2013 COMC pickups #21: preseason penultimate pickups

Today's my second-to-last post from this particular COMC haul, but since I showed off a couple baseball pickups the other day, plus NFL preseason activities are in full swing, here's the football stuff I score this time:

Brandon Graham 2010 Sweet Spot Signatures Variations 250 manuhelmet auto (#083/250)

This card completes a rainbow of sorts as players in the set were featured on a "base" version that included one helmet design and was numbered to 400, then two other variations numbered to 250 and 100.  The base version uses a simple logo, the easier variation features the famous winged helmet, and the toughest goes back to a logo that also includes "Michigan" inside the block "M."  Maybe in a future post I'll show off all three together.  This is just a beautiful, colorful set featuring great college uni photos and a fun bonus in the manuhelmets, topped off by signatures!  I now own 17 different Graham hits, so 20 is not far off.

Chad Henne 2008 Select Autographs Red Zone auto (#05/25)

I'm not usually a fan of red when it comes to my Michigan guys, but Score's Red Zone parallel looks fantastic.  As always, while I was rounding out this package I was hoping to add something of one of my favorite football PC guys, and I was fortunate enough to score this fairly rare Henne for something like $5, which I considered a steal.  Sure it's a sticker auto, but you'd have to be a pretty jaded collector to ignore a deal like that!  Because you know I love my milestones, I'm proud to announce that this is my 60th hit of Chad, putting him in elite company with Jake Long as my only football 60-card club members.  You know I won't stop there--hell, even 100 won't be enough--so I'll keep 'em coming, and I hope those of you that trade with me do too!

Drew Henson 2009 Topps Magic auto

I like to think that this card took a little vacation--see, I saw it on COMC quite a while ago, but the price was never right, and then it disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again there (much less eBay).  That is, until last month.  Better yet, the price was much more reasonable this time, so I managed to grab my fifth auto from this awesome set; Henson joins Arrington, Askew, Henne, and Breaston.  That still puts me an insane TEN short of the full team set, including a Tom Brady, but it's something I'd love to complete in my lifetime.  Meanwhile, for Drew's PC this is my fifth hit, all autos.

Mike Martin 2012 Crown Royale Rookie Signatures auto (#007/245)

For such a big dude, Martin sure writes small!  Crown Royale can be very hit-or-miss, but there's nothing wrong with this die-cut auto as far as I go.  Actually, its best feature of all was its ridiculously low price, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised since very, very few defensive players get hobby love.  That's fine by me as I was happy to add another hit of one of the NFL's best young DL, my fifth (again, all autos).

Will Johnson 2009 SAGE HIT Autographs Silver auto

Who's Will Johnson, you ask?  Well, he was a DL for Michigan from 2005-2008.  A Michigan native, he was a 2008 team captain, and there's not that much more to say about him...except that I'm excited to pick up this card because he's new to the PC!  Will becomes PC member #122, which just boggles my mind.  I didn't just add whatever crap I could find, either, as I like this '09 HIT auto from back when they could use team names and uniforms.  Welcome to the PC, Will!

Today's quintet pushes the football PC total to 745, and I hope to be able to celebrate that next fun milestone with you soon.  Before then, stay tuned for my last post covering this package, which will be 100% baseball.