2018 trade package #14: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

It's been almost a month since I put up a non-football gameday post, but thankfully (see what I did there?) in addition to the trade package I showed off on TMV this evening, I've got a healthy heaping of seconds courtesy of Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store, a generous guy who's never sent me a turkey in his life.

While I eagerly await tomorrow's edition of The Game I can post a nine-spot of Wolverines Doug sent over the border:

As it turns out the seasons of all three sports he sent me this time are active!  We'll start with basketball, and first up is a Score Hoops RC of C Mo Wagner, the outstanding native of Germany who brought Michigan back to the NCAA title game this past year, then was drafted in the first round by the Lakers.  Sweet!

Joining him is another former Wolverine star, albeit one who's out of the league (which definitely makes him easier, or at least cheaper, to collect!):  Mitch McGary.  His card, a 2014-15 Panini Threads Rookie Threads Prime jersey (#18/25) features a very nice jersey swatch.  It's a classy addition and hit #6 of McGary in my basketball PC.

Sticking with basketball rules but switching sports we have another one-and-one.  Eagles DE/LB Brandon Graham, the man who sealed up Philly's Super Bowl victory earlier this year, appears on a base card from Panini's Prizm product this year.  I'll admit I had to check the back to confirm that because the styles kind of blend together.

On the relic front it's one of my many football PC guys, Braylon Edwards.  The former star WR has said a lot of stupid stuff about his alma mater since he left but everyone was sending good thoughts toward his family last week after one of multiple cheap shots by Indiana left his brother, transfer Berkley, motionless on the field for several minutes.  Fortunately the younger Edwards appears to be recovering well so far.  As for the older of Stan's sons to play in Ann Arbor, here he is on a very cool dual relic picturing him with two of his four teams, the ones with with he spent the most time over his career.  This 2011 Timeless Treasures Changing Stripes dual jersey, which includes a nice dual-color swatch from his Jets days, is card #273 in his collection and hit #74.

Doug will be proud to find out that hockey-crazy Wolverines fans now sing "Oh, Canada" a capella before each Michigan game, and why not?  They've sent us many great people and traditions, not to mention lots of very talented icers.  None of the guys in this post hail from our very friendly neighbor (neighbour?) but that's ok because my favorite trade partner keeps the canuck pipeline flowing himself.  Just check out this quartet of base cards!

Plus there's my biggest get on the day in this sweet high-end hit of talented Jet Jacob Trouba out of Panini's top-notch National Treasures product.  It's a Newfound Treasures Materials Autograph jersey auto (#44/50) comprising a super thick card, large jersey swatch covered by a clear plastic window, and a signature as the cherry on top.  Doug's sent me more Trouba cards than I can count right now but this one pretty much has to be the best of the bunch (though others were quite nice as well so that's saying a lot!).  I'm already at nine hits of Mr. T thanks to my Canadian friend/buddy/guy/pal Mr. C.

As always Doug, thanks so much for the cardboard generosity, which I'm hoping to pay back in spades with a package large enough to go under your Christmas tree!

2017 trade package #9: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Well, that didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but Wisconsin earned their win and I hope they can continue their run to the playoff.

Win or lose, I mostly enjoyed watching the game, which Fox generously interspersed into three hours of commercials.  Since I can't honor a victory for my team, I'll instead celebrate the trademark outstanding effort of Doug from Sports Cards From the Dollar Store and his latest trade package (#47 on this here blog!), a 100% Wolverine special:

Starting things off with basketball, here's the captain of the '89 NCAA champs, Glen Rice, on a super thick numbered base card from 2011-12 UD Exquisite.  I love this image, which appears on other cards I own as well as a commemorative newspaper poster.

And a pair of hits of much more recent Wolverines.  On the left is THC enthusiast Mitch McGary on a 2014-15 Select Rookie Signatures auto (#172/275), a card which has a design that reminds me a lot of Prizm.  That's my fifth hit of the big man and second with an auto.

