2013 Blowout purchase #3: a Michigan BIPPing, part 3

Today you get to see the final nine cards of the 28-card TK Legacy Michigan auto lot I picked up a few weeks ago.  As a reminder, you can see Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.  Today's gonna be a little different since only six of the cards are football--there's also a basketball pair and one from hockey as well!

Dan Dworsky 2004 TK Legacy Special Career (Architect) auto (#030/150)

Dworsky was primarily a LB, but also played FB and C for Michigan from '45-'48 (and earned a pair of letters as a wrestler as well!).  He was a member of the '47 and '48 undefeated champs coached by legendary Wolverine Fritz Crisler.  After a lone pro season, he finished his degree in architecture and went on to a fantastic career in that field.  This card, from a subset that highlights non-football accomplishments of several alumni, celebrates a career that includes Michigan's Crisler Arena (basketball), named after his favorite coach; designing the block "M" seating at the Big House, UCLA's Drake track and field stadium, and lots, lots more.

Dworsky actually has a second card in the six-card subset specifically highlighting designing Crisler Arena.  The others include a pair of cards honoring astronaut Jack Lousma, plus one each for broadcaster Jim Brandstatter and some former president named Gerry Ford.  I haven't seen much of the other cards, but Dworsky has a nice signature, and he's very welcome as a new member of the PC!

Forest Evashevski 2002 TK Legacy QB Club auto (#283/500)

"Evy" was a native Detroiter who played QB at Michigan from '38-'40.  A smallish high school player due to skipping a few elementary school grades, Forest was so hardcore that after a rough tackle of a punt-returner that knocked him out, he suffered a CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE that should have ended his playing career right there, but he joined the Wolverines a couple years later instead.  As an excellent blocker, he was very effective in the aforementioned Crisler's (gimmicky, if you consider it today) single-wing system, in which he blocked Michigan legend Tom Harmon to the 1940 Heisman.  Evashevski later coached Iowa to some good seasons, including the 1958 national title, and was their AD for a couple years as well.  He died in 2009 at the ripe old age of 91.  And as you can see here, he had a fantastic signature, plus he rocked the old-timey leather helmet!  Welcome to the PC, Evy.

Chris Floyd 2002 TK Legacy 1997 National Champions auto

Floyd was a FB from '94-'97, which means that yes, he played for the '97 National Champs!  Another Detroiter, he never got to touch the ball a ton, but did rush for a pair of TDs that year while blocking for RBs Chris Howard and Anthony Thomas.  Floyd was one of five players that year to get drafted, going in the 3rd round to the Patriots.  He would play three seasons combined with the Pats and Browns before retiring.  As with everyone else today, he's new to the PC, and his autograph here looks very cool.

Dennis Franklin 2002 TK Legacy QB Club auto (#58/300)

Franklin ('71-'74) is fairly well known as Michigan's first black QB, but he deservedly prefers to be remembered as much more than that.  Hailing from Michigan pipeline Massillon, Ohio, Franklin's stats are somewhat reminiscent of a more recent Michigan QB--Denard Robinson.  He led the Wolverines in both passing offense and total offense all three years he started, and the team went 30-2-1 under his leadership, good for three straight Big Ten titles (tied with OSU), including the famous screw-job in '73 that saw the conference unfairly choose the Buckeyes to go to the Rose Bowl over Michigan.  Dennis, who has an awesome name, by the way, was a later-round draft pick of the Lions, who converted him to WR, but his pro career was brief (and honestly, who wants to play for the Lions, anyway?).  He's since gone on to successful careers as a TV exec and real estate agent.  I wish him a warm welcome to the PC in the form of this great autograph!

John Herrnstein 2003 TK Legacy Cover Boys auto

Herrnstein came from another family of Michigan Men, with his father, grandfather, and great uncle also suiting up for the Wolverines.  As for John, he was an excellent athlete, successful in both football and baseball, '56-'58.  A productive FB/LB, Herrnstein saw his football career end early in 1958 due to a bad knee injury, but MLB's Phillies came calling, and John would appear in the Majors for the Cubs and Braves as well, tallying 8 HR in 239 games over five seasons.  He was actually involved in the trade that sent Fergie Jenkins from Philadelphia to the Cubs in 1966.

This Cover Boys subset is very cool and I actually have one other of these:  Steve Smith's (Indiana, 1983).  This one highlights what's probably John's career highlight game:  1958 against USC, in which he rushed for a personal best of 144 yards while scoring twice against the Trojans in a narrow 20-19 win at the Big House.  Considering how little space he had to work with, Herrnstein did an amazing job with his very legible signature, and I'm happy to officially welcome him to my collection.

