2018 Sportlots purchases: it's so cold in the D

In what has to be a first in my combined time at the University as a student and then staff member, the school closed up shop for two days (today and tomorrow) due to the ridiculous wind chill courtesy of the globally climate-changed polar vortex.  That's almost as rare as the number of honest bones in Urban Meyer's body!

This evening's post's title refers both to an infamously bad song that can be viewed on YouTube (NSFW language warning) plus the side of the ball on which has been the traditional strength at Michigan.

Let's have a look at six of the team's defensive greats in the form of Sportlots pickups!

Hey!  It's Ala--

#alanbranchkillsQBs

-n Branch!  I was able to target and score a nice number of Michigan uni cards throughout this purchase and was extremely successful when it came to the monster DT--a 100% hit rate!  Everything you see is from 2007 with the first four made by Press Pass and the last by SAGE.  They're all quite nice to look at, if you ask me, but the numbered Reflector parallel and base SAGE are my favorites.  In fact that's likely my favorite design in the latter's run, though I should try comparing them all side-by-side at some point.

This five-spot bumps Branch up to 60 cards.

Player #2 is CB Leon Hall.  It doesn't look like there's much to celebrate with just this pair but they ended up being significant as the put him at exactly the century mark, the 15th of my football PCs to reach 100.  On the left is SAGE's Aspire base from '07, and while I don't love the design as much as anything above I still appreciate the use of a nice home action photo.  The other is a 2011 Score Glossy parallel, which is not the most exciting of inserts, but is new to his collection and therefore useful.

Four of today's players came to the NFL in the ridiculously talented 2007 draft class that really should have won more but didn't for a variety of reasons.  The third of that quartet is tackling machine David Harris, a guy who enjoyed 11 productive seasons in the league (as much as anyone can "enjoy" spending most of their career with the Jets).  New to his collection today are Score Glossy parallels from 2008 and 2011 and base cards from 2008 Select and 2012 Prestige.  Again, nothing too exciting--and no college cards--but I'm always glad to add to his PC, which now stands at 75.  I have a few interesting additions from COMC that will follow soon!

Former DB Marlin Jackson (who's always fun to search for--"NO I didn't want Marlins players named Jackson!") breaks up the '07 party as a 2005 draftee.  I was glad to find a college-themed set offering of his, the '05 SAGE HIT you see first.  Then I dug up a couple second-year base cards:  2006 Select and Topps Heritage.  The scan makes it obvious that I need to try to clean up the Select card a bit if I can!  As usual Heritage looks quite nice.

Thanks to this trio Jackson one-upped Branch by reaching a new count of 61 items.

Break's over, we're back to 2007!  I split my finds of Steelers star DE/LB LaMarr Woodley between that year--his rookie season--and 2009.  To rep the former he brings back SAGE HIT once more with that fantastic base design plus a Blue parallel of the Playmakers insert.  A Bowman Draft Orange insert (yeah, it doesn't look "orange" in-person either) leads the cards made two years later, and then we get a throwback pair with UD's Philadelphia and Topps Mayo.  The group of five you see here bumps one of my smaller football PCs up to 55, and I'll keep adding to it as I can find new stuff.

And here we have every Michigan fan's dream:  11 Charles Woodsons!  The GOAT DB is the old man of this group but he continues to outpace everyone else in my football PCs because he's a rare defender that got lots of cardboard.

This first scan starts with his second year in the pros, 1999, in the form of one of his two Playoff Prestige EXP base issues plus the loud and proud Revolution by Pacific.  That brand's Omega kicks off a 2000 quintet that includes another Prestige base plus Topps Collection, and UD's Encore.

This scan opens with a familiar photo but this time it's from UD's Gold Reserve.  Then we jump ahead to 2002 and that manufacturer's Piece of History insert called National Honors, a card that notes Woodson's surprise '97 Heisman win.  Suck it, Peyton!  The last three are a bit of a grab bag:  '05 Prestige, 2010 Finest, and another 2011 Score Glossy appearance.

The guy with the biggest bunch of additions to the biggest of my football PCs also gets to celebrate the biggest milestone today, crossing the 300 mark to 307!

I have something like five posts left in this series, so keep an eye out for those, plus hopefully some card show pickups from this coming weekend.

2018 Sportlots purchases: LH + CW = 2DB

Just 15 days are separating my Wolverines from their 2018 season opener and it's getting hard to remain patient.  Further pumping me up for the return of college football is the fact that I got to go on a tour of Michigan Stadium as a work thing earlier this week, including hanging out in the locker room and running around on the field.  I made a quick dash from endzone to endzone, though I certainly didn't set any stopwatches on fire.

Anyway, let's see if I can finish up showing off all of my football Sportlots pickups before that night game against Notre Dame.  Today I went with an all time pair of Michigan cornerbacks, Leon Hall and Charles Woodson:

I'm showing off 15 new Hall cards today and only three of them don't include college photos, which is a huge win for me.  This first group is 100% Press Pass and SAGE, brands that were college-friendly for years.  Press Pass represents the first seven, including its flagship product, Legends, and SE.  Inserts include a Blue Reflectors parallel (kind of useless, as parallels sometimes are), a couple versions of SE's Insider Insight--regular and Collectors Series--and a Marquee Matchups card pairing Hall with OSU's Ted Ginn Jr.  Ginn's Buckeyes got the better of Hall's team in a close loss, one of the best games in the series, and both guys were 2007 first-rounders that have had solid NFL careers.

