COM-See ya

I've resisted shopping on the COMC site since my latest shipment, but I wouldn't feel confident stating definitively that it was my final COMC order because once in a blue moon they end up with a card significantly cheaper than you can find elsewhere, even with the jacked up shipping considered, and I have in fact bought a couple cards via the COMC eBay account since. But I try to avoid them. (If they're reading and want to offer me a "free shipping" voucher or something to win me back... lol)

That last (for now?) order of mine included some cards to help complete the We Didn't Start The Fire binder, as well as some needs for refractor sets I'm working on which I'll likely show off in separate posts, but for today, here are some other various cool cards I got in that big shipment.

These are probably the result of searching Tony Gwynn refractors and grabbing low-cost options that caught my eye. The 3000 hits card reminds me I wanted to make a display with the ticket from the game I got from Rod with a few cards documenting the moment, such as that one.

Seems like I'm pandering to Fuji by kicking off the post with Gwynn and Rickey, but hey, I like those guys too! That 2022 Topps Chrome Update Series - Diamond Greats Chrome in the middle there sure is attractive, in particular.

Heritage parallels that caught my eye at a good price. The Vogelmoster appearance serendipitously gives me the opportunity to tease an upcoming post of mine in the works wherein we catch up with an old friend from the cardsphere.

A pair of "Retrofractors" up top. Topps has used the term various time for different cardstock combinations. The retrofractors in 2001 Topps Traded (one of the aforementioned refractor projects I'm working on) have Chrome fronts and heritage stock backs. The retrofractors in 2002 Topps Super Teams, however, feature bumpy foilboard fronts with the heritage type backs.. not quite as cool-- I'm not chasing the set-- but I still grabbed a Kevin Mitchell and Don Hoak. (Figured I might put together a mini Hoak PC since I've got a partial autograph on a Clemente cut-auto, arguably my best card.)

The Hank Aaron kinda works as a card-that-never-was that I can sneak into my Refracting the Past collecting project of refractor reprints (and reimaginings that make chronological sense) sorted by year of original Topps design (so this "pre-rookie" gets sorted under 1953).

Akili Smith was the 3rd overall pick in '99 and made some starts for the Bengals but never had much of an impact in the NFL. But he was a local legend when I was growing up, probably the top high school quarterback in San Diego back when I was a high school athlete, so he was like a known dude. I'd love to say I competed at the same invitational track meet as him once or twice, but I wouldn't trust my foggy memory now. Turns out he played some minor league ball in the Pirates organization too (but doesn't seem to have gotten cards documenting it). And he had a nice senior year with the Oregon Ducks in 1998, so I bet Kerry has a decent Akili Smith PC. But yeah, he was a familiar name to snag while browsing cheap old-style xfractors like that.. love the pixelated movement on 'em.

I grabbed some refractors of active guys too. Solid names all around.

A little ink. Stickergraphs of MLB's current top Gavins.

As for older cards, the Roger Craig '64 need was the last card of the order, taking my store credit to just-above the required shipping cost. Still hoping to get around to completing 1964 Topps eventually, now just inching over 4/5's of the way there.

I've already got the complete set of 1988 San Diego State Aztecs 50th Anniversary All-Time Great Aztecs, but the cards damn near never surface (still have my old saved search saved out of curiosity [and because I know the Gwynn and Grace are highly sought after by supercollectors.. because they politely bug me to sell them mine!]), so I ended up grabbing "back up" copies of a couple PC guys when somebody was breaking up a partial set via COMC.

Closing out the post with a few pics of the biggest card of the order (in both size and money):

 1996 Topps Stadium Club - Extreme Players Winners - Gold #EW5 - Ken Caminiti 

I forget where I saw another collector talking about how incredibly cool these things are, but their words must have moved me, and so I took a chance on kicking up my Ken Caminiti PC with this chonker at an "over a blaster" price point. As a refractor enthusiast looking to get his socks knocked off, this does not disappoint. Topps was using their whole asses back then, delivering an impressive (and slightly oversized) special redemption prize exchanged for lucky winning pulls.

The "glass-coated" refractor is a thing of beauty and you're going to want to take it out of any packaging to enjoy the feel of it in your bare hands as often as reasonable without getting it all smudged up.

You don't need to try to make sense of the back's text, but it's cool how the card is like glass on the front and then metallic when you flip it over.

And there you have some highlights from that shipment. I might eventually have a follow-up with stuff I didn't get around to covering here, and I think I've still got a stack of cards from my previous COMC order that I haven't posted about because I was going to do it via handwritten post, but then I ended up doing the handwritten post idea on peeling protective films on other cards. But enough time has probably passed where I could get away with doing another one soon. Anyways, yeah, thanks for reading!

halfways to the holidays

It's my half-birthday today (assuming this shows up for you on Wednesday) and the celebratory packages have been rolling in over the past few weeks.

Welp, ok, maybe the senders weren't aware of the timing-- hell, I barely remembered myself-- but let's just pretend for the sake of spicing up a standard "incoming non-purchases roundup" post that these are all half-birthday presents.

First, here's a fun little envelope from overseas. No question as to who sent these cards, but in case there's a newbie reading: they came from Zippy Zappy. It's my understanding that the dude is Munetaka Murakami (Nick also got one of these. [update: Fuji, too!]). The new White Sock got off to a terrific start in MLB this year before an IL stint. Hope he's back at it soon. Akagi Kuro, the lady, is featured on a pretty neat signed photo out of Zippy's cosplayer collection. Love it! (Nick got the more tame ladies, but I don't have any kids in the house to worry about, so I get the naughty getup.)

