2018 COMC purchases: Michigan miscellany

Let's get this 2018 stuff done!  Up today I'm featuring 10 cards that won't be going into any of my football player collections but were still fun adds:

Where my numbered insert fans at?!  Funch stars on the always great Playoff Ticket parallel from Panini's Contenders--the 2016 version in this case.  It's hard to see but it's numbered 136/249 up front.  You'd have to go back 16 years with Conan and Andy Richter--in the year 2000--to find Grbac's Fleer Focus Draft Position parallel that's allegedly numbered to his, uh, draft position:  823 (my copy is #324).  These are done in kind of a goofy way as Elvis actually went #219 overall in '93, but because he was an 8th round selection, and the 23rd player chosen in that round, you get 823.  Whatever, it's a fun parallel!

I have just one RC to show off today, but you might see a couple more in the last two posts of this series.  Today's Rookie Blue addition is a guy whose drafting team wore Honolulu blue, though he's since moved on to Miami:  Jake Rudock.  According to my checklist this is the sixth of his eight rookies I need to track down:  a very thick 2016 Panini Spectra card #d 03/99.  I'll go ahead and tease that I have something new of his coming in my Spring Cleaning COMC package, but until I can show that off I'll continue to chase his 2016 Absolute and Panini Prizm RCs.

The rest of this post is a hit parade fit for Motown.  That starts with this long Butt, the second of Jake's pair of autos from 2017 Contenders (in this case, the one that's not considered his RC).  I usually like Contenders and who could hate a signature that says "J Butt"?  That's my fifth hit of the oft-injured but hopefully healthy for 2019 TE.

Plate alert!  In what's only my second hit (the other's an auto) of the Liberian WR--who still appears to be with KC but has all of three catches to his name--I'm proud to show off this Magenta Plate of Jehu Chesson from 2017 Prizm that was inserted into Panini's Plates & Patches product.  It looks to be my 118th 1/1 and is a nice addition to what's apparently a neglected player in my football collection!

Chesson's collection stands in stark contrast to his former teammate in the WR room, Amara Darboh.  Darboh's home country of Sierra Leone sits next to Liberia along the northwest coast of Africa, but that's where their similarities end as far as their cards go in my PC.  That's because of days like today when I get to show off a crazy four new hits, all with signatures.

Up top is a pair featuring "just" autographs:  2017 Elite's Pen Pals plus a Panini Contenders Optic RC auto.  The former is a bit plain but was fine for the price, and the latter proves that Panini can occasionally use Topps' Chrome look to its advantage.

Then on the bottom we go landscape-style for a couple auto/jersey pairings.  #1 is a jersey/auto/RC (with a very interesting, if tiny, swatch!) from Certified Cuts that's #d 047/299.  I realize the idea of a cut signature is kind of silly for a player that hasn't passed away or become unable to sign, but I think it's still a fun design once in a while.  And switching gears is the somewhat Pacific-like Phoenix brand and its Rookie Jersey Autographs insert.  Here we get a sticker auto along with a larger swatch, though the print run is still the same (#117/299).

That's 13 hits of the receiver who's back for another shot with Seattle in 2019.

And last but not least is this 2002 Pacific Exclusive Game Worn Jerseys relic of former Michigan/Buffalo TE Jay Riemersma.  A Bill with 23 NFL TDs to his name, Riemersma doesn't pop up in my posts too often, but this is my third hit of him (two autographs), which puts him ahead of a bunch of Michigan alumni in my collection.  And I really like the bold blue swatch from his jersey here.

With these done I have two more posts planned featuring lots more like what you just saw, so stay tuned!

2015-16 COMC purchases: big finish football

Hooray!  We made it all the way to the end of my COMC pickups from 2015 through today!  (At least until my Spring Cleaning package arrives...in just a few days!)

Today's big finish is the rest of the football hits I hadn't shown off yet.  You got to see some Mike Harts here last month, the offensive trio of Terrell/Thomas/Toomer in February, and some guys from my beloved 2008 draft class on New Year's Day.  There might have been more in between but I don't feel like digging through all those posts.

So here's what's left over:  17 more hits of all kinds!

Jason Avant 2009 Topps Magic auto and 2011 Topps Rising Rookies Draft Selection Jerseys jersey

The Avant card man Jason Avant checks in with this pair, an autograph and a jersey.  The relic was decent enough for as cheap as it was, under a buck-fifty (as were a number of others seen here today), but the real highlight is the Topps Magic signature.  I love, love, love these cards and I wish Topps could have produced something even half this good again before they lost their NFL license (which I do consider a negative, of course).  My march towards the Wolverines autos in the set continues with old #8 representing my eighth card, leaving six (Tom Brady, Braylon Edwards, Leon Hall, Steve Hutchinson, Ty Law, Mario Manningham).  Speaking of numbers, Avant checks in at nine in the collection with 45 hits.

