2025 trade package #12: Sport Card Collectors

Tonight's trade package cards came from the lone blogger envelope(s) I received in June, and none other than Matt of the Sport Card Collectors family of blogs. (Don't worry about me being starved for cards--July ended up being a doozy!) As summer kicked off he sent me a nice little bunch of Tigers and Wolverines:

Who knew back in Spring Training that Riley would be an All-Star? It's no surprise that he continues to make highlight reel plays night after night, though! Jobe's unfortunately on the shelf due to the dreaded TJ surgery, but he's certainly earned his Rated Rookie logo. I believe Keith's '25 Topps parallel above is called "Silver Crackle Foilboard," not that I'd have any clue if I couldn't look it up somewhere. The number of parallels is too damn high!

Moving to the second row, Mize no longer pitches for the Erie Seawolves (or Moon Mammoths, if you prefer, thanks to the wonderful John Oliver), but that's because he's 10-4 for the Motor City Kitties this season! Olson ('25 Topps Holo Foil, apparently? I dunno, I see that and want to call it Sand Glitter, another parallel offering) is also on the shelf for at least the rest of the regular season, but he has an outside shot at a return for the playoffs. Perez (2020 Bowman Chrome Prospects Refractors) was supposed to be the centerpiece in the Verlander-to-the-Astros trade, but that didn't work out--JV's still pitching and Perez hasn't pitched in '25 that I can see.

The last regular sized card is a '24 Topps Update Gold (#d /2024) of short term Tiger Gio Urshela, who appeared in just under 100 games with the 2024 Tigers and then was released. There may be way too many parallels but Topps's Gold is still a solid yearly offering. And last up is a '21 Ginter A&G Back Mini of Daz Cameron, another promising young player that came over in the Verlander trade but didn't work out. He's still active, at least, having caught on with the A's in '24 and Milwaukee this season.

As we head over to the gridiron I'm reminded that Michigan kicks off its season in just three weeks! Unfortunately it's a night game, but whatever. Anyway, the cards Matt sent are a nice lead-in to the season.

From last year's Prestige product he sent me two of Michigan's best recent defenders. Hutch is of course very well known by now, and meanwhile DL Kris Jenkins will head into his sophomore NFL campaign with the Bengals.As with most draftees of the past five-plus years, I still need a lot of the latter's RCs like the one above (not to mention Hutchinson's!).

The second row is even more colorful. First up is a '24 Prizm Draft Red Ice parallel of Michigan DB and NFL HOFer Ty Law. While it's not a color match card, the shade of red plus ice pattern look terrific together, along with a great college action shot. And speaking of colors not matching on a card that still looks great, how about a 2022 Bowman U Chrome Pink Refractor of QB Cade McNamara, a guy who managed to beat OSU before heading off to browner pastures in Iowa?

Matt, thanks again for these fun Tigers and Wolverines additions! I haven't picked up much for you since the last package I sent, but I'm sure before long I'll have another mailer's worth of Giants and 90s inserts to send out east for your enjoyment.

I've got a few ideas for my next post but haven't decided what it'll be just yet--June's show, my eBay pickups from the first half of '25, or a quick recap of some TCDb deals from earlier this year. Either way, you'll see all three of those at some point in the next week or two, so stay tuned for those!

2025 trade package #11: the Collector

The All-Star break has come and gone since I last posted so it's about time I got another one up. Today you're getting a quick recap of a couple PWEs sent to me by Chris, The Collector, back in May.

This was the second time he'd sent some cards my way this year and he's since done it once more. It sure is great to have him back and I continue to try to send supportive and healing thoughts to his family.

Here's what he sent this time, wrapped up in and protected by a printed out copy of this Defector article ("Never put poison in your mouth."):

These worked out nicely as they could be split into three sports each with eight cards. The baseball section was naturally all about the Tigers, who ended a season-long six-game losing streak last night and look to regain the momentum of their excellent start. The three guys right down the middle, all on '25 Topps parallels, oddly enough, are part of that outstanding squad, with Mize the best of the trio. The inserts you see are, from top to bottom, Rainbow Foil, Spring Training, and Diamante Foil.

There's also a nice pair of (a.k.a. too many!) Verlanders, one of which calls into question my scanning abilities. It looks like I'm just a couple away from 700. I wonder how long it'll take to get to 1K?

When it comes to basketball, Chris sent me quite the poker hand: four pairs. Bufkin, Poole, Robinson, and the younger Wagner bro Franz all had me seeing double. Poole is nearing the 50-card mark while Franz recently crossed it, building up a collection that continues to surprise me. I don't hate seeing the Hoops Winter cards right now while we're in my favorite season but I would probably be glaring at them if it was January.

