2014 eBay purchases: the Henne Hill show

The title came to mind because of the subjects of today's post, but the play on the old show name is also apt for the state of the Big Ten after just three weeks:

Anyway, at least my Wolverines won, so lets celebrate with some cards!

Chad Henne 2008 Leaf Limited Slideshow auto (#40/50)

This sweet Henne is actually my most recent eBay purchase (and only pickup of this month as of this post), and I landed it for just a bit over $5 10 days ago, a low price that definitely surprised me.  I've said before that I really admire the Slideshow inserts and hits, which is no surprise as I can point out I have Chad's fellow draftee and teammate Jake Long from the same set.  This one scanned a bit better than Long's card, but as usual both look better in-person anyway.  Regardless of his NFL performance, I love picking up another great hit of Henne, my 67th, tying him with the aforementioned Long for first place in my football PC!

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Triple Threads 217A Emerald triple jersey auto (#36/50)

Switching gears (and sports) we now move on to my favorite baseball PC player, Rich Hill, who's done quite well in the Yanks' bullpen in the season's second half.  This card is my next-most-recent purchase as I won the auction late last month for just $6 shipped.  I'm particularly happy to add this 2008 Triple Threads issue because I now have all 10 of his solo cards in that product:  two versions each of "base," Emerald, Gold, Sapphire, and Sepia, ranging from 99 copies on down to 10.  Of his 18 non-1/1s in the set I'm short just four:  three versions of a triple relic/auto card alongside Johnny Cueto and Tom Gorzelanny, plus a final booklet including Sam Fuld.

Although these are cards I "have to" pursue in trying to collect Rich's PC, I've been happy to do so since I very much like the look of the '08 TTT set.  I also have a hard time finding much to dislike about almost any card that includes his autograph, of course.  Speaking of those, this is my 109th hit of Hill, and in terms of his PC, I now stand at 228/347, inching myself closer to the 2/3 mark.

With a couple interesting auctions ending early this week, hopefully I'll have more fun stuff to show off to you soon.  Until then, please enjoy the clown show that is 2014 Big Ten Football!

2013 eBay purchases #25-29: Rich x 6 = 200 x 2 + 1000

Today's post is one I've been looking forward to writing for some time now.  You'll see why if you read on.  As for me, my English major brain needs a minute to recover from all that math in the title.

The month of May was very kind to my Rich Hill PC, as was eBay, now that I think about it.  I picked up six pretty nice Hills and decide to wait to show them off all at once:

Rich Hill 2009 Topps Update Black (#57/58)

Have a gander at the "worst" card of today's sextet.  This Black parallel closes the book on Rich's 2009 Topps Update run, including base, Gold, Target, and Wal-Mart.  That's definitely a nice feeling, and as usual the Black is my favorite of the parallels.  2009 in general is getting there, actually, as I now have 24/29 of his non-1/1s.  Also, this looks to be my 15th card of Rich pictured with the Orioles, with whom he pitched 14 games in 2009.

Rich Hill 2007 Sweet Spot Signatures Silver Stitch Silver Ink auto (#04/53)

I'll ask the usual rhetorical question:  who doesn't love these Sweet Spot autos?!  The silver ink paired with the same colored seams looks especially nice, and it only cost about $5.  Hill has a ridiculous 17 different versions in this set, but I'm slowly getting there now that I've hit number five (three baseballs, two gloves).  The more difficult quest will be finding the versions pairing him up with former teammate Aramis Ramirez.  By the way, the seemingly random numbering on this card can be attributed to his Cubs jersey number.

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Triple Threads 217A Sapphire triple jersey auto (#01/10)

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Triple Threads 217A Gold triple jersey auto (#20/25)

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Triple Threads 217B Gold triple jersey auto (#25/25)

And here's a triple helping of Triple Threads!  The Sapphire and one of the Golds came from a guy from whom I previously bought a few other TTT Hills, and those set me back a way-too-cheap $10, while the latter Gold was just $3.  I now own an encouraging 11/18 non-1/1 versions in the set, including the "A" (stars) and "B" ("CHC") variations of the Golds and Sapphires.  Better yet, I unintentionally picked up both Sapphire cards #d 01/10!  These are easily among Rich's best cards and adding three at once for under $15 was nothing short of a coup for my PC.

