Click Here to View Cart 20: COMC Black Friday 2016 Haul

Some people around the blogging community go crazy during the annual Black Friday sale at COMC, buying up stacks of cards and taking advantage of free shipping offers for cards they've accumulated during the year. I personally probably haven't made the best use of COMC, as for whatever reason it is never among the first options on my mind when looking for cards to purchase. This past year I did find myself browsing the listings during the big sale, though, and I picked up a total of 6 cards.

The first card is this shiny Danica Patrick card from the 2016 Panini The National set. COMC is calling this parallel Hyperfoil. My card is numbered # 17 / 49. I've been tracking various versions of Danica's The National and The National - VIP cards on eBay, but haven't picked up nearly as many as I'd like. It seems like the prices plus shipping are always a little more than I want to spend. This one was on sale and I was able to combine shipping with the other cards in the order, so into the cart it went.

The other five cards in this order were all from the 2014 Topps Stadium Club Members Only parallel. I have a goal to add as many of these to my collection as I can, so I picked up the five cheapest ones that I didn't yet have copies of in my collection. The horizontal card from the lot is pitcher Chris Archer.

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The other four are Josh Hamilton, Michael Wacha, Nelson Cruz, and Julio Teheran. No huge superstar names here, but I was happy to add five more of these to my collection without completely breaking the bank. I had several more in my cart for a while, but they were in higher price tiers and I ultimately decided to just pare my order down to these ones. I've already progressed much further with this collection than I ever thought I would. I know I am not ever going to complete the set, so I feel less pressure to gather them all. That frees me up to seek out the best deals I can and pass unreasonably-priced cards.

Although these aren't serially-numbered, the rumor is that only 5-10 copies of each Members Only card were printed. As time goes by I would expect the supply to really dry up, but here in early 2017 there are still a few to be found. I think that in some ways the passage of time helps, as people have probably moved on from 2014 Topps Stadium Club in the search for the next hot thing, and this is a parallel set that kind of flies under the radar.

I also got one scratch-off ticket in the package, which netted me a $5 credit on the site. I used the money to purchase a card that I had already purchased once. The seller sent me a different card (which I also needed for my collection), and I let it slide. The card I actually purchased popped up on COMC around the time I scratched my ticket, and I negotiated a discounted price on it with the seller. Pretty dramatic stuff. Right now it is sitting in my COMC account. I will have it shipped to me some day in conjunction with another order.

Click Here to View Cart 19: Topps Throwback Thursday Presidential World Series First Pitches

My commute home last night took forever, and it snowed most of the night and into the morning. I already knew I was going to go in late to work, but I went outside and saw cars stuck on my street and decided to just call in for today. Later, my wife actually tried to get out and couldn't make it to the road. I'm not sure how tomorrow is going to go, but I guess I'll figure it out tomorrow. Pretty much every school district in the area cancelled classes today as well, so my kids are home, too. So far they haven't been too annoying, but the youngest is pushing it.

It isn't really my intent to turn this into a wrestling/MMA card blog, but that's what I've been collecting lately. I've got plenty more of those posts to get to, but I thought I'd try to get some baseball cards on here today. Not just baseball cards, but PRESIDENTIAL baseball cards.

I think it's been a while since Topps did a Throwback Thursday set, but every so often they put out a set (on Thursday, naturally) featuring new cards on an old Topps design. They leave orders open for a week, and then print however many sets get ordered. I previously ordered the Star Wars set, but for the most part I don't pay much attention to these.

This set caught my eye, though, as Presidents on cards is a pretty popular theme. The set features U.S. Presidents who threw out first pitches in the World Series. They are printed on the 1990 Topps USA card design, a nod to the famous cards that were made for and presented to President George H.W. Bush. I mostly just wanted this set for the George W. Bush card pictured above, but there were five other cards in the set.