Braylon Edwards 2005 Bowman's Best jersey RC (#018/799), 2008 Leaf Limited Banner Season Materials jersey (#063/100), and 2009 Upper Deck Signature Shots auto

Bray-Bray one-ups his former WR teammate thanks to an extra jersey relics, both of which are an appropriate Cleveland brown.  I thought I already had at least one variation on his Bowman's Best jersey but was proven wrong.  The Limited card is a reasonably good numbered relic for the low price.  And I was happy to add my 14th card featuring Edwards' signature thanks to the very nice horizontal UD auto (with his John Hancock running vertically!).  Braylon currently holds fourth place in my collection with 64 hits, just a card shy of Mike Hart and currently the fourth and final 60-hit member...for now....

Devin Gardner 2015 Upper Deck Star Rookies Autographs auto

Boy, here's a card I grabbed a while ago but just didn't get around to posting for whatever reason despite my overall excitement for it.  On yet another typically strong UD entry we get a fantastic horizontally oriented photo of immensely talented QB Devin Gardner diving for a few extra yards (or maybe the pylon), accompanied, of course, by his signature.  It's a beautifully executed card and an example of why I continue to admire Upper Deck for their design and photography.  College unis rule!  My third Gardner auto gives me five of his hits overall.

David Harris 2007 Select Inscriptions auto (#32/50)

Tackling machine David Harris is a guy I feel I don't get to showcase very often in terms of hits, though at least he appears on a reasonable number (especially from his rookie year) considering the lack of interest his position creates on the market.  While the design isn't anything to write home about, the "upgrade" Select gives you over the base Score brand is kind of nice, and the low numbering helps.  This signature gets me to a solid 25 hits of the talented LB.

Taylor Lewan 2014 Bowman '50 Bowman Mini Autographs auto (#37/99), 2014 Elite Printing Plates Black (1/1), 2014 Leaf Metal Draft auto, 2014 Leaf Trinity Jumbo Patch Bronze patch auto, Leaf Valiant Draft Rising Stock Orange auto (#15/50), and 2014 Panini Contenders Championship Ticket auto (#177A) (#37/99)

It's not like I set out to acquire six nice hits of the donkey-hating Lewan, it just happened.  I managed to scout out some surprisingly reasonable prices and really improve his collection here.  There's a lot of airbrushing going on with the Bowman and Leaf cards, but the former is the only version that really suffers for it, and my expectations for Topps are really low anyway.  Out of the four auto-only cards the colorful Valiant is my obvious choice since the look of the uniform is almost complete and the card is very easy on the eyes overall.  Panini's Contenders card is also a solid entry.

Moving up in quality, I was thrilled to add one of Leaf's Trinity cards that feature an auto and insane patch--from a college jersey!  These patches are enormous and mine here includes multiple sections of the jersey with some stitching going on.  Whether it's game- or "event-" worn it's quite the looker.

Finally, I dug up my first 1/1 of the Titans' tackle in the form of his black plate from Elite.  I don't remember exactly how much that cost me but I do recall it being surprisingly cheap for a plate.  It's my 57th total 1/1 and sixth representative of that group from Wolverines football.  Cool!

All of this beefs up my Lewan collection to the point that I've crossed into double digits with a new total of 13 cards, which is not bad at all.

Chris Perry 2004 Leaf Rookies and Stars jersey RC (#679/750) and 2004 Topps Pristine Personal Endorsement Autographs auto

Former Heisman candidate Chris Perry joins today's offensive explosion (just two hits of defenders) with a nice relic/signature pair of his own.  I think the R&S jersey relic cost me under a buck whenever I grabbed it, but regardless it continues today's trend of "no plain white swatches," so I've got that going for me.  The foil-y autograph from Pristine is kind of fun too, especially since I actually prefer the hologram sticker to the clear ones in many cases.  I personally endorse Perry as the #6 player in my collection with an almost-milestone count of 49!

Jay Riemersma 2000 Fleer Tradition Autographics auto

Here's a guy who plays a position coach Jim Harbaugh loves:  former TE Jay Riemersma.  I had already picked up his Silver (#d /250) version of this card (my only other hit of his) first before tracking down Jay's "base" issue here.  Fleer's Autographics cards typically featured solid designs and this one from 2000 does nothing to change my opinion; his very cool signature, including his jersey number, is some tasty icing on the cake.

