2020 trade package #10: Cards on Cards

With a bunch of stuff due to show up this coming week maybe I can put a little effort into what I haven't posted yet!

A couple weeks ago I was checking my Informed Delivery and noticed that I had a package on the way from Oregon. That pretty much meant a coin flip between the two guys I trade with most often out there, and as it turns out, this time it was from Kerry of Cards on Cards. As I probably say every time I cover an envelope from him, he's easy for me to trade with since he also collects an MLB team plus a college.

Today's bubble mailer included my local MLB squad, plus a few of my player collections to boot:

We'll start with those Tigers, and it was largely a 2013 Pinnacle affair this time (including another card you'll see below). Somehow these are my first from that base set to go into my collection despite my predilection for the brand name. Though the design doesn't bring to mind the product's glory years in the 90s, I'm glad Panini brought it back, including some of the inserts. Dufex rules, and you can see that feature on the Fielder Slugfest and Garcia Museum parallel.

Miggy's the only guy from the Pinnacle group still with the team--no surprise as we're almost 10 years on from the release--and he also popped up in the package on a 2020 Heritage Chrome parallel (#d /999), a perennial insert that still looks terrific. His young teammate, catcher Jake Rogers, is the other guy here, on a 2020 Topps Stickers card he shares with the Reds' Joey Votto.

When I tweeted out a thanks to Kerry for these when they showed up I teased that he sent me too many Grandersons, and four is certainly enough to warrant that! Curtis' Mets quartet includes 2015 Stadium Club and Opening Day, plus 2016-17 Bunt. I do love me some Stadium Club, and I'm glad to have more cards of Grandy, especially of the non-Yankee variety.

Then it's time for the Juniors, Griffey and Ripken. George Kenneth's appearance comes from 2019 Topps Chrome Update's Family Business Refractor-y insert. I guess you could say a son following in the footsteps of his dad's excellent career with a HOF run of his own that included the pair going back-to-back could be called "the Family Business."

Next you'll see four of the six Iron Man items Kerry sent. The very cool outlier is an oddball for sure out of 1988 Donruss Pop-Ups. I know I have various items similar to this from that decade, but this is my first from the '88 set as Cal's the only guy on the checklist I PC. Similar to the Griffey above is a 150 Years of Pro Baseball insert highlighting Ripken's most famous accomplishment. And then we have a couple 2020 Donruss parallels: a Baby Shark border of his variation photo plus a Holo Pink, the later of which scanned closer to its true color than pink cards usually do!

Now we go from too many Grandersons to slightly fewer Verlanders. JV was the other representative from '13 Pinnacle, and Kerry sent both his base and Museum Collection cards, which is awesome. Maybe I'll try to track down his Artist Proof as well! Those are joined by Topps' most famous parallel, a Refractor out of '15 Chrome. It feels like it's rare at this point for me to get multiple JVs in a package and all of them are Detroit cards.

Before we get to the biggest surprises of this package there's another fun, oddball-ish Ripken to show off: his '98 Sports Illustrated Mini Poster. These were a great combination of useful, informative, and fun--the kind of thing I could see kids wanting to collect at the time.

And then we have the items I really didn't see coming: 2020 Topps RC Logo Medallions of Cal and the recently passed Albert William Kaline. If you somehow hadn't seen these yet, they're super thick reprints that include a chunky little "RC" logo medallion embedded in them. Kaline's is a reprint of his true RC while Topps opted for Cal's '82 Topps Traded issue, his first solo appearance but second card from the brand overall (the RC logo rears its ugly head again!). I'm glad to add these to each player's collection, and it's especially nice to have something new of Kaline in light of his recent death.

Kerry, thanks again for the fun surprise envelope that contained a bunch of great stuff for my collections! I actually have a good quantity of stuff to send back to you pretty soon, so be on the lookout for a mailer headed out west before too much longer.