Since they are all Presidents, these are all some pretty famous names. I thought this was a pretty cool idea for a Throwback Thursday set, and the theme is executed well. Although the photos come from several different eras, Topps made them all fit together in one set together, and in the same style as the original Bush card these are modeled after. This set had a print run of 306 packs, which seems a bit below average for the Throwback Thursday sets. I guess you either like Presidents on baseball cards or you don't. I know of at least a couple bloggers out there who have announced that they collect Presidents on cards; hopefully they were able to grab some of these while they were available.

2016 P★League All-Stars Box Set

I follow the Facebook page of the Japanese trading card and magazine producer, BBM, so little previews of their products pop up on my feed from time to time. Back in November, they posted a preview of their 2016 P★League All-Stars set. I had been thinking for some time that Japanese Women's Wrestling was getting a little too mainstream for me, and I needed to find something else to help me stand out from the crowd. This could be just the ticket! I went to one of my usual suppliers of True Heart wrestling cards to see if they had any of this, and they were offering it for pre-order. I ordered one box of 2016 BBM P★League All-Stars and a box of 2016 BBM True Heart wrestling cards (which turned out to be one of my best ever boxes of that product), as well as a couple packs of sleeves to push me over the threshold for the coupon I wanted to use, which saved me about the cost of shipping on the order.

P★League is a televised women's bowling tournament that appears to be quite popular in Japan. It's been going on since 2006. I don't fully understand the structure yet, but the participants are selected from the ranks of the Japan Professional Bowling Association and maybe some amateurs who pass an audition. Bowlers who are eliminated in one season of the show are ineligible to participate in the next season, but can come back after that. The prize money seems to be pretty significant for the winners.

The cards are presented in a box-set format, with each box containing a 36-card base set and two special cards, for a total of 38 cards per box. The box lid pictures all 30 bowlers who are included in the set.

The back of the box has pictures of some of the cards from the set and a checklist. There are 30 base cards, a 6-card subset, and 30 autographs. It appears that every bowler in the set signed cards for the release, as you can see that the autograph checklist on the right matches the base checklist on the left.

Opening the box lid reveals a picture of all 30 subjects in the set, as well as some text that I'm not sure of as far as translation goes. There were 3000 sets made, with mine being # 2986 / 3000. The official checklist says that there are 6000 special cards printed, which is just enough to make up the 2 inserts per set.

The cards are packed into the box with a slip of paper wrapped around them. The back of the stack has a thin backing card, presumably to protect the hits.

Here's a standard base card of Hiromi Matsunaga. The card fronts feature the anglicized version of the bowler's name, which is incredibly helpful for someone like me. The card backs are not in English, though, so I have some trouble with them. There is biographical information. I think the black text in the middle of the card back says which seasons she participated in, with maybe her rankings from those seasons as well? It looks like all of the bowlers have sponsors, with logos placed on their clothing.

Here are some more base cards. I can't help thinking that bowling balls are about the same size and weight as a baby, so I picture these bowlers proudly holding a baby. I've mentioned before that when baseball players pose for cards and they are holding a baseball, I can't help picturing the baseball as a piece of fruit that the player is about to throw or take a bite out of. This is the same thing, but with a bigger ball.

Here are the backs of the cards from the previous scan. I guess there isn't much else to cover on them. I really need to learn to read these things, but I am a loser and haven't even done much research into the best way of doing that. If you Google their names, though, you can sometimes match up the information, like that their professional bowling license number is included in the first block of information.

After the 30-card base set, there is a 6-card calendar subset. It is pretty much as advertised, with each card containing two months of a 2017 calendar and a picture of two or three of the bowlers. The Google translation from the product page has this to say:

As a subset, we will line up 2017 calendar cards that we want you to carry around regularly or in a notebook.

The cards run in sequential order by month, then the other side runs through the next six months, so you have January/July on the first card, February/August on the next, and so on. 

I guess you could make a good case for using one of these as a wallet card, as it kind of serves a practical purpose in addition to being part of a game. It might lead to some weird conversations, though. Even carrying a baseball card around could be taken the wrong way by all the Fun Police out there who think that grown-ups should only do grown-up things. It would probably be hard to explain why you're carrying around a baseball card-sized calendar with female bowlers on it.

