Not JUST Commons: Hill, Leach, Putz, and Richard

Today's post features the last of my first haul of cards from JustCommons.  This time I have a binder page's worth of cards that includes four of my PCs:

Rich Hill 2006 Upper Deck Special FX (#101)

Rich Hill 2006 Upper Deck Special FX Blue (#979)

It sure does seem like it's been a while since I posted new additions of Hill!  JustCommons has a pretty good selection of the guy, but I actually had everything but these two, though that's probably not a surprise since I'm over the 200-card mark.  '06 UD Special FX is kind of a goofy parallel set to the main offering from that year, but at least the color parallels of the base look pretty cool.  Of the 10 versions that exist I'm short just both of the Greens (/99) and Reds (/50), which I don't think will be terrible to find.  The pair gives Hill a new IHAS count of 213/347, and you all know that means MORE are on the way!

Rick Leach 1984 Fleer Update

Rick Leach 1984 Topps Traded

This is probably a good time to point out that Leach is the player that got me interested in making this purchase in the first place.  I'm tantalizingly close to finishing up his collection, so certain cards have been harder to find at times.  Both of these are now up on COMC, but they weren't when I was giving JustCommons a shot, plus the price I paid was excellent.  1984, as I think I previously mentioned, was the first year Leach appeared with Toronto on his cards.  His new IHAS count is an awesome 56/60 with a couple more incoming, meaning I might just complete his PC before the end of the year!

J.J. Putz 2002 Upper Deck 40-Man RC

J.J. Putz 2006 Upper Deck Special FX

J.J. Putz 2006 Upper Deck Special FX Green (#55/99)

J.J. Putz 2006 Upper Deck Special FX Red (#10/50)

The daunting task of acquiring each of Putz's 300+ cards has caused me to leave him out of some of my purchases, but I think I did well to add four more here.  The first is another RC from 2002, and I now have 16 of his 23 cards from that year.  The remaining three all hail from the aforementioned '06 UD Special FX set; fortunately for me, Putz only had ONE base card that year, so there's five versions for me to chase instead of 10, and I'm short just the Blue and Purple versions, which are actually the easiest based on numbering (or lack thereof).  J.J.'s new IHAS total is 161/307, and I should have a few more good ones to show off to you pretty soon.

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps

Last and, I guess, least, today, is a lone card of Padres hurler Clayton Richard.   Their selection on him wasn't quite as good as some of the other players I collect, but I was still glad to come away with something I needed of him.  Oddly enough, I was able to score the Target and Wal-Mart parallels before I landed his base card!  I've made some good headway on Clayton's PC recently, and his new IHAS total stands at 87/133 with a nice handful on its way.

That's it for THIS JustCommons package, but as I've said multiple times, I have another one that should be arriving this week that'll put this one to shame.  Until then, I have a couple more MMMM posts with which to entertain you, a much-needed eBay catchup, and a ton of COMC cards I still haven't gotten to!

2013 trade package #22: PC cards from the Dollar Store

Well, it's certainly nice to be writing a blog post after a Michigan football WIN, which I haven't been able to do recently!

There's plenty to celebrate in this post anyway, thanks to TMM trading legend Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store.  Once again I find myself in a hurry to get a trade post up before receiving ANOTHER package from the Canadian Loony!  Here's what the Dollar Store Sensei sent me this time:

From Michigan football, a guy I think you've heard of named Brady, along with a rare CFL appearance for the blog in the form of Shonte Peoples, a former Wolverines LB who was part of that league from 1994-2003.  Hooray new player for the PC!

Fact:  if you don't include hockey cards in a trade package leaving Canada, they politely arrest you, then take you to the nearest dollar store for a repack (but they don't withhold poutine or curling because cruel and unusual punishment is frowned upon up there).  My favorite here is the super-shiny Prizm rookie of Texas' own Chris Brown, who was drafted by the Wolverine-o-phile Coyotes.  Also, it's weird seeing goalie Marty Turco out of his pads and mask!

Chris Getz 2013 Topps Update

Chris Sabo 1992 Leaf Gold Previews

Next up we have a couple baseball additions for PCs.  I was fortunate that Doug pulled dupes of Getz from his box of 2013 Topps Update.  I'd say that photo is just begging for a caption.  That's Getz IHAS card #52/89 (plus a plate), with more on the way!

Along with that, Doug was able to dig up a sweet '92 Leaf insert of a fellow Michigan IF Chris, this time Mr. Sabo of the Reds.  By my count that's 30 for my growing "Spuds" PC, and that's awesome!

