10/1/21 card show report: I want Blue to show me the way

With a big Michigan game looming at noon on Saturday (which went quite well for the Maize & Blue, if you hadn't heard), I once again took a Friday off to head to the monthly show in Taylor a couple days ago. Although I was disappointed to see that my favorite seller still had no dime boxes with him, and that most of what was in the $0.50/$1/$2 boxes was as uninteresting as the last couple shows, I did have some fun going through his quarter boxes, pulling out 60 items, mostly for trade bait, for $15. Given how busy his tables were when I got there, though, I started at the table of a guy I don't remember seeing before. He had a shoebox of 2/$3 autos and relics, of which I grabbed eight, plus some quarter cards that were serial numbered. I snagged eight of those as well, dropping another $14.

Again, it was nothing huge to write home (or blog) about, but I still accomplished my goal of adding some trade bait plus new items to my collection--two scans' worth--so I left reasonably satisfied. Here are my scores from this trip:

My baseball pickups all came out of the big quarter boxes. Griffey's is a base from Topps' 2006 Co-Signers product, and while some might call the design "busy" I find it shiny and fun, plus it's a new Junior! I still appreciate Kinsler's time with the Tigers enough that I sometimes collect cards of him with the team for whom he's more well known, the Rangers, such as Bowman Chrome Refractors from 2011 and '13. Maddux was my other baseball twofer thanks to a 2016 Topps Wrigley insert and '96 Collector's Choice Silver Signature parallel. '96 was definitely a good year for UDCC's design. Last up is a 2002 Leaf Rookies & Stars subset issue of Cal Ripken Jr., meaning I have 3/4 of his run in the bunch (missing #251 celebrating his '82 AL ROY). Not a bad little group with three of my big four non-Michigan PCs hit!

Meanwhile the Michigan side of things was a full nine cards strong with the three other sports represented. Coach Juwan Howard stars on one of the two numbered cards I grabbed for myself, a '98-'99 UD AeroDynamics Tier 1 die-cut that was limited to 2000 copies. It's even more enjoyable collecting him since his successful return to Ann Arbor has made some "experts" look foolish for predicting that he'd be a bust.

Of course football was the main attraction and I scored seven cards of six subjects. TE Devin Asiasi transferred out to UCLA but remains in my collection thanks to non-Bruins cards like his 2020 Absolute Retail base, which I'm not sure counts as a RC. I'll decide at time point. Former UM footballer and US president Gerald Ford gets in on the action with a 2015 Topps baseball insert. Quality OL/unquality person Taylor Lewan pops up twice on Score Gold parallels from 2017 and 2020, with the design on the latter much better since it goes all the way around the border. Bengals TE Tony McGee is the subject of a '96 Pro Line parallel that was a staple of the era: a Printer's Proof. Cleveland WR DPJ's partially airbrushed uni/helmet comes courtesy of 2020 Leaf Draft. And top 10 college football player of all time Charles Woodson continues to appear in the base sets of newer Panini products, such as 2020 Mosaic, in this case with his first/final team, the Raiders.

And finally we have one more quarter numbered card, one that I was excited to dig up: a Mike Knuble 2001-02 Pacific Hobby LTD parallel that's numbered 76/99 on the back. I'm a fan for a few reasons: I love Pacific's base designs from the time, their numbered parallels are fun, and Knuble's one of my favorite Michigan Hockey alumni as he also played for the Wings, winning the '97-'98 cup that brought glory back to Hockeytown. There are few ways to spend a quarter better than this!

It's hard to believe that just two more months and their respective shows remain in 2021. Given how bad things were last year (and in some cases continue to be thanks to selfish idiots) I'm grateful to have been able to get back to them this year even if the results aren't always what I hope.

But speaking of results I did hope for, Saturday's destruction of Wisconsin has me in good spirits as I look to have another good week of collecting no matter what it brings. That should include a post showing off another PWE that showed up the other day, one that brings some shine to ward off the recent cloudy weather here in Ann Arbor. Stay tuned and Go Blue!

Labor day posting: Tigers playoff run, plus card show report

Happy Labor day to all:
Hopefully all of you are enjoying a day off, and more importantly, hopefully each of you has a job in these uncertain times.


