2019 trade package #2: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Recent birthday boy and buddy of the blog Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store had let me know recently that I had a few more cards heading my way since he last sent me a trade package...last month.  He's nothing if not Canadianly generous!

This time I was surprised to get two snap cases stuffed with a total of four cards, pretty much all of the high-end variety.  Seriously, I was floored.  Check 'em out:

Well damn, that's a nice way to start off a trade post!  These 2011-12 Exquisite Collection Dimensions cards are something else:  super, super thick and layered with a hologram-like bottom image, a signed piece of something like plastic, and one more image up top.  Oh yeah, and they're college-themed, so here we get to see program legend Cazzie Russell as a Wolverine.  These are completely badass and I love that I can pair Cazzie with another Michigan great, Anthony Carter:

Russell remains the most represented player in my basketball collection at 14 hits, and none are nicer than this one!

You know a basketball card must be good when I get excited about it, but this football piece had me smiling too.  I can probably count the number of booklets I own on one hand but this is at least the second Doug's sent me, and a fantastic one at that!  From Panini's 2017 National Treasures here's WR Amara Darboh on such a card that pairs up a signature and enormous jersey swatch, one that must have come from the shoulder area of the type of Seahawks jersey pictured.  It's great to see such an interesting relic swatch, especially on a card that's actually numbered to 99.  I'd say I have a new favorite Darboh in my football collection, too!  One more hit and he'll be in double-digits, by the way, and I might just have a couple in-hand from COMC....

Last up today in the place of honor in this post is the most Canadian of sports: hockey.  I'm not sure if Doug realizes it but he sent me cards of 2/3 of Michigan's 2015-16 "CCM" line:  J.T. Compher and Tyler Motte, who were joined by Kyle Connor during his year in Ann Arbor.  The trio combined for 83 goals that season before heading to the NHL en masse.  Connor is still lighting it up for the Jets while Compher, originally drafted by Buffalo, was flipped to Colorado.  The Hawks's Motte has since been traded to Columbus and then Vancouver.

Compher's not making his debut here today--thanks to Doug he joined my collection last September--but this beautiful 2017-18 UD Black Lustrous Rookies Autographs card is hit #1 for him.  Black has been one of UD's nicer looking high-end brands for a while now, and a thick piece with a great design and beautiful signature is a great way to start things.

As for Motte I'm already up to five hits thanks to a very nice two-color jersey relic from 2016-17 UD Premier.  It looks as if the swatch may have come from one of the stripes near the jersey's elbows--our second case of relic forensics today!  If you're counting at home, Doug is responsible for four of those five cards, by the way.

For the 56th time on this here blog alone, thanks for a fun, super high quality trade package, Doug!  Happy birthday, and enjoy the small envelope I sent your way if it ever gets out of the US and over the border.

2019 trade package #1: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

When Doug (of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store) sends me trade packages there are times when he undersells them, promising more in the way of quantity than quality.  While I don't think I can say that's ever been true, I guess it's a matter of perspective.  The one I just received from him the other day was another two-parter, and maybe you've headed over here from the TMV portion starring a bevy of Tigers and Wings.  Lots of quantity there, to be sure, but plenty I liked.

And it's possible that I'm just as pleased with this envelope as usual since the quality was mostly concentrated on the Michigan PCs, which is my preference anyway!  Here's all the great stuff I get to show off this time:

Up first:  basketball, and some recent guys at that.  It sounds a bit funny to refer to Crawford as "recent" but, hey, dude's still playing!  THJ, LeVert, and Sauce Castillo all at least played in Ann Arbor within the past decade.  By the way, all four guys you see above were first round picks.

As was this guy, German star Moe Wagner.  I'm happy to get my first hit of the big man in the form of a jersey from last year's Hoops product in a set called Rise N Shine Memorabilia, a name I know they've used before.  Hopefully he'll be starring for the Lakers before I know it!

The football bunch ended up being a group of nine, perfect for scanning purposes.  Super Bowl-bound QB Tom Brady starts us off on a beautiful 2018 Classics base, one of Panini's best offerings.  2018 champ Brandon Graham is next on a rare base appearance that isn't from his rookie year, and I'm curious to see what his next move is.  Severely underdrafted DL Maurice Hurst follows on a great four-spot:  his 2018 Leaf Draft base and All American insert plus RCs from Panini's Luminance and Rookies and Stars.  I'm loving the focus on college action here.

Then there's a great 2017-18 one-two punch starring Jabrill Peppers:  a rookie year Score Gold Zone parallel (#29/50) plus last year's Donruss Optic.  Doug is now responsible for three excellent Peppers cards from the former, including another parallel plus an autograph!

