2 Weeks Worth

Hey all, Jeff here. I realize you all probably forgot about me as I've been quiet over here but I'm going to try to post every so often. I do get Michigan players occasionally and I actually stopped posting them on my other blog with the intent of posting them here and never got around to it. I'm going to save up the cards and post ever week or 2 depending on how many cards I got for this blog. I went back 2 weeks for this post so let's see what I got. I guess I'll go alphabetical this week.

I'll start off with this Red, White and Blue version of Prizm. This is the 2nd Burke I've picked up this year which is good considering I only got 1 of his all of last year. This came to me for $.15/shipped and is my 12th card of Trey.

Now this card shouldn't be to surprising since I have a bunch of different versions of it from various Panini. I only paid $2/shipped for my 14th different Darboh. This one is actually serial numbered to /99 which I don't remember all the others being numbered.

Who knew Caris LeVert would be such a good NBA player? Not myself. Luckily his cards are still fairly cheap. I got this jersey/ball swatch that is also numbered to /149 and it came to me for $2.99/shipped. It is my 10th different card of LeVert but only my 1st this year.

This is only my 7th card of Robinson and only the 2nd one in the last 3 years that I've picked up so I was really surprised to win it. I picked up this relic card for only $1.77/shipped.

One of my newest player collections even though it's up to 5 different cards now. This is the 2nd relic of his and the first auto. It's also numbered to /99 and I picked it up for $3/shipped. I couldn't win his cards at all when they first got released but I've been picking them up recently.

This card is the start of my newest player collection. This is the first of his and while it's not a very flashy card, it is only the 1st of hopefully many. I picked it up for $.24/shipped.

Last but not least, I picked up another of Wormley. It's my 1st this year but I did manage to grab 4 others last year along with a couple of dupes to make it 6 last year and 7 total. I picked this one up for $2.25/shipped.

Like I said, I'll try to be back on a regular basis but I'm not going to guarantee anything, I know myself too well. As I'm typing this, Devin Bush and Rashan Gary have been drafted, so hopefully we'll start seeing their cards here soon. Until next time.

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!

2017 trade package #6: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

As I mentioned this evening on TMV, I went a bit more than two weeks without posting mainly for positive reasons, but I'm trying to put in some effort to give some great trade partners credit for sending me some fun stuff.

As usual, one of those folks is Doug from Sports Cards From the Dollar Store.  You may recall him from the more than 40 previous trade posts on this here blog alone (and more than 20 on TMV!).  I don't think I've even sent him stuff since the last time I posted cards from him back in February yet he fired another envelope over the border.  Here's what came my way this time:

Fun fact--Trey's actual first name is "Alfonso"--I didn't know that!  I mean, I knew "Trey" was a nickname, but never thought to find out what for.  Anyway, Doug sent my my very first signature of the former NCAA Player of the Year, #9 overall pick, and heralded NBA rookie in the form of this 2014-15 Panini Prizm Autographs Prizms Purple Pulsar auto, numbered #01/49.  It's a super cool signature of one of the biggest college stars to come out of Michigan, just my second Burke hit overall, and 70th card on my basketball collection, which isn't nearly as minuscule as it used to be.  Nice start!

One of two football entrants this time was this '90 Fleer base of Mike Kenn, an OL who played all 251 games of his excellent 17-year career with Atlanta.  I think he's still eligible for the Hall of Fame so I hope he eventually makes it in.

The remainder of the football content is this big-ass jersey (numbered 21/99) of former #1 WR Devin Funchess.  If ever there was a card that evokes "bunches of Funchess" then this is it.  Playing off the Clear Vision product name, the swatch area is covered by a clear plastic/acetate/whatever piece that includes the inset photo, giving the whole thing a shadowbox kind of feel.  The border colors really work well with the Carolina uniform too.  It's definitely a cool piece and a winner of a relic given how stale those have gotten.  Welcome to the collection, Funchess hit #5!