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Detroit Tigers playoff chances:

Well, it looks like it's time for me to get with the program in terms of the Tigers' chances of making the playoffs.  I still know the decision to hand another year to Leyland before he proved anything was a mistake, but at least the team has come out and excised the second-half demons of the last five years and I'm very impressed by their play of late.  As of this post, Detroit owns a 6.5 game lead over Cleveland before a huge series against the Indians starting today.  The Tigers sit at 16 games over .500 and ESPN gives them a 91.1% chance of making the playoffs.  I would hope that even Jim Leyland, inept chain-smoker that he is, couldn't blow that kind of cushion.
Leyland criticisms aside, Detroit's had a very good second half, and that's the biggest reason that we currently sit in first place, much more than the typically strong first half we enjoyed this year.  Some local writers are chalking the difference up to the lead we built up in the opening months of the season, but anyone with a brain knows that post All Star break is when the rubber meets the road for the Tigers.  
We can attribute the strong record mostly to the play of Justin Verlander, who made the leap everyone hoped he would this year and joined that elite tier of starters.  Nobody can touch him this year, and while he's already sewn up the A.L. Cy Young, the fact that the MVP is even a possibility for him is telling.  The rest of the pitching has been very hit-or-miss, except for the lights out José "I like it when you call me big papa" Valverde.  Some statheads are complaining that he's allowing too many baserunners, but Todd Jones he ain't--the guy is automatic when it comes to nailing down saves, and I don't think he can improve very much on a 100% save rate.  Valverde and Verlander have truly been crucial in maintaining any degree of a lead this year.
Miguel Cabrera has been as important as usual, of course, but his somewhat lower power stats (the only real ding on him this year) have been offset by great performances from unlikely sources, namely SS Jhonny Peralta and C Alex Avila.  A few newcomers, the result of a couple offseason and midseason deals, have also been impressive, namely Victor Martinez, Wilson Betemit and Delmon Young.  Despite the loss of Brennan Boesch, Detroit looks like they have an offense that won't be so punchless in the playoffs.
So here we are with 22 games left in the regular season, including two series against the Indians, which will decide the playoff fate of both teams.  Will 2011 be the first year in forever that the Tigers win their division and waltz into the playoffs?  Right now all signs point to yes, but thing will be much clearer after this week's three-game tilt with Cleveland.  Until then, GO TIGERS!

Fine, fine, how about that card show report:
As I mentioned yesterday, if you made it all the way to the bottom, Dustin and I hit up Gibraltar Trade Center in Taylor for another of their (increasingly shrinking) monthly card shows.  I'll show off the results of the couple boxes I grabbed this week, but today I'm going to show you the singles I grabbed, some being PC and some being trade bait per usual.


I'll start off with the small handful of trade bait I grabbed in case some of you aren't interested in the stuff for my collection:

The one baseball trade bait card I grabbed was this 2008 Razor letter of Carlos Gutierrez of the Twins, since I know a couple of my readers like them.  Sorry if you were hoping for more, but I didn't really find any great baseball deals today.

Two of my three football pickups today were these 2006 Sweet Spot RC/auto helmets of Baltimore's Demetrius Williams (#d 894/899) and St. Louis' Marques Hagans.  For the price they looked like good trade bait, and I figured it was about time I got some Rams cards up in here.

My other pickup, also of Marques Hagans, was this 2006 Sweet Spot triple jersey/auto/RC (#d 50/99).  I'm hoping a St. Louis collector makes me an offer for these.


Starting with these four cards, I'm proud to announce that I'm finally getting off my ass and putting together my trade bait page.  I've only added what you see above, but I'm actually going to start scanning things in to those locations a bit at a time.  I'll keep you updated on my progress so you know what to look for.  In the meantime, please feel free to make offers on anything I listed today or anything I've posted on in the past.


Now, onto my PC pickups:

Since Dustin was flipping through more non-hit stuff than I was, he found this '96-'97 Mantle reprint (#12) that I needed.  I've been working on this set forever, so he grabbed it for me as part of our ongoing trade.  I'm actually down to needing just these:  20 28 32 34, so if you have any of those please let me know and I'll get them from you for something you like.

My other baseball addition will be part of my Tigers and Michigan baseball PCs:  this 2005 Topps Retired Signature auto of Bill Freehan.  I've been after this for a bit now and got a decent price of $10 on it.  The guy I bought it from wasn't terribly friendly or good at math, but then again he was wearing a Michigan State shirt.  I was trying to buy this one along with a Darrell Evans from the same set, plus an Alan Trammell 2002 Greats of the Game auto.  He had all three cards listed at $10, so I asked him if he'd do $25.  
The best he was willing to do was knock off $2 "Because lower would be less than half book."  Without accounting for the fact that I came home and looked all three up on COMC only to find that the Evans was worth less than he thought and that their total "book value" was $45, I just don't get a dealer who hasn't sold something by the last day of a show being so against selling something at a fair price.  I'd say that he gave Dustin an even harder time when he tried to work out a deal on some singles.  Then again, like I said, the guy was clearly a moron, so go figure.  In any event, I'm very excited to add a second Freehan auto to my PC.


The rest of these all came from one seller, (from whom I also grabbed the trade bait cards above) a guy I always visit because of his plethora of 5000 count boxes stuffed with 50-90% hits.

