2014 COMC purchase: the Wizard of plaques

Here's a quick post to catch me up on my final COMC purchase of 2014 while rooting for the Patriots against the Colts.

I've been chipping away at the 2002 Fleer Classics HOF Plaques set ever since grabbing a nice chunk of the set at a show last year.  By the time COMC's Boxing Day sale rolled around I was just four cards short; unfortunately most of those are big names and therefore expensive.  However, I did luck out and tackle card #30 in the set at a nice price:

This here is Ozzie Smith's card, and though I'm not showing the back yet (saving those for the upcoming post when I show off the completed set), I'll tell you that it's numbered to to 2002, the year in which he was inducted into the Hall.  I'll be the first to admit that this isn't the best scan ever, but I promise to do my best when it's showtime for the whole thing.

That leaves Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Stan Musial before I can call this complete (wantlist is here).

Stay tuned for a few trade posts and a show recap very soon!  Oh yeah, and go Pats!

2014 COMC purchases: plaque good

I had a blast picking things up on COMC during their Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales this year, and luckily for me that included a bonus $20 shopping spree plus another $5 free for shipping 100 or more cards in November.  A nice number of those cards went to traders and readers like you, and I've been glad to see people posting and showing them off!

Speaking of posting and showing off cards I have just four for you to see on this blog, but there'll be a bunch more over on TMM.  Here's what I bought:

This is a quartet of 2002 Fleer Fall Classics HOF Plaques I needed towards the set I'm building.  I originally debuted this set back in April after I picked up a huge chunk of it from quarter and $0.50 boxes at a show.  Before November I still needed eight cards, so now I'm missing just four (as seen on my baseball wantlist):  Ruth, Gehrig, Musial, and Ozzie Smith.  With just a few days left this month I doubt I'll finish it before 2015, but that's ok since it's literally the only set I'm building right now!

I definitely ended up with a pretty nice group here, and I believe I landed each of them for less than $3.00.  As with the rest in the set, these are serial-numbered to the year each player joined the Hall of Fame and have a die-cut HOF plaque-like design with text on the front and back.  As I continue to promise, once I land all of them I'll show off the set in its entirety--fronts and backs!

Well, I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and that the good cheer lasts into the new year!  I'd call my own holiday so far good, but is it plaque good?

2014 eBay purchases: F$!k yeah Friday! OR A Very Brady Christmas

I already posted this over at TMM tonight since it belongs there, but this is a pickup that's too crazy awesome not to share.  I am a non-zero percentage excited about owning the following trading card:

Tom Brady 2000 Fleer Tradition Autographics auto

That's right--I exchanged money for this card, and now this card is in my possession.  And it's signed by future-HOFer and three-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady.  And it's on card and he's in his Michigan uniform.  And it's autographed.  And it's Tom Brady.  F$!K YEAH!

I don't anticipate topping this pickup for a while, but that doesn't mean I won't try.  I hope everyone else remembers to treat themselves to a most wanted card this holiday season too!

11/2 card show report: TTTC #1

Another month, another card show!  Though I hadn't planned on it at the start of the year, I've now I attended five shows this year, with pretty good results.

With Gibraltar Trade Center's imminent demise in Taylor, I went to a different location in the same city to a show promoted by some of the same regulars from Gibraltar (and I'm glad to see they landed on their feet).  The new place is called the Taylor Town Trade Center, a bit north of the old place.  It's more like a smaller indoor flea market in a strip mall, but it's less rednecky and lacks the cigarette stench of Gibraltar, so despite being much smaller, it has its pluses.

I arrived late-ish last Sunday so I didn't have a lot to choose from, and I actually only bought stuff from one seller, a former Gibraltar regular.  I hit his quarter and $0.50 boxes hard then added a couple singles for a grand total of just $20.  The vast majority of that went to low-end stuff for trade packages (I hope y'all like Refractors!) while the next biggest bunch can be seen on TMM tonight.  Meanwhile, here's a quick look at two cards I grabbed for PCs I feature here at last week's show:

I couldn't remember if I already had this 1972 multiplayer RC, and indeed it turns out that Mark Hoyle sent it to me in his second package back in August.  Oh well, it was just a quarter, and I'm happy to have two, or if anyone needs a copy I'll be happy to PWE it their way!

