2024 trade package #15: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store part 1: everything but hockey

Tonight let's take a look at part of the latest big-ass shipment from Doug over at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store, received by me in August.

That's right--I said "part of" because he literally sent me this:

I split it into hockey and non-hockey, and you'll be getting the latter tonight. In true SCFtDS form, you'll get to see a large package broken up into multiple posts!

Baseball's up first and my Tigers PCs, some old and many new, were well represented. I don't know if Baez is long for a roster spot but that Bowman's Best is pretty cool. The '72 Gator would be cool enough on its own but this one is a Canadian special: O-Pee-Chee! Miggy makes a few recent-ish appearances here plus one more in the horizontals section. Campos is only 21 and a potential OF prospect to watch. Traded Tiger Canha joins a bunch of others in this post from this year's Heritage.

Cronenworth is of course a favorite. Flaherty is surely happy to be with the NL champion Dodgers while the Tigers got two solid prospects in the deal. Gold is 24 and still in high A while Graham will be that age early next year and seems to be hovering around A+ himself. The Riley Greene playing card is a cool one of a fun player I'm definitely growing to like on the team. And Griffey was pretty good in his day as well.

Jobe is pretty much the franchise's top prospect after going 3rd overall in 2021 and he was though of highly enough to make a late-season MLB debut followed by a couple appearances in the playoffs, which had to be thrilling for a young dude. Jung is another top-100 prospect for the team and while his '24 MLB debut wasn't amazing, it was cool to see the '22 first-rounder get some ABs with the big team. Keith is locked up for a few seasons and could be a key part of a rebuilt offense. Kemp is another OPC Tiger from my Canadian buddy, this one from 1979.

Kinsler's was a bit of a favorite of mine during his Motown tenure so I love the Refractor above. Larkin is of course a longtime personal favorite and PC guy. McGonigle is an intriguing middle IF prospect that the Tigers took 37th overall in '23. Austin didn't work out but his Tigers draftee bro Parker has shown a bit of hitting ability and a flair for web gems in the outfield so we'll probably see plenty more of him next year. Melton's a '22 4th-rounder out of San Diego State, Morris is a team legend and HOFer, and Olson is looking to be an excellent acquisition whose numbers were hampered by a sorry lack of run support (and bad health luck) this season.

I have to say, it's super cool to see a guy like Magglio in products like Panini's '23 Chronicles, including the card numbered /199 above! As with other players you saw today I'm always glad to see cards of Cal in trade packages. Skubal is largely responsible for taking what looked to be another below-average Tigers squad and making it a big story, with a Cy Young-worthy campaign that led his team to a very unlikely playoff berth! Tork recovered a bit after a dismal start and we'll likely get a better idea next year if he'll be part of the club's future. Tram is another team legend appearing courtesy of '23 Panini Select. And Papa Grande and JV had fans plenty excited back when they were starring on perennial playoff teams.

The versatile Vierling is our last standard vertical issue in the baseball group. Miggy gets another Heritage MLB pair card that looks quite cool as a throwback to past Topps designs. The two guys who led the '82 Tigers on the '83 Topps card had an especially good time in '84! A stray '85 OPC half sticker of Lou Whitaker was a very fun surprise. Jung makes a couple more appearances, including one with the also previously-seen Melton. And then we have a card of a former Tiger the likes of which I wouldn't tend to keep, but there's no way I could turn down the Leather & Lumber black gold signature you see here even if it features failed prospect Christin Stewart. Come on, how cool does that look?!

Switching over to basketball, I believe that every player seen here is currently active in the NBA. Injured Hawks G Kobe Bufkin leads all comers with three new cards. THJ had a solid 14 points in Detroit's season-opening loss last night, and the card you see above is numbered /165, which is cool. LeVert's Cavs are actually scheduled to face the Pistons tomorrow. I couldn't find any stats for Washington's Poole yet this season. And then we have the Wagner bros, Franz and Mo who combined for 30 points (23 and 7, respectively) in yesterday's season opener win against the Bulls.

Basketball got a couple new hits too! Brooks is a newcomer to both my basketball hits collection and UM basketball PC in general. He played as a G for five seasons in Ann Arbor, spanning 2017-18 to 2021-22, then went undrafted, so he's prime fodder for a product like Wild Card Alumination that gets signatures of players who probably wouldn't sniff a cardboard appearance otherwise. While he becomes the 36th subject in my basketball hits PC, Wilson gets his second: a Crown Royale jersey/auto (numbered /199). The 2017 Bucks first-rounder is pictured with the team that drafted him though he's since suited up for Houston, Doug's Raptors, and the 76ers.

As we switch over to the gridiron, transfer RB Thomas Rawls is the lone base card out of 10 items (hence splitting the remaining basketball and football into two scans). WR Amara Darboh gets a nice spotlight down the right side of the scan with three beautiful looking auto/relics. #1 is a dual jersey (you might call them "prime" as they aren't far off from patches) and football combo paired up with Darboh's signature, and the Absolute beauty is the Spectrum parallel of that product's RC, limited to "just" 99 copies. Next is Panini Phoenix's Orange parallel of his jersey/auto, clocking in at 150 copies. And finally we have a Rookies & Stars Dress for Success signature and memorabilia pairing that's also numbered /99. Fun news: these additions allowed Darboh to join the 50-hit club in the football PC! He's just the 11th player to reach that milestone.

