The baseball portion surprisingly outnumbered the hockey stuff today, if you can believe it. My Miggy collection got a step closer to 300 cards (295) with a premium looking 2019 Triple Threads base. I wonder how well one of the facts on the back will age: "Tweets in English and Spanish to more than one million followers." Light hitting SS Chris Gomez is seen turning two on his '95 Collector's Choice SE base. I needed to look up that shiny Christin Stewart since I don't know Panini baseball brands too well, and it turns out it's from 2019 Chronicles, specifically the Obsidian set. I'm betting he'll get a long leash next year as the team continues to rebuild. Last up is an '89 Fleer base of PC guy Chris Sabo and still-getting-paid guy Bobby Bonilla.
Here's where the baseball group got even more fun: 2019 Topps Heritage Minors cards of some of Detroit's top prospects. Baseball America's Top 10 list isn't up yet so we'll go by MLB.com's. Mize and Manning, a couple starters, are the class of the farm system at 1 and 2. OF Daz Cameron (son of Mike!) is #8 while P Alex Faedo is right behind him at 9. Another P, Beau Burrows, is 14th (after opening the year higher), perhaps going through some development issues after being picked out of high school in 2015. And you can leave a guy with a name like "Brock Deatherage", the Blast Hardcheese of the minors, out of a set at your own peril.
Next, what the gridiron content lacked in quantity, it made up in quality, in spades. I was shocked to see what becomes my first plate of PC guy Steve Breaston, the magenta version from 2012 Bowman. That design is still jarring to see as it was what I consider a huge departure from their norm--in a good way. Magenta is an appropriate color for Stevie as he was appearing on his second franchise that featured red in its team colors. I love getting new 1/1s and this is even better since it's a PC guy I enjoy collecting. It's also my 128th such card!
Joining Breaston is fellow WR Devin Funchess on a card that was unfamiliar to me, but one that I instantly loved. Panini's 2015 National Treasures Collegiate multi-sport product included similarly designed die-cut signatures from each, and naturally this one takes on a football shape. The autograph and numbering (#96/99) are certainly a plus, but y'all know my favorite feature here is the college uni. Great pickups on both of these, Doug!
Hockey's last up as usual and once again there's plenty to like. That starts with base cards of J.T. Compher and Zach Hyman from this year's UD Series I, where Upper Deck proves that nobody does the sport better. I was very excited to see my first card of wunderkind Quinn Hughes (2019-20 OPC), a super talented D-man I got to see in his couple years in Ann Arbor (2017-19) where he'd absolute fly up the ice. And lastly, there's Max Pacioretty, who seems like he's been around forever, from 2019-20 Artifacts. He's close to hitting double-digit goals for the 10th straight year in his second season in Vegas.
That wasn't quite everything, though, as the toploadered cards, decoys, and tape protected something else valuable within:
A signed 8x10 of former Wolverine C Andrew Cogliano! Doug's sent me all kinds of stuff over the years but I think this is just the second time this kind of autographed memorabilia has come my way and I love it. It joins that relatively small collection as just the third hockey piece, and I might just have to see about framing it and putting it up somewhere.
Doug, thanks again for some fun surprises and some really nice additions to my collections! Hopefully I'll be putting the finishing touches on your Christmas cards package (and many others) in the next week or two between COMC, eBay, and the last show of the year.
That is a nice Funchess, I hadn't seen those before either.
ReplyDeleteThat was not a nice game, I wish I hadn't seen it.
Yeah, I hadn't either, now I'll be looking for more from that product.
DeleteSorry you came all that way for that performance. We're going in the right direction but it seems like there's no end in sight to the OSU problem!
That Funchess card is SWEET!
ReplyDeleteHell yeah! Gimme college action cards any day. Go Blue! (even after what happened this afternoon)
DeleteNice printing plate!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Plates, like Refractors, always look great as a rule.
DeleteWow. Very cool stuff. Especially love that signed photo with the silver signature on the dark blue.
ReplyDeleteGotta agree with you, Fuji--silver looks really sharp on colorful photographs like that. (Or should I say "colourful", Doug?)
DeleteVery cool stuff, Doug always sends the goods! I like the Pacioretty and Cabrera TT, but that Cogs 8 x 10 is really sharp! I had a couple of his autographed cards back when I was collecting Oilers.
ReplyDeleteThe minor league Tigers cards gave me an idea..I have to get you some Connecticut Tigers cards. Unfortunately Topps makes very few (about one a year, none this year) and my mom lives nowhere near Norwich. I'll track one down for you eventually.
Does he ever! So much to like here, as is always the case when Doug ships cards across the Detroit River. Thanks for thinking of me in terms of the ML cards, those are always fun.
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