COMC/JustCommons/Sportlots 2013 roundup part 9: catching up with catchers

(Note:  view all posts in this series with this link)

I've been sitting on a bunch of purchases from late 2013 that needed to be recorded, scanned, and posted, and I'm finally getting around to those.  In many cases I may just mash up purchases by player instead of online store to make things easier.  We'll see just how many posts I get out of this series, which I'm going to abbreviate COMC-JC-SL 2013.

Besides one more football post, I still have a decent number of baseball PC pickups to cover, so I mulled a few options like going with just one player, then looked at who was left and realized I had a trio of catchers I could show off.  SPOILER FOR PLAY AT THE PLATE:  sorry, no play at the plate cards.  But that shouldn't take away from these three Michigan Men who scoff at the label of players at the position wearing the "tools of ignorance."

Bill Freehan 2005 Topps Retired Signature

This excellent modern card with a vintage photo, done in the style of 2005 flagship, puts me 80% of the way to a rainbow of Bill's Retired Signature cards--I own the Gold parallel, autograph and Refractor auto as well.  An unsigned Black parallel (#d /54) is all that stands between me and another cool rainbow.

Bill Freehan 2013 Panini Golden Age Mini Carolina Brights Purple Back

And with that the "Arrgh minis" tag is back, although there's just this one today.  And to be fair to 2013 Golden Age, five isn't a ridiculous number of minis to chase, especially when none are numbered.  In fact, I now have three of those, including Blue and Green backs.  With three different "brands" to chase, there's also a decent amount of variety here.

Bill Freehan 2013 Panini Golden Age Museum Age Memorabilia jersey

And speaking of Golden Age, here's a card I was after for a long, long time.  It's not a bad relic card by any means, if a bit plain, but I couldn't believe sellers were asking more than a few bucks for a logo-less single-colored jersey swatch; hell, they still are!  I landed my copy for a hair under $2.50 back in October.  It's my 24th hit of the backstop, and he remains one of just three players in the baseball PC to have hit the 20-card mark (Rich Hill and Zach Putnam are the others).

Freehan's new total is 67/132, putting him back over the 50% mark for the first time since I added his vintage O-Pee-Chee issues.

Mike Matheny 1994 Sportflics Rookie-Traded RC

Moving on to a more modern catcher, this is my third RC of current Cardinals skipper Mike Matheny.  I bought it to go along with the Score Select and Ultra cards from the same year.  I can't say why, but the '94 Sportflics set ended up looking pretty cool, and it's fun to see a young Matheny with the Brew Crew.

Mike Matheny 1996 Donruss Press Proofs

Next up is a solid Press Proof parallel from '96 Donruss.  I'm young enough to have collected in the 90s when Press Proofs and their ilk were the "It" inserts, and even 18 years later, they're still fun to collect.  In this case, I like that not only do you get a gold "PRESS PROOF" stamp, but the Donruss logo/team info box is also switched from silver foil to gold as well.  

Mike Matheny 2004 Donruss Stat Line Season (#137/141)

Ok, now we've finally gotten around to one of my favorite recent pickups.  Donruss came up with the Stat Line parallel in 2001, and players appeared one up to two versions:  career and season.  The cards are all numbered to a statistic from the player's career or season, and in this case, 141 represents the number of games in which Matheny appeared in 2003, which is pretty good for a catcher.  He also happened to have a 1.000% fielding percentage that year, but 141 is a much lower number so it makes more sense for this set.  The design is great thanks to a good starting point with the base set, then the beautiful rainbow foil making for the complete package.

Mike Matheny 2005 Topps Chrome Update Red X-Fractor (#40/65)

Speaking of spiffy red parallels, I landed another in the form of this '05 Chrome Red X-Fractor.  I now have six different versions from Mike's rainbow from flagship and Chrome, including three Refractors, and I'd say this is the best out of all of them.

Mike's new total thanks to this four-card COMC pickup is 44, and I hope to cross that next milestone before much longer!

David Parrish 2001 Finest RC (#791/999)

Finally, I came up with a rare new addition to my Parrish collection.  Though he was a first-rounder, David never made the Majors, and that meant he didn't appear on a ton of cards (which is probably how it should be, really).  Most of the cards I'm missing are of the hard-to-find type, even this Finest RC.  Though the numbering may seem to imply it's more common, I've seen very few available, and the prices (as with most of the others I still need) tend to be atrocious.  This one wasn't bad, though, at a bit more than $2.50.  Better yet, I even have a line on the Refractor from the same set!

I now have 16/24 Parrish issues, good for 2/3 of his collection.

