2026 TCDb trade roundup: May through August smaller trades

Happy September, all! School is back in session for many or will be soon. As far as my interests the Tigers...uh...well they don't matter, but Michigan Football kicks off their season tomorrow night, and that's a big reason to celebrate.

Tonight I thought I'd finally take a quick run through a chunk of my TCDb trades from this year. I've completed 36 official transactions through the site (including a PIF or two) and most of those ran from May, around when I re-enabled trading on my profile, and the end of last month.

In this post you'll see the smaller trades, as in the ones that required just one or two scans. I'll give a bit of context where it makes sense, but otherwise I'll try to let the cards do the talking. Enjoy!

AdamD

Since you don't see him here too often, Brian Simmons is a Michigan Baseball guy, and when this member offered me that '99 Pacific Crown Royale Opening Day parallel (numbered /72), I couldn't accept quickly enough. I own 26 of his 45 listed cards and most of what I need at this point is lower-numbered or Minor League stuff. That made this deal an exciting one for me!

b14rebel

Reed is another Michigan Baseball guy who played for the Tigers. That Robinson/Oliva/Kaline was a really nice addition too!

Billsfan560

These Rookie Sweaters are a bit goofy but just as good as any "worn for a second" relic, and that's my fourth such card of transfer QB Joe Milton III.

davidandrew21

A bit of help for multiple sets here: '95 Finest, '15 Topps Cal Ripken 2632, and '16 Topps Tribute to the Kid. After all the deals I'll eventually post here, I need the following total from each set, respectively: 6, 0, and 9. Yep, I'm all set with that Ripken set, which is pretty cool!

Dmbramer

drew_engquist

Hershey

Hubbard is the guy of interest for me on the three-player basketball card as it's a RC of the Michigan Basketball product. Speaking of multiplayer cards, the Topps sticker that includes PC guy Mickey Tettleton (along with Astro Dave Smith) has another interesting guy on the back:

Sweet Lou! That's an excellent combo if I do say so myself.

immmike

JBurrow9

The Jenkins here is a True Blue parallel from '24 Rookies & Stars and is numbered /149 on the back. The Perry was supposed to be a Chrome Silver parallel from '06 Topps Draft, but this member accidentally mis-IDed what's actually the unnumbered Black version. That was fine since I needed it as well.

JerPie69

Junk_Wax_Junkie

leftyscore

I love that Call to the Hall Gwynn, another example of a '90s insert ruling, as they do. It's bookended by a couple of multiplayer '06 Topps Co-Signers numbered parallels. Dunn's paired with teammate Griffey on a Bronze numbered /150, and Maddux was a natural comparison for Prior on a Silver Bronze (confused? I am!) limited to 125 copies.

Maximus

The Delgado might look a bit out of place here and in my collection, but it closes the book on my '94 Pinnacle Series 1 set chase. Meanwhile, the McGary tri-color jersey/auto was a nice reward for a couple Cowboys autos I was glad to get rid of. It's my second signed relic of his and 9th hit overall.

MichiganFan9

It sure is nice to make at least a little progress on the Michigan TK Legacy set, even if it's a single card. Lund indeed starred on the gridiron for the Wolverines, but he decided baseball was his sport in the end, and split his career with Brooklyn and Detroit (with a short stop between the two as a St. Louis Brown).

mvs0219

pcantara (trade 1)

One of my two trades with this member included an '88 Topps Sticker featuring ex-Wolverine Dave Brown of the Packers. In case you're interested, he's joined by Larry Kinnebrew of the Bengals on the front, and the back stars HOF RB Eric Dickerson.

pcantara (trade 2)

The other deal I made with him looks even nicer in comparison. Nico looks awesome on a Blue Prizm wearing his college uni. And though I'm sad that the NFL hasn't worked out for him after an injury, I loved getting my first hit of K Jake "Money" Moody, an autograph out of '23 Absolute. Here's hoping he can work out his kicking issues and earn another job nailing PATs and FGs!

RaymondC15

rneagle2

If you couldn't tell, the player on the bottom sticker is former Wolverine Jabrill Peppers. I didn't feel like adding another scan just to fit it in because I'm lazy.

RoyalCornhusker

The numbered Horton is quite cool, but I was also happy to add my second auto of Wolverine David Ojabo after this member was willing to work with me to find something he could use. Hockey alum Stiver and the five ladies from '25 UD World of Sports are all making their debuts in this post, and it's especially cool to have some representation of less common sports involving some of my fellow Wolverines!

smitha1

There's plenty to like here but the biggest addition for me was the '98 SPx Finite Spectrum parallel of PC guy Dean Palmer numbered /2250. And if you were as much of a fan of the slugging 3B as I was, then you'll especially love the next deal...

