Monday, May 6, 2024

2024 trade package #3: the Collector


The calendar may say May--one of my favorite months--but in terms of blog time I'm still back in February. Baseball's spring training was due to begin shortly when Chris, a.k.a. the Collector, hit my mailbox with one of his excellent PWEs. One thing I liked about it is that he themed it to the sports of the season at the time: basketball, football, and hockey. You all know I put very little time, money, or effort into my basketball collection, and not a whole lot more of each into hockey, so I appreciate it when some of my trading buddies are nice enough to include them like this.

Let's take a quick look over the cards he sent this time:
McGary didn't pan out as an NBA first-rounder but he did help Michigan get to the NCAA finals in 2013. "Sugar" Mills was a big part of UM's '89 champs and then spent 11 years in the NBA, six of those with his hometown Pistons. Rice was the star of the 1988-89 Wolverines, then enjoyed 15 NBA campaigns, winning it all with the 2000 Lakers. Riley turned a decent four-year Michigan career into a second round pick and five NBA seasons, each with a new team. And of course Fab-Fiver Rose went from a star-studded college roster to 13 years in the league, though he lost out in his lone finals appearance to Rice's Lakers.
The football side of things here is smaller, but that's ok because I can take care of that myself easily. Still, I appreciated the Mazi Smith RC out of Prizm and the Score base of GOAT DB Charles Woodson. Mazi definitely didn't have the season anyone wanted--a lone sack and 3 TFL--after Dallas took him in the first round, but we'll see what a difference a year makes.

And then we have the hockey content from hockeydude. Beniers, Hyman, and Powers all hail from the same UD set, and that's one super talented trio right there. Matty's numbers dipped a bit in his third season after Seattle made him 2021's #2 overall pick, but he's got a bright future ahead of him. Owen, the #1 choice just before Beniers, had a solid season on Buffalo's blue line. And perhaps no former Michigan icer has enjoyed a better season than Hyman, who ranked third in the league in regular season goals with a crazy 54, and has added seven more in the playoffs to tie for the lead with his Oilers into the second round.

Hughes is looking pretty Glossy this season too, putting together a ridiculous 17/75/92 line as a defenseman and putting himself in position to win the Norris Trophy. Kolarik was a low draft pick who appeared in all of six NHL games but had a very nice college career, and I love adding a numbered card to my small collection of him. Larkin had a tough season for a number of reasons off the ice, but he proved to be the most important player on the team he captains. He reached a new high in goals (33) and eclipsed 200 scores and 500 points this season on a team that sadly choked away its chances at the playoffs. And lastly, Werenski reached new heights in assists (46) and points (57) on a team that missed the postseason but gave playing time to four other Wolverines.

Thank you again to Chris for the lone blogger trade envelope I received in February (not a complaint), and of course, because he's a generous guy, I have yet another one to show off from last month once I catch up. Again, I appreciate you finding some great stuff for my collections, especially the ones I don't really focus on my myself.

Still to come from the month that was February: a show (at which I've spent the most so far this year through April), a super cool Facebook purchase, and a Twitter pickup from someone just about everyone should be familiar with.

6 comments:

  1. Very cool additions. I learn more about players for your PC with every post

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    1. Thanks, Matt! Sometimes the details I go into about the guys I collect, especially the newer ones, slow down my blogging process (that and updating my collections before posting), and then I get bogged down and behind. But I'm grateful that someone like you who isn't even a fan of my school likes that I write about them a bit more as that makes the effort worth it.

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  2. You're on top of it more than me. Chris sent me a package last year and I only recently got around to writing a post about it.

    By the way... not sure why I never thought to send you Michigan hockey. I'm pretty sure I've tapped my football, baseball, and basketball inventory of Wolverines and Tigers stuff. But there has to be some hockey I can send your way.

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    1. You've sent me so much great stuff from pretty much all of my collections that I couldn't have even guessed you might not have sent me hockey. Chris is one of those folks that I really, really appreciate for taking the time to remember who some of the former UM players are and sending their cards my way.

      Oh, and I hope you have some luck catching up on your posts because if you can't do it, I certainly can't!

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  3. Glen Rice doesn't get a lot of love anymore, or at least none that I see, but I really enjoyed watching him play was back when. He's also one of the few players from that era that I can actually remember seeing play in college as well. Even if you weren't a fan of the college game, it was kind of hard not to see that Michigan team at the time.

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    1. Cool! I was too young to really follow at the time (around 5-7) so I can't claim I was paying attention, but he's a fun player to get to claim as a Michigan fan.

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