2017 COMC purchases: Hart, Henne, Manningham, Woodson

That quartet just doesn't roll off the tongue like Garvey, Cey, Russell, Lopes, does it?  That's ok, I wouldn't want to change this here blog's name to something so derivative, even in an homage to the legendary GCRL.

So it's past time for me to finish covering my COMC pickups from earlier this year so I can maybe be ready to post whatever I get during the Black Friday sales before 2018!  As you might have guessed, this post will center on my original four football PCs (to which I recently added Adrian Arrington and Braylon Edwards, with more possibly on the way).  Let's get to it!

We'll start with a single Mike Hart, this 2008 Bowman Sterling Refractor auto (#021/199).  There's pretty much no such thing as a bad Refractor, and I really like this shiny Chrome-like card that comes with Hart's excellent signature.  That gives me three from the product as I already had the base and Gold Refractor version of this.  That's 66 Hart hits for me and 112 cards overall.

Chad Henne is tied for getting the most new cards today, and that's not exactly a huge surprise for my #1 football PC guy.  His nine-card haul begins with a pair of inserts:  a 2008 Finest Moments Refractor and a 2011 Prestige Xtra Points Gold (#125/250) parallel.  Refractors and numbered cards go together like meat and potatoes as far as I'm concerned!

And now we move on to Hitsville, starting with a pair of vertical cards.  On your left is a 2008 Donruss Gridiron Gear Next Generation Jerseys Autographs Prime jersey auto (#05/25), and wow is that a mouthful.  The jersey swatch is indeed nicer than the usual, so "prime" it is, though as usual the real win here is the signature.  Speaking of those, does the next card look familiar?  Yep, it's the autographed version of the Finest insert above!  If I haven't mentioned it before, that card highlights Henne's performance in Michigan's surprising 2008 Capital One Bowl victory over Florida.

And then some horizontal Henne.  Card #1 is Chad's 2008 Leaf Limited dual jersey auto RC (#60/99), which includes another "prime" jersey, one that includes some hints of orange in the "R". 

Next up is a manupatch auto/RC from another 2008 Panini product, Leaf Rookies and Stars.  These patches are great for signatures and of course I love the college versions (of which I have a few). 

After that we have yet another example of a 2008 SPx issue (my 10th of Henne from the product), this one a Rookie Materials Logo X Logo Triple 75 triple jersey (#15/75).  I grab those whenever I find them for around $1.50 or less. 

Next is my favorite card of the bunch and it's not even autographed:  a 2008 Topps Triple Threads Relic Red triple jersey (#10/17) with the relic windows spelling out "U of M".  The "of" section includes a hint of a patch along the right side, and the "M" almost looks like it could be from a blue college jersey?

Finally we have a fairly simple jersey relic from 2011 Donruss Elite Power Formulas (#153/299).  It's not nearly as exciting as the rest of the cards, but a hit is a hit and it was cheap!

This bonanza keeps Henne way above the huddling masses yearning to be free with a hit count of 111 and 220 cards overall (hey, more than half are hits!  I can math!)

The day's other big winner was blog namesake Mario Manningham.  You could even go so far as to say that tracking down all of these new additions was a super Mario odyssey! #topical

We'll start with this quartet of Refractor-y/numbered-y inserts.  From way back in Manningham's rookie season of 2008 we have a Select Hot Rookies (#463/999) insert and Topps Chrome Blue Refractor.  As always, blue is the best Refractor color.  Speaking of that parallel, I grabbed one from 2011 Finest as well, though the design doesn't lend itself as well to showcasing the pleasing effect.  Going back to the Topps parallel well one more time, our last insert is a 2013 Topps Pink (#023/399), which is well known as an insert that promotes breast cancer awareness.

Moving on to the hits, we'll start with my seventh example of a Manningham card from 2008 Absolute Memorabilia, a Rookie Premiere Materials NFL dual jersey/ball (#145/199) relic.  I can also lay claim to his autographed version of that card, which is also a RC, plus a similar variant that spells out "NFC" instead.

Better yet, let's add a shoe piece and signature to the mix on the other upright Mario, a Leaf Certified Materials Mirror Blue Signatures jersey/shoe/ball auto (#089/100).  Obviously blue works well weather we're talking Refractors or mirror parallels.  I hope to add more of his LCM cards to my collection because the ones I have of his former teammates look fantastic.

And now we'll go horizontal for a big Manningham finish.  You already saw this design a few minutes ago so I'm sure you'll remember that we're looking at a trio of 2008 SPx cards.  First is a Green Holofoil parallel of his triple jersey/auto/RC (#074/199).  It's a cool pickup but still, boo green! 

Next is an NFL Letters Dual Patch 50 (#28/50), so named for its serial numbering.  I didn't realize this was a double for me when I picked it up but I decided to include it today since it's an upgrade, and I'm therefore replacing my other version.  Fortunately I happen to know a Giants collector who'll like the other one I'd been keeping, along with a pair of inserts I didn't show off as I already had those as well without realizing it.

Last up is another dual patch, this time a little more common (#17/99) and in the "SPX" shape.  While the swatches aren't quite as interesting as the 50 card's, which includes two colors and stitching on each piece, the red from his Giants jersey is very striking.

These few Marios--there's never enough, you know--jump him ahead of Mike Hart in the hit count to fourth place with 68, plus his overall PC moves up to a solid 147.

We'll close this post on a strong note with Wolverines legend Charles Woodson.  The amazing DB, who just turned 41 last month and could still run circles around most teams' corners, rightfully commands a premium, so I get what I can.  In this case it was just one card, but an extremely cool one that I'm still excited about months after purchasing it.  From 2016 Panini Prizm Draft Picks this is a Helmet Die Cut insert that pairs the sport's top helmet with one of its top all-time players.  Well done, Panini!  This was a great addition as my 120th card in his collection.

That's it for COMC for now, but I'm sure to have more goodies in a few weeks thanks to Black Friday, and in the meantime I'm not exactly dealing with a dearth of items to post thanks to eBay, trade packages, and Sportlots, the latter of which will feature the four guys you saw today.