2014 COMC purchases: Wild Card Wolverines

I'm writing this last post showing off my Black Friday/Cyber Monday COMC haul while watching Leon Hall's Bengals team take on the Colts, with Larry Foote's Cardinals having already bowed out to the Panthers yesterday (and seriously, could Logan Thomas be THAT bad that their only option was Lindley?).  On a Wild Card NFL Sunday, here's the last of my football pickups this time:

Leon Hall 2007 SAGE HIT Autographs Gold auto (#34/250)

Here's this post's first Bengals card, even if it's of Hall in his college uni (which I obviously prefer!).  Hall's actually done pretty well to return from some injury issues, so I'm happy to see him playing today.  For a pretty reasonable price I was able to grab this Gold version of a SAGE HIT Silver auto I already had.  Leon's now good for 37 hits in my football PC, which is pretty cool.

David Harris 2011 Score Signatures auto

The cards in today's post slightly skew towards defense, including tackling machine LB David Harris of the Jets.  I'm curious how many times I've referred to Harris as a "tackling machine" but not enough to actually do the work to figure it out.  Anyway, I was surprised to find I didn't have this autograph from 2011 Score so I picked it up on the cheap.  Maybe with a new coach and GM the Jets won't be so embarrassing and I won't have to root for Harris to join a new team!  This is my 24th hit of Harris, by the way.

Mike Hart 2008 Bowman Chrome Rookie Autographs auto

Here's Colt #1 and it's definitely my favorite Indy player of all time, Mike Hart.  For some reason it's hard to track down his signatures on COMC for less than $4 or $5, and the few that are there I already have.  Thankfully I found a nice deal on this '08 Bowman Chrome auto, which takes a design I like and adds a great signature to it.  Did I mention I like to collect Hart?  This is my 55th hit of his, putting him one card behind Braylon Edwards for third place.

Marlin Jackson 2005 Bowman's Best Red auto (#171/199)

Today's other Michigan Colt is former CB Marlin Jackson.  I've slowly been putting together his 2005 Bowman's Best auto rainbow, and depending on how that goes I may look to add the base and its parallels as well.  I now have four versions including the "base," Green, and Bronze.  It's a good looking set and Marlin's a player I like so that makes it even more fun tracking these down.  This one's one of 18 Jackson hits I now own.

Chris Perry 2004 Leaf Rookies & Stars Masks dual mask (#074/325)

Now it's time for another RB, and Chris Perry says he wants to even the score for the Bengals.  He does so with my second facemask relic.  My other one, of WR Marquise Walker, also came from a Leaf R&S set, and I'm glad they thought outside of the box and came up with a very unique relic idea.  You really don't see helmet relics that often, and facemasks even less so since there's not nearly as much to work with, so if you see one of a player you like I suggest you grab it!  Perry, by the way, hits a small milestone by reaching 40 hits with this card, and he's just the eighth player to get there for me so far.

Anthony Thomas 2001 SPx Blue Foil jersey auto RC (#019/550)

You can take the A-Train to today's last RB card, which happens to be a really nice one.  SPx often puts out a nice RC design that combines a jersey and autograph, and I like what UD did here a lot, especially with the signature window area, which does a great job of highlighting one of football's all-time best 'graphs.  Oh yeah, and just as importantly, this evens up Thomas with David Terrell at 37 cards, putting those two in a three-way tie with Leon Hall for ninth; the next player up?  Previously-shown David Harris and his 24 hits, which is a pretty big gap.

Donovan Warren 2010 Press Pass Autographs Gold auto (#24/99)

Donovan Warren 2010 SAGE HIT Autographs Gold auto (#172/250)

Donovan Warren is the last player up today, and he can't break the Bengals/Colts tie since he never appeared with either team (or in an NFL game for that matter), but it doesn't really matter since the Colts appear to have the game in the bag anyway.  As for Warren, the Press Pass signature was my first of him from that set, and since he doesn't appear on that many cards I may try to track the others down eventually.  The SAGE card, though, is more exciting for me since it gives me the trifecta of base, Silver, and this Gold version.  I'm sure I'll feature it as a completed project/rainbow sometime soon when I don't have anything else to write about.  These two are included as part of Donovan's new total of six hits.

