7-13-14 card show report: diamond deals

I hadn't been to a card show since April, but yesterday the thought of flipping through some cards in-person was enough to draw me to the redneck haven that is Gibraltar Trade Center in Taylor, Michigan, before they close up for good.  Example of said redneckness:  a bumper sticker that says "Jean Claude Damn Van."  Oh you....

Anyway, I managed to get out of the place having spent a reasonable $31 over two purchase:
-$20 at a table full of $1 and $2 cards (mostly hits!), including 14 of the former and three of the latter
-$11 at one that included quarter and $0.50 boxes, plus some other hits as priced

I'll be showing off nine of my pickups on this blog and the other 10 on TMM this evening.  The rest of my purchases came in the form of trade bait that'll be out in the mail pretty soon, so some of you should watch your mailboxes with baited breath.

Here's the baseball stuff I scored, all of which came from the quarter and $0.50 boxes:

Paul Foytack 1960 Topps

Wow, a 1960 Topps card of a Tiger I've heard of for just $0.50?  SHUT UP AND TAKE MY QUARTERS.  This isn't exactly in terrible condition either.  It's not like I'm long on very vintage baseball stuff right now, much less Tigers, so this was a cool find.

Les Cain-Dave Campbell 1969 Topps RC

Speaking of vintage Tigers, how about two of them, multiplayer RC-style?  Cain pitched in parts of four seasons with Detroit, and interestingly enough, his #1 similarity score on Baseball-Reference is current A's pitcher Tommy Milone.  Campbell, who was naturally nicknamed "Soup," was actually a Michigan alum who appeared in parts of eight seasons, mostly with the Padres after he was shipped to San Diego in a deal that brought Joe Niekro to the Tigers.  I may just start a player collection for him!

Larry Bowa 1970 Topps RC

Phillies fans will surely recognize the guy on the bottom as Bowa played in the City of Brotherly Love for 12 of his 16 years, then managed the team for four of his six in that role.  That merits his inclusion as a significant rookie in my baseball RC collection.

Norm Cash 1974 Topps

I was getting close to the magic number of 12 $0.50 cards (12/$5 being the deal) when I dug this up and decided it should come home with me.  "Stormin'" Norman Cash was a well known Tigers slugger and '68 champ, so getting a vintage issue of him is fun.

Bill Madlock 1974 Topps RC

Here's a guy I know Matt likes to collect, although on his RC he appears with the Cubs instead of the Bucs; I suppose those with dyslexia might not see the difference.  Mad Dog was actually drafted by the Senators/Rangers, then traded by Texas to the Cubbies in a deal for Fergie Jenkins.  Madlock is probably best known for his seven years with the Pirates.

Tim Raines 1981 Topps RC

Today's final multiplayer RC features 808 base-stealer Tim Raines, known best for his seasons with the Expos and White Sox.  He and Lou Brock are each other's #1 Baseball-Reference similarity score player, but you can decide for yourself if you think he belongs.

Bill Freehan 2006 Greats of the Game Copper (#022/299)

My 75th Freehan card for his PC is this purdy Copper Parallel from another of Fleer's excellent entries in the Greats of the Game series.  I was shocked to find it at the show since I don't think I'd ever seen one for sale, not that they're particularly rare.

Ken Griffey Jr. 2012 Topps Mega Boxes Exclusive Chrome Refractor

And why shouldn't I nab a Griffey Refractor while I'm flipping through rows and rows of cards?  I don't have very many newer inserts of Junior, so I thought this would be a fun pickup.

Cal Ripken Jr. 1995 Studio Gold

Ditto this Ripken insert from the credit card-like '95 Studio set, which I'm still cool with, apparently more than others.  There really wasn't much of Cal to choose from, so I took what I could get, but even with a better selection I would've nabbed this.

Don't forget to head over to TMM to see my other scores, and again, some of you should expect a fun card or three in the mail soon!

You complete me, May 2014 edition: Part 3

It's been a couple weeks since my last You Complete Me post, so instead of splitting up this last group in two (since they came over the course of two separate days), I thought I'd just finish the series up today because, hey, things come in threes, right?

As usual, the last day is the payoff day; although I showed off five packages in those first two posts, I hadn't completed any of the sets I was chasing.  Fortunately, that's not the case today!  Here's the final four packages, with three originating from Sportlots and the last one arriving as part of a recent COMC order:
Envelope #1 (Sportlots):

With four packages today I decided to scan just one page worth of each.  This one had 21 cards so I tried to pick a few highlights.  17 of the cards hailed from the 2008 Score set, from which I still needed a ton, especially the rookies.  The group just happens to have three Wolverines:  Brady, Manningham, and Hart, and I managed to find another star QB and a couple significant rookies to feature as well.

