2025 trade package #24: My Sports Obsession

November ended up being a very social month for me as far as the hobby goes. Less than a week after I attended the show with Angus that I just recapped, I headed about an hour and a half west to meet up with Jason, John, and the person who handed me this trade package, Jeff of My Sports Obsession. It was a Saturday show that I was able to go to with Michigan on a bye week (I'm sure Jeff wouldn't have missed the game either!) and things also worked out for Jason (and his lovely fiancé) and and John to have time to spend there.

I'll recap that show a bit later this month after covering the other trade packages and the usual monthly show, but for the purposes of this post I'll briefly say that I really enjoyed getting to hang out with these guys and look at some cards. It's a treat getting to enjoy this hobby with others that feel the same way and I'm grateful that they all made the effort (and glad that I did too).

Of course I was dumb and didn't get a picture with everybody for the bit of time we were all there (just with John when I dropped him off at home, though I'll share that in the show post), but at least I made sure to maximize my time with everyone there. That includes Jeff, who beat us all to the venue and therefore left sooner. We still got to talk for a while while flipping through cards at the tables run by a family he saw all the time when he and his cousin were doing shows, and that was a good time.

And of course he brought me some cards. LOTS of cards. I always appreciate it when someone puts in the time and effort to set stuff aside from me, and Jeff's one of the best at it thanks to the work he does for a card shop near him.

Here's what he brought me this time:

Miggy hit six career grand slams--I just looked it up--and I'm sure each ball felt like that Mosaic card looks when it left his bat. I hadn't added a new card of Michigan alum Franklin in forever so I loved seeing that Refractor. Griffey, Gwynn, and Maddux all pop up in this scan on Prizm cards, and you'll get to see the fourth member of that quartet plenty in this scan. The two colorful Panini-branded Kalines are among the coolest cards in tonight's bunch (even if "Pink Ice" sounds more like a drug reference than a baseball card).

See what I mean about Ripken? Jeff and I have a bit over 2400 Cals between us so you'll always see lots of his cards go back and forth in our trades. I really like the Diamond Kings and Gallery cards here, and there's even a rare Gypsy Queen design that works well with a photo of the HOFer in the field. These aren't the only cards of the Iron Man you'll see tonight, though. Before we get to those, it's back to the Prizm well one more time with HOF Wolverine Ted Simmons and a nice shot of him wearing the tools of excellence. He's followed by (future former) Tigers ace Tarik Skubal on a couple recent Topps inserts.

I'm hoping my fellow Tigers fans and I get to enjoy Skubal for at least as long as his predecessor Justin Verlander, of whom Jeff sent two many this time on a couple shiny parallels. The final non-hit portrait card is a checklist from a Wendy's/Coke '84 Tigers set that I've actually seen pop up a few times lately on Blusky and blogs, which is fun, and hopefully I'll add more of those myself. A quartet of landscape Ripkens rounds out the leader of the big PC foursome, including a typically beautiful Stadium Club shot of a guy known for staying long after games to sign for kids.

There were a couple surprise autographs mixed in with the baseball stuff: a 2016 Bowman Platinum Green (/75) of  Michael Fulmer and 2021 Topps Chrome Update Autographs signature of Kyle Funkhouser. These are my first signed cards of the two pitchers. Fulmer was that year's AL Rookie of the Year after coming over from the Mets, though his effectiveness waned and he found himself in the bullpen. Funkhouser was Detroit's fourth-rounder in 2016 (after the Dodgers took him in the first round the previous year but didn't sign the Illinois native heading to Louisville). He also didn't pan out in the end, but a Refractor is always fun and he has a very nice signature.

The last baseball item is a fun oddball piece: a 1994 team schedule. Detroit went 53-62 in the strike-shortened season, Sparky Anderson's penultimate year managing the club. My PC guy Tony Phillips led the team in bWAR while Travis Fryman and another PC favorite, Mickey Tettleton, made the All-Star team. David Wells and Mike Moore were the most effective pitchers that year. Yeah, the 90s sucked for Tigers fans. But items like this are fun to keep!

In a bit of a surprise, a Panini Phoenix RC of Franz Wagner was the only basketball item, but a very good one!

As for football, the content pretty much matched both the quantity and quality of baseball. That begins with RCs of TE Erick All. Buckeye-killer RB Tim Biakabutuka pops up on a 2000 Collector's Edge insert that's numbered /500 on the back and color matches pretty well with his Panthers uni. Transfer guy Charbonnet, who plays the same position, also appears thanks to Panini Prizm, and I'm enjoying seeing him play weekly for Seattle. And then there's a quartet of Nico Collins, who continues to star especially when the QB throwing his way isn't ass. Nico added a pair of TDs in today's win and eclipsed 1000 receiving yards for the third straight season. I have to say that Panini's retail version of its Illusions brand scans quite nicely and largely looks just as good as the hobby version.

The theme of this scan is "color and chrome." I love getting cards (especially colorful cards) of Blake, who scored a TD and had a couple very nice runs against the Lions' porous defense earlier today. I don't think too many others would give a second thought to a card of Amara Darboh, but Jeff and I both would, and I love the colorful Optic card of the WR. Michigan sorely needed Grant and his DL partner Mason Graham this season, but I hope things go well for the Dolphins rookie, seen on his first Score card. Between the years Aidan and his dad played for the Wolverines, there was HOF G Steve--no relation--who's seen on last year's Topps Chrome return, along with fellow HOFer Ty Law. Jenkins is another young ex-Wolverines defender I'm watching with great interest. JJ's had a bit of a rough first year as a starter but still shows a lot of promise, and his alma mater's fight song is the best. Ojabo's Contenders Optic features a very nice design and action photo of the fearsome defender.