He also included the obligatory hits he always seems to come up with:

Darius Morris 2012-13 Totally Certified Rookie Roll Call auto

Whoa, it's rare (for this blog) basketball hit!  And better yet, it's a very nice one in the form of a slick auto of former UM star Darius Morris.  Morris is the 9th different player in my basketball collection and this is my 21st hit from that sport overall.  A Lakers draftee, he's now with Philly, so we'll see if he can parlay college success into something of an NBA career.

Aaron Palushaj 2011-12 Panini Prime quad jersey auto RC (#167/199)

Remember how I said the Coyotes were Michigan-friendly?  So are the Canadiens, and everything about this card screams Montreal colors, so it's fantastically well-done.  A Livonia, Michigan native (like me!), Palushaj was drafted by the Blues and spent time with the Habs before getting a cup of coffee in Colorado last season.  He's had some success in the AHL so I hope he lands on an NHL squad soon.  By the way, Aaron is my 30th unique hockey PC subject and 104th hit overall!

Thanks again, Doug--I pretty much don't have anything new to say at this point, so I'll go with thanks for being an awesome trader, enjoy your latest package from me, and I look forward to the next one, which will probably be here by the time I finish writing this sentence.  Readers, get your dollar's worth of daily blogging over at SCFtDS today!

2013 eBay purchases #57-59: 300 days of Rich Hill

Well, I don't actually have 300 Rich Hill cards (yet), and I haven't put up posts on 300 different days since I started this blog, but this IS my 300th post here, and a large number of those posts HAVE featured Rich Hill, hence the title.  Here's to a bunch more!

I'm still working on getting through my recent eBay purchases (with lots more OTHER stuff also backlogged), but today I can show off another three of them since they do have a common theme--the aforementioned Mr. Hill.

First up we have a group of cards I've been trying to nab pretty much ever since I started chasing Hill's PC:

This is the 55-card 2008 Topps Cubs Team Gift set.  I'm assuming these were regional, and regardless, I had never seen one in my area.  Of course, that's where eBay comes in, but all the same, I rarely found a good price for it, often due to the cost of shipping the unopened blaster box (NEWS FLASH, SELLERS:  I would have purchased this without the box if you would have offered).  Fortunately, in September I managed to land the thing for about $7 delivered, which I thought was fantastic.

So, why bother getting the whole set?  Well, for one thing, I never did see Rich's cards available individually anywhere.  And more importantly, he actually appears on FIVE of them.  Here they are:

Rich Hill 2008 Cubs Topps Gift Set (#7)

Rich Hill 2008 Cubs Topps Gift Set (#10) (with Lilly, Marshall)

Rich Hill 2008 Cubs Topps Gift Set (#19) (with Zambrano, Lilly)

Rich Hill 2008 Cubs Topps Gift Set (#28)

Rich Hill 2008 Cubs Topps Gift Set (#45) (with Zambrano, Lilly)

As you can see, they have the exact same design as the 2008 flagship set, so the main difference is the numbering on the back.  Also, besides one card each for many of the players on the roster, there's team leaders, cards highlighting special events, and some other stuff.  That Hill features so prominently makes this a nice buy for me.  Throw five more cards on the total!

Next up, I made a couple purchases that might give you readers a touch of déjà vu:

Rich Hill 2008 SP Authentic By the Letter 'I' letter patch auto (#29/50)

Rich Hill 2008 Upper Deck Premier Swatches Jersey Number triple patch (#20/53)

Yep, this is another post featuring an SPA By the Letter auto/patch and a Premier triple patch, just like I did a couple weeks ago.  The letter, my third (along with a "C" and an "S," giving me three of the eight), set me back about $8 while the spiffy multicolor patch went for $7 and gives me eight of Hill's 22 from that year's Premier.  This is a sweet pair of cards that puts me up to an eye-popping 96 hits of my favorite PC player.  Also, combined with the other five from today, Rich's new IHAS total is 211/348 (plus 12 1/1s).

By the way, if anyone WOULD like to help me make it to 300 Hills so I can live up to this post's title, I would be much obliged!

2013 eBay purchases #54 and 55: fat (but not stinking) Rich

I've been sitting on a number of eBay pickups, mostly from September, because I've been lazy and not posting much.  Oh well, more to show off now!

I've got two new scores for you today, and surprise surprise, they're both nice hits of this here blog's #1 favorite PC subject, Rich Hill:

Rich Hill 2008 SP Authentic By the Letter 'C' letter patch auto (#17/50)

I was hoping to have another of these to show off, and now I do!  Rich has eight cards in this set, spelling out "CUBS" and "HILL," so this letter obviously comes from the former, as does the "S" I previously picked up.  I think you've all seen enough of my collection to know I'm in no way averse to manu-letter cards--quite the opposite, in fact.  Hopefully I'll soon have another nameplate or two to show off to you guys!

