2019 trade package #17: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

It's been quite the nice weekend here in Ann Arbor.  The weather finally turned from rain 24/7 to sunny and 70s.  Michigan Baseball blew through its opponents to reach the College World Series finals for the first time since 1962, gaining the team a ton of new fans (maybe more on that soon!).  And I got to take in my second viewing of the terrific Spiderman:  Into the Spiderverse at the Big House last night.

So why not celebrate the good times with the most recent trade package I got from Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store?  The one he sent me back in May was awesome, but I'd venture to say that this one was a cut above.  This June mailer certainly puts a nice bow on a great weekend in June:

Let's start with a nice bunch of Wings.  The numbered '12-'13 Dominion base cards--which are dummy thicc!--are the highlights for me as they star two of the best players in team history in Datsyuk and new GM Yzerman.  The late Dineen (NHLer Kevin's dad) spent most of his five NHL seasons in Detroit and won a pair of Cups in the 50s before becoming a pretty successful coach.  Kelly was an even bigger star in Detroit and Toronto and won a crazy four cups for each franchise!  The HOFer passed away just a couple months ago, but he and Dineen look great from their playing days on Parkhurst cards from 12 years ago.  Kozlov and McCarty were of course mainstays on multiple Cup-winners.

This group of rookies is headlined by a trio of cards from UD's Synergy brand, one I wasn't familiar with until now.  The blue cards are #d /799 and the back of the red (excellent choice!) has a scratch-off code that I believe you'd redeem as a full set for an upgraded version.  I know little of these four guys but they all appear to be in the organization still, and hopefully one or more of them will join some of Yzerman's draftees to make the team competitive again.

Moving on to basketball, we'll start with a 2010-11 Limited card that doesn't star former Michigan legend Cazzie Russell, but instead Michael Campanella "Campy" Russell (no relation, just an error here).  Then we can move on to one of this post's seven delicious hits:  a jersey/auto/RC of Caris LeVert from 2016 National Treasures (#24/49).  It takes a lot for a relic swatch to have any effect on me these days but this tri-color maize & blue jersey more than does the trick!  Pair that with an autograph that includes an inscription and you've got a beast of a card.  Not a bad way to start my collection of the young Brooklyn Nets SF!

Doug let me know in advance that he had my back when it came to some RCs from probably my favorite yearly football release, Score, but I wasn't expecting some useful veteran base as well.  I love the throwback design here, and the backs look quite nice as well, especially the super colorful reverses on printing plates:

I realize plenty of collectors dislike having the same photo appear on the front and back but that doesn't matter at all to me.  And more importantly I'm happy to have some new cards of Michigan's NFL stars of the gridiron, including PC guy Tom Brady.  If Clark ever stops acting like a dumbass maybe I'll enjoy collecting him as well (and Lewan has had his moments, too).  Peppers' card includes a great photo, though I'll soon see him on cardboard in a different uniform.

Then there's the fun trio of college-uniformed RCs:  Bush, Gary, and Higdon.  All three were a blast to watch with the Wolverines and I hope they add to Michigan's count of successful pro players.

I mentioned Lewan when pointing out his base card above and he also made a second appearance in this envelope on a 2014 Leaf Metal Draft Prismatic Blue auto (#39/50).  Again, nice choice of color.  The airbrushing is annoying as usual but when getting past that this is a fun second version of Lewan's auto in this product (I own the base) and my 14th overall hit of the Titans OT.

As usual hockey is the star of the post, starting with this base/insert mix, which includes the return of the Hockey Mikes (oops, no room for the tag!):  Cammalleri, Comrie, Knuble (Wolverwing RC!), and Komisarek.  Madden's card is one of the coolest of the bunch, an artistic piece that surprisingly doesn't come from Topps Gallery or UD Masterpieces.  We'll see familiar guys Montoya and Patch again in just a minute.  And the Turco Game Breakers insert (from 2006-07 UD Victory) is a new entry for his PC.

And the rest of the hit parade, of the sick/nasty variety.  Seriously this is some bad-ass hockey cardboard (and other materials).

#1 is an eye-popping patch of C Andrew Ebbett.  This one hails from 2007-08 ITG Heroes and Prospects' Emblems, and it's pretty obvious that we're seeing parts of the "A" and "T" from the Binghamton Senators jersey he's wearing.  I took a quick look at the team's history and found that they were affiliated with Doug's Sens until 2017.  That was his first team out of college before moving on to Anaheim and elsewhere.  What a sick patch for hit #7!

Second up is my favorite somewhat recent Michigan guy in the NHL, Wolverwing Dylan Larkin.  My fifth hit of his out of just 23 cards--with Doug responsible for four of those five, I believe--is a beautiful red jersey swatch from 2018-19 Upper Deck Trilogy's Green parallel, #d /242 to match his career number of games played in at that point.  That included 80 each in his first two campaigns and 82 more in '17-'18.  More Larkin stuff, please!

You probably don't hear much about Oklahoma-born defenseman Jon Merrill outside of my blogs, but the autograph you see above, from UD's 2015-16 Artifacts, is actually my 8th hit of his (again, largely thanks to Doug's generosity).  He's spent the last two seasons with Vegas after his first four with the pictured Devils.

I promised more of Montoya and now I'll deliver on that, thanks to Doug's delivery!  After a much hyped college career he was a pretty good prospect so it's no surprise to see Inigo's cousin in a product like ITG's Between the Pipes from 2006-07.  One of the relics is obviously a jersey swatch but the other is unique to the sport:  a goalie's catching glove.  It's fun getting different pieces like this thanks to collecting multiple sports (and knowing a guy who can fill up your hockey box like whoa).  Alvaro is now up to seven hits and he appears on enough that I don't think I'll have a problem growing that number.

While that Ebbett we just talked about is super cool, I don't think anything else tops the final card today, a Max Pacioretty 2016-17 UD Black Lustrous INK auto (#075/175).  The Black brand is one of UD's higher-end offerings and it certainly takes its name to heart, which results in some stunning cards when paired with autos like you see here (and I'll also note that the signature is in much better shape than the scan would indicate).  This is a super thick issue that includes three little windows around the Upper Deck logo:  a see-through image and two pieces designed to look like parts of a sweater.  That thickness makes it tough to get a completely clear scan, but I don't have to care about that because I can look at the card in person whenever I want to, which I may just do more often than any other card of Max in my collection (six of which are now hits).

Doug, thanks again for this outstanding follow-up to your kick-ass May envelope.  I'm looking forward to hitting you back in a few weeks when I have a few eBay purchases and likely show adds in-hand and ready to send over the border!