Flexibility

If baseball doesn't work out, there's always the circus.

Four if by Sportlots - Part 2

Since 4 is the maximum # of cards you can get from many sportlots sellers, that's the level I sometimes end at for purchases, thus resulting in this 4-card PWE coming my way.

"Guys? You'd tell me if this looked silly, right? Guys?"

Gabe Northern against the background of a Western New York sky. A beautiful card for someone who didn't get too many out of his 5 year career. And by "didn't get too many" I mean he got 2. This one (and its parallels) and a Pacific insert card.

And here's a pair of some of the sparser members of the 2/14 binder to close it. Kenny Shedd makes his second appearance, and this is the 5th of Lonnie Johnson in it.

That's 4 cards!

Wow.

While not quite on par with this mind-blowing piece of 60's bigotry, this 1978 appearance of Chief Powa Hitta (yegads) alongside Seymour Baseball is pretty WTF-inducing as well.

He doesn't look like he has too much native blood in him. Although he does look like he was smoking weed in the bullpen and thinks Seymour's head is real. COMC Challenges again bring this beauty before my eyes.

Pick 6: Basketball

Today, I reach into my COMC to-be-posted box and pull out the first 6 basketball cards in there. And these were the 6 in question:

And I start with David Wesley in a ball pit with the team mascot, reading Mother Goose. There is nothing I could write that could enhance that in any way.

You know you've posted an interesting card when the next card is Gary Payton wearing a Supersonics-coloured Dr. Seuess hat, and it barely registers. This is the only base card in this grouping of 6.

I love defunct team logos making appearance on current cards. So, here's a card featuring the one-and-done Washington Caps.

Staying with the defunct/relocated team theme so far (I guess the version of the Hornets on the Wesley counts), here's a relic I've always wanted to add to my collection - a teal Vancouver Grizzlies swatch. And it features easily the best player in the team's short history - Shareef Abdur-Rahim.

I wanted a hit of Biyombo to commemorate his short time in Toronto. He didn't have any Toronto autos, so this Bobcats/Hornets one has to do.

To wrap up this group of 6 up, a penmanship collection auto of Bo Outlaw. Nice that he was able to get both a legible version of his name and his number on the sticker.

And there you go!

Words Fail Me.

Obviously, this card that came up during COMC challenges is some horribly bigoted relic from the 30's, right?

Copyright 1963?

Never mind.

Horizontal Hockey

It has been too long since I've dipped into my "COMC to be posted" box. Today is as good a day as any.

I'm not sure how many photos were taken of Cameron Mann this day, but they inexplicably opted for this one. I'm not sure who it was that told Cameron that this was a good idea for a photo, but they truly were a cruel bastard.

One of the youngest people ever featured on a hockey card? Now, if Artrum had gone onto a hockey career, this could be like the infamous Sylvain Turgeon/Patrick Kane card.

That didn't happen.

Neat card, though.

Another neat photo. Looks like Murray needs to retape his stick, though. This is from the same set as the Shtalenkov, which should send a card photography fan like myself searching for more.

I like the back has more to do with the photograph than the player.

2/14 content! This is my 4th Canvas of Gaborik, and I only need the 2011-12 version to complete that rainbow.

And the final one is the e-pack foil board parallel of Eric Nystrom. The regular one was my favourite 2/14 release of the previous year, so it just seems natural that I'd add this one. Fortunately, since there was a partnership with COMC on these, it was easy enough for somebody else to pull it from an e-pack, and then move it to COMC where I could get it for 30 cents.

And there you have it!

Fun with licensing (or the lack thereof)

While this isn't quite as shameful Brett Smith's 2014 card, what is likely the only appearance of Barbicide on a trading card has to be up there.

Anybody want to give Wood the Barber a call? Maybe he does TTM autos!

My first must-have card of 2016

I saw this doing COMC challenges, and couldn't resist adding this card:

I'm not an Ekblad collector. I'm not a Panthers collector. Why this card?

Oops.

Hockey Clear Out

Namely, clearing out the hockey portion of my "to be posted" box.

And what better way to start with some pure WTF from Collector's Choice and their Warriors of Ice insert set? That's supposed to be Jarome Iginla riding the fire-breathing horse.

And from WTF to another. Puck Junk called this the worst card of 2010. I'd hate to see the card that beat it. Of course, that meant I had to add this to my collection. At least he was granted the privilege of having his face visible on the Victory and Certified issues. Although not his Donruss.

The Be A Player series could offer some strange photos as well. But at least I can add this one of Kevin Haller to my 'Cards with Dogs' mini-collection.

This is my second Antti Aalto collection. I add his card only because Aalto is first alphabetically among all players in NHL history. Unless someone even more Scandinavian passed him lately.

A nice view of the Cleveland Barons uniform was lurking around my wantlist for a bit. It was added to my COMC cart, and it fell off earlier this week. If you're thinking "That design would be perfect for an autograph!", you're right. There are autographed versions of this card out there.

Back to back posts with players wearing toques? Why not?

