2018 trade package #14: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

It's been almost a month since I put up a non-football gameday post, but thankfully (see what I did there?) in addition to the trade package I showed off on TMV this evening, I've got a healthy heaping of seconds courtesy of Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store, a generous guy who's never sent me a turkey in his life.

While I eagerly await tomorrow's edition of The Game I can post a nine-spot of Wolverines Doug sent over the border:

As it turns out the seasons of all three sports he sent me this time are active!  We'll start with basketball, and first up is a Score Hoops RC of C Mo Wagner, the outstanding native of Germany who brought Michigan back to the NCAA title game this past year, then was drafted in the first round by the Lakers.  Sweet!

Joining him is another former Wolverine star, albeit one who's out of the league (which definitely makes him easier, or at least cheaper, to collect!):  Mitch McGary.  His card, a 2014-15 Panini Threads Rookie Threads Prime jersey (#18/25) features a very nice jersey swatch.  It's a classy addition and hit #6 of McGary in my basketball PC.

Sticking with basketball rules but switching sports we have another one-and-one.  Eagles DE/LB Brandon Graham, the man who sealed up Philly's Super Bowl victory earlier this year, appears on a base card from Panini's Prizm product this year.  I'll admit I had to check the back to confirm that because the styles kind of blend together.

On the relic front it's one of my many football PC guys, Braylon Edwards.  The former star WR has said a lot of stupid stuff about his alma mater since he left but everyone was sending good thoughts toward his family last week after one of multiple cheap shots by Indiana left his brother, transfer Berkley, motionless on the field for several minutes.  Fortunately the younger Edwards appears to be recovering well so far.  As for the older of Stan's sons to play in Ann Arbor, here he is on a very cool dual relic picturing him with two of his four teams, the ones with with he spent the most time over his career.  This 2011 Timeless Treasures Changing Stripes dual jersey, which includes a nice dual-color swatch from his Jets days, is card #273 in his collection and hit #74.

Doug will be proud to find out that hockey-crazy Wolverines fans now sing "Oh, Canada" a capella before each Michigan game, and why not?  They've sent us many great people and traditions, not to mention lots of very talented icers.  None of the guys in this post hail from our very friendly neighbor (neighbour?) but that's ok because my favorite trade partner keeps the canuck pipeline flowing himself.  Just check out this quartet of base cards!

Plus there's my biggest get on the day in this sweet high-end hit of talented Jet Jacob Trouba out of Panini's top-notch National Treasures product.  It's a Newfound Treasures Materials Autograph jersey auto (#44/50) comprising a super thick card, large jersey swatch covered by a clear plastic window, and a signature as the cherry on top.  Doug's sent me more Trouba cards than I can count right now but this one pretty much has to be the best of the bunch (though others were quite nice as well so that's saying a lot!).  I'm already at nine hits of Mr. T thanks to my Canadian friend/buddy/guy/pal Mr. C.

As always Doug, thanks so much for the cardboard generosity, which I'm hoping to pay back in spades with a package large enough to go under your Christmas tree!

Too Many Plates! Part 4: hockey

Previously:  baseball, basketball, football

Between May and June I won eBay auctions for a total of 17 different printing plates at a cost of a bit more than $100 (not bad!).  14 of those came from one awesome seller (markaguirre22), whom I can't recommend highly enough due to his great prices, excellent communication, and super fast free shipping.  A fellow Michigan collector, he was unloading some of his better stuff, and I was able to take advantage of quite a few great deals.  Better yet, over the course of my purchases he threw in three extra plates for free, giving me a nice round 20 to show off.  Several separate purchases rounded out the run on rarity.

All of the players are Michigan alumni that I collect, and today's post is the final one in this series, with hockey being the only sport we haven't covered yet.  In honor of Stanley Cup champion Carl Hagelin (not featured today) and the 2016-17 NHL season, here's some icers to cool down this beautiful June day:

Jack Johnson 2012-13 Certified Fabric of the Game Printing Plates Cyan (1/1)

Of today's eight plates, I purchased seven from the seller I mentioned above, plus he threw in one more freebie (the third and final) you'll see shortly.  And like a number of them, I believe this one, representing a card from one year, may have been inserted into a higher-end product the following year to beef up the number of hits.

