2018 ebay Purchases: A-B-C-D E-Bay, jeez!

And now it's about time for some eBay pickups!  Everything you see today was purchased back in January and February, but of course I'm only posting it now because I had lots of other stuff to get to first.

The wait is over so here's the cards:

Manu-letter patch autos?  Check.  2008 draft class?  Check.  Player collection guy?  Check again.  Two more pieces towards another nameplate?  Double check!  I scored these two Arringtons plus the final card in this post for a combined $16.50, a steal of a deal.  I don't think I'll ever see a design for this type of card I like more than '08 SP Threads with its patches looking like they came right off real jerseys with the appropriate team colors.

Here's a quick look at my progress on double-A's nameplate:

That leaves me short just a "G", "O", and one more "N" for what would be my longest nameplate so far.  I'll keep an eye out for those and I hope some of you will too!  For now AA's collection moves on up to 78/370 cards with 53 hits.

...though I should definitely point out that that total also includes this, my first 1/1 of the former WR.  A 2008 Topps Mayo Mini Printing Plates Black Back, this one's a bit of an oddball in that, as its name implies, it was used to make the card's flip side (with front versions still available as well).  Though I love a good photo I like how this card encapsulates Arrington's collegiate stats while in Ann Arbor.  Definitely a cool way to nab my first of hopefully many 1/1s!  Not bad for a bit under $7.

And 1/1 #2 is a two-for-one deal that I for one think is too cool!  I was a bit surprised not to have to fend off more competition for this Jake Butt/Taco Charlton dual plate, a magenta version of the one used to make their 2017 Elite College Ties insert.  As the top of the back indicates this one was found in Panini's 2017 Plates and Patches product instead of being inserted into Elite, which is a bit confusing but ultimately makes sense as 1/1 fodder for P&P while "regular" plates can still be pulled in the rest of their products.

This excellent Michigan-themed rarity set me back around $9 around mid-February and is my first 1/1 of Butt (out of two hits) and second such card of Charlton, also out of two.  That's right--my only hits of Charlton so far are both plates!  Collecting is weird and awesome.

By the way, for those of you interested in such things I now own 104 different 1/1s.

Last up is a fun hit with a bit of a strange design that features a weird combination of colors, something that shouldn't be too surprising coming from one of Panini's more out-there brands, 2017 Phoenix.  This Hot Rookie Materials Signatures Football says "Hot Rookie" on it, contains a material (football), and includes a signature.  Don't say Panini doesn't deliver!  Numbered 042/299 it's already my third hit of the Seahawks WR and second that pairs up an autograph and relic.

That's all of the bigger stuff from the first four months of 2018 but I do have one more eBay pickup to show off that's large enough in quantity to merit its own post.  Stay tuned for that after I get my baseball pickups (all UM Baseball-related!) posted on TMV in the next couple days.

2017 COMC purchases: hitsville UM-S-A

The finish line is in sight--just one more post after this one and I'll be all caught up on 2017 purchases!

Today's post stars all of the football hits I picked up of players that aren't current PCs of mine.  That ended up being a nice round 10, a nice number for one post.  Let's have a look at them:

Item #1 is the biggest, literally:  a 1997 Leaf Signature 8x10 auto of WR Derrick Alexander.  Limited (but not serial numbered) to 4000 copies, this will be a great piece to display with my other larger signed Michigan stuff.  It hails from a set of 108 such oversized signatures, one that also includes Wolverines Tim Biakabutuka, Todd Collins, Elvis Grbac, and Jim Harbaugh (not to mention lots of other stars).  Maybe I need to start a project and call it the "Wall of FaMe"!  Anyway, this is my seventh hit of Alexander.

Sticking with the same position and letter of the alphabet, here's Jason Avant's 2008 Playoff Prestige Rookie Review Materials Prime jersey (#023/100).  The "review" part comes into play when you realize that it uses the 2006 design for Avant's card (that was his rookie year), though it also includes a different photo than the original.  Here's that rookie from 2006 plus the regular jersey version of this card for comparison:

As you can clearly tell the Prime version is a huge upgrade on the decent regular old jersey with three clear colors and lots of stitching.  I was glad to make it my 48th hit of the longtime Eagles receiver.

As usual everything today is presented in alphabetical order and yet I find myself in the midst of a four-receiver run!  That continues here with former Cardinal Steve Breaston way back in 2007 when he signed his whole name instead of just "SB".  This is his Bowman Sterling rookie auto from that year, one I would have thought I had except it turns out what I did own was the Refractor version.  While it's not a favorite design of mine it works fine, plus it gets me up to 27 hits of the former WR/special-teamer.

