2025 trade package #19: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Happy American Thanksgiving, friends! As always, I'm thankful for all of you who follow, read, and comment here, trade with me, and post your own content.

And I specified the "American" part above to highlight the sender of tonight's trade package. Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store recently celebrated Canada's version of the event, and now thanks to him I have a ridiculous smorgasbord of cards to feast on! Here's a quick run through them because there's just so many and I know I'll need a nap afterwards:

Part 1 of baseball opens with a Wolverine in Abbott, but the rest are Tigers. Lopez's card is from the '81 Tigers Coke team set, and Skubal's Topps Holiday card is perfectly timed for the season.

Part 2 of baseball offers a Verlander (can't have enough of those!) and a good chunk of the OPC cards in the package (along with a note hoping I liked/didn't mind getting a bunch of that brand. I did indeed like them!). Sparky, Bergman, and Lemon were all '84 Tigers of course so those were my favorites.

HOFer Jack Morris joins that '84 group from above to form a nice quartet from the Canadian brand.

Then we have some cool hits to flip through! Zack Semler was a Michigan IF back in the late 2010s and he joins the collection courtesy of a Leaf Perfect Game signature. Thank you to Doug for going the extra mile and finding a new Wolverine once again!

As for the Tigers, Dylan Smith is a pitcher who made his debut this year and earned a win over 7 solid relief appearances. The 2021 3rd-rounder is here by way of Donruss Elite Extra Edition. Walker ('23 Topps Chrome) was a White Sox 2018 2nd-rounder who bounced to Texas (with whom he enjoyed his only MLB action), San Francisco, then Detroit, and it looks like he's been out of affiliated ball since the Tigers released him in 2023.

Ziomek (2013 Bowman Sterling Orange Refractor auto /75) was also a second-rounder, taken by Detroit in 2013, and he never advanced above the high-A level of the minors. Manning, though, is no stranger to my collection even though the 2016 #9 overall pick was sent to Philly at this year's deadline and is now a free agent after failing to pan out like his rotation-mate Casey Mize did. His Diamond Kings Rookie Expression jersey is one I'm glad to add to Manning's collection even though a return to Detroit is unlikely for now.

Doug went above and beyond again when it came to basketball because not only did he send me the usual excellent selection of players that are generally mainstays, but he also included three newbies in the form of women's hoops alumni Leigha Brown, Naz Hillmon, and Stacey Thomas! Brown transferred from Nebraska and spent three seasons in Ann Arbor, then played a bit for the 2023 Connecticut Sun. Hillmon was a big deal in her four seasons with the Wolverines, being named their first All-American among many other honors. She's now in her fourth season with the Atlanta Dream. Thomas put up four productive college seasons of her own and then spent 2000-05 in the WNBA, winning it all with the 2003 Detroit Shock, the motor city's previous pro team. Many thanks to Doug for this outstanding trio!

As for some of the stalwarts of past envelopes, Howard and Rice are always appreciated. And given the way Michigan Basketball has opened this season, I hope they're celebrating at the end of the season as Rice once did.

Taylor, Vaught, and Webber are also common names to find in these packages and are just as welcome. So are '91-'92 Panini Stickers of the previously seen Rice as well as Gary Grant!

Basketball got its own hit parade as well, opening with my third auto of Calbe Houstan (not "Houston," UD) out of Goodwin Champions. Juwan's kid Jett is up next with his hit collection debut out of '23-'24 Topps Chrome, and he's in his third season with the Orlando Michiganders, who also roster Mo and Franz Wagner plus Colin Castleton. And speaking of Mo, Doug treated me to my first signature of the older Wagner bro, this one thanks to 2019-20 Prizm. As with Houstan, his signature is, uh, not the most detailed, but about par for the course given the stupid amount of cards/stickers these guys have to sign these days.

Numbered inserts of Steve Breaston, Devin Funchess, and Karan Higdon are a great way to segue into the football content just a couple days before The Game. Steve's card is the rarest, numbered to just 25 on the back, while Funch goes for 194 and Higdon's is rarer at 50. Shoe Carnival is an apt sponsor for a card starring Lewan since the nicest thing I can say about him is that he's a clown. CB Ambry Thomas joins the numbers game with a blue Prizm parallel ("No-Huddle" to be specific) that's SN79 on the back. And the hit here is a good omen for Saturday's Ohio State tilt as I fondly Buckeye-killer Hassan Haskins piling up FIVE rushing TDs to lead Michigan over OSU in 2021. That Absolute jersey card above has a swatch just about nice enough to be a patch (or "prime" as they're sometimes calls) and it looks excellent as hit #5 (hey, there's that number again!) in his collection.

On the ice, the Wings have had their ups and downs this year, but generally seem to be better than last year so far. Guys like Chiasson and slightly more recently Franzen and Holmstrom take me back to the joy of watching the team succeed starting in the 90s for a good couple decades.

Kocur, Lidstrom, and McCarty were also key contributors on some of those Cup-winning teams, and I'm happy to see them in any group of cards someone sends me. Larson and Micalef are fun vintage-adjacent throwbacks to before I was old enough to follow hockey.

Seider's a star defenseman for the current team but guys like Zetterberg, Draper, Hull, and Shanahan all realized Cup glory with the Wings. The OPC stickers of Ivan Boldirev (1983), Reed Larson, and Paul Woods (1982) were a fun surprise.

And to close out the Hockeytown content we've got a bevy of hits! There's a nice jersey of Cholowski, one of many failed 2010s first-rounders, though he's still in the NHL (New Jersey) and has an excellent first name. Allure provides a colorful autograph of C Robby Fabbri, who was with Detroit for five seasons and put up decent numbers. Howard was an above-average goalie that was with Detroit for his entire career, and that's a beautiful red jersey swatch above to celebrate an All-Star nod in his penultimate season. And my favorite of the bunch is an SP Game Used jersey of Tomas Holmstrom, the enemy of goalies everywhere as he set up camp in front of the crease and was a pest, often putting back rebounds when not making netminders' lives a living hell otherwise.

A jersey of "Double A" begins the horizontal trio, made during his five-season stint with Detroit to open his career. That's joined by white and red jerseys, respectively, of winger Taro Hirose and D-man Gustav Lindstrom.

