2026 trade package #10: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

At long last (my fault) it's time to take a look at the most recent package sent to me by Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store!

This one made its way to me back in April. Since then I've actually sent a response his way, only for him to have to return it because he was asked to pay something like $700 in taxes/duties. I'm still trying to figure out what category of goods to use on the customs form to avoid that ridiculousness.

Anyway, here's the mailer in all its glory. (Maybe I should try a quantity of "1" as well? I typically use a number like 50 or 100 to go along with ~$40ish in value, and only recently has it turned into a big issue.) And here's a look at all the fantastic stuff therein:

The baseball content leads off with some cards representing the much-improved Tigers, then a guy making his collection debut in style. Danny Zimmerman was primarily an OF from 2018-21 at Michigan before heading west to San Jose State (what's up, Fuji?) for 2022. He did pitch in a couple games during his freshman season and a few more during summer college ball. You see him here on a 2016 Leaf Perfect Game card, a Purple auto that's a 1/1, marking quite the first appearance in my collection!

The basketball stuff ended up containing some very nice items as well. French forward Moussa Diabate played one year in Ann Arbor before the Clippers snagged him in 2022's 2nd round. That THJ is one of the two big highlights, a 2018-19 Panini Impeccable parallel numbered to just 25! LeVert and Wagner are both trade package stalwarts that I'm glad to see here while women's star Syla Swords gets her second card in my PC and first that isn't team/NIL-issued. And lastly, Mitch McGary (who just celebrated his birthday Saturday, as noted by Jeff) gets an especially cool add to his pile: a 2013-14 Panini Signatures Draft X-Change card that features an embedded piece like a slide. Cool!

The football content was very, very high quality as you'll see over the next few scans, including a pile of serial numbered insanity that Robert would appreciate! (Apparently it's "other blogger call-out" day!) Tackling machine Devin Bush stars on another very low-numbered insert, and his Contenders chase offering is limited to just 25 copies. Former Michigan TE and current TV guy Jake Butt appears on a colorful Panini Father's Day issue numbered /499. One of my favorite recent WRs Jehu Chesson adds a 2017 Panini Phoenix Orange parallel (SN99) to his RC that I have. Similarly, I have LB Shawn Crable's 2008 Donruss Gridiron Gear RC but not the super-rare Platinum Holofoil O's version limited to just 25 copies (that's three that rare so far if you're counting!). Darboh was Chesson's teammate and another one of my favorites of that time, and up above you see the Blue Wave Prizm version of his 2017 Panini Prizm RC, numbered to 149. Lastly (from this scan, at least), you see the rarest of the bunch (not including 1/1s) in the form of RB Chris Evans' 2021 Panini Spectra Neon Orange Die Cut. The color match serves it very well and I'm a big fan of die-cuts, but the best part here is that this one is numbered to just 10 copies. Whoa!

Blog favorite RB Mike Hart is the first highlight of this group, and the Artist's Proof parallel of his 2008 Select RC is numbered to just 32, once again giving you an idea of the quantity of quality numbered cards Doug sent this time. Mo Hurst's 2018 Rookies & Stars Longevity parallel isn't that much more common at just 75 copies made. One of OSU's least favorite defenders, David Ojabo, is seen here on a 2022 Donruss Optic parallel of his RC called Wave, and that's SN300. And talented wideout DPJ's 2020 Absolute rookie parallel, a Spectrum Blue, goes to just 50 copies while LB Josh Uche feature's in the same product's Spectrum Red insert, doubly common at 100.

And then we have some especially big hits. Doug treated me to not one but TWO autographed 1/1s, which is kind of insane, but that's the kind of stuff I'm grateful we're able to send back and forth sometimes. In this case it's my first signed plate of WR Devin Funchess. The yellow plate was used to produce his 2018 Panini Luminance card, then was subsequently inserted into 2018 Plates & Patches with a sticker auto affixed. What a great card that's now the centerpiece of his collection!