The other is an enormous jersey swatch from the same year's Court Kings product out of a relic set called Art Nouveau Jerseys.  The subject of this one is none other than Canadian SG Nik Stauskas, a.k.a. Sauce Castillo!  A current 76er, he's seen here with the team that drafted him--the Kings--on a card numbered 077/299.  My first non-plate hit of the Canuck came straight from the source.

Now we'll look at a quick four-spot of football.  The top pair of NFLers, Tom Brady and Devin Funchess, come from a typically solid Donruss set from this year.  Speaking of Funch, check out this great story of how he fulfilled a promise to score a TD (he actually picked up a pair) for the mother of a young solider killed in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the two Michigan uni cards are two very useful additions to my football RC project.  As you can see, both hail from this year's Panini Prestige product, one you can usually count on for great college photos, and they include Broncos TE Jake Butt and Seahawks WR Amara Darboh, two of Michigan's best receiving weapons last year.  That's my second RC of Butt (the other is from Score, also thanks to Doug) and first of Darboh.

And now for the main event:  hockey, naturally!  This group begins with a trio representing one of several hockey Mikes, in this case Cammalleri, who we'll see again in a bit.  Next is the Ducks' Andrew Cogliano with his original team, Edmonton.  He's followed by what I believe is my first card of Kyle Connor, an absolute sniper in his one year in Ann Arbor, who's one of several former Wolverines working for the Jets.  One of those teammates is Andrew Copp, seen on a pair of UD issues.  Wolverwing Luke Glendening and multi-Cup-winner with the Pens Carl Hagelin round out the scan on cards from the same OPC set as the Connor.

This group begins with a four-card Jack "MF" Johnson party, picturing him with his current team--Columbus--as well as L.A., with whom he made his NHL debut after Carolina drafted him.  Next is a very shiny UD issue of a former Wolverwing (and hockey Mike), Mike Knuble.  Next is a guy who didn't become a future star but has turned in a decent journeyman career:  goalie Al Montoya.  Blog favorite Brendan Morrison makes the cut once again in a SCFtDS package, which is always appreciated.  Ending this scan are David Moss--a guy I saw lots of during my school years in Ann Arbor--and another guy who enjoyed a pretty nice long pro career, defenseman Jeff Norton.

Not only did Doug send me a CanCon guy in Stauskas above, he also included a 2/14 collection player in Eric Nystrom to start of this scan.  He's joined by a pair of Paciorettys, including a die-cut UD card.  Young D-man Jacob Trouba rounds out the Wolverpeg Jets (eh, it's a work in progress) trio with a pair.  And finally, Doug went extra generous here by including a pair of cards of another uber-talented young star, Zach Werenski.  Another Wolverine exiled to Columbus, he put up a nice pair of seasons in Ann Arbor and has been pretty good for the Blue Jackets in one-plus years of pro play.

And if that wasn't generous enough, how about five new cards of Wolverwing star forward Dylan Larkin?  Without actually checking I'm going to bet that this almost doubles my count of Larkin base and inserts, again most of which likely came from across the border.  Awesome!  I may just have to give Dylan his own PC album if I can keep getting cards of him like this.

My pair of hockey hits today begins with this exceptionally cool die-cut dual jersey/auto of Chris Brown, the pride of Flower Mound, Texas.  It's a bit hard to show in the scan, but the die-cutting is done above the top of the jersey image to give it the feel of a hockey sweater.  My ninth hit of brown comes from a word salad of a set called 2013-14 Panini Titanium Home Sweaters Memorabilia Autographs Prime and is numbered 13/25 (almost a Christmas card!).

And the other hit Doug sent carries the name of one of Upper Deck's most iconic autographed offerings.  From 2006-07 SP Authentic, this is a Chirography auto of Cammalleri, a two-time King who was actually with that team for his second stint this season before being sent to Edmonton just a few days ago!  I now own 14 hits of the sniping FW, half of which carry signatures like this one.

Well that was definitely a fun package to sort through and post, especially after being a bit down about the football team's play yesterday.  Thanks again for the usual above-and-beyond effort, Doug (and for being responsible for the last four packages I've shown off here!).  I'm continuing to work on my response so you can have a merry cardmas!

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.

