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28 December 2017

i checked out my cards: fringe/average

I made it a point in 2017 to once again go hard at the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals over at COMC.com. I hadn't made a late November order & shipment there since 2014, so I had already built up a decent inventory, but I tossed a few more bills with America's Worst President on them into my budget and took a shot at establishing some new collections.

Here are some guys I like to call my fringe/average collection, guys I like to collect but don't always seek out. You may get some comments on your blog from me about them, though.

Josh Donaldson


Let this be a lesson to you COMC shoppers: manage your damn inventory. I wound up with three of these very thick but also beautiful Josh Donaldson cards in this order, but that's okay. There's other Blue Jays collectors out there that might benefit from adding these. Let me know if you need one.


You might be wondering why I don't target Josh Donaldson, the best position player on the Toronto Blue Jays since 2011 Jose Bautista. Well, Dosh is a free agent after 2017, and he's never tested the open market. He's mentioned he's open to staying in Toronto long-term, but management doesn't like to pay anyone besides old, fat, slow first baseman. So I'm thinking his 2019 cards will feature him in at least two different uniforms that might not be Blue Jays ones.


But man, he makes the high-end cards of late look great. Inception, Museum Collection, and here on an Atomic Refractor from 2016 Bowman's Best.


Yu Darvish

I was heartbroken when the Texas Rangers won the bid for Yu Darvish a few years back. Less so when they worked the guy over in the 2016 playoffs. But still, he's one of my favorite pitchers and I'll often tune in to watch him pitch on the west coast after Blue Jays games.


Here's another 2017 Bowman Inception, which is one of the best looking art sets ever made.


If you haven't figured it out, yet: I like refractors a lot. That includes these 1989 reboots as well as the Bowman's Best Bluey (/250) above.


And this one, from 2014 Topps Finest. Of all the zombie Topps sets, I love Finest the most and I won't be apologetic about it. Especially with reboot gems like these:


I had a lot of problems with these when they were first re-released, mostly due to the ridiculously prominent TOPPS FINEST STERLING logo taking up half the card. You know what...I still do.

However...

Intimidators was one of the better iterations of Finest. The purple here makes the card just explode in-hand, and it scanned pretty well, too.

So, that's only two guys. It's a bit difficult to break up an order of about 200 cards, so many had to be cut, but these ones stuck out and deserved their own post. Here's what's still to come:


  • The Oldest of Friends
  • Baby Jays
  • dirt
  • The Mojo
  • Keep Doin' that Hockey
  • Hall of Famers
  • Doc

3 comments:

  1. How do you feel about Darvish on the Cubs? I'm crossing my fingers for that happening! He's long been one of my favorite non-Cubs pitchers and I too tune into games he starts, when I get a chance.

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    Replies
    1. Wouldn't be opposed to that. I think he'd be a good fit there. Just hoping he won't be a Yankee, mostly.

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  2. I quietly collect both of these guys myself. I'd be so stoked if somehow, someway Donaldson made his way back to Oakland.

    ReplyDelete