7/2/16 card show report: getting Rich-er by the day

Now that those of you who follow Too Many Verlanders read my show recap over there, it's time to show off the rest of my haul for the few of you that continued over here this evening!  As I said, my haul consisted of ten dime cards, 16 quarters, and four at $2 apiece, with a few of those being trade bait.

Here's the Wolverines from the bunch:

Rich Hill 2016 Topps

The set-filler guy I mentioned, with a table full of dime cards sorted by set, had the Rich Hill base I needed from 2016 Topps Series II, so I happily grabbed that for my first 2016 release of the A's' sort-of ace.  The photo's not the greatest--what do you call something like this, "resting pitch face"?  Anyway, it's my 246th of his 357 issues and 257th overall.

Rounding out the buck I spent with that seller, here's a nine-spot of Wolverines from recent base sets.  I grabbed my first two cards of Wolverine RB transfer Thomas Rawls, a kid who was simply poorly coached by the Hoke regime, headed to Central Michigan, and did well enough to join the Seahawks as an UDFA.  He had a pretty nice 2015 campaign before suffering a season-ending ankle injury, and with Marshawn Lynch gone in Seattle he could have a chance to put up some nice numbers.

Rawls joins Devin Funchess by being represented in both 2016 Prestige and Score, David Harris shows up in the latter, and Denard Robinson the former.  Meanwhile, I added to my Charles Woodson PC with a card each from those same sets to go with a beautiful base issue from 2015 Gridiron Kings, which is another excellent football product that baseball fans just have to be jealous of.

Devin Funchess 2015 Topps Museum Collection RC and Copper parallel

From the quarter box here's a pair of Funchess cards from Topps' 2015 Museum Collection product.  One is a rookie I needed for my first-year collection, and by my count that gives me half of his 24.  Next to his base is a Copper parallel, which is about as meh as it gets for parallels.

TK Legacy Michigan Checklists (#SK1)

Joining the Funchess parallel in the insert collection is this checklist previewing Sketch Cards from TK Legacy.  I've never managed to purchase one of those elusive items because they're relatively rare and very expensive.  Still, even the previews are nice to look at, and I'll pretty much grab any TK Legacy card I don't have in a slow, maybe-I-will-maybe-I-won't effort towards a master set.  Star WRs Braylon Edwards and Desmond Howard are pictured here, by the way.

Jason Avant, Steve Breaston, and Ty Law 2009 Topps Magic Minis

The last of my inserts were this trio of Minis from one of Topps' most well done sets, 2009 Topps Magic.  I showed off the complete Wolverines team set of 15 cards way back in December of 2014 and now I have some minis to go with them, meaning I may just have to chase those as well.  Not that I need any excuses to grab more Wolverine uni cards....

And last but not least we have the $2 hits:

Adrian Arrington 2008 Donruss Gridiron Gear Autographs Platinum Holofoil auto (#09/25)

I probably say this every time I add a new Arrington, which unfortunately isn't too often these days, but it's hard for me to find something of his that's new to me.  I was surprised to find that I didn't have any version of his 'graph from this product, so to land a parallel numbered to 25 for just a couple bucks was exciting for me.  This is my 47th hit of A-Squared, and each and every one carries his signature.

Thom Darden 2006 TK Legacy auto

And now we move on to a guy making his debut in my football hits collection!  If I have trouble finding new Arringtons, it's often even more difficult to track down TK Legacy autos I don't yet own, so $2 for Mr. Darden here was more than fair to me.  I introduced the productive Browns safety with an Afro back in April in a Rookie Blue-Out post, so he's not entirely new to my collection, just to the hits.  His extremely legible signature makes him subject #197 in that collection, and I hope I can push that number above 200 before the end of the year.

Devin Funchess 2015 Panini Prizm Prizm Premier Jerseys jersey

Lastly, I wouldn't have paid $2 for this Refractor-y (sorry, "Prizm") jersey relic of Devin Funchess by itself, but factored into the total I was fine with it.  It's got a nice photo of a concentrating Funchess making a catch along with a black Panthers jersey swatch, though the design isn't anything to write home about.  While I still need to dig up an autograph of Bunches of Funchess one of these days, I'm now up to three hits of the TE-turned WR.

