2024 August-December card show reports: binging through five shows

Here's a show recap post for my five trips to Taylor in August through December last year because if I do one post for each at this point it may take me until March.

8/2/24:

My purchase-tracking spreadsheet says I dropped $80 at this one, so it was a pretty average show for me price-wise.

First up, some trade bait:

I believe both the A-Rod and Hoffman up top are gone but I think I may have everything else still.

My keepers:

Hooray, a new Granderson! Newer Gwynns are nice but how about some "90s inserts rule!" action for Maddux? Griffey and Ripken complete the quartet. By the way, Bowman's Best's Mirror Image was one of my favorites back then despite the fact that the prospects they featured often didn't work out.

Holo Griffey! A numbered Gwynn! I included the back of the Mirror Image insert plus the numbered Elite Teams insert of the Braves, who definitely lived up to that description. Speaking of the Bowman's Best card, this one was quite good as obviously Maddux and Moose are HOFers, but Colon also had a very nice career, and Wright even managed to last for 19 seasons!

Basketball ended up being the story of the day with a couple of the biggest cards of the haul hailing from that sport: an autograph of Caleb Houstan (my second), the guy who plays for Ann Arbor South (Orlando), plus a nice Lakers swatch of his teammate Mo Wagner (hit #4).

Football didn't get shut out, though, as I came home with both a numbered rookie-year Griese from SPx plus a new Funchess jersey relic (hit #32 for him).

9/6/24:

For September's show it looks like I upped my total spending to an even $100, and a good chunk of that must have gone towards items for trade packages based on what I have scanned to show here. That works for me, though, as I love using these shows as a source of cards to send out to my favorite trading buds.

As for cards that weren't ticketed for specific folks, here's what I grabbed:

What can I say? I'm a sucker for autographed manupatches, and I think those signed metal cards are too cool. I probably only spent a couple bucks on each of these anyway, and hopefully they'll find a good home before long, but I don't think I've had any bites for them on TCDb just yet.

My keepers:

It's always great when I can add rarer cards like Artist's Proofs to my PCs, including Palmer's. Pudge shares his '93 Pinnacle Team Pinnacle insert with another excellent if not HOF backstop, Darren Daulton. And I'm sorry that Gwynn's the one to get covered by the peel's sticker on '95 Donruss Dominators insert you see above--a favorite of mine, by the way--but I got this one to pair with a copy that I do have peeled, so now I have one of each to enjoy.

I scored a few more basketball items this time, and THJ was the highlight as I found three new cards for his collection, including a Panini Prizm auto that represents my sixth signature and 13th overall hit of the ex-Wolverine and current Pistons standout.

The football side of things was very offensive, but only in terms of the positions represented, because I was quite happy with my little haul. The Threads jersey of Braylon gives him 95 total hits, keeping him in 4th behind Henne, Manningham, and Long, though the race to be the second to 100 is anybody's game. I also found my second auto of TE Nick Eubanks on a red parallel of his Contenders Draft issue, and believe it or not, the one I already own isn't from the same product, but an entirely different one!

10/4/24:

October was a bit of an outlier as I spent just $55, but in thinking back to that day and looking over what I have here, I'm pretty sure I recall that being a day where my favorite seller had lowered some of his prices even more so I got a lot of bang for my buck.

The available trade bait:

I'm pretty sure each of the autographs/jerseys was just a buck, plus the numbered inserts and other 90s stuff were just too cool to pass up and try to get into someone else's collection.

Not a ton for me either this time, but a few cool items:

The Maddux, Ripken, and Pudge cards were all fun additions, plus I nabbed my first card of IF prospect Trey Sweeney, one of the guys that came over in the Jack Flaherty deal with the Dodgers. If he can help force Javy Baez off the roster then he'll forever be a legend in my mind. Meanwhile, the Manning ended up being a decent chunk of my purchase price, and if I'm being honest, probably an overpay, but I thought it was a very cool piece with huge swatches, a signature, and numbering to just 10 copies. I don't know what his future is with the Tigers but this is the kind of card I see myself keeping even if he moves on.

RBs Chris Evans and Hassan Haskins stole the show on the gridiron for this month, though defenders Rashan Gary and Chris Wormley also get in on the action with cool numbered cards.

