2018 COMC purchases: 10 years later...

At long last I'm finishing up my 2018 COMC pickups with my favorites--my PC guys from the 2008 draft class!  It's this here blog's answer to GCRL:  Henne, Hart, Manningham, Long:

Record-setting RB Mike Hart is up first with a fun little trifecta.  His Stadium Club RC (#1799/1799!) leaves me just his '08 Upper Deck base short of his first-year run.  Next is a Rainbow parallel of his 2008 UD Icons auto, which looks to be my 64th card featuring his signature.  That product has a design I don't terribly care for but I love adding any new autograph of Hart.  And finally, I came up with a first for his collection:  a printing plate!  It happens to be a Michigan uni card, too, since it's from 2008 Press Pass Legends.  That's 1/1 #119 in my collection!

Now let's look at the Chad Henne pyramid of greatness--look out, Ron Swanson!  While I'd recommend more daily servings of autographs there's plenty here for a healthy collection.  Up top is another great example of Contenders' Playoff Ticket insert I enjoy so much.  A couple solo jersey relics from 2008 Leaf Certified Materials (#d /100) and 2009 Prestige bookend two more that include Chad's fellow '08 Wolverine draftee with the Dolphins, who's coming up next.  Those are #d /250 and /500, respectively.  Henne continues to rule the football collection with 124 hits and is getting close to joining 300-card PC guy Charles Woodson with a new total of 290.

Former #1 overall pick OT Jake Long gets a double-dip with his own group of cards in addition to the pair he shares with Henne above.  He joins Hart in the RC club with his 2008 Topps Letterman base (#104/419), and I appear to be four cards short of Jake's first-years.  I also added a new signature of his (Michigan uni!) thanks to 2008 SAGE Squared, a card he shares with fellow first-rounder Ryan Clady, who went 12th overall to Denver after a good career at Boise State, then enjoyed a solid NFL run cut short by injuries (sounds kind of familiar!).  To those I added a pair of SPx triple jersey relics, giving me nine of his cards from that product featuring many such variations.

This haul moved Long back ahead of Braylon Edwards with 82 hits as the fourth player to hit 80+, leaving him three shy of the next guy you'll see.

You may have heard of him.  Michigan star WR?  Super Bowl hero?  Namesake of this here blog?  Back in January I posted some Sportlots pickups that had me celebrating 200 Many Manninghams, and now I have a few more to add to that pile.  First is a pair of pretty Panini parallels (say that three times fast!):  2011 Gridiron Gear Gold X's (#068/100) and Prestige Xtra Points Red (#046/100).  I love any new Manninghams but I'm extra happy to add some numbered inserts.

Along with those is a new pair of Giants jersey relics.  The first is the Jumbo Swatch version of his 2008 Donruss Gridiron Gear relic, a piece that looks great and is numbered 16/50.  From the same year's Leaf Limited I found a Rookie Jumbo Jerseys Team Logo swatch (#18/50) cut in the shape of New York's logo.  Well, a rough outline, anyway!

Manningham's 85 hits are good for second place, though he's a crazy 29 behind top guy Chad Henne, meaning I can't say I have too many!

Now that I'm finally done with these, some show pickups and trade packages should come next.

2018 Sportlots purchases: Too Many Manninghams and the great '08s

Ok, it's about time I got started on my latest Sportlots pickups for this here blog.  I got a bit distracted, as is my way, with putting together a few more player collection albums, but today I'm ready to share the first post in this series. 

Since I began TMV's version with that blog's former and current namesakes, it's only natural that I'd do the same over here.  Mario Manningham it is!  Then I decided that his four new cards alone weren't worth a post by themselves so I added in the rest of his fellow 2008 draftees that have found their way into my PCs.  Enjoy!

First up is old double-A, Adrian Arrington.  These seven newbies were particularly helpful as Arrington is my only supercollection so far.  The first four hail from Press Pass and SAGE, the types of brands I wouldn't include in my baseball PC checklists but consider find when it comes to the gridiron.  Besides, they all feature college unis!  The 2008 trio includes Press Pass SE, its Gold parallel, and an insert called Insider Insight, plus a Glossy parallel from SAGE.

His day is complete with a 2009 Score trio of flagship, that card's Glossy parallel (an insert you may see a few more times today), and the same card from Inscriptions, a related product.  I now count 86 cards in my possession of the 370 I've checklisted for #16.

I didn't have as much luck this time with Mike Hart but did end up with a couple repeats from Arrington's haul:  2008 Press Pass SE base and 2009 Score Glossy.  At least this keeps the college uni train rolling!  Plus it gives me a new count of 124 Harts.

