COMC haul #14: IHAS Freehan

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

I'm getting pretty near the end of any COMC haul cards relevant to this blog, so I'm not sure how many more posts I'll have.  In any event, here's the last of my IHAS (in-hand and scanned) Bill Freehan cards (along with those I also posted over at TMM this evening):

Bill Freehan 1986 Sportflics Decade Greats #49 (with Torre and Howard)

I'm very happy with how this one scanned since you never know what you're gonna get with Sportflics.  As luck would have it, I got a pretty clear shot of Freehan's portion of the trio, which features a sweet play-at-the-plate (not that I know anybody that enjoys those) with Frank Robinson.  Also, at this angle it kind of looks like Shredder is looking over Bill's right shoulder, which is pretty cool.  Nice choice of catchers including Joe Torre and Elston Howard, too.

Bill Freehan 2005 SP Legendary Cuts Classic Careers (#032/399)

Bill Freehan 2005 SP Legendary Cuts Glory Days Gold (#68/75)

Bill Freehan 2005 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Lineage Gold (#22/75)

Bill Freehan 2005 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Lineage (#397/399)

Here's four more '05 Legendary Cuts inserts I needed.  The Glory Days design is still my favorite, and maybe that's because I really like the red border.  Including autos and relics (but not 1/1s) Bill has 32 different cards in that year's set; I now own eight of them.  Yep, I've got a ways to go, but someday I'll get there!

Bill Freehan 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Refractors (#145/299)

For someone that complains about Topps so much, I sure do like sets like All-Time Fan Favorites.  This is my fourth version of that card--besides this one I have the base, autograph, and a plate.  In terms of stuff other than the plates, I still need his Rainbow autograph and Gold Refractor.  Those are gonna be pretty tricky to come by, but I'll keep an eye out for those as well.  Anyway, 2005 Topps ATFF + Refractors = So Much Win.

Bill Freehan 2005 Topps Retired Signature Gold (#137/500)

Here's another set I thoroughly enjoy, despite most of its cards being way out of my price range.  I already had the regular ("Gold") autograph, and there's three more signed versions I'll need at some point.  I can certainly appreciate what I have here right now, though--this was a nice design from the days where Topps actually stamped serial numbers.

Add those to the two I showed off over on TMM and my new Freehan PC total stands at 55, plus a plate and an IP autograph.  The 55 count puts me nearly halfway to the total of non-1/1s I came up with.  As a reminder, here's my current checklist/have list and the album that contains his PC.

It may be time again soon for me to try to come up with original stuff, which is a scary thought.  In the meantime, please head over to Too Many Manninghams for a couple other fun pickups.

COMC haul #13: we wish you a Barry Christmas

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

I've said about a million times that Barry Larkin is a guy I collect because not only has he long been a player whose game I admired, he's also an alumnus of the same school I attended.  Well, in anticipation of this post, I finally got around to scanning a good chunk of his cards I own, getting them into a list and putting them up in a Picasa Album.  So before I get to the meat of this post, here are the results of that effort, which can also be found on my Player Collections page on TMM:

Album (Picasa Web Albums)

Spreadsheet (Google Docs)

Those projects are by no means complete as they "only" include RCs, hits, and any "loose" cards I have of Larkin, which means those stored as part of sets in boxes aren't included just yet.  I do have some catching up to do to get to the point where I can say I'm doing as well as Nachos Grande, but I'm getting there!

So how am I celebrating completing all this scanning, listing, and posting?  By doing some MORE scanning, listing, and posting!  Here are five excellent relics I picked up from COMC, the last of any cards of Barry I picked up this time:

Barry Larkin 2001 Leaf Certified Materials Fabric of the Game jersey

Barry Larkin 2002 Leaf Shirt Off My Back jersey

Barry Larkin 2007 SP Legendary Cuts Masterful Material jersey

Barry Larkin 2011 Topps 60 Relics bat

Barry Larkin 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Framed Mini Relics jersey

The LCM jersey is easily my favorite thanks to my love of that set.  What's not to like about a home-plate-shaped swatch, a sweet pinstripe, and the shot on the back of the jersey from which the swatch came?  Plus, you know, "Actual game-worn jersey."  The Shirt Off My Back card actually features that same perk, including a shot of a gray jersey instead of the LCM's white.

