2014 COMC purchases: how long til Spring Training?

Today's post includes the last of my baseball PC stuff from the Black Friday/Cyber Monday COMC package:

First up is a seven spot of a player collected by many bloggers, Jim Abbott:

Jim Abbott 1990 Topps Debut '89

Jim indeed made his debut on 4/8/89, though it wasn't exactly a sign of what was to come as he went just 4.2 innings and allowed six runs (three earned) in a loss to future Angel Mark Langston and the Mariners.  Former Tiger Dan Petry mopped up for Abbott, who would go 12-11 the rest of the way and place fifth in ROY voting.

Jim Abbott 1993 Flair

After I won a $20 Cyber Monday shopping spree I decided to go nuts with the house money and spend it on my PC guys.  This is another Abbott I picked up late because the price was right and I liked the design.  It's fun collecting cards with different shots of Jim's pitching motion, especially one that so clearly shows him holding his glove to his right side.

Jim Abbott 2005 Topps Retired Signature Gold (#144/500)

This one set me back a bit more than a dollar, and that's probably because the product isn't extremely common on the secondary market.  I'm sure that has to do with the high cost, though it's easy to argue that much of what you get makes it worth it.  As I often do, I really like the Gold parallel design here where the color does a good job of making it stand apart from the base card.

Jim Abbott 2012 Topps Archives SP

I'm not one to collect short-printed portions of base sets, especially when most of the players aren't guys I collect, so a good alternative is picking those up as singles occasionally, like this Abbott from '12 Archives.  It's a nice callback to the design from the '92 set some 20 years prior, and it goes well with the autographed version I own.

Jim Abbott 2013 Elite Extra Edition Historic Picks

I just grabbed this EEE insert because he was of course drafted out of Michigan, though the card doesn't mention that.  It's also funny pairing it up with the Topps Debut card above since this one messes up his debut date, which should be 4/8, not 8/8.

Jim Abbott 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Framed Blue (#086/499)

I think UD Masterpieces did this design first--and possibly better--but Jim's 2013 GQ card is certainly very frame-able, no?  Oddly enough I haven't bothered to pick up his base version from the set yet, but I will at some point.

Jim Abbott 2013 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions auto

Last up is this low-end autograph from 2013 Goodwin Champions.  The lack of a logo is less of a drawback for me than the overall boring design of the rest of the card, but it was still a very cheap Abbott autograph and that's all I really cared about.  This is my seventh hit of Jim and so far every one of those features an autograph.

Speaking of numbers, Jim gets to be the subject of the first of today's milestones as he moves past the century mark to 103 cards!

Chris Getz 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Blue Refractor (#26/99)

This Getz has me feeling blue, but in a good way as it's another step towards his ten-card 2008 Bowman Draft/Chrome rainbow.  That and it's my favorite Refractor color, of course, though as usual I prefer dark blue.  Just two cards stand between me and another finished project:  Refractors in Gold (/50) and Red (the always rare /5).  I'm just about at 70% of his run with 74/106 as of today.

Rich Hill 2008 Upper Deck Premier Swatches Silver triple patch (#06/10)

Aw yeah, time for more patchtastic fun with Rich Hill!  My 111th hit of the lefty hurler is this gorgeous triple patch which adds to my collection of Hill's '08 UD Premier bunch.  He's represented on 22 cards in the product including six Premier Swatches cards, all of which I can now claim to own.  Feel free to check out the group in his album or just enjoy looking at this red, white, and blue beauty if that's your preference.  Meanwhile I'll keep counting with 230/347 (almost two-thirds!) and 242 overall, currently one ahead of Barry Larkin for the PC lead.

Mike Matheny 2005 Topps Gold (#705) (#0633/2005)

Matheny has a nice number of cards in 2005 Topps products because he appears in flagship, Chrome, and Update/Chrome.  Here's the Gold parallel of his second flagship base card honoring his 2004 Gold Glove.  Maybe sometime I'll grab his First Edition and Black parallel cards to complete the bunch.  The above card is my 51st of St. Louis' manager.

Hal Morris 1995 Donruss Diamond King

I've been trying to get Morris past the 100-card mark and I will soon enough, but nothing of his on COMC has been calling my name lately.  Well, nothing besides this cool '95 Diamond Kings card, his second and final appearance in the insert set after being part of '92's as well.  I'm betting he was included in '95 after a 1994 season that saw him hit .335.  Make it 95 cards of William Harold Morris.

George Sisler 1960 Fleer

Well well well, we have a Hall-of-Famer in our midst today.  Sisler wants to know how long this picture-takin' bullshit is gonna take so he can go out and hit, see?  This '60 Fleer issue is my oldest card of Gorgeous George by a year--I also have his Fleer card from '61.  Adding something from closer to his playing days is likely out of my budget so it's cool to be add at least something of his that falls under the vintage category.  Also, like Abbott he's celebrating a milestone today as he reaches the 50-card mark--even if he doesn't look excited enough to celebrate anything.

Well, that's it for baseball PC stuff this time, and I didn't pick up anything for these guys during the Boxing Day sale, but I do have a few things from the show I hit up yesterday to show off soon, after I get to posting the rest of my football haul (which will likely be tomorrow).