Although my collecting (and blogging) has been pretty low-key and sparse over the 2017 year, I can with great certainty say that my most recent order from COMC has provided a boost to one of my numbers.
My Oscar Gamble collection.
I've said it many times before but this player collection has been one of the more enjoyable builds I've got. A good number of vintage base, inexpensive cards and a few tough parallels have made this fun to work on.
And if you haven't noticed.....my #WalletCard is the epitome of fun!!!
So with that, let's check out what goodies have arrived recently.
This 1973 Topps card is a fantastic photo. This set is filled with great action shots that really give a feel to the sport that many cards since have been unable (or unwilling) to capture.
The second base slide, dust flying everywhere, a helmetless Oscar and everyone looking off towards first makes this a keeper.
I also love the fact that this card has decent centering. Yeah...it's not perfect, but that's what you get for less than a buck.
I love the cap on this 1974 offering. And the background on this card is fantastic. How often can you see other buildings in and around the ballpark these days? Never.
And although the 'fro isn't as daunting in this pic, it's still pretty solid.
This simple 1977 design really allows focus on the photo. Oscar has such a distinct crouch in his batting stance that you can get a pretty good sense of it even from this tight a zoom.
Now....is he taking batting practice or is this mid-game?
This one might need an upgrade down the road....it's a little blurry. Looks like the printing wasn't completely accurate. Nevertheless, it's a great photo.
Afro - check. Gold chain - check. Sweet San Diego cap - check.
Good enough for me.
Now we're getting into an era that I remember as a kid. Living in Canada I was an O-Pee-Chee collector but I do remember this design well. It was the first series of baseball I ever collected (or tried to collect....I wasn't as hardcore as my hockey sets back then).
Still love the border colours from this year and the simple cap in the corner (especially Montreal and Pittsburgh).
I was never exposed to Donruss back in the 80's. I don't know if my brain would have been able to handle multiple products in the same year back then.
This card doesn't have an early-80's vintage feel to it. I see this piece of cardboard and I think "junk wax era".
I probably overpaid for it even though it was less than .50 cents.
I probably should have scanned the back of this tobacco-sized mini. There are six different parallel backs to this Golden Age release. This one happens to be the Hindu red back.
Take my word for it.
OK....now on to a pair of buybacks that happened to find their way to the COMC world.
I don't know why, but I love chasing the Oscar Gamble buybacks but absolutely hate the Linden ones out there. I think it's because these buybacks are just simple base cards...cheap and plentiful.
I've already seen 9 different #WalletCard versions surface. Problem is that when they do, the shipping is outlandish. I can't justify spending $15us shipping on a $1 card. Thankfully this one (and the next) were easily bundled into my COMC order which allowed me to sing them for the inexpensive cardboard they are.
No, you're not seeing double. This is the silver foil version (as opposed to the bronze foil above).
There are also blue variations, gold, red.....OK, maybe it's not as fun.
Yeah...it is.
More from my 80's collecting days - sort of.
In OPC land we didn't have anything as fancy as Tiffany sets so these were a complete unknown to me back in the day. Of course now they are a must have for any player collector.
The interesting thing with these is that while the quality of the card stock and printing on the back is a step up from the regular piece, the photo has a bland look to it. The whites are more of a beige......and beige in baseball cards is just no good.
Second verse, same as the first......but that cap is dynamite!
This Tiffany card is from the Topps Traded set back in 1985. Yet another little extra thing to chase that OPC did not have.
We had it so simple back then.
Last Tiffany card is one of my faves from the 80's. The infamous Richard Pryor card.
I still can't get past how similar the resemblance is.
To the more recent stuff again and this 2016 Topps Archive parallel. The blue borders are numbered to 199 copies. There's also a red border limited to just 50 but I've had to pass on a couple copies - shipping.....just can't do it.
The last couple cards are really the ones that epitomize what I love about COMC.
This simple Archives Snapshots base card can be simply put in my storage until I want it shipped. I don't buy many through the year so a Black Friday sale is good enough for me.
If I can't find the card locally over the year, this is as good a place as any to pick it up.
And then there's the tougher parallel to snag too. This photo negative (don't ask why they decided to go that route for a parallel) is limited to just 5 copies. I had seen one or two go by previously and was a little worried I might not be able to snag a copy for a decent price. Thankfully this one hit COMC with a really nice sale tag and it was an easy decision.
So there it is, my massive (to me) #WalletCard haul. This puts me at 84 different Oscar Gamble cards. Almost half of all his cards ever released.
If I did have a goal for 2018 (and I don't), it would be to surpass the century mark.
I have a feeling COMC will be most helpful in that chase.