11/1/24:

I spent $105 on this one and didn't come home with any up-for-grabs trade bait, but I believe I did score some nice items for trade and Christmas card packages. But better yet, I had a very nice day bringing home some cool hits for myself, much of which I think was in the $2-$5 range:

A jersey produced by Fleer's Ultra brand becomes relic #18 (and hit #19) for Mad dog. I'm the most excited about the Arrington/Henne dual because it's getting harder to find reasonably priced copies of cards for either that I need, and Henne's one of my favorite PC guys. Arrington gets his 56th hit and Henne keeps a secure grip on the top spot in the sport with his 145th(!).

I landed pairs of autos of the rest of the players. Butt's are from Panini's Absolute and XR, and the Michigan TE who was anything BUT booty cheeks in college jumps up to 13 hits. DT Mo Hurst started his career with Oakland as seen on signature cards from Luminance and Prizm, but he's since moved on to San Fran and then Cleveland. I now own seven hits of his, all signed like these. And lastly, DPJ finally made his hits collection debut with a couple Panini Chronicles autos that were parallels done in the Obsidian design. I believe the Purple is limited to 30 copies and the Orange is /25. While they remind me a bit of many recent Leaf designs, I'm relieved that they weren't made by that execrable manufacturer, and instead I've got two quality college uni cards of one of the most talented wideouts to pass through Ann Arbor recently.

12/6/24:

With the holiday approaching quickly in December I planned on throwing down more cash towards Christmas cards fodder and was quite successful. The $115 I spent was second only to February's $130 cost, and I think the results speak for themselves as you look over the various posts and Tweets mentioning some of the cool stuff I sent out.

Once again, no unassigned trade bait, but some very cool keepers:

My favorite vintage guy was around and I think $15 of my total went to him for this trio of super cool Freehan items. Those include a '65 Topps Hot-Iron Transfers, '70 Topps Super, and '73 Topps Candy Lids. I'm always on the lookout for new Freehan stuff because anything I don't have is something I'll treasure. That made these an exciting purchase for sure!

I believe everything else I got for myself from my favorite seller was from the cheaper boxes, so everything here was probably $1 at most, and more likely $0.25 or $0.50. Once again, the "90s inserts rule!" tag is in full effect, and you have to know I was loving it. Fun insert designs starring three of my favorite 90s heroes always make my day. By the way, I think Freehan and a Pacific card featuring in the same post is very apt since they each remain criminally underappreciated these days.

Well, that's the rest of 2024 in show recaps for me. I believe what's left for me to cover for last year at this point is COMC, eBay, Facebook, and something else really fun that I don't think I've teased yet. Once I can catch up on those I can get to some cool trades I've received this month, January and February's shows (I'm sure I won't have those all done by this Friday), and maybe more timely TCDb trade recaps.

You might even say I still have a whole lot to...show you! (Sorry.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TCDB trade: ravensray52

On this very fall football Saturday highlighted by a win by my Wolverines to get the team to 7-0, I'm once again in a celebratory mood, so let's cap the day off with my latest TCDB deal!

I believe John, a.k.a. ravensray52, took advantage of the site's very useful trade-matching feature which simplifies getting trades going. Basically it gives you a list of everything you have available on each other's wantlist, meaning there's less time wasted if things don't work out. For that little effort, why not go for it and say "Here's everything we each need, what do you think?"? That's exactly what he did and the deal was history.

Besides the obvious former Baltimore NFL star John collects NFL die-cut and acetate sets, meaning he has excellent taste. A while ago I grabbed a couple numbered die-cuts at a show, I think for a dime or quarter apiece. He wanted those in exchange for seven cards that will be going to my Michigan Football RC collection and agreed that PWE shipping was acceptable so we quickly agreed to the transaction. Before I shipped his envelope I even managed to find a couple more die-cut inserts not on my trade list since I thought the trade was a bit lopsided in my favor.

A few days later these showed up in my mailbox:

Devin Funchess: this 2015 Rookies & Stars Longevity RC is the shinier version of a design I don't tend to like, but as with Topps' Chrome it's an improvement. I now have 21 of his 24 first-years and 70 of his cards overall.

Jake Butt: the former star TE who had to retire due to injuries is seen here on his 2017 Elite RC which is also shiny plus numbered /499, not to mention a product with a design I usually appreciate. I've now tracked down 10/14 rookie Butts and 24 of his issues.

