Another card in the wall

For those who have sporadically followed me the past five years (I'm pretty sure my 5 year anniversary is coming up this summer, I'll have to check), you know I have my obsessions : Blue jays of course, 90s cards and inserts (93-97 especially), random vintage, Griffey, Gold glovers and Knicks cards. I've been watching hockey again and enjoying it, so I'm wondering if I won't start looking at vintage hockey !

Anyway, my latest COMC haul reflects some of that

I wanted a 49 Bowman so I got the cheapest one there was. It's horrifically beat up (and completely ripped on half of the back), but it was $1, and I figured if I'd found it at a card show, I'd probably have rescued it at that price. The seller is certainly still celebrating that sale to this day. And there's also my very first 53 Bowman Color ! Hopefully it won't be my last, but I need to get my hands on a starter's lot.

It took me a while to pull the trigger on that Bo Football Rookie because of the price tag. I like my cards to cost .10 cts. This one is around $8 (yeah I know, not exactly a steep price tag, but I prefer to keep that kind of cash for beat up vintage). But it's iconic and I needed it.

I got the Tim Salmon because I was curious to see that insert in person, as I'm a huge fan of Leaf's Slideshow series. And it didn't disappoint ! It's all acetate and transparent and screams IM FROM THE 90s PLEASE LOVE ME. I also love those Mozaics inserts and the Finest is a refractor. I wonder if there are cheap 93 refractors out there (just went to check, and nothing under $15 on Comc)

Andruw ! And of course all those crazy 90s cards with parallels and die cut and whatnot. I was happy to see he had a second Diamond Kings card available in that Rookie set. Yay.

93 and 94 were great years to collect (then World Champions) Blue jays cards. Olerud, Carter, Alomar, Molitor, Delgado...all were amazing players and regularly present in insert sets. And quite cheap despite HOF status for some of them. I've always loved Fleer inserts from that period, for some reason. Weird that I was missing those, actually.

The Rookie Surge is something...and Team Pinnacle (on the back there's Javy Lopez) is always elegant.

And then there were the weird years...logo changes and the arrival of Jose Cruz Jr. He hit home runs (at first) so he was a huge sensation. Before he wasn't anymore...But that means he was in every conceivable insert set in 98, and I'm not sure my mind has quite understood to this day what happened in card collecting that year...I just know that 20 years ago, when I got the internet, the first thing I did was to trade for cards on AOL and that I'd get Cruz cards aplenty, whom I hadn't heard of because I was still stuck in 94.

 94 Leaf Gold stars is one of my favorite sets of all time. I didn't scan that Get a grip right, but I'm too lazy to start over. There's Bagwell on the front.

 I don't like Clemens. Not just because of...Well, you know...(and I think he should be in the HOF)...but just because he's a jerk. So sometimes I add some of his cards. A little reluctantly, especially considering they're never cheap.

Him I've always loved. A true fan favorite. I actually just printed out a Carter only checklist to focus my Blue Jays collection on him and see what I'm missing.

That's it for now, thanks for reading, I now have the French Open final to tend to !