Showing posts with label anthony thomas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anthony thomas. Show all posts

Monday, June 10, 2024

3/1/24 card show report: March radness

This evening I'm finishing covering my March hobby goings-on with the only purchase I made that month, which ended up being my usual card show.

I headed over to Taylor on Friday, the first, and happily spent $100 on lots of great stuff. I don't remember most of what I got that wasn't keepers for me, but I don't just spend an amount like that on something like cards if I don't think it's worth it. So I'm sure I picked up some great package-fillers for some of you that follow me here and others I trade with.

Speaking of trade bait, you might have noticed I haven't really had any cards to show off that weren't already ticketed for trade packages in these show reports lately, and that's mainly because I haven't come across anything that seemed worth it. Instead I'm focusing most of my money and effort on stuff I know will be going to one of my regular collecting buddies. That doesn't mean I won't have more to claim again in the future, but that's a much lower priority for me because I already know what most of my usual trade partners might like.

With that out of the way, here's my keepers from the March show:

The Cal on top is from a 2001 Fleer Premium insert called Decade of Excellence. This was a huge 50-card chase set in that product with cards ranging from Ruth and Gehrig (1920s) all the way up to A-Rod/Jeter/Nomar and others in the "2000s," though obviously that decade had just begun. As you can see, Ripken is one of the players representing the 90s, and for very obvious reasons unless you were living under a rock. I like the look of this insert as I often do with Fleer cards from that era, plus it's a new Ripken, so, win-win!

Next, the biggest card I brought home this time was a 2001 SP Legendary Cuts bat relic of Wolverine/Tiger baseballer Charlie Gehringer. This was an especially exciting buy for me because of his connection to both teams, plus it's just a great example of the quality of vintage player relics that Upper Deck put out at the time. I'm also happy to add it to the other three Tigers I have from the Legendary Debut Bats set: Bill Freehan, Alan Trammell, and Lou Whitaker. '68 great Willie Horton is the last Tiger I need to finish up the team set, plus I'm chasing George Sisler for my Michigan PC.

I think the seller had this in his showcase for somewhere between $20-$30 and he gave me a discount on it with the rest of my purchase. I'm glad I didn't leave it for someone else to snag so I'd regret it! That's just my second Gehringer relic to go with 10 autographs and a plate.
The football side of things was mostly inserts with a couple other items of interest thrown in. Darboh's from 2017 Panini Classics' Red Back parallel, and while the back is the main difference, I was more interested in landing another numbered card, plus the college photo is a plus. Speaking of numbered stuff, Devin Funchess got two of those added to his PC (which sits at exactly 100, woo!): a 2015 Panini Clear Vision Blue parallel of his RC (kick acetate!) /99 and 2018 Panini Silver Knight parallel /50.

Then, Dax brings the Rated Rookie goodness from '22 Donruss as my 8th RC of the talented DB. A Michigan-uniformed Charles Woodson is the subject of a rookie year Press Pass insert from 1998 called Triple Threat. He was one of three players (Peyton Manning, Ryan Leaf) to be included in the set, and each player appears on three cards, with the one you see above being Woodson's third. I'd love to get the other two to put them together to celebrate the guy who rightly defeated the other two for the Heisman late in '97.

Last up on the insert side of things I came up with a cool pair of Pacific inserts of two guys I always lump together: David Terrell and Anthony Thomas. I have more of the latter than the former, though that's because A-Train's career lasted longer than Terrell's, leading to Thomas appearing on just about double the number of cards. So it was super cool to find both of them out of this 2001 Private Stock Titanium insert that was numbered /2000 and given out at the 2002 Hawaii Trade Conference. Yep, these two have lived it up better than I have!

And last up is one other hit that I thought would be fun to snag for something like $2 or $3: a 2020 Panini Contenders Blue Foil auto of former Michigan QB Shea Patterson. The guy who famously (allegedly) put more effort into his golf game than football practice still put up some good games for the Maize & Blue in 2018-19 so I didn't mind paying a few bucks for my third autograph of his, and first from a "real" brand (the other two are Leaf). I'd say it was worth it to get the full Michigan uniform experience even if it's a sticker-graph.

And that does it for what was a pretty low-key March for me. Don't worry, though, because there's lots more to see from April on, and I'll be back with a post that starts covering that month's cards soon!

Monday, October 24, 2022

TCDB trade roundup: baseball bounty and football fun


I'm back today with most of the rest of my recent TCDB deals (one will get its own post for reasons that will make more sense when I get to that one). This time I have six transactions to cover including the most recent ones that just hit my mailbox today.

I have lots of cards to show off so let's get down to it!

