2024 trade package #20: Baseball Card Breakdown

Christmas is just a few days away but tonight I'll be showing off cards I received from someone born the day before the big holiday. Longtime friend Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown sent me some cool stuff back in September and it's about time I posted it:

Scan #1 includes two things I associate Gavin with more than pretty much anyone else. First is one of his trademark customs. His creativity has resulted in him using many different methods to create them, and one of them is sun bleaching. While I think he debuted that technique with the eye-blindingly yellow 1991 Fleer set, you can see he also gave it a try with 1988 Topps, and I was treated to Tram's All-Star subset appearance in that product.

Here's a look at the back which also includes a cool custom feature:

I really like the stamp Gavin uses as a calling card, and that he also signs his initials. What a treat these are! One of these days I really will try to show off the various customs he's (and maybe others) sent me in the long time that I've known him.

A dogged pursuit of a number of Topps' extremely cool Retired/Fan Favorites base and autograph sets is another thing I associate with Gavin. His accumulation of some of the tougher cards, especially from Archives Reserve and Retired Chrome Refractors really is impressive. If you don't believe me for some strange reason, head over to his blog and check them out.

As for me, I was super happy to receive the five-spot of '03 Topps Retired base you see above. The product used that year's flagship design but went with white instead of blue borders, and somehow that made them look even classier in combination with their great vintage photos. Gavin gifted me Sparky, '84 Tigers Evans and Gibby, phenomenon Fidrych, and HOFer Kell, which gave me six from that set (to go with the Tram I already had). I just updated my wantlist and appear to need Kaline, Gwynn, Ripken, and former Phillie/Tiger Jim Bunning. Again, I can't overstate how much I like the looks of these, made back in the days when Topps actually cared about design.

That's not all he sent, though, as I have one more scan of goodies. A Rainbow Foil of John's favorite guy (and new Cubs P) Matt Boyd leads off. That's followed by a Ginter X base of one of my personal faves, former blog namesake Curtis Granderson. Do I have too many? The answer is still no, but I'm proud to be in the lead on TCDb, at least for now.

Another former Tigers P on a Topps parallel is up next with ex-RP Shane Greene out of 2018 Update's Gold insert, which is naturally numbered to that year. Then we jump to another classy design in the form of Topps' Heritage Minors (2011), and a surprise autograph of former prospect Francisco Martinez, an IF/OF that played a couple stints in Detroit's system but never reached the Majors. His rather interesting signature graces a card numbered /861 on the back.

Former ROY Michael Fulmer is the final pitcher in today's post, and maybe from the scale of his card compared to the others you can tell it's from Topps Mini's 2019 version. He didn't pitch in the Majors this year but rumors exist that the Red Sox may try to shift him back to the rotation, and regardless, I hope he gets to enjoy a healthy season.

And the last card is one that brings to mind base-stealing king Rickey Henderson, who sadly passed away yesterday. Nobody's ever going to do it better than him, but back in 1997 the Tigers had an OF by the name of Brian Hunter, and he led the Majors in steals with 74, which is exactly what Rickey averaged per 162 games in his 25-year career. In '98 Topps's Stadium Club brand included a parallel called One of a Kind that was limited to 150 copies, not quite living up to the name, but they looked cool. Hunter's card appropriately shows him zooming in the direction of the next base on a beautiful foil parallel I'm now proud to have in my collection.

Gavin, thanks so much for these cards from about three months ago, and happy early birthday! There's a chance you'll get a small envelope from me this week in time to celebrate because I'd never leave a Christmas Eve baby/collecting friend out of my Christmas cards!

As for gifts that have hit my mailbox, I currently have one envelope left from September to cover, then two each from November and December, as long as no others decide to appear before the end of the month. Stay tuned for the September cards next!

2023 trade package #16: Baseball Card Breakdown

I may not post very often these days, but I do still keep up appearances, and having been around the card blogging scene for coming up on 13 years, I've traded with a lot of great people. One huge benefit of that longevity is great relationships with many of those trade partners who are still around. As much as I've been enjoying making deals on TCDb, there's nothing like the mutual trust I've built with some of my favorites over the past decade-plus.

