COMC Miscellany Vol. 2

Jorge Soler has Crystal Balls.. 

As noted in yesterday's literal last minute post, I pretty badly botched my schedule, so the next couple days in my quest for at least two weeks straight with a post will be filler posts, relatively speaking.  The cards will still be excellent, but the words aren't coming from clever angles or deep thoughts and none of it is attached to trades.  I do have another big trade post in the works, but I'm having a hard time focusing on the scan editing, and the weird slowdown my new computer is experiencing is not helping.  So, for today, just another five spot of COMC additions, and maybe some more art tomorrow.  We'll see.

That all tediously said, let's get on with today's post.  Look at that amazeballs card at the top of the page.  That is a 2015 Topps Stadium Club Crystal Ball case hit, and it is as majestic in person as I ever could have hoped.  This beauty probably qualifies as a low-key white whale, because I desperately wanted to get one from the moment I saw them.  I didn't know who I'd end up with if I ever landed one, but this sweet eBay 1/1 (lol) of Soler makes for a great co-topper to his player collection.

I am oddly obsessed with posting card backs of major hits..

I have a Soler auto, but it might be the most basic, easily attainable one he has, so I knew another big addition or three (or five, or...) would eventually be in order.  And I do mean big, in this case.  This is easily the thickest card in my entire collection, and I have a couple Sweet Spot Helmet Autos and several Shadowboxes and a weird, needlessly thick Benchwarmer swatch to compare it to.  They can't touch this.  Protecting it might be a constant pain, but the cost didn't hurt my wallet too badly.  It only set me back somewhere between $5 and $6 during the COMC Spring Cleaning megasale.  I never thought I'd find one under $10, to be honest.

1995 was a very good year..

Next up is an interesting card I never really even knew about until the moment I saw it and instantly had to have it.  Donruss Elite Series inserts are super iconic and historically significant for being the first #'ed cards ever made.  Because apparently none of the cardmakers of the day bothered to turn off the printers on any base set created from 1987-1993 until late-1997, a print run of 10000 was a huuuuge deal in those heady, wildly overproduced, junkwaxy days...

It looks funny now, but /10000 used to mean something..

Nobody ever talks about anything but the first two or three sets though, so I don't think I'd ever seen a 1995 before I stumbled onto the ol' Crime Dog here.  That's a shame, because this card looks absolutely fantastic.  It's shiny and die-cut and blingy, but also has a sort of classy feel to it.  Love it.

2004 EX Essential Credentials Now...

Here's a cool looking low-numbered addition from late era EX for my nearly complete Alfonso Soriano page.  Insert obligatory "scans don't do this card justice" comment here.

...#'ed 5/36!

I found an awesome patch card for like $2 and a printing plate under $7 as highlights for his page as well, and all his teams and many years are represented, so I feel like Fonsie is one of the strongest Single Page Sensations I've put together so far.  As such, if I ever get my hands on an auto (always a goal for any collection), it can probably live its life in a top loader or magnetic case with my more elite, too good (and/or too thick) for a binder hits.

Not the best penmanship, but FAR from the worst..

The luster has really come off the Carlos Rodon hype train, but I'm still a believer.  Of course, I also wasn't as crazy high on him as most to begin with.  Actually, it's because he reminded me a lot of the very good, but never quite a true ace, Mark Beuhrle that I decided to put a page together for him.  I never saw ace, but I think Carlos, like Beurhle, is gonna be a really solid, consistently good workhorse, and maybe team leader, over the next 10-15 years.

2015 Topps High Tek Gold Diffractor Auto #'ed 48/50

We'll end this post with another blingy auto, a nice topper to my Single Page Sensations Carlos Delgado collection.  I'd already bought the regular version (yo Sports Cards from the Dollar Store, I'll send you the regular and my Paul Pierce auto if you still got that Billy Williams!), but I decided to grab the low numbered gold parallel when a copy eventually dropped to around the same price as the first one.  Dude belongs in the Hall of Fame, by the way.  Absolute travesty he fell off the ballet on his try.

Looks like we're finishing just in time again.  As ever, thanks for stopping by!

Until our next...