Card show report: 11/27: a Michigan Man will buy Michigan cards

Previously:  a trade with Dustin (No Relics Pulled), some sweet vintage

Finishing off my pickups from Sunday's show, here's a look at two other purchases I made:

First off, I grabbed three cards from a guy who cut me a reasonable deal and also told me to be on the lookout for a Jim Abbott autographed baseball the next time I'm there.  The hits:

Mike Comrie 2003-2004 Upper Deck Rookie Update Top Draws auto

Not the only hockey auto I picked up on the day, this is my second of Comrie.  Mr. Hillary Duff inked a nice signature on this card, even if he didn't take advantage of ample space, and he thought to include his uniform number too.

Jim Abbott 1990 Topps in-person auto

For a couple bucks, I couldn't resist adding my first autograph, even if it's not certified, of the former one-armed standout.  Besides being an excellent pitcher, not to mention an inspiration, Abbott reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from the killed-far-too-soon-but-funnier-than-the-rest-of-the-crap-on-these-days Party Down (still available on Netflix Instant!):

Yes, Veronica Mars fans, that's Jason Dorhing, a.k.a. Logan Echolls, and one of many VM actors to cameo on this outstanding, hilarious show, including Kristin Bell herself.  Check it out!  Jim Abbott?  Jim Abbott!

Rick Leach 2004 TK Legacy auto

This card of a former Michigan dual-sport star allows for a great juxtaposition later, so keep an eye out for that.  Another $3 steal, at least in my book, Leach fits several of my PCs:  Michigan baseball, Michigan football and the Tigers, as he was Detroit's first-rounder in 1979.  Though he never lived up to that billing on the diamond, his baseball skills were probably on par with his football acumen, so you can't blame the guy for going that route, and to his credit, he didn't exactly go full Henson on us, plus he did beat Ohio State three times.  His dual-sport skills merit my picking up a football autograph of his before long as well.

My second purchase involved three more TK Legacy singles plus a couple packs.  Here's what the two 2004 TK Legacy III packs yielded:

These are the six base cards, and I didn't have anything of any of them, so they were cool pickups.  Of course, I bought the packs for the one-per-pack autos which were:

Erick Anderson and Marcus Ray, both new additions to the PC.  Anderson, the 1991 Butkus award-winner as best LB, played here from '88-'91 and went onto a brief NFL career.  Ray, a safety, played from '95-'98, including, of course, the '97 championship team.  He's since gone on to coaching at several levels and, as a Michigan Man, is sure to excel at whatever he goes on to do.

Those two packs were part of a package deal for two MORE TK Legacy singles:

Welcome to the football PC, Bill!  Yep, along with Leach, a football star who played baseball, here's Freehan, an eventual baseball star who also played football for the Wolverines in 1960, from the 2003 set.  I'd seen this one on COMC but could never get a good deal on it, so I pounced on it in this package deal, and now I have 59 different subjects among my 387 football PC cards, more than 250 of which are autographs.  Not a bad feat thanks to ANOTHER UM baseball/UM hockey/Detroit Tiger!

And then there's this bad boy from 2004, my favorite pickup of the show.  I briefly considered a couple other dual autos, but in the end this one won me over.  Hand-numbered 002/100, this card combines autographs from probably the two most important people in Michigan hockey history--legendary coach Red Berenson and goalie Marty Turco--two men who are responsible for Michigan's two most recent hockey championships.  If names like Bo, Woodson and Harmon are synonymous with college football's best historical program, these two are among the gods of college hockey's flagship school.

As you can see, despite there not being much of a mix of brands, I ended up with a nice assortment of Michigan sports hits this time instead of focusing exclusively on football, despite my desire to hit a nice round 400 before the end of the year.  Part of that was due to a dearth of stuff I needed, but fortunately I know where to look next time for some top-notch stuff like the Berenson/Turco.  You may just see stuff to that effect in just a few weeks, so stay tuned.

Better late than never: a trade post featuring PTSIA

It looks like Greg beat me to the punch, but I'm happy to say that our trade packages arrived to each other on the same day, and hence, you get to see both ends of my second trade (here's the first) with Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle.

To be clear, the title refers to my feet-dragging, not his; as he mentions in his trade post, he initiated trade proceedings months and months ago, but I dragged things out a bit trying to dig up better stuff from him and hoping he would come across other stuff I liked.  Fortunately, we came to an agreement we were both happy with.  As you'll see in his post, I sent some pretty nice stuff his way, and I'm not usually one to trade autographs for relics, but Greg did an outstanding job making my end of the deal more than fair, and for that, plus his extreme patience throughout our trade deliberations, I salute him.  Onto the haul!:

Andrew Cogliano 2007-08 SP Authentic Sign of the Times auto:  This was one of the last pieces Greg added to the trade, making me especially glad I procrastinated so much.  My 17th hockey hit (jeez, I need to work on that PC) is my second of the dynamic Cogs, making this one of the more exciting pickups of the deal.  Cogliano is now with the Ducks after a couple decent years with his pictured Oilers, and hopefully his talent will bust out sooner rather than later.  This is just a sweet autograph that found a happy home in my Michigan hockey PC.