As for SAGE, this might be my favorite design of their yearly HIT product.  It has something like a cardboard feel to it and a very pleasing design both front and back.  I should try to track down the other Wolverines from the set (Breaston and Woodley) for that very reason.  They Playmakers insert--Blue here and Silver to lead off the next scan--isn't nearly as interesting but that's not a big deal thanks to the extra nice base version.

Joining the cards above and the aforementioned second Playmakers insert are two other 2007 offerings.  A fantastic looking Topps Draft Chrome Black parallel provides another look at one of my favorite Topps products whose absence I felt long before the Paniniopoly; black and chrome go well together with the maize & blue!  That's joined by Hall's only horizontal issue today, a 2007 Aspire Century Club insert.  The back lists his key measurables and compares him to Ronde Barber.  While it doesn't look like he'll live up to that comparison, Hall's had a very respectable career.

Much of that career, nine of 11 seasons so far, was spent with the Bengals, and I grabbed three cards of him with that team:  2008 Select and Topps' Mayo, plus 2010 Certified.  Those gave me a pair of second-years and a very nice design from his fourth.  And overall these additions put Hall's collection on milestone watch at 98 cards!

And now we'll move on from one of the greats to the GOAT, Charles Woodson.  We'll start with a sextet of second-years in the form of 1999's Paramount, Playoff Momentum SSD, Playoff Prestige EXP, SP Authentic, Stadium Club Chrome, and Upper Deck Encore.  There's lots of designs I like here, but Topps' Stadium Club Chrome was, in my opinion, a winner at the time, and a look that passes the test of time.  It should at least be brought back as a standalone product for baseball at least!

Then a trio of 2000s follows.  Chuck was included in Bowman Chrome's Rookie of the Year set for winning the defensive version in '98, just one of his many accolades.  I also found him in Fleer Tradition's Glossy factory set (which, yes, is as curved as they usually are) and Ultra's die-cut Gold Medallion parallel.

I hope you're ready for a big jump in time because now we move all the way on up to 2008 and Score Select plus UD's Draft Edition.  Then there's a pair of 2009s--Bowman Chrome and Topps Mayo--and 2010s--Score Glossy and SP Authentic.  The college-friendly SPA is one of two Michigan uni-fied Woodsons today and therefore one of my favorites.  Those are followed by 2011 Certified and a pair of 2012s:  Panini's Momentum and Prizm.  This is a nice bunch of Chuck on the Packers, the team I associate him with more than the Raiders thanks to his Super Bowl victory in 2010.

This last scan opens with one more 2012 card, a Rookies and Stars Statistical Standouts insert that notes his league-leading seven picks in 2011 (one of two occasions where he led all comers).  A 2017 Playoff insert called Gridiron Force is the penultimate vertical card and notes that Woodson picked off a pair of passes from Heisman runner-up and fivehead-having Papa John's lover Peyton Manning for the first time in 2015.  Then we come to probably my favorite Woodson addition today, his 2018 Panini Contenders Draft Picks base, which once again comes with a fantastic design and photo.  Chuck looks like he's ready to grab another gravity-defying one-handed interception against the Spartans!

Finally there's a trio of horizontal offerings to check out.  1999's Omega is another second-year Pacific offering of the two-time Raider, and a very cool one at that.  Then we have 2007's Ultra on a typically solid design of the Fleer product  Last up is an insert from last year's Panini flagship product, one called Decorated, which mentions Woodson's 2009 DPOY award, one he earned by going for league-leading (and career high) totals of nine INTs and three TDs.  His 179 return yards were also a career best, plus he force four fumbles.  GOAT GOAT GOAT!

Speaking of leads this huge bunch allows Woodson's collection to overtake Chad Henne's for tops in the football bunch with 296, also putting him within easy reach of his own milestone.

Despite my desire to get all the football stuff done before game 1, my next post should be focusing on three of my hockey PCs, so stay tuned!

2018 COMC purchases: PC partying like it's 1999 in red, white, and blue

It's time for the big finish in this latest series of COMC pickups, and I promise you the meaning of the title will soon be clear.

This time I managed to score at least one card of all of my football PC guys except for Tom Brady, since his prices are never reasonable and you guys send a nice amount of his stuff in trade packages because you're awesome.

Here's the results of a couple more months of COMC digging:

Just one Adrian Arrington this time, a 2008 Leaf Limited Silver Spotlight (#55/99) parallel, but that's great since it knocks another card off his checklist (79/370).  I now have 80 unique cards of the former WR.

