2018 Sportlots purchases: Harb Marb Superstarb

The big finish on the TMM side of this Sportlots series covers cards starring the player for whom I scored the most cards this time, and good news:  it's not a running back!  It does happen to be the other prominent backfield position and a guy that's well known to NFL and college fans alike:  current Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh:

We'll start with a scan that includes cards from 1991-95 and features many of my favorite brands.  Stadium Club is represented three times--1991, '92, and '94--while SP doubles it up with its first two releases, made in '93 and '94.  Action Packed ('93), Sportflics and UD ('94), and Finest ('95) offer one representative each here.  And yes, if you know me pretty well you already guessed that the Sportflics card is my favorite!

The first half dozen cards you see here represent six of the the eight '95 Pinnacle Club Collection cards I needed to finish Harbaugh's nine-card run in the set.  That product was done up in a very binder-friendly arrangement of nine cards each of 29 QB Club members, and I completed Jim's bunch with these and two more you'll see below in horizontal form.  And even then we're still not done with 1995 thanks to SP Championship (which wasn't just a baseball product!), Stadium Club again, and a very nice looking Ultra design.

Scan #3 is probably my favorite of the eight here today because of the cool mix of brands from 1996-97 (in addition to the '95 UD card that begins the group).  Bowman's Best makes quality appearances from both of those years and a '96 Donruss base reminds me I already have the Press Proof version.  That Topps-branded trio down the middle is my favorite of the post (with a close second coming up soon) thanks to beautiful looks from Finest, Chrome, and Laser.  The following year's Donruss Preferred and Flair Showcase add their own shine to the proceedings.

Sticking with 1997, Pacific's Invincible is a goofy way to keep things moving while a Pinnacle Inscriptions duo makes for a fun reminder of what they could do with design.  Another solid Topps trio follows in the form of flagship, Chrome, and an extremely nice Gallery piece worth framing.  A die-cut Team Mates insert and '98 Black Diamond Rookies base (that spawned a number of great looking parallels) are strong contributions from Upper Deck.

1998 brings more repeats--in a good way--from Bowman's Best, Finest, Stadium Club, and Ultra on some very nice pieces, and all of those surround my second favorite group of three:  all the base versions of Jim's appearances in that year's Flair Showcase.  That brand was going strong before Topps even thought to release their (well done) copycat Gold Label product, which I'm glad got made.  Topps never had an answer for the higher-end E-X2001, though!

There's plenty of variety to like here too as we look at some '99s and 2000s.  That first pair is a mix of some stuff we saw earlier:  Donruss Preferred + Quarterback Club.  Stadium Club continues a very nice day with base cards from both years, the latter being among my favorites.  Quantum Leaf's debut makes yet another cameo in this series, and you'll get to see the follow-up in the next scan.  SPx's 2000 design feels decidedly different from its norm, but it still looks pretty good.

Here we have the last three verticals, all from 2001:  my favorite Pacific flagship design, Quantum Leaf part 2, and one of Ultra's best offerings.  The first of the horizontals is Stadium Club card #8, hailing from the '93 product.  Next to that is one of the many, many looks Playoff used, this one produced in 1994.  This scan finishes up with the other two '95 Pinnacle Club Collection cards I already mentioned.

There's still a bit more fun to be had here with a sextet of sideways stuff.  Pinnacle offers a pair of fun 1996 pieces thanks to the holographic Laser View (which didn't scan as well as I'd hoped) and die-cut Mint.  1997 offers two excellent UD-branded issues in the form of SPx (again, probably the best football version, as seen previously in this series) and UD3.  I'm very familiar with the baseball version of the latter but haven't seen all of the subset designs in the pigskin edition and need to see if any other Wolverines are present.  Speaking of UD, this post and the series end with flagship base cards from 1999 and 2000.

I added a buttload of cards to my various PCs throughout this series and none benefited more than James J. Harbaugh, who launched all the way from 63 to 130 items, meaning 18 of my 25 current football PCs have now crossed the century mark.  Hooray for Sportlots!

With these out of the way I hope you're not too sick of purchase posts since I have some very nice stuff from COMC to cover, plus a probable show run this coming weekend!

2018 Sportlots purchases: running it back a couple more times

I didn't plan on posting cards of four running backs over three consecutive posts--that's just how they worked out this time.  In what amounts to my penultimate write-up of this latest series we'll look at two more Michigan RBRBs--record-breaking running backs!

