2026 trade package #11: njwv

I don't do much collecting-related stuff on social media these days, and I'd say most of the little activity there I have is posting links to my latest posts here. That said, I do follow a number of collecting buddies and others in the hobby on Bluesky. After all, it's fun to see what other folks collect and think about cards, their favorite players, and other subjects, whether or not they also blog.

One account I follow who posts quite often is Nick Vossbrink, who also blogs over at njwv. He doesn't limit his subjects to collecting at all, choosing to write about sports in general (mainly baseball and soccer), photography, and museums, so there's a nice mix there.

I happened to catch a Bluesky post or reply where he expressed interest in the 1990 Score baseball set, possibly due to the famous Bo Jackson card therein, but it was a few months ago, so I can't remember. Anyway, I let him know that I had an extra--I've long had at least two hand-built sets in my collection, and I might have had more way back--and would be happy to try to make a deal with him for it.

We took our time going back and forth but were able to figure out something we were both happy with. In the end he sent me this as my first May trade:

A Riley Greene 2023 Topps Oversized Box Topper. These Costco-exclusive giants are 5 3/4" x 8" and of course this one parallels Greene's '23 Topps RC. I wasn't looking to nickel and dime Nick for value in return for shipping a junk wax set that included a couple notable cards, so I felt like this was a fair offer from him. Riley has followed up his All-Star campaigns in 2024-25 with what has the makings of another very nice season. In a year marred by some bats playing below expectations and others beset by injuries, Greene joins catcher Dillon Dingler and rookie IF Kevin McGonigle as the leaders of the offense. So I'll happily slot this into my album with similar oversized items.

But that wasn't all! Nick asked if I'd be interested in receiving any of his customs, and of course I said "sure!" I love seeing what the creatively inclined can do when it comes to producing their own cards.

The first two in this group borrow from the '81 Topps design and celebrate Miguel Cabrera during his 2023 swan song where he enjoyed retirement ceremonies from the Tigers' opponents. He received a Packers-style cheese hat from the Brewers and a cowboy hat from the Astros, and I love what Nick did with both the photos and design elements, especially incorporating the hats.

As for the second design, I believe that's an existing one I've seen but can't place (but should know), but I'd love for anyone to enlighten/correct me in the comments. Regardless, it looks very nice in its simplicity, and the player choice was outstanding too. The horizontal shots of Fidrych's iconic pairing with Big Bird, Kaline at the plate, and McLain staring down another batter are all well executed, paired with outlined inset images of the subjects.

And it's not like he limited his effort to the fronts, as you can see on these backs filled with stats and a couple brief write-ups.

Nick, thanks again for a great first trade! I hope you enjoy your Score set and that you keep writing, no matter what topic interests you whenever you post.

I'm thinking I'll be back reasonably soon with my other may trade package before showing off some other goodies. Stay cool!

2024 trade package #27: Baseball Cards Come to Life

And now we've come to my final trade package of 2024. This one arrived just after Christmas and was a fun surprise from Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life. He and I had previously made a trade via TCDb a couple years ago but this was our first "blogger" trade outside that site. Bo asked for some of the beat-up vintage I made available a few weeks ago and I came up with a pretty solid group of those for him in addition to some other stuff that I found on his wantlists.

He was nice enough to return the favor with some extremely cool stuff he must have pulled straight from my own wants as all were new to me:

The top group here represent my favorite items in the entire package. I wasn't familiar with the 1969 MLB PhotoStamps because their combination of vintage and oddball-ness made me unlikely to notice them. So I'm grateful to Bo for gifting me four of the Tigers that could be found: PC favorite Bill Freehan and fellow Detroit greats Willie Horton, Denny McLain, and Jim Northrup. I love the fact that these came out the year after that team won it all, and receiving these inspired me to add the others to my wants: Kaline, Cash, Stanley, McAuliffe, and Lolich.

The vintage action didn't stop there, though, as he included two '72 Topps base that I needed: Ted Simmons plus Darrell Evans' In Action subset appearance. That's a second-year of Simba and it puts me very close to his full Topps base run. Technically it's a second-year of Evans as well; His RC came out two years earlier instead, then he got consecutive base sports in '72.

