COMC Challenge Cards Part 96: Pick 6!

I've done this before. Count off the number of cards left in my COMC box, and then fire up random.org to select 6 number. Pull those from the box and post them. Simple!

While this probably wasn't the exact card that came up during the challenges, I found it really hard to pass on any card featuring a guy named Terwilliger. That is solely because of the Simpsons and Sideshow Bob, but still, it is a guy named Terwlliger. I think this also my first K.C. Athletics card, there in all its badly centered glory.

A football player on a hockey card"? Sounds like just the thing I'd want to add to my collection. But why would then Rams QB Bradford be on a Canucks card?

Oh. That explains it. In retrospect, his parents probably made the right decision as to relocation.

This was one of the cards I picked up with a $45.00 Black Friday spending spree I picked up through the site. I almost lost the prize, since I didn't log into the site until Monday morning, and the money expired that evening. This was one of the cheaper cards I bought, picking it up because of the Wrigley filth contained on the swatch.

Just a neat photograph, pictured perfectly and patriotically.

This was another one of the cards from that shopping spree. The auto isn't exactly pristine penmanship, and he didn't exactly have a memorable NFL career. But his name is McNutt. McNutt!

And the 6th and final Picked Six card was a shiny card featuring a pitcher at the plate. There always seems to be one or two interesting photos to fill out a Bowman set. And by interesting, I mean because of the photo as opposed to interesting because of a really bad photoshop job.

And there's 6 more out of the box. See you after the Expo!

The Gypsy Wind blows in some Mets

Namely, a pile of Mets that I grabbed in a GQ case break through mojobreak.

Starting off with someone I'm really happy to see in the base set this year - Mookie! He isn't even in there as a dreaded short-print. He's in the low-numbered base cards. Awesome! And since all base was sent, I got 6 more where this one came from. Can't get enough Mookie!

The only bad thing was that I went 2 for 3 in terms of base Mets. It's never a good thing to not be able to put together a base set from an entire case. On the plus side, at least that Gary Carter isn't the typical re-used photo of his. Perhaps a new photo for Topps? Although the Gooden was a repeat from last year's Archives.

While I struck out in terms of the base Seaver, his card was the only SP mini I pulled for the Mets. So at least I got one of every Met that got one. This photo also seems unfamiliar to me. Could Topps have found a new photo of Tom?

Speaking of minis:

Here's lots of them! Including a bunch of photo variations. Looking at these, the only non SP minis I missed out on were the Mookie Wilson and the base version of Dilson Herrera.

But that doesn't mean I still didn't get a Mookie mini. These are both /199 silvers.

While these two are full-sized /499 bronze framed parallels. Not bad in terms of getting numbered cards.

And here we have more inserts. So much greatness here. The Queen's Throwbacks card easily picks up the best among them, but it is closer than you think. Especially when one card salutes the famous 86 Mookie grounder. And you salute another Mets walk-off from the same post season.

And the only Mets hit of the break! A plain white swatch is better than no hit at all. The symmetrical field design for the window is actually kinda neat.

And there you go.

This Card Seems Normal...at First

Sure, this looks just like your typical minor league baseball card, probably given away at some Anchorage Glacier Pilots home game in 1987. Then you flip the card over.

I think they let him write it himself.

Because of Liquidation

Yet another non-repack blaster that I picked up from Target during their liquidation process. This is of 2014-15 Artifacts and the last non-repack product I have to post from there. I got this for 40 percent of the cost of a regular blaster, meaning it was 15 bucks or so.

The interesting thing about these is finding out which player, who doesn't make many appearances in many sets, shows up in this one. Last season, it was Harold Snespts. And this year...

Eddie Shack! He showed up in the high numbers 2008-09 OPC, but hadn't been seen since. Nice that the photo used was both black-and-white and mustache-intensive. Eddie is no Lanny McDonald, but it is nice to see him on a card with facial hair. Since every other card at COMC has him clean-shaven, this is a really cool photo from a mid-range set that you would not expect.