Here's a 2002 Michigan TK Legacy jersey of Aaron Shea.  For a couple bucks, I really like how the jersey stands out on the simple design.  I'm now up to two hits of Shea, both jerseys, of the player who sits atop my collection when sorted alphabetically by first name.

I figure I'll do both of these at once:  Adrian Arrington 2008 SAGE Bronze and Gold autos.  I bought the Red version from the same seller a few months back, so I'm pretty close to the rainbow on these, as far as I can tell.  I do find it funny that the non-numbered versions literally say they're not numbered, but I like these overall anyway.  I'm now up to 20 Arringtons, and everything is still an autograph, which is pretty cool.

I couldn't come home without something of this guy, hence this Jake Long 2008 Stadium Club Beam Team jersey.  It was the only Long I didn't have that I thought was the right price, but it goes well with my two other '08 TSC Longs, an auto and a jersey. Because I couldn't find a Henne I was willing to buy, Long again sits atop the collection with 31 total cards. 

Lastly I snagged a new sig of one of my favorite recent Michigan WRs, this Jason Avant 2006 SAGE Bronze auto.  Hand-numbered 156/656 (an odd even number...) I thought it would look pretty good with the rest of my Avants (18, all told).


I didn't quite stop there, though, as I thought to flip through the guy's hockey autographs just in case I could snag Michigan players from there as well.  I was rewarded with these two additions:

Up first is this Mike Knuble 1998 Be a Player auto.  Knuble was excellent at Michigan, then enjoyed some success quickly with the Wings thanks to their Cup runs, before moving on to a few other teams.  I love that I was able to add a Red Wings card that was also a Michigan player to my collection, and of course this is my first of Knuble.

I guess this sort of balances it out!  You won't see many Avalanche cards on this here blog, but Colorado drafted the guy and that's why you see this T.J. Hensick 2008-09 SP Authentic Sign of the Times auto here.  Hensick was just ridiculous during his Michigan career and got absolutely robbed of the Hobey Baker in his final season, likely due to an absolutely undeserved misconduct penalty at one point during the season.  He played on some great teams that never got over the hump but was still a joy to watch, and though his NHL career has yet to really progress, it's great to finally have something of him in the PC.


I got everything you see above for $64 (including the $10 Freehan) and I was reasonably happy with that.  In the next couple posts, as promised, I'll show off the results of my Michigan TK Legacy and 2010 Topps Update baseball jumbo boxes.  Until then, enjoy your day off, and GO TIGERS!

2026 trade package #2: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

So much for getting my next post done before the February show, but that's ok because I still haven't been overwhelmed with new stuff coming in this year...yet. Tonight I'm back with another January trade package: a bubble mailer from Canadian friend Doug over at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store. Speaking of his country, I hope they have a fantastic Winter Olympics as I root for the Americans as well!

Here's what he sent last month:

Baseball opens the proceedings with a current and former Tiger, Donruss style. The Topps Holiday of Verlander--the Metallic Snowflake version--arrived not long after the Christmas season, but I'm hoping people have finally put away their decorations as of the time I'm posting this. And we have our first hit in the form of a Bowman Sterling auto of OF prospect Daniel Cabrera. Not to be confused with the pitcher from the 2000s, this Daniel was a 2nd round pick by the Tigers out of LSU in 2020, but he hasn't played since 2024 and I couldn't find a reason why he's on the organization's restricted list.

Both baseball and basketball fit into one scan so I put them together here. The latter includes Jamal Crawford (whose son the team just offered) from the 2020 Topps Seattle Children's Heroes set, which was made to benefit that hospital and includes lots of area subjects. It uses the '84 Topps design but is much glossier and looks great. Next is the collection debut of Pollyanna Johns, a native of the Bahamas who was with Michigan in the late 90s and played for Charlotte, Cleveland, Miami, and Houston in the WNBA. Her 2001 Fleer Tradition WNBA card seen here is her RC and lone card listed on TCDb, so this was a great find by Doug. And lastly we have a '25-'26 Topps of Magic star Franz Wagner, whose collection has grown nicely thanks to trade packages like this one.

The football content could easily be labeled "numbered and new guys." Big Mo Hurst kicks off this section with a very bold blue Leaf Certified parallel that's numbered 46/50 up front and very on theme for a former Wolverine. Former WR DPJ is even more colorful--not a surprise when it comes to the Prizm brand--on a Red and Yellow Prizm parallel that's limited even more: #42/44 on the back.

Next we have the first of two new guys. DL/LB Josaiah Stewart put up great sack numbers during his 2021 freshman season with Coastal Carolina, then transferred to Michigan before the '23 season, helping the Wolverines to a national title. The Rams took him in the 2025 third round and he put up 3.0 sacks in 17 games. He's seen above on a Pink parallel from Donruss Elite, and I hope to add more of his cards--especially RCs and autographs--soon.

