2014 COMC purchases: take me down to the parallel city

Here's some more baseball PC pickups from COMC in a special 100% parallel edition:

Jim Abbott 2013 USA Baseball Champions Legends Certified Die-Cut (#026/699)

I haven't seen a lot of Abbotts that interested me on COMC recently, but this one sure looked like a winner.  Jim appears on a nice number of cards in Panini's 2013 USA Baseball Champions set thanks to his legendary Team USA career, and besides a base card, he's got a bunch of different versions of a die-cut parallel, like this one here.  I really like how it looks, but the colored "Mirror" versions also look great, and I'll have to see if I can pick those up too.  For now, I have 93 Abbott cards.

Scott Kamieniecki 1994 Finest Refractor

Scott was one of the bigger winners among my supercollections this time.  First up is this beautiful Refractor from Finest's second-year entry in 1994.  This and the base card still have that goofy color scheme, but there's no way you can't enjoy a Refractor!

Scott Kamieniecki 1995 Donruss Press Proof

I believe Pinnacle kicked off the Artist's Proof/Press Proof craze in 1994, and Donruss followed suit the next year with this set, limited to a "scant" 2000 copies.  Donruss took the base card and added gold foil as well as the "PRESS PROOF" notation at the top.  This wasn't a bad start, but I prefer the '96 version, which you'll see a bit later.

Scott Kamieniecki 1996 Collector's Choice Silver Signature

The most ho-hum card today is this parallel from 1996 Collector's Choice, though as I've said, I do prefer '96's versions that include colored borders.  This card completes the trio for me as I already picked up the base and Gold Signature versions.

Scott Kamieniecki 1997 Ultra Platinum Medallion

I was excited that I was finally able to land one of Kamieniecki's toughest cards, this '97 Platinum Medallion from Ultra, which has a different image than the base card, by the way..  Print runs are limited to a not-impossible 200 copies, but I have yet to see multiple versions of most of the cards from the large set.  It was a little tough plunking down $5.65 (accepted offer) for a non-hit, but my desire to complete Scott's collection overrode my frugality in this case.  And with these four, I now have 79 of his 89 cards in my possession, close to 90%!

Steve Ontiveros 1995 and 1996 Donruss Press Proof

If Kamieniecki had a productive day thanks to a four-card haul, Ontiveros did even better.  "With just two cards?" you ask?  As it turns out, Ontiveros has 71 cards in his run, and these two put me at 70, meaning I'm almost done with another PC!

This pair of Press Proofs includes the '95 version, like Kamieniecki's above, plus the '96 card, which I prefer since I think the base design is superior.  For some reason I just like the latter's layout better, including the cool shiny Donruss logo.

Stay tuned to find out if/when I can land the very last card to complete Steve's PC!

Clayton Richard 2014 Topps Green

Clayton Richard 2014 Topps Toys R Us Purple Border

Clayton Richard 2014 Topps Wal Mart Blue Border

Finally I have for you today this trio of cards that exemplifies Topps' disturbing obsession with repetitive colored parallels, including the store-specific exclusive Purple and Blue and the rack pack-pulled Green.  I've now acquired seven of Clayton's cards from 2014 flagship and yet I still have FIVE more to go--Black, Camo, Clear, Pink, and Yellow, all of which are numbered except the latter.  Yeesh.  Richard's collection now stands at 105/145, and hopefully I can increase that number elsewhere before long.

Come back tomorrow (or soon) for more!

COMC/JustCommons/Sportlots 2013 roundup part 11: Putzing around near the end

(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.

J.J. Putz is the focus of my second-to-last baseball post in the series, so let's get down to it with a lucky 13 new additions:

J.J. Putz 2004 Donruss Team Heroes Showdown Bronze (#039/150)

I sort of like the colorful-but-simple base card, although I don't think the Bronze border adds all that much to the package.

J.J. Putz 2005 Donruss Champions Impressions Green (#18/25)

You can really tell this is one of those sets where Panini based the entire design around room for an autograph and then worked backwards.  This is my fifth out of nine cards in this set.

