I've been sitting on a bunch of purchases from late 2013 that needed to be recorded, scanned, and posted, and I'm finally getting around to those. In many cases I may just mash up purchases by player instead of online store to make things easier. We'll see just how many posts I get out of this series, which I'm going to abbreviate COMC-JC-SL 2013.
Here we are, finally at the last post of this series, meaning I'll have showed off the rest of my outstanding purchases from 2013! I have plenty of excuses for taking this long, but instead, let's just enjoy some football cards. Everything you see today came from COMC, and this is the second half of the group I showed off in post #8 in the series last month. That one was all hits as I was excited to hit a major milestone, but you'll see a bit more of a mix today if you read on...right now!:
Anthony Carter 1986 Topps RC
Charles Woodson 1998 Metal Universe RC
Charles Woodson 1998 Ultra RC
I went on a small roll with RCs, landing these first-years of AC and Woodson. I'm a bit surprised I never ended up with a Carter until now, either via trade or purchase since it's so cheap. With Woodson I'm actually working on picking up a bunch of his rookies now, but here I started with a pair of Wolverine uni cards. The Ultra is one of my favorite all-time cards because I know the image came from Michigan's 1997-98 Rose Bowl in which the Wolverines won their last title. You can see the back of the image in this Detroit Free Press front page from January 2, 1998 (which sits right above the computer desk in my room in which I'm writing this very post):
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| From MyTeamPrints.com |
It's a great shot of one of football's (college and pros) all-time greats, plus it includes coach Lloyd Carr on the far right, and possibly current coach Brady Hoke immediately to Woodson's right (hard to tell). These are great additions to my Michigan Football Rookies collection, and I have plenty more to add to that album.
Desmond Howard 1997 Topps Gallery Gallery of Heroes
Ronald Bellamy 2003 Topps Draft Picks and Prospects Chrome Gold Refractor
Victor Hobson 2003 Topps Draft Picks and Prospects Chrome Gold Refractor
Bennie Joppru 2003 Topps Draft Picks and Prospects Chrome Gold Refractor
Ok, now how about some inserts? I knew I had to grab the Howard when I saw it--I mean, wouldn't you? Gallery was the source of some absolutely gorgeous cards in the 90s (many of you have surely seen the baseball versions if nothing else) I'd argue the stained glass-type inserts are at the pinnacle of those releases.
The trio of Refractors from 2003 Topps DP&P is also fantastic. This was back when Topps made really nice college-themed sets with their university uniforms and everything. Bellamy, Hobson, and Joppru never got a whole lot of hobby love (though Joppru did ok, I suppose), so it's great to see them in action on cards, especially something as nice as Refractors.
And now, of course, the hits:
Anthony Carter 2013 Topps Archives Fan Favorite auto
Here's a very nice AC autograph I'd been chasing since Archives came out last year. I scored it for a pretty reasonable price, but I don't mind paying a bit more for him because his signature is so nice. That's a great photo of him in action for the Vikings, too!
Mike Martin 2012 Crown Royale Rookie Signatures Silver Holofoil auto (#075/149)
Mike Martin 2012 Leaf Draft Blue auto
Mike Martin 2012 SP Authentic auto
I don't necessarily mean to pick up all this Mike Martin stuff, but his prices are generally at or below steal level these days, so I'm happy to add them to the collection. The Crown Royale card is a lower-numbered parallel of this one, while the Leaf Draft is a bluer (and therefore better) version of the Red card I already owned. The latter immediately jumps to the top of my list of favorite PC Martins. Finally, the SP Authentic version is totally new, and it's fantastic in its own right in the way only SP Authentic cards can be. By the way, I'm now just one Martin short of double digits.
Greg Mathews 2010 SAGE HIT Gold auto (#167/250)
I'm most excited about picking up this Mathews auto not because it's the Gold version, but because it completes the trio from that set. Here's the Bronze and Silver cards for your viewing pleasure. Maybe at some point I'll get that up on the completed projects, etc. page.
Ondre Pipkins 2012 Leaf Army All-American Bowl auto
Pee-Wee! Ondre is a DT who unfortunately injured his ACL last year and is still working his way back from that. He's still a former highly rated recruit and will hopefully make some noise again when he's completely healthy. As you might imagine, this is my first card of him since he's still in college--once in a while I like to land these Army All-American cards, though I do try to be careful because of the way guys transfer these days. Welcome to the PC, Pee-Wee!
Roy Roundtree 2013 Upper Deck Rookie auto
"Tree" is the other new member of the PC today, and he arrives in style on this amazing Upper Deck card, about to catch a pass while wearing the #21 Desmond Howard Legends jersey. This is a flat-out gorgeous card that does horizontal the right way and pairs a beautiful photo with a great design and signature. Roy is the WR recruit that former coach Rich Rodriguez lured from Purdue, famously leading idiot Boilermaker coach Joe Tiller to describe him as "A guy in a wizard hat selling snake oil," apparently not realizing that Roundtree hadn't signed an LOI for Purdue and didn't actually want to go there. He's also playing #138 in the PC!
David Terrell-Anthony Thomas 2001 Titanium Double Sided Jerseys Patches dual patch
David Terrell 2002 Topps Reserve auto
The Terrell/Thomas duo closes things out for us today. The Bears, of course, chose the pair with their first two picks in 2001, and although they didn't work out in the NFL, I still think it's cool they were selected together, like Jake Long and Chad Henne in 2008. The dual patch card was surprisingly cheap considering both of the patches are reasonably nice, and are ACTUAL patches, not single-colored swatches referred to as such. Along for the ride is a very nice solo Terrell auto from 2002 Topps Reserve. It may be a sticker auto but I have zero issues with it and think it looks great. By the way, Terrell now sits at 34 cards while Thomas moves up to 33, which is pretty cool.
Ok, I can now close the book on my 2013 purchases! It was a great year, and I'm very satisfied with my pickups, including the ones you saw in this series. For the record, my football PC now stands at 815 cards and counting, making me wonder if I can hit 100 by the end of 2014.
On to new content soon, I promise! Stay tuned for Jeff's tumblr post, which features some verrrrry nice stuff this week. I'll give you a hint: basketball is involved.
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