The other new guy is here thanks to the CFL-focused JOGO brand. He was also a DL who won a championship, in his case with the '97 team, and he was in Ann Arbor through the 2000 season before going undrafted. The Lions gave him a shot but it was in Canada that he would enjoy his pro football career. That included time with Winnipeg (with a couple year hiatus in the Dolphins org), Saskatchewan, and finally Montreal, with whom he won Grey Cups in 2009 and 2010. Thank you again to Doug for tracking this down and getting his name in my collection.

The last football item is a 2021 Leaf Flash autograph of former Wolverines RB Chris Evans. It's got the usual Leaf craziness going on, and this is the Platinum Blue version of a signed insert called Flash Photography Autographs. Naturally I love the combo of a signed card of a player in a Michigan uni, plus this one's numbered /35 on the back, and it's my fourth auto of a guy who didn't play Superman but who was quite good at times in college.

I mentioned the Olympics which means the NHL's on a break, but that doesn't mean we can't look at some hockey cards. We'll start with the non-Wolverines Red Wings, who are looking good for a playoff spot for the first time since 2016. D-man Ben Chiarot is the one guy in this scan who's currently with the team while Howe, Kozlov, Probert, and Sheppard are all players I know well from the team's history.

The Michigan Hockey stack starts off with defenseman Jack Johnson, who retired last year after 19 seasons, and that makes me feel super old. A pair of UD cards of WolverWing and Olympian Dylan Larkin is next, and I have to say that the first, a 2023-24 SPx Radiance FX Blue die-cut insert, is totally sick. What a great looking design that really calls back to the glory years of the SPx brand, plus it's blue and numbered to 299! D-man Zach Werenski joins Larkin here both from the UD base set and in this year's Olympics, and fellow Wolverines Kyle Connor and Quinn Hughes are also in Milan for Team USA. Go (red, white, and) blue!

The rest of the hockey content arrived in the form of these stickers, and there were lots! Most were made by Panini and released in the last 15-ish years, including those of Cammalleri, Cogliano, Johnson, Knuble, and Komisarek. The tiny Knuble is a bit of an exception as it's from 2003-04 Topps Mini Stickers, my first example of that product. I see other Wolverines in that set and will have to try to track down their minuscule counterparts. Jeff Norton, a much older Michigan/NHL alum, joins from the '91-'92 and '93-'94 Panini sticker sets.

Ordinarily we'd be done by now having covered hockey, but Doug had one more surprise in store for me. I do have a small collection of Michigan alumni from other sports (including Olympians) and non-sports, and that collection got a new member thanks to this card. Brandi Rhodes (born Brandi Reed) indeed graduated from my alma mater, chose to go into broadcasting and modeling, and eventually joined the WWE, mainly as a ring announcer. She spent time with a few pro wrestling organizations and also married fellow wrestler Cody Runnels, a.k.a. Cody Rhodes, son of Dusty Rhodes, a WWF wrestler from my time as a fan.

Doug found the above 2023 Leaf Heroes of Wrestling green autograph and sent it my way, and thanks to him she's now the sixth member of my other/non-sports Michigan collection. Cool!

Doug, many thanks for this great envelope, especially the thoughtful new additions to three sports! I'm still working on putting together a return for you and it may take a while, but in the meantime I wish good luck to your country's Olympic team as well as a great week leading up to your birthday!

I'll be back again soon-ish with my third and final January trade package, then you'll get a January show recap, first February trade package, and a show recap from yesterday.

2020 trade package #7: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

I'm finally back, and it's about damn time.  It's just been hard to get motivated to write since I'm working from home and don't really feel like being around my computer, as opposed to normal circumstances where coming home and doing card stuff like blogging is a nice treat.

But I couldn't keep putting off posting because I have another amazing envelope stuffed with cards from Canada to show off.  As usual that means a generous blowout of a package from Sports Cards From the Dollar Store's Doug.  Last month he sent me a mailer with a little bit of everything and I was once again blown away:

I combined the baseball, non-UM hockey, and basketball into one scan.  My newest Barry Larkin is another high-end base, this time from 2019 Triple Threads.  Cal adds to his lead with a 2019 Panini Black Friday card, which got me thinking: how many fewer people would know about these if it weren't for the Internet?  And the group of Wings looks great, even if their most recent season wasn't.  Lidstrom's Elite base is giving me the 90s feels, and these remind me that I need to get my cards of the team entered on TCDB at some point.

