Best Of 2021 Part Two

 In the last installment, I showed off some highlights of 2021 for me.  Today we'll look at some more including more cards.  Just like last time, I'll show them first, but today has more sports related stuff, so besides already reading, you might as well stick around.  With not much more to set this up with, let's dig in.

For most of 2021, not a card could be found on store shelves where I went.  It wasn't until late in the year that cards finally returned to the shelves at my local Walmart.  Even then the price of cards has made me resist rather easily buying any.  I saw a pack of basketball I think for 7 bucks the other day.  Besides not collecting basketball cards, even if I did, no way I would pay that much for a pack.  I should have known though, because earlier in the year I made a trip to Big Lots and found a pack of baseball cards and a pack of football cards.  I didn't pay attention to the price, and I regret buying them.  I think it was 15 bucks for the 2 packs, though at least there were a lot of cards.  This is one of the packs I bought, and while I was still upset with myself for paying that much, I was happy with some of the cards I pulled.  Besides an SI Kids card, the Mahomes was the first of his I held in hand (a few months prior I did buy a card of his on COMC, but it didn't arrive until Christmas).  However even though I'm a big Mahomes fan (I mean I have bought multiple boxes of his cereal), I was even happier with the Justin Herbert rookie.  I think he will be a big star.  I'm very excited about him being on a rival team because for the next decade I can (hopefully) enjoy this rivalry between these two QBs.  While I hope Kansas City wins every time, I like the idea of seeing a QB on another team I actually like (I was never a fan of Philip Rivers).  Also I was happy to add the Drew Lock card to my Mizzou collection, and also happy with the other QB cards I pulled (even Aaron Rodgers who I'm not a fan of).  Even pulling the Gronk card was nice since it took a bit of the sting out of the price.

If I'm not mistaken, the top row is some of the cards I pulled from the baseball pack on that same trip.  Not quite as good, but the price was at least cheaper for those cards.  I think I also got a Mike Moustakas card in the pack too, so that was nice.  On the bottom row I'm pretty sure I got off Listia.  I honestly can't remember anymore.  I guess if I start blogging more I can write about them sooner and keep track.  Oh well.  The Winslow will be a nice addition to my Mizzou collection (and as I write this, I'm bidding on another Winslow card on Listia to possibly join it).  The stickers will be added to my Royals collection.  I had some doubles of the full size stickers and I used a Royals one to tag my 5000 count box of Royals cards.  It's not full yet, but I am going to have to possibly move a few of the cards out of there soon.  I'm thinking I might use a binder or two to showcase some of my cards again.  I don't know how or when I'll do it though, so its not quite a goal yet.  The Tom Henke card will going into a Missouri collection.  Its a separate collection not tied into the Mizzou collection.  The Missouri collection is the same one where I try to get a card of every team who ever called Missouri home.  I include athletes in that too, and Henke is a long time resident of Missouri's capital city- Jefferson City. Technically I think he lives in one of the smaller cities near the Jeff (as some locals call it), maybe Westphalia or Holts Summit.  Joe Crede is also in the Missouri collection since he's from roughly the same area.

When Savvy Seconds had a variety of items, I was able to buy a couple of packs of these Looney Tunes cards for 50 cents each.  There were about 20 packs there, but I didn't want to buy 10 bucks of these cards.  In fact I couldn't remember at the time of buying these if they were from this set, or another Looney Tunes set.  I was hoping for the other set since I had many cards of those as a kid.  Alas, I got these, and for a buck I enjoyed opening these.  The question is though, do I group these as a set build or on the card with players do I PC them?  I do PC Nolan Ryan, so its a tough one, but I think I got a double of one of his, so I'll probably do both.  I have no desire to build this set, but it was fun to open these like I was a kid again.

I don't remember where I got these, but most likely Listia.  Willie is new to my Royals collection, and Gibson is a PC, so both were welcome.  I was never a fan of the bigger sized cards, so I will be somewhat happy when I finish getting all the cards I want from those sets.

Next is a card I've had on my wantlist for a few years, and was finally able to hold it in 2021.

I loved The Lion King and its a surprise that I never owned this card or collected any cards from this set.  However I have no desire to collect any other cards from this set.  The only reason I wanted this card was because of a connection to Missouri.

For many years I was a fan of the work of Robert Guillaume and in like 2005 or so I said "it will be a sad day when he passes away".  It was, and the same thing I said about Harley Race, and that was too.  The difference between the two besides the obvious is that Harley Race had many trading cards, and I had many of them.  Robert Guillaume on the other hand didn't.  In fact I've never found a card that shows him on it.  Not for Soap, Benson, Sports Night, or any other show he did, unless I look up every character he played including guest appearances, I couldn't find any.  The closest I could find would be Rafiki which he did the voice for in The Lion King.  I've watched the card for a few years on COMC but the price was higher than I wanted for a card of a guy who isn't shown on the card.  A couple years ago I finally found it cheap on Listia.  I bid and I won the card.  The seller was one I've dealt with many times on there and I was excited.  About 4 days later she sent me a message that she misplaced the card and would refund me what I paid.  While I was the only bidder for the card, I don't think it was nefarious on her part, I really think she did misplace it.  Though about 6 months later she did have another one for sale.  Being a cheapskate, the price was a little higher then I won it for, so I only watched it, figuring I would bid towards the end of the auction.  Turns out, someone used Buy It Now, and I never got the chance.  It took about 2 years later for me to find it again, and I actually got it cheaper.  Though at this point since I had points to spare, I would have overbid for it I'm sure.  Either way, I'm glad I own it now.  When and if I ever decide to do custom cards again, I have thought of Sports Night cards, and I think if I ever did, I'd have to actually print one out of him.  Maybe a better idea is making custom cards "Hall of Missourians" featuring people from or stayed in Missouri for an extended period.  Hmm.... now I might be on to something.  Too bad I never print out my cards.