Lastly, on the gridiron I was treated to another two pairs, but first we'll check out the other players represented. The Don races into the first spot with a cool Bowman Chrome U college action card. Defensive beast Rashan Gary and former UM coach Jim Harbaugh get paired up thanks to last year's Prizm. And like Edwards, upcoming second-year Bengal Kris Jenkins appears in the Maize & Blue on his '24 Score RC.

 As for the pairs, it's all about the defense. First is the versatile Jabrill Peppers, who had a trying year in '24 on an awful Pats team while also dealing with some pretty nasty charges, though he's since been acquitted of those. Hopefully he can stay out of trouble. In fact, he should try to be more like Charles Woodson and keep his nose clean off the field while being amazing on it. He should also put in more effort than Panini did, using identical photos cropped slightly differently on cards from 2021 and '24.

That concludes a recap of the only blogger trade cards I received in May, but don't worry, I've still got lots to show y'all.

Many thanks to Chris as always for thinking of me and putting together a couple very nice envelopes! Chris, I hope you continue to find some time and energy to collect and blog because you should be aware that many of us appreciate you.

I'll be back soon once I figure out what to show off next. Until then, go Tigers, and welcome back to MLB, Rich Hill! 

4/4/25 card show report: April foolin' around

Tonight I'm posting what I think is my last recap for April which is that month's show, just a day before I head over to Taylor tomorrow for July's trip (and possibly a meetup with John!). This will be a very short one because I only spent $55 that day, and out of what I bought, only five cards stayed with me.

Here's a quick look at what I brought home:

You can see the best stuff right off the bat in the form of the baseball content. My 19th relic of Greg Maddux is a plain white Braves jersey swatch from Upper Deck's 2003 Finite product, a one-and-done offering that's somewhat forgettable. But hey, it's a nice new Maddux for me, and I think it was in the $5-$10 neighborhood so I'm happy!

As for a more recent pitcher I was glad to score a card of, you can see my second autograph of young Tigers starter Casey Mize, out of 2022 Panini Mosaic. It joins a 2021 card from the same product, and this parallel of the autograph set is apparently referred to as "Choice Fusion" for some reason. I was content to continue adding some cheap Mize autos to my collection before the season started, and then all he's done is get off to a great 8-2 start for the AL-best Tigers, so that makes this one even more exciting.

Switching over to basketball, Michigan Wagner bro Franz becomes that sport's 40th different subject in my hits collection thanks to a Hoops sweater card from 2021-22. I know people find these to be pretty goofy and I do myself sometimes, but it was a fun add for maybe $2 while I work on upgrading what I have of him.

Last up is a cheap football pair. On the left is a Red parallel of RB Hassan Haskins' RC from 2022 Panini Rookies & Stars, and Buckeye faces are probably still that color picturing him pouring on five TDs against them in 2021. Joining him is a 2020 Panini Playbook RC of former Pats LB Josh Uche. New England flipped him to the Chiefs last October but he barely played with them, and then signed with KC's Super Bowl opponents in Philly after the season ended. Out of the 14 Uche RCs I'm tracking, I'm now past 50% with eight out of 14.

So, yeah, not much this time, but that's ok because it made for less work in this post! After tomorrow's trip I'll get y'all another show recap once I'm caught up on May and June. Looking at my scanned stuff I think that'll amount to a pair of blogger trades, two more shows, eBay pickups for the first half of the year, a few TCDb deals before I disabled transactions for quite a while, and another fun Dave & Buster's sports-related prize.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th as we get closer to the MLB All-Star break!

2025 Facebook Marketplace purchase: 10,000? Maniac!

It took a few months this year but back in mid-March I made my first Facebook Marketplace card purchase of 2025: a pair of 5000-count boxes of random stuff for $60.

I drove east to nearby-ish Livonia (my hometown!) and met up with a guy who was cycling out some unwanted stuff from collections he'd picked up, and that's exactly the kind of stuff I like looking through at around this price.

These boxes turned out to be heavier on base than inserts but the latter were still prominent enough to give me some great trade content, and the former were useful in some ways as well. I'd say the split was around 60% baseball, 20% football, and 10% each of basketball and hockey, give or take (it's been a while so I can't remember for sure!).

Regardless, as always I had fun flipping through this stuff, and a good chunk of it has already gone out in trade packages, plus I may list some on TCDb eventually.

As for the reason most of you are probably reading this, here were my keepers, which amounted to a pretty nice stack:

This bunch skewed recent, as in the past five or so years, which was great for me since that helps fill a lot of holes for current Tigers and other PCs. In terms of older stuff, the 2007 Topps Tigers you see here aren't base but are actually from the team set, which I didn't already have.