Moving onto the court, Doug's been one of the most generous when it comes to my Michigan Basketball collection.  That's on full display here, starting with my first hit (and actually first card) of one-and-done Lithuanian (by way of Canada!) Iggy Brazdeikis, who was a lot of fun to watch over the course of the '18-'19 season.  That's a really nice blue Knicks swatch on his '19-'20 Prizm jersey card.  Next is a guy appreciated by all Michigan fans, Trey Burke, on a 2015-16 Totally Certified relic that brings the shiny (and is numbered /49), with Trey pictured on his original team (sort of, as he was a draft & trade by the T-Wolves).  Last up here is NCAA tourney hero who didn't write the fantastic Get Out, Jordan Poole, on just his fourth card and first hit, that being an Orange Ice jersey from the same Prizm product as Iggy's above.  What a nice trio!

Heading over to the gridiron, it was largely the Braylon Edwards show, but he had a few friends join him for the trip, making for a nice variety.  As a matter of fact, the first two cards of his in this scan are RCs--2005 Score and Topps Draft (college uni!)--and a first-year of former (Bills!) QB Todd Collins completes the trio, joining Bray-Bray on a posed design.  Edwards' quartet here (with more to come) is finished off by a pair of numbered cards:  2006 Bowman Blue (/500), the best color of course, and 2008 Triple Threads (/779).  Speaking of parallels, one of a pair of Rashan Gary issues Doug he me with is a Red version of his 2019 Score RC (Michigan uni again!).  Plus he went all the way back to the 90s and Fleer's heyday with a Stealth parallel (/300) of Brian Griese.  And last up in this scan is former UM and 49ers S Dwight Hicks on his '83 Topps base, a card pulled from one of Doug's beloved repacks.

The football fun continues on the other axis with this trio.  Braylon insert #1 is a 2006 Gridiron Gear insert called Player Timeline Gold (/500) with a cool college-to-the-pros theme, while #2 is Leaf Certified Materials' often used Certified Potential name (/800).  Rashan Gary then gets his second card of the envelope, a 2019 Contenders Round Numbers insert (another one used plenty in the past) that notes he and new teammate (and fellow Big Ten-er) S Darnell Savage Jr. were top picks last year after Green Bay traded back into the first round.

And then just like that Doug goes back into crazy generous mode with not just a Rashan Gary rookie year auto, but a variation at that!  The base version features the Green Bay logo inside the circle with the team's name, plus the photo shows Rashan in a green jersey running to the card's left.  I was already happy to add this as my second auto of the talented New Jersey native, but I also appreciate that the signature is an upgrade over the Panini Legacy one I bought myself which used about 15% of the sticker.  It's a very nice addition to my football collection and I'll have to work on finding something nice to thank Doug.

As usual in a Buckstorecards package, the icers get the place of honor.  Hockey Mike #1 is Cammalleri on a fun three-team trio.  Connor, who enjoyed a third straight 30+ goal/25+ assist season, gets a beautiful UD pair that really makes me miss the brand's baseball offerings.  The scan closes out with a triple "H" combo that's better than the WWE version:  Hagelin, Hughes, and Hyman.  My Hughes collection is minuscule thanks to his star power so I especially appreciate that slick insert of the D-man who was electrifying in the few games I got to see him play while he was in Ann Arbor.

The Hockey Mikes tour continues with Knuble and Komisarek, both of whom join Hagelin in the previous scan on a nice Score design.  Knuble isn't pictured with Detroit here but his fellow WolverWings Dylan Larkin and Aaron Ward are.  Larkin's collection finally crossed the 30-card mark, and that Aaron Ward is a throwback to the old Classic brand.  Talented blue-liners Jacob Trouba and Zach Werenski close out the scan UD style.

And now I get to end this post with a two-part bang.  #1:  a brand new plate!  Hit #3 of defenseman Greg Pateryn is somehow my second 1/1 of the former Canadien, a magenta plate from a brand I'm not terribly familiar with since I don't really buy any hockey stuff.  In typical Upper Deck fashion, 2016-17 Compendium looks quite nice, and I'm very happy with how the scan came out.  I love collecting these and it was very cool of Doug to send it my way given how 1/1s can be valued by sellers these days.

And this card makes it "bang-bang!"  Even though I knew it was coming it was still exciting to see it in person.  What you're looking at is an Upper Deck Trilogy manupuck auto of the previously-mentioned Jacob Trouba.  This is the Team Logo version with the signature done in beautiful gold ink on a manurelic that brings to mind UD's old brand Sweet Spot, and you can see that it's hand-numbered to just 19 copies.  I now have 11 Trouba hits, many of which Doug sent to me, and this one just elbowed its way to the top of the heap as a flat-out beautiful piece.

Doug, thanks again for another incredible mailer.  I bow down to your card-acquiring skills, and I hope I can return the favor in the near future when it's easier to buy stuff again!

