2015 trade package #25: Michigan Man Mark

If there's been only one benefit of joining the card-collecting blogging world a few years ago--and trust me, there's been many--it's getting to know amazing writers/traders like Mark from the Chronicles of Fuji.  Fuji comprises a quarter of what would be my Mount Rushmore of bloggers (which might make for a fun future post!), and he never fails to send great cards my way, especially unannounced.

I showed off some really nice stuff from him over on TMV this evening, and better yet he included some Wolverines to make for a two-part trade post!  Here are the Michigan cards he sent:

I don't know if he had these set aside for a bit or not, but Fuji's timing of sending these Michigan Football RCs couldn't have been better now that they're an ongoing project of mine.  The top two are of former go-to WR Jeremy Gallon, and that pair actually represents 100% of his RCs, so there's one player to check off.  I loves me some Upper Deck college photos, and these hail from 2014 SP Authentic and UD.  The other guy is Titans LT Taylor Lewan, and while he has a few more to chase than Gallon does, they're still helpful.  Those are 2014 Finest and SP Authentic rookies.

Oh yeah, one other interesting card slipped out of the bunch:

Yessir, a 2008 Press Pass autograph of the inspiration for the title of the blog you're reading, Mr. Mario Manningham!  On-card signature plus Michigan uni equals so much win!  Manningham may not be playing these days, but his spiritual successor and fellow #86 jersey-wearer Jehu Chesson has lived up to the legacy of Super Mario in many ways this year, including some key play's in Saturday's victory over Penn State.

Thanks again for such a generous package of cards, Mark, and whether or not you can scrape up more trade bait, expect to see some cards headed your way before the year is up!

2014 COMC purchases: receiving receivers

Although the calendar currently says 2015, I still have some 2014 pickups left to post thanks to COMC's Boxing Day sale late last year; hey, free shipping is free shipping!  I still had some money in my budget and it made the most sense to use it before the calendar turned over instead of just hanging onto it.  That decision made, I went after my football PC with reckless abandon!  Just kidding, I was actually pretty methodical about it.

I'm splitting these up into three themed posts, and as I've done in the past today you're gonna see some Wolverines WRs:

Jason Avant 2006 Topps Heritage Gridiron Collection Throwback Relics jersey

I'm not exactly sure what the "throwback" element of this set is unless each player is wearing one of his team's throwback-designed jerseys.  Regardless, I thought it would be cool to pick up yet another hit of Avant, my 42nd, in the form of this solid jersey swatch.

Jeremy Gallon 2014 Upper Deck Star Rookies Autographs auto

This is just the second card in the bunch, but it's easily my favorite of the entire post.  UD continued its tradition of photograph excellence with the 2014 set once again featuring fantastic college action shots.  Gallon may have been one of UM's smaller WRs, but he made a huge impact on his teams in terms of both blocking and catching.  He was a difference-maker against Notre Dame in some big wins and finished 2013 with the school's most receiving yards in a single season.  Gallon is very welcome to the PC as member #186!

Mario Manningham 2008 Bowman Sterling Jerseys Blue jersey (#111/349) and Green jersey (#273/299)

Aw yeah, it's namesake time!  I scored this pair of Marios for around the same price, something like $1.25 apiece I think, to go with the Gold Refractor auto I have from the same set.  These may not be high-end but it was fun adding them at the same time, with the Blue version being far superior to the Green, of course, no matter what the numbering says.  I may never own too many Manninghams, but I do have 49 now, putting him on the cusp of the 50-hit club currently populated by Henne, Long, Edwards, and Hart.

David Terrell 2001 SAGE Autographs Bronze auto (#217/425)

Going back a bit further in time we next see a sweet Michigan uni David Terrell autograph from a 2001 SAGE product.  This one happens to have one of the sticker designs that just doesn't scan well, so the autograph is a bit tough to completely appreciate, plus you can barely see the hand-numbering in the lower-left.  I like the photo of one of Michigan's top #1-wearing WRs, though.  David's 38th hit puts him temporarily one ahead of partner-in-crime Anthony Thomas, and they'll likely remain uneven for a bit.

Amani Toomer 2004 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Boss Hoggs Materials shoe-jersey (#077/125)

Toomer was drafted five years ahead of Terrell but appears here on a 2004 card because he was still in the league and relevant at that point.  Here he is on a cool dual-relic with a goofy name--Panini used the "Boss Hoggs" title a few times.  It's my third multi-relic of the 2007 Super Bowl champ WR and this one includes a piece of shoe along with a jersey swatch, mixing things up a bit.

Amani Toomer 2006 Leaf Certified Materials Mirror Red Materials jersey (#128/150)

The other Toomer I scored is this beautiful Giants blue swatch of a jersey from 2006 LCM, a season before Toomer's NY team would upend the Pats for the first time.  Though I was heavily rooting for the Patriots, it was cool to see Toomer lead the G-Men in receiving with six catches for 84 yards.  Of course, a few years later, fellow alum Mario Manningham would also play the hero in a title win over the Pats!  Getting back to Amani, this pair of relics puts him up to 14 in my collection.

Marquise Walker 2002 Playoff Piece of the Game jersey RC (#077/500)

Marquise Walker 2002 SPx Winning Materials Team Logo jersey

Marquise Walker 2002 UD Authentics Glory Bound jersey

Last but not least is a trio of Marquise Walker jerseys.  He's moved up in the rankings a bit recently as I've managed to find some fun new stuff of his, such as these three relics from his brief time with the Bucs, though he never did play a down with them or any other NFL team thanks to depth charts, injuries, and some very bad decisions on his part.  Anyway, my favorite of the bunch is the huge SPx swatch that includes a raised rubber-like area with the team logo; I have a similar card of Anthony Thomas that looks just as cool.  Walker's new total today moves on up to exactly 20 cards, a nice new mark for another of Michigan's WR greats.

That's 10 new cards in the books for a new sport-wide total of 979.  Stay tuned for the other two posts in this series, plus a flurry of new trade packages and some show pickups, all of which I'll get to eventually!

This Week on MSO-Wolverines

It’s Sunday, 6 days away our season opener in football.  Is everybody pumped?  It’s also time for another post of This Week on MSO – Wolverines.

Devin Gardner getting photobombed by Jeremy Gallon

Rick Leach

Brady Hoke

Devin Gardner

Kameron Chatman

This Week on MSO-Wolverines

It’s Sunday and time for another edition of, I love your tumblr account, but don’t follow it everyday, can I see it all here?  Well, yes you can.  Lots of great stuff this week, there are a lot of gif images so it may take some time to load.

Just like Dennis announced his new player collections this morning, I have a post planned for later in the week with my new PC’s and it will get posted here, as they are all former Wolverines so stay tuned.  I know Dennis will have fun with his new collections, how can you not when your picking up vintage cards.

Let’s get to todays post first though.  We’ll start off with some former Wolverines who just made the NBA.

Glenn Robinson III, Nik Stauskas and Mitch McGary – For a Vine Video they did that I posted go to the following link, I can’t copy and paste it here.

http://mso-michiganwolverines.tumblr.com/post/94541354971/michiganathletics-were-the-three-best-friends

Nik Stauskas

TD Celebration

Denard Robinson

Jake Butt

Desmond Howard

Devin Funchess

Braylon Edwards

Jason Avant

Jake Ryan

the Big House

Ray Taylor

Jeremy Gallon

Jimmy King