One such person, who's deservedly well known and liked in this sphere is Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown. It looks like he hit the 10-year mark back in June, and a bit more than a year after he started up BCB we made our first trade (fittingly for this post, I received a Topps Retired Signature autograph!). This evening's post makes 12 deals I'll have reported on on this here blog, so needless to say, the history's there to make me feel plenty comfortable to keep working with him.

Well, I'd been checking out his trade bait page (seriously, give it a look!) now and then, and a couple  of his better items caught my eye. I reached out to him on Twitter to find out what he wanted for them. As it turns out, he showed off what he picked out in his June post celebrating 10 years of Baseball Card Breakdown. Long story short, he sent me links to a couple of his most wanted ("wishful thinking") items on COMC: a '57 Topps of Gil Hodges and '72 Topps Steve Garvey. The prices for those were so reasonable that I was happy to throw in a '78 Topps Trammell/Molitor RC I also snagged there. I was only too happy to do that knowing that Gavin made a very fair offer, he wouldn't flake on me, and would get my end of the deal to me safely, which he certainly did:

I should clarify that I only asked for the first two cards, which we'll discuss in a minute, but first, big thanks to Gavin for generously including Bill Freehan's 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Gold Refractor. Not only is it a beautiful looking card of one of my favorite underrated collections, but it's limited to just 25 copies! Or should be, at least--these were supposed to be numbered /25 on the back but both the copy Gavin sent me and the image on TCDb lack said stamp, making me think it's an issue across the entire run of this parallel. Anyway, as throw-ins go, this one was great!

Now on to the biggest items:

Both of tonight's new autographs hail from one of Gavin's favorite products: Topps' Retired Signature Edition. As you can see above, they came in taped one-touches, but that didn't stop me from removing them to get better scans. As these images show, that set featured retired fan favorites (and not just HOFers) on chrome-style cards using that year's flagship design, but with white replacing the blue borders and other design elements. I'm a fan of vintage photos on newer designs so I think these came out great.

First up is my third signature of a guy I'll forever associate with the '84 Tigers, '88 World Series history be damned (we had him first...and last!). Gavin had two such cards of Kirk Gibson and I opted for this one, where the end of his autograph kind of keeps running to the edge of the card. It features a great pair of photos of a young Gibby, and he had a pretty interesting way of signing his name back then, so it's a winning combo, not unlike his pair of game 5 homers in the 1984 Fall Classic.

And of course we get full career stats on the back, plus a hologram for authenticity purposes.

I'm very excited to add this one to his collection, especially since of the two other autographs I have of him, only one is still in good shape--Gibby's card from the following year's product, which I naturally acquired from Gavin; the other is a 2001 Topps Archives rookie reprint auto of his that came to me faded and has only gotten worse as time has gone on. I'll replace it at some point, but I still count it for now.

So the Gibson alone would be exciting enough, but the next card made the deal even sweeter, and definitely earned Gavin his side of the trade:

HOF corner infielder George Kell appeared in at least parts of seven seasons with the Tigers, his longest tenure with any franchise, and those 800+ games were played pretty much during his prime. Though you'll sometimes see him pictured with Boston or Baltimore (and rarely, Philly and the White Sox), I'll always consider him a Tiger based on the above, plus his run as a very enjoyable play-by-play guy with fellow star Al Kaline.

What you see here is my first on-card signature of Kell, replacing the 2010 Panini Century cut auto I've had of him for a while as his best card. The Arkansas native would have been about 81 when this was signed and he obviously did an excellent job with a very legible autograph. He obviously took his time which, at his age and considering the the number of cards he had to sign is admirable. And as with Gibson's card above, naturally I love the photos of George in his younger days.

Here's the back of his card as well, highlighting some especially good years in Motown, especially 1949, when the AL batting champ led both leagues; 1950, when he paced both circuits in hits and doubles; and 1951, when his numbers in both of those stats were enough to lead his own league.