You already saw those top two Jason Avant cards in my RC post from a few weeks ago, and I'll remind you that they were the last two of his first-years I needed, so that was an exciting development.  To those I added a 2006 Triple Threads Red triple jersey/auto, also from his rookie year, to one of my highest quality player collections of football hits, one that includes two other cards from that year's version of Topps' high-end offering.  Hit #49 of the possession receiver and American Ninja Warrior contestant is my 92nd overall Avant.

One of my PCs that benefited most from this latest shipment is a third of four straight WRs (out of seven in this post), Steve Breaston.  First I found a couple numbered parallels:  2007 Playoff NFL Playoffs Gold Metalized (#021/149) and 2010 Panini Plates and Patches Silver (#010/100).  Then I had even better luck in finding him on signature cards four times:  2007 Playoff NFL Playoffs Signatures Red (#014/100), 2007 SP Rookie Threads Rookie Exclusive Autographs (#083/100), 2007 Leaf Limited auto RC (#34/99), and 2009 SP Threads Stitch in Time Autographs.  Between the uniform and ink I even came up with a couple patriotic cards for the holiday!

These new additions give me 31 hits of the former Cardinal and 99 total cards in his collection.

I promise I'll get to other positions in a minute, but alphabetically this is where we are with our fourth receiver in a row, Braylon Edwards.  No hits today but plenty of numbered insert goodness!  The first two are Elite Series inserts from 2007 Elite:  Black (#334/400) and Gold (#0130/1000) versions.  Next is a 2007 Topps Chrome White Refractor (#391/869) that calls back to my previous inserts post where I showed off a few more of those.  A 2008 trio includes Donruss Threads Retail Blue (#339/350), Topps Triple Threads Emerald (#120/149), and 2008 Leaf Limited Bronze Spotlight (#038/125).  Last up is a 2009 Donruss Classics Timeless Tributes Silver (#067/100) parallel.  Those Elite cards are great but I have to give the nod to the White Refractor today!

The productive college receiver sits comfortably among my player collections with a new total of 243 cards.

Here's our first non-WR of the day.  QB Brian Griese certainly made the most of his quartet of cards if you ask me.  A super cool acetate/die-cut insert called Star Studded from 2000 Fleer Focus leads things off, and it has to be one of my top five cards from this whole purchase.  It's followed by the last example of 2000 Quantum Leaf's Double Team insert (#0779/1500) from this purchase, one where Griese understandably plays second fiddle to HOF RB Terrell Davis, whose 1997 and '98 campaigns were legendary.

Last up for the inserts is a 2003 Topps Chrome Black Refractor (#351/599) that notes Griese heading home to play for the Dolphins in 2003, the same team his father led for his whole NFL career.

Those cool new additions are joined by Brian's fantastic signature (and number inscription!) on a 1999 Donruss Private Signings auto card.  The design's a bit simple (and I could do without the purple) but NFL penmanship doesn't get much better than that!  Griese's hit total moves up to 17 and his overall PC now stands at a healthy 124.

Stud CB Leon Hall accounts for half of the Michigan uniform cards I have to show off today, though you already saw those--2007 Donruss Elite and Ultra--in the rookies post.  Those are joined by a couple more rookie-year cards: a pair of parallels.  First is a Contenders Playoff Ticket (#33/99), giving me another example of that fun insert in my collection.  Sometimes it's nice not to have to chase 20 different versions of a card!  Speaking of cards with lots of parallels, I paired that with yet another 2007 Topps Chrome White Refractor (#156/869), the last one I came up with.

These four put Hall's total up to a respectable 83 with some help from Sportlots incoming.

Don't call it a Hart attack because the only Mike Hart I picked up this time was his 2008 Upper Deck Icons RC you previously saw.  That's card #122 of the former Colts RB.

It was another good package for hits leader Chad Henne, if not for Hart.  Just one insert leads off this group, a 2008 Bowman Chrome Rookies Bronze (#195/329) parallel that looks a bit more like orange in the scan.  Then hit #1 is one of the best cards in the entire purchase, a 2014 Totally Certified Awesome Autographs Blue auto (#04/15).  I showed off the Gold version back in May and that one's numbered to 5 while this school colors-appropriate variation is a bit less rare, but all the more patriotic for it.  USA!  USA!

Hit number two is a 2008 Donruss Gridiron Gear dual jersey/ball (#18/25) that was a last-minute addition as I missed shipping a few cards in my original package and decided to fill out a smaller one.  It's my fifth hit from a brand with some cool cards that year.

The other two are a couple more examples from the plethora of variations out of 2008 SPx.  As it turns out the top card ("Star and Position Dual 149", #045/159) was new to me as I'd believed but the other ("SPX Dual 199") was already in my collection.  That's easy to do when you have 11 cards from the same confusing product!

No worries, Henne still leads the way with 118 hits, though the missed opportunity at another addition keeps him in second place overall at 271 total cards.

Henne's college/pro teammate Jake Long popped up twice in this package.  The first was his previously seen 2008 UD Masterpieces rookie while I also came up with an autograph from the same year's SP Rookie Threads SP Authentics (#025/244).  The sticker auto is my 77th hit of the former #1 overall pick, and 118th card in his collection.