Now that I'm just about done with trade packages I may take a quick detour and do one of those top-10 lists folks are posting because they've offered some pretty cool insights to how those people collect.  Stay tuned and stay safe!

No, YOU check out MY cards: hockey edition

So in the last month or so I started looking into CheckOutMyCards a bit more.  I found a couple sellers that had large groups of cards I liked (think Michigan alumni) and fortunately, before I actually bought them, I discovered the "Make Offer" button.  What a beautiful thing that is.  So far I've made about 3-5 purchases and either had my initial offer accepted or was able to haggle down to a price I liked.

When I piled up enough stuff to justify the bulk shipping option, I had everything (around 40 cards, I think) sent to me.  That included a nice group of baseball, football, and even hockey.  I plan to show you everything I got, but in groups this time, for two reasons:  one, I don't feel like scanning/describing everything at once, plus this way I can stretch out the experience to a few posts, which will hopefully make them more enjoyable.

I'll start tonight with the smallest group:  hockey.  You don't see too much hockey-related stuff here despite my living near Hockeytown, home of the NHL's model franchise for scouting and player development.  The NHL just isn't high on my collecting priorities (although you may see my small Red Wings collection eventually).  However, I also happen to live in the city that's home to the NCAA's best all-time hockey program.  While we don't pump out titles like we used to, we've won the most, and we regularly churn out NHL draft picks.  Ever since before I was a Michigan student I've watched the program produce winners like Aaron Ward, John Madden (not that John Madden) and Mike Knuble, not to mention school legends like Brendan Morrison, Marty Turco and current coach Red Berenson.  Also, this happened:


I should also mention that these arrived just in time to celebrate Michigan's 11th Central Collegiate Hockey Association (conference) regular season title (we moved over from the WCHA a while ago) and preparation for their 21st consecutive NCAA tournament appearance (a record, naturally).  Sorry for all the Michigan hockey propaganda, but as you can tell, I really love this team and I'm spoiled by having been to the school with college's best football AND hockey programs all-time!

Instead of continuing on bragging about the program and ranting about the NHL seemingly largely ignores quality college players, I present to you the COMC hockey card haul that literally doubled my Michigan hockey collection:

Andrew Ebbett 2009-10 Upper Deck Champ's Signatures auto:  Yep, it's a mini, which is pretty cool.  I also like the fact that the signature is pretty legible, plus he included his number, which is a plus.  Ebbett played all four years of his Michigan career (Red's a big fan of his players graduating) culminating in being a captain for the 2005-06 season.  A rare undrafted Wolverine, Ottawa picked him up, then he found his way to the Ducks, as pictured.  He's bounced around a bit, seeing a bit of time with the Michigan-friendly Coyotes this year.  Not a star, but a very good player during some great years for the Maize and Blue.

Eric Nystrom 2005-06 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Signatures auto:  The second of the trio of autographs I grabbed, this one features former 2004-2005 Michigan captain Eric Nystrom.  Also no stranger to a pretty decent autograph, Nystrom was a much less rare Wolverine first round pick (Calgary, #10 in 2002).  Because hockey drafting rules MAKE SENSE, Nystrom got to finish up his full Michigan career and graduate with a degree from an excellent university (plus, you know, he played for a legendary coach at a storied program).  No titles for Eric either, but he was part of a couple teams that went deep into the playoffs and continued Michigan's (still-standing) NCAA tournament appearance streak.  ESPN.com says he got some PT with the Wild this year, and hopefully he'll eventually bud into a productive player that gets more ice time.

Max Pacioretty 2009-10 Black Diamond Gemography auto:  Patch enjoyed a stellar freshman (2007-08) season at Michigan with 15 goals and 38 points, then promptly left (BOO) for the Canadiens after being drafted #22 overall in '07.  All that talent didn't immediately translate into results, but now in his third season, Max has put up some decent numbers.  That doesn't justify to me leaving the program as quickly as he did, but hopefully the decision works out for him in the long run.  In the meantime, it looks like he needs to practice his autograph more.

Mike Komisarek 2008-09 SP Game Used Dual Authentic Fabrics dual jersey:  The one relic in the bunch, this one comes from another Canadien who left Michigan early, Mike Komisarek.  Mike was Montreal's first-rounder (#7) in 2001, and after two years at Michigan (including an 11-goal sophomore year, pretty nice for a D-man) defected to the NHL (which means I never got to see him play in-person since he left after my freshman year, when I didn't think to get season tickets).  He now has 13 NHL goals to his name in 7+ seasons with the Habs and now the Leafs (which, sadly, means he'll never win anything again, not even an instant lottery ticket).  Mike Played in two of three straight Frozen Four semifinal losses on teams that just couldn't get over the hump, and left a year before a third straight semifinal loss (the second in a row to hated Minnesota, an excellent team at the time) in which he could have made a difference.  Back to the card:  no boring swatches here--you get two sharp jersey pieces, the Habs' red and blue.