Rich Hill 2008 Upper Deck Timeline 1995 SP Top Prospects auto

Finally, there's this sweet die-cut throwback auto.  It's a callback to UD's landmark 1995 set that honored what it considered some of the better rising Minor League stars (and includes several cards of Wonderful Monds, Tim!) of the time, and famously features a very limited Michael Jordan auto.  The set was done in this very style, which in some ways actually kind of feels like it was ahead of its time.  The autograph is pretty much equivalent to the base card plus some different coloring and looks fantastic.  This is definitely one of the more interesting Hill hits (up to 88 now!) that I own.

So I mentioned at the beginning that I was pretty eager to write this post, and I'll bet you're wondering why.  Well, you all know how much I like to celebrate milestones over here, large or small.  Today marks three huge accomplishments for me, in what I consider increasingly significant order:

1.  200 Michigan Baseball PC hits.  201, to be exact!  I was determined to make sure that Rich was responsible for that landmark, although odds were in his favor anyway--he represents about 44% of that collection.  I'm quite proud of hitting this mark with the year not even half over since it was one of my New Year's resolutions back in January.

2.  200 different Rich Hill PC cards.  Today's IHAS count is 203!  10 of those are 1/1s, so I look forward to claiming 200 non-1/1s as well.  As far back as last August I could claim about a third of that total, so now I'm enjoying the fruits of my labor (and quite a few trades--thank you all again!) such as daily eBay and COMC searches.  I've already passed the 50% mark and I won't be looking back.

3.  1000 Michigan Sports PC hits.

It would likely take me a good amount of time to dig through both blogs and figure out exactly when I hit 500, but I don't really care because today is all about celebrating 1K!  The sidebar has the current totals for all four sports, but as of today, my 1003 hits include baseball (201), basketball (19), football (713), and hockey (70).  Of my five New Year's milestone goals, I've already achieved the marks for baseball (200+, again) and unique football players (100+), and the others are within reach:  37 more football hits (with many in-hand) will make 750, I'll need just five more hockey hits for 75, and just 97 more hits from all sports will get me to the apparently conservative total of 1100 I was shooting for six months ago.

So as always, thanks so much to everyone that contributed to each of these totals; I really appreciate your help in improving my favorite PCs!

Stay tuned very soon for another eBay catchup post, and plenty more COMC hauls!

2013 COMC pickups #8: total eclipsed by Mike Hart

I had thought about finishing up a draft post of COMC pickups of one of my baseball PCs this evening, but then I decided on doing what I think is a cool post over on TMV, and in getting that ready I thought it would be appropriate to get this one up over here first.

Thanks to this year's COMC haul, I completed another collecting project--more specifically, a nameplate.  Given that the player's last name is only four letters long, I guess that may not seem especially difficult, but each letter was limited to just 62 copies, and it took me until recently to finish it regardless.  So which card am I all excited about today?:

Mike Hart 2008 SP Rookie Threads Lettermen 'H' patch auto

Huh, well that set sure looks familiar!  I've got one or more letters for each Wolverine in the set, including Arrington, Crable, Henne, and Long, in addition to Hart.  But Sparty's Big Brother, a.k.a. Jeff's homeboy has the honor of being the first to have his entire nameplate completed:

Sweet!  I just love the look of the letter patches UD used as they look like they could have come straight off a Michigan jersey.  The letters don't fit perfectly, but they're still plenty legible, as is #20's John Hancock.  So I'm extremely proud to be able to add my first football completed project to the Rainbows/Nameplates page!  Welcome home, Mr. Hart (my 48th, by the way).

