2024 trade package #20: Baseball Card Breakdown

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christmas Eve trade envelopes!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2021 trade packages #17 and 18: Scribbled Ink

While it's hard to find reliability these days, I can just about always count on Paul of Scribbled Ink (but mostly on Twitter) to keep things interesting. He may have moved to New England, but he'll be damned if he ever turns into a Masshole! The erstwhile Michigander and current New Hampshirian was nice enough to treat me to both a bubble mailer and PWE recently, so I thought I'd round them up into one post. And I meant it when I said he made things interesting here as I didn't expect any of this stuff!:

We'll start off with the bubble mailer that I believe arrived in late June. This is how he packaged the contents, and the sticky note made me laugh since he'd hyped up one or more if the items he was sending here.

Here's a look at almost everything in the envelope. Up top we have three totally random packs: 1991 OPC Premier baseball, 2015 Panini Texas Longhorns, and 1990 Collegiate Collection LSU. He thought I might try to flip the latter two to fellow college collectors, but he was wrong since I went ahead and ripped all three (more on that below) since I don't really buy packs for myself anymore.

Next is a pocket schedule from a Minor League team about a half hour away from Paul's new home: the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Even with Sith Lord Rob Manfred robbing towns of teams, it's nice that you can often count on a nearby Minors franchise for fun, low-cost games. This one happens to be the AA team for the Blue Jays (previously the Cards, Mariners, and Rockies), and claims potential future star IF Austin Martin as one of its better prospects. I hope Paul gets to enjoy seeing some of Toronto's future stars on their way up!

And last up in this scan we have two of the most exciting items here: a pair of Gypsy Oak cards. I'll admit I don't know much about these, but I've seen the works of art by the talented Jeff Baker all over the place, and I'm always impressed by how great they look. There's some great people doing amazing things in the world of customs right now (more on that later), and this guy is clearly one of them. I believe Paul asked me if I was interested in the Greenberg (it may have been a dupe for him?) but the Ripken, apparently signed by the artist, was definitely a surprise. How great do these look?!

I thought it would be worthwhile to show off the backs. Hank's card definitely has an 80s Topps feel to it, and Cal's functions as a checklist. If you're interested in more stuff like this, I'd suggest checking Jeff out on Twitter or his site here.

Of course, "more stuff like this" includes by far my favorite item in the envelope, this carved(? Etched?) Braille card of Ripken. It's scanned here at roughly its actual size, and obviously it looks even cooler in-hand, but even in a 2D image you can get an idea of the level of detail and quality. I did some quick translating and the Braille reads:

Cal Ripken Jr

Balt Orioles

Stars of

Sports

Man, how cool is that? I really appreciate the great work Jeff put into his pieces, not to mention Paul for including what's now one of the most interesting items in my Ripken collection.

Before we get to the PWE, here's a quick look at the results of the packs:

1991 OPC Premier:  I got my 7 cartes de baseball as promised, and the pack definitely had a Canadian lean with a pair each of Jays and Expos. Crime Dog and Bonds are the most notable players here, but Boddicker, Key, and Gruber each had pretty nice careers as well, with all winning at least one ring.

2015 Panini University of Texas is just like the Michigan product I enjoyed so much. Most of the players are well known to me, as I'm sure they are to many sports fans, and I'll probably toss them up on TCDB unless somebody comments here that they want them.

I've seen packs like this LSU version before, I believe, and they're great for collectors of universities like me. Not that I can really stand any SEC teams for multiple obvious reasons, of course. Again, these'll go up on TCDB unless I have one or more readers who are a different kind of Tigers fans!

A bit earlier this month I was then the lucky recipient of Paul's favorite ammo: a PWE.

I get where he's coming from because despite collecting a ton of different players, for a lot of them I already have a lot of the basics. He's really underselling himself here, though, because I most definitely didn't have any of these items and was in no way likely to find them myself anytime soon:

Before I discuss these, here's a look at the backs of the first two cards, since there was no way I was going to have any inkling what they were without doing so myself:

Millburg Trading Cards looks to be a company that prints all kind of custom stuff like cards, stickers, and apparel. As with any customs featuring player likenesses and/or obvious use of other companies' designs, I don't know the legal workings of this, but I will say that their cards look pretty cool!

#1 is former Wolverine (as if I don't mention that fact enough) and 2021 All-Star Jake Cronenworth from the Lettermen line. Click the link to see the large range of players and schools, though, spoiler for fellow Michigan fans: Cronenworth is the lone representative for our team. Not a surprise in a set that's heavy on alumni of such programs as UCLA, LSU, and Vanderbilt. Anyway, Jake's card looks excellent, with a good (if a bit too zoomed-in) action photo, team colors, and the team nickname in fat capitals up top.

