Thursday, February 9, 2012

eBay haul brings two new men to the PC, including Tuman

I've mentioned a couple times that I've been working a bit on Zach Putnam's nameplates from 2008 Razor Letterman.  Up until today, I had two non-numbered cards, two /20 and one of the 1/1s.  Well, the other day I was flipping through eBay listings and was shocked to find one of the non-numbered ones for a very reasonable price.  You have to understand that Beckett prices on these are literally five-to-ten times what they actually sell for.

Well, I did what any responsible collector would do and visited his other items available list.  I was pleasantly surprised that he had three other cards I really liked, also at very reasonable prices.  I managed to grab all of them--and combine shipping, of course--for under $20, which I thought was outstanding.  So here's what I got today:
Zach Putnam 2008 Razor Letterman A patch auto
As I said, this is the one that started off the mini shopping spree.  I think he wanted something like $4 for it, and I have to emphasize just how unheard of that's been since I've been trying to put them together.  I'm still having a hard time finding some of the other letters--I now need three more for the non-numbered nameplate--but it's nice to have three of those six.  For a look at all six of my current Razor Putnams, click right here.  When you get back, you can hear me tell you about how this makes seven regular autos and seven autographed patches of the new Rockie in my PC.

Jerame Tuman 1999 Skybox Autographics auto:
Tuman is the first of the two new Wolverines this pickup brought to my PC.  He played TE for Michigan from 1995-98 including starting for the 1997-98 championship team.  Even more notable, he caught the eventual game-winner in that season's Rose Bowl on one of Michigan's signature plays.  No stranger to winning, he was drafted in the fifth round by the Steelers, with whom he won a Super Bowl in 2006.
This is the first of three consecutive cards about which I can say this:  how great were some of Fleer's autograph designs back then?  For one thing, I love that they got him in his Michigan uni--and didn't even airbrush the helmet!  Then there's the matching background and--wait for it--an on-card autograph!  Fleer left the right amount of space for the signature, allowing it to mesh well with the card instead of taking over the whole thing.  Well done!

Tim Biakabutuka 2000 Fleer Autographics auto:
Nothing new here--this is my fourth auto and fifth hit overall of the Buckeye killer.  This is one I actually had on my player wantlist after I saw it on COMC.  I definitely hadn't seen as many football autographs from this set as I'd seen baseball, but the football set carried over the same excellent and aesthetically-pleasing look as its predecessor.  The team colors make for a nice theme and the signature and player get equal billing.  I think cards like this also make me appreciate horizontal auto cards more. 

Tyrone Wheatley 2000 Fleer Autographics auto:
And here's the second newcomer to the PC and 65th unique player/coach, who just happens to pair up well with his fellow bruiser above.  Wheatley was a BEAST of a running back for the Maize and Blue from 1991-94.  A local product, he currently stands at 6th all-time in the school's record book for carries, fourth overall with 4178 yards (one of only four Michigan RBs to crack 4K) and third overall in career TDs with 47 (behind Anthony Thomas and Willie Heston).
He was then drafted 17th overall by the Giants in '95, played four seasons with them, then played his final six years with the Raiders.  Wheatley finished at just under 6000 total yards and 47 combined TDs when all was said and done.  He's now a RB coach with Syracuse and may be able to put his vast football knowledge to use as a coach in the future.  A Michigan legend, I'm proud to finally have something this significant of Wheatley in my PC, especially as nice an auto as this one.  Also, for some reason the number 47 keeps popping up when talking about him--creepy!

New counts:  65 unique players/coaches, 435 football hits and 544 hits from all four sports.  That's what I call progress!

2 comments:

  1. You know I like the Putnam but I have a little known fact about Jerame Tuman. I've mentioned before that my brother played high school football with Scott Dreisbach. And I graduated with Scott's sister, Molly. Who happened to marry Jerame Tuman. Scott and Jerame were roommates at Michigan.

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    1. Wow, cool! I didn't actually know that about them. We'll have to get you some stuff of both of them (and more for me too, just because). That's the Michigan Difference, I guess!

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