TCDB trade: lpb331

The next TCDB deal I have to show off is possibly the largest of the bunch on my desk so I'll definitely be tackling it by itself. This trade was with lpb331 back in January and it took a bit of back and forth but got there in the end.

One of the items he really wanted from me was the Ryne Sandberg 1994 Finest Refractor from my great big Facebook Marketplace collection purchase last year, along with some 90s inserts from the same bunch. I countered because I was hot after some nice 90s inserts he had, though he replied that based on the (pretty outdated) book value he found, I was coming out way ahead, which made no sense to me. I found actual recent prices on the Sandberg, which I hadn't bothered to check before, and realized that I'd actually dodged a bullet because I should be getting much more to make things even!

After a few more counters we came up with a deal I was happy with, bringing me some low-ish end base and inserts of some of my star and regular PCs, and most importantly, a handful of good to great 90s inserts. And as you all know, around here 90s inserts rule!

There's quite a bit to show off so I'll likely try to keep my comments shorter and just point out stuff that isn't obvious. Take a look to see how you think I did:

In this group, Murray's '96 Finest base was one I needed toward the complete set, boosted by the previously mentioned collection buy. Bondo is a 2005 Zenith Artist's Proof Silver. The first two Big Daddy cards here are RCs from '86 Donruss and OPC, meaning along with his Topps base from that year I should now have all of his first-years.

Fryman's '93 Studio insert, Silhouettes, is one I don't think I'd seen before but I thought it was pretty cool when I got a look at it. The '95 Pinnacle Museum Collection was the biggest draw for me among his cards.

A whole scan (plus) of Griffey? Yes please! The '92 Fleer Team Leaders card is a good look at how far ahead of Topps other brands were when it came to early chase cards. The last two items here are among my favorites in the package: a '98 Score Complete Players (one of three) and Upper Deck Prime Nine (one of seven). Those are my first of his from each insert, with the former comprising a three-part image on the backs when you put them together. I've always thought those were great which is no surprise since Score was at its best around '96-'98 in my opinion.

This scan mostly features lower-end stuff of Griffey, Gwynn, and Maddux, filling in some of the many gaps in their collections. But it does also include one of the big guns I wanted: Mr. Padre's 1998 Studio Masterstrokes insert. This beautiful artistic set is a great example of everything I love about 90s inserts, with the bonus of being serial numbered (only 1000 copies? Super rare!). Tony was a master of his craft at the plate and his swing was a work of art to be sure.

Mad Dog was the clear winner in this package with almost 30 new cards added to his collection. If it wasn't clear that he got a nice bump, the next scan is all him as well and even that doesn't cover everything! Here we have a pretty typical mix of mid-90s base and minor inserts with the '96 Stadium Club Extreme Winners Bronze my clear favorite.

Things remain plenty interesting as we move to the latter part of the decade. His '98 Donruss Collections card reprinting his Leaf base appearance doesn't scan well but it looks great. There's no topping a pair of Flair Showcase cards, though, which are flat out gorgeous. Of the 25 two-part Pinnacle Inside Stand Up Guys insert pairs, Maddux appeared on two, with half of each shown here: one with Braves teammates Chipper and Andruw Jones and Javy Lopez, plus another he shares with star pitchers Randy Johnson, Hideo Nomo, and Roger Clemens.

They both sort of snuck in here but I thought a pair of Jack Morris cards wouldn't hurt, and I added yet another '95 Pinnacle Museum Club parallel, this one of former Tigers catcher Matt Nokes, which was made during his sunset season he split between Baltimore and Colorado. I have 19 from that beautiful insert (as always, my favorite iteration of it) with at least five more of my PC guys I'm still chasing. The photo on Dean-o's Collector's Choice insert is awesome. And I added two pretty significant pieces to my TCDB-leading collection of the versatile Tony Phillips: a '97 Stadium Club Matrix parallel and more importantly his '95 Studio Artist's Proof. The latter is still an iconic insert I associate with the 90s just as much as Refractors, and for some reason it feels even cooler to have one of a lenticular card.

Of course the Iron Man came along for the ride. Roughly 20 of him, in fact, to make sure he remains at the apex of my player collections. Nothing too crazy to see here but the bookends--another '92 Fleer Team Leaders card plus 1994 Pinnacle's Tributes--are kind of fun. Again, I filled a bunch of needs in various places in my collection with this trade while also popping in a few heavy hitters, so it was a well-rounded return for me.

The last of the verticals includes two more cool Ripken chase cards. First is '96 Score's Numbers Game, which has a back that includes five random stats that surprisingly have nothing to do with the streak milestone he achieved the previous year. The other is a '97 Fleer Decade of Excellence, a glossy tribute to the set made a decade prior, but with different photos, at least in Cal's case.

Also, I couldn't turn down a cool 90s Pudge insert, especially one praising the HOF catcher's defense. And one of the biggest gets of the package for me was a Sweet Lou '95 Pinnacle Artist's Proof. Those aren't impossible to find but I can't say I've seen many available for trade, plus prices if you want to buy them tend to be outside my comfort zone. It's an exciting pickup a few months before the Tigers finally retire his number later this summer.

The last two scans covering the remaining horizontal cards contain some of the best pickups of the whole shebang, especially the next one. This one's no slouch, though! I love posting stuff like the Gwynn Collector's Choice sticker since I always get a few folks remembering those fondly. My one Larkin pickup was another of the bigger items, the World Headquarters version of '97 Collector's Choice's Big Show insert (found about one per box instead of one per pack, and a 45-card set to boot!). A few more Maddux 90s base and chase (now there's a blog title) include some fun Fleer stuff. Anyone else remember when Ultra made Gold Medallion versions of their inserts?

In terms of quantity of quality I don't think any of the other 10 scans can hold a candle to this one. The final two horizontal Mad Dogs are among the top gets here. #1 is a '96 Donruss Freeze Frame, a name/motif that was used a few times over other brands like Studio as well, and this die-cut, numbered (/5000) insert looks way better than it scanned. Joining it is the other '97 Collector's Choice Big Show World HQ you'll see here, so no need to reiterate how nice that is.

Joining those are five Ripkens, four of which are inserts, and one of which stands above the rest. No offense to '94 Flair Infield Power and Ultra Career Achievement Awards plus a '95 Collector's Choice SE Silver Signature, but for me there's no topping another big 1996 Donruss insert. Showdown was an eight-card set that pitted some of the game's top hitters against star pitchers from the opposite league. Tim Wakefield/Matt Williams and Manny Ramirez/Carlos Perez combos fall a bit flat 25 years later, but Ripken/Pedro is one of the best duos you'll find (though Maddux/Griffey is my coveted #1). This is another one that doesn't scan well but I don't care since I get to enjoy it in all its foily, serial-numbered (/10000) glory myself.

The final card tonight closes things on a lower-end but still very fun note: a 1995 Fleer All-Stars insert that pairs up nickname greats Mickey "Froot Loops" Tettleton and Fred "Crime Dog" McGriff!

Holy cow was that a lot of great stuff! I bulked up on quantity and quality for a number of my collections and I believe everything I gave up came out of the collection I bought for a paltry $30, meaning I really, really got my money's worth in this deal alone, without taking into account how much I've used it in other deals.

With this big deal out of the way it's pretty likely that the next post will cover somewhere between two-to-five more as I try to work through them in a reasonable-ish amount of time. Until then, what did you see here that you thought was the coolest?