CC: CMYK

We're still doing this, huh?

 

Any by this, I mean this blog, which hasn't been updated since January.  And by this I also mean that I'm finding CC Sabathia cards that I don't have.  Kiss this beauty with your eyeballs.

2008 Topps Updates & Highlights #UH300 Yellow Printing Plate (1/1)

Yes, this card has been eluding me for nearly 17 years.  It's so old that Topps was still using the U&H name at the time of its birth.

As it stands, I'm halfway to reaching the capability of printing my own 2008 Sabathia cards, as I have already acquired the magenta plate.  Yeah, it's going to be a real moneymaker once I get the presses up and running.  Base cards are the key to financial independence.

The final step in the process is deciding which card to bump from the first page of my Sabathia binder.  I think there's actually a group of three cards that could be swapped out for the four I need to move.  It's a good problem to have, and I will welcome a similar one, hopefully sooner than 17 years from now.

CC: Ashy Lefty

Got a big one this time.

 

2020 Topps Now Turn Back the Clock #182 White Ash Parallel (2/3) PSA 9

Not sure of the point of grading a card such as this limited to three copies, especially if you're not 100% sure it's going to be a 10.  I'm guessing I paid as much for this one as I would have for a naked one, so scarce they are.  I had this on my watch list and it actually popped up a few months ago and I managed to win it.  The idea of adding bat wood parallels to a 1987 Topps homage set is pretty neat, especially because there are only two types to chase, and both are super limited.

I freed a Sabathia from its PSA prison back in the Thorzul Will Rule days, but this time I'm keeping this one intact.  I've got a nice shoebox going with a bunch of CCs in one-touch cases that this would go with nicely.

Note to Topps: Please stop making new CC Sabathia Brewers cards.  I'm at my Godfather III point already.

CC: Please, Sir, I Want Some More

It needs to stop.

 

2022 Topps Tier One #PPA-CS Prime Performers AUTO (34/99)

It's on-card, it's pretty, and there's absolutely no information on the back.  No stats, no blurb about 2008.  Give me something new if you're going to keep making cards, Topps, or just leave Milwaukee Sabathias out of the whole deal.

I mean, there's got to be a photo of him eating a bratwurst or something, right?  That's a card I'd welcome to the collection.

CC and the Silver Bullet Band

 Got my latest Sabathia redemption card in the mail the other day.

 

2020 Topps Archives AUTO #76TA-CCS Silver Parallel (84/99)

 

This one completes the trio of autos that I'll be acquiring in this set.  The 1/1 was up a few weeks ago, but the price was too much.  Someone bought it.  If it pops up again, great, but if not, no big deal.  I've got just about everything else but a handful of 1/1's.

Also, I was smart about this whole thing and bought these Archives auto cards before they were redeemed, so I have all of those, too.  They all look pretty nice together.

Baller move.

 As for more CC cards, it's nice to have a break right now.  Three unexpected releases on the 12th(???) anniversary of his legendary run was a bit much.  I will continue to scan the skies.

CC: I Blue Myself

2020 Topps Archives AUTO #76TA-CCS Blue Parallel (03/50)

Just a better-looking version of the one I posted earlier.  Blue.  A very gentle blue.  Not powder blue, but a very good shade of blue nonetheless.

CC: The Phantom Zone

 It's no secret that I'm always trying to find new CC Sabathia items to add to my collection, and the other day I found some new ones.  Baseball is 2020 had its #FakeSeason.  The entirety of the playoffs was illegitimate, and a fraudulent champion was crowned.

That being said, it did create the opportunity for some interesting memorabilia.  This year was the 50th anniversary of the Milwaukee Brewers' first season, and to commemorate the milestone, special tickets for season ticketholders were created.  These tickets contained images of memorable moments from the team's first 50 years.  Among them was the 2008 Wild Card run.

2020 Brewers Season Ticket (4/1/20)

 Some notes about this ticket.  

*First of all, it looks damn good.  The blue and the brighter yellow that the team adopted this year absolutely pop.  

