2002 Topps 206 Piedmont Black Back Pinstripes

Year: 2002

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: 206

Card Number: 289

Card Type: Mini Parallel 

Mini Parallel Set: Piedmont Black

COMC Black Friday Card Haul #12

I've written about my love of the 2002 Topps 206 set.  Well mainly series 2, and mainly the fact that Robin was featured in the set and had two base card variations.  At the time I was pretty enamored with the set because it was the first time I could remember Robin being featured in a base set of new cards, although that's probably incorrect, it was the first time I remembered seeing it.  And as a guy who collected Robin Yount cards I was super excited.  Plus it was Topps first attempt at the vintage tribute set and I liked it.  It also marked the beginning, yes I know Pacific had done it years before, but really this set marked the returned tobacco sized mini inserts.  Over the year's I've been slowly picking up the different backs and image variations featuring Robin.  As a matter of fact with this card I have only one mini card left to find to finish the quest.  Series 2 featured 4 different backs all with some differing rate of difficulty finding.  The most common being the Polar Bear backs and the rarest being the Carolina Brights.  Mixed in the middle were the Red and Black Piedmont backs.  And I'm glad I was able to find this pinstripe Piedmont Black variation to help get me one step closer to completion.  Now all I need is to find a Piedmond Red Blue Jersey mini and I'm done. 

2005 Fleer National Pastime

Year: 2005

Manufacture: Fleer

Set: National Pastime

Card Number: 74

Card Type: Base

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 489/699

COMC Black Friday Haul part 7.

One of my goals during the COMC Black Friday sale is to hunt for hole fillers.  Throughout the year I'm picking up deals like more like a sniper.  One here, one there, whenever they come up.  I also start to build my watch list, cards I want but I want to see if the price comes down, or if I'm going on a larger shopping spree like on Black Friday have a list of cards ready to purchase, and hopefully get them at a discount.  During the sale I usually will do a quick sweep of my want list, buy what I want and then go hunting.  This gets a bit more involved, checking what I already have and seeing if I can find cards I don't.  I'm always surprised how many base cards get by me, but I'm always happy to add them for a decent price when I find them on COMC.  This 2005 Fleer National Pastime card is one of those cards.This base card is serial numbered and while 699 copies may seem like a lot today, even back in the mid-2000's a base card numbered to only 699 copies was insane for a product, especially since most of the checklist was not short printed.  Ahem, but I digress.  This was obviously a hits driven product with 10 pack hobby boxes promising two hits and there were some fun hits.  Robin also has featured pretty heavily in the buyback offerings that could be found in the product.  According to Baseballcardpedia this was Fleer's last big fancy release before declaring bankruptcy. 

2019 Panini Prizm Snake Skin Prizm

Year: 2019

Manufacture: Panini

Set: Prizm

Card Number: 216

Card Type: Base Parallel

Parallel Set: Snake Skin Prizm

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 32/50

I guess I better actually post a card I did pick up during COMC's Black Friday sale.  This year's Panini Prizm has insane amount of base card parallels, 27 according to the TCDB. I managed to pick up a few of those parallels during the sale.  The one I was really excited to get in had was this Snake Skin Prizm parallel.  While I'm not a huge fan of the set or the overly photoshopped and airburshed images I am a sucker for oddballs and I do love chasing down parallels if they can be had for a decent price.  This card covers both of those.  It's also one of the lowest numbered card I picked up this year for Robin.

2019 Topps Legends Variation

Year: 2019

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Flagship

Card Number: 676

Card Type: Variation

Variation Set: Legends

Continuing with my COMC Black Friday haul, another card not bought on Black Friday, but probably my favorite card of this year, maybe this decade, maybe of all time.  Let's not get carried away.  There's so much to love about this photo if your a Yount collector or a Brewers collector, hell it's a great shot of Ken Oberkfell.  The dust, the action, the lighting.  I found the original image over at Getty Images and they describe this photo of Robin attempting a double play in Game 4 of the 1982 World Series.  If it's not apparent I really, really like this card, it's also been, although slightly altered, my header for the better part of this year, and I haven't found anything I want to replace it with.

