2018 eBay purchases: not Mad about finishing another PC

As I think I mentioned recently I snuck in one more eBay purchase before April ended, and I was happy to find that envelope in my mailbox upon returning from a trip to visit friends.

This one comes with a bit of a story:  I'd been trying for months to find the last card I needed to complete one of my PCs and had had no luck when searching his name specifically.  Finally I thought to see if I could find it in a larger lot and that's when my luck changed.  I was fortunate to be working with a very responsive and reasonable seller who agreed to toss the card I needed in for a buck if I won one of her other auctions.  I readily agreed by picking up this guy:

This Greg Maddux 1994 Flair Hot Gloves insert was actually on my singles/players wantlist as well so I didn't mind paying maybe a bit over the usual price for it.  These super cool die-cut inserts could be found in Flair from 1994-96 and Flair Showcase in '97 and once again in 2006.  While Pacific ultimately made what I'd argue is a cooler version, Fleer was the first to come up with these fantastic looking cards that exemplify the creativity of the 90s.  And Maddux naturally fits into the set thanks to finishing his career with an insane 18 Gold Gloves, still a record!  I'm hoping to track down the Griffey and Ripken issues from this set eventually, plus subsequent versions of my PC guys.

And the card I was so excited to track down that I put in this much effort?  Ross Powell's 1994 Score Boys of Summer insert.  This was the last card I needed to nail down his seven-card PC, making him the 15th complete Michigan Baseball player collection I've knocked off.  And it really did take some effort as this was one of those cards I may have seen available somewhere once, then never again.

These could be found in Super Packs (I'm assuming jumbos) of '94 Score as part of a 60-card set, where 25 different teams were represented, especially the expansion Marlins (a set-leading five cards) and Rockies (four, tied for second).  The late Powell was one of two Reds, and he fits in with lots of other guys that are head-scratchers more than 20 years later.  However, a few future stars did figure in such as Mike Piazza, Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, and Chipper Jones.

Considering the way I keep adding new supercollection chases to my PCs it's nice to finally finish up another one.  That leaves me with three players with just a single card between them and completion:  Jake Fox, Steve Howe, and Bobby Korecky.  You can see all three of those needs at the top-right of this here blog under "Too Many Cards I Really Need".

With these covered I have one more eBay post scheduled for each blog and I'm looking forward to showing off those purchases.  But for more reading today please head over to TMM and check out the latest envelope I got from Jeff over at My Sports Obsession!