The Wings may be looking better than last year but they're nowhere near as hot as the NCAA's current #1 team, Michigan Hockey! They're 13-3-0 with 83 goals (good for 5+ per game!) and absolutely cooking right now. So why not look at some cards of past Michigan icers?

There are some absolute beauties in this first scan, especially thanks to UD brands like Allure and Synergy. The latter remind me a bit of Pacific's Invincible thanks to the circular inset photo. I'm also a big fan of Hyman's Canvas insert thanks to its great design and cool throwback jersey.

This scan includes a couple hockey Mikes, relatively recent G Jack LaFontain (Synergy again!), WolverWing Dylan Larkin, and hey, what's more thanksgiving than John Madden? Ok, it's not the turducken guy, but did the Raiders coach win three Cups like this guy did? I don't think so!

In this scan the Norris and Power (SN699!) cards are great, but I'm choosing to highlight the collection debut of Cristoval "Boo" Nieves. Boo played at Michigan from 2012-13 to 2015-16, and I remember seeing the C with the cool nickname play live a few times. TCDb lists just 34 cards for him and a good chunk of those are 1/1s or local/minor league issues. Therefore I'm grateful to get an NHL uni card of him, and even more thrilled that it's on the great looking Upper Deck Ice design (and numbered /1299 to boot). Cool!

And we'll end tonight's post with a few of the best cards in the whole package. Werenski also gets in on the Synergy fun, but the Pacioretty has even that cool set beat. The former player who joined the coaching staff this year as a special assistant features on a Black Diamond Diamond Might insert that's basically a thin acetate layer sandwiched between four thick cardboard pieces that are held together on each side by the action image. The overall effect is extremely cool and I love having something to enjoy that's an insert and not a hit. Also it's numbered /99 on the back. A winner in every way!

Last up we have two more hits, and more very nice ones at that. First up is a 2023-24 Upper Deck MVP Cyan Plate of WolverWing Andrew Copp where he's even pictured as a member of the Original Six team! That's my first 1/1 of his out of five total hits, and I believe 21st subject in the hockey collection to appear on such a card, plus it's obviously the best card I have of him so far.

He's joined by just my second autograph of D-man Christ Tamer, who was drafted by the Penguins and also suited up for the Rangers briefly, then Atlanta (as pictured above) for his final five seasons. His fairly legible signature and bonus jersey number inscription appear on a 2020-21 SP Signature Legends Gold Spectrum insert, one that has a very nice design.

Oh wait, I'm not actually done because Doug included these surprises as well! Canadian soccer player Shelina Zadorsky is indeed a Michigan alum, having played for the Wolverines from 2010-13, including acting as captain her senior year. Wikipedia says she won bronze (2016) and gold (2020) medals with the Canadian Olympic team, and now I'll have to do some research to see which other Wolverines earned Olympic medals in sports I don't tend to follow.

Thankfully my Canadian friend was aware of Zadorsky's alma mater and sent me this 2018 Goodwin Champions base and auto pair. She's the fifth member of my "other" Michigan sports category collection, and represents IMO the most legitimate "sport" of the bunch (two pro wrestlers, a boxing writer, and an auto racer). What a cool find!

Before I close things out, I also want to note that thanks in part to the cards in this post, I now have more than 2700 Michigan sports hits, so I'll once again express thanks to all who've contributed to that collection. Here's to the run to 3000 and more!

Doug, thanks once again for this feast of cards from August that I'm finally enjoying on Thanksgiving. I appreciate it as always and as is also usually the case, I'm looking forward to returning fire before Christmas.

Next, I'll see what I feel like getting to this weekend depending on how I feel before and after The Game. GO BLUE!

2024 COMC purchases: Nine from November

With the finish line now in sight I'm even more motivated to get this post done and call 2024 a wrap! Here's a look at the cards I bought for myself during COMC's Black Friday sale:

First up is hit #1 of another UM WR to wear #8 (besides another guy in this post), Ronnie Bell. The receiver/returner outplayed his practically anonymous recruiting rankings and was a key contributor as the Wolverines marched back to respectability under Jim Harbaugh. The Bowman's Best University card pictures him with the Wolverines (instead of the 49ers who'd eventually draft and then release him) and that's a great start for his hits collection! Sure, it's a sticker auto and he signed with his initials, but at least he added an inscription with his jersey number.

The day's other "first" is my second hit but first signature of LB Devin Bush II, a three-year Wolverine who did some nice work in 2017 and 2018 in Ann Arbor. The Steelers took him in the first round in 2019 and he's since bounced to Seattle and Cleveland, but was good enough to appear in an autograph insert (#d /299) in 2020 Panini Legacy.

In spot #3 is the other WR #8, the sure-handed Jason Avant, who was able to rescue the planted Michigan flag in Columbus this past season after Buckeye Jack Sawyer threw his hissy fit once his OSU team lost to Michigan again. Avant never won a Super Bowl with the Eagles but did have a solid 10-year career mostly spent with them, and I was thrilled to add another Triple Threads jersey/auto of his from his 2006 rookie year. The one you see above is the Sepia version /75 and is hit #66 of #8.

Next, RB Chris Evans appears to be out of the league at this point, but that wasn't going to stop me from picking up a third Michigan uni autograph of his. I may have passed on other brands but usually tend to like the simplicity of Score's rookie autos, so I had no problem ponying up a couple bucks for this one.

Sure, we've already had Devin, but what about second Devin? I paid less than $6.50 total for the cool pair starring former Panthers WR Funchess and I think that was a steal. The card on the left is a 2015 Panini Black Gold Sizeable Signatures Rookie Jerseys prime version, and I'm thinking you'll agree that it lives up to its "sizeable" and "prime" descriptors with ease. The other is a 2015 Panini National Convention VIP manupatch auto, which isn't the kind of thing I'd pay a premium for, but I do like seeing athletes sign things other than stickers. Funch moves up to 34 hits thanks to the pair.