Stay tuned for an awesome football-heavy guest trade post featuring Jeff tomorrow!

2013 SportLots pickups #2: Fox, Freehan, Getz, and Cazzie!

As I may have mentioned a few times over on TMV during my most recent string of You Complete Me posts, while I was picking up set wants from SportLots again I made sure to include some more Michigan PC stuff as well.  I've actually made one more group of SportLots pickups since then, so everything will be mixed up into one group of posts here, although the numbering of those posts will have nothing to do with how many total purchases I made.  Confused?  Whatever, let's see some sweet cards!

Cazzie Russell 1975-76 Topps

Before I get to the baseball pickups, I wanted to show off the results of my last (only?) hurrah with the old SportLots bonus system.  You used to get points based on how much you spent on the site, then could choose from an array of inserts, hits, and other stuff.  Because I didn't ever really have enough points, plus never saw anything worthwhile, I never bothered with this stuff.  But recently SportLots announced they were doing away with that promotion and replacing it with a "Seller's Loot" system where you're rewarded by the sellers themselves.

So not only was I motivated to spend those points before they were gone, but I finally found some stuff I liked!  For one set of points, I got in on a pack break of '82 Donruss, meaning I'd get a predetermined number card from a Youtube pack bust.  That ended up being crap, but it was fun anyway.  More importantly, I was able to pick up this sweet vintage Cazzie Russell card!  Although it depicts him on the Lakers, the colors almost make you think this is a Michigan card, which is fantastic.  I don't see myself collecting much vintage basketball stuff, but this was still a nice pickup, and better yet, a FREE one!

Ok, on to the baseball stuff with 11 new baseball PC scores:

Jake Fox 2009 Topps Heritage

Jake Fox 2009 Topps Update Target

Jake Fox 2009 Topps Update Wal Mart Black Border

Well, the other usual sources--eBay and COMC--had pretty much dried up, but fortunately I was able to pick up this trio on the cheap, thought at this point I just would have settled for availability.  See, I'm now at 15 out of Fox's 19 non-1/1s, and I'm pretty much done with the relatively easy-to-find and reasonably-priced stuff.

Of these, the Heritage card is definitely my favorite, and not just because the other two are superfluous, annoying parallels.  Heritage is just about always a great-looking set, and Fox did well to be part of the '09 version.  But even better news came for him a week ago which he announced on his Facebook page:  he's been signed by Arizona and reported to their AAA club in Reno.  Although it might be a long shot at this point, I still hold out hope that he can make it back to the Majors, and maybe even appear in a few new sets!  Good luck to Jake in AAA.

Bill Freehan 2001 Topps American Pie

Bill Freehan 2005 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Lineage Material jersey

Bill Freehan 2013 Panini Golden Age

Bill Freehan 2013 Panini Golden Age Mini American Caramel Blue Back

Bill Freehan 2013 Panini Golden Age Mini Carolina Brights Green Back

Wow!  What can I say, five new Freehans means bigtime progress for me.  The jersey is my easy favorite not because it's a relic, but because I'd been trying to pick it up for a LONG time.  A guy on COMC has one, but doesn't ever respond to offers, and another eBayer is selling one but I didn't care for the price.  So knock the one off the list.  The American Pie, meanwhile, is a big plus because it fills a hole in that part of Bill's PC and puts me complete through 2002.  Finally, the trio from Golden Age gives me my first Freehans of 2013; naturally the set has five different minis to get, so welcome back "Arrgh, minis" tag.  These five cards give me 64 of Freehan's 125-card PC, officially putting me over 50%.  Hooray, it's milestone time!  Meanwhile, the jersey gives me seven Freehan relics and is my 22nd hit of the catcher overall.

Chris Getz 2008 Bowman Draft Prospects

Chris Getz 2009 Topps Update Target

Chris Getz 2010 Topps 206 Mini American Caramel

Finally in today's trio of gets is a trio of Getz!  The first is an '08 Bowman Draft base card I can't believe I didn't have.  I now have all three versions of his Draft run from that year (still working on the Chromes), including the Blue and Gold parallels.  The superfluous-with-a-cool-back Update Target card is my fourth out of the five from that set--I just need the Black parallel numbered to 58.  Finally, the American Caramel Mini (Arrgh minis again!) puts me at seven of the eight cards from that run, meaning the Mini Cycle (/99) will put that set to bed for me whenever I can find it.  Getz finishes the day with 51 of his 80 (by my count) PC cards, with many of the tougher-to-find issues still looming.

I don't necessarily intend to go alphabetically by player for every post, but I'm thinking of trying to keep them to about this many cards, meaning you should expect multiple featuring one player:  Rick Leach!  I also have another pretty exciting eBay mailday coming very soon, and yet another COMC package should be here by the end of the month, so watch for all of that.