I sent a small mix of 90s and 2000s base cards to d7lane (a fellow member named Dennis!) and got a PWE with these four in earlier this afternoon:
Card #1 is my first (though he only has three to his name) of former Michigan P Dave Kopf, a Cubs draftee who never made it above AAA. That means no MLB cards but thankfully Minors sets like 1986 ProCards exist! Lance Parrish is the draw for me on the second card, from the excellent 1986 Sportflics Decade Greats set, which takes advantage of lenticular technology to show off all three players (Gary Carter and Tony Pena are the other members of "Best 80s Catchers). Junior is from The '95 Sportflix (with an 'X") UC3 Cyclone Squad insert. And my favorite of the bunch is a '96 Pinnacle Starburst Artist's Proof of Tram.

The next PWE I'll recap also just arrived today in plenty of time to include it in this post. It came to me from Mike in PA, a.k.a. MDog23. He's a Yankees collector who sent me the following older cards for some stuff of his team (which was bounced from the playoffs last night, ha!):
I'm always happy to see more '84 Tigers in deals like these, whether or not they appear in Detroit unis. The late Bergman plus Herndon were briefly teammates with the Giants in 1981, with Larry arriving in Motown in a December '81 trade and Bergman joining him (via Philly) in March of '84.

On the Michigan Football side of things I grabbed vintage/-ish cards of S Thom Darden, HOF OT Dan Dierdorf, WR Glenn Doughty, DE Curtis Greer, and LG Reggie McKenzie. The sets they're from include '79, '80, and '82 Topps.

The biggest deal you'll see tonight in terms of the number of items I added came from Texan T206. I sent him a mix of 40+ cards, many of which came from the set-fillers from my Facebook collection purchase, and got the following 30+ back:
Abbott's from 2005 Donruss Greats' Silver HoloFoil parallel. The three Grandersons plus the Morris were all bonus cards which was very generous of Wayne and much appreciated. The artwork on Larkin's 2020 Gallery insert leaves a lot to be desired but it's still a new card for his collection. Another '84 Tiger, Chester, hails from 2005 Topps Rookie Cup, which has popped up a bit in this series. And I happily added a new piece for my PC of ex-Wolverine Fleet Walker out of 2011 TriStar Obak.
Switching over to football I enjoyed a bounty of my undefeated Wolverines in this deal. The first two cards of Branch and Breaston are numbered and my Braylon collection is nearing 350 thanks to this bunch.
I grabbed the two cards you see of transfer RB Fargas (the first being numbered /750) not realizing that the latter was a manupatch, meaning I wouldn't count it in my chase of RCs, though I'll happily keep it otherwise. The three new Grieses are highlighted by a '98 Score Showcase Series parallel of his RC. Hall's also a rookie year parallel, a Refractor version of his '07 Topps Chrome RC, and so is Henne's 2008 Topps Gold Foil. Joppru's 2003 Donruss Elite Status die-cut parallel is probably the coolest card in the package, numbered to just 48 copies (plus it's a college uni photo, even with the Senior Bowl jersey). I don't get that many opportunities to add cards of June so the '06 Topps Total was a nice inclusion.
Former #1 overall pick Long and DT Terrance Taylor get the Michigan uni treatment as well on a pair of inserts. The 2001 Leaf R&S card is a RC of former UM CB Will Peterson (who's since changed his last name to "James"), who transferred to Youngstown State and then Western Illinois before a 10-year NFL career. I also scored three cards of the A-Train (two seen here), one with the team that drafted him along with his final pro squad, the Bills.
Last up in this deal is a five-pack of horizontal cards. Braylon gets two more added to his pile and Long gets a second, also from 2008 UD Draft, though this time it's from the Silver parallel numbered /100. Former OT Jon Runyan is the former Michigan guy on the three-player 2007 Topps Total card. And one more A-Train insert closes out this group.

The uniquely named theduckmanz was my next trade partner, and I was able to flip him a mix of almost 20 cards, mostly from the '90s, for these:
It was a blast seeing Cronenworth playing meaningful games into late October, and now that I'm covering this trade that includes a '21 Chrome Refractor and Stadium Club RC I believe I'm all caught up on what I've added of him through the site. Though their 2023 statuses are up in the air I'm happy to continue adding RCs and other nice stuff of Mize and Skubal. Here you see RCs of both of them, a '21 Heritage of Mize, and a '21 Heritage Chrome Purple Refractor of the duo. The Iron Man is the last of the baseball bunch with the second half of a '98 Pinnacle Inside Stand Up Guys insert (which includes Ken Caminiti, Chipper Jones, and Scott Rolen) plus his '21 A&G base.
Here's the back of the Stand Up Guys card. For those of you who were curious I do have the A-B version and can therefore complete the piece, but didn't feel like taking a photo of that.
Switching back to football, former TE Riemersma gets a great action shot on his '04 Ultra base, and he's joined by former QB Elvis Grbac on his '98 SPx Finite base (#d /7600). To those I added an '04 Press Pass Autographs Bronze auto of another ex-QB, John Navarre, but apparently I already had one (and so does Jeff). Oops and oh well, but that's fine because I don't mind throwing that back on my trade list on the site, and I didn't give up anything I'd miss for it, plus I was pretty happy with the rest of the deal anyway.