Late in the year my sister surprised me with a few cards, a couple were wrestling ones.  I don't have the scan of John Morrison (who for a while in 2021) went by the monikers Johnny Drip Drip, and America's Moist Wanted (things you never thought you'd type out).  The scan I will show is of his longtime friend and tag team partner, MC M.I.Z.

 

I've been a fan of The Miz longer than he has been in the wrestling business.  The first year I got MTV was the year he was on The Real World.  I always liked the concept of the show, and a guy like The Miz made me like it more.  A few years later he got a tryout with WWE and the rest is history.  I'm not sure where my sister found this card or what she paid for it, but I'm being excited that I have and autographed Miz card.  It's not just a good card, its downright AWESOME!

This wraps up the card portion, but I do have more sports related stuff to show off, so if you've read this far, might as well read the rest.  Also if you've enjoyed these last couple posts, let me know what you liked the most.  I'm not begging for comments, but more of a gauge of where my readers are coming from.  I figure most are through blogger, but I do tweet new posts, and new ones also appear on the blogroll on TCDB, as well as other blogger's blogrolls.  Thanks to all of you who regularly leave a comment, I appreciate it more than you can imagine.

2021 saw me buy more books, and on the surface I have to wonder why.  I guess because they are so cheap, but I never read them.  Or at least not many of them.  It was around October or so that I remembered I had a couple bookcases in storage that weren't doing anything.  They were in bad shape, but I wanted to bring one home for my VHS tapes, and then realized I could use the other for... books!

The College Football book my mom found, and its the type of book I would read sooner then others, its a collection of stories and articles (if I remember it right), but I didn't have much interest in it.  She still bought it, and I've thumbed through it a few times, and I'm glad she got it.

The bottom three books I actually found at Dollar Tree.  I think I bought all three after I brought the bookshelves home, so that is the likely reason.  The chances I read them are slightly better than when they were all stacked in my closet.

The thought process was that once I have all my books on display, I will actually want to read them.  I can't say yet whether it was a success or not because I haven't really been browsing for stuff to read.  I will say though since I've displayed them, I have looked at them a few times and actually picked a few up and looked at them some.  If I were to make any goals this year, it might be to read a few of them.  What is surprising is that I completely filled up the bookshelf and as of now even have a few stacked in front of the shelf shown, so I have to reorganize it already.  My VHS bookshelf should get thinned out later this year, and I think I might be able to put a few on that one at some point.  If not, maybe if I find enough 2x4s, and other wood in storage I can build a bookcase.  I mean I did a long time ago, much smaller, but its an idea.  I will also show the full bookcase again in a few weeks or months.  I think I'm already planning on moving it, so I'll wait until I do.

I was quite surprised to find this magazine at Savvy Seconds early in the year.  Even though the cover was torn, it is somewhat important.  The issue had a story about JFK and his son, but the cover date is after he was killed.  With the cover that damaged, it has no real value, but I figured at some point I would scan as much of the magazine as I could and do some posts on it.  On my Pinterest page I sometimes use scans and pictures from this blog, and a few actually get re..pinned? I'm not hip to the lingo.  One of my most repinned scans was a John Madden beer advertisement I posted on here many years ago.

Anyways, this magazine was oversized and it was kind of a pain to scan the ads and pictures, so I only did a few so far.  Maybe this year I'll try a few more.  However here are a few I've done so far.

Beer ads always do well.  I wish I had a bigger scanner, it would look even better.  A new scanner has long been on my wishlist, but never a priority.  I don't think it will until mine conks out.  I think mine is 15 or so years old, so I might as well ride it out.

I thought it would be cool to show an intact coupon from the issue.  Half the fun of thumbing through old magazines are the ads and what the product packaging use to look like.  I've never been one to buy framed advertising art, but I can actually see the appeal of it.  Though none from this issue would really be worth framing.

The magazine had a story on the NFL, and I liked these photos.  I wish I would have got them straighter, because these would be cool to make custom cards.  Maybe at some point I will rescan them.

I liked the fracas of the last picture, too bad it was oversized for my scanner and the page a bit folded.  It was still nice to show off.  Like I said, maybe this year I'll get some more out of the magazine.  I guess when it comes to history, its not that I don't like it, I just like different aspects of it.  I like advertising history.  I love watching old commercials and looking through old magazines to get a feel of what it was like at the time.  I can look online for historical events like World War II or JFK's assassination, but diving into a commercial pack from 1986 or what butter packaging looked like in 1957 is a little harder to find but when found, to me is a bit more enjoyable.

It's one of the few things I like about everyone having a phone with video and cameras now.  Its not just the major events that can be documented.  It's everything, no matter how big or small can be documented.  Someone is likely always recording.  While I'm not up on current technology and don't care about traveling with a smartphone in hand, I'm glad so many do and can preserve even the little things that can be documented for the future.

So let's move on.  Later in the year, the holidays didn't seem like it would be much better than the previous year, but for the second straight year I went all out to decorate indoors.  While I didn't take pictures of everything, I did take a couple.