*My eyes kind of bug out at the $140 ticket price.  I don't even know how close this gets you.  Inside the dugout, probably.

*Having a ticket for a phantom game is pretty cool.  Usually these are for playoff games that never happen, but this is the rare year where all of the regular season games were cancelled, at least in their original form.

*There are theoretically dozens of different ticket dates, but I'll be stopping at this one.  Good enough.  It would be hard knowing where to draw the line.

CC: On-Card

 2020 Topps Archives AUTO #76TA-CCS

Bunch of firsts with this card.  To get my soon-to-be-Snickers-and-candy-corn-stained hands on this card, I had to go through some unfamiliar channels.  Yes, this is a redemption card.  Looking at my account, the last time I redeemed anything from Topps, it was for a set of 2011 USA Baseball refractors.  I have absolutely no recollection of this.  I'd have to look to see if these cards are still in one of my monster boxes, but I'm guessing I sold these?  No idea.  And before that, my last redemption for a 2011 Lineage Buster Posey AUTO.  I sold it for $113.  It was a rare instance of me selling at the apex of a card's value.  All copies currently for sale and recently sold have prices far below that.

This card is also Sabathia's first on-card AUTO as a Milwaukee Brewer.  His only other Brewer autos were stickers on the high-end Sterling product.  The signature on this card looks better in person, and of course without those annoying scanner lines.  I am very happy to have this card, and I was pleased with the turnaround time on the Topps redemption.  So much better to receive in the mail than the stacks of political ads I'm currently getting as a resident of a battleground state.

CC: Poppin' the Cherry

 CC Sabathia is a bad motherfucker, and so is this card.

2020 Topps Now Turn Back the Clock #154 Cherry Parallel (1/7)

Aside from the 1/1's, this is the lowest numbered card I have come across on this collecting mission.  Apparently when you buy a Topps Now card directly from the manufacturer, there's a chance that you'll get a parallel.  With the wood grain '87 Topps border, it's only natural that these were made with a different "stain" of lumber.  You can probably find this card in eBay's completed items listing, but I am glad to say that I paid nowhere near the asking price.  The quest continues...

CC: Wood, Jerry... Wood

 An embarrassment of riches.  The floodgates have officially been opened after years of dormancy.  

 

2020 Topps Now Turn Back the Clock #154

When was this card released?  I have no idea.  I'm sure I could look it up somewhere, figure out what I was doing and why I missed it.  No matter.  Topps Now is not aimed at me, so I pay it no mind.  At some point this year, Topps doubled down on the CC recognition, this time to commemorate his near-no-hitter against the Pirates.  At the time I thought it was in bad taste to whine about the missed call that turned an error into a hit.  We were still in the chase for a playoff spot, an ordeal that would last until the final day of the season.  Tempting the baseball gods would not have been wise back then, but in retrospect, I wish he had been credited with the no-hitter.

The Turn Back the Clock design isn't quite the same as the '87 Topps originals, but the important wood grain element is what counts.  The backs of these cards are cool, with a sheer coating that contains a holographic Topps logo.  Good looking card and great addition to the collection.

UPDATE: So I did the research, and I suppose that this card was released on 8/31/20, same date as the event in 2008.  Also, print run of 247, relatively low.

 

 

 

CC: Here We Go Again

So I had to check to make sure, but it's been seven years since there were any new cards released of CC Sabathia as a Brewer.  (Those would be from 2013's Panini Hometown Heroes.)  It makes sense, given CC's success and retirement as a New York Yankee since then.  It was brought to my attention recently that he was being featured on some inserts in this year's Archives set.  Oftentimes these things have a tendency to burn hot for about two weeks, with lots of examples available on eBay, then fade away once the marks move on to the next new product.  Luckily, his cards have been easy to find and priced right.

2020 Topps Archives 1976 Topps Traded #77TT-320

I agree wholeheartedly that Sabathia's 2008 Brewers run is worthy of a card like this, but why wait until the... 12th anniversary?  That being said, I'm glad it exists, and I've been tracking down some of the autographed parallels that have been released.  The '76 Traded is a set I've completed, and as far as trades go, Milwaukee hasn't made too many to rival this one.