I'll move down one spot horizontally to discuss the next card, a Jake Long 2008 Topps Triple Threads Sepia parallel. This one came with three really nice multi-color Dolphins swatches to go along with his signature (and numbering /75, like the Avant above). It's a great looking card to add to a collection that now stands at a very nice 98 hits, though he remains in third place behind our next two players.

Forever #1 guy Chad Henne continues to outpace the rest by a mile with his 146th hit, which happens to be one of the higher-end items in his collection. The 12th 1/1 I've landed for him, the card you see above is his 2008 Finest Yellow Plate (the non-auto version). It set me back a reasonable $14 which I don't mind paying for a top PC guy like Henne, whose hit collection isn't too far off of that from all-sports leader Rich Hill. As always, I'm a fan of when manufacturers do the border thing with their plates to make it obvious which color you have, especially in this case where the back is otherwise normal.

And last but not least is former blog namesake guy Mario Manningham. The 2008 Leaf Certified Materials auto you see above (#d /100) is everything I love about 2000s-era cards of some of my favorites, but it may be the most significant from this post for an entirely different reason: it puts Super Mario at exactly 100 hits, making him just the second player behind Henne in the football collection (and third overall including Rich Hill) to reach that mark! It actually wasn't 100% intentional as I would have been happy for Jake Long (again, 98) or Braylon Edwards (95) to make it first, but I only found one of the former I liked and none of the latter this time. So it looks like I get to celebrate Too Many Manninghams as my 2024 year of collecting comes to a close! (The football hits collection also surpassed the 1700-mark before the calendar turned, basketball went over 150, and hockey moved up to 350, with baseball very close to 450.)

Once again, thanks to everyone for making 2024 a great year of trading, blogging, reading, comments, shows, and more! I'm looking forward to treating you to recaps of the cards I've picked up since 2025 started including (at this point) seven blogger-related trade packages, two shows, and four TCDb deals. Look for a post covering the first blogger trade of January soon!

2024 trade package #6: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

It's been a busy month for me with a lot of time taken up by sorting through yet another great Facebook collection pickup (via a garage sale) plus a trip down south to see friends. But today I'm ready to get back at it with another trade recap.

This absolutely stacked package came from prolific trading buddy Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store back in April. There's a ridiculous amount of stuff to look at, especially new hits, so let's get down to it:

The relatively small baseball portion was hugely impactful. Doug's a fan of Panini Chronicles and a few of the cards you see here came from those brands. Sutherland, a Tiger for parts of three seasons in the 70s, is a '75 Hostess, and the Tigers team card is from the (usually) celebrated '75 Topps Mini set. Mike's son Daz hasn't made good on his prospect status yet, but the former Tiger (currently with Oakland) is more than welcome to join my collection of his former team with a '21 Chronicles Black 1/1! Just as exciting is a not quite as rare autograph of Cecil Fielder from '23 Chronicles, numbered to just 25 copies. It's my first signature of "Big Daddy" and just the second hit to go with a bat relic, and I'm extremely grateful for Doug's generosity in sending it my way after pulling it from a box break last year. Finally, 2021 #3 overall pick Jackson Jobe, a high school pitcher out of Oklahoma, makes his debut in the Detroit hits collection with a large jersey swatch out of '23 select. Jobe's considered a top-20 pitching prospect and aside from a bit of injury trouble, he looks like he could become a future ace.

On the basketball front we'll start with Joey Baker, a four-year Duke F who finished up his collegiate career in Ann Arbor. Wagner's from the somewhat oddball Pro Picks Premier product (say that three times fast!) that unfortunately has to go the airbrush route. I'm once again thankful for Doug bolstering my collecting with my first autographs of two players straight from my TCDb "Michigan alumni I need certified autographs for" list. The first is Caleb Houston, a G for the 2021-22 Michigan squad who bailed for the draft and got taken in the second round by the NBA version of the Wolverines, the Orlando Magic. My first signature of him proved to be card #1 in his collection, a 2022-23 Panini Court Kings Fresh Paint Ruby auto (#d /99). He's joined by three-point sharpshooter Duncan Robinson out of a '21-22 Chronicles insert, Apprentice Signatures Red. This was one of a few cards that came out of Panini's Rewards exchange program, and it's also my first hit of the SF/SG who'll be going into his seventh NBA season in a few months.

Flipping over to the gridiron, QB Wally Gabler's '70 O-Pee-Chee card was of extra interest to me as it's the first I've owned of the transfer from the New Mexico Military Institute (alma mater of blog favorite Tony Phillips). He got to start a few games in 1965 and went on to play for seven seasons in the CFL, appearing with the Toronto Argonauts, Winnipeg Blue Bombers (seen here) and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He has five total OPC CFL cards to chase and I may work on tracking down the rest, but for now he's a very welcome addition to the collection.

On the hits front, I was pleased to receive new autographs of Jake Butt (Leaf Valiant) and De'Veon Smith (Elite) along with signatures of a couple new guys. DT Chris Hinton, son of the former NFLer of the same name, appeared in 32 games for the Wolverines between 2019-21, went undrafted, and appeared in a few games in 2022 and '23 with the Chargers; we'll see how friendly his new coach is to the former Michigan D-lineman! He's seen here on the first card of him in my collection out of 2022 Pro Set Draft.

Meanwhile, former Dallas TE Sean McKeon, who just joined the Lions as a free agent last month, is a more familiar face, though I'd yet to land a hit of any kind of his until Doug sent me his 2020 Panini Contenders auto, one that also came courtesy of Panini Rewards. I hope he sticks with the team come fall!

With these additions my count of unique subjects in the football hits PC eclipsed 250, so hooray for that milestone (and Doug, who was a big help in getting there)! Also, Jake hit the 10-card mark (eight autos and two plates), so I get to say that I have 10 Butts and I cannot lie!

There was enough Red Wings content to split it off from the rest of the hockey items. Along with a few newer players I was happy to see old favorites like Franzen, Holmstrom, Hull, and Kozlov. Hull of course was part of that famed 2001-02 Cup-winning team that just added Pavel Datsyuk to its HOF group which is now at 10 players (Shanahan, Fedorov, Lidstrom, Robitaille, Yzerman, Larionov, Chelios, and Hasek are the others). What a team that was!

