2014 COMC purchases: baseball fall classics

On a day where Michigan Football is celebrating the program's best news, probably, since Jabrill Peppers signed his Letter of Intent, with a buyout of athletic dipshit Dave Brandon (hey, maybe we won't suck anymore AND the students/fans won't be pissed!), I'm showing off more pickups from COMC that center on...baseball.  Well that's just what I felt like doing today, so that's what I'm gonna do.  Plus, as the title hints at, it's time to celebrate the 2014 season with the conclusion of the World Series, even if many of us are sad to be seeing it end.

Anyway, here's eight new baseball PC cards!:

Steve Boros 1984 Topps Tiffany

Up first thanks to the magic of sorting alphabetically by last name is the card I'm actually the most excited about today.  This '84 Tiffany of Boros completes yet another player collection for me!  That's 16 up and 16 down for the former Tiger/Cub/Red player and A's/Padres manager.  It's kind of funny to me that the final two cards of his I needed were 80s Tiffany parallels, not any of his vintage stuff that spanned '58-'65.  Check out that album for the full run or have another gander at the checklist here.  Up next, I suppose, will be a less-than-half-assed attempted at his three 1/1s or his Topps buybacks.  By the way, he's my seventh completed PC.

Jake Fox 2010 Upper Deck Gold (#02/99)

In many ways this 2010 UD Jake Fox parallel is the next most exciting addition for me because I have so few cards of his to chase at this point.  After I added a bit more credit trying to score some trade pieces, I had enough left to take a stab at this card whose price had previously kept me away.  I was able to make a solid offer and get it accepted, which I'm thrilled about because as with most of Fox's non-base cards, I don't think I'd ever seen more than maybe one other available anywhere!  Now that I'm at 17/19 of his run I don't expect to find the other two (#d /25 and /15) anytime soon, but maybe someday I'll get to 100$! 

Charlie Gehringer 2004 Sweet Spot Classic Patch 300 manupatch (#216/300)

And Charlie is on the board!  This is the first hit of the Mechanical Man to appear in my Michigan Baseball PC.  Sure it's just a manupatch, but it's still a fun start--Sweet Spot resulted in some very cool patches featuring logos and other designs.  Best of all, I didn't have to throw down very much credit to nab one of the nicer cards in my Gehringer collection.  And of course it's always fun to add to the Tiger/Wolverine collection.  I do hope to add a "real" hit before the end of the year, though, ideally something along the lines of a cut signature.

Charlie Gehringer 2012 Panini Cooperstown Blue Crystal (#292/499)

Speaking of Gehringer, here's another great card I picked up.  I already had his base and Red Crystal versions from 2012 Cooperstown, but now I have what's obviously my favorite of the bunch:  blue!  The parallels look nice enough that I might try to track down the rainbow over time if it doesn't prove too costly.  Meanwhile, Gehringer bumps past the 20-card mark to a new total of 21.

Barry Larkin 1997 Studio Hard Hats (#3817/5000)

Right after Gehringer we have another HOFer, and a much more recent one in Larkin.  This acetate insert is one great example of how much we're missing the gold old days of Donruss and some of the inserts they came up with.  Hard Hats has kind of been brought back in a couple sports, but they're nothing like the original, which hailed from one of Donruss' finest products:  Studio.  Numbered to "just" 5000 copies, this is easily one of my favorite inserts of Larkin in his collection.

Barry Larkin 2010 Topps Commemorative Patch manupatch

I have one more Larkin to show off, and like his HOF peer Gehringer, it's a manurelic, my third such card of the SS legend (2011 Reds logo, 2012 World Series pin), two of which honor Cincy's most recent championship back when I was just seven.  Not bad for just a few bucks.  As always I bow down to the amazing collection of Chris at Nachos Grande (he posted a new one today!), but for my part I'm happy with the 224 Larkins I now own.

J.J. Putz 2014 Topps Red Hot Foil

Putz, who hasn't been the D-Backs' full-time closer since 2012, got into 18 games this year and wasn't terrible effective before being released back in June.  That didn't stop Topps from including him in Series II this year, though, so I'm glad to get to chase more of his cards while I wait to see if he makes it back to a Major League club next year.  Oddly enough this is my first 2014 Topps issue of Putz, and I grabbed it because the price was right.  I may go after the base and cheaper parallels elsewhere, maybe with Justcommons, but I'm happy to take my time tracking down the other 17 cards in the flagship/Mini rainbow.  This is my 180th card out of J.J.'s current total of 326, so as usual I still have a long way to go! 