The above three hits go quite well with this super sextet. Arrington is one of the 10 other 50-hit guys in my collection and the '09 Topps Magic autographs will always be a favorite of mine. Talented defender Devin Bush II joins the collection with his first hit, a Panini Luminance jersey that makes him football collection dude #254 and the fourth with that first name. I now have 11 Butts including the shiny one numbered /99 above, and I'll leave that there for all of you to get your best comments in. Chesson was a college teammate and position mate of Darboh's and he hit the double-digit mark with his 9th card including a signature (the other's a plate) thanks to 2017 Panini Spectra (#d /199). I would assume most of you who've followed me for long enough remember the namesake of my now-retired secondary blog, Mario Manningham, on a sweet Press Pass college uni signature. By the way, he's one hit away from joining Chad Henne in the 100-hit club while Jake Long needs three and Braylon Edwards needs six. Goals!

And last up is one of the biggest surprises in this mailing. Doug's certainly been generous enough to send me plates and other 1/1s before, but I didn't expect this Yellow 2020 Leaf Draft plate of former transfer QB Shea Patterson! The two-year Wolverine went 10-3 and 9-4 in 2018 and 2019, a few seasons before things really turned around for Jim Harbaugh's program. This appears to be my 56th 1/1 in my football PC with Shea being the 34th member to appear on at least one. I really enjoyed finding this among the rest of the loot which was already very high quality.

So as you can see I was quite pleased with the baseball, basketball, and football content. As for the hockey stuff, you'll have to wait until next time, but I promise it's worth a look as that stack was bigger than that of these three sports combined! I look forward to sharing that with you so y'all can get a feeling for just how much Doug stuffed into this box.

Until then, thanks so much for another fantastic package, Doug!

4/30/21 show report: I'd buy that for a dollar!

It's definitely been a long road--more than a year, in fact--but thanks to getting vaccinated recently I finally felt ready to head back to my usual monthly card show in Taylor this past Friday. Besides the fact that I almost always enjoy the experience of poring over boxes of cards for couple hours to bring home new stuff, I was really itching to go to grab some new trade bait. The online sources that used to treat me so well are less and less useful these days, and nothing can replace seeing cards in person, deciding you want them, and taking them home immediately--no astronomical shipping costs or USPS chaos, just instant gratification. I think you all know I love sending cards out as much as having them come into my collection, and shows are probably responsible for the majority of that trade fodder.

So I headed to Taylor early Friday afternoon and was relieved to see my favorite seller there. I ended up solely looking at the guy's $1 boxes because there were so many

(everything you see here, plus a few more to the right) and because I only have so long before I decide I've had enough. I love me some dime and quarter boxes, but this guy usually has $1s and $2s, and this time it was all dollars, so there were bound to be some good finds in there.

Roughly two hours later I came away with 70 cards from these boxes: a few keepers for me, a few for general/TCDB trade bait, and a healthy bunch for some of my favorite trade partners! Boy does it feel nice to be able to say that.

Here's a quick recap of the stuff that's not earmarked for anyone specific (available for trade!) and what I kept for myself:

This is the kind of stuff I love finding for a buck because either someone jumps at it and wants to trade for it, or I don't mind it sitting in my trade box as some pretty nice ammo for a future deal.

Wolters is an autographed letter patch (the "U" of "USA") from 2009 UD Signature Stars and is #d /100. Chandler is the "N" from his name and is also a signed manupatch, #d /250. I wasn't sure if I had the Hall 2010 Score Signatures auto but I did so I figured a fellow Michigan collector or Bengals fan might like it. Dixon is a football/auto from 2016 Panini Phoenix and is #d /199. And Hicks is a manuhelmet auto from 2003 UD Sweet Spot.

If you'd like to claim any of these, please throw a comment down below or shoot me an email and I'll be happy to work something out with you!

And now, onto my haul:

Let's start with Mr. Padre. Gwynn's a '98 Pinnacle Mint Silver parallel of the non-die-cut base card (which was bronze), and a great example of "90s inserts rule!". I probably could have found it cheaper elsewhere, but $1 seemed reasonable to me and now I don't have to wait to get it.

Kinsler put up four nice seasons in Detroit and was fun to watch, plus he helped wash the stink off of the Prince Fielder contract debacle. I happily paid a buck for my second jersey of the star 2B, though as with the one I already had he's pictured here with the team for whom he's most well know, the Rangers. Maybe I'll track down a Tigers hit at some point.

I would have sworn I had that 2005-06 SP Game Used jersey of former UM cager Bernard Robinson, but as it happens the other five cards I have of him are signed so it's actually my first relic of his. I have Maurice Taylor's jersey from the same set, and a quick look at the checklist makes me think they're the only Wolverines I needed to track down.

