2015 trade package #6: 50 years of Tigers from $30 a Week Habit

Thanks to Robert of $30 a Week Habit I now have my first trade of February to show off!  In return for a nice stack of cards for his unique SNI project I'll send eastward to Pennsylvania once COMC gets them to me, I got the following bounty:

Rick Porcello 2015 Topps Black (#58/64)

From his 12 hobby pack break of 2015 Topps, Robert sent me this nice Black parallel of former Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello.  I have to say it's nice to get one last card of Rick in a Tigers uniform.  I wish him luck for a great 2015 season that's sure to lead to a nice big payday in his first run at free agency!

I'll save my 2015 Topps ranting for a different post so I can focus on the positives here.  The main one is that I continue to like collecting Topps' Gold and Black parallels; anything beyond that starts to turn into overkill, but those two are the standard for me, and they give you both ends of the scarcity spectrum.  That and they look good to boot.  Cards numbered to something as low as 64 would have blown collectors' minds in the past but now they're fun and reasonable challenges to collect.

By the way, I think this is my first 2015 baseball card of any type, though I could easily be forgetting something.

Jim Delsing 1956 Topps

Billy Hoeft 1956 Topps

Well these certainly came out of nowhere!  I knew he was setting aside the Porcello for me but this pair of '56 Topps cards was a fun surprise to say the least.  I've never really been the type to chase vintage stuff, especially cards from the 50s, since it's often out of my price range if not my wheelhouse.  In that case, I really appreciate it when people send me older stuff, especially Tigers.  As far as the 1956 set goes, the only other card I can claim in my vintage collection is an Elston Howard I picked up at a show.  But I've always considered it to be a cool set whose design lives up to its legacy.

Since I don't know a ton about either guy--though I've at least heard of Hoeft!--it's off to baseball-reference for a history lesson:

Delsing was an outfielder that suited up for the White Sox, Yanks, Browns, Tigers, and K.C. A's over his 10-year career, and he spent five of those in Detroit.  His transactions list is fairly typical of the era's Wild West situation, and he spent time in a few other leagues before debuting with the White Sox, then traveled quite a bit in the bigs as well.  He doesn't look to have had a very potent bat, but I like that the majority of his games were with the Tigers.

Hoeft, a pitcher, also spent more of his career in Detroit than in any other city.  In fact, his first seven-plus seasons took place in Motown, and they would be the best of his career, including an All-Star appearance in 1955 and a 20-win season the following year.  Overall he'd finish with a win percentage south of .500, which is not surprising since he earned double-digit wins just three times over his 15-year career.  After Detroit he would play for Boston, Baltimore, San Francisco, the Milwaukee Braves, the Cubs, and the Giants again, before hanging 'em up.  One interesting note:  Hoeft was buried in a cemetery in my hometown of Livonia, MI, and it's apparently the same one in which 1919 Black Sox pitcher Ed Cicotte is interred.

Thanks again for the terrific Tigers trio, Robert, and I promise I'll get those cards out to you as soon as I have them!  Readers, check on his SNI progress and other collecting news over at $30 a Week Habit.