And all that is clearly an improvement on last month's one-card Taylortown show so I hope I can continue that momentum into August.  Until then, how about some show-off posts from my latest COMC haul?

6/5/16 card show report: putting the "UM" in "not much"

As promised on this evening's TMV post, here's the pair of Michigan cards (in addition to the Larkin you saw in that post) I grabbed at a show in Redford three weeks ago:

Charles Woodson 2015 Donruss Holo Back

Woodson would like to make sure you're all aware that he "ain't no Holo Back girl."  I hadn't busted any of this product so when I grabbed this card I wasn't aware it was an insert.  If anything I would have guessed that it was a hobby version and that the retail card would have a "plain" back.  While I think inserts where the only difference is on the back are dumb, I was going to buy this card regardless because, hey, new Woodson!

Dan Dworsky 2003 TK Legacy 1947 National Champions auto

Definitely my nicest pickup of the show, here's a sweet signature of former Michigan LB and very talented architect Dan Dworsky from one of my all-time favorite products, TK Legacy.  Unlike the M Go Blue autographs I don't have very many of these Hail to the Victors National Champions cards yet.  Right now I'm limited to Dworksy, Bob Chappuis, and Bump Elliott from the 1947 champs; Leo Koceski from the '48 team; and Chris Floyd, Glen Steele, and Tai Streets from the '97 winners.

My purchase of this card is also the best story from the show.  Its owner was giving me the hard sell on his stuff, most of which I wasn't interested in.  When I asked how much he wanted for it he gave me one of those "Uhhhh, I don't know what they're worth, make me an offer" kind of responses.  Great.  I offered $5 since I don't really care to pay that much for these individually, and he started by asking for more than that, so I walked away to the other side of the show.  He ended up tracking me down and offering it to me for a five-spot and I took it.  Way not to come off as completely desperate, buddy, but thanks for the deal!

Hopefully I'll have more to post the next time I cover a show visit.

9/5/2015 card show report: multi-sport athlete

Since I already gave a brief overview of my experience at last Saturday's Taylor Town Trade Center show on this evening's TMV post, I'll get right to the cards you came to see here!

Barry Larkin 2013 Panini America's Pastime Gold (#11/25)

This beautiful and rare Larkin came out of the same box as the stuff you saw on TMV.  I'm used to paying much less for inserts in general so the idea of throwing down $4 for this one gave me pause until I considered 1) I was already getting good deals on a lot of the other stuff and 2) Barry's stuff sells very well so there's no guarantee I could have found this cheaper very easily.  I love the style of uniform grabbed in the photo, and you can't even tell it's missing a logo, which is a very nice touch.  Welcome to the collection, Larkin card #315!

2007 TK Legacy Michigan Game Day Rivalry (#GR1943)

Here's the only card I got for myself from the small $5 purchase, which comprised a bunch of base and inserts.  I grab TK Legacy Michigan stuff I don't have whenever I can, and this is the first of the Game Day Rivalry cards I've had to show off.  The set includes moments from Michigan's rivalries with OSU and Minnesota (for the Little Brown Jug).  Here's the text on the back that summarizes the game:

I hope to eventually grab more of these to add to my football inserts collection.

Shawn Hunwick 2012-13 Panini Rookie Anthology Rookie Treasures Level 2 Patch dual patch auto (#53/99)

And lastly, another card that set me back a measly $4 after all was said and done.  I believe most of you know that I PC Hunwick, and it didn't take me long to confirm that this was the other version of his Rookie Treasures card I needed.  A long time ago I grabbed the dual jersey version, #d to 699, and now I have the variation that's limited to 99 copies and includes two patches.  I ended up with an excellent three-color patch with double stitching on top and a solid two-color piece on the bottom.

