Seventh heaven

Today mark's one year since last New Year's Day, when I watched as Michigan Football ended a disappointing season with a bowl loss to South Carolina, then got over it and posted a bunch of new Mario Manninghams from Sportlots.  That means it's been seven whole years since I spun off this here blog from the original Too Many Grandersons!

I think the calendar rolling over deserves a quick recap of Michigan sports and my collection progress from 2018.

The football team went 10-3 with those 10 straight victories coming after a season-opening loss to CFP semi-finalist Notre Dame.  The Wolverines avenged 2017 losses against Wisconsin, MSU, and Penn State thanks to newfound offensive success that can largely be attributed to transfer QB Shea Patterson.  Unfortunately the team wilted in a beatdown in Columbus, then looked just as flat in the Peach Bowl loss to Florida.  Questions abound for the 2019 team, but lots of returning starters and an outstanding recruiting class could portend good things.

The hockey team, meanwhile, enjoyed a bit more success, losing the conference tourney to Ohio State before edging Northeastern and bombing BU in their NCAA tourney regional, heading to yet another Frozen Four.  Their season ended there with a 4-3 loss to Notre Dame, but it was a vast improvement over the previous year.  Super talented D Quinn Hughes was a big part of that, and I'm anxious to see what he can do this year before heading off to the NHL.

Finally, Michigan Basketball was the toast of Ann Arbor in 2017-18 thanks to a very good regular season that gave way to a conference tourney title that included double-digit wins over Michigan State and Purdue.  In fact, John Beilein's squad swept the Spartans, including another 10-point win in East Lansing.  After an early February loss to Northwestern his guys won 14 straight, only seeing the streak end in the March Madness final against Villanova.  That included the incredible scene immortalized above when a Jordan Poole prayer lifted Michigan to a crazy one-point, buzzer-beating victory over Houston, not to mention a win against the tournament's Cinderella, Loyola-Chicago.

Beilein continues to reward the patience of the athletic department and fans; to add to his already impressive resume of two finals appearances with Michigan, his team went undefeated in this season's 13 non-conference games, two of which were North Carolina and revenge against Villanova.  Who knows what great things April could bring this season?

As for my Michigan PCs, things were less roller coaster and more like a well-oiled machine.  I had 15 trade packages to show off, some of which were actually TMM-specific, so that was great.  The year was a productive one in getting more player collections put together and posted, with more good things on the way this year.  And I hit a big milestone with--what else?--a Mario Manningham card, my 2000th hit from my alma mater.  Besides those heavy hitters I added lots of other cardboard (and more) to those collections, and that also looks to be a trend I'll be able to continue in the new year.

Here's hoping things get even better for Michigan and that 2019 is a happy BLUE year!

Which Glasgow?

I was going to post this on Sunday but after Saturday nights game I was just to disgusted. I'm not going to get into all that but I will say it was a very frustrating game to watch as you can tell by my tweet.

I did just want to drop by and show you my latest $3 pick-up.

It's my first card of Ryan Glasgow, my first card of any of the Glasgows as this family keeps churning out football players for Michigan. Graham is in the pros (Lions) as is Ryan (Bengals) and the younger brother Jordan is still at Michigan. Regardless, I've bid on this card a couple of times and ended up outbidded as I usually only put $3/shipped on autos but I finally managed to get this one for my max bid.

As far as the team goes, I won't shut any games off, I just can't, but if they keep playing like this, my excitement for going to the Ohio game lessens. Let's see if they can turn it around this weekend at Indiana. At least this game is at noon, I hate having to wait all day to watch them.

Jeff who?

Jeff here, I know, I've been a huge slacker over here but I finally got a few cards that you may have not seen yet. Which is rare for me because I'm a cheap skate.

First off, who's excited for football to start? We're less than a couple of weeks away from facing off with Florida, who's already started to talk smack. I am so ready for football to start.

That being said, I'm going to start off with a couple of basketball cards first.

2014-15 Panini Prizm

This Ebay 1/1 is nice and shiny. I say Ebay 1/1 because it is numbered, however, it's #'d 199/199 so it is the last card in the run. Not a bad pickup for only $1.75/shipped. It is my 11th card of Mitch McGary but it is my 3rd auto of his out of the 11 cards though.

