Another TTM Success From Sam Mele

I have been wanting to add Orioles autographs for various years of Topps to kind of run parallel to my Topps Autograph project.  I realized that this would be a lot tougher than the Topps project, since there are very few Browns remaining who could sign Topps cards from 1951 to 1953, and any Bowman cards.  I know there are no living Browns players who could sign a 1948 Bowman, so I would likely have to buy an auto to complete the project.

Regardless, I am pushing forward on it, and have added an Oriole on a 1954 Topps with this second success from Sam Mele.  I got Mele previously on a 1952 Topps, but he wasn't an Oriole on that card.  I bought this 1954 from COMC and sent it to Mele.  He was very nice to sign for me a second time, but I did explain what I was doing in my request letter.

I mailed to Mele on February 13 and got the card back on February 22, for a 9-day TAT.

The cool thing about 1954 Topps Orioles cards is that the set is similar to the 1954 Bowman set.  All of the Orioles hats in this set are "airbrushed".  This is due to the fact that the uniforms hadn't come out at the time of printing.  I thought this was a pretty cool nugget of information.

COMC Pickup - 2003 UD Prospect Premiers Adam Jones RC

I recently sold some stuff on my COMC page and used the money to remove my Anthony Rendon Atomic Refractor so I could take it to the National for grading.  I didn't want to just get that card, so I looked for something affordable for my PCs.  I realized that I didn't add a lot of Adam Jones stuff lately, so I picked up his true RC.

Look at how young he is.  He is also listed as a Shortstop.  Not to mention, he is in his Mariners uniform. I got the card for $9.35.  I'm glad I got it.  I need to get the auto version at some point.  We busted a box of 2003 UD Prospect Premiers last year at the National for some cheap price.  I might look for another if it is reasonable.  Or just the single.  Who knows.

COMC PC Pickups

I finally sold the 2010 Topps Pro Debut Henry Ramos printing plate on my COMC account, so that afforded me the chance to try to get a deal on a 2009 Bowman Sterling Nolan Reimold gold refractor auto.  I was able to make an offer, which the seller accepted, so now, I have this beauty.  It is numbered 43/50.  Believe me when I say, it looks so much better in person.  I have been wanting one of these for a long time, and now I have one.  I got it for a steal at $6.50.

I had enough store credit for another card, plus the $3.00 flat rate shipping, so I picked up this 2005 UD Ultimate Brian Roberts numbered 41/50 for $2.74.  I also got one of my friends a card as well, and then paid the $3 to have all of the cards shipped my way.

I hadn't bought off of COMC in a while, and I haven't sent a shipment in for sale in a while either.  My sales have significantly decreased on there, so I think it is about time I added some more inventory from some of the stuff I have been taking to card shows that isn't moving like I would have liked.

COMC is a great tool, but you have to work to keep your inventory updated and your prices right.  I still enjoy it, and have done well in finding nice parallels, like the cards shown above.

COMC Pickup - 2015 Ginter X Rocky Characters

I used some of the money I raised on COMC during the Black Friday sales to pick up the remaining cards I needed of the Rocky characters for the Ginter X black parallels.  I already had the Apollo Creed card, so I went ahead and got the others that I needed.

My plan is to display all of them (10 cards) somehow.  I have my buddy, Max, working on getting me some of those multi-card screwdown holders.

I think that once I get those in from him, I will be able to show these off.  I really like that Topps added these guys to the set.  The cards look really cool, and it gives me a chance to have some cards from a movie series that I have enjoyed my entire life.

I wonder if Sylvester Stallone had any idea when he wrote the original screenplay that the characters he was creating would have the staying power that they have.  I mean, everyone knows who Rocky Balboa is.  He is one of the most iconic movie characters there is.

COMC Pickup - Apollo Creed 1979 Rocky II Sticker

I was looking around on COMC on Black Friday, trying to find some unique cards to add to my collection, when I found this Apollo Creed sticker.  It comes from the 1979 Rocky II series.  Because Apollo is one of my favorite fictional characters, I figured I should go ahead and pick this up.

I'm not going to go for the series or anything, but it was just a cool thing to add to my cart before I checked out.  Aside from the 2015 Ginter cards, this was the only thing related to Apollo on there.

Yeah, it is a little silly, but still pretty cool.  Also, I think it only cost me $0.35, so that's not bad, either,

Also, if you haven't gone to see "Creed" yet, you really should!  We went and saw it Thanksgiving weekend, and it was so good.  They did a good job in continuing the Rocky universe.  Obviously, he has a part in it, but he doesn't overshadow the movie, as it isn't about him.  Seriously, go check it out!

