2025 trade package #10: Sport Card Collectors

We're in mid-June and the MLB season is getting close to the halfway point, but things were just getting started for my Tigers and the other clubs back in April when Matt of the Sport Card Collectors family of blogs sent me a cool pair of PWEs mostly featuring that team.

Here's what Matt sent me this time:

Bowman is often the home of prospects you've never heard of (and likely won't ever hear from again), and Ardoin's no exception--he pitched just three years of Minor League ball. Miggy and I were both six years old when the '89 Topps set the insert above is based on came out, and one of us went on to a storied MLB career. '24 World Series winner Flaherty is back in Detroit's rotation, and the results have been somewhat mixed, but he's still a solid guy I'm glad is on the team (plus, who'd say no to a Refractor?).

When it comes to infielder Colt Keith, he wouldn't be born for another 12 years after '89 Topps' release, and he made his MLB debut a total of 35 years after the abundant firestarter was found in packs, as seen on a cool Topps parallel. While '25 has been a bit of a down year for Keith, Torkelson has reversed his fortunes and is playing like a Star of the MLB, on pace to exceed the 31 bombs he totaled two years ago.

'84 World Series champ Trammell looks regal on a recent Panini Crusade design, and though he was famously screwed out of the '87 AL MVP, he does have a better crown to wear: MVP of the previously mentioned World Series. Verlander, meanwhile, has a trophy case absolutely stuffed thanks to a ROY, MVP, three Cy Youngs, and two World Series rings, not to mention an ALCS MVP. Autumn wasn't kind to him until 2017 with the Astros, and the third time was the charm for Mr. Kate Upton. As always he also looks great in Refractor form.

There were two more baseball items in these envelopes, both of diminutive stature. The first is a Mini Miggy, not to be confused with erstwhile Tiger Avisail Garcia, and the second is a Ginter Mini of 2008-09 and 2012 Tigers OF Clete Thomas, who ended his brief MLB career with the Twins in 2013.

Matt's also one of my more consistent sources of Michigan Football stuff, which I always appreciate, and he included a couple recent defensive guys here. First is a '24 Score RC of LB Junior Colson, who was drafted by his former college coach Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers, for whom he played 11 games last season. As always, hell yeah to the occasional college action RC! The other is a Panini Mosaic base of Aidan Hutchinson, the beastly edge player whose return to health could portend even more success than last year's Lions. My collection of the Lions' best player is growing nicely and is nearing the 50-card mark thanks to envelopes like this one.

Matt, as always, thank you for more of your trademark PWEs as they always include some of my PC favorites. Pretty soon I should also be able to cover the newest pair you sent this month, though I have a bit more catching up to do. In the meantime I look forward to any post(s) you put together on the envelope I just sent your way.

As this was my lone trade package from April I don't have too much more to show off from that month, but I'll be back soon with an outstanding showing of generosity. 

1/3 and 1/31/25 Show Reports: Two-fer '25

Because I attended both January's and February's shows during the first month of this year (as you can see in the title, February's began on 1/31, and I like to go on Fridays), you get a two-fer post tonight!

#1 for the year was Friday, January 3, and my spending sheet says I threw down a year-high $120, which made for a strong start.

First, here's a scan of some pretty nice trade bait:

I've tried to swing back into getting baseball fodder since it seems that's what many folks prefer, but the football stuff just ends up being more plentiful much of the time, both in quantity and quality. The printing plate you see (scanned sideways, for some reason) stars Bears QB bust Mitchell Trubisky, and it hails from 2019 Panini Luminance (well, it was inserted into that year's Plates & Patches, but you know what I mean). I can't remember the exact price but I snagged it for less than $10.

As always, if you see anything you like, just ask and we'll see what we can work out!

As for my keepers,

It doesn't get much better than some "90s inserts rule" goodness! Junior Griffey features on the front of a '96 Pinnacle Team Pinnacle insert, Gwynn looks spiffy on a '97 Skybox E-X2000 base, Maddux is the face of a 2003 Fleer Tradition mini insert, and Pudge is the back half of the catching duo on Pinnacle's '97 Team Pinnacle version. Oh, and Ripken completes the quartet with a new relic card courtesy of '24 Ginter. Sweet!

The well-traveled Burke was a fun throw-in on the basketball side of things, and I'm always up for a cool Donruss numbered parallel, especially the Season Stat Line cards.

And it may not look it, but that '92 Pro Line football card was one of the most significant pickups for me this time. I'll explain why in a moment as we look at some backs.