The second-to-last scan begins with AN ORJI IN THE ENDZONE! (Thanks to Bowman Chrome U.) Like Orji, QB Brandon Peters transferred out, in his case to Illinois, though he has no cards depicting him as a Wolverine, and therefore I don't count him in my collection. The trio of A-Train inserts look great, with two hailing from Pacific brands and one from UD. Like fellow RB Tim Biakabutuka above, Tyrone Wheatley adds a numbered (/500) Collector's Edge insert to his pile. He hasn't had much NFL luck, but I'm happy to add another RC of national champ WR Roman Wilson to my collection. And the pair of Woodson cards looks great, especially the Select Draft Picks parallel where the red really makes the best college football uniform pop.

The last cards I'll show off tonight are ones I really appreciated since I wouldn't likely add them myself anytime soon. ONIT appears to be the latest brand handling the cards being sold for NIL money for a number of schools, and their overall design is pretty solid. I believe Jeff bought a few packs (which aren't cheap) or found singles otherwise, and gifted me these six. We'll skip talking about the guy who should be shot into the sun, but it's great getting the rest (plus I can cross the ex-coach off my checklist now).

Browder is a true freshman WR who appeared in seven games this season. El-Hadi is a fifth-year OL who came back for one more season where he finally got more playing time. Goodwin (son of Michigan alum Jonathan) is a sophomore WR who played in all 12 games and caught 11 passes for 145, and was also sometimes a pretty effective pass-blocker. Senior EDGE Derrick Moore was one of the most effective players on defense in '25 with 10.0 sacks, and next year's defense will surely miss him.

Finally, QB Davis Warren is one of those great stories you sometimes hear about in the college game. He overcame leukemia in high school to walk on at Michigan, then persevered long enough to get most of the playing time in 2024 after JJ McCarthy headed to the draft. It was a trying season for Michigan but against all odds he helped the Wolverines beat Ohio State for a third straight season, and also started in the bowl game win over Alabama. Whatever he does after graduating this year, he'll surely be great at it.

Jeff, thanks so much once again for this huge stack of goodness you were generous enough to bring me at that show. I have no idea what's in store for our favorite college football team going forward, but I'm thankful to have friends like you with whom I can root for them and trade some cards. I'll get a return envelope back your way at some point soon, possibly before Christmas.

Readers, you can look forward to three more November trade recaps before a couple show posts and one looking at a few eBay pickups too.

2025 trade package #23: Dawg Day Cards

Moving on to my second trade package of November, this one was actually hand delivered to me at a show (the first of two times that happened last month!) by Angus of Dawg Day Cards (who also goes by armac on TCDb). The Ottawa native wasn't too far across the border on Sunday, the 2nd, as he was nearby for a wedding. He'd let me know he'd be around with the possibility of meeting up, and fortunately that was day 3 of my monthly show. I made my usual trip on Friday to see my favorite seller, then headed back on Sunday while Angus was working his way across the border and dealing with all the fun that entails.

We arrived at practically the same time which worked out great, and I'd say we both really enjoyed talking cards and sports and stuff while looking through boxes. I may go into that more when I cover those two show trips in an upcoming post once I've taken care of recaps of the other trades that arrived last month.

Here we are. As always I'm the short one, though at this angle it doesn't seem like such a huge difference. Anyway, we each brought some cards (and more, in Angus's case) for the other person since that was a huge savings on postage, assuming you don't take into account how much he spent on gas. Hey, at least he was nearby for a fun reason before the show!

I have to say that what he brought put me to shame, but I did try to make up for it a couple ways, like buying him a few Browns he needed (which you can read about in his recap) and shipping a trade package for him.

Here's a quick look at all the cool stuff he brought:

Here's some of the non-card and oddball stuff. First is a Tiger Stadium giveaway radio. I have one or two of these from back in the late 80s or early 90s, but they're not in great shape like this one! Next is a souvenir cup and pin from the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings bowl. I believe Angus said he was at this game, in which Michigan lost 31-14 against Kansas State, largely thanks to a 3-TD game by future pro WR Tyler Lockett.

A few more pins join the fray, including a mix that mostly came from Little Caesar's and come with informational panels. Two celebrate previous World Series wins (1935 and '68) while the other two focus on '68 stars Mickey Lolich and Denny McLain. A 90s Pinnacle pin of Travis Fryman rounds out that group.

Then we have a couple team sets: 1990 Procards' Bristol Tigers, which I'll get to in a bit, and a '92 Coke/Kroger stadium giveaway Tigers set.

And last up is a matchbook featuring Al Kaline. Mr. Tiger graces the front of this item that appears to be from 1980 Liberty Superstar Matchbooks. I see a total of them on psacard.com, and the multisport set also includes Larry Bird, Guy Lafleur, and Willie Mays, among others. This is among the most unique Kaline (or anyone for that matter) items that have entered my collection.

And here's the back of some of the above items for those of you that would like to see more.

