2019 COMC purchases: wild cards

I'm back today with more COMC loot, and this time there's a lot less to cover, which makes things easier on me!  In honor of the MLB playoffs pretty much starting--good luck to this year's four wild card teams--let's have a look at the baseball stuff I picked out this time:

 

Let's start with a bang with this gorgeous acetate insert of Mr. Padre.  Gwynn's 1998 Upper Deck Amazing Greats (get it?) is one reason I get to use my favorite "90s inserts rule" tag today, and for good reason.  I mean, just look at this card and try not to like it!  It's see through, it's limited to 2000 copies (so rare!) and it stars one of the greats of his generation.  This embodies everything great about collecting in the 90s and it's still amazing to think cards like this were being made 20+ years ago.  I should also point out that I'm also after the 1997 versions, which look awesome in their own right.  As for this one, I happily knocked it off my single/player wants list.

Next, this Steve Howe '94 Stadium Club Team First Day Issue parallel probably doesn't interest the vast majority of you, and ordinarily it would barely move the needle for me, too, except that in this case it's the 81st and final card I needed to complete his mainstream checklist.  All that's left to chase are oddball-types and minor league stuff.  It feels good to get another PC done, especially after needing just one card for so long.

And now, back to 90s inserts that do, indeed, rule.  I've long loved the multiple glove-themed die-cuts that were available during that decade, such as Pacific Paramount's Fielder's Choice.  Of the three that came out of the brand my favorite design is the 1999 version, but this one from its 1998 debut isn't exactly chopped liver, and, I mean, I want all of my PC guys from all three anyway.  That includes all-time Gold Glove king Greg Maddux here, who would win half of his 18(!) awards after this card was produced.  The glove's die-cutting is well done but Pacific gets bonus points for attention to detail by also cutting the webbing inside.  Just more classic 90s fun.

When you talk playoffs you'd be remiss if you didn't include three-time Series winner and '91 World Series MVP Jack Morris.  35 years ago he led the juggernaut '84 Tigers to their most recent title, winning game 1 of the ALCS and games 1 and 4, with the latter two in complete game fashion.  It was a season for the ages and culminated in a matchup with a young Tony Gwynn and his Padres.  That series is highlighted here on this 2002 Upper Deck World Series Heroes Classic Match-Ups Memorabilia jersey card, featuring a Morris swatch dead center.  Tony went 1-2 with a pair of walks in the Series opener, then 1-4 in the penultimate game, but his fellow HOF foe was the one celebrating after game 5.  And I'm celebrating my fourth hit of Morris, the first of hopefully more relics!

And we'll end with two more 90s inserts that rule of one player, Mr. Cal Ripken Jr.  #1 is another beautiful die-cut glove card, this time Fleer's 1994 Flair Hot Gloves.  Cal joins Griffey and Maddux in this 10-card set available in Flair's second annual offering, which continued through 1996, moved to Flair Showcase in '97, was a memorabilia chase set in 2001 Legacy, went back to Showcase in 2003-04 as both an insert and multi-material memorabilia insert, and made its last appearance as an insert only in 2006 Showcase.  It's got a lot of history, as does Cal, who actually only won two Gold Gloves, mostly due to playing at the same time as SS legend Omar Vizquel.

 

We opened with an acetate card and then saw two glove die-cuts, so why not close things out with one more see-through insert?  1996 Ultra's Season Crowns were apparently not that tough to pull at 1:10 packs, but they were a Series 1 insert, and I only ever busted Series 2, so I never pulled one of these, and somehow missed out on them until landing one of Maddux at some point.  That led me to chase Cal's card, which largely celebrates the Streak, and here we are!  The back points out a Streak fact that doesn't always get as much press:  it included 8,243 consecutive innings from June 5, 1982-September 14, 1987, meaning he didn't just start every day, he finished.

With these cards posted I'll turn my attention to the fun of the postseason while working on the other two football COMC posts now that the calendar has flipped to October.  Stay tuned to those and good luck to any playoff teams you're rooting for!