My other Tiger find was this great George Kell from Donruss' 2004 Classics set.  Classics existed from 2001-2005, and really all five designs look fantastic.  I'd say my favorite is the 2002 version, but I don't think you can really go wrong.  Maybe I'll try to grab all of them at some point!  Anyway, despite the sepia tone of the photo and design, the card has a modern feel to it, including serial numbering (#1879/1999) on the back.  It's kind of part of the base set (which has a silver tone to it instead) but is short-printed (obviously, hence the numbering) as part of a group of Legends.  I don't have a ton of Kell stuff since he's not as popular as his former partner Al Kaline, so this was a fun add for a quarter.

Watch for some new trade packages featuring stuff from this show in the future!

2014 COMC purchase: Motown Mechanics

I do have one other COMC card to show off over here, though it also features in tonight's post over on TMM.  Since not many of you necessarily read both of my blogs, I thought I'd give it its own spotlight over here:

Charlie Gehringer 2004 Sweet Spot Classic Patch 300 manupatch (#216/300)

This sweet Gehringer manupatch is from 2004 Sweet Spot, and it proves UD was making some solid manufactured relics before Topps started up their own offerings.  COMC has another version that's a bit rarer and replaces the hat logo with a patch commemorating the '34 World Series.  I have a Frank Robinson patch similar to the Gehringer above, plus a Walter Johnson '24 Series patch along the lines of what I linked to above.  All of them look great and you really can't go wrong with the set.

As it's my first "hit" of the Mechanical Man, it mark's Charlie's first appearance in my Tigers PC, and it's a nice new addition to my PC of the HOF 2B, which stands at 22 cards right now.  Hopefully I'll have something even nicer of his to show off before long.

2014 COMC purchases: JV and the HOF

It's time to show off some more COMC pickups!  As usual most of what I scored this time will be displayed over at TMM, but I did find a few things I wanted to highlight here.

First up is a trio of cards from the 2002 Fleer Fall Classics HOF Plaque set:

I was surprised that I was able to land these three greats for a total of just $5.50 considering what some of them go for.  You may recall that I started the set back in April when I found 19 of the 30 in quarter and $0.50 boxes for a total under $10 at a show.  Well, I now have three to add to that pile--and three GREATS, to be more specific, leaving me needing these eight:

1  Ruth
3  Wagner
6  Young
9  Gehrig
12 Musial
20 Bench
26 Brett
30 Ozzie Smith

If any of you has any of these available for trade, please let me know as I'd love to be able to show off the set in its entirety soon!  As a reminder, it's the only set left on my baseball set wantlist, which means it's literally the only set I'm still chasing now that I've completed everything on my football and hockey lists.

While I was at it I dug around for some cool Tigers stuff and came up with this:

Justin Verlander 2014 Topps Commemorative All-Star Rookie Team Cup manupatch

As far as Topps manurelics go, I thought this was kind of a fun one.  I got it for a low enough price that it doesn't matter to me that it's not a "real" relic.  Instead, it highlights Verlander as a member of the 2006 Topps All-Star Rookie team, and of course he earned that distinction after being named the AL Rookie of the Year thanks to his 17-win debut.

This is actually my third Verlander manurelic as I received this All-Star Stiches card and this rookie reprint manupatch in separate deals.  I've still got a ton of his stuff that needs to be scanned (which I'm obligated to mention every time I post his stuff), but that'll be a good winter project.  Here's the link to the album again.

With November just a couple days away I may put more time into getting some nice Tigers (and other baseball) stuff on my watch list for COMC's Black Friday specials, which are usually worth it if only for the usual free shipping deals, not to mention credits based on how much you buy.  Hopefully I'll have more nice stuff to show off to you in a few weeks!

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!

9-19-14 card show report: Tigers that are vintage, retired, and fan favorites

Before my Saturday trip to Milwaukee to meet my brand new niece I headed to the monthly show at Gibraltar in Taylor to spend a little bit of my monthly budget.  Although I was taking into account that the place will be closing up shop soon, I found out that many of the sellers will be moving on to a nearby location to keep the monthly show alive.

A large part of what I found can be seen over at TMM tonight, but I did nab a few things to show off here as well:

Steve Boros 1963 Topps

Boros is one of my Michigan Baseball PC guys who also fits into my Tigers PC.  This vintage score was a nice deal for me as I hadn't acquired this '63 from elsewhere yet.  I happily paid $4 for it and will enjoy it as my oldest Boros until I get the rest posted.