The Tigers were well represented, as you'd probably expect from cards I picked up in a suburb of Detroit. It's great to see the '06 World Series guys together with some of the stars leading the charge for a surprisingly good 2025 squad.

Both of my blog namesake guys made the smallish group of horizontal cards. Curtis deserves all of the awards for being a talented player who was fun to watch in addition to an impeccable ambassador of the game.

There was just a quartet of Wolverines I needed in the basketball stuff, but this gives you a small idea of some of the brands that were heavily represented.

The football contingent was three times larger (and happily included some love for the defensive guys) and again this gives you a bit of a taste of brands I found.

2024 Absolute Retail and Prestige were by far the biggest stacks so it's no surprise I had multiple keepers from both. Some Prizm and Mosaic sets also popped up a good amount, just to a lesser degree.

When it came to hockey the local favorites also made lots of appearances, mostly to the benefit of the collections of two guys I loved watching in my younger days. Sergei Fedorov got a great bump to his PC with a cool mix of brands and designs.

Though most of his cardboard appearances here depict him with other teams, Brendan Shanahan also got a nice boost, and there's even a few in the next scan from his tenure in Hockeytown.

The HOF three-time Cup winner, all with Detroit, spent parts of nine seasons as a Wing, but was also known for multiple years with the Devils, Blues, Rangers, and Whalers. What a great trade acquisition he was as Detroit finally ended its Cup drought in '97.

Oh yeah, one Michigan Hockey card did manage to sneak into the pile: an early 2000s base of Mike Cammalleri, a guy who had a nice 15-year career of his own.

Like I said, these were fun to look through and sort into piles for my trading buddies, plus I still have some stacks I may list for trade, we'll see. In the meantime, I recently bought another lot from this same seller--around 300 recent baseball inserts for $50--but probably won't do up a post on them since I only ended up with a single keeper for myself. Some of those did make for nice filler in the 11 trade packages that went out to some of you today, though, so some of you should watch your mailboxes!

Next time you see a post from me I should be into Aprils acquisitions.

2024 trade package #7: the Collector

Happy July, y'all! With the NBA and NHL done for a bit, it's the time of year when baseball gets to shine before the return of college football next month. Let's celebrate by looking at some cards from all four major sports sent to me by Chris, the Collector, back in April.

Miggy most certainly was a star of the MLB over his 21 seasons, and it's bittersweet to see the back of his final Topps Chrome base card packed with his career numbers. Faedo, Manning, and Mize are all trying to bring some Mojo back to the Tigers' rotation (though it's mostly been the bats plus Kenta Maeda letting them down), and Faedo could potentially find himself back in a starting role soon while Manning tries to get right at AAA Toledo. The Verlander /75 is probably the best (and at least my favorite) card in this package, and I'm glad he got to celebrate two World Series titles because the villainous Astros are so easy to root against.

Flipping over to basketball, Chris did a nice job IDing a few former Wolverines I collect, mostly in colorful/shiny form. Iggy's been out of the league but was fun in college. It's crazy to me that THJ will be in his 12th NBA season later this year, and it's possible he'll be suiting up for the Pistons which is even cooler.

Finishing up with basketball we have a Crown Royale insert that evokes the heyday of Pacific, and this one stars another Wolverine/Piston combo, Isiah Livers, though he's not longer with the team. The card is numbered /75 just like Verlander's above and the blue goes well both with the Pistons' colors and those of his college team.

Repping the reigning NCAA champs of football, we begin with a Prizm base of stud defender Rashan Gary, a pass-rushing terror who's earned a good amount of respect in the NFL. Speaking of champs, we all know Griese led a team of them back in 1997-98 before a solid journeyman pro career. McKeon is yet another Michigan alum to have latched on with a Detroit team this offseason, signing with the Lions after four seasons with the team that drafted him, the Cowboys (and that card looks awesome thanks to its college action photo, though it would be even better if the border was something less Ohio-ish!). And lastly, a current Cowboy, Mazi Smith (seen on a Panini Mosaic RC) has a lot of work to do to live up to his first-round billing.

Would it really be an envelope of cards from Chris without some hockey content? No ex-Wolverines this time, but no problem there because I have plenty of love for the Wings too, especially the guys from the teams that were super successful for a good chunk of my life. The late Petr Klima, the first Czech player to defect directly to a team in the US (as opposed to Canada), is seen on his 1988-89 Topps base, and I remember him a bit from his early career in Detroit before wandering the league a bit and then returning briefly in 1998/99. And of course I'll always remember the Captain (1992-93 Stadium Club) for his 22 years and three Stanley Cups in Hockeytown, none bigger than 1996-97 when the Cup finally, finally returned to Detroit.