I took a quick look at my collection and these two join cards I already owned of fellow Tigers Darrell Evans and Lance Parrish, plus Michigan guy Jim Abbott, out of the very cool 2003 product. In all, I count 13 cards in my collection that came out of the set's 2003-05 run, with Alan Trammell, Bill Freehan x2), Denny McLain, and Earl Weaver joining everyone mentioned above, plus secondary signatures for Evans, Abbott, and Gibby.

Many thanks once again to Gavin for having such nice trade bait available and making a more-than-fair deal that got a few nice cards in his hands for the stunning pair above, plus the generously included Freehan insert. I'll be glad to continue trading with him as long as we both keep at it and I know I can do so with confidence thanks to trades like this one.

Coming up next, I may take a quick break from blogger trades to catch up on the piles of TCDb trades, two shows' worth of cards, and an eBay pickup, just to mix things up a bit. We'll see. Anyway, I've got lots more cards to cover so if you like show & tell posts--and I hope you do since that's about 99% of what I do these days--you're in for lots more to look at!

Christmas Eve trade envelopes!

Did I have to post this evening on Christmas Eve? Maybe not. But last night after I noticed my total post count for this blog I realized it would be fun to get #1224 up on 12/24. Also, the stuff below became early Christmas presents for me, so why not?

I don't do this very often but you're getting a combined trade package post from me because I thought it made sense given the contents. Here are the last three trade envelopes I received in 2022 (pending any that sneak under the wire next week):

First up is a "real" Christmas card from a person whose generosity earns him the right to be called a cardboard Santa. Wes often went beyond the limits of reason and economy to give joy to collectors all over, and I'm glad he's still around the hobby world in whatever form he chooses. So I was grateful to receive this greeting card from him, which I unfortunately ripped a bit after having difficulty with the envelope. The real treasure was inside, though:

Thank you to Wes and Amy for this very cool custom! I hope both of you have a fantastic holiday as well, and I'll happily be keeping this with the other cool customs I've received over the years, which I really will show off in an album or something at some point.

Speaking of customs, I was thrilled to be included on someone's nice list:

Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown is probably the best producer of customs I know, and he really puts those skills to good use at this time of year (which happens to be his birthday, by the way!). I've been the recipient of some very cool Christmas-themed productions of his and this year was no different. You've probably seen a bunch of these around the blogs and Twitter so far, and I'm happy to present my Ripken card. How cool is this? I included Gavin's note explaining a bit of the process where he took the classic but offensive-to-the-eyes yellow of '91 Fleer cards and solar bleached them to something easier to look at, then added a separate clear overlay with holiday themes and messages:

Thanks again for including me when sharing the fruits of your creative labor, Gavin! I hope you have an amazing birthday/Christmas, and I promise you'll be getting a few little gifts from me as well whenever I can get my Sportlots box shipped!

Finally, a day or two ago I received a surprise PWE from Colbey at Cardboard Collections. The busy breaker was nice enough to send me a pair of cards to celebrate the upcoming holiday:

And they're both Michigan uni autographs! On the left is DL Mike Martin, a guy who didn't care how much you double-teamed him because he was getting to your QB or RB on matter what. That's from 2012 SP Authentic, back when you could enjoy Upper Deck's efforts, which were often good when it came to college-related cards.

That's very apparent on the other card from Colbey, an autograph of WR Roy Roundtree out of 2013 Upper Deck. Martin's teammate of three years was exciting to watch at the position, especially while Denard Robinson was at QB, such as his game-winning catch in the legendary 2011 night game against Notre Dame. I love the horizontal action shot of Roy about to record another reception, possibly against Air Force in 2012, a game Jeff and I actually attended (a too-close 31-25 win).

Thank you for thinking of me just before Christmas, Colbey, I appreciate it!

May all of you reading this have wonderful holidays no matter what you celebrate and with whom. Thank you to all who've been generous with their time, money, and cards for another year. Merry Christmas!

2022 trade package #1: Baseball Card Breakdown

That's right, it's February, but at least I'm done covering blogger trade packages from 2021! I still have to go back and recap my TCDB trades from the end of the year once I'm caught up on the other stuff but, hey, it's a start!

