Wednesday, May 29, 2013

2013 COMC pickups #9: tipping the Scales with Bobby

A bit more than a month ago I showed off the first chunk of COMC pickups of a new PC player:  Bobby Scales.  Today I'm back with the last eight Scales cards I nabbed from my three packages so far this year:
Bobby Scales 2009 Bowman Sterling RC
Bobby Scales 2009 Bowman Sterling Refractor (#018/199)
Sterling had kind of a cool look four years ago.  I still think the set is overkill what with Topps' many other chrome-ized offerings, but if you take it for what it is, it looks kinda nice.  And for once the "Rookie Card" logo is actually accurate!  I think most of us would agree, though, that the real winner here, is the Refractor.  It was a bit hard to scan but you can still tell the difference.  And of course I like the fact that it's numbered, which sets it apart nicely from the other versions.  Speaking of those, I'll need to pick up the Gold (/50) and Black (/25) Refractors at some point.

Bobby Scales 2009 Topps 206 Mini Old Mill
I showed off four Topps 206 cards last time, including a pair of minis, but I picked up this Old Mill version more recently.  Here's a Wikipedia article that talks a bit about the history of the T206 set (Jefferson Burdick would approve!), including the many brands that produced cards for the set, some of which Topps honored with their own minis.  And while I'm mentioning those, I now need just the Cycle (/99) Mini to complete Bobby's run from that set.
Bobby Scales 2009 Topps Chrome RC
Bobby Scales 2009 Topps Chrome Refractor
2009's Topps set ended up looking pretty in Chrome too (and once again the "Rookie Card" logo is apt).  So far I've only managed to pick up this pair of Scales cards, meaning I still need the X-Fractor, plus the Blue, Gold, and Red Refractors, but when I do that'll make for a nice looking rainbow!

Bobby Scales 2009 Topps Heritage RC
The '09 Heritage set produced some spiffy looking RCs thanks to the throwback to the 1960 Topps design. As with several other cards in this group, the back of this one lauds Scales' perseverance (he finally made his debut at age 31) and notes his "other" job as a substitute teacher.  Now THAT's a Michigan Man!

Bobby Scales 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom Perforated
This is where we get into overkill territory with Topps.  The ticket stub design looks kind of cool, including this Perforated version, but it's just one of many sets and doesn't do enough to distinguish itself as a product that's actually worth collecting.  By the way, though the scan doesn't do a good job of showing it, this one's perforated on the bottom AND the top.

Bobby Scales 2010 Upper Deck
All but two of Scales' cards hail from 2009; the exceptions are this one, plus its Gold parallel (/99), which I still need to find.  As usual, the base card features a pleasant, colorful photo with a (mostly) borderless design.  The second tiny black-and-white photo on the bottom is replicated on the back, but in color.  The main downside to this card is the back (which I didn't scan), which crams a blurb about the player into an area about 1/5 of the area of the horizontal layout, then leaves a TON of white, dead space due to Bobby's lack of stats.  Oh well, they can't all be perfect.

Those of you counting at home can now credit Bobby with 17 IHAS cards, which is significant since he flies past the 50% mark (out of 31 non-1/1s).  Of the remaining 14, all but one (a relatively rare Heritage Ad Panel) are numbered, but only one is numbered as low as five, so I'm in relatively good shape.  If you happen to have anything new for me, though, please let me know!

I'll be back tomorrow with another surprising and awesome eBay pickup.  In the meantime, don't forget to
Right, Spankee?

2 comments:

  1. I still fondly remember hearing my hero Ron Santo interviewing Bobby on WGN radio and repeatedly calling him "big boy". So nice group of Big Boys!

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    1. Wow, that's very cool, I never knew that! Makes me even more sorry Scales didn't last longer in the bigs. I'll try to remember that nickname next time I post some of his stuff. RIP Santo.

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