I now own nine hits of the former walk-on goalie that nearly led Michigan to a title a few years ago, and I have 20 of his 71 issues to go with a pair of plates.  This collection has slowed down for me quite a bit as I search for reasonable prices, but when I've added anything of his recently, it's been pretty good like the card above.

Until next month, stay tuned for some eBay pickups, a slew of COMC cards, and other things that need to be scanned and posted!

8/2/15 card show report: the new guys

The cardboard gods were smiling upon me once again last Sunday during the monthly card show I like to attend.  That was especially true for the Michigan portions of my collection.  Check these out:

Tom Brady 2011 Topps Gold (#204) (#0550/2011)

Chad Henne 2008 Topps Mayo RC

Chad Henne 2008 Topps Mayo Mini Black Backs

I believe each of these was $0.50, and I thought that was very reasonable for a numbered Brady insert.  I also managed to add a new Henne to my rookies collection along with a Mini parallel of that very same card to go with my other inserts.

Mike Gillette 2006 TK Legacy auto

Paul Staroba 2007 TK Legacy auto

Chris Zurbrugg 2007 TK Legacy auto

The real highlights for me came in the form of this trio of TK Legacy M Go Blue autos.  My total from the set moved up to 128 (out of 185) thanks to these three additions to my football PC (194 subjects strong!).  Here's some quick info on each guy since they haven't been featured yet:

• Gillette was a PK and P from 1985-88.  He appeared in 49 games and went 130/133 on PATs and 57/81 on FGs.  Here he is scoring on a beautiful 40-yard fake punt run against MSU in 1988.
• Staroba was a WR (and punter!) from 1968-70.  In 31 career games he caught four TDs (two each in '68 and '70), then was a third-round pick of the Browns in '71.  He appeared in 10 games between 1972-73, catching two passes (one for a TD), rushing once for 11 yards, and punting 12 times for the '73 Packers.
• Zurbrugg was a QB from 1984-86 and saw the bulk of his playing time in '84 when starter Jim Harbaugh went down with a broken arm, but he made appearances in 37 career games over those three seasons.

$3 a pop is a no-brainer for me when it comes to these, plus I always love the history lesson that accompanies them.

Don Lund 2004 TK Legacy Varsity Club auto

Speaking of TK Legacy, here's another fun autograph from that product, specifically the Multisport set from 2004.  As many of you know, I PC Lund, a football star who went on to a brief career in Major League Baseball.  However, that clearly wasn't enough different sports for him, so here he is on a card that makes him the 18th different player in my basketball PC.  That puts him in an exclusive club that I believe is limited to Drew Henson and Bill Freehan as far as my collection goes.  Another $3 well spent!

Chris Tamer 1996-97 Be A Player Autographs Silver auto

With the upcoming NHL season looming, why not a hockey card as well?  I was flipping through a box of $2 hits when this one caught my eye.  "Chris Tamer..." I said to myself.  "His name sounds familiar--didn't Doug send me something of his before?"  YEP!  It took me a while to find the trade post from 2013 and the third package he sent me.  Anyway, I hadn't realized Tamer had any hits so I quickly snapped up this Silver version of his BaP auto from 96-97, and that makes him player #38 in my hockey collection!

Another great show for my PCs, and I'm already looking forward to the next one.

3/1/15 card show report: Michigan milestones and wow Wolverines

I have a ton of stuff to scan and post, including purchases from COMC, eBay, Justcommons, and Sportlots, plus trades aplenty.  So naturally on Sunday I did what anyone else in my situation would do--I headed down to a card show to buy more stuff that I'd have to scan and post!

This wasn't my new haunt in Taylor, Michigan, but was instead at a small VFW hall in nearby Brighton, which is about 20 minutes north of me.  I often enjoy smaller shows that don't charge admission, and this one turned out to be pretty useful for me because there was so much stuff with local appeal available.  I spent a reasonable $40 on just a few trade bait cards plus what you see below:

First up is a group of six cards I grabbed for a quarter each.  These are from TK Legacy Michigan's 2005 Multisport set, and you can see that three sports are indeed represented here.  Cazzie's had his name called a few times before, and Elliott is among my autographs from the football-focused set.  Berenson was the real draw for me as this goes into his PC, and I'm actually just short one autograph of his from this product.  Matchefts and Debol are guys that haven't gotten a ton of love around here because they don't have much in the way of cards, but they're certainly a part of Michigan's storied hockey history.  Finally, legendary Michigan broadcaster is represented...as a track star?  Cool!

