2018 Sportlots purchases: Happy Rookie Blue Year!

Next up on the 2018 Sportlots train is a fresh new crop of football RCs!  As I believe I explained before, I added a number of guys who transferred--in general away from Michigan--as long as I felt like their short careers in Ann Arbor justified it.  My only rule was that I wouldn't include any cards with photos of them with their non-Michigan school.

They were my main target this time but I did manage to track down a few cards of other guys as well.  Check 'em out:

I didn't feel like sorting these chronologically this time so we're going straight alphabetical, starting with a couple 2017 Donruss cards starring DL Taco Charlton and WR Amara Darboh.  I'm not sure why Darboh got a Rated Rookie appearance and not Charlton, but that's not all bad since I get to see two different designs.

The other player in this scan is RB Justin Fargas.  The son of Antonio "Huggy Bear" Fargas (Starsky and Hutch), Justin came to Ann Arbor in 1998 with the Wolverines coming off their national title, and he was a prized recruit for sure, but unfortunately broke his leg late in his freshman season, forcing him into an injury redshirt the following year.  His choice to flip to defense didn't help him regain much playing time so he headed to USC and had a pretty nice 2002 season with them, then got drafted by the Raiders in the third round in '03.  He lasted seven seasons--his entire career--in Oakland, which is pretty good given the meat grinder nature of the position.

I came up with 22 of his rookies on my checklist and you can see the first six of those above:  Bowman, Topps, Topps Pristine, Topps Total, Upper Deck MVP, and Fleer Tradition (another of their cool three-player cards).

Next we return to a more familiar face:  Devin Funchess, on his 2015 Topps Field Access RC.  I don't know why that one was such a thorn in my side, but after passing on lots of people selling it for a buck or more I finally got a nice deal, leaving me four short of his rookie run.

The second of five transfer players today is TE Damon Jones.  He's not a guy I remember but then again he played in 12 games in 1993 and that was it for his Division I career.  Apparently multiple arrests led to him transferring to Southern Illinois.  The Jags took him in the fifth round in 1997, and he carved out a five year career in Jacksonville.  You can see a pair of his three rookies above:  Collector's Choice and Skybox Premium issues from the year he was drafted.

Bennie Joppru is a tight end that's much more familiar here, I think.  In picking up his 2003 Gridiron Kings rookie I got within nine cards of landing his 32 first-years, thanks to a fantastic looking card.

He's joined by another guy on that side of the ball, WR Marcus Knight.  At times it feels like every one of his 15 rookies I'm chasing is serial-numbered, and that's because nine of them are, including these two from 2000:  Leaf Limited (#1474/1500) and UD Ionix (#1399/2000).  Bonus points to the latter for its Michigan uni, though I've always hated that crappy digital numbering that a number of manufacturers used.  Four of Knights cards remain and, yes, all of them are numbered!

Here's the rest of the guys who left, an all-transfer scan.  Ryan Mallett's 2011 Score is the second of his rookies I've acquired but that's because I've long owned Topps' set from the same year.  Many around here remember his cannon arm and ten cent brain, though his transfer to Arkansas--apparently suggested by retiring coach Lloyd Carr--worked out pretty well for him in the end.  Luckily for me he appears on just 10 rookies that meet my criteria, plus he's long since lost any hype he had out of the draft.

The other two guys, though, weren't known to me that I could remember.  The first is DL Trevor Pryce, a guy who looks to have been at Michigan at some point in the mid-90s and then transferred to Clemson.  He was good enough to get picked by Denver #28 overall in '97 and therefore was part of title-winning teams his first two seasons.  Pryce had a great 14-year career that included 91.0 sacks and four Pro Bowl nods in addition to those two rings.  Above you can see his '97 Collector's Choice and Upper Deck RCs, leaving me short just his SP Authentic.

Last up today is another RB-type who transferred out west and then was drafted by the Raiders.  Jon Ritchie was a Wolverine for the '93 and '94 seasons before sitting out a year to spend his final two years at Stanford.  Oakland grabbed him in the third round in '98 and he lasted five seasons with them, plus another two in Philly, listed as a FB/RB/TE.  I came up with 12 of his rookies to chase and here you can see the first four I found:  Bowman, Collector's Edge First Place, UD Choice, and Upper Deck Encore.

That should do it for rookies this time but I'll have a few more for you when it's time to get to my COMC loot.  Next up you'll get to see either another position group or a single player.

2017 COMC purchases: new year, Rookie Blue year

As I mentioned at the end of my last post we're headed away from the court and ice and onto the gridiron for the rest of this series.  Today's additions are all heading to my football RC collection as I continue to chase almost 1500 cards of almost 200 players (both of which are numbers that will look hilariously out-of-date before much longer!).  14 cards, 11 players--let's do it!

First of all, it's been quite a while since I scanned these so I don't know why this one only has five cards instead of six like the next one.