That's it for this COMC run, but as I've mentioned a few times, I spent the rest of my December budget--what I didn't use on the Tom Brady auto--during the Boxing Day sales, so once those ship you'll get to see those.  For now the collection stands at 969 cards (which, again, would have been 970 if I hadn't picked up a hit I didn't realize I already had).  Stay tuned for more soon!

2014 trade package #7: a Card and a CB from Cards on Cards!

This evening on TMV I posted a huge haul from another awesome trade package thanks to Kerry of Cards on Cards.  I also noted that he threw in a couple more Wolverines for my collecting pleasure, something he also managed to do the last time we traded in September of 2012.  Once again, a trade with Madding ended up being very useful for my PCs:

Mike Matheny 2004 Fleer

Kerry and I have a couple PCs that overlap, and naturally, Matheny is one of them as he played for the Cardinals for five seasons and will soon open his third as their manager.  This 2004 base card is the one he had that I didn't already own, so I'm happily adding it to the catcher's PC.  This excellent play-at-the-plate shot is card #40 for Mike, which means I'm celebrating another mini milestone!

Donovan Warren 2010 SAGE HIT Autographs auto

I briefly worried when I pulled this card out of the package--I mean, not too much since Warren was a very good CB for the Wolverines, and of course I love autographs--because I thought I had it for sure.  The reason:  I actually have the Silver version, but somehow never picked up the "base" card.  Therefore, Kerry put me 33% further towards a rainbow that I'll probably chase with my next COMC purchase.  This is also my fourth overall Warren hit (all autos), all of which include him in a college uni, which gets a big thumbs-up from me.  Good looking out, Kerry!

Considering how much even just these two cards added to my PCs, I'll have to make sure to trade with this guy more often!  Thanks again, Kerry, for a great trade, and I'll try to make sure we deal more often.  Readers, please head over to a great blog written by a fellow college sports enthusiast (Oregon) and show some love for Cards on Cards tonight!

Check out my blowout: day 13: brought to you by the letter "W"

Previously:  day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, day 6, day 7, day 8, day 9, day 10, day 11, day 12

We're just about winding down the CoMB stuff here as I anticipate something like three more posts after this one.  Today's theme--because I wanted to have one--is the letter "W."  And really, that's about all that ties these five cards together:

Donovan Warren 2010 Press Pass PE Sideline Signatures Gold auto

Donovan Warren 2010 Press Pass PE Sideline Signatures Gold Red Ink auto:

Warren was a highly-touted CB who often played well but made an ill-advised pre-senior year departure, and ever since it's been pretty clear that the door DID hit him in the ass on his way out.  Wikipedia says he's now on the Bears' practice squad, and considering how much he's bounced around, I doubt he'll ever become much more than a reserve player.  But here at TMM we tend to reminisce about great college players instead of focusing on their NFL careers.  That being said, I'm happy to have my second and third (here's the first) autos of the erstwhile Wolverine.  Would you believe, out of all of these packs of that set I opened, I didn't pull a single Warren?
Anyway, he has a pretty cool, if somewhat incomplete signature.  At least he doesn't totally go the lazy route with his first name; I respect him more for making it clear you're getting his first initial and that's it.  It's pretty obvious between the two cards that there's a variance in how he signs his last name.  What's interesting is that there's actually fewer copies (supposedly 50 total) of the Red Ink version, yet that's the one that looks lazier, but maybe he signed all of them on the same day and hit those last.  Regardless, a pair of cool cards, and I think Jeff would agree with me.

Marquise Walker 2002 Bowman's Best Blue jersey:

If this one looks familiar to you, thanks for being so familiar with my collection, I love you.  Second, that's because this is the "Blue" parallel version of a card I already have. 

Marquise Walker 2002 SAGE Autographs Bronze auto (#244/500):

Here's this post's requisite Michigan uniform card.  This is from one of those previous SAGE sets where the stickers absolutely suck to scan because of the obnoxiousness of the holograms in the background.  So you'll have to trust me when I say that it definitely looks better in-person.  By the way, this is my first Walker in a Wolverines uniform, which is a big plus.