And of course, the hockey content.  I mean, these came from a Canadian, so why not include a pair of Canadiens?  One of those is a hockey Mike, in this case current New Jersey Devil Cammalleri.  The other, Max Pacioretty, just finished his ninth season with the Habs and put up 30 goals for the fourth straight season and fifth time overall.  Those two bookend cards of Jack Johnson (still with the pictured Blue Jackets) and the awesomely-named Jed Ortmeyer, pictured in his one season with the Sharks.

Last up is my favorite card of the package--yep, even with the cool autograph and giant relic present--this 1998-99 McDonald's Upper Deck issue of blog favorite Brendan Morrison.  And why shouldn't my favorite in this Canuck-sourced envelope be a card that was only available through Canadian McDonald's?  The design is fantastic, and while part of the card doesn't scan as well as it looks, the clear see-through photo--framed inside of a puck, nice touch!--really pops.  Cards like this one make me want to put more effort into my Morrison collection until I get enough to scan and show everything off.

Thanks again for another envelope full of Wolverine wonders, Doug!  I'm looking forward to returning the favor very soon.

Who's that guy?

I know what you're thinking, who's the new guy? I haven't been on this blog in a long time (It's Jeff, BTW). That's mainly because my specialty is picking up the cheap cards of our Wolverines and Dennis shows off some really great cards where as my cheap cards tend to get shown by him first, but not today. I went through his card gallery and I didn't see these cards there so I might have beaten him to them. It doesn't happen often so I have to brag when I can,

I don't know who knows and who doesn't but I usually only collect players in the Maize and Blue but I have started some player collections of players that I watched and grew to like while they were with the Wolverines. The following player would be one of them.

I picked up this rookie 2013-14 Panini Titanium relic card on Ebay for $1.84/shipped. You can see, sorta that it's also numbered 304/325. Of course, it says player warn material so I'm sure it's not game used but I only paid less that $2 so I guess I can't complain.

I also picked up this 2015-16 Panini Prizm Autograph of Trey Burke. I paid a little more than the first one at $3.04/shipped but still it's great autograph of a pretty good player that's making a name for himself. These 2 cards only make 7 for the Trey Burke Collection and they are my first relic and auto of him.

The only reason I happen to come across these 2 cards is because they were free shipping and the starting bid was under a quarter. I don't usually come across these types of cards because of that but I lucked into these two, which is another reason you don't see me here often.

2016 trade package #10: Sports Cards From the MacGyver Store

It's that time again:  time for another Sports Cards From the Dollar Store trade package!  Doug's actually responsible for the most recent package I showed off here back in April.  This time he "MacGyvered up something" that would allow a couple cards he'd promised me (and more) to arrive safely, and in that (and the content) he did NOT disappoint!

Today's appetizer is this pair of 2015-16 Panini-branded cards of former Michigan star Trey Burke, and they couldn't be more different if they tried.  On the left is Complete, a throwback-type set with a more vintagey (as in non-glossy) card stock.  Just a white border, nice photo, the player's name, and some logos.  Meanwhile, Trey's Select Prizm (I believe this is the Tri-Color version) is shiny, in-your-face colorful, and has something more like a Chrome feel to it.  People can rag on Panini all they like but I'm still in their corner.

For the main course here are five hockey Wolverines cards.  Cogliano starts off with a base card from this year's UD release and a numbered parallel from 2013-14 (hard to see, but it's 048/100).  Wolverwing Dylan Larkin makes a much-appreciated appearance with this Red parallel from this year's O-Pee-Chee Update set, and I don't think they could have picked a better color for his team.  John Madden doesn't get a ton of airtime around here so I make sure to show off stuff when folks like Doug include him.  And finally, Max Pacioretty makes the first of two appearances today with a Blue parallel (#d 086/499) from this year's UD Countours product.  Again, a very nice choice of color that goes well with Montreal's unis (not to mention Michigan's!).

Max Pacioretty 2015-16 Upper Deck Game Jerseys jersey

For dessert, also from this year's UD flagship product (seeing a theme?) is a nicely-done jersey relic of Patch.  It's my third hit of the sniper in my hockey PC and a nice way to highlight his third straight and fourth overall 30-goal season.