Chris, thanks again for thinking of me and sending some great new stuff my way! I'm slowly building up some interesting (and not entirely cardboard-based) stuff for you so I can return the favor in the near future. Until then, I hope things are going well with your wife's health situation, and I want to remind you that you've got a bunch of friends pulling for you and willing to help.

That does it for my April trades so next up will either be a quick Facebook Marketplace purchase recap or a look at my haul from that month's Taylor show.

2023 trade package #27: Sport Card Collectors

It's the holiday season for sure--less than a week until Christmas--and I continue to receive cards from generous folks at a ridiculous pace. I may not (hell, I definitely won't) be caught up before the end of the year but that's a nice problem to have.

For now I'll make a small effort in support of that goal by covering the first of a few trade packages I received in November. That would be a pair of PWEs from Matt of several blogs that I may just continue to refer to collectively as "Sport Card Collectors" for my own convenience. Funny story: he sent the envelopes the same day but only one arrived to me a few days later. We both wondered if the other one got lost and then it just randomly showed up a few weeks later, even slipping past Informed Delivery as some mail is wont to do. Either way, they both got here safely, and inside them were these:

I'd certainly like Baez to be a star of the MLB considering what he's making and the amount of payroll he's eating up, but if he can even return to his level of performance from 2022 that would help. Cabrera played for so long that sometimes it feels like he debuted in 1987, when we both turned four. Up there you see one of a pair of dupes Matt sent which I was happy to have since I know plenty of people that could use something like that. The Sepia Refractor looks excellent and as always I love images of his outstanding swing, putting him in a club with guys like Junior Griffey.

Next, the foil parallel of Miggy and Riley Greene--a '23 Topps team checklist--is very cool since it shows what's now the past and future of the franchise, as tough as it is to refer to Cabrera in the past tense. If Greene can stay healthy he could be a franchise favorite for years to come! 

The rest of this scan is made up of pitchers still with the team. With a couple new rotation additions in Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty, there's much less pressure on guys like the super talented Manning, who could benefit from some veteran guidance. His Panini Mosaic and a Pink Chrome Refractor here put me just shy of 30 cards of the 25-year-old. Fellow first-rounder Mize is also a Pink Refractor, should also be part of the starting five next year, though a return from TJ surgery makes him a bit less of a sure thing. What's unquestionable is that my collection of his has grown even faster than Manning's as that's card #68 for me! Meanwhile, I'm happy to see Wentz in Purple Refractor form, though until he starts performing in a way that isn't detrimental to his team (3-13, 6.90 ERA in '23), the less we see of him the better. It's much less likely the team will need him next season, though, which is good news.

The last of the baseball stuff is, naturally, a new Verlander for me. JV's appeared in Heritage's Then and Now insert a bunch since 2010 and has been paired up with the following:

• Whitey Ford (2010)
• Sandy Koufax (2012)
• Juan Marichal (2012)
• Jim Bunning (2013)
• Bob Gibson (2013)
• Fergie Jenkins (2017)
• Jim Palmer (2019)
• Catfish Hunter (2020)
• Jim Palmer (2020)
• Gaylord Perry (2023)
• Catfish Hunter (2023)

This is the first time he joins "Garylord" (WTF are you even doing, Topps?) Perry in the set, though Marichal is his top comp of the group in Baseball Reference's Similarity Scores. Regardless, that's heady company when you're compared to a group like that!

Matt also included a bit of football content, and I'm glad it can be easier for some of you when guys I collect appear in their college unis in products like Bowman Chrome University. Colson's a LB who'll be appearing in at least 14 games for the third straight season, with game #14 once again being a playoff tilt. His stats are down a bit from some excellent numbers last season but he's still been very solid at the position for an outstanding defense that consistently puts the team in position to win. Once again I didn't mind the dupes here because I can think of at least one person who could use it.

Thanks again for these envelopes, Matt, and I hope you didn't stress too much when one of them disappeared off the face of the earth. I'm looking forward to showing off what you sent me for Christmas once I get a bit more caught up, and in the meantime may you enjoy the package you have sitting under your tree!

More trade recaps to come soon!

2023 trade package #17: Sport Card Collectors (The Blogger National 2023)

It's August and the National has come and gone. No, I didn't go--that kind of thing would be wasted on me since I don't like to travel much and barely have patience to spend two hours at my favorite monthly show. I'm happy for everyone who made it out to Chicago this year and had a blast, though.

Anyway, that doesn't mean I can't have National-related fun. For one thing, I hit up said show this past Friday, and I'll get a recap up soon. Also, multi-blog guy Matt started up a blog bat-around called The Blogger National 2023 late last month, an idea where you "[show] off your coolest cards or your most favorite cards or a recent mail day you hadn't posted yet." Why don't I go ahead and participate by posting the great package I received from the Sport Card Collectors man himself back in late June?