The other four cards were from 2012 Upper Deck (just the Star Rookies part of the set since I went with retail), and all three players represent excellent college teams.  The fourth was a Michigan State player, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna show one off on MY blog if I don't wanna!  As usual, I love the photography, design, and college unis here.

# of cards:  21     # of sets added to:  2     # of sets completed:  0

Envelope #2 (Sportlots): 

This was by far the biggest package from the haul.  One seller on Sportlots happened to have an absolute ton of 2008 Scores I needed, and at that rate it made sense to pile them into one shipment instead of spreading them out over others.  I believe 78 of the 79 cards were from that set, including the stars and rookies you see above.  Again, I managed to land a couple Wolverines in Super Bowl-winner Toomer and Saints rookie Arrington.

Ware's base card is the only representative from the '08 UD First Edition set here, but again, it made sense to include it (along with some baseball PC guys you'll eventually see on the other blog).  The former Cowboy (which is really strange to consider) looks as menacing as ever here.

# of cards:  79     # of sets added to:  2     # of sets completed:  0

Envelope #3 (Sportlots): 

From the largest package we move onto one of the smallest, which included just these needs (plus a baseball PC pickup), but that doesn't make them any less valuable.  First up is another pair of rookies from '08 First Edition, putting me that much closer to the set.  Woodson was a pretty good QB for Kentucky before flaming out in the pros while Stewart, at star at Oregon, had a few good years for Carolina before declining line the prototypical RB.

The Broyles was even more useful, if that's actually possible for a card of a guy who plays (when he's not hurt, which is always) for the Lions--it completes the first set of the day, 2012 UD.  He looks as determined as I was to finish off some sets last month!

# of cards:  3     # of sets added to:  2     # of sets completed:  1

Envelope #4 (COMC):

Despite eight Sportlots packages, it still took another visit to COMC to mop things up.  That purchase included 19 cards that went towards a couple sets, 2008 Score and UD First Edition, split roughly evenly.  In a few cases COMC was cheaper than Sportlots, and in some others it had cards available that the latter didn't.

Matt Ryan was the heavy hitter in both sets, though I don't feel like I had to overpay for both of his RCs.  Better yet, I scored a trio of rookies of some of my favorite Wolverines in Henne, Long, and Hart.  And best of all, these cards close the books on those two sets!

# of cards:  19     # of sets added to:  2     # of sets completed:  2

Stats for the day:

• Packages:  4
• Total cards:  122
• Sets added to:  3
• Sets completed:  3

Total You Complete Me stats:

• Packages:  9
• Total cards:  158
• Sets added to:  3
• Sets completed:  3

After nine packages, 150+ cards, and three completed sets, it's time to drop the curtain on another edition of You Complete Me.  Once again it was extremely productive; if you don't think completing just three sets is impressive, consider that one was the huge and tricky 2008 Score, and that my football set wantlist now looks like this, with all of two sets remaining!

I'm not sure if I'll go right back at it this month or focus my efforts and dollars elsewhere for a bit, but you can write in stone that I'll have those last sets completed pretty soon!

2013 Topps Football Value Box

Over Black Friday weekend I took advantage of one of Meijer's infrequent 20% off deals to go along with Saturday's Santa Bucks promotion, which offered more discounts.  I haven't had a ton of luck with retail over my collecting career, and you all know I'm not a huge fan of Topps, but for the price (less than $15 after everything was said and done, original price $21.99), I thought I'd give one of these a try:

That's a very blurry phone picture of a 2013 Topps Football value box.  As it states, you get six packs of 2013 flagship, two hobbies of 2013 Platinum, and three OMG EXCLUSIVE!!!1!1 Refractors.  I'd seen some pretty good stuff come out of these on Blowout, plus I couldn't resist the urge to bust a few packs.

In the end, I didn't land anything all that exciting, but I think I got my $15-worth out of the eight packs and bonus cards:

The Wolverines:  a Chad Henne Jags base, and Brady appearing on the Pats' AFC East title card.  Keepers, obviously.

The inserts from flagship.  Nine from six packs was pretty good, I think, though I rolled my eyes at the Peyton double.  All are available.

From Platinum I pulled a couple base rookies, and these were the insert in each, apparently a thick Sapphire parallel.  Meh.

Finally, here's the EXCLUSIVE Refractors, which do look pretty nice.  I'd hoped to land the Denard Robinson, but at least I got a decent trio, even if it includes QB bust Geno Smith.  Ball just had a nice game against KC, and Lacy's had a pretty good year himself.  Again, all are available, especially if you can flip me the Denard.

Naturally I also have a bunch of Topps base available, so feel free to shoot me wantlists since I'm always happy to help.  Everything else besides the Wolverines is also up for grabs, as stated, and I'll surely be including a nice amount of stuff in future trade packages as well!

