A super 2023 TCDb trade roundup, part 2

As is sometimes the case I have a lot of non-card stuff going on right now, hence my posting even less than usual, and that includes needing to temporarily move my collection and other things in my house for carpet installation. Still, I'm trying to sew up my 2023 pickups, so let's blast through the rest of the trades/PIFs I received from TCDb friends last year.

I specifically grouped these together because these items came from four of my closest friends on the site, some of whom I talk to just about every day, discussing checklist updates/fixes, fun new pickups, and anything else we feel like.

First up is Shawn, a.k.a. corky. The former Washington resident (now in Arizona) hangs out on the site once in a while and does great work when he's around, plus he's an excellent trader.

He sent me some very cool Griffeys, including a '96 Ultra promo, plus an oddball of another former Mariner I collect in Putz. And former UM CB Dave Brown is included on a sweet Seahawks card which stars another well-known Seattle guy in Largent.

Thanks, Shawn!

Next, Wisconsinite Brian (firesnbeers) sent me a bunch of stuff throughout the year in PIF form. The 2023 TCDb Member of the Year--and very deservedly so given his hard work and generosity on the site!--went to the National, so some of what you'll see below came from there, plus some came from a card shop not too far from him.

These came from a PIF about a year ago. That Conlon card is Vick's lone cardboard issue listed on TCDb, and it's now part of my Michigan Baseball PC. He played baseball and football for the Wolverines in the late 1910s/early 20s, apparently liking positions starting with a "C": catcher and center. Though his MLB career, 57 games over four seasons with the Cards, was short, he did win a ring with the '26 champion St. Louis squad, though he didn't actually appear in the Fall Classic.

There was a good bit of football content in that mailing as well, including the QB-heavy group above.

I can also often count on Brian to send me a nice bunch of Packers stuff since that comes with his territory, and he's especially reliable for getting oddball-ish stuff like police issues. Hence the additions to my Des and Woodson PCs from the group above.

The next bunch of scans came from a big August '23 mailing that included some National pickups, interesting stuff from his card shop, and lots more. Sweet Miggy cards here!

Gwynn, former Tigers, and a Rich Hill, excellent!

Hell yeah, even more of yesterday's birthday boy Dick Mountain, and in numbered form in a couple cases! More Tigers and another Michigan Baseball alum too.

Former Tigers in the wrong uniforms start off this scan but there's other cool stuff, including even more Hills! And one of the top cards in the whole package is the second oldest George Kell in my collection, out of 1955 Bowman. Wow!

He picked out these Topps Mini Pink parallels from the National after finding a nice deal on them and I thought that was very cool, though I did make sure to send the Jones to Paul as he still collects JaCoby.

A few more very interesting items here. The two columns of '79 Topps cards are from a box or uncut sheet or something, I forget which, but I thought it would be fun to add because of the presence of Bergman, another former Tiger in Corcoran, and of course the Maris/Aaron combo. Northrup is a '71 Topps Super and represents my first piece of that odd but great product's run. And last up is an Al Kaline mini record that was also made in 1971 by Mattel. That quickly became one of the most unique items in my collection!

There was plenty more football in this package as well, and a really nice mix of players to boot.

More football and more recent guys in Michigan unis. SAGE even managed their usual level of QC by calling former Michigan star DB Hill "Draxton" instead of Daxton.

And the last of the football and this package overall. A couple Topps Total multiplayer cards feature ex-Wolverines, a Score Red Siege parallel of former WR Chris Calloway looks great, and backfield bowling ball Leroy Hoard is high-steppin' on an extra tall Fleer GameDay card.

And now we're into the last PIF Brian sent me which was back in October. The first of two baseball scans offers more Miggy, three quarters of my Griffey/Gwynn/Maddux/Ripken quartet (don't worry--Cal's included in the next scan), and, oh yeah, just another vintage HOF card: Al Kaline's '71 Topps. Awesome!

There's the Ripken I was referring to, along with Gwynns big and, uh, normal, and another Maddux.

And lastly, Brian made a big trade with another member and arranged to acquire cards for a few folks, which was very nice of him. I took advantage of his offer by picking up all of these needs for my '94 Finest and Pinnacle and '95 Finest sets.

Thanks again for a bunch of amazing PIF cards, especially the vintage and oddball stuff, Brian!

Next we have my fellow Michigander Jason (jasongerman9), the first of this group that I've met in-person, which I'll detail more in a future show recap. Jason's a baseball coach at a college near where he lives close to the Michigan/Indiana border, and it's easy to find stuff he can use as he has a huge wantlist of Reds and other PCs. He sent me a few nice sized PIFs last year broken down like this:

PIF #1 last February included a fun mix of baseball, basketball, and football stuff. If that Mosaic Kaline isn't emblematic of today's Panini, I don't know what is! I knew Jason was sending me the two IP/TTM autos of NCAA champ Glen Rice but they were still fun to get all the same.

There was even more football to enjoy but the top highlights by far were the super vintage mini RCs of Albert "Ox" Wistert and John Greene out of 1948 and '50 Bowman, respectively:

Albert was one of three brothers (Francis, a.k.a. "Whitey," and Alvin a.k.a. "Moose") to suit up for Michigan (but not at the same time) and all of them were OTs. This one played in Ann Arbor from 1940-42, then was selected by the Eagles, with whom he earned a selection to the first ever Pro Bowl plus a pair of pre-Super Bowl Championships. His #11, worn by all three of the brothers, is one of six to be retired by Michigan. He joins a few other ex-Wolverines in the '48 Bowman and/or Leaf sets as a rookie and represents a tie with Bob Nussbaumer from the same set as the oldest card in my Michigan PC!

