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!

9/6/19 card show report: hooky haul

I've got a ton of cards in-hand and on the way so I've got lots to cover, but what you're getting today is a same-day recap from this weekend's card show at the usual spot in Taylor.  Because tomorrow's Michigan game kicks off at noon (a.k.a. best kickoff time) I doubted I'd be able to get over there with enough time to look around, so I took the day off today instead!

I ended up spending around an hour sifting through my dude's $1/six-for-$5 and $2/three-for-$5 boxes and that ended up being the limit of my patience for the afternoon, so no dime box stuff today, but maybe next time.  In the end I took home 18 of the former and 15 of the latter, totaling 33 cards for a nice even $40.

After sorting out stuff intended for specific trade packages I came up with two extra trade bait cards:

The Dustin Keller auto/manupatch/RC is from '08 Leaf R&S Longevity, and I didn't mind including it in my $2 box pile because of this:

eBay 1/1!  I figure between the card looking pretty cool, the numbering, and the player or team, I'll find somebody that wants it.

The other card up for grabs is a 2000 Pacific jersey of former Chargers RB Natrone Means.  I was thinking one or more of you who follow me might collect Chargers, and otherwise it's a reasonable trade card to have for just a buck.

My personal haul was just as minuscule, which is totally fine given the avalanche of cards descending upon me lately.

Up first is a new autograph of Michigan basketballer GRIII from Panini's 2014-15 Paramount product.  The set's called Penmanship Rookie Autographs and the card's numbered on the back (#25/99).  Robinson has a pretty cool signature if you don't mind initials, which I think works just fine here and lives up to the name of the set.  I now own five hits of the former Wolverine/Piston who's now playing for the Warriors.

And then I was even more excited to come up with this David Harris autograph (which also came from the $2 box, I believe).  You just don't get many defensive guys on hits, so you have to grab them when you can!  This Harris, my 29th of the tackling machine of a LB, hails from 2011 Topps Rising Rookies, a product that had multiple versions of an insert called "Playmaker" that could include relics, autos, and both (such as the one I already own, which is five copiers easier to find for some reason).  It's numbered (#04/20) up front so its relative scarcity is immediately on display.  I now have 81 different cards of the former Wolverine great, and I hope his alma mater comes away with a victory tomorrow afternoon against Army and its goofy offense.

With these covered, you can look forward to cards from three(!) trade packages, COMC, eBay, and Sportlots over the next few weeks as I try to catch up with a cavalcade of cardboard.

2019 trade package #1: Nachos Grande

Chris from Nachos Grande was nice enough to be the first person to send me cards in 2019.  He was one of the many folks who received some Christmas Cards from me, and then he returned the favor after I claimed a couple things from his Trade Bait Blowout.  Naturally he threw in a bunch more stuff because he's a great guy to trade with.

Here's what I got this time:

Group 1 here is guys I have sorted by player in my Tigers box.  Miggy and Sanchez are the only ones that are still playing, but Clark is the head of the MLBPA and Henneman is still coaching in the Tigers organization (I think).  Peralta was quite good in his four years in Motown, but it looks like 2017 may have been his last year in the Majors.

And some other Tigers from the past 25-ish years.  Alvarez came to Detroit from Arizona by way of San Diego during the expansion draft in a deal for former star Travis Fryman, but he never got his bat going enough to last.  Anderson was a #1 overall pick as a closer but blew his arm out.  Benoit was a very effective arm out of the pen but his performance priced him out of Motown.  Fick was somehow an All-Star during the awful 2002 season.  Pena is back with the organization as a coach after retiring last year.  Rondon is the White Sox's problem now!  And Young just had a hell of a Winter League in Venezuela.

Chris's note mentioned that he thought I may have asked him for some Chris Sabos at some point and sent this five-pack my way.  That was awesome of him as three were new to me:  1990 Classic Update and Starline Long John Silver (#25, one of his two appearances), plus 1994 Pacific.  I'm especially glad he sent the latter because I'd included that set on the checklist of another player but not for Spuds.  That's all fixed now, and I'm happy to have even more cardboard of the notable 3B!

Also:  three many Verlanders!  The 2017 Topps Bunt card in the middle was a new one for me as was the A&G relic from the same year.  The latter was one of the two cards I claimed from Chris's piles of trade bait and I thought it would be fun to grab as I have his other version from the same set:

By their powers combined these give me 350 total Verlanders, which is not Too Many but is definitely a lot!

Last up is a very shiny Thomas Rawls insert, a Yellow parallel of 2016 Panini Phoenix's Adrenaline Rush (#49/99).  I claimed this one as well since Rawls is a former Wolverine (who blew up in his senior year after a transfer to Central Michigan).  While I usually post this kind of thing over on TMM I didn't feel like it was worth it for just one card.  Besides, the sport is especially relevant today, the NFL conference champ games, plus I have another Sportlots post I hope you'll all check out over there.

Thanks again for a great return package, Chris.  May your eight not be so elusive and your Larkins be plentiful in 2019!

Completed set: 2015 UD football

A couple weeks ago I showed off the results of four 2015 UD football value packs, and now I'm back to report that for about the price of a couple more of those I've completed the 145-card base set, including the veterans (1-45) and non-SPed Star Rookies (46-145).  I found the 12 rookies I needed from one Sportlots seller and grabbed a veterans set on eBay to close this one out.  While the rookies I picked up include a few interesting names, such as controversial LSU OL La'el Collins, I didn't consider them worth showing off.  However, the vets are a nice multiple of nine which means they were screaming to be posted.  Here they are:

I like that Upper Deck mixed things up a bit this year with the player selection (despite the lack of Wolverine subjects), and my only real complaint is the inclusion of Saban.  Of course I also laughed at guys like Tim Couch and Joey Harrington because of how they turned out in the NFL, but as a college-themed set they certainly belong.