The smallish deal I made with Wisconsinite James, a.k.a. tullyelly, is one of the oldest I hadn't posted yet as it was completed back at the end of June. I sent him a few basketball cards I didn't care about and got the following in return:
Just like the Verlander you saw a couple posts ago the Kaline manurelic above was kind of a fun addition to the trade, and I can always use more of him anyway. Football dominated this deal too, starting with Touchdown Timmy on a '96 Collector's Choice You Crash the Game Silver contest card (which apparently ended up being a loser). WR Chris Calloway gets a new pair for his collection. Stadium Club issues of  former OL Elliott and Kenn, both of whom had nice NFL careers, sandwich a new card of WR Mercury Hayes, who did not. And who doesn't start grinning when they see Denard and his megawatt smile? He appears courtesy of a 2019 Topps set devoted to the blink-and-you-missed-it AAF.

And finally tonight I have three oddball-packed scans worth of cards from Minnesota fan in Florida twinscollector34:

Almost half of my end was made up of these 1988 Pepsi/Kroger team cards of the Tigers. These are all guys I still enjoy collecting, and out of the 25-card set the only ones I still need to track down are Tram and Brookens, plus maybe some of my lesser PCs like Pat Sheridan, Frank Tanana, and Matt Nokes. These oversized oddball issues are a fun relic from the 80s and will all have places of honor in their players' collections, though they'll certainly be stored somewhere more appropriate for their size.
We get a bit more mainstream in this final scan but there's still lots of fun oddball pieces too! Three of the Big Daddy cards are pretty standard, with the UD Iooss Collection and DK cards looking especially nice, but I also love the '92 Score 7-Eleven Coin in the bottom-right corner. Larkin gets a trio of additions as well, two of which are from '89 and '90 Baseball Card Magazine's reprints series, and the last of which is a 2003 Topps 205 Polar Bear mini. A '94 Collector's Choice Silver Signature parallel is the newest addition to the Dean-o collection. Ripken shows off his glove on a '98 Pacific Invincible Gems of the Diamond insert. And finally, we end on one last oddball, another Tram, out of 1990 Jumbo California Sunflower Seeds.

Once again my collection grows with some great additions thanks to the excellent traders on the site!

Stay tuned for at least one more post in this series, which I alluded to above. Besides that I have a bit of eBay loot to cover, and then next week should bring a return to the monthly show after circumstances caused me to miss this one. In the meantime, since there are still remnants of the cheaters on the current squad, I'll be rooting for Philadelphia over the Astros. Go Phillies!

Thursday, February 17, 2022

2022 trade package #2: Chronicles of Fuji

It looks like it's been exactly two weeks since I last posted and they've definitely been busy ones! We all got to enjoy a pretty exciting Super Bowl with yet another former Wolverine (DB David Long) winning a ring. And my activity on TCDB has only increased with lots more trade bait posted and many deals completed or in-progress. In fact, looking over on my card desk right now I have 12 TCDB trades to cover at some point, plus six other blog deals to recap after this one!

And speaking of "this one", it's one of the bigger stacks I get to enjoy! And enjoy it I will, even if I'm extremely jealous of the weather the sender gets to enjoy. While it got briefly warm enough here to melt the many inches of snow we've dealt with, we're once again in the middle of a storm that'll bring another 6-9". Meanwhile it's sunny and high 60s in San Jose, home to blogging/trading legend Fuji of the Chronicles of Fuji.

In January Mark sent me another typically generous package out of the blue, which is a color I'm happy to picture as I see nothing but white outside! I had no idea he was sending what he did and was surprised about the variety found within among three of the major sports. Continue reading to see what I mean:
2017 Honus Bonus, a collectible card/fantasy game product, was a bit of an odd duck for sure. But it's a fun one to collect as well for a number of reasons. One of them is the abundance of 1/1s, with multiples made to represent different significant stats. In the two examples here for Ian Kinsler and Justin Upton, that would be their career HR up to that point. Through 2016, his third of four seasons with Detroit after eight in Texas, Kinsler had clubbed 212 of his 257 career bombs. Upton, snagged as a FA before the 2016 season, finished that campaign at 221 after 10 years, then was flipped to the Angels, still his current squad, and he's added 128 taters over his past five.

I like the game-dated aspect of these cards and they're a fun addition to my collection even if the true "rarity" isn't there. Very cool of Fuji to send them my way!
Basketball was very well represented this time, enough that I decided to make it easy on myself and just take a group photo. After all, there was lots worth showing off here, with the 90s and inserts offering lots of creativity and shine.

