Monday, March 19, 2018

All in all, another card in the wall

I've been wanting to do this in a while, and I finally got my lazy ass moving for once. I picked about 60 cards, after looking at all my binders and top loaders, so I suppose those would be my all time favorites (besides my 56 Ted Williams and 1960 Mantle, and all my autos). I'll just make sure they don't get exposed to direct sunlight, as I don't have duplicates for 95% of them.

This shows a few things : I like Griffey, I like Blue Jays, and I'm definitely a 90s guy. I don't even think there's anything from the last 15 years besides that Topps Now card.

I still need to put everything in place and add some Minis on the side to complete the project, and tadah, up on the wall it goes !



Edit : here's the finished project \o/


Wednesday, March 7, 2018

More COMC randomness

I've been having a lot of fun rounding up cards on Comc lately. I tended to stay away from it because I don't like spending .50cts for common or base cards (and I know it's because of fees, but still), but it's great for late 70s beat up cards and for 90's inserts. But since I don't use Ebay anymore because of growing basic fees from Comc for their mailbox service, it leaves me some budget to spend on cards I like (this just may be ironic).

Anyway, I received the order I passed in January, and as usual, there's a little bit of everything, depending on my current obsessions.




I tend to forget things (I'm getting old), but I'm pretty sure those are from NO's Top 100 70's cards. That Fisk card is a beauty indeed.


I love those Deckle cards. And more cheap Aparicio cards for the PC. I still need 57 through 59 and 63 through 65, and I won't find those for cheap on COMC.



The Ty Cobb is an insert from the Ted Williams card company. I liked those cards, I remember buying a couple of packs at the time. The 90's Dominators is, for some reason, one of my favorite inserts design of all time. Go figure...I have no idea why I collect Frank Thomas cards. He was a major force at the time, of course, but not that spectacular. Maybe it's his calm demeanor, or the fact he played a few months for the Blue Jays, or just that he was omnipresent in baseball card guides when I was collecting heavily.


Of course, there had to be Blue Jays cards in the mix. I went for 93 and 94 inserts I was missing. It doesn't get much uglier than those pro vision cards, but they're impossible not to love (I really need the Ozzie Smith from that set)


Those Gold Leaf stars were very popular, and it's a beautiful Molitor card numbered to...10 000. And inserted at a rate of 1:90, it gives an idea of (over) production figures.


I've said it before : I know I'll never be able to get as many Griffey cards as I'd like, so I'll focus on his base cards of major brands. It's weird that I didn't have that Fleer RC, and that Ultra and that Skybox or really sharp.

 I grabbed a few early 90s affordable inserts, including that Diamond Kings. As cheezy as they are (c'mon, DK cards ARE cheezy), you gotta love them. So much color on that 94 edition !


What were Fleer thinking on that last card ?

  Ultra ! Thanks to that shipment, I'm now only missing about a dozen base cards of flagship products. One baby step at a time...

 
Big Hurt, Griffey, Bo...I'm such a collector's cliché. But still, reading about his heroics in French magazines (well, magazine singular, really, there were 3 magazines covering basketball but only one writing about the other american sports) made me buy his (very poorly written) biography, and now here I am, collecting his cards...I like adding football cards to my collection because I know close to nothing about them, which means I'm always discovering new designs.


Finally, here are older Knicks cards. A couple fan favorites in Monroe and Frazier, my first 80-81 card (I have no idea who Larry Demic is, but he was with Kareem so I picked this one up. Always cheaper than the Magic/Bird RC combo). Those are also my first 86-87 famous Fleer issue. Simple design made iconic because of all those (Jordan anyone ?) RCs and XRCs inserted.

Yay, 90's basketball ! those all look great. I especially like that Team MVP UD that I was never able to secure 25 years ago.

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Matt, Brian and Kevin walk in a Gallery

Brian had a box of 2017 Topps Gallery just waiting to be opened for one of our breaks, which explains why it follows Matt's break so closely (I suppose it's my turn now !). This time, I didn't get all the hits, but there was an auto in there for me. My hot streak continues !


Some nice inserts and the usual (insanely boring) parallels. That Trout is a very nice card, and I had to look up who Arroyo is...


Hooray for Blue Jays ! The Alomar is a very nice insert. I like the overall design and card stock, but there's still a little something missing (more action ?) to make that a memorable set.

thanks for the break, Brian !

And as always, some bonus cards for my collection !


I used to think those were the ugliest cards ever, but now I absolutely love them. A great couple of vintage tv set cards for my NY Giants collection.


The Guerrero Jr is a parallel, and something tells me I'll have a hard time finding his cards..I'll stick to base cards for the moment ! The Devon Travis was the only one missing to complete the 2015 Heritage team set, so thanks for spotting that SP ! And finally, a very cool on card Stroman auto. Arbitration was tough, apparently, but it looks like he'll be on track for this season.


More Blue Jays cards I needed ! First time I've seen those Holiday cards. Not sure what Topps is trying to do, there...Can't wait for 2020 and the end of their monopoly. Let's hope the league allows new blood in the mix. I thought the system in the 90s (well, early 90s...) was good, with each brand allowed what, 5 products ? I understand the market isn't what it used to be, with far less people buying, but a little competition won't hurt. That Pat Hentgen is from a box set from 97 Stadium Club I had no idea existed. It's not even in the tcdb. Well done !


Thanks to Brian, I now own 9 different Kiermaier cards. My collection is impressive !

And finally, more PC? including a couple of Knicks cards (and that Ewing that I did not have. And I have a LOT of 90s Ewing cards...)

Thanks again Brian, can't wait for the next break !