COMC Blaster - Rainy Sunday Edition

After a week away from the blog, this dreary and rainy Sunday morning seemed like the perfect time to get back at it with a COMC "blaster".  Let's see what $20 or so in credit brought home to my collection this time around!

1955 Topps Jim Pendleton - $.45

Do I really need to explain this one?  A card I need from 1955 Topps for less than 50 cents in halfway decent condition is going into my cart every time.

2013 Topps Update Gold Jake Peavy (#'d /2013) - $.57

I'm not particularly excited by this one to be brutally honest with you.  I bought it way back in 2014 though, and the Sox were coming off a World Series championship at the time.  Nice fuzzy Green Monster backdrop in any event.

2015 Bowman Purple Henry Owens (#'d /250) - $.75

I picked this one up before Topps produced about 10,000 different Henry Owens cards over a short span a year or two back.  Henry pretty much flamed out, although it looks like he signed a minor league contract with the Diamondbacks last month.  At this stage however a return to MLB looks unlikely at best.  I can't believe I paid 75 cents for this card, ouch.

1992-93 Upper Deck World Juniors SP - $.52

Always wanted one of these short-printed special insert cards as a kid, but never managed to pull one.  Since I completed the 1992-93 Upper Deck set a while back I decided it was high time to knock off the couple of SP inserts as well, especially since you can pick them up for pocket change these days.

2014 Bowman Chrome Bubbles Refractor Yoenis Cespedes - $.85

I've shown these absolutely stunning Bubbles Refractors from 2014 Bowman Chrome a few times now.  They're some of my favorite shiny cards in existence, and Cespedes here is actually the 20th one to enter my collection.

2017 Topps Opening Day Mascots Wally the Green Monster - $.82

I feel sort of compelled to pick up the Wally the Green Monster insert from Topps Opening Day each season.  I think I've got most if not all of them at this point.  What can I say?  It's something a little different from the smattering of Red Sox player cards at least.

2016 Donruss Dominators Gold Luis Suarez - $.81

I've been a fan of Luis Suarez (not the ear-biting, of course) since his time with Liverpool in the Premier League a few years ago.  He had a pair of goals for Uruguay in the 2018 World Cup.  I thought this was an interesting, and extremely shiny, addition to my small but ever-growing soccer collection.

2008 Upper Deck Football Heroes Tom Morello - $.45

I was definitely into Rage Against the Machine as a teenager, though I don't listen all that much these days (unless maybe I'm running).  I was lucky enough to see them play live in 1999 as a 17-year-old, and it was one of the most insane concert experiences I've ever witnessed.  Couldn't pass up an opportunity to add Tom Morello to my collection for less than two quarters.

1994-95 Pinnacle Rink Collection Dino Ciccarelli - $.52

1994 Pinnacle Rink Collection cards are among my favorite hockey parallels ever produced.  If I had unlimited time and unlimited funds I'd probably consider trying to complete the entire set, but as it stands now I just cherry-pick stars here and there.  Wasn't going to leave HOFer Dino Ciccarelli behind for someone else to scoop up at 52 cents.

2016-17 Upper Deck AHL Mascots Samboni - $.40

I had no idea that Upper Deck included mascots in their 2016-17 AHL set.  In fact, despite working only a couple blocks over from where the Providence Bruins play their home games, I wasn't even aware the team had a mascot.  A fun addition to my hockey collection for just 40 cents.

2015 Upper Deck Dinosaurs Lenticular 3D Barosaurus - $1.00

These 3D dinosaur cards have appeared frequently in my "COMC Blaster" posts over the past year or two.  Barosaurus here, which is known to have been upwards of 85 feet in length, is my 12th card from this fantastic insert set.  That leaves 30 more to go, but some of them were severely short-printed so I'm not sure whether I'll ever finish the set.

2016-17 O-Pee-Chee Platinum Ice Blue Traxx Connor McDavid - $5.00

This one takes the prize, by a long shot, for most expensive card in today's post.  It's rare for me to shell out $5 or more for a modern hockey card, but my love for shiny cards won out here and McDavid is arguably the most exciting player in today's game.  Not quite the same allure as his Young Guns RC, which to date might be the most valuable card I've ever pulled myself from a pack, but a solid card nonetheless.

1957 Topps Andre Rodgers - $1.95

I wouldn't say I'm making an attempt at completing the 1957 Topps baseball set; there are at least two other '50s sets I'm already working on.  With that being said, this one is high up there in terms of my favorites from the decade, so I do grab a card or two on the cheap from time to time.  I think I've got about 50 or so in hand at this point, including a few HOFers.

2013 Panini Golden Age Playing Cards Carl Yastrzemski - $.64

Count me among the collectors that absolutely love what Panini did with their Golden Age sets, particularly the inserts.  I'm a long way from completing a full deck of the playing card inserts from 2013, but that didn't stop me from grabbing this Yaz.  Love it.

2014 Topps Bobby Abreu (Image Variation) - $1.70

I'm a total sucker for the image variation cards, at least when they're not short-printed to the point where they go for more than a couple bucks.  I was drawn to this one because 2014 was the final season for Abreu, and I thought this was a fine tribute to the first ballot member of the Hall of Very Good.

2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary Legends Bert Blyleven - $.75

I know of at least a few other collectors that are always on the lookout for the Diamond Anniversary Legends parallels from 2011 Topps.  It's getting more and more difficult in my experience to find these for less than a buck, so I was pleased to land Bert here for 75 cents. 

2011 Topps Cognac Diamond Anniversary Legends Jackie Robinson - $1.05

I'm equally fascinated by the Cognac versions, and was stunned to find this Jackie Robinson sitting out there for just a shade over a dollar.  Hindsight seems to confirm that it was a wise pick-up as well, as the cheapest copy on the site today is listed at north of $6.  On a related note, to this day I've yet to show my absolute greatest card of #42 here on the blog.  I have to fix that soon.

2013-14 Score Update Tim Thomas - $.70

I've been working away slowly at the large 2013-14 Score set for a good five years now.  A recent couple of packages from my buddy Douglas (thank you posts coming soon!), has me within striking distance.  Why would I pay 70 cents for this Tim Thomas?  Well, it's from the more difficult to find update portion of the set that I believe was released later, in boxes of Rookie Anthology.  Besides, that 2011 Stanley Cup season was one of the most dominant performances I've ever witnessed from a goaltender!

1977-78 Topps White Back Dave Cowens - $.59

Look, I'm not a basketball guy at all, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who's a fan of sports cards in general and doesn't think this is a beauty.  Aside from the fact that Cowens was a Rookie of the Year, MVP, All-Star, won multiple championships, has his number retired and is a member of the Basketball HOF, the imagery here is just awesome.  I really enjoy the candid shot, most notably those striped socks.

The backs are incredibly well done also, if you ask me.  I really love the layout, and it seems appropriate to have a reference to Christmas trees on a card with this much green!

That brings the running total for today's cards to $19.52.  I could probably scrounge around for another 50-cents-or-less card to top things off, but we'll call it here for now.  As I say every single time I do this, without fail, I doubt a blaster from Target would have brought me anywhere near this many keeper cards for my personal collection.

Thanks as always for stopping by, and happy Sunday!