2017 trade package #7: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Welcome to those of you excited to check out the rest of the goods from my 45th (I think that number's right this time) trade package from cool Canadian Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store!  Oddly enough (or not at all, statistically speaking), the last time I posted cards from a trade, it was from that same happy hoser.  Well I'm glad to report that he was back at it in June, hitting the three major sports--all my baseball stuff goes on TMV--that I like to show off here.  Let's have a look, shall we?

Basketball base:  I kind of hoped Crawford would jump at a chance to join the superteam Warriors, but we'll see how things go for him in Minnesota.  Meanwhile, GRIII and Sauce Castillo appear on a very Pacific-like design from 2014-15 Panini Court Kings.

The trippy design of this 2014-15 Hoops Rise and Shine Memorabilia jersey is very apropos of former big man Mitch McGary, a guy who was more Mary Jane than Michael Jordan.  The solid blue swatch is my fifth hit of a guy I hope (but doubt) will make it back into the league.

I definitely enjoyed Doug's posts covering busting a box of 1989 Panini stickers (start here), and I even got to benefit personally by getting this pair.  AC is quite well known, but Harden is surely more obscure to younger readers as a DB for the Broncos and Raiders in the 80s.

I could be wrong but I think this may be my first full-on Michigan uni card for a player in the 2017 class.  SAGE killed it here with a great photo of Darboh on a pretty good design that looks nothing like what they've put out lately.

I do have to ding them quite a bit here, though.  Although I'm thrilled to get my first autograph of the inspiring and talented WR from Sierra Leone, I'm quite displeased that they really butchered his name here.  "Dobrah"?  Well, there'll be other signature cards, and I'm happy to already have a collection started.

Speaking of autographs and Michigan unis, I was also excited to land this shiny Leaf Metal signature of Devin Gardner (hit #8, autograph #5).  I'm pretty sure I had it on my COMC watch list for a while, and I was actually under the impression I already had it when I pulled it out of the mailer, so it was doubly a pleasant surprise!  I'll take any and all cards you've got of the big dude that's currently living large in Japan.

The hockey content--the largest contingent as is often the case--starts with a trio of hockey Mike Mike Cammalleri, including one with a cameo of former Red Wing D Kyle Quincey.  The present meets the not-so-present with Cogliano on a fun looking OPC offering and former Hobey should-have-won Hensick on a fantastically designed UD base.  The scan finishes with a guy the talent to be the best of the bunch, Wolverwing Dylan Larkin on a UD insert that really brings to mind Fleer Ultra chase cards (anyone else?).

Here's a very talented duo to close out the base/inserts.  Max appears on a UD Canvas card just in time for Ann Arbor's annual Art Fair, a huge event for the city that I enjoy every summer.  His other appearance comes courtesy of the super high-end Ultimate Collection, in this case the 2014-15 version (#d 057/299).  Joining him is Jets D Jacob Trouba, who we'll see again shortly...

...as in now!  One of my pair of hockey hits was this UD Artifacts jersey, featuring a nice swatch of Jets blue.  Man, seeing this much Upper Deck stuff makes me resent the Topps baseball monopoly even more!  What I do appreciate though, is that this is my seventh Trouba hit, and I believe Doug is responsible for ::searches blog for "Jacob Trouba":: yep, all of them!

He's also the one who sent me my only other hit of this guy, so I give Doug 100% credit for my two-card Travis Turnbull hit collection.  When did he send me the last one?  Try four years ago, way back in package #14!  The one he originally sent was quite nice, a dual jersey/auto, but this 2012-13 Dominion RC ups the ante big time with a huge Buffalo Sabres patch to go with his signature.  That's quite a pair!

Hey, wait, the hockey content is done, but there's still something left to show off?  Huh, that's weird, we covered the three major sports so what could it b--

BAH GAWD, KING, THAT'S THE DOG FACED GREMLIN'S MUSIC!

Also way back in 2013, Doug sent me an autograph of former Michigan wrestler (as in "real" wrestling, not "sports entertainment" wrestling) Scott Steiner.  Don't ask me why I never thought to add a signature of his brother Rick, like this one from 2012 Leaf Originals Wrestling, to my Michigan Other Sports, Etc. collection, I just never did.  Here's the image I used in that old post for more Wolverine wrestling goodness:

What a cool way to end another outstanding SCFtDS package!

