3 Months and 100 Cards Ago...

Remember when I said I was backlogged?  I bought a big purchase last year around April that I never got around to showing on here.  Even worse is I scanned and photographed a lot of the cards but misplaced all of it so until I can find them (not the cards, they are already sorted) I have no way to show them off.  However, back in November I did partake in COMC's annual holiday sales.  I waited for almost a year for the sale, maybe even longer.  I didn't plan for it to happen but during their last Spring sale they didn't offer free shipping and while I eventually got over it, I wasn't too pleased at the time.  To ship the cards it would be 4 bucks.  That's still a good deal if you get quite a few cards, but I then realized if I had them ship me 100 cards, I'd get a $5 credit.  It's something they've done for a while, so I had about 30 cards at the time and figured I would essentially get free shipping if I just held out and got 100 cards.  To my surprise, they offered free shipping again in November, so not only did I reach the 100 mark and get the $5 credit, but free shipping to boot.  Most of the money from the cards I bought were because I did a lot of the challenges on their site, which helps them out.  I haven't done many lately, but still knock a few out when I can.  In total though, I got 130 or so cards in November, and its time to show them off.

A little bit of everything, but the Royals cards I'll focus on next time, let's dig in to the other stuff first.

I'm not a history guy, but always wanted to build a Presidential Frankenset.  Then I fell in love with this 2012 set.  Well, part of it.  Its like 150 or 200 card set featuring the Women's Soccer team, but no disrespect to them, I just wanted the Presidents.  So I found these cheap enough to start piecing together a set.  Maybe I should just look on Ebay and find just this portion of the set.  HMMM, maybe I have a future blog post to write. ;)

Those stickers were pure impulse buy, but it was a 5 card insert set advertising for the wacky packs from 2016 and I had the other 2.  Might as well finish the insert set up.  In fact, I'm very slowly looking to build a master set of the 2016 Topps set including Update.  Now I'm not looking for all the parallels or 1/1 or anything, but the base set and a few of the insert sets.  If I add gold or other variations I'll upgrade that card in the collection.  I doubt I do much more to it now, and probably should just buy a complete set and be happy.

I've slowly started making a PC for A-Rod.  Mainly because it seems you can find his cards cheap because people want to discard them so easily.  Did he take steroids?  Yeah... Did he entertain me?  Yeah, so there you have it.  It seems he's in a happy place now, and hey, if he does more autograph shows and brings J-Lo along, I might have to start going to those.  The Damon card I got because I didn't have it.  Like I was going to get a COMC package WITHOUT a Damon?  This isn't his best card and it has another player on the other side (its not beside me right now so I forgot who, maybe Slade Heathcoat? or I just made up a random name).  As for the Aaron Senne card, I got because he went to Mizzou.  He never made it too far in the pro's making it to the advanced A league and the SALLY league, but retired in 2013.  I found out after I got the card he actually was one of a few guys who sued MiLB citing the pay for minors violated wage labor laws.  I never heard about that, so I don't know what happened but since it was filed 4 years ago I don't think it made it too far.

Jon Lovitz on a trading card?  That's the ticket!  "See the grass?  Don't eat it."  These are all First Pitch cards I didn't have, and a couple I ended up getting after I bought them but forgot.  After getting the Leslie Jordan I decided not to keep trying to get all the cards and focus on just guys I like, but previous years I thought I'd finish first.  The 2015 set is about all I have left to complete.  Aside from Lovitz none of these really stand out to me and none were ones if I wasn't set building would have chased.  Though I must say the Brady Kahle card was cool to get because I've heard some good stuff about him and so I was kinda happy to get that one too.

Much like getting Johnny Damon cards, it wouldn't be a COMC order without some Greg Maddux cards.  The two I wanted most was the Tombstone one, and the Stadium Club one.  The Spellbound one was nice too.  All these cards I believe were under 40 cents.  I try to get as many cards as I can in the .30-.40 cent range, but sometimes I'll go higher.  I do make exceptions, but at this point it doesn't happen too often.  Though if I found a good deal on a Robin Yount rookie I wouldn't pass it up.  After reorganizing my collection recently (well, I'm still working on it, but a lot of the baseball is done), I see I'm approaching 175 unique Maddux cards.  200 might be out of reach this year, but I think 180 could be within sight since I'm not going to press too hard on adding cards this year.  Since I'm organizing my cards better I want to feature more of what I have for now.  Only exception in non-sports, that's a beast in its own, and I might build a few sets.  Currently though, Maddux has 169 card (going to go up in a couple weeks), Damon just passed 100 (101 to be exact), and George Brett is at 89.

This oddball collection is a bit fun to look at.  The Phil Rizzuto card I watched for almost 2 years.  While the actual site sits dormant, I am still trying to get a card of every team who played in Missouri.  This card satisfies the Kansas City Blues.  While its not a card from the time period, its good enough to me.  Hopefully later this year I can update all that and see what I have.  Maybe I can work on that site too, we'll see.  I didn't need a Monarchs card, but I'll get any Buck O'Neill I can find at a good price.  I just love that second card of him, which I've also been watching a couple years.  The top row concludes with an Ozzie Smith card I didn't have.  I still have to update my Ozzie cards, but I'm happy with the amount of Padres cards I have of him.  I think this is my first of him representing Cal Poly though.

