2022 trade package #3: Bob Walk the Plank

This evening's trade package comes from a guy who blogs maybe slightly less than I do--I mean, come on, it's March already! Matt, who used to blog at Bob Walk the Plank, and now can be found more commonly on Twitter, hit me back in our longstanding back-and-forth dealing by directly shipping a package of goodies from COMC. They even arrived in the same year he requested his shipment! (Seriously, they do seem to be getting better on that front.)

Matt surprised me with some quality stuff (as usual) including a couple deep cuts that show how much he pays attention to the players I collect.

Here's two pages of some outstanding additions to my collections!:

Scan #1 opens with six cards from Brett Adcock's 2016 Bowman/Chrome Draft rainbow. Adcock, a P drafted by Houston in 2016, never made it beyond AA and was seen pitching in indy ball last year. He has just 31 cards to collect according to TCDB (making him today's deepest cut), with five of those being minor league issues and 10 more that are 1/1s, so my collection of 11 is pretty solid (#1 on TCDB, baby!). Up here you can see the Blue Border /150; Chrome Gold /50, Green /99, and Purple /250; and Gold Border /50 and Green Border /99. The remaining five I need for the rainbow are #d /150, /25 (x2), and /5 (x2). Well done, Matt!

Next up is a lone Hal Morris, but given that I'm at 302 of his 469 (#1 on TCDB, baby!), anything new is a good find. Better yet, this is a numbered '90s insert: 1997 Circa's Rave parallel, which is limited /150 copies, quite rare for the time!

Right after him is another pitcher, though one that's not quite as obscure as Adcock. Murray pitched for the Padres, Tigers, and Indians, and trades like this one keep me inching toward his 39 cards. Thanks to these I have 29 (#1 on TCDB, baby!), including his '97 Bowman Blue Ink auto and '98 Bowman Chrome International Refractor. The latter's especially nice as, besides being a Refractor, it's a somewhat tougher find given the era. I need to track down two more of his '97 Bowman signatures and another '98 Refractor /5 to sew up his non-minors (and others, including a buyback) collection, which is pretty cool.

Scan #2 beings with a bit more baseball before veering off into other sports. First up is card #218 in my collection of former Mariners/D-Backs closer J.J. Putz (#1 on TCDB, baby!) a surprisingly rare 2014 Topps 1st Edition. Hit the link to see how those were inserted and you'll see that just 10 copies were made of each card! They're not serial-numbered but at least have the obvious logo up front. This is a very rare card I was unlikely to get myself so it was perfect for this envelope.

Speaking of rare and former Michigan pitchers, next is a numbered pair of Clayton Richard, who's near a milestone at 147 cards (#1 on TCDB, baby!) out of his 437. On the left is a beautiful 2008 Bowman Draft Chrome Gold Refractor /50, and its diminutive partner is the Pink parallel /25 from 2019 Topps Mini. Very cool cards of the former QB-turned-pitcher.

Speaking of QBs, heading over to the gridiron I was very happy to see a new Chad Henne for one of my larger football PCs. I currently count 313 cards of the former UM gunslinger in my collection (#2 on TCDB...CRAP!) and few are as rare as the 2014 Rookies & Stars Longevity Black (#d /10) parallel you see above. Then again, I do have a cyan plate to go with that. Well, I did say "few", didn't I? This is certainly a nice addition to one of my favorite PCs.

And next we have a pair of talented college wideouts in David Terrell and Amani Toomer. The Terrell is card #157 in his collection (also #2 on TCDB...for now), a 2002 Pacific Adrenaline base with a "Pacific Nights Special Edition" stamp and digital serial numbering /10, making it one of the rarest cards in his bunch. I don't know much about that promotion that looks to have appeared across a number of Pacific's products, but I love the rarity and am happy to have the card.

Meanwhile, Toomer's card, #318 (good for a distant 3rd on TCDB, maybe I should stick to baseball) is somewhat similar, from a set called 2002 Playoff Honors Player of the Week Panelists. The backs are numbered, also to just 10 copies, and the write-up about each player's qualifications is pretty nice, if Amani's card is any indication:

Hail, hail, indeed!

And we'll finish up on the ice as Michigan Hockey heads into conference tournament play before hopefully securing a #1 seed and eventual Frozen Four appearance. One guy who was no stranger to those was former WolverWing and head coach Red Berenson. My 39 cards (tied for second on TCDB by just one card!) of the Wolverines legend include this amazing pair. On the left is a 2004-05 In the Game Franchises US East card depicting him with the Rangers, one of his four NHL teams, albeit the one he spent the least time with. It's #d /10 with a Chicago National Convention stamp that seems to be more accepted than some of the random ones you'll see pop up at times. That's joined by a card from one of the cooler hockey products in recent memory: 2012-13 In the Game Motown Madness. The Gold parallel you see of the five-year Red Wing isn't numbered but is said to be limited to just 10 copies. Sweet!

Last up this evening is a technical Michigan uni card of a goalie who almost took the team all the way to the top in 2011. Shawn Hunwick was out of his mind that year and eventually made an emergency appearance for Columbus in the pros, leading to a few cardboard appearances. I own 37 of them (hey, #1 on TCDB, baby!), and the one you're seeing today is a Sapphire parallel #d /85 of his 2012-13 Upper Deck Artifacts RC. It's been tough sledding finding his cards at reasonable prices so I really, really appreciate Matt including this one as much as anything else in this envelope.

Matt, thank you once again for a very thoughtful mailer that clearly shows how much effort you put into finding some great cards for my Michigan PCs, even chipping in towards the ones where I'm clearly #1 on TCDB (baby!). I always love our deals because we both value sending some top notch stuff to each other, and I promise that'll continue from my end after I build up enough to send a package your way.

Up ahead: lots more trade packages and eventually cards from TCDB deals!

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.

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.