Let's keep this 2008 draft class run going with blog namesake Mario Manningham!  Our fifth WR today previously appeared in the RCs post thanks to the cards bookending this scan, hailing from 2008 Donruss Classics and Ultimate Collection, ending my search for his 23 RCs.  To those I added a 2008 Finest Moments Black Refractor (#88/99).  This parallel of the regular insert highlights Super Mario's excellent game-winning catch with a couple minutes remaining in the rivalry game at Michigan State in 2007.

With this new trio I'm nearing 200-many Manninghams with a new total of 193.

My Chris Perry haul was anything but, but that doesn't mean he got completely shut out this time.  Here's Chris on another Playoff Contenders Playoff Ticket insert (#04/99), this time from the 2008 iteration of the product.  And that's not the last one you'll see today either!  Before we get there, this is card #87 in my Perry collection, and I'm looking forward to getting him over the century mark with some incoming Sportlots items.

MGoBlog's brief celebratory 4th of July post includes a fun highlight video of our next player, Denard Robinson, which reminded me once again of how Shoelace remains the most electric player I've witnessed in-person in any sport.  It's no wonder I keep collecting his stuff like this pair of 2013 hits.  On the left is a Panini Prizm Autographs auto, and like a fine wine that's paired with a Limited Rookie Jumbo Jerseys RC Logo Autographs dual jersey auto (#78/99).  This shiny pair came in at a paltry $3 total and gives me 82 total Denards, 38 of which are hits.

Since you can't have one without the other I'll handle David Terrell and Anthony Thomas together.  Also you already saw all four of these cards in the football rookies post.  Terrell's 2001 Pacific Dynagon Retail puts him at 87 cards while the A-Train rides again with 2001 Fleer Focus, Private Stock, and Upper Deck Rookie FX over the century mark to 101.

Today's penultimate player is the final WR, Amani Toomer.  I turned up four very attractive parallels of him, starting with my favorite, a 2000 Bowman's Best Acetate Parallel (#239/250).  It's hard to tell by the scan but these live up to their names and are see-through, which makes them look fantastic.  I love when searching for new PC additions introduces me to nice looking stuff I didn't know about!

Joining that one from the year 2000 is a Topps Chrome Refractor, done up in a nice shade of blue.  We've definitely got all the colors of the flag today and those colors don't run!  That includes a very red 2001 E-X Essential Credentials (#190/299) parallel.  I recall the name and multiple versions from E-X's earlier iterations, and this one is a great example.

Last up is a 2004 Playoff Contenders Playoff Ticket (#137/150), which is an old enough version that it's numbered to 150 instead of the more common 99.  Toomer's Giants didn't reach the playoffs in 2003 but he did place second in TD receptions with 5.  And speaking of numbers I now have 104 different cards of Toomer.

Last up as usual is the GOAT, Charles Woodson.  You can see here that I finished my run of Playoff Tickets with the legendary DB in the form of this 2015 version (#031/199), which also carries different serial numbering.  The design is perfect for his Raiders uniform after his return to the team that drafted him.  And though it's just one card it ends up being important as it puts him alone at the top of my football PCs with 272 cards!  Not today, Chad Henne....

Once again I had a blast hunting down and scanning all of these new additions to show off, and the work paid off handsomely as I'm sure you saw over the course of this series.  With today's additions my football hits total 1297 so I have another fun milestone coming up, plus one I originally thought I'd hit today until my lack of attention led to a Chad Henne double:  2000 hits in my entire Michigan PC.  That's right, with the 13 football items I added today I'm now sitting at 1999 cards out of the four major sports plus a few miscellaneous areas.  No worries, though, as I have something fun to show off soon to hit that mark, so stay tuned!

Besides that you can look forward to my latest huge haul from Sportlots once everything is in and ready.  Until then I hope everyone has a safe and happy Independence Day!

2018 COMC purchases: 32 of Rookie Blue, and a 70-year-old card too!

I decided that part two of this latest COMC series would cover all of the new football RCs I picked up this time.  As usual it's a nice eclectic bunch, one that mostly spans 2000-2018, but I also managed to add what's now the oldest card in my entire collection!

And this would be the big winner, a 1948 Bowman rookie of Robert Nussbaumer, a guy who as far as I can tell is making his debut in my collection today.  A "left halfback" (things sure were different back then), Nussbaumer played for Michigan from 1943-45, appearing in 29 games and averaging a solid 5.8 YPC.  After Green Bay took him in the '46 draft, "Bomber" spent two seasons each with the Packers, Redskins, and Chicago Cardinals, closing his career where he started it.

Needless to say I'm very excited to add this 70-year-old card to my collection of Michigan football rookies and vintage stuff!  1948 is as far back as my checklist goes, and I'm chasing cards from Al Wistert, Gene Derricotte, and Merv Pregulman from that year as well.  Nussbaumer joins Wistert in appearing in both '48 Bowman and Leaf while Derricotte can be found in the latter and Pregulman the former.  Whenever I can add any of those it'll be another cause for celebration!

And now we move ahead to modern day, starting with 2000.  I decided to present these in chronological and then alphabetical order (mostly).

