2018 COMC purchases: PC potpourri

It's almost time for me to say goodbye to 2018 and the purchases I made last year on this fine evening in...MAY?!  Yeah, it's taken me far too long to post these, but what else is new?  Ignore my procrastination and enjoy some very cool cardboard starring some of my football PC guys:

Touchdown Tim is the first of eight different players today, and I was quite happy with this little haul:  three numbered inserts and a hit.  '96 Leaf's Grass Roots has a grassy felt feel to it, '99 Score Showcase was celebrating 10 years of the football product, and 2000 Topps Gallery's Player's Private Issue parallel (#d /250) is a nice example of how Topps could get it so right before they firmly planted their heads up their collective ass towards the end of the 2000s.  Meanwhile, a Panthers blue 2001 Pacific Invincible jersey is hit #10 of the Wolverines RB legend.

I didn't have many cards of this duo so I thought it made sense to pair up 2007 Cardinals draft picks Alan Br--

dude that kills QBs dead, and speedy WR Steve Breaston when showing off this 2007 trio.  Branch appears on a Donruss Gridiron Gear Gold Holofoil X's (#010/100) parallel as well as his Upper Deck Trilogy RC (#111/399), a card from a product that looks great with its acetate-ness, but can be annoying to track down (and scan!).  Breaston joins in the rookie fun with his Select first-year (#203/599).  I now need just three of Branch's RCs and five of Breaston's.  Progress!

We're closing in on two months since I started this latest series with Jason Avant's haul--10 cards--and now I'm showing off nine more of his former position- and team-mate, Braylon Edwards.  The first two are parallels from 2006 Score (Gold) and 2010 Contenders (Playoff Ticket) and are numbered to 600 and 99, respectively.

The next seven are all relics I grabbed at low, low prices, a.k.a. my COMC wheelhouse.  A few of these are even dubbed "Prime" by Panini meaning their swatches are above average.  2007, '08, '09, and 2011 are all represented here and there's a mix of numbering between 50 and 299, not to mention designs and swatches.

This hit parade launches Bray-Bray into third place in my football collection with 81 hits, ahead of Jake Long and behind only Chad Henne and Mario Manningham.  His new PC total of 285 also equals Henne's, though that tie will be broken in this run's final post.

Here's a quartet I wasn't expecting to score when I was buying up cards on COMC last year:  a RC and three great parallels of tackling machine David Harris!  His beautiful Michigan uniformed first-year from '07 Elite leaves me just one shy of Harris' RC run, plus it just flat-out looks nice.  The other three are numbered parallels from 2016 Donruss.  In order:  Press Proofs Silver (#032/100), Press Proofs Silver Die Cut (#27/75), and Stat Line Season (#088/108).  The die-cut card scanned the best and really does look terrific, but the Stat Line insert remains a favorite of mine.  David did indeed compile 108 tackles in 2015, the sixth and final time he crossed the century mark in that category over his 11 NFL campaigns.

I don't really have anything that goes with this Marlin Jackson auto RC from 2005 SP Authentic (#746/850) so it gets the spotlight to itself for a minute.  This is a fairly textbook SPA look (if not one of its best) and comes with a cool camp action photo, plus Jackson's interesting signature (a.k.a. hit #22 in his collection).

The final three cards today represent a pair of Giants notables.  Amani Toomer appears on an insert you've seen before this series:  2000 Fleer Focus's Draft Position parallel.  His card's numbered /204 because he was the fourth selection in the second round of the '96 draft (a round after Carolina took Biakabutuka).

RB (running beast) Tyrone Wheatley stars on the other two inserts:  '95 Sportflix's Rolling Thunder and a '96 Leaf Press Proof.  The former is another example of my love for 90s inserts while the latter is a fun die-cut version of one of the decade's hotter parallel types.

After I put these away I'll have just one post left before I can get back to 2019 fodder.  Stay tuned!

2018 Sportlots purchases: wide world of WRs

It may be a new year but I still have lots of 2018 pickups to get through.  Before I show off some bigtime scores from COMC let's have a look at my latest Sportlots haul.

I'll open things up with a group of WRs:

Former Iggle Jason Avant is celebrating finally crossing the century mark thanks to this 2006-07 four spot.  The Michigan uni card is a 2006 SAGE base and the next two are from that year as well:  a Score Glossy parallel of his RC and UD insert.  A Black parallel of his 2007 Topps Draft Chrome card closes things out.

