COMC Show & Tell - Player Collection Buybacks

Most of my baseball player collections are guys whose cards are nothing but "commons," and the guys didn't have long careers.  One of the benefits is that it's not necessarily difficult attempting to put together a complete run of their cards.  One of the cons is that since they weren't stars, they aren't showing up in any current sets.

Enter the Topps buybacks.

Some guys, like Steve Kline, I haven't seen buybacks for.  However, I've seen a few for Chris Enochs, Russ Davis and Darrell Whitmore.  Many people dislike the buybacks, and particularly last year's "Rediscover Topps," but for guys like me, it's a rare opportunity to add something new to old player collections.

One problem is that there was no checklist released by Topps, that I know of.  Davis was in Topps sets for the better part of a decade and there may be buybacks for some seasons and not others.  That's not even taking into account the different stamp colors.  UGH!

I recently discovered that Trading Card Database has the sets in the system, and as users report cards, they are added.  It will never be a complete checklist, but it's better than nothing.  It's also nice since that's where I'm cataloging my collection and I'll be able to get these in.

Thanks to COMC, I was able to add three on my last shipment.

2017 Bowman - Bowman Buybacks Bronze #204 Chris Enochs 

2017 Bowman - Bowman Buybacks Bronze #204 Chris Enochs (back) 

 I found two copies of this card and happily picked up both of them for a combined $1.85.

2017 Bowman - Bowman Buybacks Silver #342 Russ Davis   

2017 Bowman - Bowman Buybacks Silver #342 Russ Davis (back)

It took $2.25 to get this one, but compared to prices on eBay it seemed like a steal, considering shipping.

2017 Topps - Rediscover Topps Stamped Buybacks Blue #193 Russ Davis 

2017 Topps - Rediscover Topps Stamped Buybacks Blue #193 Russ Davis (back)

This is my favorite card of the bunch.  I don't recall thinking that much about the 1997 Topps design in 1997.  Fast forward twenty-one years and I really like it.  Also, the blue foil stamping blends into the card well.  I really dig that.

This one set me back $1.99.  I wouldn't pay that much for any random buyback, but I think it was also a steal at that price to add to my Russ Davis collection.

Shane, of Shoebox Legends, is the one that turned me on to buybacks in general with his Frankenset posts.  I also realize that many collectors aren't fans of the buybacks.  What I'm curious to know is aimed at player collectors.  Do you look for these to add to your player collection(s) and what is your thought process on that?  Please comment below with your thoughts.  I'd love to read them!

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

PWE Surprise from The Lost Collector

I came home Thursday to find a PWE on the table with a return address that I recognized, but couldn't place in my head.  Inside I was thrilled to find four Russ Davis cards from AJ, of The Lost Collector blog.  Thank you so much, AJ!

I'm now at almost 70% complete on the Russ Davis collection.  I am probably already there, with some of the oddballs and randoms that aren't listed on Trading Card Database.  WINNING!

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in less than a year.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Too Many Manninghams Mystery Mailday

I have most of my purchased items (eBay, Twitter, Sports Card Direct, COMC) send to my office.  Very few things come home.  However, I came home to two unexpected packages on Wednesday.  I saw the return address on one was from Dennis of Too Many Mannininghams and Too Many Verlanders.  He'd emailed me a couple weeks prior asking if my 1991 Stadium Club need list was up to date.  I told him that it was and forgot he's asked.  

What was strange and provided the mystery was the shape of the package.  It wasn't anything I expected.  You'll see why at the end.  

Dennis was kind enough to send me all cards I needed to finish off 1991 Stadium Club Series 2.  I noticed that the Jeff Bagwell was in a topload separate from the others.  It had completey escaped me that this was the Hall-of-Famer's rookie card and probably his best one.  Thank you so much, Dennis!

He also included some Russ Davis cards.  I will have to take a look and see which ones I need.  

Now we're to what made the package an unexpected shape.  I am absolutely thrilled that the set above was finished off and about more Russ Davis cards.  However, these three Becketts from 1989 were the highlight of the package!

