My Black Friday COMC order came in yesterday. I'm pleased to say that it showed up more than two weeks earlier than was originally forecast.
This order was not as grand as I wanted it to be. When it got time to request shipment, money was a little tighter than I expected, I had to let some cards go.
But I didn't let go of the oddball cards, which actually was a good portion of the order. I gravitate toward oddballs -- I think readers know this about me -- and since I've completed so many of the main sets from the '70s and '80s, oddballs are almost all that's left.
That's fine with me, because the more I think of it, I like hanging out with the oddballs. When I think of what's the opposite of those kinds of cards, high-end grade specimens of superstars and hot rookies, I know that those cards can bring out my least favorite kind of behavior in collectors, just about the rudest people I've seen in the hobby. But I rarely see that among collectors who like oddballs.
So call me an oddball, I like being with my type.
Here is one of the main oddball sets that I pursued with the order. I've been chasing down the Fleer Laughlin World Series sets all year -- for more than a year. I'm starting to get to the end of the pursuit for one of the sets.
I'm down to needing just three more cards from the 1970 set after this purchase. I focused on this set over the 1971 one just because it seems just a little quirkier than the '71 set. And you know, the oddballier the better.
So, yeah, I know the cards aren't quite all the same size in this set. Doesn't bother me at all. Just look at those great Laughlin cartoons.
It doesn't get more oddball that the original Wacky Packages, even though they were put out by Topps. These stickers have hooked me since I was 9 and I really enjoy adding more of these -- more so than adding a lot of baseball cards to my collection.
I focused on what I could get from the sets issued in 1973 and 1974, which were the first of the Wackys (aside from the '67 diecuts). They were also the first Wackys that I saw, so stuff like Krazy Krackers and Blue Beanie take me right back to the days of sticking stickers on my school folders. I can't remember which stickers they were but now I regret doing it. They could be in my collection already!
I have dedicated a folder to just the Wacky Packages now, with it separated by series, and it makes me as giddy as anything else in my collection at the moment. Oddball alert!!!
I've gone on and on about TCMA's 1970s sets on this blog. There is still so much that I want from those. I especially like the team-specific sets. (And the blue tint!). This set is from 1978 and it rejoices in the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers. That's not a team you hear about much among past World Series squads, which is why I'm collecting it. As much as a World Series squad can be oddball, here is one.
The rest of the cards I ordered are all Dodgers, and all of them are from mainstream sets. But you could argue that Fernando Valenzuela was an oddball in the MLB world and that's why so many made him their favorite player. After news of his death, I looked for a few more Fernando cards. I ended up deleting several out of my cart to save cash, but these came with me. The Gypsy Queen is a short-print and the World Series heroes card is one that I kept meaning to add but always forgot.
Are online-exclusive sets oddball material? Probably not. Definitely not an all-rookie-celebration set. But I had to track down the Dodgers. The black borders are slick and cool and, yeah, I do miss 2007 Topps. Of course I still need one more card -- the Mike Piazza was not as affordable, probably because the cool kids always want the Piazza cards. This oddball can wait.
Veering away from oddball land for the final few pics. I'm overdue to finish off these Walmart and Target parallels from 2014. This was a meager bid to make progress on that. I still need way more Walmart blue Dodgers. Target reds need work, too. But where's the incentive when you're paying a couple bucks for a card of Dan Haren?
Just a few shinys to wrap things up. The key one here is the 2005 Chrome Adrian Beltre. Just four more '05 Chrome Dodgers to finish that set.
So nothing mind-blowing or whoa-impressive with this COMC order but a whole bunch of it makes my silly oddball self really, really happy.
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