2024 COMC purchases: Nine from November

With the finish line now in sight I'm even more motivated to get this post done and call 2024 a wrap! Here's a look at the cards I bought for myself during COMC's Black Friday sale:

First up is hit #1 of another UM WR to wear #8 (besides another guy in this post), Ronnie Bell. The receiver/returner outplayed his practically anonymous recruiting rankings and was a key contributor as the Wolverines marched back to respectability under Jim Harbaugh. The Bowman's Best University card pictures him with the Wolverines (instead of the 49ers who'd eventually draft and then release him) and that's a great start for his hits collection! Sure, it's a sticker auto and he signed with his initials, but at least he added an inscription with his jersey number.

The day's other "first" is my second hit but first signature of LB Devin Bush II, a three-year Wolverine who did some nice work in 2017 and 2018 in Ann Arbor. The Steelers took him in the first round in 2019 and he's since bounced to Seattle and Cleveland, but was good enough to appear in an autograph insert (#d /299) in 2020 Panini Legacy.

In spot #3 is the other WR #8, the sure-handed Jason Avant, who was able to rescue the planted Michigan flag in Columbus this past season after Buckeye Jack Sawyer threw his hissy fit once his OSU team lost to Michigan again. Avant never won a Super Bowl with the Eagles but did have a solid 10-year career mostly spent with them, and I was thrilled to add another Triple Threads jersey/auto of his from his 2006 rookie year. The one you see above is the Sepia version /75 and is hit #66 of #8.

Next, RB Chris Evans appears to be out of the league at this point, but that wasn't going to stop me from picking up a third Michigan uni autograph of his. I may have passed on other brands but usually tend to like the simplicity of Score's rookie autos, so I had no problem ponying up a couple bucks for this one.

Sure, we've already had Devin, but what about second Devin? I paid less than $6.50 total for the cool pair starring former Panthers WR Funchess and I think that was a steal. The card on the left is a 2015 Panini Black Gold Sizeable Signatures Rookie Jerseys prime version, and I'm thinking you'll agree that it lives up to its "sizeable" and "prime" descriptors with ease. The other is a 2015 Panini National Convention VIP manupatch auto, which isn't the kind of thing I'd pay a premium for, but I do like seeing athletes sign things other than stickers. Funch moves up to 34 hits thanks to the pair.

I'll move down one spot horizontally to discuss the next card, a Jake Long 2008 Topps Triple Threads Sepia parallel. This one came with three really nice multi-color Dolphins swatches to go along with his signature (and numbering /75, like the Avant above). It's a great looking card to add to a collection that now stands at a very nice 98 hits, though he remains in third place behind our next two players.

Forever #1 guy Chad Henne continues to outpace the rest by a mile with his 146th hit, which happens to be one of the higher-end items in his collection. The 12th 1/1 I've landed for him, the card you see above is his 2008 Finest Yellow Plate (the non-auto version). It set me back a reasonable $14 which I don't mind paying for a top PC guy like Henne, whose hit collection isn't too far off of that from all-sports leader Rich Hill. As always, I'm a fan of when manufacturers do the border thing with their plates to make it obvious which color you have, especially in this case where the back is otherwise normal.

And last but not least is former blog namesake guy Mario Manningham. The 2008 Leaf Certified Materials auto you see above (#d /100) is everything I love about 2000s-era cards of some of my favorites, but it may be the most significant from this post for an entirely different reason: it puts Super Mario at exactly 100 hits, making him just the second player behind Henne in the football collection (and third overall including Rich Hill) to reach that mark! It actually wasn't 100% intentional as I would have been happy for Jake Long (again, 98) or Braylon Edwards (95) to make it first, but I only found one of the former I liked and none of the latter this time. So it looks like I get to celebrate Too Many Manninghams as my 2024 year of collecting comes to a close! (The football hits collection also surpassed the 1700-mark before the calendar turned, basketball went over 150, and hockey moved up to 350, with baseball very close to 450.)

Once again, thanks to everyone for making 2024 a great year of trading, blogging, reading, comments, shows, and more! I'm looking forward to treating you to recaps of the cards I've picked up since 2025 started including (at this point) seven blogger-related trade packages, two shows, and four TCDb deals. Look for a post covering the first blogger trade of January soon!