Sticking with basketball, I also picked this up from the same seller as the card below it.

2007-08 Press Pass Authentics Legends

I love this card of the National Champion Glen Rice, it is my first auto of Rice and it very well may be first card of Rice other than that Panini Team set from a couple of years ago. Granted, this isn't from his playing days either but it's an auto, and in the Maize and Blue. Not a bad pickup for $3/shipped.

Last but not least, I got this football card with the one above.

2008 Press Pass Authentics Bowl Busters Sapphire

I also grabbed this #'d auto of Anthony Carter. I believe it is my 2nd auto of his because I remember Dennis getting me one as well. What is it #'d to? How about 23/75. I'll take that, especially for only $3/shipped. That's right I picked up this 2 card lot of Michigan legends for only $6/shipped.

That's all I got to show but it was a pretty good couple of days in the mailbox. I will see you all at the end of November up at the Big House. If you know our schedule, I'll just tell you I got tickets for the last game of the season. If you're reading this blog, you should know which game that is. It will be the biggest game I've ever attended before and I can't wait.

Turning the NFL draft up to 11

11 #NFLDraft picks. #ThisIsMichigan#GoBlue #ProBlue pic.twitter.com/OcunrF48tz

— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) April 30, 2017

If you weren't paying attention this past weekend, Michigan enjoyed a historically excellent draft, seeing a program record 11 Wolverines get selected (including two first-rounders), most of any school in 2017.  That total equals Michigan's production from 2013-16 and is the highest since back-to-back drafts with seven Wolverines selected in 2007 and '08.  In addition, out of the eight players that went undrafted, seven signed with NFL teams as free agents, meaning a crazy number of 18 new alumni could appear on pro rosters this year.  What a difference a few years make!

In celebration I thought I'd take a quick look at where and by whom each player was drafted and where they can be found on early cardboard in terms of rookie cards and autographs.  NOTE:  I own none of the cards pictured below, though hopefully I'll be able to add a few of them eventually!

Jabrill Peppers (Everything)

Cleveland, Round 1, pick 25 (#25 overall)
RCs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Score
Autographs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Leaf Metal Draft;  Leaf Ultimate Draft;  Panini Contenders;  Score

Taco Charlton (DL)

Dallas, Round 1, pick 28 (#28)

RCs:  Score
Autographs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Leaf Draft;  Leaf Metal Draft;  Leaf Ultimate Draft;  Panini Contenders;  Score

Chris Wormley (DL)

Baltimore, Round 3, pick 10 (#74)

RCs:  Score
Autographs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Leaf Draft;  Panini Contenders;  SAGE HIT Premier Draft;  Score

Jourdan Lewis (CB)

Dallas, Round 3, pick 28 (#92)

RCs:  Elite Draft Picks
Autographs:  None

Delano Hill (S)

Seattle, Round 3, pick 31 (#95)

RCs:  None
Autographs:  None

Amara Darboh, (WR)

Seattle, Round 3, pick 42 (#106)

RCs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Score
Autographs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Leaf Draft;  Leaf Metal Draft;  Leaf Ultimate Draft;  Panini Contenders;  SAGE HIT Premier Draft;  Score

Ben Gedeon (LB)

Minnesota, Round 4, pick 14 (#120)

RCs:  None
Autographs:  Leaf Draft

Ryan Glasgow (DL)

Cincinnati, Round 4, pick 32 (#138)

RCs:  None
Autographs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Leaf Draft;  Panini Contenders

Jehu Chesson (WR)

Kansas City, Round 4, pick 33 (#139)

RCs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Score
Autographs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Leaf Draft;  Leaf Metal Draft;  Leaf Ultimate Draft;  Panini Contenders;  Score

Jake Butt (TE)

Denver, Round 5, pick 1 (#145)

RCs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Score
Autographs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Leaf Draft;  Leaf Metal Draft;  Leaf Ultimate Draft;  Panini Contenders;  Score

Jeremy Clark (S)

Credit:  maizenbrew.com

New York Jets, Round 6, pick 13 (#197)