The 2000 group comprises Pacific's Omega cards of WR Marcus Knight and TE Aaron Shea.  As is often the case in this series their cards are numbered, #053/500 for Knight and #246/500 for Shea.  That and/or short-printing tends to inflate prices but I ended up doing reasonably well this time.

2001 brings one of my favorite one-two punches in David Terrell and Anthony Thomas (reversed in the scan because I'm stupid).  The WR appears on the Retail version of that year's Pacific Dynagon while the A-Train shows up on Fleer Focus (#0154/1850), Pacific's Private Stock (#061/200), and Upper Deck's confusing Rookie F/X RC (#127/750), which includes multiple versions.

FB B.J. Askew represents 2003 with one of my favorite brands, Prestige, on one of its best designs, again bringing the college uni love.  Possession WR Jason Avant brings the scan and his RC collection to a close with 2006's Flair Showcase (#358/499) and Select (#506/599).  That Showcase card is one of the coolest in my bunch of rookies!

TE Tim Massaquoi leads off this bunch with his 2006 Bowman Sterling first year, leaving me short just his Ultimate Collection card from the same year.  Then we go on a little 2007 run beginning with Alan Branch

...destroyer of QBs, on his Wolverines-approved Ultra RC.  Transferred QB Matt Gutierrez makes his second appearance in this series with his Leaf Limited rookie (#186/399), another numbered affair.  CB Leon Hall brings us back to one of the school's better defenses with Donruss Elite (#078/599) and Ultra Retail cards, two more examples of college shots.  I love that '07 Elite design!  Closing out the year, beastly DE/LB LaMarr Woodley pops up on Leaf Rookies and Stars Longevity (#229/999).

Now we take a quick look into my favorite draft class, 2008.  Mike Hart starts things off on his Icons RC (#508/750), one product that's been my nemesis for a while.  Jake Long's UD Masterpieces card was a short print from that beautiful set, but I finally found a price I could handle.  And Mr. Namesake himself, Super Mario Manningham is back on another good example of a nice Donruss Classics (#371/999) design.  But that's not the last we'll see of #82...

...because he leads off this scan with the final of the 23 RCs I needed, Ultimate Collection (#032/275).  That means he joins Avant as players whose rookie collections I completed today, along with the next guy, QB/WR Devin Gardner on his 2015 Topps Field Access base, a.k.a. his only RC appearance on my checklist.  A 2016 Certified card of another QB, Jake Rudock (#794/999), puts me three away from completing another player's run.

And now we can close out a fun look at Michigan rookies with 10 cards from the outstanding 2017 class.  TE Jake Butt and WR Amara Darboh star on Donruss Optic cards that bookend a pair of pairs.  Cowboys DT Taco Charlton is the #1 attraction here on cards from Classics and Prestige, with both brands clearly in top form.  Chiefs WR Jehu Chesson gives us a look at a couple other brands in Certified (#513/999) and Panini Phoenix, which brings the shiny in droves!

Here's one last defensive pair, starting with all-everything guy Jabrill Peppers from Prestige again plus Select.  I sure do wish Panini didn't have a football monopoly because I'd like to see other brands and their designs, but since I have to put up with that I'm thankful for how great Prestige is year in and year out.  Lastly I dug up a pair of Ravens DE Chris Wormley:  another example of Panini's Phoenix plus my first of Unparalleled, which is a bit busy but plenty shiny.

I had a blast buying and posting this big group, especially the '48 Bowman card, of course, and I'm happy to announce that more rookies are on their way to me from Sportlots.  Before then I still have lots of COMC football content to get to!

2017 COMC purchases: hitsville UM-S-A

The finish line is in sight--just one more post after this one and I'll be all caught up on 2017 purchases!

Today's post stars all of the football hits I picked up of players that aren't current PCs of mine.  That ended up being a nice round 10, a nice number for one post.  Let's have a look at them:

Item #1 is the biggest, literally:  a 1997 Leaf Signature 8x10 auto of WR Derrick Alexander.  Limited (but not serial numbered) to 4000 copies, this will be a great piece to display with my other larger signed Michigan stuff.  It hails from a set of 108 such oversized signatures, one that also includes Wolverines Tim Biakabutuka, Todd Collins, Elvis Grbac, and Jim Harbaugh (not to mention lots of other stars).  Maybe I need to start a project and call it the "Wall of FaMe"!  Anyway, this is my seventh hit of Alexander.

Sticking with the same position and letter of the alphabet, here's Jason Avant's 2008 Playoff Prestige Rookie Review Materials Prime jersey (#023/100).  The "review" part comes into play when you realize that it uses the 2006 design for Avant's card (that was his rookie year), though it also includes a different photo than the original.  Here's that rookie from 2006 plus the regular jersey version of this card for comparison:

As you can clearly tell the Prime version is a huge upgrade on the decent regular old jersey with three clear colors and lots of stitching.  I was glad to make it my 48th hit of the longtime Eagles receiver.