As of this post, former Heisman runner-up Chris Perry ranks 7th in career rushing yards and tied for 6th in running TDs.  For whatever reason my options didn't abound this time, but five new cards is still a decent number, especially when two of those were fun college issues.  A SAGE HIT base from his rookie year of '04 is joined by Press Pass' always fun Big Numbers (in this case the Collectors Series version) produced the same year.  The die-cut versions of the latter are especially cool and I continue to add them as I see them.

Base cards from 2005 and '06 Score and Topps' 2005 Chrome Draft comprise the rest of the quintet.  While that year's Draft product didn't excite me as much as the previous two versions I was still glad to score something from a product I admired, and a Chrome version at that.

Chris' PC moves up to 114 cards and counting, with a fun little addition from COMC soon to be posted here.

The A-Train put up even loftier numbers than his eventual successor in the backfield.  Thomas left Ann Arbor in 2000 atop the record books in career rushing yards, though he'd eventually be topped by Mike Hart and Denard Robinson.  He also holds a strong grip on second in career rushing scores at 55, second only to all-time great Willie Heston from the turn of the 20th century and "three yards and a cloud of FORWARD PASSES AREN'T ALLOWED" in the rulebook (a crazy 72 TDs).

In a fun twist Thomas also managed to one-up Perry on the score sheet here with six new cards, though none of the Michigan uni variety.  Donruss Elite base issues from 2002 and '03 bookend a trio from the former year filled with variety:  Pacific's Exclusive (seen elsewhere in this series), SP Legendary Cuts, and Ultra.  You may remember me describing that last card's design as very Stadium Club-like.  And if you thought Exclusive was typical Pacific, don't forget 2002's die-cut Atomic, a look I sure wouldn't mind seeing these days in place of the same old, same old.

That gives A-Train a new count of 147 cards with a mini milestone looming, though no immediate help is forthcoming.

Might I actually go according to plan and finish up by the end of the month?  Stay tuned here over the next few days for one last post starring the player with the biggest PC jump of the bunch.

2018 Sportlots purchases: Wheatley can't be beatly

This evening I'm back with another back:  RB Tyrone Wheatley.  The former Wolverines great starred for the Giants and Raiders over his career and we'll see the new Morgan State head coach with all three of those teams on a huge bunch of cards today!

Scan one is a mostly Michigan affair with seven of nine (insert Star Trek: Voyager joke) depicting Wheatley in his college duds on cards issued in '95 and '96.  Those all hail from Classic and Superior Pix brands and feature a fun mix of designs and home/away shots.  Meanwhile, the other two could be found in packs of '96 SP and Ultra Extra (a.k.a. series 2).

In terms of quality, scan #2 might be the tops (other than my biased choice of the Wolverine uni-centric #1, of course) as it stars so many designs I really, really like.  The '96 trio of Topps Chrome and Laser plus UD Silver looks really sharp.  Then 1997 ups the ante with a very strong Topps run of Finest, Stadium Club, flagship, Chrome, and Gallery.  It looks like that year was a great one for the manufacturer, who'll hopefully use these for inspiration in their bland-at-best baseball products one day.  Also from that year we have the first iteration of Ultra's neon sign design, one that held up for quite some time.

Speaking of Ultra it's back here in its 1998 and 2000 (card #8) versions.  There's also other brand repeats of Finest and Stadium Club, plus the first of multiple appearances of Playoff Contenders, Quantum Leaf, Topps Collection, and flagship Upper Deck (all from 2000).  They're mostly outshined (I see you, Quantum Leaf!) by UD's 1999 Encore product.  As has been the case in this series, football's versions of Stadium Club continue to impress me on average a bit more than those from the baseball world.

It's not a huge surprise that there's barely any brand overlap here when it comes to what you saw in the previous three scans; After all, we were spoiled for choice back in 2001!  Absolute Memorabilia makes for a strong start, and Bowman's Best, Donruss Classics, Fleer Showcase, and Leaf Certified Materials join it among higher-end brands I really liked.  There's also yet another example of my favorite football flagship (say that three times fast) version of Pacific, followed by the lone repeat, Contenders.

That's a huge difference from this final scan of vertical cards, though the odds were against us at this point.  The first five continue the 2001 run and are all sets we've seen so far except for the vintagey goodness of Heritage.  2002's lone newbie is Pacific's 100% on-brand Exclusive.  That year's Ultra design interests me because I get more of a Stadium Club vibe every time I see it.