Steve Breaston went from the Maize & Blue to wearing red for most of his career.  The outstanding 2007 SAGE HIT base is actually a dupe (one of a few this time) so it'll be heading Jeff's way eventually.  The rest is mostly a mix of Panini and Topps base from 2009-12.  Another Score Glossy parallel (from 2011) pops up here, and you'll see a few more in this series.  The 2012 Bowman design (card #6) was so different from the rest of the product's history that I can't help but be interested in it.  And a 2011 Topps Rising Rookies Draft Selection insert reminds you that the dynamic playmaker was selected in 2007's fifth round.

Before his disappointing NFL career and saying stupid things about the program post-retirement, Braylon Edwards was largely a force in Ann Arbor.  Here he is on a trio of college uni cards from 2005 Press Pass brands.  The first is one of his two appearances in the main product's base set while the others are his SE base appearance and a Gold parallel of that card.

It's a-me, this here blog's namesake!  I didn't find too many Manninghams this time, but as I headed into this purchase with 199 cards of #86 I was happy to get over the 200-card milestone.  Press Pass's 2008 Legends set is one of my favorites in that brand's run, and a Primetime Players insert from the main brand also looks great with its college action.  Those are joined by another 2011 Score Glossy parallel.  You can ignore the 2011 Playoff Contenders base as I apparently already had it!  Or not, since it looks great in my opinion.

Former #1 David Terrell comes in first today with the most new cards at 32 (though you'll have to stay tuned to see the guys with the most new additions in this series).  I was thrilled to nearly even him up with the always-linked Anthony Thomas, and when all is said and done in this bunch they'll be within a single card!

This group kicks off with a couple 2001 Press Pass cards, including the very cool SE Old School insert.  Then we move on to a bunch of 2002 cardboard from Panini/Donruss, Fleer, and Pacific.  I tried to go with a mix of quantity and quality, though in general the former won out.

The 2001 rookie came with a lot of hype so he appeared in lots of 2002 products as well.  Here we have three more Pacific offerings (including a Red parallel of the previously-seen Adrenaline), a couple Playoff brands, Score, Topps, and UD.  The photo on the Score base is terrific and the kind of thing I think we should see more of when it comes to receivers.

I told you that the 2002 group was big--Upper Deck's XL is the right name to finish up that year.  2003 is then largely represented by well-known names like Fleer Platinum, Score, Topps/Chrome/Total, and Upper Deck MVP, though UD's serial-numbered Finite is a relative outlier.  Then the 2004 Fleer Tradition you see last is a Blue parallel.

A Topps Total is the last of the 2004s and then the rest (of the horizontals) are '05s.  The Score and Throwback Threads cards note Terrell signing with the Pats in early 2005 but he never played for them, instead suiting up as a Bronco for one game that season, the final regular season tilt for Denver; he failed to catch his lone target.  The lone horizontal card in the bunch is a 2002 UD Piece of History base that looks like it could benefit from a more zoomed-out photo.

Former Giants great Amani Toomer joins Braylon as a program malcontent in this post, but man was he fun to watch before all of that.  He also joins the milestone club today by topping the 200-card threshold at 208.  Since I obviously already had a lot of his stuff I tried to go higher-end this time and succeeded, I think.  Cards from Flair Showcase, Bowman's Best, Quantum Leaf, and Topps Gold Label are the highlights of this pretty nice scan.

Football's 2000 Bowman's Best is one of my all-time favorite designs and I prefer it over the '01 version, though that's not exactly chopped liver.  A 2002 Pacific Exclusive and '04 Absolute Memorabilia (retail, unfortunately) base keep up the shiny theme while we get typically excellent outings from Fleer's 2005 and '06 Ultra designs.

Last up today is a very college-centric scan starring Marquise Walker, a receiver who put up 1000+ yards and 11 TDs during my freshman year in Ann Arbor, 2001.  At 61 cards he's my smallest football PC of a player that doesn't play defense, but since he never did play a down in the League it stands to reason that he didn't appear on a bevy of cards.

What I did land was pretty fun, though.  Once again Press Pass features prominently as I chased as many college uni cards I could find, and here five of the seven are exactly that, so, success!  I've long admired the Big Numbers insert, especially the die-cut versions, and that's my favorite of the bunch here, but the other Press Pass cards are plenty nice to look at too.

That's it for today but I still have plenty more football goodness to show off, even while the playoffs are still in full gear!

