2019 trade package #2: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Recent birthday boy and buddy of the blog Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store had let me know recently that I had a few more cards heading my way since he last sent me a trade package...last month.  He's nothing if not Canadianly generous!

This time I was surprised to get two snap cases stuffed with a total of four cards, pretty much all of the high-end variety.  Seriously, I was floored.  Check 'em out:

Well damn, that's a nice way to start off a trade post!  These 2011-12 Exquisite Collection Dimensions cards are something else:  super, super thick and layered with a hologram-like bottom image, a signed piece of something like plastic, and one more image up top.  Oh yeah, and they're college-themed, so here we get to see program legend Cazzie Russell as a Wolverine.  These are completely badass and I love that I can pair Cazzie with another Michigan great, Anthony Carter:

Russell remains the most represented player in my basketball collection at 14 hits, and none are nicer than this one!

You know a basketball card must be good when I get excited about it, but this football piece had me smiling too.  I can probably count the number of booklets I own on one hand but this is at least the second Doug's sent me, and a fantastic one at that!  From Panini's 2017 National Treasures here's WR Amara Darboh on such a card that pairs up a signature and enormous jersey swatch, one that must have come from the shoulder area of the type of Seahawks jersey pictured.  It's great to see such an interesting relic swatch, especially on a card that's actually numbered to 99.  I'd say I have a new favorite Darboh in my football collection, too!  One more hit and he'll be in double-digits, by the way, and I might just have a couple in-hand from COMC....

Last up today in the place of honor in this post is the most Canadian of sports: hockey.  I'm not sure if Doug realizes it but he sent me cards of 2/3 of Michigan's 2015-16 "CCM" line:  J.T. Compher and Tyler Motte, who were joined by Kyle Connor during his year in Ann Arbor.  The trio combined for 83 goals that season before heading to the NHL en masse.  Connor is still lighting it up for the Jets while Compher, originally drafted by Buffalo, was flipped to Colorado.  The Hawks's Motte has since been traded to Columbus and then Vancouver.

Compher's not making his debut here today--thanks to Doug he joined my collection last September--but this beautiful 2017-18 UD Black Lustrous Rookies Autographs card is hit #1 for him.  Black has been one of UD's nicer looking high-end brands for a while now, and a thick piece with a great design and beautiful signature is a great way to start things.

As for Motte I'm already up to five hits thanks to a very nice two-color jersey relic from 2016-17 UD Premier.  It looks as if the swatch may have come from one of the stripes near the jersey's elbows--our second case of relic forensics today!  If you're counting at home, Doug is responsible for four of those five cards, by the way.

For the 56th time on this here blog alone, thanks for a fun, super high quality trade package, Doug!  Happy birthday, and enjoy the small envelope I sent your way if it ever gets out of the US and over the border.

2018 trade package #2: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Death, taxes, and trade packages from Doug at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store--you can set your watch by all of these things, just like Johnny Unitas' haircut:

As Doug nears a remarkable milestone of 50 trade packages posted on this here blog, I'm happy to show one he sent me in January, making it three straight months with cards from my Canadian friend buddy pal guy.  What it lacked in quantity (and, to Doug's chagrin, surprise), it made up for in quality by a long shot.  I'm talking Ohio State fans acting like human beings long shot.  It's some good stuff.  Check it out:

Basketball begins and ends quickly with the (relatively) old and the new:  a 2004-05 Topps Total base of Fab Fiver Jalen Rose alongside a crazy shiny 2017-18 Totally Certified of D.J. Wilson, a three-year Wolverine who went to Milwaukee in the first round last year.  Believe me, the scan does not do the latter justice.

Football is represented by this trio of Blue parallels from Doug's 2015 Topps Field Access case.  GOAT QB and Super Bowl LII runner-up Tom Brady is joined by that year's pair of Devins, Funchess and Gardner.  I really need to track down their base RCs from this set but can't seem to find them for a reasonable price.

And our last sport, hockey, begins with this appetizer of base cards of Andrew Copp of the Jets and former NHLer David Moss (who I might have mentioned is from my hometown of Livonia, a fairly good producer of icer talent).

Now we'll look at the hits from worst to first, with "worst" being very much a relative term here, like how Batman Begins is the worst of the Nolan trilogy because something has to come in last, but that doesn't mean it can't be awesome.  Case in point:  this 2013-14 Panini Prime quad jersey featuring another young Jets star, Jacob Trouba (joined by former Winnipeg teammate Anthony Peluso who's now with Washington).  I of course like how the swatch windows spell out "J-E-T-S" because it's nice to see a professional team with that nickname not be a dumpster fire.  Anyway, this enjoyable relic #d /200 is my 8th of Trouba, and it's a nice start.