Honestly, though, you can't go wrong with any of these.  I had promised myself to make a concerted effort towards acquiring more Barry stuff especially after his Hall of Fame election, and amazingly I was able to do so at fairly cheap prices on COMC.  My Larkin hit count is now in the double-digits thanks to a new count of nine relics, plus an auto and an manurelic.  Considering I nearly doubled my previous count, I'd say that deserves mention as a milestone!

Speaking of counts, my Michigan Baseball hits PC now rests just two shy of 150--another great milestone--and my overall sports count is at 795 with plenty more to go, so obviously milestones abound around here.

I may be out of Larkins (for now), but I still have some Bill Freehans to show off, and maybe I'll come up with other stuff too.  For now, let this Red be a good reminder of the fun of the holiday season, and have a Barry Merry Christmas!

COMC haul #12: eight (minus one) Greats

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

Well, having posted that Darrell Evans the other day, I'm back with more Freehan stuff, so let's get right to it!  Today's an all Fleer Greats of the Game kind of day, as you'll see while poring over these seven new members of Bill's PC:

Bill Freehan 2004 Greats of the Game Battery Mates (With Denny McLain) (#1018/1968)

Bill Freehan 2004 Greats of the Game Blue (#099/500)

Bill Freehan 2004 Greats of the Game

Bill Freehan 2006 Greats of the Game Pewter

Bill Freehan 2006 Greats of the Game Tigers Greats

Bill Freehan 2006 Greats of the Game

Bill Freehan 2004 Greats of the Game auto

Never let it be said that GOTG wasn't a very classy-looking set, and that's enough of a reason to bring Fleer back into the card business in a perfect world.  Even the base cards are very cool and have a special, high-end sort of feel to them in a way.  

The Freehan/McLain is my favorite insert of the group despite the fact that I loathe Denny McLain for being an utterly unapologetic jackass.  I just love that Fleer numbered the card to the World Series year.

My favorite overall, of course, is the autograph.  Fleer knew what they were doing when they made these sets as they practically beg for signatures.  Who wouldn't want a beautiful framed card with a classic shot of your favorite player, and, oh, by the way, it's autographed?  Who cares about the barely-noticeable sticker? These sets are simply fantastic.

And now, because I love bringing numbers into the picture despite my dislike of math, here's some stats:

• This is my 10th Freehan autograph
• I now have 16 hits of him overall (four relics, one patch, one plate)
• His IHAS (in-hand and scanned) count is 46 cards, 45 of which are non-1/1s

I have some Freehans yet to be posted, so it won't be too long until I'm celebrating 50!  I'll probably be back within a day or two with some more Barry Larkin stuff, so stay tuned.

COMC haul #11: Darrell brings the WOW factor. PLUS: free lots mail update

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

Free lots shipping update:

Yes, I finally got the rest of these out (minus Fuji's, since we'll be trading soon, and the Tigers/Lions, since I still need an address from "jeffrey").  I had intended to get them all in the mail on Sunday but my local PO's APC was down and the downtown PO didn't even have the lobby (where the APC is) open, so forget about that.  I did spend enough time wrapping up 11 packages of cards (including stuff for Tim as well) on Saturday that I was pretty much sick of it, but in the end I'm thrilled to have gotten rid of this many cards and gotten them into better hands.  I went through a bunch of bubble mailers and boxes, nearly all my team bags (and I had a LOT), more than a roll of blue card-shipping tape, and plenty of money on postage, but I hope it's been worth it to each of you as much as it has been to me, so thanks again to all who participated.

I lost my APC receipts somehow so I'm not 100% on this list, but going from memory and my traders' address list, I believe the following ZIPs can expect cards this week, many within a couple days since a lot went via Priority:

45223
98662
13601
99504
21921
60060
71203
19087
43135
12967
13090

If you're on that list, time to get excited!