Player #1 in the pile is Tariq Abdul-Wahad, a relative newbie to my collection in terms of cards that aren't part of complete sets. Previously named Olivier Saint-Jean, he was born in France to two basketball-playing parents, and played at Michigan in 93-94 before transferring to Fuji's San Jose State. Sacramento chose him 11th overall in 1997, the same year he converted to Islam and took on a new name. He's very welcome to the basketball collection! Nice catch, Fuji.

Other players that are part of this bunch include Jamal Crawford, coach Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King, Jalen Rose, Mo Taylor, Robert Traylor, Loy Vaught, and Chris Webber. As you can see, there's a nice bunch of Michigan uni cards, which makes sense giving how popular the program was for a bit in the early 90s. Taylor and Webber got the most new additions with eight and nine, respectively. And I'm absolutely digging a bunch of the inserts, like Howard's hologram (upper-right corner), the die-cuts, and the plethora of shininess.

One such card I decided to highlight was this 1998-99 Ultra Unstoppable insert of Taylor. The booklet-like card folds open so I put together this three-part (somewhat cut-off) look at it:
I don't recall seeing these before so I thought it was cool!
The football side more than lives up to its courtside companion with lots of great names and designs. Touchdown Timmy is a blast to collect since his cards largely fall in the super creative era of the 90s, and that's on full display here. I especially love the Leaf slide card and SP HoloView insert, which bring to mind my favorite tag, "90s inserts rule"! His last card is actually a '96 Bowman reprint, not the original, by the way.

National champ QB Brian Griese was the most common player found in the bunch, as you'll see between this scan and the next one. The Collector's Edge card is numbered /3500, the Fleer Showcase Air to the Throne insert is a reminder that he didn't quite follow in Elway's footsteps (though he did have a respectable career), and the 2000 Leaf Certified base is one of the higher-end ones you'll see here that wouldn't be out of place in an insert set.
See? More Griese (but not greasy) goodness! I wonder if anyone else remembers Upper Deck's short-lived UD Graded product, which I mainly know about due to having to track down some annoying RCs. The inserts from UD, Ultra, and even Topps (it was long enough ago, when they were still trying) are great. Absolute Memorabilia's hobby base cards were way better than the bland retail versions that never should have been made. And the Griese/Terrell pairing never happened in college or the NFL, unfortunately, but would have been a dynamic duo!

Speaking of QBs, newly-extended coach Jim Harbaugh makes an appearance here out of a baseball insert: Topps' 2016 First Pitch set, naturally showing him at Comerica Park. And Fuji even somehow found a Chad Henne I didn't have: a 2008 Prestige Prestigious Picks insert numbered /500, with the young Henne seen in his maize & blue uni. Those two are joined by another UM great, Desmond Howard, on a 1992 All World issue.
Incredibly, there's still more 90s/early 2000s greatness left to cover. It's awesome to see Terrell and Thomas together as nature intended: the WR on a numbered UD Finite base and the A-Train on one of Donruss's greatest inserts: Elite's Passing the Torch. For those of you who are curious, he was paired with former Bears back Gale Sayers. Hey, they can't all be winners, but damn is that set a beauty!

Former WRs Amani Toomer and Marquise Walker are next. Super Bowl champ Toomer can be seen on high-end offerings from 2000 Topps Gold Label (Class 3) and the previously seen Absolute Memorabilia. Walker's card is another throwback to quality Topps inserts: 2002 Topps Debut's Collegiate Classics. This foil chase card with a great college photo honors his 7 catches for 134 yards and a TD (one of his 11 that year) in a 24-10 win over Purdue in 2001, my freshman year.

Last up here us new Broncos RBs coach Tyrone Wheatley, someone who knows just a bit about the position. The Michigan great is seen on 1995's Metal Silver Flashers, Skybox Prime Time Rookie, and  Upper Deck Predictor inserts, plus a 2001 Topps Combos that pairs him up with the already seen Thomas. Those two are the #4 and 5 career rushers at the school, combining for 8276 yards, 96 rushing TDs, and 103 overall scores!
We're not quite done with inserts yet since Fuji also included this large item in the package: a graded 2003 Topps Chrome Refractor of transfer RB Justin Fargas, numbered /100. The beautiful shiny Refractory-ness is enhanced by a bold black border that I'm sure Gavin would admire. This is a gorgeous addition to my collection of Huggy Bear's kid, and I'll think about whether or not I feel like cracking it out of the slab to admire it more.
Ok, now we're closing in on the end with just a couple cards left to cover. The first is a great looking jersey card of former QB/WR Devin Gardner out of Panini's 2015 collegiate product focusing on the school, one of a number they made. DG was an athletic competitor and leader and those skills seem to be translating well to his potential next career in analysis/broadcasting. I'm looking forward to seeing him advance in that career!
And last up today is this throwback to fun Pacific products and their leading efforts when memorabilia cards were still novelties. Griese was paired up with HOF RB teammate Terrell Davis on this Titanium dual jersey, a double-sided card that in retrospect definitely got it right with the star up front. For me, though, it's a nice new jersey card to add to my Griese collection, now at 25 hits strong, making him the 18th player to reach that mark.