Before even getting to the "regular" cards this was a very generous pile of interesting stuff from Angus and I really appreciate it! But there was lots of cardboard to enjoy too:

Angus and I briefly discussed how he found himself starved for Topps cards in Canada the same way we Americans would describe ourselves when it came to O-Pee-Chee. Fortunately these days a diplomatic trade agreement that benefits residents of both countries is very easy to make! This scan leads off with the biggest star for me, Mark Fidrych, and his OPCs from 1978 and '80, and you'll see him again in the next scan. He's joined by '77 OPC Tigers Hiller, LeFlore, Oglivie, Ruhle, and "Le Grand Orange" Staub, plus a '72 of the late Joe Niekro. I didn't separate out the other stuff so an oddball Barry Larkin 1992 Investor's Journal single breaks things up a bit, but I still very much appreciate it!

Late SS Tom Veryzer joins his teammates from the '77 OPC stack, and a Ted Williams Pog card ends the "regular" stack of vertical cards, pairing up Detroit with their four-time World Series foe the Cubs. Chicago won the first two meetings in 1907 and '08, but Detroit got its revenge in 1935 and '45.

Next I'll do a quick summary of the horizontally-oriented cards you see. #1 is the third Fidrych of this post, also from 1977 OPC. While I still lack his Canadian RC, I now own his other appearance in that set that mirrors '77 Topps, which celebrates "The Bird" leading the AL (and both leagues, really) in ERA with a tiny 2.34. That season he put up a 19-9 record with a league-leading 24 complete games and crazy 9.6 bWAR, good enough for the AL Rookie of the Year and a second place Cy Young finish, but nowhere near the MVP. It was a season for the ages, even if it would precede a quick decline due to injuries.

The other horizontals were quite nice as well. Nolan Ryan was in his final season as a Met (and wouldn't crack 300 strikeouts until the following year with the Angels) so Lolich was able to take the K crown with 308. He'd go 2/3 on the pitching triple crown thanks to second place strikeout guy (301) Vida Blue's ridiculous 1.82 ERA (Lolich had 25 wins to Blue's 24). Mickey's teammate Joe Coleman was a distant third with 236.

Ending the all OPC run are team cards from 1973 and '76. What a cool look back at some vintage Canadian Tigers cards!

I also included some of the '90 Procards Bristol Tigers in this scan. The Virginia city hosted Detroit's Appalachian League (rookie ball) team from 1969-94, a rare long-term partnership for a minor league affiliate. Most of the players represented on these cards were in their first season with the club, and I picked two notables to go along with a Michigan PC guy and an occasional Tigers PC.

OF Danny Bautista played in parts of 12 MLB seasons, which is pretty solid, though most of those were away from Detroit (including the Series-winning '01 Diamondbacks). Late pitcher Jose Lima is definitely better known for a pretty good 13-year career mostly spent in Detroit and Houston.

Meanwhile, pitcher Greg Haeger's card was on my wantlist as one of just seven made of the Michigan alum, and it became my first in his collection, making this set an even better addition for me! And lastly we have 1B Tony Clark, the 1990 #2 overall pick, who played pretty well for the franchise and over his 15 years in the league. He's been head of the MLB Players Association for more than a decade so he's done quite well for himself.

The last of the baseball includes a couple oddballs and lots of stickers. Travis Fryman makes another cameo (or two) on Sports Collectors Digest and Baseball Cards Magazine inserts from '92 and '93, respectively, calling back to Topps designs from 1974 and 1968. I think cards inserted into magazines are great and loved getting a couple here.

There's also a stickerpalooza starring Tigers Fred Lynn and Jack Morris plus big four PC guy Cal Ripken Jr., and what's fun about these is that they're all Canadian versions. That goes for the Panini stickers, which is everything but the first Ripken, and that exact one which was produced by OPC.

A nice baseball haul to be sure, and we're not nearly done with this post yet!

Angus is a Browns fan so of course he knows football, especially when it comes to his favorite team. I'm sure he had dupes of the two Braylon Edwards cards he brought for me, one of which is 2009 Donruss Classics jersey numbered /299 on the back, which comes with a swatch in the color of, well, what else? That's my 97th hit of the former star WR.

Current Colts DE Kwity Paye doubles up Braylon with four additions from Panini Playbook and Prizm, a wacky Wild Card Alumination, and just my fifth signature of the seeker of sacks, this one out of 2021 Aspire, a SAGE brand. It may be airbrushed but we all know what team he's repping there!

And last up is a really nice pair of autos of defensive back Ambry Thomas, a Wolverine from 2017-19 who played in 42 games between 2021-23 for the Niners and has most recently been found on Philly's practice squad. Panini Contenders Draft Picks is a boon to a college collector like myself and I really enjoy the ticket motif plus the college action photos on the base and Red parallels you see above. Also, Ambry has a pretty nice signature even if he abbreviates his first name. My hit count for Thomas tripled thanks to this beautiful pair from Angus.

If you've read this far, congrats, you've made it to the final scan! I suppose they'd let Angus out of Canada no matter what, but could he really return home if he hadn't brought some hockey cards to a hoser across the border? No way!

First we have a fantastic pair of cards starring Wings HOFers Gordie Howe and Norm Ullman. Those came from a 1988-89 set called Esso NHL All-Star Collection. They're just a bit smaller than a standard card and I have to say I really like the design, which is very simple allowing for more attention to the classic photos.

Detroit legend Steve Yzerman is up next and three of the four items are brought to you by Kraft Dinner, one of the most Canadian things I can think of. The fun food issues you see above came out in 89-90 and 90-91. Lastly, The Captain appears on a more mainstream card: 1994-95 Finest, the first year that brand made it on the ice.