Jack-of-all-trades guy Jabrill Peppers is next with his largest relic swatch in my collection yet. Relic #3 (to go with an autograph) hails from 2018 Panini XR's Maximal Materials, an insert that certainly lives up to its name. It's a huge piece of a Browns jersey from his time with that team and numbered to just 49 copies.

Last up for football is one more TE (to go with Butt and Funchess, who played the position a bit in college, at least) and a guy who's moving his way up the coaching ladder in the NFL (currently coaching that position for the Falcons). Kevin Koger appeared on a solid number of autographed inserts back in 2012, and this Blue version is my second from that year's Press Pass product. I've long owned the unnumbered Silver card but this Blue one is numbered /50 up front, making it the only numbered signature card of his I own.

Next up is the hockey content, and we'll start with the Red Wings. The highlights of the base cards are franchise legends Fedorov and Yzerman (the embattled GM--more on that later), plus star D Moritz Seider. And then there's a surprise Be a Player signature of F Mike Krushelnyski. Krusher finished his career with Detroit over the '94-'95 season after signing as a FA in '94, but he's probably best known for another transaction. He joined Marty McSorley in the deal that sent their teammate Wayne Gretzky to the Kings in 1988, forever altering the futures of both franchises.

There's plenty more hockey to enjoy thanks to a pile of cards of Wolverines icers. Like the Wings, none of these guys made it to the Cup finals this year, but fortunately that's pretty rare. I love seeing the Wolverwings pop up in these packages and Copp is a good example. The Jackets continue to be a common NHL stop for drafted Michigan guys (including two different Johnsons). And that Herr was a nice inclusion here since it's just my second card of his, and this one is a '98-'99 SP Authentic Power Shift parallel numbered /500.

My favorite Wolverwing Larkin is the star of this scan, though how much longer he'll be with the team is unknown after he recently requested a trade. That divorce may be ugly due to a reported poor relationship between him and GM Steve Yzerman. The latter's tenure has unfortunately been a disaster, and I don't blame a talented guy like Larkin from moving on after 10 years of nothing. I'll continue to collect him either way, but his potential departure will be bittersweet. Meanwhile, though Larkin is in my top 10 of hockey PCs, longtime player Brendan Morrison is second (to Marty Turco), and I'm happy to see even more new stuff of the former national champ here.

Norton and Sloan join the previously seen Herr as players you don't see here too often. Meanwhile, Werenski, this year's Norris winner, is yet another Jackets guy. I really like the OPC playing card-style inserts like Zach's above. Johnson's horizontal insert with interior die-cuts is quite nice as well.

Speaking of Wolverwings and Kent Johnson, the hockey hits portion was most certainly as nice as the others. The SPx Super Scripts auto of Compher is his 4th signed card in my collection, but man does it look nice in-hand. The shiny foil background really makes it pop, plus I'm excited to have my first auto of his as a member of the Red Wings.

Meanwhile, the previously-seen Johnson joins the hit collection with a very cool auto/relic pair. The signed card hails from 2023-24 Upper Deck Credentials' Main Stage Signatures insert, and the design provides for a well integrated window for the sticker. Meanwhile, the relic sports the eponymous blue of his team's nickname in the form of a jersey swatch out of 2024-25 SP Game Used. These make for a quality ending to some top-notch hockey items.

And last but not least, these two UM other sports figures are making repeat performances, both after joining my collection thanks to this package's sender.

Rhodes (born Brandi Reed) hitched along for the trip in a January package I posted early in November, and that was on a Leaf signature card. This time she's back in relic form out of the 2021 Upper Deck Spectrum AEW product. The card doesn't specify what the swatch came from, but in any case it's a cool item to add to a collection (other and non-sports) I plan to put more effort into.

Canadian-born soccer player Shelina Zadorsky also debuted in my collection thanks to a SCFtDS trade package. In her case it was a two-fer that I posted last November: a Goudey base card plus a Goodwin Champions auto. Now I own the latter's memorabilia version, making for a perfect pair! I'm guessing she's more on Doug's radar as she played for his hometown's youth women's club (plus, you know, I don't really follow soccer).