COMC Pickup - 1979 TCMA Virgil Trucks

It has been a while since I have picked up a new Virgil Trucks card for the PC.  When I was doing my Black Friday shopping, I grabbed this 1979 TCMA Virgil Trucks since it was really cheap.  I wish he was one of those guys that Topps would include here and there in some of their products.  Trucks might not have been a superstar, but the hardcore card collectors would get a kick out of pulling a piece of game used jersey or memorabilia of Trucks from a pack.  I know I would.

He was one of a kind.  To think, it has been over 5 years since I first "discovered" Mr. Trucks.  All because my buddy Drew was helping me figure out which players were good at TTM signing.

I still wish I had taken him up on his offer of paying him a visit in Alabama.  That would have been really cool, but probably still awkward.  I ended up doing a trip like it, meeting someone with old ties to the game, and had a blast.

I wonder if an opportunity like that will ever pop up again.  If it does, I know I will jump at the opportunity without any hesitation.

Black Friday Pickup - 2014 Bowman Red Ice Chris Davis

I bought a bunch of gifts for people with one Black Friday purchase on COMC.  I went back to the site later during their sale, after I sold a few things, and bought myself some cards.  One of them was this 2014 Bowman Red Ice Chris Davis that I needed for the 2014 rainbow.

The card is numbered 19/25.  I had a chance to get one when it first came out, from my friend Noah, and I mistakenly told him that I already had the card.  This event is what actually prompted me to start my Davis spreadsheet on the blog.  Since then, I have been diligent in updating it, and it has come in handy when I have gone to make a Davis purchase.

I was disappointed that there weren't as many of the cool parallels in this year's Bowman offering.  I was equally as disappointed that Davis wasn't included in Bowman and Topps Chrome.  Oh well, I'm certain he will be in 2016, I just hope he is in an Orioles uniform.

COMC Pickups - More 2014 Bowman Chris Davis Parallels

I sold a couple cards on my COMC page recently, so I was able to pick up some Chris Davis Bowman and Bowman Chrome parallels that I hadn't otherwise been able to find on Ebay (and also one other that I saw really cheap).

First is this black paper parallel numbered 16/25.  I had been watching this one of COMC for a while, but I had been hoping I could find a cheaper one on EBay.  No luck there, so COMC was used to knock it off of the list.

Here is Chrome's counterpart to the black paper parallel.  Numbered 9/25, this orange parallel looks really cool in person.  This one had a pretty high price tag for what it was numbered to, but in the end, I pretty much traded some stuff for it, if that's how you look at COMC.

Finally, I had completely overlooked the hometown flags parallel, so I added it to my COMC card and rounded out my order.

I have almost all of the Davis parallels from 2014 Bowman.  The only one I can think of that I need off the top of my head is the 1/1 superfractor from Chrome and the 1/1 white ice from Bowman paper.  I'm probably missing one or two others.  One of these days, I will complete a rainbow.  Fingers crossed.

COMC Chris Davis Pickups

I made a COMC order recently that landed me a few nice Chris Davis parallels that I needed for my PC.  I am always trying to get a rainbow, so knocking off different color parallels is always fun to do.  I didn't spend a whole lot, so that made it even better.

I saw this 2015 Panini Prizm purple flash parallel first, so this is what started this buying trip.  It looked really nice on the COMC scan, but it looks even better here, and in person.  The card is 38/99 as well.  Panini did a really good job on their parallels this year, and this one is one of the best that I have seen.  I'm going to keep picking up the Prizm parallels when and where I can.

Bowman was a really nice product this year, much like last year.  Bowman has become one of my favorite products, and the different parallels are one of the big reasons why.  This purple parallel is numbered 74/250.

The only complaint I had about this year's Bowman, at least for me, was that the silver parallels were difficult to differentiate from the base cards.  Maybe I'm blind, but I had a hard time with them.  This one is numbered 36/499.  It does look nice, though.

I also picked up this silver ice parallel.  Ok, so I do have another complaint, and that is that Chris Davis is missing from 2015 Topps Chrome and Bowman Chrome.  That kind of sucks, really.  Oh well, I'll just keep on the Topps and Bowman paper parallels.

All of these cards look really nice and will be logged into my spreadsheet shortly.

Chris Davis Pickups From COMC

I'm so glad I have kept my Chris Davis PC spreadsheet up to date (for the most part).  I was able to use it at the card show when I picked up that 2008 Bowman Chrome card of his.  It also came in handy when I made a recent COMC run.

I was able to pick up this 2014 Bowman Silver Ice parallel that I thought I already had.  Yet, one look at my list, and no, I didn't have it, so I added it to my card.

They had the 2015 Bowman Silver Ice parallel as well, so I went ahead and picked it up, too.