And another interesting photo here, with Dan Boyle and an advertisement for a company I'd never heard of before seeing the photo. Thanks to wiki, now I know what zepter is. Cookware, cosmetics and light therapy medical devices. Three product lines that seem to go together perfectly.

And of course, some Senators would show up. I pulled all 3 cards from the low number base, but Dominek Hasek can be found in the /999 goaltenders portion of the set.

I did find a pair of numbered parallels in the packs. When ripping retail, that's a plus.

And I also got one of the /999 rookie cards. Hishon was a first round pick of the Avs, and he made his debut in the 13-14 playoffs. He played a handful of games this season, and notched his first NHL goal. Decent enough pull.

The Target repacks promised a preview card from the upcoming Ice release. Out of the 6, I could have pulled Crosby, Bernier, Rask, Lundqvist or Toews as well as the Subban. Not exactly the one I'm happiest to see after the Sens elimination from the playoffs.

And a hit. Scott saw 5 games worth of NHL action in 13-14. He spent most of this past season in the AHL, but saw action in a pair of playoff games.

Along with some more base cards, that's the contents of this blaster. And now I've got nothing but repacks left in my to-post-from-Target pile.

Retail Therapy

Let's recap yesterday in the world of my favourite teams. The Senators were eliminated from the playoffs. Ditto the Raptors. The Blue Jays were swept out of Tampa and the Mets lost yet another Subway Series series. I'm sure Mario Williams probably stepped on a rusty nail as well, but that hasn't hit the newswire yet.

So. what better way to cure the sporting blues than by busting some retail. I was fairly certain I'd be opening some hockey rack pack from Walmart, and then I noticed this on the shelves:

I definitely was not expecting to see retail GQ on the shelves here. That makes the decision easier. Let's bust this!

I did chuckle at the "exclusive pearl parallel cards" promised. I just though they were white framed parallels. Mainly, because it made me think of a Simpsons-ism.

Lisa: I'd like 25 copies on goldenrod...25 on canary...25 on saffron...and 25 on paella.
Clerk: OK. 100 yellow.

Proving there is a Simpsons quote for any occasion.

But, now I've got some cards to show off.

First card out. Hey, it is actually an interesting photo! Something a little different to start it off.

Second card out. Pretty nice as well. Satchel Paige is another guy who I love pulling cards of, and I always find his impossible to pass up when I come across them in a dime or quarter box.

And nine more base cards followed. A nice mix of in-game shots and spring training photos.

And now, the inserts!

I guess that's a pretty good start. Is Puig-mania still a thing? Either way, I'll probably add this to the COMC box that I'll be dropping off on Friday.

But this beauty is a certain keeper for me. Miguel Gonzalez is rocking the throwback for the Baltimore Elite Giants. These look even nicer with the GQ treatment. The back also includes a short history on the team. After picking up the Franchise Favourites subset out of Opening Day, I can see myself going for this one as well. I've already got a Curtis Granderson Mets...Royal Giants card on the way.

Minis! The Duke Snider was separate from the others, so it might be a short print. The numbering system seems to indicate that. Those fall at a 1:12 ratio.

A few more base cards before the framed parallels show up. There's my first GQ Mets card of the year, as well as my first card that I have both the mini and the full-sized regular card for.

And the framed parallels. Not exactly the biggest names, but the Ozuna works nicely with the white (sorry, Pearl) borders of the card.

I'm still not too sure what my set builder set is going to be this year. If the SP portion of Archives isn't too daunting, I'll try that. If not, I can see picking up a box or two of these and working on this one.

Bo Breaker it ain't

But is one of the more unique "pitcher with a bat" cards.

A Centerpiece for one Collection

Since I had come across several Juniors themed relic cards, where players with no other connection are grouped together based on their CHL franchise, I figured there had to be one as well that featured a couple Kitchener Rangers alum together on the same card.

