2018 trade package #13: My Sports Obsession

Not only did Jeff (My Sports Obsession) treat me to my first in-person Michigan Football game in six years this past Saturday--an emphatic win over Maryland--he also brought a new addition to my football collection:

Darboh no you di'n't!  Football hit #1311 is this jersey relic of the former Michigan WR from 2017 Panini Prizm's Prizm Premier Jerseys.  The Refractor-like Prizm design is readily apparent in this scan as is the nice blue Seahawks swatch.  Speaking of that team, Amara is current on IR with Seattle due to a knee injury, though the Patriots briefly held his rights before he failed a physical.  I'm hoping he can return to health and find some playing time in 2019 after a year lost to injury.

Anyway, I was excited to add what's now the seventh Darboh hit to my collection, plus I'll have another one to show off soon.

Once again, many thanks to Jeff for a great card and a hell of a time at a great game during a classic Ann Arbor Saturday.  Go Blue!

2018 trade package #8: My Sports Obsession

Besides the eBay cards I showed off on TMV today I came home from my trip last week to another envelope in my mailbox:  a surprise PWE from TMM collaborator Jeff of My Sports Obsession.

As always, Jeff sets his sights on eBay steals that meet his PCs, and sometimes that means doubles and more,  Occasionally that works in my favor, just like when I end up with Wolverine dupes.  That was the case here as he came up with a couple new cards for me:

You just saw THJ in my last post, a trade package from Doug, and now he's back for more.  Here he is on a 2017-18 Prestige base, which carries over one of my favorite brands (thanks to its design) to basketball.  As I said yesterday I hope his positive momentum from this season carries over next year after his triumphant return to the Knicks.

Naturally I'm more excited about this card as a football fan, though you already saw it in Jeff's post here a couple Sundays ago.  Thanks to him winning three of this card I'm now a proud owner of Amara Darboh's 2017 Certified Cuts Future Legends Memorabilia jersey relic.  And what a swatch it is, too, taking up a large portion of its half of the card.  Oversized relics are awesome, and free ones that come in trades are even better!  It's my first such hit out of four Darbohs in my football collection and I'm happy to keep adding more of the Seahawks WR that was fun to watch in Ann Arbor.

Thanks again for this surprise pair, Jeff, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you think of the stuff I sent your way recently.  GO BLUE!

2018 trade package #4: My Sports Obsession

The other day I was excited to come home to a surprise PWE from fellow Michigan collector and occasional contributor to this here blog Jeff of My Sports Obsession.  Jeff knows how much I love getting new Wolverines cards, and I couldn't imagine that the White Sox fan (for whatever reason) would spend any money on cards of the far superior Tigers, so I figured it would be something for one of the many collections I show off here, but what?

Once I tore through the envelope I was happy to find the result of Jeff's daily eBay searching (I'm assuming) paid off nicely for me in the form of a new player for my football PC:

The 208th different member of that collection is DL Chris Wormley on an auto/RC from Panini's 2017 Contenders Draft Picks!

Wormley was a four-year Wolverine who appeared in 42 games between 2013 and 2016.  Over those campaigns he piled up 31.5 TFL (including a career-high 14.5 in 2015) and 17.5 sacks, and all that was good enough for him to get selected by the Ravens in the 3rd round of the 2017 draft (a.k.a. the one that was absolutely stacked with his teammates).  He even appeared in seven games for Baltimore last year.

It took me a minute to realize which product I was looking at here since I'm generally more familiar with "regular" Contenders, which includes vets and rookies in their pro uniforms.  Since 2015 Panini has also made the Draft Picks version like you see above, where everybody is pictured with the college where they made their names before the pros.  Naturally that product gets more respect from me (though of course I still very much like the original).

All in all it's a great looking card for the first of what I hope is many hits of Wormley.

Thanks, Jeff!  I have a few things set aside for you and will surely have more by the time the spring game rolls around, so hopefully I'll see you then!

2016 trade package #15: World Series Wolverines from My Sports Obsession

As mentioned on TMV tonight, I met up with Jeff this past Saturday as he was in Ann Arbor attending the Michigan-Illinois game.  I'm guessing he headed home happy after another resounding Wolverine win.

I loves me some in-person trading and this was no different.  This time the bulk of the goods was Tigers and non-Michigan baseball PC players, but Jeff and I are both Michigan collectors so naturally there was some Wolverines content as well.  And as it turns out, everything in this post is also baseball, fitting in nicely with the World Series theme from the TMV post.

Here's a gander at what I got:

• Jim Abbott 1993 Pinnacle:  Abbott never got to experience any round of the playoffs, but then again he played in the 90s for the Angels, Yankees (pre-dynasty), White Sox, and Brewers, so that's no surprise.  That's too bad--he would have been fun to watch in the playoffs.
• Chris Getz 2009 O-Pee-Chee and 2014 Topps Red Hot Foil:  Chris played for a relatively short seven years, mostly with White Sox and Royals teams that weren't all that great except for his 2008 rookie season, when Chicago left him off the roster.  He's at least relevant to the South-Siders once again having been hired as director of player development.  Hopefully that position leads to a fantastic front office career! 
• Steve Ontiveros 1986 Donruss:  Hmmm, nothing here either, though Steve at least spent time with the '88 Oakland team that won the NL pennant.  This theme isn't looking to good for the Wolverines today!
• Clayton Richard 2014 Topps:  HERE we go--Clayton was part of that '08 White Sox squad that Getz missed out on, and he appeared in 6 1/3 innings over two games as his team lost to the eventual AL pennant-winning Rays.  Seven years later he pitched in six games as the Cubs beat the Cards in the 2015 ALDS, then lost to the Mets.  It's conceivable Richard could have been part of the Cubbies' pen this year, but he was let go in August, and actually went on a decent run in a return to the Padres.
• Chris Sabo 1992 Topps Stadium Club:  Ah, here's our winner.  Spuds participated in only one season's worth of playoffs but made it count as his 1990 Reds team beat the Pirates and Athletics to win it all.  His NLCS was solid, including a game 4 homer that plated the eventual winning run, but he took things to the next level against Oakland, going off for a .563 average, two more taters (both in game 3), and five RBI.  If not for Jose Rijo's excellent pair of starts--both wins--Chris may have won MVP honors.

Jeff tossed in a nice hit as well:  this auto:

And it's a very timely Indians card as well.  Zach Putnam, here on a 2009 Bowman Prospects auto card, was drafted by Cleveland but pitched for them for just a year before being shipped to Colorado.  He then spent 2013 with the Cubs and then the last three seasons in Chicago for Jeff's favorite team, so he's never been part of a playoff-bound club, much less been left off a postseason roster.  Hopefully he's not bad luck!

Jeff, thanks for another fun in-person trade.  I'm guessing we'll have to wait until sometime next year to do it again, but at least that gives me some time to track down new stuff for you!

2016 trade package #6: spring game swap with Jeff

As I said in tonight's TMV post, Jeff (and some of his family) and I met up at Michigan's football spring game back on the first of this month, and that allowed us to swap some cards in-person, which is always more fun than mailing them, not to mention cheaper.

Since he's a fellow Michigan fan, Jeff didn't forget to bring along a few Wolverines with him:

Ryan LaMarre 2016 Topps RC

LaMarre was a second-rounder for the Reds in 2010 and finally made his Major League debut in 2015, so he was included in 2016 flagship with this great photo.  That gives me a bunch of parallels to chase, not to mention Ryan's first cards since 2012, and I now have 21 of his 37 by my count.  Although his debut didn't go very well, Boston picked him up and now I can hope he'll get a shot with them in 2016 and beyond.

Taylor Lewan 2014 Finest RC, Finest Refractor, and Topps Strata RC

And a trio of 2014 Taylor Lewans, including a pair of RCs and a Refractor for my inserts collection.  Jeff noted that he wasn't sure which, if any, of these I had since almost all of Lewan's cards, especially Topps' versions, have the same photo.  I'm actually short just his 2014 Select card now, so soon there will be less reason for confusion around here!

Thanks again for these great cards, Jeff, and I hope to see you again soon, maybe even before 2017's spring game!

2015 trade package #13: My Sports Obsession enables my PC obsession

I'm behind on posting, which means I'm even more behind on trade packages!

Here's a great one from fellow TMMer Jeff of My Sports Obsession.  Jeff let me know he was gonna send me some stuff for my PCs, and he sure wasn't kidding about that!  Check these out:

Barry Larkin 2003 MLB Showdown

I had just one other MLB Showdown card of Larkin before Jeff sent this one my way, and now I've doubled my collection thanks to this base from 2003.  It's my 276th different Larkin card, which is awesome.

Hal Morris 1990 Albany Yankees All Decade Best

Moving on to Larkin's old Reds teammate Hal Morris, here's a cool oddball/minor league card, #105 in his collection.  Hal's another pretty good Yankees prospect that got away, likely to the chagrin of Frank Costanza.

Michael O'Neill 2014 Bowman Chrome Mini Factory Set, 2014 Bowman Chrome Prospects Series 2 Green Refractor (#40/75), Purple Refractor (#112/150), and Refractor (#393/500)

Here's where a lot of the PC help came in handy:  Jeff sent my four Michael O'Neill cards from 2014 Bowman Chrome products.  The first hails from the Mini Factory Set while the others are all rainbow Refractors from the "regular" version.  O'Neill has a crazy count of 42 cards between the various products and I now have six...oof that's a long way to go!  Thanks to Mr. Laws, though, I'm now over 25% of O'Neill's current run at 22/83.

J.J. Putz 2001 Royal Rookies Futures auto (#1967/6995)

J.J. Putz 2007 Topps Co-Signers Bronze (with Felix) (#023/275)

J.J. Putz 2014 Topps Target Red Border

Today's other multi-card player is pitcher J.J. Putz, who retired last year.  First, Jeff flipped me a Royal Rookies auto I was surprised I didn't have until I realized the one I own is from 2000 instead, plus I have the base version of the card.  I can't believe Putz had to sign almost 7000 of those!  That's my 16th Putz hit and 11th auto as well.

Next is another parallel from the '07 Topps Co-Signers set along with Felix Hernandez.  Of the 12 versions I now own a third of them, and I'll probably add more if the prices ever come back to reality since some of them aren't that hard to find.

Finally, speaking of Topps and its parallel-happy nature, here's the retail-exclusive Target Red card from last year's flagship set.  My progress on the flagship/Mini rainbow now stands at 8/18.

As for J.J.'s overall count, I have 189/327 of his regular run, four 1/1s, and five "others" (including the Royal Rookies cards referenced above) for a grand total of 198.  It's almost milestone time!

Brian Simmons 1999 Bowman Chrome Gold

Finally, Jeff added on to one of my more obscure PCs, former White Sox prospect Brian Simmons.  Since Jeff's a fan of the lame South Siders I do appreciate that he sent this my way.  I'm not quite sure why Topps decided to produce this parallel that year since the only difference is the signature appearing in gold, but that's Topps for you.  More importantly it bumps up my Simmons tally to 21/35 or exactly 60%!

Thanks again for all the useful cards, Jeff, and it's always fun trading with you!  Readers, please follow Jeff's collecting exploits at the following locations (besides occasionally on this here blog):

• My Sports Obsession
• My Personal Collections
• My Baseball Card Obsession

2014 trade package #16: Jeff puts the 'W' in PWE

It had been since January that I'd last received cards from TMM co-author and fellow Michigan fan Jeff (of My Sports Obsession), but then a couple weeks ago a surprise PWE from the Laws man graced my mailbox.  I want to say it came around the weekend of the Minnesota game (which he attended), but regardless I was in enough of a malaise thanks to the state of the football team that I decided to post it at a better time.  That time ended up being today, a couple days after a win over Penn State that didn't look the prettiest but managed to do the job.

Here's what Jeff sent this time:

He and I both collect Abbott because of various factors--me because he's a Michigan guy that fits into my PC and Jeff for personal reasons (plus some time with the South Siders).  I have both already but don't complain about base doubles, especially when they're of cards I have only as part of complete sets, which I store separately from my PCs.  Thumbs up for the '95 Pinnacle and '99 Fleer Tradition cards, then!

Drew Henson 1999 SP Top Prospects

Did you know Drew Henson played both college football and minor league baseball while at Michigan?  I don't know if that little-known fact has ever been brought up before.  Kudos to UD for making a fun card of Drew literally juggling the two sports.  This is a tough one to scan as the nice gold foiliness doesn't really come off as nicely as it does in-person.  It's my 26th of the Michigan Man bought away by a Buckeye.

Denard Robinson 2013 Topps Chrome and Strata Retail RCs

Lastly--and most excitingly--Jeff slipped in a pair of 2013 Topps brand Shoelace rookies.  I've taken various stabs at packs of both products but never did pick up either of these, so I'm glad Jeff was smart enough to get them from eBay (at least that's how I assume he acquired them) and generous enough to send them my way.  Add two more of Denard to my Michigan Football rookies PC, which now features six cards of the QB/RB/WR/whatever, including the above Retail version as well as the "hobby" issue of his 2013 Strata RCs.  Hooray for slightly different photos!

Thanks for thinking of me with a fun PWE, Jeff!  Rest assured I'm setting aside some stuff for you as usual.  Readers, please head over to My Sports Obsession, even if Jeff does like rooting for the smelly White Sox.

2014 trade package #2: Happy Drew Year from Jeff

Fellow Michigan enthusiast Jeff of My Sports Obsession sent me my second trade package of the year, a one-card PWE I was happy to receive since it adds yet another item to one of my many baseball PCs:

Drew Henson 2001 Just 2k1 Top Prospect Promos

This appears to be the "base" version of Henson's Promo card, and unlike the rest in the set (including the Gold parallels), his is actually numbered "BONUS," which is cool in its own way.  I do have the Gold version, by the way, which looks like this:

After being drafted in the third round by the Yankees in '98 and leaving Michigan (grumble grumble), Henson played a season of rookie ball that year and spent '99 in at the A+ level.  He then split 2000 among A+ (Tampa) and a pair of AA teams:  the now defunct Norwich (as pictured here) and Chattanooga in the Reds system after the July deal that sent him to Cincy (for less than a year).  His overall 2000 stats were sort of ok: .266 with 9 HR, but 107 strikeouts, and when his numbers got progressively worse as he moved up the ladder, it was clear he'd never pan out in the Bigs, and he finally gave the football thing a shot again after ending his baseball career in 2003.

This new Henson is my 23rd in his PC, and I hope many of you follow Jeff's example of sending me stuff for my baseball PCs!

Thanks as always for sending me stuff, Jeff, and you can look forward to a return package very soon!  Readers, please take a gander at My Sports Obsession for some more excellent player collecting coverage.

My latest Wolverines

If you came over from “My Sports Obsession”, welcome and bookmark us because Dennis puts up some awesome Michigan cards.  If you didn’t come from there, then I’ll start from scratch.  I had tickets for my annual Michigan game this past weekend against Iowa.  Anytime I’m in Ann Arbor, I try to get together with Dennis to save some postage as we are always sending cards back and forth.  He sends a lot more than I do because he’s cool like that.  You can go over to “My Sports Obsession” and see all the great Chicago White Sox cards as well as some Peyton Mannings.  But you’re here for the Michigan cards aren’t you.  Dennis gave me 1 of those as well.  Being as he collects the Maize and Blue as well it’s always nice to get those from him

A Cato June autograph.  That is awesome.  Even though I’m closing in on 40, I haven’t intensely followed Michigan all my life.  So I love when I get cards of players that I’ve actually watched or heard of.  Which is what I get with this TK Legacy autograph.  I really need to start picking up these cards and there is a lot of them.  Dennis has offered to pick them up for me, I just need to get the funds to be able to do so.  Thanks again, Dennis, another sweet hit.

My cousin sent me another box of cards that included these.  I haven’t posted the White Sox cards yet on my other site but I figured while I had you here, I would go ahead and throw these up as well.

When I picked up the latest cards for Dennis, I took advantage of multiple shipping and picked up these 2 cards as well.  While I bought the Mike Hart ($1.99) because it was a Wolverine, I actually have a Mike Hart collection.  He was one of my favorite Michigan Men running backs and it didn’t hurt that he played his professional career for the Indianapolis Colts as well.  Shawn Crable autograph ($1.75) comes from the same Upper Deck set as well.  I wish more pro sets would have players in their college jerseys but that would also mean a lot more cards for me to get so I guess I should count my blessings.

I also picked up this Mike Hart for $3.95 with my last Ebay bucks purchase so I didn’t pay that full price.  The least I can do is drop $4 on a card of someone who only had 3 fumbles with 1015 college career carries.  That is the most impressive stat from Mike Hart.  That is just a truly amazing stat.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Be safe.

Michigan Sports Obsession

As both of us have now mentioned a few times, Jeff and I hung out before attending the Michigan-Air Force game last Saturday, and that worked out in my favor since he brought some sweet trade stuff.  Besides some Tigers, which you'll find over at TMV, he included these five Wolverines for my PC:

Brandon Graham 2010 Epix Signatures auto (#059/499):

I've got a nice, growing number of Graham 2010 auto RCs, but I didn't have this one!  It's a pretty cool design, and serial-numbered to boot, but it also has a cool design feature that's tricky to see unless you tilt the card the right way, which means a scan won't pick it up.  This snapshot sort of gives you an idea:

So that's my 10th "regular" Graham auto to go along with a manuhelmet auto and a plate.  Not bad at all.

David Terrell 2001 Bowman's Best jersey RC (#472/999):
I really, really like some of Bowman's Best's designs, especially some of the earlier ones from the aughts.  A great design goes well with this solid jersey piece and a serial number to tie it all up in a nice package.  Milestone alert:  this card adds Terrell to the football 30-hit club!

Jake Long 2008 Bowman Fabric of the Future:
It's been a while, but definitely throw this one in the "didn't I already have one?" pile.

Jake Long 2008 SPx Rookie Materials Football Shape Dual dual jersey (#061/119):
I've got a few different versions of the Long from this set, including dual shields, dual whatever these are, and dual letters "S" and "X" from the "SPx" logo.  Up until this trade, however, I didn't have dual FOOTBAW.  This pair moves Long up to a collection-leading 53 cards, though I'll ominously mention my impending COMC package to keep y'all guessing how things may shake out later.

Marquise Walker 2002 Topps Debut All-Star Materials jersey:
Jeff picked one of these up for me after getting one for himself, as noted in his most recent Cheap eBay Wolverines post.  Not much to say except I really like what I see--the card clearly states the relic is from the Senior Bowl, Walker is wearing his winged helmet, and the relic is in a window that can be seen front and back:

Very cool indeed.  Make it a great eight for Walker, who's a player I clearly need to collect more!

Thanks again for the sweet Wolverines, Jeff!  It was fun picking up some new ones while I overstock myself on COMC and wait for those to get shipped.  The football PC now stands at 561 cards (724 for all four sports) and I can't wait to see where I'll end up by the time the COMC stuff gets tallied as well.

On that note, I hope everyone has a great weekend and that Michigan justifies an embarrassing point spread against UMass.  GO BLUE!

Game recap: Michigan vs. Air Force, 9/8/12

As I mentioned yesterday, I was able to score a pair of free tickets so Jeff and I could see Michigan's home opener against Air Force in-person.  We made it in plenty of time, the weather was literally perfect, and in the end we got to enjoy a very enjoyable (if extremely uncertain) Michigan win.  Some photos, highlights and comments:

Pregame:

As we awaited game time, we were reminded once again that this is Team 133.  The previous meeting with Air Force, by the way, was a Michigan win in 1964 (which was also the home--and season--opener). 

The band, of course, doing what they do best. 

Michigan legend Bennie Oosterbaan is the latest player to have his number "un-retired" in the form of a Legends jersey.  LB Jake Ryan graciously accepted the number and then proceeded to pretty much play the game of his life, coming up big in multiple spots in a close game.  By the way, if the name sounds familiar that's because Adam of MCM very awesomely sent his RC to me way back in January.

"We are #1; all others are number two and lower."  --The Sphinx, Mystery Men 

Denard leads the team out to touch the banner! 

Ridiculously awesome flyover during the National Anthem as this was some sort of Military Appreciation Week.  We were also treated to an eagle flying while the music played, but I didn't do a good enough job of snapping a picture of that. 

Unlike Ohio, we can spell.  That's the Michigan Difference©

The Game:

Kickoff.  Most of them ended up being touchbacks, and I'm not sure how much I really care for the new rule that brings them out to the 25. 

Denard scores on Michigan's second offensive play, a 79-yard run.  No surprise as he was the show again today with 20 carries for 218 yards and two scores, plus 14/25 passing for 208 yards and another two TDs.  He'd later tack on a 58-yard TD to start the second half after a brilliant kickoff return by freshman Dennis Norfleet.

Running out of the shotgun, I believe in the second quarter. 

KRs Drew Dileo (at the 11) and Dennis Norfleet await a kickoff. 

After Jeff and I enjoyed being in the shade for a while, it clouded up (but never rained), meaning the lights came on.  I reminded him that we were undefeated Under the Lights. 

Halftime:

The Air Force and Michigan bands put on an excellent halftime show, including "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."  What I learned today:  apparently I love a girl in uniform!

 At one point the girls started tap dancing on those tiny boxes, which looked great.

AMERICA!  FUCK YEAH!

Second half: 

Denard's aforementioned TD after the outstanding Norfleet kick return to open the half.  "24 seconds" is misleading since it doesn't include the time the return took--what I'm saying here is that Denard is FAST. 

The only time Michigan Stadium ISN'T the home of the largest crowd watching college football on a given day is whenever we're not playing.  As I joked to friends later, that's more people than Buckeyes and Spartans can count!

Quick game recap:
Michigan looked a bit lost early against the Falcons' gimmicky triple-option, but after a long Air Force drive stalled with a missed FG, Denard took the second play to the house, and it looked like the ghosts of last week might have left the building.  The defense, however, continued to have a roller coaster of a game trying to defend everyone that could possible get the ball.  The Wolverines were bailed out when a wide-open Falcon bobbled a wide-open pass with nobody withing 30 yards of him, then fell to the turf.  Still, the defense showed some good flashes against an offensive scheme they won't see again.  And multiple times with the game in doubt, they came up huge when they needed to in the 4th quarter.

The offense was as much of an enigma with the usual display of dropped passes combined with great ones; awesome throws by Denard coupled with multiple "what was he seeing?"-type plays; Denard with all the success running and a surprising failure of the O-line to get anything going for Fitz Toussaint.  Fortunately Robinson ended up with the only turnover of the game, a pick that was the result of a high pass off a WRs hands and grabbed by Air Force.  Unfortunately, he couldn't keep things going consistently enough to give Michigan a comfortable lead.  Poor clock management by the team at the end of the first half didn't help either.

But in the end, we got what we expected:  a video game stats-type day out of Denard and another win for the Maize and Blue.  It was a fun experience as always, and I wanted to leave a few notes as well:

• First and foremost, I'm very proud of our fans for doing so much to make the Air Force team and fans feel welcome.  This includes cheering (NOT booing) when the team was announced, and even giving an amazing standing ovation to all the service men and women at the game--probably the signature moment of the experience for me.
• More credit is due to the Air Force band who, as small as they were, made themselves heard.  I also shouldn't forget their fans who traveled well and made sure to make some noise as well.  Kudos!
• It took me longer than it should have to realize this was the first time I'd ever seen Denard play in-person.  If you think he looks fast on TV, you should see him live!
• Like that new beer commercial points out, superstitions aren't weird if they work:  with Air Force killing us on 3rd downs all game, and with Michigan only up 6 points late in the 4th, I started sitting (when everyone else was standing) on key 3rd and 4th downs, which I think Brady Hoke will note was the difference when it counted the most.  Happy to do whatever it takes to help, coach.
• There's still nowhere else I'd rather be watching a live football game in the entire world.  Ann Arbor > everywhere else!