I didn't really add too much in that top photo, it was all stuff I had last year.  The exception might be the Christmas book.  On the bottom photo, a couple things were added.  The major item was the A Christmas Story Advent Calendar which my sister bought me.  What I should have done was take a picture after all the items were on display, but maybe I'll remember next year when I display it again.  Overall it was kind of fun to see what would be behind each door, but the price was more than it should have been, and I was really surprised one of the items was not a Red Ryder BB gun, which is what he pined over.

Other new additions are the VHS tapes in the background, which not all were actually new additions, I just never put them on display before.  Next Christmas, they will be on display on the movie bookcase.  I don't think the vinyl record was new either, but it was nice to display this year.  I'm not sure if I'll display it next year and if I do, it won't take up as much space.  Though I think I can place it where the VHS tapes are on the picture and not stick out.  I don't think I'll ever display my DVD or Blu-Ray Christmas movies, I just wanted the old media on display as some sort of nostalgia, which DVD's don't really elicit the same memories.  Though the Die Hard Blu-Ray did come with a Christmas themed cardboard cover, so maybe it will display well.

This photo is a mix of early 2021 and late 2021.  The Playstation 4 was something I got early in the year.  My brother in law upgraded to a PS5, and he didn't need his PS4.  He offered it to me and after thinking it over a bit (I wanted it, but thought if he could make some money on it, he should do that), I accepted it.  I got it around my birthday, and my best friend when hearing about this, bought me a few games so I'd have something to play.  It was a nice upgrade from the Xbox 360 which I had for around 10 years and feared was on its last legs.  The stand its sitting on now was a late addition and one that looks really nice despite its flaws.  It was found in the dumpster at the apartments I live in and on the outside it looks fine with the exception of the drawer, but that's not a big deal.  However while cleaning it up,one side was real loose.  Luckily I had some old pieces of boards and was able to make it sturdy.  Initially I didn't know what to do with it, but one day I had an idea of setting the PS4 on top, and then inside the bottom I could put more media.

I have a decent size record collection, and I wanted a place to store them.  None have a lot of value, most are my parents that are well used.  However I thought if I could put most inside this it would clear some space and actually look nice just opening the door and seeing what I have.  I was surprised that they all fit inside almost perfectly, and I have a little bit of room in case I add a few more to my collection.  I don't have a record player currently, but a couple days ago I found one exactly like my parents had in the 70's, and one I've wanted for a while.  The price was reasonable, and I hope to get some money to buy it in the next couple months (its at an antique mall, I hope its still there when I go back).  I won't have the same speakers, but I do have a pair that I can use.  Overall this stand/cabinet was a nice pickup for free.

With that, I think that will wrap it up.  2021 had its ups and downs, but overall I added quite a few new additions and I'm pretty happy about that.  I don't know or expect 2022 will be as nice to me, but if it doesn't I have a feeling I have plenty of stuff I never shown off on here that will be nice future posts.  Plus I do have hopes of bringing some features back I've long since shelved.  I don't think I will be able to do Savvy Loot Box posts in 2022, but maybe I will.  I do think at worst, I should be able to string a few Lisita posts that will be worthwhile.

Before I wrap it up I have one more addition, this one a gif.  Sometimes I save gifs so I can randomly send to people, and this one I found a couple weeks ago and it was too good to pass up.

I had to look up Donald "Duck" Dunn the other day and stumbled upon this gem.  What a great way to wrap up a post as we look forward to what 2022 brings.  Thanks for reading and have a great day. I hope mine will include a Kansas Chiefs playoff win, and if not, then I'll find something to take my mind off of it.

Best of 2021 Part One

 I will admit freely the last few years I haven't posted a lot in the year.  It doesn't mean I don't scan or take photos of stuff I've gotten however.  I do it mostly so I can be ready in case I want to make a post, and other times I just do it out of habit.  So instead of trying to think of my thoughts when getting certain items in the last year or why I scanned or photographed them, I figured I'd do a post of basically the best of.  I then realized I had about 40-50 ideas, so I decided to break it down into two posts.  Since I also admit I haven't been the best at working on cards as much, I decided to show off some in both posts.  For those that don't care about the other stuff, I'll show the cards first, then the other stuff.  Its been a slow but somewhat busy year once I looked at all the pictures and scans, so I may have already shown some off or talked about them, or conversely forgotten anything about them, so it will be a trip down memory lane for me as well.  At any rate, since I have 20 pictures to show, let's dig in.

Before my local second hand store decided to focus less on knick-knacks and more on clothes and pallet loads, I was able to find these cards for a buck.  As I've mentioned on here often, I'm not the biggest history buff or even one pertaining to wars.  However this is a set that I've kind of wanted for a bit, and it was nice to find (aside from the taping job that peeled off one of the cards).  What made it even better was around this same time, my mom found some old papers her father had written documenting his time in the war.  It was a timeline of when and where he went.  All the way leaving the harbor in the United States, to his return home.  For once it actually made me interested in history, and I am hoping to scan those soon so I can dive a little deeper into that timeline.  This was probably my greatest find in terms of sets this year, though it wasn't the only set I would get.

On the Trading Card Database a member held a contest in which the grand prize winner would get a complete set of hockey cards.  However just by entering you were allowed to pick one team, and each team would have a winner.  I haven't entered too many contests as of late because I'd rather have people really into cards to enter and have a chance to win.  However, I realized this was an older set, and I'm a sucker for Hartford Whalers.  I believe I was the only person who picked the Whalers, so I won by default.  I didn't get the grand prize, but honestly, I really just wanted the Whaler cards, and I was able to get a Chris Pronger card in the process, not too bad.