Leo Koceski 2003 TK Legacy 1948 National Champions auto

Leo was nicknamed both "Bugsy" and the "Canonsburg Comet," a callback to his birthplace.  Plus, as we all know, 50% of nicknames are in the form of birthplace + alliterative noun.  If you want to see an example of how amazing technology is nowadays, have a look at this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article from December 31, 1948!  My favorite quote:  "Ever since I was in the sixth grade...I had wanted to go to Michigan.  It seemed too good to be true when they accepted me."  Me too, Leo, me too (though I'd argue I knew long before then that I wanted to be a Wolverine!).

Koceski was a dynamite running back despite his relatively diminutive stature, and he enjoyed a great career for the Wolverines, including winning the '48 National Championship.  He was another player that was an excellent athlete, good enough to be captain of the baseball team in 1951.  For all that, and his very well done signature, I heartily welcome him to the PC!

The next three cards come from the Michigan MultiSport Varsity Club set put out by TK Legacy in 2004:

Steve Grote 2004 TK Legacy Varsity Club auto

I couldn't find a whole lot about Grote, but he was co-captain of the '76-'77 Big Ten Conference champs who made it all the way to the Elite Eight, plus started and ended the season ranked #1 by the AP.  He's got a really nice signature, and I can always use new members for my Michigan basketball PC!

Dave Strack 2004 TK Legacy Varsity Club auto

Strack attended Michigan from '43-'46, but is perhaps more well known for his tenure as Wolverines basketball head coach from 1960-68.  Besides a trio of Big Ten titles, he (and Cazzie Russell, of course) took Michigan to their first NCAA title game in 1965, losing to legendary coach John Wooden's UCLA squad.  I'm happy to have added another member to the basketball PC today, especially one with such a nice signature.

John Matchefts 2004 TK Legacy Varsity Club auto

Matchefts, a Minnesotan high school virtuoso, starred for the '51-'53 National Champ Wolverines hockey teams and averaged a pair of points-per-game.  He later coached Colorado College (1966-71) and Air Force (1974-85) before being inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame.  That's a nice signature to go along with a classic hockey pic!

This purchase obviously did wonders for the size and diversity of my Michigan collections--mainly football, of course.  The new totals for the three sports involved are:

• Football:  710 (120 unique players)
• Basketball:  19 (8)
• Hockey:  63 (23)

And better yet, the four-sport total continues to near a huge milestone.  In the meantime, I can't be happier about picking up 27 fantastic new PC cards for such a reasonable price!

I'll be back soon with more stuff, including an eBay purchase I've been meaning to post, plus lots more COMC cards!

2013 Blowout purchase #3: a Michigan BIPPing, part 2

Back in part 1 I showed you the first nine cards, featuring 12 different players, of this 27-card lot.  Today you'll see nine new cards of a more manageable nine total players--what a concept!

Ted Cachey 2004 TK Legacy auto

I wasn't able to dig up much on Cachey other than the fact that he played LG and was a 1954 team captain. The card states that he played for Michigan from '52-'54.  No big deal--he's new to the PC and his autograph (with jersey number inscription) looks fantastic, as does the photo of him in the old-school headgear!

Gil Chapman 2004 TK Legacy auto

Chapman actually has a Wikipedia article, so I can tell you a bit more about him.  From '72-'74, his positions apparently included:  "tailback, fullback, split end, punt returner, kickoff returner."  What, no defense?  His subsequent NFL career was brief due to injury--just the 1975 season, with the Saints--but he landed on his feet as a city councilman and in other employment.  His signature is...um...two "M"s with the left one circled? I dunno, but he's another newbie for me and that's excellent.

Garvie Craw 2004 TK Legacy auto

Reasons Craw ('67-'69) was awesome:  1.  The name, 2.  Scoring four TDs in a 57-point shutout of Illinois in '69, 3.  His heroics in that year's all-time upset of OSU (two TDs), 4.  His major at Michigan:  English, 5.  That gorgeous auto.  Sadly he passed away at the too-young age of 59 six years ago.

John R. Ghindia 2005 TK Legacy auto

John V. Ghindia 2005 TK Legacy auto

I'm going to start with John V., since he came first.  V was a QB/FB from '47-'49, meaning he played for some legendary Michigan squads, including the '48 champs.  A local boy from Ecorse, he apparently wasn't one for putting up gaudy stats, and of his '49 season at QB, the Wikipedia article states "Ghindia's value was as a play-caller and blocking back rather than as a passer or rusher."  One thing's for sure--he knew how to handle a pen!

As for John R., I wasn't really able to find much on him, other than his LinkedIn profile!  He too has a nice signature, and both guys are new to the PC, so that's cool.

Mike Kenn 2002 TK Legacy auto

Kenn carried on the legacy of quality Michigan OTs when, after his Michigan career from '75-'77, he was drafted 13th overall by the Falcons in '78.  He went on to play all 251 games of his 17-year career with Atlanta, and was a five-time Pro-Bowler and All-Pro.  Not bad at all!