Going back to oddball-ish stuff, the bottom row includes a Superstar back of Mr. Padre, a Topps Sticker of Willie Hernandez (shared with HOFer Steve Carlton), and a UK Mini of Jack Morris. There's enough of these one-offs that despite being common still represent holes in my collection, though not if someone like Bo can help it!

Next, he included a trio of Brandon Inge needs. Though I've long since had the '07 Topps base, I did indeed lack the Red Back seen above (I didn't scan the reverse, so trust me, bro). From that same year I was also treated to a horizontal photo of him attempting to make a crazy diving play in the stands (found in that year's Upper Deck product), and then Brandon's appearance in Topps' throwback 206 product released in 2010.

The last of the baseball content was one of a number of 2001 UD Vintage team checklists I've been chasing for a while because they include one or more guys I collect. In this case, Cal's the lone Oriole in my PC, but I do remember this team well, one that included ex-Cleveland star Albert Belle, Jeff Conine, Brady Anderson, and more.

Did Bo's generosity end there? Most definitely not! Also tucked into this envelope were three former Wolverines I needed from 1975 Topps football: longtime NFL O-linemen Dan Dierdorf and Reggie McKenzie, plus 10-year NFL CB John Rowser, who suited up for Green Bay, Pittsburgh, and the pictured Broncos. I now have 12 cards from this set, partially thanks to Bo, and just need #s 203 (an All-Pro card that includes HOF G Tom Mack) and 395, which is Giants RB Ron Johnson.

Bo, thanks for sending all of these needed cards my way! I hope we can increase the frequency of our trading in the new year and fortunately that shouldn't be too difficult with you making your wants available on my favorite trading site!

And once again thank you to everyone who contributed to TMV as a reader, commenter, and trade partner. I appreciate you all and will keep going in 2025--as long as none of you try to hold me to a three-post-per-day pace. I can't promise I'll put up six posts in a single month! But please do keep in mind that I still have a good amount of 2024 content to cover in the form of pickups from Facebook, TCDb, eBay, and shows, plus at least one other surprise source.

I'm not sure how long it'll take to catch up on those, so for now, I'll wish a happy new year to everyone who took the time to read this. May your 2025 be filled with good news, good friends, good food, good health, and everything you could want!

2023 trade package #18: Night Owl

 

Greg who runs Night Owl Cards needs no introduction so I'll just lead off by saying I made a deal with him recently and now I'm here to show off my end of the deal. I became aware that he was slowly working on the 1988 Pacific Legends set and I happened to have a good chunk of dupes left from my box break, so I sent him something like 19 of his needs plus a couple other Dodgers. Because I know Greg's on TCDb I thought I'd make it fun and easy for both of us by sending him a trade proposal so the cards would automatically go into his collection, and then I picked out a few cards I hoped to get in return if he thought it would be fair. He did!

So here's what I ended up with:

I know some folks find those 1990 Swell cards too low-end for their tastes, but I enjoy them plenty, especially since they include appearances of some guys that don't have enough, like the Bird (who, by the way, was in '88 Pacific Legends too!). It's not like Fidrych collectors are spoiled for choice, and anyway the colorful look here is pleasing to my eye at least, so I was happy to add it.

Seeing Maddux on a team other than the Cubs and Braves is always a bit jarring, so his stints with the Dodgers and Padres captured on cardboard still throw me off sometimes. But I'll happily take anything I can get of one of my favorite player collections, especially a Topps Gold parallel numbered /2007.

Considering the relatively low quality of most of what I sent to Greg I wouldn't have blamed him if he didn't want to include the '75 Topps Denny McLain base you see there that pairs him up with '68 rival Bob Gibson. But he's a generous guy so he did just that and now I have another fun piece in my McLain collection, now 25 cards strong.

Here's where I'll probably lose a lot of you as I'm sure many who read this blog don't collect football or at least not Wolverines specifically. But these additions are just as fun for me as the baseball ones.

First up is my first (and probably only for a while) card of former UM RB Ty Isaac. Isaac was a highly recruited back from nearby Illinois who opted for USC over Michigan in 2013, then transferred to Ann Arbor a season later and had to sit out a year under the old rules. He put up some decent numbers for the Wolverines in 2015-2017, if not stats that would correspond to his recruiting ranking, then went undrafted and played briefly for the fly-by-night Alliance of American Football league, as captured on the card you see above from Topps. The product includes 10 total cards (including three autographs) for me to chase and I'd love to add more if I can.