Onto the COMC haul:
Speaking of mail, here's a card that was actually part of my Black Friday COMC package and not the one I had shipped earlier.  That may seem like going out of order, but it was a Tiger I was excited about and I can only come up with so much other stuff before throwing more Freehan and Larkin at you.  So here's one of my favorite cheapies (relatively, anyway) that I picked up this time:

Darrell Evans 2003 Topps Retired Signature auto

What's better than one Darrell Evans Topps Retired Signature auto?  Try TWO!  One of my favorite 1984 World Champion Tigers, Darrell is a guy whose stuff I keep an eye out for once in a while, so this was a perfect opportunity to grab a player I like to collect from a set I love to collect.  Again, Topps is the proverbial blind squirrel finding an acorn with this outstanding set.  I may do up a post soon covering the stuff Topps has done that I like so I can balance out some of my usual antagonism towards the ToppsOpoly.

More to come sometime this week!

COMC haul #10: the best 90s Lark since Saved by the Bell's Voorhies!

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

Today's haul cards tie in nicely with my other post over at TMM, and in both cases I think Chris of Nachos Grande will be especially interested.

In addition to Detroit Tiger Bill Freehan, I've decided to feature my Barry Larkin pickups over here since I have a relative dearth of haul cards to post on this blog otherwise, and I think especially Larkin will garner plenty of interest over here.  Today I'm showing of just a small part of my Larkin haul (the best is yet to come!), but I think you guys will like it all the same, because I'm talking about 1990s INSERTS!

Barry Larkin 1996 Bowman's Best Refractor

Barry Larkin 1998 Donruss Diamond Kings (#09671/10000)

That's right--I didn't just throw a ton of money at a bunch of big hits (not JUST, but I did do that)--I also picked up a pair of what I thought were really cool inserts.

For my money, 1996 Bowman's Best was one of Topps' cooler designs in the series, but regardless, the Refractors really make the design's color scheme pop, and that's always a plus.  And, I mean, who doesn't like Refractors?  If you answered "me!" then I'll stay off your lawn and let you get back to watching Matlock with an onion on your belt (which was the style at the time).

The Diamond Kings insert is just as fun.  These certainly grew in quality from the original series in the 80s to some pretty nice inserts in the 90s and beyond.  This is an outstanding painting of Larkin in a cool, pensive pose and is well-executed.  The Diamond Kings series is one of the things Donruss did well to differentiate it from the other brands, and some of Topps' more artistic offerings have the DKs to thank for their success.  And let's not forget how rare these cards are--ONLY 10000!  If I see another one before I turn 60 I'll be shocked.  By the way, if you also dislike Diamond Kings, I'll be careful to stay off your lawn as I carefully place a flaming bag of dog poo on your doorstep.

I promise to come back to the even better Larkin stuff within a couple posts, but for now, please enjoy the majesty of some amazing inserts from TWO DECADES AGO (God, I'm getting old).

COMC haul #9: more Bill Freehans

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

I'll be honest:  at this point I can't think of any other punny or clever titles for when I post Freehan stuff.  Let's get on with the cards, shall we?:

Bill Freehan 2001 SP Legendary Cuts Debut bat

Bill Freehan 2005 SP Legendary Cuts Classic Careers patch (#15/50)

Bill Freehan 2005 SP Legendary Cuts Glory Days Material Gold jersey (#33/75)

These are three of the four Freehan hits I picked up most recently--all at very reasonable prices, I might add.  To start with, I like the 2001 card because I have another famous Tiger from that set:  Alan Trammell.  Considering how simple the design is (it WAS sort of the early days of relics, after all), it still looks pretty nice, and includes a fairly satisfyingly large bat chip.

The SP Legendary Cuts patch is actually pretty great as well.  It's only a single color, so it's more along the lines of a Topps "patch" than a true gem, but it's still a beautiful Tigers orange (even if the scan doesn't quite convey that) that stands out from other single-colored swatches.

Last is one of the Glory Days relics from the same set, and that card features a more familiar single-swatch color:  gray.  At least it's not just white!  Bill looks pretty happy on all three cards (two of which used the same photo--also very Topps-like!), and why shouldn't he have been, since these photos WERE taken during his glory days?

I always love adding Freehan stuff to the PC since he counts as both a Tiger and Wolverine.  In terms of his counts, I now have 15 total hits after today's additions, and 40 different cards (including a 1/1) in his PC, with more to come!