2013 COMC pickups #12: the rest of the gets of Getz

Welcome to this here blog's 250th post!  All it took me was a year and a half to get here--I haven't seen someone take this long to hit 250 since Josh Hamilton this year!  (Wait, that doesn't work, he still hasn't done it yet....)  I'm usually more about the card milestones than the blog ones, but this one seems like it's worth celebrating, don't you think?  By the way, I'd like to send thanks once again Jeff's way since he contributed some of those.

Also worth noting recently is this year's MLB draft, which finished up over the weekend.  Wolverine OFs Michael O'Neill (yep, Paul's nephew), a junior (103rd overall, round 3) was selected by the Yankees, while senior Patrick Biondi (266th, round 9) will join the Mets.  The last time Michigan had someone selected this high was OF Ryan LaMarre, by the Reds in the 2nd round of the 2010 draft, #62 overall.  I wish both of them luck with their new teams, even if I can't stand either franchise!

Today's featured player is a not-quite-so-recent Wolverines draft pick:  Chris Getz (White Sox, 4th round, #125 overall in 2005).  His stats haven't exactly been stellar this year, but he still plays reliable defense and offers a veteran presence and yeah, I'm pretty much reaching at this point, but what can I say?  I like the guy, and I like collecting him.  Here's the last chunk of Getz cards from my COMC hauls thus far:

Chris Getz 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects

Chris Getz 2008 Bowman Draft Prospects Blue (#153/399)

Chris Getz 2008 Bowman Draft Prospects Gold

These three help me put a bit more a dent in Chris' 2008 Bowman Chrome/Draft rainbow.  I'm now halfway to his 10 versions, though most of the remaining ones will be tougher than these.  As always, the numbered Blue parallel is a plus while the Gold makes me roll my eyes.

Chris Getz 2009 Topps Update Wal Mart Black Border

Hey, a Wal-Mart parallel, I love those!  With this one knocked off the list I just need Getz's Black and Target versions plus his Silk card to finish up '09 Update.

Chris Getz 2010 Topps Copper (#014/399)

Chris Getz 2010 Topps Wal Mart Black Border

Doesn't it seem weird that the Copper cards are rarer than the Gold?  I like it otherwise, though, and of course it blows away the lame-o Wal-Mart crap.  I need a few more parallels of his from the set, but the toughest card here will be his SPed variation, which is currently ridiculously difficult to find, unless you care to pay $45.25 on COMC!

Chris Getz 2010 Topps 206 Mini Old Mill

Chris Getz 2010 Topps 206 Mini Polar Bear

Here's a couple more Minis I needed, both from 2010 Topps 206.  The American Caramel and Cycle cards will close the book on this set, so I hope I can find them soon.  Of these two I like the Polar Bear back more since the blue/white look makes it much more interesting than the Old Mill.

Chris Getz 2011 Topps

Chris Getz 2011 Topps Gold (#0817/2011)

Chris Getz 2011 Topps Hope Diamond Anniversary (#58/60)

Chris Getz 2011 Topps Target

Kind of hard to believe I hadn't picked up Getz's 2011 Topps base card til now, eh?  As before, I think this is a great action shot of Chris turning two against Oakland's Cliff Pennington.  I'm still partial to the Gold parallel and like the Hope Diamond (other than the numbering identical to the Blacks), and while I continue to rail against the retail exclusives, the backs of the Target cards are great.  Getz's black and Wal-Mart parallels will be enough to shut the door on 2011 Topps for me (and the entire year of 2011, actually), so I wants 'em!  As a reminder, I just picked up the Black Plate version of this card too.

Chris Getz 2012 Topps

Chris Getz 2012 Topps Gold Sparkle

Chris Getz 2012 Topps Wal Mart Blue Border

Chris Getz 2012 Topps Mini

Yeah, I also hadn't picked up his 2012 flagship base yet--wanna fight about it?  What's even funnier is that I scanned the Mini Silver #4/5 before getting around to his base of that.  The Gold Sparkle looks pretty cool, though I still much prefer the regular (and numbered) Golds.  And finally, the Wal-Mart Blues are lame, lame, LAME!

Chris Getz 2008 Bowman Sterling Refractors auto (#170/199)

Chris Getz 2010 Topps Triple Threads triple jersey auto (#97/99)

And today I tried to save the best for last again.  Getz doesn't have a TON of hits (though more than some in my PC), but the ones he has are pretty good.  I got the Sterling pretty cheap, and that goes with the ones I already have:  his auto/RC and the Gold version, meaning I just need the Black Refractor (#d /25) to finish those up.  It's not a bad card for a set that features sticker autos.