2007-08 Cup winner Henrik Zetterberg rounds out the group of old favorites with a card that celebrates him being a draft steal as I write this post on the second day of the 2024 NFL draft.

The next bunch of scans comprised the largest portion of the mailer: Michigan Hockey. On a weekend that saw some three future Wolverines get drafted, I get to show off lots of cards of former UM icers who made it to the NHL, past and present. This group definitely represents the former as Beniers and Bordeleau are early in their careers, Compher became a WolverWing this past season, and Connor continues to light the lamp for the Jets while nearing the 250-goal mark.

More Connor? More fun for me! Fantilli won the Hobey Baker Award before having a nice rookie season for the Wolverine-friendly Blue Jackets. Glendening was a longtime WolverWing before heading off to Dallas and Tampa. The super talented Hughes just won his first Norris Award after going off for 17 goals (first time in double-digits) and 75 assists, both career highs, with 10 postseason assists for his Canucks. Goalie Jack LaFontaine joins the collection after spending two years in Ann Arbor and three more with Minnesota. Larkin's a mainstay on this blog and I hope he retires as a career Wing with at least one Cup win on the way to a HOF career.

The last of the non-hits opens with the well-travelled Jon Merril (Devils, Wings, Canadians, Wild), and he gives way to a duo starring relatively young Senator (Doug's team!) Josh Norris. Another Wolverine/Blue Jacket in tonight's post is Zach Werenski, who gets three new additions to his collection here while also appearing below. And lastly, my Cam York collection doubled in size to two with the numbered UD Synergy card you see above. The purple looks hilarious with the orange and black of the Flyers' uni but hey, why not?

If you got this far expecting a plethora of Michigan Hockey hits, boy do I have good news for you, because that's exactly what you'll get to see via this scan and the next one!

The previously-seen Bordeleau is first with an autograph that knocks him off my list of players I collect that need such a card, thanks to a shiny offering from Parkhurst via UD. Former Avalanche winger JT Compher is next with an SPx jersey repping the team with which he won a Cup, and that's hit #3 for him. Scoremaster Kyle Connor adds a numbered dual jersey from Artifacts to his pile, now five cards strong. Fox is definitely the oldest player here having appeared in the 70s and 80s for Atlanta, Chicago, and Pittsburgh, and while he's not new to the collection, Doug gifted me an SP Signature autograph of his to knock another name off the list. Patch gets a fun pair in the form of two '21-'22 SP Game-Used relics: a jersey swatch plus a banner from a couple 2021 outdoor games at Lake Tahoe, and those push him into double digits with 11 hits. Porter, another former Hobey winner, appears on an AHL auto from UD that represents my second signature and fifth overall hit of a guy I enjoyed watching in college. And as promised, Blue Jacket Werenski adds to his own stash with relic card #4, an SP Game-Used jersey (though I still need to track down an auto of his).

And we'll finish up this evening's post with some horizontal hockey. Yet another new player joins the hits collection today in Blankenburg, a defenseman who suits up for--who else?--Columbus. This Upper Deck jersey allows him and the other newbies today to bump the hockey subject count up to 64, which is great! Upper Deck Ovation supplies my third auto (and overall hit) of Andrew Copp, the former Jet and Ranger who's been a WolverWing the past two seasons. The (new) Captain, Dylan Larkin, finally hits double-digits with a beautiful swatch of a Wings jersey found in an SP Game-Used product. Tyler Motte's just a card behind him as #9 is his fifth relic, courtesy of Upper Deck, though he's appeared on five other teams since being pictured with Chicago here. And lastly, we see another captain and (fingers crossed) possibly future Red Wing, Jacob Trouba on a nicely designed UD Game Jersey. He's on the upper end of my collection with a solid 18 hits.

Besides the previously mentioned milestones I was able to hit another fun little one thanks to Doug's hitsplosion: 2600+ hits in the UM collection! I crossed the 2500 mark at some point last year and I'm thrilled to have moved up more than 100 already since then.

Doug, thanks so much for this amazing package plus the one from May that I'll hopefully show off soon! I have a few things ready to head back your way to Kitchener once I can fill out a package a bit more, but I think you'll be quite pleased.

Next time I post here y'all should be getting one more April blog trade recap before I cover other stuff from that month.

2024 Twitter purchase: an old pitcher from an old friend

Tonight's should be a quick post as I'm showing off just one card, but it's a cool one from someone I don't get to mention too often these days. My BB4L/GB4L ((Alison) Brie buddy for life/Gracie (Lawrence) buddy for life) Greg of Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle, who can now mainly be found on Twitter, was doing a thread where he sold a bunch of stuff back in February. I was mainly interested in picking up a card for a TCDb friend but was thrilled to get another one for myself in the deal, with $25 going to Las Vegas's biggest Clayton Kershaw fan.

Here's what I was excited to nab:

And the Jeopardy question is "Who are two pitchers who were fairly significant prospects back in 2008?" Andrew Miller was Detroit's first round pick in 2006, #6 overall out of UNC (oddly enough, one pick before a Dallas high-schooler named Clayton Kershaw and a few before Tim Lincecum and Max Scherzer went back-to-back) and was Baseball America's #10 overall prospect in 2007. At the end of that year he and fellow first-rounder Cameron Maybin were the co-headliners of an eight-player deal that brought Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to Motown. Though he never turned into a top-of-the-rotation starter, he did become a fairly valuable bullpen weapon, mostly with the Yankees and Indians. I'm sure Detroit fans still appreciate him to this day for his part in Miggy spending 16 years in Detroit!

Meanwhile, Richard Joseph "Dick Mountain" Hill was a fourth-rounder of the Cubs out of UM in 2002. While he didn't have that first-rounder shine or make appearances on all the top-100 lists, by 2007 he'd been in the league for parts of three seasons, including his first full one, where he went 11-8. Who knew that the year the above card was made--2008--would be his last in the Windy City, before stops in Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, LA/Anaheim, the Bronx, back to Boston, Oakland, LA, Minnesota, Tampa, Boston again, Pittsburgh, and San Diego? Who would have thought that he'd reemerge as a solid veteran presence in the rotation as he got older, nearly throw a perfect game, and appear in 19 total MLB seasons (with 2024 still on the table!), and remain active longer than the guy drafted four years after him?