If this was a plate of a base card I'd have to dig through my Michigan box to see if I had a regular copy, but it's actually of a jersey relic I don't currently own, though I'd like to at some point.  Somewhere between $5 and $6 was a reasonable price for my first plate/1-of-1 (and 12th total hit) of Jack "MF" Johnson.

Al Montoya 2011-12 Pinnacle Printing Plates Black (1/1)

Alvaro!  Montoya (hit #6), the best goalie I got to see while owning season tickets, is the first of two players in today's post for whom I already owned a 1-of-1 but not a plate.  The photo used here is so cool I went to see if I had the base card handy, but I don't, so I need to track that down.  Also, kudos to Panini for bringing back the excellent Pinnacle name.  How many of you wouldn't throw down a minuscule $3 for this?

Brendan Morrison 2002-03 Pacific Heads Up Printing Plates Cyan (1/1)

The first card in my first post from this series (baseball) was a freebie of my favorite baseball PC guy, Rich Hill; bonus card #3 represents another favorite (quite a feat by this seller), Brendan Morrison, a guy I wish I could have seen play live.  He's the other player for whom I had a 1/1 card that wasn't a plate, and I believe both of those came from Doug.  Diversifying my Morrison portfolio, this is another one of those plates that I doubt was inserted into packs, plus it lacks an identifying sticker or stamp.  Still, I can clearly determine the product, and if that's any color it's cyan.  While I do own a couple Pacific-branded cards of the former Hobey-winner, I don't have this one, but what I do have is 26 of his hits, still second to Marty Turco's 33.

Max Pacioretty 2013-14 Crown Royale Printing Plates Magenta (1/1)

I guess I really had to "P" in early May when I nabbed this plate, the next one up, and the one of J.J. Putz you saw in my baseball post.  Patch was the best of the bunch so it made sense to me that he would cost the most--still a very reasonable $5.  For that little, think I should get out the tin snips and make this a die-cut like the regular version I own?  Maybe I'll wait for another one as I still have just four hits of the talented sniper.

Aaron Palushaj 2011-12 Score Printing Plates Cyan (1/1)

You done messed up if you don't remember A-A-ron here.  He may not have played in the NHL for a few years, but this is now my 10th hit of the winger from my hometown of Livonia, Michigan, so you've seen a good amount of him here.  I don't think "Hot Rookie" was an apt description of his game--he totaled three goals and 11 assists in 68 games with Montreal, Colorado, and Carolina before heading to the KHL--but at least his card looks cool, and was just $3 too.

Greg Pateryn 2013-14 Select Printing Plates Black (1/1)

It's a run on Canadien Wolverines!  Would the Montreal Wolverines' fight song be "Hail to the Victours"?  Pateryn made his debut here with a cool Prizm autograph from (surprise) Doug two and a half years ago, and now I've doubled his hit count...with a plate.  Not a bad start to a collection, even if it's been this slow to build.  The d-man has a couple goals to his name, though he last suited up for Dallas after a February trade.  This was yet another $3 plate and it came along with the Montoya above.

Kevin Quick 2009-10 The Cup Printing Plates O-Pee-Chee Magenta (1/1)

These last two cards from Upper Deck's very high-end "The Cup" brand were just my second and third purchases in this whole plate run, back in mid-April.  Quick is the first of the pair, and he's a totally new guy to my collection.  I don't remember too much of him as he was with Michigan briefly about 10 years ago before being kicked off the team for credit card theft.  You might say his Michigan career was over "Quick", but then I'd correct you and say that it should be "quickLY", and then you'd roll your eyes and change the subject.  

Anyway, his NHL career amounted to six games with Tampa and that's it.  But he appeared in some products like this one, and I've often thought that the framed plate design was a cool one.  Plus here you can make out the "Marquee Rookie" logo that signifies that this one came from the O-Pee-Chee design, which it also helpfully tells you on the back.  For me it was easily worth just $5, and he becomes my 49th hockey PC player.

Danny Richmond 2005-06 The Cup Printing Plates Black Diamond Black (1/1)

Richmond's another guy whose hit count I doubled with a plate (for a bit more than $4), and a framed one at that.  Again, I love how clearly it tells you the exact set on the back.  Danny is another guy I remember a bit as his one college season coincided with my first year of season tickets, 2002-03, and he's pictured here as a member of the Hawks after being drafted by and briefly playing for Carolina.  As with most of these guys he didn't enjoy much NHL success or even longevity, but at least he made it onto some cardboard--or metal in this case!

