 2018 Topps Heritage buyback box-topper program.  Willie Horton here is the lone All-Star subset card in the grouping.  This one has to make the cut for the franken-set, right?

Ooh, tough draw with a fantastic manager card here.  One of the best managers in the history of the game no less, and one that just helped the Red Sox win a World Series as a Vice President to President of Baseball Operations, Dave Dombrowski.

Had to stick with LaRussa.

1969 Topps #125 - Ray Sadecki

Lefty Ray Sadecki had really dropped off in production between his 20-win season for the 1964 World Series champion Cardinals and the time this card was printed up.  His ERA ballooned from sub-3.00 to well over 4.00 in 1969, and he saw an increasing amount of bullpen work.

Certainly not a season worthy of displacing this '78 George Scott buyback in slot 125.

Not a chance.

1969 Topps #36 - Luke Walker

Luke Walker had an average season for the Bucs in 1969.  He really exploded in 1970, enough so to earn both Cy Young and MVP votes.  1969 though was just average...

Can average knock this '75 Joe Lovitto from the binder?

It cannot.

1969 Topps #555 - Jim Hart

Next up, outfielder Jim Hart of the Giants.  Jim could really slug the ball, but unfortunately he was a total liability on the defensive side of the ball.  Because of that he never really achieved his true potential in Major League Baseball, despite a few notable seasons.

I've got a '73 Bill Hands in slot 555.  Which is better?

I like the Jim Hart.

1969 Topps #267 - Vicente Romo

The Tribe actually traded Vicente Romo to the Red Sox in April of 1969.  The Red Sox certainly handed him the ball a lot, as he made 52 appearances with Boston before the season was over.

Unfortunately for Romo, he draws Herman Franks and some of the best shades in the entire franken-set as his opponent for card #267.

Don't see how I could have gone the other way with this one.

1969 Topps #127 - Kevin Collins

Unfortunately for Kevin Collins, he was dealt to the Expos in June of 1969, and thus was not on the roster for the miraculous post-season run the Mets enjoyed that year.  Then again, that was the trade that brought Donn Clendenon to New York.  So I guess it's doubtful the Mets would have won it all had they not executed that trade in June, given how clutch Clendenon was in the World Series that year.

Had this dual-player Angels RC from 1964 Topps in slot 127.

I love the look of that Kevin Collins card over the '64, so I'm going with it.

Well, that got my mind off things for a bit, but if I'm being honest my heart's just not in it at the moment.  I'm sure I'll be back soon though.  Thanks for stopping by as always.

Franken-set Progress: 632/792 (79%)
1990 Topps Buyback Set: 101/792 (12%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 520
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,253