2017 eBay purchase: Go Cubs Go!

I'm not as big of a fan of the Cubs as I'm sure many of you are, since I have my own hometown team to root for.  But I was still excited to see them win it all last year--I mean, the Red Sox got to end their own curse, so why not the Cubbies?  They also happen to be a fun team with some great young talent, so there's that.

One other reason I've had a general rooting interest in the Baby Bears for a while is that a decent number of Michigan Baseball alumni have found their way to that team over the years.  One not-so-recent example:  Mr. Richard Joseph Hill, Chicago's fourth-rounder way back in 2002.

Hill is, of course, one of my favorite baseball PC guys, and one of those that I supercollect.  Not that a lack of checklist chasing would have prevented me from grabbing this beauty, though:

Rich Hill 2008 SP Authentic By the Letter 'B' letter patch auto (#19/50)

I love me some well done manupatches!  Upper Deck in my opinion is the best in the business when it comes to manuletters, though Panini isn't far behind.  The design is second-to-none and the letters look like they popped right off a jersey, with a quick detour to an appointment with Hill's Sharpie.

Picking up one of these is exciting enough but this one happens to be extra special as it completes one of Hill's two nameplates in the product for me:

This scan is heading straight to my "Completed nameplates and rainbows" gallery, which I somehow forgot to link to on this here blog until today.  Well, now it's up there with my other tabs for your viewing pleasure.

With "CUBS" out of the way I just need to track down two copies of the "L" to spell out Rich's last name.  I'd say that was about $7 well spent!

My newest Hill counts are 127 hits, 260/379 of his PC (updated to account for 2017 Archives), and 277 cards overall.

Please don't hesitate to head over to TMM this afternoon as well for a look at my Michigan Football PC's #1 guy!