For the horizontal stuff we mostly linger during Ty's Giants years.  The angle of the photo on his '96 Pinnacle base plus a player in the background makes Wheatley look like a heckin' chonker, though he comes off as more svelte on UD's debut of SPx from that same year.  UD3 is another Upper Deck product that I believe originated with baseball and then came to the gridiron, but regardless of the order I think Tyrone's '97 card looks fantastic.  '98 comes with an interesting pair:  Playoff's cel-in-a-shield-shape Absolute Hobby and Pacific's busy (in a good way, IMO) Omega.  And UD gives us one last look at Wheatley's Raiders days in 2001.

That works out to exactly 50 new cards, continuing a bit of a trend from this purchase of being super productive towards multiple PCs.  In Wheatley's case his total nearly doubled and did manage to cross the century mark to 106 cards!

Now I'm down to just two posts--will I get them done before March?!--featuring two more RBs and a QB.

2018 Sportlots purchases: Tim bits

I may not have 313 cards of today's subject--one for each of his rushing yards against Ohio State in 1995--but I still managed to grow my Tim Biakabutuka collection by a huge amount thanks to Sportlots.  Here's a look at a ton of new cardboard of "Touchdown Tim"!

Scan one of six today is all about 1996, the year I turned 13 and Biakabutuka was drafted in the first round by Carolina.  Inserts from Bowman, Pinnacle (Trophy Collection, a.k.a. Dufex!), and Ultra are the pro uni cards here, but as I do when I can, I went college-heavy thanks to Classic, Collector's Choice, and Press Pass.  I don't quite like the Paydirt cards as much as regular Press Pass, but there's no bad choices here.  Still, the Trophy Collection parallel (my third version of his '96 Pinnacle issue) is my favorite.

The second group opens with a bit of a 'tweener as Score Board's All-Sport PPF is listed as a 1996-97 product.  I still need to figure out if I've acquired all the Wolverines found within.  The next four are beauties made in 1997 with great designs brought to you by Donruss Preferred, Stadium Club, and Topps/Chrome.  The '97 Topps flagship design for the baseball set is one of my favorites and once I saw what the football version looked like I was hooked.  Ultra looked great as (almost) always in '98.  And 1999 starts out strong with a super cool Absolute SSD clipboard/acetate base card, plus a couple Bowman-branded pieces.

Scan #3 keeps up the blistering pace with lots more quality, including a 1999 trio of Finest, Stadium Club, and UD.  There's a reason certain brands keep repeating, and that would be that I think they're amazing.  I'd even go so far as to say that I think in general Stadium Club's football offerings looked better than baseball, though both have been fantastic.  Dipping into 2000 there's lots more shiny thanks to Elite, Finest, Fleer Showcase, and the debut of Quantum Leaf (done up in a very nice blue), plus solid looks thanks to Fleer's Focus and, once again, Stadium Club!

This fourth scan begins with one of the least interesting cards I picked up, a base card from 2000's Topps Collection.  However, the run of good stuff thereafter from 2001 restores any lost momentum. An excellent example of a Bowman's Best design I enjoy combines with a fun Fleer trio to offer plenty of pop, joined by my favorite football version of Pacific's flagship product, the always enjoyable Playoff Contenders, and Quantum Leaf Part 2:  Electric Blue-galoo.

Having reached the fifth scan we're through all of the vertical cards, but there's still plenty to take in here.  One more Stadium Club issue pairs up nicely with Gallery to put up as strong a one-two punch as any other duo here, with both hailing from 2001.  Ultra and UD, from the same season, bring strong photography and good looks.  Check out Tim coming out of the backfield for a pass!  Another blue-hued card from '01's Vanguard by Pacific is a nice way to close these out.

Last up is this fun little quartet of horizontals.  If you liked UD's second-year SPx outing as a baseball fan then you'll feel right at home when it tackles the gridiron, as on the '97 card that kicks things off here.  Ultra makes one last cameo with a base/Gold Medallion pair from '99 that sees the RB fighting for a couple more yards after contact.  And lastly, we close on a fun (and fierce!) note with Pacific's 2001 Prism Atomic, a die-cut base card that seems to work well with just about any team logo.