By the way, you should check out Sabathia's baseball podcast, R2C2, on The Ringer.  He's super likeable and apparently enjoys cussing a lot. 

CC: Barely Perceptibly Different

2008 Topps Stadium Club #10 Proof

Okay, so I came across a copy of this card for sale, and although it looked pretty familiar, the price was low, so I went for it.  The thing is, I already had a 2008 TSC proof card.
In any case, let's examine what we have here.
First of all, let's compare this new card to the standard base issue.

 As you can see above, the proof card (left) is noticeably larger than the regular base card.  Other than that there's no difference.
Let's do another comparison, this time with a different proof card I purchased around the time Stadium Club was released (my God, twelve years ago, we're all going to die soon).

From left to right, my new proof card, the old proof card, and the regular base card.
The old proof stands out from the lack of foil printing, very normal for scavenged proof cards such as these.  It also stands a little bit taller than the newly acquired proof.  So what's going on here?  If we assume we're dealing with a genuine sample (and not someone engaging in what would be a money-losing effort to painstakingly fake these cards), then it stands to reason that proof cards can vary in size and degrees of completion, just like we see here.  Maybe the text-less card is an example from earlier in the process than the one with the foil.  In any case, it's a welcome addition to the collection.

CC: Three Outta Four Ain't Bad

An awesome card arrived the other day.
2009 Upper Deck Spectrum #54 Cyan Printing Plate (1/1)

These days, with few-to-no new actual sporting events worth talking about, there are a lot of pieces being written about sports from the past.  One of them I caught recently was about the 2008 mid-season trade the Brewers made for Sabathia.  In my lifetime, he was the best pitcher the Brewers have ever had.  Prior to Sabathia, the candidates were Teddy Higuera, who flamed out after a few years that hinted at possible brilliance, and Ben Sheets, who was a solid #1 guy for many years, but came nowhere close to a Kershaw or a Verlander.

Going into a game and being reasonably confident that our guy was going to shut the other team's offense down was something I had never experienced as a fan.  For a team trying to make the playoffs for the first time in 26 years, feeling that every five days you were guaranteed to get a win was just huge.  He was part of my sport fan timeline for just a few months, and his final appearance was one we'd like to forget, but the joy he brought is why I continue to hunt these cards down.

This is the third Spectrum plate I've been able to acquire.  It's unthinkable, I know, but there's always a glimmer of hope that the black printing plate of this card shows up.  When it does, I'll be there for it.

CC: Still Unearthing More

2008 Topps Stadium Club #10 Yellow Printing Plate (1/1)
 

It makes me happy that these are still popping up from time to time (albeit several years apart, at this point). If you look at it one way, it encapsulates the quintessential collector's dilemma. Can you ever really collect ALL of something? Would you even want to? Even if you narrow the parameters of a collection, as I have, is the search ever truly over? Unless I acquire every Sabathia 1/1 I know about, I'll still be looking until I'm 80 years old, I believe. Deathbed Thorzul is going to be hitting whatever the equivalent of refresh is on his subcortical implant CPU hoping that someone finally decides to part with the cyan plate from '08 Topps Updates & Highlights. And I'm fine with that.



Chase what makes you happy, and hope you'll never run out of something to pursue. I know I won't.

CC: Still Unearthing in 2019

One of the documents that was lost in the digital fire was my CC Sabathia checklist. I'm probably not going to catalog the entire collection again, but I'd still like to add new cards to it. There aren't many places to look for something different and new depicting CC as a Brewer. Basically, there are 1/1's that are probably sealed in packs somewhere, and there are the 2009 Topps Unique jumbo patches. One of them appeared on eBay a few weeks ago, and yesterday it arrived all the way from Taiwan.  

2009 Topps Unique Jumbo Patch #UJR-CS (37/40)
  

I believe this makes me the owner of 7 of the 40 cards made. I was able to find serial copies 01, 03, 04, 06, 10, 37, and 40. It's a fun way to carry on the memory of that exciting 2008 season.