Blog favorite Chad Henne led all comers today with 10 new additions (card #3, from 2010 Absolute, ended up being a dupe as it's the retail version).  Issues from 2008 Press Pass, 2010 SP Authentic and SPx, and 2008 Upper Deck (College to Pros insert) get the Michigan uni treatment and are definitely highlights, though a 2009 Razor Army All-American Bowl card was an interesting change of pace.  You can now put me down for 281 Hennes and counting!

OT OG Jake Long joins Mike Hart at the table for two with this pair:  a 2009 Score Glossy insert (again!) and 2010 Topps Magic base (joining Henne above in the latter set).  While he's the only player in this post without a college action shot he's the fourth and final to be featured on a Glossy Score card, so he's got that going for him.  That and a new total of 120 cards.

And the man of the hour himself in 100% winged helmet form!  The 2008 trio comprises a Donruss Threads insert called College Gridiron Kings (brilliant!), Press Pass, and a Gold parallel from Press Pass PE.  A repeat performance from 2010 SP Authentic caps off a very nice quartet of Super Marios, giving him a new count of 198, putting me tantalizingly close to two hundred many Manninghams!

I haven't decided what I'll show off next but I have plenty to choose from so stay tuned as we near the beginning of the college season!

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!

A Few Cheap Autographs

I got a few cards that I haven't seen Dennis post yet so here you go. I've been picking up a ton of relic and auto's of former Wolverines lately. I actually changed the way I search for player collections instead of searching for only up to a quarter, I search up to three bucks to include autos and relics and it's definitely made a difference on those former Wolverines whose cards are in their pro jerseys.

I'll start with the 2 non-relic/auto cards.

I know we've seen this photo here because Topps used it on a ton of his cards. I think I have 4 or 5 with this photo but somehow didn't have just the plain old Bowman Chrome. I picked this up for $.25/shipped. This is my 16th card of Taylor Lewan.

I also picked up this Leon Hall for only $.50/shipped. I upped my minimum bid for Michigan uniformed cards. I almost won this card twice as I bid on another one after I won this. I don't put them on my lists until I receive the card so I didn't realize I had just won it. Luckily, I got outbid on it.

This is my 6th card of Caris LeVert but it is my first autograph. I've bid on a couple of his but could never get one for $3 or under. This one comes to me for exactly $3/shipped, but wait, there's more. This one is also numbered 5/10, so how I won this and didn't win "lesser" autographs is beyond me but I'm certainly not going to complain.

This one may look familiar, it did to my collection as I believe it is the same card that Dennis sent me awhile ago, only this one is bigger. I haven't looked for sure but I think he sent me the mini version of this.  This is my 37th card of Shoelace, but only my 2nd autograph. I picked this up for $3/shipped as well.

This card was a steal in my mind. A Mike Hart (personal favorite) autograph, numbered to /99 and I picked it up for only $1.49/shipped. It is my 44th card of Mike Hart for my original pc guy of a former Wolverines.

I bid on a bunch of his card before I finally landed one and again, I bid on a bunch of the plain base autograph, didn't win, then ended up winning this one which is a purple die cut #'d /99. This is my 1st card of Channing Stribling and I picked it up for $2.49/shipped.

Another guy I bid on a bunch of times but couldn't win an auto cheap enough, so I cheated. Sine it was a Jake Butt in a Michigan uniform, I went a little higher on my bid. I still only won it for $4.25/shipped. It's my 5th card of Butt but my first autograph.

Last but not least, I overpaid for this card but it was for a good cause. I found a card shop in my area, it's not your traditional shop with showcases and such but you walk in and there are just a ton of boxes all over. quarter boxes, dime boxes and just boxes of rookies, stars, hof'ers ect. Oh yeah, and the lady that owns it I've known from other card shops for years. So I picked up a bunch of quarter cards that you'll see on my blog later, and I was going to pay with my debit but she was going to charge me a couple of bucks because she has a minimum to pay with a card. I understand, small business and all, so I grabbed this card and asked for a better deal then the $15 she was asking for. She knocked it down to $10 and I took it, mainly because I've known her awhile and I was excited at the prospect of having a shop to go to. I haven't been back yet because of work and she's not open very late in the evenings but I will go back. This is my 6th card of Darboh, 4 relics, this auto and a base card.

That's all I got for now so in closing, I'll leave you with the fact that we only have 100 days until our football season opener, against a team we better stomp their asses into the ground because I have personal stakes in it as I live just outside of South Bend.

Stay true to the Maize and Blue.