So my first trade package of 2022 arrived a few days after the new year from not-quite Christmas baby Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown. Because the anniversary of his birth falls right around that major holiday I try to make sure to include him in my annual Christmas cards mailings, and last year was no different (see his post here where what I sent is part of a roundup). As he often does at various points throughout the year, Gavin hit me back because he's a good dude.

Here's what the BMWT from Oregon contained this time:

Six many Verlanders! I mean, it's in the name of my blog so you can't go wrong sending me some and I'm always happy to add to his collection. He's so well represented in the envelopes I receive that I've put much less focus and money into collecting him because I don't have to.

With one exception these are all from the past 2-3 years so you mostly see him as an Astro, which I've pretty much gotten used to. Still, I'm happy there's one exception: a Tigers card in the form of his 2016 Bowman base. Looking at TCDB that was his final appearance in the brand with Detroit, and he wouldn't be back in the base set until 2019, which you can see as the third card in the scan.

These break up nicely into three pairs, and the second duo includes the fairly similar 2018 Topps Archives (#2 in the scan) and 2021 Topps Heritage (right below it). Maybe Topps will flip flop the designs on each product once again and I'll have two more similar cards!

Last up are two 2019 cards that have similar designs, which makes sense since Opening Day and flagship/Update don't really deviate from the main look. JV threw seven innings of one-run ball with 9 Ks in a 5-1 win over the Rays on Opening Day 2019. He also started the All-Star Game, his appearance of which is noted on his Update card, and struck out two of the batters he faced in his inning: Javier Baez and Freddie Freeman. Not bad!

Now we'll switch over from a former Tiger to Tigers parallels (of mostly former Tigers). Shelton and Urbina are Refractors from 2005 Topps Chrome. While the flagship version that year wasn't one of my favorites, it did lend itself nicely to the Chrome product, and I think these Refractors look terrific. Shelton was a Rule 5 pick from the Pirates who came out of nowhere to hit 34 HR between 2005 and 2006 (and what a difference between those two teams!), though that would end his run with the franchise.

Urbina was a pretty good closer in the early 2000s and won a ring with the '03 Marlins, then signed with Detroit before the '05 season. I fondly remember him only because he brought back 2B Placido Polanco in a deal with the Phillies, and I think even less fondly of him now that he's out of prison after 14 years for attempted murder. Yeesh.

Thompson's card from 2012 Bowman Draft didn't scan as nicely as its fellow Refractors but it is indeed that type of parallel. Jake was Detroit's 2nd-rounder that year as a high school pitcher out of Texas. He returned to his home state in a deal with the Rangers two years later that brought RP Joakim Soria to Detroit, and then a year later he was flipped to Philly in a deal headlined by Cole Hamels. He was considered a pretty good prospect for a while but appeared in just 42 games between 2016-18 and after bouncing around a bit more (including a return to the Tigers system) he hasn't been affiliated with a Major League team.

Last up in this group is a 2021 Topps Royal Blue parallel of former top prospect starter-turned-reliever Michael Fulmer. That color is blue enough for this Michigan fan to give it a nod of approval, and I still like collecting Fulmer, whom I hope has another good run out of the 'pen this season if we end up having one.

Those two scans include some nice new cards for me but would hardly justify a bubble mailer by themselves. It turns out they were just along for the ride with this:

Much to my surprise I'm now the owner of former Wolverine Clayton Richard's 2018 Topps Big League Topps Vault Blank Back 1/1! For those of you not in the know Topps will occasionally make these available to consumers, usually via eBay, and they come with a hologram sticker on the back and a separate certificate of authenticity. Above you see the cert and here's the (otherwise) blank back:

It's kind of a fun way to acquire a 1/1 if you don't feel like chasing down printing plates and similar items.

This actually isn't my first Topps Vault item as I have three similar cards that were sent to me by Matt (Bob Walk the Plank) a few years ago, along with a couple signed Topps contracts also sent to me by Matt.

Richard's card here came in a stickered magnetic one-touch which I opened to grab a scan for my collection and then reassembled so it'll be easier to tell apart as a special card. As you can see the other three came in Beckett slabs and I may crack the cards out of them to make storage simpler.

