2024 trade package #16: Chronicles of Fuji

It's certainly been an interesting couple of weeks since I started drafting this post, including an embarrassing election that will make the lives of almost all Americans worse for at least the next four years. As it pertains to the hobby, I hope the upcoming economic fallout doesn't cause anyone in the hobby to be priced out.

In better news, fortunately there are still plenty of good people in the card collecting community, such as Fuji of the Chronicles of Fuji. Right now more than ever we need teachers like him who do the underappreciated job of teaching kids in a society that offers his vocation insults and insane conspiracy theories about the "woke mindset" instead of the resources and recognition they should get. I've heard a lot about how the recent generation of students is harder to reach due to their phone addictions, an attitude of not trying, and parents that aren't involved. What I'm trying to emphasize is that it obviously takes a person with a ton of patience, perseverance, and pride in their job to do what Mark does.

With all that in mind, I'm always grateful for (but never surprised by) the effort and care he puts into the trade packages he sends my way. That was the case when he sent me the following back in August:

Mr. Tiger's Topps Pristine base is a beautiful example of a cool vintage photo on a modern design. Joining him are a bunch of really vintage Tigers from the 1977 Dover Publications Classic Baseball Cards Reprints set. These came in an album--apparently compiled by Michigan grad and sportswriter (largely known for boxing) Bert Sugar--in detachable perforated form. A number of of totally classic early designs, including the three seen above, are represented, and while I do own an intact album, I didn't have any singles. Now I do, thanks to Fuji, and they give some great looks at classic Tigers stars!

Switching over to basketball, things seem to be looking up a bit for the Wolverines after Juwan Howard's tenure ended in failure, with new coach Dusty May bringing in some solid talent and a new culture. Howard's early coaching days plus his days as a player are still some good memories, though, and he's joined here by well known Fab Five teammates Rose and Webber. Rice brings to mind the program's national championship and another of their most notable alumni. And the late Robert "Tractor" Traylor was exciting in Ann Arbor in the late 90s.

Things have been less rosy for the football team in coach Sherrone Moore's first season due to a number of factors, though he's also due to bring in a pretty impressive first recruiting class if everyone signs. One of the team's past stars is Buckey-killing RB Tim Biakabutuka, and here Fuji provided me with some very cool base and inserts of the Congo-born back. Please bring back designs like these, Panini!

You want more former Michigan stars? Fuji's got your back! Bunch spent four years in the NFL after that many years as a solid FB in Ann Arbor. Collins has been the key to finally making an OSU QB look good in the pros. Crable was a pretty good LB in college. Griese and Harbaugh both enjoyed success in college and the pros, and of course Jim's back in the NFL chasing his Super Bowl dreams, even if he did leave his alma mater in a terrible spot in terms of recruiting, bringing in transfers, and hiring coaches when he left. Hart has been my favorite Michigan RB since his very successful four years here though the very similar Blake Corum may take over soon enough.

The numbered LeSueur at position #3 here is quite cool as is the foil card of HOFer and Super Bowl-winner (times three!) Ty Law, but otherwise the story of this scan is star WRs. Howard of course won the Heisman and then had a very memorable moment winning a Super Bowl. Super Mario is a big reason Eli Manning won one if his rings and Manningham remains a blog favorite (obviously) to this day. And Terrell is one of the best receivers to come out of Ann Arbor, even if his NFL career doesn't bear that out. The former #1 jersey-wearer is one of several guys to appear on numbered cards in this post, with his Ultra RC at spot #8 being a highlight.

I supposed you could have one without the other, but I always like getting A-Train cards when Terrell's included because they're forever linked for me. Thomas joins Terrell from the serial numbered Ultra set and adds a Pros & Prospects #d card to boot. Toomer is another Ann Arbor star that lined up wide for the Wolverines and then won a Super Bowl with Eli Manning. Walker didn't pan out in the NFL but was excellent in college. And Wheatley is one of a number of Michigan RBs to have a solid NFL career. Better yet, he played back when card designs looked their best, especially inserts!