...because how the hell can it compete with THIS?  WolverWings in the house, baby!

When Doug pulled and posted this Dylan Larkin autograph from his 2015-16 Champ's case break my jaw dropped, especially after he explained that it was 1:639 pull, good enough to be a case hit.  Yes, please!  If you wanna know why I keep up the high end dealing with Doug, his decision to send this to me instead of recouping the price of his case is a prime reason.  It's just my second signature of the future Red Wings captain and a beauty at that.

Huh, there's still one more card, how could you possibly top that last one?

Oh cool, a Marty Turco autograph I didn't have, pairing him up with Jack Campbell, a one-time top prospect who I believe almost played for Michigan.  I've heard that Turco was also a bit of an idol of Campbell's, so that's cool.  This one comes from the same 2013-14 Panini Rookie Anthology product as the Trouba above, which you might call a a favourite of Doug's (and mine) and--

Is that--

I think it's--

No way!

That's totally a 1/1 (#95 overall)!  Ok, so I knew this was coming, but that doesn't make me any less excited for my first 1/1 of my favorite all-time Michigan goalie and top hockey PC guy.  I don't care who you are, that's a potential card of the year right there!

Doug, thanks for the two enormous hockey additions and another exciting monthly package (though don't worry if you can't keep up that pace, I know I can't!).  Fortunately I have the start of a return for you that I'll make sure to fill out so it's worth of this greatness.  You're my buddy, guy!

Meet the Michigan Man: Mike Hart

A week or two ago a new Menards, a hardware-type store pretty much concentrated in the flyover country part of the US, opened not too far from where I live.  While that wouldn't ordinarily be exciting news, the flyer I received from them in the mail noted that they'd have some promotional events including autograph signers.  The exciting news was that one of those signers was going to be former Michigan RB great ("Why can't I hold all these records?") Mike Hart.

On Thursday evening I drove the few miles over to the store and got in line right around 6 when the event was due to start.  Roughly 45 minutes later I was at the table with the man himself who, true to his character, was very outgoing and personable with everyone, chatting, shaking hands, and happily taking pictures.

I decided to have him sign this Sports Illustrated from August of 2007 when he was on the cover:

It wasn't exactly in mint condition but I still feel like it'll look great framed.  And yeah, yeah, I remember what happened with Michigan Football's season not long after this issue came out, but I mean, come on, this is a beautiful cover!

Like I said, Mike was more than happy to let everyone get a photo op, and here was mine:

It was quite the experience and one I'll remember for a long time considering Hart is one of my favorite all-time Wolverines!

2015 trade package #16: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store and the tale of Clear Carl and Mini Max

It's been too long since I showed off some loot from a Sports Cards From the Dollar Store trade package, but that's 100% on me since Doug sent this envelope my way a few weeks ago and I've been lazy about posting for the last couple months.  I suppose putting something up every 10 days or so will create that kind of backlog!

Anyway, here's the goods from the land of the loonie and twonie:

Darius Morris 2012-13 Panini Rookie Signatures auto

Nice autograph or foreshadowing of a future package?  According to Doug, his most recent COMC package means that "If you've ever considered wallpapering a room with Darius Morris autos, you might have the chance."

In the meantime I'll be happy with this very nice looking stickergraph from 2012-13 Panini.  It's a simple card that does nice things with the Lakers' colors, and Morris chips in with a solid signature.  This is just the second Morris I have to show off in my basketball PC.

Denard Robinson 2013 Topps Chrome 1986

Just one football card in this package as well, but it's a Shoelace!  This 1986 Topps-style insert is my third of Denard from the product as I already have the '59 and '65 versions.  Maybe I'll track down the '69 card to complete the quartet.  This is another fine addition to my football inserts collection.

And once again the hockey portion dwarfs the rest, which is totally cool by me considering everything Doug digs up.  Cammalleri and Cogliano should be pretty well known around here, and their cards hail from 2014-15 Upper Deck, which is a very nice looking set indeed.  Ebbett, who's also been seen around these parts before, appears in the form of a 2009-10 Panini sticker.  

Hughes, however, is a total n00b to the blog and my collection.  The back of this 1982-83 OPC base card mentions that he played hockey at Michigan, which makes it much easier to realize he should be a part of my collection.  The winger played three seasons in Ann Arbor, 1973-76, during Michigan's WCHA days, and put up some pretty good numbers.  That got him drafted in '75's third round by Montreal, with a pair of teammates picked in later rounds.  In parts of 11 seasons he played for six total teams and was on three Cup-winners.  Quite a career, so I'm happy to add him to the collection and look for more of his stuff!

