COMC Blaster - Nolans, Green Monsters & The Great One

I've begun buying more and more of my cards from COMC because I find that you simply get more bang for your buck.  For those mid-level book value cards ($1 - $20) this is the best site going in my opinion, and it just so happens that those types of cards are my favorite to collect.  A couple of summers ago I put together a virtual hobby box by shopping on COMC and it was a fun experiment.  Along those same lines I thought that COMC "blasters" would be a good way to show off some of the random goods I've picked up, and will also help me remember how much more I can get for my money if I avoid random retail packs.  I'll make sure these COMC blasters come within $1 of retail blaster price to keep things comparable.  Let's dive in and see my first haul...

2011 Allen & Ginter #AGR-JM - Joe Maddon Framed Mini Relic - $2.15

I had seen this card posted on quite a few blogs back in 2011 and have always wanted a copy for myself.  Joe is one of the best coaches in the game and I love the swatch, which comes from some crazy plaid traveling suit he had the team all wear if memory serves me right.  I may end up trading this one away someday but for just over $2 I couldn't pass it up.  Plus now my COMC blaster even has a hit.

2008 Goudey #HPC-22 - Nolan Ryan Hit Parade of Champions Mini - $1.58

There are quite a few Nolan Ryan cards in today's post, as you'll see shortly.

2011-12 Upper Deck Artifacts #110 - Ron Francis Short Print #'d/999 - $.92

Even managed to sneak in a Hartford Whalers card.  This one will be making an appearance on my other blog at some point, as soon as I find the time to research whether or not there are any other Whalers on the '11-12 Artifacts checklist...

2010 Topps Opening Day #M4 - Wally the Green Monster Mascot - $1.00

You could definitely make an argument that I overpaid a bit for this one, but I really didn't mind.  I want to track down all of the Wally cards that exist out there eventually.

2007 Topps Opening Day #190 - Wally - $1.00

Speaking of which, here's another that I snagged for an even dollar.

1993-94 Upper Deck SP #70 - Wayne Gretzky - $1.25

Wayne is one of the last big-name cards I needed to knock off the 1993-94 SP set, so I happily shelled out a buck and a quarter for a mint copy of this card.

2008 Goudey #208 - Nolan Ryan Short Print - $2.08

Here come some more of the Ryans I warned you about.  I didn't notice until just now that I paid $2.08 for card #208 here, interesting.

2008 Goudey #208 - Nolan Ryan Mini Red Back - $2.25

In addition to the standard base card I grabbed the Mini Red Back parallel as well, couldn't leave it behind given that it was just a few cents more than the base card.

2008 Topps Stadium Club #97 - Nolan Ryan - $.93

I wish the 2008 Stadium Club set hadn't been ruined by the weird short print/numbering system, because I really love the design.

1981 Fleer #224 - Carlton Fisk - $.50

Considering what I paid for this, it's really inexcusable that I didn't add it to my collection sooner.

2011 Topps Gypsy Queen #19 - Jon Lester Green Framed Parallel - $.51

There was a time when I thought I'd collect all 100 of the 2011 Gypsy Queen framed parallels, the green and "paper" variations.  Then the retail supply completely dried up, I never saw so much as a single pack again, and I didn't feel like paying the prices that some of these go for on the secondary market.  To get one of the Red Sox 2013 ace for $.51 was nice though.

2009 Goudey #230 - Nolan Ryan Sport Royalty SP - $1.90

I gladly shelled out close to $2 for this short print, given that I pay more than that to ship a single card from an eBay win most of the time.

2001-02 Topps Archives #7 - Pierre Pilote - $.69

2001-02 Topps Archives #19 - Bobby Clarke - $.69

2001-02 Topps Archives #25 - Dennis Hull - $.69

2001-02 Topps Archives #52 - Johnny Bower - $.69

Four of the final few cards I need to knock off the 2001-02 Topps Archives hockey set.  Just a couple left now, I should be able to put this one to rest sometime in 2013.

2012 Topps Update #TM-133 - Will Middlebrooks 1987 Mini RC - $1.63

Finally a 1987 Topps Mini from last year's Topps Update set.  This was the affordable Will Middlebrooks "rookie" that I wanted more than any other last year, I'm really happy to have landed this one.

There's my blaster, seventeen choice cards for $20.46 shipped to my door.  I'll take that over a retail blaster any day!