Next up are the hits. Each bowler has four different variations of autograph. There are Regular Black Ink (#/90), Regular Pink Ink (#/40), Holo Black Ink (#/55), and Holo Pink Ink (#/15). I got one of each of the Regular versions, so I don't know what the Holo autographs look like. This first autograph features Aki Nawa, the winner of P★League Tournament 2. It is the base version, numbered # 31 / 90. The autographs are glossy stickers, which in the case of this black pen led to some bubbling in the signature.

My second autograph is a Regular Pink Ink of Urara Himeji, who holds the record for the highest score (289) in a P★League Tournament. The card is numbered # 20 / 40. I don't think I'll try to chase down a master set of these, but it would be nice to get an example of each type of autograph.

And that's the breakdown of this box set. At the time I ordered these I thought I might be the only guy in town who had them, but a few days ago R Laughton included them in a post (along with a link to a video), San Jose Fuji has a few of the sets, and Ryan G was posting about them two or four years ago. That makes me late to the party. I still think these cards are cool, though, and I'll probably seek out a few more of them. I was actually about to order some of the 2015 version from my source, but they went on sale and I waffled too long and they sold out their inventory. Oops.

Click Here to View Cart 18: Chasing an Elusive Joshi Dual Autograph

This card and I have a (relatively) long history. Not anything like Night Owl and 1975 Topps or anything, but at least several months' worth. I am bad with timelines anyway, but a while back one of the premier sources of Japanese wrestling cards in the United States, Puroresu Central Shop, listed an Ayako Hamada / Kana dual autograph from the 2013 BBM True Heart Wrestling set. The price was a little higher than what I will normally pay for a card, but I really wanted that card.

Ayako Hamada is a pretty famous second-generation wrestler. She is the daughter of Gran Hamada, and she has wrestled in various Japanese, Mexican, and U.S. promotions. Kana is another famous wrestler. She has wrestled in many Japanese and U.S. promotions, and is currently the WWE NXT Women's Champion under the name Asuka.

So these were both some pretty big names, and I wanted the card. The owner of Puroresu Central Shop announced a few months ago that he was going to close up and reevaluate some things, and that this might be the last time much of the inventory was available. I fiddled back and forth for a while (probably a week or two), and finally decided to go and buy the card in early August. Oh snap! It was gone. I tweeted my dismay at the development, and he tweeted back, reminding me that he'd given ample warning that this would happen. That was true. He had been tweeting about the inventory reduction for a while.

At some point the store was re-opened and some of the inventory came back, including the elusive dual autograph. They also ran a special code word sale in November, and this time I pounced on it. The card is numbered # 76 / 84, and it is one of the best cards in my Joshi collection.

In the same order I also added a Neko Nitta Hall of Fame autograph from 2016 BBM True Heart to my cart. You can see that she added a retirement inscription to the card. I don't know a lot about her, to be honest, but she was pretty easily recognizable as the cat-themed wrestler. She held the Triangle Ribbon Championship (an Ice Ribbon promotion belt that is won in a 3-person match) six times and the International Ribbon Tag Team Champion twice during her relatively short career (2011-2015). This one is numbered # 025 / 100.

Puro Central Shop has been pretty good to me, and the guy who owns it and the Joshi review site Joshi City recently tweeted out some hype for my blog.

I'm bad at recommending stuff but anyone into sports cards I really recommend @chonk34's blog at https://t.co/XNAHYgx26K. Always a fun read.

— Joshi City (@JoshiPuro) December 6, 2016

When I saw that, I realized that it had been a while since I posted any Joshi content (my last Joshi post also dealt with an epic purchase from Puro Central Shop), so I dug into my scan folder for these cards. Thanks for reading!