Doug, thanks once again for another mailer stuffed with flat-out quality. As always I appreciate your generosity and how much effort you must be putting into finding this stuff. I'm looking forward to getting a package to you--one that doesn't involve almost $1000 in taxes--as soon as I can, especially once that current envelope gets returned.

As for what's next, I'm not sure if I'll take a quick break from trade packages to show off other stuff, but I have a few of those from May and June, two shows, one eBay purchase, and lots of TCDb stuff, so there's no shortage of content--just effort getting it written up and posted. Until then, I'll probably be outside enjoying some of my favorite weather!

2025 trade package #11: the Collector

The All-Star break has come and gone since I last posted so it's about time I got another one up. Today you're getting a quick recap of a couple PWEs sent to me by Chris, The Collector, back in May.

This was the second time he'd sent some cards my way this year and he's since done it once more. It sure is great to have him back and I continue to try to send supportive and healing thoughts to his family.

Here's what he sent this time, wrapped up in and protected by a printed out copy of this Defector article ("Never put poison in your mouth."):

These worked out nicely as they could be split into three sports each with eight cards. The baseball section was naturally all about the Tigers, who ended a season-long six-game losing streak last night and look to regain the momentum of their excellent start. The three guys right down the middle, all on '25 Topps parallels, oddly enough, are part of that outstanding squad, with Mize the best of the trio. The inserts you see are, from top to bottom, Rainbow Foil, Spring Training, and Diamante Foil.

There's also a nice pair of (a.k.a. too many!) Verlanders, one of which calls into question my scanning abilities. It looks like I'm just a couple away from 700. I wonder how long it'll take to get to 1K?

When it comes to basketball, Chris sent me quite the poker hand: four pairs. Bufkin, Poole, Robinson, and the younger Wagner bro Franz all had me seeing double. Poole is nearing the 50-card mark while Franz recently crossed it, building up a collection that continues to surprise me. I don't hate seeing the Hoops Winter cards right now while we're in my favorite season but I would probably be glaring at them if it was January.

Lastly, on the gridiron I was treated to another two pairs, but first we'll check out the other players represented. The Don races into the first spot with a cool Bowman Chrome U college action card. Defensive beast Rashan Gary and former UM coach Jim Harbaugh get paired up thanks to last year's Prizm. And like Edwards, upcoming second-year Bengal Kris Jenkins appears in the Maize & Blue on his '24 Score RC.

 As for the pairs, it's all about the defense. First is the versatile Jabrill Peppers, who had a trying year in '24 on an awful Pats team while also dealing with some pretty nasty charges, though he's since been acquitted of those. Hopefully he can stay out of trouble. In fact, he should try to be more like Charles Woodson and keep his nose clean off the field while being amazing on it. He should also put in more effort than Panini did, using identical photos cropped slightly differently on cards from 2021 and '24.

That concludes a recap of the only blogger trade cards I received in May, but don't worry, I've still got lots to show y'all.

Many thanks to Chris as always for thinking of me and putting together a couple very nice envelopes! Chris, I hope you continue to find some time and energy to collect and blog because you should be aware that many of us appreciate you.

I'll be back soon once I figure out what to show off next. Until then, go Tigers, and welcome back to MLB, Rich Hill! 

9/2/22 show report: look who showed up!

So a couple weeks ago as usual it was time for the monthly show in Taylor. I once again took a Friday off to head that way since Michigan's season opener was the following afternoon and I wasn't missing that for anything, even the fun of a card show. So off to the east I went.

John let me know that the stars aligned and that he and his wife would be able to make the roughly two-hour trek out that way from the Portage area as well. I hadn't seen him in quite a while so I thought that was awesome.

They made it there around an hour or so after I did and had been looking through my favorite seller's boxes. We got to hang out and talk cards for a bit while flipping through the dollar and quarter cards, then John went off to check out some of the other sellers.