Another guy who was no stranger to the Midsummer Classic (and who I thought was fun during the Home Run Derby broadcast) is Junior Griffey, here repping the Quarantine Project Minis line. This 12-card set uses the classic '62 Topps design and places a cartoony or mosaic type of image of a player over a photographic stadium background. I like the resulting posed image of Griffey in a Mariners uni from early in his legendary career.

Last up is a card that was customized by the pictured player--an IP or TTM autograph of one of my bigger recent PC guys, Dean Palmer. The slugging 3B signed his '92 Ultra base with some decently legible writing, and I'm really happy to get a card like this for his collection since I never sent him a TTM request back in my younger days when I sent a ton of those out. It was very cool of Paul to think of me whenever he found that, and that's a great example of why I love trading with people like him.

While he obviously doesn't feel like he sent me much, there were clearly some gems for me in both envelopes, especially when it comes to the custom-type stuff that wasn't even on my radar. So, many thanks to Paul for this pair that came up aces! Once I get my end of my latest huge TCDB deal, he'll have a nice fat stack of stuff heading back his way to reward these efforts.

As for me, I have a few things in the pipeline: that TCDB deal I just mentioned, this month's show, an eBay win, and the final post in my latest Sportlots series, plus who knows what else? When will I get to all of that? At some point!

2021 trade package #6: Baseball Card Breakdown

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2021 trade package #4: Scribbled Ink

I was all set to work on my COMC football pickups post having gotten everything scanned and into the post, but then buddy of the blog Paul of Scribbled Ink (or more commonly at this point, Twitter), managed to get a PWE to me just before the month ran out, making it number four for January. Since the PWE requires much less writing, plus I give preference to trade cards over purchases, that's what you'll get to see tonight!

As always, Paul did a perfect job protecting everything in the PWE. In this case he surrounded it with this greeting card. But that's way too tame for a package from him, and he felt the cards required more protection...

...so he made sure they were safe in the embrace of this lovely lady! Besides being one of my favorite trader partners, I think Paul's my favorite recycler.

Oh, yeah, and the cards themselves, let's look at those too:

Along the left side we have a couple items that are new to me. Junior's card comes from a 10-card set produced by Pacific in 2000 that helps to advertise the video game Backyard Baseball. That looks to have been a Windows/Mac only kids game (the series has since moved on to consoles) that included real Major Leaguers. You can get an idea of how kid-friendly it was by the back, which you'll see in a second. This is definitely a fun oddball of one of my favorite PC guys, and it's from a time when Pacific used some very nice designs.

Below him is what I thought for a minute was a dupe of Rich Hill's 2020 Topps Series 2 issue. Then I flipped it over to find that it's the Advanced Stats version, which is distinctive in two ways: standard stats are replaced by numbers like spin rate, FIP, and wOBA, plus the card is serial numbered to 300. This was definitely a need for me and I was happy to add it thanks to Paul.

And last up is one of Paul's hilarious and fun customs, the first he's ever sent me. It's about the thickness of a relic since I believe the background is from a pack decoy. He cut out Hill's image plus part of the border and affixed that to the decoy, on which he drew the background, giving it a bit of a 3D feel when you look at in in person. About that background, though...

...it reference's Rich's awesome nickname bestowed by former Red Sox teammate Brock Holt, "Dick Mountain". Hence the rather phallic shapes in the faraway hills. Out of the stuff that Paul's sent me this might be the funniest--I've heard of NSFW packaging, but NSFW cards?!-- and I promise it'll get a place of honor among the rest of my Hill collection. Here's hoping old Rich brings his Big Dick Energy to whichever team he signs with in 2020!

You also get a good look at the cartoonish Kid and Hill's advanced stats on their respective backs.

Paul, thanks for this awesome surprise PWE and the amazing contents therein. Oh, and also for sending me your Rich Hill cards instead of being a dick!

2019 trade package #37: Baseball Card Breakdown

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

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

Here's what I got in this Christmas envelope:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lots more to come from the mailbox and elsewhere soon!

2019 trade package #29: Topps Cards That Never Were

I know I've mentioned multiple times in the past that I love finding new trade partners as it's one of the things that keeps collecting and blogging interesting.  That's why I was glad when Jeremy, who reps Topps Cards That Never Were, reached out to me a couple weeks ago.  It didn't hurt that he was offering up one of my player wants, but it was also fun to be dealing with another Tigers collector.  As it turns out, I was able to send him nearly half my pile of dupe/unwanted Detroit cards, plus a few Rays and other guys he collects.  And what he sent my way was quite useful for my own collection!