Joe O'Donnell 2008 TK Legacy auto

O'Donnell, besides looking like a 1950s movie hero, was an Ann Arbor native and OL for Michigan from '60-'63 and played for both the AFL and NFL versions of the Bills, including two AFL champs.  He's got a beautiful signature as you can see above.

Glen Steele 2008 TK Legacy auto

James Lendale Steele, Jr., was a DE for Michigan from '94-'97, which means he was on the Wolverines' most recent championship squad.  Then again, you probably already knew that because of all of today's players, Glen is the only one for whom I already had a card, also from the TK series:  a '97 Champion auto. He also earned a well-deserved place on Michigan's all-name team along with his teammate...

Sam Sword 2005 TK Legacy auto

...Sam Sword!  Sword played at LB for the Wolverines from '95-'98 so he was also a member of that famed '97 team.  He's still third all-time in career tackles for the Maize and Blue.  He has a very unique signature and I'm happy to own one of another guy with an awesome name.

That's nine new cards and eight new members to the PC, giving me a new total of 114 players--200 here I come!  More importantly, today marks the passage of yet another milestone:  700 football PC hits!  The new official total is 704, with plenty more to come, including nine more cards in this series alone.  Thanks once again to everyone who's contributed, read the blog, and left comments.  Onward to 800!

2013 Blowout purchase #3: a Michigan BIPPing, part 1

So here's a quick backstory before we get down to things today:

A few weeks ago a guy on Blowout posted a whole mess of TK Legacy Michigan autos.  As it turns out, a relative of his who collected them had just passed away.  Considering how large the set is, I didn't have the vast majority of them, and I thought to myself how cool it would be to add that many to my collection--but that's all it was:  a thought.  After all, this wasn't posted in the buy/sell/trade area, but the general football section, because the guy was interested in showing them off to fellow Michigan enthusiasts (he's from somewhat nearby) and trying to get an idea of their value and whether or not he could sell them as a lot.  They were very cool to see, especially the bigger ones like Bo, Braylon, and Jack Lousma, who'd go on to be an astronaut, but eventually I forgot about the whole thing.

Maybe a few days later, Tim of the GSNHOF (where have you gone, man?) alerted me to the fact that this same member had created a thread in which he was selling the lot all at once for a price I simply couldn't justify--I believe it was even more than my $300 absolute monthly spending limit.  Still, I thanked Tim, hopped into the thread and on a lark decided to see if he'd break up the lot at all since there was a number of cards I already owned.

This guy proved to be a very accommodating seller who not only agreed to break up the lot, but also quickly negotiated a VERY fair price for a total of 28 cards, 27 of which I needed (spoiler alert, Jeff--you're getting the dupe, but at least you don't know which one).  The pile didn't include any of the big guns like the three I mentioned above, which were simply out of my league at this point, but I'm still thrilled with how I did.  He did a quick run through on eBay, figured prices based off of those, knocked off a bit, and knocked off even more for a lot discount.  He mentioned multiple times that he was happy these cards were going to a good home and not getting flipped, and I assured him that would never happen--obviously I need as many as I can get!  And since he was so easy to work with, I helped save him shipping costs by meeting up in Ann Arbor somewhat halfway between our offices since he works here too.

In the spirit of trying to keep things transparent here, I'll tell you right now I paid a total of $125 for those 28 cards.  That pretty much maxed me out for this month (I'm almost exactly at $200 already) and I'm averaging a bit more than $200/month through April, but this was completely worth it.  These are hard enough to find at reasonable prices that I will pay roughly $4.50 for just about any one of these autos I don't have all day.  ALL DAY.

So much for "quick," but regardless, today you get part one of a three part series that'll show off nine cards (all Michigan uni autos, a.k.a. Jeff's favorite series EVAR) per post.  Since these came via a Blowout In-Person Purchase, please to enjoy the results of my Michigan BIPPing!

Anthony Carter 2002 TK Legacy auto

And who's THIS scrub?  Seriously, I was pretty stoked to pick another AC for so cheap since I consider him the best player out of today's group, and one of the top ones in the lot.  Carter's got a pretty nice signature, too, of which I'm well aware since I now have six signed cards and an autographed poster of the former #1.

Bill Dufek 2002 TK Legacy auto

Dufek is one of today's player's that's new to the PC, not to mention one of three Bills.  This Bill was an OT for the Wolverines from '74-'78, and hails from a very Maize and Blue family--his dad Don Sr. starred for Michigan in the '50s while his brother Don Jr. was a team captain a few years before Bill arrived.  Bill's got a beautiful signature, no?

