2023 trade package #29: Dime Boxes

I received a mix of sizes of trade packages over the last couple of months and tonight's definitely falls on the larger side of the scale. Nick of Dime Boxes, who actually just celebrated his 12th year of chronicling dime box diving, by the way, directed a big stack of stuff I collect over my way in response to some set wants and Cubs I found for him. I'm always impressed by what he finds at shows (and on Facebook Marketplace too) and at his request sent him a list of the players whose cards I'd want the most. To say that he delivered in spades is an understatement:

You'll see the occasional Tiger mixed in like the Miggy/Schoop '21 Topps Independence Day parallel (numbered /76, very patriotic!) and a super thick dual relic of former prospect Travis Demeritte /99, which is nice since that balances things out a bit.

Most of the players you'll see tonight arrived in larger quantities, though, like Cronenworth's trio of new adds. Topps' Chrome Anniversary product continues to look quite nice in opposition to most of the rest of what they put out, and the Refractors are extra nice!

Junior Griffey made a few appearances too including the four you see here and a couple more in the next scan.

Panini's Capstone product was kind of an odd one in my eyes, but I think pairing Junior with Trout makes a reasonable amount of sense. Though I tend to think of them as different players I think they're similar enough for the Deja Vu insert.

Next, hey, kids, do you like Tony Gwynn? Because you're gonna see a LOT of him! That was more than ok with me as I'm always thrilled to add new cards of Mr. Padre. While a chunk of these were doubles, the stack of new stuff was larger not to mention varied by year/products/designs. I'd go so far as to say Nick would get a nod of approval from Fuji for these!

The group begins here with some oddball stuff: a mix of unlicensed, Fleer boxed set fodder, and a couple Sportflics, which I'm always happy to see pop out of a package.

There are a few mainstream cards in here like '92 and '95 Bowman base, a Fleer insert, and a Zenith card from '95 as well, but I'm happy to show even more oddball stuff that I also enjoy. There's still so many boxed sets that include cards I need to track down, and the same goes for food and other promotional issues. How cool is that Duracell card, even without any logos?

Now we're right in my wheelhouse with stuff from '96 -'98. I'm glad I ended up with the "single" version of Tony's Collector's Choice You Make the Play game card, because the other, "groundout," just doesn't sound right for a guy in the 3000 hit club. The 1996 Score Gold Stars insert looks fantastic, and so does his Studio base from the same year, possibly my favorite design from the product. Just a bunch of nice looking stuff most of which shows Gwynn's sweet swing.

Here's some more '98s and a couple '99s as well. Remember when we collectors had lots of choices?  I miss products like Fleer Sports Illustrated and Upper Deck Retro, not to mention UD's flagship set. How many of you remember Retro coming in lunchboxes? I loved the base design as well as inserts like Wonder Years.

More late 90s UD? Yes, please! I think I've said before that the 1996-98 run of the flagship design is my favorite, but '99 still looks pretty cool too, plus it kept the foil stamps for notable achievements, so that one's just fine in my book. You'd better believe that I bought into the hype of Upper Deck's 10 year anniversary in 1999! There's a huge variety of other brands here too, especially the out there HoloGrFx and Ionix, the badass Black Diamond and Ovation, and the kid-friendly MVP.

What would a trip through this decade be without my favorite "90s inserts rule" tag? The Finest and Pacific chase cards are especially cool. There's also another great mix of base designs I enjoyed, even from Topps! (like the 20th Century's Best subset). One of Fleer's top Ultra looks makes the cut and UD's foiled up Legends is still a favorite of mine as well.

This scan is a good example of the type of stuff I'd be pulling without any hesitation from dime boxes at a show. 2001 Stadium Club, Studio, and Topps HD are all classic iterations of their brands. Sweet Spot was an outstanding product not just for its well known autographs, but great looking base too. UD successfully turned its familiar Baseball Heroes insert into a nice product of its own. And then we jump forward a bit more to some recent Topps inserts that I'm less likely to have found myself.

Here a few Panini brands, highlighted by Diamond Kings, are mixed in with some Topps shininess. I'd say the Topps card featuring a Gwynn SI cover appearance from 1997 steals the show, though.

After one last vertical Gwynn we finally make it to other players! I was very happy with Larkin's four-card cameo, especially that 1992 oddball. The Stadium Club base is also a perfect example of the brilliance of the brand's photography. You'll see more of Maddux in a minute but first let's admire his appearance on the previously mentioned Fleer/SI collaboration. Nick didn't leave out this blog's namesake either as you'll also see in the last two scans (yep, we're almost done!).

Many Gwynns beget a mini Gwynn! One more Larkin joins him from that set. Greene and Manning are still part of the Tigers' future even if the oxymoronic tall Short isn't. And even more Gwynn? Yes! A big shoutout goes to Upper Deck's fantastic UD3 which had multiple cool subset designs.

Final scan alert! Pacific was known for some fun inserts but they also made their reputation partly on beautiful die-cuts like the higher-end Crown Royale product. (Here's another reminder to check out Mike Cramer's book, by the way.) Maddux gets a few more added to his total including the love-it-or-hate-it '95 Studio (Gold) credit card set, plus a very "90s inserts rule" example, Donruss' Mound Marvels. And then we end things on a perfect note with two many Verlanders.

Nick, thanks so much for this embarrassment of riches when it comes to cards of some of my absolute favorite player collections! I hope you had an excellent holiday season and I hope we can get back to trading again in 2024.

Will I get one more trade post done before the year ends? I dunno, we'll see!