So there you have it, the four COMC hockey cards that increased my Michigan collection by 100%.  I hope you enjoyed an in-depth look at them (and didn't mind me expounding upon the glory that is my alma mater's hockey program) and that you're all looking forward to the rest of the haul soon.  As a reminder, baseball and football remain, and each group is about 15-20 cards, but I think I'll still keep it to one post each.  In the meantime, Go Red Wings and GO BLUE!

2019 trade package #30: Card Boarded

Once again I'm celebrating a Michigan Football win on a lovely (if chilly) Saturday, even if the team didn't play as well as expected.  And I'm doing so with another package from Paul who lives in Sterling Heights, Michigan.  

But wait!  It's not buddy of the blog Paul who runs Scribbled Ink, but instead Paul who runs Card Boarded!  This Paul contacted me letting me know he had some Michigan Hockey dupes to send my way, and I said sign me right up, because I love trading with new folks, especially fellow Michiganders, and especially especially anyone that has Michigan stuff I can use.

So on a day dominated by football but also marked by Michigan's second contest of the season on the ice, here's a look at all the great hockey stuff Paul sent my way:

It was a very Hockey Mikes kind of package, and I would have used that tag if it would have fit, but Paul sent me a nice variety of players so there wasn't room.  Cammalleri (1 new card, 71 total) and Comrie (14, 41) are two such players, and the latter definitely got a nice boost.  You'll see more of him in a minute, but this first bunch of five gives you a good idea of the range of years and sets spread throughout the mailer, especially Pacific and Upper Deck MVP.  Cogliano isn't a "Mike" but did get three new additions to his collection (46).

I mentioned Paul added 14 cards to my Comrie collection, and here's most of the rest.  Pacific makes a couple more quality appearances with designs I like--no surprise at this point in its run.  This scan includes the first of a number of Victory cameos you'll see in the next few, plus a shiny (a.k.a. difficult to scan but good looking) Parkhurst.  Jack Johnson (52) gets a newbie from UD, a brand also included in Comrie's count.

Here's our other Hockey Mike:  former Wolverwing Knuble (2, 24), pictured with his fourth (and sixth) team, the Flyers.  As you can see, 2007-08 MVP's base cards came with the silver signatures instead of making them an insert, which seemed pretty cool to me.  Then we get into another nice run for a single player:  John Madden (10, 29).  The three-time Cup winner (two with the pictured Devils, once with the Hawks) got a nice boost with this selection, including more Pacific goodness, Victory and MVP, and one of a couple appearances of a very cool UD Victory design, right down the middle.

After a couple more Maddens, from previously seen Victory and Ultra sets, we move on to a singular Al Montoya (17), the goalie for the first team I watched with student season tickets.  Then we go to one of my biggest hockey PCs in Brendan Morrison (11, 94), big enough that he has his own Google album in my collection.  Ranked #2 after a guy you'll see in a couple scans, he was also the beneficiary of many of the same sets we've seen already, which is a great thing since I like how they look.  2001-02 Topps makes its third and final appearance, plus there's the beautiful 2000-01 UD Vintage, once again, to its left.

Four more Morrisons lead to a singular cameo for Max Pacioretty (51) on a 2013-14 Score Gold parallel I'm surprised I didn't have (though I do have the base version).  It reminds me of the look Topps used to use on its own Gold inserts until recently.  Then it's back to the crease for yet another big player run:  Steve Shields (14, 31).  These were a huge boon to one of my smaller collections that I'm happy to be growing, and, as is often the case with goalies, there's some terrific shots.

Nothing against the rest of the cards you're seeing today, but this scan and the next are my two favorites, and I think you'll see why as you look them over.  The 2000-01 Pacific base that ends the last scan includes an outstanding photo, but that same year's Stadium Club design, leading off this one, can't be beat.  Then we're back for the Vintage design I keep mooning over, and the shiny Parkhurst look from 2003-04.

We'll get back to Shields in a minute, but first we have a couple other players to cover here.  The first is top PC guy Marty Turco (7, 126), who also gets some good crease shots.  He stars on one of the coolest cards in the whole envelope, a solid (acetate?) base card from a 2005-06 Upper Deck Trilogy subset numbered 092/599.  I don't think I'd see these before, but the Frozen in Time cards are quite thick, and the see-through aspect is always a plus.

Zach Werenski (9) then pops up on the newest card in his small collection.  We'll see if the Columbus D can score 11+ goals for the fourth straight season.