Today's last WR is one of the more recent ones to jump to the NFL:  Amara Darboh.  The Seattle draft pick appears here on a Panini XR Red jersey auto (#16/75) from last year.  I was happy to get both a signature and large relic swatch even before considering the low price--$2.17--of this fun bunch of shininess.  I guess others' dislike of sticker autos just works in my favor sometimes!  While I won't try to claim XR is a necessary brand I like what I ended up with here, my second hit of a guy I hope to see last in the league for a while.

In general I would say that I've preferred Leaf's Certified design to those from its Limited counterpart over the years, but that doesn't mean the latter is exactly chopped liver.  Consider the above card, a rookie auto of former star CB Leon Hall from the 2007 iteration (#60/99).  It's pretty typical for a medium-end card done by that manufacturer around 10 years ago which means it's right in my wheelhouse.  It also represents another addition to my group of Halls--38 in all after today--that continues to make him one of the more represented players in my football PC.

Three cards in today's post prove that you can find some of your favorite defensive players on cardboard--even if they're underrepresented--as long as you're willing to put in the effort.  Besides Hall's above plus the one you'll see at the very end, retired tackling machine LB David Harris--who almost went out on a high note with the Pats after suffering through the dysfunction of the Jets--makes another hit-related appearance here on this 2011 Panini Threads Gridiron Kings Materials Prime jersey (#37/99).  The canvas-like artistic design is probably a bigger highlight than the "prime" relic, which is just a bit of green and white with some stitching, but for as cheap as this card was I couldn't resist snagging it to bolster Harris' total, which now stands at a solid 27.

The third of my four rookie autos today is this one of Heisman finalist RB Chris Perry from 2004 Ultimate Collection (#152/250).  That's one of those higher-end products that I'm always glad others buy so I can scoop up the singles I want on the cheap.  Maybe whoever pulled this one at the time was excited about landing a big card of a first-rounder but they sure wouldn't be today since I got it for under $2!  I'm generally fine with the design, though it's admittedly not very exciting, and Perry's signature has never been one to write home about.  Still, it's great to pick up one of his autos from a high-end product on the cheap!  Make it 51 hits of the former Michigan great.

Now we'll move on to a much more recent back who's making his hits collection debut:  De'Veon Smith.  The four-year RB didn't come in with as much fanfare as others but put together a solid college career that culminated in leading the backfield of the 2016 that went 10-3 in attempts, yards, and TDs and receptions (tied with the "Hammering Panda", Khalid Hill, on both counts).  He's one of the few guys that didn't get drafted in 2017 but latched on with the Dolphins.

I was excited to land a college uni signature of him (he does have a few licensed ones in Panini brands) from 2017 Leaf Metal Draft (even if the airbrushing makes it look more like he's playing for Notre Dame here).  It's always tough sledding for undrafted guys to last long in the pros but maybe Smith can carve out a career.

The second oldest card in today's bunch is this 2002 UD Authentics American Authentics Level 1 auto of the A-Train, Anthony Thomas.  The design isn't terribly exciting but I'm a fan of having the cut out area for signatures sometimes, and Thomas's never fails to impress me.  Honestly, you could probably slap that on a card as ugly as a recent Topps design and I'd have a difficult time passing on it!  It's almost milestone time again here at TMM as this is my 49th hit of Anthony's.

I'm glad to be able to end on a high note (as if anything else from today would be a disappointment) with a letter manupatch/auto.  It happens to be my first of Super Bowl champ LaMarr Woodley, quite possibly the first I've seen available.  It's from 2007 SP Rookie Threads--some of the best letter cards you'll find--and is part of the nameplate that spells out his last name.  You might recall that a while ago I completed Leon Hall's from the same product:

As is the case with Hall's cards this one's #d to 250 (#037 in this case) and has rarer parallel versions.  They may not hit all the great design notes of the 2008 version but I still love the chase for another nameplate!  In a mini milestone of sorts I've finally gotten Woodley to double digits with his 10th hit.

Almost done!  Stay tuned for one last post as I really go out with a bang by showing off a buttload of football PC cards--rookies, inserts, hits, and more!--soon.

2017 eBay purchase: do I like getting letters in the mail? Manu know I do!