The Reds' Sanders was a reasonable pick opposite Griffey to rep the NL OF in '95, his lone All-Star campaign. Maddux's Black & White mini card has a nice bonus of being numbered /1936 as a throwback to that year's Goudey design. I don't know why I included the back of Cal's Ginter relic here, but I did. Piazza was a natural counterpart to Rodriguez on the other Team Pinnacle insert.

And then we have my second example of a signature card from 1992 Pro Line Portraits' Autograph sets. OL Greg Skrepenak suited up for the Wolverines before being drafted by the Raiders, and he'd play 68 NFL games over five seasons between them and the Jaguars. His brief career combined with that era of the hobby means his certified auto selection is extremely limited, and this is one I was hot after since it's his only NFL version. I love adding signatures of new players to my collection and was happy for Skrepenak to join the club!

Four weeks later I headed back east down 94 for another Friday show. This time I spent a slightly odd (but even) $76, and I don't recall how I ended up at that number. Despite shelling out less cash, I brought home even MORE trade bait, if fewer PC additions:

Trade bait scan 1 of 2 is just the vertical cards, and most everything here was in the $1-$2 range, I believe.

And the other nine were of the horizontal variety. Lots more football, as you can see (and hopefully I'll get those sent out in TCDb deals at some point) with a pair of baseball relics. Want any? Please ask!

As for my keepers:

We'll start off this small assortment with another "90s inserts rule" reference. I don't know for sure if 1998 was my favorite year for Topps inserts, but after dragging their feet long enough to get way behind the likes of Pacific, Pinnacle, Fleer, and UD, Topps produced some bangers late in the decade. '98's Clout Nine, Focal Point, Mystery Finest, and Clemente Reprints were highlights, and to that group I'd add Hall Bound, a 15-card die-cut set honoring players who were practically shoo-ins for Cooperstown. Of that total, Clemens, McGwire, Bonds, and Juan Gonzalez were the only misses, for obvious reasons. Cal, of course, had no such problems. And here I added the Chrome version of his entry in that beautiful set!

Next I rewound the clock a decade while picking up the Whitaker/Trammell double-play combo in Starting Lineup card form. I've had (open) figure/card pairings of the two (plus Matt Nokes) since the year I turned six and was in retrospect lucky to find them at Meijer or Toys R Us, and now I have the inaugural iteration's cardboard issues. It was great finding them together and I think they were just a buck or two each. Cool!

Lastly, I think I paid about the same amount to add relic cards of a couple more Wolverines that are joining the hits collection tonight. QB Joe Milton III is the guy that transferred to Tennessee after the wacky 2020 "season," and then the hapless Patriots spent a pick on him. He was just flipped to Dallas where he'll try to be Dak's backup, I guess. Meanwhile, NCAA champ WR Roman Wilson joins him, and though his post-college year in football proved to be a bust due to injury, I'm hoping to see him making some plays for the Steelers in a few months.

The three football additions you saw tonight put me at 260 unique subjects in my football hits collection, and that's a number I've proudly increased quite a bit the past few years.

Posting these show pickups lets me put some more cards away and continue to chip at my backlog. Next I plan on showing off my lone February trade package, one that was plenty big enough to get its own month!

2025 trade package #3: Nachos Grande

Not too long after I received that PWE from Chris, "The Collector," that I just wrote about, I was treated to an envelope from another Chris that's east of me: Mr. Reed of Nachos Grande. I've known him as a great blogger and quality trade partner for years now and was happy to include him in my most recent Christmas Card mailings, helping him complete his run of Reds Topps Lineage relics.

He was nice enough to return the favor the following month with a package that screamed "Nachos Grande" to me as it was chock full of items I associate with his collecting habits:

That foil Cobb actually hails from the same 2011 Topps Lineage product I just mentioned and it's one of several parallels you could find in the set, not to mention a card I didn't previously have on hand.

Then we get into the Ginter stuff, which is definitely a Nachos Grande staple. I had all of the ones you see here on my TCDb wantlist including 2020 base of Cobb, Fielder, Gwynn, and Tram, a 2020 Mini of Mr. Tiger Al Kaline, and a 2011 of former blog namesake Curtis Granderson. As it turns out, Fielder and Tram are both SPs in the 2020 product so it was extra nice of Chris to include them. They give me four former Tigers that were short-printed, along with Jack Morris and Sparky Anderson. I could also add Magglio Ordonez and Jim Bunning to my wants but haven't decided to do that yet.