Yet that's how the story played out for the two guys on this 2008 Upper Deck Premier Premier Pairings Autographs dual auto, which is numbered on the front /25. And also, who knew that this card would mark a pretty cool milestone in my collection: hit #150 of Mr. Hill? Even I didn't and I'm the one that keeps track of this stuff! That's pretty rad to me as he continues to account for more than 1/3 of my Michigan Baseball PC with the next closest contender being Zach Putnam's 35. My count includes 35 1/1s and something like 99 cards featuring his signature. What a crazy ride my collection of him has been to parallel his own wild career.

Many thanks to one of my favorite old friends in Greg. This one's for you, my dude!:

Everyone else who isn't aware of the absurdly talented band Lawrence, please enjoy the above video and others in their "Acoustic-ish" series (featuring some other absurdly talented musicians) and get on the hype train, because they're amazing!

2023 COMC purchases: check out my last post for 2023

That's right, this post will finally wrap up 2023 for me. At least it only took a third of 2024 to get there!

I'm going to take a quick run through the cards I picked up for myself so I can get ready to finally get started with 2024 stuff. Here's what I scored this time around the Black Friday weekend:

90s inserts rule! Three numbered Gwynns? Don't mind if I do! The first is "limited" to 3000 copies and you'll see the back in a bit. The other two had just 5000 copies made of each. As a reminder, that seems pretty high these days, but these were still pretty rare back then, way before today's era of "absolutely garbage boring insert or one of 200 parallels."

Tigers PCs Dean-o and Phillips each get a tougher parallel for their collections, and I splurged a little for the UD Amazing Greats Ripken, a definite top 10 insert for me since I pulled my first one way back then.

One insert I went all-in on was '97 Pinnacle Inside's Dueling Dugouts. You've seen at least one of these here, but basically the double-sided cards feature two players with a wheel you can spin that will show those players' stats in a given year. These four of some of my favorite player collection guys leave me short just Griffey's card (shared with Andruw Jones) in terms of what I want to collect.

And here's a few backs for you. Gwynn's paired up with the solid Brian Jordan. The other three are guys I really don't care for: Jeter (Ripken), Clemens (Maddux), and A-Rod (Ripken). One-time Pirates prospect Jose Guillen was on the flip side of Gwynn's "Great X-Pectations" insert, and the back of Cal's Amazing Greats (a fun pun of a title to go along with an elite design) is also worth a look.

They don't make 'em like they used to but there's still so much 90s greatness to chase that I may never have to worry about the absolute nosedive inserts took after the 2000s.

And now it's time for the (mostly) hits! I don't count manurelics as I consider those inserts for the purposes of my collection, but they're still fun to pick up on the cheap. My second Blomgren auto is another Michigan uni special and it's die-cut too. Brewer joins the hits collection with his first auto. I now have five signatures of Criswell after picking up a cheapie Heritage Minors auto. How could I pass up a large Granderson swatch? Framed Ginter cards still look miles better than the regular ones, and the signed cards are even better, so I scored my fifth sig of pitcher Tommy Henry. Kauffmann also gets his fifth auto on a great looking Elite Extra card. Larkin's manurelic is a reminder that he was a nine-time Silver Slugger as a SS, and that bat relic is pretty cool too.

No, I'm not going all-in on Rogers as Detroit's catcher of the future, but including the last card in the previous scan, I found three signatures of his that I really liked: Diamond Kings with a couple of swatches plus the top-notch Stadium Club design and the Chrome version. Stewart is also a newbie to the Michigan PC, a rare Michigan State-to-Michigan (grad) transfer drafted by the Angels in the 9th round in 2022

One of my two basketball pickups, which unfortunately didn't scan well, is my first autograph of "Sauce Castillo" himself, Nik Stauskas. While I owned 10 hits including a crazy five plates of the ex-Wolverine, I hadn't scored a signature until now.

And now it's time to talk about football stuff I picked up before the team beat Alabama and Washington to become National Champions. Anthony transferred to Oklahoma for the 2023 season but spent 2021 and '22 in Ann Arbor, highlighted by a six-catch, 155/2 TD performance against his hometown Spartans in the suspect '21 loss. The Darboh is my 49th hit, all but 15 of which are signed, but I wasn't passing up a cheap one! Eubanks was a fun TE who bounced around the NFL the past few years after going undrafted. Kinnel played DB from 2015-18 and appears to be out of the league now. LB Cam McGrone played in 2019 and '20 for Michigan and was drafted by the Pats, though so far he's only appeared in NFL games with the Colts.

Cade was the guy that somewhat rescued Michigan during that weird/hapless 2020 season, bringing the team back from the brink of a terrible loss to Rutgers. He transferred to Iowa and said some stupid stuff, and there are rumors he gave successor at QB JJ McCarthy the could shoulder while they were teammates, but he was a key part of the 2021 Big Ten champs who defeated Ohio State, so I'm happy to have him in my collection. Nordin was a huge big-legged kicking prospect and Jim Harbaugh famously slept over at his house during his recruitment. He could be as inconsistent as any other kicker, booming some and missing easy ones, and he kind of had a Rickey Vaughn vibe. I thought the multi-piece Toomer jersey looked badass even if I don't really have any love for the Giants these days. And I finally scored a certified auto of Vaughn, the RB/FB who bravely spoke out about the sexual assault he and many of his teammates suffered at the hands of team doctor Robert Anderson. I continue to commend his courage in coming forward despite his trauma to make people aware of this monster's horrible acts and how the athletic department did nothing.

Last up in this scan is a lone hockey player joining the collection, center Cooper Marody. A native of nearby Brighton, the three year Michigan icer was drafted by the Flyers in 2015 and got a couple very small cups of coffee with Edmonton, though he's mostly toiled in the AHL since leaving school.

