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 #9: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

This time of year is my favorite for many reasons:  my birthday's in May, the weather heats up, and baseball gets a monopoly for a bit, to name a few.  It's also one of those times I can expect a super generous package from Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store after his yearly visit to Toronto's Sports Card Expo.  He previously sent me some cards in May before that event, then managed to stuff another mailer with some very nice goodies not long after.

Here's the damage--prepare to be impressed!

Of course I'm excited that my least favorite sport is over with for a few more months, but that doesn't mean I wasn't happy to get some new additions for my basketball collection.  On the left is a Trey Burke from a 2013 set produced, I believe, for that year's National Convention.  The first half of the multi-sport offering is filled with vets while the second includes that year's rookies, numbered to 499 like the one you see above.

Joining him is THJ's base from 2013-14 SP Authentic.  Of course I love the college shot used on one of UD's typically solid designs.

Along for the ride came this sweet pair of Cazzie Russell autographs from a couple Panini brands.  2012-13's Past and Present Elusive Ink is seen on the left while the right one is from 2014-15 Totally Certified Competitor Autographs and is numbered 46/99.  Those of you who are signature purists will likely prefer the difficult-to-scan foil card on your right with its on-card auto while the P&P card carries a sticker.  As for me I think they're both extremely cool (despite obviously using the same photo!) since they star one of the most important cagers to come out of Ann Arbor.  I also enjoy that Cazzie is once again in the lead in my basketball PC with 13 hits, eclipsing former #1 Darius Morris by one.

Football makes a cameo appearance thanks to Doug breaking one of my favorite yearly products from that sport, 2018 Score.  The low price, clean design, and college photos make the Wolverine cards a must-have for me even if I no longer tend to build the set myself.

In addition to vets Devin Funchess (who set career highs in pretty much every stat last season) and second-year guy Jabrill Peppers, he managed to hit one of my player collections in Tom Brady and help my football RC project with my first of big man Mo Hurst's first-years.  The first-round talent DT fell all the way down to the fifth thanks to fear of a heart condition that seemed to have been assuaged by multiple doctors.  Oh well, Oakland's gain, I guess!

When it came to the sport on the ice it was another "Hockey Mikes" kind of day, even if this first scan doesn't give you that impression.  It does lead off with sniper Cammalleri on a beautiful OPC Platinum Rainbow parallel at least.  Plenty of other friendly faces follow, plus Doug threw in a new-to-me base of young star Zach Werenski, which is exciting since he's not exactly cheap to collect right now!

The rest of the base/inserts hit three of my hockey player collections, two of which I recently scanned.  Up first is Wolverwing Dylan Larkin on a super shiny Upper Deck/Tim Horton's joint venture from 2016-17.  It looks as great as their Timbits are tasty!  Next is former Hobey-winner and national champ Brendan Morrison taking us all the way back to 2001-02 Upper Deck MVP and my freshman year in Ann Arbor.  Finally there's a nice pair of superstar college goalie Marty Turco on cards from 2009-10 UD/McDonald's and 2010-11 Between The Pipes (with the Blackhawks!).  We'll see him again before this post is done....

And now it's time for a plethora of hockey hits!:

Hockey Mike hit numbers one and two are this pair of Cammalleris, jerseys from 2007-08 Fleer Hot Prospects Hot Materials and 2016-17 Upper Deck Game Jerseys.  It's amazing to me how long he's been playing, as the stretch between when these were produced proves.  I now have 15 different hits of the winger who was most recently with the Oilers.

I didn't post these in this order on purpose--you all know I'm very strict about going straight alphabetical--but yeah, here's your other two hockey Mikes!  Former Red Wing Knuble is on the left out of a product you could tell was Zenith without needing a closer look.  Throwing it back to one of my all-time favorite baseball inserts it's from the 2010-11 and called Mozaics Materials, and features cameos from his former Caps teammates Eric Fehr and Alex Ovechkin, who I was happy to see finally get his Cup the other day.  That's just my fifth hit of Knuble, by the way.

Moving on to an even rarer player to find in my hockey PC we have Mike #3, former Leaf/Canadien Komisarek on the very cool multi-swatch 2009-10 Black Diamond Jerseys Quad.  The two-year Wolverine is pictured with Montreal but listed with Toronto, his second-to-last NHL destination (a stint in Carolina marked the end of his career).  I really like getting multiple jersey pieces like this, especially with a bit of variety thanks to the Canadiens red.  I mentioned that Komisarek was relatively hard to find in my collection, and the fact that this is just my third hit of his is proof!

This foursome is also great.  Doug is largely, if not entirely, responsible for my collection of seven very nice hits of Vegas D-man Jon Merrill, five of which are now of the auto/relic variety.  The other two are a plain ol' autograph and a plate, so it's one of the stronger collections in the group!  This 2013-14 Select jersey auto RC (#195/199) obviously fits in very nicely.