The rest of the football content, including some horizontal items, features familiar names from above along with GOAT DB Charles Woodson. The Score Wheatley is an especially cool card while the die-cut Playoff helmet design is, to borrow from the 90s, radical! I also really miss brands like Fleer's Showcase and Leaf's Certified Materials (referring to the real Leaf, not the garbage knockoff that's sullying the name these days).

There was more than just cards in this envelope this time as Fuji included a couple issues of a collecting magazine I was previously completely ignorant of: the Trader Speaks. More on the magazine itself in a minute, but first, here's a great look at Mr. Tiger as the cover star from November 1974, literally 50 years ago! Mr. Tiger had recently finished up his 22nd and final season in the MLB, all with Detroit, and he went out as an All-Star (for the 18th time) while finishing just one homer shy of the 400-mark. He'd be enshrined in Cooperstown six years later.

Meanwhile, this issue from the following May stars eight Tigers from a post-WWII set that's not Topps or Bowman. Instead, they were distributed (regionally) by Tip Top Bread. The black & white, 2 1/4 x 3" set is 163 cards strong, and while not every star of the time is included, many are. 15 Tigers made the cut, and more than half of them can be see here, including former Wolverine Dick Wakefield and HOFer George Kell. I also wasn't familiar with this set at all so this was an educational double whammy for me!

As for the magazines themselves, they're black and white (except for the red borders on the fronts) and measure about 7 x 8.5". They include various card news stories, addresses for TTM autographs, and letters, with the bulk of the pages devoted to auctions and classified ads for buying/selling/trading. The well known Keith Olbermann, who's certainly not secretive about his collecting habit, answers mailed-in questions in the May edition. These are an extremely cool look at the hobby from that time, about a decade before I was born, and it's fun to see the ridiculously low asking prices for items that are now super expensive, if not practically priceless.

Fuji, thanks again for all you do and for another exciting package of stuff that's a nice boost to my collection and my education! I plan on getting you back by the end of the year as I work on Christmas cards for 2024. But first, I need to continue catching up on everything I haven't covered yet, so more to come soon!

3/1/24 card show report: March radness

This evening I'm finishing covering my March hobby goings-on with the only purchase I made that month, which ended up being my usual card show.

I headed over to Taylor on Friday, the first, and happily spent $100 on lots of great stuff. I don't remember most of what I got that wasn't keepers for me, but I don't just spend an amount like that on something like cards if I don't think it's worth it. So I'm sure I picked up some great package-fillers for some of you that follow me here and others I trade with.

Speaking of trade bait, you might have noticed I haven't really had any cards to show off that weren't already ticketed for trade packages in these show reports lately, and that's mainly because I haven't come across anything that seemed worth it. Instead I'm focusing most of my money and effort on stuff I know will be going to one of my regular collecting buddies. That doesn't mean I won't have more to claim again in the future, but that's a much lower priority for me because I already know what most of my usual trade partners might like.

With that out of the way, here's my keepers from the March show:

The Cal on top is from a 2001 Fleer Premium insert called Decade of Excellence. This was a huge 50-card chase set in that product with cards ranging from Ruth and Gehrig (1920s) all the way up to A-Rod/Jeter/Nomar and others in the "2000s," though obviously that decade had just begun. As you can see, Ripken is one of the players representing the 90s, and for very obvious reasons unless you were living under a rock. I like the look of this insert as I often do with Fleer cards from that era, plus it's a new Ripken, so, win-win!

Next, the biggest card I brought home this time was a 2001 SP Legendary Cuts bat relic of Wolverine/Tiger baseballer Charlie Gehringer. This was an especially exciting buy for me because of his connection to both teams, plus it's just a great example of the quality of vintage player relics that Upper Deck put out at the time. I'm also happy to add it to the other three Tigers I have from the Legendary Debut Bats set: Bill Freehan, Alan Trammell, and Lou Whitaker. '68 great Willie Horton is the last Tiger I need to finish up the team set, plus I'm chasing George Sisler for my Michigan PC.