Anyway, we'll start with FB B.J. Askew on a gorgeous 2003 Donruss Classics card (#296/900) that combines an excellent design with my favorite type of photo.  Current RC count:  21/27

Next is one of the few first-years I still needed of sure-handed WR Jason Avant, this one out of Topps' 2006 Turkey Red product.  I think I preferred TR as an insert instead of its own product, but at least the cards look nice.  Current RC count:  20/22

Former Lions OL Jeff Backus is the star of our other Michigan uni card for the day.  The 18th overall pick of the 2001 draft (one behind future HOFer Steve Hutchinson) is seen here in a set called Topps Debut (#0145/1499), which is just my second rookie of his.  Current RC count:  2/5

The last player in the scan is former national champ and journeyman NFL QB Brian Griese, who comes to us from two decades ago in 1998.  These hail from Leaf Rookies and Stars and Playoff Momentum (the Hobby version).  More on the latter in just a bit.  I'm getting to the point where the ones I still need are starting to get pretty rare.  Current RC count:  32/39

Recently retired Jets/Patriots LB and tackling machine David Harris kicks off this scan with the always confusing Leaf Rookies and Stars Longevity product (from 2007), as always not to be confused with the base product parallel of the same name.  These shinier cards have the same numbering (/999) as the non-Longevity product, and this one is #612/999.  Current RC count:  22/24

For a guy who appears on as many rookies as he does I don't really get to show off many new cards of the next player, TE Bennie Joppru, so I'm glad to have a pair of them today.  On the left is the weird 2003 Playoff Hogg Heaven product (#0213/1000) which looks even worse when compared to the excellent Playoff Honors (#073/550) on the right.  By the way, I must be paying more attention than I usually do because I actually noticed the fact that he's wearing two different jersey numbers there!  Current RC count:  22/32

I done didn't mess up the scan of the next player, TE A-A-Ron Shea--his 2000 Playoff Momentum RC (#188/750) was just a bit too shiny to scan very well.  I'd call it a fun reminder of the craziness and abundance of choice from the early part of the previous decade.  Current RC count:  7/15

Now it's time to move up a year with David Terrell and another somewhat confusing card.  For whatever reason both of his base issues from Upper Deck's 2001 UD Graded set are considered RCs; both are #52 and are #d /500.  The only difference is the photo used, with the variation being a portrait as opposed to what you see above (which is #354/500).  Sometimes cards hurt my brain.  Current RC count:  26/53

The last guy in this scan is another star WR, Marquise Walker, and he comes to us in this close-up from 2002 Sweet Spot (#0696/1050).  Walker's card in the set is special in that pretty much the rest of the first-years are action shots while he gets a nice portrait.  Current RC count:  29/50

I was originally going to end the post there but then I decided to include three more cards that you'll be seeing in a future post that focuses on my player collections:

Shoelace makes a non-remotely-rare appearance here on one of the last few rookies of him I still needed, 2003 Absolute (#181/199).  While I still have to track down the retail version I was glad to have found this shinier, rainbow foil version first.  And I paired it with a few things I think some of you will find pretty interesting!  Current RC count:  24/27

And here's a pair of aces I was excited to land.  Well, aces in the sense that they're RCs of the legendary Charles Woodson, at least.  The 1998 Collector's Edge Masters card (#1615/5000) is decent, though not my cup of tea.  But the Playoff Momentum Retail card on its right is atrocious and a good illustration of why I hate hobby/retail versions.  For comparison's sake, here's the Hobby card next to the Retail from above:

U wot m8?  Playoff is a brand I generally liked but what the hell were they thinking making a decent hobby version, then covering up half the card with a butt-fugly football pattern that was probably made in MS Paint?  The card on the left is pre-2006 Topps and the right one is everything after.  The hobby card is Scott Baio on Charles in Charge and the retail is Scott Baio, Fox News commentator.  Woof!  Current RC count:  39/43

That's it for today but I still have plenty to show you in the next three posts so stay tuned!

2016 COMC purchases: happy Rookie Blue year!

Now that I'm all caught up on the rest of my 2016 stuff I can show off the fruit of my COMC labors in the form of purchases around Black Friday weekend and going back a few months.  If you came over from TMV you already saw a bunch of Michigan-related cards as I posted pickups of baseball PC guys, and now I have some football stuff to show you.

Specifically, I went back to the first-year well to further my Michigan Football rookies collection, a.k.a. Rookie Blue.  Because new players can be added anytime this checklist is a bit of a moving target, but I'm up for the challenge!  Here's 14 new cards of 10 players:

Yo!  This card is from 2008 Leaf Rookies and Stars Longevity (#969/999) (I'm still missing the regular Rookies and Stars version).  Like most of today's cards it's numbered and a bit shiny.  I now have 16 of 19 first-years of the WR from my favorite draft class.

Speaking of shiny numbered cards of WRs, here's a very colorful RC of receiver/returner Steve Breaston out of 2007 Absolute Memorabilia (#442/699).  You really have to see these in-person to get the full effect, so for now just take my word for it that it looks fantastic.  I'm nearing the 75% mark with 19/26 Breaston rookies.