Carl Hagelin 2014-15 Upper Deck Ice Glacial Graphs auto

Moving on to the other hit in this package, is this not one of the nicer autograph designs you've ever seen?  UD's produced some variations on the Glacial Graphs set over the years and they're hands down some of the best looking autographs you'll find.  The area that looks white-ish in the middle third of the card is mostly clear, with the exception of the player photo (including dasher, which shows up better in the scan) and a background like snow under the autograph.  This is so see-through that you can make out quite a bit of the writing on the back.  Carl's signature is icing (pun intended, eh?) on this cake, and this is easily my new favorite of four Hagelin hits in my hockey PC.

That's it for the card content of the package, but Doug surprised me with a very, very cool oddball item--check this out:

From a company called Oyo Sports comes this awesome mini figure of Max Pacioretty!  This scan probably isn't too far off from actual size, and the see-through window gives a bit of a glimpse at what's inside, which I'll get to in a second.

Here's the back of the package, which gives you an idea of all the little accessories that come with each mini figure.

Here's what you see once you remove the shrink wrap and slide the cover off.  The figure sits in a plastic tray with compartments holding the accessories.  Yes I opened it--this was too cool to let languish in its packaging somewhere in a closet!

Again, somewhat close to life-size, here's mini Max with his helmet and skates attached and stick/puck in his hands, all connected to the provided stand.  100% awesome and a great find, Doug!

Thanks again for another fun package, my friend!  I look forward to seeing what you think of the latest stuff I sent your way as I work on the next one.  Until then, keep spending those bucks at the Dollar Store!

2015 eBay purchase: the Mechanical Michigan Milestone Man

I showed off a beautiful pair of Tigers cards I picked up on eBay over on TMV tonight, but just in case you didn't see that post (or even if you did!), here's the highlight that's appropriate for putting on display over here:

Charlie Gehringer 2007 SP Legendary Cuts Inside the Numbers Cuts auto (#52/60)

This is my first non-manufactured hit of the HOF Tiger, and I'd be hard pressed to do better!  I'd wanted a cut auto of Gehringer for the longest time, but the ones that had appealing designs were almost always too expensive.  Not so this time as the seller's BIN of $40 was plenty reasonable for me, and I think you can see why:  Charlie's "Chas. Gehringer" signature is as beautiful as always, the cut window fits the whole thing comfortably ("...he said, as Topps studiously ignored him while designing another overpriced crap product"), and the old-fashioned look with the MM's photo ties everything up nicely.  This is a card I'm gonna cherish for a long, long time, and then some!

So, I deployed the "milestones" tag, why come?  Well friend, there's two reasons.  First of all, ol' Charlie here represents the 1500th total hit in my Michigan Sports collections.  Considering where I was just a few years ago when I started this blog, much less way back when I created TMV, this just blows my mind!  Don't forget to check out those collections with the links to your right towards the top.

The other milestone of the day concerns posting totals; yep, after three years and almost three more months, we at TMM have finally hit our 500th post!  That I took so long to get here is a testament to my laziness and ability to be distracted easily, so I'd like to thank the other blogs, TV, shiny objects, and loud noises, without which I wouldn't be writing this today.  Or, well, that doesn't make a ton of sense since without those things I would be writing this today, I'd just have way more posts under my belt.

As usual when reaching a milestone like this I'd also like to credit Jeff of My Sports Obsession who's contributed his fair share of content, especially his excellent Michigan tumblr photo features.  Thanks again for chipping in content sometimes, Jeff--that makes you just as much of a laziness enabler as the things listed above.

And thank you to the few of you that follow this blog that has a more specific and audience-limiting focus that my other one.  GO BLUE!

I'll be back soon with some fantastic trade package hauls, some loot from COMC, and the remaining new PCs I need to show off.

2014 COMC purchases: starting 11, or 1K is OK!

Today's the last post of this series which means I'll finally have covered the rest of my 2014 purchases from late December.  I'm going to be brief about today's cards for reasons that will soon be obvious.  Today's theme is offense, specifically QB, RB, and OL since I already covered the WRs.  Enough talk, let's get to it!

Mike Hart 2009 Score Inscriptions Red Zone Autographs auto (#11/30)

This here is a Red Zone parallel of Hart's "base" autograph from the '09 Score Inscriptions set.  It's one of four 2009 Hart autos I own and my 56th of him overall, tying him with Braylon Edwards for third place.

Chad Henne 2008 Donruss Threads College Gridiron Kings Materials dual jersey (#147/250)

Chad Henne 2008 Topps Triple Threads Emerald triple patch auto (#16/50)

Chad Henne 2010 Topps Magic auto

This is a super exciting trio of Hennes for me.  First you have a great dual-swatch Michigan uni relic, then you follow it up with a triple patch auto (with some sick patches!), and you finish things up with an art-tastic Magic auto.  Believe it or not, I landed the Triple Threads card for a pretty good price.  These three give Henne a new total of 73 as he reigns as the once and future king of my football PC.