And then we head back into Greg's wheelhouse: vintage. Randy Logan was a safety for some very good Michigan teams at the beginning of the 70s, then was drafted by Philly in 1973's third round. He spent 11 years suiting up for the Eagles and compiled 23 interceptions. What you see above is his 1979 Topps base, which marks just my fourth card of his, and the oldest besides his '76 Topps RC.

From the same set I also snagged my fifth card of College Football HOF RB Rob Lytle. The late Lytle was a Wolverine from 1973-76, selected by Denver in 1977's second round, and put up 14 total TDs over 87 NFL games in his seven seasons. He has just 12 cards to his name on TCDb and I now have four from his playing days (including his '78 Topps RC) to go with an autograph.

Here are the backs for those that enjoy them:

Greg, thanks once again for another fun deal! I'm always glad when we can swap cards despite the large differences in our collecting philosophies.

More trade recaps and other stuff to come!

Fun freebies featuring A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts

Who doesn't love free stuff? That's why my post is all about this evening.

The main star for tonight is Jon over at A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts. I was one of a pretty large group of folks who participated in his "Take my cards Tuesdays" and "Free Card Fridays" back in May, and I know I saw quite a few familiar names in the comments so this won't come as news to many of you. I give Jon a ton of credit for his generosity as he was truly asking for nothing in return--not a follow, not cards, not a damn thing. And some of the stuff up for grabs was very high quality considering the price, or total lack thereof. Stars? Check. Serial numbered inserts? You bet. Vintage, oddball, and non-sports? All there, friend.

All he asked was for folks to try to limit their initial requests so a reasonable number of people could get a chance to claim something. I had no problem with that and came away with eight cards I chose plus a bonus:

The baseball selection was pretty much Tigers baseball royalty. Cobb, Cochrane, and Manush are all HOFers, Miggy will join them in a few years, Evans and McLain came up big for title-winning teams, and Granderson is one of the best players the farm system has produced in the past 20 years. I think the Purple Refractor of Granderson was the one I wanted the most from this bunch so I made sure to get my comment in very quickly!

Before we get to the football pair, the Evans you see up there is the bonus Jon was nice enough to include (along with, remember, my free cards) and it was totally new to me. Normal '87 Topps? Nope, I already said it was new to me:

That's a blank-back version! What a fun throw-in.

As for the two Michigan football stars, Anthony Carter's is an SI For Kids issue from 1992, and HOF Rams LG Tom Mack's hails from 1976 Wonder Bread. I believe I can count my NFL food issue cards on one hand so that oddball-ness is extremely cool to me, in addition to it being a vintage piece of a former star.

Thanks again to Jon for treating so many of us to some quality free cards!

Next up is a freebie via Twitter thanks to a friend. Buddy of the blog John saw an account named C-Train GatorMayne offering up the following card gratis and asked him to send it my way, which he did:

Ex-UM WR Nico Collins is looking mighty fine on a 2022 Panini Obsidian parallel called Electric Etch Orange. It lives up to its name for sure and as always it looks better in person so just take my word for it when I say it looks nice.

Thanks again, John!

Last up tonight, I believe I've mentioned a number of times that my mom has always been very supportive of my interest in the hobby, one of the many reasons I appreciate her so much. She gets out to garage and estate sales once in a while and sometimes even grabs things she think I might like. At some point in the past year or two she found me a sealed 1991 Topps baseball factory set.

A few weeks ago she texted me asking if unopened 1990 Donruss packs were worth anything. Naturally I asked if she was thinking of starting a fire. Anyway, she specifically wondered if I thought she overpaid for 10-15 "packs" of them, and I thought, "probably, but it's the thought that counts, thank you!"

Well, it turned out to be a bit better than that:

Hmmm, opened but...

Ah, those are the "packs she's talking about. Let's take a look at a few of them:

Yep! It's an opened factory set and but with the base cards and Grand Slammers still sealed, meaning the only thing that appears to be missing is the Yaz puzzle, which I believe I already have anyway. Each sealed brick has 55 base cards plus one Grand Slammers insert except for the 13th brick which has the Bart Giamatti tribute base card in place of that insert.