Bill Yearby 2003 TK Legacy auto

Bill #2 is Bill Yearby, who was a DL for Michigan from '63-'65.  Originally from Alabama, he attended high school in Detroit before becoming a tough All-American DT for the Wolverines.  He was then chosen in the first round of the '66 draft by the Jets, but knee injuries derailed his brief career.  And here we have another fantastic signature of another welcome new member of the PC!

Bob Ptacek 2008 TK Legacy auto

Remember the good old days where everybody played like five different positions?  A new PC member NOT named Bill, Bob Ptacek was a QB/DB/LB/HB--pretty much if the position involved being in back of something, he was there.  Ptacek was with Michigan from '55-'58, primarily as a QB in his final season, then was drafted by the Browns.  He ultimately enjoyed a pretty solid career in the CFL and according to Wikipedia, "was inducted into the Saskatchewan Roughriders Plaza of Honour in 2001."  I'm betting a "plaza of honour" is a lot like a plaza of honor, but with poutine and curling or something.  Ptacek keeps the incredibly legible autograph streak alive and, like many others in the set, includes his jersey number.

Chris Howard 2005 TK Legacy auto

Ok, cool, now we're moving on to someone who played AFTER I was born.  Howard was a running back from '94-'97, which means he teamed up with Anthony "A-Train" Thomas for the '97 National Champs, and led both teams in rushing yards during the title game.  There's also this little tidbit:  

"He was also the North MVP for the 1998 edition of the Hula Bowl, an invitational college football all-star game. He rushed for 116 yards on 14 carries and was involved in the culminating score in the North’s second half comeback. He handed off to Joe Jurevicius on a reverse play which ended with Jurevicius passing to Brian Griese for a five yard touchdown pass."

That's one of the greatest college football plays I've ever heard of since it included two Wolverines and Jurevicius, who owns one of my favorite football names ever.

Anyway, like almost everybody here, Howard is making his football PC debut, and I welcome him and his not-quite-as-legible signature.

Dean Dingman 2005 TK Legacy auto

Dingman, whose first name reminds me of Dean Pelton of "Community," is a another PC n00b and was relatively unknown to me despite being a fairly recent Wolverine.  He was part of some typically dominant Wolverines O-lines from '87-'90, teams that experienced a whole lotta wins.  My favorite fact gleaned from Wikipedia was that he was part of the offensive line that helped Michigan dominate Ole Miss to the tune of 715 yards and a 35-3 final score in the '91 Gator Bowl.  The Steelers drafted him late that season but injuries held him back from getting an NFL shot.  Still, he was cool enough to rock that mustache and sign his name, "Den...Dry?"  Still, not bad for one of the big uglies up front, right?

Don Peterson-Tom Peterson 2003 TK Legacy Michigan Mates dual auto (#55/200)

Here's the first of three cards that feature a pair of players.  The subset includes duos (and even trios) with something in common, and while some of them are based on something like the position they played, a good number focus on relatives that suited up for the Wolverines, like this one here.

Don Peterson was a HB/FB from '48-'51, not to mention team MVP his senior season.  His older brother Tom also played FB in Ann Arbor, in '44 and '47-'49 (I'd imagine due to the war), meaning they got to be teammates for a couple seasons, which is awesome.  Each of them is brand new to my PC, and each has a pretty nice autograph!

John Kolesar-Bill Kolesar 2004 TK Legacy Michigan Mates dual auto (#80/150)

John Kolesar was a Michigan WR from '85-'88, and while he's not famous enough to have his own Wikipedia entry, he had some pretty big games for the Wolverines, including helping secure another Big Ten title over John Cooper's Buckeyes his senior year.  His dad Bill was a stalwart on the UM offensive line from '53-'55 as part of Michigan's outstanding OL tradition.  Bill is new to the PC but I actually already had John's solo TK Legacy auto, and he signed his jersey number there as well.  It looks like Bill went with a nickname, "Koly," which is still pretty cool, along with his own number.

Paul Jokisch-Dan Jokisch 2005 TK Legacy Michigan Mates dual auto (#002/150)

Another pair of brothers, Paul played WR from '84-'86 (which means he had Jim Harbaugh throwing to him) while Dan was a TE from '88-'90.  Again, I actually had one of these guys in my PC, in this case Paul.  They both have pretty interesting autographs so I'll call this one a tie.

Today's post may have included nine cards, but thanks to the duo autos, it features 12 different players.  Better yet, an amazing total of nine of those guys are brand new to the PC, meaning I've hit a major milestone (and 2013 goal) by surpassing 100 unique members in the football collection!  To be exact, as of today I'm at 106, with more to come especially thanks to this BIPPing.  I always had a feeling the TK Legacy set would be my ticket to achieving 100 since it presents so many opportunities for the more obscure players who either didn't make the NFL or just didn't get hits in pro sets.  So here's to 100, and hopefully many more Michigan Men!

I'll be back soon with a few other purchases as I mix the other two posts in this series in at some point.  GO BLUE!