Blasting off with 2017 Leaf Draft football

This post combines two things that have been pretty uncommon for me recently:  posting more than once in a week and (going back even further) spending money on retail stuff.  But after I saw what these 2017 Leaf Draft cards looked like, I decided to snag myself a blaster at Meijer last weekend.  (It also didn't hurt that five Wolverines feature in the base set, with lots more on the autograph checklist.)  A couple days later I grabbed one more since I enjoyed the break and hoped to complete the set.  Here's a bit more about the product and then lots more about how I fared:

• I believe this is a retail-only product, and I also think that's been the case throughout its existence
• Blasters go for about $21.99 and include 20 packs of 5 cards
• As a bonus, you get two guaranteed autographs which are separately packed into toploaders (no sleeves!) and then a team bag
• The base set includes 69 cards of players in their college uniforms
• The photos are airbrushed in some cases, surely for licensing reasons
• Inserts include:
• Gold parallels
• All-Americans (and Gold Parallels of those)
• TD Machines (and Gold Parallels of those)

I pulled the following out of my pair of blasters:

• 1 base set (69 cards)
• 44 base doubles
• 27 gold parallels
• 1 set of  All-Americans (17 cards)
• 10 All-Americans doubles
• 8 gold All-Americans
• 1 set of TD Machines (14 cards)
• 6 TD Machines doubles
• 5 gold TD Machines
• 3 regular autographs
• 1 gold autograph

Since I managed to complete what I'll call a master set of the base set and non-Gold versions of the two inserts, I decided to show off all of those here.  Should you have interest in seeing the Michigan cards in more depth, please head over to TMM!

Base set:

A sample base set card back, Virginia Tech QB Jerod Evans (in honor of MCM's Spankee's Hokies):

All-Americans:

A sample back from the All-Americans:

TD Machines:

A sample TD Machines back:

Here are samples of the Gold parallels from the base set and inserts (backs look exactly the same):

And here's my four autographs:

• Rodney Adams (USF)
• Johnathan Ford (Auburn)
• Eddie Jackson (Alabama)
• I'Tavius Mathers Gold (Middle Tennessee)

Overall my impressions were fairly positive:  

• Cons:
• I would have preferred to be able to snag a complete set out of one blaster, but the crazy number of inserts (an average of about 44 per box!) made that unrealistic
• Airbrushed unis (though that's not Leaf's fault)
• I'm fine with the base parallels but think the insert versions were superfluous
• The TD Machines design doesn't do much for me
• Sticker autos don't bother me, I just don't really care for the plain white ones used here
• A good number of the autographs are SSPed
• Pros:
• College unis!
• Autographs of 153 different players
• Five Wolverines in the base set
• Early cards of some of the top players before the draft
• A pretty solid base design
• The colorful All-Americans insert looks great
• A decent price point (that could be even better with coupons/sales/discounts); if you consider two of these the equivalent of a hobby box, you're probably going to get what I did:  a master set, lots of other inserts, and four autographs, all for about $40
• Perfect collation:  neither blaster considered by itself contained any doubles whatsoever, and together they produced zero triples.  You can't beat that!

I'll note for those of you that are interested in these blasters but don't really want to get in at full price, I've seen card show sellers flipping them for something like 2 for $36, and I bet most of you could do better than that.

So if you're a college collector like me, you have my recommendation to check these out whether it's blasters or singles!

Four 2015 Upper Deck football value packs

While at Meijer today picking up some other stuff I used some very timely rewards money to buy my first packs in quite a while:  a quartet of 2015 Upper Deck football retail value packs!  As many of you know I did UD's designs and college focus with this set so I was eagerly anticipating this release.  I'm showing these off with less than a week until the draft so it'll be fun to see how the guys I pull do come Thursday through Saturday.

I don't recall the exact price but these were something like $5.69, though I also got 10% off today, which was nice.  You get 32 cards with two of those guaranteed to be Heroes inserts of top-two QBs Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota; each has 10 different cards in their respective sets.  Vets in their college unis comprise #s 1-45 while the non-SPed rookies come in at 46-145.  Two levels of short-prints cover 146-215, followed by hobby and retail photo variations from 216-255.  As usual my main concern is the non-SPed rookies set, though if I can find a cheap 1-45 vets set I'll pick it up.

Here's a look at a base card front and back, both of which are essentially par for UD's course.  The Star Rookie logo's changed a bit throughout the years while the layout's been fairly static; if it works, don't break it!  As usual the photography is excellent and features great college action.

My one veteran pull from the four packs was RB legend Eric Dickerson, shown here with SMU; his card is #36.  My experience is that hobby boxes reverse the retail trend and skew way towards vets with a couple promised rookies; since my focus is on the latter, these retail packs are always the way to go, plus hobby boxes can get really expensive, even when there isn't a player like Winston to chase.

Out of four packs of 32 I ended up with 118 base cards, one of those being the Dickerson above.  From the regular Star Rookies group I pulled 88/100 with 29 doubles.  Those dupes all came in one pack and included a pair of dupe inserts and one new insert, so that tells you how collation goes with these.  I may try one or two more value packs if I find them, but it shouldn't be hard to track down the other 12 I need otherwise, hopefully along with the 1-45 set.

