2023 trade package #27: Sport Card Collectors

It's the holiday season for sure--less than a week until Christmas--and I continue to receive cards from generous folks at a ridiculous pace. I may not (hell, I definitely won't) be caught up before the end of the year but that's a nice problem to have.

For now I'll make a small effort in support of that goal by covering the first of a few trade packages I received in November. That would be a pair of PWEs from Matt of several blogs that I may just continue to refer to collectively as "Sport Card Collectors" for my own convenience. Funny story: he sent the envelopes the same day but only one arrived to me a few days later. We both wondered if the other one got lost and then it just randomly showed up a few weeks later, even slipping past Informed Delivery as some mail is wont to do. Either way, they both got here safely, and inside them were these:

I'd certainly like Baez to be a star of the MLB considering what he's making and the amount of payroll he's eating up, but if he can even return to his level of performance from 2022 that would help. Cabrera played for so long that sometimes it feels like he debuted in 1987, when we both turned four. Up there you see one of a pair of dupes Matt sent which I was happy to have since I know plenty of people that could use something like that. The Sepia Refractor looks excellent and as always I love images of his outstanding swing, putting him in a club with guys like Junior Griffey.

Next, the foil parallel of Miggy and Riley Greene--a '23 Topps team checklist--is very cool since it shows what's now the past and future of the franchise, as tough as it is to refer to Cabrera in the past tense. If Greene can stay healthy he could be a franchise favorite for years to come! 

The rest of this scan is made up of pitchers still with the team. With a couple new rotation additions in Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty, there's much less pressure on guys like the super talented Manning, who could benefit from some veteran guidance. His Panini Mosaic and a Pink Chrome Refractor here put me just shy of 30 cards of the 25-year-old. Fellow first-rounder Mize is also a Pink Refractor, should also be part of the starting five next year, though a return from TJ surgery makes him a bit less of a sure thing. What's unquestionable is that my collection of his has grown even faster than Manning's as that's card #68 for me! Meanwhile, I'm happy to see Wentz in Purple Refractor form, though until he starts performing in a way that isn't detrimental to his team (3-13, 6.90 ERA in '23), the less we see of him the better. It's much less likely the team will need him next season, though, which is good news.

The last of the baseball stuff is, naturally, a new Verlander for me. JV's appeared in Heritage's Then and Now insert a bunch since 2010 and has been paired up with the following:

• Whitey Ford (2010)
• Sandy Koufax (2012)
• Juan Marichal (2012)
• Jim Bunning (2013)
• Bob Gibson (2013)
• Fergie Jenkins (2017)
• Jim Palmer (2019)
• Catfish Hunter (2020)
• Jim Palmer (2020)
• Gaylord Perry (2023)
• Catfish Hunter (2023)

This is the first time he joins "Garylord" (WTF are you even doing, Topps?) Perry in the set, though Marichal is his top comp of the group in Baseball Reference's Similarity Scores. Regardless, that's heady company when you're compared to a group like that!

Matt also included a bit of football content, and I'm glad it can be easier for some of you when guys I collect appear in their college unis in products like Bowman Chrome University. Colson's a LB who'll be appearing in at least 14 games for the third straight season, with game #14 once again being a playoff tilt. His stats are down a bit from some excellent numbers last season but he's still been very solid at the position for an outstanding defense that consistently puts the team in position to win. Once again I didn't mind the dupes here because I can think of at least one person who could use it.

Thanks again for these envelopes, Matt, and I hope you didn't stress too much when one of them disappeared off the face of the earth. I'm looking forward to showing off what you sent me for Christmas once I get a bit more caught up, and in the meantime may you enjoy the package you have sitting under your tree!

More trade recaps to come soon!