Saturday, November 21, 2015

November COMC purchases

The first snowfall has finally hit the Iowa heartland and approximately seven inches of the white, fluffy stuff has landed in  the Des Moines metro area. Now that we've moved into our snazzy little two-bedroom apartment, I can't wait to throw that first log onto our new fireplace.
 
Last night's snowfall also presents a perfect opportunity for a lazy Saturday afternoon at home. And what better opportunity to wade through my latest batch of COMC "purchases." As you may or may not know, I've been making "free" purchases from COMC as a result of helping with their inventory efforts. This is just the latest batch of cards resulting from that assistance. So far. I've earned 484,730 points, good for about $484 in cards.
 
First off, I made huge inroads into my 1977 San Diego Padres schedule card collection.  Here's the Willie Davis, Nate Colbert, Tuba Man Jim Eakle, and Dave Winfield. In the second row are John McNamara, Willie McCovey, Hernandez and Colbert, and Rollie Fingers. I am now down to 10 cards left of the 89-card set. The only cards I have left to find are: 1A Bill Almon (Kneeling); 5 Bob Barton; 10B Dave Campbell (Kneeling, capless); 32A Fred Kendall (Batting pose): 38C John McNamara (Looking straight ahead, smiling); 42A Fred Norman (Short hair, kneeling); 46B Gene Richards (Shown from the thighs up); 51 Ballard Smith, GM; 57A Derrell Thomas (Head shot, wearing glasses); and 57B Derrell Thomas (Kneeling, not wearing glasses).

There were plenty of opportunities to find a few Padres autographs, so here's eight more opportunities to help build up my collection, which includes a 2009 Finest Refractors Autograph Matt Antonelli (#157) S/N 5/75, 2005 Origins Old Judge Autographs Akinori Otsuka (#AO), 2007 Upper Deck Spectrum Rookie Retrospectum Signatures Clay Hensley (#CH) S/N 13/199, 2004 Upper Deck Etchings Blue Ink Justin Germano (#134) S/N107/200. Second row - 2007 SP Authentic Kevin Cameron Autograph RC(#136a) S/N 12/75, 2005 Topps Autographs Mark Loretta (#ML), 2001 Fleer Showcase Sweet Sigs Lumber Xavier Nady (#18), and a 2014 Panini National Treasures Game Ball Signatures Yangervis Solarte (#99) S/N 95/99.

While I'm not a huge memorabilia fan, I felt I just had to pick up a pair of bats, especially this pair, a 2002 Sweet Spot Classics Game Bat Dave Winfield (#BDW) and a 2015 Donruss Bat Kings Matt Kemp (#20). After Matt Kemp became the first Padres player to hit for the cycle, I just had to get some Kemp lumber. This is more than likely an airbrushed artwork of a Dodgers uniform on the front. With the current boring Padres uniforms, I don't see much how you can tell the difference.


What's a COMC purchase without a healthy addition of Tony Gwynn cards. In this package, I added Tony's 1998 Pinnacle Epix Game Orange (#E9), 2000 Black Diamond Gallery (#G6), 1997 Stadium Club Pure Gold (#PG6), 1999 Fleer Brilliants Blue (#79), 1994 Kraft (#24) and a 1995 Kraft.
How about a pair of 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Minis - 252A & 252B.The main difference is the helmets located between Gwynn's shins on the 252B, which makes this a VAR card. I also added a 1995 SP Silver and two 1991 Star Nova cards (#105 and #103).
Rounding out my baseball purchases are these two 1974 Nate Colbert cards - a Padres McDonald Disc (#3) and Kellogg's (#19), two Ozzie Smith cards - a 2012 Topps Archives Reprints (#116) and a 2005 Topps Rookie Cup Red (#41) S/N 240/499, some Hostess Padres - a 1978 Rollie Fingers (#14), 1977 Randy Jones SP (#26), and 1976 Randy Jones (#143), and then a 1989 Padres Magazine Randy Jones/Wins Cy Young (#16).

 
And I'll conclude with my lone pair of hockey cards. We're Iowa Wild season ticket holders and we've seen both of these players play for the Iowa affiliate. First off is the Panini National Treasures Retro Phenoms Autographs Tyler Cuma (#RPTC1) and a 2014-15 Upper Deck AHL Box Set Johan Gustafsson (#39). Gustafsson elected to return to Sweden this year, so Iowa had to turn to new goalies this year. Cuma is also playing overseas, serving as a D-man with Vienna's Graz 99ers of the Austrian Hockey League