I tip my cap to Gavin for sending me such a nice card of a guy not everyone thinks of when they think of me (or in general, I guess). Others may consider him a forgettable low-end guy but I love acquiring new items of any of the former Wolverines I collect so this is great. By the way, it happens to be my 10th plate/1-of-1 and 15th hit overall (yep, two-thirds of them are 1/1s!). That 10-spot places him third behind J.J. Putz's 11 and Rich Hill's ~26 (with more to properly identify).

Gavin, thanks a lot of thinking of me and sending such a cool package of Verlanders, Tigers parallels, and a surprise big UM Baseball hit! As soon as I can get back to shows and other sources of cardboard acquisition I'll be working on another envelope to send to the other side of the country, hopefully filled with Gavins, Black Refractors, #12/24 cards, and other stuff you like.

Look for more trade recaps coming whenever I feel like it!

2021 trade package #6: Baseball Card Breakdown

Happy baseball games are back day! The Tigers won and the sport we all love is gearing up to return as the weather (hopefully) warms up. Let's celebrate with some cards of that very sport.

About two months after his Christmas Eve birthday I happened to find a pair of PWEs from Gavin of Baseball Card breakdown in my mailbox earlier this week. That was a fun surprise for sure, and it sounds like he was grateful that I included him in my recent tradition of sending out Christmas cards:

HEY, IT'S ENRICO PALLAZZO! Is it really a trade package from Gavin if there isn't some sort of custom action going on? This Naked Gun-inspired card of Leslie Nielsen's most iconic character isn't printed on regular card stock since he just used it for a brief note, but I'll keep it with the other customs I've accumulated from him and others over the years regardless.

And on a somewhat related note, here's what was in the pair of envelopes (spoiler alert, I needed most of them!):

First up is a corrected version of a very cool custom Gavin sent me for Christmas 2019 starring former UM defensive coordinator Don Brown. He was nice enough to fix it after accidentally spelling Brown's first name "Dan" a couple times and send it to me now. The Wolverines ended up letting Brown go after the 2020 "season" due to increasingly bad defenses, but he was still fairly successful at the school, not to mention a fun personality, and I wish him luck in his new role at Arizona. Thanks again for this, Gavin!

Former Tigers prospect Wakeland's 2000 SPx card is a fun reminder of how much I love that year's iteration (up there with the '96 and '97 versions for sure), even if chasing numbered RCs wasn't for me (as in buying them--I'm happy to get them in trades!). I own the non-numbered Update cards and might try to grab the main base at some point because they're nice to look at.

Gavin managed to hit three of my PCs with new cards in the form of an oddball Keebler Rangers of Howe, Topps Rainbow Foil of Richard, and Starting Lineup card of Tettleton. All three are great as they knock off needs, and I think I'm most excited about the Tettleton since those SLU cards don't tend to be cheap, plus it's got a great looking photo of Fruit Loops wearing the tools of ignorance.

There's also a couple interesting Panini Golden Age minis here. PC guy Bill Freehan is the 2013 American Caramels Blue back which I already had, but that will find a happy home with John who's likely excited to receive another item of a guy we both collect. Meanwhile, the other is of Nate Colbert, a guy whose name you may have seen a few times on Card Hemorrhage. His 2012 Broad Leaf Brown back doesn't list a team but some seem to think he's shown as a Tiger and I'm glad to accept that. Colbert came to Detroit in a four-player trade in late '74 and then played 45 games there before being bought by the Expos, bouncing to Oakland, and retiring. His count of Tigers cards is minuscule so this is a pretty cool way to add him to my collection!

The theme of the rest of this post is, creatively enough, "Too Many Verlanders!" The BCB dude sent me 11 cards and I needed 10 of them, with the lone dupe being card #2 above, a 2019 Bowman base I snagged from Baseballcardstore.ca and haven't posted yet. That, too, will find a good home.

Everything is from 2018-2020, which means Astros cards, and that's great because I have a lot fewer of JV's cards from those years at this point, meaning they're great fodder for trade packages heading my way. Brands here include Topps Archives, Donruss, Gypsy Queen, flagship Topps, and Opening Day. I don't get Topps' recent thing with cards featuring images of other cards, but that's Topps for you.