2024 trade package #26: Bob Walk the Plank

As Christmas approached, my longtime collecting buddy Matt, formerly of Bob Walk the Plank and now found mostly on Twitter let me know to expect a package in time for the holiday. Sure enough, one arrived with a note that said the package contained a couple big "booms" and a couple smaller ones as well. I knew I'd be in for a treat since Matt's one of the few current/former bloggers I deal with that doesn't mind going into the higher-end side of things. I'm happy to be able to do so with someone like him since we're so similar in what we collect (an MLB team and a college program too).

He most definitely delivered on the words in his note as you can see by the goods:

Ok, a Triple Threads Miggy /99, that's a very nice start. It's a Gold parallel from the 2018 set and a quality insert of the future HOFer. He's joined by former teammate Justin Verlander--whom some of you know I collect--on his 2005 Topps Update card that celebrated the also-future HOFer starting for the US in the Futures Game that happened to be hosted at his home park that year when he was just 22. Though it's not a RC as that could be found in that year's flagship product, it's still a very, very good pre-rookie year card of one of my top PC guys. Strong start maintained!

And now here's where it gets even better! Big boom #1 is a new autograph of Barry Larkin for my collection, and a card I'd be excited about for that fact alone. But better yet, he's pictured playing for Michigan! My ninth autograph of the HOF Reds SS who played his college ball in Ann Arbor hails from 2015 Panini National Treasures Collegiate and is numbered /99. It pairs up nicely with the Silver version (#d /25) that I nabbed almost nine years ago now, and becomes a top-ten piece in a PC that's grown to almost 1000 cards. Big boom indeed!

Not a Larkin fan or maybe you just don't care that much for college cards? Well then you may enjoy tonight's other massive shot off the bow, especially if you've been a Tigers fan for as long as I have. Sure, I already owned a relic card of Cecil Fielder thanks to Adam of My Cardboard Mistress, and I'd even been gifted an autograph by Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store. But until now I couldn't claim to be the owner of an autographed relic of Big Daddy. Matt said, "Problem solved!" What you see above is a signature/jersey card numbered /50 found in '24 Topps' Major League Material set. The white jersey swatch is accompanied by Fielder's extremely cool signature, and I now have a new favorite card of the Tigers fan favorite. BOOM!

As if all of that wasn't enough, he even balanced out the envelope a bit with a few football cards. QB Tom Brady appears courtesy of 2003 Fleer Authentix (and its ticket motif) and 2005 Prestige, which is one of the product's nicer designs. To cap things off he threw in another signal-caller, blog favorite Chad Henne, as seen on his 2008 Topps Rookie Progression RC while wearing Michigan's iconic uniform.

Matt, thanks again for the big and little "booms" here and for keeping up your end of our quality trading for so long. I count myself to be lucky to be part of such a partnership for as long as we both enjoy it, and I don't see that stopping in 2025. On that note, I wish your Pirates and Mountaineers success in the new year, and plenty of big hits for your collection!

Just one trade recap remains for a post-Christmas surprise envelope, and I'll have that up before the night is over.

2024 trade package #10: Bob Walk the Plank

It's always a treat when I get cards from Matt of Bob Walk the Plank since we send stuff back and forth maybe once or twice a year, but there's always a higher-end aspect to it. Back in May he treated me to quite the birthday present with these:

Current/future star Riley Greene is a nice looking Museum Collection parallel numbered to just 50. Both Griffeys are from that decade or so in the late 90s/early 2000s when everything was numbered. His Topps Stars goes to 9799 while the gorgeous team color parallel from Leaf Certified Materials is much rarer, /200!

Hill ('23 Chrome Update Orange) is even more limited at just 25 copies, plus that color could be considered a team parallel too. I've mentioned that Miller was quite useful to the Tigers as trade bait, and his 2007 UD Masterpieces card is quite the looker. I have a crazy 83 cards of Casey Mize right now, and one of the rarest of those is the '22 Select Cracked Ice you see above, which is limited to 25 copies just like the Hill (don't worry, Gavin, neither is a 12/25!).

Neither of those is the rarest card of the bunch, though, thanks to a '22 Topps Mini Red of my favorite recent Tigers catcher, Jake Rogers, that's numbered 2/5. Wow! Speaking of "wow," how about another 2007 UD Masterpieces RC of a former Tigers pitcher, this time future HOFer Max Scherzer? That's a beautiful card of the three time Cy Young winner and owner of two World Series rings. Last up is another Red parallel that's not quite as rare as the others in this scan--299 copies--of former RP Joel Zumaya, whose legacy is looking iffy due to being connected to some very troubling allegations about former player and TV guy Craig Monroe.