I think the seller had this in his showcase for somewhere between $20-$30 and he gave me a discount on it with the rest of my purchase. I'm glad I didn't leave it for someone else to snag so I'd regret it! That's just my second Gehringer relic to go with 10 autographs and a plate.

The football side of things was mostly inserts with a couple other items of interest thrown in. Darboh's from 2017 Panini Classics' Red Back parallel, and while the back is the main difference, I was more interested in landing another numbered card, plus the college photo is a plus. Speaking of numbered stuff, Devin Funchess got two of those added to his PC (which sits at exactly 100, woo!): a 2015 Panini Clear Vision Blue parallel of his RC (kick acetate!) /99 and 2018 Panini Silver Knight parallel /50.

Then, Dax brings the Rated Rookie goodness from '22 Donruss as my 8th RC of the talented DB. A Michigan-uniformed Charles Woodson is the subject of a rookie year Press Pass insert from 1998 called Triple Threat. He was one of three players (Peyton Manning, Ryan Leaf) to be included in the set, and each player appears on three cards, with the one you see above being Woodson's third. I'd love to get the other two to put them together to celebrate the guy who rightly defeated the other two for the Heisman late in '97.

Last up on the insert side of things I came up with a cool pair of Pacific inserts of two guys I always lump together: David Terrell and Anthony Thomas. I have more of the latter than the former, though that's because A-Train's career lasted longer than Terrell's, leading to Thomas appearing on just about double the number of cards. So it was super cool to find both of them out of this 2001 Private Stock Titanium insert that was numbered /2000 and given out at the 2002 Hawaii Trade Conference. Yep, these two have lived it up better than I have!

And last up is one other hit that I thought would be fun to snag for something like $2 or $3: a 2020 Panini Contenders Blue Foil auto of former Michigan QB Shea Patterson. The guy who famously (allegedly) put more effort into his golf game than football practice still put up some good games for the Maize & Blue in 2018-19 so I didn't mind paying a few bucks for my third autograph of his, and first from a "real" brand (the other two are Leaf). I'd say it was worth it to get the full Michigan uniform experience even if it's a sticker-graph.

And that does it for what was a pretty low-key March for me. Don't worry, though, because there's lots more to see from April on, and I'll be back with a post that starts covering that month's cards soon!

2023 trade package #s 34-37: Bob Walk the Plank, The Collector, The Lost Collector, and A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts

So I can finish up covering the trades I received from bloggers last December before the calendar flips to March, here's a combined trade post featuring the last four envelopes that hit my mailbox before Christmas '23:

Former Bob Walk the Plank blogger Matt and I still manage to swap cards at least once or twice a year and I enjoy that we tend to keep things fairly high-end, or at least above average. This time he sent me a very nice Michigan-themed Christmas present after picking up some stuff from COMC:

Merry Richmas! Of the five you see there, four are new to me and the fifth was a great deal he didn't want to pass up despite knowing it was a dupe for me. The latter would be card #1 in the scan, a Bright Yellow Back from 2017 Heritage that isn't numbered but is limited to just 25 copies. That's most definitely a good idea of the generosity remaining in this envelope. The other Hills include his 2019 Topps Mini Pink parallel (/25), 2020 Topps Mother's Day "Hot Pink" (/50, and could have fooled me on the color!), 2020 Topps Mini Pink (/25), and 2020 Topps Update Black (/69, NICE). That's an outstanding selection of recent numbered Hills and it's not like I get to add this many of him at once very often!

Joining him on the baseball side is one more dupe Matt couldn't pass up, a 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Gold Refractor (/50). He's obviously got great taste because pre-2010-and-later Refractors continue to look fantastic!

Finishing up on the football end of things we have a pair of very rare Wolverines. Former TE and solid broadcaster Jake Butt is up first with a 2017 Panini Certified Mirror Green auto. It's really tough to make out on the scan but along the upper-right edge it's numbered a ridiculous 5/5--hell yeah! That's my 9th hit and 7th auto of the talented pass-catcher. Flipping over to defense, there's my third signature of LB Mike McCray, and certainly my best as it's a 2018 Elite Orange Status die-cut auto numbered 07/10. The signature's nothing to write home about (pun intended) but the card design--die-cut plus numbered--and home college uni action photo make this a winner in my book.