And lastly we have a pair that I think Angus was pretty excited about since they're Canadian stickers of Wolverines I collect. Debol has all of 6 cards listed on TCDb and his '79 Panini sticker is just the second I know have for his collection. Shand doubles him up with 12 to his name, and the former Flame now claims three items in my Michigan Hockey collection.

Angus, once again I want to say thank you for making the time to cross the border both ways to hang out at the show, and above and beyond that, for bringing me so much cool stuff that it took me this long to show it off! I'm definitely looking forward to scheduling another show with you (and potentially others like Night Owl) and maybe getting out to a Blue Jays game as well. Until then, it's a pleasure trading with you and I'll try to build up some good Browns to send your way.

I'll be back soon with November trade package #3!

2025 trade package #22: Sport Card Collectors

Hooray, I'm now only about a month behind! And my first November trade package came courtesy of the person who sent the final one in October, Matt of Sport Card Collectors. While he sends me PWEs throughout the year, he tends to put together a larger package around the holidays, and that was the case here as these constitute my Christmas present from a person who really values that occasion.

And a very nice gift it was! Here's the contents of the bubble mailer:

First up: a nearly full set of 1989 ProCards London Tigers. Minor league affiliates can change decently often and that was the case for Detroit's AA club, the Glens Falls Tigers, who moved from that city to London, Ontario, a couple hours away from Motown, for the 1989 season. They'd remain there until 1993, switch to Trenton (NJ) in '94, Jacksonville from 1995-2000, and ultimately their current location in Erie, PA. I'll show off the biggest name of this bunch in the next image (plus another guy I collect) but I'll also mention that the group includes 1986 first-rounder (18th overall) Phil Clark, a catching prospect that never panned out.

For those interested, the full team set appears to be 32 cards strong and Matt sent me 25 of those, including the two I would have wanted the most.

Miggy leads off this scan in festive form that's perfect for the upcoming holiday, and also in a 1989 disguise, back when I was celebrating my seventh Christmas.

Greg Everson is one of the two '89 Procards cards I'm highlighting because he's a Michigan alum who was also born in my hometown of Livonia, Michigan, so that's about as good as it gets. TCDb has nine cards listed for him (all minors issues) and this is my 6th. Not bad! I'll skip over one card to talk about the other '89 London Tigers base which stars the most successful guy in the set: Travis Fryman. Detroit chose the well know left-side infielder with the 30th overall pick in '87 and he rewarded them with eight productive seasons, half of which saw him get selected for the All-Star game. After the '97 season he was dealt to the brand new Diamondbacks, who then flipped him to Cleveland a couple weeks later for Matt Williams.

And now we have some cool inserts to look at. Those start with a Bowman Gold parallel of pitcher Luke French, a guy whose career wasn't really notable. The next card is, though: a '23 Topps Heritage '74 Topps Stamps card that includes Mr. Tiger Al Kaline plus recent guys Tork, Baez, and Greene. I'd actually traded for this card in a TCDb deal but got sent the wrong one, and thanks to Matt I didn't need to go back and get that fixed to land a card I really wanted! Rotation stalwart Mize's card is a '21 Topps 1952 Topps Redux Chrome in all its Refractor-y glory. Franklin Perez, a headliner in the Verlander deal, also pops up on a nice looking Refractor from 2020, numbered /150. And Tork makes his second of three appearances, this one from Topps Heritage's long-running New Age Performers insert.

Tork #3 is a '24 Topps Royal Blue parallel, one of the ones that are mercifully easy to ID. And he's joined by a trio of--or should I say "three many"--Verlanders. Two of those are Topps Holiday cards like the Miggy so that makes them perfect for the season as well.

The rest of this scan is a good time to ask the question, "Do you really like looking at cards of Ken Griffey Jr.?" If the answer is "Yes!" then you're in luck. If not, you'll want to scroll down quite a bit. Also, you all know I collect Griffey and have over 1000 cards of him, so why would you not expect to see these here?

Anyway, Matt and I are very close in age and both loved watching Griffey play throughout the 90s. And so he devoted quite a bit of space in this envelope to cards of George Jr., which I was very happy to accept!

The horizontal group that kicks off the pile includes a couple mid/late 90s base, a 2001 Fleer Triple Crown insert called "Future Threats," and a 2023 UD Goodwin Champions base, the latter of which includes a much more recent photo of the retired superstar.

(Vertical) Griffey group #1 starts with the early 90s and zooms into 1996. My favorites are the Stadium Club Charter Member card with Junior and Senior, the UD superhero card (we all thought he was a superhero back then), and the '95 Stadium Club base showing off his sweet swing.

Here a couple more '96s give way to six checklists from the 1997 Collector's Choice set. Griffey was a UD spokesman for a few years back then so they featured him prominently in a number of products. In this case the lower-end kid-friendly set gave collecting tips for younger folks in the hobby.

Now we're heading into the late 90s and early/mid-2000s with this bunch. For me I don't think it gets better than that 1996-2001 run UD had, including the '98 design you see above. The Fleer Update card marking his 400th homer is a nice addition, and of course he'd sock another 230 before all was said and done. The fourth card is an UD entry from a multi-product effort celebrating opening day in 2000 and it turned out great. The rest are quite nice too, especially 2001 SP Game Used, and unfortunately my scanning went off the rails with the last card, but I didn't notice until I was putting this post together and didn't feel like re-scanning!

