COMC is My "National"

This past weekend the National Sports Collectors Convention took place in Cleveland, OH.  If you live in the States this is the show of the year, and unless you live under a rock you've probably seen plenty of people blogging about their experiences there.  I've never been fortunate enough to live within driving distance of one of these shows since I got back into the hobby in 2007.  I do, however, like any human being with a computer and internet access, have the wonderful site that is comc.com available at my fingertips.

I made my very first purchase on the site just about three years ago now, and was hooked.  There are definitely plenty of bargains to be had if you've got a sharp eye and a little patience.  Since I couldn't make this year's National, here's 10 random cards I recently had shipped from the next best thing, COMC:

I was really into the Topps Gypsy Queen set when it first came out a few years ago, but it's sort of run its course in my humble opinion.  One thing I seem to like every year though are the framed parallels.  When I found this white framed Jacoby Ellsbury from last year's set at just .40 cents I pounced on it right away.

Especially since the same seller had Carlton Fisk, again for .40 cents...

...and Wade Boggs as well, at the same price.  These three represent a complete team set for a very reasonable $1.20.  Take that National!

Here's a super shiny orange refractor from 2013 Topps Chrome.  Will Middlebrooks' card features one of the best photos from the set as far as I'm concerned.  I was happy to shell out a whole dollar for this card.  Hey, I've done much worse than this out of dollar boxes before.  I may look at picking up a couple of other parallels of this great card in future orders.

Here's a new one for me, Ellis Burks' 1987 Topps Traded rookie.  I already have the complete '87 Traded set, but this is my very first Topps Tiffany card!  I'm not sure why it took me 7 years of collecting as an adult before I ended up with one of these.

A recent Zistle trade brought me within striking distance of completing the 1993 Flair baseball set.  Enough so that I bothered to seek out a few of the remaining cards for this latest COMC order.  With Roger in hand I've got about a dozen left to track down from this iconic "high end" junk wax era set.

Remember when everyone went nuts for these Diamond Anniversary parallels back in 2011?  At the time they were pretty original and they certainly turned a lot of heads. 

Daniel Bard is one of those rare cases in baseball where a pitcher totally mentally loses it and seems to lose the ability to throw a strike overnight.  He went from being a bright prospect with a potentially successful career ahead of him to out of the game before age 30.  This year he was with the Rangers' single A team and was released after just .2 innings with a 175.50 ERA, 9 walks and 7 hit batters.  Yes, you read that correctly, .2 innings.  Not two, point two!  Wow.

Speaking of shiny, I'm awfully fond of the Pinnacle parallels that used dufex technology back in the day.  In the hockey card world they're called Rink Collection parallels, in the baseball card world Museum Collection.  Either way they are very shiny and visually appealing!  I couldn't pass on former Cy Young winner Frank Viola for the measly sum of .35 cents.

Here's another Topps Tiffany card, this time from the 1991 set.  No rhyme or reason behind this one, just always loved the horizontal photo on this particular card and it was cheap.

Last but not least a nice Pedro insert from a set I've never heard of released during a time I wasn't collecting, 2000 Pacific Invincible.  Sort of cheesy I guess but I thought it was unique and my Pedro Martinez selection is pretty lacking when it comes to Sox cards.

Total for these 10 cards...just $4.77!  I'll take that any day.  I may never make it to a National show, but in the meantime I sure am grateful to be living in the internet age...