Thanks again for this whopper of a trade package, Fuji! Sending 1/1s, 90s inserts, and lots of Wolverines is a great way to keep yourself in my top tier of favorite trading partners, that's for sure. I hope your school year is going well, and I look forward to hitting you back as always whenever I can pile up some more trade bait. Until then, you know I'll keep following your blog, easily one of the best out there!

Sunday, July 18, 2021

7/2/21 card show report: dollars, dimes, and quarters, I need them all right now


Nickels? In this economy?! Ain't no nickel boxes around here, but there was plenty to look through when it came to boxes full of dollar, quarter, and dime cards at this month's show in Taylor a few weeks ago. Unlike the past two shows, this time I didn't come home with a box stuffed with absurdly cheap hits and a light wallet, and instead I dropped just $23: $10 worth of dollar items and the rest out of the dime and quarter sections.

It was still reasonably productive, though, not to mention a great way to spend part of my afternoon on the Friday before Independence Day. I achieved my monthly goal of tracking down some trade bait for others, including scoring [pun intended, wait for it] all but one of the non-RCs my Canadian buddy Doug needs for his 2021 Score football set. Everything this time is already earmarked for trade packages (a few of which have already gone out), so I have nothing to show off from that category, but I did bring home two scans' worth of personal pickups:
The baseball group is Tiger-heavy, even if the uniforms pictured don't reflect that. Big Daddy is the lone player in his Detroit duds, representing the team in Donruss' 1992 McDonald's MVP set. Former blog namesake Granderson comes to us from 2012 Bowman Platinum, though as a member of the Yankees. Inge spent part of 2012 with Oakland, then played a 50-game sunset season with the Pirates, as captured on that 2013 Topps Update Blue parallel.

Down the middle we have the three non-Tigers, all of which are from some of my top PCs. I love the photography and design as usual from a Stadium Club release, in this case Larkin's 2020 version. There's no way I'll skip over a new Maddux card, especially if it's in the dime box like that '07 Heritage, even if it's still weird to see him with a team other than the Braves and Cubs. And card #3 here is a double-dip of favorites: Cal Ripken Jr. and Sportflics. The 1987 single you see above is from the "Best in Baseball" subset that goes by league and position, and this one includes Cal along with the late Tony Fernandez of Toronto plus Texas' Scott Fletcher as the top AL SS of 1986.

Getting back to Detroit-related cards, first is a 2020 Heritage League Leaders subset starring current blog namesake Justin Verlander, who went 1-2 with teammate Gerrit Cole in wins by AL pitchers (21 and 20). Joining him is a pre-Tigers uniform card of 3B Dean Palmer, a 1999 Fleer Tradition Warning Track parallel. That means the base card's foil (including the note that Detroit signed him) along with the insert's logo are red instead of gold.
And the Michigan stuff all fit nicely into one scan as well. I added to my small but growing Caris LeVert collection with a shiny 2019-20 Panini Illusions base--an easy snag from the dime box. He's joined in the top row by a pair of Michigan Football Devins from the past decade (we had a few!): LB (and birthday boy!) Bush from 2020 Panini Playbook (my first from that set) and WR Funchess out of 2018 Panini Certified. Side note: Funch recently caught a record-setting "pass" of a football dropped 750 feet from a helicopter, so he's got that going for him.

Three of the next four guys played for the '97-'98 national champs so I'll cover them all at once. Griese's card is a '99 Collector's Edge Fury Gold Ingot parallel, which you'd be able to tell better if the shiny "Gold Ingot" logo near the bottom-right of the photo didn't look like golden static. Heisman winner Woodson makes two appearances by way of 2020 Panini Playoff and 2021 Score, and I love that the latter included a vet like him. And lastly, the A-Train's back in diminutive form thanks to a 2004 Bazooka Mini--a little card that bolsters a big collection of mine.

And to finish things off we segue nicely to our last player of the day, another RB: transfer RB Thomas Rawls. In keeping with my collecting rules, I'll collect any cards of players who transferred in and out of Ann Arbor as long as they aren't depicted with a college team other than Michigan. That wasn't even an issue here with two pro uni inserts: 2017 Panini Classics Record Breakers and 2017 Panini Unparalleled Perfect Pairs. The former discusses a team record Rawls set for rushing yards in a playoff game: 161 in their 2016-2017 wild card tilt against the hapless Lions. Meanwhile, the latter pair is less than "perfect" since both players would be gone from the team after 2017, with Lacy out of the league and Rawls playing just one more season himself. It's a cool looking shiny card, though!