As usual everything today is presented in alphabetical order and yet I find myself in the midst of a four-receiver run!  That continues here with former Cardinal Steve Breaston way back in 2007 when he signed his whole name instead of just "SB".  This is his Bowman Sterling rookie auto from that year, one I would have thought I had except it turns out what I did own was the Refractor version.  While it's not a favorite design of mine it works fine, plus it gets me up to 27 hits of the former WR/special-teamer.

Today's last WR is one of the more recent ones to jump to the NFL:  Amara Darboh.  The Seattle draft pick appears here on a Panini XR Red jersey auto (#16/75) from last year.  I was happy to get both a signature and large relic swatch even before considering the low price--$2.17--of this fun bunch of shininess.  I guess others' dislike of sticker autos just works in my favor sometimes!  While I won't try to claim XR is a necessary brand I like what I ended up with here, my second hit of a guy I hope to see last in the league for a while.

In general I would say that I've preferred Leaf's Certified design to those from its Limited counterpart over the years, but that doesn't mean the latter is exactly chopped liver.  Consider the above card, a rookie auto of former star CB Leon Hall from the 2007 iteration (#60/99).  It's pretty typical for a medium-end card done by that manufacturer around 10 years ago which means it's right in my wheelhouse.  It also represents another addition to my group of Halls--38 in all after today--that continues to make him one of the more represented players in my football PC.

Three cards in today's post prove that you can find some of your favorite defensive players on cardboard--even if they're underrepresented--as long as you're willing to put in the effort.  Besides Hall's above plus the one you'll see at the very end, retired tackling machine LB David Harris--who almost went out on a high note with the Pats after suffering through the dysfunction of the Jets--makes another hit-related appearance here on this 2011 Panini Threads Gridiron Kings Materials Prime jersey (#37/99).  The canvas-like artistic design is probably a bigger highlight than the "prime" relic, which is just a bit of green and white with some stitching, but for as cheap as this card was I couldn't resist snagging it to bolster Harris' total, which now stands at a solid 27.

The third of my four rookie autos today is this one of Heisman finalist RB Chris Perry from 2004 Ultimate Collection (#152/250).  That's one of those higher-end products that I'm always glad others buy so I can scoop up the singles I want on the cheap.  Maybe whoever pulled this one at the time was excited about landing a big card of a first-rounder but they sure wouldn't be today since I got it for under $2!  I'm generally fine with the design, though it's admittedly not very exciting, and Perry's signature has never been one to write home about.  Still, it's great to pick up one of his autos from a high-end product on the cheap!  Make it 51 hits of the former Michigan great.

Now we'll move on to a much more recent back who's making his hits collection debut:  De'Veon Smith.  The four-year RB didn't come in with as much fanfare as others but put together a solid college career that culminated in leading the backfield of the 2016 that went 10-3 in attempts, yards, and TDs and receptions (tied with the "Hammering Panda", Khalid Hill, on both counts).  He's one of the few guys that didn't get drafted in 2017 but latched on with the Dolphins.

I was excited to land a college uni signature of him (he does have a few licensed ones in Panini brands) from 2017 Leaf Metal Draft (even if the airbrushing makes it look more like he's playing for Notre Dame here).  It's always tough sledding for undrafted guys to last long in the pros but maybe Smith can carve out a career.

The second oldest card in today's bunch is this 2002 UD Authentics American Authentics Level 1 auto of the A-Train, Anthony Thomas.  The design isn't terribly exciting but I'm a fan of having the cut out area for signatures sometimes, and Thomas's never fails to impress me.  Honestly, you could probably slap that on a card as ugly as a recent Topps design and I'd have a difficult time passing on it!  It's almost milestone time again here at TMM as this is my 49th hit of Anthony's.

I'm glad to be able to end on a high note (as if anything else from today would be a disappointment) with a letter manupatch/auto.  It happens to be my first of Super Bowl champ LaMarr Woodley, quite possibly the first I've seen available.  It's from 2007 SP Rookie Threads--some of the best letter cards you'll find--and is part of the nameplate that spells out his last name.  You might recall that a while ago I completed Leon Hall's from the same product:

As is the case with Hall's cards this one's #d to 250 (#037 in this case) and has rarer parallel versions.  They may not hit all the great design notes of the 2008 version but I still love the chase for another nameplate!  In a mini milestone of sorts I've finally gotten Woodley to double digits with his 10th hit.

Almost done!  Stay tuned for one last post as I really go out with a bang by showing off a buttload of football PC cards--rookies, inserts, hits, and more!--soon.

2017 COMC purchases: serial-nUMbered insanity

I'm back with more football stuff today, and I sure hope you like inserts because that's what you're getting--a LOT of them, in fact.  Shiny, die-cut, numbered, Refractor-ized, or some combination thereof.  These cards span the years 1995-2013 (you'll see more in my player collections post) and run the gamut of brands, designs, and sanity, not to mention numbering--about 75% of them, in fact, from 5000 on down to 99.  So let's have a look at 25 players' worth of new inserts!

