10/3/25 card show report: scary cheap October cards

Catching up on these posts has gone decently well since I've actually put some effort into writing more often! Here we are with the last post I have planned for October.

Tonight we'll take a look at what I picked up at that month's show. I spent a paltry $50 that day, my low for the year by $5 (April), but that's ok because I definitely made up for it over the final two months. Plus I brought home some fun stuff for myself:

The baseball scan includes a fun mix of 90s/ish inserts and relics-ish. Gwynn's card is a 2002 Topps Gold, back when you could tell it was that parallel (and not "gold toile redgold waveblue"). It's numbered /2002 on the back and represents just the second year Topps printed that parallel after it began with the excellent 2001 set. I really like how these look, especially compared to the doldrums of the 2010s and 20s designs.

Next is Pudge on a 2000 UD Ultimate Victory Lasting Impressions insert. UV was the higher-end Chrome-like version of the budget Victory brand, and Rodriguez was one of 10 superstars found in this set. He'd just won the '99 AL MVP as well as his 7th straight Gold Glove (out of 10 in a row and 13 overall) and 6th straight Silver Slugger (of 7) and made his 8th of 10 consecutive All-Star appearances, with four more yet to come. So yeah, he made a lasting impression and fits right in with this set!

The unfolded Maddux card is the reason for the "90s inserts rule" tag tonight, though the others are close enough to be honored too. He's seen here on a 1998 Circa Thunder chase card called Limited Access, which includes a typical front and back but folds out so you get even more content inside. That includes another image and some stats in various situations from his first five seasons with the Braves:

(It took me a minute to figure how what these numbers represented until I checked just his Atlanta stats!) Pretty cool, eh?

As for the other interesting cards, first up there's a manupatch of Griffey from 2003 UD Patch Collection's MVPs insert. This one represents his '97 AL MVP win. It's a fun manufactured relic and came to me relatively cheap, so I'm quite happy with it.

Next is a 2005 Bazooka Blasts Relics bat of former Tigers SS Carlos Guillen. Don't ask me why he's listed with the Angels there since he only ever suited up for Seattle and Detroit. This looks to be my second relic (first bat) of the three-time All-Star who was quite productive for some 2000s Tigers teams.

And going alphabetically saves the best for last: a Greg Maddux 2003 Fleer Tradition Milestones Game Used Gold jersey (numbered /100 on the back). I snagged this with a few other cards in this scan and one or two in the next one for a very good total price. Mad Dog's 15 seasons of 15+ wins was a very impressive feat, and he achieved that in consecutive seasons (actually 17, in the end), plus an 18th in 2006 (and missed by one in '07). From 1988-2007 his average record was 17-10, and that's how you get to 355 career wins! This cool relic marks my 20th such card of Maddux and 21st hit overall.

With most of the attention on the baseball stuff, we'll quickly switch over to basketball and football to close things out. The former includes some nice color of Trey Burke, Caris LeVert, and Jordan Poole, and I continue to be able to find stuff like this in the dime and quarter boxes decently often. They grab my attention enough even though they're from my least favorite sport, and I'm happy to add them, plus cool stuff like Juwan Howard's '98-'99 Bowman's Best base.

As for football, RCs of Seattle RB Zach Charbonnet and Washington DB Mike Sainristil were nice finds for my chase of first-years. Harbaugh's a '97 Collector's Edge Extreme Foil insert, though there's not much of that feature on the card besides the swoosh running along the left and curving around to the bottom. And last up is one of my favorites from this month: my second of what amounts to three Charles Woodson entries from a 1998 Press Pass insert called Triple Thread. The '98 Heisman winner as well as QBs Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf each got a trio of cards in this set, naturally, and the versatile Woodson was the one true player who could claim the set's name. The three cards fit together kind of like Stadium Club's Triumverate, and I'll show those off once I nail down his card #7.

That's it for the month of October, at least for now. I may show off a non-card Facebook purchase from then if I feel motivated enough, but I'm really more interested in finalizing my blogger trades, shows, eBay pickups, and eventually, TCDb deals from the second half of the year. So I would expect my next post to dip back into trades, in this case from November. Maybe even soon!