On the football front I found a couple cool Panini-branded rookie parallels I liked. Arrington is from the fairly confusing 2008 Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity set (not the Longevity parallel of the regular R&S product) and is an Emerald parallel numbered /49. His collection is inching closer to the century mark so I always appreciate finds like that. Former UM QB John Navarre is next with an Aspirations parallel of his 2004 Donruss Elite RC, numbered /84. The red die-cut inserts look excellent, plus the Senior Bowl photo makes it a quasi UM uni card since he's wearing the greatest helmet in college football. I've previously tracked down fellow QB Drew Henson from the same set.

And we'll finish up this post with a fun trio of relics of former TE/WR Devin Funchess. The top-most on the right is from 2015 Panini Rookies & Stars, and the set is called "Longevity Rookie Jerseys" but the good news is there was no separate Longevity product that year, so no confusion there! Below that is a Topps Rookie Jumbo Relics jersey from the same year. And on the bottom right you'll find my favorite of the three out of 2016 Panini Unparalleled. Yes, I'm a sucker for shininess (and serial numbering--in this case /199) but in my view it easily has the best design, doing lots with Carolina's team colors. The R&S card is second for using at least some of the franchise's colors, and Topps is last for using various shades of gray that wouldn't be out of place in a February sky. These additions give me 10 Funchess relics and 18 hits overall.

Like I said, it was fantastic to get back to a card show after a layoff of more than a year, and I'm gunning to go back next month to see what that'll bring. I may have to continue skipping buying some needed supplies--mainly toploaders for my thicker cards--until they become more reasonable, but I'll be ready to hit those boxes once again to dig up some hidden gems and trade bait. And speaking of the latter, some of it may be heading to your mailbox as you read this!

2019 Sportlots purchases: Rookie Blue on a Bye

The boys in Maize & Blue may be on a bye week but that doesn't mean I can't have my own Michigan Football Saturday.  Today I'm covering 62 new cards for my Rookie Blue project where I'm chasing every RC of each guy to suit up for Michigan (excluding autograph and relic cards).  Since this is a chase I started when I was still posting on Too Many Manninghams, the checklist I'm working from is currently here while the album containing what I've picked up so far can be found here.

And now on to the new stuff for today.  In the past I've generally shied away from buying these RCs on Sportlots because most of my spending leans toward the $0.18 site minimum price.  This time, though, I finally bit on some that were in the $0.45-$0.75 range, especially from one seller who had a bunch I needed, many of them numbered.  My overall spending has been down this year and this purchase was very productive so it was pretty easy for me to justify it, especially after surveying the damage to that checklist I mentioned above.

So here's the main event:  62 new RCs of 35 former Wolverines!:

2008 draftee and PC guy Arrington's numbered '08 Stadium Club RC is my 17th of his 19.  Former OL Baas only has five to chase but they've been tough sledding, and the UD pair above gives me three.  Touchdown Tim gets his 30th of 32 thanks to '96 Score Board Lasers, a card I hadn't caught for my checklist until recently.  Michigan-to-W. Illinois LB transfer Bowens had just one card for me to chase:  that 2005 Topps Total.  Alan Branch (who kills QBs) gets numbered '07 Gridiron Gear Retail (ugh) and Select first-years to put me one short of his 26 RCs.  Finally, you can see two Butts (hehe) out of three in this post, in this case '17 Playoff and Rookies & Stars.

Campbell's '99 Fleer Focus was a huge add for me here because that numbered RC was impossible for me to find for under $1 until recently on Sportlots, and now I've tracked down all three of his cards.  Former Cowboy Charlton, who's doing pretty well when he, you know, actually gets playing time, gets within one card of halfway to his 20 after the '17 Select you see.  You'll also see Chesson again below, and for now Rookies & Stars and Prizm from 2017 are above, followed by fellow '17 guy Darboh's own R&S.  Darden's '74 Topps fixes an earlier misstep when I thought his '75 was the RC for some reason, and I'm glad to have that fixed, not to mention a new vintage add!  And then we have three out of a five-card run of transfer RB Fargas:  2003 Bowman Chrome plus Fleer Authentix and Focus (the latter of which are numbered).  Some of you might recall that that "Rookie Authentix" piece in the middle can be removed, another goofy Fleer innovation of the time.

This scan begins with the other two Fargas RCs, Mystique and UD's Honor Roll, which are also numbered, and I'm now half way to his 22.  Gold is a guy from 2000 so his stuff can get a bit of a Brady bump, but the Playoff Momentum above, my 7th of his 9, wasn't bad.  Fellow '07 draftees and PC guys Hall and Harris appear on numbered cards from Select and SP Authentic, and while I need three more of Hall's 23, the Harris is the 24th and final RC of the former tackling machine, sewing up another player.  Here-and-gone dual-sport guy Henson gets a nice trio highlighted by '04 Fleer Greats along with Playoff Honors and the college-themed Prestige for 18 of his 37.  And lesser known 2017 DB Delano Hill marks the first of three appearances of Panini Phoenix with one of his two rookie issues.