And then a very cool vintage surprise sews up the gridiron portion:  a 1963 Topps CFL base (in very nice condition!) of QB/RB Bob Ptacek.  After his three-year Michigan career in the late 50s he was drafted by the Browns, spent a year with them, then headed off to six seasons with the pictured Saskatchewan Roughriders.  Doug's gifted me with a few cool CFL issues and this is definitely one of the best!

As usual the hockey portion was the largest, and like the TMV version you'll see a ton of 2009-10 and 18-19 O-Pee-Chee, which I'm definitely down with, especially since I really like the design of the former.  I decided to have fun this time and separate these out in a scan I like to call "Hockey Mikes", the name of one of my favorite tags to use on this blog; I count at least six in my collection and you see four of them here.

And now I may have to create a new tag for "Hockey Andrews" because there's three alone right here (plus one or two "Andy"s not seen here).  Glendening got a double-dip as a Wing and appeared in this evening's other post.  And I'll take hockey John Madden over the Ace/Tinactin guy any day!

The Miller card leading off here was of interest to me because he played for four years in Ann Arbor starting in 2005, so it's possible I saw him play in a few games but can't remember him.  PC favorite Morrison makes another appearance, as does one of many hockey players from my hometown of Livonia, David Moss.  And the UD Nystrom (and its excellent photo) was a nice surprise since he's one of Doug's fellow 2/14 babies.

And here's an excellent pair of hits--the cream of the quality crop--to end things for today.  First up is a sick-nasty patch of Swedish chef Carl Hagelin courtesy of 2012-13 Limited and numbered to just 10.  It's a beautiful patch from a Rangers jersey and a nice upgrade on another Hagelin I believe Doug sent me--a jersey version of the same card.  No surprise there, though, since my Canadian trading buddy has sent me some of my best Hagelins (and hockey hits in general).

#2 is another collection newbie:  C David Wohlberg.  The South Lyon native (a bit north of me here in Ann Arbor) played four seasons for Michigan starting in 2008-09, and while he never made it to the NHL, unlike Miller above I do remember Wohlberg a bit, likely because he put up a nice number of points over his four years.  As always, kudos to Doug for turning up another new Wolverine for my PC, this time in the form of a 2014-15 Upper Deck AHL Box Set auto.

Doug, many thanks for this great start to trading between us in 2019!  I have a few things set aside for you already and will aim for sending something back your way in time for your birthday, especially since I know you have some COMC goodies for me.

2018 trade package #15: the Collector

I got a very nice surprise in my mailbox last week when I went through my mail and came up with an unexpected PWE from Chris, a.k.a. "The Collector" (though I'll probably always associate him with his original name, "The Pedestrian Collector").  I've swapped cards with him a number of times and always enjoy doing so, plus it doesn't hurt that I love that something I sent his way made it into his blog banner! (that Mo Vaughn Starting Lineup up front.)

Chris even bucked tradition by sending me an all-Michigan trade package for the first time.  I previously received a nice group of Wolverines football and hockey stuff from him as part of a larger bunch of cards way back in February of 2017, but this time it's 100% alma mater matters, baby!

Here's what he sent along this time:

1988 Big Ten Player of the Year Gary Grant kicks things off with a '93-'94 Topps Gold parallel.  His four years in Ann Arbor led to a nice 13-year pro career.

Next up is a great pair from the basketball version of probably my favorite Fleer product, the '97-'98 flagship set.  Fab-Fiver Juwan Howard is surely well known by anyone reading this, and Terry "Sugar" Mills was a fun guy to watch during his six seasons with the Pistons (way back when I paid attention to basketball).

Last up is Howard's old teammate Jalen Rose on a college photo card from Classic's 1994 Four Sport product.  His Michigan uniform presages good things ahead.

Namely the five such cards in this football bunch, meaning 6/11 cards in this envelope fell into that category.  Extra credit to Chris!

Up top we have a trio of football alumni from last year's typically solid Score product, including RCs of draftees DL Taco Charlton and WR Jehu Chesson, plus a base of WR Devin Funchess, who I bet would be fun to watch if he had a consistently good QB throwing to him.

Joining those is a trio of cards from college-focused sets.  Chris sent over the base and Gold parallels of DL Mo Hurst from this year's Leaf Draft, and that's fantastic since Hurst is the only Wolverine in the product and I didn't feel like chasing the set this year.  They look great alongside a '95 Classic Five Sport of all-time great CB Ty Law.  These look so good to a college collector like me that I chased a number of similar products in my latest Sportlots haul.