While I already had a complete set put together by hand, it's fun knowing I for sure own a complete run of the cards with the factory set border, which is a bit different than the one on cards that were packed out. That and it's really nice having another set my mom specifically bought for me. Please believe I treated her well as always when Mother's Day came around in May!

So thank you to everyone involved who made my collection that much better with the free cards you saw this evening! Stay tuned for some more trades before I catch up on other stuff I'm excited to show off.

2022 Sportlots purchases: Tigers World Series heroes and HOFers

The Detroit Tigers are an old MLB franchise, starting off their history in 1901. Six years later they'd participate in their first of three straight World Series, losing a pair to the Cubs in '07 and '08 and then game 7 to the Pirates in '09. It took another 25 seasons for Detroit to return to the Fall Classic, again losing in seven games, this time to the '34 Cardinals. The following season saw Mickey Cochrane's squad avenge those first two pennant teams and win it all against the 1935 Cubs, the first of the franchise's four titles. Though they'd fall in seven again to the 1940 Reds in a 2-1 game 7 loss, Hank Greenberg's '45 Tigers would nab the Tigers' second trophy in a decade.

It would be another 23 years until the '68 team of Kaline, Horton, McLain, and Lolich would hoist the trophy, and then16 more until the wire-to-wire '84 team ate 'em up on the way to Detroit's most recent Series win. They did earn a surprise pennant in Jim Leyland's managerial debut in Motown, 2006, though the Cardinals quickly subdued that squad. And then a very talented 2012 roster brought the franchise back to the brink six years later, only to be swept by one of the three straight even-years Giants teams. Those Tigers managed two more playoff appearances the following couple seasons but have been awful since.

That means their first World Series championship drought from their inception lasted 34 years. It took just 10 to win ring number two, and 23 for the third, followed by a 16-year wait for the most recent. If 34 years sounds bad, just imagine how Tigers fans feel about next season being the 40th anniversary of their last Series victory!

With ownership giving folks nothing to cheer for over almost a decade besides Miguel Cabrera's accomplishments, at least we can look back on some of the teams of the past, including the players who earned their place in the Hall of Fame and/or were part of the four winners mentioned above. And that's exactly what we'll do this evening as represented on cards from my recent-ish Sportlots purchase:

Statistically, Cochrane is represented with the Athletics more than as a Tiger, having been part of just four Detroit teams at the end of his career. But they were certainly fruitful, as the '34 AL MVP and first-year manager led the team to the AL Pennant. The HOF catcher was no stranger to the Series, having won two in a three-year span with Philadelphia. While he wasn't victorious in try #3 in '31, nor his Detroit debut of 1934, his team would finish the job in '35 thanks to a star-studded roster that included fellow Hall members Charlie Gehringer, Goose Goslin, and Hank Greenberg. The HOF came calling after an outstanding 13-year playing career.

Speaking of Hammerin' Hank, Greenberg's second shot at October glory didn't go as well for him number-wise as the previous year, but the 1935 AL MVP posted then-career highs of 36 HR and 168 RBI, which were enough to set the table for Detroit's fall victory. Two seasons later he'd put up a ridiculous 184 RBI, followed by 58 HR in '38. Big numbers once again would earn him the AL MVP in 1940, but after a shortened '41 campaign he'd be away for three seasons due to his service in the Air Force during WWII. Remarkably he returned in 1945 having hardly missed a beat and tasted victory once again with ace Hal Newhouser earning game 5 and 7 wins over the Cubs. He'd appear for just two more seasons with a sunset appearance in Pittsburgh, but what he accomplished over parts of 13 seasons earned him a plaque in Cooperstown.

Our next player is one who missed out on postseason glory as his career--1914 and 1916-29 in Detroit--never included a Series appearance in the years before the playoffs expanded. But Harry Heilmann did win four batting titles (in a seven-year span), including a .403 mark in 1923, and he spent a good part of the '20s as the Tigers' best player on the way to a HOF nod. That makes him one of 24 former Detroit players in the Hall, and one of just 10 who spent most if not all of their career as a Tiger.