If this post didn't excite you (and even if it did), here's one more shot at some entertainment courtesy a video this post's title somewhat references--the Literal Video version of Total Eclipse of the Heart:

2013 eBay purchase #22: getting Rich from a Gold Rush

And now, for another episode of "I've had these cards sitting on my desk for almost a month and haven't posted them yet" theater.

I managed to show off a few other eBay pickups in that time frame, but somehow I never got around to this trio.  All three came from infamous (but decent, in my experience) seller/possible shiller bigboydsportscards3.  I've seen some reasonable evidence presented that this seller shills their own auctions, but that doesn't ever affect me because, one, I don't buy anything remotely high-end, and two, I have my absolute top-shelf high bid; if the price goes above that, oh well, I'm not buying the card!  So to be clear, I've never had any issues with bigboyd over a growing number of eBay purchases.

In fact, this time things went very smoothly in that I was purchasing three BIN/OBO cards and was able to negotiate a fair price for the three-spot:  $11 delivered.  Considering how ridiculous the individual cards' prices were elsewhere, I was happy with that.  Which cards did I get?

Chris Getz 2012 Topps Gold Rush Stamped Promo

The Gold Rush cards were part of the 2012 Topps flagship wrapper redemption promo last year.  They don't differ a whole lot from the base set, aside from a big "GOLD RUSH" stamp below the Topps logo in the upper-left corner.  This was a prime Getz need for me that I can now check off of the list, and it's IHAS card #28 for me.

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Heritage Chrome Refractor (#060/559)

This was another example of a quality Heritage design, and as usual, the Chrome cards really came out nice. Therefore, the Refractors look even better!  I think I might have missed out on a good deal for one of these on COMC recently, but I managed to grab it cheaply here, and now I have four of Rich's five 2008 Heritage issues, meaning I'm short just the Chrome Black Refractor, which isn't plentiful at 59 copies, but shouldn't be terrible to track down.

Rich Hill 2009 Upper Deck Spectrum Spectrum Swatches Light Blue jersey (#67/99)

What's better than one brand new Rich Hill for my PC?  Try two!  Better yet, this is another hit I didn't have.  Better BETTER yet, it completes Hill's four-card Spectrum run from 2009, including the

Blue jersey,

auto/jersey, and

"patch."

I didn't manage to score an interesting swatch with a pinstripe here, but for the price, I'm not complaining.  The quartet looks pretty nice together, though I don't think I'll throw it in with my completed nameplates/rainbows as I don't think it quite fits the theme.  I'm happy to have all of them, now, though.  And today's pair puts me at 197 unique Hill cards including 10 1/1s and 83 hits.  Major milestones await including 200 Hills, 100 of his hits, 200 Michigan Baseball hits, and 1000 four-sport hits, some of which I should reach very soon!

I'm looking to have a fairly busy weekend, so I'm not sure how soon I'll be posting again, but I have plenty more COMC cards to catch up on, plus I'll have a very cool eBay pickup some time next week, so stay tuned!

2013 trade package #9: Kahuna my trade-a (what a wonderful phrase)

More than two months ago I completed a fantastic trade with Tim H., a.k.a. Big Kahuna, of eclectic blog Enough Already (still love that pic at the top of your blog, buddy).  Well, mostly completed.  See, whereas he included everything he should have, I neglected to pack up one of the original cards he requested from me--a baseball letter patch/auto.  A few weeks went by (I can't remember how long) and I finally got around to sending that his way, along with a few other goodies to make up for my forgetfulness.  Ordinarily that would be the end.  Then again, this is what we're dealing with here:

Proving that all blogging traders are 100% awesome forever and ever, amen, Tim made sure a huge bubble mailer made its way into my mailbox earlier this week.  Besides the cards you'll see below in a moment, he included a note saying he wasn't expecting anything back.  Unfortunately for him, that's not how we roll here at TMM, and I WILL return the favor...eventually.