PC guy Marlin Jackson's 25th of 30 first-years is from '05 Ultimate Collection like Baas's above, and we'll see that product (different year) in a couple more scans.  '97 Ultra (and its great design!) was the last of three I needed for transfer TE Damon Jones.  Speaking of that position, I landed a couple more for Bennie Joppru:  the gorgeous '04 Donruss Classics plus Fleer's Avant, both numbered, which get me to 25/32.  I'm short just one of WR Marcus Knight's 15 rookies thanks to this 2000 trio of Fleer Showcase and Leaf Certified (both numbered) plus Playoff's Absolute (surprisingly not numbered!).  And I was thrilled to knock off a beautiful pair of numbered college uni RCs starring '04 DB Jeremy LeSueur--Classics and Elite, which leave me three short of his nine.

CB Jourdan Lewis is 2017 Panini Phoenix guy #2, which is also RC #2 in his collection.  Former #1 overall pick Long joins Arrington from '08 Stadium Club for his 19th of 22 rookies.  Transfer QB Mallett gets a big boost with six cards, all from 2011 Topps brands, to get him up to 8/10.  And we get the first of a pair starring another QB, John Navarre.  This one's from 2004 Fleer Platinum, and I was surprised that it was a numbered card given the brand's history.

Navarre's other issue is from the previously mentioned Ultimate Collection, and his pair puts him at 13/25, as his stuff continues to be a thorn in my side.  Do-everything dude Jabrill Peppers is '17 Phoenix player #3, and the 8th of his 21 RCs is from a product that's grown on me a bit.  Next you can see two of the three Jon Ritchies I found, representing another backfield guy that transferred from Michigan and ended up with the Raiders.  These are from '98 Bowman Chrome and Skybox Premium.  Aaron Shea is yet another 2000 draftee and here you see him on a shiny and numbered Pacific Prism Prospects card (his 11th of 15) which is a good reminder that the Brady from this set and others will be super expensive.  I happily checked off another player by adding RC #9 of 1999 WR Tai Streets from Leaf Certified.  Toomer joined Biakabutuka above from the '96 Score Board Lasers set and I now need just two of his 23.  And finally this scan includes a numbered pair of LB standout LaMarr Woodley--2007 Donruss Classics and Leaf Certified Materials--that go nicely with a third card below.

This mostly horizontal scan starts with a trio from the love-it-or-hate-it 2017 Panini Unparalleled set, including the previously seen Butt (7/14) and Chesson (8/13) plus the lone RC of DT Ryan Glasgow, part of the amazing walk-on family at the school.  The well-traveled Dhani Jones has two RCs and you can see one above, which he shares with a couple other Giants in 2003 Topps Total.  Another Giant follows as transfer CB Will Peterson (#2 of 4) appears on his numbered 2001 Titanium Post Season that uses a kick-ass die-cut design.  Ritchie's third card is also a die-cut from '98 Crown Royale, and gets me to 7 of his 12.  WR David Terrell looks a bit lonely without fellow Bears draftee Anthony Thomas on a 2001 Fleer Legacy RC that puts him at 27/53 rookies and 149 cards overall, one short of his RB counterpart.  And lastly, we have one more vertical card that didn't fit in a group of nine:  Woodley's numbered 2007 Topps Performance base, which puts him at 20/26.

This post plus some fun results on the field today definitely made this a fun college football Saturday for me.  And for those of you who prefer the diamond, I'm now done posting football pickups and should have something like five baseball posts to close out this series.  Thanks for reading and GO BLUE!

2019 COMC purchases: preposterous PC pickups

I'm back this evening to end this latest COMC series, which is good since it won't be long until Black Friday/Cyber Monday time when I'll be loading up once again.

Today's the big finish for this haul, with cards scanned in groups because I originally planned to split them up into smaller posts before realizing that would just drag things out unnecessarily.  On a day that mark's the birth of one of college's top 10 players of all time, Charles Woodson (who's not included in this post) let's have a look at the remaining Michigan Football hits:

Scans 1 and 2 include WRs and RBs, with this one covering the verticals.  Outspoken wideout and guy who can't keep his foot out of his mouth Braylon Edwards gets three new jersey relics added to his total (now 85, good for third place), including a multi-color swatch from 2010 Epix.  

You'll see A-Train again in a minute (with his partner in crime), but for now have a look at a simple jersey card from 2002 Pacific.  

And another wideout also gets one of multiple appearances in Marquise Walker, who shares a 2002 Playoff Honors card with Bucs RB Travis Stephens, a guy that outshone Walker by catching his only pass in one NFL game.

And now for the horizontals.  Sure-handed receiver Jason Avant leads things off with a simple jersey from 2006 that I would have sworn I had if I hadn't checked.  Nope, it's new to me and it's hit #60 in his collection, one of a few fun milestones today.  Also, you can ignore the Chris Perry jersey, which looks great and would be nicer if I didn't already own it.  Oh well, trade bait!

Next is 2001 Bears duo David Terrell plus Thomas again, each on 2001 Playoff Honors jersey RCs numbered /725.  A-Train goes for a third score, as he often did, with a 2002 Gridiron Kings Gridiron Cut Collection ball relic (#317/550) on one of that brand's many cool designs.  Terrell now sits at 44 hits and 148 overall cards while Thomas pulls away a bit at 53 and 150.  Milestone #2!