I'm aware that Matt doesn't do a ton of blog trading these days and he mostly sends out PWEs, so trust me when I say I appreciate him sending me this big envelope of goodness that could have easily come from a quality table at the National:

Baez continues to do Baez things for better or for worse, but either way, these cards look great, especially the DK and Chrome Pink Refractor offerings. Miggy was the star of this package in more ways than one as you'll see additional cards of the future first-ballot HOFer below. I don't care if they aren't rare like they used to be, Artist Proofs are still cool, and so is Topps Gallery when Topps deigns to treat us to its most artistic set. Detroit sure could use a bat like Blastellanos right now, though nobody misses his glove. That's indeed a Refractor of his Topps Chrome RC from 2014, a fine card to add to his collection.

Topps still occasionally puts out shiny die-cuts that appeal to me, and I was happy to see the Cobb peeking through the rest of this stack. My Mize collection has grown to 65 cards thanks to envelopes like these, and Matt treated me to some very cool inserts like the Donruss parallels and Chrome/GQ chase cards. The Yankees' Domingo German recently joined Turnbull in the "worst human beings to throw a no-hitter" cub. Blog namesake guy JV's Gallery Private Issue parallel takes me back to one of the tougher inserts back in the 90s, and you know I'm thrilled to add a new numbered card (/250) of Mr. Kate Upton!

I grouped four guys together that I don't tend to collect much of these days, but they're all inserts that I like. Barnhart's a foil, Candyman is a shiny purple, and Brieske and Peralta are both Golds /2022. Then we have three more cards of Miggy, two of which are big highlights. The first is a Heritage base celebrating his 500th HR, the second anniversary of which is coming up in a couple weeks. The other is also courtesy of Heritage, and is a comic card celebrating a few of his biggest moments. He of course collected his 3000th hit last April, adding another amazing accomplishment to his storied career.

Matt not only sent a bunch of Tigers my way but gifted me a couple scans worth of Wolverines too! Brady is the oldest one you'll see in this post (his age, not the card's!) and in this scan he's joined by youngsters Chris Evans, Dax Hill, and Aidan Hutchinson. The pair of Michigan uni Dax cards was a fun surprise, especially the parallel numbered /299, and I'm grateful for the help chasing first-years of him and some of the others you see here. Hutchinson is probably the biggest star outside of Brady, and I'm sure a lot of Lions fans went wild when the local NFL team chose him #2 overall.

Matt sent a huge group of EIGHT cards of the top pick, half of which feature college shots, so I really liked the mix he sent. I currently own three of his RCs so I have a long way to go. Speaking of Michigan uni cards, all of the remainders are just that, including a numbered LeSueur (/1250) from 2004, a couple 2022s of future star David Ojabo, and a 2020 Absolute Retail of Pats LB Josh Uche. Now that's how you close out a trade package!

Matt, once again, thanks for your generosity, both in the quality and number of cards you sent and also packaging them up all at once! I have a few things set aside for you thanks to my recent show day and will try to add a bit more to it before firing back.

And that's my entry for the Blogger National 2023!

6/2 and 6/30 card show reports: summertime shows

If there's anything I've been wanting to clear off of my card desk for the past month, it's the stuff I picked up at both shows I attended last month. So let's look at both of those in today's post!

Both of these were Taylor Town monthly shows but both occurred in June because of calendar weirdness as the second was actually part of the first weekend in July. #1 was Friday, the 2nd, and I came home with one of the bigger piles of cards from that place in quite a while. My notes indicate the following:

• 180 dime cards = $18
• 40 $1 cards = $40
• 10 $2 cards = $20
• 1 $5 card = $5

That's an $83 total and my dude quoted me $75, so I was quite happy. I went nuts in the dime boxes largely because I found large groups of serial numbered cards that would make for excellent trade bait here or on TCDb. Enjoy these next SEVEN scans worth of stuff, most of which is still available (please just ask or find me on TCDb!):

Baseball: Cain /499 and /250; Ruan /2001; Sizemore/Garko /299; Sizemore /150; Billingsley auto /150

Favres: I still have 04, 31(x2), 82(x2), 93, and 403 still available

SN football 1/4: Tatum Bell /599, LeGarrette Blount /2012; Bowe /949; Canidate /2500 and /1500; Claiborne /500; Davis /799; Tim Dwight /750; Fauria /250

SN football 2/4: Franklin /249; Griffin /500; Hass /499; Jackson /250, Johnson /299; Keller /999; McCauley and Parker /500 (Moore no longer available)

SN football 3/4: Rhodes /175; Tate /499; Taylor /750; Thomas /400; Turbin /462; White /2500; Young /250

SN football 4/4: Carlson /499; Davis /1250; Robinson/Anderson /1000; Luke Staley no longer available; Williamson /250

Football hits: I scored some very nice ones considering the low prices! Coutee /99; Olson /999; Ito Smith /25; Colston/Cotchery no longer available; Latimer /399; Nelson /149

Here are my dime pickups, which managed to hit six different PCs. Not bad for $0.10 each, right?

