2020 trade package #21: Scribbled Ink

As unlikely as it looked multiple times this year, the MLB season is under way, and that's terrific news! Speaking of unlikely, that's a great word to describe today's trade package from buddy of the blog Paul of Scribbled Ink.

A mix of stuff I picked out from his TCDB trade bait and cards he generously added, it arrived this past Monday, almost two whole weeks after the former Michigander mailed it from Sterling Heights, which is less than an hour away from me. And all of that came after a big COVID-related delay with Paul taking some very reasonable precautions. So through no fault of his own, this package took a little while to make it here.

But as always whenever Paul's involved, it was worth it, big time! As a fellow Tigers collector he sent me some nice additions there, then boosted a bunch of my player collections as well. Please enjoy ten scans worth of Scribbled Ink loot!

The Tigers stuff is a great place to start, even if their start to the season Friday wasn't the greatest. (Things have been a bit better since!) At least we have some talent to look forward to in the near future! The mix of 2020 Donruss cards here was almost completely new to me except for one of the Demeritte variations, and it was fun to get cards of both Miggy and Tram. Hopefully the young OF gets back up with the big club this season, though the lack of MiLB hurts players like him and Kirk's son Cam. Kaline and Kell (Renata Galasso!) are fond memories from a different time.

Four many Grandersons! He may be long gone from Motown (and retired now) but I love seeing his face in any package like this one where he's repping four different teams. Then there's the start of a great run of Griffeys. Seriously, this post features a bunch of Griffeys. Like a lot. These five hail from the glory days of the 90s and some top-notch brands: UD, Stadium Club, Leaf, and Pinnacle. The Leaf card from '95 features a brilliant design while the UD Electric Diamond parallel from the same year includes yet another great photo of that trademark swing.

Lots more Juniors. The Griffey's Hot List subset issue from '97 Upper Deck reminds me of how much I'd love to own that complete set. Maybe someday! There's also plenty of examples of baseball brands of yore like UD's Hitter's Club, MVP, and SPx, Pacific's Omega, and good old Fleer. The 2002 version of Topps' opening day looks quite nice, as does Cracker Jack from a couple years later.

This scan starts with an absolute stunner, showing off how great things could look when Donruss got it right, as they did with their '05 flagship product. There's a good few more looks at his sweet swing, including '07 Topps Chrome getting an opposite side shot with full extension. Also, if you're a bit confused by the Fleer offering in spot #3, that's a Black and White parallel, with an interesting twist that the rest of the design is in color.

That was the last of the solo Griffey scans, and Junior shares this one with another killer "G". He gets one last Reds card, and the caption couldn't be more perfect: "Fans adore Griffey wherever he goes." Then there's a pair of somewhat recent Topps inserts, both of which highlight the 13-time All-Star.

As for Mr. Padre, a decent number of these weren't new to me since I own a good number of junk wax-era sets, but that well-loved '86 Leaf did join the collection, and I really like the shot of the future HOFer in the on-deck circle.

I don't think I'll have trouble finding a home for any of the Gwynns I don't need out of these, and I'd rather see dupes than no Gwynns at all in my trade packages! The new one for me here is the Topps Archetypes insert, which credits Gwynn for his bat control, which allowed him to poke hits in the "5.5 hole" between SS and 3B.

He was as much a master of his craft as Greg Maddux, who snags a couple adds here himself with a '96 Fleer Checklist and 2000 Pacific Crown Collection base. One oddity of '96 Fleer is that I believe the base set is the only part of the product printed on the non-glossy, matte card stock while inserts like these are more conventional.

Last up here is former Royals, Tigers, and, yes, Rangers slugger Dean Palmer on his '97 Donruss Preferred bronze base card. That was a super expensive product at the time but boy did they result in some beautiful cards!

Hey, we've got a couple Michigan guys together up top here! Putz is, of course, retired, and Richard was released by Toronto late last year, so I'm not sure what his status is. I did need that Topps Sticker of the former Padre, though!

Ken's fellow Junior Cal had himself a nice mail day as all six of these cards were new to me. There's a nice variety from the glorious '91 Fleer design all the way up to an insert from last year's beautiful Leather & Lumber release, and an oddball playing card issue to boot! Side note: I have a maple bat but having hit with it I definitely prefer good old-fashioned ash.

I'm glad to be making some progress on my collection of new HOFer Ted Simmons now that I'm actually chasing his cards, like the above Topps All-Star card.

Fruit Loops is another guy I prioritized higher recently by adding pretty much anything I didn't have of his to my TCDB wantlist (which makes them easier to add in trades), and from Paul I scored three Tettletons: '89 Topps Big, '90 Sportflics, and '96 Metal. More Sportflics/Sportflix, please!

And then we come to JV, whom I just learned will be out for the rest of the year with an elbow injury, unfortunately. The Ginter card here is a bit dinged like him, with marks from the pack crimper--a minor flaw that doesn't bother me. And then the Prizm insert summarizes his career quite well.

This all horizontal scan mostly stars the previously seen killer "G" guys, but it leads off with a RC of former Wolverine and current Washington RP James Bourque--just my second of him--from last year's Topps Update.

Then there's another run of six new Griffeys, including a couple inserts I hadn't seen before from Ultra and UD. The '92 Topps Gold and '96 Summit base are plenty familiar, and I'm still a fan of Panini's Chronicles design. Ken's not catching Ripken anytime soon but he's now past the 950-card mark in my collection, which is awesome!

Finally here we have two Gwynn inserts. On the left is a Pacific Revolution chase card called "Rookies and Hardball Heroes." Call it whatever you want because that silver foil looks great! And to its right is a simple red foil parallel of Tony's 2019 Stadium Club base--a card that already looks nice on its own and doesn't need any shiny extras.

And here at last we come to the end of the package. My favorite card out of everything Paul sent is the Al Kaline '64 Topps base seen here. I accidentally grabbed a dupe of a different Kaline and flipped it to Paul for this one, though I can't remember if we agreed to the swap before or after the passing of Mr. Tiger. In any event it's always great adding a new card from his playing days and I hope I can continue to find them in the future.

I think Paul had let me know he was sending the '06 Topps Rich Hill auto seen next, and though I already had it I didn't talk him out of it since it'll likely make for good trade bait. Speaking of Rich, I think he'll be making his first start for the Twins this coming Wednesday, health allowing (which nobody takes for granted at this point).

And lastly there's a fun pairing of Michigan football: a '19 score RC of beastly DL Rashan Gary and a 2001 Pacific Vanguard V-Team insert of former #1 WR David Terrell (/999). They're both Michigan uni cards and therefore even more appreciated than usual, plus I don't know that I've ever seen that V-Team insert before, so bonus points there.

Paul, thanks again for putting all these great cards together and sending them my way before you left the state. I'll leave it up to you if you want to explain the details of your move, but for now I'll say I'm thankful for how much we got to hang out while you were in Michigan, and I'm looking forward to continuing our great trades no matter where you are!