And for an after-dinner snack, here's the card that required MacGyvering:  

1997-98 Beehive was a Pinnacle product that honored a series of photos produced between 1934 and 1967 (click here to learn more about them).  The whole set measures in at 5x7 making these pieces larger than average and that much cooler because of it.

Naturally I'm thrilled to get Morrison's card, not only because it's obviously an amazing piece, but also because it counts as a rookie.  Oh yeah, and the back mentions his career at Michigan, including one of my favorite moments:

As you can see, the front takes advantage of the extra space with a great photo while the back goes with a second, black-and-white image, typical bio info, a short write-up, and a trivia question, with most of the text available in English and French.  Nice!

Doug, thanks once again for some fun additions--and careful packaging!  Whenever my latest COMC package arrives I'll have some interesting things to send over to your side of the border.

Recent PC Additions

Jeff here, I don't post on here too often because for one, I generally buy cheap cards and I don't come across too many Michigan cards at that price, and two, most of my Maize and Blue cards come from Dennis so since he sends me dupes, I assume you've seen them all before. This past month though, I've picked up some on my own at various locations. I may actually have a few posts here this month. I've splurged the last couple of months, which I'm sure won't last long but it at least boosts my collections.

Let's start with some football.

2013 Fleer Retro ($.49) COMC

2013 Bowman ($.35) COMC

2013 Bowman Black ($.48) COMC

These 3 Denard cards put that collection at 24 cards. By far the biggest player collection since I went and added a bunch of Michigan alumni to my player collections. I'm pretty sure he's the only one in double digits of cards.

2015 Panini Contenders Draft Picks Game Day Tickets ($.52) (COMC)

2015 Panini Prizm Collegiate Draft Picks ($.75) (COMC)

With his super bowl appearance and a couple of really good games in his rookie season this past year, his collection is gradually moving on up recently. These 2 cards put his collection at 7 cards. I picked up my first card of his at a card show in October and all the rest have come since the new year.

2014-15 Upper Deck Letterman ($.81)  (COMC)

2014-15 Upper Deck SPx ($.75) (COMC)

These 2 cards only put this collection at 4 cards and they are all in the Maize and Blue so there's that at least.

2013-14 Upper Deck SP Authentic ($.75) (COMC)

2013-14 Fleer Retro ($.49) (COMC)

2013-14 Fleer Retro 1992-93 Rookie Sensations Auto ($5.99) (COMC)

These 3 cards put his collection at 6 cards. I actually have a couple of pro cards of Hardaway jr since he had a decent rookie season. I haven't heard much from him this year but I don't really follow NBA much other than watching an occasional Bulls game. That is my first autograph card of his as well, even at $6 when I saw it, I wanted it since he was in the Maize and Blue.

2014-15 Upper Deck SPx Finite Rookies ($1.25) (COMC)

I really don't run into any of his cards very much. This is only my 2nd card of his, both of the Maize and Blue variety.

2013-2014 NBA Hoops ($.50) (EBAY)

2015-16 Panini Contenders Draft Picks Old School Colors ($.75) (COMC)

Really love the look of this card. I'm going to have to look and see if they have any more Michigan players in the Old School Colors set. These cards put my Burke collection at 5 cards and a few of those are pro cards as well.

I'm sure you've seen some of those from Dennis collections but they were all new to me and hopefully some of them are new to you as well.

2015 trade package #23 and 24: two-part, two-part trade with SCFtDS

If you headed this way from TMV this evening you already saw lots of goodies from not one but TWO trade packages from Doug at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store.  I'm happy to reveal that, if you thought that stuff was nice, you ain't seen nothin' yet!  Here's the Wolverines portion of those two envelopes:

The basketball section kicks off with two basketball greats--a second year Trey Burke plus Glen Rice on Donruss/Panini's signature Crusade insert.  Burke has a birthday coming up on the 12th this month, incidentally!

