All my new cards come from COMC

I like to believe I'm not the kind of collector who needs a constant influx of new cards to stay interested in their collection.

Yet the simple fact is I haven't spent as much time with my cards here in 2022, and I'm left to wonder if that correlates with the fact that I haven't had as much incoming cardboard. I haven't been to a card show since late spring, and despite constant reminders to myself that I need to be sending more cards out to people, my blog trading has sharply fallen off too. 

The vast majority of cards I've been getting this year have come from COMC, as the sharp increase in posts documenting my orders might indicate - they're getting to be darn near monthly occurrences by now.

There's always a fine line between the enjoyment I get out of adding to my collection versus appreciating the cards that are already there.

COMC tests that line with the cards I constantly see that scream YOU DON'T HAVE THIS, NICK!!!! BUY IT!!! And so often, I fall for the temptation. If nothing else, COMC serves as a good reminder that there's still "firsts" to be had in my collection - these are the first A&G rip cards I own (I even added a third one with a Felix Hernandez that's not pictured).

I've always held out a distant hope that I'd pull one of these someday - and you better believe I'd rip it (why would you not?).

Perhaps more importantly, COMC allows me to bask in the comfort of the cards I already enjoy - like oddballs that came in everything from Coke cans to kids' magazines.

(I drink enough pop as it is, and it's scary to think how much more I'd buy if they were packaged with cards...)

In hindsight, 2022 might go down as The Year I Became Obsessed With Stadium Giveaways - seriously, my COMC searches for Mother's Cookies and the like have gotten to be almost daily at this point.

I like to think my collection is already one of the weirdest ones out there, but I'm always game for making it even weirder.

Love the Julio Urias photo variation - could well go down as the last contemporary "pitcher at the plate" - but "Wayne the Wizard" probably wins this scan & might be my new favorite mascot card.

I can always rely on COMC for new cards of perennial collection favorites.

I had no idea 2022 Topps Pristine was a thing until I saw that Ron Santo - and in an even bigger plot twist, I actually kinda like 'em.

Because you can never have too many Tony Gwynn cards.

Minis of all shapes, sizes, players, and teams - including a rare Phil Garner Dodgers sighting & Big Klu at his most muscular.

I'm on a mission to get all of Jeff Bagwell's Red Sox minor league cards, and it seems like one has snuck into each of my COMC orders lately.

I also can't help but dig those Topps "Diamond Dig" inserts from a while back - I can't click "BUY" fast enough whenever I see a cheap one pop up.

The amount of online-exclusives I buy on COMC is a clue that Topps is putting out a lot of stuff I like these days - just not anything that's readily accessible to me (which is itself immensely frustrating).

Luckily, COMC sellers keep marking them down to prices that fit snugly within my price range.

More online-only suspects - that Concepcion comes from some kind of artist reproduction set Topps put out last year, and I thought I might like it a little more once I had the card in-hand.

(Nope.)

More Topps stuff I wish was available in packs rather than whatever might be sitting on the retail shelves right now.

Pujols pitching makes me happy, Kris Bryant in a Rockies uniform does not.

A few random horizontal greats here, including a Dave Parker that sold me on the excellent warm-up jacket alone.

Hoyt might well be the face of my collection, but if I ever made a banner for this blog (a one-time hope that I've long given up on) I'd be tempted to sneak a Marvelous Marv Throneberry card in there as well.

Older oddballs are always a thrill, including that sweet TCMA Babe I got for a song because someone apparently decided to try and glue it to something at one point.

Vintage oddballs of HOFers that didn't break the bank - the Kaat is an OPC, and the $4 I paid for the Joe Morgan is a good price for any '70 Kellogg's card...much less a huge name!

You can trace tangible lines through a lot of my COMC orders (stadium giveaways, online exclusives, etc.), but here's a couple treasured buys you won't see every day.

The '36 Goudey Zeke Bonura was actually the most expensive card in this order (a hair over $8) and my first card from Goudey's later '30s offerings - Pesky was shockingly cheap at about $4 and comes from a late '40s Homogenized Bread set that I'd never seen before now.

I'm also happy to report that this COMC order marked a watershed moment for my collection - with the addition of this weathered '64 Yastrzemski, I now own the complete run of Yaz's Topps cards from his '60 rookie to his '83 farewell!

That's certainly an indicator of how far my collection has come - just a few years ago, the prospect of having every Yaz probably seemed about on par with flying to Mars. But against all odds, here we are, and the complete Yaz is safely paged in my binders as we speak.

Which reminds me, I should probably go look at that binder now - new cards are always exciting, but admiring what's already there is just as exciting.