Taco Charlton: Vidauntae "Taco" Charlton really missed out on NIL stuff, didn't he? The former first-rounder has bounced around but suited up with Dallas as seen on his above 2017 Rookies & Stars RC, putting me at half of his 20 first-years and 14 total cards, most of which don't look this boring.

Amara Darboh: one of Michigan's more enjoyable recent WRs in my opinion, Darboh makes yet another appearance here courtesy of his rookie year 2017 Select card. It reminds me a bit of a couple of the Bowman's Best designs around the late 90s--in a good way--and is my 7th of his 13 RCs and 55th overall.

Chase Winovich: this is just my second card of the high-character edge rusher who epitomizes "relentless motor" and neither is a Michigan uni card, with this one from 2019 Prestige using a Combine photo. That's a bit of a letdown as that brand often pleases me with college shots, but beggars can't be choosers, especially as this is my first of Wino's 10 RCs!

Donovan Peoples-Jones: after totaling 2 TDs for all of 2021 the talented WR snagged his first pair for this season in last week's loss to the Cardinals. Michigan fans definitely saw hints of that talent as captured on the above 2020 Panini Legacy RC, the first of two straight Michigan uni cards, my 3rd of 17 I'm chasing, and 5th overall card of DPJ, which reminds me I need to step up my game in terms of his collection!

Chris Evans: every time I look at this 2021 RC of the former UM RB who scored against the Lions last week (as if that's difficult!) it makes me think of Elite, but it's actually another Panini Prestige design, one that again incorporates college photos, meaning it gets a thumbs up from me. It gives me two of his 10 first-years I've tracked to-date and represents card #3 of a guy who embodies Kid 'n Play more than Captain America.

And here's the backs for those of you that like to see them.

Once again this was a great example of the kind of fun you can have with deals big or small on TCDB. Thanks, John, and GO BLUE!

2020 trade package #35: Sport Card Collectors

Well if I wasn't in the Christmas spirit before, I sure am now! I'm the proud owner of a few cool Christmas card packages that have arrived over the past couple weeks, and today's post features a big one (in every sense of the work) thanks to Matt over at Sport Card Collectors.

He'd let me know to expect this bountiful bubble mailer--special for the occasion since he's a big fan of PWEs, so don't think that went unnoticed!--and I was happy to see it safely arrive. First, the note:

See what I said about Christmas spirit? As Matt mentioned, he sent me both a bit of stuff I was sort of expecting trade-wise and lots more that I'll certainly consider a generous gift.

Here's what was inside:

One of my surprises right off the bat was this 2001 Pacific Private Stock Game Gear 2018 Topps Major League Material Relics jersey of former Tiger V-Mart. I do love making fun of Topps for cribbing this design from a product released more than 15 years prior, but it's one I recall fondly so I'll allow it! This is just my second hit of Victor with the Tigers so it was a fun addition I didn't see coming.

I'll paraphrase the overused joke here and say that someone once asked me which Verlanders I wanted. My response: "Yes." Matt happily obliged here with TOO MANY VERLANDERS, and in this case "too many" equals a perfect page of nine. Better yet, everything here is new to me. I love the two Panini cards--a Diamond Kings Artists Proof (hard to see the logo in the bottom right) and an Optic Prizm--and the Chrome Sepia Refractor is extremely cool as well. TCDB tells me that I'm right at 450 cards of Mr. Upton after this haul, so many thanks to Matt for some really nice JVs to bump up that total.

And speak of the devil, here's one item I did know was coming. A couple months ago a reasonably priced plate of one of his favorite PCs, Rodney Hampton, came up for sale on eBay. I snagged it so Matt wouldn't miss out on it and traded it to him for future considerations. We eventually agreed on a 2005 Topps RC of Verlander, which is worth a lot more than it used to be. I don't remotely understand how flagship rookies that exist in abundance are worth so much but other people can spend their money however they want. As for me, I already have one of these, but now I have something nice to send to fellow Verlander collector Paul who could definitely use one; Merry Christmas to him!

The rest of the package was absolutely stuffed with Michigan Football stuff, which was a blast to go through. I decided to separate these into three scans worth of stuff that's new to me and one large image of the rest so I didn't have to do something like 11 or 12 scans here.