Bottom row starts with a couple Wacha's.  I am a fan of his, and even if I wasn't I'm still building that Marketside set so I didn't have that one.  I also liked the USA Champions card and so I got it.  That reminds me I need to update my Michael Wacha collection.  I'll get to it.  At least I did update my Albert Pujols collection.  Hey currently sits 6th in my baseball collection with 64 cards (behind Kevin Appier who I have 66 cards of).  I'm sure I'll add more AP cards this year but for now these caught my eye.  I really like the National Baseball Card day one.  The Holiday one really doesn't do much for me, but its a new one to add to my collection, so I'm glad I got it.

Let's talk football.  After finding a bunch of Brett Favre cards at Savvy Seconds a year or two ago, I've had more interest in building a PC of him.  These two seemed like they would fit nicely into my collection, and I knew I didn't have them so let's get them.  That Pro Line card is something else.  Next is a Marshall Faulk card from the Monsters of the Gridiron set.  While my friend bought me a pack of the complete set, I've yet to open it, and still plan to finish building the set so I don't have to.  I'm well on my way and think the hardest ones are out of the way.  Finally up top is a SI For Kids Mike Alstott card.  At one point I had an impressive Alstott collection.  I remember the first thing I ever looked for on Ebay was Mike Alstott cards.  I didn't buy them at that time, but eventually I did.  When I sold my collection so went all that I had, but I've slowly started to rebuild it.  Its not as much of a desire as it used to be, but its fun to find his cards at random times.

The bottom row is all Mizzou guys.  The Ron Taylor I've spotted for a while and finally pulled the trigger.  I don't think its the oldest Mizzou card I have, but its close to it.  The Maclin I got because even if he wasn't a Mizzou guy, its him as a Chief, and I'd likely would have got it anyways.  The last card is one of Kirk Farmer.  His drink of water in the pros was longer than I thought, but not by much.  These days he lives in the Mid Missouri area and is part of Farmer Holding Company who currently owns the Capital Mall in Jefferson City.

More Mizzou football, this time shiny ones.  The purple Marcus Murphy card I got for a steal, and actually cheaper then his base card was selling for (I think it was 33 cents).  I liked him in college and while I don't need every card of every guy from Mizzou, I make exceptions for some guys.  I wasn't sure at the time if I had a Shane Ray card so I got it.  If you remember when he was drafted you might have heard about him getting busted for pot in Mid Missouri a few days before the draft.  Turns out the county that happened in is the one I live in, so I guess we have that going for us.  Lastly is the Markus Golden card, another guy I wasn't sure if I had a card for.  I liked the design of the card so that influenced my decision to get it.

Let's finish up with a random mix.  I like finding cheap DeMarre Carroll cards and this one fit the bill.  At the time I didn't have a card of him with the Raptors and I like to stay current.  By the time it arrived (well, actually 4 months prior) he was shipping out to Brooklyn (which isn't the same as Shipping Out To Boston) and he's now on the Nets.  I hope to get a card of him with the Nets, but it was rumored he might be traded again.  Last I heard he wants to stay in Brooklyn and they likely won't, which I hope is true.  Speaking of trading, Jordan Clarkson has a new team now and it doesn't make me too happy.  I don't regularly follow the NBA but I tolerate certain teams and can't stand a lot of them.  I tolerate the Lakers, but I can't stand the Cavs.  I think its more than just not being a LeBron fan, but I really wish they would go back to being in the bottom of the league, same with the Warriors.  Anyways, I am happy that Clarkson is on a team that seems to want to improve though, and I wish him the best of success.

The Michael Annett card is one I didn't have and I try to find cheap ones of him.  Its racing season again, and since I don't have FS1 or NBCSN, I hope to catch all 4 Xfinity races that I might get to watch this year.  It also means its the season that I constantly gripe on twitter how more races aren't on network TV.  Sorry if you have to suffer through my tweets.  Maybe its good I don't watch NBA or NHL as much, I'd find a lot more to complain about.  Speaking of hockey, I got the Vladimir Tarasenko card because it seemed for a while he was the only bright spot about the Blues.  I hope they can hold on to him.  Who knows maybe I'll actually watch more of their games.  I mean I can now, but choose not to (while I don't get NBCSN or FS1, I do get Fox Sports Midwest, so Blues and Cardinals games is all I get, I can't even watch Royals games, ugh!).

Okay, bottom row is a common Bonds card I didn't have and since it was cheap I got it.  I'd like to build up my Bonds PC collection sooner than later, but at this rate its climbing about as much as his HOF votes are.  Eventually I hope he gets in, and hopefully I'll have a healthy amount of his cards by then.  Next is a Max Scherzer card I didn't have.  Mizzou alum or not, I'd collect his cards.  I can't believe how much of a Mizzou fan he still is though.  He's tweeting photos of him watching Mizzou games all the time on twitter.  It makes me like him even more.  Lastly, and maybe most random is an A.J. Styles wrestling card.  I actually have a few of his cards, but they are from his TNA days, so this is my first WWE card of him.  I've always been a big fan of his and even remember when he teamed with Kid Romeo in the final days of WCW.  I remember his WWE Jakked match against Hurricane in 2001 or 2002 as well.  I'm lucky enough to see him wrestle at a house show a few years back so I really wanted to get this card, and while I might pare down my wrestling collection, this one I'll proudly display.

So I didn't expect to write this much, so I think I'll stop here for now.  Next time I'll focus more on the Royals cards I got.  I should have that up later this week.  Thanks for reading and have a great night.