Also, the silver bordered parallel...

I also grabbed this purple parallel from 2014 Bowman Chrome, only to find out that I DID have one of them.  So much for keeping my list up to date.

Andrew had actually gotten me one, as well, since it wasn't listed.  I have since corrected that error, and now will have three, once I take delivery of the one Andrew got me.

Oh well, never a bad thing to have several numbered parallels.

Chris Davis PC Pickups

I picked up a few Chris Davis parallels recently when I got some money from my friend, Joey and some COMC sales from my friend, Noah.  I searched for the right cards for a while, and was very happy with the ones I got.  The above 2014 Bowman Chrome bubble parallel is probably one of my favorite color parallels that I have seen.  The scan looks awesome, but it doesn't come close to doing the card justice.

This card is numbered 99/99, so I ended up with an Ebay 1/1.  OMG!

I picked this blue refractor off of COMC.  It is numbered 78/250 and looks awesome as well.  It just doesn't compare to the bubble refractor, though.

Back to my return from the money gotten from Joey, I got this silver paper parallel from 2014 Bowman that is numbered 58/75.  This looks ok and all, but again, doesn't compare to that bubble refractor.  I do like this one, and I want to grab a few more of the parallels for the Bowman paper.  As always, I'll "pursue" the rainbow, but I know getting the 1/1s will be hard.

Finally, this 2013 Bowman Chrome purple refractor was a COMC pickup along with the blue.  This was a product of me jumping on a card at a good price, then realizing "oops, it's a 2013, not a 2014..."  Oh well. I still needed it, but I did think it was a 2014 until I got it in my possession.

So, there you have it, I knocked off a bunch of Davis PC needs, and didn't spend any of my own money.  Thanks for the purchases, Joey and Noah!

COMC Pickup - 2014 Topps Chrome Chris Davis Atomic Refractor

I got this awesome numbered 8/10 atomic refractor of Chris Davis with some money from a sold card on COMC.  I had been watching it all Black Friday weekend, and picked it up when the price dropped from $17 to $12.  The card scanned awesome!

Davis made a little bit of news today when it was revealed that he has received the therapeutic use exemption for Adderall for the 2015 season.  This should help Davis in the upcoming season and should also remind folks that he does, in fact, have a medical condition and wasn't necessarily trying to cheat last year.  Yeah, he made a dumb mistake, but we are all human, so I give him a pass.

Anyway, I'm tired of the offseason already, I want some baseball to start.  Not too long, though, til Spring Training.  In between Spring Training and now will be Christmax and the Hall of Fame vote.  So, I do have some things to look forward to.

Questionable COMC Pickup - 2009 Ticket To Stardom Chris Davis

I sold a Jake Marisnick auto that I had on my COMC page for $18.00 during the Black Friday weekend sale.  One of the cards I got took a big chunk out of the store credit and with what was left over, I picked up this 2009 Topps Ticket To Stardom ticket card of Chris Davis.  Pretty sweet, right? I thought so.  I do think the card is cool, but when I originally bought it, I thought it was a piece of the ticket to the game where Davis made his MLB debut.  Wouldn't that be awesome.

I was ready to blog about this card, so I got on Davis's baseball-reference page and looked up his MLB debut.  June 26, 2008, not May 30, 2008.  I was disappointed, to say the least.

Take a look at the back of the card.  For those who may not be able to read the back, it says: "Congratulations, you have received an authentic ticket stub of Chris Davis from 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom Baseball..."

What, exactly, does this ticket stub have to do with Chris Davis?  If there are any Rangers fans (P. A., Judson) who can help me out with this, I'd appreciate it.

I don't want to slam the card, it's damn cool, but I just think it's odd to have a random ticket stub from a random game that the player didn't even play in.  It would have been amazing if I had gotten the one from his MLB debut (and at the $4.00 price I paid).  Oh well, I do like the card, and I'm adding it to my Davis PC.  I guess I'll need to see if there are ones from his debut.

Black Friday COMC Pickups - Chris Davis Bowman Parallels

I was the winner of one of COMC's Black Friday shopping sprees.  A whopping $5, but it was $5 I didn't have the day before.  I took advantage of my luck and grabbed up a couple Chris Davis parallels that I needed for 2014 Bowman.  The first one is a yellow parallel numbered 90/99.  This card looks really cool when scanned to my laptop, so I'm enjoying it at the moment.  Something about bright, vivid colors.  Kind of improves my mood a bit, I think.

The green parallel that I got is numbered 87/150 and also looks nice.  Not quite as sharp as the yellow, but still nice, nonetheless.

I plan on getting a few more of the parallels, when I can.  Probably after the holidays are over and things calm down around here.