I decided to make it a point to get some nice cards of recent Michigan stars like former Blackhawks draftee Tyler Motte--who had a fantastic junior year in Ann Arbor--and then Doug went ahead and chipped in an autograph (my first) and jersey in this very package.  The former is from 2016-17 SP Game Used and is a Blue parallel of his auto/RC.  I like his signature which includes his jersey number here.  The jersey, from 2016-17 Upper Deck's Rookie Materials, is my second such card and it looks great as well, giving me three cool hits of Motte all of a sudden!

Last up is probably my favorite Michigan hockey player to collect, the previously-seen Turco.  Doug's been my main accomplice as I've accumulated 36 hits of the two-time college champ goalie who's in no danger of losing his crown as king of my hockey collection.  Even so he still managed to surprise me with a new type of relic card; while I have something like 22 jerseys and even a stick piece, this is the first time I've owned a piece of a goalie's trapper glove.  It's a fun first and great way to close out the hockey portion.

That covers all the sports but we're not quite done yet because Doug wasn't quite done with the surprises.  Among the piles of great new additions was the first lady to join one of my hit collections, in this case "Other Sports, etc.":

Janet Guthrie is 80 years old this year and can look back fondly on a solid auto racing career highlighted by being the first female to drive in both the Indy and Daytona 500 races, plus being inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.  So what's her relevance here?  Doug was keen enough to realize that she's also a Michigan alum, in fact an aerospace engineer, if you already weren't impressed.  So naturally he nabbed this 2007 Press Pass Legends Blue autograph (#376/385), making her just the fourth member of the "Etc. Club" and first woman on a hit in my collection.  I hope to be able to add to that number, especially with multiple softball and ice skating stars to hail from my school, not to mention those from other sports.

Once again, Doug, I'm not worthy of such a crazy great bunch of stuff that I really enjoyed, but I'm hard at work putting together some cards to thank you for the great effort you always put in!

2017 trade package #12: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

It's early Christmas present time here at TMM HQ, and it would have been even sooner if I wasn't so unmotivated to post this month--today's trade package arrived a few weeks ago!  Don't be too shocked that the source, for the 48th time, is from Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store.  It's always a blast trading with him because he's one of a few folks that puts so much effort into IDing and sending me Wolverines stuff, like what you see below:

We'll start with this basketball group, which opens with a quartet from 2017-18 Hoops (which looks very Score-like).  Crawford, of course, has seemingly been around forever, and THJ is in his fifth season, but LeVert is just an NBA soph and Wilson was pick #17 earlier this year after a nice couple years as a starter.

Doug then went all vintage on me with a pair of (apparently unrelated) Russells from 1977-78 Topps:  Campy and Cazzie.  While the latter should be pretty well known here as the co-leader in basketball hits in my collection, Campy was also very good for the Maize and Blue.  A native of the state (Pontiac), he was a first-round pick in 1974 and played seven of his nine seasons for Cleveland (and a couple more for the Knicks), making one All-Star appearance in 1979.  I may not collect much basketball but I love vintage cards like this that get me more into Michigan's history in the sport.

Moving on to the gridiron, this Darboh RC from the beautiful 2017 Prestige set is my second such example after Doug sent me one last month.  Michigan dupes never go to waste over here, though, as most head southwest to Jeff!

As usual most of the action in this package comes from the icers as the Canadian sport politely dominated the envelope (but added a friendly "Sore-ey, eh?").  This first scan features seven players including a pair of Hockey Mikes.  One of those is an Upper Deck Ice base from 97-98 starring Mike Knuble, one of my favorite Wolverwings.  Non-football/Ace guy John Madden also appears on a pair of very nice looking base issues from UD Vintage and Pacific Supreme.  And there's a ton more talent to appreciate here.

This scan opens with goalie Al Montoya, a guy who starred while I was a student, then moves on to a couple less heralded guys in Norton and Oliver, the former of whom often makes appearances in Doug's packages thanks to repacks, greatly benefiting my collection.  Patch is a star player who's also seen here often courtesy of the Buck Store guy.  Shields is another goalie I'd like to collect more of especially since he came through the NHL when some pretty cool inserts existed.  Young start Jacob Trouba makes his usual cameo on a pair, and then another former Wolverwing, Aaron Ward, closing things out.

Next, this trio (and another card you'll see in a bit) finally got me to make the effort to scan my entire collection of Turco, my all-time favorite Michigan goalie.  At just 64 it's smaller than most of my other PCs, though larger than my current hockey supercollections (Red Berenson and Shawn Hunwick).  This group is a good example of some nice looking stuff produced by UD, once again making me pine for them as a baseball option once more.