Overall I actually got more trading cards than I thought in 2021, and here is a few more (with more being mentioned on the next post):

Some of the cards I won on Listia (making up at least half of my cards this year), some my sister graciously gave me, some I bought at Savvy Seconds (my local second hand store), and a couple I even bought in store (which I think I'll show tomorrow).  Pretty much all my collections were updated to some extent in the past year, but catalogging them and making sure my card counts are up to date are a different story.  I do remember the Mizzou cards up top were won off Listia.  Most of the rest I think I got from Savvy Seconds.  The Marlins cards I remember winning on Listia because the seller forgot to send me the Conine card but was very nice about it and sent me all those other Marlins cards.  

Overall, I was very happy with the cards I added to my collection, and in the next year or two I might get back into the swing of things, but at this point, if I only get around the same amount as I did this year, I'll be happy.  At this point, that's all the cards I have to show, but I do have plenty more to show off if you want to keep looking.

For most of 2021, I tried to display a large variety of my random collection of stuff.  In 2021 I was able to add the cracker tin (which I remember blogging about), and I have finally found a place to display it.  Flanking it is a couple of Pringles cans of the Wendy's Spicy Chicken chips they sold.  It took me a long time to finally find them, and to be honest after I did I was a bit disappointed (I think it was more because it was a bad case of chips, not the chips themselves).  I bought maybe 4 cans, and 2 remain on display, and the other two is being used to store other items I can't currently display (these two cans are also).  After Christmas, I moved my display shelf, so right now I haven't replaced it, but when I do, maybe I'll show it off and give a detailed description.

On the bottom is something else I think I showed but maybe not as detailed.  I was happy to find a puzzle early in the year that had this price tag on it.  Place's was a local retail store around the 80s and 90s that I miss.  It was then sold to Pamida then eventually to Shopko, so its been a good 20 years since I have been able to see the store and probably as long to see a price tag for it.  Unfortunately the puzzle was missing a lot of pieces (like 30 or more), and before I could say anything, my mom threw out the puzzle and box.  At least I have the picture still (which is currently my Facebook profile).  In the next year I don't plan on getting too much more to display or tins, but I have plenty to show off.  I wouldn't even mind paring down what I have a bit, if I ever have a garage sale.

Speaking of puzzles, 2021 was a year of puzzles.  I think every week of they year I worked in part on a puzzle, most of them I was able to get from Savvy Seconds.  That avenue may be drying up, but I probably have enough for the next few months.  By then I can start doing some over again.  The top puzzle might have been my favorite puzzle to get and work on.  It was called "I Am Buck" and it was a buck's head and it was a bit challenging but fun.  They have others in the serious which I would love to find, but I think this one might be one I revisit at some point this year.  I decided not to show every puzzle because there were so many, including a few 1500 piece ones.  Some I forgot to take pictures of, and some puzzles I took pictures of after completed.  Maybe I should do a feature on each puzzle I finish.  It's just a thought.

The bottom puzzle is the one I'm currently working on, and I really don't like it.  My mom says she likes the challenge, but to me if its so hard you can't place more than 5 pieces a day, it takes the fun out of it.  We've been working on this for about a week or more (probably like 2 weeks), and we are finally seeing daylight.  We joke that we'll have it finished by her birthday (in a couple weeks), but I think that is the goal.  I think this is the second photo mosaic puzzle, and I might not want to work on more for a while.

One of my goals for the year was to organize my media collection.  Also my books but I'll talk about that next time.  I had music and movies scattered around the apartment and even in storage, but this year I was able to get most of them back at the apartment and most of them organized.  Another great thing was signing up for a free account on the site discogs to see what I actually have.  Here you see some of my 8 track and cassette collection.  Most were my parents (everything past the Bob Seger is mine).  Well, except the Milli Vanilli, my dad was a sucker for them.  I'm not actively seeking out more 8 track, but I do lookout for random cassettes at Savvy.  I don't think I took a picture of my CD collection, but it expanded a bit this year too, and maybe in a future post I'll showcase it.  Musically I will listen to almost anything, and I'm really hoping to find a good cassette player this year so I can rip that Here's To The Irish cassette (I've had it since buying it on a lark in high school).  I also think its funny my dad put that sticker for automotive parts on the case.  Now I can say I have some PCP.

I will show a bit of my record collection next time, because its a bit tied into something else.

In the past year I have become more into VHS than almost anything else.  It started as trying to siphon some old commercials off of VHS tapes from the 90s, but then it spawned into much more.  I decided I wanted to rebuild my collection of VHS tapes I had growing up, then wanted to expand it a bit more.  For a while, Savvy was selling tapes for 10 cents each, but now they are 50 cents or 4 for a buck.  I might hold off on adding more for a while, but I still have plenty.  This Charles Bronson tape wasn't one I owned before, but will look nice on display.  This past year has saw me love Charles Bronson films, something I thought I'd never say.  I don't think a month goes by without watching something with him (I'll show another movie in a bit I plan to watch soon).

The second picture is one that might be the deal of the year.  My friend has been collecting records for a while, and locally there was an auction for a ton of records.  He was able to get them for a pretty good price and he's still going through them.  However in the same auction there was a lot of VHS tapes.  This was an online auction so pictures didn't do the lots justice.  Anyway the box looked like 10-15 tapes.  I told him if he bid a buck or two and won, I'd pay him.  Nobody else bid, so for a buck I got some tapes.  In the end it was 48 VHS tapes, and most were taped off TV so a ton of commercials.  However some were local theater or stage plays, and a couple from the local college.  When I get some time I'll start going through them more, but I'm still in shock at how many tapes I got for a couple bucks.