This penultimate scan is my other favorite because it includes some excellent looking stuff, plus everything's horizontal.  Comrie, Madden, and Morrison all return for their final appearances before we come to the conclusion of the Steve Shields show.  And what a show it is with some cool designs, including a sweet 2001-02 Atomic Premiere Date parallel of the already die-cut base set (#03/90) and my first Shields relic in nine hits:  a 2000-01 Black Diamond Game Gear goalie pad.  That's much cooler than the traditional jersey swatch and I think it's awesome.

Last up today is the remainder of the Turcos, and why shouldn't the #1 PC guy get to send us home?  His three horizontals are from 2002-03 MVP, 2003-04 Pacific's In the Crease, and the same year's SPx.  The Pacific insert somewhat reminds me of other inserts the brand did on the baseball end while the SPx design brings to memory the product's earlier emphasis on holograms.  Those are joined by a mini from 2001-02 Private Stock's PS-2002 insert.

Paul, thanks for reaching out and sending me some great looking, useful stuff for a bunch of my hockey collections!  I'll try to start piling up more Wings/Preds/goalies/etc. so we can do this again soon.

TCDB trade: randylaw, part 3: everything else!

It's been a tough season for...well, all sports really, but in particular it's been a tough season for Michigan Football fans. Fortunately, card collecting doesn't have a season--it's all year, baby!--and it often helps lift my spirits.

So with that, welcome to the third and final post covering my large TCDB deal with randylaw!

Today's recap features a fun mix of stuff: classic Tigers, vintage, my core four PC guys, and Michigan sports:

I told you this would be a fun one, and we're just getting started! I called this section the "classic" Tigers for obvious reasons. Guys like Cobb, Cochrane, Fidrych, Greenberg (the hard-to-read insert), Horton, and Prince Hal are well known to folks beyond Tigers fans, and it was nice adding to my collections of each guy. I was particularly excited for the 1974 and '77 Hortons since I'm slowly trying to build up his run of stuff made during his career. I now have 10 of those from the 60s and 70s (plus an SSPC issue as well) so that's going nicely. Conlon (Hughie Jennings!) and Topps' earlier 90s Archives offerings also chip in here.

Here's one reason I was particularly excited for this trade: Randy had some solid vintage Tigers to choose from, and choose 'em I did! The six you see grouped together are my first examples from 1957 Topps, and they give me a nice start towards the 26-card team set. Hoeft is a guy I'm vaguely familiar with and of course Kuenn is the player most well known to me. These have been well loved, especially the Finigan, but of course that adds character and I wouldn't have it any other way! They're joined by a '61 Topps league leaders card that includes pitcher Frank Lary, and a '75 team checklist. Whomever owned the latter noted in red pen that they had all the team's cards except SS Tom Veryzer.

Naturally I took advantage and grabbed everything I needed of my "core four" guys: Griffey, Gwynn, Maddux, and Ripken. And naturally most of that was junk wax-era stuff, but that's ok, because they were all new for those collections! On the oddball front I had fun adding a couple Griffey UD Looney Toons holograms and another Holsum disc, this time of Gwynn. Those two players also appear on the most recent cards in these scans. By the way, the other player on Gwynn's Pinnacle Idols subset, for those like me who didn't recognize him, is Willie Davis of the Dodgers.

Everything else features a subject for my Michigan sports collections. Abbott joins Griffey from the previously mentioned hologram set. Appleton, born Pete Jablonowski, was a former Wolverines pitcher who spent 14 seasons in the bigs, appears here on a Conlon card, which is good since I probably can't easily afford his 1930s Goudey and Play Ball cards! The well known (especially around here) Gehringer joins Appleton with a Conlon issue. Though I scanned them backwards, I was glad to add a pair of Ted Simmons cards as I continue to grow his PC: '74 Topps and '89 Score. Knuble was a Wolverwing and Roberts also is a former Wolverines icer. Davis (and her partner Charlie White) and Shibutani (with her brother Alex) were Olympian Wolverines who medaled in ice dancing, including a gold for Davis in 2014.

And then there's the football, which proved to be nice to scan in its own group. The first four are 2017 Elite Draft Picks rookies (meaning college uni shots!) of Jake Butt, Amara Darboh, Jourdan Lewis, and Jabrill Peppers. WR Jehu Chesson was the other UM RC in the set and I already had that, so I'll just need to add the Tom Brady base at some point. There's plenty of stars like AC, Harbaugh, Thomas, and Toomer, and I even snuck in vintage cards of S Thom Darden and Curtis Greer (both '81 Topps). Swell cards of Bill Hewitt and Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch round out a fun group.

I hope at least a few of you found this three-part series interesting, and regardless, that you got a good idea of the potential there is in terms of TCDB trading. As I've said multiple times, Randy was awesome, and given his huge wantlist, I could definitely see trading with him again in the near future!

With these covered I would expect my next posts to be a trade package (a PWE) and small eBay purchase, so watch for those soon-ish.