2020 trade package #14: Bob Walk the Plank

I appreciate every person who's generous enough to put in the effort to send me new cards, whether it's one or hundreds, commons or stars. And it's great to have such a diverse group of friends, including a few with whom I can send higher-end stuff back and forth. It really is a blast when I get to add new stuff to my collection that I wouldn't have thought of, or cards that didn't fit my price range.

One of those folks is Matt of Bob Walk the Plank (and, since his retirement, mostly @walktheplank82). My Mountaineer buddy had last sent me some ridiculously awesome stuff that I posted last December, and then a new envelope showed up about a week ago. "Seems like forever since I sent something your way," said the note he included, though it didn't feel that way to me. I'm also the type that prefers to send the occasional larger package instead of a bunch of smaller ones. Either way, if you looked at what he got me late last year, I think you'd agree that he was allowed as much time as he needed to reload.

I can confirm that Matt spent that time well, as the contents will prove:

There were three cards in this package I knew were coming eventually, and two of those are the 2015 Bowman Draft Blue (/150) and Gold (/50) parallels of Padres two-way player Jake Cronenworth seen above. Matt was nice enough to find those for me on COMC a while ago and I appreciated him including them here as I continue to work on his collection. I'd love to see the former Wolverine get some time in the majors with his unique skillset!

The rest you see here were definitely surprises, starting with Bondo's 2003 E-X RC. This was in the short-printed range of that year's product, which once again went the acetate route, an excellent decision. We sure could use more cards that look like this these days!

Next is an Al Kaline jersey from UD's 2005 Sweet Spot Classic. That's absolutely the kind of thing I can look forward to in an envelope from Matt and I love it. Look at the beautiful classic photo and the vintage jersey swatch of Mr. Tiger, who may be gone but definitely won't be forgotten. I don't have many similar pieces at this point but seeing this one makes me want to drop a few bucks on more if I can find them.

Moving on to a still-active player, I can't say I was expecting to see such a nice autograph of ace reliever Andrew Miller! Numbered just 03/10, this is from 2007 UD Black's Game Day Ticket Autographs Gold Spectrum parallel, another set that uses the ticket motif to great effect. Miller of course wasn't a Tiger for long as they traded him and fellow first-rounder Cameron Maybin in the deal that brought Miguel Cabrera to Motown, but that paid off handsomely for Detroit, and I'm happy for Miller that he was able to emerge as a very effective RP when starting didn't go his way. Miller's not the type of guy I'd tend to keep in my Detroit PC, but there's no way I'm getting rid of a card that's this nice!

And now we switch back to another Hall of Fame Tiger. Pudge will always be remembered more for his time in Arlington, but there's no denying the positive effect he had on Detroit in his four-plus seasons, helping the team back to respectability (and then more). So of course I'm thrilled that my first autograph of the catching legend is this one where he's shown as a member of my team. It also helps that it's on a very cool design from Fleer's 2004 Genuine Insider product, where the section that holds the signature slides in and out of the card's left side. Oh, and Pudge has a great autograph. And it's numbered /150. So, yeah, there's a lot to like about this one!

Heading over to the football side it's totes the GOATs, and two really, really nice cards bookend a fun base trio. The latter include 2002 Topps (not sure how I didn't have that!), 2003 Classics, and 2004 Playoff Hogg Heaven. Card #1, though, was a total surprise: a Torquers (blue foil) parallel of Tom's 2000 Press Pass card. The base version of this alone isn't cheap, so this rarer parallel of a sweet college uni card is awesome! I definitely appreciate it more because it's a Michigan uni card, not because of its value, but that doesn't mean the latter is lost on me!

And as if that weren't generous enough, we'll end on the card that I would say started this particular package. If you caught Matt's surprising new post on Saturday then you might remember that he included some shots of cards he came across while reorganizing and consolidating his collection. One of those happened to be Brady's 2000 Skybox Dominion RC, one he shares with fellow QB Giovanni Carmazzi of the Niners. The Hofstra product was the second QB selected in 2000 (third round), and one of six that went before the Patriots changed their franchise forever at #199 in the sixth.

I don't even want to guess what either of these big Brady items is going for right now since I'd rather celebrate having them. You may recall that I'm slowly chasing every non-auto/relic of each Wolverine in the NFL so the Dominion card is a big get as just my third of Brady's RCs (Fleer Tradition and UD Victory). There's still a long way to go so when someone sends one of these my way like Matt did it really means a lot.