Lance Parrish 2003 Topps Retired Signature auto

Parrish was an excellent offensive catcher for some of the better Tigers teams of the 80s including, of course, the '84 champs, and I'd been after a signature of him for a while.  As part of the $30 I gave to the first seller I worked with I landed this excellent '03 Retire Signature auto, the one of his I wanted the most but couldn't find cheaply enough online.  As is typical of this set I love the period-specific photograph plus the on-card auto, which is even better in this case since Lance's 'graph looks so good.

Mickey Tettleton 2014 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autographs Silver auto (#18/25)

Along with the Boros and a few trade bait pickups I landed this Tettleton from the other seller I worked with.  It was $4 by itself which I was more than happy to pay since I haven't seen it for less than double that on COMC or elsewhere.  Imagine my surprise, then, when I got home and flipped it over only to see the serial-numbering indicating it's actually the Silver parallel!  Jackpot for me, apparently.  I don't mind that Mick's featured here with the Orioles instead of the Tigers since he got such a card with Detroit last year.  I'm still including him with the rest of my Tigers hits as he'll always be a Motown fan favorite for me.

Don't forget to take a gander over at TMM this evening, then some of you can expect some fun trade packages before long!

8-10-14 card show report: SPxcellence

It's been a bit less than a month since I last hit a card show, but with the usual sources not turning up much recently, I decided to head back to Gibraltar Trade Center in Taylor at least one more time before it closes up shop later this year.

As usual my focus was PC cards for me and trade bait for you guys.  I found some of each, and the former can be seen on a TMM post this evening, and the latter will hit a few of your mailboxes soon!

I eventually got sick of flipping through quarter/$0.50/$1 boxes and hit a wax dealer on the way out.  I'm not a big box breaker anymore, but I did see one that caught my eye:

I loves me some Upper Deck football cards, which nowadays combine beautiful photography and design with college photos.  I threw down $65 for 10 packs of five cards, including four guaranteed hits.  After I got back I looked up Blowout's box price, and while it's $10 less, that doesn't account for shipping (and waiting), so I don't feel like I overspent.

Here's how I did:

Base cards:  40/50 (80%), no doubles

Since this was a relatively small number of cards, I just scanned 'em all to show them off:

Pretty good player selection other than Andy Katzenmoyer.  Lots of big names and nice photos.  I'll likely just grab them from Sportlots, but if anybody has the 10 I need please let me know:
3 10 13 15 23 36 37 39 40 50

As always, here's a back for completeness in the form of set's lone Wolverine, Anthony Carter:

Inserts: 

1996 Inserts:  Collin Klein and Steve Young; 1997 Inserts Landry Jones

I love the callback to SPx's designs from 18 and 17 years ago (wait, seriously?!), especially the '97 card, although my experience with both original sets is limited to baseball.

Finite Legends Eddie George (#209/899); Finite Rookies Tyler Eifert (#464/899) and E.J. Manuel (#783/899) (3:10 odds)

Pretty good players again here, even if one of them is a Buckeye.  These are heavy on the gold foil, but I like how they look.

Hits: 

Le'Veon Bell Autograph Jersey (#108/475)
Keenan Allen Winning Big Materials Patch (#06/10)
Ryan Nassib Super Scripts auto
Marquess Wilson Rookie 2013 Signatures auto (#228/299)

Well, I got my four promised hits, three of which were guaranteed to be autographed.  Although Bell's a Spartan, he was still a good pull and I'm hoping he'll get me a chunk of change back.  The Allen falls closer to Topps' definition of a "patch" but is limited enough that maybe I can get something for it as well.  I like the design of the Nassib auto but it'll likely take a bit to find someone that wants it.  As for the Wilson, after I posted the results of my break on Blowout I was quickly able to trade it for a Denard Robinson relic, so that's a plus.

Overall it was an enjoyable rip, even if it was a quick one at just 10 packs.  I pulled zero doubles, the set will be cheap to complete, and I got some sellable/tradeable inserts and hits.  If you find this at a show or elsewhere for around $50 total I'd call it a no-brainer.

Everything you see from the inserts on down is available for trade minus the Marquess Wilson, so if you see something you like please let me know!