So if you're reading this blog you know what he sent was Michigan-related.  But maybe you think this was a simple package filled with some random base cards.  Um, what the hell is wrong with you--did you even click the link to the original trade post above?  Tim sends Big Kahuna Burger-quality items, and as we all know, they DO make a tasty burger, so that's saying something.  Here's what was in the package:

Triple-H time!  Half of the package's 10 Michigan uniform cards hail from this group here.  The Press Pass Henne, to start with, looks great.  The SAGE HIT cards are base ones but still appreciated.  Next comes a trio of Mike Hart numbered cards:  the LCM is a rookie #d 1001/1500;  the 2008 Donruss Threads Gridiron Kings (probably my favorite in the package) is a Framed Blue parallel #33/50; and the Finest Moments is an X-Fractor with an even rarer existence--it's #09/25!  After that, of the Trio of Halls, my favorite is the Trilogy right down the middle, a clear RC that's #123/399.

Maybe Tim WAS eating a Kahuna burger when he packed these cards up because most of the package is GRIESE!  Fully one-third of the 24 included cards were of walk-on-to-winner QB Brian Griese.  This really is a great bunch, with the weakest link being the Collector's Edge card that creatively labels him as "JETS WR."  The rest are fantastic, including a pair of nice base cards (Stadium Club FTW!), a shiny Gold Crown Die-Cut, a UD MVP insert, a 2000 Donruss base, a ridiculously nice Elite Passing the Torch (#d 0408/1000) from the days where inserts looked awesome, and finally a Scorecard parallel from Score, #d 0952/1000.  The Passing the Torch insert is just barely my second-favorite of the group because it really is beautiful, especially in-person.  And speaking of sick Elite inserts, the Michigan uni Avant, #d 0326/1000, is an amazing addition to my Michigan insert PC, which I'll be trying to assemble and scan when I have time.

We close things out today with a very strong six-pack.  The first three include a pair of Michigan uni cards of Alan Branch, you know, as in

"Alan Branch kills QBs"?  I already had the BowChro RC, but I'm happy to have another.  Next up is a shiny Crown Royale insert of A-Train that I hadn't ever seen before.  He's followed by Lombardi Award winner LaMarr Woodley, who's STILL a beat.  Finally, there's a numbered 2009 Bowman parallel (#17/50!) of the criminally underemployed Charles Woodson, who deserves AT LEAST one more chance for a second ring (you hear me, Patriots?).

Tim, thanks again for the wonderful surprise of an out-of-the-blue trade package stuffed with high-quality Michigan football inserts!  I'll never get enough, but the rest of you should head over to Enough Already! right now.

2013 eBay purchases #19, 20, and 21: 42

A trio of eBay pickups hit my mailbox recently, and rather than split them up into separate posts, which would delay me from getting other things posted, you get to see all of them at once!  Better yet, not that I remotely intended for this to happen, the cards' serial numbers add up to a very special number that has significant relevance this time of year:

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I will soon, because it looks fantastic and I've been hearing good things.  Jackie Robinson has a loose affiliation with UM as innovative baseball exec Branch Rickey, who played a large role in getting Robinson to the big leagues, received his bachelor's in law and was baseball head coach at Michigan for a bit.

So anyway, that explains the significance of the title, and my bit of a stretch of an attempt to use a post here to commemorate Jackie Robinson Day (which, of course, was yesterday).  Here's what I picked up:

J.J. Putz 2013 Topps Camo (#26/99)

Just another parallel of my pursuit of J.J.'s 2013 Topps rainbow.  I count 13 different versions right now (including Opening Day, but not 1/1s) and I can claim six of them as IHAS.  If you want to see what a 2013 Diamondbacks player rainbow looks like, take a look at Moe's completed project at My 2008 Topps Set Blog. Amazing!  Speaking of IHAS, my new Putz count is 64 (three 1/1s), with LOTS more to come.  For a tad over $2 thanks to eBay bucks, I'm pretty happy.