Now we're into the late career and post-career stuff, a lot of which is also fun. I'll take UD's Masterpieces over Ginter any day, but now I don't have to choose! Recent Donruss Preferred doesn't hold a candle to the original, but I do like the callback, just like I do with the Donruss base (though the last card in the scan looks much better than the couple from '21). A Topps '86 throwback insert increases my count of Griffey on the Reds, we get one more Goodwin Champions base, and then there's probably the best photo in the bunch courtesy of--who else?--Stadium Club, and a Home Run Derby moment.

Junior does sneak one last card into this scan as well! I'm working on the '24 Topps Celebration of the Kid insert and this one gives me a total of 8 of the 24, so I'm making decent progress there.

Matt threw in one basketball card and it was a bit of a surprise: a relic of THJ, out of 2018-19 Prizm. He's out in Denver after spending last year with the Pistons, and he's putting up decent PPG as a bench guy.

And we'll close things out with Michigan Football. As I write this post the big news in Ann Arbor is coach Sherrone Moore getting fired for an inappropriate relationship with an employee. I'm sure lots more info will come out over the next couple days, but in the meantime I'm mainly thinking of his wife and three daughters and hoping they can get through this heartbreaking situation. UM will find a new coach at some point and life will go on, but may their lives not be made a million times worse by his awful decisions.

That aside, I have a few more cards from Matt to enjoy. The first is Panini Zenith No Huddle red parallel of RB Blake Corum's RC. He just had himself a game, piling up 128 yards on 12 carries and two TDs including a 48-yarder as his Rams thumped the Cardinals. Hutch is always welcome in a trade envelope, be it on his own cards or on those that include other fantastic college/NFL defenders like Paye and Gary.Ojabo still hasn't found his footing in the NFL and I don't know if he will, but I love college-themed cards that remind me of him helping take down Ohio State. And DPJ may be out of the league but he had some memorable moments in Ann Arbor wearing the maize & blue, like he's doing on a Panini Legacy card above.

Matt, thank you once again for this awesome stack of cards, headlined by the Griffeys but supported by lots more of my favorite PCs. I appreciate the warm Christmas wishes and promise I'll return the favor pretty soon so you have something to put under your tree!

I'll be back pretty soon with another trade package recap!

10/3/25 card show report: scary cheap October cards

Catching up on these posts has gone decently well since I've actually put some effort into writing more often! Here we are with the last post I have planned for October.

Tonight we'll take a look at what I picked up at that month's show. I spent a paltry $50 that day, my low for the year by $5 (April), but that's ok because I definitely made up for it over the final two months. Plus I brought home some fun stuff for myself:

The baseball scan includes a fun mix of 90s/ish inserts and relics-ish. Gwynn's card is a 2002 Topps Gold, back when you could tell it was that parallel (and not "gold toile redgold waveblue"). It's numbered /2002 on the back and represents just the second year Topps printed that parallel after it began with the excellent 2001 set. I really like how these look, especially compared to the doldrums of the 2010s and 20s designs.

Next is Pudge on a 2000 UD Ultimate Victory Lasting Impressions insert. UV was the higher-end Chrome-like version of the budget Victory brand, and Rodriguez was one of 10 superstars found in this set. He'd just won the '99 AL MVP as well as his 7th straight Gold Glove (out of 10 in a row and 13 overall) and 6th straight Silver Slugger (of 7) and made his 8th of 10 consecutive All-Star appearances, with four more yet to come. So yeah, he made a lasting impression and fits right in with this set!

The unfolded Maddux card is the reason for the "90s inserts rule" tag tonight, though the others are close enough to be honored too. He's seen here on a 1998 Circa Thunder chase card called Limited Access, which includes a typical front and back but folds out so you get even more content inside. That includes another image and some stats in various situations from his first five seasons with the Braves:

(It took me a minute to figure how what these numbers represented until I checked just his Atlanta stats!) Pretty cool, eh?

As for the other interesting cards, first up there's a manupatch of Griffey from 2003 UD Patch Collection's MVPs insert. This one represents his '97 AL MVP win. It's a fun manufactured relic and came to me relatively cheap, so I'm quite happy with it.

Next is a 2005 Bazooka Blasts Relics bat of former Tigers SS Carlos Guillen. Don't ask me why he's listed with the Angels there since he only ever suited up for Seattle and Detroit. This looks to be my second relic (first bat) of the three-time All-Star who was quite productive for some 2000s Tigers teams.

And going alphabetically saves the best for last: a Greg Maddux 2003 Fleer Tradition Milestones Game Used Gold jersey (numbered /100 on the back). I snagged this with a few other cards in this scan and one or two in the next one for a very good total price. Mad Dog's 15 seasons of 15+ wins was a very impressive feat, and he achieved that in consecutive seasons (actually 17, in the end), plus an 18th in 2006 (and missed by one in '07). From 1988-2007 his average record was 17-10, and that's how you get to 355 career wins! This cool relic marks my 20th such card of Maddux and 21st hit overall.

With most of the attention on the baseball stuff, we'll quickly switch over to basketball and football to close things out. The former includes some nice color of Trey Burke, Caris LeVert, and Jordan Poole, and I continue to be able to find stuff like this in the dime and quarter boxes decently often. They grab my attention enough even though they're from my least favorite sport, and I'm happy to add them, plus cool stuff like Juwan Howard's '98-'99 Bowman's Best base.