The opening trio of Derrick Alexanders is fun because you'll see all three insert sets again in this post at least once.  1997 Pinnacle Totally Certified Platinum Red (#d /4999) appears a bunch, 1998 Black Diamond Rookies Triple (#d /1500) once more, and Score's Scorecard parallel (especially the 2000 version seen here, #d /2000) quite a bit.

FB B.J. Askew and WR Jason Avant make cameos on parallels from 2004 Playoff Honors and 2010 Topps, respectively.  The action photo used on the Avant card is fantastic.

Only one of Tim Biakabutuka's cards is numbered--the Platinum Red--but all three of his cards are fun, especially the hologram Big Bang from 1996 Skybox's Skymotion.

Stevie Brown doesn't have a lot of cardboard but I did find his 2013 Topps Gold on which he appears to be returning yet another INT.

Former QB Todd Collins is another player for whom I found at least three new inserts.  The die-cut is from a 1997 set called Excalibur Overlords, the Platinum Red is old news by now, and I also came up with one of Pacific's fun numbered cards from one of its trademark wacky designs, 1998 Revolution Shadows (#23/99).

Super Bowl winner Brandon Graham gains entry to the Scorecard club with the 2010 parallel of his rookie from that year's set.

CB Leon Hall comes to us with three numbered parallels:  a Blue Refractor version of his 2007 Finest RC (#068/299) plus Certified Mirror Blue (#082/100) and Topps Gold (#1315/2010) parallels from 2010.  The blue pair is especially cool.

Retired LB David Harris's Topps Gold comes from the following year, but the other insert, 2012 Absolute Gridiron Force Spectrum (#029/100), is notable because Harris isn't actually in the base set, just this insert (and its non-numbered regular version).

Get a load of those "Crazy Legs" on Elroy Hirsch in his 2001 Bowman Chrome Rookie Reprint!  The Refractorized card reminds me that I need to track down a copy of the original someday.

Desmond Howard's 1995 Bowman's Best Refractor represents the earliest card in this post, and I'm glad to add his to the others I own from that set.

Cato June is another guy that didn't get much hobby love but I did find his 2007 Topps Copper parallel (#0155/2007).

I almost ended up with a quartet of Chris Perry Refractors--2004 Topps Chrome, 2005 Bowman Chrome Blue, 2006 Topps Draft Bronze comprise the trio--but a 2008 Leaf Limited Bronze Spotlight (#081/125) was the combo breaker.

And TE Jay Riemersma appears on an Ultra Gold Medallion parallel before a much more interesting 2001 Pacific numbered card called Hobby LTD (#77/99).  You'll see a couple more from this product over the rest of the post.

WR Tai Streets gets in on the Refractor action thanks to 2000 Topps Chrome, plus he joins Riemersma in 2001 Pacific on a Retail LTD parallel (#d /299) instead of hobby, and is part of the Score Scorecard club too, in this case the 2003 version.

David Terrell and Anthony Thomas are reunited here and it feels so good.  The former arrives via a 2002 Topps Chrome Refractor (#509/599) which looks fantastic with the black border.  His RB counterpart appears on a pair of 2002 Fleer-branded parallels:  Flair Collection (#105/200) and Maximum To the Max (#027/250).  We'll see him again shortly.

Beefy RB Tyrone Wheatley is the first from a pair of '96 Donruss Press Proofs I found.  These differ from the base thanks to the "First 2,000 Printed" and "Press Proof" gold stamps plus having the helmet die-cut out of the upper-right corner.

Fearsome defender LaMarr Woodley closes out the scan with Topps Gold parallels from 2011 and 2012, joining the 2010 version I already had.

Here are the three horizontal cards that weren't part of the larger groups of players you'll see next.  RB Leroy Hoard's 1995 Absolute Die Cut Helmets translucent insert was a fun find out of the blue.  And A-Train added to his tally with a couple numbered 2002 cards:  Donruss Elite Back to the Future (#163/800) and 2002 Leaf Rookies and Stars Standing Ovation (#2048/2500).

WR Steve Breaston is the first of the five players for whom I found enough cards to give them their own scans, and all seven of the cards you see above are of the numbered variety.  Steve joins Leon Hall with a 2007 Finest Blue Refractor parallel of his RC, then gets in on the Scorecard fun with his 2008 version that's paired with a Gold Zone parallel (#368/400) from the same product.

A team colors-appropriate Red parallel from Topps' 2009 Unique product (#539/799) is next, and that's followed by a couple 2010 Panini-branded variations:  Crown Royale Blue (#007/100) and Gridiron Gear Gold X's (#061/100).  A Mirror Blue parallel from 2012 Certified (#047/100) joins this group of inserts unique to Breaston in this post.

QB Elvis Grbac is up next with nine cards, though one doesn't count as an insert.  First up is a great double-sided offering from 1997 Leaf called Run and Gun, and while Grbac is up front the better talent lies on the other side:

HOFer Marcus Allen.  Do I need a "90s inserts rule" tag for this blog too?

Yet another Certified Platinum Red from the same year joins the ranks, and that's followed by a deceptive card I thought was an insert but is actually a team checklist from the base set of 1999 Absolute SSD.

