2022 trade package #6 and 7: Sport Card Collectors and Cardboard Collections

I meant it when I said the break from trade posts would be short, and this evening I'm back with two small envelopes I thought I could cover in one recap. Once again, good things do come in small packages.

First up is my first 2022 PWE from multi-blog guy Matt whom I most associate with Sport Card Collectors, though as a reminder you can also find him at Big Blue Cardboard and Cards Over Coffee. Matt sent me a six-card mailer and before I get to the five for me I'm going to shout out his generosity for the sixth card which was quite a nice one that I snagged for a trade package going out in the near future. Not that the stuff below is chopped liver, but this is one of the nicest items I've gotten from him and he didn't even hesitate to include it. I'll try to make sure to give him another shout-out when that person receives it, at least on Twitter if not here.

Anyway, on to the PWE!:

Matt and I both love collecting inserts so I wasn't too surprised to see a few Detroit-related items of that variety. Card #1 is a 2021 Topps Update Gold parallel of pitcher Rony Garcia. His name rang a bell but I'll admit that I had to head over to Baseball Reference to recall that the Tigers grabbed him from the Yankees in the 2019 Rule 5 draft. He's appeared in 17 games over the past two seasons, mostly out of the pen, and we'll see if he ends up factoring in there or the rotation at some point, though the odds remain long for a guy like him.

Next up is a guy with a bit more fanfare in top prospect Casey Mize. After a pretty solid first full season last year I'm dying to see how he performs for what should be an improving Tigers squad. Short of the Ben Baller logo I'm a fan of the Refractor-y insert of the future star on an '86 Topps throwback design, or pretty much any card that features Mize at this point since my collection of him is still fairly limited.

And then we have a 2021 Topps Chrome Prizm Refractor of the man himself, Justin Verlander. JV re-signed with the Astros this offseason after a long injury layoff that saw him pitch just once in 2020 and not since. As much as a loathe the Astros, the current incarnation of which won't escape the stink of their cheating scandal, I'm glad to see Justin continuing to succeed as long as his health holds up.

On the football end of things it's a tale of two Michigan QBs: the NFL's GOAT and one of my favorite college field generals. Brady's back (tell a friend) for another shot at glory, and he's back on TMV as well in the form of the 2015 Certified Gold Team insert you see above. The gold plus the foil make for a pretty good looking card, and I've often been a fan of Certified throughout its existence, though of course nothing will ever compare to the pre-Panini heyday of Donruss.

He's joined by a 2008 Topps Rookie Progression RC of gunslinger Chad Henne, a guy who put up almost 10000 passing yards plus 87 TDs in his four years in Ann Arbor, then went out with a bang thanks to a dramatic bowl win against Tim Tebow's Gators. I've always thought the set name was a bit awkward but other than that I think Topps generally did pretty well with designs back when they had the license to use NCAA unis.

Once again thanks for thinking of me, Matt, and especially for that nice addition for someone else's trade package that I think might just make their day! I appreciate your generosity as always and look forward to hitting you back soon.

The other envelope I'm showing off this evening came from busy box breaker/blogger Colbey of Cardboard Collections. Every now and then I'm able to send a package with a few Braves/Panthers/other items he collects, and recently he sent something back up my way:

Along with a nice note, Colbey gifted me this 2021 Panini Chronicles card of JV. Honestly, Verlander's almost the gift card of players you can send me. Not sure who I collect? Verlander's name is in the blog title! Don't have anything else handy? You know I'll like a Verlander card! (I say all of this in the most positive of ways as I'm also a fan of gift cards!)

What you're looking at is the Holo Gold parallel of Verlander's appearance in the America's Pastime portion of Chronicles. Those of you who've seen these in-person know they're pretty thick--this one just about matches up the six card stack from Matt above--so you know I've gotta bust out the Milhouse GIF:

I think these are quite cool since besides the thickness they have an acetate-type layer on the front, along with an interesting background. I think these are considered the "base" set (at least on TCDB) and then you can find lots of other designs/products inserted as well. As I mentioned, the one Colbey sent my way is the Holo Gold parallel so his name is spelled out with that type of foil plus the card is numbered to 49, putting it somewhat in the middle of the seven parallels. I like numbered cards, acetate, cool designs, and any Verlanders I don't have so this one is definitely a winner.

Thanks again for thinking of me with this cool new JV, Colbey! I hope I can find more goodies to send your way, and in the meantime I hope you have fun keeping the breaking business going!

Looking over at my desk I currently have two more decently large packages to cover so I'll try to get to those next, one at a time. In the meantime, please check out the blogs of both of today's trade partners.