The bottom picture is a now outdated look at my VHS tape collection (those are just the blanks and ones I have to go through).  Since then I've fixed the shelf to it doesn't bow, and made it look much nicer.  Also on top is a cameo from Mr. Bucket who I also bought this year.

One of the bright spots of the year has been finding many movies at the Dollar Tree.  Here is some of the purchases I've made.  It's always nice to find some wrestling for a buck.  Canadian Bacon and Men At Work were both movies that have long eluded me and I was finally able to get this year.  Though I will say both are easy to find on free streaming sites like Tubi and Pluto.  Adding Charles Bronson has also been a highlight, especially finding the original Death Wish movie.  I haven't watched Murphy;s Law yet, but plan to sometime this month (I am working on a movie challenge).  In 2020 I said I hoped to cut down on DVDs this year to focus more on blu-ray movies, but they haven't been as abundant so DVDs will work fine.  I have a feeling once Dollar Tree raises their prices to 1.25 or more, I won't buy as many movies, especially blind buys.  So finding some until then is always good.  I might make a trip tomorrow to see if there are more.  Savvy has used DVD's which are a buck but I have bought only one in the last year.  I'm not sure the last time I paid more then 3-4 bucks for a movie.

To say I haven't had much luck with blu-ray movies isn't all that accurate, I have found quite a few.  Here is some that I've got from Dollar Tree.  Pretty much any Danny Trejo movie I will watch at least once.  For a buck its hard to pass up (though I should have passed on Cartel 2045).  I've still never watched Anchorman, but this might be the year to do it.  Will Ferrell movies I have to be in the mood to watch especially the first time.  It took many years for me to watch Talladega Nights, and a few to see Semi-Pro.  He's the type of actor that you have to put yourself in the mood to watch.  I'm the same way with Bill Murray, I'm not the biggest fan of his, but if I want to watch something I have to prepare.

The Color City movies I bought two of because they were yellow cases.  Someone pointed out on the blu-ray site (where I catalog my DVD and blu-ray movies) that it is the only film released in the United States with a yellow case.  I ended up switching the cases for a couple other movies (Central Intelligence and Empire Records) since their cover art looks nice with it.  The last picture shows my mostly current blu ray collection, as well as my PS4 collection.  I'll talk about the PS4 next time, but I have a feeling by the end of 2022 I might need another shelf for the blu ray movies.

At this point I think I'll wrap it up because if I don't split up this post it will be twice as long.  Next time I have more cards to show as well as books and a few other things.  Thanks everyone for reading and I hope everyone has had a great start to a new year.  If all goes well tomorrow, I might have a few new items to show off, and I might even have some pictures as well.  If not I still have another post of 2021 highlights and from there I might get back to showing more cards. Have a great night.

New Year, New Cards

This story starts a couple years ago, well back in 2019, so I guess three years ago.  By 2019, I wasn't blogging as much and to be honest I wasn't really getting an abundance of cards.  I think I was still upset that cards that I bought was never delivered to me a year prior (the whole post office fiasco, which I have moved on from), and honestly, I didn't like the looks of the newer sets.  I was also burnt out from blogging and started looking for other things to do.  So when I had an itch for some cards, I would look for random sales on Listia or Ebay (usually Listia since they were free), or I would go to COMC.  COMC was a great place because not only was I able to buy cards and have them shipped whenever but I also had money in my account.  A couple months ago I thought about it and I think the last time I added money to my account was when I bought a George Brett rookie card was May of 2016 (I had to look it up).  I added 25 bucks, and bought the Brett card for 11.50 (today the cheapest one is on there for around 35 bucks).  Since then all the money in my account has been from bonus credits (from their COMC challenges), the few sales I've done (most were at a loss, but a few I did profit on), and then from a $50 credit for winning one of their Black Friday contests which was in May of 2019.  I've parlayed that to 2021/2022 and as of today I have just under 5 bucks in my account.  My last shipment was Black Friday 2018, and since I am cheap I usually wait until they have free shipping periods to get my cards shipped.  It was shortly after that though they changed their promos and free shipping wasn't guaranteed.  So I figured I would just wait till I got a bunch of cards and have them shipped.  No need to pay 4-5 bucks for 20 cards when I can pay 4-5 bucks for 100 cards right?  In 2019 I figured I'd wait until their Spring Sale in 2020 or maybe Black Friday to get some cards shipped.  Around this time I wasn't buying as much on there, so 100 wasn't really anywhere on my radar, so getting 50 cards would be fine.

Then some kind of virus struck.  People couldn't work, people were stuck at home, people were bored.  None of this should matter to my card collecting hobby (I mean its not like card collecting would start being cool).  Then card collecting started being cool, and for some, a money making venture.  Card collecting was like a poor man's stock market, except before long even the poor man could afford cards.  At any rate none of this should matter to me, once this passes in a couple months, I'll have my cards shipped.  However COMC was hit hard- HARD!  They were still somewhat trying to branch away on their own after working with other companies and for some it didn't sit well.  After the virus broke out, COMC couldn't really work.  When they could, the focus was on Ebay sales.  I'm sure most know this, lets skip ahead.

