Another COMC Christmas treat

With the Christmas holidays and an extra week of time off, I had plenty of time to hit up the COMC website. As usual, I completed more than a few COMC Challenges, so I was able to give myself a rather nice Christmas present - a stack of great, free cards, satisfying my Padres, Packers and hockey passions.

It's a simple formula, actually. You help out COMC inventory their cards - my favorite is completing the "Full Card Number" challenge. For every 50 card numbers you complete, you earn 100 points. For every 1,000 points, you get $1, free and clear, to use toward the purchase of COMC cards. What's even better, these challenges even cover the $3 shipping and handling charges.

So what did I get in my COMC Christmas stocking? 

I'll start out with my newest San Diego Padres cards, including these Tony Gwynn additions. According to Beckett's, Gwyn has a total of 9,504 cards. While I currently have more than 700 of those cards, and it's more than likely I'll ever be able to collect most of them, I was more than happy to add these four - a 1993 Fun  Pack, 1997 Pinnacle Certified, 2006 Upper Deck Ovation Curtain Calls and a 2014 Panini Prizm Prizms Camo.

 

As the Padres have only fielded a MLB team since 1969, it's rather hard to find Friars' "vintage." However, two of these three cards, a 1973 Topps Ed Acosta and a 1971 Topps Tom Dukes,  somewhat fits the bill. The Ed Whitson card in the middle, while not exactly vintage, is a nice card to own, especially being a 1991 Topps Desert Shield card. By the way, according to the Acosta card back, "Ed's nickname is 'The Jolly Green Giant.'" I kind of miss those old trivia posts on the back of sports cards. 

To complete my Padres purchases, here's a 2014 Bowman Silver Ice Chase Headley, 2014 Panini Prizm Prizms Camo Jedd Gyorko, 2008 Topps Co-Signers Silver Blue Jake Peavy (w/Chris Young), S/N 217/250, 2013 Bowman Hometown Casey Kelly and a 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Mini Green Chase Headley, S/N 72/99.

For those inquiring minds who are curious about the other cards I picked up over the Christmas holiday....

 

When it comes to football, I'm an old-school Packer fan, first and foremost. PERIOD.

 

Of course, having lived in San Diego at one time, I do consider the Chargers my "AFC Team," so I just had to pick up this 2000 Donruss All-Time Gridiron King Dan Fouts, S/N 207/2500. My wife is a huge Fouts fan. According to her, he reminds her of me back when I had my beard.

 

When it comes to the Green and Gold, it was a no-brainer to add two of my favorites - Bart Star and Vince Lombardi. The Starr, a 2011 Topps Super Bowl Legends and the Lombardi, a 2011 TRISTAR Obak T212 Mini, are sandwiched around a 1959 Topps Dan Currie RC.

 

As for hockey cards, I loaded up on a bunch of rookie cards, including these three 2013-14 Upper Deck Young Guns of Justin Fontaine, Tom Wilson and J.T. Miller. a pair of 2013-14 Panini Norris Contenders Victor Hedman, S/N 453/499 and Seth Jones, S/N 264/499, and a 2013-14 SPx Scott Laughton RC.

According to COMC statistics, I've amassed a total of 177,295 points to date (or roughly $177 in free cards). As it is, I already have another 19 cards I've already purchased through Challenges and the great news, is I'm only limited by the amount of challenges I complete. So, here's to many, many more COMC cards in the upcoming New Year (and timely posts to go with them).

Brother, can you spare some coin? - 1987 & 1990 Topps Coins

I had an interesting bid board win the other week, as I took home 74 coins from the 1987 and 1990 Topps Coin sets. I'm not really into these, but it seems as if you see them everywhere and I figured someone may be able to use them. In any case, I figured, "Heck, why not," especially for the few coins I paid for them.

The 1987 aluminum coins measure 1-1/2 inches in diameter and have a full-color photo on the front with the player's name, team, and position in a white band at the bottom. The rims were either gold (American League) or silver (National League). The silver backs provide the coin number, player name, and a personal blurb. They were sold with three coins per pack. Made of aluminum. Size: 1-1/2 inch in diameter.

Unfortunately, the coins don't scan very well.

1987 Coins (48-coin set) 40 coins
Gold -- 3 George Bell (2); 7 Joe Carter (2); 14 Pete Incaviglia (4); 24 Cory Snyder (2); 25 Danny Tartabull (2); 30 Mickey Tettleton; 31 Glenn Davis (3); 38 Dave Parker (4); 42 Steve Sax (2).

Silver -- 9 Alvin Davis (2); 10 Rob Deer; 13 Kent Hrbek (2); 16 Wally Joyner; 21 Jim Rice (3); 22 Dave Righetti; 27 Hubie Brooks (2); 30 Eric Davis; 39 Tony Pena; 44 Mike Scott (4).

The 1990 aluminum coins are much like the 1987 ones. There's a full-color photo with the player's name and team on the front, fitted inside an outline of a baseball infield. The backs again have  personal info and a short blurb. The coins could, again, be bought within a three-coin pack, or or as a factory set.

1990 Coins (60-coin set)   44 coins
Blue Coins -- 33 Kevin Mitchell; 34 Mark Davis (2); 35 Jerome Walton (2)

Red Coins -- 2 Bret Saberhagen; 3 Gregg Olson (3)

Gold -- 7 Jerry Browne; 8 Ellis Burks (2); 10 Tom Candiotti (2); 11 Alvin Davis (5); 12 Chili Davis; 18 Kent Hrbek; 20 Carlos Martinez; 28 Ruben Sierra; 30 Mickey Tettleton; 32 Lou Whitaker;

Silver -- 38 Tim Belcher; 41 Bobby Bonilla (2); 42 Joe Carter (2); 45 Glenn Davis; Sid Fernandez; 47 Pedro Guerreo; 48 Von Hayes; 50 Howard Johnson; 52 Joe Magrane;  55 Willie Randolph (2); 57 Dwight Smith (3); 58 Lonnie Smith; 59 Robby Thompson; 60 Tim Wallach.

Advertised with the 1990 set was a black plastic, tri-fold case that could hold all 60 coins, complete with a three-hole punch for storage in a three-ring binder. All you needed was five Topps Baseball Coins wrappers and $1 (plus 75 cents postage and handling).

As I stated earlier, if someone's interested in these, please let me know - you're more than welcome to have them.

Seriously.