TpocketT

This may be the most fun bunch of cards in this post. I acquired around half of what you see here in one trade for five cards (all pretty much just junk autos), and then sent him $25 for some of the nicer ones, including the Larkins and everything numbered. Speaking of the latter, Barry's '03 Topps Chrome Refractor is SN699; The Matheny '06 Chrome Red is good for just 90 copies; Dean-o has one from the same set as the Larkin plus a Gold version limited to 449. This is just a beautiful bunch of cards that hits some of my favorite baseball PCs. Refractors rule!

wireguy66

I'll cover the remaining trades in one or more future posts, though first I'm planning on getting back to more important stuff including trades, shows, an eBay purchase, and a few more Facebook Marketplace finds. Yep, I've had even more luck with the latter lately. Stay tuned for those, and until then, GO BLUE!

7/3/26 card show report: just a bit in July

July was once again a two-show month for me, but unlike June, both were my usual monthly gig in Taylor thanks to a quirk of the calendar. Tonight I'm covering the actual July show, which I attended the day before Independence Day.

I ended up spending "just" $75, a decent amount, and fortunately more than the previous month at the same venue, though based on my keepers a good chunk of that cost went towards trade package fodder, so I don't have a ton to show off here. That's fine by me since it means less work!

The baseball content was limited to just two players. Pitcher Tommy Henry, the pride of Portage Northern High School, got card #19 added to his collection: a 2019 Bowman Draft Sapphire Edition base. Yep, we've got way too many products again these days, but in a much worse way than in the 90s when there were at least multiple quality manufacturers. Anyway, I don't get to add to his collection too often--this is only the third card of him I've landed this year--so it was a fun pull out of one of the boxes I perused.

Meanwhile, the summer of Pudge continues. I've added a bunch of his cards this year via multiple sources, and now I have almost 450 of the HOF C and former Tiger. The best card here leads off: 1995 Flair's Hot Gloves. This beauty of a chase card uses a Gold Glove motif to highlight some of the best in the game, and as always, the 13-time winner of that award had to be included.

That's joined by 1998 UD's hobby version of its 10th Anniversary Preview insert which threw it back to the OG '89 set that has become iconic; '99 Upper Deck's Textbook Excellence, a set that again wisely includes the catching legend; 2000 Upper Deck's Pennant Driven, starring a guy who won two flags (including 2006 with Detroit) and one ring (with the '03 Marlins); and an insert called 1941 Series from 2003 Upper Deck's Play Ball product that calls back to a legendary set.

My personal purchases were so limited that I didn't even come home with any football items for myself this time, but I did match baseball's count with a half dozen basketball inserts featuring a trio of ex-Wolverines. LeVert was a Piston last year but was moved to Milwaukee in a July deal that involved six teams. Here's how it looks on basketball-reference:

Well ok, then! Anyway, that '23-'24 Silver Prizm from Panini Prizm is his 75th card, good for 6th place in my basketball collection. The slightly younger Jordan Poole is next, and he owns the #8 spot in that PC with exactly 70, partially thanks to this colorful quartet which includes Panini Prizm Ice and Silver Prizms, plus Panini Select Blue Cracked Ice and Green/White/Purple Prizms. And lastly, older Wagner bro Mo lags behind the crowd with just 28 cards, paling in comparison to his star sibling Franz, who claims 72 cards among Michigan Basketball guys I collect. At least the Reactive Yellow Mosaic from '24-'25 Panini Mosaic looks very cool, and paired with Orlando's team colors almost gets a maize & blue tribute!

That was it for July show #1 but the good news is that I was able to enjoy some fireworks at the end of the month with August's show rolled around. I'll likely catch up on one or two other posts before I cover that, but I think some of you might enjoy it. Until then, may your remaining summer days be enjoyable as the sunshine and temperatures fade almost as fast as the Tigers, leading us right into college football season!

2026 trade package #15: the Collector

It's a Friday, it's a beautiful day, and even better yet, it's celebration time! One of my oldest blogging/collecting friends is marking a couple big anniversaries, and in typical fashion he decided to put a generous spin on it and send out cards to a lucky few.

By now you've probably seen a few posts that open up with this image, and I'm proud to have been included in Chris's (the Collector) Anniversary Celebration Extravaganza! 40 years of collecting and 10 of blogging are big deals for sure, and the hobby and blogosphere are much better places for having Chris be part of them.

Of course I also love his incorporation of Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons in the logo, and if I had the power, I'd nominate Chris for the second annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence. Anybody that agrees is one of the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked.

Anyway, if you haven't for some reason, do yourself a favor and go check out his anniversary-related posts, including the box breaks of Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary he included in his generous (I'm gonna use that word a lot today) giveaway packages.

I mean, what other word can you use to describe a big-ass envelope stuffed with free cards that cost him $13 to mail?

Here's an overview of the contents: a note, three unopened packs, some penny sleeves, and a bunch of cards. I opened the top two packs (which you'll see shortly) but since I have a complete '86 Topps set, I decided to leave that rack pack sealed, one he included thoughtfully as Tigers HOFer Jack Morris appears on the front.

I tend to think of including a note in a trade package as a classy thing to do, even if it's just a brief "thanks for trading and I hope you enjoy these!" So I thought this "thank you" from Chris was very, very nice, and it just continues to prove that he deserves all the love for being a fantastic writer and trader, not to mention going through a tough time the past few years. I'm grateful he stuck with it and hope he does keep the urge to write more even if he's collecting less. His blog has been the home of some very well researched and written series, and the Collector remains one of my all-time favorites among long-timers like Night Owl and Fuji.