RCs:  None
Autographs:  None

Undrafted free agents:

Kenny Allen (K)

Credit:  maizenbrew.com

Baltimore

RCs:  None
Autographs:  None

Matt Godin (DL)

Credit:  maizenbrew.com

Houston

RCs:  None
Autographs:  None

Kyle Kalis (OL)

Credit:  touchthebanner.com

Washington

RCs:  None
Autographs:  None

Erik Magnuson (OL)

Credit:  mgoblog.com

San Francisco

RCs:  None
Autographs:  None

De'Veon Smith (RB)

Miami

RCs:  Score
Autographs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Leaf Draft;  Leaf Metal Draft;  Leaf Ultimate Draft;  Panini Contenders

Channing Stribling (CB)

Cleveland

RCs:  None
Autographs:  Elite Draft Picks;  Leaf Draft;  Panini Contenders

Dymonte Thomas (S)

Denver

RCs:  None
Autographs:  None

2017 Leaf Draft football: the Wolverines

As I said in today's TMV posted in which I showed of a two-blaster break of 2017 Leaf Draft football, I thought at least a few of you might want to see the Wolverines from the product in a bit more depth.

First, all five base cards in numerical order (front and back):

WR Amara Darboh

RB De'Veon Smith

TE Jake Butt

WR Jehu Chesson

DE Taco Charlton

Next up is the lone Wolverine I pulled out of the Gold Parallel set, Jehu Chesson:

I didn't bother with the back since it looks exactly the same.

Finally, both of Jake Butt's entries from the All-American insert, including the Gold parallel of that:

You'll notice the text on the back is the same as that of his base card, along with the photo being identical (with a different background).

Though I didn't manage to pull any of them, nine(!) Wolverines appear in the autographs checklist:

• Amara Darboh (SSP)
• Ben Gedeon
• Channing Stribling
• Chris Wormley
• De'Veon Smith (SSP)
• Jake Butt (SSP)
• Jehu Chesson (SSP)
• Ryan Glasgow
• Taco Charlton (SSP)

While this is a great draft class, I don't forsee every one of those guys making it onto NFL cardboard, to say nothing of autographs, so as always I appreciate products like this for including the lesser known guys.  And I hope to have some to show off here eventually!

Along with those, I'm looking forward to adding even more nice college uni signatures from products like Panini Elite (along with some true RCs of guys like Jabrill Peppers!) and Leaf Metal Draft.  This looks like another great year to be a college collector!

Recent PC Additions

Jeff here, I'm back again with my second post this month, that might be a record, but I did warn you. I got some more COMC pick-ups to share so let's get to it.

2012 Press Pass Fanfare Gold ($1.45)

2012 Press Pass Signings ($1.23)

I now have 5 cards of Kevin Koger and 4 of those are autographs and all are of the Maize and Blue variety.

2014-15 Upper Deck SPx ($.50)

This is only my 3rd card of Mitch McGary but my 2nd in a Michigan uniform.

2014 Upper Deck SP Authentic Canvas Collection ($.75)

2014 Leaf Draft ($.45)

These 2 cards put my Taylor Lewan Collection into the double digits with 10 cards. He has had the easiest cards to pick up on Ebay, I think I've picked up his 2014 Topps Finest Refractor 3 or 4 times now, I really need to keep better records. I can't go by the picture because Topps used that picture in a bunch of their cards.

2008 Upper Deck Draft Editions ($.43)

2008 Playoff Prestige Picks Blue ($.55)

2008 Topps Rookie Progression ($.36)

2008 Sage HIT Autograph ($1.25)

These 4 cards put my Mike Hart Collection at 34 cards and half of those are autographs. I guess because of that you can tell he's one of my Tier 1 collections as I've picked up a bunch of his and Dennis has always been good for some.

1999 Press Pass Authentics Autographs ($1.44)

2011-12 Fleer Retro 1998-99 Autographics Design Auto ($2.69)

I also picked up these 2 cards for the Michigan collection, I had a little money left after adding the cards to my cart. I grabbed the first one because it was cheap, then I decided to look and see what I could get for the total amount I had left instead of cheap and saw the Cazzie Russell and I had to pick that one up.