White whales come in many forms

When you think of the term "white whale," I bet a lot of collectors conjure up images of a T206 Honus Wagner or a '52 Topps Mickey Mantle.

While a few such vintage Goliaths are indeed on my "white whale" list (anyone have a spare Roberto Clemente rookie?), some of my most-wanted cards seemingly aren't anything out of the ordinary. My most recent COMC order helped strike down one such behemoth with a...1990 Topps TV Bill Buckner? Certainly not white whale material, you'd think.

Yet every major card company somehow ignored Buckner's largely forgotten second stint with the Red Sox in 1990, leaving only a few scarce oddballs as the only trail of evidence. This Topps TV issue was so rare that I'd never even seen a copy for sale in the 5-6 years I've been looking for it, until a copy randomly popped up on COMC one afternoon.

White whale, speared!

Is it possible for an entire set to be a white whale? Often seen, but never captured?

That's what 2012 Heritage High Numbers is for me. For some reason, Topps made this set an online-only release for a few years, and I believe this one had a print run of a mere 1,000 copies (many of which I'm convinced are still being hoarded for the Bryce Harper rookie). It's sad because this set happens to have a lot of dudes I collect and/or guys in weird uniforms.

Twelve years later, I finally have my first four cards from this set in the binders (the quartet cost about $10 on COMC, which is somehow a fantastic price) - O the glorious Dodger Bobby Abreu sighting!

So many Japanese cards feel like white whales because of their geographical distance from me here in suburban Illinois - somehow managed to grab that Shota Imanaga BBM issue for under $2 before the seller regained their senses.

If I ever win the lottery, I'm going to Japan just to make a tour of their card shops.

Ichiro with a goofy mascot! Ichiro in a "42" jersey! Ichiro with the media! Ichiro on the Marlins!

All hail Ichiro!

COMC is always good for a wonderful array of weird oddballs.

Those "Jewish Major Leaguers" sets are shockingly expensive (I check all the time, hoping in vain that an affordable one will slip through the cracks), but once in a while I can find singles on the cheap.

A TCMA extravaganza!

(I'm especially fond of the Charlie Robertson - he's probably the most obscure guy to have ever pitched a perfect game, and you don't see many cards of him.)

I buy minor league cards knowing full well that the few I'm lucky enough to find are really just the tip of the iceberg of all the ones I need.

Always love a Red Sox Jeff Bagwell sighting, and that's my first minor-league issue of Dime Box Favorite Bo Hart.

A few horizontal gems here, including a Max Scherzer photo variation and a nifty Beverly Hills 90210-themed Joey Votto.

(Also, how often do I get to show a new Burleigh Grimes card??)

I fully admit that I'm just as prone to bells and whistles as anyone - shiny cards and oddly-cut cards and (Wonderful) 3-D cards and all!

Neat oddballs of a few favorites here - how often do you see cards of Nolan Ryan hitting?

A handful of SPs, photo variations, and other Topps shenanigans that are only available to me through COMC.

(I really wish we got to see more of National Chicle.)

I want any and all Babe Ruth Braves cards, and given how big of a Black Sox collector I am (and how much Panini Golden Age I bought back in the day), I'm a little shocked I didn't already have that Swede Risberg.

Those 2009 Topps Legend SPs don't come cheap - at a whole $7, the Maris was actually the most expensive card from this order - but I still can't help myself from buying 'em.

These seem like a couple cards I've had in my collection since I was a wee vintage collector...

...but when you flip them over you'll find they're not what they appear to be.

The Piersall is an OPC, the Gates Brown a Topps Venezuelan - and both are wonderful additions to a couple of my favorite old-dude collections.

Plugging away at the last few '78 SSPCs I need - got to cross a couple more off the list with Bert Campaneris and Sandy Alomar here (who both look weird in Rangers jerseys).

I'm slowly discovering the joys of cataloging my collection - through TCDB, I discovered this was the was the last card I needed to have a complete run of Kellogg's Reggies, and within minutes I'd hopped on over to COMC and secured a copy.

I fully understand why others avoid cracked Kellogg's, but it doesn't bother me much - the fact that it makes them exponentially cheaper certainly helps. (And I certainly never thought I'd own a whole Kellogg's run of someone as huge as Reggie Jackson!)

Only time will tell what the next white whale I spear will be, but I'm pretty sure I'll be leaning more towards the cracked Kellogg's and Topps TVs of the card world than a '52 Mantle.