While not every single card featured a college photo it sure feels like the majority of them did, which is 100% awesome. This scan includes four new RCs for my Rookie Blue project, half of which are maize & blue cards: two of injured sideline-to-sideline LB Devin Bush plus Classics cards of Jake Butt and Mo Hurst. They wouldn't be the only first-years in this package....

Besides them, we have a Butt insert (huh-huh, huh-huh /Butthead voice), numbered Braylon, and Gold Press Pass parallels of Hart and Bennie Joppru, and a SAGE IHT base of former DE Tim Jamison. I initially had Hart in the dupes pile until the light hit it correctly and I was able to note that it had gold foil, which meant I could happily add another card to his PC!

I'm designating the top row here as not quite RC status. 2020 Cowboys TE draftee Sean McKeon appears on Panini Chronicles cards with Donruss and Optic designs--cool how they used photos from two different games--and a Scorecard parallel. I believe the Chronicles cards are technically considered inserts, so for now they won't go towards the RC project, but I'm still very glad to have them.

Former QB Navarre makes an increasingly rare cameo (his stuff is just harder to find for some reason) on a Press Pass parallel of his own, this one appropriately Blue, while handing off the ball to a guy we'll see in the next scan.

Do-everything defender Jabrill Peppers also gets a nice trio of his own. Shiny Optic and Prizm parallels bookend another Classics RC appearance, and those inserts represent just a couple more pro uni cards. It's been nice watching him make some plays this season for the hapless Giants!

Last up are a couple 2004 inserts of that RB I just mentioned, Chris Perry (Hot Prospects and Topps), a sweet Elite base of Mr. Heisman Charles Woodson, and a double-the-fun duo of '08 draftees Jake Long and Mike Hart that I somehow didn't have. Woodson and Tom Brady have pretty much become staples of Panini's yearly college themed sets and that's totally fine by me, though I'd be happy to see even more past Michigan legends.

That was the last of the "new" stuff but this huge surprise also counts, in a way. I already owned Terrell's "raw" 2001 Pacific Dynagon Retail RC but I surely won't say no to a PSA 10! I will say that if I didn't already have a copy I probably would have cracked this, but now it'll be fun to keep one slabbed like this.

Lastly, if my words didn't convey how many Michigan Football cards were in this package, hopefully this picture will help you. There's even more maize & blue here, and besides a number of guys you already saw, plenty of my favorites like Arrington, Henne, and Shoelace. Michigan cards never go to waste here, and I'm glad to say that Paul's not the only one (besides me) getting something out of this gift that keeps on giving, as Jeff will be the proud owner of a few new cards himself! Hooray for the season of giving.

Matt, thanks again for this amazing mailer full of Tigers and Wolverines (which sounds way more dangerous when I say it that way!). I really appreciate your generosity, including going outside of your comfort zone to send a package this large all at once. I've had another great year of trading with you and you can bet I'll be back at it in 2021!

Next time, even more giving! Stay tuned while you're decking those halls....

2020 eBay purchases: 2020 sucks, Butt I love my Wolverines Henneway

I think a lot of people would like a do-over for 2020, if not a chance to just skip it entirely, for a multitude of reasons. Annoyingly, the garbage fire that has been this year has carried over to my college football team, which started nicely with a win over ranked Minnesota, only to completely undo any good feelings with losses to MSU (bleargh) and a seemingly good Indiana team. There's potential for even more suck as the Wolverines return home to face Wisconsin and however many players they have that aren't suspected of having COVID. Then again, it's also an opportunity to get things back on track for underperforming coach Jim Harbaugh and his program. Hell, at least we aren't Penn State!

While we continue to ride out 2020 and COVID's co-disease, Donald Trump (at least one of them will be gone in January!), I'm still picking up some PC items when I can. Over the last few weeks that includes a nice pair of Michigan plates I scored on eBay:

#1 is this 2013 Topps black plate of blog favorite QB Chad Henne, my first of the four in the 1/1 set (though he does appear on Jacksonville team card as well). I think you all know how much I like to chase his cards, and since he's one of my top PC guys I don't mind spending a bit more than I usually would on his nicer stuff. In this case that was a bit under $14 delivered the day before Halloween.

