4/30/21 show report: I'd buy that for a dollar!

It's definitely been a long road--more than a year, in fact--but thanks to getting vaccinated recently I finally felt ready to head back to my usual monthly card show in Taylor this past Friday. Besides the fact that I almost always enjoy the experience of poring over boxes of cards for couple hours to bring home new stuff, I was really itching to go to grab some new trade bait. The online sources that used to treat me so well are less and less useful these days, and nothing can replace seeing cards in person, deciding you want them, and taking them home immediately--no astronomical shipping costs or USPS chaos, just instant gratification. I think you all know I love sending cards out as much as having them come into my collection, and shows are probably responsible for the majority of that trade fodder.

So I headed to Taylor early Friday afternoon and was relieved to see my favorite seller there. I ended up solely looking at the guy's $1 boxes because there were so many

(everything you see here, plus a few more to the right) and because I only have so long before I decide I've had enough. I love me some dime and quarter boxes, but this guy usually has $1s and $2s, and this time it was all dollars, so there were bound to be some good finds in there.

Roughly two hours later I came away with 70 cards from these boxes: a few keepers for me, a few for general/TCDB trade bait, and a healthy bunch for some of my favorite trade partners! Boy does it feel nice to be able to say that.

Here's a quick recap of the stuff that's not earmarked for anyone specific (available for trade!) and what I kept for myself:

This is the kind of stuff I love finding for a buck because either someone jumps at it and wants to trade for it, or I don't mind it sitting in my trade box as some pretty nice ammo for a future deal.

Wolters is an autographed letter patch (the "U" of "USA") from 2009 UD Signature Stars and is #d /100. Chandler is the "N" from his name and is also a signed manupatch, #d /250. I wasn't sure if I had the Hall 2010 Score Signatures auto but I did so I figured a fellow Michigan collector or Bengals fan might like it. Dixon is a football/auto from 2016 Panini Phoenix and is #d /199. And Hicks is a manuhelmet auto from 2003 UD Sweet Spot.

If you'd like to claim any of these, please throw a comment down below or shoot me an email and I'll be happy to work something out with you!

And now, onto my haul:

Let's start with Mr. Padre. Gwynn's a '98 Pinnacle Mint Silver parallel of the non-die-cut base card (which was bronze), and a great example of "90s inserts rule!". I probably could have found it cheaper elsewhere, but $1 seemed reasonable to me and now I don't have to wait to get it.

Kinsler put up four nice seasons in Detroit and was fun to watch, plus he helped wash the stink off of the Prince Fielder contract debacle. I happily paid a buck for my second jersey of the star 2B, though as with the one I already had he's pictured here with the team for whom he's most well know, the Rangers. Maybe I'll track down a Tigers hit at some point.

I would have sworn I had that 2005-06 SP Game Used jersey of former UM cager Bernard Robinson, but as it happens the other five cards I have of him are signed so it's actually my first relic of his. I have Maurice Taylor's jersey from the same set, and a quick look at the checklist makes me think they're the only Wolverines I needed to track down.

On the football front I found a couple cool Panini-branded rookie parallels I liked. Arrington is from the fairly confusing 2008 Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity set (not the Longevity parallel of the regular R&S product) and is an Emerald parallel numbered /49. His collection is inching closer to the century mark so I always appreciate finds like that. Former UM QB John Navarre is next with an Aspirations parallel of his 2004 Donruss Elite RC, numbered /84. The red die-cut inserts look excellent, plus the Senior Bowl photo makes it a quasi UM uni card since he's wearing the greatest helmet in college football. I've previously tracked down fellow QB Drew Henson from the same set.

And we'll finish up this post with a fun trio of relics of former TE/WR Devin Funchess. The top-most on the right is from 2015 Panini Rookies & Stars, and the set is called "Longevity Rookie Jerseys" but the good news is there was no separate Longevity product that year, so no confusion there! Below that is a Topps Rookie Jumbo Relics jersey from the same year. And on the bottom right you'll find my favorite of the three out of 2016 Panini Unparalleled. Yes, I'm a sucker for shininess (and serial numbering--in this case /199) but in my view it easily has the best design, doing lots with Carolina's team colors. The R&S card is second for using at least some of the franchise's colors, and Topps is last for using various shades of gray that wouldn't be out of place in a February sky. These additions give me 10 Funchess relics and 18 hits overall.