LaMarr Woodley 2011 Topps End Zone Icons Patches manupatch

Maybe it's not quite a fat guy touchdown, but Woodley is still a big, bad dude.  While LaMarr hasn't found the end zone very much in his career--he took a fumble to the house in each of 2008 and 2009--he managed to hit paydirt on one of his career high pair of interceptions in 2010.  The Bengals' Carson Palmer's third INT was his second pick-six of the day (Troy Polamalu had the first), and the celebrating Steeler gave his team a comfortable two-score lead early in the fourth quarter of a 23-7 week 14 win for the eventual AFC champs.  Though it's not much as far as hits go it's still a fun reminder of a Wolverine's defensive TD, and that's good enough for me!

And with that I'm all caught up on COMC stuff and have just one other card in-hand--an eBay purchase--and it only took me until the last day of June!

Rookie Blue-out part 4: TEs, FBs, and a punter!

Over the last couple months of 2015 I made a big push to acquire lots of cards for my Michigan Football RC PC, and between Sportlots and COMC I made a ton of progress.  Now I'm slowly but surely showing them off in various bunches.  Hit the link above to see the album or have a look at my checklist here.  (You can also use the links in the "Rookie Blue: Michigan Football rookies collection" section on the right sidebar)  Click here for all posts in the series.

Anything formatted in this style indicates what I consider to be a Michigan uniform photo, regardless of airbrushing, etc.

So it looks like themes won't be a problem for me going forward--the remaining cards are split pretty nicely into positional groups (I did pad today's total a bit by adding in a couple FBs and a punter to balance out the numbers a bit).

John U. Bacon's fantastic book Endzone quotes a great discussion between legendary Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler and future coach Jim Harbaugh, who'd accepted his first head coaching position with San Diego:

"Soon after Harbaugh took the USD job, he got a call from Schembechler, who asked only two questions:  'Are you gonna have a tight end?'  'Yes,' Harbaugh said.  'Are you gonna have a fullback?'  'Yes.'  'Fine.  You'll do great!'"

From Bo's era to Harbaugh's, Michigan has sent a nice number of players from both positions to the pros.  You've already seen some of them in this series, and today I have a bunch more for you:

B.J. Askew (2003):  Bowman, Finest, Fleer Authentix (#1022/1250), Fleer Mystique (#335/699), Fleer Tradition (with Quentin Griffin and Artose Pinner), Leaf Rookies and Stars, Playoff Honors (#428/550), SPx (#0642/1500), Topps, Topps Chrome, Topps Total, Upper Deck, Upper Deck Pros and Prospects (with Bennie Joppru) (#1188/1800)

My scans of Askew may be a bit askew but my pursuit of his rookies has been anything but.  Today's thirteen, four of which are numbered, give me almost half of his 27 first-years.  I'll call Fleer's Authentix card the most original while giving Upper Deck the best design.  You'll see the Pros & Prospects card again in a minute as it includes a second player in this very post.

Don Bracken (1988):  Topps

Yeah, I had to put the punter somewhere.  Don played for the Wolverines in the early 80s and apparently still holds a record for the longest punt in a Rose Bowl at 73 yards.  After going undrafted--a common fate for a punter, really--he signed with Green Bay, for whom he appeared in 1985-90, followed by a pair of seasons with the (LA) Rams.  Sadly, he passed away two years ago after being diagnosed with MRSA, a scary infection that makes its way into the news from time to time.

Here he is on his lone RC, which is one of two career card appearances ('93 Pacific), and of course he had to wait until '88.  Speaking of that year, has anyone noticed that Topps' football designs absolutely murder the baseball ones from the same years in the late 80s?

Jarrod Bunch (1991):  Action Packed Rookie Update, Bowman, Pacific, Pinnacle, Score, Upper Deck

Bunch was the first player whose cards I showed off in the first post of my original feature covering a big haul of Michigan RC purchases.  A few of his cards here list him as a RB but he was considered a FB in college, so here he is.  I love that four of these are college cards, even if Score went away from convention with the airbrushing and painted Jarrod's helmet all maize.  Pacific's early 90s designs were butt-ugly, but once again Upper Deck came through with a great looking card.  By the way, these were the final six I needed to complete Bunch's 10-RC run.

Bennie Joppru (2003):  Bowman, Donruss Elite (#031/500), Finest, Fleer Mystique (#058/699), Fleer Tradition (with Domanick Davis and Dave Ragone), Score, SP Authentic (#1075/1200), SPx (#0877/1500), Topps, Topps Draft Picks and Prospects, Topps Total, Upper Deck, Upper Deck MVP, Upper Deck Pros and Prospects (with B.J. Askew) (#1188/1800)

Joppru and his amazing sideburns clock in at an excellent 14 cards today, five of which are numbered and five of which are Michigan uni cards (with two including Senior Bowl jerseys).  Ordinarily I might declare something like the Elite issue as my favorite, but the easy win goes to one of my favorite all-time Topps Draft designs.  Interestingly enough the Pros & Prospects card that pairs up Joppru and Askew is the only dual-Wolverine RC I've seen, and it counts for both guys.