And now we get to the hits, beginning with this 2013-14 Select Prizms auto (#34/99) of Flower Mound, Texas native Chris Brown.  A shiny Refractor-like Prizm parallel with a nice looking signature, it puts my Brown hits count in double-digits at 10, with all or most of those coming by way of Doug!

I'm covering these next two as a pair since they go together for a couple reasons.  For one thing, each is my first hit of the respective player, which is very cool.  But more thematically, Kyle Connor (2016-17 SPx Double XL Materials dual jersey (#142/199)) and Tyler Motte (2016-17 SPx Rookies Red jersey (#012/235)) comprised two-thirds of one of Michigan's most prolific lines in recent memory back in 2015-16.

Connor was a Hobey Baker finalist in his lone Michigan season, putting up a crazy 35/36/71 scoring line.  Motte, meanwhile, busted out in his final season (as a junior) with 32/24/56.  They were joined by J.T. Compher (no hits of him...yet!), another junior that year who paired 16 goals with 47 assists, and I'm sure that latter number wasn't too difficult to pad thanks to his linemates.

So I was thrilled to see this pair in the package.  Connor is yet another talented young Michigan alum starring for the Jets while Motte's seen time a decent amount of ice time for the Hawks the past season and a half.  Adding new players to my collection is nice enough, but the cherry on top is the fact that these guys are rising stars.  Thanks, Doug!

Last alphabetically (but first in my heart!) is Turco again on what might just be my favorite card in the package, a 2013-14 Luxury Suite stick (#122/199).  For one thing I've always thought it was cool that Marty is a player that continues to appear in hockey products despite last playing in the NHL in 2011-12.  I also enjoy this card because I think goalie stick relics are pretty cool.  You can find a decent number of sticks in relic sets in the sport, but if I had to guess, those used by goalies are probably less common since they likely don't break as often.  Either way I'm happy to add this as my 34th hit of the two-time NCAA champ thanks to another generous contribution from Doug.

Once again, Doug, thanks for an extremely productive year of trading in 2017, including this sixth package on this here blog alone!  I hope you enjoy the loot that arrived today while we both load up for another great year in '18!

2016 trade package #16: Canadian Thanksgiving Wolverines from SCFtDS

In this case, the Thanksgiving actually refers to the act of giving thanks to a Canadian, Doug from Sports Cards From the Dollar Store.  We here south of America's Hat may have celebrated turkey and football day a couple weeks ago, but our Canuckian neighbors enjoyed--what, poutine and hockey?  That can't be right, unless every day is Thanksgiving in Canada--back in October.

Anyway, I'm always thankful for the effort folks like Doug put into their trade packages.  This one was completely lacking in turkeys, but if it helps, I do feel like taking a nap after scanning and posting everything.  And there's football.

And now, here's the goods:

Cazzie Russell 2013-14 Totally Certified Materials Blue jersey (#23/25)

Well hey there, brand new Cazzie hit!  This low-numbered jersey swatch hails from his days as a Laker, which would have been 1974-77, the latter being his penultimate NBA season.  It's actually my first relic of the legendary Wolverine cager (to go with an autograph, plate, and eight-card manu-letter auto nameplate), plus it gives Russell sole possession of first place in my basketball collection, breaking a tie with Darius Morris.

Here's the football content, which goes heavy on the QBs (five cards if you count Denard, which I do) and 2016 Donruss, which I think is a fantastic looking set.  Brady, who's about to overtake Peyton Manning in career wins, is represented twice, including that Donruss set.  Criminally-ignored (by Cam Newton) WR Devin Funchess is another example from that product.  We go back a few years--1998--for a thick Elvis Grbac insert from Collector's Edge.  Tackling machine David Harris joins the 2016 Donruss club.  And then the last three cards are Michigan Football rookies:  new PC album guy and blog namesake Manningham from 2008 UD Masterpieces, Denard from 2013 Topps Prime, and a totally brand new guy:  "Jim Harbaugh: QB whisperer" product Jake Rudock, who went from being stuck in Iowa--Iowa--to an NFL draft pick.  That's my first of his seven current RCs for that collection.

And now, let's honor our Canadian friends, as is tradition

It's a great day for the NHL, and therefore the world

with hockey content:

Pretty standard fare here with hockey Mikes Cammalleri and Knuble to go with stalwarts Andrew Cogliano and Jack Johnson.  But do you see that trio card at the bottom?  Hurricane Phil Di Giuseppe (hey, a paisan'!) is my focus here.  The three-year Wolverine was a solid forward in Ann Arbor and managed to pot seven goals last year for Carolina (though he's yet to score in 14 games this season).  Another good catch by Doug.