And as if those weren't enough, Chris also helped me out with a dupe of a guy we both PC, Barry Larkin. I appreciate any extras he can send my way since he's managed to write up individual posts for more Larkins than I currently even own! #980 in my collection is the '21 Donruss Red and White Stripes parallel you see above, #d 1801/2021. That marks my fifth parallel of his Retro '87 base appearance along with the base card itself in what would likely be a years long search for the product's rainbow. While I miss the MLB logos I do like the design, including the throwback to the 1987 set.

Chris, thanks again for thinking of me and sending these great new additions my way. I'll keep working on trying to find some new Larkins for you to try to get more of your doubles into my collection.

And once again I'll be back soon as I have three more blogger trades from January to cover, not to mention a huge one from February, and three monthly shows to recap. Until then, enjoy some Spring Training ball as we head into warmer weather and a new season!

2025 trade package #1: Baseball Cards Come to Life

When it came to the first blogger trade cards I received in 2025, it was a case of last in, first out. Bo of Baseball Cards Come to Life was the sender of the last envelopes I received late in December and then the first that hit my mailbox this past January. As it turns out, there was a reason for this: the January envelope should have been delivered with the earlier ones, but it decided to go off on its own adventure.

That didn't bother me, though, since I still ended up with some very cool cards that pretty much held up the same themes as the post-Christmas ones: vintage, oddball, and Tigers. Oh, and also, Bo identified everything as a want from my TCDb lists. I highly, highly recommend getting yourself organized there for many reasons including this one.

Here's the contents:

"Big Daddy"'s last Studio card as a Tiger was in the fantastic '96 set with one of my favorite designs. Fryman was gone from Detroit before appearing on the Absolute card you see, but those look terrific and I collect him in any uniform anyway.

The run of vintage Lolich cards was especially nice for me as it brought four news from '73, '76 (x2) and '76 Traded. By the way, Lolich has since been surpassed in strikeouts by a lefty by Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, CC Sabathia, and Clayton Kershaw. Also, he was flipped to the Mets in December of '75 in a deal that brought "Le Grand Orange" Rusty Staub to Motown.

Speaking of outstanding pitchers, Bo filled a couple Maddux needs with his '93 Fleer Final Edition and '94 Fleer Sunoco cards. And Mad Dog's fellow 80s/90s HOFer Jack Morris came along for the ride with Fleer boxed set issues from 1988: Exciting Stars and Record Setters (first card of next scan). I love that there are still so many of those 80s oddballs for me to chase that include my many PCs.

Gwynn and Griffey didn't make the trip this time but Junior Ripken sure did thanks to cards from '91 Classic and a '94 Donruss checklist. I can't remember for sure but I may have had one of the Classic games/trivia sets that included those cards at one point.

A couple other MLB HOFers close out the baseball content. The first is a '76 Topps NL batting leaders card that includes PC guy Ted Simmons in the #2 spot with #s 1 and 3 held by Bill Madlock and Manny Sanguillen. 1975 was the first of four seasons Madlock won the batting title, and his .354 clip beat an also excellent .332 that was a career best for Simba. Meanwhile, Tram joined HOF teammate Morris from the '88 Fleer Exciting Stars set after an insane '87 season in which he was jobbed out of the AL MVP by enough voters that preferred George Bell.

Former Wolverine Jim Smith is all by himself in terms of the football content this time, though combined with the other envelopes Bo sent he would have been one of four. The '79 Topps card you see above of the WR who played six seasons with the Steelers was essentially last regular issue I needed for his collection which is now short just some oddball-ish stuff. Very cool of Bo to find that and send it my way.

Bo, thanks again for the slightly delayed additional Christmas cards! You know I'll be keeping an eye out for cool stuff for you at upcoming shows, especially any help I can give you for your vintage set builds.

I'll be back with more January trades soon, but in the meantime, it's nice to be done with 2024 and finally covering 2025 pickups!

2024 TCDb trade roundup part 1: the goods

It's about time I get an actual card post up this month so I'm able to put more stuff away.

My TCDb transactions stats tell me I completed 41 deals last year (not including PIFs), which is my second best so far (76 in 2022) and a couple better than '23. Tonight I'm highlighting a few of those for various reasons--favorite members, interesting cards, or whatever else. I'll have a part 2 up soon that covers "the rest" with probably very little commentary.