The Triple Threads, of course, is the real prize today, though it's actually the most common version of his three TTT cards I now own, including Emerald (/50) and Gold (/25).  Unlike the 2008 version (which includes Rich Hill), this one doesn't have two variations of everything, so I just need to more to finish these up:  Sepia (/75) and Sapphire (/10).  Rest assured you'll see those when I get them in!

These two hits bump Chris over one small milestone, as he's now up to 11 hits, the 6th player in my baseball PC to reach double digits.  The bigger landmark he passes today, though, is 50% of his non-1/1 PC; his IHAS count is 47 of 80 (and I do have that plate to make it 48 overall).  I'm hoping I can make even more of a dent in those remaining 33 soon, so here's to more gets of Getz!  And while I'm at it, here's hoping I can stay focused enough to make it to 500 posts on this blog in your lifetime!

2013 COMC pickups #5: Too many Putzs part 1

By a wide margin, J.J. Putz was the largest member of my pair of COMC packages earlier this year.  That may surprise some of you who know my #1 guy is Rich Hill, but two factors were in play here:  I already have a ton of Hills which means it's hard to find new ones, plus Putz actually has a huge catalog of cards in his portfolio.  My most up-to-date count comes to 303, not including 1/1s, and that actually makes sense since he's a legitimate inclusion in most sets as a prominent closer with a history of success.

Because I nabbed so new J.J. cards, I didn't want to drag things out as much as last time, so here's a group of 25 to get things started!:

J.J. Putz 2008 Upper Deck Documentary #s 249, 549, 849, 1149, 1449, 1749, 2049, 2349, 2649

J.J. Putz 2008 Upper Deck Documentary #2649, Gold #s 249, 849, 1449, 1749, 2949

I've said my piece on the goofiness of Documentary, so presented with few comments are these 15 cards.  I managed to grab all 10 of his base cards (remember, they're always 300 numbers apart) and half of his Gold parallels.  As is now custom, I'm not showing them off individually here, but they're all available in the album if you're a masochist.

J.J. Putz 2007 Topps Allen and Ginter

J.J. Putz 2007 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini A and G Back

J.J. Putz 2007 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Black

J.J. Putz 2007 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini

J.J. Putz 2008 Topps Allen and Ginter

J.J. Putz 2008 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini A and G Back

J.J. Putz 2008 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini

J.J. Putz 2012 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini A and G Back

J.J. Putz 2012 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Black

J.J. Putz 2012 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Gold Border

Today's other 10 cards are from three different A&G sets.  I've also said a good portion about them as a few of my other player collections include some of these sets, but in general I'm pretty neutral about these, other than there being way too many mini varieties.  I do think the A&G Backs and the Black Borders are pretty nice, but for example, the 2012 border varieties (not a solid color) are boring and overkill in my opinion.  And for some reason I prefer the 2007 and 2008 designs, which look quite nice.

So there's 25 new cards for J.J.'s collection, bringing him up to a new IHAS count of 86 (plus three 1/1s).  With plenty more to come from COMC, plus lots more for me to acquire, plan on seeing J.J.'s mug a lot more on this here blog!

COMC haul #20: We wish you a mini Richmas and a patchy new year!

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

Since it's been a while, plus I thought the title fit well with the season, here's a quickie COMC haul post featuring TMM favorite Rich Hill!

Nine new ones today:

Rich Hill 2006 Bowman Heritage Mini

Rich Hill 2007 Fleer Mini Die Cuts

Rich Hill 2007 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini A and G Back

Rich Hill 2007 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini A and G Back

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Black

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini

Rich Hill 2008 Upper Deck Goudey Mini Red Back

Rich Hill 2008 Upper Deck Premier Swatches triple patch (#13/50)

Yep, Hill has a bunch of minis, which annoys me a bit because then I have to scan fronts and backs and figure out exactly what they are.  Still, they ARE pretty cool cards.

The triple patch is one I grabbed quite a ways back during my months-long summer purchase, and it's easily one of the best patch cards I own period.  The "IVY" cutout was a cool idea on UD's part, but the execution was even better--I mean, look at all that color!

A couple quick counts:  Hill still leads all challengers in the hit department and he now stands at 61.  These new additions also make for a milestone-worthy IHAS count (including 1/1s) of 125!  Please feel free to have a gander at all of those right over here.

Look for more COMC haul goodness to come as I fight to get back into the swing of posting somewhat regularly, plus, probably something about Michigan's appearance in the Outback Bowl.