You can't put a price on the things that make you smile

Whenever I'm hemming and hawing about buying something, I often ask myself a very simple question: does it make me smile?

This is probably why I spend so much time and cash on baseball cards - because, of course, a lot of them make me smile. Maybe it's the pessimist in me, but it seems like a lot of the money spent on the hobby these days is done with a lack of joy - it's more about the pure transactional what can I get out of this? or what can I sell this for? credo. That would make me sweat, not smile.

Then again, I suppose a lot of people out there might think I'm the weird one, what with the 936 different things I collect and all - a lot of which were neatly packed into yet another COMC order I received a few weeks back.

I'm constantly buying cards on COMC because, simply put, I'm continually finding things that make me smile.

If you've read my blog at all, you probably already know how giddy I get over superstars in weird uniforms (including a rare Tigers Frank Howard sighting!).

Strange uniforms come in other varieties, too - take Cal Ripken Jr. as The Tin Man, or Matt Harvey pitching for my native Team Italia here.

I may tire of seeing guys like Rickey Henderson and Derek Jeter popping up in every single modern set, but the world will never provide me with enough Satchel Paige cards.

In many ways, my obscure player collections make me smile more than the stalwart HOFers and such that I'm always finding new cards of.

It's no accident that a Ben Weber card seems to pop into every COMC post I write - this order continued the trend with the beloved MLB Showdown game I played to death as a kid (a set which, incidentally, is a treasure for obscure player collectors like myself).

But of course I'll never scoff at the chance to add some choice cardboard to my bigger player collections - that strange Tony Gwynn has been on my radar for a while now, and dig a cool new Hoyt!

Show me an oddball, and there's a 99.9 percent chance it'll make me smile. 

(Now that I think of it, I don't think I've ever tried an Oh Henry! bar.)

Japanese cards downright make me grin from ear to ear - and that goes doubly so for a Japanese card of Yu Darvish...hitting!

Still can't believe how affordable Japanese Ichiros can be, and that's my first (of many, I hope) Japanese issue of Cubs ace Shota Imanaga.

I don't do it consciously, but my COMC orders always seem to provide a fun array of minis and otherwise weirdly-shaped cardboard.

It does my heart good knowing I could give a good home to that mangled Milk Duds Brooks Robinson.

I don't love all of the Topps online-exclusive stuff out there, but I'm still aghast at how cheaply I'm able to come by stuff from the ones I do enjoy on COMC.

I remember when people were losing their minds over that Vlad Jr. Topps Now card - here in 2024, I nabbed it for all of $1.75.

Card-Gens don't usually come cheaply - the $3 I paid for that Kimbrel is about the lowest you'll see 'em.

And yes, I finally forked over the cash for one of those stupid ultra-super-mega rare Red Foils (why did you have to ruin Big League, Topps??) - I collect Jacob deGrom, but I especially wanted that one for my "tip of the cap" mini-collection.

Minor league stuff is a joy on many levels, mostly because they provide glimpses of guys like Jim Morris (aka "The Rookie") and switch-pitching Pat Venditte who don't otherwise get a lot of cards.

The gloriously weird mascots don't hurt, either.

A few neat horizontals here, including a neat Heritage "action" variation and a zero-year Michael Young Blue Jays card I'd never seen before. 

(I can't say I know who Alfredo Ortiz is, but I'll never turn down a card of someone giving an ump the business!)

There's not a whole lot of rhyme or reason to the cards that make me smile - sometimes they just have to be shiny, or rip-able, or shaped like a pennant to do the trick.

If you made a list of the things I'm most eager to throw my money at, vintage oddballs would be right near the top - I'm starting to get more into those OPC Deckle Edges (note the black signature instead of the blue on the Topps ones).

Scoring a '79 Hostess Nolan Ryan for $9 was a particularly massive coup since I hadn't seen that one offered at anything near a reasonable price before now.

The Hostess Nolan Ryan was probably my favorite card from this order, but when you buy something from '52 Topps, it's hard not to close with it.

I've mentioned Jackie Jensen often on this blog - he was a star in his time whose cards are super cheap now & thus makes him a Dime Box favorite. I'll never be able to afford '52s of Jackie Robinson or Willie Mays, but I can sure swing $4 for a Jackie Jensen!

When it comes to baseball cards, it doesn't take much to put a smile on my face - and that'll always be true, no matter how mad it may make my wallet.