Chris Getz 2010 Topps Triple Threads Emerald triple jersey auto (#15/50)

I spent a bit under $6 to nab my second version of Getz's 2010 TTT card.  Oddly enough, the original one I picked up was even rarer than this one at just 25 copies.  I actually have a third in-hand but not scanned, which means I'm 60% of the way through that collection.  While I'm mentioning numbers again, this is my 27th IHAS Getz, and eighth hit overall of the KC 2B (all autographed in some form).

Rich Hill 2007 Finest Rookie Finest Moments Autographs Framed Printing Plates Black (1/1)

And here's today's REAL prize!  If you were doing the math you realized this one had to have a serial number starting with "1", right?  Anyway, I generally do a quick check of my Rich Hill eBay Saved Search once or twice a day, and this one snuck in as I think maybe a three-day auction since it appeared suddenly.  I knew I had to have it, as usual, and prepared to throw down a bit of money, up to around $20 shipped since I usually don't like to go higher.  Fortunately for me, $15.50 delivered was enough to add my TENTH Hill 1/1, and 20th 1/1 in my entire PC, meaning Hill represents half of those!.  Of those 10, nine are plates and four feature autographs, which is pretty cool.

For those of you that might find this card sorta familiar, it's the plate version of Hill's Rookie Finest Moments auto card, which I have here, as well as the Refractor version.  It also happens to be my 195th IHAS Hill (including the aforementioned 10 1/1s), putting me tantalizingly close to a major milestone.  I can also claim 82 different hits, more than enough to pace my entire Michigan collection.  And I even have a couple more on the way from eBay very soon!

So let me know what you think of these pickups this week as you celebrate Jackie and all he did to make the game what it is today.  While you're at it, go see 42 and let me know how it is!

2013 COMC pickups #2: some of a Rich

Ordinarily I might have saved my Rich Hill stuff for later on in these posts, but 1) I don't have many of him to show off this time! and 2) I'm probably the only one that would consider him the #1 choice for saving the best for last.  So here's the six cards of my favorite PC player that I picked up between the year's pair of packages so far:

2007 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Black No Number SP

Got all that?  Good!  Rich has six different mini versions in this set and I now have three of them; I'm still missing the Black, No Card Number (#d /50), and Bazooka (/25).  Fortunately for me, he appears this much in only the 2007 and 2008 sets, so I don't exactly have to get into mini-mania.  I do have to say that the black border here looks sharp.

2007 Topps Red Back

Topps, sometimes your inserts suck.  And sometimes they really, REALLY suck.  What a lame, boring, useless concept for an insert in the 21st century.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition jersey

I have to admit that this one kind of came out of nowhere for me.  Sure, it was on the checklist, but it's not like I have it memorized, plus there's plenty of other sets in which Rich appears that I've never seen.  So of course I was excited when I saw this card available, and on sale to boot, which meant another box checked!  It combines a typically nice photo with a great pinstriped swatch.  I've always been more of an autograph person than a fan of relics, but for a couple bucks this one is fine in my view.

2009 O-Pee-Chee Black Blank Back

Why did UD produce a card with a back that lists all of the redemptions Topps has fulfilled in a reasonable amount of time in the last five years?  Seriously, though, like the A&G Mini above, the black border looks sharp here.  Rich has four cards in this set, and since I have this one and the base card, I just need the the regular Black insert and the Black Mini.  Also, this is apparently my 17th Oriole card of Hill.

2009 Upper Deck

Ahhhhhh, I loves me some borderless photography.  That Other Brand doesn't seem to be a fan, but how can you not enjoy a card like this where the photo gets all the attention instead of a bunch of crap surrounding it?  Here you get a great shot of a lefty in his pitching motion with a good grip on the ball.