I was happy to get to see one of my Tigers/Michigan-collecting buddies and trade a few things in-person too. I'd found a Michigan Football t-shirt for him plus picked up a cool looking Topps binder in a Facebook deal, so I got those to him along with a little stack of cards I'd piled up. Shipping the binder would have been a pain so giving it to him in-person was fantastic.

John also brought this insert of Jarrett Irons, a former LB, that I'd forgotten I'd commented on when he posted it on Twitter a while back. As it turns out he had a double of it and remembered to bring it with him. Awesome! Irons was a mid-90s Wolverine who has all of six cards to his name per TCDB, and two of them are from Hero Decks playing cards, which tend to be too nebulous for me to worry about. The other four are from the '97 Press Pass product, including this Combine insert, which shows off some of his measurables on the back. He went undrafted and was out of the sport pretty quickly but seems to have carved out a nice business career for himself.

Big thanks to John for the first Irons card for my collection, and a very well-timed Michigan uni issue at that! I hope we can get together for another show in the near future, in Taylor or elsewhere.

As for my own spending, my notes indicate the following breakdown:

• One $5 card
• Two $2 cards
• 28 dollar cards
• 52 quarter cards

That came out to $50 according to my math and the seller discounted it down to $45. My man!

Here's the generic trade bait I scored that remains available (here and on TCDB):

The Finest cards are all Refractors. I found a big bunch of them together in the quarter box and snagged them all. The Brazelton auto is numbered /350.

And that brings us to the stuff I kept for myself this time:

Abbott's a 2020 Ginter Chrome Refractor, which is one way to spruce up a boring design!  A very Michigan uni Jesse Franklin /999 hails from the same year's Elite product. It's hard to tell but the Conlon card of Greenberg is, well, Green! Speaking of that color, so is Rich Hill's card from 2020 Chrome Update Sapphire, which is numbered /45 and set me back a decent $2. Caris is the only basketball representative today, looking very Patriotic on a 2020-21 Prizm parallel.

On the football side there's lots more Michigan uniformity to love. Though it didn't scan as well as the LeVert above, the Nico parallel you see to start this image is also a Red/White/Blue Prizm. Evans' card is from the same product but is the Gold Ice version instead, which looks quite cool. My opinion of Lewan has fallen drastically the more I've learned about his terrible behavior, but I still pick up the occasional card of him like the 2019 Score Scorecard parallel you see above. New Patriot Jabrill Peppers popped up on a couple Prizm parallels of his own in the quarter boxes: Disco and Green. The slightly difficult to scan well Streets is a '99 Collector's Edge Advantage Galvanized parallel, numbered with a real foil stamp to 200 copies.

And then we have the two hits. The $2 2021 Absolute jersey you see of Collins above is just my second hit of the Houston WR. My collection of him is small at just 15 cards so I hope I can keep adding nicer stuff like this the longer he's in the league.

Meanwhile, the Paye autograph was my lone $5 purchase on the day. I don't know that it was necessarily the price it should have been but it ended up being worth it, especially with the little discount I got. Plus it's another first for me as I also didn't have any hits yet of the Colts' first rounder from '21, and better yet it's a full Michigan uni card--no airbrushing or anything! It hails from the extremely and wildly confusing 2021 Wild Card Matte product. I'll save you the details of my pursuit of more info, but from what I can tell it comes from the Matte Black version of the Red Hot Rookies Autographs insert and is numbered /50...on both sides. Yep, you read that correctly. See the stamp on the front above? Here's the back:

Today's Leaf and Panini aren't remotely the quality of the original versions of those brands, but once in a while they can be as fun as they are frustrating. Anyway, Kwity joins the football collection as new member #233.

So as usual I had a fantastic time, came home with some stuff I was excited about and also had enough to fill out 10 trade packages, a few of which have been blogged and/or tweeted about. And I got to hang out and talk cards with John, so it was a great Friday for collecting. Then Michigan opened up the season with a decisive win, so the four-day weekend was about as good as it could have been!