And with that, this project is over.  20 new plates, giving me a new count of 87 1/1s(!).  Now I can get back to trade packages, show pickups, and my latest, greatest COMC haul.

12/3/2016 show report: serial-numbered WINserts

If you're reading this there's a pretty good chance you headed over from today's TMV post where I described my most recent card show excursion, the most productive one I've had in months!  Assuming you read that post, you saw a few pickups of Barry Larkin and Michael O'Neill, Michigan Baseball PC guys who I'm showing off over there since I decided to post all my baseball stuff in one spot to try to keep things more Michigan-specific over here.

Among the quarter and $0.50 boxes from that seller I did manage to track down six Wolverine cards hitting the three remaining sports.  Of the six, five are serial-numbered, which wasn't an intentional theme as I'll take what I can get of any of these players, but was purposeful in the sense that I love numbered cards.

Here's a look at what I grabbed:

Representing basketball is this '98-'99 Bowman's Best Refractor, a parallel of Robert "Tractor" Traylor's RC, numbered 190/400 (with that old school, bold gold numbering!).  Traylor's story, from his role that led to sanctions to Michigan, plus his early death, is sad, but it's still fun to remember just how good he was in college.  Refractors rule.

It's no big surprise that football leads the way again.  Speaking of Refractor-related parallels, first up is Leon Hall's XFractor from 2007 Bowman Chrome (#097/250).  This parallel of his RC from that set is my third from the rainbow, joining up with the base card and plain old Refractor.

Next is a guy who's on the minds of many in Ann Arbor these days, coach Jim Harbaugh.  He's pictured as Indy's QB on a fun insert from 1997 Pacific Philadelphia called Photoengravings.  The card is rounded along the lines of a playing card, and the consistency along the lines of thin cardboard (maybe?  It's hard to describe, but it's very thin).  This is a very cool design I hadn't ever seen, and now I want to track down the Desmond Howard also available in the set.  (By the way, this is the only non-numbered card today!)

Former RB Leroy Hoard checks into the lineup with one of his final cards as his last NFL season was with Minnesota in 1999.  From 2000 UD Exclusives, this is a Silver parallel numbered 040/100 in the lower-left corner of the front (hard to see in the scan, I realize) and is an absolute gem for a collector like me to be able to dig up, which is why I was flipping through a ton of huge boxes for the better part of an hour and a half that day.

My last football specimen is a very Christmas-ready Red Xtra Points parallel of former #1 WR David Terrell out of 2005 Playoff Prestige.  Numbered 095/125 on the back, the rainbowed photo plus dark red trim make this a beauty of an insert.

Last up is the kind of card I would have sent Robert's way for his SNI hockey edition, but Al "Alvaro" Montoya happens to be a Michigan hockey guy I collect as I fondly remember watching him lead Michigan to multiple NCAA appearances while I was still in school in Ann Arbor.  Anyway, I'm sure he'll be able to find another card #303 (of 999 in this case) like this 2005-06 UD Trilogy issue.  Besides, who's to say I didn't find other numbered hockey cards in those boxes?...

That's all for today, but maybe in a few weeks I'll be inspired to go to the show again and have even better luck!

2014 trade package #19: Milestones (or Kilometrestones?) from the Dollar Store

First of all I want to say a quick thanks to Jeff for showing off some cool Michigan pickups on Sunday while I was too lazy/busy to post.

So a couple weeks ago toward the end of November I received yet another amazing trade package from Doug over at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store.  The repack king sent me some Detroit stuff you can check out over at TMV, but as usual the real gems can be seen here.  No point in hyping it up further--I'll let what may be Doug's best envelope to date speak for itself:

First up is some Michigan baseball guys.  The Pinnacle Abbott, Focus Larkin, and both Morris cards are all new.  Abbott and Morris are both approaching the 100-card mark while Larkin has already lapped each more than twice (you can see those and more here).

Here's a few basketball additions, including Jamal Crawford, legend Glen Rice, and career Mav Roy Tarpley.

Glenn Robinson III 2014-15 NBA Hoops Hot Signatures auto

Speaking of basketball, here's our first hit, and it happens to be my first of GRIII.  Glenn was very good in his two years in Ann Arbor, then was a second round pick by the T-Wolves last year, so I hope he adds to the legacy of Michigan draftees in the NBA!  Also, his signature looks very cool thanks to the Roman numeral aspect, no?  Also also, this first is also our first milestone of the day in the form of my 30th basketball hit (and 14th player overall).