In August of 2021, it started looking better for COMC, and they sent an email out and blogged their future goals.  Instead of 3 months plus waiting times for shipping, by the end of 2021 the wait time would be under a month.  I thought "no way that will happen, but as long as its down to that by April of 2022, I'll be happy so I can get some cards".  I watched as the months went by, and it was getting better.  Sometime around October was a turning point and they picked up the pace.  In November they talked about their Black Friday sale.  At this point wait times were still around a month and a half, which was acceptable, but still I was cautious.  The Black Friday sale however mentioned if you bought cards during the sale, you would get a shipping credit for early 2022 (which btw, is active in my account as of now), and if you requested a shipment of 100 cards, you would get free economy shipping.  BINGO!  The question was though, how many others would bite, and how backed up again it would get.  The other problem is I had about 115 cards, but I was trying to sell a few myself.  Would I have 100 to ship?  Well, after I bought a few, I also pulled a couple cards I was selling and decided what the hey, let's get these shipped.

When I requested the shipment, they speculated I'd get them shipped December 23rd, and they'd arrive December 28th.  I was very happy with this because by the 23rd most Christmas packages would be shipped, and honestly, less of a chance of my package getting misplaced.  Arriving just after Christmas was fine with me because I just wanted them, and now I could see they would be arriving.  To my surprise (and somewhat my anxiety), they shipped them around the 16th of December, right in the middle of package season.  Luckily everything turned out fine and I got my cards about a week later, a few days before Christmas.

My first thought was to hold off opening them until Christmas, so it could be a gift to myself, but I thought better.  Not that I don't trust COMC, but I wanted to make sure I got all the right cards, so I ripped the box open.  To use a picture for the blog though, I made a nice picture with all the cards, hopefully not spoiling too much.

Some of these cards I've owned but not held in my hands for over 2 years, maybe closer to three.  One thing I noticed that has changed is every card got a piece of paper with it.  Again, I'll spoil what I got, but I thought I'd show it off for those who haven't purchased from COMC in a while.

As you can see, I got a really cool card, and I spent $90 for 101 cards.  Only a couple were over a buck, but I really like how detailed they've become, it makes me feel a bit safer.  I never checked to see if every number matched up, but if I have suspicions its good to have a reference.

So with all that out of the way, I guess I have 101 cards to show.  None featured dalmatians however.

Let's get the big one out of the way, I got the final two TMNT cards to finish the set!  Oh I also got some guy named Ozzie on a piece of cardboard from the 70s.  The Ozzie Smith rookie was one I've wanted for a bit.  I was thinking that despite not really being a set builder and just mostly a Royals collector, I obviously want all the Royals cards and blessed to get the Brett rookie so cheap.  But I thought, were there any other players I really wanted rookies of?  I have Maddux rookies, and pretty sure I have Bonds, and also Jeter.  The only names I could think of was Robin Yount and Ozzie Smith (aside from a few Mizzou players like Max Sherzer).  Nolan would be nice, but I seriously doubt I'd ever own his or Roberto Clemente.  So realistically Ozzie and Yount are the two I'd like.  I don't need gem mint cards, so even if COMC labels them poor, then unless too bad, I can handle it especially if its cheap.  I bought this card early in 2021, and right after I did, the price started to rise.  I held onto it but it kept going up.  I thought to myself, if I could sell it for triple my money, I might offer it.  Prices got close, but when the sale approached I decided I'd hold onto it.  I'm glad I did, it felt right holding it in my hand. The other Ozzie card I first saw around the time I bought the Ozzie card.  It was a Topps Throwback Thursday card from 2019 I think and an online exclusive.  The theme was The Simpsons and they featured 4-5 players who was in the famous Homer At The Bat episode.  Ozzie Smith, Don Mattingly and a couple others were in the set, but the prices were higher than I wanted to pay.  Once I knew I would get the cards shipped, I decided to get it.  The seller had not put the card on sale since I watched it, but he was the only seller.  In the last couple years I've decided to make more offers instead of just paying what they want.  At worst they will decline, but in most cases they accept or give a reasonable counter offer which I usually accept.  Some sellers however will decline and then raise the price (never buy from Joels), but if you find favorite sellers, they are usually nice.  This card was sitting and I actually gave a pretty low offer, like around 40% of what they wanted.  I knew I went in low but figured they would drop it a couple bucks as a counter and I'd gladly accept.  I was shocked the next day to awake that they accepted my offer.  At that point I considered for a couple minutes I could resale it at what I really wanted for it and make a profit.  However I'm not a jerk and greedy, I wanted the card, so I kept it.  Currently the card is sold out, but I'm just happy I found a low numbered card that I might even display.

The Hingis cards were last minute purchases, but ones I've considered for a while.  I don't seek tennis cards, but I've wanted a actual tennis card of Martina Hingis since I got back into collecting.  I have A&G cards of her I think and maybe a SI Kids card, but a tennis set card has eluded me.  I wasn't paying over a buck for one, but for under 1.50 I got both of these. The De'Aaron Fox card I got because I remember him from college and there's a local guy on the radio (and also wrote a book or two) named Aaron Fox, so I thought I'd get it.  I bought a couple extra because I think he could be a star, but like most basketball purchases I make hoping to make a buck or two on, I will lose money on them.  Still I got this one cheap enough that I didn't eat much.  However the biggest card I sold in 2021 on COMC was a Fox card, and I made 10 bucks on it, so I can't complain (though if I held on another month I could have got about 30-40 bucks on it).