So, yeah, not much to show off or brag about, but I had fun digging through boxes, and the money I saved can always be available the next time my favorite seller has a blowout sale.

More posts to come soon as I continue to try to catch up on cards in-hand and chilling on my desk, plus stuff that's still due to arrive!

Saturday, February 6, 2021

2020 COMC purchases: look at these 'graphs (and more!)

Time to finish up a look at my late-year purchases from COMC so I can close the book on cards I bought in 2020, a year that often felt as bad as a Nickelback song.

I decided to throw all of the football content in one post and just try not to get too verbose about it. That way I can get this stuff put away and move on to other incoming items and stuff I want to post about. I'm showing off 35 cards tonight and the vast majority include signatures, hence today's title and the meme above. Let's get down to business:
The other 34 cards fit nicely into two scans each of nine (vertical cards) and eight (horizontal), so I'll give the only non-hit its own spot here to start. Old Ty joins Amani Toomer (back-to-back in the set, in fact) in my collection of the amazing 2000 Bowman's Best Acetate parallel, which is so cool I scanned both sides for this post!
Ok, on to the (mostly) 'graphs! Many of the cards you'll see were excellent deals that fortified some of my better football PCs. Avant's from the era of shiny stickergraphs and is numbered /125. Breaston did play a couple seasons for the Chiefs, who could repeat as champs tomorrow evening. J-Booty's auto comes on an Optic card, making it shiny in a different way than Avant's. Taco (Michigan uni!) was drafted by Dallas but is now potentially in line for a ring as a bit player for the Chiefs. I continued to bolster Darboh's collection with the three autos you see here (and more in a bit), and Jeff and I have lots of those in common which I noticed while adding them on TCDB. Braylon's huge Browns swatch (/150) was a nice value. And I scored another, uh, signature? of Gary, who had a solid sophomore campaign with the Pack.
Now this is a top three I can get down with: a trio of college uni cards! Gentry's tiny John Hancock graces a Prizm card, Big Mo is one of those acetate cards from Leaf Trinity's Clear line, and I tracked down auto number two of former lineman Trezelle Jenkins. Then it's on to just four out of an absolute bounty of Jake Longs, including a quad jersey/auto, autograph, and not one but two plates (2008 Topps Mayo and 2010 Topps), the first I've acquired of the former #1 overall pick. It's been a while since I've posted a new pickup of former college star DL Mike Martin so why not celebrate his return with a beautiful UD Black signature (/199)? And I enjoy seeing former stars like Toomer get recognized after their careers in Panini's various products, like this Certified jersey (/49) of Amani "It's Not A" Toomer.
Not everything was autographed in this bunch but most was. One of the exceptions was a cool rookie year Avant jersey (/499) where the shininess of the card is better than the swatch. Leaf's cards are fantastic values for college collectors like this sick giant patch/auto of WR Jehu Chesson that cost me less than $3. The three other Darboh cards I found were jersey/autos, two of which came with nice pieces of what's becoming a familiar Seahawks jersey for me as a collector of his cards. Braylon's Topps "patch" isn't terribly impressive but was a cool find for under a buck, and the large jersey number relic card (/25) is even better. Panini's Contenders/Draft products are also outstanding for those pursuing cards of their favorite schools, and here I was glad to find my third signature of former DB David Long.
And the last grouping allows me to end the post with a bang. I was very pleased with my Long haul (pun intended), nine cards for about $33 that also included four jersey/autos and an auto/manupatch. The Gridiron Gear card is one of those where the signed swatch can be pulled out, similar to the Denard that follows the group, though I think in Shoelace's case the signed piece isn't from a jersey. I was thrilled to add another of A-Train's beautiful signatures to my collection. And we'll end on a non-auto, a dual relic of WR Marquise Walker, representing Tom Brady's Bucs in this post.

Once again I had a great time landing some amazing pieces for my collection at pretty nice prices, even if my trade bait purchasing was less than ideal this time around. Just a few quick collection notes: Long zoomed past Braylon thanks to his big day, with the OT hitting 97 to the WR's 93 (Manningham's in between at 95), and threatening to become the second member of my 100-hit club (Henne). Despite his cards being relatively recent, Darboh's already over the 40-mark to 41. And Avant gets to 65 hits, good for sixth overall. Michigan's former WRs feature heavily at the top of my collection with #s 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 14, 16, and 17.

With these finally able to be put away in their boxes I'm not sure where I'll go next: possibly my first Baseballcardstore.ca order, or perhaps an interesting purchase from a new vendor, not to mention an incoming trade envelope. If I manage to get myself to put up a Super Bowl-related post tomorrow I know which one it'll be, and I'm curious to see reactions to it.

Monday, October 7, 2019

2019 COMC purchases: preposterous PC pickups

I'm back this evening to end this latest COMC series, which is good since it won't be long until Black Friday/Cyber Monday time when I'll be loading up once again.