@umichfootball

I was probably going to post this today anyway, but now it's a fun celebration for a quality win over Florida yesterday.

You all know I love chasing manu-letter patch cards, especially those produced by Upper Deck.  And of course my favorites hail from 2008 SP Threads, which happens to boast what I consider the best design and includes guys from that year's draft class, my all-time favorite.

Back in late July I managed to track down another one I needed:

Here's the "A" from Adrian Arrington's last name, my fourth of the nine.  I can add that to an "N", "R", and "T" for his nameplate, plus an "I" from the Lettermen College Autographs version (which spells out "MICHIGAN").  Each of his letters is numbered to 28, and as always in this product, they have the look of a piece that came straight from a college jersey, not a pro one--a huge plus, in my opinion.

For under $10, I landed my 49th Arrington, which puts him very close to a fun milestone as I see to have him join the six others in my football PC to hit 50.

Here's to a less stressful game next weekend and a stress-free holiday weekend for everyone!

2016 eBay purchases: Hill and Howe

The Division Series round of the playoffs ends tonight one way or another, and to celebrate one of my favorite PC guys starting the deciding game five--in which I oddly find myself rooting for L.A.--here's a couple eBay pickups of Dodgers past and present:

Rich Hill 2007 Sweet Spot Dual Signatures Glove Leather Black Ink auto (with Aramis Ramirez) (#06/15)

One of those proverbial "Cards you never see for sale on eBay or elsewhere", I was thrilled when this beauty of a Sweet Spot dual auto popped up a couple weeks ago.  Rich has 17 cards in this product, 13 of which are of him alone, and I have 10 of those; now I can lay claim to my first of his four duals with Ramirez, a guy who spent most of his first six years with the Pirates, then--look away, Matt!--put up 23.8 fWAR for the Cubbies.  There's three other versions I need to chase of this pair, all of the manu-ball variety, and numbered to 15, 10, and 5.  Hoo boy!

My 126th hit of Hill gives me 247 of the southpaw's run (which is again growing!), and 264 cards overall.

Hill wasn't quite as impressive as usual in game 2 for the Dodgers, but I think he's got enough magic left in him to combine with Julio Urias in a win to advance to a matchup with the team that drafted him, the Cubs.  He at least gets another shot at playoff success after his loss last week and his only other playoff start:  a loss to the Diamondbacks in 2007.  Regardless, I'm thrilled to see him get a chance like this with everything on the line after coming out of nowhere last year.

Speaking of Dodgers pitchers, here's a former member of that team, pictured in different digs:

Steve Howe 1996 Leaf Signature Autographs Bronze auto

Howe was with the Dodgers from his 1980 debut, in which he was named NL Rookie of the Year, until later in '85, when he was released.  That means he enjoyed the team's success in winning it all in 1981.

Here he is from the wonderful '96 Leaf Signature product on a card that's my first autograph of the former bullpen ace (making him the 26th member of my baseball PC).  Howe's final three cards were this Bronze auto, along with the rarer Silver and Gold versions, which I still need to track down.  Maybe they won't be as bad as I thought--this one cost me just $3 on eBay when most there and on COMC were shooting for the $10-$20 range.  Patience:  I has it.

As for his collection, I'm getting really close to slamming the door, so to speak.  Besides the two other autographs from this product, I'm short just his '93 UD Gold Hologram and '94 Stadium Club Team First Day Issue out of his 81 issues.

With these cards scanned and posted I believe the next post will be the grand finale of my latest COMC packages starring the rest of my football hits.

2016 eBay purchase: resurgent Rich, the comeback Cub

Now that I'm all caught up on my COMC pickups I can post my very last in-hand card--though my new COMC package should be showing up tomorrow!  Still, it's been quite a while since I've had my scan folder completely clear of purchases.

Speaking of buying, I think I've mentioned a number of times that my overall spending is down quite a bit this year so far.  I attribute that to having less luck on eBay and not finding quite as much on COMC so far, plus the shows I've been to have disappointed me thus far.  That's not really a bad thing, though, as it leaves me plenty of cushion to score some bigger stuff or rarer needs as they appear.

Today's eBay pickup falls more into the latter category because it didn't come with an exorbitant price tag:

Rich Hill 2007 Sweet Spot Signatures Bat Barrel Silver Ink auto (#09/25)

Though he's been on the shelf for a few starts due to injury, Hill has been one of the game's best stories since his unlikely return as an MLB starter late last year.  Also, there's a chance he'll be returning this weekend, hopefully to keep adding to his impressive 2016 numbers for Oakland.