Like I said, it was fantastic to get back to a card show after a layoff of more than a year, and I'm gunning to go back next month to see what that'll bring. I may have to continue skipping buying some needed supplies--mainly toploaders for my thicker cards--until they become more reasonable, but I'll be ready to hit those boxes once again to dig up some hidden gems and trade bait. And speaking of the latter, some of it may be heading to your mailbox as you read this!

2019 COMC purchases: superb basketball and football

It's been a superb Sunday here in Ann Arbor weather-wise considering it's just the second day of February.  Temperatures got up in the 50s a day after we were dealing with the usual cold and snow, and I definitely took advantage.

Now I'm sitting here putting together a post while glancing at the game every now and then, between two teams I don't really care about.  But the fact that it's Super Bowl Sunday is a good reminder that I still haven't covered all of my 2019 pickups.  This COMC recap and one more should do it.

Today I'll be showing off my basketball scores and, yes, some of the football as well!  (A quick note:  I don't have all of the former cataloged in my own albums or on TCDB yet as I've had to create their checklists myself, which sometimes takes a bit.)

I believe I mentioned the crazy number of plates I purchased in the last post, and a large chunk of the ones staying with me are surprisingly from basketball, my least favorite of the four major sports.  I'm not the type to pass up a good deal when it comes to my Michigan collections, though, and four of these were under $4, with the other less than $5.

Here's the backs so you can tell who actually appears on each card.  I landed my first plates of Burke and THJ (times two!), second of Rice, and fifth(!) of Sauce Castillo himself, Nik Stauskas.  All of them are from higher-end products meaning Panini did their thing where they affixed the plates to super thick pieces of cardboard.  Those are totally fine but I really like what they've done with colorful backs on the actual metal the last couple years.  Three of these were inserted into the following year's National Treasures products so checklisting them can take a bit of work.  But who cares, because five new basketball plates!

The football section is quite good as well, though you're in for a pretty good show in the final post of this series.  WR Amara Darboh's up first with a cool pair from 2017:  a Playoff autograph and Absolute dual jersey/football auto RC (#282/299).  As long as Panini keeps producing Playoff cards with college photos like that, I'll keep buying them!  Those two bookend my first 1/1 of former QB (and one-year WR) Devin Gardner.  It's a magenta plate from his only NFL card out of 2015 Topps Field Access, a product known more for its plethora of sticker autos.  He's looking quite acrobatic there for sure.

The middle contains three new players to the collection.  First is DL Rashan Gary, a former top college recruit who went to the Packers in the first round last year.  I came up with a 2019 Panini Legacy auto of him in a Michigan uni, which is awesome, though his signature is anything but.  Hey, they can't all look like Griffey's and Rivera's!

Next is his fellow New Jersey native Ron Johnson, not to be confused with the former Michigan RB.  This one played on the D-Line and was part of that same recruiting class, but he transferred out last year.  He's one of a few future college players I can name from the autograph portion of that 2016 Upper Deck USA set.

The last of the newbies is another former QB that changed positions like Gardner, but in Zach Gentry's case, the move to TE stuck, and it worked out ok for him since he got drafted by the Steelers.  His 2019 Contenders Draft auto looks pretty cool, which doesn't surprise me a bit, and he has a somewhat interesting signature too.

Moving on we have another QB, transfer guy Ryan Mallett.  As I think I've said a few times, I occasionally collect his stuff as long as he's not shown in an Arkansas uniform.  Here you can see a 2011 Plates & Patches jersey/auto RC (#080/299) followed by a Topps Magic signature from the same year.  Both are cool in their own right but Magic is a somewhat recent Topps product I actually like, so that's notable.

Ok, we're on to the last QB of the day, I promise.  John Navarre, the gumpy signal-caller from Cudahy, Wisconsin, gets another of his very occasional appearances; this is just my 13th hit of him.  Luckily I found a cheap new addition in the form of a 2004 Bowman's Best Green auto (#189/499).  I already had the base version, which I prefer mainly because the green ink doesn't look great here--the parallel version of the card is fine otherwise--so it's nice to have them as a pair.

Last up is former Michigan DL Chris Wormley, who's often a fun follow on Twitter:

I hit the trifecta today! I got pooped on, peed on, and puked on by my lovely daughter. 👍🏽

— Chris Wormley (@Chris_Wormley43) January 29, 2020

My second auto and third hit of his is a rookie year 2017 Donruss Optic Rookie Autographs Blue auto (#23/75).  What better color of a parallel could you ask for in terms of a former Wolverine?  He's seen a decent amount of playing time with the Ravens and hopefully that increases enough for him to earn a rare non-rookie appearance in some Panini products.

