2023 trade package #8: My Sports Obsession

Let's keep the trade package train rolling with some cards from one of the folks I've been lucky enough to meet in-person a number of times. A few weeks ago Jeff who blogs at My Sports Obsession was up in Lansing with his cousin Sluggo (follow Sluggo's Sports Cards on Twitter!) for a mall card show. Considering they had a more than two hour drive to get up there, it was reasonable for me to hold my nose and drive around half that to the home of the Spartans.

I'll make sure to include a recap of what I bought from them in a future post, but for now I'll just say I was very impressed by their inventory, organization, and prices. Sure, I may be very biased, but I happily put my money where my mouth is there.

Anyway, we both took advantage of the in-person-ness of the situation to bring each other some items for each other. I had a ton for him thanks to a deal I made with one of my TCDb friends (mostly set help for his 70s and 80s sets), and he hit me back with some Tigers, other baseball PCs, and one of our shared interests: Michigan Wolverines!

Here's the loot I get to show off this evening:

Baez's Silver Pack insert is as shiny as his play hasn't been since joining Detroit. At least we Tigers fans can still enjoy one last season of Miggy, even if he's been a shell of his former self the past few years. He's got plenty of shiny of his own, including Bowman Platinum and Topps' questionable Chrome collaboration with Ben Baller. The 3,000 hit milestone card is a classic, and while I'll never have that many of his cards, this bunch did put me over 400, which is very cool!

Cronenworth is a recent enough Michigan guy that both Jeff and I collect him, including his '23 Topps base. PC guy Gwynn gets a trio of adds, include very 90s brand Zenith, a beauty of a Stadium Club base, and '88 Topps Reflux (not a typo, I've had enough of those!). Fellow HOFer Maddux also gets a new trio including a super thick Museum base and a Reflux card of his own. Morris (another HOFer!) gets one of the best cards in the bunch: a Framed Black/Gold Foil parallel of his '03 Diamond Kings base, numbered /100. Original Donruss FTW!

Including the last one in the previous scan, I count 10 many Verlanders, which is a huge chunk for me to add at once these days. Jeff treated me to a pair of numbered parallels from Bowman's Best (/250) and Prizm (/149) in addition to a mix of base and inserts, mostly from recent Topps brands. The Aces card has a design I really appreciate, which is a rarity from the manufacturer these days, though it probably helps that it's a tried and tested look that's been done before, both by Topps and other brands. TCDb tells me I have 568 of his cards, and that number can keep climbing if folks keep sending them to me like Jeff did.

Jeff also included a bit more than a scan's worth of Michigan Basketball stuff. Though this year was forgettable for the team, the cards weren't. 80% of the Fab Five is represented here, including current coach Juwan Howard. I thought it was especially cool that he gifted me cards of both of the basketballing Wagners, with Franz having a 2-to-1 advantage.

Before we hit the gridiron we'll wrap up the basketball content. That would be an SPx card of Maurice Taylor numbered /5400 and an Ultra insert commemorating Webber winning ROY.

Next, a jumbo Pacific card of QB Todd Collins kicks off the well-represented football content. WR Jason Avant stars on a numbered Leaf Rookies & Stars insert (/1000), fellow wideout Funch gets lots of exposure(s) on a more recent card from the same brand (different manufacturer, though!), and stud DE Winovich appears on a SAGE HIT card that shows how far they've fallen since being unable to use logos (still, I appreciate any card that's new to me!).

And now we go over to two 100% football scans. After Brady, the first of three UM QBs in this scan (and four in this post), Darboh and Evans each add a Panini brand RC and SAGE card to their collections. I think my collection of Darboh and Jeff's are very comparable, probably more than any other player we both chase. The numbered Funchess Panini Black Gold card is definitely the thickest of the whole bunch, and it features plenty of black and gold plus a cool acetate-plus-shadowbox kind of style that I really like. Grbac (/3250) and Griese (/2500 and /2000) join Brady in the QB club with some cool numbered inserts. I loved that year's Black Diamond cards and that's actually a parallel of the '97 champ's RC.

The numbered Grieses don't end there, though, as 2005 Score (Scorecard /599) and UD Portraits (Gold /75) double that total. Sweet! A Bowman Chrome U of all-everything QB JJ McCarthy helps grow my small collection of him, and of course I love seeing the college action there, even on a Topps-produced card. Man am I excited to see what JJ can do with this offense now that he has a full year of starts and playoff experience under his belt.

Ojabo is one of a surprising three defensive guys in this post, and the mirror finish on his Blue Select Draft issue is very team-appropriate. DPJ's Prizm parallel (Pink or Purple, I forget which) gives us a run of three straight Michigan uni cards. I hope to see CB Ambry Thomas healthy for a full NFL season with the Niners, with whom he's pictured on the above Prizm RC. Beastly RB Tyrone Wheatley gets two totally different insert additions from '95 Pacific and 2000 Black Diamond, with the latter numbered /1000 up front. And we finish up tonight with one last defender, DE Chris Wormley. This one's a parallel of his 2017 Panini Phoenix RC and it's numbered /199, which made IDing it much easier.

Jeff, thanks again for another great meetup! I hope to catch you and Sluggo at another show before long depending on when you'll be in the area next, and before then I'll show off the haul I bought from you guys for a very nice deal.

But before I get to that I still have a few trade packages to catch up on, so hopefully I'll be back soon with more of those!