Plus the back is a sea of stats, as a back of a baseball card should be.  

I much prefer these legends variations to a lot of the other gimmicks Topps has thrust upon on us over the years.  For me it's a great way to add HOFers and retired players to the set.

Anyone else have a favorite card of the year.

1991 Panini Top 15 Baseball Canadian Sticker

Year: 1991

Manufacture: Panini

Set: Top 15 Canadian Stickers

Card Number: 56

Card Type: Base Sticker

Next up from my recent shipment from COMC from their Black Friday sale a very large Panini Sticker.  This is another card I didn't actually buy during the Black Friday sale, but rather I picked up this sticker and a couple others back in August.  These are called a couple different things.  The TCDB calls this set the Panini Canadian Top 15, and that makes sense as there is both English and French on the card, I don't believe there was an American equivalent.  There's a lot I like about this sticker.  First is almost baseball card size, so it's big.  Second, Panini using a great full color action shot of Robin.  And third, I like that big colorful 4.  I'm not positive so if I'm wrong I hope someone will correct me but with some minimal research I believe the #4 refers to Robin being in 4th place for Runs in 1990, and the 98 is the total number of runs, I assume RBIs, that Robin had.  The backs are pretty plain, but this after all is a sticker and the backs were meant to be thrown away.  And it was cheap so it's even better.  I'm slowly building and chipping away at my old Panini and Topps Sticker needs.  Anyone have any favorite baseball stickers?

2013 Panini Hometown Heroes Zip Code Parallel

Year: 2013

Manufacturer: Panini

Set: Hometown Heroes

Card Number: 19

Card Type: Base Parallel 

Parallel Set: ZIP Code

Next up in my COMC Black Friday haul delivery is this 2013 Panini Hometown Heroes ZIP Code Parallel.  I had been looking for one of these cards since 2013.  The ZIP Code parallels fall 1:12 packs which equates to one per hobby box. NO clue what the insertion rate was for the 24 pack retail boxes. I couldn't find any print run information on the cards but as a box hit and the full 300 card set is paralleled any one card is pretty hard to get.  This was not a card I nabbed on Black Friday, no this card had been sitting in my portfolio since last January.  I can count the number of times I've seen this parallel or Robin's come up for sale on one hand so when this popped up on COMC or under $4 I grabbed it.  Overall I actually really like this set, it's fun and has some great inserts and bright in your face colors that really pop.  This card however is pretty terrible, with most of Yount's face obscured, the terrible photoshopped uniform color and airbrushing.  But I'm glad to be able to finally cross this card off my wantlist.

The Highs and the Lows - COMC style - November 2015

I'm not a huge buyer on COMC, at least not anymore.  But I do check in periodically to see if I can find a challenge to earn me some free store credit.  And while I lament that great deals are few and far between I still find one every now and then.  That being said I thought it would be fun to see what COMC.com has to offer on the high end and low end for Robin.

Currently COMC has 886 cards that feature Robin Yount, either solo or as an ensemble.

Right now the cheapest card on the site for Robin is this one.

All images courtesy of COMC.com

Robin's 2013 Topps Chasing History insert can be yours for the low low price of 37 cents.  That's not bad at all really for this insert.  Especially since it's cheaper than all his junk wax cards on the site.

On the high end are these pair of graded rookie cards.

This PSA 8 card has an asking price of $280.25.

Followed closely by this BVG 8.5 for $250.99.

Both very nice looking cards.

The most expensive non-rookie card on the site is this 2002 Topps Tribute Pastime Patches card for $149.25, but is currently on sale for half off $74.75.  Even at half off this card seems really expensive for a non-autographed card, even if it is rare.

And if we don't count the asking price in the mix the highest card is this one

2004 SP Prospects Draft Generations Triple Autographs numbered to just 25.  Seems a little steep at $128.45.  Sure it's a triple auto that's very low numbered, but you can pick up Ben Sheets and Mark Rogers autos for a couple bucks so the premium, as it should be, is for Robin's auto.  But it's a sticker auto.  A nice card and I like the theme, just way overpriced.  I could see this card in the $50 range, but for almost triple that I expect it'll sit on the site forever.