The Blackest of Fridays - 2018

It's been my tradition now for almost a decade to take the day after Thanksgiving off from work and do my only Black Friday shopping over at COMC.com.  As is also my tradition I've been slowly stockpiling cards over at the site and take advantage of the free shipping during COMC's event.

First a shout out to the guys and gals over at COMC they did a great job packaging my order. It's the first time I've ever warranted a box for my goodies.

I did get a couple great oddballs this year.  My most expensive item was by and far the 2013 Panini Cooperstown Robin Yount Red Pennant.  I've been looking for one of these since the product came out and while not numbered they seem to be pretty rare and hard to find.  I can probably count on one hand the number I've actually seen for sale and while it was my most expensive item in the lot it still didn't break the bank.  I also finally picked up Robin's 1991 Topps Stand up candy dispenser.

I didn't pick this rainbow of Yelichs this Black Friday.  I preemptively bought the lot of them well before he was named the NL MVP this year. But it's nice to get their shiny goodness in hand. 

I also picked up a bunch of great auto and relic brewers cards. I had a Lyle Overbay auto featuring him as a Diamondback it's nice to have one featuring him as a Brewer.  It's also nice to be able to cross off that Braun Marketside off the need list.

Probably my favorite non-Yount pick up was this 2005 Sheets quad relic auto.  Man I really miss the variety they use to put into some of the products.

Only added a couple new Packers cards to the mix.  I was really bummed with Jonathan Franklin had to retire after his rookie season.  I saw lots of promise in the young running back.  And his cards even his sweet auto patch cards will set you back a little over a dollar.  

Of course I added 26 new Younts to the collection.  I'm always surprised when I don't have a card you'd think I'd have picked up already.  I picked up the 1989 Fleer Glossy and 1984 Topps Nestle to fill those holes.  And finally got my hands on Robin's 2018 Topps Archives Rookie History card.

I also finished my 1984 7-11 Slurpee coin set.  This one is the central region coin denoted on the back with an E.  I also picked up Robin 1993 Panini Sticker I didn't have, his base card from 2002 Topps Archives Reserve, his Ballpark Classics insert from 2002 Fleer Authenix, and 2006 SP Legendary Cuts - Baseball Chronology platinum parallel.

I also picked up the last 3 Topps Tiffany cards I need featuring Robin.

It was nice to get such a big amount of new Younts. Some of these I've been picking up advantageously as they pop up on the site, others I had been watching for quite awhile waiting to see if I could get them at a Black Friday discount.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my Black Friday pick ups.  All the Younts will eventually be featured over at the Yount Collector. 

Anyone else pick up some goodies?

The Blackest of Fridays

I was delighted to see a package from COMC in my mailbox when I got home yesterday.  The only shopping I do on Black Friday is at COMC.  I ended up taking the day after Thanksgiving off because my daycare lady also takes that day off. 

  I've had a few cards sitting in my portfolio at COMC for a while.  I've still be doing a challenge here and there and picking up some free credit, but this year I splurged and added $40 bucks to my account to go crazy.

First up I was able to add all sorts of Scooter Gennett parallels to my growing PC of him.  Scooter isn't the best player on the team, well maybe now he is with all the players getting traded away, but I got to meet him at spring training in 2012 and really like him and his play.  If the Brewers end up keeping him I'm really hoping he can have a break out season.

I picked up his 2015 foilboard, Chrome sepia, pink and purple cards as well as his 2015 limited card, which was one of those stupid Topps Online sets.  It looks just like his regular card only twice as thick.  I also picked up his 2016 Sapphire card from that $1500 online set and a pre-rookie card.

The nice thing about collecting Brewers in general is how cheap their cards are.  I also picked up one of Scooters 2013 Bowman rookie cards. This one a nice green parallel numbered to 75.  Another player I'm excited about on the team is Orlando Arcia. I pick up this purple prospects card number to 250 for about buck.

I also added my first auto for him too.  Sure it's a sticker auto and sure its a non licensed product, but it was cheap.

I also picked up a sextet of former Brewers autos on the cheap.

Kevin Barker here was the Brewers third round pick in the 1996 draft.  He ended up making his debut in August of 1999.  He played for the Brewers till 2000 when Richie Sexson replaced him and Kevin was sent down to the minor and then traded to the Padres in 2002.  Kevin is currently a radio talk show host in Toronto.  First off I love the old Pacific design.  These cards were so cool and in 2000 auto cards were just starting to get plentiful in the hobby.  If the design looks familiar it's because Panini has recycled it many times.  But who can blame them?  It's a great design and the auto is on card.  One of my collecting goals is to get a certified auto and/or relic of as many current and former Brewers and prospects as possible.  