Matt, thanks for once again bringing the thunder in our high-end back-and-forth! I don't have anything nearly as nice to send to you at the moment thanks to not being able to get to a show, but I do have a few things handy and might return the favor soon anyway.

And as a reminder for everyone who's missing Matt's great content, please make sure to follow him on Twitter @walktheplank82 where he now posts his pickups.

2019 COMC purchases: wild cards

I'm back today with more COMC loot, and this time there's a lot less to cover, which makes things easier on me!  In honor of the MLB playoffs pretty much starting--good luck to this year's four wild card teams--let's have a look at the baseball stuff I picked out this time:

 

Let's start with a bang with this gorgeous acetate insert of Mr. Padre.  Gwynn's 1998 Upper Deck Amazing Greats (get it?) is one reason I get to use my favorite "90s inserts rule" tag today, and for good reason.  I mean, just look at this card and try not to like it!  It's see through, it's limited to 2000 copies (so rare!) and it stars one of the greats of his generation.  This embodies everything great about collecting in the 90s and it's still amazing to think cards like this were being made 20+ years ago.  I should also point out that I'm also after the 1997 versions, which look awesome in their own right.  As for this one, I happily knocked it off my single/player wants list.

Next, this Steve Howe '94 Stadium Club Team First Day Issue parallel probably doesn't interest the vast majority of you, and ordinarily it would barely move the needle for me, too, except that in this case it's the 81st and final card I needed to complete his mainstream checklist.  All that's left to chase are oddball-types and minor league stuff.  It feels good to get another PC done, especially after needing just one card for so long.

And now, back to 90s inserts that do, indeed, rule.  I've long loved the multiple glove-themed die-cuts that were available during that decade, such as Pacific Paramount's Fielder's Choice.  Of the three that came out of the brand my favorite design is the 1999 version, but this one from its 1998 debut isn't exactly chopped liver, and, I mean, I want all of my PC guys from all three anyway.  That includes all-time Gold Glove king Greg Maddux here, who would win half of his 18(!) awards after this card was produced.  The glove's die-cutting is well done but Pacific gets bonus points for attention to detail by also cutting the webbing inside.  Just more classic 90s fun.

When you talk playoffs you'd be remiss if you didn't include three-time Series winner and '91 World Series MVP Jack Morris.  35 years ago he led the juggernaut '84 Tigers to their most recent title, winning game 1 of the ALCS and games 1 and 4, with the latter two in complete game fashion.  It was a season for the ages and culminated in a matchup with a young Tony Gwynn and his Padres.  That series is highlighted here on this 2002 Upper Deck World Series Heroes Classic Match-Ups Memorabilia jersey card, featuring a Morris swatch dead center.  Tony went 1-2 with a pair of walks in the Series opener, then 1-4 in the penultimate game, but his fellow HOF foe was the one celebrating after game 5.  And I'm celebrating my fourth hit of Morris, the first of hopefully more relics!

And we'll end with two more 90s inserts that rule of one player, Mr. Cal Ripken Jr.  #1 is another beautiful die-cut glove card, this time Fleer's 1994 Flair Hot Gloves.  Cal joins Griffey and Maddux in this 10-card set available in Flair's second annual offering, which continued through 1996, moved to Flair Showcase in '97, was a memorabilia chase set in 2001 Legacy, went back to Showcase in 2003-04 as both an insert and multi-material memorabilia insert, and made its last appearance as an insert only in 2006 Showcase.  It's got a lot of history, as does Cal, who actually only won two Gold Gloves, mostly due to playing at the same time as SS legend Omar Vizquel.

 

We opened with an acetate card and then saw two glove die-cuts, so why not close things out with one more see-through insert?  1996 Ultra's Season Crowns were apparently not that tough to pull at 1:10 packs, but they were a Series 1 insert, and I only ever busted Series 2, so I never pulled one of these, and somehow missed out on them until landing one of Maddux at some point.  That led me to chase Cal's card, which largely celebrates the Streak, and here we are!  The back points out a Streak fact that doesn't always get as much press:  it included 8,243 consecutive innings from June 5, 1982-September 14, 1987, meaning he didn't just start every day, he finished.

With these cards posted I'll turn my attention to the fun of the postseason while working on the other two football COMC posts now that the calendar has flipped to October.  Stay tuned to those and good luck to any playoff teams you're rooting for!