COMC haul #8: Sincerely, George Kell

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

Sometimes a player makes it into the Hall of Fame and you don't agree with it.  Often this happens as a result of the Veteran's Committee, years after the guy has run out of chances to gain admittance the "normal" way.  In some cases, the committee rights an egregious wrong and that player finally gets the recognition he deserves.  Then again, there's been more than a handful of players who, one way or another, found themselves in the Hall, but have become subject to heated debate when it comes to their credentials.

Still, it's usually a much different conversation when one of these HOFers played with or was otherwise involved with your favorite team.  It could be that he contributed largely to winning seasons despite otherwise pedestrian stats, or that he hung on with the organization for years afterward, becoming synonymous with your memories of the franchise.

What I'm getting at is this:  George Kell was a very good player for 15 Major League seasons, and while his numbers don't scream "Hall of Fame" at anyone, you won't find this Tigers fan backing down from an argument about his place in baseball history.  He may have only been with Detroit for seven seasons, may not have been part of a World Series team, and no, he wasn't a perennial league-leader offensively.  Yet besides his playing career--which culminated in having his number retired by the Tigers--he became a beloved figure in Detroit because of his excellent broadcasting career, from 1959-1996 (with the exception of 1964).  If you grew up between the 70s and 90s, you can't hear Kell's name without associating it with his broadcast partner and fellow Tigers legend Al Kaline, a pair that made Tigers games an absolute joy to listen to regardless of the outcome.

The VC punched Kell's ticket to the Hall in 1983, and I think his playing and broadcasting careers combine to justify his place with the rest of baseball legends.  Regardless, Kell was very humbled by the honor, as he stated in his acceptance speech:  "I have always said that George Kell has taken more from this great game of baseball than he can ever give back.  And now I know, I am deeper in debt than ever before.”

So now you all know why I like George Kell, and that it's not automatically because he's part of Detroit's baseball history.  I think that you'll understand, then, that I was thrilled to pick this card up on COMC:

George Kell 2010 Panini Century Cut auto (#021/100)

My first baseball cut auto is actually my first Kell auto of any kind, and it's about damned time.  This is a gorgeous cut card that's also uncirculated, as you can see on the right.  The only downside is the lack of a picture of Kell, but in this case I think the cut auto takes precedence anyway, and it's not like Panini has a license to show team logos.

I think what really attracted me to this card out of all the other Kells available on COMC (besides a flat-out steal at $10, in my opinion) was the "Sincerely" in the autograph.  I realize cut autos come from sources such as letters, personal checks and index cards, so this isn't anything outside of the norm, but it still makes it more special to me.  George also happened to have a very nice signature, which is a huge plus.

I had considered saving this card until the end of these posts, but when I saw it sitting on my desk in pile of cards I still need to scan and post, something just made me feel like doing it today.  That brings up a question I'd love to get some feedback on in the comments:  what's an example of a card in your PC of a player who was either a borderline-HOFer or didn't make the cut, but was still an important part of your team's history in your opinion?  Let's see what you got!

COMC haul #7: Action Jackson

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

Well, what a difference a few weeks can make, eh?  The last time I posted a COMC pickup of Austin Jackson, the Tigers and Giants had yet to begin their World Series clash.  Obviously that didn't work out so well for Detroit fans, but it was still nice to be in it.

Anyway, I promised in that post that the fairly cool card I showed off that day would be bettered by the OTHER AJax I landed in my flurry of purchases.  Feast your eyes on this guy and decide for yourselves:

Austin Jackson 2011 Topps Triple Threads Sepia triple jersey auto (#74/75)

My first thought:  the "Future Phenoms" title grabs me, and because Jackson has blossomed into a star since the card's release, I can't help but reference Futurama, given that Austin's future is NOW:

Besides that, my main reaction is that this is a very spiffy card.  Standard Triple Threads complaints apply, of course, but since most of those have to do with paying the idiot tax of actually buying a box, I actually have zero complaints.  This is just a pleasing design with some nice colors that compliment Detroit's uniforms, and a pretty nice layout.  Even better:  you won't believe how much of a steal this was.  I'll spare you the random guesses:  it was a cool $5.  YA RLY.  The main reason:  a condition note due to minor damage, with that damage being some peeling/bending of the olde English "D" over the center swatch.  You can kinda see it right under the "P" in "Phenoms."  Somehow I saw past this incredibly apparent blemish and plunked down my $5 anyway--I'm such a trooper!