And last up we have the horizontals. Like I said, if they're cheap enough, I'll pick up the occasional manurelic like the Larkin above. Mo Taylor is the other new basketball auto I added this time and it's from back when those cards could look really cool (no surprise it's from Bowman's Best). I don't know if two counts as this kind of volume, but I scored more bunches of Funchess in the form of a jersey auto and sick five-piece relic card. Those put him at the 25-card mark, so, not bad! My third hit of Buckeye-destroyer Hassan Haskins is a cool patch (or prime jersey) auto. And last up, I believe the last card I added before shipping everything was one of the best looking Jake Longs in his (currently) 97-card collection of hits: a true patch/auto.

And with these I'll call it a year on 2023. As always I had a blast trading with so many people, getting out to shows, buying elsewhere where I could, and sharing stuff for those of you who are nice enough to follow me here.

I'll also take a brief moment to celebrate a big milestone I hit at some point last year even with some reshuffling of categories: 2500 Michigan sports hits! My official count appears to stand at 2570 and includes

• 38 baseball subjects
• 32 from basketball
• 248 representing football
• 61 hockey folks
• 4 from other sports

You might be able to tell from how I described my haul above that I put more effort into guys I'm missing in my hits collection with a special focus on trying to get at least one certified autograph of as many as I can. Once again, thank you to all who've contributed to this chase, one I'll be happy to continue for however long I keep collecting, which I expect to be a long time!

I'll try to be back soon to get started on 2024, for which I believe I already have something like four blogger trades received (and a bunch from TCDb too), a few shows, one eBay purchase, and two cool Facebook Marketplace buys. Thanks to those who've stuck around while I've dragged my feet on posting, and I hope to be back with more soon to keep everyone interested.

2022 eBay purchase: Clearly a Barry Nice Start to Summer

The weather here has heated up quite nicely and very much to my liking, not that that's a surprise since we're just about to flip the calendar to July. The point is, this is my kind of weather--I like it hot, hot, hot!

So it's very appropriate that I have a hot new card to show you from my most recent eBay purchase:

Around three weeks ago I was the high bidder on this 2020 Topps Clearly Authentic Decades' Best auto of Michigan/Reds legend and HOF SS Barry Larkin. It's--hold on a second, something's bugging me--

Ahhhhhhh, there we go! As I was about to say, it's from a product that gives you one magsafed/stickered acetate card per pack, though I chose to temporarily remove it from its slabby home long enough to get a scan of its true self. I paid a bit more than $42 when including tax and shipping, and that's right in the ballpark for some of Barry's better autos.

So let's talk just a bit about the card. It's an acetate version of that year's flagship product's Decades' Best insert, though it uses a different photo than what you'll find on either of Larkin's Series 1 appearances, which is totally fine. I've always been a fan of that style of Reds jersey anyway.

Among the reasons he's listed as one of the 1990s' best hitters:

• Won the '90 World Series with the Reds
• 1995 NL M VP
• NL hitting ranks over the decade:
• Hits: 5th
• Runs: 6th
• Walks: 6th
• Stolen bases: sixth
• Doubles: 11th
• Batting average: 12th
• 8 NL All-Star nods
• 7 Silver Slugger awards
• 52.6 bWAR

Dude was good and everyone knew it, including the HOF voters.

So I'm a well known advocate of acetate, plus Barry has a very nice looping signature that he never feels the need to squeeze into a tiny space. This is a card I was very excited to add as my 25th Larkin hit, seven of which carry his  signature, and 898th card in his collection overall. Hooray for one milestone reached and another soon to be celebrated!

I have a couple ideas of what I might post next but haven't decided yet, so in the meantime I hope everyone else enjoys the summer weather and what's clearly a hot new card for my collection!

2021 trade package #24: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Dollar Store dude and Canadian buddy of the blog Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store recently sent me a nice fat envelope for the fourth time this year and it was another doozy! As is often the case when he sends me stuff, all four major sports get hit so there's potentially something for everyone here. And most importantly, everything is for me! Let's look at the contents this time:

The baseball and basketball portions were limited but very strong. We get a look at two Cabreras: future HOFer Miggy plus potential future Tiger Daniel, an OF Detroit took in the second round out of LSU last year. Former Wolverine and sure-fire future star Jordan Nwogu, like the latter Cabrera above, came out of this year's Topps Pro Debut, which seems to be using a mix of designs, and that's always a plus. And the package's biggest hitter is also from that product: an autograph of one of the Tigers' cream of the crop prospects, Riley Greene. The fifth overall pick in 2019, Greene has as much upside as anyone else selected in that first round, and the outfielder tends to slot in just behind Spencer Torkelson atop the team's farm rankings. Doug pulled this bad boy, numbered /50 on the back, himself, and was nice enough to flip it to me for future considerations, which I'm still working on. Just another reminder of his legendary generosity.

Getting back to Wolverines, from a different sport, take a look at the recent-ish due of THJ and LeVert. It's crazy to me that the younger Hardaway will be going into his ninth season this year while Vert will be appearing in his sixth once he's healthy.

Heading over to the gridiron, Michigan's 6-0 start has surprised lots of fans including me. This here group mostly leans towards the rookies but has some vet representation as well. Alexander and Kenn appear on cards made after their first seasons while older Wolverines Brooks and Foote RCs bookend two of this year's newest NFLers in Collins and Evans out of Chronicles Draft, meaning best helmet in college football shows up front and center. And the two biggest items of the bunch come up next: twin (but not identical) autos of former RB Karan Higdon out of 2019 Contenders. The main differences between the variations are the photos and team logos used. The pair doubles my count of Higdon hits to four.

And of course the bulk of the package comprises hockey, with the Wings of Hockeytown dominating the count over the Wolverines. There was a great mix of old and new and I decided to lead off with the players I remember watching growing up along with some guys that starred for the franchise's dynasty in the late 90s/2000s (and a bit beyond). Almost all of these guys won Cups with the team aside from Racine, Sheppard (card #6), and Ysebaert (#7), and the latter are players I remember well from playing EA's super-fun NHL games in the mid-90s. It's fun to be a fan of a franchise with such a great history, and one with some decently recent success too!

Here we have mostly recent players with the exception of one-year Wing Crowder and Gallant, whose Wings career ended a bit before I was really following them. He's since carved out a solid coaching career. Hirose's cards are from UD's pretty cool Allure product, and better yet the back of the die-cut parallel tells you exactly what it's called: White Rainbow. More of this, please!