Rich Hill 2008 Upper Deck Premier Swatches Autographs triple patch auto (#06/10)

I can't believe this card marks my seventh from UD's 2008 Premier set.  Better yet, it's triple patch card #3, preceded by a "base" and a Gold version.  This one is the first of the trio to feature an autograph as well, but all three include at least one purdy multicolor patch.  The one has the added bonus of its extreme rarity besides the signature, making it a very nice get for me.

And now I'll throw a few numbers at you.  These cards represent my 93rd and 94th Rich Hill hits, which is simply ridiculous, and I can't wait to get to 100.  They also push Hill's PC IHAS total to 204 (plus 12 1/1s), meaning he remains light years ahead of any challenger!

I still have a nice assortment of eBay buys to post, more of the new/existing baseball PC guys, and then there's still my Just Commons purchase I haven't gotten to yet!  Stay tuned for what will hopefully be a busy and interesting month of content.

2013 SportLots pickups #5: Zach, Clayton, and Bobby

Today's is the penultimate post of this series covering my SportLots Michigan PC pickups from my last few purchases.  Here's eight new cards on this beautiful Ann Arbor Sunday evening:

Zach Putnam 2010 Upper Deck World of Sports

A Zach Putnam card in his Michigan Baseball uni is awesome enough, but this one even clearly shows him pitching at Michigan's Ray Fisher Stadium, so as far as that goes it's over 9000.  I actually already had the autographed version, but it took me a while to find a seller whose price for the base version I could stand.  Welcome to the PC, Putnam #39/52, good for 75% exactly!

Clayton Richard 2008 Bowman Draft Prospects Gold

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps Emerald

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps Gold (#0193/2013)

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps Stickers

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps Target Red Border

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps Wal Mart Blue Border

As with previously-featured J.J. Putz, I had a good amount of luck finding new stuff of fellow pitcher Clayton Richard.  The Bowman Gold is the usually crappy Bowman throw-in, enough said.  Meanwhile, the sticker pairs up with Putz's and should mean I'm done with those for 2013.  But the real highlight here is the quartet of 2013 Topps parallels.  Well, sort of--I mean, you all know my feelings on the retail exclusives, but the Emeralds look great (just not nearly as beautiful as the Opening Day Blues), and the Gold is a familiar standby that I wouldn't want to be without.  Today's haul brings Richard's IHAS total to 84/131, with a couple more from COMC you'll be seeing soon.

Bobby Scales 2010 Upper Deck Gold (#18/99)

If you've ever had to chase any of these down, you probably already know that prices for these can be all over the map, though mostly they tend to stray from the reality I think most of us inhabit.  Not so with this one, which I nabbed for $2.50, which had me wondering if it was actually the version I thought it was!  As I already own the base version, that closes the (two-card) book on Scales' 2010 issues, and gives me a new IHAS total of 19/31, with a 20th arriving shortly from COMC.  And since I'm not insane like Greg Z., I won't be trying to acquire all 99 copies of this one....

All right, just eight cards left from SportLots, then you get to see a small handful of COMC scores!

2013 eBay purchases #50 and 51: more like J.J. P-bay

Two of my eBay purchases from this week arrived in time for me to show them off together today, so here's a post featuring some stuff I've been excited to post about:

Matt Miller 2011 Topps Heritage Minors Black Border (#62/62)

I didn't start with this one on purpose since I'm going alphabetically, but it happens to be the pickup I'm most excited about this time.  And why would that be?  Well I'll tell you:  it's my 16th Matt Miller pickup, and he has exactly 17 cards in his non-1/1 collection!  I'd only seen one other seller list one on eBay (or anywhere for that matter) and that idiot wanted a mint for it.  Not so with this person, who readily accepted my fair Best Offer along with the card you'll see next, for about $7.50 delivered.  Besides putting me just one card (2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Signature Status Gold auto /5) short of Miller's collection, it gives me all three of his from that set, including the base and Blue Tint cards.  I don't know if I'll be waiting a long time, or even ever find that 17th card, but it's a thrill to be this close to 100%!