This mask just screams out "I was just traded from New Jersey to Buffalo, and haven't received the new mask yet." He never played for New Jersey, so I'll just assume he is yet another guy who looked to heavy metal album covers for mask inspiration. He is one of a handful of goaltenders to get credited with a goal, though.

So he'll always have that.

I'm not sure who Marian Hossa knew at Pacific to get not one, but two gorgeous photos on cards in 2002, but I won't complain, especially since both of them come against the Leafs.

Rangers alumni! Mike Robitaille had spent all but a few games the previous season with the Canucks, yet the jersey still looks like an airbrush special. Because why wouldn't it? David Latta spent 36 games over 4 season with the Nordiques, but never got a card. So, I add this one from his time in the AHL. Because any port in a storm. And Derek Roy had made several appearance. But this might be the most Kitchener Ranger intensive backs there have been. 

See?!

Of course there will be some Alfredsson content in the latest COMC shipment.

As well as 2/14 content. The Sutter is an unnumbered silver parallel.

And wrapping up back-to-back posts with a Milan Hejduk relic. While this isn't as patchy as the last one, this specific one is an important addition. I received one of this card's printing plates in a previous trade envelope from Dennis @ Too Many Manninghams. I always like to have at least one of the cards to go alongside it. 

So this is that card. 

And there you have another post. Back tomorrow with something else.

Words Fail Me

And face it, there are no words that can enhance this image.

Two Autos for the Price of One

One.

Two.

The Disappearance of Cartoons on Cards

In some cases, it can be a very good thing. If this card could talk, I'm sure it would be doing the Krusty the Clown "Me So Solly" bit.

Hey, Guys?

"You'd tell me if this looked goofy, right?"

"Thanks! Either way, as long as my name is spelled correctly on the card, I'll be happy."

Oh yes, before I go:

First riff after the opening credits.

Close your mouth.

You'll catch flies.

Last Known Photo

As a bonus, this high quality photo looks like it was photographed off a TV set that was showing a fourth-generation VHS of someone's day at the Utica ballpark.

Benefits to the DH Rule

It greatly reduces the chance of this happening during an actual big league game.

Classiest card ever?

Most card companies would just show the chaw in the mouth. You have to respect how, back in 1983, Fritsch Cards would just show the wind-up instead of the actual pitch.

The 2015 version of "I Must Have This Card"

I know the year isn't even three weeks old, but this is gonna be a tough one to beat. Behold! Another piece of strangeness coming my way via the COMC Challenges, and immediately added to my inventory once I saw it.

There are actually several others like this in the 1991 Classic Utica Blue Sox team set, but I like this one because it really gives the vibe of someone's last known photo.

Much like the previous 2014 version, I can't wait for it to show up. Enjoy the new company, Jim Moore!

Trade w/ lonestarr - Part 1

I got an email from lonestarr looking for a good home for a bunch of cards. Bills. Raptors. Jays. Vlads. And the like. While I wasn't able to bring the volume in the envelope I sent, the quality was there and I was able to get a large bubble envelope heading my way.

Despite the large number of cards that went my way, I was able to break things pretty easily down into two categories. Buffalo Bills cards. And non-Buffalo Bills cards. Simple!

Opening up with a nice addition to my Blue Jays collection, and also my favourite card from this portion of the trade - a nice on-card autograph of Vernon Wells. Not the most spectacular penmanship, but does have an nice shininess to it. I'm not sure how autos worked in with the Pack Wars game, though.

And here are some more Jays for theat portion of my collection. Shiny! Parallels! Base! A nice mix.

Not much for the Expos collection, though. Still, it is always fun to welcome an oddball to that binder.

My Vlad binder made out much better.

Transitioning from Vladimir to the Raptors doesn't really make any sense, but I really didn't have any way to move away from or into baseball to any other groups of the cards. So, this will do. The Jimmy King is one third of a group of minis from '96 Collector's Choice. He was grouped with a pair of Fab 5ers, so when I first got this card, it went off to Dennis @ TMM. While another Demar rookie for my collection is nice, the most interesting one to me was the Villanueva in the upper left. For the card back.

Since when does a disease someone suffers from qualify as a "Fun" fact? WTF, Topps?

Thankfully, the Raptors are an easy transition to move from, with yet another Richard Hamilton hit for my 2/14 collection.

Followed be some base. This puts my total for his cards at 22. He still trails Muresan, but that gap should close sooner and Rip will resume the lead. After all, there are 8-9 times more cards of his to chose from.

Football also got a few new cards, and this puts the overall total at 798 overall. I wish I had just one more card in the binder, since the Miller is /799, and would be an appropriate card to put me at the goal. My goal for the year was to add 800 cards, and that will easily drop once I start posting the latest batch on COMC Challenge cards.

And to wrap it up, there were a nice collection of drawn cards for that collection. Considering my collection is mainly baseball and hockey, adding some football is nice. It is hard not to pick this '91 Score of Warrren Moon as my fave in this group. CFL alumni always get a slight edge in picking favourites.

So, that's half the envelope. The Bills portion gets posted sometime next week.