Getting back to actual inserts the next card is a cool one from '99 Donruss Preferred called QBC National Treasures (#0604/2000) which is an early mention of the moniker that would go on to be a high-end product.

A pair from 2000 is up next:  Scorecard once again, then a Premiere Date parallel (#089/138) from Pacific's Vanguard brand.  It seems like Pacific usually put the serial numbers up front but in this case it's visible on the back.  The opposite is true of another 2001 Pacific card, again a Retail LTD parallel, which I've always thought looked great on probably my favorite Pacific flagship base design.

A horizontal Leaf Rookies and Stars insert from 2002 called Great American Heroes (#1523/2000) and Brass Coin from 1998 Pinnacle Mint close out Grbac's bunch.  I have a decent number of the baseball versions of these coins but very few from football.

Brian Griese is #2 in a run of three QBs, and once again everything you see here is numbered.  We'll start with the year 2000, which includes a Black Diamond Gold (#0361/1000) version as well as a Donruss insert called Dominators (#4225/5000), which is the winner for highest numbered card by one over the '97 Platinum Reds.  The latter is surprisingly plain for a Donruss insert.

2001 brings another pair, starting with Fleer's E-X Essential Credentials (#236/299), a name I remember from my earlier collecting days, and Pacific's Invincible Red (#432/750), one that appears elsewhere in my inserts collection.

As we move ahead another year we're treated to another Fleer brand parallel with Box Score's First Edition (#020/100), then one of my favorite cards in the whole post, a Championship Ticket from 2002 Contenders (#088/250).  For some reason the combination of color and holographic foil is very pleasing to my collecting eye.  I consider it a cool yearly parallel regardless.

Our last pair (there's an odd number, obviously) hails from 2005, starting with a Silver parallel from Bowman (#118/200) and a Gold one from Leaf Rookies and Stars Longevity (#146/199).  Sorry, I don't have anything bronze to go with those!

Last up we head all the way back to Griese's rookie year of 1998 and another instance of Upper Deck's Black Diamond brand in the form of an insert called Sheer Brilliance (#0045/1400).  His future surely looked brilliant after winning a national title the previous season and getting drafted as a potential heir to John Elway.

While I managed to add seven cards of current Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh only two of them are numbered since the bulk of his career was spent before that was a trend.  The first two you see here--Press Proofs from 1996 Donruss and Leaf--are limited to just 2000 copies, they just aren't stamped.  The Donruss version includes the helmet die-cut like the Wheatley earlier, and the Leaf card goes a step further in taking bites out of either side to give it a bit more of an hourglass shape.

Joining them are another pair of 96s, in this case from Topps brands.  One is the Pacific-like Pro Bowl insert from Stadium club while the other is an insert called Tide Turners from the debut of Topps Chrome.  Jim was both a Pro Bowler and named AP Comeback Player of the Year in '95 so the Chrome card certainly makes sense.

Then our numbered cards appear back-to-back with another 1998 Black Diamond Rookies Triple (#0557/1500) and 2000 Score Scorecard (#1566/2000).  Something tells me I should try to pick up the 2000 Score set at some point since it's obviously chock full of Wolverines!

We'll end his bunch on a high note with some Dufex coolness in the form of a horizontal Trophy Collection parallel from 1996 Pinnacle.  Those cards are great as-is, and so is the design from that year, but the photo selection really makes for a winner here.

Amani Toomer is the other WR in this triple-decker QB sandwich.  While his recent derogatory comments about the state of the team--from a guy who doesn't appear to make any effort to make a connection with his alma mater, no less--irked me quite a bit, I don't tend to make my collecting decisions based on stuff like that.  So don't be too surprised that he was the biggest winner of this COMC run with 12 new cards.

Toomer was yet another player that appeared in the '97 Totally Certified Platinum Red insert, but I also found his Blue version (#1882/2499), definitely more appropriate for a Michigan guy.  A '99 Topps Stars parallel creatively named Parallel (#168/299) finishes off the late 90s group while an early iteration of Absolute's Tools of the Trade name (#0503/1000) begins the 2000s, which is when the rest of Amani's cards cards for today were produced.

For those we jump ahead a few years where Topps Chrome Refractors from 2004 and '05 sandwich an Upper Deck Foundations Exclusive Gold (#063/100) parallel, also from '04.  Then 2006 brings a nice looking Gold version of the familiar Elite Series from Donruss Elite (#0134/1000) and the penultimate Scorecard parallel (#521/750) for this post.

A 2007 Bowman Chrome XFractor (#081/250) is the sole example of that type of insert today, but for a good reason--I already own the Refractor from that year.  Then we finish up in 2008 with a Scorecard insert that's not from flagship Score, but its Select version (#049/100) instead, and a Topps Gold Border (to differentiate it from the useless Gold Foil inserts) printed during his sunset season.

As always I had a blast searching high and low (especially low!) on COMC for these new additions to my football inserts PC, finding all kinds of designs that caught my eye.  And as I mentioned I still have some others to show off in the player collections post that will be the finale of this series soon.  Until then, which ones do each of you like the best?