Last up in this bunch is jersey this time of Walker, hailing from 2002 Leaf Rookies & Stars.  Again, we've got a simple design but a nice, bold jersey swatch, and you know I pick these up super cheap; I pretty much aim for $1.50 and under when it comes to "game-used" stuff.  The guy who wore #4 gets his 24th hit out of 63 overall cards.

Now we'll shift gears a bit with a scan that covers defense and QBs.  I rarely get enough of the D side of the ball to justify its own post anyway so I have to group them in somewhere!  As far as those go, we'll start with Leon Hall on an acetate auto out of 2007 Upper Deck Trilogy (#40/99).  This is one of those cards that's difficult to scan so if I didn't point out that it's clear you wouldn't know.  An autographed parallel of his RC from the product, it gets me to 39 Halls.

Joining him on defense is tackling machine David Harris.  We just saw the star LB in the inserts post, and how he's back with relics designed in both orientations.  Up top is a shiny 2012 Limited Threads jersey (#92/99) while a 2010 Topps Peak Performance Relic sits in the bottom-right corner.  Autographs are always better but I take what I can get with defensive players, and I'm happy to move up to a solid 31 hits (84 cards overall) of the former Jet/Patriot.

Though he played RB late in his college career and during his short NFL tenure, I still count Denard Robinson as a QB, so here he is.  Above you can see a pair of 2013 Absolute Rookie Premiere relics I scored featuring Shoelace, with one being the Oversize Jersey Number variant (#57/99) and the other spelling out "NFL" (#68/99). I now count 44 hits in my Denard collection, and a milestone-worthy 101 overall cards thanks to this pair!

Moving on to a guy who enjoyed a longer NFL tenure, you can see three horizontal Brian Griese relics along the right side of the scan.  All of them hail from Fleer brands:  2001 E-X and Ultra and 2002 Ultra.  Griese's relics that I find tend toward basic designs since he wasn't a big factor when those cards got a bit more interesting.  He's still a pretty big deal in my collection, though, at 23 hits and an almost-milestone 198 overall items.

The last two scans fall into the category of "the great 2008s," my favorite Michigan draft class, rivaled only by the guys chosen a year earlier.  I couldn't tell you which scan I prefer because both are amazing, and anyway, I don't have to!

Starting us off is a new 2008 SP Threads manu-letter auto of WR Adrian Arrington.  I haven't been able to complete his base set, last name nameplate yet as I'm short three of the nine cards, but I now have my second letter from the College Autographs version, which--get this--spells out the college's name.  I can add this "N" to an "I" I'd previously scored, putting me a quarter of the way toward that one.  It'll also reside in double-A's PC, which stands at 55 hits (#7 overall) out of 89 cards.

And then there's blog favorite QB Chad Henne with three new signature items.  First is a 2008 SP Rookie Edition auto that honors the '93 SP design.  I'll need to chase down the other three at some point.  Next is a signed version, featuring a cut out window for the main event, of his 2008 Stadium Club rookie.  I now own one of these for all five Wolverines in the set:  Henne, Arrington, Jake Long, Mike Hart, and Mario Manningham.  Maybe I'll show off all of them together at some point.  For now, though, the showstopper is a 2008 Upper Deck Premier quad patch/auto (#15/30) of the journeyman QB.  My purchase history says I plunked down a measly $4.21 for this beauty, and I'm glad I did!

Henne continues to the the charge with a crazy 128 hits (still the only guy above 100 for now) and an almost-milestone-ish 296 overall pieces.

Speaking of crazy, today's big winner has me celebrating too many Manninghams!  That's eight, count 'em, eight new hits of the super WR.  We'll take a run through them in a few groups.

The first two pairs all include some sort of jersey relic:  2008 Bowman Sterling Refractor, Leaf Certified Materials ("prime"), Donruss Threads, and one of those nifty LCM Souvenir Stamps stamp/jersey relic.  Pretty cool!

Next is a 2009 SP Signature triple auto card starring the man himself, former teammate Adrian Arrington, and...Lavelle Hawkins.  I guess the latter was also a 2008 draftee with the letters "A", "I", and "N" in his last name?  Anyway, I love cards with multiple Wolverines, and this one fits the bill.

Last up is a trio of 2008 SPx multi-jersey cards, adding to my huge collection from that product.  A quick check tells me I have 41, covering the vast array of variants like these three:  "Star and Position Dual 25," "Unique Shape Triple 15," and "Jersey Number Dual 25."  That's right, UD came up with a design and didn't know what the hell to call it either!

This was an insanely fun way to close out another fantastic haul for my collection, and it makes Manningham just the second player to hit the 90-card mark at 93 hits (216 cards overall).

As always I had a blast hunting down and scoring new pieces for my collection and I'm looking forward to doing it again in just a few weeks.  But before then I have lots more to cover, so be on the lookout for more posts here soon!

It's like a virtual card show for about two-fiddy, plus WTF Chris Olds?

Mandatory Blowout purchase section:

Yadda, yadda, Blowout, right?  I realize I just did the mad libs thing, so I'll just keep this one simple:  six cards for $17 as they were $2.50 each out of the guy's Picasa Web Album (which he was still calling a Bucket for some reason).  I grabbed three for me and three that were trade bait, which explains the card show reference in the title--almost every time I go I get about 50% PC stuff and 50% trade bait, but never on purpose.