Today's the big finish for this haul, with cards scanned in groups because I originally planned to split them up into smaller posts before realizing that would just drag things out unnecessarily.  On a day that mark's the birth of one of college's top 10 players of all time, Charles Woodson (who's not included in this post) let's have a look at the remaining Michigan Football hits:
Scans 1 and 2 include WRs and RBs, with this one covering the verticals.  Outspoken wideout and guy who can't keep his foot out of his mouth Braylon Edwards gets three new jersey relics added to his total (now 85, good for third place), including a multi-color swatch from 2010 Epix.  

You'll see A-Train again in a minute (with his partner in crime), but for now have a look at a simple jersey card from 2002 Pacific.  

And another wideout also gets one of multiple appearances in Marquise Walker, who shares a 2002 Playoff Honors card with Bucs RB Travis Stephens, a guy that outshone Walker by catching his only pass in one NFL game.
And now for the horizontals.  Sure-handed receiver Jason Avant leads things off with a simple jersey from 2006 that I would have sworn I had if I hadn't checked.  Nope, it's new to me and it's hit #60 in his collection, one of a few fun milestones today.  Also, you can ignore the Chris Perry jersey, which looks great and would be nicer if I didn't already own it.  Oh well, trade bait!

Next is 2001 Bears duo David Terrell plus Thomas again, each on 2001 Playoff Honors jersey RCs numbered /725.  A-Train goes for a third score, as he often did, with a 2002 Gridiron Kings Gridiron Cut Collection ball relic (#317/550) on one of that brand's many cool designs.  Terrell now sits at 44 hits and 148 overall cards while Thomas pulls away a bit at 53 and 150.  Milestone #2!

Last up in this bunch is jersey this time of Walker, hailing from 2002 Leaf Rookies & Stars.  Again, we've got a simple design but a nice, bold jersey swatch, and you know I pick these up super cheap; I pretty much aim for $1.50 and under when it comes to "game-used" stuff.  The guy who wore #4 gets his 24th hit out of 63 overall cards.
Now we'll shift gears a bit with a scan that covers defense and QBs.  I rarely get enough of the D side of the ball to justify its own post anyway so I have to group them in somewhere!  As far as those go, we'll start with Leon Hall on an acetate auto out of 2007 Upper Deck Trilogy (#40/99).  This is one of those cards that's difficult to scan so if I didn't point out that it's clear you wouldn't know.  An autographed parallel of his RC from the product, it gets me to 39 Halls.

Joining him on defense is tackling machine David Harris.  We just saw the star LB in the inserts post, and how he's back with relics designed in both orientations.  Up top is a shiny 2012 Limited Threads jersey (#92/99) while a 2010 Topps Peak Performance Relic sits in the bottom-right corner.  Autographs are always better but I take what I can get with defensive players, and I'm happy to move up to a solid 31 hits (84 cards overall) of the former Jet/Patriot.

Though he played RB late in his college career and during his short NFL tenure, I still count Denard Robinson as a QB, so here he is.  Above you can see a pair of 2013 Absolute Rookie Premiere relics I scored featuring Shoelace, with one being the Oversize Jersey Number variant (#57/99) and the other spelling out "NFL" (#68/99). I now count 44 hits in my Denard collection, and a milestone-worthy 101 overall cards thanks to this pair!

Moving on to a guy who enjoyed a longer NFL tenure, you can see three horizontal Brian Griese relics along the right side of the scan.  All of them hail from Fleer brands:  2001 E-X and Ultra and 2002 Ultra.  Griese's relics that I find tend toward basic designs since he wasn't a big factor when those cards got a bit more interesting.  He's still a pretty big deal in my collection, though, at 23 hits and an almost-milestone 198 overall items.
The last two scans fall into the category of "the great 2008s," my favorite Michigan draft class, rivaled only by the guys chosen a year earlier.  I couldn't tell you which scan I prefer because both are amazing, and anyway, I don't have to!

Starting us off is a new 2008 SP Threads manu-letter auto of WR Adrian Arrington.  I haven't been able to complete his base set, last name nameplate yet as I'm short three of the nine cards, but I now have my second letter from the College Autographs version, which--get this--spells out the college's name.  I can add this "N" to an "I" I'd previously scored, putting me a quarter of the way toward that one.  It'll also reside in double-A's PC, which stands at 55 hits (#7 overall) out of 89 cards.

And then there's blog favorite QB Chad Henne with three new signature items.  First is a 2008 SP Rookie Edition auto that honors the '93 SP design.  I'll need to chase down the other three at some point.  Next is a signed version, featuring a cut out window for the main event, of his 2008 Stadium Club rookie.  I now own one of these for all five Wolverines in the set:  Henne, Arrington, Jake Long, Mike Hart, and Mario Manningham.  Maybe I'll show off all of them together at some point.  For now, though, the showstopper is a 2008 Upper Deck Premier quad patch/auto (#15/30) of the journeyman QB.  My purchase history says I plunked down a measly $4.21 for this beauty, and I'm glad I did!

