2018 trade package #6: Cards on Cards

So as it turns out the mystery sender of the package I mentioned a couple posts ago was Kerry of Cards on Cards, which makes a lot of sense because I've only traded with a couple Oregonians.  What threw me off was the ZIP on the label which didn't quite match his, but Kerry was able to explain that.

So that means I have a nice bunch of stuff to show off from the Cards/Ducks fan for the eighth time on this here blog.  And I do mean a bunch!

Here's the start of a ton of Cabreras Kerry sent me, but by no means is this everything--it'll take portions of three more scans to take care of that!  Almost everything is Topps but you can see a Prizm and Optic appearance in there too.  My favorites are the Topps Chrome, Optic, and Bowman insert as it's numbered (#090/150).

This scan finishes off the vertical Cabreras (hint hint, more to come!) and includes a pretty cool Stadium Club insert from last year.  Then we finally get to look at another player, Nick Castellanos, on a pair of 2016 Topps releases:  Ginter and Heritage.  I hope he can keep his bat going with a move to the OF this season.

"Big Daddy" Cecil Fielder appears on consecutive Bazooka releases from '95 and '96.  I know I had the latter since I own the set but I believe the earlier one is new to me.  And while I'm on the subject of new stuff there's a pair (with more to come) of #1 starter Michael Fulmer via 2017 Chrome and A&G.  Keep sending these to me, guys, I love getting them!

Yep, there's always room in my collection for more of Michael Fulmer, such as his 2016 Heritage base and an insert from last year.  Another pitcher named Mike made the trip in the form of closer Mike Henneman ('93 Flair) and he's joined by an even more famous Tigers fireman, Guillermo Hernandez, on my first Rediscover Topps card (from the '89 set).  Then we begin a very nice run of former Tigers 2B Ian Kinsler, who seemed to rival Miggy in terms of the number of new cards I added thanks to Kerry.  All five that you see here are from 2016 or '17, with the Archives card from last year being the clear highlight.  Turn two, baby!

We'll start this scan by finishing up the vertical Kinslers, and what a start it is with a beautiful Stadium Club card.  May that brand continue as long as I'm collecting!

He's followed by a pair of Martinezes:  the departed J.D. and the thankfully-leaving-soon Victor.  J.D. was a blast to watch after coming to Motown and retooling his swing, and I'm thankful that Detroit's front office is smart enough to recognize good opportunities at least once in a while!

New HOFer Jack Morris stops by with a pair of 80s issues--his '87 Leaf Diamond King (which I'm almost positive I didn't have) and '89 Upper Deck base.  Nice choices!

Brand new Brave Anibal Sanchez closes out this group, and I really wish him well after his Tigers stint that started very well and ended less so for various reasons.

Mickey Tettleton always gets a shoutout here so of course I loved seeing him on a product that itself is always worth noticing:  Sportflix.  He's joined by a surprising six J-Up cards from 2016-17.  The exciting OF, who re-upped with the Angels (and new teammate Ian Kinsler) can be seen on a number of Topps products--including a 2016 Heritage Chrome insert, #d /999--plus Panini's Donruss Optic.

And now we get to the horizontal stuff.  That starts with three more of Miggy from fairly recent Topps releases, including a Toys 'R Us (RIP) Purple parallel and a Heritage insert that pairs him with Pirates legend Roberto Clemente.  That's not a terrible pairing, though Baseball Reference seems to indicate that Frank Robinson or Willie Stargell might be better comparisons.

MLBPA head Tony Clark pops up on a great landscape action card at the plate out of '98 Ultra that you could totally mistake for Stadium Club if not for the font used.  Then Ian Kinsler pops up three more times on some better Topps releases including Stadium Club, an Orange Chrome Refractor, and 2016 Chrome.

Pitchers are then responsible for the final two cards.  Max Scherzer was the player listed with Detroit on the multiplayer Heritage card but David Price joined him soon enough.  And finally, the Stadium Club brand has had much better days than Jordan Zimmermann lately, but maybe he could still put up some decent numbers to make some headway towards justifying his atrocious contract.