2005 TK Legacy Michigan Program Covers (#PC16) (#32/250)

From the same manufacturer's football set comes my first of the series of Program Covers cards that highlight...well, program covers from Michigan games.  To prove that they weren't cherry-picked, this one, representing Michigan's 1936 matchup will Illinois, was a loss--actually the Wolverines' third straight to the Illini.  The back tells you a bit about the game and then each card is hand-numbered (the numerator part, at least) out of 250.  I hope to find more of these sometime.

Barry Larkin 1994 Leaf MVP Contenders

Barry Larkin 1994 Select Skills

It took me looking through a few sellers' cards until I found this pair of Larkin inserts from 1994, but it was worth it in the end, which I'll get to in a second.  The former is a contest/redemption card of sorts--if Larkin (or another pictured player) won his league's MVP award, you would mail this card in (plus a small fee, of course) to receive a numbered 5x7 of Frank Thomas, which was a pretty good prize at the time.  Plus you'd be entered in a drawing for one of 5000 Gold version complete sets.

The latter is from Score's '94 Select product and, as its name would suggest, highlights specific skills.  Barry wins for "best hit-and-run" and is honored for that on this foil rainbow card.  The back doesn't really say why he's great at the skill but instead briefly lauds his all-around game.

Two new Larkins might not seem like something to celebrate until you add them to the 248 others I had to reach a fun milestone of 250 different cards of Barry!  The HOF SS continues to rule over the rest of my PCs which is only natural since he appears on about a billion cards.

Hal Morris 1996 Score Dugout Collection Artist's Proof

My other baseball pickup on the day was this cool Artist's Proof (make that Dugout Collection Artist's Proof) of Hal Morris from 1996 Score.  It's practically identical to the copper Dugout Collection parallel of this fantastic horizontal photo except for the "Artist's Proof" stamp in the lower-right corner, which makes it rarer, naturally.  I'm closing in on another milestone here as Hal sits at 97 total cards.

And now for the "wow Wolverines."  Towards the end of the show I still hadn't spent much when I came across a table literally covered with Michigan Football hits, some on display and others in boxes.  If I ever hit the lottery I'm cleaning this guy out since he pretty much had about 100 different cards I was drooling over.  In some ways the prices felt a bit high to me, but then again I was able to snag a pair and make a deal for a lower amount, so I think it worked out.  Plus I was inspired by the recently-ended Parks and Recreation and decided to live by one of its best concepts:

You're right, Donna and Tom, I'm gonna TREAT MA SELF!

Anthony Carter 2011 Exquisite Collection Dimensions auto

You see this card?  It's hard to tell from an over-the-top scan, but it's a shadowbox-style design and is literally as thick as every other card posted today put together, but only when I include the one you'll see in a second.  I've been wanting one of these for a while and happily made a deal for it.  What's going on here is a tale of layers;  The top one is clear except for the image on the right of AC, plus the foil of the UD logo, set name, Carter's name, and the team name.  All of that is on a bordered thi plastic window.  The very bottom has the shadowbox image of Carter in something like sepia with a wavy pattern around it (which didn't scan well, I guess).  Finally, a clear plastic display stand-kind of thing is affixed to the bottom and that part contains the signature, completing the 3D look of the piece.  I have some very nice cards of AC, but this one pretty much has to be my favorite at this point!  The Michigan uni-ness certainly helps, and I happily paired it up with...

Denard Robinson 2013 Upper Deck Quantum Signature Patches patch auto (#085/265)

...a card literally half its thickness but 100% in tune with the "stacking things up" theme.  This super shiny Shoelace from 2013 UD Quantum is basically a large patch placed beneath a clear plastic window that's then signed by the player.  It makes for a great look along with UD's best-in-the-business photography, and many of the copies I've seen available have patches that look at least as good as this, if not better.  All of that results in a high-end-feeling card that's not actually as expensive as it looks!