30 for 30: my 30 favorite PC cards on my 30th birthday

I'll start with this:  today is my 30th birthday.  I'm not the type for attention-whoring, but mentioning that makes the theme of this post make more sense:  I decided that because I turned 30 today, I should show off my top 30 cards in my PC.  Obviously this list could change very soon if I add new items, but as of this moment on May 24, 2013 (a birthday, by the way, that I share with, among others, Bob Dylan, Tommy Chong, John C. Reilly, Jim Broadbent, Alfred Molina, Michael Chabon, and Pistons legend Joe Dumars), these are my 30 favorites, in no particular order:

1. and 2.  Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker 1978 Topps RCs:  these two just had to go together.

3.  Bill Freehan 1963 Topps RC:  floating heads on a multiplayer RC of one of my favorite Wolverines/Tigers = WINNING.

4.  Cal Ripken Jr. 1982 Topps RC:  Bonner and Schneider look towards future Baltimore royalty.

5.  Carl Yastrzemski 1960 Topps RC:  Picked this up for a song, and it's still probably the best HOF RC in my PC.

6.  Curtis Granderson 2010 Topps Peak Performance auto/jersey:  Easily my best Granderson, which is worth celebrating even if the blog isn't named after him anymore.       

7.  Justin Verlander 2005 Topps Chrome auto RC:  Just a few years ago I nabbed this for about $20, now you couldn't pry it out of my cold, dead hands!

8.  Frank Tanana/Mickey Tettleton 2006 Topps Co-Signers dual auto:  It's a Tigers autograph of Mickey Tettleton, king of all batting stances and cheeks full of chew, what else could you ask for?!   

9. - 11.  A Ken Griffey Jr. Mariners trifecta:  1989 Upper Deck RC, 2001 Upper Deck All-Star Heroes bat, 1999 SP Signature auto:  The Kid was one of the greatest ever, and possibly the greatest of my generation, so he'll always hold a place of honor in my collection.  As a bonus, I pulled the bat and autograph (which absolutely floored me at the time) myself!

12. and 13.  A pair of Ripken autos!:  2004 EX Signings of the Times jersey auto and 2008 Sweet Spot Signatures Red Stitch Blue Ink auto:  The former came from the immortal Beardy and was my first ever Ripken auto, and the latter was a Blowout purchase I'm still glad I made!

14.  Barry Larkin 2005 Sweet Spot Signatures Red Stitch Black Ink auto:  My only auto of the best Wolverine baseball product of my generation was worth every penny.

15.  J.J. Putz 2009 Topps Heritage IP auto:  Larry of My 2008 Topps Set Blog went above and beyond to get me this amazing personalized auto of Wolverine-turned ace closer Putz.  Thanks again!

16.  Rich Hill 2007 UD Masterpieces Strokes of Genius Windsor Green auto (1/1):  I made myself stick to a limit of one Hill, and my favorite has to be this beautiful true 1/1 from what I consider UD's greatest accomplishment--the Masterpieces set.

17.  Stan Musial 2004 Donruss Leather & Lumber Leathercuts auto:  a barely noticeable defect allowed me to pick up what may be the best auto in my PC for a song on Blowout.  He truly was "The Man."

18.  Warren Spahn 2002 Donruss Elite Series Legends auto:  I picked this up at a show a loooooong, long time ago and I've never regretted it; I smile every time I see this beautiful auto of a lefty legend pop up in my PC.

19.  Willie Mays 2001 Fleer Rack Pack 1998 SITN auto:  Say Hey!  One of several cards here that I pulled myself, I was floored when this came out of a 2001 Fleer Platinum rack, one of my top 10 pulls ever.

20. - 22.  A trio of Wolverine nameplates:  Cazzie Russell 2011-12 SP Authentic By the Letter Nameplate, Zach Putnam 2008 Razor Letterman Nameplate, Mike Hart 2008 SP Rookie Threads Lettermen letter patch auto nameplate:  completing a project is always fun but these three, which turned out better than I could have imagined, were especially gratifying!

23.  Tom Harmon 1955 Topps All American RC:  a former white whale and now the crown jewel of my Michigan vintage and RC collection, I'm extremely excited to own this RC of a former Heisman-winner from what I consider Topps' greatest football set of all time (weasley-looking Wolverine logos included)!

24.  Anthony Carter 2005 Topps All American Autographs Chrome Refractors auto:  The former #1 has an amazing auto and it pairs up perfectly with a Refractor version of the above set!

25.  Bo Schembechler 2002 TK Legacy auto:  the undisputed highlight of my huge in-person purchase last year, I'm beyond thrilled to own an autograph of a part Wolverine legend.

26.  Chad Henne-Adrian Arrington-Mike Hart-Shawn Crable 2008 UD Premier Signature Foursomes auto:  Come on, you all know this card--it's TMM's background!  You should also be very aware by now that the 2008 Michigan draft class is my favorite ever, and this card includes FOUR of those players, placing it squarely in the top-five of my football PC.