This whole scan is devoted to non-standard sized cards and mostly comprises 2014 Topps Mini stuff.  Former Tigers Alex Avila, Doug Fister, and the previously-seen Sanchez are the verticals while a pair of Cabreras were done up lengthwise.  A cool skinny Kaline from last year completes the group.

Here's a bunch of rookie types from Bowman and Heritage sets.  Jimenez and Machado have good chances of making the 2018 squad out of Spring Training while Lobstein is long gone and Farmer is probably almost out of chances.  Some of the rest appear in the club's improving minors system with Manning and Burrows going 3-4 in BA's organizational top 10 and Stewart sitting at #9.  Meanwhile, Funkhouser and Alexander make the grade in MLB's list at #s 8 and 13, respectively.  In that list Manning is #2, Burrows 4, and Stewart 6.  Not a bad bunch!

Kerry hit one into the Upper Deck with this relic and auto from that awesome brand.  The first is a Magglio Ordonez jersey from 2008 Upper Deck Spectrum Spectrum Swatches, a Purple parallel #23/30.  As I think I usually say, I have lots of fond memories of Magglio with the Tigers and am happy to take as many of his cards as people want to send me--no such thing as Too Many Magglios either!  A quick count of him in my Tigers PC comes up with 14 relics (one bat and 13 jerseys) and an autograph.

Joining him is homer-happy flavor of the week Chris Shelton whose beautiful signature is paired with a very nice design.  I'd say the spotlight theme is done well, plus I'm a fan of signature window-type cards in many cases.

Former blog namesake Curtis Granderson made a cameo in this package by hitching a ride on this Miggy card, a Wal Mart Blue parallel from 2013 Topps.  It'll be heading to Grandy's PC, and as a bonus it made me realize I might have the base version in my Cabrera pile.  I did, so that's a two-for-one deal heading to that collection!

The only non-Tiger in today's post is Cal Ripken Jr. on this nice trio.  The A&G insert and Optic base are very nice but the highlight for me was easily the 2013 Pinnacle Team Pinnacle card you see first.  It's a fun callback to the glory days of 90s inserts for sure.  I flipped it over to see who they paired with Cal:

2012 was the one down year (due to injury) in a run of six years, the other five of which were very good campaigns for Tulo, so this was a good choice.  Ripken also has a version where he matches up with Derek Jeter, and each of those has a variation where the front and back players are reversed.

A quick side note:  these put me up to 699 Ripkens in the album!  I'll surely take care of that milestone soon.

And last up is the one and only Mr. Kate Upton, 2017 World Series winner and namesake of this here blog Justin Verlander.  The bunch was so big it was almost too many--almost.  This first group of nine starts with a trio from Panini's Triple Play product from 2012, then moves on to another product from the same manufacturer, 2015 Prizm.  Here you see the base card and Blue Baseball Prizms parallel (wonder why they call it that?).  Very nice use of blue, I think.

The rest of the group is Topps stuff, starting with 2015 and 2016 Ginter (which look almost identical front and back), plus 2016 Archives and Heritage.  Archives did a pretty good job with the '91 design.

And here's another quartet, all but one of which were new.  First is JV's 2016 Topps Opening Day base which I had somehow not managed to track down.  Next is the lone dupe, his 2017 Donruss base; I can't remember if I picked that up in a trade or at a show.  From the same product Kerry tossed in an '83 Retro Variation, which not only looks great but also reminds me of my birth year.  And last up is a '17 Ginter insert called What a Day which celebrates Verlander's second no-hitter, the one against Toronto in 2011.  Needless to say I was thrilled to add this many newbies to Justin's PC.

I was able to cover a large portion of what Kerry sent here but don't think for a second that you see everything he included.  That shouldn't be a surprise since his generosity knows no bounds.  Thanks again, my friend from the left coast, for a fantastic pile of new stuff I'm already enjoying.  I have a show or two on the schedule in the coming weeks and will make sure to dig out some stuff to hit you back!

Speaking of hits, please also make sure to head over to TMM this evening for my penultimate 2017 COMC post which is all football hits.