Sunday, November 19, 2017

2017 trade package #9: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store


Well, that didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but Wisconsin earned their win and I hope they can continue their run to the playoff.

Win or lose, I mostly enjoyed watching the game, which Fox generously interspersed into three hours of commercials.  Since I can't honor a victory for my team, I'll instead celebrate the trademark outstanding effort of Doug from Sports Cards From the Dollar Store and his latest trade package (#47 on this here blog!), a 100% Wolverine special:
Starting things off with basketball, here's the captain of the '89 NCAA champs, Glen Rice, on a super thick numbered base card from 2011-12 UD Exquisite.  I love this image, which appears on other cards I own as well as a commemorative newspaper poster.
And a pair of hits of much more recent Wolverines.  On the left is THC enthusiast Mitch McGary on a 2014-15 Select Rookie Signatures auto (#172/275), a card which has a design that reminds me a lot of Prizm.  That's my fifth hit of the big man and second with an auto.

The other is an enormous jersey swatch from the same year's Court Kings product out of a relic set called Art Nouveau Jerseys.  The subject of this one is none other than Canadian SG Nik Stauskas, a.k.a. Sauce Castillo!  A current 76er, he's seen here with the team that drafted him--the Kings--on a card numbered 077/299.  My first non-plate hit of the Canuck came straight from the source.
Now we'll look at a quick four-spot of football.  The top pair of NFLers, Tom Brady and Devin Funchess, come from a typically solid Donruss set from this year.  Speaking of Funch, check out this great story of how he fulfilled a promise to score a TD (he actually picked up a pair) for the mother of a young solider killed in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the two Michigan uni cards are two very useful additions to my football RC project.  As you can see, both hail from this year's Panini Prestige product, one you can usually count on for great college photos, and they include Broncos TE Jake Butt and Seahawks WR Amara Darboh, two of Michigan's best receiving weapons last year.  That's my second RC of Butt (the other is from Score, also thanks to Doug) and first of Darboh.

And now for the main event:  hockey, naturally!  This group begins with a trio representing one of several hockey Mikes, in this case Cammalleri, who we'll see again in a bit.  Next is the Ducks' Andrew Cogliano with his original team, Edmonton.  He's followed by what I believe is my first card of Kyle Connor, an absolute sniper in his one year in Ann Arbor, who's one of several former Wolverines working for the Jets.  One of those teammates is Andrew Copp, seen on a pair of UD issues.  Wolverwing Luke Glendening and multi-Cup-winner with the Pens Carl Hagelin round out the scan on cards from the same OPC set as the Connor.

This group begins with a four-card Jack "MF" Johnson party, picturing him with his current team--Columbus--as well as L.A., with whom he made his NHL debut after Carolina drafted him.  Next is a very shiny UD issue of a former Wolverwing (and hockey Mike), Mike Knuble.  Next is a guy who didn't become a future star but has turned in a decent journeyman career:  goalie Al Montoya.  Blog favorite Brendan Morrison makes the cut once again in a SCFtDS package, which is always appreciated.  Ending this scan are David Moss--a guy I saw lots of during my school years in Ann Arbor--and another guy who enjoyed a pretty nice long pro career, defenseman Jeff Norton.

Not only did Doug send me a CanCon guy in Stauskas above, he also included a 2/14 collection player in Eric Nystrom to start of this scan.  He's joined by a pair of Paciorettys, including a die-cut UD card.  Young D-man Jacob Trouba rounds out the Wolverpeg Jets (eh, it's a work in progress) trio with a pair.  And finally, Doug went extra generous here by including a pair of cards of another uber-talented young star, Zach Werenski.  Another Wolverine exiled to Columbus, he put up a nice pair of seasons in Ann Arbor and has been pretty good for the Blue Jackets in one-plus years of pro play.
And if that wasn't generous enough, how about five new cards of Wolverwing star forward Dylan Larkin?  Without actually checking I'm going to bet that this almost doubles my count of Larkin base and inserts, again most of which likely came from across the border.  Awesome!  I may just have to give Dylan his own PC album if I can keep getting cards of him like this.
My pair of hockey hits today begins with this exceptionally cool die-cut dual jersey/auto of Chris Brown, the pride of Flower Mound, Texas.  It's a bit hard to show in the scan, but the die-cutting is done above the top of the jersey image to give it the feel of a hockey sweater.  My ninth hit of brown comes from a word salad of a set called 2013-14 Panini Titanium Home Sweaters Memorabilia Autographs Prime and is numbered 13/25 (almost a Christmas card!).
And the other hit Doug sent carries the name of one of Upper Deck's most iconic autographed offerings.  From 2006-07 SP Authentic, this is a Chirography auto of Cammalleri, a two-time King who was actually with that team for his second stint this season before being sent to Edmonton just a few days ago!  I now own 14 hits of the sniping FW, half of which carry signatures like this one.

Well that was definitely a fun package to sort through and post, especially after being a bit down about the football team's play yesterday.  Thanks again for the usual above-and-beyond effort, Doug (and for being responsible for the last four packages I've shown off here!).  I'm continuing to work on my response so you can have a merry cardmas!

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