Trade bait:

• Brooks Foster 2009 Bowman Draft College Letter Patch Auto "R" (#039/173) (North Carolina)
• Aaron Brooks 2001 Topps Reserve auto
• Syndric Steptoe 2007 Leaf R&S patch/auto/RC (#093/299)

The Steptoe is destined to go to Tim, and if he doesn't take it, he'll be dead to me (people will say "Did you see Tim's latest post?" and I'll say "Yeah, it's a shame the way he went, though, at the fireworks factory--who would have thought he'd get run over by a clown car there?").

The other two are up for grabs for now.  The Brooks is a BA Benny-preferred card, but I'm certainly open to offers since I probably have more than enough to send his way.

Now for the stuff for me:

Adrian Arrington 2008 SP Rookie Threads Signing Day auto:  I'll start by saying I really like the design on these for some reason.  It might be the way the autograph section really pops, plus you can't really tell it's a sticker until you look up-close because it's clear.  It doesn't hurt that Arrington has an interesting autograph.  This is #18 of him in my collection and continues my streak of nothing but autographs of the former Michigan WR.

Charles Woodson 2006 Fleer Fabrics jersey:  W00t for doubling my Woodson hit collection.  Although he's pictured here as a Raider and the swatch might actually be from a black Oakland jersey (I really can't tell), I'm counting this as a Packers card because that's the listed team, that's who he just won the Super Bowl with, plus Oakland just outderped themselves and spent a THIRD-ROUND PICK in the supplemental draft on Terrell "Everybody murders" Pryor.

Jason Avant 2006 Prestige jersey RC:  A nice green rookie-year swatch of the sure-handed receiver.  I'm hoping for good things for Avant with Vick QBing now that he has a full year under his belt back from suspension.  This is Avant #17 for me, by the way.

Look for more, as usual, pretty soon, including another very exciting addition to one of my baseball PCs!

WTF, Chris Olds?:

I generally object to many of the things that Beckett's editor Chris Olds does--his box breaks annoy me to no end, and of course he's part of the "Hobby has never been better" up-your-ass smoke-blowing committee--but I picked today to ask "WTF?" about his latest piece of "journalism."  Here, Olds explains why Bull Durham is not his #1 baseball movie.  So far, so good--I'm not sure it's mine, either, and I have a hard time choosing one above the rest.  His main beef is that the teams Durham plays in the movie are geographically ridiculous and overall inaccurate.
While I disagree with this as a major reason to knock a movie down on your list, I don't dispute his right to use whatever criteria to order it.  What I'm most annoyed by   is that the article/editorial has zero purpose:  it's very short, its lazily-written, and most importantly, it doesn't even mention what his #1 baseball movie IS.  If you enjoy one-to-two sentence paragraphs explaining inaccuracies and literally nothing else, you're in for a treat.

It's crap like this that really makes me appreciate my fellow bloggers for the interesting and often insightful content they bring every day.  I won't pretend that as an English major I don't cringe at the usual array of spelling and grammatical errors that come with the territory (I'm only human!) but at worst I still get about 10 blogs worth of content a day from my subscriptions that trump the drivel Beckett's editor decided to crap out today.  Maybe Beckett needs to do a better job of incorporating user-generated content from, you know, the collectors that give its magazine a reason for existence (or, not really since its been a long time since the prices have been anything but obsolete).  That's my long way of saying, "WTF, Chris Olds?" and it may not be the last time I do.

Mailbox Monday: Tomahawk edition

A few packages arrived in the mail today, which means a good source for content!

Trade with Derek of Tomahawk Chopping:
Derek needed some 2011 Bowman, I needed some 2011 Bowman, and so we traded, Q.E.D.  I sent him a nice package which will surely lead to some more good trades between us (oddly enough, we hadn't traded other than during his participation in my group breaks) and for now I got a ton of help with the Chrome Prospects portion of my set.  Here's a quick look at a few he sent, which includes some MLB bloodlines, funny names, top prospects and a Detroit Tiger:

Those sure do scan nice, don't they?

Derek also sent another Bowman's Best insert I needed, which is great, but as I said before, I'm not scanning those until I can show them off as a complete set.

Thanks again for a great trade, Derek!

As of today my wantlists stand at:
Prospects:  1 29 42 48 49 50 51 53 57 58 61 64 66 71 78 92 105 109 
Chrome Prospects:  1 17 29 42 62 73 80 92 94 103 105
Bowman's Best Prospects:  1 5 6 10 13 14 21 22
Bowman's Best Veterans:  1 3 5 11 13 15 18
(I expected to have the rest of the non-Harper base prospects today, but I'm working with a Blowout forum member  who apparently just can't figure things out...)


MOAR 2008 DRAFT:
A nice deal on Blowout brought me the following beauties from 2008 Leaf Certified:

This Arrington auto/RC goes well with my Mirror Blue version and is #d to 999.  Picasa says this is Arrington #17 for me and every one of those is an autograph!