2016 Topps Star Wars 3D Widevision: Attack of the Clones

Topps recently released another Star Wars 3D Widevision set, Attack of the Clones. There were immediately complaints about the lack of sketch cards and the relatively weak autograph checklist. I knew that I would be getting a set anyway, so none of that really deterred me. The sets have been placed on sale during Topps' recent holiday promotions, but I paid full price for mine, pre-ordering it to take advantage of a free shipping offer that I saw on the Topps Facebook page.

The set is packed out in a box with an embossed lid. Each box contains the 44-card base set, an autograph, and a second hit which can be a patch, medallion, or another autograph. The hits all have different parallel variations.

I'm not sure if I saw the print run listed anywhere else, but my box was numbered # 1874 / 2500. I guess that means there are 2500 sets out there in the world.

The base cards feature lenticular printing, which gives the images a 3D effect. The cards follow the story of the film, with an explanation of the scene on the back. I like that Topps used a different image on the back of the cards, rather than recycling the photo from the front.

I tried to select photos for these scans to show main characters and lightsabers, as well as to show different character portraits on the card backs. I wasn't a huge fan of the prequel trilogy, but there were some good battle scenes in the films. I can forgive a lot when it comes to Star Wars, and there was a lot that needed forgiving in these films, especially when it came to dialogue.

Yoda is always cool, and it was exciting to see him putting in some lightsaber work. He was surprisingly agile during a sword fight.

My first hit is a patch card of Mace Windu. This is the Gold parallel, which is seeded 1:22 sets and serially-numbered # 03 / 10. I guess it's pretty cool, although patches and medallions aren't really my thing.

My guaranteed autograph is Bonnie Piesse as Beru Whitesun. It's not Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, or Ian McDiarmid, but it's up there as one of the other signatures on the checklist I might want to add to my collection. In the Revenge of the Sith set, the hits were packed in the center of the box, but in this set they were in the bottom of the box, and I think that contributed to some corner damage on this autograph card in particular. The rounded corners and plastic construction of the base cards make them a bit more durable than your standard cardboard, and they do better on the ends of the stack. The damage isn't extreme, but you can tell the card was squished a little at the corners.

That's it for this set. I was relatively happy with my box. I don't think I'd pay full price for another one, but at the discounted holiday sale rate you might be able to convince me. I don't know how many they have left in stock, but there are 500 more sets of this one than there were for Revenge of the Sith.

Mandible Claws, Milestones, and the Holiday Funk

I was trying to come up with something special to write about for this post, as it is kind of a milestone for me. If I am counting correctly, this is the 1,000th post on The Raz Card Blog. I started this blog way back in July 2013, or nearly 3-1/2 years ago. Luckily, the mailbox had something pretty interesting in it today, so I've got something unique for my 1,000th post.

Lately I've been in the throes of my holiday funk. I'm not the only one, apparently, who goes through an annual crisis. Mine usually seems to come on in early November, as my birthday and Thanksgiving approach to kick off the holiday season. It's not a melancholy feeling specifically about hobbies, as the funk extends to every part of my life. Hobbies are a big part of my life, though, so they are affected by it. I am trying to counteract the doldrums by looking at the progress I've made during the last year and making some solid goals and plans for the next year. Most of it is real-life stuff, but I am also considering my hobbies and the areas where I want to expand or contract.

A couple of days ago I saw a Tweet from Mick Foley announcing that there was only an hour left to get an autographed Mr. Socko from Pro Wrestling Tees, with the proceeds going to veteran's charities. Now, Mick Foley's Mankind/Dude Love/Cactus Jack personas were popular right during the only time in my life when I watched wrestling regularly, and he was one of my favorites. This was kind of an impulse buy, but I was pretty excited to get a Mr. Socko of my own. I don't know that I'll giving anyone the Mandible Claw with it, though. The Mr. Socko face appears to be screen-printed onto the sock, and below that is the autograph. I don't know that a sock is the best surface for an autograph, but the signature is there.

I watched a lot of wrestling from this era, but then I went off to the military and missionary work and drifted away from it. I've never made it all the way back to the WWE, but I try to keep up a little bit with the major storylines and who is big at the moment.