As for football, RCs of Seattle RB Zach Charbonnet and Washington DB Mike Sainristil were nice finds for my chase of first-years. Harbaugh's a '97 Collector's Edge Extreme Foil insert, though there's not much of that feature on the card besides the swoosh running along the left and curving around to the bottom. And last up is one of my favorites from this month: my second of what amounts to three Charles Woodson entries from a 1998 Press Pass insert called Triple Thread. The '98 Heisman winner as well as QBs Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf each got a trio of cards in this set, naturally, and the versatile Woodson was the one true player who could claim the set's name. The three cards fit together kind of like Stadium Club's Triumverate, and I'll show those off once I nail down his card #7.

That's it for the month of October, at least for now. I may show off a non-card Facebook purchase from then if I feel motivated enough, but I'm really more interested in finalizing my blogger trades, shows, eBay pickups, and eventually, TCDb deals from the second half of the year. So I would expect my next post to dip back into trades, in this case from November. Maybe even soon!

2025 trade package #21: Sport Card Collectors

Tonight I'm covering my lone October trade envelope which I think arrived about a week before a super busy month for my mailbox. This one's a fun collaboration as Dion (Dion's IP Autos Only) sent it to me on behalf of buddy of the blog Matt of Sport Card Collectors. Matt sends me PWEs throughout the year pretty regularly and this was a fun way to get one as he traded Dion for some Michigan cards I could use. (He also sent me an early Christmas package but you'll have to wait a few days until I catch up to November!)

Please enjoy this 100% Michigan-themed trade recap!

Larkin represents baseball tonight, and he's a pretty good option given he's probably the most notable Michigan alum in MLB of the past 50ish years, though that's nothing against guys like Jake Cronenworth, Rich Hill, JJ Putz, and many others. The HOF SS looks great in his School Colors.

Michigan Basketball is certainly having a season to remember (along with the hockey team, though they're not represented here tonight), firing on all cylinders with an 8-0 start that includes four games in which they scored 100 or more. These two guys have long since left Ann Arbor but Bufkin and the younger Wagner bro, as seen on Wild Card Alumination cards, both put up good enough numbers over two seasons each to get drafted in the first round. Wagner's turned into a star for Orlando and that's been fun to see, especially as my collection of his cards continues to grow.

Football ended up comprising 75% of this envelope and that's 100% fine with me! First we have former Bills (and three other teams) QB Todd Collins appears on items from 1995 Classic and Superior Pix. They get me a couple cards closer to the century mark with a current total of 92, and of course I'm digging the college action photos.

I'll talk more about the other football guy in this scan since

he appears four more times in this one! Before Blake Corum's Michigan career Mike Hart was my all-time favorite Wolverines RB, and I think that may still be the case, but they're very close. That's why I was super excited to see the last card of the first scan, a 2008 Topps Rookie Progression Gold parallel that's numbered /199 on the back. I have 140 cards of Hart but it feels like it's rare for me to get anything this nice of him anymore. That makes this insert my favorite in the package.

But that's no slight against the rest. 2008 UD Draft Edition's set included a number of multiplayer cards, some of teammates and others of guys who shared positions. The one of Hart with #1 overall pick LT Jake Long, who blocked on many of Mike's TDs, is especially cool, and the other pairs him with fellow back Darren McFadden, the first-rounder out of Arkansas who played 10 seasons with Oakland and Dallas.

The other two Hart cards also describe him very well. 2009 Topps Magic is a fantastic set, and it was magic how often Hart ran without losing yards or fumbling, and how often he'd pick up key blocks while stoning players much bigger than him. And if he was "Mini" sized, well, he made up for it in strength, toughness, and determination. That makes him a great choice to be the most prominent player in this envelope.

Last up is another very tough Michigan RB from the 2000s. Chris Perry was a Heisman finalist in 2003 as he had a crazy 338 rushing attempts for almost 1700 yards, plus 18 runs for scores (in addition to a pair of TD catches). He embodied persistence with a school record of 51 carries for over 200 yards against rival Michigan State that year, leading the Wolverines to a tough 27-20 win in East Lansing.

I love that the maize & blue really pop on the two 2004 Press Pass cards Matt got from Dion for me: a base card and Showbound insert.

Thank you again to Matt for getting these for me and Dion for making the effort to send them my way. I may just have Christmas items in store for both of you! As I mentioned I'll show off the next package from Matt soon, but first I need to do a quick recap of October's show. That package will then lead off at least six November trades from current/former bloggers, and I'm looking forward to thanking each person for what they sent me.

9/5/25 card show report: $70 in September

Tomorrow's a show day, likely the last of 2025, so as I continue catching up on stuff from earlier this year let's take a look back at my September trip to TaylorTown.

Pickings were a bit slimmer this time but still not as paltry as they were when I spent a yearly low of $55 in April. $70 was my total and I came home with these:

That Crawford/Kaline/Kuenn quartet is a very nice one, with "Wahoo" Sam and the '53 AL ROY showing off some pleasant Diamond King designs and Mr. Tiger repping the Zenith subset from '23 Panini Chronicles. Those bordered cards are always winners for me. Fellow Tiger Riley Greene joins in the fun on a Topps Chrome Refractor from this year's product.

No Griffey or Gwynn this time, but I did fish out one each of Maddux and Ripken. Mad Dog hails from DK's "The Club" insert while the Iron Man is seen on an '86 Fleer Star Sticker.