Henne continues to the the charge with a crazy 128 hits (still the only guy above 100 for now) and an almost-milestone-ish 296 overall pieces.
Speaking of crazy, today's big winner has me celebrating too many Manninghams!  That's eight, count 'em, eight new hits of the super WR.  We'll take a run through them in a few groups.

The first two pairs all include some sort of jersey relic:  2008 Bowman Sterling Refractor, Leaf Certified Materials ("prime"), Donruss Threads, and one of those nifty LCM Souvenir Stamps stamp/jersey relic.  Pretty cool!

Next is a 2009 SP Signature triple auto card starring the man himself, former teammate Adrian Arrington, and...Lavelle Hawkins.  I guess the latter was also a 2008 draftee with the letters "A", "I", and "N" in his last name?  Anyway, I love cards with multiple Wolverines, and this one fits the bill.

Last up is a trio of 2008 SPx multi-jersey cards, adding to my huge collection from that product.  A quick check tells me I have 41, covering the vast array of variants like these three:  "Star and Position Dual 25," "Unique Shape Triple 15," and "Jersey Number Dual 25."  That's right, UD came up with a design and didn't know what the hell to call it either!

This was an insanely fun way to close out another fantastic haul for my collection, and it makes Manningham just the second player to hit the 90-card mark at 93 hits (216 cards overall).

As always I had a blast hunting down and scoring new pieces for my collection and I'm looking forward to doing it again in just a few weeks.  But before then I have lots more to cover, so be on the lookout for more posts here soon!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Happy David Harris-ment awareness day, plus a contest plug

Contest plug:

In lighter news that doesn't involve the Tigers repeating their mistakes Groundhog Day style (at least he gets it in the end), Sam over at the Daily Dimwit is having a contest, the type that's ridiculously easy to join.  I've kind of been out of the contest game for a while due to disinterest and laziness, but I liked the combination of easiness and prize offerings so I'm in on this one, even if almost literally every other blogger I follow seems to be as well.  The prizes:
Be one of the lucky randomized five and get your choice.  Just hop over to the post, drop your name in the hat and pimp the contest like you see here for a couple free, easy entries.  Come on, just do it, Sam needs all the good news he can get now that he's an Alabama Mwa-own.  Hell, by the time the contest ends he may not even be able to read.
Sam, is that you?
Thumbs up for a cool contest, so get in now!

One other quick thing--Google+ invites:


I'd love to see more of you in my Bloggers circle on Google+, so for those interested, please feel free to swipe an invite from me here.  The link to my profile is in the upper-right part of this here blog.

David Harris all day:

Another day, another package of Wolverines from Blowout.  I scored a really nice deal on six cards of three different players, including a couple very low numbers.  The deal actually came about because someone noticed me working on a (failed) deal for some Wolverines and decided he wanted to get rid of some of his.  Voila:

Anthony Thomas 2002 Playoff Honors Honorable Signatures:  Boy does A-Train have a sweet-looking signature.  In some cases I even think it looks better on a sticker because it pops more.  Thomas #11 in my PC is only my third autograph of him, actually

Here comes a few David Harris hits:
2007 Prestige Draft Picks Rights auto/RC:  I don't really like the ugly "Draft Picks Rights" logo hovering in the upper-right corner, but the rest of the card looks pretty great--the Refractory background is pretty sweet, and this is a great shot of Harris looking mean during his Michigan days.  #d 066/150.

2007 Topps Co-Signers dual auto (with Brad Kassell):  I don't usually jump at multi-player autos that include non-Michigan players, but I thought this was a reasonable inclusion in the deal, and at least they're both on the same team.  This goes well with my other Co-Signers sigs.  

2007 Topps Performance Breakout Gold auto:  This was the highlight of the package for me simply because it's #d 5/5, see?:
I actually already had the non-numbered version of this, so with this guy and the next one, I'm actually a good part of the way towards having all of Harris' hits from this set.

2007 Topps Performance Rookie Autographs Silver auto/RC:  This goes well with my other versions of Harris from the set.  Also a highlight of the deal due to being #d out of 25:
Those four Harrises put me up to 14 hits, 100% of which are autographs.  Not bad for a guy that just got PAID.

Jason Avant 2006 SP Authentic SP Authentics auto:  It probably hasn't been that long since I picked up an Avant autograph, but I'm still always happy to get one, especially one that's on-card with as nice of a design as this one is.  At 15 excellent cards including 13 autographs, Avant is clearly one of my better player collections.

As usual I'm very satisfied with a Wolverine-filled deal from Blowout.  The PC now stands at 307 hits, 213 of which are autographed.  Hopefully more will be on the way soon!