The David Freese card I got as part of an offer with a few other cards I wanted more.  I didn't get much of a discount on the cards, but I was still happy with the card I got (I'll show them in a bit).  The Freese card I kind of just threw in to get a somewhat better deal.  Since he did go to Mizzou (not as an athlete) I can still put him in my Mizzou collection, so its still good.  The Gibson I got because like most others I bought it was cheap and I PC him.  The Hunter Greene cards I bought as investments but I ended up keeping.  I still hope he pans out, I was excited reading about him at 17 in SI Kids magazine, so its always good to see a player still in high school then make it big.  The Alstott I added because it was cheap and its a PC I've neglected for a while.  The Mercole Hardman card I got because I thought he'd be a big star. It's looking less likely to happen, but I still like him so I don't regret the purchase.  I don't collect as much football, but I'm glad I have that card.  I got the Schottenheimer because I didn't own any of his cards.  I found this card second and bought it.  I also have one from his playing days, but after buying it I had remorse, so for now I have it for sale on COMC, I'll take a little loss on it just so I can maybe find another card I want more.  If not, I'll have it shipped.  The hockey card I got because its a Kansas City Blades card, and I like to have at least one card of every sports team who's called Missouri home.  So this is likely my first Blades card... and it was cheap.

I've wanted a Michael Annett autograph for a few years, and finally bought one, right before he got hurt then decided to retire from full time racing.  I've always been a fan since my time working at a Pilot station and that was his sponsor.  I rarely get to see Xfinity races, but since NBCSN shuttered and all races will move to USA Network I had hopes in 2022 that I'd get to see him race more.  Them's the brakes.  When I bought the Hardman jersey card, I thought I got a good deal.  Now its available for cheaper, but I'm not too mad.  On the flip side, since buying the Missouri flag patch, the price has gone up.  The card looks so much better in hand, and might be one of my favorite purchases, aside from the Ozzie rookie.  After hearing of Ned Beatty's passing, I wanted a card of him.  I've seen this card for sale on COMC for a while, and it was dirt cheap, so I figured I might as well get it.  Not a lot of cards of him was made, so if I ever get the itch to make some custom cards again, I might make one for him.  I haven't thought of customs in a while, but maybe this year I'll consider it.  Anyways, another Missouri card rounds out this bunch.  I'm a sucker for cards of my state, and won't be against buying cheap Highway Patrol or Fire Engine card if I find them.  Again, cheap!

Thought I'd speed it up a bit.  The top batch is all players who went to Mizzou. Nick Bolton has been surprisingly good for the offensive line of the Chiefs this year, and glad I was able to get 2021 cards.  Albert O is still with Denver, and maybe if Drew Lock starts playing better and is their starter next year, we can see some of the magic they shared at Mizzou (unless they play the Chiefs, then they can lose).

The bottom batch is almost all Maddux.  First the Damon card I got because I don't know if I have any of his Detroit days, so getting a lone non-Royal Damon was a good purchase, and cheap.  The Maddux cards are all ones I obviously didn't have, some old, some new.  The Topps Living Set card is my favorite because I had no desire to buy any of the Living Set, and it actually looks nicer in hand than the card shows.  I guess the upside to Fanatics buying Topps is the Living Set can continue.  I'm not sure outside of a couple guys I'd buy cards of merely for the price of the cards themselves.  This was another rare $5+ card, but it was another one I haggled with the price to get cheaper, by almost a buck or two, so I was happy.  I forgot the Annett auto I also haggled for a cheaper price by a buck or more.  I know a buck or two isn't a lot, but for me that means a lot especially since seeing a lot of cards under 50 cents on COMC is a rate sight.  $1 used to mean maybe 3 card or 5 cards for $2, now you'll be lucky to get 2 cards for a buck and sometimes 3 or 4 cards for $2.  If I ever want to risk cardbarrel again, it might be the place to find cheap cards again.  Maybe sportslots, but I've never dealt with them.  I imagine COMC is my best bet for now.

Speaking of Drew Lock, I added this patch card in 2020 or maybe 2019 and have had it for sale a few times.  If I made a profit on it, I'd be happy, but if not I would gladly accept it into my collection.  He hasn't panned out like a lot have hoped, but if he can have a career like Blaine Gabbert or Chase Daniel it wouldn't be something to sneeze at.  Chase might be a career backup, but he's smart enough to keep getting good contracts and he's teaching a lot of QBs, he'll be a good coach one day.  Blaine I still say got a raw deal (they should have sat him his first year), but he's still in the league so he must have some value.

The J'Den Cox was a fairly new discovery, and I fell in love with it when I saw it.  It represent Mizzou well.  I'm watching a couple other of his cards and might buy another.  The next batch is more Mizzou related players and people.  It seems like I can't pass up a De'Marre Carrol card.  I'll keep buying them if they are cheap.  I got all these cheap, including the Jontay Porter card.  I also had a card of his brother Michael, but I did flip that card for a few bucks.  I did it at the right time as right after, the card fell back down to earth.  I could rebuy one I think now for about what I paid before.  Not a bad deal, but just haven't yet, maybe because he really never played for Mizzou aside from an exhibition game.  Another card I wanted was Robert Loggia, he went to Mizzou and I always liked his acting, so when I found this cheap, I grabbed it.  Its weird to thing he got a card from the National.

The bottom batch is random stuff.  The Hosmer card I needed at the time of purchase, and even around the time I had it shipped, however I won a Listia auction around the same time and I had that card in hand before this one arrived.  Not too mad, its still a cool card.  While technically a George Brett card, I wanted this Howie Long card for a bit, so I finally pulled the trigger on it.  I waited for it to get cheaper, and it finally did. The Damon card I think I purchased in 2019, so it was nice to finally have on hand.  The one though I was happiest to have in this batch though was the Denny Matthews.  As I've stated many times before, I grew up listening to him call the games on the radio.  It is one of the few card on the COMC site that I've owned and seen go up in price nicely that I never considered selling.  Not a lot of cards feature him, so I wouldn't want to miss out on possibly having the only chance to own it.