Fortunately I don't think I've had a lot more competition than usual for his cards on eBay, either because people are smart enough not to pay a crazy premium for a guy whose track record doesn't indicate he'll keep this up, or I'm just able to outspend most comers because I already have a majority of what gets listed.  Either way I threw down a bit under $8 for this manu-bat auto a bit more than a month ago at the end of May.

The silver pen signature looks quite nice on the manufactured wood, much better in my opinion than the weak pen they went with on the Blue card.

Out of Hill's 13 solo entries in the set this is my 10th, and now we're really getting into the rare stuff because the final three I need are numbered to 15, 5, and 5!  I also haven't ever found any copies of any of the four issues he shares with 3B Aramis Ramirez.

My 124th hit of Rich, this is card number 245/357, including his new issues from this year's Topps Series II.  I now have 261 of his cards overall, including 1/1s.

Here's a quick look at the other 9 cards I already have from this set:

Here's to what will hopefully be a successful return against the Pirates tomorrow night!

2015-16 COMC purchases: COMPCs

Last Wednesday (May 18) marked a fun confluence of events kind of like a rare alignment of planets:  former Wolverine pitchers Rich Hill, Zach Putnam, and Clayton Richard all appeared in games on the same day.

I did some quick digging and found out that that actually occurred twice last season:

• September 13, 2015:
• Rich Hill makes the start for the Red Sox in his triumphant return to a MLB rotation, and Boston defeats Tampa 2-0.  Hill goes 7 innings, allowing a hit and a walk, and strikes out 10 for the first of three straight starts.
• Zach Putnam pitches in his customary relief role for the White Sox in a 7-0 loss to Minnesota.  He records a strikeout against one hit as he mops up the 8th inning.
• Clayton Richard throws 4 innings in relief of Cubs starter Dan Haren, who'd given up 4 runs in just 3 innings.  Richard gives up the winning run in the Phillies' 7-4 win and is saddled with the loss despite allowing 3 hits against 4 strikeouts.
• October 1, 2015:
• Hill strikes out 6 in his "worst" of his four 2015 starts, which was still quality as he gives up two runs in the Yankees' 4-1 defeat of the Red Sox.
• Putnam gets a couple outs without being charged for any runs in the 6th inning of a 6-4 loss to the Royals.
• Richard throws one pitch and allows a hit with 2 out in the 7th in a 5-3 Cubs win over the Reds.

As it turns out, Wednesday was a little kinder to the Michigan trio:

• Hill went a strong 6 IP in an 8-1 win over the Rangers to move his record up to 6-3 for Oakland.  He allowed three hits and a walk to go with Texas' only run, but also struck out 6 in his sixth quality start of the season.
• Putnam's White Sox lost 5-3 to the Astros, but they can't blame him as he got three outs beginning in the 6th and allowed just a hit and a walk against two strikeouts.
• Richard got the final out in the bottom of the 13th of a 2-1 Cubs win over Milwaukee, and that earned him his first save of 2016!

So let's celebrate by showing off cards of those three guys plus pickups from five other baseball PCs, all courtesy of COMC:

Jake Cronenworth 2015 Bowman Chrome Draft/Refractor/Sky Blue Refractor
2015 Bowman Draft/Silver (#054/499)

Cronenworth is the latest Wolverines baseball alum to appear on cardboard and therefore to join my PCs.  A native of St. Clair (northeast of Detroit and on the Canadian border), he left after his junior season in Ann Arbor having put up some pretty nice overall numbers (check out all of his accolades here).  Tampa drafted him in 2015's 7th round, and so far he's had pretty good success as a hitter since his debut in low-A last year.  A middle infielder/outfielder by trade, he's played just one pro game in LF and has stuck at SS this year after moving up a level.  Jake was a pretty good pitcher for the Wolverines too but it looks like the Rays made a good call to let him focus on his bat.

To-date Jake has appeared on 19 cards (plus 10 1/1s), with all of those coming out of last year's Bowman/Chrome Draft product.  As usual there's a buttload of parallels to chase, and I landed two of them from Chrome and one from base Draft to go with each base version.  Depending on his progress it could be a while (if ever) before he gets more cards to his name, but you never know, and I hope he someday gets to make an impact at the big league level!

