Today's big finish is the rest of the football hits I hadn't shown off yet. You got to see some Mike Harts here last month, the offensive trio of Terrell/Thomas/Toomer in February, and some guys from my beloved 2008 draft class on New Year's Day. There might have been more in between but I don't feel like digging through all those posts.
So here's what's left over: 17 more hits of all kinds!
Jason Avant 2009 Topps Magic auto and 2011 Topps Rising Rookies Draft Selection Jerseys jersey
The Avant card man Jason Avant checks in with this pair, an autograph and a jersey. The relic was decent enough for as cheap as it was, under a buck-fifty (as were a number of others seen here today), but the real highlight is the Topps Magic signature. I love, love, love these cards and I wish Topps could have produced something even half this good again before they lost their NFL license (which I do consider a negative, of course). My march towards the Wolverines autos in the set continues with old #8 representing my eighth card, leaving six (Tom Brady, Braylon Edwards, Leon Hall, Steve Hutchinson, Ty Law, Mario Manningham). Speaking of numbers, Avant checks in at nine in the collection with 45 hits.
Braylon Edwards 2005 Bowman's Best jersey RC (#018/799), 2008 Leaf Limited Banner Season Materials jersey (#063/100), and 2009 Upper Deck Signature Shots auto
Bray-Bray one-ups his former WR teammate thanks to an extra jersey relics, both of which are an appropriate Cleveland brown. I thought I already had at least one variation on his Bowman's Best jersey but was proven wrong. The Limited card is a reasonably good numbered relic for the low price. And I was happy to add my 14th card featuring Edwards' signature thanks to the very nice horizontal UD auto (with his John Hancock running vertically!). Braylon currently holds fourth place in my collection with 64 hits, just a card shy of Mike Hart and currently the fourth and final 60-hit member...for now....
Devin Gardner 2015 Upper Deck Star Rookies Autographs auto
Boy, here's a card I grabbed a while ago but just didn't get around to posting for whatever reason despite my overall excitement for it. On yet another typically strong UD entry we get a fantastic horizontally oriented photo of immensely talented QB Devin Gardner diving for a few extra yards (or maybe the pylon), accompanied, of course, by his signature. It's a beautifully executed card and an example of why I continue to admire Upper Deck for their design and photography. College unis rule! My third Gardner auto gives me five of his hits overall.
David Harris 2007 Select Inscriptions auto (#32/50)
Tackling machine David Harris is a guy I feel I don't get to showcase very often in terms of hits, though at least he appears on a reasonable number (especially from his rookie year) considering the lack of interest his position creates on the market. While the design isn't anything to write home about, the "upgrade" Select gives you over the base Score brand is kind of nice, and the low numbering helps. This signature gets me to a solid 25 hits of the talented LB.
Taylor Lewan 2014 Bowman '50 Bowman Mini Autographs auto (#37/99), 2014 Elite Printing Plates Black (1/1), 2014 Leaf Metal Draft auto, 2014 Leaf Trinity Jumbo Patch Bronze patch auto, Leaf Valiant Draft Rising Stock Orange auto (#15/50), and 2014 Panini Contenders Championship Ticket auto (#177A) (#37/99)
It's not like I set out to acquire six nice hits of the donkey-hating Lewan, it just happened. I managed to scout out some surprisingly reasonable prices and really improve his collection here. There's a lot of airbrushing going on with the Bowman and Leaf cards, but the former is the only version that really suffers for it, and my expectations for Topps are really low anyway. Out of the four auto-only cards the colorful Valiant is my obvious choice since the look of the uniform is almost complete and the card is very easy on the eyes overall. Panini's Contenders card is also a solid entry.
Moving up in quality, I was thrilled to add one of Leaf's Trinity cards that feature an auto and insane patch--from a college jersey! These patches are enormous and mine here includes multiple sections of the jersey with some stitching going on. Whether it's game- or "event-" worn it's quite the looker.
Finally, I dug up my first 1/1 of the Titans' tackle in the form of his black plate from Elite. I don't remember exactly how much that cost me but I do recall it being surprisingly cheap for a plate. It's my 57th total 1/1 and sixth representative of that group from Wolverines football. Cool!
All of this beefs up my Lewan collection to the point that I've crossed into double digits with a new total of 13 cards, which is not bad at all.
Chris Perry 2004 Leaf Rookies and Stars jersey RC (#679/750) and 2004 Topps Pristine Personal Endorsement Autographs auto
Former Heisman candidate Chris Perry joins today's offensive explosion (just two hits of defenders) with a nice relic/signature pair of his own. I think the R&S jersey relic cost me under a buck whenever I grabbed it, but regardless it continues today's trend of "no plain white swatches," so I've got that going for me. The foil-y autograph from Pristine is kind of fun too, especially since I actually prefer the hologram sticker to the clear ones in many cases. I personally endorse Perry as the #6 player in my collection with an almost-milestone count of 49!
Jay Riemersma 2000 Fleer Tradition Autographics auto
Here's a guy who plays a position coach Jim Harbaugh loves: former TE Jay Riemersma. I had already picked up his Silver (#d /250) version of this card (my only other hit of his) first before tracking down Jay's "base" issue here. Fleer's Autographics cards typically featured solid designs and this one from 2000 does nothing to change my opinion; his very cool signature, including his jersey number, is some tasty icing on the cake.
LaMarr Woodley 2011 Topps End Zone Icons Patches manupatch
Maybe it's not quite a fat guy touchdown, but Woodley is still a big, bad dude. While LaMarr hasn't found the end zone very much in his career--he took a fumble to the house in each of 2008 and 2009--he managed to hit paydirt on one of his career high pair of interceptions in 2010. The Bengals' Carson Palmer's third INT was his second pick-six of the day (Troy Polamalu had the first), and the celebrating Steeler gave his team a comfortable two-score lead early in the fourth quarter of a 23-7 week 14 win for the eventual AFC champs. Though it's not much as far as hits go it's still a fun reminder of a Wolverine's defensive TD, and that's good enough for me!
And with that I'm all caught up on COMC stuff and have just one other card in-hand--an eBay purchase--and it only took me until the last day of June!
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