And that's another excellent UD football set in the books.  Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

1/2/15 card show report: first one of the year

Before getting to today's post I thought I'd say a quick few words about Cubs legend Ernie Banks, who passed away yesterday a couple weeks shy of turning 84.  Banks was "Mr. Cub" for a reason, playing 19 years for the North-Siders, with a joy and passion for the game that few could claim to match.  Just as there's an indelible image in my mind of Ken Griffey Jr. with his hat backwards and grinning while showing off his sweet swing in batting practice, or Lou Gehrig bravely addressing the Yankees faithful one last time, I will always picture Banks enjoying what he did best with a smile on his face, and of course, "Let's play two!"  The world has lost a true legend, but I trust that legend will be passed down from father to son as long as the sport endures.  RIP, Ernie, and thank you for everything you gave to the game and its fans.

Ok, so more than three weeks after attending this show I'm finally getting around to showing off the goods because I wanted to get to some trade posts plus my 1000th football hit milestone on TMM.  This was another trip to Taylor Town Trade Center, and I actually managed to spend a bit more than usual there--$55--because I had some nice like digging up more trade bait and PC stuff.  I made two purchases of $5, but most everything was from quarter, $0.50, and $1 boxes, giving me a nice mix once again.

As usual I have some to share on TMM as well, but here's what's relevant to those of you that read this here blog:

First up is one of my $5 purchase.  One of the sellers I frequent had a ton of base and insert sets he was trying to blow out, and sadly I missed out on one of 2001 Topps Archives Reserve, which someone got to before me.  Still, for just a few bucks I managed to grab this set of 2007 Topps Draft (...Picks & Prospects, but that's too long of a name).  My interest mostly stemmed from cards you'll see if you check TMM, but there were a few other highlights as well, namely RCs of these guys:

Not a bad little group there, eh?  Best of all, the set includes my favorite design element:  college photos!  And non-airbrushed ones at that.

Speaking of rookies, I managed to do pretty well in the quarter and $0.50 boxes, landing this pair:

 Adrian Beltre 1997 Bowman RC

This '97 Bowman Beltre makes for a nice trio along with his Bowman's Best and Bowman Chrome cards from the same year.

Ken Griffey Jr. 1989 Bowman RC

Though it's not in mint condition I happily added another copy of Griffey's oversized '89 Bowman rookie to my collection.

While I'm on the subject of Griffey (man, these segues are just writing themselves today), I found a fun cheap insert of his too:

Ken Griffey Jr. 1996 Emotion-XL D-Fense

Collectors from the 90s like me probably remember this oddly-named product and the D-Fense insert, with its framed, matted design.  Not a bad add to my Griffey PC.

While I was at it I found one card each for three other baseball PCs:

Kirk Gibson 1998 Sports Illustrated World Series Fever

Fleer's SI sets included some fantastic photography and design, like this cool base card of a more obscure moment in World Series history that I scored for my Gibby collection.

Lou Whitaker 2001 Topps American Pie

Sweet Lou got into the act too with this '01 American Pie base.  This was one of Topps' goofier sets that mixed baseball with pop culture way before their A&G/Gypsy Queen crapfests that are the hobby's version of Bill Simmons.  I love the photo of a young Whitaker with a great career ahead of him, though.

Barry Larkin 1997 Finest Bronze Refractor

Finally, it's Refractor time!  I don't remember which box I pulled this from but either way it was amazingly cheap--try finding Larkin Refractors for less than $1 on eBay or COMC.  The '97 set featured one of the product's best designs and I love how much the shininess enhances it.

As I mentioned I landed some trade bait as usual for several of you so keep in mind you may be getting cards from me again soon!  If not, there's always next show, which I may just attend if I feel like it.

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!

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!

2014 trade package #27: a trade as American as Home Run Apple pie

Keith from the Home Run Apple emailed me recently to check on the possibility of a trade, and not long after, he and I agreed to our first deal.  The Mets/WVU collector was very easy to work with, and I was glad to see he enjoyed the stuff I sent his way.  In return I received a great package as well:

Kicking things off is a trio of Super Bowl-winning Wolverines.  I always love trading with fellow college team collectors because they're more likely to be willing to find cards of your team.

Next up is a nice bunch of Tigers inserts.  First we have an Al Kaline from 2013 Triple Threads' Amethyst parallel set; I don't believe I have anything of Al from previous Triple Threads sets, so that's pretty cool.  Next is a pair of Verlander inserts from a couple somewhat recent Topps products, and I went ahead and scanned those for Justin's PC, which now has more than 50 cards in the album.  After those comes a great Topps Gold parallel of OF Andy Dirks doing some wall-climbing.  Among the rest, a GQ Miggy mini is the only card of a current player, and that's bookended by the Prince of back pain and another mini of the guy that came to the Tigers with Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis.  Rounding things out is a trio of Topps Emerald parallels.

And then there's the card Keith originally offered me to kick off the deal:

Justin Verlander 2013 Topps Heritage jersey

Hooray for more Verlanders!  There can never be too many, after all.  This Heritage relic from last year is a good example of how a solid design can overcome something like a single-color swatch.  Topps has come up with some pretty good Heritage designs and I count this card among them.  It's my seventh relic of the Tigers' former ace, and 12th hit overall.

Thanks again for a fantastic first deal, Keith, and I'll be more than happy to work with you again in the future.  For those of you who haven't traded with the man in charge of the Home Run Apple, know that he's now TMV approved!

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!