2013 eBay purchase #15, trade package #6, plus some annoucements

Announcement #1:

Former Michigan star OL Jeff Backus has decided to retire from the NFL after 12 seasons, all with the Lions.  He was drafted by Detroit in the first round, 18th overall, in 2001, one selection after Seattle took his former linemate and future-HOFer Steve Hutchinson.  While his effectiveness was sometimes spotty, especially at the end of his career, his endurance and toughness were never in question as he played in 186 straight games--an amazing feat when you consider how brutal the modern game is (ridiculous Goddell rules aside), ESPECIALLY for linemen on either side of the ball.  Backus was a Michigan Man who was successful in the NFL, and the league is that much worse without him.  Happy trails!

Announcement #2:

 Album (Picasa Web Albums)

Spreadsheet (Google Docs)

If you keep up with my Player Collections page, you might have noticed a new addition:  former Michigan and Yankees catcher David Parrish.  The son of former Tiger World Series champ catcher Lance, David came to Ann Arbor all the way from California for his college career, then was chosen by New York with the 28th overall pick in 2000.  He never did make the Majors, but was around long enough to earn appearances on a number of cards, which I'll now be trying to collect.  I already had four from previous purchases/trades/etc. and will be adding more from COMC soon.  Please hit up the links to see what's what with my David Parrish collection!

As soon as I get to scanning last month's COMC pickups, I'll have another player to add to the PC page!

eBay purchase:

Have you ever had that one card on eBay?  You know the one?  The one that you need for your PC but the seller has had it for ten times what it should go for as a BIN, refusing to take a best offer?  But then suddenly they actually put it up as a normal auction starting at $0.99?

That's exactly what happened to me last week with a card I've been gunning for for a while, and amazingly, it didn't go for what the seller thought, but instead $2.50 plus $1.50 shipping.  And here's the goods:

Rich Hill 2007 Finest Rookie Finest Moments Refractor auto (#20/25)

This is simply a Refractor-ized version of this card, which picks a nice moment for Hill indeed:  a September 16, 2006 shutout (the only of his career) against the Reds, in which he gave up two hits and struck out 10.  I realize it's a bit tough to tell from the scan that this is a Refractor, and even in person it doesn't shine like they sometimes do, but it still looks nice when you can actually see the effect.  Also, as a plus, the autograph on this card is in much better shape than the regular version.

In terms of numbers, this is Hill hit #78 and IHAS card #186 (with 9 1/1s).  It's also one of the cheaper ones I've picked up recently!

I don't have any other eBay pickups pending as of today, but that could change very quickly as I have a few auctions I'm watching, so watch for more of these in the future.

Trade package:

If you caught my post over on TMV earlier, you know that I received a great trade package from Sean/daddyohoho of Screaming Line Drive that was filled with some great Tigers.  However, he also decided to throw in a few Wolverines for me as well, and I wanted to give him credit for that too, so here they are:

This here is a J.J. Putz 2002 Bowman Chrome Refractor (#d 132/500), and while I already have a copy of this, it's a double I'm more than happy to keep since it looks amazing!

This heavily airbrushed 1996 Score card is indeed a RC of former star RB and all-name team member Tim Biakabutuka.  If manufacturers have had to remove certain features of a uniform on their cards, I've generally understood, but when they come out like this, the uniform colors end up looking so strikingly different you'd be hard-pressed to convinced me this was a Michigan game otherwise!  Still, I'm happy to pick up anything of the Buckeye-destroyer.

Finally, we have a 2012 Topps Magic Mini Blue Border of Super Bowl (and 2005 Penn State game) hero Mario Manningham, namesake of this here blog.  The back itself even notes his big game antics, saying "Made three clutch catches for 56 yards in final 4:00 as Giants rallied to win Super Bowl XLVI over Patriots, 2/5/12."  I'll have to check to see if I have anything else of Mario with his current team, the 49ers, but this may very well be my first pickup of him in San Fran.

Thanks again, Sean!

Stay tuned tomorrow for what could be a fun post depending on how things go (if at all) at the monthly card show!