Bobby Scales 2009 Topps Chrome Blue Refractor (#040/199)

Last but not least on this evening of shiny pickups is a beautiful Blue Refractor (a.k.a. Best Refractor) of former Cub Bobby Scales.  Like Fox (also a former Cub!), he doesn't have a ton of cards for me to chase so it's not terribly often that I find a new one.  In this case, the card above had been available on COMC for a very long time, but always at a price that made no sense.  Then patience proved to be a virtue when a different seller was asking for less than $1 for his copy.  Take THAT, other guy.  Also, hooray again for Blue Refractors.  This is my 21st of his 31 cards, with more work to be done on this set's rainbow, among others.

All in all, not a bad day for the baseball PCs, not to mention Michigan's athletic department!  Stay tuned for a final post covering the football stuff, maybe this weekend.

2014 Sportlots purchase: more Michigan PC guys

Last month I put together another nice bunch of purchases on Sportlots, and while I still need to post my set wantlist additions over on TMV, I also wanted to show off five Michigan PC pickups I grabbed from one of my more reliable suppliers of such cards:

Red Berenson 1969-70 Topps

Back on Wednesday I showed off a couple new Reds and mentioned that I was the proud owner of his regular OPC/Topps run from '69-70 to '78-'79, but hadn't yet posted his '69-'70 Topps issue.  Well here it is!  It's tied with the OPC version as the oldest in my Berenson collection for now, and of course this one's in much better shape.  I'm just a card shy of 50% at 27/55 in his run.

Steve Boros 1986 Topps Traded Tiffany

For some reason Sportlots seems to be a pretty good source for Tiffany cards--two of today's scores, including this Boros, came from a seller there, and I've landed a number of others before as well.  This '86 Traded Tiffany was an exciting addition because it leaves me needing just one to complete Steve's collection, and that's the '84 flagship Tiffany, oddly enough.  I should be celebrating having Boros' run completed very soon, but for now this is card #15/16.

Dave Campbell 1974 O-Pee-Chee

Moving on to an even more exciting card for me, here's another vintage OPC of Dave Campbell, which was a sight for sore eyes as far as I was concerned because I now own 100% of Campbell's PC!  Sure, it's only 10 cards, but it's still fun to have completed another Michigan guy's collection, and Dave is the 6th to earn that distinction.  That group includes Topps cards in 1969 and 1970, then OPC/Topps versions from 1971-74.

Chris Getz 2013 Topps Update Wal Mart Blue Border

Next up is the most modern card in the bunch, another entry in the rainbow of Chris Getz from 2013 Topps Update.  As a matter of fact, it happens to be the final card I needed to complete that project as the 9th in the group.  I'll make sure to show off the rainbow in a future post, but for now this card featuring a great photo of Getz sliding is my 72nd of his 106 entries to-date.

Scott Kamieniecki 1991 Topps Traded Tiffany

Finally we have the other Tiffany card I found this time (from the same seller that had the Boros) in the form of this very young Scott Kamieniecki from '91 Traded.  As you can imagine I was happy to find both from one seller since that saved me a bit on shipping.  This was the last I needed in terms of Kam's 1991 cards (he has six of them), and I continue to make steady progress on his collection which now stands at 84/90.  With a bit of luck I may dig up his tougher-to-find '98 Pacific Online Web and Winners cards before the end of the year, and that would put me in a good position to close out his run as well.

With these posted I'll likely be moving on to new COMC purchases shortly, with another eBay win to mix things up a bit.

2014 COMC purchases: Boros ain't boring

I'm happy to have a couple more trades to cover very soon, but I figured if I didn't post my COMC stuff before much longer it would just languish in my scan folder, so here we go!

Today I've got cards of just one player;  Steve Boros.  I added him to my PC guys back in August, then I showed off my first vintage get of the former Wolverine/Tiger a couple weeks ago.  Since then, thanks to the magic of COMC, I've made extremely significant headway towards his collection, adding these:

Steve Boros 1958 Topps RC

The single color background here is very bland, but it's still a fun vintage RC, plus it features that fantastic Tigers logo!

Steve Boros 1959 Topps

Now THAT's better!  It's not an action shot, but the design is still an improvement over the previous year's, and this is a nice shot of Boros posed, I'd assume, in the dugout.

Steve Boros 1961 Topps

I like the '61 design as well since it's a bit more colorful.  This may be a posed shot as well, but at least it's a posed "action" shot, right?  Steve earns that "1961 Rookie" star logo in the upper-right by virtue of having played just 30 games over the course of 1957-58, by the way.