And we end tonight's post on this scan with a mix of Wings and Wolverines, but no Wolverwings this time. The erstwhile Nyquist and Tatar parallels are 2016-17 OPC Ice Blue Traxx cards, and I know that because once again Upper Deck told me exactly that on their backs. They're cool looking parallels in my book!

As for the alumni of the #1 team in the NCAA right now, we'll start with Connor's card which is a Puzzle Back from last year's UD MVP (part of an image that forms Brent Burns of the Sharks). Sharks draftee and current Sen (Doug's team!) Josh Norris makes his debut in my collection with a 2021 UD Synergy inserted called Rookie Journey Draft, which is numbered /999. Patch is much more represented in my collection due to his stardom resulting in a lot of cards made, like the insert above from 2020-21 UD called Ripple the Twine--a cool hockey term I'd somehow never heard before. And last up is a nicely designed jersey relic starring Jacob Trouba, a defenseman drafted by the Jets who now plays for the Rangers. I like how the swatch forms the blade in the hockey stick design they've got going on. I also like that it represents hit #15 of the former first-rounder in my collection.

And speaking of interesting numbers, which I don't feel like I've done much lately, it's time to celebrate yet another collecting milestone for my Michigan alumni hits collection: 2400 cards! 2401 to be exact, thanks to the three here from Doug. One of these days maybe I'll go through some older posts to try to calculate just how integral he's been in that collection, especially the 300+ from hockey alone, but even without looking I can tell you he's contributed a LOT.

So for the 42nd time on this here blog alone (not including those posted on Too Many Manninghams), I have to extend a huge thanks to Doug for the effort and generosity he put into a fantastic trade package. I look forward to seeing your reaction to the package you just received from me recently (finally!) and trying to up my game to pay you back for these latest goodies, especially that Greene autograph.

This was obviously a typically big trade package but I'll be back soon with a much smaller one courtesy of TCDB.

2021 Sportlots purchases part 9: Tony the Tiger

Previously: Quick summary and set wants; Big and small we have them all!; Better off Ted; A Tettle-ton of Froot Loops; Lucky Tiger Seven; Dizzying Deans, Sportlots has been Barry, Barry good to me; more Michigan? Marvelous!

One of the many reasons I'm glad I've evolved into a player collector over the years is how rewarding it can be to relive a favorite athlete's career through their cards. Tony Phillips is a guy I remember enjoying watching during my younger days, especially during his stint with the Tigers, and as I've repeated a number of times here, I've come to appreciate his game even more as I've gotten older.

One of his most defining characteristics was his versatility, and if you needed any evidence of that beyond, say, his Baseball-Reference page, pay attention as you scan through the cards I picked up from Sportlots below and witness the crazy number and combinations of positions listed on the fronts: OF comes up the most with 2B not too far behind, and you'll also see standards like SS, 3B, and LF. But don't forget SS/2B, 3B/OF, IF/DH, IF/OF, OF/2B, and OF/2B/3B! This guy played around 1/3 of his career in the outfield with most of the rest of his time spent in the middle infield and 3B, plus he could get on base (including walks) and score runs, and occasionally he even offered a bit of pop. Put him anywhere in the lineup and you're all set!

In the spirit of the late Keith Anthony Phillips' many facets, please enjoy this look at a huge variety of cards I added to his collection thanks to Sportlots:

We'll start all the way back the year I was born: 1983. Because the rules for such cards are goofy, the 1983 Topps Traded that kicks off this scan is generally not considered a RC, but an "XRC". Whatever, it's still his first Major League card and it shows him hitting in one of his 40 appearances in 1982. By the way, did you know he was actually drafted by Montreal #10 overall in the 1978 January secondary draft (way back when they had those), then traded to the Padres in 1980, and then to Oakland in 1981?

After that is a pair of '84s, including his Donruss RC (which gives me all three of them) and one of a bevy of food issues you've enjoyed this series: Topps' collaboration with Nestle. Tony can be seen smiling, as he often was, on his Fleer base from the following year.

The rest of the cards in this group are glossy/Tiffany versions of cards I already had the base versions of from 1987-89. They're difficult to discern from a scan like this and even sometimes in-hand so I try to remember to put them in penny sleeves to remind myself and avoid tossing them as dupes.

Now we're into the 90s stuff where we pretty much spend the rest of the post. The top row isn't too exciting with 1990's Donruss Best of the AL, Fleer Canadian, and Topps Traded Tiffany. Under that, though, we have 1992 Bowman and Topps Gold sandwiching two very nice inserts from the same year: Donruss's Diamond Kings and Leaf's Black Gold. The artwork for the DKs always looked amazing but I really like the brand's switch to the different card stock and foil accents here. Then from '93, in addition to Pacific Spanish, I added Phillips to my collection of that year's OG Finest set. I may be searching forever for affordable versions of the iconic Refractors, but otherwise I'm pretty much done with the set save for the biggest guys like Griffey/Gwynn/Maddux/Ripken.

1993's representatives include a Select Stat Leaders insert, Stadium Club Members Only parallel, and three different Topps flagship versions: Gold plus the Inaugural Marlins and Rockies cards. How did Phillips pile up 114 runs to lead the AL in 1992 on a team that went 75-87? It helped that he got on base at a .387 clip with an outstanding 114 walks, but just as importantly, the lineup was stacked with power, with Mickey Tettleton, Cecil Fielder, Lou Whitaker, Travis Fryman, and Rob Deer combining for 138 bombs and 438 RBI. Also, can we talk about how amazing that photo is from the Stadium Club card, with a throwback uni-bedecked Phillips defying gravity to turn two while Fryman looks on? Topps may whiff on the images they use in flagship, but Stadium Club never misses.

Anyway, it's time to move on to '94 with the super premium Flair, a very different O-Pee-Chee look (starring another smiling Tony!), and the first of a multi-year Pinnacle run that I still love to this day. I would have been excited enough with the debut of the Dufex Museum Collection parallel at the end of the scan, but I also tracked down Tony's Artist's Proof version. I don't think I can emphasize how tough the latter was to find back then, so they still feel special to me today when I can find them for a fairly reasonable $1 each.

