Rocket Queen (COMC order finale)

This post wraps up the highlights from my latest COMC order. It also completes the series of posts over the past several weeks titled after Appetite For Destruction songs.

1. "Welcome to the Jungle"
2. "It's So Easy"
3. "Nightrain"
4. "Out ta Get Me"
5. "Mr. Brownstone"
6. "Paradise City"
7. "My Michelle"
8. "Think About You"
9. "Sweet Child o' Mine"
10. "You're Crazy"
11. "Anything Goes"
12. "Rocket Queen"

Maybe I overestimated the Venn diagram intersection of card collectors and Guns N' Roses fans, but whatever, I'm a big fan of the band and I'll likely continue my "Guns N' Randoms" posts with the Lies album up next. Why not, right?

Gotta admit I added this card to my COMC inventory for the sole reason of having a hit card to cleverly include in my "Rocket Queen" post. A "Rocket" Roger Clemens Gypsy Queen relic did the trick. But I also kinda collect him since he's a member of the Springfield Nine (I collect any baseball player who guested on The Simpsons), so it'll have a home in that PC, not just used as a prop for a blog post.

I saw one of these on Sport Card Collectors and had to grab one for myself. I'm a big fan of 30 Rock's Katrina Bowden, and this is my second card of hers after an auto I got a couple years ago. It's got a neat "film strip" thing going on with the acetate inset picture.

Sometimes I search COMC for serial-numbered cards by lowest-price-first and look for anything cool/interesting/cheap, and that's how I ended up with this /150 Bartolo. Pretty neat that the old guy had a no-hitter going deep into a game last week.

A couple more cheap numbered refractors I picked up. Looks like Heyward is having an ok 2018 so far. As for Christian Friedrich, I kinda liked him during his 2016 stint with the Padres, so that was enough for me to pull the trigger on this Bowman Chrome insert a few months ago, though I probably wouldn't today. He seems to be without a team this season.

Another lowest-price-first search, but this time with Topps Throw-back Thursdays, the little online-only print-to-order sets they crank out on a regular basis. Grabbed this "1996 Star Power Design" (print run of 1118) to spice up my little Cespedes PC. A nice thing about these is they're on hearty Heritage-type stock.

Finally, here's what might be my new favorite (non-framed) mini in my collection.. or at least in the top ten. It's a Chrome-ish Ginter refractor from eTopps. Between the time that I bought it and when I received it, Jim Thome was elected into the Hall of Fame, so that's pretty cool. I just bought my first mini magnetic one-touch for it to display it in style, I like it so much.

The card celebrates his 500th home run. Numbered 968/999. And with eTopps, you gotta figure a lot of that print run is sitting in a Topps warehouse forgotten about by the owners. Anyways, this shiny mini pairs nicely with the autograph I recently picked up as the best cards in my Thome PC.

Thanks for reading, guys, and remember:
If you need a shoulder
Or if you need a friend
I'll be here standing
Until the bitter end