I probably had all three of these in 1989 (and for years), but no longer.  I never threw the old ones away, but I never took them when I moved away from home.  They were still in my childhood home when it burnt down three years ago.  I'm thrilled (see what I did there?) to have these to add to my reference library.  I'll take a deeper dive into them at some point down the road and write some posts.  I can say that I spent about an hour of my Wednesday evening perusing them.  One last thing...all are from 1989.  Will Clark graced the cover three times in 11 months.  Not too shabby!  

Thank you for everything, Dennis!  I promise to give them a fantastic home.  

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

One More Sportlots Post

It appears I counted incorrectly or just did something else stupid.  I finished up my Sportlots posts yesterday, but there was one envelope left with three Russ Davis cards.

1996 Flair #159 Russ Davis

1996 Summit Foil #30 Russ Davis

2002 Topps #206 Russ Davis

The stat line for the Russ Davis collection after this addition is at 213/309/68.9%.  This is of all cards, including 1/1s, in the Sports Card Forum Database.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Sportlots Mail - #11 of 11

Another one bites the dust! I've had the refractor for 20 years, but not the base.  Until now.

1996 Finest #295 Russ Davis

Updated stat line for the Russ Davis collection after this addition is at 210/309/67.9%.  This is of all cards, including 1/1s, in the Sports Card Forum Database.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Sportlots Mail - #10 of 11

This PWE had just one card, and one that wasn't on COMC.  The total with shipping was $1.18, but it was also the only one on Sportlots at the time.  Reading other blogs has lead me to believe that it's sometimes tough to find these old Pacific parallels, so I wasn't waiting.

2000 Pacific Ruby #391 Russ Davis

Stat line for the Russ Davis collection after this addition is at 209/309/67.6%.  This is of all cards, including 1/1s, in the Sports Card Forum Database.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Sportlots Mail - #9 of 11

I definitely like when I can find multiple cards from the same seller on Sportlots.  After I put all the Russ Davis cards I needed into my basket, I was at a shipping threshold where I could buy a few more cards and not pay any extra shipping.  I took advantage of that and picked up some cards for the player collections I haven't started scanning and cataloging yet.  Who knows how many doubles I end up with.

2001 Topps Chrome Retrofractors #241 Russ Davis

2001 Topps Chrome Retrofractors #241 Russ Davis

1997 Leaf Fractal Matrix Die Cuts #162 Russ Davis

1997 Score Reserve Collection #437 Russ Davis

 Not sure how exactly I made this mistake, but I already had this card.  BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

1998 Donruss Preferred #129 Russ Davis

1999 SkyBox Thunder Rant #238 Russ Davis

2000 Upper Deck MVP Silver Script #91 Russ Davis

It was awesome to pick up seven Russ Davis cards from one seller.  Unfortunately, only five are going into the collection.  I mentioned above that I bought a card I already had.  The MVP Silver Script has red marker or something on it.  The seller has refunded the money for it already, at least.

After the five additions to my collection, the Davis stat line is 208/309/67.3%.  I'm now over two-thirds complete.  This is of all cards, including 1/1s, in the Sports Card Forum Database.

2001 MLB Showdown Unlimited #268 Steve Kline

2001 Upper Deck Victory #320 Steve Kline

1997 Collector's Choice #315 Steve Kline

When I get to the point that I'm scanning and cataloging Steve Kline cards, I will write a "why I collect."  With these three cards, there's one I definitely have (but I knew that when I made the purchase), one I probably have and one I might have.  We shall see.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Dime Box Buy: 2015 Bowman Chrome Farm's Finest Minis #FFMAJA Alex Jackson

2015 Bowman Chrome Farm's Finest Minis #FFMAJA Alex Jackson

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Sportlots Mail - #6 of 11

Here we have another Russ Davis cards that I was able to get from Sportlots, with the shipping cost, for less than COMC.  I am always in "buyer" mode on COMC, so currently I can pick this card up for $0.74.  However, when I go to ship, I will have to pay another quarter in shipping.  From Sportlots, I picked this up for $0.18 + $0.75 shipping.  The other bonus is that I might not ship from COMC for another month or so, but already have this card in-hand.

1998 Score Seattle Mariners #12 Russ Davis

1998 Score Seattle Mariners #12 Russ Davis

This addition raises the Russ Davis line to 202/309/65.4%.  One more card and I'll be at two-thirds complete!