Trey Burke 2013-14 Panini Spectra Rookie Jumbo Jerseys jersey (#67/75)

Speaking of one of the program's best players in recent memory, how about a huge relic for my first hit of the Utah PG?  Panini did a nice job with this one, especially thanks to the oversized swatch. 

Moving on to football, it was the Tom Brady show to start off with, much like the 2015 NFL season.  He's joined by a trio of RCs for my ongoing project to track those down, and those cover 2013, 2014, and 2015, with Shoelace, Taylor Lewan, and Devin Funchess represented.

Ron Kramer 1967 Philadelphia

Now here's the Buckstorecards difference--Doug included this awesome vintage issue of Wolverines TE great Ron Kramer from way back in '67.  Kramer is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, went #4 overall to Green Bay in '57, and won two rings with the Packers.  So, yeah, you could say he was pretty good at both levels.  Just a brilliant addition to this package.

Devin Funchess 2015 Topps Rookie Patch patch

The final card from the football portion is one he let me know to expect, but still made my day.  This is my first hit of Funchess, the most recent Wolverine to wear #1.  I've seen some of the patches that come out of this set so I'm very excited about how nice Doug's pull was--three clear colors and lots of stitching!  Funch is the 195th player in my football collection, and I hope he makes an impact on tomorrow's Monday Night Football game against Indy.

As usual there was lots of hockey to enjoy.  From this scan I'll pick out two highlights.  Fox is new to my collection, and was a defenseman for Michigan in the mid-70s before playing for three NHL teams:  the Atlanta Flames(!), Blackhawks (pictured), and Penguins.  Hooray for the hockey history lesson!  Helminen's serial-numbered acetate card is also a fun addition, partly because he's one of the guys I got to see a lot of during my season tickets years.

Warren Luhning's Score Artist's Proof insert is also a highlight, first because he's another collection newbie (mid-90s Michigan forward), and also because of the back of his card,

which gives Michigan Hockey draftees a nice spotlight.  Manery, like Fox above, was also a mid-70s Wolverine who played for a few teams, so I was clearly feeling the vintage love here.

Steve Halko 1999-00 BAP Millennium auto

David Harlock 2000-01 BAP Signature Series auto

Closing out the first envelope is this pair of BAP autographs.  I'll say it til I'm blue in the face but I love me some Be-a-Player autos since they tend to incorporate a ton of guys I collect but wouldn't find on hits otherwise.  Harlock is yet another collection n00b, an early 90s Michigan defenseman who saw NHL action with four teams.  The 00-01 set did a very nice job giving players a clear area for signing and Harlock took advantage of that with a flawless signature that includes his jersey number.  He becomes the 39th different player in my hockey collection.

As I said before, envelope #2 was a PWE, but didn't lack for outstanding collection additions:

Alan Branch and--

ALAN BRANCH KILLS QBs!

Yes, yes he does!  Anyway, Branch, Knight, and Brady represent three new inserts.  The Brady UD card is great, and of course I love that it highlights that Tom Terrific was a Wolverines, I'm just disappointed that they made the all-too-common mistake of making a word plural with an apostrophe.  C'mon, Upper Deck, it's "Pros," not "Pro's!"  This might be my biggest grammar pet peeve because it makes no sense and I can't figure out where people think they learned that.  Remember,

(Side note:  I don't think those of you who do this are idiots, but it does bug the crap out of me when I see folks making this mistake).  Anyway, Knight's RC parallel is numbered /999 (you can barely make it out between his ankles), and I love that all three cards feature Michigan uniforms.

To go with second-year cards of Braylon and Chris Perry, Doug dug deep and found a 1984 Topps RC of former Michigan kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh, a guy whose autograph I own thanks to TK Legacy.  Just goes to show that he pulls out all the stops in identifying guys I collect, and that's what makes him one of my all-time favorite traders!

We close out the second envelope and today's post with a pair of base cards from 2015-16 Artifacts.  Cammalleri just potted a shootout winner for the Devils while Trouba has a pair of assists on the young season.

As usual, Doug went way above and beyond to hit pretty much every facet of my collection.  Thanks again, my friendly Canadian neighbor!