We need 2/3 of this scan to finish up 1994, and that's mostly because of parallels. We start with Score's Gold Rush, then move on to the second year of UD's SP, plus its die-cut version, followed by the Members Only parallel of Stadium Club, an issue from the 50-card confusingly named Members Only boxed set, and finally, Topps Gold. It's kind of funny looking at the Score parallel and SP base and realizing they have pretty much the same kind of gold thing going on!

1994 was Tony's last season with the Tigers so some of the '95 cards start showing him with his next team, the Angels. While the Collector's Choice SE Silver Signature and first of two Finest cards in a row show him with Detroit, a Collector's Choice base from the "traded" section depicts him with California, just as the same subset has his former teammate Tettleton with the Rangers. Tony would bop a career-high 27 homers with the '95 Angels.

A graph of the increase in sets from the various manufacturers must have looked like a vertical line back then because this scan is all 1995 and it doesn't even cover everything from that year! Finest Series II captures Phillips with his new team while one of Fleer's goofiest designs uses a very similar photo, albeit with the Tigers, giving us a look at how consistent his hitting mechanics were. One of my favorite Leaf designs shows some batting action that serves as a reminder that Tony was a switch-hitter, further upping his versatility.

Inserts down the middle here include Score's return of the Gold Rush parallel along with Hall of Gold, an insert found in both series that focused on some of the bigger stars of the game. And SP's third year included another parallel, but instead of going the die-cut route, Upper Deck went with a shinier Silver foil on the left side of its insert that's also known as "Superbafoil". If you're still counting, there's another smilin' Tony!

The bottom row's first card reminds me that while the '96 version will forever be my favorite Sportflix product, '95's looked awesome too, and I'm quite happy with how Phillips' card scanned here. That's joined by another example of Stadium Club's Members Only boxed set (called "Members Only 50" this time), and Topps' foiltastic Cyberstats parallel, which attempts to extrapolate stats for the strike-shortened '94 season.

Ok, now we can finally finish up '95, with an Upper Deck trio. Tony looks like he's about to make some solid contact on his UD flagship and Electric Diamond parallels, and then we get one more happy moment with the Tigers thanks to the Special Edition product.

In contrast, 1996 can be summed up in the remaining six cards. Four of those happen to come from Fleer: the matted and embossed Emotion-XL, flagship and its Tiffany parallel, and a White Sox team set. I really like the way Fleer did the matte cards plus glossy versions in '96 and '97. Also, the White Sox come into play here as Tony spent '95 with the Angels, signed with Chicago the following January, then returned to the newly-named Anaheim franchise in '97. Speaking of the ChiSox, you get another issue with them thanks to a Finest subset that focuses on trades. Then, for the third straight year, Phillips made the Stadium Club boxed set, which again added the "50" to its name to denote the set size.

1997 makes up a perfect nine-card scan here. Both his Leaf base and the crazy Fractal Matrix version capture him back with the Angels, and I'm happy that with the Matrix Bronze card out of the way I just need to find a Die-Cut version. Pacific's offering that year isn't great in my book, but they came up with some solid designs pretty soon after. Both Score and its foiled up Showcase parallel feature Tony looking a bit alarmed about something mid-swing. He was perfect for Studio, especially one of the best versions of it, and proves that with another smile. Don't call the Ghostbusters--that Chrome card isn't nearly as haunted as it scanned. That year's Gallery is typically excellent, and it's a shame it's his only appearance in the product. And I love the big leg kick and pinstriped uni in Ultra's Gold Medallion version, which I'll remind everyone includes a different photo than the base, something that doesn't typically happen with a "parallel".

Here we have the last of the verticals and first of the horizontal cards. As often happens when there's a bunch of scanning involved I goofed up by flipping the two Y-axis cards, so Ultra's '98 Gold Medallion should have been first followed by 2000 MLB Showdown Unlimited, which captures Tony back with Oakland on his final mainstream card made during his career (which ended in 1999), along with the 1st Edition and a couple inserts.

The horizontal contingent opens with Phillips about to make a great play, back with Detroit, on a '94 UD Electric Diamond parallel. That's followed by '95's Collector's Choice Silver Signature and the high-end Flair. We won't be ending on cards with him as a Tiger, but this trio is still nice to see near the end of this evening's post.

Speaking of endings, here we are with the final scan, and boy does it start with a bang. I don't think I need to repeat how much I love 1995 Pinnacle and here I have both the Artist's Proof and Museum Collection versions. I already mentioned how tough the APs were back then, and I prefer that year's Dufex parallel above all other versions. The fact that he has a great horizontal action photo here is a big bonus.

As for the rest, Studio's credit card-themed set also represents 1995. Stadium Club's Team Stadium Club base subset, plus a Silver parallel, are from 1996. Like I said, Pacific did better after the '97 set that didn't do much for me, and the '98 set feels like a step in the right direction. Phillips spent 1998 with the Blue Jays and Mets, with whom he's seen on his '99 Fleer Tradition base and parallels, such as the red-foiled Warning Track parallel above, though it also mentions that Oakland signed him as a free agent. And fittingly, the final card here has him back with the franchise for whom he played the most games and seasons, Oakland. That would be Pacific's Omega product, also from '99, which comes with two images up front, one of which is used both in an inset photo and in a foiled area on the far right.

This haul of one of my favorite former Tigers gave his collection a huge bump, and I now own 242 different cards of Phillips, putting him at #15 among baseball players I have on TCDB, so hooray for a new milestone. I also became the undisputed #1 collector of Phillips cards on the site, something that's been happening more and more often as I continue to put my effort into collecting players few others chase:

Just as I'd hoped, it was fun not only strengthening one of my favorite PCs, but enjoying looking at some very cool brands and inserts at the same time, so I'm glad I unintentionally made Tony the last of the single-player posts in this series.

You can expect the final one, which some of you will be roaring about, fairly soon, but first I need to log and scan those cards, and I appear to have a couple envelopes heading to my mailbox in the near future, so I'm not exactly sure yet when you'll be seeing the finale. As for me, I'm happy to be putting away even more cards from this huge Sportlots purchase, freeing up a bit more room on my desk!