J.J. Putz 2005 Donruss Signature Autograph Gold Master Series auto (#03/50)

In their heyday, the on-card Donruss Signature sets were a sight to behold.  This one's not bad, and features one type of sticker I'm cool with.  It's my fifth of eight in the set, with a pair of autographs and a parallel /10 to go.  Also, this is my seventh autograph and 12th overall hit for J.J., and #249 in the Michigan Baseball PC!

J.J. Putz 2007 Topps Co-Signers Blue (with Felix) (#044/250)

J.J. Putz 2008 Topps Co-Signers Silver Blue (with Felix) (#072/250)

J.J. Putz 2008 Topps Co-Signers Silver Bronze (with Felix) (#293/300)

Aaaaaand queue the reasons for the "parallelarrhea" tag today.  A good number of the Co-Signers parallels look cool, but there's 12 and 10 cards in the 2007 and 2008 sets respectively that I need to chase after, and they get ridiculous after a while!  I have just three from the former and four from the latter at this point.

J.J. Putz 2008 Topps Heritage Chrome Refractor (#167/559)

Now here's a parallel I can enjoy!  I think the Heritage Chrome concept was a great idea, and making Refractors was a natural extension of that.  Sorry the Refractory-ness doesn't come across as well in this scan, but trust me--it's Refractastic.

J.J. Putz 2009 O-Pee-Chee Black

Ok, what I said about the Copper Team Heroes card above?  Take that and multiply it by 10 and then apply it to this card.  Wooo black border....

J.J. Putz 2009 Topps Attax

File this under "The crap player-collectors have to put up with."  At least it was cheap, I guess.

J.J. Putz 2009 Topps Wal Mart Black Border

J.J. Putz 2011 Topps Target

Stupid, useless retail exclusive meets slightly more interesting useless retail exclusive.

J.J. Putz 2013 Topps Mini

J.J. Putz 2013 Topps Mini Gold (#47/62)

Try calling someone "YOU LITTLE PUTZ!" and see how that goes.  As for the Gold, that's a parallel I've always liked, so it's ok in my book.

13 dynamite new J.J.s give me a new PC total of 174/308, with an additional four 1/1s and three "others" for a new count of 181 in Putz's collection.

More on the way soon, including a new Doug C. trade package, the final two posts in this series, another Justcommons haul, and a few welcome additions to the TK Legacy collection!

2013 SportLots pickups #5: Zach, Clayton, and Bobby

Today's is the penultimate post of this series covering my SportLots Michigan PC pickups from my last few purchases.  Here's eight new cards on this beautiful Ann Arbor Sunday evening:

Zach Putnam 2010 Upper Deck World of Sports

A Zach Putnam card in his Michigan Baseball uni is awesome enough, but this one even clearly shows him pitching at Michigan's Ray Fisher Stadium, so as far as that goes it's over 9000.  I actually already had the autographed version, but it took me a while to find a seller whose price for the base version I could stand.  Welcome to the PC, Putnam #39/52, good for 75% exactly!

Clayton Richard 2008 Bowman Draft Prospects Gold

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps Emerald

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps Gold (#0193/2013)

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps Stickers

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps Target Red Border

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps Wal Mart Blue Border

As with previously-featured J.J. Putz, I had a good amount of luck finding new stuff of fellow pitcher Clayton Richard.  The Bowman Gold is the usually crappy Bowman throw-in, enough said.  Meanwhile, the sticker pairs up with Putz's and should mean I'm done with those for 2013.  But the real highlight here is the quartet of 2013 Topps parallels.  Well, sort of--I mean, you all know my feelings on the retail exclusives, but the Emeralds look great (just not nearly as beautiful as the Opening Day Blues), and the Gold is a familiar standby that I wouldn't want to be without.  Today's haul brings Richard's IHAS total to 84/131, with a couple more from COMC you'll be seeing soon.