I picked nine of the biggest names to scan, and most of these guys figure to go very early.  As you can see I pulled both Winston and Mariota, and the best player I didn't get was USC's Leonard Williams.  Some of the other top names are unfortunately SPed (along with my Wolverines!) but I'm happy with the 100-card group available to me here.

I couldn't show off cards from this set without devoting some space to the cooler photography I enjoyed!

This is my group of Heroes inserts, coming in at 2:1 as mentioned.  In each case I got one of both players per pack so I'm guessing that's the standard, which is fine.  Because of the pack of dupes I got extras of Winston #5 and Mariota #7.  These are all available for trade though I'm setting aside the Mariotas for Kerry unless told otherwise.

My other two inserts were these purdy A Cut Above die-cuts (1:5 for rookies), both of outstanding players:  WVU WR Kevin White and Indiana RB Tevin Coleman, both of whom should be gone fairly early.  Naturally the White is heading to Morgantown to be reunited with Matt but the Coleman can be had by anyone who asks nicely.

I'm not posting a wantlist just let in case I decide to buy another pack or two, but if I do end up with one you'll see it here.  I'll also make my base doubles available soon to anyone who'd like to trade for them, though as usual I'll set aside cards for some of you based on school affiliation.

And of course this product gets my annual hearty endorsement.  Congrats to UD on another great college-themed set!

Two 2013 Upper Deck football rack packs

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

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

The hero:

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

The enemy: 

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

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

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

The "your name is WHAT?!":

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

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

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

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

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

The inserts:

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

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

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

Celebrating a new college football season with cheap blasters!

Happy college football season opener!  I decided to kill two birds with one stone and celebrate the day by hitting up Meijer and their 20% off card aisle.  Here's what I ended up with:

One blaster each of 2009 Press Pass football and 2010 Playoff Contenders football.  You can see that these were already marked down, plus I got each for the aforementioned 20% off, making them a fun way to kick off my favorite sport, especially with the former being a college-themed set.  By the way, while you're reading this it's possible you're also watching South Carolina take on Vanderbilt, as that's in-progress as of this writing.

Here's how I did in each blaster:

Press Pass included eight packs of four cards.  I nabbed two different Banner Season inserts (1:4) including Brown.  The rest you see from this Matthew Stafford Hot Box (except for the third) are base cards, and the Power Pick of Stafford is a 1:14 short print, of which there are apparently five subjects.  Not a bad little box for less than $6 anyway.  The Staffords are mind but everything else is up for grabs, and I may insert the unseen ones into trade packages anyway.

Contenders was fun because it guaranteed an autograph (in one of its five packs of five cards) from a pretty decent rookie class.  I pulled an insert in each pack (including the auto) and a couple of my favorite Wolverines to boot.  The Wootton was my guaranteed hit, and not a bad one of the former Northwestern star who's now a DE for DA BEARS.  By the way, the other base cards weren't bad either, including Aaron Rodgers and his snap-blocker, Brett Favre.  Again, everything but the Brady and Braylon is available.  Do I have a Bears fan that would like to trade for the Wootton?

So all in all, a fun way to ring in the new college year and close out my spending for the month.  Now if you need me in the next 72+ hours, you know where I'll be.  GO BLUE!

Card show report: May 5, 2012: Rick Leach/vintage RC edition

This morning I hit up the first card show I'd been to in a while, and it certainly turned out nicely.  Highlights:

Rich Leach (l), former Michigan football star and Detroit Tigers first-rounder, signing autographs.  To his left is author Kurt A. David, who signed his book that featured a chapter on Leach, who also signed copies of the book (see below).

Me and Rick Leach.  Bonus points for lack of hoverhands!  

The signed book in question, which should be an interesting read.  It discusses post-sports career transitions of various area athletes, including Leach, Dave Bing, Frank Tanana, and more.  The deal was $20 for the book signed by both guys, plus an additional Leach autograph.  Pretty nice!

My inscription, from the author.  Definitely a nice guy, and if the book's any good I hope he does well.

A much-welcomed "Go Blue" inscription from one of the all-time great Michigan Men!

My Tigers ball gets a new signature.  On this panel alone you can see Leach (and his #7), Al Kaline and former Tiger P A.J. Sager.  The rest of the ball includes Tigers mascot "Paws", Don Wert, Mickey Lolich, Willie Horton, and I believe Matt Anderson and Gabe Kapler.  I like getting this eclectic signature ball signed especially because I figure signers won't think I'm out to sell it immediately.  That and it's fun to have such a wide range of guys sign it, though it's getting pretty full.

Besides some much needed top-loaders of various sizes, I did buy a few cards too:

Trade bait:

Here's a cool Biggio jersey that's already promised to Sam in a trade we just arranged.  Unfortunately just plain white, but very Refractory and #d to 50.

