After about 10 days of “processing,” my latest COMC shipment arrived on Friday. And while it was small in number, it was filled with an seven PC items which I shall reveal here  If you follow me on Twitter, then you’ve already seen three of them. But I’ll recap the keepers right here for everyone.

We’ll start with some ink. Why? Because everyone loves autographs.

Here we have a pair of pitchers who will likely be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. The Pedro Martinez hails from the 1996 Leaf signature set and is his first certified autograph. The Randy Johnson comes from the 2000 Ultra “Fresh Ink” autograph set.  Both players have been signing for companies in recent years, especially Pedro, whose been signing for a lot of Topps and Leaf Products.  I would have preferred Pedro on a Red Sox card, but the price was right on this, plus I like the fact that it is his first certified auto … and it’s on card.

As for Randy, his autograph has always intrigued me. He’s played for multiple teams, but I kind of dig the fact that he is shown here as a Diamondback. One thing of note on this Randy Johnson autograph — I didn’t know Fleer used stickers on their Fresh Ink cards in 2000; I never owned one. But now that it is in my hands, I can see that this is a foil sticker that was adhered to the card and then stamped with the Fleer seal of authenticity afterward.

So, Lou Gehrig’s card in the 1961 Topps set has always been one that I wanted.  But it appears so does everyone else.  I personally have never stumbled upon the card when it was priced in an area I felt comfortable.  Not imagine finding one that looked decent for under $7. Yeah. Mine! I hit this one — as well as the other vintage below — with some instagram filters for fun and to show off the imperfections.

If you don’t like Willie Mays, then you have issues.  I have a core group of legends whose vintage cardboard I chase.  Among them is Mays.  This 1958 came to me for about the price of a retail blaster … and it is not trashed. It’s actually centered nicely and has ZERO creases.  Winner!

Mickey Charles Mantle, THE Cardboard Icon. I’m not a Yankee fan; I’m actually a Red Sox fan. But I know Mantle was a stud and I know that he is this hobby’s top name — all time. I still get a special feeling when I know I am acquiring a vintage Mickey Mantle base card eventhough I have his true rookie, the 1951 Bowman. Well, via COMC, I was able to acquire not one, but TWO Mantles for about $30 each.  And while they might not be top shape, they are far from being in horrendous shape.  The 1963 card shows creases but the card is stiff because it’s been taken care for many year since it was initially damaged.  The same can be said for the 1964, albeit it is a tad softer.

You read the title of this post, right? You see the “Mickey rookie,” right? Well, here it is …

Mickey. Mickey Mouse, ya’ll! This is a 1935 O-PEE-Chee Mickey Mouse Card #1, which by my assessment appears to be the first year that Mickey Mouse appears on any trading card.  There is an “American” release of this, but this is the Canadian OPC version. The back is written in English, just like the American counter part.  And like the other vintage here, the card is not bad for being nearly 80 years old and in raw form.  No creases, just touched corners. My intention is to send this to Beckett Grading for encapsulation. This was probably the biggest steal at just a smidge over $10. Check eBay before you laugh.

This entry was posted on December 27, 2014 at 9:34 pm and is filed under Mail Day with tags baseball, baseball cards, COMC, Disney, Mickey Mantle, Mickey Mouse, rookie cards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.