Just one many Verlander from that trip, but at least it's a numbered one: a '23 Topps Gold parallel of his league leaders card appearance noting that he led the AL in wins with 18 (against just 4 losses), good enough to earn his third Cy and second as an Astro. His fellow Tiger from 2005-2010, Jeremy Bonderman, represents the purchase's lone hit: a 2004 Studio Game Day Souvenirs relic. As you can see this is the "Number" version with the swatch cut out to display Bondo's #38. Speaking of numbering, it's limited to 300 copies, and marks my 7th hit (all relics) of the 2001 first-rounder. I miss the old Donruss!

The word of the day when it came to basketball was "color" as I nabbed a veritable rainbow in the dime and/or quarter boxes (I can't remember). LeVert is already in his 10th NBA season and happily his first with the resurgent Pistons. Poole liked his "W" teams as he was drafted by the Warriors and later traded to the Wizards. He was traded to New Orleans in a three-team deal earlier this year.

I found an even bigger quantity of LeVert's new teammate, Duncan Robinson, in those same boxes. Panini's Donruss Optic, Prizm, and Select combine to form this crazy mix of colors. I'm just four away from the 50-card mark in Robinson's PC, so maybe I'll put a little more effort into finding a few of him tomorrow.

I picked up 10 basketball cards, so why not duplicate that effort with football? I was glad to score a few numbered inserts this time, starting with a 2002 Fleer Premium Star Rubies insert. It takes the already beautiful base design and gives it a ruby motif with a red border and foil background, plus it's numbered to just 100 copies. I don't know if Charbonnet is taking the league "by storm" but the third-year RB seems to be making the most of his opportunities, and he's already matched last season's total of 8 rushing scores with a few games to play, which is awesome. Nico's been a bit banged up at times while dealing with a very inconsistent QB, but he's got 4 receiving TDs plus he just ran in a score as well, and he still has time to eclipse his own 8-TD personal best.

Speaking of injuries, LB Junior Colson unfortunately can't stay healthy, but at least I can still buy cards of his like this 2024 Panini Certified Pink parallel that's numbered /225 on the front. If the Bowman Chrome U of Donovan Edwards looks familiar that's because it's the base version of the Purple card I showed off this past Saturday when I recapped August's show! And EDGE Rashan Gary is as laser-focused on piling up sacks and TFLs as the Oranger Laser Prizm you see above.

Ty Law continues to appear in releases from long after his playing days, like 2024 Topps Chrome (and its X-Fractor parallel) and I think that's awesome for the HOFer. Speaking of Refractors, I scored one of early 2000s Michigan QB John Navarre's 2004 Topps Chrome RC. One of the flat-out nicest cards of the day was a Gold-Framed parallel of WR David Terrell's 2001 Private Stock rookie, numbered to just 49--quite a low number for the era. And GOAT DB Charles Woodson closes things out with a 2024 Topps Signature Class insert called "After Image" that looks pretty nice considering Topps came up with it (and it lacks team logos).

That should be it for September, I think, though I'll verify that before moving on to October. I'll also be doing some Christmas shopping at tomorrow's show if I can, then supplement that with eBay if necessary, before sending out Christmas cards (I'm skipping COMC entirely this year for obvious reasons). I hope the rest of you stay safe and warm as the holiday season heats up!

2025 trade package #20: the Collective Mind

I've been blogging here since the last week of August of 2010. That's 15 years that have included lots and lots of trades with fellow bloggers. Still, in all that time there are some folks I haven't traded with for whatever reason.

Happily, I was able to cross Greg of the Collective Mind's name off that list in September after we made a jumbo-sized deal via TCDb. You can find him there under his username of LoQtus, which is a nice reference to a huge story line from Star Trek: the Next Generation.

Back in June he'd commented on one of my Facebook purchase recaps where I mentioned that the pile included a nice stack of a number of recent football base, especially from 2024. Greg mentioned he'd be interested in a starter lot of '24 Prestige, and I could certainly make that happen.

In total I sent him almost 400 cards between 2024 Prestige and Zenith retail, plus a few other baseball and football items, and in return I chose around 90 baseball and football cards that I could use. Win/win!

Here's what Greg sent my way:

I almost always sort things to scan alphabetically so it was a happy coincidence that scan #1 is a bunch of Tigers legends. Sparky and "Wahoo" Sam Crawford have the best looking cards thanks to the might of Topps' Gallery HOF product, and Crawford sees his same photo used on UD's also fantastic SP Legendary Cuts set. Miggy stars on a Stadium Club card representing a product that deserves to be in the HOF. Cobb and Gehringer (All-Star MVP ring) join in thanks to Panini's Hall-focused Cooperstown product. Gibby was still managing Arizona in the fourth of his five seasons there when his Panini Hometown Heroes card above was made, but he's known more as a Tiger (and to some degree, as a Dodger, but just for one very significant moment!). And of course there's another of my favorites in Grandy. Let's count: one many, two many...

...three many Grandersons! And this one is the best looking of the trio, but that's not much of a competition with UD Documentary and GQ being the other options anyway.

After Grandy there's a nice little run of Griffeys that extends into scan #3. The brands and years are all over the place and that's something I never fail to enjoy. I'd have to say my favorite overall here is the Ultra card because we get lots and lots of views of Griffey's sweet swing but not as many of his fielding prowess.

Occasional deals like this one help me to have a player like Griffey chase overall collection leader Cal Ripken Jr., whom we'll see in a bit in a smaller quantity. Ken's less than 100 cards short of Cal's 1360 as of this posting, and that's not bad!