But my best former Brewer pick up was this gem below.

I also got to meet Jonathan at spring training in 2012 and he signed a baseball for me.  Right on the sweetspot.  It's still a centerpiece for my very small signed baseball collection, and it sits, or it would sit if I still had a man cave, next to my Robin Yount ball.  This is the first auto I've been able to pick up for Lucroy.

Speaking of Robin Yount.  If you didn't know from reading this blog or from the fact that I also write another blog completely devoted to my Yount collection.  Robin Yount is far and away, not only my favorite Brewer of all time, but also my favorite baseball player of all time and a huge focus on my collecting effort.  So no Black Friday shopping spree would be complete without added a few new Younts to the collection.  

 I was able to add three parallels from the 2016 Donruss set.  I also picked up his Diamond Kings Heritage card, his 2016 Topps Series 2 Berger's Best and a classic 1991 Police card from the Oak Creek Police Department. I can't resist finding a cheap police card addition.

 While I bitch that sometimes it can be hard to find deals on COMC now-a-days, I was able to pick up a great selection of cards.  While I might have paid a tad more than I could have won off of ebay, not paying for shipping more than made up for that.  The next batch of pick ups included a blue bordered parallel from this years Topps Archives, Red Cyrstal Shard parallel from 2013 Panini Cooperstown, Robin's 2016 Allen and Ginter X card, both his purple and retail foil mini parallels from this year's Gypsy Queen and I was really lucky to snag his 3000 Hits Club chrome inserts from the retail holiday mega boxes.  Just happened to be added while I was shopping.

And finally... Robin's 2015 Gypsy Queen Brown Framed parallel numbered to 499, his 2014 Archives Gold parallel numbered to 199, his 2016 Series 2 MLB Debut retail insert and surprisingly enough a relic card!  I find people tend to want way too much for HOF relics on COMC, but every once and a while I find someone who actually wants to sell a card.  A great 2015 Tribute Jersey Green parallel relic numbered to 150, with the hint of a pinstripe peeking out.

Not a bad haul for myself.  Anyone else pick up some goodies on Black Friday?

Holy Sheets

First off I want to wish all my Christian readers a Merry Christmas, and too the rest Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, Merry Festivus, Joyous Yule, or whatever your holiday flavor is.  And a Happy New Year as I will be traveling to see my wife's family this season.  I'm hoping maybe I can find time to make a few more posts in the new year, but I wouldn't hold my breath.  That being said my 6th Annual Super Bowl contest will be happening.  Not sure what the prize will be, but I have weeks to work that out.

But let's take a look a cool card that I recently added to my Brewers collection.  One of my collecting goals for the new year, which will be expounded upon in my State of the Blog post early next year, is to try to add more and many certified Brewer's autos to my collection.  This may seem daunting and expensive, but just a precursory search though the COMC inventory tells me that there are over 200 Brewers autographs for under $2.  I many not have any World Series' to boast about, but I do have cheap autograph cards.

That being said I ended up picking up this sweet, pun intended, Ben Sheets autograph card a few weeks ago.  I already have a certified auto for Ben, but he's featured in this Team USA jersey and I really wanted a nice example with him in a Brewers uni.  So for a couple bucks this guy found his way to my mail box.  

I couldn't pass up this unique card and the price was just right.  This card is from the 2002 Fleer Showcase set.  There are three types of Sweet Sigs cards: Leather, Lumber, and Wall. Ben has cards in all threes sets, with this one obviously being the Lumber version.  And while the wood piece isn't a bat relic, it's still a great oddball insert, for the time of great oddball inserts.  This is what competition produces!  After getting this card I really want to chase down the other two versions.

Cynicalbuddha's Top 100 #50

Number 50. Wow the half way point!! Better do a kick ass card quick.  How about a 1/1 sketch  card of an old Brewers ace.  I picked this card up for a steal. To be honest Sheets was injured at the time, although I can't remember which time.  The artist is Chris Henderson.  He's done all sorts of stuff for Topps and other card companies. He does a lot of non sports stuff too, although I couldn't find a website he's got a facebook page, but who doesn't.

#50 on the top 100

2009 Topps 1/1 Sketch card of Ben Sheets by Chris Henderson.