Thanks again for our yearly trading and in particular this outstanding Christmas present, Matt!

Next I have a fun surprise PWE from Chris, the Collector, which ended up being the second that he sent me last December and third since November:

Former Michigan pitcher and current Guardians prospect Steve Hajjar leads off this one. This is just the 9th card in his collection so the Wolverines uni-highlighted '21 Prizm Draft Green Pulsar Prizm was a fun surprise. I was of course thrilled to see another Rich Hill need out of '23 Topps Chrome Update even if Topps dropped the ball on showing him with the Padres. And Chris tapped into his extensive hockey knowledge to send me a foily 2002-03 Pacific Vanguard base of goalie Steve Shields, a very successful netminder in Ann Arbor in the early 90s who played for six teams over 10 NHL seasons.

And as if those weren't enough, the big prize was this full SI For Kids sheet from the November/December '23 issue starring none other than NCAA Champion RB Blake Corum (plus a few other notable names). Corum and his teammates delivered the greatest possible present to Wolverines fans after the holiday with a Rose Bowl win over Alabama and title win over Washington. He ended his extremely productive Michigan career with school highs in single-season rushing and total TDs and points scored and career records in those exact same stats. I look forward to seeing what he can do in the NFL though I wouldn't ask a single thing from him after his career in the college game that I much prefer anyway. But I'll be glad to add on to the paltry five cards I have for now.

Thank you, Chris, for the extra Christmas present!

Next, after sending me a nice chunk of cards last September, AJ the Lost Collector hit my mailbox again before Christmas with this small but effective group of cards:

I think I'm sensing some kind of theme here.... First up is what's easily my best card of WR Ronnie Bell so far, a '23 Prizm Draft Gold Ice Prizm. It's just my third card of the Niners pass-catcher who outperformed his recruiting ranking in college by a mile, and it'll be hard to top for a while! Breakout WR Nico Collins of the Texans is next, hailing from last year's Score set, and I look forward to seeing him continue his upward trajectory next season. RB/PR Chris Evans hasn't been able to get things going for the Bengals but I'm happy to continue to add his RCs to his collection either way, such as the '21 Donruss Optic up above. And how could you possibly go wrong with two defensive stars Michigan lost, only to continue their dominance in 2023, in Mazi Smith and DJ Turner, out of last year's Prestige? The brand continued its practice of using college photos, which of course I love, and I was glad to cross these off of the needs lists of those two players, for whom I now own two cards and one card of--welcome to the collection, DJ!

Thank you, AJ, for gifting these to me last year just before my team put a bow on possibly their best season ever!

And finally tonight, definitely the most Christmassy bunch of cards that could have sat under my tree came from A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts' Jon. Whether you're a fan of Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon" or get excited at the site of Christmas colors red, gold, and green, you'll love these as much as I did:

Panini's solid 2013 Cooperstown product offered cracked ice-type parallels in a number of colors, and Jon represented three of those over three different players in the HOF-themed product. Wolverine/Tiger Charlie Gehringer is up first with Gold and Red cards, which is great as I apparently already had the Green of him. The Golds are /299 with the Reds a more common /399. Tigers HOF hitter and iconic broadcaster George Kell is next, and Jon sent me his cards in three colors, including the Green, whose set is the most common and not numbered. Another former Wolverine, Gorgeous George Sisler, rounds out the group with a Red card of his own. I'll have to track down his Gold but do have his Green as well. I also have Blues /499 of Sisler and Gehringer, and need to track down Matrix (/325) cards of everyone seen here.

Jon, thank you for a very festive PWE of HOFer PCs (too many acronyms!) to close out the year in collecting, and I look forward to trading with you again this year!

