2016 Black Friday COMC Order #2

I was planning on putting a post or two in between each of my COMC Black Friday posts but I am riding high after USC's amazing Rose Bowl victory last night.  It was one of the most exciting games I can remember watching, probably second to the USC vs. Texas National Championship game over a decade ago but this time the good guys won.

I am sure I have shared this but it has been a while.  Prior to 2011 my main team collecting focus wasn't on the SF Giants but instead on former USC Trojans football players.  I haven't tabulated the size of my USC collection but it is pretty hearty, well over 11,000 cards with well over 1500 hits (autos/relics).  I still pick up cards here and there and was inspired to seek out cards of a few of my favorite Trojans during this COMC shopping spree.  With the Rose Bowl victory fresh in my mind, I figured I would share my Trojans pick ups.

I will start with a trio of Heisman Trophy winners.

 I will never be a super collector of Marcus Allen but I am a big fan and found this lower numbered premium parallel at a really low price so I pounced.  It is a very nice looking card in hand and I may go after the rainbow.

Mike Garrett was the first of USC's Heisman winners.  Here I picked up a sweet Kellogg's card from 1970 and a Glendale Stamp from 1969.  These are my 2 oldest cards of Garrett along with his 1970 Topps rookie.  He has a few regional/team issue cards going back to 1966.  He sucked as an Athletic Director but is a Trojan legend as a player.

I saw fellow blogger Angus pick up a few Charles White cards for his Browns collection and decided to check him out.  He had a few cards from the last couple years I wasn't aware of and I was able to pick up two nice relics, two nice autos and a trio of acetate cards.  Hey Angus, the card on the bottom left ended up being a duplicate.  It is numbered /148.  Let me know if you need it and I will set it aside for the next time I send you some cards.

How about some guys on the defensive side of the ball?

USC has a long history of great linebackers.  I believe Penn State, who USC defeated in this year's Rose Bowl, has been referenced as Linebacker U and while they have a great history at the linebacker spot, I would put USC's group up against anyone.  These 4 guys are a part of that but the group also included all time greats like Junior Seau and Willie McGinest - both who wore the special 55 uniform number.

The Trojans have also produced their fair share of defensive backs.  My favorite is Ronnie Lott who will be included in a different player collection post.  I like both these guys as well.  I have a pretty high percentage of Joey Browner's cards so to find a new one is exciting.  After Lott, Tim McDonald is probably my favorite former USC DB helped by his time on the 49ers and the fact he grew up in Fresno.  I lived for a year+ in Fresno and frequented his sports bar quite frequently.

USC also has had its fair share of solid quarterbacks.

I was happy to find this Vince Evans oddball disc. Kind of an odd picture but it works.

 Like Browner, I have a pretty high percentage of Todd Marinovich's cards.  Todd was the QB for 2 of my years at USC.  He didn't do too well in the pros and has had a pretty crazy life and I like picking up his cards.

I went a little crazy filling gaps in my Rodney Peete collection:

I added 23 new cards to my Peete collection, many of them serial numbered or parallels.  Peete finished up his time at SC shortly before I went to school in LA.  I like collecting Peete's cards as he had a long career spanning a lot of different card sets/years but doesn't have an overwhelming number of cards.  Also, check out all the teams he has played for.

In this spirit of showing all the cards from my order, here are a couple skill players with single card pick ups.

Another cool 3D card and a Super Bowl parallel. 

Next up is the final groups.  Offensive line isn't a position that gets a ton of hobby love but USC has developed a number of great ones that have excelled at the NFL level.  Here are some cards of some of my favorites.

 Pat Harlow was at SC when I was there as well so I always like picking up his cards.  These Wild Card cards were pretty novel, as I recall if you tracked down 50 of Pat's base cards, you could send them into Wild Card in exchange for this 50 stripe card.  There are quite a few Trojans with cards in this set and some of the denominations are tough to come by.

 Ron Mix is a HOFer and is underrepresented in my collection. He has quite a few vintage base cards that I still need and I will probably set up an eBay search in the near future and try to add some of them to my collection.  Gotta love those old Chargers unis.

Someone who is well represented in my collection is another HOFer, Bruce Matthews.  I picked up the 3 cards on top from a more recent release and the 3 bottom from his playing career.  I have very few holes in my collection from his playing days so it was nice to knock 3 off the list.

Ryan Kalil is a current player and one of the top Centers in the league.  Luckily that results in him getting some Pro Bowl relic love and I picked up 3 of those.  The middle left card has a bright orange stripe that didn't scan well but looks super cool in hand.  At one point I considered super collecting Kalil but my days of paying ridiculous amounts for 1/1 cards and printing plates is probably over.  I was happy to score these however.

Last but certainly not least is Tony Boselli.  He lived right across the hall from me during my sophomore year at USC.  He wasn't a friend but was friendly enough.  I was buddies with a guy named Joe who was his roommate.  Joe was a freshman and struggled keeping his weight where the coaches wanted it.  If I recall he gave up his scholarship and went home to a JC.  Mr. Boselli became an All-American, 1st Round draft pick and I hope a Hall of Famer some day.  He has been on the preliminary list since 2009 which may not be a great omen but I hold out hope.

There you have all my USC pick ups - minus the Ronnie Lott cards that will be forthcoming.  I hope you got a chance to see that Rose Bowl game, I think any sports fan would have loved it.  Go Trojans and Fight On!