Depending on what comes in over the next couple days I may be recapping some of my recent TCDB deals next time, so watch out for lots more incoming cards soon!

2022 trade package #9: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

When today's post is in the books I'll be able to say I'm finally caught up with blogger trade packages, at least temporarily! And given the sender, Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store, is one of my most prolific trade partners, it's no surprise that this one is a doozy. All four major sports, sweet inserts, autos and relics, and more! Let's get down to it:

The baseball and non-Michigan hockey portions were small but of high quality. Miggy's 2021 Stadium Club card, a nice reminder that Detroit opens up the season in just a couple days, is an image variation from 2021, a horizontal issue of him sliding into a base as opposed to a vertical shot of him standing safely on base holding his helmet. I hope he reaches 3000 hits early in the season to get the pressure off himself early!

Moving to the ice we have two Wings, whose season is bad enough that the less we talk about it the better. Besides a very nice OPC base of supremely talented Swede Zetterberg I was surprised to find a lovely signature from his countryman, defenseman Gustav Lindstrom, out of 20-21 UD Allure. Doug's sent me other cards from this product and they all 100% live up to the name! The young D-man played a bit the past couple years with the Wings before becoming a regular this season and we'll see what his future is for a team that can't seem to win a damn thing right now. Beautiful card, though!

Representing the UM basketball team, which did well to make it to the Sweet 16 after an inconsistent season, we'll start things off with some great looking cards of one of the longest tenured NBA Wolverines in Crawford, who finally retired this year, and current head coach Juwan Howard, bookending a new base of THJ. Crawford appeared in at least one game (which happened only in his final season, 2019-20) every season starting in 2000-01 and suited up for nine teams. And that Howard insert in the bottom row's center spot looks great, right out of the 90s!

Continuing on the court there's one more Howard to enjoy along with some 90s love for vets like Tarpley, Vaught, and Webber. But the recent Hoops trio is definitely where it's at thanks to a nice base of 3-point wiz Duncan Robinson and RCs of Isaiah Livers and Franz Wagner. Livers was fun to watch as a four-year Wolverine who became a key contributor over his last two seasons, and then the local guy (Kalamazoo) was taken by the Pistons, which was very cool. Wagner followed the trail his brother Mo blazed from Germany to Ann Arbor for two seasons and then was a first-round pick for Orlando last year, teaming up with his bro and another Michigan alum in Ignas Brazdeikis.

After two more cards of recent HOFer Webber, we start to get into the real goods with some hits out of basketball and football. Old man Jamal Crawford represents the former with a pair of 2016-17 Panini-branded relics. On the left is a Select Swatches relic from Select and to the right is a Catalysts jersey from Spectra. Both cards are from his 2012-16 run with the Clippers and each includes a bold red swatch. The Spectra card is also numbered on the back to 149. Jamal now has nine hits in his collection, good for fourth place among basketballers as he attempts to join the double-digit club.

The gridiron card count was small but definitely no worse for it with two high quality pieces! First up is a 2018 National Treasures jersey of new Patriots defensive weapon Jabrill Peppers. He was of course taken by Cleveland in the first round of the 2017 draft and is now free of the tire fire organizations there and in New York with the Giants. His brown jersey relic is numbered to 99 on the front and it marks hit #3 for him. Fellow versatile "weapon" and new member of Michigan's recruiting staff Denard Robinson gets an even cooler card to add to his tally, a 2013 Triple Threads Ruby parallel numbered to just 15 that includes three Jags swatches--one of which has three colors and some stitching--plus an autograph, making it one of the best cards in the envelope. It sure is sweet and I'm very happy to have it as hit #53 of the newly employed Robinson.

Now we head to the ice as Michigan Hockey prepares for its record 26th Frozen Four appearance tomorrow evening against Denver in Boston. The Wolverines still have the most national titles with nine but Denver and North Dakota loom nearby with eight each, and UM hasn't won it all since 1998. This team with a plethora of first-round NHL picks has me hoping for a new banner hanging in the rafters of Yost this winter.