Thank you once again to everyone who sent me cards in 2023, which resulted in an average of 1.5 envelopes/packages per month! No matter how long I keep blogging, I'll continue to work with all of you that enjoy swapping cards as it's one of my absolute favorite parts of being here. I already have some 2024 trades to show off once I finish up the rest of my '23 acquisitions, and I promise I'll get back to sending packages out myself soon. As a matter of fact, two are due to arrive to current trading buddies in the next day or so.

Next time: either TCDb deals (likely split into two parts), a show recap, eBay pickups, or my late-year COMC haul, though the latter will likely be my '23 finale.

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!

2021 eBay purchases: Rich and Charlie's awesome Christmas

Yep, still lots to post, but today I'm going with the fewest cards instead of posting nothing! The two you see below should be my final eBay pickups of the year.

I had a good last couple months on the site, largely picking up some better stuff for Doug's Christmas package, and I also scored two pretty big cards for myself in November. Here they are:

Behind door #1 is Rich Hill's 2008 Bowman Chrome Yellow Plate. I'd go so far as to refer to it as "maize" in recognition of his Wolverines career, though of course the border's more of a highlighter  hue than the classic UM color. My latest Hill 1/1 (I believe I'm at around 30 when including my unidentified 2008 Triple Threads White Whales) set me back around $15 in early November thanks to a late bidding war, but I refused to be denied considering my spending was so responsible this year. It'll make a nice addition to the '08 Bowman/Chrome rainbow I've already put together:

I already had one plate to include in the bunch, the Bowman Cyan (not exactly a Michigan blue either!) you see at the very end, and now I can add a Chrome plate to that as well. As usual the Chrome plate's image is reversed due to that set's printing process so you get a rare look at old Dick Mountain as a righty!

I'm closing in on 150 hits of the southpaw who's making yet another return to Boston, and I hope to maintain my self-assigned rep as Hill's #1 collector with more scores like this in 2022!

As usual if I'm starting off with a plate or other 1/1 I have something even bigger to show off and that's true here! I occasionally search eBay for Charlie Gehringer autographs to add to my collection after having had lots of success doing so in the past, and often I try to find those made by Upper Deck brands because they feature nice designs. Cut autographs necessarily have less room for design elements like photos, but I still opt for those when I can.

In this case I happily made an exception, and even went away from the UD brands to go with a Topps Co-Signers card from way back in 2006. The fact that it paired up the Mechanical Man with my first autograph of fellow Tigers star Harvey Kuenn was enough argument for me! The roughly $50 total cost, very reasonable in my opinion, was also a factor.

Though their careers didn't overlap--Charlie was in Detroit between 1924-42 while Harvey spent his first eight MLB seasons in Motown from 1952-59) they're both well-known Tigers from before the 60s. Kuenn was the '53 AL ROY and went to All-Star Games in eight straight seasons (two each in '59 and '60, the latter in his first season with the Giants) and played his best ball here, though the team failed to make it to the postseason during his Tigers tenure.

Other than lacking images of both players this is an excellent cut design. Both players' cut pieces--a Kuenn check and the usual Gehringer HOF plaque postcard--fit well in the windows set up for them and the signatures aren't cut off like you often see these days. The biggest flaw here, and no surprise from Topps, is that Harvey's last name is spelled "Kuehn" on both the front and back for some reason. QA's never been Topps' strong suit, though, so I'll give them points for getting this mostly right.

And anyway I'm thrilled to add not just my first signature of Kuenn, but also my 10th of one of Michigan's (state and school!) and Detroit's all-time greats, Charlie Gehringer. I think it's worth another look at all of them here:

That may be it for my eBay spending in 2021 but I still have lots to show you: three blogger trades, one TCDB deal, the results of the show earlier this month, and then possibly a show this weekend as well! Until then, stay warm and dry and enjoy the holiday season!