While this wasn't the reason I grabbed it, I did enjoy the fact that Henne had done the following a few days earlier, 

Chad Henne had to spike it after his rushing TD 😂 @Chiefs

📺 #KCvsDEN on CBS pic.twitter.com/Q06YjmuhOF

— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) October 25, 2020

accounting for his first TD since 2014 and first rushing score since 2012, both with the Jags. Of course he now backs up Super Bowl champ Pat Mahomes, meaning he's got a pretty cushy gig mostly riding the pine and making some money with the defending champs. Good for him! And what's good for me is that this is my eighth 1/1 of the former Michigan QB.

And then just this past week I cut a best offer deal with a fellow Michigander for this 2017 Donruss black plate (inserted into 2017 Plates & Patches) of former UM TE Jake Butt. It came out to just a bit over $9 after shipping and tax, and the seller managed to PWE to me quickly enough that it arrived today. I was fine with the PWE because he packaged it well and only asked $0.70 for shipping.

This plate version of Jake's 2017 Donruss RC (which I do own) is already my second 1/1 of his as I also own one he shares with fellow 2017 draftee Taco Charlton. $9 might seem kind of high for some of you considering we're talking about a player like J-Booty, but he was a lot of fun to watch in college as a big TE target. Unfortunately his NFL career started off on the wrong foot after he tore his ACL in Michigan's 2017 Orange Bowl loss to Florida State, then dealt with further ailments in the league. He at least seems to be doing ok this year for now, and I hope his health continues to trend in that direction.

With card purchases few and far between for me this year given the circumstances making it more difficult to buy stuff, I've been in better position to grab nicer cards like this, so that's been a silver lining. And I'm looking to apply that kind of positive thinking to what's continued to be a strange college football season, the results of which I'm largely taking with a grain of salt anyway. I'll be glad if the Wolverines can stay healthy, and making it through the remainder of the season while winning a few more games would be a nice bonus at this point. Go Blue!

2019 trade package #34: The Collector

Something like seven out of my 18 Christmas card packages appear to have been delivered thus far, and this evening I'm happy to be posting a package of my own from one of those recipients, Chris of the Collector.

I've known Chris since before he dropped the "Pedestrian" in his blog's name and we've sent cards back and forth a few times.  Most recently he sent me a PWE full of Tigers toward the end of July, and today he's back with another one that skewed toward my preferred Wolverines collection.  Here's a look at what he sent:

First up is a pair of J.J. Putz cards I wasn't positive I needed until I checked them against his collection.  I have over 200 cards of the former Michigan pitcher so it's always tough for me to find new ones, but apparently not for Chris, who knocked both the shiny 2002 Topps Reserve Parallel (#094/150) and 2009 Mets Topps team set cards off my list.  Nice!  And yes, the former is really referred to as "Parallel", but as goofy as that is, checking off a numbered parallel from his RC year is a big deal for me.

Sticking with baseball is a tasty oddball--at least, I'd assume it's tasty.  I don't think I ever really got into Cap'N Crunch and I'm more of a Cinnamon Toast Crunch fan when it comes to sugary cereal.  Either way, Cal's card from that brand's partnership with Topps is a nice addition to his collection, logos or not.

From the world of basketball, where Michigan lost a heartbreaker in OT to Oregon this afternoon, is Nik Stauskas, a.k.a. "Sauce Castillo", on his 2014-15 Donruss RC.  You purists can have your Topps Rookie Cup all you want but I'll take that Rated Rookie logo any day!  It's crazy to me that he already seems to be out of the league after playing for five teams over the same number of years, but maybe he'll be back.

Finally we'll head over to the gridiron, where bowl season is due to start next weekend.  Chris hit me with a pair of Tom Brady offerings:  a 2017 Panini Contenders Draft picks base as well as an insert from 2019 Score called "Captains" which seems pretty self-explanatory.  Of course I love seeing the shot of #10 with the Wolverines, and Michigan's upcoming date with Alabama is a good reminder of how Brady brought his team back against the Crimson Tide for a win in the 2000 Orange Bowl.

Joining the GOAT QB is another 2017 Contenders offering, this time a Game Day Tickets insert of rookie year TE Jake Butt, also rocking a college uniform.  Poor Jake can't seem to stay healthy since a bowl game injury that year, and I wish him a full recovery and real shot in the NFL.  For now at least I can smile and say that I have 17 Butts!

Chris, thanks once again for thinking of me with this nice PWE (and note, an underrated part of the package) that included exactly zero dupes and seven new cards I'm glad to have.  Here's hoping your Christmas cards get to you in a reasonable amount of time!

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!