Taylor Lewan 2014 Leaf Originals '48 Autographs auto

Taylor Lewan 2014 Leaf Valiant Rising Stock Autographs auto

Taylor Lewan 2014 Upper Deck Star Rookies Autographs auto

I showed off one collection newbie the other day in Jeremy Gallon, and today I present to you the other in the form of T Taylor Lewan, the 187th member of the collection.  I waffled on adding him after his senior-year legal difficulties but went for it in the end and scored a trio of Michigan uni cards.  The Leaf versions have a bit of airbrushing of the helmet but are close enough for me, and the UD is a typically beautiful entry from their brand, just like the Gallon.  Hopefully the 2014 first-rounder gets to show what he's made of next year for Tennessee.

Chris Perry 2004 Upper Deck Finite HG Rookie Fabrics jersey

Chris Perry 2007 Artifacts NFL Facts Autographs auto

I would be remiss if I was talking about Michigan RBs and didn't include Chris Perry!  This time I found a rookie-year orange jersey relic from UD, then followed it up with a solid sticker auto from 2007 Upper Deck Artifacts.  Perry is obviously a big part of my collection as he now has 42 cards to his name, good for a tie with Jason Avant for 7th overall.

Denard Robinson 2013 Bowman Sterling Jumbo Rookie Relic jersey (#0009/1200)

Denard Robinson 2013 Topps Strata Clear Cut Autograph Rookie Relics jersey auto

Who would buy just one shoelace?  I scored the Sterling "jumbo" relic for a pretty cheap price late in the game after making a concerted effort to get the cool Strata auto/jersey for under $10.  The latter is a bit gimmicky but kind of a cool concept, and I just can't say no to a Robinson autograph.  These two give me a grand total of 15 Denards, and the way that number keeps growing surprises me.  Hopefully his touches, yards, and TD count go in the same direction this year!

All right, you've seen all 31 cards I grabbed at the end of 2014, and now it's milestone time--the biggest one I've met to-date.  When I put together this latest package I had exactly 969 hits in my football PC.  Simple math that's so easy even an English major could do it tells me I now have--HOLY SMOKES, I HAVE 1000 MICHIGAN HITS!!!  This is a goal I never would have dreamed of before I started blogging and focusing more attention on this part of my collection.  Now, a few years later, after a bunch of purchases at shows and online, and especially thanks to a ton of insane trades with awesome collectors, I've met that mark, and actually smashed past it thanks to new trade posts I haven't gotten around to yet!  Thank you everyone that contributed once again--I can't express how much I appreciate the many great Wolverines you sent my way.

With that out of the way let's have a bit of fun.  Enough numbers for a bit--here's a more in-depth look at this collection:

All my UM football stuff is now housed in these two monster boxes so I can allow for room for future growth.  All of the first box and the first two rows of the second are hits while the third row of the second box includes all of my TK Legacy autographs and a few base cards from the set.  The last two rows are reserved for all the football base and inserts I've accumulated, including rookies and vintage stuff.  I remember when I had barely enough cards to fill a shoebox-style box!

Here's a closer look at box 1, which goes from Jamar Adams to Mario Manningham.  This box includes PC heavyweights Adrian Arrington, Jason Avant, Braylon Edwards, Mike Hart, Chad Henne, Jake Long, and Manningham.

And here's the second box which starts with Mike Martin and goes through Charles Woodson, then moves on to the TK Legacy autographs, including the M Go Blue set I'm working on (currently at 124 and counting!).

And now I'd love to show off some highlights of the first 1000 cards in my football collection:

These Absolute plaque/autos: 

The nameplates I've completed so far:

Coaches past and present, including the immortal Bo Schembechler:

Some Michigan-themed multiplayer fun:

These legends whose names will echo throughout Ann Arbor for all time:

And finally, this guy, who was a freakin' astronaut!:

What a crazy ride.  But I certainly don't intend to stop here, so please keep 'em coming because you know I will!

To close things out, for those of you who are numerically inclined (or actually interested), here's a few relevant stats:

• 187 different players
• Top 10:
• Chad Henne (73)
• Jake Long (67)
• Braylon Edwards and Mike Hart (56)
• Mario Manningham (49)
• Adrian Arrington (43)
• Jason Avant and Chris Perry (42)
• David Terrell (38)
• Anthony Thomas (37)
• Relics:  258
• Autos:  622
• Autographed relics:  53
• Patches/manupatches:  20
• Auto/patches and auto/manupatches:  58
• Plates and 1/1s:  2
• Multi-player hits:  34
• Michigan uniform cards:  362 

Thank you once again to those that actually read this blog and give me a reason to show off my favorite collection, and GO BLUE!