2017 trade package #20: the Daily Dimwit

After going about three and a half years between a couple trade packages I only had to wait a few months this time to receive some cards from Sam, the Daily Dimwit.  The nomadic collector of Houston teams and prolific purchaser of wax put in a nice amount of effort to scan his trade bait by team recently.  A card in his Tigers/Royals post caught my eye and we quickly made a deal--boom--just like that, which sounds like a textbook Dimwit deal to me.

So I happily packaged up his cards and some other oddball stuff, and pretty soon I received my desired card, along with a couple more that "fell into the envelope":

Throw-in #1 is this sold relic of Pudge from a 2006 UD relic set called Team Pride.  '06 was Rodriguez's third of four-plus seasons in Motown, and saw his third of four straight All-Star nods (#13 of 14 in his career) and 12th of 13 Gold Glove Awards won.  Of course that's also the year Detroit surprised a lot of people in winning the AL Pennant.  "Team Pride" is apropos of Rodriguez's Tigers tenure as he helped restore some respect to the team; it's been said a lot, but it's true.  So it's nice to have my seventh hit of him in my Tigers PC.

Hey, it's the guy whose name appears in this here blog's title!  This Verlander relic from 2016 A&G was also included in Sam's trade bait post, but I didn't think to ask for it because I didn't want to get greedy after having made a deal I liked for the next card you'll see.  Sam being Sam tossed it in anyway, or was merely a spectator as it jumped into the snap case by itself, if you choose to believe his story.  JV may be with a different team (Sam's favorite team, in fact) in a faraway state, but you'll still see me rooting for him and collecting him right here.  Speaking of that, say hello to Verlander #254 and hit #20.  Milestone!

Ah, there's the showstopper, the card that made me hurry up and respond to Sam's post so I wouldn't miss out on it!  Some of you know that I collect Gehringer especially because of his Michigan Baseball connection, but I also highly respect him as a Tigers legend, and that's why this HOF triple relic, which also includes Greenberg and Goslin, was a must-have.

This group, as highlighted by Panini's 2014 Classics Classic Lineups set, played together from 1934-1937, Goslin's four seasons in Motown towards the end of his career.  Hank was still in Detroit in '41 before sacrificing three years to the war effort, come back for '45 and '46, then spend the final season of his career as a Pirate.  Meanwhile, the Mechanical Man rode out the rest of his playing career, through 1942, as a Tiger.

The team represented by this lineup won 366 games with two AL second-place finishes (the final two years), the '34 pennant (losing to St. Louis) and the '35 World Series (over the Cubs!).  A young-ish Greenberg clobbered more than 100 HR and posted 500+ RBI in those four seasons while winning the '35 AL MVP.  Goslin contributed 50 HR, 345 runs and 371 RBI to go with a .297/.376/.456 batting line.  And old Charlie hit a mere .352 with a .961 OPS, 535 runs, and 447 RBI; he was an All-Star in each campaign and claimed the '37 AL MVP award.

So yeah, you could say I'm pretty excited about getting this cool bat/jersey/bat combo featuring these three players, giving my my first relic of Gehringer and 10th hit of his overall (another milestone!).

Sam, thanks again for a great swap, and I hope we can match up for a deal again soon.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed what I sent you and I look forward to seeing what you post!