Wednesday, July 23, 2014

2014 COMC purchases: the football hits keep coming, part 2 of 2

Here we are at the last in my series of posts covering COMC purchases from the last couple months, and as usual I'm trying to end with a bang by posting some of my best pickups last.  Four players, eight cards, lots of ink, and 100% awesomeness: let's do it.
Mike Hart 2008 Donruss Elite Turn of the Century Autographs auto (#031/100)
I clearly don't get the "Turn of the Century" concept since this is one of the rare cards I've seen actually numbered to 100.  Anyway, this gorgeous Hart signature hails from the '08 Elite set, one of my favorite designs from the brand, and features Mike doing what he did best:  toting the rock while looking for extra yards wherever he can get them.  This is definitely a winner, and I didn't mind spending a bit more than usual on it in order to add it to my collection.
Mike Hart 2008 SP Rookie Threads SP Authentics auto (#32/80)
Hart wearing a jersey with any number other than 20 always looks weird to me, but that's life when you're a rookie.  This was an autograph I picked up more because of its relatively low price than its looks, but all the same it is kind of a fun design.  The sticker almost blends in well except for the middle section above the photo, but then again I've never been that much of an opponent of stickers.

Michigan's all-time leading rusher remains a leader in my football PC as well, sporting a new total of 54 cards, good for a third place tie with Braylon Edwards overall.  As my favorite Michigan RB, I can see that total growing soon!

Chad Henne 2010 Sweet Spot Sweet Swatches dual jersey
Speaking of PC leaders, I also scored a couple cards of one of my top QBs, Chad Henne.  First up is this dual jersey from 2010 Sweet Spot.  Despite the number of hits per box, I managed to avoid pulling any Wolverines at all when I opened this product not long after it came out.  A few years later I have all of the variations of the Brandon Graham and Brandon Minor autographs plus the dual jersey of this here blog's namesake, so I appear to be short just the Tom Brady relic, meaning things turned out just fine for me.  I very much like the use of the college photos of guys like Henne who were no longer rookies, so when I found this card for a song I knew it was time to grab it.
Chad Henne 2008 Triple Threads triple jersey auto RC (#60/89)
Like the Elite Hart above, this one set me back a bit more than I usually pay for things on COMC, but it was still a good deal, not to mention a very exciting addition.  Triple Threads rarely delivers anything approaching value when you buy it by the box, but you can do just fine with singles like this auto/relic/RC of the former Wolverine signal-caller.  This is actually my only 2008 Triple Threads Wolverine to-date, but I'm hoping I can find some of the others eventually.

Henne's pair almost wins him the pot as he moves up to a sterling (Mallory) 66 cards, just one short of longtime leader Jake Long.  I see Chad taking the overall lead very shortly, but we'll see.

Chris Perry 2004 Topps Draft Class Marks auto
We bounced from a RB to a QB, and now we're back to a RB.  Chris Perry was another of Michigan's prolific running backs during my lifetime, and I've kept that in mind as I've collected the team by picking up a nice quantity of his cards.  This great horizontal shot of a determined Perry in his winged helmet, accompanied by a nice signature, is a great example of that.  It's an on-card auto of #23 on a simple but cool Topps Draft design, so I took this one straight to the house!
Chris Perry 2004 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Rookie Jersey jersey (#127/199)
Continuing the one jersey/one auto theme for the day is this shocking Bengals orange jersey swatch from Upper Deck's 2004 Ultimate Collection.  As with many of the relics I scored from the site, I made sure I paid a rock-bottom price for it, but that doesn't mean I have no appreciation for it.  Like the Draft card above, this includes a great shot of Chris zipping down the field, this time with the team that drafted him 26th overall in 2004.

Perry's pair also continues the theme of "football PC leaders" as his new total of 38 hits places him seventh.

Denard Robinson 2013 Bowman Sterling Autographs auto
And here we are back to the QB position--well, at least that's what Shoelace was for most of his college career.  His pro cards tend to list him as a WR even though he's almost exclusively a RB at this point, and he may be able to turn some heads this year in that spot if his nerve issues are in the past.  I'm not banking on that because I enjoy collecting him anyway, but if he does blow up this season I'll be glad to have picked up hits like this black beauty, a super thick autograph from 2013 Bowman Sterling.  Oddly enough in this image he looks to be in more of a QB-like pre-throw pose.
Denard Robinson 2013 Topps Prime Autographs auto
Denard is this post's combo-breaker as I didn't pick up the relic-auto combo for him but instead opted for a pair of signatures, which have fallen to reasonable price levels in some cases.  This one is from the not-quite-Stadium Club Prime set, and features a nice design that includes a clear area for the autograph along with a great photo of Robinson burning down the field--I'm surprised they got an image any better than a blur, really, after seeing how quickly he moved at a live game a couple years ago.

Robinson also has nothing to do with the PC top 10 to which today's other three players belong, but his early total of five cards portends a good future for his collection, and I can't wait to add more, especially if I can find good prices on Michigan uni hits!

One last note as I wrap up this COMC extravaganza:  I've deployed the "almost milestones" tag today and there's a reason for that:  today's eight additions give my overall Michigan Sports hits collection a new total of 1299 cards, meaning it's just about time to roll over the odometer again!  For that highlight (and more), watch for a nice number of eBay pickups shortly.

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