Moving on to football it's all offense this time with two cards of QBs, six of WRs, a RB, and two OL.  There's some fun stuff here, including AC in his heyday, a trio of Jets Braylons, Jake Long pictured with both of his teams, and of course my favorite, a Michigan uni Denard!

Lastly as usual (but also usually best!) is hockey.  I ended up with 14 cards representing nine players, which I even almost put in alphabetical order--"J" before "K" except after "H"?  There's a lot to enjoy here, but I'll go with the trio of goalie cards of Shields and blog favorite Turco.

And now for the hockey hits extravaganza!

Chris Brown 2013-14 Playbook Printing Plates Magenta (1/1)

First up is A FREAKING PRINTING PLATE of Flower Mound, TX native Chris Brown.  I love plates and this one is great!  This is my 31st 1/1 of any type and was a bigtime surprise for me to pull out of the mailer.  It's funny to me that just my fourth hit of Brown is a 1/1.

Carl Hagelin 2013-14 Upper Deck Game Jerseys jersey

Not quite as rare yet extremely nice to look at is this "Bork" jersey from last year's UD.  As far as Rangers jersey swatches go, you just can't get better than the good ol' red, white, and blue.  These colors don't run, but Carl sure can fly down that ice.  This is just my second hit of his.

Jon Merrill 2013-14 Panini Contenders auto RC

Merrill, a Devils second-rounder in 2010, is holding his own in the pros, tallying 11 points in 52 games last year and totaling six in just 16 contests this season.  This quality example of a Contenders auto RC is just my second hit of the young defender.

Al Montoya 2005-06 ITG Ultimate Memorabilia Future Stars Autographs Silver auto (#27/40)

I had no idea what to think when this behemoth came out of the envelope, and I've gotta hand it to Doug for coming up with something I hadn't seen before!  It's nice to see going outside the box didn't just apply to baseball products in the 90s.  Al's beautiful signature highlights my second auto of the former stud netminder.

Al Montoya 2007-08 Between The Pipes First Round Goalies Jerseys Toronto Expo jersey (1/1)

There was another Montoya in the package, yes, and at first it appears to be an innocuous (if jumbo) jersey relic.  But have a look at that stamp that starts around Al's midsection; this hit got a significant upgrade in the form of a "1/1" stamp at the 2008 Spring Expo in Toronto.  I can't say I saw THAT coming!  This is just my fifth Montoya (and now 32nd 1/1!), and along with the auto above Doug clearly went for the "wow" factor.

Speaking of "wow," I'm happy to report two more milestones:  first, Mr. C gets the (appropriate) honor of having sent me my 150th hockey hit, having put me over with a new total of 154.  Secondly, he managed to roll over the overall PC odometer past 1400 to a grand total of 1403 hits!  I now have more fun milestones (I just can't get used to kilometrestones, sorry, Canucks reading this) to look forward to in 2015.

Doug, I can't thank you enough for a fantastic year of trading, including another exemplary package this time.  It's been about a year since I first posted a trade from you and I'm amazed that I can say this is the 21st time I've shown off cards you sent me!  Well at least I have a pretty good response already on the way across the border to you, so enjoy that when it arrives.  Readers, get your repack on over at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store.

COMC/JustCommons/Sportlots 2013 roundup part 4: Check out my hockey

(Note:  view all posts in this series with this link)

I've been sitting on a bunch of purchases from late 2013 that needed to be recorded, scanned, and posted, and I'm finally getting around to those.  In many cases I may just mash up purchases by player instead of online store to make things easier.  We'll see just how many posts I get out of this series, which I'm going to abbreviate COMC-JC-SL 2013.

It's Friday night, and that means one thing in a major Midwest college town.  Well, it means lots of things, obviously, especially involving alcohol and especially not involving pants.  But for the purposes of this post, it means one thing:  college hockey!  Traditional powers Wisconsin and Michigan square off in a Big 10 Hockey series (which I love, love, love, by the way) tonight and tomorrow.

