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!

2017 trade package #7: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Welcome to those of you excited to check out the rest of the goods from my 45th (I think that number's right this time) trade package from cool Canadian Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store!  Oddly enough (or not at all, statistically speaking), the last time I posted cards from a trade, it was from that same happy hoser.  Well I'm glad to report that he was back at it in June, hitting the three major sports--all my baseball stuff goes on TMV--that I like to show off here.  Let's have a look, shall we?

Basketball base:  I kind of hoped Crawford would jump at a chance to join the superteam Warriors, but we'll see how things go for him in Minnesota.  Meanwhile, GRIII and Sauce Castillo appear on a very Pacific-like design from 2014-15 Panini Court Kings.

The trippy design of this 2014-15 Hoops Rise and Shine Memorabilia jersey is very apropos of former big man Mitch McGary, a guy who was more Mary Jane than Michael Jordan.  The solid blue swatch is my fifth hit of a guy I hope (but doubt) will make it back into the league.

I definitely enjoyed Doug's posts covering busting a box of 1989 Panini stickers (start here), and I even got to benefit personally by getting this pair.  AC is quite well known, but Harden is surely more obscure to younger readers as a DB for the Broncos and Raiders in the 80s.

I could be wrong but I think this may be my first full-on Michigan uni card for a player in the 2017 class.  SAGE killed it here with a great photo of Darboh on a pretty good design that looks nothing like what they've put out lately.

I do have to ding them quite a bit here, though.  Although I'm thrilled to get my first autograph of the inspiring and talented WR from Sierra Leone, I'm quite displeased that they really butchered his name here.  "Dobrah"?  Well, there'll be other signature cards, and I'm happy to already have a collection started.

Speaking of autographs and Michigan unis, I was also excited to land this shiny Leaf Metal signature of Devin Gardner (hit #8, autograph #5).  I'm pretty sure I had it on my COMC watch list for a while, and I was actually under the impression I already had it when I pulled it out of the mailer, so it was doubly a pleasant surprise!  I'll take any and all cards you've got of the big dude that's currently living large in Japan.

The hockey content--the largest contingent as is often the case--starts with a trio of hockey Mike Mike Cammalleri, including one with a cameo of former Red Wing D Kyle Quincey.  The present meets the not-so-present with Cogliano on a fun looking OPC offering and former Hobey should-have-won Hensick on a fantastically designed UD base.  The scan finishes with a guy the talent to be the best of the bunch, Wolverwing Dylan Larkin on a UD insert that really brings to mind Fleer Ultra chase cards (anyone else?).

Here's a very talented duo to close out the base/inserts.  Max appears on a UD Canvas card just in time for Ann Arbor's annual Art Fair, a huge event for the city that I enjoy every summer.  His other appearance comes courtesy of the super high-end Ultimate Collection, in this case the 2014-15 version (#d 057/299).  Joining him is Jets D Jacob Trouba, who we'll see again shortly...

...as in now!  One of my pair of hockey hits was this UD Artifacts jersey, featuring a nice swatch of Jets blue.  Man, seeing this much Upper Deck stuff makes me resent the Topps baseball monopoly even more!  What I do appreciate though, is that this is my seventh Trouba hit, and I believe Doug is responsible for ::searches blog for "Jacob Trouba":: yep, all of them!

He's also the one who sent me my only other hit of this guy, so I give Doug 100% credit for my two-card Travis Turnbull hit collection.  When did he send me the last one?  Try four years ago, way back in package #14!  The one he originally sent was quite nice, a dual jersey/auto, but this 2012-13 Dominion RC ups the ante big time with a huge Buffalo Sabres patch to go with his signature.  That's quite a pair!

Hey, wait, the hockey content is done, but there's still something left to show off?  Huh, that's weird, we covered the three major sports so what could it b--

BAH GAWD, KING, THAT'S THE DOG FACED GREMLIN'S MUSIC!

Also way back in 2013, Doug sent me an autograph of former Michigan wrestler (as in "real" wrestling, not "sports entertainment" wrestling) Scott Steiner.  Don't ask me why I never thought to add a signature of his brother Rick, like this one from 2012 Leaf Originals Wrestling, to my Michigan Other Sports, Etc. collection, I just never did.  Here's the image I used in that old post for more Wolverine wrestling goodness:

What a cool way to end another outstanding SCFtDS package!