2009 Upper Deck Spectrum Spectrum Swatches patch (#03/25) 

And I get to finish up with a bang!  Well, sort of.  There ARE slightly better versions of this patch out there, but nothing that made it worth paying more than the $3.50 that netted me this one.  Seriously, I think the best I've seen so far is a two-color version, so I don't think this is exactly a premium patch set we're talking about.  The swatch I ended up with is pretty nice anyway.  Of the four versions of this card I can also boast the Blue jersey and jersey/auto, leaving me short just the Light Blue jersey (#d /99), which I'm working on now.  The boarders and bottom and the overall color scheme in this set are pretty much a hot mess, but they're still not horrible cards.

These six additions put me in a position that's now fairly unfamiliar:  I currently don't have any new Rich Hill cards still to scan or on their way to my mailbox!  I guess that's sort of to be expected now that I've hit 184 (plus nine 1/1s) of his PC, which means statistically I'm less likely to turn up new stuff as I go forward.  That's ok, though--I'll keep plugging along, especially towards new milestones like 200 different cards.  Speaking of the "M" word, the pair of hits puts old Rich at 81 of those!  Meanwhile, Michigan Baseball sits just seven cards short of its own 200-hit milestone, with lots and lots left to show off from COMC, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

I'll be back very soon with another COMC pickup, and may decide to switch things up a bit to keep it fresh, so you never know (hell, I don't) what I'll be posting next.

2013 eBay purchase #17: Rich's required reading

I'm back today with yet another eBay pickup from this month, and it's a doozy:

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Triple Threads Relics Pairs Rookie-Stars Autographs Gold dual auto-triple jersey (with Sam Fuld) (#25/25)

You might remember this pairing from such cards in my PC as this one, which is slightly more common at 50 copies.  This set me back about $12 shipped as I was once again the only bidder, and it again came from a guy liquidating a ton of 2008 Triple Threads.  I asked him if he had any other Hills from the set available and he said he'd be listing them eventually (hopefully all at once this time so I can save on shipping), because while I'm now at eight of his non-1/1 cards (and 10 with), there's still 10 more (and seven more) that I need, including several more multiplayer versions.  I at least only need one more card pairing Hill with Fuld numbered above one, so that's progress.

Today's card puts Hill at an insurmountable lead of 79 hits and 178 IHAS cards.  I can't wait to get to 100 and 200, and I have a feeling at least the latter will happen fairly soon!

Stay tuned for at least one more eBay pickup if the seller ever gets around to shipping it.

2013 eBay purchase #13: call me Richmael

Just one card to show off today, but like Highlander, there could only BE one, namely a card that would make Old Ahab proud:

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Triple Threads White Whale Printing Plates BB triple jersey auto (1/1)

I've put together a decent number of Rich's 2008 Triple Threads variants over the years, and I can now say that I've reached the 1/3 mark:  9/27.  That includes 1/1s, like this guy above, and the other one currently in my possession.  That's certainly a lot, especially when you consider that he has nine 1/1s in this series alone, but I tend to collect those for fun, not because I have to have ALL THE ONE-OF-ONES, you know.

This one came to me courtesy of the only bid on an auction that ended the other day:  $19 plus another $2 for shipping.  Certainly not cheap, but for the right card, I'm willing to go around that amount, especially since I haven't thrown down a whole lot of money this month so far.

This White Whale joins the ranks of my other 1/1s, which are near a milestone of their own at 19 strong.  It's also my 77th Hill hit and 185th IHAS card overall; I definitely can't wait to hit 100 and 200, respectively.

So to celebrate a one-of-a-kind card and the fast-approaching baseball season, why not a one-of-a-kind baseball song, thanks to a heads-up from fantastic blogger Shlabotnik Report:

2013 eBay purchases #s 8, 9, and 10: feeling Rich and bringing in the Bills

I had a very productive week on eBay and landed three nice new PC hits at great prices, so here's a trio of baseball pickups to celebrate spring training officially kicking in to gear:

Rich Hill 2008 Upper Deck Premier Signature Premier auto (#35/45)

I ignored the seller's $9.99 starting price and made a Best Offer instead, and fortunately for me, I nabbed this sweet Hill autograph for $5 shipped.  It's a great looking card, and a nice addition because I actually have another version from COMC that I'll be showing off soon.  My only nitpick:  why is an autograph, from a set called "Premier" that costs as much as it does, on a sticker?  Oh well, that's the hobby these days, but it doesn't really bother me--I'm just happy to have another Hill auto!