The rest of my baseball pickups came from the $2 and $5 boxes (I believe none were $1, can't remember). Can't go wrong with the former blog namesake especially when it's a Detroit uni card numbered /10! Maddux's UD insert is of the numbered variety, "limited" to 4000 copies, and of course it gives me the warm fuzzies from the era when inserts were still good. It may be logoless but I didn't think I should be picky about landing my first Casey Mize auto for just $5. And how about a dual relic of HOF P Jack Morris and a guy repping the team he beat in 1984 for Detroit's most recent World Series? All day, every day, friends.

In terms of football the dime box treated me well with a new insert of Rashan Gary and a pair of Nico Collins rookie-related offerings, and then for a buck or two I also added a Collins parallel /249 from Certified.

Considering I came home with 231 cards, even after showing off unclaimed trade bait and my keepers, that means a LOT of this stuff went out in trade packages, which is usually my #1 goal for stuff I find at shows, so this one worked out great.

When I headed back on Friday, the 30th for the July version, it was a different experience, but still a very productive one. I still came back with some excellent cards, but I spent much less time because the dime boxes didn't look to hold anything that piqued my interest.

Instead, my breakdown looked like this:

• 15 from the $2/each or 3/$5 = $25
• 15 from the $5/each or 5/$20 = $60

That's a total of $85 that even my liberal arts brain can figure out.

The trade bait group is much smaller but the quality's quite good:

Wright is /299; Tannehill is /180; Bowe/Meachem/Davis is /175

Again, please claim those if you're interested in any and we'll work something out.

My own haul also stepped up in quality from that of the earlier show since everything was $2 or $5:

Ex-Wolverine Nwogu looks extra good on a parallel that matches his team's jersey, and this Heritage Minors insert is limited to 99 copies. I probably wouldn't have minded spending more than the $2 it took to score my third auto (to go with an auto/plate) of Jesse Franklin rocking the Maize & Blue. BInge may not be with the Tigers OR Wolverines anymore but $2 (less after the discount) was fair enough to snag a jersey of his for my second relic (to go with one autograph) of the former Michigan Baseball special assistant.

Meanwhile, you won't see me drop this much on basketball very often, but I found a trio of very nice former UM BB stars in the $5 box. I already had one signature of Iggy but that's my first auto/relic (also numbered /199) and is likely my new best card of the Lithuanian-by-way-of-Canada cager. THJ's signature may not be the most legible but it's also not a lazy couple of dashes, plus he adds his jersey number. I wish the foil-y card (SN99) scanned better, but my fifth auto of the younger Hardaway looks great in person. And I don't know what to make of Juwan Howard's coaching at Michigan, which seemed to start on a great note and has since been less than great, but I still wasn't going to pass up an autograph of one of the more successful Wolverines in the NBA for just my second signature of his.

I may have inadvertently saved the best for last with the football offerings. Another Braylon relic (/115) is nothing to turn up my nose at, and that makes 71 such cards of his 93 hits. But my favorite pickup of the day is Nico Collins' 2022 Panini Elements autograph. These cards are printed on metal and thicker than printing plates, and I've become a big fan of such cards because the color really pops on the material. I'm also excited that it's a new autograph of a potential future star who may finally get a QB throwing to him that isn't a compete and total bum. I now have three cards featuring his signature.

While I'm at it since I obviously think it looks so cool, check out the back:

Again, the print quality on the metal is great, but I also couldn't help but be drawn to the printed out serial numbering in the upper-left corner. It makes sense since the usual stamping wouldn't work, but since this is my first card of this type that wasn't a printing plate, it surprised me for a minute. Long story short, great card, great deal!

That covers the June and July shows in Taylor, and now I get to decide what I want to show off next.

2023 trade package #14: Cards As I See Them

How great is the blogosphere that you can reconnect with an old trading buddy without missing a beat? I ask because recently I was dealing with one of my favorite TCDb-ers and spotted an item I knew would fit the collection of GCRL Jim of Cards As I See Them perfectly if he didn't already have it. As it turns out he didn't, so eventually I was able to send it northwest of me to his mailbox.