Marquise Walker 2002 SPx jersey auto RC (#491/999):

Possibly my favorite from the Walkers in the package because it's an autograph/jersey RC, but also because I got it for so ridiculously cheap.  Well, all that, and it features a nice touch that I've come to love on some Upper Deck cards:  that beautiful, pristine white autograph "window" which really makes signatures pop on this kind of card because of the color contrast and because they give the player such a nice surface on which to sign; more examples are here and here, to name a few.

These five run the football total up to 484, making the new four-sport total 624.  I've already spoiled it a few times, so I'll remind you that 500 will happen by the end of CoMC, and you'll be treated to a few other milestones soon as well!

Trade with Dennis, part 1.

Every time I trade with Dennis, he goes above and beyond.  I don’t know how each package I get from him ends up being better than the last.  He has high standards for the next trade, I can tell you that much.  Although in order for me to get the right cards to match what he sent me, it may be awhile before he has to come up with anything else.  Maybe he just likes to send me awesome cards because some of them go on his blog.  Who am I to complain though, if you got anything you want me to show here, Dennis, go ahead and send them to me.  You should send me all the cards you have in Michigan uniforms, you know, just so I can show them again on your blog.  Go ahead, you know the address.  Until then, let me show you some of this awesome package I received.

Bernard Robinson – 2004-2005 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects autograph

My collection seriously lacks the other sports other than football.  I do have a few now of basketball.  I want to say this is my 4th basketball auto, and my 2nd of Bernard Robinson, but that’s without looking.  It may be more, it may be less, but that’s what I remember.

I need to work on my basketball autos, I know I want to get Zack Novack’s and Stu Douglass’ as they are the lone senior starters on this years team.  And after that disappointing finish to our basketball program after the exciting year we had, I can at least look forward to those.  I don’t follow basketball cards enough to know when those kinds of sets will get released so I’ll just have to search every so often.  But I definitely appreciate this addition to the basketball auto’s.

 

 

 

 

Leon Hall – 2007 Sage Aspire autograph

Great action shot of the former CB.  Even though I need more basketball autographs, I’m certainly not turning down any football auto’s, especially from players I remember watching.

 

 

 

 

Donovan Warren – 2010 Press Pass Authentics Sideline Signatures autograph

Again, never going to turn down autographs of players I remember watching.  Especially with on card autographs.  I’m a long way from my autograph collection catching up with Dennis’ but I like the way it’s heading.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Breaston – 2007 Topps Draft Picks & Prospects autograph

I loved Steve Breaston when he played with us.  He was a great receiver but he was more valuable to us as a return man.  He was exciting to watch when the ball was kicked to him.

And he had an awesome Rose Bowl game in 2005 where he had 315 all-purpose yards.  Which was the last time we’ve seen the Wolverines in the Rose Bowl game.  We lost that one by 1 point to the Texas Longhorns.  But not because of Breaston, he had a career game.

 

 

 

Anthony Carter – 2008 Press Pass Authentics Top 25 autograph #’d 112/155

I was drooling over the Anthony Carter cards when Dennis showed them a few days ago.  I even remember being jealous.  There was a Wolverine autograph that I had to have.  One of the all-time greats to wear #1. Then I get this.  An on card autograph and he signed his number underneath.  Are you freaking kidding me, this card is in my collection now?  I can’t thank Dennis enough for this card.  I don’t really know what to say.  Like I said at the top of the post, he’s going to have a hard time topping this trade.  I’m going to have a hard time return the gratitude.

 

 

 

I’ll be back in a day or 2 to finish off the Michigan portion of the trade from Dennis.  With a couple of the cards he sent me, I will be starting a new collection as well.  So stick around for that announcement as well as the more great stuff Dennis has coming.  He also sent me a huge stack of great stuff for my other collections but you’ll have to see those over at My Sports Obsession over the next few weeks..

STAY TRUE TO THE MAIZE AND BLUE!!!