Remember the David Freese earlier, well a good chunk of these Coca Cola cards were bought in the same transaction.  I had a few of the cards and worked to finish the set, so after getting these, I have finished the set.  It reminds me when I used to do posts on team sets I finished, maybe 2022 will see a return to that.  I've finished a few lately, mostly 1-2 cards, but still better than I thought.  More Royals in the second batch.  I got all of them cheap, yet the Bo Jackson card for some reason had a high resale value.  I bought it for 69 cents.  A few months later people had some for 20 bucks, some were selling for 10 bucks or so.  Later only one seller had a card for sale, for 33 bucks.  He always had it on sale for around 11, but I decided to see if I could have some luck.  I put 15-22 bucks on the card, but no interest.  I'm not mad, it finishes the team set, so either way I would have been happy.  Though 15 extra buck could have bought a few more cards.

The bottom batch is more current cards.  Full disclosure, I haven't watched the Royals or MLB as much in the last 2-3 years so I know some of the younger guys by name only.  I'm not sure what to make of the design of this Stadium Club series, but I do believe I finished the team set, so its another one to cross off, especially nice since it was never officially on my want list.

A nice oddball lot of cards, burgers, cereal, and hot dogs, and tacos.  The Lorenzo Cain card was a bit more than I wanted to pay but I still haggled for it.  I'm not mad.  The Brett Does It card is double sided, Brett is the backside, and Robin Yount is on the front.  I could have made a buck on it, but its one I have wanted for a while so I kept it.  The problem with having cards sit in you collection for 2 or so years is you see some of the prices rise and you are tempted to sell them.  Honestly, 90% of the cards I've sold is for that reason or buyers remorse.  The other 10% is my greediness in trying to make a few bucks. The bottom row is all cards I had no desire to flip, the Club 3000 one being the one I held the longest.  It's also one of the few I think I had on my most wanted list like 5 years ago.  I think I will update that list this year, and its nice to knock that off.  If I ever get motivated the Club 3000 set would be one I'd like to build since I remember having a few when I first collected.  The Appier card was a more recent buy, and the only Royal one in the set.  I'm currently watching a Greg Maddux from the same set.

More Royals, not much to say other than I have A Alex Gordon rookie card, not THE Alex Gordon rookie card.  I will be fine just having this one.  This was not only the first time owning a Topps Living Set card, but a Topps Now card, so that was a nice Salvador Perez purchase.  On the bottom possibly the card I've held onto the longest was the orange Moustakas card.  It doesn't scan well, so I added a shade closer to what it looks like in hand.  

Before I show the final batch of cards, I thought I'd show this lot of cards I won on Listia so I don't have to show them later.  This was the batch that also had the Hosmer card I mentioned earlier.  It was actually 36 cards, with the bulk being the Score cards in the top row.  I think only 5 or 7 of the cards were ones I needed, but they were cheap enough that it was still a good deal.  I didn't bother trying to tell which version of Donruss I got, but maybe something I'll revisit one day.  Just having a card was good enough than finding every variation of a dot, no dot, and all that other stuff.  I think I even finished a set with this batch, so never a bad thing.

Okay, obviously the Ozzie Smith rookie and the Greg Maddux Living Set cards were the highlights of this batch, however I have one more card to show that has made me some money and allowed me to upgrade.  Some might say its a better purchase than the Ozzie, and I might actually agree with them.

While officially in my collection it will be known as the U.L. Washington rookie card that will help me finish the Royals team set, it could also hold a place in my Paul Molitor PC or my Alan Trammell PC.  This is a nice RC to own, and one I upgraded.  Though I have to say I didn't notice the spot on it when I bought it.  Could it be the wrong card, maybe, but I'm not mad.  I bought the card originally in 2019 and it was in poor shape.  Later in the year one was selling at a discount about a buck more than what I paid and it was in good condition.  I bought it figuring to upgrade.  As it turned out, the price went up more and when I sold the poor condition card, it was almost the price I paid for both cards, in essence I paid like a dollar for my card.  Then I found another one for sale and cheap.  I wondered if lightning could strike twice, and a couple months later, I made about 4 bucks on the cards, so in reality I bought 3 cards, sold two for a profit and the one I kept I paid zero out of pocket and made a couple bucks.  I was elated.  Its a card I go back to but don't really want to risk getting burned.  Though as I said, I could always add another to the aforementioned PCs.  The rest of this batch is nothing to sneeze at, and its possible I never seen the Brett Score card before.  Overall, the cards arrived before I expected, I have a shipping credit, and I got some amazing cards.  I was able to get 101 cards for under 90 bucks, and it included an Ozzie Smith rookie, and an Alan Trammell/Paul Molitor rookie, as well as an autograph or two, a few on demand cards, some inserts, and team sets.  The best part is none of that 90 bucks came out of my pocket.  I can not find a reason to be mad.

I think its safe to say COMC has returned in a big way at the end of 2021, and I'm already ready to try to buy a few more cards to ship.  It just means I need to update my collections so I don't rebuy stuff.  If this is how 2021 ends and 2022 begins for me, I'll be a happy collector and blogger.

That wraps it up for today, sorry for such a long post, but I'd rather writer long posts with pictures then a few words just to post updates.  Thanks to all of you who have continued to stick around for my sporadic postings, and I hope to have another one soon.  Mayne not as long, but hopefully as exciting as this one.  Have a great week!