The horizontals look quite nice, as cards often do in that orientation. These include Big League (2018 and 2020) bookending Update and flagship. The Update card is the 2019 150th Anniversary stamped parallel and the second Big League issue includes 2019 teammate Gerritt Cole and rising star Shane Bieber. That '19 Astros team was crazy successful (for reasons that are now apparent) and still managed to lose the Series to the Nats.

The healthy stack you see here got me up to a solid 465 cards (second place on TCDB!) of the former Tigers ace in my never-ending quest to own too many.

Thanks for the double dose of PWEs and customs, not to mention the other great stuff, Gavin! I appreciate you hitting multiple PCs including a bunch of the guy in my blog's title, not to mention some really useful stuff of the other guys. I'm not sure when I'll have cards for you next but as always I'll work on a pile until it makes sense to ship it out west to you.

2019 trade package #37: Baseball Card Breakdown

I'm back today with another Christmas package after having acquired a ton of new stuff since the last time I posted.  That's thanks to hitting up my second show of the month with Paul that included cards from him, more from a TCDB member we met up with there, plus my purchases.  I'll have no shortage of content going into the new year so who knows when I'll be caught up on 2019 pickups?

Well, one post at a time, anyway.  Today's is your yearly reminder that it wouldn't be Christmas without 12/24 birthday boy Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown.  The holiday enthusiast really makes the season special with his collection of cards numbered 12/24 and 12/25, fun customs, and more, plus he embodies the spirit of Christmas with all the great stuff he includes in each package.

Here's what I got in this Christmas envelope:

Custom ornament!  This one is so subtle I bet you'd be hard pressed to tell Gavin did anything to it.  I love it when he numbers his creations like this one (1/9!), and the choice of player was certainly inspired.  At some point I'm going to create an album for all the custom stuff he's sent me since his hard work deserves to be shown off somehow.

This was mostly a Tigers package which, despite their records the last few years, was a good thing.  The first two cards you see here appear to be from a 1990 Star team set of the Lakeland Tigers (now the Flying Tigers!), Detroit's A+ squad.  Cruz got cups of coffee with three teams in the late 90s/early 2000s while Hurst seems to have washed out of pro ball after 1993.  My collection of Tigers Minor League stuff is paltry so I'll likely keep these.

Then we have a nice bonanza of colorful inserts, some of them numbered.  Gillies' is a 2012 Bowman Draft Orange /250; Jones is a Bowman Prospects Orange from the previous year; Kivett appears on a 2014 Prizm Draft Prizms Blue Mojo parallel /75; Rodland's last pro season was 2006, when his Bowman Gold parallel was released; Sanchez comes from Gavin's beloved 2004 Topps Chrome Black Refractor set; the well-traveled Turner is here by way of a 2011 Bowman Chrome Prospects Green X-Fractor; and the most notable guy here is Joel "Zoom-Zoom" Zumaya on a 2004 Topps Traded Gold parallel /2004.  Cool!

And more Tigers, of the star variety.  I thought I might have nabbed Kell's beautiful 2009 Topps Tribute base from Sportlots earlier this year but was happy to find that I needed it, so thanks to Gavin for that!  J.D. is still mashing dingers elsewhere but I continue to appreciate his career resurgence in Detroit.  And then there's five many Verlanders, three of which were new to me:  2007 Topps All-Star Rookie Team, 2009 UD Signature Stars Blue (#039/170) and 2018 Donruss Dominators (#372/999).  The Topps card is a design I actually like and of course I'm a big fan of the Donruss insert as a throwback to one of its old chase cards.  Plus it's very cool getting a pair of new numbered JVs while also pushing his collection a bit closer to 400.

Now here's a nice stocking stuffer!  If you follow Gavin at all you know he's big on Topps Retired Signature autos, especially the 2004 version of which he has an incredible collection.  He's been generous enough to send me a few cards from around then and this time was nice enough to include this 2005 autograph of '68 Tiger great Denny McLain.  These uncirculated autos look terrific on that Chrome design and I love adding them when I can.  Better yet, this is just my second McLain auto, and the better of the two, so I really appreciate Gavin including it here.