These guys are fairly familiar as well:  former Devil John Madden, who won't try to sell you Tinactin or anything from Ace Hardware;  goalie Alvarooooooo Montoya;  older-school D-man Myles O'Connor ("O'Connor RULES!"); Max "Patch" Pacioretty out of the shiny funtime of OPC Platinum, and Jacob Trooooooouba, who we'll see again in just a moment.  This is a standard excellent assortment of icers from Mr. Corti.

And now, some hits:

Andrew Ebbett 2009-10 Artifacts Autofacts auto

Matt Hunwick 2010-11 Zenith Yours Truly Autographs auto

Aaron Palushaj 2011-12 Crown Royale Heirs To The Throne Materials jersey

Jacob Trouba 2013-14 Select Prizms jersey auto (#99/99)

Ebbett's autograph--my sixth hit of the center currently playing in a Swiss league--hails from an Upper Deck product from a few years ago, and I think UD did a nice job of making it not so obvious that the signature's on a sticker.  Maple Leaf Hunwick--Matt this time, not Shawn--appears on a Zenith issue that brings to mind a letter or greeting card for his second hit and first autograph.  AHLer (and fellow Livonia, Michigan native) A-A-Ron Palushaj (you didn't mess up, Doug!) gets in the game with a very cool die-cut Crown Royale jersey relic (my first, and ninth hit overall) from his first NHL squad.  And then there's probably my favorite card in the whole package, a gorgeous Prizm (call it a Refractor if you want, doesn't matter to me) version of a jersey/auto of young star D-man Jacob Trouba--I'm sorry, Trooooooouba!  That's my sixth hit of a guy who's probably hoping it's not true that when you're a Jet, you're a Jet for life.

This is another outstanding bunch of Wolverines to add to my PCs, so once again I offer thanks to one of my top trade partners in Doug.  Rest assured I'll be stuffing an envelope full of stuff I know he'll gobble right up.

2016 trade package #8: Sports Cards Ate My Free Time

Welcome to the TMM portion of the great (in size and quality) trade package from Scott over at Sports Cards Ate My Brain.  If you haven't gone into a card coma yet, well, congratulations.  Scott sent me so much great stuff I didn't think I'd ever get it all scanned, and really I still haven't since I still need to get things labelled and such before putting them in my various PC albums.  That's exactly the type of complaint I like to have!

You saw Michigan star Barry Larkin over on TMV among the other players, and here you can take a gander at the rest of the Wolverines Mr. Sawyer so generously sent:

Here's a quartet of Jim Abbotts, led by an oddball Post card, which is followed by three more logo-less cards from Tri-Star Obak and UD Goodwin Champions.  All are new for me, so the unanimous verdict is:  awesome!

With a solitary hockey card and just a few from basketball I combined these sports into one scan.  I flat out loved the late 90s/early 2000s Black Diamond product and its colorful numbered parallels, and really how could I say no this shiny red gem of one of my favorites, Brendan Morrison?  He's joined by a pair of Cazzies, vintage and modern (Michigan uni!), a numbered C-Webb, and a couple recent RCs of "Sauce Castillo" and Mitch McGary.  Nicely done!

I rag on recent Topps stuff but it wasn't always the dreck it is today--witness this gorgeous relic card of basketball favorite Glen Rice from 2000-01 Gold Label.  Rice won an NBA ring that year to go with his NCAA title, and that was commemorated on this beauty of a jersey card with a nice Lakers purple swatch to go with the abundant gold around it.

Ok, we've covered the other three sports, so on to football!  Here are some inserts (and one base) of four excellent Wolverines, three of which appear in full Michigan regalia.  I love any new Woodson, and his Contenders card looks fantastic, but I can't help but give the crown to Wheatley's awesome photo with the back flying through the air as a male cheerleader looks on intently.

Here were some of the biggest surprises of this package:  vintage football!  Nunley, Rowser, and Seal all appeared in my recent Rookie Blue/-Out posts (which I hadn't posted when Scott sent them) while the remainders are guys I showed off but appearing on cards I most certainly didn't have.  I'm looking forward to adding these to my growing album of older issues of Wolverines in the pros!

Last up was a surprise pair of SAGE autos from back when that set wasn't forced to feature dull photos.  Number one was former Lions first-round tackle Jeff Backus, whom Detroit selected one pick after Seattle chose future HOF guard Steve Hutchinson, 15 years ago.  This one is numbered 658/900 and doubles my Backus hit total to two.

Aw yeah, new Hart auto!  At first I thought I already had this one, but as it's the "Non-numbered" version I most certainly did not.  It's another example of a SAGE design I can appreciate, especially thanks to the nice home game action photo.  It's my 61st hit of Hart, which is simply amazing.

Scott, I'm forever in your debt for all of this amazing stuff I was able to show off on two different blogs, and I still hope to return the favor somewhat, whether you like it or not.  Thanks for all these great PC additions!