2019 trade package #7: Brad's Blog

Brad of Brad's Blog is the next generous blogger to have hit my mailbox in what's shaping up to be a surprisingly busy month!  Not that you'd know it given the usual dearth of posts around here.  Well it's about time I took a break from my TCDB-induced ADD, gave Brad (among other traders) his due, and put some cards away!

The goods from this terrific bubble envelope stuffed with Tigers:

Tigers, like these five guys, two of which are still with the team.  I recently entered all of my Miggy cards into TCDB (including these and stuff from the rest of my trades) and he ended up in the top 10 of my baseball collection, which is pretty cool.   I'm most excited for that Castellanos Negative Refractor, though, even if Halloween is six-ish months away.  And the Rajai Gold is a fun reminder of the walk-off slam I saw him hit a few years ago.

In keeping with the theme of the last scan, here's five more players, including at least one HOFer.  I really hope Fulmer heals up and returns to his pre-injury form instead of becoming another flash-in-the-pan, what-if story.  And while I'm at it, I hope Jimenez, seen twice here in shiny form, avoids the fate of former Detroit RP Bruce Rondon.  Then there's three excellent "Killer 'K's" in Kaline and Kell--who were outstanding to listen to when they called games--and recent favorite Ian Kinsler.  Question:  has Topps ever made anything as simple and excellent as Greats of the Game?

He may be starring for another team--what former Tiger isn't these days?--but it's still fun to pile up new cards of J.D. Martinez.  Ditto for the recently retired Victor when they have a nice parallel border.  I'm glad to see McCann doing good things even if it's for the hated White Sox.  Stewart's been a somewhat interesting bat on an absolutely garbage offense in 2019.  Tettleton also played for some awful Tigers teams but was fun to watch.

Brad included what I'll assume is a team set from 2018 Heritage, which has a solid design as usual.  Four of these guys are currently with the team, with Fiers (Oakland) and Gerber being the exceptions.  Niko's been useful around the diamond, at least, and Greene has locked down the games the Tigers can get to him.

Of these guys, unfortunately the one I like the least--Zimmermann--is still with the team, though I hope he recovers well from his injury.  Liriano's one year in Motown was nothing to write home about and Mahtook, to nobody's surprise, didn't work out either.  Happily, Martin recovered from his near-fatal illness after joining the Indians, so there's a bright spot!

And now we get to the really good stuff.  Tram and Whitaker go together again, as is mandatory.  MANDATORY--you hear me, MLB Hall of Fame?  I don't always highlight non-hits like this, but I give Brad a huge thumbs up for sending me the '79 Topps Trammell second-year as I somehow didn't have it.  While the Whitakers are dupes I'm always happy to get any and all "Sweet" Lous in my mailbox.  And three of the five Verlanders are new to me as well, which is something that's not terribly easy to do given the stack I now have.

You've already seen lots of nice base and insert stuff, so maybe you're as surprised to see this sick Miggy patch here as I was when sorting through the envelope's contents.  Numbered a ridiculous 06/10, it's the Red parallel from 2018 Topps Museum Collection's Meaningful Material Relics.  That's my first patch of the future HOFer and I appreciate that Brad was generous enough to flip it my way!

And as if I wasn't wowed enough by that, check out this sweet vintage trio!  As his appearance implies on that '67 Topps leaders card, McLain was indeed among the AL's best in 1966, placing second in wins with an even 20 to Kaat's 25.  His teammate Wilson came over from Boston partway through the season and put up 13 of his third-place 18 victories in a season where he also led the league in bWAR!

McLain's all well and good, but the pair of 60s Kalines really floored me which is why I saved them for last here.  On the left is his '66 base card which includes a bit more than half of his career stats.  At that point he'd piled up 1949 hits and exactly 250 homers, and while he didn't even eclipse the 400-mark for the latter, Mr. Tiger did join the 3000-hit club in 1974, his final season.

His other card hails from the following year's set and pairs him up with another former Tigers star, or "Bengal Belter" if you'd like, "Stormin'" Norman Cash.  1966 saw Kaline match his career high with 29 longballs while Cash was money with a team-high 32 of his own, good enough to join his teammate at the Midsummer Classic.  Of course the year after this card was released the players shared the excitement of a World Series ring.

Brad, thanks again for some amazing new cards I'm excited to add to my collection because of this well-balanced envelope!  As always I'll be on the lookout for new Phillies (and the occasional Frank Thomas) for you.