We started this post with a custom and we'll finish with one.  I love to laud his creative abilities because the quality speaks for itself, and here's a great example.  I was floored to see this handmade card of Michigan Football DC Don Brown among the rest of the cards.  Honestly, who else would make their own card of the defensive coordinator of a college they don't care about?  The design is great and Gavin did a great job with the write-up on the back.  The only minor flaw is Don's name being misspelled "Dan" on the front and back which I totally understand since, as I pointed out to Gavin, who can name the DC on some random college team?

Thanks again, Gavin, for a great way to celebrate Christmas.  I'm glad you liked the package I sent you and love that you picked up a huge white whale of a card for your yearly big purchase!

Lots more to come from the mailbox and elsewhere soon!

2019 trade package #3: Baseball Card Breakdown

This week I felt a bit like I was back in elementary school in that I received some Valentine's Day cards.  Ok, they weren't really for that occasion, but the important thing is that they were the best type of cards, and that's what matters to me.  A couple of my favorite traders hit my mailbox just in time for the 14th, so here I am on the 16th posting trade packages from Sports Cards From the Dollar Store on TMM plus a surprise PWE from Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown right here!

The king of custom cards didn't need to send any of his handiwork this time thanks to quality like this.  Zim is probably a lost cause for the Tigers at this point but his 2017 Stadium Club Sepia parallel looks terrific.  Better yet, he's joined by PC guy Cal on something I somehow didn't have: a 2001 Topps Archives Reserve Future Rookie Reprint.  While I'm not immune to the Topps reprint fatigue many have complained of, I love getting new Ripken stuff, and 2001 Archives Reserve is one of the manufacturer's best products period.

And how about Gavin filling out the mailer with TOO MANY VALENTINE VERLANDERS?!  That's the way you do it, folks, just textbook excellence (not unlike the Upper Deck insert of the same name).  I needed all six of these 2018 Topps-branded offerings starring JV as an Astro.  My favorites bookend the top row:  a Blue Finest Refractor (#056/150) and that year's version of Gallery, which continues to look amazing.  Fire and GQ are two products I could definitely do without, but I still appreciate new items for one of my favorite PCs.  All of those are joined by Mr. Kate Upton's two appearances in '18's Topps Update.  The first is a checklist that highlights his 2500th career strikeout while the other notes his All-Star selection.

That's six brand new cards for a new total of 357 Verlanders.  Let's see if we can keep adding to that total this year, fellow traders!

Thanks again for the fun surprise, Gavin.  I have next to nothing set aside for you for now but will try to remedy that at a few upcoming shows so I can hit you back!

2018 trade package #17: Baseball Card Breakdown

When it comes to trading, "good things come in small packages" is more than just a cliche; it's often true.  I like an envelope stuffed with cards as much as the next blogger but I'm just as appreciative of a PWE that contains just a few.  Like the one I got from custom card king Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown the other day, for example (for the second month in a row, no less).  When you get as lazy as I do about posting, having to scan and write about three cards is a treat!

So what kinds of things could be contained in a PWE from Gavin?  How about...

...a 2016 Topps Heritage RC of an impeccably bearded Michael Fulmer?  As I've said the last few times I've mentioned him this year his 2018 campaign hasn't quite gone according to plan, a bit of a continuation from a relatively disappointing 2017 that followed his 2016 Rookie of the Year season.  It's hard to say if that's due to injury--he's currently on the shelf with an oblique strain--but the silver lining for Tigers fans is that it makes him much less likely to be traded, at least this year.  Count me among the folks that would like to see the talented Fulmer stick around in Motown as long as possible!

What else could he have slipped in?  Try...

BLUE MANY VERLANDERS!  Hahahahahaha, I kill myself.  Kudos to Gavin for combining three of my favorite cardboard likes:  Justin Verlander, Refractors, and the color blue.  The lefty is from 2015 Finest and is numbered 128/150.  It's just my third Verlander from that product (base and regular Refractor).  Meanwhile the one on its right is from 2017 Topps Chrome and is nearly identical in being numbered 133/150.  The '17 flagship design didn't lend itself well to the Gold parallel but it works very nicely with Chrome's color variations, that's for sure.