J.J. Putz 2005 Studio Private Signings Silver auto (#066/100)

J.J. Putz 2011 Topps Black (#49/60)

J.J. Putz 2012 Topps Silk Collection (#48/50)

Are you ready for a couple new milestones?  If you're reading this blog you know I'm big on them, so of course you are!  The Studio auto is my 10th hit of J.J., which is a nice little marker to reach.  Also, I'm now officially over the 50% hump for Putz's collection, now standing at 156/307 IHAS cards.  I just showed off my other '05 Studio pieces on Wednesday, so I won't rehash those.  The '11 Black, along with the Silk and the Clayton Richard card below came in another lot of auctions I won in rapid succession, for a total of less than $9 shipped.  From 2011 flagship it looks like I just need his Hope Diamond and Target inserts (and, I guess, Diamondback Topps) for the rainbow.  The Silk, which hails from one of my favorite Topps insert sets, puts me just a few other inserts away.  It's never a bad day when all of your pickups are numbered to 100 or less!

Clayton Richard 2011 Topps Black (#28/60)

When I was searching for Putz stuff and added the two inserts above, I happened to notice this Richard Black ending around the same time at the same kind of really low price, so I went for it and won.  I still need a couple Chrome Refractors and the Target insert from that year, but when I'm finished that'll be a great rainbow.  This is my 78th IHAS Clayton Card (plus three 1/1s) out of his 131-card PC.  I also have a nice chunk more to show off very soon from other packages.

I'll tease you guys with the promise of one more very exciting eBay item headed my way very soon, but for now, my next few posts should continue the series of pickups I made over on SportLots.

2013 SportLots pickups #3: all Leach, all the time

So yesterday I said I was planning on keeping the posts to around 10-12 cards per.  But as I identified, labeled, tagged, and uploaded the cards for today's player, I just didn't see the point in only taking care of some of them.  However, I'd purchased 32 from SportLots and had another 15 from my existing collection scanned and ready to show off as well, and that would have been too overwhelming to post.  So instead, I'll show off the highlights of the SportLots pickups and others I added to the album yesterday and give you an update on that player's PC.

That player is the subject of one of my newest collections:  Rick Leach.  The Michigan QB-turned Tigers/Blue Jays/Rangers/Giants 1B/OF/DH has a 60-card portfolio along with one 1/1, and I aim to get all of them if possible.  To that end, I grabbed the previously-mentioned 32 card group among several SportLots purchases (and again, scanned what I already had in sets I own), so here's some highlights:

1982 Donruss RC

1982 Fleer RC

1982 Topps RC

Yep, the three big players in '82 all made sure to include Leach, so these make for a nice trio.  The Topps and Donruss sets from that year look pretty nice (especially for an early Donruss effort), but as is typical for nascent Fleer sets, the design is downright boring, not to mention ugly!

1984 Topps

1984 Topps Tiffany

I included this pair for two reasons.  One was to illustrate how Leach signed with Toronto before the '84 championship season, meaning he was included in the Traded set.  Also, the Traded is one of 16 or so Tiffany or Glossy inserts Rick appeared on up to his final year on cardboard, 1990, proving how big of a fad that was during the junk wax era.

1989 Topps Traded

This card is one of two (the other being '89 Bowman, which must have been released later in the year as well) depicting Leach with the Rangers, whom he joined early that year as a free agent.  I didn't just choose this one for the team switch--look at that awesomely gigantic and gigantically awesome 1B mitt!

1989 Upper Deck

Yep, Rick was included in this landmark set, still as a member of the Blue Jays.  I thought this one was worth noting because one of the two cards I know I'll have the most difficulty finding (the other being the 1/1, natch), is a 20th Anniversary Buyback version of this issue from 2009 Upper Deck.  If anybody knows of one, please let me know!

1990 Leaf

Along with Topps Traded, this set featured a shot of Rick with his final team, the Giants, for whom he appeared in 78 games in 1990.  Speaking of buybacks, I own two of the three versions from 2012 Leaf--the Silver /20 and Gold /5.  This was certainly an...interesting design that year, one that discontinued simply paralleling Donruss' version.

1990 Score

Why did I include this 1990 Score base card?  Not much reason other than the fact that I love the way Score had a few different color-coded groups of cards, which makes looking at an opened set even more fun.  I always thought the design was pretty nice too, as far as junk wax goes, so there's that.

With everything said and done, my Leach collection vaults to an exciting 53/60 IHAS cards!  Considering some of the challenges of the other players I collect, it's kind of refreshing pursuing a guy with just one 1/1 and really only one other truly difficult card to find.  I hope to have more of those to show off for you soon, but for now stay tuned for other PC players from SportLots.