2021 Sportlots purchases part 5: Lucky Tiger Seven

Previously: Quick summary and set wants; Big and small we have them all!; Better off Ted; A Tettle-ton of Froot Loops

Since my last post was a Michigan player and the Sportlots one before that focused on a solo collection I thought it would be fun to highlight a group for tonight's. Not that there aren't any Wolverines in this post, mind you, but the theme here is Tigers greats of the past. Also, if you're wondering why you don't see certain Tigers you're sure would fit in that category, rest assured there's another team post coming at some point! (Also also, if you're a fan of the movie tonight's title vaguely references, you're extra cool in my book!)

So here's seven of Detroit's finest, from the recent past to way before I was born:

This first scan covers four players alone, since I picked up just a few cards of each. Player number one is the Bird, one of the Franchise's most colorful and recognizable guys, and I was geeked to end up with his 2010 Topps Triple Threads base (#d /1350) for cheap. It's my 24th card from his fairly small oeuvre of around 200 issues (according to TCDB), and I'd love to add more, whether they're recent high-end base like this or some of his earlier items.

Fidrych's amazing 1976 ROY campaign coincided with catcher Bill Freehan's sunset season with the team, and they'd form a battery just once that year for the pitcher's second start. It looks like Bruce Kimm caught every other Bird start, maybe as a personal catcher sort of situation? Anyway, Freehan, who's a favorite of mine as well of John's, of course, can be seen here on a textbook Action Packed issue, in this case 1993's All-Star Gallery. As you would expect it's raised and embossed, plus the shot of the '68 champ in the dugout with his chest protector and bat is quite cool. It's not easy for me to track down new Freehans that I need, especially cheaper ones, so I was happy with this deal.

Bookending another '68 champ we'll get to in a minute is another Wolverine/Tiger, Charlie Gehringer. Up top is a Burgundy version of one of his two appearances in Conlon's 1994 set (which continues numbering from the previous one). He got an "In Memorium" banner because he'd passed away the previous January, a few months shy of 90. It's a nice card that's even improved a bit with a royal kind of border. At the end of the scan is an even older issue from TCMA's 1980 All Time Detroit Tigers set. The only horizontal card in a set of 12 (and why not? Fielding shots look great on this axis!), he's in great company with obvious choices like Cobb, Greenberg, Kaline, Newhouser, Cochrane, and more. I might have to try to track down the rest!

And then there's the last player in the scan we haven't covered yet. Even though he's pictured with three of the five other franchises for whom he played, there's no way you can leave out Willie Horton when you're talking about past Tigers greats! After 14 excellent years in Motown, the pinnacle of which was that '68 season, Horton played one game for the Tigers before being sent to Texas. His stay was short as before the '78 season he was flipped to Cleveland, which started a very nomadic summer that saw him get released, picked up by Oakland, and traded to Toronto. In January of '79 the Mariners signed him, and he'd spend his final two MLB seasons in Seattle (though he'd eventually get traded to Texas again, released, and signed by the Pirates). At least some portions of that journey are captured on the three Topps cards above from 1978-80, giving me a nice run in his collection from 1970-80.

And next we have TOO MANY GRANDERSONS OUT OF NOWHERE! I was pretty picky about what I bought this time of one of my favorite recent Tigers, but the price was right to grab all seven of his appearances in Topps 2008 team gift set. I don't anticipate finding a deal on the complete set of 55 anytime soon, so I'm happy to just pick up singles of guys like Curtis and JV. Besides a solo card, Grandy gets paired up with 2007 All-Star Carlos Guillen, who was terrific in Detroit, and lauded for a few accomplishments. The biggest was his 20-20-20-20 season in which he accumulated 20 each of doubles, triples, homers, and steals, one of four players to achieve that feat. Besides that, in 2007 he was named AL Player of the Week in July, led the sport in triples (naturally!), and was among the team leaders in hits and batting average. That year was by far his best in terms of bWAR, and given his overall numbers that makes total sense. Believe it or not it ended up being his career best, even after some of those big seasons he had in the Bronx! By the way, I'm nearing 200 many Grandersons, so he's now on milestone watch.