The 47 cards I showed off this evening aren't the most I picked up for one player--a couple guys you'll see in upcoming posts topped that mark--but they still made a huge impact for my Biakabutuka collection as it sailed over the century mark to 118 items.  After putting together his album last year and getting an idea of where I was at quantity-wise it feels great to have crossed one milestone for him already.  Now to do the same with the other PC players languishing under 100!

But before then, watch for three more posts highlighting four more players.  GO BLUE!

2018 Sportlots purchases: QB club

Since I last posted here NFL GOAT QB Tom Brady went and won another Super Bowl, to the delight of most Michigan fans and the disgust of probably most of the country again.  Hey, I get it--he's pretty much football's version of Derek Jeter:  a big time winner who's not entirely likable when he's off the field.

Anyway, that's a lot of words about someone who won't be featuring in this post, or even this series.  But we are talking about 12's position while looking at cards of two other notable Wolverine field generals today:

Brian Griese may have never won a ring in the NFL, but he did accomplish one thing Brady didn't:  bring a National Championship at Michigan.  The former journeyman and current college broadcaster is among the most represented guys in my PCs and days like this are why as I'm adding 10 fun new pieces.

The first seven are of the vertical variety and span 1999, the year after Griese was drafted, to 2005 and the second season of his first stint with the Bucs.  There's plenty of shininess to appreciate thanks to Leaf Certified, Quantum Leaf, Topps Gold Label, Pacific Exclusive, and Topps Pristine.  My favorite out of this excellent bunch is the Gold Label, made back in 2000 when Topps had competition and actually had to put effort into their products.  Base cards from UD (2001) and Playoff Contenders ('05) are there because I almost always love their designs.

The horizontals are a fun mix in that they're all over the place.  Fleer's Flair Showcase looked awesome in '99 and that goes nicely with all the shiny above.  Pacific gets repped again thanks to the die-cut 2001 Prism Atomic, with the Broncos logo particularly suited to the design.  And then we jump forward to 2002 and another nice Topps offering, Heritage.

This is the kind of variety I love adding to any collection so I was happy to put them in Griese's PC for a new count of 186.

Meanwhile, Shoelace (who's part of the brand new Alliance of American Football) may have switched to RB late in his college career and during his brief NFL stay, but I'll always think of him as a dual-threat QB.  That's how he's depicted on four of these five new cards and that works for me!

The first three are from 2013 college-themed brands--Leaf Draft, Press Pass, and SAGE HIT--that unfortunately have to employ the usual tricks perfected by unlicensed products, such as airbrushing and non-uniform shots.  Joining those are a Score Hot Rookies insert from the same year plus a 60th Anniversary Factory Set issue from 2015 Topps.  With those I'm now five cards closer to the century mark at 96.

I still have something like four posts left in this series but plan on showing off my loot from last Saturday's card show next.

2018 Sportlots purchases: it's so cold in the D

In what has to be a first in my combined time at the University as a student and then staff member, the school closed up shop for two days (today and tomorrow) due to the ridiculous wind chill courtesy of the globally climate-changed polar vortex.  That's almost as rare as the number of honest bones in Urban Meyer's body!

This evening's post's title refers both to an infamously bad song that can be viewed on YouTube (NSFW language warning) plus the side of the ball on which has been the traditional strength at Michigan.

Let's have a look at six of the team's defensive greats in the form of Sportlots pickups!

Hey!  It's Ala--

#alanbranchkillsQBs

-n Branch!  I was able to target and score a nice number of Michigan uni cards throughout this purchase and was extremely successful when it came to the monster DT--a 100% hit rate!  Everything you see is from 2007 with the first four made by Press Pass and the last by SAGE.  They're all quite nice to look at, if you ask me, but the numbered Reflector parallel and base SAGE are my favorites.  In fact that's likely my favorite design in the latter's run, though I should try comparing them all side-by-side at some point.

This five-spot bumps Branch up to 60 cards.

Player #2 is CB Leon Hall.  It doesn't look like there's much to celebrate with just this pair but they ended up being significant as the put him at exactly the century mark, the 15th of my football PCs to reach 100.  On the left is SAGE's Aspire base from '07, and while I don't love the design as much as anything above I still appreciate the use of a nice home action photo.  The other is a 2011 Score Glossy parallel, which is not the most exciting of inserts, but is new to his collection and therefore useful.

