2022 trade package #3: Bob Walk the Plank

This evening's trade package comes from a guy who blogs maybe slightly less than I do--I mean, come on, it's March already! Matt, who used to blog at Bob Walk the Plank, and now can be found more commonly on Twitter, hit me back in our longstanding back-and-forth dealing by directly shipping a package of goodies from COMC. They even arrived in the same year he requested his shipment! (Seriously, they do seem to be getting better on that front.)

Matt surprised me with some quality stuff (as usual) including a couple deep cuts that show how much he pays attention to the players I collect.

Here's two pages of some outstanding additions to my collections!:

Scan #1 opens with six cards from Brett Adcock's 2016 Bowman/Chrome Draft rainbow. Adcock, a P drafted by Houston in 2016, never made it beyond AA and was seen pitching in indy ball last year. He has just 31 cards to collect according to TCDB (making him today's deepest cut), with five of those being minor league issues and 10 more that are 1/1s, so my collection of 11 is pretty solid (#1 on TCDB, baby!). Up here you can see the Blue Border /150; Chrome Gold /50, Green /99, and Purple /250; and Gold Border /50 and Green Border /99. The remaining five I need for the rainbow are #d /150, /25 (x2), and /5 (x2). Well done, Matt!

Next up is a lone Hal Morris, but given that I'm at 302 of his 469 (#1 on TCDB, baby!), anything new is a good find. Better yet, this is a numbered '90s insert: 1997 Circa's Rave parallel, which is limited /150 copies, quite rare for the time!

Right after him is another pitcher, though one that's not quite as obscure as Adcock. Murray pitched for the Padres, Tigers, and Indians, and trades like this one keep me inching toward his 39 cards. Thanks to these I have 29 (#1 on TCDB, baby!), including his '97 Bowman Blue Ink auto and '98 Bowman Chrome International Refractor. The latter's especially nice as, besides being a Refractor, it's a somewhat tougher find given the era. I need to track down two more of his '97 Bowman signatures and another '98 Refractor /5 to sew up his non-minors (and others, including a buyback) collection, which is pretty cool.

Scan #2 beings with a bit more baseball before veering off into other sports. First up is card #218 in my collection of former Mariners/D-Backs closer J.J. Putz (#1 on TCDB, baby!) a surprisingly rare 2014 Topps 1st Edition. Hit the link to see how those were inserted and you'll see that just 10 copies were made of each card! They're not serial-numbered but at least have the obvious logo up front. This is a very rare card I was unlikely to get myself so it was perfect for this envelope.

Speaking of rare and former Michigan pitchers, next is a numbered pair of Clayton Richard, who's near a milestone at 147 cards (#1 on TCDB, baby!) out of his 437. On the left is a beautiful 2008 Bowman Draft Chrome Gold Refractor /50, and its diminutive partner is the Pink parallel /25 from 2019 Topps Mini. Very cool cards of the former QB-turned-pitcher.

Speaking of QBs, heading over to the gridiron I was very happy to see a new Chad Henne for one of my larger football PCs. I currently count 313 cards of the former UM gunslinger in my collection (#2 on TCDB...CRAP!) and few are as rare as the 2014 Rookies & Stars Longevity Black (#d /10) parallel you see above. Then again, I do have a cyan plate to go with that. Well, I did say "few", didn't I? This is certainly a nice addition to one of my favorite PCs.

And next we have a pair of talented college wideouts in David Terrell and Amani Toomer. The Terrell is card #157 in his collection (also #2 on TCDB...for now), a 2002 Pacific Adrenaline base with a "Pacific Nights Special Edition" stamp and digital serial numbering /10, making it one of the rarest cards in his bunch. I don't know much about that promotion that looks to have appeared across a number of Pacific's products, but I love the rarity and am happy to have the card.

Meanwhile, Toomer's card, #318 (good for a distant 3rd on TCDB, maybe I should stick to baseball) is somewhat similar, from a set called 2002 Playoff Honors Player of the Week Panelists. The backs are numbered, also to just 10 copies, and the write-up about each player's qualifications is pretty nice, if Amani's card is any indication:

Hail, hail, indeed!

And we'll finish up on the ice as Michigan Hockey heads into conference tournament play before hopefully securing a #1 seed and eventual Frozen Four appearance. One guy who was no stranger to those was former WolverWing and head coach Red Berenson. My 39 cards (tied for second on TCDB by just one card!) of the Wolverines legend include this amazing pair. On the left is a 2004-05 In the Game Franchises US East card depicting him with the Rangers, one of his four NHL teams, albeit the one he spent the least time with. It's #d /10 with a Chicago National Convention stamp that seems to be more accepted than some of the random ones you'll see pop up at times. That's joined by a card from one of the cooler hockey products in recent memory: 2012-13 In the Game Motown Madness. The Gold parallel you see of the five-year Red Wing isn't numbered but is said to be limited to just 10 copies. Sweet!

Last up this evening is a technical Michigan uni card of a goalie who almost took the team all the way to the top in 2011. Shawn Hunwick was out of his mind that year and eventually made an emergency appearance for Columbus in the pros, leading to a few cardboard appearances. I own 37 of them (hey, #1 on TCDB, baby!), and the one you're seeing today is a Sapphire parallel #d /85 of his 2012-13 Upper Deck Artifacts RC. It's been tough sledding finding his cards at reasonable prices so I really, really appreciate Matt including this one as much as anything else in this envelope.

Matt, thank you once again for a very thoughtful mailer that clearly shows how much effort you put into finding some great cards for my Michigan PCs, even chipping in towards the ones where I'm clearly #1 on TCDB (baby!). I always love our deals because we both value sending some top notch stuff to each other, and I promise that'll continue from my end after I build up enough to send a package your way.

Up ahead: lots more trade packages and eventually cards from TCDB deals!