The sock came with a certificate of authenticity, also autographed by Mick Foley, so I guess I got two autographs for the price of one. This is a pretty cool collectible that takes me right back to a memorable time in my life. I'm glad I saw that Tweet in time to grab an 'official' Mr. Socko.

Black November, Epilogue - 2016 Topps Update Series Hobby Box

After rolling the dice on a few products from the Blowout Cards Black November sale, I also picked up a box of a current product, 2016 Topps Baseball Update Series. With the smaller checklist this year, I felt that my odds of completing a set from one box were pretty good. If I hadn't felt that way, I would have just bought a set and skipped the box.

David Ortiz is the cover star of the product. Each Hobby box promises one Autograph or Relic card, so we'll see what comes out of this one.

The pack design replicates the art on the box. Each box has 36 packs, with 10 cards per pack (packs containing a special card may have fewer than 10 cards).

Here are the pack odds and the NPN information. As usual, there are plenty of parallels and inserts to chase.

I was able to put together a complete 300-card base set from this box, as well as pulling 22 doubles. So the collation was pretty good. I selected a few of my favorite photos to scan for this post. Common themes for my favorites were All-Star uniforms, UPF (Ugly Pitching Face), glorious manes of hair, and fielding photos with interesting background scenery like advertising signs or greenery.

Panoramic ballpark shots also made my favorites list a couple of times, along with hat tips. As with any baseball set, there were a lot of standard throwing/hitting torso photos, but there are some gem in here. I do kind of wish for a set with regular rectangular borders, but that's not the direction these things are trending in right now.

I got three coupon cards. The front highlights the existence of the Topps website and their social media pages, while the back offers 50 cents off on various Topps retail products. I just counted up the cards from the box, and apparently these don't count as part of the 360 cards in the box. They are extras, so they don't replace a base card or insert from the pack you find them in.

There were six Gold parallels in the box, all numbered out of # / 2016. I guess for me, the Edwin Encarnacion All-Star and the Tim Lincecum are the highlights here.

The box contained three Rainbow Foil parallels. Bartolo Colon's Home Run Heard 'Round the World is probably the highlight of this bunch. The Mark Trumbo card is nice, too.

I also got a pair of relatively scarce parallels. The first is a Rookie SP photo variation of Mallex Smith. I believe the pack odds are reversed on the SP cards, as the Rookies appear to be much easier pulls than the All-Star SPs. The second is a Negative parallel of Kirby Yates, a pitcher for the Yankees.

I pulled 5 cards from the Ichiro Chasing 3k insert set, which highlight Ichiro's hits on his quest to reach 3000 MLB hits, a feat he accomplished on August 7th.

I pulled six inserts from the 3000 Hits Club insert, which has a checklist full of players who reached the 3000-hit mark during their MLB careers.

I like the Topps Fire insert set, which is modeled on the design of the 2015 Topps Fire Football product. It is a pretty busy design, but it actually feels like a legitimate insert set. I pulled some good names, too, in Carlos Correa, Clayton Kershaw, Kris Bryant, and Josh Donaldson.

I got six of the First Pitch insert cards in the box. I had already purchased a full set of these cards online, so these are all doubles for me. I'll probably have more to say about them when I post about the set as a whole.

I got five of the Team Franklin inserts in the set, which feature players who use Franklin-branded batting gloves. Topps could have done a lot more with this concept, most significantly by including a parallel version with glove relic swatches embedded.

Finally, here is the hit of the box, a Scouting Report autograph of Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer. This was a decent pull for a box of a basic Topps product, as Fulmer had a very good season. It is unfortunate that this card came out of the pack with fair-sized ding in the corner. You can kind of see it in the card-back scan as a touch of white in the upper right.

That's it for this box and for this order from Blowout Cards. I got about what I expected from this box of cards. I am glad that I was able to complete the Update Series checklist from one Hobby box. The 4-product break overall had some highs and lows, with the Cal Ripken Jr. # 1 / 1 from 2016 Topps Archives Signature Series really moving this break from not-good to pretty-good.