Four of today's players came to the NFL in the ridiculously talented 2007 draft class that really should have won more but didn't for a variety of reasons.  The third of that quartet is tackling machine David Harris, a guy who enjoyed 11 productive seasons in the league (as much as anyone can "enjoy" spending most of their career with the Jets).  New to his collection today are Score Glossy parallels from 2008 and 2011 and base cards from 2008 Select and 2012 Prestige.  Again, nothing too exciting--and no college cards--but I'm always glad to add to his PC, which now stands at 75.  I have a few interesting additions from COMC that will follow soon!

Former DB Marlin Jackson (who's always fun to search for--"NO I didn't want Marlins players named Jackson!") breaks up the '07 party as a 2005 draftee.  I was glad to find a college-themed set offering of his, the '05 SAGE HIT you see first.  Then I dug up a couple second-year base cards:  2006 Select and Topps Heritage.  The scan makes it obvious that I need to try to clean up the Select card a bit if I can!  As usual Heritage looks quite nice.

Thanks to this trio Jackson one-upped Branch by reaching a new count of 61 items.

Break's over, we're back to 2007!  I split my finds of Steelers star DE/LB LaMarr Woodley between that year--his rookie season--and 2009.  To rep the former he brings back SAGE HIT once more with that fantastic base design plus a Blue parallel of the Playmakers insert.  A Bowman Draft Orange insert (yeah, it doesn't look "orange" in-person either) leads the cards made two years later, and then we get a throwback pair with UD's Philadelphia and Topps Mayo.  The group of five you see here bumps one of my smaller football PCs up to 55, and I'll keep adding to it as I can find new stuff.

And here we have every Michigan fan's dream:  11 Charles Woodsons!  The GOAT DB is the old man of this group but he continues to outpace everyone else in my football PCs because he's a rare defender that got lots of cardboard.

This first scan starts with his second year in the pros, 1999, in the form of one of his two Playoff Prestige EXP base issues plus the loud and proud Revolution by Pacific.  That brand's Omega kicks off a 2000 quintet that includes another Prestige base plus Topps Collection, and UD's Encore.

This scan opens with a familiar photo but this time it's from UD's Gold Reserve.  Then we jump ahead to 2002 and that manufacturer's Piece of History insert called National Honors, a card that notes Woodson's surprise '97 Heisman win.  Suck it, Peyton!  The last three are a bit of a grab bag:  '05 Prestige, 2010 Finest, and another 2011 Score Glossy appearance.

The guy with the biggest bunch of additions to the biggest of my football PCs also gets to celebrate the biggest milestone today, crossing the 300 mark to 307!

I have something like five posts left in this series, so keep an eye out for those, plus hopefully some card show pickups from this coming weekend.

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.

2018 Sportlots purchases: wide world of WRs

It may be a new year but I still have lots of 2018 pickups to get through.  Before I show off some bigtime scores from COMC let's have a look at my latest Sportlots haul.

I'll open things up with a group of WRs:

Former Iggle Jason Avant is celebrating finally crossing the century mark thanks to this 2006-07 four spot.  The Michigan uni card is a 2006 SAGE base and the next two are from that year as well:  a Score Glossy parallel of his RC and UD insert.  A Black parallel of his 2007 Topps Draft Chrome card closes things out.

Steve Breaston went from the Maize & Blue to wearing red for most of his career.  The outstanding 2007 SAGE HIT base is actually a dupe (one of a few this time) so it'll be heading Jeff's way eventually.  The rest is mostly a mix of Panini and Topps base from 2009-12.  Another Score Glossy parallel (from 2011) pops up here, and you'll see a few more in this series.  The 2012 Bowman design (card #6) was so different from the rest of the product's history that I can't help but be interested in it.  And a 2011 Topps Rising Rookies Draft Selection insert reminds you that the dynamic playmaker was selected in 2007's fifth round.

Before his disappointing NFL career and saying stupid things about the program post-retirement, Braylon Edwards was largely a force in Ann Arbor.  Here he is on a trio of college uni cards from 2005 Press Pass brands.  The first is one of his two appearances in the main product's base set while the others are his SE base appearance and a Gold parallel of that card.

It's a-me, this here blog's namesake!  I didn't find too many Manninghams this time, but as I headed into this purchase with 199 cards of #86 I was happy to get over the 200-card milestone.  Press Pass's 2008 Legends set is one of my favorites in that brand's run, and a Primetime Players insert from the main brand also looks great with its college action.  Those are joined by another 2011 Score Glossy parallel.  You can ignore the 2011 Playoff Contenders base as I apparently already had it!  Or not, since it looks great in my opinion.

