2025 trade package #13: the Collector

Hey all, I'm finally back to cover the first trade envelope I received in July, a month that ended up being super busy collecting-wise. This one came from Chris, The Collector, a couple months before his family experienced a heartbreaking loss. Please head his way and show him some support--he's one of the best and most generous members of the blogosphere and deserves all the love people have shown him.

True to his history of generosity and the effort he puts into finding great stuff for the collections of folks he trades with, he sent me a pair of PWEs containing some much-appreciated cards from all four major sports:

Encarnacion turned out to be an awful person off the field but at least Flair Showcase is a GOAT product. IF prospect Graham is still in Detroit's system after being selected in 2022's second round and he helped the team to the 2025 Midwest League championship after a dominant regular season. Jobe unfortunately had to undergo TJ surgery but if healthy could be a big part of what will probably be a Skubal-less rotation in a couple years. Kell's Topps Tribute card is probably the best looking in the bunch (with some great options) and I'd love to add more from that product. Keider's had some ups and downs as a spot starter for a team hoping to cling to a division title. And I'm not sorry that Wentz and his absurd ERA stats are gone!

As for basketball stuff, Dickinson was a star in Ann Arbor before transferring to Kansas for his final two seasons and going undrafted. THJ stuck it out for three Michigan seasons and became a first round pick who's still in the league. And a nice little run of Juwan Howard cards begins with the outstanding EX2001 product.

Juwan may not be Michigan's coach anymore but I'm still happy to collect any new cards of him like the very interesting bunch above. Those include some cool UD and Fleer stuff and even a post-career Finest issue from four years ago. He's joined by Fab Five teammate Chris Webber on another of my favorite designs from a Topps Chrome set.

Football wasn't as well represented this time but that's fine since it dominates my Michigan PCs anyway. In this case it's a Michigan uni card of RB Donovan Edwards out of Bowman Chrome U. In some ways he didn't live up to lofty expectations, especially in his final college season in 2024, but he supplied plenty of big runs as a runner, receiver, and even trick play QB, for teams that beat OSU, won conference titles, reached the playoff, and ultimately won it all in 2023-24. I don't know if we'll get many cards of the NFL UDFA but anything that gets sent my way is very welcome here.

Lastly, we have a five spot of Michigan Hockey cards from the erstwhile hockeydude. Four of those are O-Pee-Chees from a fat pack he got at Target, and his note mentions a fifth that he kept for himself and replaced with a UD Artifacts base of Luke Hughes, a guy from his team, the Devils. I like all of these but Beecher's a nice addition to a tiny-but-growing collection, and of course I'm a fan of Wolverwing cards like Compher's, which is also a Retro parallel. You'll be happy to know that Doug hadn't sent me any of these (yet, anyway), Chris.

As always I'd like to thank my buddy from New Jersey for all of these goodies and being so talented when it comes to finding quality fodder for trade packages. Chris, I know things are very difficult for you and your family right now and I hope any time you spend with them processing your grief gets you to a better place. I always mean it when I say I'm here to help with anything and that you have so many friends in the hobby. Thank you for thinking of me here as you were going through a terrible situation.

I hope to be back with more trade package coverage soon as I owe many other great folks similar thanks.