2014 Sportlots purchase: You Complete Me is back once more

As many of you know, from time to time I like to hit up Sportlots when I feel an itch to work on my various set wantlists.  Well, a few weeks ago I again put in some time trying to track down what little was left on my football wants (plus a few Michigan PC cards you can view on today's TMM post) and five sellers later here's what I came up with:

2005 Topps Draft:

This product was one of the very first boxes I busted waaaay back when I started this here blog--the post was dated September 3, 2010!  I grabbed a 24 pack box on eBay for around $25 as my second attempt towards completing the set, but despite not pulling any dupes, I added only 28 to my original haul (from a box I grabbed quite a while ago).

As of the start of this month I still needed 31 cards from the 165-card set, including 18 rookies.  Thanks to Sportlots I grabbed them all, including the nine you see highlighted above.  I decided to show off "new" Raider Moss, a Bill for Doug, a Hokie for Adam, and a pair of Mountaineers for Matt.  I also included a few other guys most people would know in Campbell, Williams, Orton, and White.  It sure is nice to have this set completed nine years after it came out!

2013 SPx:

Bo knows he deserves his own scan

2013 SPx is a box I picked up at a show and busted back in early August.  In my 10 packs I picked up exactly 40 out of the 50-card veteran base set with zero doubles.  I managed to find one Sportlots seller who had the ten I was missing, plus help with both other sets I'm completing today, so that was another case of money saved on shipping.

Because I showed all 40 cards I pulled from the box, I figured it would make sense to post the remaining 10 in lieu of showing the whole set at once.  The real highlight here is Bo Jackson, who earned the right to be the card I highlighted with the remaining nine filling one scan page, mainly because he was awesome.  No disrespect meant to guys like Marino and Moon, though!

2013 Upper Deck:

The gorgeous 2013 UD set is one I started last May with a couple rack packs I picked up with my brother while visiting Milwaukee (and attending a Brewers game).  I followed that up with a hobby box at a show this April, and that allowed me to complete the veteran group, cards #1-50, which I don't always work on since the rookies are usually more obtainable in rack packs by themselves.  I also fell 27 rookies short of the Star Rookies cards, #s 51-150, since I scored just 40 from the box, with others coming from the racks.

Happily, I was able to find all 27 cards on Sportlots, and without breaking the bank too.  I scanned a few highlights, including another Hokie (Davis) and Mountaineer (Geno "Interception McGee" Smith), some great photos (Rhodes, Webb, Swearinger, Hopkins, and Mauti), and a hilarious name:  "Trevardo."

All of those purchases put the kibosh on my football set wantlists entirely, which is a great feeling.  I'm really not used to being in a position where I'm building some sets, and right now the only one I'm working on at all is the 2002 Fall Classics HOF Plaques on my baseball wants page.  I'm sure this won't be the end of my football set collecting, though, especially as I find some fun UD products to pursue.

I hope you guys enjoyed some cool scans and seeing me get something done.  As for me, I'm off to file these away with their respective sets and put triumphant check marks on the boxes!

April 19 card show report part 1 of 2: 2013 UD Football hobby box break

Because I hadn't gone to a card show since last November, I hit up the "local" one in Taylor on Saturday afternoon.  I ended up staying longer than usual, mainly because for the first hour I couldn't find ANYTHING I wanted.  Later I made a few productive purchases, and I'll show those off soon, but my last pickup was a box of 2013 Upper Deck Football.

I realize the 2014 version just came out, so I'm a year behind the times, but the price for this one was right for me:  $55 for 20 packs of six, with three guaranteed autos.  I could have spent a bit more on jumbos of 2013 Score (more hits per box, but I already have the set) or 2013 Topps (which is Topps), and I realize I could have landed this cheaper at D&A's, but with shipping factored in, I did fine.  Here's what I pulled:

Base set:

The set is split into a few groups.  #s 1-50 are veterans, all in their college unis(!).  With 3-4 of these per pack, I landed all 50, plus 11 doubles (more on those later).

Here's examples of a front and back from the veterans.  I went with AC, my lone Wolverine in the box, for the front, and Bo, since his college stats are fun to look at.  These look fantastic, especially some of the older photos, and I feel UD knocked it out of the park yet again in what's easily become my favorite college-themed set.

#51-150 are Star Rookies that are inserted normally at about two per pack.  I pulled exactly 40 in my 20 packs, so those odds held true.

Swope's awesome photo earns him the nod for the Star Rookie card front example, and I picked Stanford's Thomas for the back since he wasn't from a team I hate.  Honestly, wouldn't you prefer these over the Rookie Premier photos from Topps?

Lastly, #s 151-300 are short-printed Star Rookies, with #s 215-275 found only in hobby packs and 276-300 in retail.  I don't know the exact odds on these, but I pulled two, so maybe 1:10?

My SPs came from the "States that start with 'K'" hotbox, apparently.  As with the non-SPed cards, there's a mix of great and obscure.  I'm not a fan of SPs and don't count them toward the regular set, so there.

Inserts:

First up were the College Football Heroes cards, inserted at 1:5, and UD delivered on those odds with these:

I pulled two each of Joe Namath and Barry Sanders.  These are in the vein of other cards in UD's Heroes series, and therefore good, plus the player choice was nice.