Former #1 David Terrell comes in first today with the most new cards at 32 (though you'll have to stay tuned to see the guys with the most new additions in this series).  I was thrilled to nearly even him up with the always-linked Anthony Thomas, and when all is said and done in this bunch they'll be within a single card!

This group kicks off with a couple 2001 Press Pass cards, including the very cool SE Old School insert.  Then we move on to a bunch of 2002 cardboard from Panini/Donruss, Fleer, and Pacific.  I tried to go with a mix of quantity and quality, though in general the former won out.

The 2001 rookie came with a lot of hype so he appeared in lots of 2002 products as well.  Here we have three more Pacific offerings (including a Red parallel of the previously-seen Adrenaline), a couple Playoff brands, Score, Topps, and UD.  The photo on the Score base is terrific and the kind of thing I think we should see more of when it comes to receivers.

I told you that the 2002 group was big--Upper Deck's XL is the right name to finish up that year.  2003 is then largely represented by well-known names like Fleer Platinum, Score, Topps/Chrome/Total, and Upper Deck MVP, though UD's serial-numbered Finite is a relative outlier.  Then the 2004 Fleer Tradition you see last is a Blue parallel.

A Topps Total is the last of the 2004s and then the rest (of the horizontals) are '05s.  The Score and Throwback Threads cards note Terrell signing with the Pats in early 2005 but he never played for them, instead suiting up as a Bronco for one game that season, the final regular season tilt for Denver; he failed to catch his lone target.  The lone horizontal card in the bunch is a 2002 UD Piece of History base that looks like it could benefit from a more zoomed-out photo.

Former Giants great Amani Toomer joins Braylon as a program malcontent in this post, but man was he fun to watch before all of that.  He also joins the milestone club today by topping the 200-card threshold at 208.  Since I obviously already had a lot of his stuff I tried to go higher-end this time and succeeded, I think.  Cards from Flair Showcase, Bowman's Best, Quantum Leaf, and Topps Gold Label are the highlights of this pretty nice scan.

Football's 2000 Bowman's Best is one of my all-time favorite designs and I prefer it over the '01 version, though that's not exactly chopped liver.  A 2002 Pacific Exclusive and '04 Absolute Memorabilia (retail, unfortunately) base keep up the shiny theme while we get typically excellent outings from Fleer's 2005 and '06 Ultra designs.

Last up today is a very college-centric scan starring Marquise Walker, a receiver who put up 1000+ yards and 11 TDs during my freshman year in Ann Arbor, 2001.  At 61 cards he's my smallest football PC of a player that doesn't play defense, but since he never did play a down in the League it stands to reason that he didn't appear on a bevy of cards.

What I did land was pretty fun, though.  Once again Press Pass features prominently as I chased as many college uni cards I could find, and here five of the seven are exactly that, so, success!  I've long admired the Big Numbers insert, especially the die-cut versions, and that's my favorite of the bunch here, but the other Press Pass cards are plenty nice to look at too.

That's it for today but I still have plenty more football goodness to show off, even while the playoffs are still in full gear!

2018 Sportlots purchases: WRs received

At long last we've reached the final post in this most recent Sportlots series (except for one remaining on TMV) on the eve of Michigan's season opener.

Today's big finish stars four of the better receivers to pass through Ann Arbor.  This quartet produced 81 TD catches while adding three rushing scores and five from returns.  Let's get right down to it:

Possession receiver Jason Avant (2002-05) was a solid veteran presence with generally reliable hands, accounting for 13 TDs over his four years including eight his senior year.

This sextet is great for collectors like me as it's all college uni content!  The top row comprises base cards from 2006 Press Pass as well as its Legends and SE spinoffs.  Meanwhile, the ones on the bottom hail from that year's SAGE products:  base cards from Aspire and HIT plus a Design for Success Blue parallel insert from the latter.  The Legends and base HIT cards are my favorite and the latter is another example of how good the brand's design was until the end of that decade.

Receiver and return man Steve Breaston, a contemporary of Avant's (2003-06) was an electric presence the moment he hit the field of the Big House.  The athletic WR accumulated 10 TD receptions and two more on the ground (both coming his freshman year) while adding four on punt returns and one more on a kickoff.