Eric Kattus (1989):  Pro Set

Kattus is "new" to this blog because the last time I showed off a card of him, a TK Legacy auto, it was in a TMV post that's so old the image links are broken.  Here's what I said about Kattus:  "I have to admit I knew nothing about Kattus, a TE from '82-'85 (which means he started before I was born), so I found out through Wikipedia that he was a senior captain, drafted by the Bengals and also played for the Jets briefly.  With Brady Hoke back we may see Michigan tight ends in the NFL once more."  Little did I know that we might hardly see any draft picks under Hoke.  This is Eric's lone RC.

Kevin Koger (2012):  SP Authentic, SPx (#493/750)

Koger is the type of TE that I think could have been a beast in Jim Harbaugh's offense and maybe even an NFL draft pick.  He was a grad assistant at Michigan for a couple years and is now in the same role at Tennessee, so I hope he continues to further his coaching career!  Here's a pair of cards to remind him of his playing days, both of which are from UD since they tend to be the best at covering the college guys.  I consider these a toss-up as they're both great in their own right as the sum total of Koger's first-years.

Jim Mandich (1975):  Topps

College Football Hall-of-Fame TE Jim Mandich played one of Bo's favorite positions on his very first Michigan team.  I talked about him a bit more in this post after picking up a TK Legacy signature of Mandich.  This classic '75 card is his only first-year, naturally, and also fits in nicely in my vintage collection.

Doug Marsh (1981):  Topps

I'll admit to being ignorant of Marsh's career before writing this post (one reason this project is so great!), but found out a bit more on him after some research.  Marsh appeared in 35 college games, collecting 57 receptions and 10 TDs.  The St. Louis Cardinals took him 33rd overall in '81 and he went on to appear in 92 games over seven seasons with the Cards, compiling 167 catches and 19 scores.  Here he is catching a breather on the bench in his lone rookie from '81 Topps.

Tony McGee (1993):  Action Packed, Bowman, Gameday, Pro Line Live, Pro Set, Skybox Impact, Skybox Premium, SP, Stadium Club, Ultra

McGee is a somewhat more recent tight end, even if he last played more than a decade ago.  He played sparingly in 1991 and '92 before turning a 38 catch/six TD season into a second-round (#37 overall) selection by the Bengals, with whom he spent the bulk of his career (nine season).  After stints with Dallas and the Giants he finished his career with 322 catches and 21 scores.

His selection in the second round caught the attention of card companies enough that he appeared on the 10 RCs you see above, in a huge mix of styles.  From the low-end (Pro Line) to high (SP), from premium (Stadium Club and Ultra) to oddball (the oddly-sized Gameday), there's a ton of variation here, including a trio of college unis!

Jay Riemersma (1997):  Crown Royale, Revolution, Ultra

Riemersma, who'll make another appearance in a soon-to-be-posted COMC recap, appeared on just three RCs in '97, but they were anything but boring.  First is a pair of Pacific entries, with the classy Crown Royale and the gaudy Revolution.  Thankfully Fleer brings things back to normal with one of my favorite Ultra designs (which looks just like the baseball version).  Like the original Star Trek movies and Windows releases, every other one is pretty good!

Paul Seal (1976):  Topps

Seal is a native Detroiter who was with Michigan from '71-'73 and scored six TDs (three each in his final two seasons) out of 33 receptions.  Like a few other guys in this post he was chosen in the second round, in this case by the Saints in '74 (and yet he had to wait two years for his RC!).  His NFL career saw him split six seasons down the middle with New Orleans and San Francisco, and he scored seven times on 106 catches in 85 games.  His '76 Topps rookie is his only regular issue card, but he does have a TK Legacy auto for me to chase down.

Paul Seymour (1974):  Topps

I mentioned Seymour in this 2014 post covering more TK Legacy pickups, and in that post I mentioned that he was actually a college tackle that converted to TE.  Looking at him in that photo compared to players today makes me wonder if he'd even be big enough to play DB much less anywhere on a line.  His '74 Topps rookie includes an image featuring a classic hand-in-the-dirt pose and is the third and final vintage (70s and earlier) entry from today's post.

Derrick Walker (1991):  Upper Deck

I only have one rookie of Walker to show off today, but that's because I already had his other two first-years (Fleer, Pro Set).  While I think the Pro Set is the best looking of the bunch due to its fantastic photo, the '91 UD design is still top-notch, especially compared to the horror show that was '91 Fleer!

That's all for today's post, but stay tuned for other non-rookie stuff coming up soon!