2016 trade package #2: Fuji sends me some paper Tigers

One of my favorite all-time west-coast traders, Mark of the Chronicles of Fuji, recently sent me my second trade package of the year, and just like my first it's another two-parter!  Please make sure to head over to TMM for more nice stuff, including what I consider the highlight of the package.

The last time he sent me cards (in November) he acted like it might be a while before he did so again because he was low on trade bait, but I've known Fuji long enough to realize he doesn't roll that like--he's too generous to go that long without sending you stuff!

Here's some Tigers from the flea market fanatic:

We start off with some great inserts.  Remember, there's no such thing as a bad Refractor, especially when it's blue!  All-Star SS Carlos Guillen arrives in the form of this 2008 Topps Chrome done up in the best color possible.  Following him is reliever Luke Putkonen on a 2013 Emerald parallel.  I hope he regains his health and can get his career back on track.  Finally, we go back to blue with a 2014 parallel of 2B Devon Travis, whom the Tigers unfortunately (for Detroit fans, not Toronto-ans!) flipped to the Jays for Anthony Gose.  Enjoy your outstanding second baseman, Jays fans!  Travis' card is numbered 044/500, by the way.

This next pair turned into nice additions for my vintage baseball collection; chances are if it's from the 70s and back I probably don't have it, so I really appreciate those of you that treat me to older cards like this, especially of Tigers.  The '67 card actually includes a pair of Tigers in Denny McLain and Earl Wilson, and here "Pitching Leaders" signifies wins;  Kaat led the league with 25 of those in '66, McLain took the silver with 20, and Wilson tallied 18 (including 13 with Detroit) after heading to Detroit that June.

Meanwhile the '69 version focuses on strikeouts, with McDowell's 283 edging out McLain's 280; Tiant trailed with 264.  I'm of course amused that Topps used the same image for McLain two years apart, but it's not a huge deal since they're well-known for having done that.

There was one more card in the package that took me a bit by surprise:

From the 2004 USA Baseball 25th Anniversary set comes an autograph of former Team USA member and Reds 2000 second-round catcher Dane Sardinha.  This threw me for a loop until I vaguely remembered him signing with the Tigers years ago.  BBR confirmed that the Hawaiian was a backup in Motown from 2008-2009 after seeing action with the Reds in one game each in '03 and '05.  He finished up his career in Philly in 2010-11.

I'll be happy to make this available to fans of the Reds, Phillies, or Team USA.

Thanks again for surprising me with some great stuff, Mark, and hopefully I'll have a few things headed back your way before long!

2015 trade package #1: Nomo's Sushi Platter rings in the new year

It's a new year and that means it's time to reset the counter on my trade package posts!  Number one from 2015 comes from Spiegel at Nomo's Sushi Platter.  I sent him some Christmas cards last month because he'd sent me a package last March, and then he decided to return the favor.  This is another two-part trade post with the other half of the package viewable at TMM, so don't forget to check those out too.  Here's what Michael sent me this month:

How about some Tigers?  Cabrera, Holaday, and Price are the current Detroiters here while Fielder and Granderson highlight the group of former players.  The Price may be my first of him with the Tigers, though I may have already said that recently!

More Tigers!  Pudge, a pair of (soon-to-be-former Tiger?) Scherzer, and Whitaker are the best of the bunch.  That's definitely one of my favorite Whitaker base cards as it's from later in his career but still shows his enthusiasm for the game.

He also included a pair of other guys I like to collect in Griffey, who should be in next year's Hall of Fame class, and Maddux, who's of course already in.  I may just have to make the trek next year to see Junior's induction, and if I do go I can get a shot of Mad Dog's plaque as well.

There were a couple nice hits as well:

Clete Thomas 2008 SP Authentic auto RC (#600/850)

Clete appeared in parts of three seasons with the Tigers and was most recently in the Majors with the Twins in 2013.  I really like that year's autograph design with the cool window for a signature as it's a definite upgrade over a sticker.

Carlos Guillen 2009 Upper Deck Icons jersey

Would you believe this is my first hit of Guillen in the Tigers collection (or at all)?  I'm not sure how I went this long without one, so I'm grateful to Spiegel for sending this my way.

Thanks again for a great first trade package of the year, Michael!  I promise to find some new stuff to send your way before much longer.