Ok, now that I've gone overboard in expressing my appreciation, here's the loot, starting with my pack of '92 Topps:

Nothing too crazy here, but plenty of names that I know, with Hrbek and Bernie being the two best names if you ask me.

And 2026 Bowman is certainly the newest product I've opened in a long time. Matt Holiday's kid and Roman Anthony are solid pulls, and I also got an Electric Sluggers insert of Aiva Arquette of Miami. The latter is a 2025 first-rounder out of Oregon State via his birthplace of Hawaii (cool!), and a pre-2026 consensus top-50 prospect.

Now that we're done with the packs, here are the cards Chris "curated" for me, and as always (and I do mean always), he did an excellent job:

A pair of Cronenworths is a great place to start! You'll see a solid amount of the aforementioned Topps Chrome Platinum throughout my post as well as those of others who received these packages thanks to Chris breaking a few boxes. That includes guys like Greene and Kell. He also sent me a good number of '25 Topps Tigers, plus a cool '26 Diamante Foil of OF Parker Meadows.

Oddly enough this scan opens and closes with the two biggest names the Tigers traded (correctly, I'd say) at this year's deadline. That Ripken is one of three Chris sent, and at 99 copies made is one of a pair that were numbered too! Future HOFer Scherzer continues to be very welcome in trade packages like this, especially when it's on an "ace" playing card-themed item.

And lots of shiny in the last baseball scan. The whole top row plus the Ripken at the bottom comprises Refractors, most of which are from TCPA. While blog namesake guy Verlander is much appreciated, the Cal is especially cool, and it was fun seeing Chris pull that from his box and note it in his break video. Speaking of Ripken the younger, that three-player Orioles card is numbered to just 50! And going back to Mr. Kate Upton, the Heritage insert as another very nice item as it's a holofoil version. Then, finally, we go back to Cronenworth with what's hit #6 (third relic), an Absolute jersey that pairs him up with erstwhile Tiger Isaac Paredes, a very cool piece for this here blog.

I'll just spoil now that Chris hit all four major sports. The Penny/Shaq/Webber insert is very cool and I was happy to get an insert of recent Wolverines basketballer Danny Wolf.

He delivered even more high quality stuff when it came to football. The Holo parallel of RB Blake Corum, one of my absolute favorite recent guys, is one of three you'll see if that player. I think Will Johnson's going to have a very good NFL career, and I'm happy to see him on some nice color such as the Prizm/Chrome pair above. That Bowman Chrome U insert of brief UM transfer QB Mikey Keene is my first card of his from a major manufacturer (the other are ONIT) so that was a fun inclusion). No matter whether or not he starts again in the NFL, I love seeing new cards of McCarthy, especially in college action. Sainristil and Schoonmaker are two more recent guys that join the rainbow here. And the Woodson pairing is quite nice: a Select parallel numbered /149 and an acetate-type insert that looks very cool in-hand.

Cleaning up the football items, we get the other two Corum cards: yet another eye-popping color parallel plus a Pink parallel of a blue Rams jersey swatch, giving "the Great" five hits in my collection. And those are joined by the card that was covered up by a note in the picture above that shows everything. Chris says he found that IP/TTM auto of five-time Pro Bowl OT Mike Kenn in a dollar box and knew it was worth it regardless of its legitimacy. Good call!

I'll get to the larger hockey stack featuring my Wolverines in a moment, but first there was this OPC Platinum Wings pair: Swedish wingers Jonatan Berggren and Lucas Ryamond. The latter's still with the team and has been a quality player since being selected #4 overall in 2020.

Hockey scan 1/2 includes some very good names in Beniers, Blankenburg, Connor, Hughes, Johnson, and Larkin, and of course Larkin and Patch are two of my favorite icers to collect. The Pacioretty minor league card from '08-'09 is especially cool as I have so few of those when it comes to collecting hockey. Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, I'm still happily collecting Larkin despite the ongoing saga of his trade demands.

And lastly, Greg Pateryn, Owen Power, and Zach Werenski join the party along with an encore from Hughes. The Hughes/Werenski defensive pairing here is a very impressive one, given they both are Norris Trophy winners who are two-time All-Stars that were also named to their All-Rookie teams during their debuts. That UD Bustle insert of Zach is definitely one of these nicest cards in the whole envelope.

Chris, once again, thanks so much for this huge, generous, and hugely generous package of cards that you sent to celebrate two big personal anniversaries of your own. I can't say enough how glad I am that there's still a good number of bloggers like you who keep that practice alive, and that we've been able to continue trading cards through ups and downs. No matter what your collecting and blogging future look like, you've earned some rest to go along with all the respect you deserve. And I'm enjoying reading all of the other posts by folks who received these packages. Be well, and be ready for the next time I can send cards back your way!

I'll try to be back relatively soon with more posts covering my pickups from the past few months, but today's took priority over everything else. I've still got tons of scans covering eBay, shows, Facebook, and TCDb trading to get to and look forward to sharing those soon!