So without further ado, here's some cool cardboard I made deals for in '24:

BaltOrioles:

This is mostly here because of the Sparky relic--my second of old George--but the minors cards of some of my more obscure Michigan Baseball PCs and the oddballs are quite cool too!

cynicalbuddha:

I worked out a deal with Mark of Collector's Crack late in the year because we had a lot of matches including some items I could use for Christmas packages, plus he's always been a good dude. Since some of it indeed made it into holiday envelopes, this isn't nearly everything I got from him, to give you a good idea of how fun this deal was. The auto of the late Mallett is my fifth while I accidentally grabbed the rookie auto of DT Mike Martin because I apparently hadn't logged it on the site. Oh well, more trade bait! Thank you to Mark for an awesome deal.

firesnbeers (trade):

Brian's one of my closest friends on the site so the stuff I got from him would have been here regardless, but this was a super fun swap. The Action Packed cards aren't the standard ones you usually see as they have a little (I'm assuming fake) diamond in them. He found a couple partial sets of those at an antique store-type place, I believe. I also loved getting all of the former Wolverines/Brewers from the beer set, and there's lots more to love here too.

firesnbeers (PIF, 1/24):

Yeah, no big deal at all, just a trio of VINTAGE KALINES! The '58 he shares with slugger Harvey Kuenn and the '59 solo card are now the oldest cards of Mr. Tiger in my collection, and the '64 League Leaders card that includes Yaz was a great treat as well. You'll see more of ex-Wolverine Paciorek in a bit but he's one of a number of Brewers and Packers police cards I've acquired thanks to Brian.

firesnbeers (PIF, 11/24):

I think I may have asked him for the Miggy you see here but the other two were HUGE surprises. The Maddux jersey looks terrific, and boy is that Daz Cameron jersey number piece sweet! WOW!

firesnbeers (PIF, 12/24):

I knew these other Pacioreks were coming at some point but had no idea the rest would be included in this Christmas gift! We already had Mr. Tiger, so why not Mr. Padre on a nice relic? And speak of the devil, there's a beautiful Kaline relic (piece of pants) from one of Upper Deck's superlative Baseball Heroes sets. Last up in this very generous mailing to close out a year in generosity is a Topps Archives Purple auto of Alan Trammell, numbered to 150 on the back. Whoa! Tram has a gorgeous signature and fits in well on a design used during his playing career: 1993 Topps.

Thanks so much, Brian!

HamPstr88:

Speaking of Brian, I was glad to be introduced to one of his friends and fellow Wisconsinites on the site, Jeff. Though I handsomely rewarded him later, Jeff sent me the items above in a deal that was heavily in my favor. It starts with a '71 Topps RC of HOF Michigan alum Ted Simmons, a huge get for me. The 2020 Heritage Buyback of another Michigan Ted, Sizemore, also from the '71 Topps set, is next. And how about just my second Simba auto from '22 Heritage's Real Ones Autographs set? Oh, and the jumbo of Riley Greene ('23 Update Oversized Combo Box Topper) was a pretty slick throw-in.

This kind of deal only assures that I'll continue trading with Jeff in the future!

jasongerman9:

Jason, a fellow Michigander and another of my best buddies on the site, is no stranger to these posts as we've dealt a few times, often in blind trade form, though I think in this case I mostly picked out stuff I wanted. He was nice enough to grab the top three cards for me on COMC to finish up the 2008 Topps and '21 Topps Series 1 near sets I grabbed at a garage sale last summer. I think he may have had the rest of these in his port as well and shipped back to himself. Among the great stuff you see is a minors card of former Michigan icer Milan Gajic, a guy I enjoyed watching play in Ann Arbor. The Burnaby, BC native's four years with the Wolverines matched mine and I liked seeing his skills on display, which led to the saying "Gajic is Magic."

Thanks, Jason!

Mjprigge:

It definitely feels like there's a Wisconsin bias to this post but that's unintentional. Matt's always been a fun Twitter follow and my trades with him have always gone well. This time I got more help with my '95 Finest set (22 more to go!), a cool trio of Tigers, and a full set of the cards that were a bonus addition to his book Opening Day in Milwaukee. It's very cool to know collectors that have produced content like this, and I'll be reading that at some point.

Puckfiend (Secret Santa):

I once again participated in TCDb's Secret Santa event late last year (run by Dan/vrooomed, mentioned below) and the person who drew my name was an LA Kings fan named Paul. He did a nice job by sending me a card of a player I collect, a 2024 Topps Pristine Green Refractor of Ripken, then made things more interesting by including David Wells' book and the note you see above. I'll be reading it at some point and then passing it along as requested (though I'm not sure that I'll do the picture thing).