Meanwhile, the '50 Bowman RC of ex QB/OL/other and wrestler Greene is just one of two cards in his name cataloged on TCDb, with the other being a 1986 reprint of this exact card, which hails from the same set as that of HOFer Elroy Hirsch's first year. He played in Ann Arbor in the early 40s before being drafted by the nearby Lions where he was basically a TE from 1944-50.

These two very early RCs are incredible and I can't thank Jason enough, probably because I owe him even more thanks for...

...this super cool custom jersey of my favorite former Michigan RB...

...Mike Hart! It turns out that Jason had a connection that could make something like this and asked me what name/number combo I'd want if such a thing was possible. I thanked him profusely for getting this made for me and was glad to wear it a few times last season during the team's national championship run with Hart guiding the running backs. Sadly, Hart is no longer with the team apparently for personal reasons, but I'll always be thankful for his contributions on the field and the sidelines (and to Jason for my favorite Michigan jersey in my entire wardrobe!).

Moving ahead to July, he sent me a Tigers-filled PWE with some great looking stuff in it. I was especially happy to get more Miggy stuff during his sunset season, but the Orange Refractor of Castro is quite cool as well.

These are limited to just 25 copies and this one was fairly close to being a Christmas card!

And here's the rest of the Tigers from that envelope highlighted by two guys I hope to see remain in the rotation throughout 2024 without any injuries, Manning and Skubal.

And finally in December he sent me some really nice Christmas cards. This scan features a lot of shiny stuff which I'm always a sucker for, and it's mostly Tigers plus a Cronenworth I didn't have. Sparky's Topps Chrome Platinum parallel is called a Platinum Toile Cream/Fuchsia Atomic Refractor (Topps and Panini parallels have long since jumped the shark) and is numbered /100. Meanwhile, I'm still a fan of Topps Tribute base cards I can get on the cheap or in trades because they look so premium.

TCP pops up in scan #2 as well and we're not even done yet after these! Remember when Grossman was a Tiger for a minute there? The two parallels you see of him are a Blue Mini-Diamond Refractor (/199) and a Black and White Mini Diamond Refractor. IF prospect Jack Lopez looks to appear on a similar version to the first Grossman but that's actually a Platinum Toile White/Blue Refractor numbered /199. OBVIOUSLY. Anyway, they look cool and that's a plus. Also, I've received so many copies of that Heritage Hill I don't know what to do with all of them!

And here's an exciting way to close out this group. Tram's sweet looking issue is a regular old (but plenty appreciated) Refractor. Charley Maxwell's 1962 Post Cereal card, just my third item of his, was one of two huge surprises in this envelope. The other was a 2009 SAGE HIT Cyan Plate of ex-Wolverine Tim Jamison! The Michigan DE played between 2005-08 and therefore saw the end of the Carr era and the beginning of the RichRod experience. He put up a reasonable 18.0 sacks and 28.5 TFL before appearing in a solid 56 games over six seasons with the Texans as an UDFA. I'm excited to have such a nice piece for my small collection of him!

Thanks for your generosity last year, Jason--that was some really impressive stuff you sent my way, and I look forward to more trading and hopefully meet-ups this year!

And last up tonight is a nice stack of stuff I got from longtime member Dan (vrooomed) to go with all of the other great items he sent me earlier in the year that I already covered. This was kind of a combination of a trade with a few surprises thrown in.

Dan threw in some newer Tigers to go with some Fielders I picked out, plus he included a cool STAR promo (and a shiny Miggy too). For those that don't know, he worked for the STAR company back in the 80s and therefore knows a good amount of what goes into producing cards. Also he had quite a few extras from those sets over the years to clear out, which you'll see more of in a bit.

Big and small, I trade for them all! Former Wolverine Ignasiak is another STAR card I'm sure I wouldn't have found otherwise. Keller joins my '91 Swell Greats set chase. And the minis of Bergman, Henneman, and Parrish join others in all three PCs!

I mentioned that Dan had lots of STAR cards to offer, and that included these nine minor league team sets that all included at least one PC guy I collect. Here's a quick list of the sets:

• 1988 Charlotte Rangers, Florida State League All-Stars, Ft. Lauderdale Yankees, Lakeland Tigers
• 1989 Burlington Braves (missing a few at the end of the checklist), Cedar Rapids Reds, Hamilton Redbirds (Cardinals)
• 1990 Elizabethtown Twins, Memphis Chicks (Royals)

I ended up with 10 player collection needs which was great, including two new Dean Palmers. Wolverines P Greg Everson got three new cards added to his total (including one in the next scan where he's referred to as "Chuck" on the front) and I now have five of his eight issues. Kamieniecki's well known enough, I think, and I've mentioned the late Powell a few times. However Karasinski (Braves P who didn't make the bigs) and Morse (Twins 2B, same) are making their collection debuts; Lata also gets a second card to his name.

I'm going to keep all of the sets intact because why not? Since I needed to scan the third Everson as the 10th card in the bunch, I thought I'd pull a few other stars that caught my eye. Juan Gon and Sosa joined Palmer in a star-studded '88 Charlotte set, Felipe Alou was a coach for the '88 FSL All-Star Game, and Conine was the best card found in the '90 Memphis Chicks set featuring future Royals.

Dan, once again, thank you for some super fun trading throughout 2023 and your generosity in sending some very useful items my way!

And thank you once again to all four of these guys for being awesome friends and fellow TCDb members! The site is better with all of you actively trading, handling IRs, and providing advice, and I appreciate all that you do!

Lastly, thanks to everyone who doesn't care that I post like once a month sometimes. I'll be back at some point with my final 2023 post recapping my COMC Black Friday pickups.