Chris Getz 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Gold Refractor (#30/50)

Gooooooollllld!  Moving back a few years to another middle infielder, albeit one that's retired, here's a shiny Gold Refractor of former 2B Chris Getz from 2008 Chrome Draft.  Thanks to my recent pickup of Getz's Red Refractor from the same product I can now claim ownership of the rainbow!  I'll make sure to show that off in a future post.  I now have 80 of Getz' 106 issues, good for about 75%.

Rich Hill 2008 SP Authentic By the Letter 'H' letter patch auto (#01/50)

I was definitely pretty surprised when this manuletter/auto of blog favorite (and Oakland A's ace!) Rich Hill popped up back in January, and I was all too happy to drop $7.50 to add it to the few I already have from the same product.  Of the two nameplates, I have this "H" and the "I" from "H-I-L-L" while I can almost spell out "C-U-B-S" with this "C", "U", and "S".  It'll be a big day when I can show off one or both of those!

Rejuvenated Rich continues his embarrassing dominance over my baseball hits collection with his 123rd hit as part of 244/350 issues, though I expect that denominator to grow a bit thanks to his recent success.  I love letter patch autos so this was a great addition for me to be sure.

Steve Howe 1995 Stadium Club Virtual Reality Members Only

Howe is the subject of the least interesting card today, but it's still a pretty decent one since it's a fun parallel from 1990s Stadium Club--you really can't go wrong with those.  I do think it's a bit goofy that a regular Members Only card (which I don't have, oddly enough) existed along with these parallels of the Virtual Reality cards, parallels themselves, but that's neither here nor there.  I now have 75 of Howe's 81 cards, and besides a bit of a fight to get his three '96 Leaf Certified autos I don't think I'll need to shell out too much to add him to the finished pile.

Ryan LaMarre 2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Signature Status Emerald auto (#06/25)

LaMarre is another fairly recent Wolverine with a rainbow I made some progress on this time.  I recently showed off his Black Status autograph from this same set (one of my favorites), and now I can add this one to the colorfest.  Surprisingly, this fairly limited (numbered /25) card didn't cost me very much at all.  Besides being a fun signature card, I love that it features a Michigan uni shot as well--that doesn't happen nearly as often with baseball as it does with other sports.

While I still need a pair of cards to complete this rainbow I'm happy to bump up my LaMarre total to 23 of his 37 issues while adding the 10th hit to his collection.  Hey, that's a milestone!  Ryan is the 10th player to hit 10 hits so far.

Zach Putnam 2008 Razor Letterman 5 T patch auto (#2/5)

Hill's earlier card wasn't the only manuletter/auto I scored.  I'd been lusting after this Razor Letterman of Zach Putnam for years but the seller had never budged on his price, which was way more than what similar cards #d /5 usually go for.  Eventually he finally brought the price down and I made a deal to land my first letter from this version of the nameplate; as a reminder I have the unnumbered and /20 versions done plus I even have two of the 1/1s cards.  This black version looks pretty sharp, plus it's another Michigan uni card!  It becomes my 33rd Putnam hit (second only to Hill by just 90 cards) and 42nd out of 52 issues, though of the 10 remaining eight of them are #d /5.  Jeez.

Clayton Richard 2008 Bowman Sterling Refractor (#079/199)

And here's our final 2016 player.  Richard eventually found his way from the south side to the north and the Cubs, and I hope he gets to be part of something big this year.  It took me a while but I finally added this Refractor version of his 2008 Bowman Sterling card to the base and Gold Refractor I own, leaving me just the Black Refractor #d /25 short of the mini rainbow.  It's more progress for his collection 113 cards strong out of 157 (with a tiny chance of more being made), putting me near the 75% mark.

George Sisler 2009 Topps Triple Threads Sepia (#122/525)

2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Framed Paper (#95) (#463/999)

2011 Topps Lineage Cloth Stickers

2014 Classics Legendary Lumberjacks

Old George Sisler doesn't have time for all those young whippersnappers above him, dammit!  I had fun adding these four inserts to his decent-and-growing collection on the cheap thanks to COMC.  Fortunately the Toppsopoly didn't win out this time as I snuck a Panini card in there, but the Topps stuff is actually kind of fun with numbered Parallels from Triple Threads and Gypsy Queen (about the only things I can appreciate from GQ are framed versions) and a throwback cloth sticker.  For just a couple bucks I'm glad to add these and bump Gorgeous George's collection up to 54.


It was nice getting to show my baseball PCs more love, but the next few posts will cover football and hockey as I work to clean out my scan folders.