Tigers stuff was the majority of this package, so we'll start there.  There was a '90 Topps-sized hole in my Sparky collection because I still don't own that set, but no longer!  Fulmer's and Iglesias' '18 Topps base were also new to me.  Fryman, Gibby, and Henneman were all stalwarts on the Tigers teams of my youth so I was plenty happy to see them again here.  And that Kinsler Elite (#203/349) is my second version of that fun Donruss insert, not to mention the third appearance by the revamped Panini brand in this scan alone.

Kudos to Jeremy for hitting my Tony Phillips and Mickey Tettleton collections as well.  They get less time here compared to many others that I collect--they don't have Google Photos albums, for instance--but I still love collecting that fun pair of 90s Tigers.  Tony's 2000 MLB Showdown card was definitely a surprise for me, and a nice inclusion.

Hicks, Perez, and Stewart are naturally more recent guys, and I especially hope that the latter two are part of the team's future.

Here we have a fun mix of the last of the non-PC Tigers stuff.  Cruz and Nevin are a couple more 90s guys I remember well, and I appreciated that Deivi signed a TTM auto for me way back, possibly because the made the effort of sending my request in basic Spanish.  Pemberton has to have one of the most British names the sport has seen, and he would fit well in a group chaired by fellow OF Reggie Abercrombie.

On the right the trio of team cards is pretty cool, with none more interesting than the one highlighting the 2005 Lakeland Tigers.  The franchise's A+ team, now known as the "Flying Tigers," they play in the Florida State League in the Tigers' spring training complex.  The card appears to have been produced by Grandstand Cards and sponsored by Peter Pan peanut butter, and the team checklist mostly notes an array of uninteresting prospects, plus one Justin Verlander!

Now that we're on to the PC content, first on the agenda is former blog namesake dude Curtis Granderson...and boy did Jeremy ever hit that collection hard with 10 cards, eight of which I needed (you'll see the 10th in the next scan).  Most of what's here is Topps-branded cards from 2010-13 with Grandy as a Yankee, which explains why I didn't have them, but there's a trio of Tigers cardboard as well.  The Uncommon '08 StarQuest insert is kind of cool but I can't deny that the Diamond Anniversary card looks great.

After a 2010 Topps National Chicle of Granderson (putting me at 151 cards of one of my favorite former Tigers), we get to the star of this post.  When Jeremy offered me a 2001 Topps Traded Gold parallel of Griffey (#1619/2001) I was definitely motivated to get off my butt and get a trade done--after all, it was on my single/player wantlist!  I've long loved the 2001 Topps design and its inaugural Gold parallel numbered to the year.  Junior was one of a few players who got a reprint of their first Topps Traded issue as an entry in the base set produced during Topps' 50th anniversary.  Sweet!

Joining that is a fun pair:  a Moments & Milestones card with a bit of damage up front and some paper loss on the back that might interest Fuji for his damaged cards PC, plus a 2018 Donruss Holo Green parallel.  Mr. Padre Tony Gwynn joins him from that insert and brings a base card from the 2015 set along for the ride.  And a slightly damaged 2005 Studio Heritage (#0840/1000) of the other Junior I collect, Cal, closes out this group.

Sticking with PCs but going back to Tigers content, here's a page's worth of Tram and Lou.  As dad was told by mother, you can't have one without the other!  None of these is new to me--I own all seven sets represented here--but I'm still happy to see this bunch of cards of the best double play combo anyone's likely to see for quite a while.

And now we've almost reached the end, but we're not done yet, not if JV has anything to say about it!  Four of the five cards in this scan are new, with just the Postseason Heroes card already having a place in his collection.  I'm not sure how rare the Gold Topps Town cards are relative to the regular ones, but either way, I'll take it.  If Upper Class doesn't describe Mr. Upton's status among active pitchers, I don't know what does.  After Gwynn's card above, 2015 Donruss makes another appearance.  And the Ed McMahon to the Gold Griffey's Johnny Carson in this package is a 2008 UD Piece of History Timeless Moments jersey.  New Verlander hit alert!  A quick count tells me I have 29, broken down into 17 relics, three manu-relics, six autographs, and three 1/1s.  What a nice way to cap off a package!

But not so fast, my friend, because we're not quite done here.  What else would you expect from a guy who writes for "Topps Cards That Never Were" besides...

...custom cards!  Jeremy mentioned that he had done a few custom Barry Larkins and I jumped at the chance because I love seeing what folks do with these.  Not only did he live up to his blog's name with a Topps offering--the Olympic team subset from '85--but he tossed in a couple two player Fleer offerings in the style of the '86 and '87 products.  Nice!

Jeremy, thanks again for a fun first trade, which I'm sure will lead to many more.  I know you received your couple pounds of cards and I look forward to seeing what interested you most out of those.  Once again, hooray for new trade partners!