That's it for today but stay tuned for another blowout post where I cover the rest of my football purchases.

11/1/19 card show report: keepin' it real (cheap)

I once again took a Friday off yesterday with the express purpose of getting over to the monthly show in Taylor as I would be home today on a Michigan Football Saturday.  Speaking of the Wolverines, they looked just fine while thumping Maryland 38-7, and now they get to head into a bye before welcoming the Michigan State Penitentiary Spartans.  I don't know what I'll do during the bye but I'll figure it out.

As for the show, it was one of those where I didn't spend a whole lot or come home with much as the kind of stuff I generally like was few and far between.  But that's fine since I like hanging out there and digging through bunches of boxes for hidden gems.

The $15 I spent can be broken down as follows:  40 dime cards at 20/$1; 30 quarter cards at five/$1; eight $0.50 cards; and three $1 cards.  Most of those will be heading for trade packages, but I have a small group of fun stuff to show off:

We'll start as usual with the baseball side.  I was pretty happy with this trio of Tony Gwynns, all of which were $0.50 or under, I think.  #1 is a '95 Zenith All Star Salute insert, which lists him as "All-Star Hit Man" on the bottom of the difficult-to-read scan.  An apt title, Panini!  Upping the ante and bringing out my beloved "90s inserts rule" tag is 1996 Upper Deck Hot Commodities.  While the '97 version looked kind of cool, the orange foil die-cut original from a year earlier can't be beat!  Last up is the second year of Topps Chrome, 1997, which parallels one of my all-time favorite Topps designs, though I appear to be in the minority on that.

Next up is a duo of Barry Larkins:  his '92 Bowman foil base card, on which he's defying gravity while turning a twin killing against the Cubs, and a 2011 Gypsy Queen Framed Paper parallel (#234/999).  I have no idea why this version was called "paper" so I'll just chalk it up to Topps' goofiness.

Greg Maddux keeps the insert-heavy theme going with 2001 Ultra Decade of Dominance and a 2013 Hometown Heroes States parallel.  Greg's dominant decade included four straight Cy Young awards and a World Series ring in '95.  He was actually born in Texas but the Hometown Heroes product doesn't interpret the term literally.

Last up is an interesting pair.  One is a Pudge insert from 1997 UD called Rock Solid Foundation that I remember quite well.  The rainbow foil design looks great and between that and the fact that Rodriguez is a HOFer and former Tiger, I happily grabbed this card.  And then we have the one $1 card I kept for myself--an IP auto of former Michigan P and PC guy Heath Murray on his '97 Topps issue.  What was I gonna do, spend just $14 and leave this one at the show?  No way!

The football side of things was also largely a celebration of all things inserts.  Harbaugh is the only exception--as shiny as that pair is, they're actually a different version of '96 Summit called Premium Stock, which is a bit thicker than the regular set and featuring foilboard fronts.  Funchess's appropriately colored parallel is a 2018 Donruss Blue Press Proof.  While I tend to prefer that insert to be numbered, I think this one was only a dime or quarter, and the color's certainly a plus.  Navarre, a guy I don't add too often since he's either hard to find or prices are too high, can be seen on a Rookie Gold version of UD's goofy 2004 Diamond Prosigs set (#004/249).  Denard is much more common around here, and there he is on a 2013 Prestige Prestigious Picks Gold insert, which is apparently named for the foil color of the insert title since the background is silver.

Switching over to the horizontals we have two more numbered cards.  One of those is tackling machine David Harris, who shares a 2007 Playoff Contenders Draft Class insert (#0144/1000) with fellow '07 pick Darrelle Revis.  That's quite a productive pair!  By the way, here's a reminder that outstanding Wolverines LaMarr Woodley and Harris went back-to-back in the second round three picks after the Lions opted for MSU QB Drew Stanton.  This is why you suck, Lions.  Speaking of QB busts, million dollar arm/ten cent head signal-caller Ryan Mallett popped up on a 2011 Absolute Memorabilia War Room insert, and I'll be fine continuing to add stuff of the transfer as long as he's pictured in a pro uni--e.g., nothing with Arkansas.  He's joined by a fellow transfer, RB Jon Ritchie, who's today's last card:  a 2001 Ultra Gold Medallion (#131/250).  I was surprised because I didn't recall that parallel being numbered.

That's it for this month's usual show, though there's a small chance I may hit up one more before my attention turns to COMC around Black Friday/Cyber Monday.  Until then it'll be back to the well with Sportlots until I get all of those posted.