Thanks again, Doug, and now that I've finally posted this loot maybe I'll get around to reloading for our next trade!

2016 COMC purchases: footballin' into February

It's the end of the first month of 2017 so let's finally finish up my COMC purchases from 2016.  On display today:  the rest of my football hits.  10 cards, nine players...let's go!

Adrian Arrington 2008 SP Rookie Threads 'R' patch auto RC (#04/28)

Starting us off is a card from one of my all-time favorite products, 2008 SP Rookie Threads.  These are my favorite versions of the letter patch cards out of Upper Deck (or elsewhere, for that matter) because they look like they were cut right from a college jersey.  This Arrington is my third from his nameplate, joining an "N" and a "T" (plus an "I" from the much rarer nameplate), and my 48th hit of him overall.

Steve Breaston 2007 Playoff National Treasures auto RC (#089/243)

A few early Breaston cards bear signatures that include his whole name, but for the most part, "SB" is par for the course.  That's too bad, but at least this signature appears on one of Panini's higher-end products, National Treasures, and it even doubles as a rookie card.  Breaston moves on up to 24 cards in my hits collection.

Braylon Edwards 2005 Leaf Certified Materials Mirror Red Materials jersey-ball (#054/150)

No, I didn't arrange things so today's post would be nothing but receivers; in fact, Braylon's our final wideout today.  I've already got a ton of his hits and he's not really one of my favorites, but I still grab his stuff if it's cheap enough, like this Mirror Red jersey/ball parallel from the excellent Leaf Certified Materials product.  It marks my 50th relic-type card of Bray-Bray, and 69th hit overall, maintaining his third-place status.

Devin Gardner 2015 Leaf Trinity Pure Autographs Charcoal auto

One of the coolest cards I have to show off is this glass-like autograph of former QB Devin Gardner from the very interesting Leaf Trinity set.  As they combine college photos, on-card signatures, and a fun transparent design, I'd love to find others of my favorite players in the future, and I hope my fellow college collectors do as well.  Matching his jersey number above (which eventually changed to 98) this is my 7th hit of Devin.

Elroy Hirsch 1997 Upper Deck Legends Autographs auto

Oh boy is this a card I've been looking forward to showing off since I picked it up last year.  Hirsch, probably better known by his nickname "Crazylegs", initially starred for Wisconsin in the early 40s but was sent to Michigan in '43 because he joined the Marines.  In Ann Arbor he continued his extremely successful multi-sport career, then eventually made his way to the NFL's Rams after his discharge from the USMC.  With LA he enjoyed even more statistical success over his nine seasons, enough that he was enshrined in Canton, not to mention college's Hall of Fame as well.

As I set out to add some new players to my football collection (you'll see three more in this post), I considered landing something this nice of Hirsch a pipe dream.  These on-card autos on a beautiful UD design are iconic and I didn't expect to find the deal on COMC that I did, but a reasonable price soon made it mine.  Welcome to the collection, Crazylegs!

Tony McGee 2001 Pacific Impressions Triple Threads triple jersey (with Steve Bush and Brad St. Louis)

Tight end Tony McGee isn't remotely new to this blog as I've shared a number of his rookies and inserts with you, but this is my first hit of his, which is no surprise since he has just two, with the other being an autograph out of 1995 Pro Line.  Since I can't exactly be choosy I don't mind too much that he shares this card with two other TEs (though St. Louis was apparently mainly a long snapper in the NFL).  Now to chase down that autograph....

Denard Robinson 2013 Absolute Rookie Premiere Materials AFC-NFC triple jersey (#73/99)

Denard Robinson 2013 Topps Mini Autographs auto

I'm sure everybody that's reading this here post knows Denard is another guy familiar to my collection.  He's got plenty of cards to choose from and I can often find very good prices for them on COMC even if it's not during a big time sale.  The fact that it was Black Friday meant I grabbed these two for mere peanuts.  The Absolute triple jersey is my tenth relic-only card of him and was a fun pickup thanks to the low price and great photo.  I also dug up an autograph of the Mini variety from the same year and tried to scale the images to give you a better idea of its size.  Denard is the subject of the first of two milestones today as he becomes the 12th player in my collection to reach the 30-hit mark!