I was glad to turn up a few college cards of Breaston as well, with a 2007 quartet of SAGE HIT (another fantastic design, probably my favorite) plus Chrome Black and Bronze parallels from 2007 Topps Draft, not to mention a largely covered up home uniform on an Ultra Fresh Faces insert.  A 2008 Select card parallels the base Score version I already had, and that proceeds a pair of '09s--Donruss Classics and SP Signature--and 2010s--Certified and Playoff Contenders.  Lots of fun designs there.

This last group of his cards brings a shiny 2011 Panini-branded trio courtesy of Absolute's fun hobby version and a Spectrum Red parallel plus a base from Certified.  His day ends with a Certified repeat in 2012 plus that year's Gridiron card that stars a great action photo on a horizontal design.  Is a leg supposed to bend that way?!

Guy who formerly wore #1 Braylon Edwards (2001-04) is certainly well known around these parts as one of my larger Michigan PCs, and he features even more prominently in the program's record books:

• #1 in career receptions (252, with Marquise Walker second at 176), catches in a season (also #4 and tied for 10th), career receiving yards, and TD catches in a career
• #4, tied for 5th, and tied for 8th (twice) in catches in a game
• #2 (plus 5th and tied for 10th) in receiving yards in a season
• #2 in TDs in one season with 15 in 2004, second only to Desmond Howard's 19 during his Heisman-winning '91 campaign

So it's no surprise that the guy that scored 39 collegiate TDs is the most well represented today:

Lots of designs and brands I like here.  The first eight are from 2006 and they include some lookers, especially Absolute Memorabilia (hobby version again) and Flair Showcase plus solid designs like Prestige and Upper Deck.  Donruss' Classics represents both years in typical form.

Some more '07s start this scan with repeats of the first out of Finest, Leaf Certified Materials, and Prestige joined by Upper Deck's basic SP Authentic look.  Then the 2008 stuff begins with a reprise of Finest and Prestige paired with the shininess of Leaf Limited and Score Select.  And the retail Absolute card you see down the middle is a dupe that I believe was a throw-in, unless it was sent by a confused seller who didn't have the better version.

One of Braylon's two appearances (he shares a second card with Tom Brady) finishes up 2008, and 2009 base from Certified and Finest (yep, they're both back again!) follow shortly thereafter.  Skipping another Absolute dupe we get a pair of Michigan uni cards from a couple college-friendly 2010 Upper Deck products:  SP Authentic and SPx.  Those remind me that I should do more to track down Press Pass and SAGE-type stuff of his from 2005.

The last group begins with Topps' decent 2010 follow-up to its outstanding, and the verticals conclude with a 2011 trio of previously seen brands:  Certified, Finest, and Prestige.  Then there's a pair of cards turned 90 degrees:  2011 Threads and 2009 Contenders (not sure why that ended up second).  All of these add up to a very productive day for the outspoken receiver.

One of Edwards' predecessors to wear the coveted #1 jersey, David Terrell (1998-2000), is also featured in the team's record books.  Despite leaving a year early he ranks in the top 10 in just about all of the relevant WR categories, and his 13 scores his junior year garnered him a first round selection in the 2001 draft.

Nobody ended up with more maize & blue cards than Terrell, who gets the benefit of a full page of these!  Press Pass and its PE spinoff are responsible for the first eight, with an early version of the Big Numbers insert and the shiny Showbound set being highlights.  Those die-cut Breakout cards are pretty cool too, and Terrell was good enough to get a second appearance by headlining the checklist.  How many checklists have you ever seen that look like that?

Pretty much the rest of what you see will be a callback to Anthony Thomas's haul from the other day, which makes sense since they were drafted together and appeared in many common products.  In this scan the first eight are all repeats from A-Train's bunch, with 2002 Stadium Club and Topps Gallery serving as highlights.  The '02 Ultra card represents the only brand from that year you didn't see on Wednesday.

More of the same here, but in a good way!  The six verticals, led by strong looks from Gridiron Kings and Topps Draft, were all seen in Thomas form as well, not to mention the first two horizontals--2002 Heritage and '03 Upper Deck.  UD's 2005 version also didn't make it into Thomas's portion of the post the other day because I didn't end up tracking down his base card.

Three scans worth was enough to make Terrell today's milestone guy, getting him over the 100-card hump to 114, meaning he finally caught up to the frequently linked Thomas in achieving that feat.

It was a great run but soon it'll be time for bigger and better things include a trade package, eBay pickup, and hopefully card show loot.  And more importantly tomorrow will be Michigan game day #1!