Rich Hill 2008 Upper Deck Premier Swatches Gold triple patch (#22/25)

Another Best Offer effort paid off when I made another $5 offer (plus $2.50 shipping this time) on a $10 card and saw it get accepted quickly.  $5 is simply a steal for this gorgeous triple patch from the same set as the auto above.  I already had the more common version #d /50 in my collection, so those two together make an eye-popping pair that rivals Jennifer Lawrence's (or your favorite actress!).  Hooray for patches done right!

This pair gives me 65 Rich Hill hits, which means he retakes the lead from Jake Long's 64 for the all-sport title.  I also have an IHAS count of 163 (plus eight 1/1s) for him, putting him very close to the halfway point of his non-1/1s, and I have the promised Hill COMC hit explosion post pending!

Bill Freehan 2006 Greats of the Game Tigers Greats Memorabilia bat

I closed out the week's purchases on Wednesday with this spiffy Freehan bat relic, and was very happy to find it in my mailbox this morning.  If today's first two cards were steals, this one was downright robbery:  my $0.50 bid was enough to bring those home, along with $2.50 for shipping.  Don't you love it when the shipping costs more than the card?  Anyway, I thought it was great to be adding a new Freehan hit to his PC, and at such a low price, since they're getting a bit harder for me to find.  I do have a decent number of Bill's 2006 GOTG cards in my possession, though, including the insert from which this relic is based.  Out of his eight from that set, I'm just missing a parallel, autograph, and autographed relic.  Soon, soon....  By the way, that's a new total of 17 Freehan hits and 56 cards (plus a plate) in his PC.

So once again I did pretty well with some nice pickups during a month where I'm trying to limit spending a bit due to my big January.  $15.50 for these three cards was well worth it, and while I've spent way more on COMC this year, I've actually done pretty well in my 10 eBay purchases, picking up 11 cards for about $65 this year.  Hopefully that trend will continue as I put more emphasis on my baseball player collections this year!

COMC haul #34: Ricky tikki rainbow

(Note:  all COMC haul posts can be accessed here)

(Anybody that can piece together what the title references is 100% awesome in my book!)

I'm back with more COMC stuff--what, you didn't think I ran out after I went a few days without posting that stuff, did you?  Today I'm showing off a bit more than half of the remaining base and insert Rich Hills I hadn't scanned yet.  Let's get right to it:

Rich Hill 2008 Upper Deck Documentary #955; Gold #s 355, 655, 955, 1255, 1555

I split these up for the purpose of putting them in Hill's album, but I decided it was better for everyone's sanity (including mine) if I just lumped these together.  The set is stupid, horribly done, and a terrible idea.  Again, why did they use the same exact photo on all 10 cards despite the fact that they discuss 10 different games?  And why did they feel the need to make 10 useless Gold parallels?  ARRRRGH!  But I am a player collector, so I must collect them.  At least this means I'm now done with the base versions, and need just three more of the Golds.

Rich Hill 2008 Bowman Blue (#129/500)

Rich Hill 2008 Bowman Chrome Orange Refractor (#12/25)

Rich Hill 2008 Bowman Chrome Refractor

 Rich Hill 2008 Bowman Chrome X-Fractor (#139/250)

Rich Hill 2008 Bowman Gold

That's more like it--on with the good stuff!  Old Rich has 11 non-1/1 cards between 2008 Bowman and Chrome, and I have 10 of them.  I'm just missing the Bowman Orange, #d /250.  It's typically difficult to find the rarer versions, but I had already picked up the Red Refractor (/5!) and this time I nabbed the Orange Refractor for a steal, considering only 25 were made.  I'll show off that whole rainbow when I pick up the last one I need, which will likely be via eBay.