WR?  Check.  Shiny?  Very much so!  Numbered?  No!  This is a very cool clear card of Funchess, the second-round Panthers receiver, and possibly my first interaction with Panini's Clear Vision product.  This is the "base" version as it features straight lines in the background while the variation has a different pattern going on.  The card is my 16th of Funch's 24 rookies.

The oldest card of the bunch goes all the way back to 2000 and this Rookies and Stars RC of LB Ian Gold (#0117/1000--hey, the numbering's back!).  These are a bit tough to find since the set carries a bit of a premium--it seems that Patriots QB that's gonna go down as the GoaT also has a rookie in this product.  This marks my fifth of Gold's nine first-years.

Tackling machine David Harris is still doing his thing in the NFL, even if it's still for the sad sack Jets.  Here he is on a 2007 Donruss Gridiron Gear Retail RC (#432/599).  While I understand the difference between hobby and retail boxes and packs, I've never understood why manufacturers think it's necessary to make different versions of the base set sometimes.  I'm closing in on Harris' 24 rookies with a new count of 20 thanks to this one.

Here's a card you'll see again in a future post as I cover other pickups for his PC.  Mike Hart's RC from the interesting/weird 2008 Topps Letterman product also fits in with today's mostly numbered theme as my copy is #109/419 (419?  Why 419?!).  It's a bit too reflective to scan perfectly, but I think you get the idea.  I'm just three cards shy of the 25 RC run of my favorite Michigan RB.

You'll also see this Henne in another post soon and I'll be glad to do that to help get my money's worth; I paid more for this than I usually spend on rookies for this project, but I had a good reason:  it's the last of Henne's 22 cards that I needed!  It also happens to come from a set I don't particularly care for due to two reasons:  it doesn't look particularly nice, which is rare for UD, and they're just so difficult to find for reasonable prices (which is why I still need Jake Long's, Mike Hart's, and Shawn Crable's copies).  Needless to say, I'm happy to knock off Henne as my 120th complete player in this project.

RB Chris Perry keeps up the mostly offensive players trend with this pair of 2004 Fleer-branded cards.  First up is Authentix (#211/750), a fun product that briefly ran in the early 2000s, and this version included an embedded ticket stub, adding to the set's motif.  The other, Sweet Sigs (#041/999) was a one-off, and I'm not too surprised that the design didn't really catch on despite its potential.  Perry has 30 first-years for me to chase and these two give me a new total of 18.

Walker was one of the more heralded receivers in Ann Arbor so he has a crazy 48 cards for me to chase.  I'm happy, then, that I was able to add three at a time here.  First is 2002 Fleer Genuine (#278/599), a product I think I'd like a bit more if the photo wasn't so limited.  Next is Throwbacks, a somewhat forgettable product that doesn't quite do it for me despite its simplicity.  Finally, UD Authentics (#0158/1000) looks great thanks to its callback to UD's origins.  These three got me out of my 50% rut to a new total of 27 Walker RCs.

Our final player today is big Gabe Watson, another guy for whom I found multiple cards this time.  On your left is his 2006 Donruss Threads Retail Rookies RC (#727/999), and again I have to wonder why Panini made hobby- and retail-specific versions, especially since the hobby version looks great.  That's joined by his base out of 2006 Sweet Spot (#259/699), a product I've often enjoyed thanks to its fun manu-helmet/auto cards.  In this case, Gabe is surrounded by a lot of Cardinals red, which makes sense to me.  I'm happy to say that I'm just three cards shy of his 22 first-years.

Thanks to this bunch I'm getting very near the millennium mark with an overall total of 985 cards and counting.  Hopefully I'll continue to make progress in 2017, and maybe I'll even land a couple of the higher-priced vintage issues or Bradys that I need.

Stay tuned for more COMC loot and some trade packages soon!

2016 COMC purchases: rookie blue is coming for you!

As I sit writing this post, fewer than 16 days stand between Michigan fans and the season-opening kickoff against Hawaii.  Let's celebrate with some rookie cards of my favorite college's former stars!

A few notes for those of you who are sticking around past the scans (thanks for reading!):

• Only four Michigan uniform cards (Breaston, one of Terrell's, Thomas, and Watson), but sometimes them's the breaks
• 15 of these 27 are numbered, and with most of them hailing from between 2000 and 2007, that makes a lot of sense
• No new players today, but there are very, very few for whom I don't have anything yet
• Players completed today:  Cato June (4/4) and Taylor Lewan (21/21)
• Of the rest, Henne is the next closest to completion--I'm missing just one of his 22 first-years; Manningham is second as I'm short just two
• Speaking of Henne, that's the 179th card I've added to his PC so far
• I now have 970 different cards in this collection, good for about 71% of the cards produced as of this writing

And finally, a point that's so obvious it doesn't need a bullet,

ALAN BRANCH KILLS QBs