I'm referring to Jim as an "old" trading buddy because for whatever reason we hadn't swapped cards since December of 2015. That's ok because it can totally happen, but you can tell it's been 7 1/2 years because he ceased operations on his Garvey Cey Russell Lopes blog earlier that year and will mark his seventh year of Cards As I See Them in September.

Anyway, it was great working with him again because as if no time had passed he sent me a fantastic return envelope chock full of stuff I love to collect:

We'll start with a couple recent cards of Miggy. I smile looking at the backs of his cards which need the fonts for his stats made smaller to fit in his 20+ years of service. Cronenworth is mostly a newer PC since Jim and I last traded, though his first cards did come out in 2015, but since then he's appeared in a lot more sets. Gehringer's from one of those classic Renata Galasso sets that I can't help but enjoy. Granderson's always a callback to my original blog name that I may decide to return to one day if I feel like it. And it's crazy that Hill's still pitching, an MLB journey that he resumed back in '15 with a few successful appearances with the Red Sox. Speaking of that team, hell yeah to the Chrome Purple Refractor representing his third and most recent stint for the club!

Mr. Tiger is always welcome in a trade envelope that comes my way, and it's no secret why he reached the 3K hit mark! I was very impressed with the number of Barry Larkin cards Jim included, and he even got creative with the '04 Topps Traded checklist. I remain a fan of Topps' 2021 Chrome Platinum Anniversary product because of cards like the one you see dead center.

The 30/30 card got me looking at the other members who joined the club around the time, in this case 1996, the year after he won his NL MVP award. Barry smacked 33 dingers to go with 36 steals, and he was joined that year by Dante Bichette (31/31), Barry Bonds (42/40, which was his fourth 30/30 season and made him the second member of the club Jose Canseco started, since joined by A-Rod and Alfonso Soriano), and Ellis Burks (40/32), Bichette's teammate. It looks like the only other time teammates achieved the feat in the same year was 1987 when HoJo and Darryl Strawberry went 36/32 and 39/36 for the defending champion Mets. By the way, Bonds' dad Bobby was the first player to reach the dual marks five times, since equaled by his son! They and Alfonso Soriano are the only to put up those numbers in four seasons. It's an interesting achievement and group, hence this huge aside about it!

Heading back to today's players, I sure hope Mize has a successful return from TJ surgery. I just looked into his recovery and it's been just a little over a year since he went under the knife...

Not unlike the card that opens this scan! TJ recovery is tough but he could certainly still be part of the team's future, assuming it has one under its current awful ownership. In better news, Tork has shown some signs of improvement lately which is nice to see, though I get how hard the switch from amateur to pro ball can be. The Rainbow foil card below those two features ex-Tiger Robbie Grossman and "what amazing and or completely stupid thing will he do today?" guy Javy Baez.

A Bowman's best autograph of former Tigers SS Dixon Machado was a fun surprise. He's got a super loopy signature that stands out at a time when a lot of guys can't be bothered.

A Mini Ginter X of Larkin brings us back once more to the '90 WS champ whose collection I'm striving to get to the 1000 mark. Then a trio of horizontal cards ends the baseball group. I love quality shots of Jim Abbott's delivery and you know you can expect a good one when it's Stadium Club (bonus for Chrome!). Granderson piled up 31 doubles in '06 but his encore the following season was one for the record books: 38 doubles, 23(!) triples, 23 HR, and 26 steals. Wow!

And last up is a Topps One-Two Punch insert of ex-Tiger teammates Verlander and Scherzer. Those guys were co-aces in Detroit from 2010-14 and each won a Cy Young Award (and Verlander an MVP) and won 20+ games in a season during their run. Yet despite combining for 169 wins over those five seasons, Detroit failed to win a World Series, getting swept by the 2012 Giants, losing in the ALCS twice, falling to Baltimore in the ALDS in 2014, and missing the playoffs entirely in 2010. Those failures loom large since the exits of Scherzer and Verlander signaled the "rebuild" the Tigers remain mired in almost a decade later. So I can't help but laugh at their fate with the 2023 Mets!

Jim added a trio of Michigan Football cards for good measure which was mighty nice of him, and though Edwards is a pretty well known Wolverine, I wouldn't expect just anyone to know which school Hall and Manningham (well, maybe not Manningham!) played for. Braylon, possibly making a great catch, is from 2008 Stadium Club, and he's joined by fellow WR Manningham's RC from the same set, with the latter numbered /1799--pretty sweet! Hall played on the opposite side of the ball as the first-rounder seen on his '07 Topps RC was a defensive back.

Big thanks again to Jim for this excellent mail day and the return to trading between the two of us. I look forward to seeing the reactions from some of you if he posts what I sent him, but regardless, let this recap be a reminder that he's still a great guy to deal with.