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Chrome Blue Refractor

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Chrome Copper Refractor (#270/599)

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Chrome Refractor

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Chrome X-Fractor

And we're back with another rainbow pursuit.  Hill has nine different issues between 2008 Topps and Chrome, and again, I have all but one, in this case the rarest one:  a Red Refractor #d /25.  That might take a bit longer to dig up, but I'll get it soon enough and show off this rainbow as well.  More importantly, BLUE REFRACTORS FTW!  Is that or is that not the perfect color for a Cubs Refractor?

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Heritage Black Back

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Heritage Chrome (#0643/1959)

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Heritage SP

Finally we have this trio of 2008 Topps Heritage cards.  Done in the style of 1959 Topps, this set looks classy, which is pretty typical of a Heritage set, really.  I know my favorite in this group will be the Chrome Refractor when I can find it (plus I need the Black Refractor as well) but these are still pretty nice additions to the PC.  Of course I get a bit annoyed when a card has a variation on the back and I feel the need to scan it for completeness!

Maybe I should scan this many cards per post more often because once again it's milestone time:  including 1/1s I now have an IHAS count of 152 for Hill!  Of those, 145 are non-1/1s, giving me about 43% of his 340 (by my count) with more yet to come.  I'm expecting two more Hill posts before this COMC series is done:  the remaining base and inserts, then the rest of his hits (which I'll probably save for last to end with a bang).  Hopefully I'll have all those wrapped up before my NEXT COMC package arrives as I'll be getting that shipped soon!

2013 eBay purchase #s 2 and 3: plates and patches

A couple Sundays ago I showed off the spoils of my first purchase of 2013.  Today I'm back with two more buys I made recently over on the Bay:

Mike Hart 2008 SP Rookie Lettermen 'T' patch auto (#56/62)

Just as my first eBay pickups included a Hart letter patch/auto, so does this one.  For the hell of it, especially since the prices have been surprisingly reasonable, I've been hunting down his nameplate from this set, and I now have "A-R-T" which is pretty sweet:

Please believe that if I had any sort of "F" patch it would be in this image

This actually brings up an interesting dilemma:  there's an auction for an "H" ending tomorrow evening, but it's a slightly different version that not only has different numbering (out of 16 instead of 62), but also a different color scheme.  I have these three out of the four and they're all of the same variation, so should I hold out for an "H" that's the same?  That's the way I'm leaning, but we'll see how things go tomorrow night.

Anyway, I'm excited to pick up yet another one of these Lettermen auto patches as they look fantastic, plus, of course, Hart is one of my favorite players.  That's hit #41 of the former Michigan #20, by the way!

J.J. Putz 2012 Topps Mini Printing Plate Magenta (1/1)

If you thought I was excited about the Hart, just imagine how thrilled I was when this showed up in my regular search for Putz stuff.  Not only is it a great addition to my small 1-1/plate collection, and not only does it represent my 28th different Putz IHAS card, it also happens to be the third out of his four 2012 Topps Mini printing plates!  Way back last September I had picked up the first two in separate auctions for about $10 each.  As crazy as that was, I was indeed in possession of the Black and Yellow plates when this one became available.  I made it a priority to nab it for just a bit more than the other two, and a week later I now have it in my grubby little hands.

This is particularly exciting for me because I've never been this close to completing a 1/1 set before--the best I've done is a couple pairs of Rich Hill plates.  I realize how difficult it can be to pull something like this off, so I'm not going to go all Captain Ahab and make it my life's work to complete this set, but if I see it and the price is reasonable, that's awesome.  If not, I can be happy having as many as three 1/1s of one of the players in my PC, and that's great too.

I actually have one more eBay pickup I purchased before these, but the seller was extremely lazy about shipping and it looks like I'll have to wait a bit long.  When that shows up I'll make sure to get a post up for it as well.  For now, I'd say the $17.50 or so I spent for this pair was well worth it.