Steve Boros 1962 Topps (#62)

Ah yes, the classic wood grain design of '62.  There's nothing like the pairing of a classic card set and the "Olde English 'D.'"

Steve Boros 1962 Topps (#72) (with Bob Schafer and Jake Wood)

Steve actually appeared on two cards in the '62 set as he joined by fellow IF Jake Wood and '61-'63 manager Bob Scheffing, who went 101-61 in 1961 and finished SECOND, so I guess hooray for more playoff teams, right?  Here's the back if you're interested, courtesy of COMC:

Steve Boros 1964 Topps

This '64 issue is Steve's first and only as a member of the Cubs, for whom he appeared in 41 games in 1963.  I love the old Cubs logo on what's definitely another classic Topps vintage design.

Steve Boros 1965 O-Pee-Chee and Topps

Boros played in 117 games for the Reds in 1964, then two more the following year (as a defensive replacement only), so his '65 cards show him off in a Cincy uniform.  The two versions that year aren't terribly difficult to tell apart; OPC's says "Printed in Canada" on the back while Topps', of course, mentions the U. S. of A.  Based on my two copies, the Topps version also has a much brighter background on the back.  Another good looking design indeed.

Steve Boros 1983 Topps Traded

I believe I already covered this, but '83 was Steve's first of  parts of two seasons as manager of Oakland, and that year the team went 74-88.  '83 Traded is a set I don't usually hear much about, so this was a fun addition.

Steve Boros 1984 Topps

I think I also mentioned that Boros was canned by Oakland for various reasons after just 44 games in '84, but he still made it into the flagship set.  '86 is my oldest complete Topps set, hence my need to pick this one up.

Steve Boros 1987 Topps Tiffany

And what's an 80s Topps card without a Tiffany version to go with it?  Steve's 1986 Padres duplicated his '83 Oakland squad's record of 74-88 in his only season with the team.

If you counted 11 cards in today's post, first of all, congratulations, you've just completed all degree requirements for Michigan State.  You also might have guessed that I'm pretty close to completing his run, and if you did, you're right on.  Of his 16 issues I'm missing just his '86 Topps Traded Tiffany card, which I'll probably be picking up pretty soon!  

While I work on that, I'll show off more COMC stuff and trade packages very soon.

9-19-14 card show report: gorging on the dollar menu

Yes last weekend's game against Utah was a fiasco, but I still enjoyed my four-day weekend very much, including meeting my brand new niece, as I'd mentioned.

Before heading to Milwaukee Saturday for that celebration, I made a rare Friday trip to the soon-to-be-closed Gibraltar Trade Center in Taylor for the monthly card show since I haven't spent much this month.  By the way, for my fellow collectors in the area, if you haven't heard, many of those same sellers will be putting on monthly shows at another nearby location.

Anyway, I threw down a reasonable $44 for a few things for me plus a BUNCH of trade bait for a few of you.  My first purchase was $30 for 22 $1 cards (all hits!) plus a nice autograph you can see over at TMV this evening.  The second was just $14 and included more trade bait, another cool signature featured at TMV, and the first card below.  All in all, another successful visit!

Here's what I grabbed:

Steve Boros 1963 Topps

The second seller had some vintage Topps grouped by year, and to my good fortune this Boros was available in the '63 bunch.  While it's just my third of his 16 so far, I've actually got more of his stuff from COMC to post soon so this actually filled a need, plus it was cheaper than anything I found online at $4.  Also, it's my oldest by far since the others I have hail from the 80s!

Everything else below came from the first seller and was just a buck apiece--yes, really!

Jamal Crawford 2004-05 Upper Deck Hardcourt Hardcourt Materials Player's Materials jersey

This cool jersey relic--featuring a nice big "M" even if it isn't for "Michigan"--is my first of Crawford, a Cleveland 2000 first-rounder who was quickly flipped to the Bulls, and that makes him the 12th player in my basketball collection.

Juwan Howard 2005-06 Topps 1952 Style Hardwood Classics jersey

I already had a jersey relic of Juwan, but this card was cool enough for me to grab for $1.  The shocking red swatch doesn't hurt, plus Howard was one of Michigan's most successful alumni in the league.

Tom Brady 2003 Fleer Authentix Ticket Studs jersey

The "Yes, really" from before is 100% the result of this card which really--SERIOUSLY, YOU GUYS--cost me just a buck!  It's a fold-out kind of card so I scanned it as it was meant to be shown, then added the "front/back" as well.  It's a very nice Brady swatch that actually says "game-worn" instead of the dreaded "event" version, too, and is my fourth relic of the future HOFer overall.