Jake Ryan 2015 Contenders auto RC

Although I haven't shown off any cards of him to-date, I believe I've mentioned former LB Jake Ryan once or twice over here.  A player who was generally considered a three-star recruit, I'd argue that he outplayed that rating over his four years (2011-15) in Ann Arbor.  Green Bay saw enough out of him to grab him in 2015's fourth round and he's seen a decent amount of action in his first two seasons for the Pack.  Hopefully more success awaits him in the pros.  For now I'm just happy to add him to my collection with this Contenders signature.  Speaking of that autograph, I'd say Jake has something to work on during the off-season.

Matt Wile 2011 Leaf Army All-American Bowl auto

Today's final card is also today's last new player.  Wile was both a place-kicker and punter for the Wolverines from 2011-15.  He mostly handled kickoffs his freshman year, mixed punting and field goals the next two, then pretty much focused on the PK role during his senior season.  He went undrafted, as many kickers do, and bounced around a few practice squads before seeing game action with Atlanta and Arizona.  I wouldn't exactly count on him to appear in any of Panini's products any time soon so I was happy to grab this Leaf Army signature; that product his proved valuable in the past when it's come to landing cards of some of the more obscure Wolverines.

I'm glad to end my showoff of 2016 purchases with this post, but before I'm done I have one more milestone to celebrate:  with today's haul I've eclipsed the 200 mark for unique players in my football collection by moving up to 202 thanks to today's newbies.  While I'm excited to add to my collection any way I can, it's especially fun to find something of a player I haven't yet acquired and making things even more diverse.  And that's how I'd like to close the book on last year.

Now that I'm caught up on this stuff, stay tuned for trade packages--January was a great month!--and more, including some fun eBay scores.

2016 COMC purchases: the quest for 15

We're halfway through the regular season and Michigan has roared out to a 6-0 record thanks to a historically dominant defense and pretty good offense--just ask Rutgers!  Things are starting to shake out like a repeat of 2006, when a team full of future NFL draft picks went 11-0 leading up to a huge #1 vs. #2 matchup with an undefeated Ohio State squad.  If that's the case this year, hopefully things go better for the Wolverines, who lost a close one to those Buckeyes, then a not-so-close-one in their bowl game.

With all that in mind, the goal this year is 15 wins:  12 in the regular season, one for the Big Ten Championship, and two in the playoff.  To that end, here's 15 Michigan Football hits--the last of my COMC pickups that need to be posted, which will get me all caught up (temporarily!)--which will hopefully give the team some good juju in the second half of 2016:

Jason Avant 2006 Playoff NFL Playoffs Signature Proofs Silver auto (#015/150)

Jason Avant 2006 Topps Triple Threads triple jersey auto RC (#67/99)

Avant has generally been a top 10 player in my collection--these give me 47 to tie him for seventh with Adrian Arrington--thanks to a nice number of hits to track down, like these two.  The Playoff card features one of my favorite types of stickers for that type of autograph, even if the signature got a bit cut off.  And the Triple Threads is my second from that set, with this being his "true RC" from the product and the other being a Red version with a "#81" relic pattern.

Anthony Carter 2013 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Jerseys dual jersey (#05/50)

AC joins the ranks of players with double-digit hits in my collection with this very cool double jersey out of Ultimate Collection, one of UD's nicer products.  Because Carter was considered such a big college star, many of his hits fall in collegiate-focused products, and that explains why nine of my ten hits of his are in a Michigan uniform.

Braylon Edwards 2005 Topps Rookie Throwback Jerseys jersey

Braylon Edwards 2006 Ultimate Collection Jerseys Silver jersey (#62/75)

Braylon Edwards 2008 Upper Deck Heroes Jerseys Blue jersey (#12) (#007/125)

Braylon Edwards 2010 Limited Monikers Autographs Gold auto (#08/25)

I can't say I was focused on him this time but just happened to find some nice prices on four new cards of Bray-Bray.  I liked the design of the Topps Rookie Throwback relic and its card-within-a-card.  Ultimate Collection makes another appearance today in the form of a tiny, numbered relic from 2006.  Upper Deck Heroes is one of my favorite products and I managed to score a numbered relic parallel of one of Braylon's issues from 2008.  And finally, I was happy to add another autograph of Edwards, and a low-numbered one at that, from 2010 Limited.  Edwards sits in third place in my collection with 68 hits.