2018 trade package #11: Chronicles of Fuji

If it wasn't already obvious from the eight other times I've posted packages from him here (or the 10 on TMV), Mark of the Chronicles of Fuji is a person everyone should get to trade with.  Not only did he give a nice boost to a bunch of my favorite baseball collections, he also went out of his way to include some great Michigan stuff as well!

Such as 80% of the Fab Five, looking extra fab in their college unis on some great Classic and Signature Rookies cardboard.  The SR Kromax cards look especially great and I'll likely peel them at some point.

It may look like Fuji Bipped me with five cards of the late Robert "Tractor" Traylor, but these are actually all different.  From what I can tell, cards #1 and 3-5 are base versions (#s 4, 46, 63, and 64) with the latter two featuring Stephon Marbury and Tracy McGrady, respectively, and the second is a much thicker version of card #36, leading me to believe it's a parallel.  More Michigan uniform goodness!

Speaking of which, how about this bunch?  I was extra motivated (e.g. at all) to post these today after Michigan's dismantling of Nebraska yesterday.  Most of these 90s/early 00s guys went on to some kind of NFL career, with Jenkins and Walker the ones who didn't amount to much.  That acetate card of Amani Toomer from 1996 Clear Assets is ridiculously cool and I'll be on the lookout for more of my guys now that I'm aware of it.  Marquise Walker was the other PC guy to get a bump today thanks to a 2002 SAGE base.  What are you doing, Marquise?  You're a WR, not a QB!

As was the case beginning with this evening's TMV post, the hits kept coming!  Braylon is seen here on jerseys from 2005 Upper Deck and Fleer's 2006 Hot Prospects.  That reminds me--before they won last Thursday, was 2006 the last time the Browns won a game?  Sure feels like it!  That's 73 hits of the former #1 WR.

Next is longtime QB Brian Griese, and I can easily call this my favorite card in the bunch.  a 2003 Leaf Certified Materials Mirror Red jersey (#031/150), I'd love this even if it wasn't that nicer (and rarer) parallel.  The Donruss/Leaf/Playoff brands were responsible for some gorgeous designs for their hits around this time, and this one is simple proof of that.  I'm thrilled to add it as my 10th relic of Griese and 18th hit of his overall.

And we'll end things on a high note with a trio of hits of a guy we already saw, Giants WR Amani Toomer.  The solo jersey is a somewhat early example of a relic card from 2001 SP Game Used Edition and stars a nice Giants blue swatch.  Then there's the big highlight in the form of a helmet piece from the same year's UD Game Gear Helmets offering.  I count just four other examples of that piece of equipment in my collection so it's definitely a rare treat, not to mention a fantastic looking card.  

Last up is a shared dual jersey relic from 2002 Playoff Prestige (#036/500) that also includes former Giants (and well-traveled) QB Kerry Collins (too bad it couldn't have been Todd instead!).  While Collins never tasted glory it was Toomer that would earn a ring with New York in 2007.  Thanks to Mark I can now claim 24 hits of the Giants WR great.

Once again thanks for your generosity and attention to detail, Fuji!  I hope I can respond in kind before long with some west coast winners.

2018 Sportlots purchases: it's lots of Toomahs!

Oh yeah, it's definitely a Toomah.  Moving on this series, today I'll be showing off new additions of the football player for whom I landed the most cards this time:  Amani Toomer.  His cardboard appearances mostly span 1996-2009 (with a few cameos from 2012-14 as well) so there was lots to choose from.  I took advantage of that by picking up cards from products with excellent designs, college photos, amazing action shots, and more.

So ignore Ahnold and enjoy Too Many Toomers!:

This first scan is a fun group that includes a good mix of what I was looking for.  We lead off with an insert, 1996 Bowman's Best Bets, then get into a nice run of college shots from Press Pass and Classic before an Ultra Sensations Blue parallel closes out the year.  1997 brings higher-end offerings from Donruss Preferred and Pinnacle Certified plus excellent mainstream designs and photos thanks to Pinnacle and Stadium Club.  The latter is one of the brands I heavily targeted due to its all-around excellence and doing so really benefited Toomer's PC.

You won't see much Topps flagship today because I have a nice little run of sets from Toomer's career and didn't really target the ones I didn't have, but I am a fan of the '97 design, made the same year as one of my favorite baseball flagship products.  A brand I did hit a lot, joining Stadium Club, is Fleer's Ultra, and you can see Toomer's cards from the 1997-99 products here.  More great photography, to be sure.  There's also a small run of Pacific offerings, and you'll see a good number of those throughout this post as well.