So all in all, nice card, and a nice addition to my Tigers PC since I now have an AJax relic, manupatch, and auto/jersey.  I can't help but feel good about growing my collection of one of MLB's future (and current) stars with a bargain such as this!

Watch for more Tigers goodness soon--maybe this time I won't wait almost two weeks!

COMC haul #6: Gwynn FTW

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

I think I've already mentioned that most of my COMC pickups will be posted over on the other blog, but I still have a few left to show off here.  And today's post again features one of my all-time favorite players:

Tony Gwynn 2001 Upper Deck All-Star Heroes jersey (#0602/1994)

First of all, is anyone surprised that Gwynn scored the winning run in the '94 All-Star Game?  In the bottom of the 10th, Gwynn singled and was doubled home by Moises Alou, then of the Expos, allowing the NL to win their first game since 1987.  Incidentally, check out the elected starting hitters for each league.  Every one of the American Leaguers is or will be in the Hall of Fame except Joe Carter, while in the NL you've got Ozzie Smith for sure, then maybe Mike Piazza and Barry Bonds.  Yeesh.

So, yeah, I'm a huge fan of this set, and I almost literally jumped at the chance to pick up this sweet jersey of Gwynn. (but didn't actually literally jump because that would have been counterproductive and weird)  There's just so much to like:  the excellent, generously-allotted relics in the shape of home plate, the serial numbering to the year of the game, the idea of a relic set celebrating such a specific aspect of the All-Star game.  You just can't go wrong!  And to further remind you that I let this set so much, here's the other three I already had:

Great players all, to be sure.  If I was to ever try to pursue a relic set, it would be this one, although beyond these and a few other modern players, the checklist gets even more high-end:  even if I was to nab cards of Jeter, Piazza, Clemens, Randy Johnson, Sammy Sosa and Tony Perez, each with an abundant number of cards produced, I'd still be in search of those for Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio (#d /36), Mantle (#d /54) and Clemente!  It's certainly not out of the realm of possibility, though, so if I ever do go for it, you'll hear about it first right here.

COMC haul #5: a Griffey kind of glove

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

Before I get on with today's post, I want to make a quick COMC-related plug.  As some of you may already know, awesome blogger Derek from Tomahawk Chopping decided to throw some stuff up on that site, and as a reminder, you can find his port here.

Well, on a related note, his fellow awesome blogger, Spiegel of Nomo's Sushi Platter, decided to do the same, so make sure to show him some COMC-style love and hit up his port that can be found right here.  And, you know, check out both of their blogs because they're great.

Meow, onto MY COMC pickup of the day.  The Tigers do play game 2 tonight, but considering how last night went, I'm gonna take a one-day break from Tigers cards and post something else I picked up that I thought was pretty awesome:

Ken Griffey Jr 2001 Upper Deck Gold Glove Slugger's Choice batting glove

For a mere pittance of $5, I picked up a sweet batting glove relic of one of my favorite players of all time.  I have to say that Junior Griffey had the best swing of any player who's played during my lifetime; I constantly find myself imitating it whenever I'm in a batting situation.  Because of that, I think it's pretty cool that I can say I now have nice relics of both his batting gloves and bat.  I can work on other relics at some other point, but I'm definitely satisfied with this pair at the moment.

Although he never did win a ring (or, you know, play in a World Series at all), I'm hoping posting a non-Tiger like Griffey brings my Tigers better luck (DAMN YOU, THIRD BASE) in game 2!

COMC haul #4: AJax and Detroit's World Series Odyssey

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

Please feel free to skip down to the picture, but the impending Game 1 has me waxing lyrical tonight.

Ajax was one of those mythical mighty Greek warriors you hear about sometimes.  He was apparently extremely strong (though I don't know what the Greek equivalent of Rod Allen's "country strong" is) and also very intelligent, especially when it came to battle.

Fast forward some number of centuries and you'll find another AJax--Austin Jackson--as a top New York Yankees OF prospect.  A couple years after he bursts onto the scene, he's part of a deal that sends former blog favorite and face of the Tigers Curtis Granderson to the Evil Empire in a three-way deal that also includes the Diamondbacks.  Joining Jackson in the deal are fellow Yankee Phil Coke, a pitcher, and Max Scherzer, a fireballing starter for Arizona.  The deal is universally panned by the writers of this blog, and many Detroit fans are equally angry, while some take a "wait and see" approach.

