Tony Gwynn, Retrofractors and a Ken Caminiti Showcase Highlight a COMC Card Haul

The standout from this COMC shipment is a 1996 Ken Caminiti card that turns a familiar refractor finish into something unusually tactile. The haul also has a clear collecting thread: cards chosen for ongoing set projects, longtime player collections and memories tied to San Diego baseball. After this order, I’m still cautious about shopping at COMC, though occasional low prices have brought me back through its eBay account.

Gwynn, Rickey and a display idea

Several Tony Gwynn refractors appear to have started with a search for inexpensive copies and ended with a handful that caught my eye. One card showing Gwynn’s 3,000th hit has a job beyond filling a binder slot: it could anchor a display alongside the ticket from the game I got from Rod, with other cards marking the moment.

Rickey Henderson joins Gwynn in another group of cards from the order. The 2022 Topps Chrome Update Series - Diamond Greats Chrome stands out in that mix, with an appearance that makes it especially appealing. Opening with these two players may look like a nod to fellow collector Fuji, but they’re also players I’m happy to collect on their own merits.

Parallels and refractor projects

Heritage parallels were another bargain that made the cut. One of the cards features Vogelmoster, whose appearance offers a small preview of a future post about an old friend from the cardsphere. The attraction here is partly the parallel itself and partly the personal connections that can make a card worth setting aside.

Two different Topps issues use the name “Retrofractors” for cards with distinct materials. The 2001 Topps Traded version, part of a refractor project I’m working on, pairs Chrome fronts with heritage stock backs. In 2002 Topps Super Teams, the fronts use bumpy foilboard and the backs have a heritage style. Those aren’t a set I’m chasing, but Kevin Mitchell and Don Hoak were appealing pickups all the same. A small Hoak player collection may be on the cards, especially since I have a partial autograph on a Clemente cut-auto that I consider one of my best cards.

A Hank Aaron refractor fits my Refracting the Past project, which gathers refractor reprints and reimaginings that make chronological sense, sorted by the year of the original Topps design. This “pre-rookie” card belongs under 1953 in that arrangement. I like the project’s organizing rule: it gives a modern refractor a place in a collection built around earlier card designs.

Akili Smith is a different kind of personal pickup. The third overall pick in 1999 made some starts for the Bengals, while his 1998 senior season with the Oregon Ducks and his reputation as a top San Diego-area high school quarterback made him a familiar name to me growing up. He also played minor league baseball in the Pirates organization, though I haven’t found cards documenting that part of his career. The old-style xfractor’s pixelated sense of motion sealed the deal while I was browsing low-cost cards.

The shipment also included refractors of active players: solid names that caught my attention while browsing. A pair of stickergraph cards adds ink to the mix, featuring what I called “MLB’s current top Gavins.” These purchases broaden the haul beyond the older designs and project cards without losing the personal, player-by-player approach that runs through it.

Set building and San Diego connections

A Roger Craig card from 1964 Topps was the order’s last addition, using the remaining store credit to bring the total just above the shipping cost. I still hope to complete 1964 Topps eventually; the set is now just past four-fifths complete. That final card is a modest but satisfying step in a long-running project.

I also picked up backup copies of cards from the 1988 San Diego State Aztecs 50th Anniversary All-Time Great Aztecs set. I already have a complete set, but individual cards from it rarely surface. When someone split up a partial set on COMC, I took the chance to add spare copies of a couple of personal collection favorites. Collectors who ask about my Gwynn and Grace cards will understand why duplicates can be useful, even when the full set is already in hand.

The Caminiti centerpiece

The largest card in both physical size and cost is a 1996 Topps Stadium Club - Extreme Players Winners - Gold #EW5 - Ken Caminiti. I bought it to add to my Caminiti collection after another collector’s enthusiasm for these cards stuck with me. At a price above a blaster, it was a considered splurge, but the oversized format and finish made the card hard to resist.

Topps issued it as a special redemption prize for collectors who pulled winning cards. The front is a “glass-coated” refractor, and the card’s size gives that surface room to make an impression. Handling it takes a little care: the appeal of feeling the finish in your hands comes with the possibility of leaving smudges, so I’d keep contact brief and clean the surface only as appropriate for the card.

Flip the card over and the surface changes character: the front feels like glass, while the back has a metallic look. That contrast makes the Caminiti a fitting final highlight for a shipment built around unusual finishes, familiar players and long-term collecting projects. There are still cards from an earlier COMC order waiting to be shown, so this haul may yet get a follow-up.