Bobby Scales 2010 Upper Deck Gold (#18/99)

If you've ever had to chase any of these down, you probably already know that prices for these can be all over the map, though mostly they tend to stray from the reality I think most of us inhabit.  Not so with this one, which I nabbed for $2.50, which had me wondering if it was actually the version I thought it was!  As I already own the base version, that closes the (two-card) book on Scales' 2010 issues, and gives me a new IHAS total of 19/31, with a 20th arriving shortly from COMC.  And since I'm not insane like Greg Z., I won't be trying to acquire all 99 copies of this one....

All right, just eight cards left from SportLots, then you get to see a small handful of COMC scores!

COMC haul #30: Clay's the rainbow part 3: parallelarrhea

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

A couple Wednesdays ago I came back with a second group of Clayton Richard rainbow cards.  Well today you're getting the third and final round--though I do have one more grab bag of his stuff to post soon.  So here's another nine for your viewing pleasure:

Clayton Richard 2011 Topps Chrome Atomic Refractor (#081/225)

Clayton Richard 2011 Topps Chrome Orange Refractor

Clayton Richard 2011 Topps Chrome Purple Refractor (#235/499)

Clayton Richard 2011 Topps Chrome Refractor

Clayton Richard 2011 Topps Chrome X-Fractor

Clayton Richard 2011 Topps Chrome

Before these pickups I had exactly zero of Clayton's cards from after 2010.  Now I have nine (including the three below), including these six out of Richard's 10 Topps Chrome versions.  That means he has a base card and NINE parallels.  Excuse me, I need to go start a blog called "Too Many Parallels."  What?  It's got the right number of syllables and everything!  The only problem is that every post would literally be me going "TOPPS, Y U SO MANY PARALLELS?"

Seriously, though, that's way too many parallels.  Out of these, I really only care for the Refractor and maybe the Orange Refractor.  The Purple is just an ugly color, and I've just never cared for Topps' "Atomic" Refractors and X-Fractors.  Oddly enough, the ones I like the most--Blue, Gold, and Red--are among the four I'm missing, along with Sepia, which is at least decent.  In my perfect world, you'd have a Regular Refractor plus increasingly rarer Red, Blue, and Gold (why ISN'T Gold the toughest, anyway?), and then maybe a 1/1 version with a different color each year.  There, that's four normal Refractor parallels and one 1/1 to boot.  I'm fortunate that the four I do need aren't ridiculously rare, though, so this'll be one project I can put some effort into this year.

Clayton Richard 2011 Topps Cognac Diamond Anniversary

Clayton Richard 2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary Factory Set Limited Edition

Clayton Richard 2011 Topps Gold (#0873/2011)

Ok, that's it--I'm coining a new collecting term:  parallelarrhea.  When Topps swallowed up all of its colorful competitors, something didn't agree with it and the result was way too many different versions of the same card, also known as parallelarrhea.  Old Clayton also has 10 versions of his card in the 2011 Topps flagship set (not including the "Padres Topps" set).  These three only scratch the surface.  While you've got the old standby Gold, which shouldn't go anywhere, at least not until the year 5000 or something, and I've always been cool with the rarer Black version, but then things get iffy:

• Cognac Diamond Anniversary:  take a look at that top card and try to convince me it's not a hot mess.  It looks like whatever didn't agree with Topps came out the other end and they threw up camouflage all over the front.
• Diamond Anniversary Factory Set:  you earned this if you spent way too much money on codes for Topps' Diamond Giveaway scam.  The only difference is the logo in the upper-left corner.  You don't even get a different colored border or anything.
• And the rest:  Diamond Anniversary (maybe), Factory Set Red Border (WHY?), Hope Diamond (meh), Target (NO), and Wal Mart Black Border (NONONONONONO!).  Topps.  Wat r u doin? Topps.  STAHP.

How about we simplify things with Gold, Black, something very rare like Platinum, and then one other color that changes every year?  It's good to challenge collectors by making one or two versions that are tough to get, but this retail-exclusive bullshit has to stop.

So all that complaining aside, I now have 42 Clayton Richards, and I'm on my way to getting past half of his PC.  That's no small feat either, considering I had very few of his cards before going nuts on COMC.

I'll be back tomorrow with another football post for you Wolverine faithful!