7-13-14 card show report: diamond deals

I hadn't been to a card show since April, but yesterday the thought of flipping through some cards in-person was enough to draw me to the redneck haven that is Gibraltar Trade Center in Taylor, Michigan, before they close up for good.  Example of said redneckness:  a bumper sticker that says "Jean Claude Damn Van."  Oh you....

Anyway, I managed to get out of the place having spent a reasonable $31 over two purchase:
-$20 at a table full of $1 and $2 cards (mostly hits!), including 14 of the former and three of the latter
-$11 at one that included quarter and $0.50 boxes, plus some other hits as priced

I'll be showing off nine of my pickups on this blog and the other 10 on TMM this evening.  The rest of my purchases came in the form of trade bait that'll be out in the mail pretty soon, so some of you should watch your mailboxes with baited breath.

Here's the baseball stuff I scored, all of which came from the quarter and $0.50 boxes:

Paul Foytack 1960 Topps

Wow, a 1960 Topps card of a Tiger I've heard of for just $0.50?  SHUT UP AND TAKE MY QUARTERS.  This isn't exactly in terrible condition either.  It's not like I'm long on very vintage baseball stuff right now, much less Tigers, so this was a cool find.

Les Cain-Dave Campbell 1969 Topps RC

Speaking of vintage Tigers, how about two of them, multiplayer RC-style?  Cain pitched in parts of four seasons with Detroit, and interestingly enough, his #1 similarity score on Baseball-Reference is current A's pitcher Tommy Milone.  Campbell, who was naturally nicknamed "Soup," was actually a Michigan alum who appeared in parts of eight seasons, mostly with the Padres after he was shipped to San Diego in a deal that brought Joe Niekro to the Tigers.  I may just start a player collection for him!

Larry Bowa 1970 Topps RC

Phillies fans will surely recognize the guy on the bottom as Bowa played in the City of Brotherly Love for 12 of his 16 years, then managed the team for four of his six in that role.  That merits his inclusion as a significant rookie in my baseball RC collection.

Norm Cash 1974 Topps

I was getting close to the magic number of 12 $0.50 cards (12/$5 being the deal) when I dug this up and decided it should come home with me.  "Stormin'" Norman Cash was a well known Tigers slugger and '68 champ, so getting a vintage issue of him is fun.

Bill Madlock 1974 Topps RC

Here's a guy I know Matt likes to collect, although on his RC he appears with the Cubs instead of the Bucs; I suppose those with dyslexia might not see the difference.  Mad Dog was actually drafted by the Senators/Rangers, then traded by Texas to the Cubbies in a deal for Fergie Jenkins.  Madlock is probably best known for his seven years with the Pirates.

Tim Raines 1981 Topps RC

Today's final multiplayer RC features 808 base-stealer Tim Raines, known best for his seasons with the Expos and White Sox.  He and Lou Brock are each other's #1 Baseball-Reference similarity score player, but you can decide for yourself if you think he belongs.

Bill Freehan 2006 Greats of the Game Copper (#022/299)

My 75th Freehan card for his PC is this purdy Copper Parallel from another of Fleer's excellent entries in the Greats of the Game series.  I was shocked to find it at the show since I don't think I'd ever seen one for sale, not that they're particularly rare.

Ken Griffey Jr. 2012 Topps Mega Boxes Exclusive Chrome Refractor

And why shouldn't I nab a Griffey Refractor while I'm flipping through rows and rows of cards?  I don't have very many newer inserts of Junior, so I thought this would be a fun pickup.

Cal Ripken Jr. 1995 Studio Gold

Ditto this Ripken insert from the credit card-like '95 Studio set, which I'm still cool with, apparently more than others.  There really wasn't much of Cal to choose from, so I took what I could get, but even with a better selection I would've nabbed this.

Don't forget to head over to TMM to see my other scores, and again, some of you should expect a fun card or three in the mail soon!

2014 COMC purchase: Vladdy's your daddy (plus a shipping update)

Quick shipping update:

All but five packages are in the mail.  The ones that haven't gone out include:
-Sports Cards From the Dollar Store, because I'm awaiting a handful of cards from COMC
-Chavez Ravining; Great Sports Name Hall of Fame; Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle; Raz Card Blog, because I'm awaiting shipping materials that will make it more affordable to ship four of the largest lots in the group.