And here you'll see the contents of the package I was the most excited about. First up is no big deal, just a Miguel Cabrera autograph from 2005 Upper Deck Pros & Prospects. I don't think I can emphasize just how generous Matt is--though I encourage you to look through all my trade packages from him here, containing flat-out amazing cards of current and future HOFers like Kaline, Verlander, Larkin, and others--but maybe this will help: this is my fourth signature of Miggy, and aside from the one I pulled from a pack myself, the other three have come from my collecting doppelgänger in West Virginia. Seriously, my hat's off to him.

Continuing the goodness, next up is a bat relic of a guy I just mentioned above: Barry Larkin. I'm as sick as everyone else of seeing the boring 80s designs beaten to death by Topps, but I'll always be happy about a new hit of a favorite player, such as #25 of the Wolverines SS that became a Reds star!

And for something even more timely, not only is it amazing that Tarik Skubal is the front-runner for the AL Cy Young on another tire fire of a "rebuilding" team, but Matt managed to score a '22 Chrome Refractor auto (numbered /499) of his on Twitter for under $20 and have it delivered to me. What a great card to have of a guy who'll presumably be around for a bit more after the team thankfully didn't give him up for another underwhelming prospect package (see: Flaherty, Jack) at the deadline.

On the football side of things, a pair of Tom Brady cards serves as an appetizer to the main course: a brand new Chad Henne autograph, which is something I haven't been able to add for quite a while. The 2009 Gridrion Kings card you see above (#d /50) is my 144th hit of one of my favorite UM QBs, putting him six behind collection leader Rich Hill. That number is bonkers and I'm grateful for folks like Matt who've helped build that collection.

And finally tonight, this surprise quintet is a fun way of wrapping things up. Representing the Pistons, Lions, Wolverines, and Red Wings are a great mix of Starting Lineup cards showing off several different designs. Hill and Osgood are examples of partnerships with Topps and Fleer, respectively, while Batch, Griese, and Woodson have designs I'm much more familiar with when it comes to those collectible figures and their cards. As for the title-winning Wolverines pair, Griese's from the 2000 product while Woodson's from the '98 Extended Series released during his rookie season.

That's another Bob Walk the Plank package in the books and man was it a great one! I'm fortunate to trade with some very generous folks and Matt is most definitely among the best when it comes to high-end dealing. I appreciate it as always and am working on a return worthy of this to send back to Morgantown as soon as I can. Thanks, Matt!

I believe I have two more May trade packages to get to followed by some show recaps and then it'll be on to June. Stay cool, enjoy the Olympics, and join me in looking forward to the college football season in just a few weeks!

A super 2023 TCDb trade roundup, part 1

Tonight I'm bringing you one of a two-part series covering all of the TCDb trades I haven't yet covered here. There's lots to go over so I'll likely be fairly brief in terms of my comments.

avsbruins65 (PIF):

Mark is known to be a generous member and I was the beneficiary of that generosity back in December.

Former Michigan P John Locker joins the collection thanks to the 1990 minors issue you see above. He was a reliever for UM in 1988 and '89, and Boston took him in the 40th round in the latter season. He pitched two years for the low-A Elmira Pioneers and appears to have left the game after that.

Also, I love all of these SLU cards!

The football and hockey items were great as well.

bkim (PIF):

Robert has PIFed me at least once before and I was thankful he sent me this trio of PC guys, including a vintage (and therefore pre-Tigers) Darrell Evans.

budler (PIF):

I swear these aren't all PIFs--I'm just going alphabetically, but as with the first couple envelopes, this one from Jim arrived in time for the holiday season and I appreciated it a lot.

capper14:

In return for a numbered football insert I received this Michigan Football pair, which I think I now own a few each of, not a problem at all!

Anthony transferred but Haitian LB Colson went out as a winner with the '23 team.

cjjt:

Fellow Michigan fan Chris and I made a nice three-for-three swap that brought me a new Chad Henne hit (#143!) plus numbered inserts of two of his favorite WRs in Edwards and Manningham (you know I can't have too many of him!).

Edwards is numbered /249, Mario is /500, and Henne is /250.

deadhead11:

John and I made a pair of deals late last year, and each time I sent him a trio of numbered football inserts for nine of my own wants. This first one brought a bunch of new football back.