2013 eBay purchases #45-49: a case of baseball kardma (and some autos too)

I've had a good last couple weeks of picking up stuff on eBay, and now that it's all here it's time to show it off!  Here's five new cards for my Michigan Baseball PCs:

Bill Freehan 2005 Topps Retired Signature Autographs Refractor auto (#10/25)

"You got autograph in my Refractor!"  "YOU got Refractor in MY autograph!"  Yes, it's a perfect combination of the two while also mashing up an old-school photo with a modern (Chrome!) design.  As it happens, Freehan still has a pretty sizable group of collectors, so reasonably rare cards like this one don't come cheap--in this case almost $20.  I wouldn't throw that kind of money down on just any player, but Freehan autographs are understandably harder to come by as the years pass, and this might be just the second Refractor version of this card I've seen to-date.  If it had been much later in the month and I'd have already spent most, if not all of or more than, the budget to which I'm trying to stick, things might have been different, but this story does have a happy ending as Refractor Bill happily joins not-as-shiny-but-still-very-appreciated Bill for my 21st hit of the former Tigers catcher, and 59th IHAS card.

Rich Hill 2006 Flair Showcase Signatures auto (#19/35)

I don't know how many of you seriously collect a specific player like I do with Hill, but when you have more than 200 of his cards (including 1/1s), finding something you haven't seen before is a GREAT feeling.  Case in point:  this 2006 Showcase auto, which not only looks fantastic, but is a very welcome addition to my PC of the middle reliever for the Tribe.  The low serial-numbering is certainly a draw for me as well, but for some reason that design just looks very eye-catching and pleasant.  For a reasonable $6 delivered on the first of this month, I'm very happy with this purchase, not to mention another Hill I picked up soon after...

Rich Hill 2006 Ultimate Collection Printing Plates Cyan (1/1)

Ok, let's get this out of the way:  why in the name of Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ on a Cracker would you send in a printing plate to get graded?  Were you really desperate to get one of those sought-after graded population-of-one cards?  Did you forget that this was a metal plate and not a card, and that it was used in the production of cards, meaning a 10 grade was as likely as Topps sending someone a reasonable redemption replacement?  For what I can only assume was a case of a greedy seller (whomever got the card graded, not necessarily the eBay seller here), I gleefully assess the situation as a case of baseball kardma, since about $7.58 (including shipping) was enough to bring this bad boy to my mailbox.  It must have cost more than that to ship this card to BGS, have them spin their big wheel of numbers between 8 and 10, (except for the Strasburg one, which has all 10s on it) and slab it.  Well, I hope that person doesn't mind that I quickly took some wire-cutters and a flathead to the thing, and the result was this:

Now THAT's more like it!  This is my 91st hit of Hill and 12th 1/1, plus my 208th IHAS card overall.  It also becomes my 26th 1/1 card of any type, and goes well with the Black and Magenta plates from this set I already owned!  (And that means I now have three sets of three-of-four plates, making me wonder which, if any, I'll complete first)  So all in all, I like to think that baseball kardma worked out in my favor this time; I'll do my best to pass it on to the rest of you, especially in trades throughout the rest of the year!

David Parrish 2004 Topps Chrome Traded X-Fractor (#07/20)

Here's where the "case" part of the title becomes a trend as you'll see two more encased cards (though Hill is thankfully free from his prison full of Beckett cooties).  The first is this David Parrish, which was a box-loaded in 2004 Topps Traded boxes.  It's actually his lowest-numbered card by a mile, and one of only two limited to under 100 copies, so getting it for about $4 was pretty good, I think.  And while I'm at it, it completes a small rainbow from the 2004 Chrome/Traded set along with base, Gold, Chrome, and Refractor.  I now have 15 of David's 24 non-1/1 issues, and I expect things to get tougher from here on out, but of course I'm always amenable to help from the likes of those of you who follow this blog!

Clayton Richard 2008 eTopps (#468/699)

Today's final card is another "uncirculated" item, a 2008 eTopps of on-the-shelf Padre Clayton Richard.  It's my third Michigan Baseball eTopps issue after I picked up those of Jake Fox (2009) and Rich Hill (2007), and I'm pretty sure that'll do it for the set in terms of guys I collect, though I'll have to check.  I think I prefer the other designs a bit more, but this one's not bad.  Since apparently not a ton of people actually bothered to get these cards shipped, they're not the easiest in the world to find, so I plunked down $6 for Clayton's, which I can live with.  Make it 77 of a temporary 127 (Topps Minis are out there!) IHAS cards of the lefty hurler with a QB's arm.

I should be back with new stuff from my last SportLots run soon!