A Couple Recent COMC Pickups

Again trying to catch up on some posts, I wanted to lump together the last two cards I had from my most recent COMC purchase, two really cool Panini Prizm cards.  The top card is a rare Matt Wieters card.  Rare in a couple ways, really.  One, Wieters STILL doesn't have a Topps regular issue card, which really sucks, and two, this card is a National Card Show Cracked Ice VIP exclusive, numbered 1/5.  Not bad at all. Best part is, I got it for only $6.40.

This card is also a 2012 National Convention exclusive card, a Pulsar Prizms Brooks Robinson that I got for $4.25.

I had built up a good bit of store credit when a couple of those stupid sparkle SP cards from a couple years ago sold out of my account.  The sparkle card is such a dumb concept, but I'm not complaining, because I was able to flip the two I pulled for quite a few PC and set needs.  These two Panini Prizm cards alone make up for the loss of those goofy sparkle cards, in my opinion.

COMC Pickup - 2013 Bowman Sterling Chance Sisco Auto

Here is another of the cards that I picked up off of COMC recently.  I got this 2013 Bowman Sterling green parallel auto of Chance Sisco for $6.75 worth of store credit.  Not too bad, since I saw Sterling base autos of Sisco going for $5.00 at the last card show I went to.  I remembered lamenting the fact that I passed on grabbing one of them, but luckily, I got this one,  This card looks so much better than the base ones anyway.

Sisco is having some kind of season this year.  Tonight, he went 3 for 4 with a homer for Delmarva.  On the season, he is batting .338 with 143 hits (113 games) and 5 home runs.  Wow.  That is really good.  I would love it if the Orioles had a few high average hitters on the team.  You know, guys you could count on to hit .320 or .330 perennially.  I guess, in these days, that is really hard to come by.  Well, Sisco is doing well in the lower levels of the minors.  He should be headed to Frederick, next season.  Let's hope he can sustain this success, but I have to keep reminding myself that he is only 19.

COMC Pickup - 2013 Bowman Purple Ice Jonah Heim

I wanted to show another card that I got off of COMC recently, this 2013 Bowman Purple Ice parallel of Orioles prospect, Jonah Heim.  Heim was the Orioles 4th round pick out of the 2013 draft.  He is currently playing for the Low A Aberdeen Ironbirds.

Over 64 games in the minorsfor the last 2 years, Heim is batting .206 with 1 home run and 11 RBIs.  He's going to be just fine, I think.  He definitely adds to the huge amount of catching depth that the O's have drafted recently.

This card is really awesome.  It is numbered 6/10, and according to the back of the card, Heim tries to wear uniform number 6 whenever he can, in honor of his grandpa.  That is really awesome that I ended up with this one.

COMC Pickup - 1959 Topps Ernie Banks Highlights

I had about $30 in store credit on my COMC account and I used it to buy 7 cards (two of which are headed out the door in a trade).  I plan on blogging each and every card from the purchase and I start with this 1959 Topps Highlights Ernie Banks card.  This is #469 of the set, so that knocks something off of my wishlist.

Banks has quite a few cards in the set and I already have his base card, so getting this one helps me out.  I still need his All Star card and his duos card.  I got this for $4.30.  I made offers on each and every card I got in this lot and each offer was accepted.  I was trying to stretch my budget on there and I feel like I did a pretty good job.  Stay tuned to see the rest of the cards I got, as well as a ton of trades that still need to be posted.

COMC Pickup - 2011 Topps Tribute Willie Stargell

A long time ago, I bought quite a few cards off of COMC, many of which were of Hall of Famers that I thought looked cool.  I thought I had posted them all, but I found this in my "to be blogged" stack.  I guess I just missed it.

Anyway, this is a 2011 Topps Tribute Willie Stargell that I picked up because I loved the helmet and uniform that he was wearing in the card.  It looks much better in person than it does on the scan.

I am down to just a couple single cards in my "to be blogged" stack.  I need to get a few more trades coming in soon.  I've sent plenty out, I just haven't had a whole lot come in.  Oh well, I know I have some things pending, so that'll help.

COMC Pickup - 1981 Topps Traded Joe Morgan

Another of the cards I picked up from COMC recently was this Joe Morgan card from 1981 Topps Traded.

Morgan would spend 2 seasons in San Francisco, collecting 208 hits, 22 home runs and hitting .270 over 224 games with the Giants.

We met Morgan twice now and each time he was really cool.  I am looking to grab a few more of his cards and do a PC.  I plan on picking up his RC at some point soon.  Again, I really like the design of the 1981 Topps offering.  This one doesn't have nearly the bold colors of the Stargell I showed recently, but Morgan is rocking a retro-looking Giants jersey.