By the way, considering Verlander was the AL's ROY in 2006, how soon should we expect the Tigers to draft 2026's award-winning pitcher?  Maybe 2022?  Regardless, Gavin is on the hook for sending me at least one card of that future Tiger star--I'm putting that in writing right here.

Thanks again for a fun PWE that was both rewarding and relaxing, Gavin!  I already having something set aside for you that I'll send you the next time I get some trade packages out, and hopefully by then it'll have been joined by a few friends.  For now, please keep those amazing customs coming!

2018 trade package #15: Baseball Card Breakdown

Buddy of the blog and custom king Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown was nice enough to send me my final trade package in June, and I'm happy to be showing it off kinda sorta reasonably soon after I received it!  This time the word "oddball" comes to mind--because of some of what Gavin sent, not because he's a weirdo.  I dunno, he seems pretty normal to me *goes back to staring at Gavin's animated .gifs for hours*

Here's what he sent this time:

Former Tigers prospects in Refractor (or thereabouts) form.  Boesch (2010 Topps Chrome) had some success in Detroit earlier in the decade before washing out.  Dirks (2011 Bowman Chrome Draft) was another potential slugger from around the same time that didn't work out in the end.  Kivett (2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Picks Prizms Powder Blue, #d /199) is a guy I had to look up because he only appeared in a few 2014 Panini brands.  He was a 2014 6th-rounder in the OF who appears to be in indy ball right now.  And Ramirez (2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects, #d /500) is another OF who barely played in the league.  So I guess the theme here is that Detroit sucks at drafting outfielders.  But at least these cards are shiny!

Thumbs up to Gavin for hitting one of my Michigan PCs, Clayton Richard, with a 2013 Gypsy Queen Mini.  His 2012 win total was anything but mini--in fact it was "many":  14, tied for his career high!

Now let's take a look at a couple more examples of Gavin's amazing customs:

This Barry Larkin looks like it came straight from '71 Topps, a set produced when the '95 NL MVP was just seven years old.  He chose an excellent shot of Barry catching some air-y while doubling up Eli Marrero, and that's levitation, holmes!  Like a true collector he paid the same amount of attention to the back with a great write-up and stats from Larkin's sunset season.

As if that weren't enough, Gavin went back and consolidated three cards into one much-improved version.  1978 Topps RCs of Paul Molitor/Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker (with a non-existent Ozzie Smith from that year) get mashed up into one super card that would be the greatest collection of talent on a first-year if it existed.  Here's the original versions:

Gavin left Tram and Whitaker more or less intact but added Smith and a new (and better) photo of Molitor.  And yeah, he absolutely killed it.  Gavin, I may have to commission a custom from you sometime of the '78 Topps Tigers quartet of the two guys you used here plus Jack Morris and Lance Parrish.  That would be an insane item to get signed!  Anyway, thanks as always for thinking of me when sending these out, I love getting them.

Back to more standard stuff for a minute, in this case three many Verlanders!  The trio of 2017s starts with a Diamond Kings insert called Aurora, a canvas-y card with lots of color.  That's joined by another insert straight from Gavin's playbook, a Topps Chrome X-Fractor.  Last up is the thickest of the bunch, a Triple Threads Gold parallel (#42/99), the best (non-custom) card in the package.  These are all new to me and look great.

And now we'll finish on an oddball note.  I had plenty of trouble identifying the Larkin so for now I'm labeling it as a 1990 MLBPA Baseball Button.  My research seems to indicate those are much smaller so I may be off by a bit.  If anyone can correct me please let me know!

Those are joined by a Tigers pin of unknown origin, though I love that it features the old logo.  More familiar, though, are 1984 Fun Foods Pins of Kirk Gibson, Lance Parrish, and Trammell.  That's a damn fine group of '84 champs right there!

Gavin, thanks once again for this unexpected bounty of the familiar and the oddball.  Please keep on cranking out those high quality customs!  By the way, you should hopefully have a PWE on the way to your side of the country and in your mailbox soon.

For those of you wanting to see a bit more of my collection please head over to this evening's TMM post where I'm celebrating a huge milestone for my Michigan collections.