COMC order placed, a quick wantlist, and #42

First things first:  I finalized all my purchases and clicked the "ship" button on COMC, so hopefully that package will show up real soon; I have a bunch of cards to ship out to some outstanding traders!

All told, I spent $230.04 (I had $0.04 left in credit from my previous purchases) on 136 cards, including one duplicate because I'm an idiot.  Combined with my other purchases for the month that put me over my $300/month spending limit (and $200/month average), but not by much, and I did it with the intent that I wouldn't have to order from COMC again for a while.  The $300 limit is there for me mainly so I don't spend around $400 in a given month and then have to take a future month off from spending.

I grabbed the usual assortment of Michigan hits to bolster those PCs, but this time I focused much more on my baseball player collections.  And, as I said previously, this was the first time I've spent this much on COMC for cards I purchased for trades.  Lots of those will be sent out as thanks for the outstanding packages I received in December, but a few of them are going towards new trades, and I know doing it this way assured that everyone would be happy.

So that's the good news for all of you.  I just have one quick request:  I declined to purchase the following cards in part because I didn't have enough funds and prioritized other stuff first, but also because I figure there's a chance some of you may have them, so if you do, please keep me in mind!:

2006 Upper Deck:
-#799 J.J. Putz

2011 Topps:
#376 Clayton Richard

2012 A&G:
-#167 J.J. Putz

2012 Topps Heritage:
-#307 J.J. Putz

2012 Topps Mini:
-#148 Chris Getz
-#339 Clayton Richard
-#480 J.J. Putz

Ok, now on to the most important topic of the day.  As daily sports birthday blogger hackenbush of Can't Have Too Many Cards so helpfully reminded us, today is baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson's 94th birthday.  Although many also celebrate his legendary accomplishments on the anniversary of the day on which he broke baseball's color barrier for good, (April 15, 1947) there's no such thing as an inappropriate day to take a look back, especially when it's his birthday.

Not that you'd know it if you were reading ESPN, of course.  Fortunately, Google's main page doodle has you covered:

That's pretty freakin' cool.  Anyway, as always, take some time out to remember the bravery, toughness, resilience, and baseball skill that went into laying the foundation for many of our past and current favorite players to succeed.  Racism and ignorance haven't gone away, but thanks to the actions of Jackie and Branch Rickey, the league is what it is today:  a place where all men can play regardless of race.

I'm very much looking forward to 42, a movie about Robinson which will be opening just a few days before the 66th anniversary of his first game.  The film stars Harrison Ford, and Jackie will be played by hitherto unknown-to-me actor Chadwick Boseman.  I hope it proves to be a rousing success for all involved and a hot topic for the younger generations (like mine) that never got to see him play but should be reminded of his greatness and realize the significance of his career relative to the era.

Back with more regular posting tomorrow or Saturday!