Unfortunately, there were no such tandem cards as best as I could find via COMC or ebay.

Fortunately, there was a trios, instead.

White I would have preferred the windows spelled "KIT", as Panini had done something similar with Prime, I'll still take it. And the numbering(?) reads "WM-KIT", so it still fits.

And there's my Rangers binder version of the Hejduk/Gaborik relic.

COMC Challenge Cards Part 95: Expos-ed

As I continue to try to make by COMC box more manageable before the Expo next weekend, here's another themed post.

While on the surface, this doesn't seem like an Expo card, although it does seem like an autograph from a scout is the type of odd thing I would purchase. The story comes on the back of the card:

As apparently he scouted Randy Johnson. For Montreal's sake, I hope he wasn't the one that also scouted Mark Langston. Although I am slightly curious how accurate a reproduction of his scouting report was.

How about continuing on with another card that I think was on my Top 10 list on one point. Yes, it was there only because it is a great view of Tony's batting stance.

And what better way to wrap an Expos post up that with a 5 pack of Vlad?

And with that, only about 80 or so cards are left in the COMC box!

2015 Adventures in Repacks: Part 15: Hey! I think I need that for my set!

So, how do I do when I go to the Dollarama, and decide on a pair ofrepacks based only on whether or not the card is a need for a set I'm working on.

Repack #1:

And I go 1 for 1 in terms of needing the card. This is one of the 17 cards I needed to finish the 12-13 R.A. base set. Nice. And even moreso, since there are not too many Iginla Pens cards. An Upper Deck loved this image so much, it was used on his OPC card as well for 13-14.

Lots of junk wax among the rest, but I still added a couple mask binder cards. The Puppa is a gold parallel, and these have been showing up more frequently in recent repacks. Warriner is a Rangers alumni, so he's bound for that collection. Richards was the visible card on the other side of the repack.

Pack #2:

I'm 1 for 2. I knew I needed a good # of Predators in my UD S1 build, but this wasn't one of them.

However, there were more interesting cards among the hidden cards that in the first. How can I not like a card of a guy named Branko? The Ranheim is junk wax, but it is Franch parallel junk wax. Also, the Chris Kontos commemorates his scoring the first goal in Lightning history, followed by 3 more in their first game. Marcus Johansson was visible on the back of the repack. To the second row, we've got Kevin Smyth. He's listed as a Springfield Indian on the card front, but as a Whalers draft pick on the back. That's bound for Shoebox Legends. Another pre-lockout/strike mask binder card follows with the Auld. Then's there a Topps Total - always interesting finds, even though it isn't too obscure of a player. And finally, yet another gold parallel Parkhurst.

So, despite swinging and missing on a set need with Josi, that was still the better repack of the two.

And there you have it.

Common and Random

Time to continue on and show even more of the goodies that came in the justcommons order. While 1 part was 2/14 guys, and another was the Franchise Flashbacks subset from Opening Day, these are the remnants that didn't fit into either category.

I'm just going to admit I bought this because I'm immature.

And this one as well can me attributed to me maturity level even though it really isn't as juvenile as the Matt Morris photo, but my reaction to Jeff's fashion choice certainly is. Still, this one isn't the most horrific shirt choice in my collection.

This is here for the pure cool photo factor. Pitcher at the plate and a broken bat.

And a very interesting card, my second from the same Bowman set in this post. Firsty, it is a great photo of a guy I collect where he's signing autographs. But, interestingly, and somewhat meta, is that the anonymous Expo on the program is also pictured signing an autograph. I've seen cards where there is one autograph being signed, but 2. Trippy.

And finally, here are some Mets. Rich Becker for the obscure Mets factor and Dave Telgheder because it reminded me of this Red Green bit.

And that's most of the "None Of The Above" from justcommons, although some will also show up on other blogs once the mail arrives.