Anyway, on to the cards. Cammalleri, Connor (among the league leaders in goals this year), Wings captain Larkin, and Pacioretty are all well known names while Hagelin and both Hunwicks (unrelated, as always) are guys I got to see play live in Ann Arbor. While the Larkins look great and I do love adding to his collection, I was the most excited for the Mirror Emerald parallel of Shawn Hunwick's 2012-13 Certified RC. It looks terrific and includes that same shot of him playing for Columbus in his Michigan gear that I've seen a million times, but even better, it's numbered 4/5, making it the rarest card in his collection that isn't a plate. It was a huge surprise and I'm thrilled to knock another one off his wantlist!

Fellow Blue Jacket Zach Werenski, who's put up some good numbers with the team this year as a defenseman, sews up the base and inserts with a nice pair--those OPC Platinum cards sure are sharp, aren't they?

And lastly we'll look at a quartet of big hits. We're going alphabetically here but the first one is about as good as it gets: a Yellow Printing Plate of former Duck Andrew Ebbett that was inserted in super high-end product 2008-09 Upper Deck the Cup. The plate was used to produce the former Wolverine's SP Game Used base card that year, and I love what Upper Deck did back then in kind of framing the plates they inserted, making them look even cooler. What a great addition!

Card #2 stars the previously seen Pacioretty, a guy I got to see play a bit in his one year in Ann Arbor before jumping to Montreal. He's put up over 300 goals in parts of 14 seasons and is a key piece on the Golden Knights when he's healthy. What you see above is a jersey relic from 2020-21 SP Game Used celebrating his appearance in 2020's NHL All-Star Skills competition. It's hit #9 for his collection and one of the newest ones I own of him.

Single-year Wolverine defenseman Jacob Trouba is the subject of the last two cards tonight. #1 is a draft banner jumbo relic from the year he was drafted by the Jets #9 overall, 2012. The card would have been pulled from 2019-20 SP Game Used and I believe it's my second banner-related relic from the sport, which is not something you see every day so I think it's pretty cool! Joining that is my eighth card that includes his signature, hailing from 2019-20 Upper Deck Chronology's Franchise History Autos. It's a very classy looking card of a guy whose current count of 10 goals has equaled his career high established in 2013-14, his rookie season. This outstanding pair puts him up to an excellent 17 hits, good for a fourth place tie with Shawn Hunwick among the 59 subjects in my hockey PC. These are a great way to close out another banger of a mailer from Doug!

Given the abundance of goodies you can see above, many of which are of such high quality that I'm happy I've worked as hard as I have recently to hit him back, I'm happy that I've finally done a show and tell post to share them with those of you that follow me. After a few more items arrive I'll be sending my first salvo of 2022 to Doug and look forward to his reaction. In the meantime I may just be able to start getting caught up on my TCDB trades. But before then, in honor of my favorite Canadian (or just in general?) trade partner...

And there you have it!

2020 trade package #5: My Sports Obsession

It's certainly been an interesting couple of weeks, to say the least, but I'm finally back today with a new post after once again using a lot of my card time on TCDB (with positive results!).

Today's post is brought to you by buddy of the blog Jeff who runs My Sports Obsession.  He's another one of those guys that's great to trade with since we have a bunch of PCs in common, including Jim Abbott, Barry Larkin, Cal Ripken Jr., and all Michigan Wolverines--all of which you'll get to see in this here post!

Jeff sent me a nice bubble mailer stuffed with goodies a couple weeks ago, hitting three of the major sports and multiple collections:

I mean, I said Abbott, Larkin, and Ripken, right?  The '97 Pacific of Barry in the middle of the top row brings me back to buying a few packs of that product back then, so while the design isn't one of my favorites I like it for the nostalgia factor.  And I was surprised to find that I needed all four Cal cards you see up there, with my favorite being the '93 Ultra.  That gives you a good look at the beginnings of some manufacturers dragging themselves out of the dark ages of junk wax designs.