Thanks again, Doug, and now that I've finally posted this loot maybe I'll get around to reloading for our next trade!

2016 trade package #13: SCFtDS is one of a kind!

Hmmm, three of my last trade packages came from Doug at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store.  Who could this latest one be from?  Oh, it's Doug!  And not only are the cards he sent even more high-end than usual, they're also part of the 40th package I've shown off on this here blog, which is just crazy!  If you don't believe me just check out all of my posts tagged with his name.

By the way, based on today's exchange rate I think that puts him at 1.31 of a kind Canadian.  Anyway, let's look at some cards!

Nik Stauskas 2014-15 Immaculate Collection Rookie Jumbo Tags Printing Plate Cyan (1/1)

Nik Stauskas/Glenn Robinson III/Mitch McGary 2014-15 Immaculate Collection Quad Materials Printing Plate Black (with Gary Harris) (1/1)

Here's a pair that easily rank as "Didn't see those coming!" candidates--well, sort of, as I was able to guess the second one based on some hints he passed along to me.  Incredibly, my first two hits of Nik Stauskas, a.k.a. Sauce Castillo, come courtesy of this pair of plates from 2014-15 Immaculate.  I'm pretty sure that's a first in my collecting life.  Anyway, I would have been happy enough just scoring a simple relic of the talented guard who was a Kings first-rounder in 2014, but that's not how Doug rolls.

And one Wolverine wasn't enough as he managed to dig up a plate with three recent Wolverines, throwing in GRIII and Mitch McGary, along with former Spartan Gary Harris because reasons?  That aside this second plate is extremely cool thanks to the college connection, and it gives me three hits of those other two guys.

One other interesting note:  just about anyone who's held a plate knows they're light, thin cards.  Not so with these versions from Immaculate, which are likely as thick as the relic versions, if not the others in the product, likely to prevent pack-searching.  The extra heft makes these already interesting cards even cooler.

We're not nearly done here, though--I mean, we haven't even talked hockey yet!

Shawn Hunwick 2013-2014 National Treasures 2012-13 Panini Prime Printing Plates Yellow (1/1)

The four-player plate was what I considered the most interesting card of the package, but this is the one I was most excited about since I supercollect Hunwick.  While I don't have as much luck tracking his stuff down as I'd like, I've built up a decent collection, and Doug was nice enough to send me what's now my hockey collection-leading third 1/1 of the former netminder.

This one proved to be a bit tougher than usual to identify because it's not listed in Beckett's catalog, plus it was actually inserted into a 2013-14 product, National Treasures, despite being a plate for a 2012-13 Panini Prime card.  Glad I've got that all sorted out!

John Madden 2001-02 Parkhurst 2002 Chicago Sportsfest 1-of-1 (1/1)

Brendan Morrison 2002-03 Parkhurst 2003 Chicago Sportsfest 1-of-1 (1/1)

And to finish up our five-of-a-kind/one-of-a-kind post, here's a couple more 1/1s, stamped convention card-style.  Also it doesn't hurt that a couple of my favorite former icers, John Madden and Brendan Morrison, are the subjects.  If you've been collecting for a bit, especially recently, you've likely seen this type of oddball pop up from time to time.  While I don't know much about SportsFest and can't easily back up the authenticity of their "one-of-oneness" these cards are a fun, cheap way to add that type of hit to your collection.  And you definitely can't go wrong with an iconic hockey name like Parkhurst.

My third hit of Madden ends up being my second 1/1 of him, and the other also came from Doug!  Morrison joins in the milestone fun with his 25th hit, which is still eight behind leader Marty Turco, but I'm happy to land my first 1/1 of him.

And that, folks, is how you send someone not one or two but five 1/1s of someone's favorite team.  Incredible, generous, amazing stuff, Doug--thank you!  I'm reloaded and ready to fire back as soon as you give me the green light that your post office is no longer trying to out-lazy their American counterparts--a war they could never hope to win, eh?

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.