Closing things out today is one more recent guy in PC guy Denard Robinson.  Card #91 in his collection is an interesting insert from 2013 Prestige called NFL Passport.  I'm actually familiar with the set because I have the autographed version of this card, though oddly enough that one is oriented in vertical fashion:

Thanks again for the surprise PWE, Chris!  I'm happy to be able to send something back your way soon, possibly in time for Christmas.  For now I suppose you can continue to bask in the glow of yet another World Series victory!

2018 trade package #14: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

It's been almost a month since I put up a non-football gameday post, but thankfully (see what I did there?) in addition to the trade package I showed off on TMV this evening, I've got a healthy heaping of seconds courtesy of Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store, a generous guy who's never sent me a turkey in his life.

While I eagerly await tomorrow's edition of The Game I can post a nine-spot of Wolverines Doug sent over the border:

As it turns out the seasons of all three sports he sent me this time are active!  We'll start with basketball, and first up is a Score Hoops RC of C Mo Wagner, the outstanding native of Germany who brought Michigan back to the NCAA title game this past year, then was drafted in the first round by the Lakers.  Sweet!

Joining him is another former Wolverine star, albeit one who's out of the league (which definitely makes him easier, or at least cheaper, to collect!):  Mitch McGary.  His card, a 2014-15 Panini Threads Rookie Threads Prime jersey (#18/25) features a very nice jersey swatch.  It's a classy addition and hit #6 of McGary in my basketball PC.

Sticking with basketball rules but switching sports we have another one-and-one.  Eagles DE/LB Brandon Graham, the man who sealed up Philly's Super Bowl victory earlier this year, appears on a base card from Panini's Prizm product this year.  I'll admit I had to check the back to confirm that because the styles kind of blend together.

On the relic front it's one of my many football PC guys, Braylon Edwards.  The former star WR has said a lot of stupid stuff about his alma mater since he left but everyone was sending good thoughts toward his family last week after one of multiple cheap shots by Indiana left his brother, transfer Berkley, motionless on the field for several minutes.  Fortunately the younger Edwards appears to be recovering well so far.  As for the older of Stan's sons to play in Ann Arbor, here he is on a very cool dual relic picturing him with two of his four teams, the ones with with he spent the most time over his career.  This 2011 Timeless Treasures Changing Stripes dual jersey, which includes a nice dual-color swatch from his Jets days, is card #273 in his collection and hit #74.

Doug will be proud to find out that hockey-crazy Wolverines fans now sing "Oh, Canada" a capella before each Michigan game, and why not?  They've sent us many great people and traditions, not to mention lots of very talented icers.  None of the guys in this post hail from our very friendly neighbor (neighbour?) but that's ok because my favorite trade partner keeps the canuck pipeline flowing himself.  Just check out this quartet of base cards!

Plus there's my biggest get on the day in this sweet high-end hit of talented Jet Jacob Trouba out of Panini's top-notch National Treasures product.  It's a Newfound Treasures Materials Autograph jersey auto (#44/50) comprising a super thick card, large jersey swatch covered by a clear plastic window, and a signature as the cherry on top.  Doug's sent me more Trouba cards than I can count right now but this one pretty much has to be the best of the bunch (though others were quite nice as well so that's saying a lot!).  I'm already at nine hits of Mr. T thanks to my Canadian friend/buddy/guy/pal Mr. C.

As always Doug, thanks so much for the cardboard generosity, which I'm hoping to pay back in spades with a package large enough to go under your Christmas tree!

2018 trade package #13: My Sports Obsession

Not only did Jeff (My Sports Obsession) treat me to my first in-person Michigan Football game in six years this past Saturday--an emphatic win over Maryland--he also brought a new addition to my football collection:

Darboh no you di'n't!  Football hit #1311 is this jersey relic of the former Michigan WR from 2017 Panini Prizm's Prizm Premier Jerseys.  The Refractor-like Prizm design is readily apparent in this scan as is the nice blue Seahawks swatch.  Speaking of that team, Amara is current on IR with Seattle due to a knee injury, though the Patriots briefly held his rights before he failed a physical.  I'm hoping he can return to health and find some playing time in 2019 after a year lost to injury.

Anyway, I was excited to add what's now the seventh Darboh hit to my collection, plus I'll have another one to show off soon.

Once again, many thanks to Jeff for a great card and a hell of a time at a great game during a classic Ann Arbor Saturday.  Go Blue!

2018 trade package #12: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

The theme of this trade package from Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store is "insane".  As it's insane that he's sent me 53 envelopes (and counting) that I've posted on this here blog, packages filled with a crazy number of cards that have filled sets and player collections.  What was so nuts about the latest one that arrived recently?