I'm happy to have landed all the stuff above, crossed another milestone, and maybe found a second card show to hit sometimes, so I'd say I had a pretty nice Sunday.  Now maybe I can finally get back to covering everything else that's on the back burner...

1/2/15 card show report: new year, new Wolverines

Three Fridays again I hit up the monthly Taylor Town Trade Center show, and $55 later I was a bit poorer but had some nice cards to show for my efforts.  Some can be seen on TMV while others may be headed to a mailbox near you.  And of course the rest are right here:

Barry Larkin 1997 Finest Bronze Refractor

Leading off is this beautiful Refractor of Barry Larkin from '97 Finest.  I got it for either $0.50 or a quarter, and either way it was a big-time steal.  Besides that I love the design of the set, so I was thrilled to add this beauty as my 243rd Larkin.

From the seller I grabbed a complete set of 2007 Topps Draft football for just $5.  You can see a few other highlights over on TMV, but here's the real reason I picked it up:

Base cards of Brady, Braylon, and Avant.  Three Wolverines isn't bad in a smaller set like Draft.

And the true highlights for me:  college uni RCs of Hall, Breaston, and Woodley.  The set's design is a bit goofy, but I can't say no to the excellent college photos, especially with three guys that went on to have decent (Breaston) to excellent (Hall and Woodley) careers, with the latter still hanging in there.

Those weren't the only Michigan Football RCs I found:

Denard Robinson 2013 Finest RC

Here's Shoelace's entry from 2013 Finest.  It's my 7th Denard to grace the RC collection and I'll happily add more as I find them.

Charles Woodson 1998 Bowman RC

I assumed I had this Woodson from '98 Bowman but grabbed it anyway, and good thing I did, because as it turns out I didn't have it yet.  I do have his Bowman Chrome version, though as one of 11 Woodson RCs.

I had a bit less luck finding any football inserts, but did dig up this one:

Braylon Edwards 2011 Topps Chrome Orange Refractor

I already have Bray-Bray's "regular" Refractor in-hand so I could slowly put the rainbow together if I had the desire.

And now for the best stuff--how about some hits!

Brian Griese 2002 Titanium Post Season jersey (#339/435)

Even without seeing the brand or logos on this card I bet most of you would easily identify this as a Pacific card.  Still, for something like $1 (or maybe less, I forget), it's a solid Denver jersey swatch, and numbered to 435 for some odd reason.  This his is my 13th of Griese.

Jake Long 2008 Donruss Gridiron Gear Rookie Gridiron Gems Jerseys Prime patch (#27/50)

This patchtastic Long was tied with the Topps Draft set for my biggest purchase of the day at $5, but in the end I just couldn't help it because it's a nice big multicolored patch.  After going a while without any new Longs I now have a total of 68 of the oft-injured OT.

Anthony Thomas 2002 Topps Pristine Driving Force jersey

With apologies to a blogger who sent me this in an upcoming trade post, here's a cool A-Train jersey from Topps' obscure Pristine product, which goes along well with...

Anthony Thomas 2002 Upper Deck Battle-Worn jersey

...another Thomas jersey relic!  Between the two I'd go with the more colorful Pristine relic, bur fortunately for me I don't have to choose.  A-Train flips the script on David Terrell and jumps ahead of him by one hit with a new count of 39.

J.T. White 2005 TK Legacy auto

My final football hit is a newcomer from one of my favorite sets, TK Legacy.  I pick these up whenever I see them and didn't have to think twice when this one came up at the show.  White, a center, was a true rarity:  a player that lined up for both Ohio State and Michigan, in that order, with time off in-between due to WWII.  Even stranger, he managed to win a national title with both teams before carving out a short career as a coach.  He's the 125th card (out of 185) in my TK Legacy collection and is most definitely welcome as the 188th member of my football PC as well!