#2 resulted in more great new gridiron PC cards plus a Gwynn to boot.

Drdirt:

A mix of some of my set-fillers brought back these eight cards I was very happy to get. Hell yeah, multiple Sparky cards! Two each of Cronenworth and Greene didn't hurt, and fellow '84 guy Morris joins Captain Hook from the '84 champs.

Kurt Albert:

Speaking of Sparky, I knocked off another of his managing days cards, this from '77 Topps, thanks to a one-for-one deal in return for a '90 Swell dupe. That feels heavily tilted in my favor but I think we were both satisfied with the deal.

As is often the case the card was well loved which means it has more character. Still, no pencil marks on the checklist is a plus!

Mjprigge:

I pinged Matt about a trade in late October, getting some very cool items in return for almost 90 of his '95 Finest needs. The Topps/LJN cards were a highlight for me for sure, but the other classic Tigers are great as well.

I'm not going to get myself one of the players but these are just cool to have anyway.

Here's a few more Tigers, some of them recent, plus a couple '91 Swell Greats needs as I continue working on that set, just 19 to go.

MMehler30:

For just a single dupe of a Justin Verlander insert I scored myself another Cronenworth plus '97 Mother's Cookies food issues of PC guys Dean Palmer and Mickey Tettleton. Sweet! (Pun intended and delicious.)

mudville9 (Secret Santa):

Last year was my first participating in the yearly Secret Santa exchange on the site and I was quite happy with what this member sent me: a numbered autograph of Devin Funchess. I believe he actually apologized for not sending more but I told him I was more than happy with this great card as my present, and I'm sure I'll be joining up again this year.

NJDevils (PIF):

Joe is another of the site's especially generous members who treated me to a surprise PWE around Christmas--close enough that I originally thought he was my secret Santa. This mix of oddball baseball and some older football was a joy to open up during the season of giving.

nozzlemaster:

Here's another one of those deals you're apt to make on the site where you just get an eclectic bunch of stuff you probably wouldn't find all at once anywhere else, especially give some of the oddballness.

This was another trade where I got some work done on '91 Swell.

Orry04:

I got a nice mix of Tigers guys in this one, with the highlights in the first image being the Conlon cards.

The Hajjar is yet another ridiculous Panini parallel but redeems itself with a college action photo so it's all good. It definitely feels good stocking up on Tork cards before a potential true breakout season in 2024.

SaintOrm (PIF):

Kurt is yet another member whose name you'll see quite often in the site's excellent "Pay it Forward" thread where folks thank others for surprising them with free or extra cards. The three scans' worth he sent me were very nice, and they start on a high note here thanks to a trio of Gibby cards I'm sure I couldn't have found easily otherwise plus a great mix of Griffeys.

More Griffey, cool oddball of Senor Smoke, a very interesting Kaline, a Cal insert need, and my first card of Michigan OF Miles Lewis, a transfer from North Dakota who played from 2017-19 in Ann Arbor. Before even heading to college he was captured in the 2013 Leaf Perfect Game amateur set, and his 17 cards found there are the only ones made of a guy who appears to be out of the game.

And how about finishing up what Kurt sent with this group? A few more of the killer "G"s, a mix of stickers, Topps Kids, and a shiny Pudge. I'm especially happy with the decent bump to my Gibson collection thanks to this PIF.

thesouthpaw:

This one brought me some more Michigan Football friends. The Collins leading off the scan is a retail Panini Illusions RC, and the Dax plus Kwity right down the middle are also first-years. The rest are all rookie-related except for DPJ's Mosaic parallel and the Red Score Peppers. How cool is it to see beastly defenders Hutch, Mazi, and Gary on the same card?

wvcabo:

This deal was mostly notable due to an item you'll see in the last images, but I have to say I was pretty happy with my baseball haul as well. Both UM guy Henry and breakout Tigers OF Carpenter are '23 Topps RCs here.

The football group included another card for my growing Bell collection plus the Bolts' new coach returning to one of his old teams.

Speaking of Harbaugh, I'd say that look on his face is familiar to many a ref. My coolest item in this deal was this '97 Pinnacle Inside (opened) can. I guess my trade partner was happy enough with his return to justify shipping it to me!

ymmat (PIF):

And this group ends this evening as close to the end of the alphabet as you can hit without getting to "Z." Joe is another another generous guy that I've traded with before and we've sent PIFs back and forth a couple times. It was great to see Riley leading off on this one but the playing card of UM P Ontiveros was a great addition as well.