Jackson's 2010 debut performance earns him second place in the Rookie of the Year voting, and it looks like he may after all live up to his potential and swing the deal back to the Tigers' favor.  Then 2011 occurs, and while his power increases slightly, his batting average and OBP take a nosedive, partially thanks to and even larger number of strikeouts.  His performance in the postseason isn't much better, and although Scherzer shows some flashes, Granderson puts up numbers that make this look like a steal for the Bombers.

But then something interesting happens:  2012 rolls around and Jackson begins to do more than just show progress:  he has a breakout season in which he improves all of his key stats, including cutting down on strikeouts, and plays a key role on a team that for a while was eking out a playoff spot.  Meanwhile, despite Phil Coke's meltdown, Max Scherzer becomes a crucial part of an outstanding rotation.  And although the Yankees surely appreciate Granderson's power surge, they apparently don't realize that he's become their team's Rob Deer.

This story continues with a nice postseason so far for all three Tigers that were part of that deal, not the least of whom is Jackson, who put up big numbers as the Tigs swept his former team back to the nursing home they came from (with some nice performances from a newly-confident Phil Coke as well).

What I'm trying to say here is that it's taken me this long, but I finally appreciate that that deal that cost my favorite player has been a bigger boon to my team than I could have realized.  Thus, Jackson is a guy whom I've slowly been collecting in the last few months.  However, back in June when I first began piling up cards for this epic haul, Jackson's excellent regular and postseason were still a ways down the road, so it's just dumb luck that I picked up a couple nice things of him when I did.  And now that the Tigers are set to face off with the Giants tonight in Game 1, here's one of those pickups to get myself and fellow Tigers fans in the mood:

Austin Jackson 2010 Topps Update Manufactured Rookie logo patch (#378/500)

Insert comments about how awesome/terrible manu-relics are here.  For my part, I don't pretend that they have anything to do with actual relics, and my only criteria for picking them up (besides player and price, of course) is design.  In this case, I think we've got a fun manupatch design commemorating Jackon's rookie year, which, again, went quite well numbers-wise for the Tigers.  As for whether or not the card meets my other criteria, obviously I like the player, and the price was surprising, even for a manu-relic:  a measly $4.

Win or lose, I'll be showing off a few other Tigers pickups during the Series, (good luck to you, Giants fans, I hope for a great Series for both of our teams!) and I'll tease you guys a bit by mentioning that I picked up one other Jackson that's way better than this one, so stay tuned!  As for tonight, GO TIGERS!

COMC haul #3: ALL THE BILLS

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

On the eve of the first Tigers World Series game since 2006, I thought I'd commemorate the occasion with a special completed project involving a past Detroit World Series champion:

Bill Freehan 1965 Topps

Bill Freehan 1970 Topps

Bill Freehan 1973 Topps

Bill Freehan 1976 Topps

Bill Freehan 1977 Topps

What do all of these have in common, besides being vintage cards of Mr. Bill Freehan?  They just happen to be the last five I needed to own each and every Topps card produced during his playing career, 1963-1977.  Sure, he has plenty of other stuff that was produced since then, but in terms of a player collection of someone like Freehan, I like to think this is the ultimate goal.  These are some outstanding examples of some cool Topps base sets made before the Hobby became the Business.  There's just a lot to like about each of these, such as:

• 1965:  DAMN that's a big glove!
• 1970:  What are you looking at over there?
• 1973:  Easily, EASILY my favorite non-hit Freehan, and I'd bet my house that Brian would be first, second and third to agree with me.  Man, what an awesome play at the plate card!
• 1976:  What are you looking at up and over there?
• 1977:  Ok, now you're closer to looking at the camera...

I'm truly thrilled to own all of Bill's Topps cards from his playing days, including a couple more oddball-type sets such as his Topps Game and Deckle Edge issues.  For now at least, I've decided to leave out other stuff that I thought was just TOO oddball, such as the coin cards, Embossed (which are ugly as sin!), Supers, and others.  You can view scans of my Freehan PC, currently 36 (in-hand and scanned) cards strong, here, and my growing checklist here.