Besides football I also found a pair of hockey hits:

Mike Cammalleri 2013-14 SP Game Used Authentic Fabrics jersey

Cammalleri checks in today with a nice sized Flames jersey swatch from a UD product of a couple years ago.  The oft-traveled winger was in his second Flames stint here but has since moved on to the Devils starting this season.  This jersey is my 8th hit of Mike's.

Marty Turco 2007-08 Upper Deck Trilogy Honorary Swatches jerseyUp

Now here's a guy who's no stranger to this blog--Turco makes yet another appearance with this tiny jersey swatch.  Marty still leads all comers to the hockey PC with 27 hits thanks to this issue from UD that's around eight years old at this point.

All in all it was another successful show, and I hope to be able to attend another one soon to have even more goods to post.  Before then you'll see some more new trade posts from excellent bloggers!

2014 eBay purchases: Go Blue or go home, part 5

Previously:  part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

After a satisfying football win, why not end a lovely late summer afternoon with the last post in this series?  Here's the final nine cards from the 45-card TK Legacy M Go Blue auto lot:

Tim Biakabutuka 2006 TK Legacy auto

This is my 8th hit (and 7th auto) of Biakabutuka, the star of Michigan's upset of the 1995 Buckeyes and the Wolverines' single-season rushing leader since 1995.

David Hall 2006 TK Legacy auto

Hall was a backup QB from 1980-83 and appeared in 24 games over his last two seasons, tossing four TD passes and rushing for another.

Michael Taylor (QB) 2006 TK Legacy auto

Not to be confused with the Michigan LB of the same name, Taylor was a QB from 1986-89.  He started his final two seasons, and over 48 games compiled 17 scores through the air and another nine on the ground.  Michigan won Big Ten titles both years he started.

Rich Hewlett 2006 TK Legacy auto

Hewlett was a backup QB and DB from 1979-80 and 1982-83.  In 24 games as a QB his first two seasons he threw a pair of TDs (both in 1980).  As a defensive back in 1983 he recorded a pick in 12 games.

Curtis Greer 2006 TK Legacy auto

Greer and his amazing sideburns played for Michigan from 1976-79, and the DL was a defensive stud, compiling 48 TFLs over his four seasons.  The St. Louis football Cardinals grabbed him 6th overall in 1980 and he started for the team right away, finishing his career in 1987 having appeared in 94 games, 79 of them starts, with a total of 50.5 sacks in seven seasons.

Jim Maddock 2006 TK Legacy auto

Maddock, a Chicago native, was a QB from 1954-56.  Over 27 games during that span, he threw for a pair of TDs in '55, ran for three over his last two seasons, and caught one as well in '56.

John Henderson 2008 TK Legacy auto

Henderson was a WR from 1961-64 and appeared in 18 games over his junior and senior campaigns, grabbing 54 completions for seven total TDs.  Both the NFL and AFL came calling in 1965, the former being the Eagles in the 5th round.  John ended up with the Lions for the '65-'67 seasons, then Minnesota from '68-'72.  All told, the Dayton, Ohio native would put up 108 catches for 10 scores during his NFL career.

Ross Ryan 2008 TK Legacy auto

Ryan was a punter for Michigan from 2003-06, and generally was the starter for the 2005 campaign.  That's right, this set is so awesome a punter gets a card!  I remember Ryan a bit as his career somewhat overlapped my days at Michigan.

Russell Rein 2008 TK Legacy auto

Today's other "RR" is Rein, about whom I could find little, but he was listed as the third QB in '84 (Jim Harbaugh was the starter), and was with the team from 1983-86.  Man, today's group included a bunch of QBs, didn't it?

To say this 45-card purchase was a boon for my collection would be a massive understatement.  That many hits put me over the 900 mark in the football collection, plus it introduced a ton of new guys to that PC, and that total is now 184!  And most importantly, I'm now at 124 of the 185 autos in the set, which is way further than I thought I'd get with it for quite a while.

I hope some of you enjoyed this series, and now it's back to other purchases and trades shortly.  Welcome back, college football, we missed you!