2020 Facebook Marketplace purchases: Go Blue? Don't mind if I do!

I'm now caught up enough for a minute that I can finally show off at least one of my two Facebook Marketplace hauls.

Way back in mid-March when "stay the hell at home" wasn't quite what it was now, I actually came up with a diamond in the rough of Marketplace's mix of scams, overpriced crap, and poorly-spelled listings:

Those of you who followed Too Many Manninghams for a bit would know that I absolutely love the TK Legacy Michigan product and am out to get everything I can from its base, insert, and autographed sets. So this was quite exciting indeed to come across before even taking into account the ridiculously low $20 price point. I'm generally willing to pay up to $5 for TK Legacy autographs I need, so I definitely consider this a steal. The image you see above includes 18 Michigan autos, three of Michigan State guys (Drew Stanton is pictured with the Lions), plus an Omar Vizquel IP/TTM. You can also see stacks of TK Legacy base and inserts for both the Wolverines and Spartans.

The in-person pickup went fine and I added the following new items to my collection:

This group includes three of what I consider the "base" cards (numbered with "L" for "Lettermen", I believe), one Coach, and five checklists. There are two new Braylon cards, one a checklist, and a Bo as well. TCDB tells me I now have 31 of 197 base cards, one of five coaches, and half of the 14 checklists.

This next group opens with four cards starring former Michigan fixture Bennie Oosterbaan. The player and coach whose name graces the team's field house is one of four players (Anthony Carter, Brian Griese, Mike Hart) to get the "Legend" insert treatment, and I only need card #3 in this set of five. Then it's on to a quintet of the eight "Game Day Diary - The Rivalry" inserts I added this time, cards that cover the storied back-and-forth between the Wolverines and Buckeyes. I particularly like the 1902 and 1940 game scores!

And here we have the rest of the inserts, including the other three rivalry cards, one of which covers the enormous 1969 upset victory for the good guys. I now have 10 of the 22 cards in this set, and in case you're interested, a similar one was made for the UM/Minnesota Little Brown Jug rivalry. The other five are from the Program Covers series, a very cool look at past programs. I have eight of the 56 made, and these are hand-numbered to either 400 or 250 copies each. For those interested, here's the games and their results:

• Minnesota, 1923: 10-0 Michigan
• Wisconsin, 1926: 37-0 Michigan
• Ohio State, 1927: 21-0 Michigan
• Chicago, 1905: 2-0 Chicago (the only points Michigan gave up that year!)
• Ohio State, 1941: 20-20 tie

And last up are the autographs I needed, one each from five different sets. The one new Go Blue autograph is my first of the amazingly named Hercules Renda (named after dynamite!), a former player and assistant coach. His signature is beautiful and this is a textbook example of why this set is so great, besides covering players that wouldn't get cards otherwise: look at all the detail he put in, listing his playing years and jersey numbers, plus a notation mentioning his coaching. Wow! Speaking of being impressed, that's my 130th of 185 autographs in this set.

Next is my first All-American auto from a pretty solid 18-card set. Muransky--or apparently "Big" Ed Muransky!--was an OT in the late 70s/early 80s. I'm now short just his base card of his three appearances in this product as I've had his Go Blue signature for a while.

The Quarterback Club Autographs set (which is sometimes changed to "Quarterback Collection" as seen here) is a 30-card set, and David Hall ('82 and '83) is my sixth of those. These are hand-numbered in quantities between 50 and 500 copies, and Hall's is /200. As with Muransky, I already have his Go Blue auto and just need his base issue.

The most well-known player in this group is former WR #1, Anthony Carter, and my 10th of his autographs happens to be my first from the 10-card Playbook Autographs set, one highlighted by legendary coach Bo Schembechler. Each subject drew out a favorite play that got printed on the card, which they signed. The back mentions that this play "was used in a 9-3 victory over Ohio State in 1980 in Columbus," so that's pretty cool. It's also hand-numbered /300.

Last up today is former RB Billy Taylor from the M-Stat set that focuses on a key number or record tied to a player. Taylor's claim to fame here is a 102.4 YPG average (3072 rushing yards over 30 games (he didn't record a carry in three other appearances)). One of my favorites, Mike Hart, appears to own the record now. Anyway, Taylor has a great looking signature on yet another hand-numbered (/100) autograph, my third of the 34 in the set, and second Taylor to go with--you guessed it--an M Go Blue auto.

(I'll also mention in passing that a Kirk Gibson football card came up in the Michigan State pile so I decided to keep it but not show it here because this is a Michigan blog!)

In addition to what I showed off here there were lots more autos and other cards, and some of those are ticketed for future trade packages or TCDB, so they won't go to waste. Either way, I certainly got more than my money's worth and I'm thrilled!

Please stay tuned for an even larger recap of an even bigger haul coming up soon.