Today's trade package appears to be a fun first for me: a collaboration between two bloggers! While I've swapped cards a few times with Greg of the world famous Night Owl Cards, I had yet to work with Dawg Day Cards owner Angus. Then the two met up at a recent show (which I highly recommend!), as the note Greg included mentioned, and the result was "a combined effort" with some fantastic cards:
I'm happy to report that the pair delivered a masterful performance, starting with this mix of Tigers new and old. New DH "Miggy" looks great on last year's Donruss Optic. Cobb's total increases with a couple recent Topps inserts. Mr. Tiger stars on a cool promo card for a set called "Spectrum Diamond Club". V-Mart gets the Sepia Refractor treatment from 2015. And rejuvenated (e.g. away from toxic hitting coach Lloyd McClendon) catcher James McCann can be seen on his last Detroit Topps card, in this case a parallel.
And a few more Tigers. I don't miss Jones at all but Palmer and Clark were fun to watch on the infield corners, especially at the plate. The maybe possibly healthy Jordan Zimmermann is this year's flagship Gold parallel. And I've seen that merry-go-round at Comerica Park more times than I can remember.
After covering my main team, Greg and Angus hit my four big non-Michigan baseball PCs, plus this here blog's namesake. Both Griffey cards--'98 Pinnacle Performers and '07 UD First Edition--were new to his collection, an exciting development for me. I already had both Gwynn cards by virtue of owning the complete sets, but they'll make great trade bait, plus they shouldn't be skipped over by any self-respecting blogger at a show. Same thing with Maddux--why would you ignore one of the best pitchers of his generation or '95 SP Championship?!
Getting back to new items, the Ripken is a 2017 Topps insert highlighting All-Star Game MVPs, and this is one of Cal's two appearances as he won the award both in '91 and a decade later, as this card notes, during his farewell season. Last up is a fun new Verlander from this year's Heritage's Then and Now insert, one of two that pairs him with the terrific Palmer. JV has been matched with a number of great pitchers on similar inserts but this is his first with Palmer, a very good choice.
And the cherry on top was this great selecting of Michigan Football guys that was 100% college photo action! It also doesn't hurt that six of the eight players represented are PC guys. Arrington and Avant are from Topps' sublime 2009 Magic product (Mini inserts) while Crable's cards hail from UD sets produced during his 2008 draft year. Speaking of my favorite Michigan Football draft season, my three top players from that group are all here as well: Hart and Manningham (UD Draft Edition) and Henne (Press Pass SE Gold parallel). Multi-sport bust Drew Henson appears on his RC from one of my favorite Topps Draft products ('04) and former #1 WR David Terrell closes out the day with a 2001 Press Pass card that evens him up with his always-paired teammate Anthony Thomas at 147 items.
Greg and Angus, thank you both for this unexpected and well-balanced package of Tigers, Wolverines, and PC guys! Greg, I'll keep working on finding stuff you'll like, especially '75 buybacks (I saw that wantlist!) and Angus, I look forward to trading with you when you're ready.
You've been tag-teamed! That merry-go-round sure is neat, is that a thing that people are actually allowed to ride?
ReplyDeleteBoth guys did a great job! Yep, the merry-go-run runs all game and it's located inside the food court area, which is a pretty good spot for it. I tend to think of the ferris wheel with baseball compartments before the other ride (they're on opposite sides of the stadium), but it's nice that they have stuff like that for the kids when they get bored.
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