Any Henne is a good Henne for me, but a multi-relic/auto/RC/parallel is pretty sweet.  This Chad is #d out of 100 and is my 24th of him overall, including my 11th with an autograph.

Finally, we have a Mirror Blue Mike Hart auto/RC, also #d of 100.  I now have 14 Harts and each and every one of those is autographed.


Those put me up to 289 unique Michigan hits, so I'll keep plugging away til I hit 300 and beyond!

April Card Show Report: PC edition (and quick mail update)

First, the quick mail update:

I went a little overboard last week, starting with a couple random Blowout purchases, followed by an extremely productive few hours on Sportlots, capped off by a couple COMC grabs and an eBay win.  If USPS stops randomly stealing some of my mail, all of that will get posted when it starts arriving next week.

This was actually my first Sportlots experience, and while I'm not 100% happy with the workings of the site, I'm thrilled with the results.  I won't reveal just how many of my wantlist sets I completed amongst all the purchases I mentioned above until I've received everything, but needless to say, I think you'll be impressed.

One of my Sportlots purchases actually arrived already today, which is awesome considering I just ordered it Thursday!  A 2008 SAGE Hit football card of Paul Raymond, #71, completes that set for me.  It's a slow start, but I promise you I'll finish with a bang!

Ok, card show report, personal buys:

Dustin and I hit up the card show this morning/afternoon, and it went pretty well, although I didn't find as much stuff for my PC this time.  I did do fairly well in terms of grabbing even more trade bait stuff, though, and you'll see that in a post in the next couple days.  Here's what I grabbed for myself:

Not pictured:  an opened box set (sans autograph, probably of a scrub) of 2010 Donruss Rated Rookies football.  I've wanted one of these for a while, and a seller (from whom I grabbed a couple other cards listed below) wanted $5 for it.  Sold!

Rich Hill 2008 SP Legendary Cuts Destination Stardom Memorabilia jersey

Rich Hill hit #17 (which I think I bought from the Rated Rookies set guy above for like $2), a decent jersey with the positive distinction of having a Cubs pinstripe.  Not too shabby.

Andrew Cogliano 2010 SP Game-Used Edition Authentic Fabrics jersey

My first hit of Cogs, a star forward for two years at Michigan (24 goals in 2006-07!) who unfortunately bolted early for the NHL after being drafted 25th overall by Edmonton (by the way, my first Oilers hit too) in 2005.  A solid Oilers jersey card that I snagged for $2.

Brendan Morrison 2007-08 Be a Player Signatures auto

I'm surprised this is my first Morrison hit because I'd swear I had another one; I guess not.  Anyway, the guy was a stud at Michigan, and just about nobody was better than him except Marty Turco.  He netted a ridiculous 284 points, won the Hobey once and brought the word championship back to Michigan in 1996 with a game-winner against Colorado College in OT.  He was drafted by the Devils at #39 overall in '93 and has played for six different NHL teams.  While he hasn't been quite the star in the NHL that he was in college, he's enjoyed a very nice career, and he'll always be a legend here.  As Brendan did, I hope talented Canadian scorers continue to flow to Ann Arbor instead of wasting the opportunity for a great education (while receiving quality NHL preparation) in the junior leagues.

Steve Shields 2002 Be A Player Signature Series auto

It was a day of hockey firsts, so why not?  Shields is, for some reason, my second favorite Michigan goalie that I never saw in-person (#1 being Turco, of course).  I honestly couldn't tell you why, but regardless, he was a great goalie here, and after being drafted by Buffalo in '91, he played for a total of six NHL teams until retiring in '06.  This was a fun pickup for me--yet another Michigan hockey player I didn't have, and it was a good auto from a well-liked brand.  Although he's not among the active group, I also want to mention that (seemingly as usual) Michigan leads the NCAA in terms of hockey alumni in the NHL.

Adrian Arrington 2008 Bowman Sterling Gold Refractor auto RC

So this one scanned better than I'd hoped.  I've got so many cards with this image I no longer feel like linking to each of them, so check them out here.  For a ridiculous $3, I got the Gold Refractor version of this card, and it's the good old eBay 1/1, #1/25.  It's a good way to start my small football haul, although I sure hope you like Arrington because

Adrian Arrington 2008 Playoff Contenders auto RC

Here's #2.  Got this one from the same guy and for roughly the same price, I believe.  It was a good day for buying Arringtons from that guy, such as

Adrian Arrington 2008 Press Pass Signings auto

I already had a Press Pass Arrington auto, but not this one--a nice, simple design with AA in his Michigan uni.  That goes well with the last one I grabbed,

Adrian Arrington 2008 SAGE Red auto

I cheaped out on this one and got the  Red version, not so much to save the $1 over the bronze (which the guy also had) as because I liked the red look to the card.  I think I like it because it goes with my Arrington-Henne auto from the same set.

Braylon Edwards 2008 Finest Finest Moments auto

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!  Yep, the only other Michigan football card I grabbed today was a Braylon Finest autograph for $10, a price I was willing to pay for my 3rd Edwards autograph.