Sorry to everyone for the wait!  Rest assured that when that stuff arrives I'll get your cards to you quickly.  After seeing what a couple pounds of cards cost to ship, I looked into alternatives, one of which is shipping boxes within flat rate Priority bubble envelopes, which should save me a ton.

As for the 20 others not on that list, many of you should be receiving packages very soon if you haven't already, including the three others in Canada.  Enjoy!

COMV (check out my Vlads):

I recently teased a pickup from COMC I was pretty excited about, and today I'm finally showing it off:

Vladimir Guerrero 1995 Bowman RC

With just a bit of credit left (and $3 set aside for shipping), I had just enough to have a reasonable offer accepted for one of the more significant RCs of the mid-90s.  I'd wanted one of Vlad's rookies for quite a while, but prices have remained stubbornly high for a guy who's no longer playing and isn't a mortal lock for the Hall.  Still, he put up great numbers, was a star despite spending a lot of his career in Montreal, and was simply fun to watch.  Nobody could hit pitches that bounced in front of the plate like Guererro did.

Over 16 seasons between the Expos (eight seasons), Angels (six), Rangers, and Orioles (one each), Vlad produced some pretty nice counting stats:  a .318/.379/.553 slash with 449 HR, almost 2600 hits and 1500 RBI, and 181 steals.  He was a nine-time All-Star and named a Silver Slugger at his position eight times.  Almost exclusively a RF (which drew comparisons to a legend at the position in Roberto Clemente), he was known for a cannon arm.  And he was recognized as a top-five player in MVP voting in 2005 and 2007 (third) as well as 2004, when he was selected as the AL winner over Gary Sheffield and Manny Ramirez thanks to a .337 BA/.989 OPS, 39 HR, 126 RBI, and 15 steals.

An undrafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic, Vlad has some lofty baseball-reference Similarity Scores:  his top comparison is Jeff Bagwell--a guy who may see the Hall himself--along with Larry Walker, future HOFer Albert Pujols, and current HOFers Jim Rice, Willie Stargell, Billy Williams, and Duke Snider.  Vladdy's HOF Scores put him in relatively good shape, though it's hard to know what voters will do these days, especially as recent power numbers have become more suspect.  Still, there's no argument he was a significantly good player for a large majority of his career--hell, his career low batting averages (discounting his nine games in 1996) were .295 in 2009 and .290 in 2011, his final year!

All of that is just a long way of saying that Guerrero was a legitimate recent star that was lots of fun to watch and collect, and I'm thrilled to have one of his two key RCs, with the more expensive Bowman's Best (hooray pre-Chrome days!) being the other.  I'll treasure it with the rest of my favorites in my Baseball Rookies PC.

2014 COMC purchase: the JV trio

"JV" refers to both the initials of this blog's namesake as well as the level he's unfortunately been pitching at this season, although to be fair, pitchers do age and have to learn how to pitch when their stuff isn't what it once was.  Plus there's still plenty of time to right the ship!

Anyway, while I was scoring gobs of cards for the collections featured on my other blog, I picked up a trio of new Verlanders for his PC:

Justin Verlander 2012 and 2013 Topps Tribute

Tribute is a crazy expensive brand where the cost almost always vastly outweighs the reward.  The solution:  let some chump who's easily parted with his money bust the wax and you can buy the cards at dirt cheap prices!  These shiny, thick, premium base cards each set me back less than a buck, plus they look fantastic.  I also like seeing a couple different variations of the Tigers' jerseys.

Justin Verlander 2013 Pinnacle Pinnacle of Success

This was my real favorite on the day.  A translucent beauty, this insert hails from Panini's unlicensed 2013 Pinnacle set, but fortunately the lack of logo is only noticeable on JV's hat, and that's only a minor quibble since the rest of the card demands your attention.  Pinnacle came up with some very cool and innovative inserts in the 90s and Panini honored that with this set!

I've got a ton more Verlanders to scan--you might say too many (ha ha ha...sigh)--but I look forward to being able to show a lot more off when I can set aside the time.

By the way, I have a June COMC package heading my way soon, and that includes one card I'll be excited to show off over here.

You complete me, May 2014 edition: Part 3

It's been a couple weeks since my last You Complete Me post, so instead of splitting up this last group in two (since they came over the course of two separate days), I thought I'd just finish the series up today because, hey, things come in threes, right?