Still to come: MORE trade packages, June's show pickups, and a fun eBay score too! When will I get around to them? Eventually!

2023 trade package #7: Bob Walk the Plank

Well, so much for "rapid-firing" through these trade packages (with more having arrived!), but at least I'm back today with another one!

I sent Matt of Bob Walk the Plank some stuff around Christmas and he returned the favor last month with a very nice baseball/football mailer I was quite pleased with:

Four active players, three currently with the Tigers. Baddoo just got called back up with Austin Meadows out for an indeterminate stretch due to anxiety. Baez needs to start hitting! I hope Miggy (appearing on two very nice Stadium Club parallels) has a wonderful sunset season, even playing on a dead-end team like the '23 Tigers. The Castellanos cards are all quite nice with the first three being numbered Panini offerings. You all know I love those Stat Line parallels, and numbered cards in general, so hell yeah to those!

Will Mize be another super high draft pick pitcher who flames out in Motown? I love the Leaf card of Pudge that borrows from the old Sportcasters design, which I've always thought looked cool and unique. Also, it's numbered to just 50 copies! Short came to the Tigers in a 2020 deal for Cameron Maybin and I don't get the impression he's the answer to the team's need for middle infield hitters.

And then, how fantastic is the trio of (too many!) Verlanders? Matt and I don't tend to go as high-end as we used to in our deals but these are approaching that territory. Check out a fresh-faced JV on cards from 2005 Fleer Classic Clippings and Topps Update (x2). The Fleer card has a bronze look going on including the foil and is very consistent with a number of their brands back then like Greats of the Game, and more importantly it's a RC of the sure-fire HOFer. Meanwhile, his Topps Update base isn't a RC since that was found in the flagship set earlier that year, but it's still a very desirable card. You know I love the Gold parallel numbered to the set's year, 2005, even more. Thanks for helping me stick with my blog's brand, Matt!

The rest of the baseball portion includes three horizontal cards. I was happy to see Jim Abbott's '22 Stadium Club base as I didn't already have it (or just about anything else in this envelope, actually!). Joining Verlander with adding a Topps Gold to his collection is Miggy on a 2015 card that pairs him with fellow AL RBI leaders Trout and cheater Nelson Cruz (boo!). Lastly, a very appreciated new Cronenworth hails from 2021 Topps Gallery, and this is apparently the Green parallel even though the rookies in the set have much, much less of the color on their cards than the vets. It's numbered /125 which helped me ID it, and it's a great looking item to boot.

It would be impossible, though, to compete with the next two cards of HOFers in terms of star power and quality. Hit #1 is an Al Kaline bat relic from Panini's 2013 Golden Age. Team logo or not, it's a very nice looking card of a team icon known for his bat. You don't just throw around Kaline cards without a thought in trades so I really appreciate Matt's generosity here. That looks to be my 11th Kaline hit, split between four relics and seven signatures.

Speaking of generosity, how about the second item, which had my jaw dropping? For a relatively underappreciated HOFer, Barry Larkin's autographs can sell for some pretty solid money. That's why that term applies to Matt picking up the above 2022 Ginter X autograph of the Michigan/Cincy legend, signed in a sharp silver pen and numbered to a tiny 25 copies. Wow! This is the kind of item I love to add to my collection but don't tend to focus on because of the cost, opting for quantity over quality. Do yourself a favor and find a trade partner like Matt that'll get something like this for you, then load them up with good stuff and they might just return the favor like this! I count 23 different Larkin hits in my collection, and this is my eighth auto. Again, wow!

We'll end today's post with some football items, and while nothing was quite as explosive as those last two cards we looked at, there was zero drop in quality. That starts with a base trio of GOAT QB Tom Brady from 2004, and of course it makes me wistful to see three totally different manufacturers represented there. The two cards of fellow UM QB Brian Griese are even better as they're numbered to 150 (2004 Topps Black) and 32(!) copies (2008 Score Artist's Proof). Numbered inserts all day, please! A '22 Score insert of beastly DE Aidan Hutchinson, seen in college action (with, I believe, LB Nikhai Hill-Green making a cameo) represents a newer generation of football alumni. And we bookend this scan with a pair of cards of another GOAT, DB Charles Woodson. I appreciate the '22 Score base plenty but I really liked being gifted his second appearance in Fleer's '98 Ultra set. The earlier card has a beautiful college action shot and serves as his RC but this first one of him with the Raiders is also a big plus.

What can I say? It was another Bob Walk the Plank mailer filled with greatness as he never misses. Thanks so much for being one of my most trusted trade partners, Matt!

Back with more trade action soon!