COMC Black Friday, Part II: Warren Spahn

Last weekend, I mentioned that I bought a bunch of cards on COMC on Black Friday. Today, and with very little introduction, I want to show some more of those cards. But let's focus on one of my Milwaukee Brave collections: Warren Spahn. Not that you would know, but I didn't get any Spahn cards in my initial purchase. But I bought enough that day that I got some store credit, so I cashed that in on a bunch of Spahn cards. 

Since just showing off a bunch of Warren's cards without more might be a bit pedestrian, I'm going back to a tried and true formula that I use often: music, of course. Songs Warrens to go with the Warrens make sense to me.

"Regulate"

Any discussion of songs by Warrens has to start for me with Warren G's "Regulate."  Why? Because I am not quite old enough to have really listened enough to Warren Zevon (don't worry -- he'll be in here), and who else other than those two would you pick? Okay, okay, I know there are others but for someone currently in their mid-40s, those are the two that come to mind first.

Warren G is a little more than a year older than me. This is probably why "Regulate" is the song I think of first here. His son Olaijah Griffin is a four-star defensive back recruit (according to Rivals and as of this writing) who has offers from everyone from Arizona and Cal to Texas A&M, Nebraska, and Michigan. In fact, here's a photo of Olaijah with Deion Sanders:

Okay. Enough Warren G. Let's look at some Warren S.:

I really feel like Panini is hamstrung not only by the fact it cannot use logos, but by the second fact that apparently it is very limited in how close its colorations can be to the actual coloration used by major league teams. It's another licensing issue, of course -- not only are the names of the teams trademarked, but MLB teams also have intellectual property rights in their team colors and designs. 

Then again, I'm not sure if anything could really help that Elite Dominator insert. It's pretty ugly generally.  

The other three cards here are two inserts (the 1987 mini from 2012 and the Chasing History foil parallel from 2013) and a parallel mini from Gypsy Queen of practically the same photo. Variation in photos is not something Topps does terribly well, apparently, but at least they get to use the correct colors.

"Lawyers, Guns, and Money"

"Send lawyers, guns, and money. The shit has hit the fan. All right. Send lawyers, guns, and money."

Funny thing: everyone seems to hate lawyers until they need one. Then the lawyer is their best friend.

Warren Zevon left us too soon, of course -- dying on September 7, 2003, due to an inoperable form of lung cancer. As a brief biography from The Guardian mentions, though, while he was a great songwriter, he was also an intimidating, self-destructive, aloof pain in the ass. He was friends more with writers than singers and was good friends with Hunter Thompson, though they never truly collaborated together on anything.

Three more inserts here. The first one is from 2007 Topps Heritage and is one of the "Flashback" inserts. Now, I only need like three or four more from that subset since 3 of the cards are Milwaukee Braves and two -- this one and the Lew Burdette card -- feature guys I collect. 

The second one is from 2011 Topps Heritage. Can you believe that's six years ago already? I hate how time flies sometimes. I still feel like a bit of a newbie in collecting again, yet I've been back at it for over three years now.

The bottom card is a Topps insert from 2000 or so. That was about the time Topps must have gotten a license from the folks at the Hall of Fame that covers most Hall of Famers. These image rights don't come completely cheaply, which is why we get the same guys in every throwback set in a particular year. 

"Gold Dust Woman"

Warren Haynes is a guitar legend in the world of Southern rock and jam bands. He started his career supporting David Allen Coe and acting as a songwriter for others. In fact, he was the one responsible for writing "Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House" for Garth Brooks on Brooks's album No Fences. 

In the late 1980s, when the Allman Brothers Band got back together, Haynes joined them. He left in the late 1990s to focus on his own band, Gov't Mule. I know they played at the Georgia Theater when I was in Athens in law school...let's see -- here's the setlist from September 26, 1995, and if you're so inclined, you can actually listen to the show at that link. Not bad for 22 years ago, I suppose...and near the middle of the page is a partial setlist from February 24, 1997...

I'm not sure why I never saw them other than, probably, just money and not really knowing who they were. I'm a bit better versed in music now, I guess.

To close things out: I never did buy any 2016 Archives in packs. It's a shame, too, because I really have always liked the 1979 design that formed one of the three main designs. It's one of those things though -- I feel like I avoid new releases by making a cost-benefit analysis about number of Brewers needed versus number of cards I'll get otherwise. Add in not going to all that many card shows this past year, and you have my reason as to why I had to dip into the COMC pool to get a Warren Spahn base card.

The Topps Tribute is kind of the same thing, except for the fact that I pretty much have never bought any Topps Tribute in unopened form. I really like the cards, but the base cards are not the reason you buy a product like Tribute -- and I really don't chase the sick hits to sell.

The final card is a 1977 TCMA/Renata Galasso Glossy Greats card. I really feel like our hobby needs the ability for an independent card producer to create sets like this -- a reasonably priced set with decent quality printing and with logos on the cards. Of course, licensing fees being what they are and MLB being what it is, that will never happen.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend.