6/6/15 card show report: these Wolverines have State Pride!

As I said on tonight's TMV post, I had a fairly productive card show as usual a couple Saturdays ago.  There wasn't as much to be had Wolverines-wise, but I still managed to score some pretty interesting stuff:

Barry Larkin #277 is this fun insert from 1995 Donruss.  The Dominators set includes Donruss' top three players at each position, and they correctly paired up Cal and Larkin.  Going a step further, Cordero was actually one of the better SS during '94's strike-shortened season, winning the NL Silver Slugger with a .294 AVG, 15 HR and 16 steals in 110 games, good for his lone All-Star appearance.  Larkin, though, is the featured guy here, and I'm happy to grab something new.

Leach is a guy that doesn't come up too much since I completed his PC, but for a measly buck I found this IP auto of his 1984 Topps base card.  He's signed a few times in the last couple years in the area, including at this very venue, plus I trust the seller, so there's no reason to think this is fake, and the signature matches up anyway.  Definitely a fun and unexpected addition.

That same seller had this trio of 2014 Lewans.  Up first is a 2014 Crown Royale Retail Blue Holofoil insert (#165/199) that I believe also came out of the $1 box.  Carrying on the proud Pacific tradition of die-cuts and over-the-top design, the blue is a perfect complement to his Titans uni.  Next is a simple Topps Chrome Refractor, which doesn't need anything extra to make it cool.  And finally, I dug out another of his RCs, this one from the ridiculous Topps Valor set.

I also found one other addition for my Michigan inserts collection, this Refractor-like Prizm parallel from 2013 Panini Prizm of Denard.  At this point I'm really happy to pick up anything new of his so nice looking inserts are a plus.

One of my two football hits on the day was this 2013 Contenders auto/RC of former RB Michael Cox.  A Boston native, Cox redshirted in 2008, then played a bit for Michigan the next three seasons before graduating and transferring to UMass (which makes him one of very few transfers, if any, in my collection to this point).  He got picked by the Giants in the 7th round in 2013 and played in 14 games with New York in 2013 and 2014 before being waived.  I'm happy to include him in this collection since he did graduate from the school, even if his stats weren't thrilling.

Today's OTHER new PC member (giving me 191 different subjects!) is well-known QB Devin Gardner.  I've been after his various hits for the last few months but have waited for prices to come back to reasonable levels.  My favorite seller, from whom I bought many of the items seen in the TMV post, cut me a nice deal on this beautiful clear Leaf...uh, Clear...State Pride auto from this year's product.  Featuring a great design and signature, this was a fun way to add Devin to my collection.  For those curious about the Michigan seal depicted on the card, "Tuebor" means "I will defend," and you can see part of the state motto, "Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice" as well.  Its translation:  "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you."

So here's to another fun show in the books and hopefully another next month!

This Week on MSO-Wolverines

It’s Sunday, 6 days away our season opener in football.  Is everybody pumped?  It’s also time for another post of This Week on MSO – Wolverines.

Devin Gardner getting photobombed by Jeremy Gallon

Rick Leach

Brady Hoke

Devin Gardner

Kameron Chatman

COMC/JustCommons/Sportlots 2013 roundup part 1: DONE

(Note:  view all posts in this series with this link)

I've been sitting on a bunch of purchases from late 2013 that needed to be recorded, scanned, and posted, and I'm finally getting around to those.  In many cases I may just mash up purchases by player instead of online store to make things easier.  We'll see just how many posts I get out of this series, which I'm going to abbreviate COMC-JC-SL 2013.

Day one of COMC-JC-SL has one theme:  DONE.  Which I guess is weird since this is just the start of this series, not the end.  Whatever, it still makes sense to me, so "DONE" it is, like this outstanding song by The Band Perry:

Is Kimberly Perry the Alison Brie of sorta-country-but-not-really-since-it-doesn't-suck music? Note: ask Greg Z. about this later....

Anyway, I believe briefly noted in a recent post or two that although I hadn't posted proof, I actually completed two more PCs (besides Matt Miller) before the end of 2013.  As such, I think showing those off would be a great start.

First up alphabetically is Mr. Rick Leach:

Rick Leach 1986 Topps Traded Tiffany 

Rick Leach 1988 Score Glossy

Rick Leach 1989 Topps Traded Tiffany 

The Tiffany cards were a bit tough to track down at reasonable prices, but I scored them from Sportlots, and the Score Glossy appeared fatefully on COMC at a nice price.  So that's an even 60/60 for the former Tiger and Michigan QB.  Oddly enough he was also featured on one 1/1 in 2012 Leaf Memories in the form of a stamped buyback from 1990 Leaf; I haven't been able to track it down other than to find that it sold on eBay early last year, so there's a good chance I'll never get a shot at it.  No big deal--I'm thrilled to have completed Leach's PC so quickly considering I'm pretty sure I officially began chasing it sometime last year!  

Next up is another guy I think I officially began chasing last year:  Geoff Zahn:

Geoff Zahn 1975 O-Pee-Chee

Geoff Zahn 1975 Topps Mini RC

Geoff Zahn 1976 O-Pee-Chee

Geoff Zahn 1978 Topps

Geoff Zahn 1979 O-Pee-Chee

Geoff Zahn 1979 Topps

Geoff Zahn 1981 Donruss (#532B)

Geoff Zahn 1981 Topps Traded

Geoff Zahn 1983 Fleer

Geoff Zahn 1984 Topps Tiffany (#276) (with Carew)

Geoff Zahn 1984 Topps Tiffany (#468)

Geoff Zahn 1985 Fleer

Geoff Zahn 1985 Topps Tiffany

Geoff Zahn 1986 Topps Tiffany

Of those 14 cards, the '78 Topps, '81 Topps Traded, '83 Fleer, and '85 Fleer arrived from Sportlots, while COMC supplied the rest.  My favorite of this bunch is the '75 Topps mini since that's a RC and comes from such a fun, iconic set.  The '81 Donruss variation, by the way, is different than the "A" issue, whose 1980 highlights section starts "Was 2nd in league for shutouts with 5."  This one begins:  "Signed a 3 year contract Dec. 2nd...."  Meanwhile, Zahn was around long enough during the Topps era to warrant a few Tiffany parallels, which are pretty "meh" as far as I'm concerned.

Thus, I've acquired all 36 of Zahn's player collection issues, meaning I just need to find a Michigan Baseball alum whose last name starts with "A" (and ISN'T Jim Abbott and his six thousand cards) to brag about a solid collection from "A" to "Z"!  Anyway, have a look at Zahn's album here if you'd like.  And as always, please remember you can follow along with my player collecting here.

Well, today was just the start, but I have plenty more of these posts to mix in with my other content, especially since I started with around 300 cards to show off!  Stay tuned for more Michigan sports player collections, plus some football and hockey pickups too.

Ok, now this post is officially DONE (soooooo doooone).

2013 eBay purchases #60-69 and Blowout purchase #5: catching up with a lucky 13

It's about time I did an eBay purchase catchup post:  three of today's 13 cards were purchased in September!  First I just got lazy posting, and eventually I just decided to wait for everything to arrive.  Well, now's as good a time as any:

Bill Freehan 2004 UD Legends Timeless Teams 1972 auto

Geez, was this really sitting on my desk for three months?  I guess so since I picked it up on September 6 according to my records.  It's another nice Freehan auto (my 23rd hit) and pairs up nicely with the '68 version I own.  The '72 Tigers were quite good, by the way, finishing first in the AL East and losing the ALCS in five games to the eventual champion A's.

Chris Getz 2010 Topps Triple Threads Sapphire triple jersey auto (#10/10)

Chris Getz 2010 Topps Triple Threads Sepia triple jersey auto (#05/75)

Chris Getz 2013 Topps Update Black (#09/62)

Chris Getz 2013 Topps Update Camo (#15/99)

Chris Getz 2013 Topps Update Pink (#30/50)

It's a five spot of Getz!  The Sapphire Triple Threads card is my lone Blowout pickup in this post and came as part of a purchase where I also nabbed the Trammell auto seen in this TMV post.  Along with the Sepia version below it, I now have all five (non-1/1) versions from that set!  Going along with the lucky 13 theme, I'm up to that number of hits of the FA 2B.

Meanwhile, the trio of Update parallels (featuring one of my all-time favorite photos) hail from legendary box breakers BrentAndBecca, and I scored them for about $12.50 delivered, which wasn't bad.  With a few more already on the way, I should just be short the Sapphire /25 parallel to finish those up.

Rich Hill 2008 Topps Triple Threads Relics Combos Autographs Sepia triple relic auto (with Cueto and Gorzelanny) (#23/27)

It's the plight of the player collector:  you have so many cards of the guy, it's hard finding new ones.  Well, fortunately this one showed up, and I was able to nab it for under $10 on the first of this month.  I have one other version of this card: the "base" version #d /36.  My 97th hit of Hill is also his 226th PC card (including 12 1/1s).  I doubt I can get to 100 hits before the end of the year, but you know I'll try!

Rick Leach 2009 Upper Deck 1989 20th Anniversary Buybacks

I was pretty surprised to see this Leach show up on eBay back in early September (the same day I got the Freehan above) because I figured it would be the thorn in my side when it came to his PC.  I'm not sure how rare these buybacks are, but I've literally seen just this copy of Leach, and a minute number of other players.  It's my 57th Leach out of his 60 issues, and I may just be celebrating another 100% mark before the new year rings in!

J.J. Putz 2011 Topps Printing Plate Cyan (1/1)

Relative to most everything else here, this Putz plate is a fairly recent pickup, one I purchased just 10 days ago.  It's my fourth plate of J.J. and 28th 1/1 for my entire PC, so I decided $9 was a somewhat reasonable price to pay.

Clayton Richard 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Orange Refractor (#14/25)

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps Mini Pink (#09/25)

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps Printing Plates Yellow (1/1)

Clayton is no Getz, but he still gets a triple play.  The Orange Refractor (yay, Refractors!) set me back just $4 at the end of October, and it was worth it to nab one of Richard's lower-numbered parallels; if I can just land the Red /5 I'll be done with that set.  Speaking of Topps parallels #d /25, I scored this year's Mini Pink for under $3 delivered, which I still consider a steal.  From that set I also just need a version #d /5, in this case the Black version, which will probably take me a while.  Finally, for under $7 I was able to find a plate of Richard from this year's flagship set, so I added that to Clayton's three others, and I now have 29 1/1s!

Denard Robinson 2013 Elite Rookie Inscriptions Blue auto

And now we finish with the most chronologically recent purchase I made:  this sweet acetate Shoelace auto!  It's hard to tell from a scan, but the card is actually clear everywhere you see something like an off-white color, and that was the biggest selling point for me.  While I'm more focused on grabbing Michigan uni autos of Denard, I was happy to add this one for just a bit over $7.  It's my third Robinson auto, and I wouldn't be surprised if 2014 saw me adding a bunch more to his collection!

Whew!  Now that I'm caught up on my eBay purchases (at least for now), I'll get back to the remaining MMMM players, plus I have a ton of COMC, JustCommons, and SportLots cards to get to, probably too many to finish by the end of the year, but...eventually, I promise!

Not JUST Commons: Hill, Leach, Putz, and Richard

Today's post features the last of my first haul of cards from JustCommons.  This time I have a binder page's worth of cards that includes four of my PCs:

Rich Hill 2006 Upper Deck Special FX (#101)

Rich Hill 2006 Upper Deck Special FX Blue (#979)

It sure does seem like it's been a while since I posted new additions of Hill!  JustCommons has a pretty good selection of the guy, but I actually had everything but these two, though that's probably not a surprise since I'm over the 200-card mark.  '06 UD Special FX is kind of a goofy parallel set to the main offering from that year, but at least the color parallels of the base look pretty cool.  Of the 10 versions that exist I'm short just both of the Greens (/99) and Reds (/50), which I don't think will be terrible to find.  The pair gives Hill a new IHAS count of 213/347, and you all know that means MORE are on the way!

Rick Leach 1984 Fleer Update

Rick Leach 1984 Topps Traded

This is probably a good time to point out that Leach is the player that got me interested in making this purchase in the first place.  I'm tantalizingly close to finishing up his collection, so certain cards have been harder to find at times.  Both of these are now up on COMC, but they weren't when I was giving JustCommons a shot, plus the price I paid was excellent.  1984, as I think I previously mentioned, was the first year Leach appeared with Toronto on his cards.  His new IHAS count is an awesome 56/60 with a couple more incoming, meaning I might just complete his PC before the end of the year!

J.J. Putz 2002 Upper Deck 40-Man RC

J.J. Putz 2006 Upper Deck Special FX

J.J. Putz 2006 Upper Deck Special FX Green (#55/99)

J.J. Putz 2006 Upper Deck Special FX Red (#10/50)

The daunting task of acquiring each of Putz's 300+ cards has caused me to leave him out of some of my purchases, but I think I did well to add four more here.  The first is another RC from 2002, and I now have 16 of his 23 cards from that year.  The remaining three all hail from the aforementioned '06 UD Special FX set; fortunately for me, Putz only had ONE base card that year, so there's five versions for me to chase instead of 10, and I'm short just the Blue and Purple versions, which are actually the easiest based on numbering (or lack thereof).  J.J.'s new IHAS total is 161/307, and I should have a few more good ones to show off to you pretty soon.

Clayton Richard 2013 Topps

Last and, I guess, least, today, is a lone card of Padres hurler Clayton Richard.   Their selection on him wasn't quite as good as some of the other players I collect, but I was still glad to come away with something I needed of him.  Oddly enough, I was able to score the Target and Wal-Mart parallels before I landed his base card!  I've made some good headway on Clayton's PC recently, and his new IHAS total stands at 87/133 with a nice handful on its way.

That's it for THIS JustCommons package, but as I've said multiple times, I have another one that should be arriving this week that'll put this one to shame.  Until then, I have a couple more MMMM posts with which to entertain you, a much-needed eBay catchup, and a ton of COMC cards I still haven't gotten to!