Next up are the '95 SP inserts, which, not surprisingly, are cards done in the style of 1995 SP.  In the past UD has sometimes used multiple older designs, but here they go with one, and what's cool is that both veterans and rookies are included, both with their own design, and both of which look fantastic.  Along with those is a pair of Ultimate Collection rookies, and in terms of player hype, I did pretty well:

I don't know how many cards of Delaware players I've pulled where I've seen the uni, got excited, and then suffered a huge letdown because they ripped off Michigan's design.  As for the Ultimates, Manti "The overrated catfish" Te'o was a pretty good pull.  Those are numbered to 575 for some reason.

Hits:

I said I was guaranteed three autos (including the awesome Letterman versions) and that's exactly what I got, with ZERO redemptions.  The base autos may be on stickers, but I really like how they look since they're just auto'ed versions of the base cards, which look great on their own.

Cal WR Allen was the better pull of the two, and not just on the strength of his name--he's from the Rare Star Rookies, Group C, making him a 1:191 pull.  UNC's Williams was from the SP group, Group C, and was 1:83, meaning he was also a tougher-than-average pull.  Not the players I was hoping for, but not bad!

And then the Rookie Letterman:

This is Patriots WR Aaron Dobson of the Marshall Thundering Herd, #04/25.  There are at or near the top of my favorite manufactured relics, and it's easy to see why.  By the way, every other pack had a dummy card in it (great for shipping) except this one, so I saved it for last when I noticed it wasn't a blank.  I was also hoping for a College Mascot manupatch, but I still did just fine.

Overall:

This was a fantastic value at $55, plus you can find it cheaper if you try.  Things have gotten even better for the 2014 version as you now get four guaranteed hits, though obviously the price is higher, at least for now (and I don't love the Letterman design quite as much).  The base set looks great and features UD's signature photography, and the inserts kept it interesting.  I give this one a thumbs up.

My wantlist:

After combining the contents of this box from the results of a few rack pack breaks (which are the opposite of hobby and are all Star Rookies), I need the following:

54 55 57 60 64 66 69 76 77 85 91 92 95 104 105 109 116 117 121 126 135 138 139 141 144 146 150

What's for trade:

Everything you see above from the inserts on down, though I'll be honest, I'm hoping to sell the hits.  But if you're interested in anything, make me an offer!  Also, I have the following dupes for trade:

5 11 12 20 22 25 32 33 38 44 46 52 56 59 61 71 74 78 79 80 81 84 87 93 98 99 103 106 108 110 113 115 131 133 137 145

If you're building this set, let's trade!

Two 2013 Upper Deck football rack packs

While I was in Milwaukee over the weekend for Sunday's Brewers game, I hit up the Wal-Mart near Miller Park along with my bro and sis-in-law.  That's an extremely rare event for me, but this was literally the only Wal-Mart I'd ever possibly set foot in again:  it was reasonably clean, and the usual "people of Wal-Mart" didn't appear to be around.

Anyway, I had been dying to try some 2013 Upper Deck football packs since they feature players with their college teams.  I had some house money to play with thanks to participating in an experiment at work (it was a distracted-driving-type simulation, so no, I didn't end up hallucinating about Adam Sandler dressed as Satan) and was fortunate enough to find a few racks up-front.  I grabbed two, and my brother and I each opened one.  Here's what I got, by category:

The hero:

A gorgeous shot of 'Tree on a beautifully done horizontal card.  As usual, UD > Topps.

The enemy: 

A couple of Sparties and a Domer.  Apparently, in Bell's case, being run into the ground ineffectively a thousand times a season makes you a "work horse" and "bell cow" RB.  Also, Riddick was drafted by the Lions, so his future is about as bright as his namesake series' first movie, Pitch Black.

The "they beat us down but at least Thomas Gordon ended up on this card":

I guess we'll find out if other teams letting Lacy fall to the Pack at #61 overall was shrewd or stupid!

The "your name is WHAT?!":

Let's just call him "Lutz."  Lutz holds Auburn's single-season and career record for TDs by a TE, and he signed with the Rams after the draft.  His transition to the NFL from Auburn and the SEC means a sharp decline in pay, but it's still probably a good move for him.

The "UD photography and design plus college football are the greatest combo ever":

Here's just three great examples.  #1 is A&M WR and somehow NCAA 2013 cover runner-up-to-Denard Ryan Swope in a shot I like to call "Swoperman."  #2 is Auburn WR Emory Blake in "LOL invisible bunk bed."  Finally, #3 is Wisconsin tackle Ricky Wagner in "Badger, badger, badger, BADGER, badger."

The "You 'bout ta get PAID, son!":

Here's the five 2013 first-rounders I pulled:  Jordan (3, Dolphins); Milliner (9, Jets); Fluker (11, Chargers); Werner (24, Colts); Jones (26, Packers).

The inserts:

Each rack pack comes with a pair of Robert Griffin UD Heroes inserts (which apparently differ from the hobby versions slightly).  I pulled #s 3, 4, 6, and 8.  I also ended up with one short print insert:  a '95 SP version of WSU WR Marquess Wilson.

My overall haul, then, was 59 different base cards (of the 100 non-SPed Star Rookies) and five inserts.  Cards #1-50 are veterans (including Anthony Carter!), and while they're not short-printed I don't know if they're just not included in retail or what.  #s 151-300 include multiple SPs of other players, including a pair of Denard Robinsons I'd love to grab.

None of the base cards here are for trade as I'll be going for the set, but I'll probably grab a couple more racks if I see them so I can complete the 100-card prospects subset, and at that point I'll surely have lots of doubles to trade.  The inserts can be had right now, though, if anyone's interested.