I'd like to extend a big thanks to those of you who were generous enough to include Freehan cards when you traded with me as it made this project that much easier. (and fun!)

So with thoughts of Freehan and the '68 Tigers in my head as I prepare for another World Series, I've got one thing left to say:  GO TIGERS!

COMC haul #2: Bags of relics!

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

I'm back with another COMC pickup, just like the Daily Dimwit is doing.  And what better to sincerely flatter him via imitation by also posting a card he'll probably salivate over?

Jeff Bagwell 2005 Absolute Memorabilia Tools of the Trade Swatch Five Reverse dual jersey-dual pants-bat (#021/100)

Well, that's certainly a mouthful.  This beaut of a FIVE-piece relic set me back $10, but I was more than happy to splurge on a card like this.  I've often admired the Tools of the Trade relics (and autos) but rarely had a chance to pick up a nicer one like this.  I really appreciate the variety it features, even with only three types of relic among the five pieces--the first jersey features a bit of stitching and the second's a totally different color; the pants swatches are also different; and the bat gives you something different to look at.  The only way this could have been improved is if they replaced each duplicate relic with a batting or fielding glove or something.  Me, I'll take it exactly how it is.

Bagwell's a guy I don't talk about much on this blog, mainly because he played for a National League team miles and miles away from me.  Still, I was born early enough to get to enjoy his entire career and always appreciated the way he played the game, plus his awesome beard and distinct batting stance.  He truly was one of the great players of his generation and I'd be very upset if it took him more than two years to make it into the Hall.  Baseball-Reference compares him best to Carlos Delgado and Frank Thomas--you know, the guys he's paired with here--and by their standards he looks like a shoo-in.  Time will tell, but regardless I'll continue to collect some fun stuff of him when I can find it.

Stay tuned for more COMC goodness soon, including a few cards just in time to celebrate the Tigers' 2012 run to the World Series!

COMC haul #1: You COMComplete Me

Before I get to the meat of my package (ok, really, there's got to be a better way to phrase that) from COMC, I want to get these out of the way, though they're exciting in their own right:  these are the baseball and football set wantlist cards I picked up due to COMC being the best (or sometimes only) price for each.

Baseball:

• 2001 Fleer Tradition:  1 card, completes the set
• 2001 Stadium Club:  4 cards, cuts wantlist down to 5
• 2002 Bowman:  2 cards, cuts wantlist down to 1
• 2003 Topps Total Team Checklists:  3 cards, completes the set
• 2004 Leaf Second Edition:  1 card, cuts wantlist down to 2
• 2004 Topps Traded (set 1):  2 cards, completes the set
• 2005 Topps Chrome:  2 cards, completes the set
• 2008 Topps Co-Signers:  2 cards, completes the set
• 2009 Bowman Prospects:  1 card, completes the set

As you can see, this was extremely productive for me; I completed six sets and whittled three more down to five or fewer.  I'd actually thought that I'd completed 2002 Bowman but I missed a card, so I'll pick that up elsewhere.  What's important is that I picked up a few cards that were somewhat pricier elsewhere due to these being older, SPed, RCs or stars, but I managed to haul these in for very little.  I really can't believe how much progress I've made towards my baseball set wantlists since I started blogging.  Hats off to undisputed playoff (and life) failure Alex Rodriguez for being part of two completed sets today! 

Football:

• 2009 Bowman Draft:  1 card, completes the set
• 2010 Press Pass PE:  4 cards, completes the set

My football wantlists are also looking much better lately, and they'll get another boost in the form of these two completed sets.  I bought a box of 2009 Bowman Draft football when it came out and enjoyed it very much thanks to a nice design and college uni photos.  Now I can say I finally completed that set thanks to A-Rod's fellow New York flop, Mark Sanchez.  I'm even happy to to have 2010 Press Pass Portrait Edition done since I bought that buttload of packs at Meijer and still hadn't managed to complete a set.  Now that it's put to bed I'll try to remember to stay away from hard-to-get-rid-of retail products like that.

All told, that's eight completed sets and three more that are tantalizingly close.  And better yet, there's plenty more to show off soon!