As usual, the last day is the payoff day; although I showed off five packages in those first two posts, I hadn't completed any of the sets I was chasing.  Fortunately, that's not the case today!  Here's the final four packages, with three originating from Sportlots and the last one arriving as part of a recent COMC order:
Envelope #1 (Sportlots):

With four packages today I decided to scan just one page worth of each.  This one had 21 cards so I tried to pick a few highlights.  17 of the cards hailed from the 2008 Score set, from which I still needed a ton, especially the rookies.  The group just happens to have three Wolverines:  Brady, Manningham, and Hart, and I managed to find another star QB and a couple significant rookies to feature as well.

The other four cards were from 2012 Upper Deck (just the Star Rookies part of the set since I went with retail), and all three players represent excellent college teams.  The fourth was a Michigan State player, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna show one off on MY blog if I don't wanna!  As usual, I love the photography, design, and college unis here.

# of cards:  21     # of sets added to:  2     # of sets completed:  0

Envelope #2 (Sportlots): 

This was by far the biggest package from the haul.  One seller on Sportlots happened to have an absolute ton of 2008 Scores I needed, and at that rate it made sense to pile them into one shipment instead of spreading them out over others.  I believe 78 of the 79 cards were from that set, including the stars and rookies you see above.  Again, I managed to land a couple Wolverines in Super Bowl-winner Toomer and Saints rookie Arrington.

Ware's base card is the only representative from the '08 UD First Edition set here, but again, it made sense to include it (along with some baseball PC guys you'll eventually see on the other blog).  The former Cowboy (which is really strange to consider) looks as menacing as ever here.

# of cards:  79     # of sets added to:  2     # of sets completed:  0

Envelope #3 (Sportlots): 

From the largest package we move onto one of the smallest, which included just these needs (plus a baseball PC pickup), but that doesn't make them any less valuable.  First up is another pair of rookies from '08 First Edition, putting me that much closer to the set.  Woodson was a pretty good QB for Kentucky before flaming out in the pros while Stewart, at star at Oregon, had a few good years for Carolina before declining line the prototypical RB.

The Broyles was even more useful, if that's actually possible for a card of a guy who plays (when he's not hurt, which is always) for the Lions--it completes the first set of the day, 2012 UD.  He looks as determined as I was to finish off some sets last month!

# of cards:  3     # of sets added to:  2     # of sets completed:  1

Envelope #4 (COMC):

Despite eight Sportlots packages, it still took another visit to COMC to mop things up.  That purchase included 19 cards that went towards a couple sets, 2008 Score and UD First Edition, split roughly evenly.  In a few cases COMC was cheaper than Sportlots, and in some others it had cards available that the latter didn't.

Matt Ryan was the heavy hitter in both sets, though I don't feel like I had to overpay for both of his RCs.  Better yet, I scored a trio of rookies of some of my favorite Wolverines in Henne, Long, and Hart.  And best of all, these cards close the books on those two sets!

# of cards:  19     # of sets added to:  2     # of sets completed:  2

Stats for the day:

• Packages:  4
• Total cards:  122
• Sets added to:  3
• Sets completed:  3

Total You Complete Me stats:

• Packages:  9
• Total cards:  158
• Sets added to:  3
• Sets completed:  3

After nine packages, 150+ cards, and three completed sets, it's time to drop the curtain on another edition of You Complete Me.  Once again it was extremely productive; if you don't think completing just three sets is impressive, consider that one was the huge and tricky 2008 Score, and that my football set wantlist now looks like this, with all of two sets remaining!

I'm not sure if I'll go right back at it this month or focus my efforts and dollars elsewhere for a bit, but you can write in stone that I'll have those last sets completed pretty soon!

You complete me, May 2014 edition: Part 2

Yesterday I showed off my first pair of YCM packages from this month, and today I have three more:

Envelope #1 (SportLots):

This is my second envelope that included just one card from 2008 UD First Edition, but that's mainly because I tracked most of those down on COMC instead, since some of the prices were better there.  Thanks to Tashard here, I'm now down to 16 needed from that set.  Speaking of Choice, the Cowboys fourth-rounder out of Georgia Tech (after transferring from Oklahoma) had pretty nice junior and senior seasons but doesn't have much to show for his pro career.
# of cards:  1     # of sets added to:  1     # of sets completed:  0

Envelope #2 (SportLots):