And Owens is yet another new member of my Michigan Baseball PC. No matter how obscure you think something is, make sure to get it on your wantlist because you never know who might be able to send it to you! The Flint native is represented on his '82 TCMA Chattanooga Lookouts issue, which covers his second and final franchise (Seattle) after being Cleveland's 6th rounder in 1978.

As you can see, Joe hit up a number of my other player collections as well, just all over the place, really. The Chrome Platinum Skubal in the middle is quite a looker and I'm looking forward to what I hope is 100% health for him in 2024.

There was an embarrassment of (mostly 80s) stickers in this package starring some of my favorite players, mostly Gwynn, Maddux, and some '84 Tigers. Wow!

Football didn't get left out either and he even sent some vintage-y stuff of Wolverine NFLers that not everyone would know that well, so kudos to Joe for finding these!

That was obviously a huge bunch of trades and PIFs to cover, but I still have a few left in an upcoming post where I'll be highlighting the same courtesy of some of my closest friends on the site. Until then, thanks again to the great members represented here tonight for being great trade partners and gifters!

2023 trade package #32: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Hey, it's been a while, how about another trade recap?

Here's what a "Small Packet" envelope from Canada looks like:

Something this large and in charge and stuffed with goodness could only be from one person: Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store!

Here's a (very) brief overview of what he sent my way back in December:

Baseball was highlighted by numbered cards of Mr. Tiger and Barry Larkin. All hail Upper Deck! The other Tigers are great as well, including the Deckle Freehan, which isn't a dupe because this one has a blank back.

Basketball and football get short shrift this time in numbers but not quality. My first card of Mazi (rhymes with "Ozzie") is a Michigan uni RC out of Prestige. Sounds like the Cowboys enjoyed some of that quality Texas education when deciding to completely misuse him this year!

A pair of numbered UD Henne autos are among the highlights of the package, and I can never have too many of these! (But I'm not renaming the blog.)

The bulk as usual is hockey, starting with the much-improved Wings. I'm a big fan of the Lidstrom and Howard cards especially, with the former being a nice color match.

I don't know if these are from shows, repacks. elsewhere, or all of the above, but I was excited to have a bunch of ex-UM icers to flip through. This one already stars two hockey Mikes, not to mention a rare for me Beniers.

Hughes and Hyman have had nice years for their teams, and of course I love seeing Copp join the ranks of the WolverWings.

Another hockey Mike here, the John Madden I prefer, and I feel like I don't add Montoyas to my collection often enough. Plus there's WolverWing supreme Dylan Larkin, who's been fantastic this year for the home team.

I loved the plethora of Brendan Morrison cards and he remains one of my top hockey PCs, second only to a guy you'll see later in this post. Nystrom is a 2/14 baby meaning Doug and I both collect him.

MaxPatch is a Buckstorecards trade package stalwart, and Palushaj often comes along for the ride as well, but recent star Power is nice to see when it comes to some of the newer guys I haven't collected much of yet.

There's the #1 dude, goalie Marty Turco. He was featured on a lot of Pacific cards including an insert set of his own (card #3 above), not to mention the usual enjoyable stuff like the die-cut Crown Royale product. Goalies often simply get the best photos on cards, and Marty deserves it!

There were a few horizontal and odd-sized cards, covered here, plus a couple more hits. The two Topps minis of Madden have the same front image but different backs. Naturally Pacific brings the heat with more die-cut action including a numbered card (#d /290) of another hockey Mike: Comrie. A numbered swatch of Jack MF Johnson plus a Cup-shaped jersey of Blue Jacket Zach Werenski (wait, do I need a "hockey Zachs" tag too?) close out the cards portion.

But we're not done just yet because we go big AND go home with this signed 8x10 of four-year Wolverine and former Leaf/current Oiler winger Zach Hyman! (#HockeyZachs) This is a beautiful, high-quality photo signed with a very legible autograph plus Hyman's jersey number. He's been very effective for Edmonton since signing with them back in '21, establishing career highs in all three big offensive numbers. Based on those stats it's no surprise that he's pottted an absurd three hat tricks this season!

Thanks again to Doug for all of these goodies that arrived in plenty of time for Christmas. As always I appreciate the huge variety among sports, players, and designs, and of course the quality of the goods. I don't have a lot to send your way just yet but will be working on it as usual.

Next time, another trade recap!