Let's start with the insane design on this 2017-18 Spectra Neon Green parallel (#19/49) of Chris Webber.  Not only is it the cardboard version of LSD, it also gave me a flashback to Upper Deck's HoloGrFx.  That's UD hallucinations in both posts tonight!

Former Michigan DE Frank Clark had freakish talent and put up some great numbers in college.  But Clark, pictured here on a 2018 Donruss base card, was insane to think he'd get away with doing and saying some terrible things towards women, behavior totally unfit for any human being, much less a Michigan Man.

The quantity and quality of the hockey content Doug's sent me over 50+ packages is insane, and at some point maybe I'll even go through each post and total it up to try to put a number on it.  But for now I'll happily enjoy more of the fruits of his bread-and-butter repacks.

This time that includes lots of this year's OPC (more in the next scan) such as stalwarts Mike Cammalleri and Carl Hagelin plus young gun JT Compher.  The latter is joined by fellow up-and-comers Zach Hyman and WolverWing Dylan Larkin from the last UD MVP offering.  As I said on TMV tonight that's my 20th Larkin card, a fun little milestone I'm celebrating.  New Penguins D-man Jack Johnson dominates this scan with a cool trio, and better-than-that-announcer-guy John Madden closes out the group.

Like I said, plenty of 2018-19 OPC, which was a nice boon to my collection this time.  Motte and Werenski have each only been around for a couple seasons while Trouba's a vet at this point and Patch is going into his 11th campaign, now as a member of the Knights.  It's crazy for me to realize that Pacioretty, seen here on another nice trio--has been in the NHL for more than a decade!

And at last we get to the craziest card of them all, a true 1/1 of WolverWing Luke Glendening from 2013-14 Panini Rookie Anthology's Prizm portion.  Doug continued his insane luck when it comes to breaking boxes (of this product and in general), and was also crazy generous in letting me have this Prizms Finite parallel as one of several super high-end cards he's sent my way.  Did I mention it's a true 1/1, as in not one in a set of four plates or something?  Simply amazing, and a great card to add to my small collection of Glendening (it joins an auto I bought and a relic Doug sent) and surprisingly large group of 1/1s (111).

I can't help but love the blurb on the back that highlights Luke getting to play hockey in-state at college, in the minors, and the NHL as well.

Doug, you are a crazy man with insane luck and I will do my damndest to pay you back with something (or -things) that equal or exceed the generosity you continue to send across the border.  Thank you, my Canadian buddy!

2018 trade package #11: Chronicles of Fuji

If it wasn't already obvious from the eight other times I've posted packages from him here (or the 10 on TMV), Mark of the Chronicles of Fuji is a person everyone should get to trade with.  Not only did he give a nice boost to a bunch of my favorite baseball collections, he also went out of his way to include some great Michigan stuff as well!

Such as 80% of the Fab Five, looking extra fab in their college unis on some great Classic and Signature Rookies cardboard.  The SR Kromax cards look especially great and I'll likely peel them at some point.

It may look like Fuji Bipped me with five cards of the late Robert "Tractor" Traylor, but these are actually all different.  From what I can tell, cards #1 and 3-5 are base versions (#s 4, 46, 63, and 64) with the latter two featuring Stephon Marbury and Tracy McGrady, respectively, and the second is a much thicker version of card #36, leading me to believe it's a parallel.  More Michigan uniform goodness!

Speaking of which, how about this bunch?  I was extra motivated (e.g. at all) to post these today after Michigan's dismantling of Nebraska yesterday.  Most of these 90s/early 00s guys went on to some kind of NFL career, with Jenkins and Walker the ones who didn't amount to much.  That acetate card of Amani Toomer from 1996 Clear Assets is ridiculously cool and I'll be on the lookout for more of my guys now that I'm aware of it.  Marquise Walker was the other PC guy to get a bump today thanks to a 2002 SAGE base.  What are you doing, Marquise?  You're a WR, not a QB!

As was the case beginning with this evening's TMV post, the hits kept coming!  Braylon is seen here on jerseys from 2005 Upper Deck and Fleer's 2006 Hot Prospects.  That reminds me--before they won last Thursday, was 2006 the last time the Browns won a game?  Sure feels like it!  That's 73 hits of the former #1 WR.

Next is longtime QB Brian Griese, and I can easily call this my favorite card in the bunch.  a 2003 Leaf Certified Materials Mirror Red jersey (#031/150), I'd love this even if it wasn't that nicer (and rarer) parallel.  The Donruss/Leaf/Playoff brands were responsible for some gorgeous designs for their hits around this time, and this one is simple proof of that.  I'm thrilled to add it as my 10th relic of Griese and 18th hit of his overall.

