2018 COMC purchases: ten out of ten

I've been on another self-imposed blogging hiatus, once again spending most of my card time on TCDB as I try to upload my collection, list trade bait, and contribute to the database by uploading scans, correcting checklists, and handle some inaccuracy reports.  It really is addictive!

But today I'm finally making it a point to set aside a bit of time to post the last of my 2018 baseball acquisitions.  These 10 new entries came from COMC, mostly around the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, if I recall correctly.  I have a lot more to post on TMM eventually--Michigan Football loot, natch--but at least today I can finally put these away.  Enjoy!

Former A's prospect Jason Christian starts things off with a beautiful Red Refractor parallel of his 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects base.  This one set me back $10, is numbered 2/5, and is tied with one of the two cards I'm missing in Christian's PC for fewest copies (2009 Donruss EEE Signature Status Gold).  The other is the final card in this rainbow, a Gold Refractor /50.  Both can be had if I'm willing to pay!

#2 is another Bowman Chrome Refractor, this time of Tampa IF prospect Jake Cronenworth, who continues to fight an uphill battle for a spot in the bigs.  Not even $0.50 was enough to score me this Black Wave Asia parallel, my 11th of Jake, all of which are from his 2015 Bowman Draft/Chrome rainbow.  That leaves eight to go.

The final player in this row is one of two new PCs I'm introducing today.  Fritz Fisher is a former Wolverine lefty who signed with the Tigers and appeared in just one Major League game, somehow striking out Harmon Killebrew in his 1/3+ inning of relief.  Gladding was the much more successful pitcher on this multiplayer RC from 1964 Topps.  Fritz's other card came out in the same set two years later, another duet, this time with the more well known John Hiller.

Here's a fun mix of new(ish) and old!  I think I've professed my love for Pacific's Paramount Fielder's Choice cards before, and here's another chance to sing their praises.  The one you see above stars none other than Mr. Padre Tony Gwynn, one of my favorite PCs.  There's a good number of 90s-adjacent inserts I'm chasing of Gwynn and his big four PC cohorts--Griffey, Maddux, and Ripken--and the super cool Fielder's Choice cards are part of that.

Dick LeMay is today's other new PC guy, also of the vintage variety.  The former Michigan pitcher signed with San Fran in 1958 and appeared in 45 games with the Giants and Cubs between 1961 and '63, the sum of his career.  Above you're seeing his '62 Topps RC, leaving me short just his base from the follow-up Topps set.  Yep, another two-card PC!

Card #3 in this bunch had me plenty excited, even if I have a lot like it.  I've managed to complete Zach Putnam's 2008 Razor Letterman base and #d /20 nameplates (check 'em out here) so all I can chase now are the rarer /5s and 1/1s.  This "N" is just the second letter of the six letters (I have the same number of 1/1s!) in the /5 group (I also own a "T") and is #1/5.  After a roughly two-month break from buying on the site starting last June, I may it my first purchase of this shipment on August 1 for $12, and if I can get the other four letters for about that I'll be thrilled.

The last "regular" cards of this post start with a 2017 Topps Update Gold parallel (#0245/2017) of new Blue Jays hurler Clayton Richard.  It's just the third I've got of his rainbow (including the Mini versions) to go along with a base and Rainbow Foil.  The 2017-19 spots on my PC checklists need lots of work!

And then there's a bit of player wantlist help in the form of card #8 out of Flair's 1995 Ripken insert.  I need cards 1, 3, and 5 and then will be able to show off another completed insert set devoted to the Iron Man!

The oddest item of the ten is my second 2009 Topps Heritage Ad Panel box-topper featuring ex-closer J.J. Putz.  It's hard to find a good checklist of these, but I believe I've figured out that Putz appears on three in total:  this one, the one I have that includes Braden Looper and Freese again, and a last one I'm still working on finding with Uribe and Alfonso or Rafael Soriano.  $2.40 wasn't an unreasonable price to pay for one of these in my opinion.

And at last we come to the final card and one of my favorite pickups of this latest shipment.  Thanks to many vintage stars appearing in modern releases it's easier than ever to find them on affordable plates and 1/1s, and that's exactly what I did here with Michigan and MLB legend George Sisler.  Surprisingly it took all of $8 to land one of the better cards in my collection of Gorgeous Georges, a Cyan plate from 2014 Panini Hall of Fame.  While I have a couple cards of him from the other subsets or inserts I didn't have this one.  Hey, a plate's as good a place to start as any!  (By the way, this is 1/1 #115 in my collection!)

Stay tuned for lots of great football stuff from COMC on TMM eventually while I figure out what I'll be posting here next.  With any luck it may be a second card show report for the month!