Even though I mostly scanned these in alphabetical fashion they get increasingly homogenous as we continue; including this scan the last three cover just two other players. No complaints from me, though, since I get to own and you get to gawk at a whole bunch of Kalines! I treated myself to 19 new cards of Mr. Tiger, which is one short of his age when he won the 1955 AL batting title. There's nothing vintage or anything, but it was fun to give his collection that much of a boost in numbers, not to mention some very cool cards. 

The oldest is from a 1995 Upper Deck food issue produced for Eagle snacks, and he's part of an excellent nine-card checklist. UD is represented again with the always excellent SP Legendary Cuts (2006). Fleer makes the cut twice with one of its cool Sports Illustrated products, 1998's Then and Now, plus 2003 Fall Classics. Donruss' lone entry is 2004's World Series product's Blue parallel. And Topps claims the rest thanks to 2000 Stars, 2010 flagship's Turkey Red insert and 206 base card, and 2011 GQ. There's lots of classic vintage photography and images to admire here, something I don't get to appreciate as much as I should because most of my PCs are modern players. All the more reason to chase some Kalines! 

So here's some more Kalines I chased! These are from the Toppsopoly era so they're blander than they could be design-wise, but there's still some nice images to enjoy. Though I don't believe I own any of the much older "test issue" versions of Topps' cloth stickers, I grabbed the insert version from 2011 Lineage, which is pretty cool. It looks like 2013 GQ (Framed White) and Heritage's Flashbacks insert opted for the same image, kind of like the Turkey Red and GQ cards above. A 2014 Triple Threads base is definitely the highest-end card here, though that year's set wasn't numbered, and if you wanted the same photo on a different design you could go with 2020 A&G below. I think my favorite photo/image in this bunch is the one featured on 2017 flagship's Salute insert, which shows a very young future HOFer.

Since 19 doesn't go into two nicely when it comes to scans I decided to place Al's last pair of cards at the top of this one. On the left is the 2004 version of Heritage's Flashbacks insert, and I give Topps credit for going horizontal with a great shot celebrating young Kaline winning that batting title at 20. Did you know that the previous youngest batting champ at that point was one Ty Cobb? Anyway, Al's run ends with a simple 2020 Archives base that has a strange portrait photo but a cool batting action image.

And tonight we end on another HOFer, granted one that was a relative short-timer for the franchise compared to most of the rest of these players. George Kell came to Detroit from the Philadelphia A's in 1946 and spent the best years of his career with the Tigers until being sent to the Red Sox in a nine-player deal in 1952. That means he missed out on the '45 championship team plus he was traded just a year before Kaline debuted. At least they got to form an all-time great broadcasting pair.

His first two cards here--1991 Topps Archives (reprint of his '53 base) and 2001 Fleer Boston Red Sox--depict him with his third team, but fortunately the others are all about the Olde English "D". The first is from the gorgeous 2003 Topps Gallery Hall of Fame product, and the one I have here is the variation with a white "D" on his hat, while I already owned the orange letter version. The other two are Archives issues from 2019 and 2020, and in my opinion the '19 card, done in the style of the cool '75 set, is executed better, but both are quite cool.

Though I only came away with five cards of Kell, they were enough to get me over the 50-card mark to 53, so that's worth a little celebration.

I'm curious to see what people think of these items in the comments, but regardless I know I had a blast picking up some cool items of some of the best players in the team's storied history! Next time I'll probably be back with another single-player post, but first you can expect another surprise PWE trade post.

2021 eBay purchase: Pacifically Legends

Pacific Legends: for three years this better-than-expected low-end product from the manufacturer that would eventually be able to produce cards of current Major Leaguers (in English, even!) offered collectors another way of collecting some of the legends and past fan favorites of the game.

The sets came up on my radar last Summer when I was able to grab a couple boxes of the '88 version among a bunch of other stuff (generally smaller boxed sets) on Facebook. Fuji bought one and I busted the other, coming one card shy of a pair of complete sets.

In talking to Fuji about his interest in these sets, I later found out that he decided to keep the box he got from me unopened, and then grabbed the full 220-card '88/'89 set on eBay to go with a complete 1990 set out of a box he did open. This was relevant to me since he generously sent me a near complete '90 set earlier this year.