27.  Desmond Howard 2006 Press Pass Legends Gold red auto:  I gave the nod to the Bo autograph for the #1 spot from the IPP haul, but this Des was a close second as it knocked off another white whale for me.  Hello, Desmond, hello, Heisman!

28.  Brendan Morrison 2004 TK Legacy Varsity Club auto:  Nothing special, just one of Michigan Hockey's greatest players ever, winner of a national title and the Hobey, pictured in the Wolverines' signature helmet and jersey.

29.  Marty Turco-Red Berenson 2004 TK Legacy Historical Links dual auto:  And this beaut encompasses two more of my all-time favorite Wolverine icers on one card!  Champions, champions everywhere!












30.  Steve Yzerman 1984-85 Topps RC:  The best Red Wing of my young life brought winning and titles back to Detroit, and the Wings have been the class of the league ever since!

I must say it was very difficult whittling this list down to "just" 30 cards, and that makes me glad I wasn't doing this when I was 15!  Some of you may be calling me old, and more of you are probably laughing at me since you've long since passed the wrong side of 30, but it was fun for me compiling a list of the cards I absolutely couldn't live without, one for each year I've been alive.  How about you, readers, what would your lists look like?

There's lots of doin's a-transpirin' this weekend for me, as is likely the case for many of you, so don't plan on seeing any new posts around here until Monday at the soonest.  Until then, everyone enjoy your holiday weekend and take a moment to remember what's important on Memorial Day.

2013 purchases #1: 2008 Score football value packs (x2)

I was at Meijer yesterday for the usual reasons, and as always I stopped by the card aisle, though I rarely purchase anything there anymore due to the relative futility of pulling anything good from retail packs, and mainly because I was resolved not to repeat my mistake of excessive retail spending from last year.

These two discounted fat packs of 2008 Score football caught my eye, though, and I figured for less than six bucks I could have fun ripping a couple value packs of a set that included my favorite ever NFL draft class.  It also didn't hurt that each pack comes with 52 cards, making those a nice value even at their original $3.99 cost.

Score has traditionally been and continues to be a low-end set targeted towards younger collectors--a not-so-crappy version of Topps Opening Day, if you will.  That explains the low price despite the huge number of cards per pack, plus the simple base set and inserts.


Speaking of the base set, here's what they look like, front and back:

It's a nice enough looking set that I think anyone can enjoy, and the card backs are better than some of Score's other versions, including a reasonable amount of stats and a quick blurb.

I pulled a few doubles, but I didn't really care because I wasn't picking these up for set-building--there's 440 cards in the set, including 110 rookies, which aren't so abundant in packs.  In fact, even in these value packs, you only get four at a time, meaning I ended up with eight:

These would be a pain in the ass to compile via wax, especially considering the ridiculous number of doubles you'd incur.  The design of these, though, with the simple addition of a "rookie" indicator along with pretty good photography, is reasonable enough.

While I'm still discussing the base set, I'll take a page out of Spankee's book and attempt to predict the Super Bowl tomorrow based on the number of Ravens and Niners in these two packs:

Yep, that was it, except for a pair of inserts you'll see in a minute, one of each team.  I sure hope this pack proves to be wrong!

Speaking if inserts, I pulled a total of 12, what essentially amounted to six one-per-pack inserts in each:

Bruschi is numbered 391/400 and Wayne is 273/400.  The Anderson is a Scorecard version #d 753/999.  You only see one of the stickers, called "Donruss Decals," because you'll see the other in a minute.  Those tattoos represent the other Super Bowl entrants in my packs, and I literally laughed out loud when I pulled one of each.

Speaking of the Derek Anderson, I also laughed my ass off when I read the back of the card:  "The Browns have a unique situation with two potentially elite starting quarterbacks in Brady Quinn and Anderson."  That could only have been written by a Notre Dame homer since anyone with a brain knew Quinn hasn't been "elite" for a single day of his life.  Also, try to say "Derek Anderson" and "elite" in the same sentence while maintaining a straight face, I dare you!

The last of the inserts.  The Carlson and Stokley are the Glossy parallel, one of the kinds I consider to be extremely useless and wasteful, but whatever.

Finally, I managed to pull six Wolverines from these packs, which was pretty exciting for me:

Yep, my other sticker was a Henne, which I thought was pretty cool, though the only place I'm gonna stick him is with the rest of his cards in my Michigan PC.  Not a bad group at all!

So I had fun busting a couple packs for less than $6 and got a few keepers in the process.  The rest of the stuff will go towards trades, but for now, not likely by request as I'll probably be including it in current and future trade packages (plus I don't feel like listing out everything I pulled).  If you do have a set wantlist for these, though, please feel free to send it my way.

And now we wait and see how long I go without giving in to the temptation of retail packs again!