Alan Trammell 2005 Donruss Greats Souvenirs bat:  Another of the later additions to the deal, there was no way I was turning down adding another relic of Tram to my PC.  In typical Panini fashion, a bunch of the card is wasted, I'm sure to clear space for the versions that are autographed.  Still, I really like the look of the rest of the card, and the vintage pic of the should-be HOF shortstop is great.

Daniel Schlereth 2008 TriStar Prospects Plus Farm Hands auto:  This one might look familiar if you read my blog often enough because I already have the Green version, a card I picked up from Johnny of Cards From the Quarry.  As with that version, the future fireballing RP left a lot of unused space on his sticker for whatever reason, which probably had something to do with having to sign a ton of these, so I won't hold it against him.  These TriStar autos are pretty cool, and who doesn't love awesome minor league team names like the "Missoula Osprey?"

Max Scherzer 2010 Topps Tribute auto jersey:  Here we have what might have been the first card Greg offered me when he first brought up trading, and I never lost interest in acquiring it.  This is definitely one of those times where Topps got it right (stop laughing, it does happen) and I really like the total package here.  As you can see, this one's #d 07/75, and that combined with a very legible "Max" in the signature make this card a win, plus my second Scherzer autograph.

Miguel Cabrera 2011 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection jersey:  It's about time I picked up my first relic of Cabrera as a Tiger (my autograph and other jersey both depict him during his Marlins days) and this is a great way to start.  Topps Heritage often produces nice cards and if I have to take a single-colored relic, give me anything but white!  This fits that bill perfectly and is an excellent add to my Tigers PC.

Barry Larkin 2001 SP Game Used Edition Authentic Fabric jersey 

Barry Larkin 2002 Flair Jersey Heights jersey

Barry Larkin 2008 Donruss Threads Century Collection Materials jersey:  Greg offered me three Barry Larkin jerseys and I jumped at the chance to get all three, especially considering my only other hit of him was this Private Stock jersey.  Of the three, the oldest is actually my favorite because the SP Game Used version features a great pinstripe down the middle plus an excellent shot of an outstanding fielder plying his trade.  My second favorite of the trio was the '08 Threads with its striking red jersey swatch (again, single color done RIGHT) and serial numbering--046/100.  The fact that the Jersey Heights card was my least favorite proves just how great all three really are.  Having quadrupled my Larkin collection, I'm now motivated to pursue more stuff of the Michigan legend, including, hopefully, an autograph as soon as possible.

Drew Henson 2002 Fleer Lumber Company bat:  Finally, this fourth Michigan baseball hit closed out the package nicely.  Oddly enough, my other Henson hit is also from 2002 Fleer, in this case an autograph.  We Michigan fans still foster a love-hate relationship with the multi-talented, enigmatic star, but he got a major lesson in karma when he spurned the Wolverines for a Buckeye's money.  All the same, I hope he succeeds at whatever else he does in life.

These nine awesome hits were a great return for the above linked trade package.  I should also give Greg a shout-out for throwing in some extra Tigers stuff including--you guessed it--a Granderson.  Big thanks to Mr. Z for his patience and what turned out to be an excellent trade, something it sounds like we may be repeating very soon!

Card show report: 10/16, a very good vintage, or, You Can Call Me Al

As promised, here's a look at my card show haul I'm blogging about as I cheer for Albert Pujols and the Cardinals to take down Josh Hamilton's Rangers:

Baseball relics:

Here's a gorgeous Frank Robinson manupatch from 2004 Sweet Spot Classic, #d 260/300.  This was totally worth the $4 I threw down on it, and it was surprisingly the only baseball relic I picked up that day.

Hockey relics:

This here is an Al Montoya 2005-06 UD Rookie Threads jersey that I picked up from the same seller who had the Robinson above.  I'm working on getting more stuff of his because he was a star goalie here, but especially since he's finally seeing some playing time in the NHL.

Bill Freehan stuff:I've been trying to get back into finding his stuff because I'd like to get at least one of each of his vintage cards, plus as many of his hits as possible, someday.  Between a couple sellers I came up with these:

The seller who had a ton of vintage stuff I bought (upcoming) had this in-person auto (with COA) of Freehan on a 1988 Domino's Tigers 1968 World Series set.  I got a deal on it from him because of the other stuff I bought.  I know have three Freehan autos, which I think is pretty cool.

