2025 trade package #15: Scribbled Ink

On an afternoon/evening where I'm not stressing over Michigan Football (thanks to a bye) but instead the Tigers, let's take a look at some more cards from July.

Buddy of the blog Paul, formerly of the blog Scribbled Ink, is often the wild card in my collecting circle. I never have any idea what he's going to send and he always keeps it interesting.

Once again he sent me a box, and a rather large one here. Well this certainly has a lot of potential! And as always, Paul came through with some excellent stuff for a bunch of my PCs:

Miggy's always a great way to start, and a photo of his sweet swing is just a nice bonus. Cronenworth is always a safe bet, too, and I hope he and his Padres go far in the playoffs this season. Dingler's been a bright spot at the plate for what's mostly been a toothless Tigers lineup lately. And then there's too many Griffeys! Aside from two others you'll see in a moment, these make up a great selection. The Leaf All-Star insert pairs him up with the Pirates' Andy Van Slyke, which sounds about right for '92/'93. An Upper Deck card highlights his '92 All-Star Game MVP performance. And on the weirder side we have Junior's head on Shaq's body in an SI For Kids "April Fool card" that combined two of the biggest stars of the decade.

Another card for the Griffey-centered "Celebration of the Kid" insert I'm building leads off this scan. Jung's regression this year hasn't helped a Tigers team in need of quality bats. A nice trio of Maddux cards makes him the second of the holy quartet of my big baseball PCs to appear here, with cards from 2001, 2005, and 2024--a huge span! Next, Ripken is the third of the big four, so will we see all of them today? The '75 Topps reprint you see above is actually a Topps Magazine insert and not from a more recent mainstream product. And lastly, Vierling's been a combination of injured and ineffective this season, limiting much-needed OF production for Detroit.

Here's where things get even more interesting, partially thanks to a trio of IP/TTM autos. Clark, who signed a minor league issue, was Detroit's 1986 first-rounder, a hitter who played a bit over 250 games over five seasons for Detroit, San Diego, and Boston. Pitcher Brian DuBois (1990 Leaf) threw in 18 games between 1989-90 after coming over from the Orioles in the former of those two seasons, and that was sum of his career. Finally, P Bill Scherrer was a Reds first-rounder who got sent to Detroit late in the magical 1984 season, and he pitched 3.0 innings over three Fall Classic games in the Tigers' victory, then was out of the MLB after 1988. A very interesting trio!

In terms of the horizontal stuff, it's a Reds pair that starts with a Topps Griffey insert from 2005, which notes on the back that Junior was #5 in active career RBI leaders behind Bonds, Palmeiro, Sosa, and Bagwell; He'd end his career behind Bonds (no surprise there) but ahead of the rest, including beating Raffy by one.

He's joined by one-time teammate Barry Larkin on a beautiful bat relic from 2007 SP Legendary Cuts. Upper Deck products from this era didn't miss, especially high-end ones like this one. I don't add Larkin hits to my collection nearly as often as I'd like to so I really appreciate this one, featuring a nice design and numbering /199, from Paul. It's relic #18 of 27 Larkin hits that I own.

And now we get to the items that explain the size of the shipping box. First up is a piece that completes the big 90s PC quartet: a 1997 Zenith 8x10 Dufex parallel of Mr. Padre, Tony Gwynn. Back in the heyday of fun stuff like Donruss's Studio and Pinnacle's Inside cans, Zenith packs came with one oversized 8x10 insert, and some came with Pinnacle's iconic Dufex treatment like this one. I love this shot of one of the most focused hitters in the history of the game probably about to knock another single into RF.

Also adding to the package's size and weight: magazines, five of them. Three of them are Becketts, with the first featuring Big Daddy Cecil Fielder up front and the previously seen Barry Larkin on the back, an excellent twofer. Catching phenom Matt Nokes is next, and I'm sure his 1987 All-Star season made him an easy choice to put up front. Last up is Cal from 1992, a year after his second MVP nod.

As cool as those are, they're easily topped by a pair of Sports Illustrateds from May and October of 1984, which I hear was a pretty memorable season for the Tigers. Alan Trammell more than earned his appearances there, especially after being named World Series MVP in October. 

And here are the last few large items. The three Cal images come from what I'm guessing was some sort of commemorative magazine, and a big one at that since they're bigger than a standard page. That first one comes with a great shot of the HOFer sliding into a base.

And the final item was probably the biggest surprise: a sealed audiobook from 2016 about the legendary partnership between Pats coach Bill Belichick and GOAT QB Tom Brady. According to the box it's approximately 14 hours on 13 CDs. Wow! Of course in the aftermath of Brady's defection to Tampa and New England absolutely cratering without him, it's easy to determine which of the pair was more important to the franchise's dynasty (while the other enjoys his college age girlfriend and cratering another team--North Carolina). I haven't decided yet if I'll crack this open and listen to it all, but it's a very cool conversation piece if nothing else.

Paul, thanks as always for a wild package of random stuff I wasn't expecting but ended up loving! I hope you and the family are doing well and that I can find similarly interesting stuff to send back your way before too long.

And while I'm hoping for things that are reasonably possible, maybe the Tigers could win (they lead Boston 2-1 as I'm writing this) and that I'll be back soon with another trade catch-up post for all of you that enjoy them!