Devin Gardner 2015 Panini Father's Day Rookie Class Jerseys Cracked Ice jersey

Here's a card I believe I acquired from Tim of GSNHoF fame in one of our many COMC deals.  From one of Panini's many Father's Day issues comes this very cool jersey swatch, even if it's from an "event-worn" jersey.  Most of these that I've seen elsewhere have pretty interesting swatches like this one, which includes a good chunk of the New Era logo.  The scan doesn't quite show it well, but this is the more limited Cracked Ice version, where the background has a shiny, fractured red look in the background.  It's a fun addition as my sixth Gardner.

Brian Griese 2003 Playoff Prestige Game Day Jerseys jersey

This Brian Griese--my 15th--is a nice example of a jersey relic that could practically be called a patch.  It's got all three colors from the jersey, with a nice big chunk of blue and an orange stripe, plus a bit of stitching on the white section.  As nice as it looks it's no wonder why I was willing to pay a bit more than $2.50 for it, which is higher than I usually go for relic-type cards.  It's definitely one of my better looking relics of the journeyman QB.

Marlin Jackson 2005 Bowman's Best Blue auto (#046/299)

Here's another case where I threw down a bit more money than usual for a card:  $2.75 for this Marlin Jackson parallel autograph.  If I was a bit antsy to get it, that's because I'm working on the autographed and non-autographed rainbow of Jackson from this set, and I now need just the two Silver versions #d /25 to complete the project.  For whatever reason this was the best price I'd seen for the Blue auto, so I just decided to go ahead and make it my 21st card of the former DB.

Mario Manningham 2008 SPx Winning Materials NFL Dual 50 dual jersey (#20/50)

Mario Manningham 2013 Totally Certified Red Materials jersey (#240/299)

It may not be many, but here's two Manninghams, one for each of the teams for whom he played over his six NFL seasons.  The SPx card is my sixth of him from that product, five of which are from the Winning Materials and Rookie Materials groups.  Meanwhile, I'm not sure how many folks remember Super Mario playing his final two seasons, 2012-13, with the Niners, and scoring a single TD in 2012 over 18 games before being derailed by injuries.  Mario continues to be a huge part of my collection as the fifth player to reach the 60-hit mark!

Denard Robinson 2013 Prestige NFL Passport Autographs auto

Denard Robinson 2015 Donruss Threads jersey

I don't know what Denard's NFL future is considering he's barely seen the field this year, but that won't stop me from collecting him; I don't base those decisions on NFL performance anyway.  So I'll keep adding everything I can of one of the most electric players I've ever witnessed in Ann Arbor, like these two Panini-branded hits.  The Prestige card is nice as it's my 16th of #16 that features an autograph, plus it notes Shoelace's school front and center.  Meanwhile, the jersey relic is a nice, simple attempt out of last year's Donruss product, which is generally one of my favorites.  Robinson is closing in on 30 hits in my collection as this pair gives him 28.

David Terrell 2001 Topps Reserve Autographs auto

Finally, I have a very nice David Terrell (but not Anthony Thomas!) autograph to show off from 15 years ago, which is crazy to me as that's the year I graduated high school and headed to UM for college.  I remember the former #1 putting up some huge numbers in 2000, so this card brings back some nice memories for me, and it doesn't hurt that it's a good looker too.  Reserve was only around in 2001 and '02, but it resulted in some solid designs like this on-card autograph of Terrell, representing my 43rd hit (three behind A-Train, if you're curious) of the star receiver.

With this post I'm finally caught up on all my COMC pickups from this year, plus everything else I had in-hand in terms of purchases, actually.  That won't last too long, however, as I have some baseball PC additions via eBay that should be arriving this week, so watch for those this week as Michigan prepares for its homecoming game against Illinois.