Upper Deck Retro finishes up the cards of '99 and gives way to the shininess of three 2000 products:  Bowman Reserve, Fleer's E-X, and Topps' Finest.  You'll see those last couple pop up a few more times as well.  A Fleer trio follows in the form of my favorite version of Focus plus Gamers and Tradition Glossy (from a factory set, not as an insert).  Pacific flagship and Paramount return to round out the group, and you'll see them again as well!

Here's one of the strongest scans in the whole post thanks to the quality of every card you see.  Topps' Gallery is another set I chased due to its outstanding looks, and I'm happy to say that's a repeat offender today too.  A flagship insert, Own the Game, and Upper Deck's Ultimate Victory lead into another superlative Ultra issue and a pleasantly blue Pacific Vanguard base.  Then 2001 starts strong with Absolute Memorabilia, Donruss Classics, E-X, and Finest.  See what I mean about a strong group?

While not quite as nice as the previous scan this group has some real lookers as well.  A Fleer trio is highlighted by Premium, a brand that often looked nice.  You'll see a few Leaf Certified cards today and this 2001 version is a solid example.  Pacific's 2001 design remains my favorite flagship version (and in baseball as well).  Quantum Leaf's iteration that year is also quite nice as a minor upgrade from the set's 2000 debut.  Topps brings an excellent pair in Gallery once again along with Heritage, another product for which I found several examples I liked.  And here's our first Upper Deck base so far, though you'll see plenty more below.

Here we have a number of previously seen brands in their 2002 versions, and to those we add Bowman's Best, Flair, and Fleer Showcase.  Once again there's a lot I love here which explains why I ended up with so many Toomers!  Bowman's Best and Gallery are beauties once again, and better yet, the 2003 version of the former even manages to one-up the '02 card with its team-appropriate color scheme.  Considering the vast majority of Sportlots listings lack images it's nice to be able to refer back to these to get an idea of what to look for when it comes to my other collections.

There's another bunch of the usual suspects here as we look at 2003 and '04, and that includes Classics and Bowman's Best designs that again hit the mark.  They're joined by a few newcomers in Prestige and Topps Draft (2003) and Playoff Contenders ('04).  Topps' draft-related product was a winner for about five years in the mid-aughts and I missed it even before Panini was given the NFL monopoly.

Things accelerate a bit here as we go from 2004 all the way through '08 and the end of the vertical card run.  Another excellent Topps Draft design is a good start while also ending 2004.  2005 is limited to another Topps Heritage entry, plus we see the '06 version right below it.  Speaking of 2006, Leaf Certified Materials and Prestige once again offer nice designs and Upper Deck hits on a super cool photo of Toomer going way up for a reception.  Somewhat similar 2008 entries in Leaf Certified Materials and Score's Select close out this group.

This is the first of two scans of horizontal cards, and I sure hope you like Pacific and Upper Deck!  The former includes the usually die-cut Crown Royale from 1997, 1999, and 2000, plus a foil enhanced Omega base from '99.  This section (including the next scan) is where most of the UD base went hiding due to its x-axis orientation; the ones you see here were made in 1997-2000, and if you follow them in order starting in '98 they almost appear to depict a catch, run, and score!

And we go out on a high note with this scan which begins with pairs of Stadium Club and Ultra cards from 2001 and 2002.  I particularly like the dual shot with teammate Tiki Barber on the '01 Ultra.  Topps' fun throwback set, 2003 All American, leads into a final run of Upper Deck from 2004, '07, and '08, with the final version being one of my favorite in the whole post. 

As a guy rooting for Tom Brady's Pats to complete their perfect season I was disappointed with the Giants' XLII win at the time (especially with former Spartan and crotch-shooting enthusiast Plaxico Burress catching the game-winner from gump-ass QB Eli Manning), but over the years I've recognized it as one of the best in the game's history.  Plus I can appreciate it like I did the rematch a few years later when Mario Manningham played the role of hero, because Toomer led New York's WRs with 84 yards in the '08 matchup.

This huge bunch of Toomers boosts his collection to 191, and I look forward to adding even more in the future, especially if I can find even more designs this pleasing to the eye!

Stay tuned for more Sportlots fun soon.