Somehow I got the feeling Jeff might like this 1961 Topps Billy Williams RC.  I was right--he's pretty geeked, so this one's also spoken for.  This, as well as the few other vintage cards that follow, came from a guy from whom you've seen cards previously, and he charges a reasonable 10% of Beckett's hi book for not-exactly-mint vintage stuff, which makes them very affordable.

This Brett '75 Topps RC is up for grabs.  I couldn't remember if I had this version or the Mini and I didn't bother to check, but I guess I have this one, only graded.  I might crack that one open at some point due to its low grade, but for now, this one, condition defects and all, is available.  It's got some bad corners and creasing, plus it's torn pretty much starting from the second "T" in his last name (which you can sorta see in the scan) but it's still a cool RC.  I paid $8 for it so I'd take that or the usual stuff I like in return for it if anybody wants it.

For $2 (in addition to $18 I spent on some Michigan guys you'll see on TMM tomorrow), I grabbed this 2005 Topps Pack Wars Helton jersey because I'd be happy enough keeping it, though I'm betting one of my Rockies readers will step up and claim it.  Not bad, including a nice purple pinstripe.  Have at it!

Personal collection stuff:

These last three came from the aforementioned vintage guy.  I'm very excited about what I got, but I'm saving the best for last.

 Fred Lynn 1975 Topps RC

Jim Rice 1975 Topps RC:

This pair came surprisingly cheap, even at 90% off.  I'm glad to add another pair of 1975 Topps RCs to my expanding collection of rookies and other stars from that set.  These two guys were going to be part of the nucleus that was going to win multiple championships, but alas it never happened.  Speaking of Red Sox stars that never won a World Series...

Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ on a Cracker, is that approximately 96% of a Carl Yastrzemski 1960 Topps RC?  Why yes it is.  This guy set me back $25 smackers, but you aren't gonna convince me it wasn't worth it.  This is easily one of my highest-end RCs regardless of its condition.  Finding a gem like this helps remind me why I always check that guy's table when I hit up shows even though I'm not an avid vintage collector.  It's definitely been my best source of vintage stars and RCs, and I look forward to finding more gems like this in the future!

Keep an eye on the other blog tomorrow for a few more Michigan-specific pickups.

2010 Press Pass PE football Blister Packs (x25)

Two Saturdays ago I hit up Meijer and found something new and interesting to try:  blister packs of 2010 Press Pass Portrait Edition football.  I pulled two of the one-per-pack autographs (James Starks and Rusty Smith) and thought they might be fun to buy again.

Flash forward to this afternoon when I made another required trip to my favorite store, armed with more Santa Bucks coupons.  Again, nothing else appealed to me in the card aisle, but on a whim I decided to price check the Press Pass PE packs to see what they'd ring up at since that's how I verified they were 20% off last time.  I was more than a bit surprised, then, when the formerly $14.99 packs came up at $5.59 apiece.  Thinking the one I had grabbed was a fluke I tried two more, and sure enough, they pulled up the same price.
Well I sure didn't need more of a kick in the pants than that!  I promptly cleaned that particular store out of all 15 packs they had.  After busting those, encouraged by what I had pulled, I hit up another store and grabbed 10 more--out of the roughly 25 they had on hand there, I mean I was trying to show SOME restraint.  That explains why you see "only" 15 of the 25 packs above, by the way.

Before I show off just the hits from these, I'll give you a quick update on the rest of the stuff from this set having now opened 27 packs:

• Set 1 completion:  42/50
• Set 2 completion:  28/50
• Extras:  13 trips, 4 quads, 1 quint
• Blue parallel:  20/50 with 7 doubles (1:pack)
• Headliners:  6/34, 2 doubles (1:3)
• Class of 2010:  4/10, 1 double (1:6)
• Face to Face:  7/20 (1:3)

And now, the hits:

Yes, I really did pull FIVE autos of Joe Webb.  Two more of James Starks definitely made up for that, though, as he's one of the better ones in the set.  The Stafon Johnson and Chris McGaha Reds are alternate versions of the basic Gold autographs.  Spiller is the hit of the break here, a Wal-Mart Exclusive auto (hilarious since I never set foot in that hellhole) numbered 02/25.  Clausen, talentless emu that he is, is a Gold version of the jersey insert numbered 193/199, while Benn and Canfield are the base versions of the jerseys.

All told, I finished with only three jerseys, which is better than I could have hoped in my wildest dreams.  The three Starks and the Spiller (if I can ever determine a value) may net me some useful cash or bring something nice in trade.  As usual, everything you see above is available for sale or trade but it'll take a bit of time for me to get everything put up on my football FS/FT album; that shouldn't stop you from making offers should you desire.

I'm not currently posting base set wantlists because I may go back for a few more of these packs before all is said and done, and hopefully I'll eventually hit something bigger, be it the Donovan Warren auto (the lone Wolverine) or the big guns--autos of Sam Bradford and Tebow of Nazareth.  Even if I don't, these are a blast to break and are light years ahead of the shit Topps keeps spewing out.  Let's see, blaster of worthless tripe or three of these?  Decisions, decisions....