Moving over to basketball we get our first Michigan uni card thanks to a sweet insert of of program legend Trey Burke out of Contenders, followed by a Prizm parallel of him.  Panini's also responsible for a great overhead shot of THJ going to the rim.  Speaking of Junior Hardaway, Jeff was nice enough to toss in a 2018-19 Prizm jersey relic of him (just my fourth, and 7th hit overall), plus a cool purple Kings swatch of Sauce Castillo (4th, 9th) from Hoops.  He's skilled at finding good deals and doesn't mind ending up with dupes as he can often send them to me (and vice versa) which, again, makes him an ideal trade partner for me.

Football part 1 is this great looking bunch with even more Wolverines uniform love.  Crable didn't end up on a ton of cards but the lesser-known '08 draftee did make it to an Upper Deck Starquest insert that year.  Former #1 Devin Funchess looks just fine in Refractor form with Orange and original flavors of his '15 Topps Chrome RC.  RB Karan Higdon went undrafted and doesn't have much cardboard either so that 2019 Contenders Draft insert is much appreciated.  Big Mo Hurst's 2018 Prestige base is a sight for sore eyes as it knocks another RC off his list, plus it's yet another nice college action card.  Talented jackass LT Taylor Lewan makes two 2014 Bowman insert appearances with a Black parallel and '50 Bowman card.  And do-everything dude Peppers comes in with a pair of cards I accidentally scanned in reverse:  '18 Contenders Draft (awesome design and college uniform!) and '17 Donruss RC, another one I can cross off the list!

This nice little blowout ends things with a bang.  First is a great Shoelace four-pack, including his 2013 Select RC--which leaves me chasing just the retail version of his Absolute RC--plus one of his two SAGE HIT base cards I somehow didn't have.  SAGE has its ups and downs but that one looks good in my book partly because I don't think anything got airbrushed.

Then we move on to even more hits.  I'll start with the super cool Channing Stribling Elite auto as it worked well scanning it next to Denard's horizontal offering.  I came home from a show last May with my first signature of the DB, but this Elite Draft Status Die Cut Purple is undoubtedly cooler, so I really have to thank Jeff for sending it my way.  Next is a nice jersey relic of WR Amara Darboh from 2017 Certified on a design that's fairly typical of the brand--which I say as a positive.  I believe both of our Darboh collections skew heavily toward the hit side, which is a cool situation.

If that 2017 Contenders Draft Ryan Glasgow auto looks familiar, that's because Fuji sent me the Blue Foil parallel that I posted earlier this month, and now I've got the base version to add, which is outstanding.  I really value brands like this (and the occasional SAGE and Leaf product) for producing autos of guys that likely wouldn't get any, especially when it comes to those who play defense.  A higher drafted DL that did appear on a nice number of hits his rookie year and then pretty much nothing else, Mike Martin, closes out the post with a 2012 Gridiron Rookie Autographs X's signature /499.  It's definitely been a good while since I called his name on either of my blogs, but this does give him a solid 14 hits (all autos) to his name.

Speaking of numbers, before I end things today so I can get to the growing backlog of things to be posted, I want to thank Jeff for sending me the Michigan Football hits that put me over the 1500-card milestone!  According to the Google Sheet I use to track everything, I now count 1501 different relics/autos/plates/more of 225 total players in that collection, numbers that continue to boggle my mind as they grow.  As I like to do whenever I announce these marks, I want to say thank you to all who have contributed to that collection through the generosity of your trades, making this experience even more rewarding (not to mention more affordable)!

And again, a big thanks to Jeff for sending another kick-ass trade package my way.  Jeff I have a very nice stack of stuff to send you at some point so I'm looking forward to returning the favor.

I'm also hoping to cover all the new stuff that's ended up on my card desk over the last few weeks before it gets overwhelming, so stay tuned!