So why not celebrate with some hockey pickups from last year?  These all came from COMC, which is no surprise since Justcommons doesn't do hockey and it's not really financially sensible on Sportlots.  Here's an album page worth of pickups for my icer PC:

Shawn Hunwick 2012-13 Artifacts RC (#092/999)

Shawn Hunwick 2012-13 Black Diamond RC

I haven't exactly raced off to a fast start to my Hunwick PC, but in light of surprisingly high prices, I'm slowly working my way through it.  A few have actually arrived in trades with Doug of SCFtDS (he does hockey now?) but I've purchased the rest myself.  I try to keep hits under $10 and others under $3, and these two RCs fit the latter category.  The Artifacts card has a very cool "blue ice" thing going on for it, plus it's numbered, which is a big plus.  The Black Diamond, meanwhile, is a pretty typical Upper Deck foilfest, and other than being difficult to scan nicely, looks pretty good.  And of course I love that both feature some permutation of his Michigan equipment, which is one of the best thing in hockey cards ever.  I'm so, so glad that Topps isn't really involved with hockey cards!

Hunwick now sits at 9/71 (or so, that may have updated) cards, and I look forward to hitting double digits!

Jack Johnson 2007-08 SPx dual jersey auto RC (#743/999) 

Al Montoya 2005-06 SPx jersey auto RC (#0528/1499)

Continuing with the Upper Deck hockey theme, here's a great pair of relic/auto RCs of former Michigan stars.  The Johnson actually looks pretty nice despite being so purple!  You wouldn't think it of an enforcer-type, but Jack has an outstanding signature, and I'm thrilled to add a major RC of one of the better recent Wolverine D-men.  I'm now just a card short of double-digits when it comes to JMFJ.

Montoya takes me back to my years at school when I had season tickets for the first time, 2002-03, and watched as phenom G Montoya led the team to yet another Frozen Four appearance.  Michigan never won any titles with Al in net, but he was a fun guy to watch make highlight reel saves, and he wasn't afraid to throw a punch or two either!  I now stand at three hits of the Jets goalie, who's 9-4 on the year as of this post (get this man a starting gig!).

Brendan Morrison 2000-01 BAP Signature Series auto

Brendan Morrison 2006-07 Be A Player Signatures auto

Well of course I added another pair of autos to my Morrison collection--who wouldn't at COMC prices?  Be-A-Player is a fantastic set for casual collectors like me who want signatures of non-stars for cheap.  That's probably the reason I already have four others (1, 2, 3, 4) of Brendan in my collection from that set!  While I prefer the design, plus on-cardedness of the auto of the 00-01 version, the 06-07 has a funny photo, plus shows B-Mo with an assistant captain's patch, so that's cool.  He's the subject of today's milestone as I now have 20 hits of the former Hobey-winner and NCAA champion!

Eric Nystrom 2005-06 ITG Heroes and Prospects jersey

Speaking of Doug C., as I was earlier, here's something relevant to his interests as he also collects Nystrom, who was a 2/14 baby as well.  ITG is another fun set that probably appeals well to true hockey lovers as it showcases some cool pieces from players at the lower levels.  In my case, I already had a similar card of Andy Hilbert, and again, it's a fantastic swatch, huge and multi-colored.  Essentially, this is what a relic card should be.

This card depicts Eric as a member of the now-defunct Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, his first pro team before joining the Flames.  Nystrom, by the way, scored four goals in a game recently for Nashville against those very Flames (the Preds still lost).  I now have five hits of the son of hockey legend Bob to my credit.

Steve Shields 2002-03 BAP Signature Series auto

Goalie #2 today is Steve Shields, a much-traveled backup type who skated for six teams during his 10-year career.  I actually now have his autograph on a card for five of those six, including this Boston issue, as well as Buffalo, San Jose, Anaheim, and Florida.  All are BAP cards--are you shocked?  I'll have to see if he ever got an autograph as a member of the 2005-06 Thrashers; a quick check leads me to believe the answer is "no."

Marty Turco 2003-04 Topps Pristine auto

As usual, I tried to land at least one new Turco, today's goalie #3 and my oft-proclaimed favorite Michigan hockey alum ever.  Also, Topps apparently found a way to sneak into the UD/BAP/ITG love-fest!  This is actually a pretty sweet signature card, though, featuring a great photo, a foiled-up design, and a nice spot for Marty's solid John Herbie Hancock.  It happens to fall kind of toward the first third of my Turco collection, which right now spans 2001-02 to 2010-11.  By the way, Marty laughs at Morrison's 20-card "milestone" as he continues to reign supreme in the collection with 23 hits, 10 of which are now autographs!

I still have lots of baseball PC players and some football to get to, so stay tuned!