1968 Topps All-Star

1969 Topps All-Star

1969 Topps

1970 Topps All-Star

1971 Topps

I'll scan whatever else I have of him soon and post it up here, probably when I get more organized and get something set up for my individual player collections.

Other Detroit Tigers:
A couple of the cards you see above and everything else from here on out came from one guy who had a ton of ridiculously cheap (due to generally poor condition) vintage cards.  I'm talking about most of them being 90% off.  My dearth of vintage was cured in one single bound and I may go back for more at the next show.  I was glad that I put some money towards these rather than wasting it on hits since nothing impressed me this time, and I think that proves I'm not entirely entranced by autographs and jerseys.  By the by, please check on my growing vintage collection getting scanned right over here. (and on the right sidebar with all the other albums)

1975 Topps 3000th hit

1968 Topps 1967 AL Batting Leaders

1964 Topps 1963 AL RBI Leaders

Darrell Evans 1970 Topps RC

Evans was a part of the 1984 World Series champs, having joined the team as a free agent in the off-season.  He had statistically better seasons before and after 1984, but it was still a great year for him in a career during which he hit more than 400 HR.

1960 Topps team checklist

1969 Topps 1968 World Series Game 7

 This seemed as good a way as any to celebrate the 1968 champs.

Vintage RCs:

This Fergie Jenkins RC is obviously not in the greatest shape, but it's still pretty nice to have a rookie of another HOF pitcher.

An off-center but still desirable RC of Keith Hernandez. (along with future Tigers manager Phil Garner tagging along)  Gotta love the colorful 1975 design, and better yet, the good ol' multiplayer RCs.  By the way, Hernandez's top two comparisons are Wally Joyner and Mark Grace, making them a great trio of Hall of Very Good players.

This 1975 Topps Yount RC (in which he always looks like he's wearing a Michigan hat due to the logo of that era) has a nice fat crease going through it, but I thought it was still a nice buy for as cheaply as I picked it up.  I do have a copy in much better condition, although it's the mini version.

Everything else:

1971 Topps Orioles World Champions/checklist

1968 Topps All-Star

1968 Topps Game

1969 Topps All-Star

1970 Topps All-Star

1973 Topps

1975 Topps

1968 Topps Game

1967 Topps

1967 Topps

1966 Topps star rookie

1969 Topps

1959 Topps

1962 Topps

So as you can see, I ended up with a ton of HOFers, especially a couple Orioles greats.  As I mentioned, the condition on most of these isn't terribly great, but when you consider I didn't pay more than $6 for any of them and spent an average of about $2-$3 per card, you might agree that I did pretty well.  I didn't buy these to grade or sell anyway--they'll have a happy home in my growing vintage collection.

I'm happy to have found something else to collect that will add some quality and diversity to my collection.  I have quite a few options here, pursuing Tigers, especially Kaline and Freehan, some of my other favorites like the Oriole Robinsons, and Hall-of-Famers in general.  I'm really excited about the last two because they're relatively old (something I can't say about most of my collection) and they highlight historic moments for two legendary players.  That happily gives me more to get excited about than random hits at future shows!

Seeing Red

No, the title of the post doesn't refer to the Tigers' season going out with a whimper last night--I could've told you Leylandball would doom the Tigers sooner or later, though maybe not that spectacularly.

It also doesn't reference Michigan's fourth straight loss to Michigan State, though it could apply to the embarrassing performance by the Spartans' hired goons attacking Michigan's offense with cheap shot after cheap shot--I'm sure no one was surprised by that display given the devil-may-care attitude of the NCAA's most deplorable coach, Mark Dantonio.

No, today it's a reference to a positive experience, actually.  While taking a peek at the show schedule for my usual card show haunt, I found out that a favorite Michigan Man of mine would be appearing, so on that short notice, I threw on a jersey and hauled ass out to Taylor, and just $10 later, with literally no line, this was my experience:

That's legendary Michigan coach Red Berenson signing my Michigan game-used puck, one I nabbed after it flipped over the glass near my seats during one of the seasons when I had student tickets. (I can't remember who we were playing, honestly)  I didn't pursue a picture with Red, one of college hockey's top three coaches ever and winner of two championships, but I did snap this pic as he signed my puck.  Red was very friendly, which is more than I can say for a few of my in-person autographs, and combined with my not having to wait at all, this was an extremely positive experience for me.  The result:

Also, here's the back if it's of any interest to some of you who are fans of the (soon-to-be-gone) CCHA:

I also picked up a nice number of singles, but out of character for me, most were vintage.  I'll show all of those off in the next couple days, but for now, please enjoy the awesomeness of Michigan hockey coach and Red Wings star Gordon "Red" Berenson.