Thanks to Cardbarrel and Spotlots I was able to finish up my second '88 set and knock out the remaining 90s I needed, leaving me shy just the '89 version. I thought I'd purchased just that from eBay a couple months ago, but it ended up just being something like 20% of it, so I returned it.

Then, in Mid-April what did I come across on eBay but the very same '88/'89 set that Fuji had purchased for himself, also at under $10 shipped.

I pulled the trigger and happily received this package not long after.

As a reminder, the 1988 and '89 products comprised one continuous set, with the former numbered 1-110 and the latter picking right up again at 111 through 220. By the way, a nice bonus of this boxed version was the pair of checklists, which weren't packed out as far as I can tell. I can't claim to have removed the sets completely undamaged from this unorthodox packaging, but I'm fine with how the cards look.

Since I did a long-ass video of my 1988 box break and that allows you to take a good long gander at those cards, I won't show any off here, but I did think it was worth doing some highlights from '89 since I had very few of these in my collection before this purchase:

The Tigers included HOFers Cobb, Cochrane, Greenberg, and announcer Ernie Harwell, whom you would be unlikely to see in a set made by someone else.

I grabbed a back so you could compare it to the '88s. The fronts and backs are pretty much the same between '88 and '89 with the power blue background color on the latter being the only difference; the '88s are yellow. I also thought the back of this Reggie would be fun to scan because "Reggie's Hall of Fame election appears certain." definitely made me laugh.

Here's a selection of some of the legends from the '89 set, all well known names. As you've probably noticed, art work was used for most of the pre-WWII players, possibly to avoid having black & white images mixed in, I'm not sure.

I thought it would be fun to show a few of the fun/interesting appearances as well, from fan favorites to an ump and another broadcaster. A Mad Hungarian, former Tiger, catcher/manager of the Seattle Pilots, and mutton-chopped dude who slugged 50 HR (not to mention an umpire nicknamed "Shag") definitely keep you on your toes!

Since I'm showing those off this evening I though it would be worth doing the same with the completed '90 set since I never formally did that previously, with just a few examples when Fuji sent me the main stack and then some of the ones I bought to complete it.

The Tigers this time included HOFers Bunning and Gehringer (the one UM guy I believe you'd find in all three series), fan favorite Horton, and also HOFer Kell, whom I'm including with this group because he was with the White Sox for all of three seasons, as opposed to seven with Detroit.

If you compare the fronts of the cards in the group above to the '88 and '89 versions you can notice a couple subtle differences in the top corners and "banners" on the bottom, but they're still pretty close. The backs give you more clues that you're looking at a different product, though, especially with the 110-card set starting things back at #1. Color-wise it's like an inverted 1988 card, plus you lose the kind of scroll design for the writeup/stats area. I think I prefer this one a bit more, but there's nothing wrong with the prior versions. Also, how amazing is it that Appling was still alive when this card was made? He passed early in 1991, a few months shy of 84 years old.

There were lots of great choices for legends to show off, like these guys. If you remember some of the membership of the '88 set then you might notice some repeat cameos here, like Aaron (#1 in both), Banks, and Berra, but it's kind of understandable since it doesn't seem like it was meant to be a third series, but its own thing.

There were lots of fun choices among the other fan favorites, though, and I figured at least a few of you would see one or more guys you remember fondly here.

So now I can happily call myself the owner of all three two three (yeah, we'll go with three) Pacific Legends sets from 1988-1990. I got to bust a box, do some old-fashioned set-building, and even sort cards from a previously unopened set, all for under $30. Money and time well spent for sure, once again with a very appreciated assist from Fuji.

On a related note I have two completed '88 sets (#s 1-110) available for trade should anyone ever be interested in dealing for one or both, so hit me up!

I had another eBay pickup arrive just today so that'll probably get its own post soon, plus I'll be trying to get back to the huge Sportlots haul, so keep an eye out for plenty of new cardboard soon. As for me, I'll be enjoying the satisfaction of filing these away in a box in my card closet.