Hey, look, it's turning white outside. Again. That means it's time for ... Baseball Cards. The COMC treasures continue checking off desires on checklists but a long-awaited post those cards should have completed had to be shelved, suddenly, due to Error. That's something you never see on a Baseball Card, but on a blog, well, sometimes. The Error was all too easily made on what should have been a routine play - I simply forgot to order one of the cards I wanted for that post. Doh!
Luckily, my Local Card Store always has a big box of cheap cards to randomly enjoy, so I have a little stockpile of posts written about them now. Time to hit the stash...
But then I don't quite care for the term Bomb Squad; not quite baseball-y enough. So if I don't pull that trigger, I can just get my quarters back on COMC anyway. It's a Shohei Ohtani insert card. Limited edition.
Art by Kris Penix
Why I selected it: A minor gamble in that a copy of this might be hiding in a box of surplus 2018 Gallery cards I want to open up and get to collectin'. Such a perfect depiction of what you expect a "fresh-faced" Rookie to look like on his Rookie Card.
Why I selected it: Probably I was thinking I would want a "Retail Royal Blue" parallel example (just one) from 2023 Topps. But I thought I had managed to pull one, so more risk taking I guess. This one seems to go very nicely with the blue&teal Catcher gear, so maybe it will be the better choice. Not sure if there is enough of the lurking Umpire to use this in the Umps collection; there are definitely better on-card examples of the Men in Black.
Why I selected it: Almost certainly because I remembered seeing it on a Baseball Card blog, a long time ago now. At quick first glance this looks like an Angels card. And the card says "Fleer" on the top - but it is a Minor League card. All irrelevant. This Baseball Card has cool shades on it, with the little pro wing on the lenses. And, it has to be the most laid back Baseball Card ever made. It just makes you wanna ... take a break down on the floor for a while. Why not?
Why I selected it: I like the concepts of 1963 Topps a whole bunch. Colorful. Extra inset photo can be a good aid to seeing what a Baseball player looks like. But I have always felt this design gets things backwards, with a close-up portrait as the main image and a more distant shot/cropping (generally) as the inset. So I much prefer how things turned out in 1983.
Recently I was thumbing through a small stack of 2012 Heritage I have. I could not understand why so many images are, let's say, "low resolution." They just don't look crisp. I often wonder just how much Topps tries to deliberately make Heritage cards look old; 2006 Heritage with all the nauseous green cards is just nuts. Then there was the absolute fiasco of the card backs in 2024 Heritage - deliberate attempt at re-creating card back gum stains? We will never know.
This 2012 Heritage card doesn't have those problems. The main image is perfect. Which only makes its checklist mates look that much more bad. But that's OK, I won't be seeing many of those in the future.
For a long time the Tigers were photographed on "Photo Day" at the start of Spring Training while standing in front of some classic mid-Florida vegetation. You know, like a jungle. Where Tigers come from.
This is fun. Until you have 59 cards from this same vantage point. One at a time though, they are still fun. Don't keep the 59 cards all together, would be my advice.
Why I selected it: Completely a "place-holder" card in that I don't actually want an X-Fractor for a fun Powder Blue Card. There is a 3rd Powder Blue Phillie that got erased by the exes, or the fractors. So I want to see if the rest of this card might re-appear on a regular version. Unfortunately, this is from Stadium Club Chrome, so there aren't quite any regular versions to pick from. We'll see.
Why I selected it: Sigh. Once you get locked into a serious collection of useless Rookie Card cards of the Tigers' most recent useless 1-1 draft pick, the tendency is to push it just as far as you can. I do like levitating dropped bats though.
Why I selected it: In your town, this card most likely wouldn't even be for sale, individually. In my town, a Star of the 2006 World Series bound Tigers will be in the Dollar Box. I am quite looking forward to finishing out that Team Set. If Granderson is already in the stack I have then back in the Dollar Box this one will go.
Why I selected it: I like Topps Chrome Prisms. I like Horizontal cards. I needed a Horizontal Topps Chrome Prism for the 1/year page of Horizontal Topps Chrome Prisms. Except, I think this is my second one. Now what?
Why I selected it: You can't go wrong with a Bobby Baseball card. Powder Blue compression sleeves are cool, and cool inserts with a Powder Blue uni are cool, too.
Bonus Round
Why I selected it: More Bobby Baseball, with which you can't go wrong. I think. When Topps Holiday first came out there in the 2010s somewhere, I would dutifully pick up a "collector's box" or whatever they called it, and then try to find some reason to keep the cards I found inside. I liked the cards where it looked like the Baseball player was in disbelief at seeing snow flakes while playing a Baseball game, as on this card, kinda sorta. Just when I thought I was out...
For a long time I have been very skeptical anyone will be really happy to look at a set of Topps Holiday cards, 10 years later. Baseball Cards with snowflakes and Christmas decorations on them, amidst collections of every kind of goofy graphic design Topps can possibly think of. Now including Easter Bunny and Jack-O-Lantern parallels, too, because we just can't get enough. It didn't start with Topps Holiday, but it certainly didn't help. At this point Panini makes multiple Holiday sets, i.e. not just for Christmas but also for Halloween. Let's hope Topps never notices this.
And I figure once people have a great big ole collection of Baseball Cards and that inevitable time comes when a collection must be slimmed down some, one of the first things to go will be any Topps Holiday cards. Because Baseball just isn't part of Snowmen and Christmas lights.
So who would want this card? I have thought, since I purchased it 10-ish months ago, I shouldn't have pulled this trigger.
Turns out, 258 people have purchased this one on COMC and only 12 copies are left now, listing at maybe $3, each. We can't get enough.
Double Bonus Round
Why I selected it: Score!
People collect Ohtani Pitching cards, or Ohtani Hitting cards, or, amazingly, every Ohtani card ever made.
Me, Ima collectin' Ohtani Base-Running cards. There aren't many of those, or, weren't going to be until he annihilated the 20-20, 30-30, and 40-40 concepts this year, forever and ever. Soon, there will be lots and lots of Ohtani Base-Running cards. But there will never be lots of Ohtani Base-Running cards with him in an Angels uniform. So that will keep expenses low, I hope. There might not even be 9 of them, so reaching that mystical quantity will be a challenge. Now, I'm one closer.
triple-we-gotta-get-this-stack-done
Bonus Round
Why I selected it: This is almost an Ohtani Base-Running card. Not sure how the Commissioner would rule on that. But, if necessary, this might count in a pinch.
However I already have multiple copies of this card. Which is good, because I look forward to completing the 2021 Topps Heritage 1972 In Action subset, a thoroughly classic, elegant design.
And then, I will still have multiple copies of this card left over. Wanna trade?
No comments:
Post a Comment