So, not a huge haul, but I did break the 250 football hit mark, made it to 16 Arringtons and Edwardses each, plus hit my 17th Rich Hill and 12th hockey hit.  That's a pretty good day by my measure.  I'm pretty sure Dustin had a good time, too, and I know he'll be showing off his loot pretty soon--he seemed pretty proud of what he snagged, and I think he should be.

Coming up in the next day or so:  trade bait results from the card show (hint:  even more than last time).  And after that, hopefully, some set-finishing mail days.

More Blowout stuff from my favorite seller

In the mail today I got a great package of stuff from my favorite seller (which arrived before stuff I bought from eBay almost two weeks ago now!) in a return to my big rolling ways on Blowout.  I heartily endorse buying from him and suggest that you check out his latest selling thread on Blowout in which, as usual, he sells from his massive Picasa web albums at various prices, plus also liquidates some pretty nice relics and autographs (currently $1.25 per).  The prices are phenomenal and the more you buy the more likely he is to cut you a deal, as he's done for me several times.

I got the following 11 cards for $50:
 

Adrian Arrington 2008 Topps Performance Highlights auto:  I actually already had this one so I'll likely be giving it away to a friend.  He threw it in as a bonus, though, probably since this is the FIFTH time I've bought stuff from him, and it's generally been for a decent amount of money.  It was a very nice touch and another reason why it's great to do business with him (besides great prices and quick, reliable shipping).

Chad Henne 2008 Topps Mayo Cut Plug jersey:  The jersey piece isn't outstanding (but at least not a boring white) but the card design is great--I really like these mini card-within-a-card hits that Topps has been doing.  Hooray for yet another Henne (21 by my count, including multi-player cards).

Charles Woodson 2001 Pacific Invincible jersey:  I paid a bit more than I wanted for a fairly boring jersey of Mr. Heisman, but you've gotta start somewhere and I really, really wanted something of Michigan's most recent Super Bowl champion.  This is my only PC Raiders hit so far, and I don't anticipate seeing many more in the future, but you never know.

Jake Long 2008 Absolute Memorabilia RPM Spectrum prime jersey-ball-prime jersey:  I've said about 20 times now that I'll probably keep collecting these variations of the RPM cards as long as I keep finding them.  This is actually only my second of Long, but I'm sure I'll find more.  It's not autographed like the other one but the jersey pieces are fantastic and much deserving of the "prime" label, unlike most of the single-color crap you see nowadays. 

Jake Long 2008 Leaf Certified Materials Freshman Fabric Mirror Red jersey ball auto:  What's one of these posts without multiple Jake Longs?  Hell, I've got four different versions of this card so far, but this is only the second autographed version.  Two relics plus an autograph that's serial numbered from Long's rookie year make this an outstanding addition for just a few bucks.

Jake Long 2008 SPx triple jersey auto RC:  Another day, another numbered Long autographed relic RC.  Jake looks as determined in this shot as I do when I'm hard at work pursuing more of his endless collection of RCs.

Jake Long 2009 Topps Mayo Cut Plug auto:  Only my second non-2008 Long, I've had several opportunities to grab this card but for some reason hadn't purchased it until this occasion.  It's one of those that really does look better in person, but it's a very sharp design overall, other than my minor quibble about the picture getting short shrift due to a lot of empty space otherwise.  Also, this becomes Jake Long PC hit #23, for those counting.

Mario Manningham 2008 Absolute Memorabilia RPM ball-prime jersey:  Another Super Mario, and my second RPM of him at that.  I've had my eye on this card in that guy's album for a while and finally jumped on it this time.  That's a great-looking jersey swatch, even if it's from the Giants.  I guess I just can't resist the RPM set in all its incarnations.

Mario Manningham 2008 Absolute Memorabilia Stargazing prime jersey:  Also from '08 AM, some of you might remember I also snagged a Jake Long like this somewhat recently.  The scan doesn't do a good job of portraying the Refractor-iness of the card, but at least you get a good look at a solid prime jersey swatch.

Marlin Jackson 2005 Sweet Spot Rookie Signatures auto RC:  This doesn't happen very often, but I didn't realize that these autographed manu-helmets had been around this long until recently; I thought the 2010 set was the debut of that set.  I'm certainly glad to have been proven wrong as I get to add a great-looking novelty card to my Jackson collection.  I prefer the 2010s because they depict the college helmets, but these are still very sharp cards.

Tai Streets 2001 Pacific Invincible jersey:  We'll end on a somewhat boring jersey card from the same set as the Woodson, but for $1.25, picking up a Streets jersey to go with the autograph I have of him was a good deal.  I'm glad he won a title here at Michigan since his NFL career never panned out.  At least he got to come back to Michigan to play for the Lions briefly (well, I guess that's sort of a positive anyway).  Since I'm sure I have a RC or two of Tai lying around, he's one of many Wolverines for whom I could claim a trifecta, if I was into that sort of thing.

As usual I was very happy with the whole purchase process and the result--a great bunch of cards that you see above.  Others like Tim from GSNHOF have benefited from buying from him, so do yourself a favor and give serious consideration to doing so yourself, whether you're looking for some mid-end stuff of your favorite player/team or a pile of cheap autographs and relics for trade bait at great prices.