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Sportlots Mail - #4 of 11

The moment that I opened this particular PWE, I was mad at myself.  I knew the card looked familiar and I figured I ordered the wrong card.  Once I sat down to research and write my post, I realized that I DID actually order the base card.  The seller sent the gold parallel, which I already have.  I've filed on the site to get a refund and we will see how it goes.

I figure I may as well still show off the card!

1996 Flair Gold #159 Russ Davis

The card that I need for the collection is the base card.  It has a silver background instead of the gold one that this particular card has.

1996 Flair Gold #159 Russ Davis (back)

I'm only showing the back for one reason.  I want to mention that Fleer did a fantastic job with the designs and photos on the back of their Flair brands.  I understand that most nobody cares about card backs, including the manufacturers.  That makes me appreciate the Flair backs that much more.

Unfortunately, this is a post that doesn't add to the Russ Davis numbers.  The collection remains at 200/309/64.7% of cards listed in the Sports Card Forum database.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Sportlots Mail - #1 of 11

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen that I finally had time to restart and finish cataloging my Russ Davis player collection.  As soon as finished that and posting my need list, I started looking to fill holes in the collection.  I started with Sportlots and places a significant order.  There are cards coming from 11 different sellers.  I spent a lot of time on the order, weighing cards costs against shipping so that I could get the most for my money.


I placed the order Sunday evening and by Wednesday this one had made it from Puerto Rico.  I paid $0.58 for the cards and $1 shipping.

1998 Topps Inaugural Devil Rays #202 Russ Davis

There weren't any copies of this on COMC.  There was another seller on Sportlots that also had it, but there were no other copies of the card below on Sportlots, so I elected to pick them both up from one seller.

1998 Topps Inaugural Diamondbacks #202 Russ Davis

This was the only copy available on Sportlots and the only copy on COMC has a $1.74 asking price.  No complaints from me on spending $0.79 each on these two cards.

Adding these two has me currently sitting at 196 of 309 (63.4%).  There are more on the way!  

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Dime Box Buy: 1992 Fleer #709 Ken Griffey Jr. Pro Visions

I miss the Pro Visions and all the other art cards.

Per Chris Carlin in a post on Puck Junk, fees that the artists want is high and supposedly they weren't popular.  I believe the first part.  Artists probably think they deserve to be paid some ridiculous amount.  I don't buy the second part, though.

1992 Fleer #709 Ken Griffey Jr. Pro Visions

1992 Fleer #709 Ken Griffey Jr. Pro Visions

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Dime Box Buy - 1988 Classic Blue #244 Jay Buhner

BONES!

1988 Classic Blue #244 Jay Buhner

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about six months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Russ Davis cards from The Angels In Order

I definitely need to get back on the Russ Davis project.  I need to catalog what I have and create a want list of the ones I still need.

There are a couple of complications that frustrated me the last time that I worked on it.  For one, sometimes his first name is listed as "Russell" and other times as "Russ" in the Sports Card Forum inventory manager.  Also, on some of the early 1990s minor league sets, I can't tell if team sets and the sets that were released nationally are the same cards, based on looking at inventory on COMC and Sportlots.

I got frustrated and took a break.

This week I received an envelope from Tom of The Angels, In Order that contained some Davis cards!  WOOHOO!

I have to say, that Upper Deck set is one of my favorite designs ever.  It's too bad for Davis about those rosy cheeks in the picture!

Thank you, Tom.  Just so you know, I have another stack of cards to get out to you.  When I ship my next batch, they will be on the way.  I promise!

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about six months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

DBBD: 1995 Finest #105 Jay Buhner

I was definitely a Jay Buhner fan during the 1990s.  It wasn't to the point that I actively collected his cards, but I was a fan nonetheless.  I will always believe that "Bones" was an underrated part of those mid-late 90s Mariners teams.

TRIVIA:  Who did the Mariners send to the Yankees to acquire Jay Buhner?  Was this the worst trade in Yankees history?

On an unrelated note...did anyone actually peel the covering off the Finest cards?

1995 Finest #105 Jay Buhner

1995 Finest #105 Jay Buhner (back)