Mr. Padre Tony Gwynn is next and the second of the big four PC guys in this bunch. I managed to get him over the 1000-card mark at some point this year which is super exciting, and I look forward to having all four over that milestone soon. You'll see more of him in the next scan plus another below, and again there's a fun mix of designs. I can't easily pick a favorite look here but I do really like the photo on the Topps Opening Day base.

There are just three more Gwynns to choose from here but I love that the Pros & Prospects card makes him look like he's breaking the sound barrier thanks to those lines in the middle.

The guys I already mentioned got nice boosts to their collections but I think Maddux, #3 of the four big PCs, got the nicest bump in this trade, both in terms of quality and quantity. '97 Zenith is a particularly nice looking set but the others aren't exactly chopped liver either.

Numberwise Maddux is behind Barry Larkin (994) with 968 on the way to 1000, but the best part is that I don't care who hits it first because I win either way! It's great that he gets an entire scan to himself here, not to mention some more very nice designs like Fleer Genuine/Insider, Leaf, and Sweet Spot. The Topps Moments & Milestones numbered card is apparently my 26th from that voluminous product, and I seem to have way more of this card (#15) than the others (12, 13, and 14) from the 2007 set combined.

Maddux even encroaches on this scan with one more vertical card, but we'll be seeing him again momentarily.

Before getting to the 4th big PC guy I did come up with a couple other Tigers stars. 3x WS winner Jack Morris made the cut with cards from '88 Donruss All-Stars (the oldest card in the deal) and 2004 Donruss World Series Heroes. The latter is actually a Blue Holofoil parallel and numbered /100, and the color works very well for the team it's celebrating. Magglio joins Gibson in Tigers lore with a big playoffs homer of his own, plus you see him here on a 2008 Topps Chrome Trading Card History insert, one of the manufacturer's fun chase cards from back when they gave a shit about them.

Lastly, I "only" ended up with two Cals, but one of them is a '97 Burger King card, which gives me five of the eight in a set I'll eventually complete. And while I'm not much of a Ginter fan, I do like the insert celebrating his record consecutive games played streak.

Moving over to the horizontals, Panini's Cooperstown pops up a few more times for Detroit/Philly HOFer Mickey Cochrane, Gwynn, and Mr. Tiger Al Kaline. That quote on Kaline's card from Ted Williams is very high praise, no? Meanwhile, Griffey gets one more appearance, Gwynn gets a few more, including a pair from the excellent Donruss Champions product, and Mad Dog returns. He indeed won his third Cy in '94, and would finish with a consecutive quartet thanks to an insane 19-2 1995 campaign that included 10 complete games, plus of course a World Series ring.

At last we approach the end of the Maddux cards. The Classic Clippings base is quite nice but it stands no chance against the 2005 Elite Face2Face insert that pairs him up with Bagwell and is numbered /1500. Speaking of numbered cards, I thought the 2008 UD Piece of History Cut From the Same Cloth Silver insert /149 was cool as it pairs up Carlos Guillen with the previously seen Ordonez. Those two were instrumental in the Tigers surprising everyone by making it to the '06 World Series.

Lastly, minis of Gwynn, Maddux, and Verlander (just one many!) from GQ and Ginter close out the baseball items. I did, however, include Michigan Football coach Fielding Yost in this scan since he didn't fit in nicely with the rest of the stuff from that sport. The West Virginia alum was a pioneer and innovator of the sport, winning six national championships and lots of games in Ann Arbor and getting his name all over the place, including the current hockey arena on campus (formerly a field house).

The first of three football scans mostly focuses on star WR Braylon Edwards and transfer RB Justin Fargas, but TE Devin Funchess and QB/HC Jim Harbaugh make cameos as well, with the latter being almost literal on a card that includes journeyman QB Mitchell Trubisky.

Things get pretty exciting for me in this scan as I love picking up anything new of RB and former position coach Mike Hart, especially numbered inserts. The Playoff Contenders Round Numbers Gold (/1000) pairs him up with Thomas Brown while the other is a Press Pass Reflectors parallel numbered /500 (and featuring a college action photo!).

I wouldn't usually pick up a card celebrating a Tom Brady interception but that was Michigan-on-Michigan crime thanks to CB Marlin Jackson. He's joined by another star Michigan defender in Jabrill Peppers. The we get a nice little bunch of cards of Denard Robinson, one of which includes The Good Place favorite Blake Bortles.

Last up is this very nice octet of horizontals, all but one of which are college cards, to my great joy. Braylon makes one more appearance from one of his brief tenures with the Jets, and Funchess adds a couple SAGE HIT cards to his collection.

The rest here represent a bunch of my favorites from the draft class I still love the most from 2008. WRs Adrian Arrington and Mario "Too Many" Manningham(s) are joined by RB Mike Hart and QB Chad Henne on some Press Pass and Reflector cards (also /500 like the one from earlier) while Henne gets a solo card from 2008 SAGE Aspire's 5 Star insert, very apropos for today being the first day of the early signing period. I really love the look of the rainbow foil, numbered Reflectors paired with Press Pass's design from back then.

Once again, many thanks to Greg for making this huge trade! It was awesome working with him and I hope to do so again, but until then, keep following him at the Collective Mind as he gets settled in from his recent move and reestablishes his card room.

I believe I'll be back soon, possibly as early as tomorrow if possible, to cover September's show before attending the December version to close out the year. Stay warm, stay safe, and try to enjoy some stress-free holiday planning!