 

A pair of Star Wars cards also made the journey from Japan. Always welcome in my collection. Thanks, Kenny!

-  - ---o

The spoils from a pair of Maddux Monday victories thanks to the generous Johnny Miller. Hopefully I'll add a couple more W's before he wraps up that extended giveaway series. Then maybe I'll sort out my Greg Maddux PC and figure out which of these I actually need, lol. I try to not enter the drawing if the cards look too familiar.

Thanks, John!

-  - --o 

This was a TCDb trade of Ginter minis going both ways with user mookdaruch back in mid April. I was stressing out when he still hadn't updated "received" after a week and a half, but he was cool and said he sometimes has long lags with his mail. Thankfully the pair of Ginter minis I sent him just finally arrived a month and half later. "Looks like it got ran over by a truck--but miracles do happen! The cards are both fine." Whew, glad that worked out or it would've surely cast a dark cloud over my half-birthday. 

Not to brag, but I've still got the biggest Dick Allen PC on the site. (Hey-oh!)

-   -  - - --o

Last "half birthday gift" for today are some cards from Bob at Best Bubble. 

Gavs representing.

Padres shiny or signed. Very nice.

Closing out with notable Portland Beaver Darren Daulton, a glow-in-the-dark card from inside a 1989 cereal box, and a couple lovely swimsuit models posing for the camera.

Thanks, Bob! Did you get the new "Bubble Gum Baseball" customs I sent you a bit ago? I know Johnny got the set I sent him, but haven't gotten confirmation that yours arrived. If not, I'll print you up a replacement so let me know.

Anyways, thanks for reading, all. Until next time.

Vagabond Binder: Kenny Lofton

Man, my previous post-- re: the "We Didn't Start the Fire" binder-- was very well received. Felt great getting congratulatory comments from lots of folks including many I haven't heard from in a while. Ended up dragging my feet, but figured I'd follow up that post with another curated binder page.

My Vagabond Binder is a fun little project wherein I fill each page with cards of one player, but the catch is he's with a different team on every card. So for a guy to be considered, he needs to have been associated with at least 9 teams. (It also has to be a dude I enjoy collecting-- I don't force myself to include everyone who's eligible.) Previous featured players are Rickey (2019), Benito (2020), Canseco (2020), Goose (2021), and Kevin Mitchell (2025).

I'm excited for this sixth guy, as we get to OVERMAXXX the boundaries of the project, squishing an astonishing 10 teams into a single binder page (and still couldn't fit all his teams in). Behold, Kenny Lofton:

Now we take a closer look at each card while recapping the player's career.

 

Kenny kicked off his MLB career in 1991 when he was a September call-up with Houston and got into 20 games. Sorry, Astros fans, but the team didn't make the cut for the page; I couldn't justify swapping out any card here in favor of an overproduction era rookie card. He established himself the next year after being traded to Cleveland, leading the AL in steals and narrowly missing out on ROY thanks to Pat Listach's one good year. An impressive run followed with 4 straight Gold Glove awards and 5 straight stolen base titles. Just before the 1997 season, Lofton was traded by the Indians with Alan Embree to the Braves for Marquis Grissom and David Justice. After an uneven year in Atlanta (--must've been weird playing for the team that recently beat you in the World Series [1995]), Kenny returned to Cleveland as a free agent and remained with the team through 2001.

Kenny signed to patrol center field for the White Sox in 2002 and ended up swapped to San Francisco at the trade deadline, helping the Giants win the pennant that year. Of course that was the "David vs. Goliath" World Series where Eckstein slayed Bonds.

2003 saw him sign with the Pirates, then another trade deadline swap sent him back to the Windy City to finish out the season at Wrigley. The Cubs looked tough to beat that year until one ill-fated play in the NLCS knocked the wheels off.

 

In 2004, Lofton signed with the Yankees and spent the whole year in pinstripes, though by this point he was more of a role player, only getting into 83 games. Glad to find a use for this dupe 2004 Chrome black refractor that I've already got in my setbuild. (BTW, that long-running project has finally hit the "down to single digits" milestone, with just 9 needs remaining.)

Refraction overload! Compare this to the muted image in the scan up top-- looks like a totally different card.

We close out with this pairing. The Yankees traded Kenny to the Phillies for pitching help before the 2005 season, and he finished out the year in Philly. He signed with the Dodgers for 2006 and Topps found it significant enough to commemorate on a Trading Places insert, squeezing an extra team on the page. Then he signed with the Rangers for 2007, and played well enough for them to be swapped back to Cleveland at the deadline. The Indians went on to make a strong postseason run before getting knocked out by eventual-champs Boston in the ALCS. No teams came calling for 2008, so that wrapped up Kenny Lofton's playing career at age 40.

He was one-and-done on the Hall of Fame ballot, and sure, he was no Willie Mays, but in the years since, nerds have used statistics to determine that he was actually pretty good and kept it going longer than most, maybe enough to consider him among the most valuable center fielders of his era. So it wouldn't be a shock if a committee sends him to Cooperstown one of these years.

That wraps up another page in the Vagabond Binder. If you dig this project, welp, sorry to say there isn't another page anywhere near completion on the horizon.. but then again I suppose all it takes is a focused Sportlots order or two to help turn that around. 

Coincidentally, the next guy I've got in mind for a page was also a speedster who suited up for the Indians, Braves, Yankees, Dodgers, and Rangers among his several teams. I've got the tough one out of the way-- he only has one true Yankees card and it's an oddball-- but still need to round up more of the common ones.