Braylon Edwards 2005 Topps Pristine Personal Pieces Relics Rare dual jersey (#45/75)

I don't usually pony up for relics anymore, especially guys from whom I already have a ton of cards like Bray-Bray here.  Still, I liked the look of this one plus the decently low numbering enough to make it my 56th hit of the...uh...outspoken former WR.

Ty Law 2004 SP Game-Used Authentic Fabrics jersey

It's hard enough to find hits of Law sometimes, never mind searching for cheap ones, so when I dug this one up I quickly added it to my pile.  The Super Bowl-winner can now claim three relics in my football PC.

Mike Cammalleri 2009-10 SP Game Used Edition Authentic Fabrics Gold jersey (#022/100)

Lastly (and STILL for just $1) I found this lovely numbered two-color swatch of one of the Michigan Hockey Mikes, in this case Cammalleri.  UD did a great job making the card's colors work with the Habs' signature jersey colors, and really for as cheap as it was I would have been fine with just a blue swatch, but instead I got upgraded to some white and numbering to 100!  This is my seventh hit of Cam.

It was a nice feeling to leave the place with a solid stack of trade bait and PC cards AND money in my pocket.  Don't forget to check out TMV for the rest of my haul, then watch your mailboxes soon for some new trade packages!

Announcing three new baseball PCs: Boros, Campbell, and Lund

Stay tuned for a new post from Jeff this evening, but first, I have some personal collecting news related to the blog:  I'm announcing three new baseball PCs!  All three have small enough runs that I'm going to do my version of "supercollecting" them--shooting for 100% of their regular print run and then adding any "others" and 1/1s just for fun.  Here they are:

Steve Boros

Flint native Boros was a Michigan SS from 1956 to 1957, at which point he signed with Detroit as a "bonus baby" (this was before the draft) and left Ann Arbor.  He played parts of seven seasons with the Tigers, Cubs, and Reds before his playing career ended in 1965.  He then pursued a managerial career, earning the gig as Oakland's leader for 1983.  Steve was ahead of his time in using computers to analyze stats for advantages, but was fired after a mediocre start the following year.  The Padres came calling in 1986 after '84 pennant-winning skipper Dick Williams resigned abruptly, but lasted just a season in San Diego.  He later returned to the Tigers in multiple capacities towards the end of his life, and was also inducted into the Wolverines Hall of Honor.  He passed away in 2010.

Boros has 16 cards for me to chase, starting with vintage issues from during his career ('58-'65) plus cards in '83, '84, '86, and '87 covering his managerial years.  I made an executive decision to list his six recent Topps Heritage buybacks as "others" because I don't think they really fit under his standard releases.  I have his '86 Topps Traded and '87 Topps (above), and I'll be looking to add more soon!

Dave Campbell

I first mentioned Campbell about a month ago after I picked up the above card at a show, thinking I'd scored a nice vintage Tigers RC and not realizing it was another Wolverine/Tiger combo!  A native of Manistee, Michigan (way up north on Lake Michigan), the man they nicknamed "Soup"--because obviously--signed with Detroit as a free agent after a successful career with the Wolverines that included Michigan's 1962 NCAA title victory (coached by the guy below!).  He appeared in more than 400 games over parts of eight seasons with the Tigers, Padres, Cardinals, and Astros and was involved in trades for two notable players:  Joe Niekro and Tommie Agee.  Campbell has since done quite a bit of color commentating (and video game work!) for several teams.

My collection for him currently consists solely of his '69 Topps RC above, but I look forward to tracking down his nine other vintage cards when I can.

From COMC

Don Lund

You may remember Lund from...yesterday's post.  You're forgiven if you already forgot about that, though, since he appeared as a football player in the TK Legacy M Go Blue autograph set.  As I noted in the post, Lund opted for a baseball career instead, and he played parts of seven seasons with Brooklyn, St. Louis (Browns), and the Tigers (hey, another one!).  After his Major League career ended, Don helmed the Michigan Baseball team for their 1962 National Championship, and also coached for the Tigers.  He's in the Wolverines Hall of Honor as well, and the article I linked above about him in Campbell's words is a good read about the impact he had on others.

His checklist comes in at just eight cards, though it could prove to be a tough group to acquire:  the '53 and '54 Topps plus '54 Bowman might not be cheap, and then he has a pair of autographs (one numbered to 54) in 2003 Heritage.  I'm totally starting from scratch here, but I think it'll be fun chasing another Michigan Football star that opted for baseball, not to mention another Wolverine/Tiger double-dipper!

I'm planning on putting in some work on COMC for these guys soon, but as always if you have anything I'm looking for, please give me a shout!