And we'll end things on a high note with a trio of hits of a guy we already saw, Giants WR Amani Toomer.  The solo jersey is a somewhat early example of a relic card from 2001 SP Game Used Edition and stars a nice Giants blue swatch.  Then there's the big highlight in the form of a helmet piece from the same year's UD Game Gear Helmets offering.  I count just four other examples of that piece of equipment in my collection so it's definitely a rare treat, not to mention a fantastic looking card.  

Last up is a shared dual jersey relic from 2002 Playoff Prestige (#036/500) that also includes former Giants (and well-traveled) QB Kerry Collins (too bad it couldn't have been Todd instead!).  While Collins never tasted glory it was Toomer that would earn a ring with New York in 2007.  Thanks to Mark I can now claim 24 hits of the Giants WR great.

Once again thanks for your generosity and attention to detail, Fuji!  I hope I can respond in kind before long with some west coast winners.

2018 trade package #10: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

For the fourth time this year it's time for another outstanding trade package from buddy of the blog Doug, proprietor of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store!  We both recently sent bubble mailers across the Detroit River and I was excited to find another Wolverine-infused package in my mailbox this past Monday.  Between what you saw on TMV this evening and what I'm about to show off Doug even managed to hit all four major sports, as he does occasionally.

Here's the goods:

Starting off with a pair of basketballers we have a 2014-15 Hoops Silver parallel (#280/399) of Trey Burke along with 2017-18 Prestige base of THJ.  Hoops is a lot like basketball's version of Score--a simple (occasionally boring but always solid) design that looks nice on a number of parallels.

Football was a fun variety pack that started with two new cards for my Tom Brady PC (now 215 cards strong):  a 2013 Rookies & Stars base and a 2018 Classics Award Winners sticker.  I'm not the type to peel these and put them anywhere (then they wouldn't be mint condition!) but I do like collecting them.

Next up is RC #2 (out of six so far) of big Mo Hurst out of Panini's 2018 Luminance.  The unorthodox font reminds me just a bit of some late 90s Ultra sets.  I love that this one rocks a college action photo of the 2017 season-opening win over Florida.

Last up is one more entry from 2018 Classics:  a base card of future HOF DB Ty Law.  Once again Panini knocked it out of the park in terms of design and--speaking as a totally unbiased collector--player selection!

This pair of football hits got me very excited, especially my very first hit of the aforementioned Hurst, also from this year's Luminance.  His Rookie Ink auto is #208/249 and uses a photo a few frames before or after the one used on his rookie above.  Welcome to the collection as player #214, Mo!

He was joined by a 2013 Rookies & Stars Dress For Success Prime jersey (#09/25) of blog favorite offensive weapon Denard Robinson.  While the swatch is anything but "prime" (I have another one of these and the swatch is pretty much identical) the numbering and player make up for that.

The Michigan Hockey portion was a bit smaller than usual by emphasizing quality over quantity, starting with this trio.  Up top are 2016-17 Parkhurst RCs of a couple recent standouts in Connor and Hyman.  Connor followed up a stellar one-and-done college career with a 31/26/57 sophomore campaign for the Jets while Hyman, a bit of an offensive late-bloomer in college, improved his numbers for the second straight season in his third year, going 15/25/40 for the Leafs.  I look forward to seeing both in the playoffs for years to come!

They're joined by A-A-Ron Palushaj who certainly didn't mess up in appearing on a beautiful 2011-12 Pinnacle RC that's a dufex dream.

That quality carried right on over to the hits.  First is a large jersey swatch of the Swedish Chef of hockey, two-time Cup-winner Carl Hagelin from 2012-13 Limited's Jumbo Materials (#60/99).  That's my ninth hit of Hagelin and a fantastic one featuring an above-average jersey piece from his original team, the Rangers.

And finally, my second favorite card of the package (that Hurst auto, tho) is my fourth hit of Wolverwing wunderkind Dylan Larkin--with 75% of those generously donated to me by Doug.  Considering my collection of the young star is a paltry 13 cards I'm happy to have that many good ones, including this solid jersey swatch from 2017-18 SP Game Used.  Hopefully Detroit shows some faith in him and rewards him with a long term contract this off-season because I can see Larkin paying dividends and then some!

Doug, thanks once again for all this great stuff I'm thrilled to be adding to my Michigan PCs.  Since I just sent you an envelope it's back to the drawing board once more as I try to pile up some 2/14s, Alfredssons, Bills, and more!