This package is the debut of 2008 Score football in this series.  I began piecing the set together mostly from discounted rack packs, but that quickly dried up as a reasonable source for completion when my extras piled up like crazy.  The biggest issue is that the rookies, all 110 of them, are a bit short-printed.  Fortunately I was able to find the majority of them (and most of the other base) I needed at or around the Sportlots minimum of $0.18.  I haven't received the package that contains my largest purchase of them, but this one, at 15 cards, goes a long way towards the set anyway.  Better yet, it includes a rookie of former Michigan star and 2008 #1 overall pick Jake Long.  Some of the other guys are also very notable, especially Stewart, DRC, and Charles.  Look for a bunch more of these soon.
# of cards:  15     # of sets added to:  1     # of sets completed:  0

Envelope #3 (SportLots):

...as soon as right now, actually.  As with the Choice card above, this one wasn't the sole card in the envelope as it also included some baseball PC guys from the same seller.  My 16th Score card of the day is this RC of former two-time Lions RB Kevin Smith, a speed-burner of a third-rounder for Detroit out of UCF in 2008.  He showed a ton of promise during his rookie season, scoring 8 TDs and rattling off almost 1000 rushing yards, but fell off from there, and he's now up north in the CFL.

I still need a buttload of cards from the set, but at least I was able to make some headway today, with all 16 cards being the tougher-to-get rookies.
# of cards:  1     # of sets added to:  1     # of sets completed:  0

That's it for today, but I still have a few more Sportlots envelopes on the way, and hopefully those will be followed by my second COMC delivery of the month soon!
Stats for the day:

• Packages:  3
• Total cards:  17
• Sets added to:  2
• Sets completed:  0

Total You Complete Me stats:

• Packages:  5
• Total cards:  36
• Sets added to:  3
• Sets completed:  0

You complete me, May 2014 edition: Part 1

It's that time again--another massive order from Sportlots means I get to celebrate with another edition of You Complete Me!  Once again I threw some effort (and money) into completing some sets while also scoring some cards for my baseball PCs.

This time it was all about football, which makes sense since I previously eliminated all of my baseball wants and currently am working on just one baseball insert set.  My football wantlist is in great shape too, and thanks to these posts will look even better shortly.  I combined some seller's loot and a round of package-optimizing to minimize shipping, and now I have 13 packages headed my way.

Four of those arrived today, and two of them included set wants:
Envelope #1 (SportLots):

You first saw the 2008 Upper Deck First Edition football set on this blog way back in August of 2011, when I chose a box of the product as my freebie from D&A's while ordering my case of 2011 Topps Football.  I wasn't very kind in my review considering I managed to avoid pulling a complete set (I was missing 21 cards) despite a staggering 120 extras, plus the inserts were whack.  All this time later I still needed 18 cards, and because I like the rookie class from that year (have I mentioned that?), I decided I'd go for it.  This Star Rookie of Erik Ainge, the erstwhile Tennessee QB, is the first step towards completion, but I'll give you a heads-up right now that Sportlots wasn't enough by itself to sew things up....

# of cards:  1     # of sets added to:  1     # of sets completed:  0

Envelope #2 (SportLots):

NOW we're getting somewhere.  I began collecting this set with a couple retail value packs closer to when it came out, and just a few weeks ago I found a very nice deal on a few more of those, landing me just 23 cards shy of the 100 Star Rookies.  It seemed like an opportune time to chase the set Sportlots-style, and fortunately I was able to find one seller who had a scanner-friendly 18 of those.  As usual I love the Upper Deck design and photography, and I'm happy to say that I even know who a lot of these guys are, including QBs like 40-year-old Browns laugh draft pick Brandon Weeden, Northwestern's Dan Persa, and LSU's Jarrett Lee, plus Alabama RB (and also Cleveland bust) Trent Richardson.  Oh yeah, and then there's the guy in the maize and blue helmet, Mike Martin--I hear he's pretty good too.

Stay tuned for the rest of the set pretty soon.
# of cards:  18     # of sets added to:  1     # of sets completed:  0

I'll have more for you as the other packages from this purchase arrive!

Stats for the day:

• Packages:  2
• Total cards:  19
• Sets added to:  2
• Sets completed:  0

Total You Complete Me stats:

• Packages:  2
• Total cards:  19
• Sets added to:  2
• Sets completed:  0