Rayeveryplayerand76e:

Ray in Philadelphia was super easy to work with as we had no problems making a one-for-one basketball auto swap. My prize was my first hit, an autograph, of former Wolverine Tariq Abdul-Wahad. The French SG was born Olivier Sant-Jean and played college ball for Michigan in 1993-94 and 94-95, then transferred to San Jose State for his final two seasons. He was the 11th overall pick by Sacramento in 1997 and played parts of six seasons with the Kings, Magic, Nuggets, and Mavs. Fleer included him in their cross-brand Autographics signed insert in 1998-99 and now I can add another name to my list of Wolverines for whom I own a certified auto!

tucha:

Way before Canada Post went on strike I made a fun PWE trade with Al in Langley, BC. To absolutely nobody's surprise, my return included OPC and hockey! The Bird and Simba cards are great and I love the look of both of the Larkins, but I really appreciated getting the buyback of Michigan icer Jeff Norton limited to "just" 25 copies. It probably doesn't seem like a big thing but I made sure to thank him for including it without asking a lot.

vrooomed (PIF):

Five-time member-of-the-year (including 2024!) Dan is another TCDber I count as a close friend on the site which is why you see his name along with Brian's and Jason's here a lot. When he's not efficiently running something like a fantasy league, giveaway, or Secret Santa, or working on inaccuracy reports to correct things on the site, he sometimes finds time to trade as well. We've sent lots back and forth, and this time he mailed me a few things I asked him about (most of the stuff in the first scan) plus a couple nice stacks of cards from 1987 Hygrade. Thanks to what he sent I now own 51 of the 114-card set and will likely chip away at it slowly. It's definitely a classic product that you still see all over the place.

Thanks, Dan!

Ymmat (PIF, 4/24):

Ymmat (PIF, 8/24):

Joe and I flip stuff back and forth quite a bit too, so even if we're not formally trading we're sending each other PIFs. This is one of two occasions last year where he played on my TCDb username of FreehanSolo. He covered the first part of the name with a pair of Tigers catcher Bill: his '63 Topps RC plus an SP Legendary Cuts jersey. Wow! I already had my own copy of the rookie, which is of course also a favorite of John's, so I passed this one on to fellow Tigers fan Paul to enjoy. I'll be keeping the relic, though, because it was new to me!

In terms of the "Solo" portion, well, Han's Star Wars card is obvious but I had to look up the other. From a 1965 set covering the TV series it's Napoleon Solo ("...and 2 beautiful women," which, yep!) from The Man From U.N.C.L.E. He was played by Robert Vaughn on the 60s spy show and Henry Cavill in the 2015 movie remake. Very clever of Joe!

Ymmat (trade #1):

For our first trade of the year, closed out last July, I got some 123 items from him in return for just 49 (though I threw in some extras, namely Legends Sports Memorabilia card sheets and a few magazines to even things out). A large chunk of my end went to Brian, Dan, and Jason, especially a bunch of '86 Topps football for Brian's set build, but I got some fun stuff for myself too as you can see above.

Ymmat (trade #2 + PIF):

If I recall correctly, the contents of this trade arrived in three PWEs. The first two included the items that were part of the transaction while a third contained what you see in the last scan, which I'm treating as a PIF as they were a nice surprise! The main deal included some fun new stuff including my first card of recent Wolverine pitcher Connor O'Halloran, a 2023 fifth-round selection of the Blue Jays who was born in nearby Mississauga, Ontario.

As you can see, the second group includes another Freehan/Solo pairing, a couple more vintage Tigers, a Dingler and pair of Greenes, and lastly, two surprise autos. The first is a Blue Topps Chrome of pitching prospect Sawyer Gipson-Long, the guy Detroit got for Michael Fulmer from the Twins at the '22 trade deadline. His signature looks cool, the parallel color is nice, and this one's numbered /150 to boot. It's joined by a Stadium Club auto of another guy with a sweet sig, SS Zack Short. He came to Motown at the 2020 deadline for Cameron Maybin (after his second stint with the Tigers) and played parts of the 2021-23 seasons. He's since bounced around to the Mets, Red Sox, Braves, and most recently, Astros.

Obviously Joe is a very generous guy and I can assure you we'll be hitting each other's mailboxes again this year!

Thank you to everyone in this post for continuing to make TCDb the best place to organize your collection and trade, and here's to more of the same in 2025! I'll be back soon with part 2, though I haven't decided if I'll mix it up with content from somewhere else first. We'll see!