One such player who indeed spent his whole career with Detroit is, no surprise, "Mr. Tiger" Al Kaline. Kaline was on the latter half of his career as a 33-year-old in 1968, and he ceded a decent amount of playing time to OFs Willie Horton, Mickey Stanley, and Jim Northrup, plus 1B Norm Cash (in the days before the DH, of course), but he still appeared in over 100 games that season. Better yet, he hit .379 with 2 HR and 8 RBI in the seven-game Series victory over the Cards, making his first playoffs appearance count. Although his '72 team lost to Oakland, Al finished up a great career as a player and earned glory in Cooperstown.

Al's TV teammate Kell never overlapped with Mr. Tiger during their playing careers as the Philly Athletic joined Detroit in '46 and was then flipped to Boston in '52, the year before Kaline debuted. That means the 10-time All-Star 3B from Arkansas missed out on the '45 champs by a couple seasons, and in fact he never played October baseball over his 15 seasons with five total teams. His Detroit years were largely his best, though, and his seven-year run in Motown was his longest stint with any team. That's why you can find the 1983 HOF-elected Kell (hey, that's the year I was born!) wearing the Olde English "D" on his plaque.

Lemon is one of three players in this post representing the most recent title team from 1984. The CF for the team that went on an amazing run, his 6.2 bWAR was second only to Alan Trammell's 6.8. A 1972 first-round pick for Oakland, he was sent to the White Sox in 1975, and then Detroit acquired him after the 1981 season for Steve Kemp. The Tigers easily won that deal and got nine valuable seasons out of Chester. Though he contributed just a run on no hits in the ALCS against the Royals, he'd be more useful in the Fall Classic itself. Though he's no HOF, he put up a sneaky good 55.6 bWAR and will go down in history as a World Series champ.

Should we talk about the next two guys together? Why not? McLain and Lolich were the aces of the '68 team with 31 and 17 wins, respectively. Denny was in his 6th of eight seasons with Detroit, then he'd finish up his career with Washington, Oakland, and Atlanta. Mickey was a few years older but also in his 6th season as a Tiger, and he'd play seven more with that team before his career ended with the Mets and Padres.

Before that, they were a big reason for the success of the 1968 team. McLain's 31-6 record (with 28 CG) earned him the AL MVP/Cy Young duo, and though he lost World Series games 1 and 10 (both to Bob Gibson), his game 6 victory brought the series back even after St. Louis took a 3-1 lead. Meanwhile, Lolich won all three of his starts, games 2, 5, and 7, and he even hit a homer to help his own cause in game 2! He was the obvious choice for Series MVP after going 3-0 with 3 CG and just five earned runs allowed. Neither did much of note after leaving Detroit, but their combined '68 season will forever be a part of franchise lore.

Jack Morris is '84 Tiger #2 in this post, and his first two World Series appearances were tales for the ages. He threw an early-season no-hitter in 1984 as his team stormed to a Fall Classic matchup with the Padres. All Black Jack did was throw two complete games in games 1 and 4, both wins, giving up a paltry 4 ER in his 18.0 IP. If that wasn't enough for his legacy, he went 4-0 in five postseason starts with the Twins in '91, allowing a ridiculous 3 ER in three Series starts against Atlanta, two of which were wins, including his legendary 10-inning 1-0 shutout in game 7. You'd better believe he was the MVP of that one. Toronto picked him up for the '93 season and he was back on the biggest stage in October, though this time he went 0-3 in the ALCS and World Series, though he snagged a ring with the Jays anyway. His body of work, especially his postseason success, finally earned him entry into Cooperstown in 2018.

A few decades earlier, Detroit-born ace Hal Newhouser was the one dominating things from the mound. While he went just 34-52 his first five seasons, he ripped off a 151-80 run over the next seven, beginning in 1944, and those years included consecutive MVP nods in '44 and '45 and a second place finish in '46. Though he didn't pitch in the 1940 Series loss to the Reds, things would be different in 1945 as he went 2-1 with game 5 and 7 victories over the Cubs. Prince Hal spent parts of 15 seasons in Detroit, winning exactly 200 games plus the accolades listed above. He then signed with Cleveland where he played his last two Major League seasons (1954-55). With the Indians he allowed a run out of the 'pen in the four game sweep at the hands of the Giants. Like Morris, he was elected to the HOF as a Tiger, not to mention one who won a ring in Motown.

And tonight's last player is the Big Wheel, Lance Parrish. Embodying the '84 team's strength up the middle, the 1974 first-round catcher socked a career-high 33 homers in his third of five straight All-Star appearances (out of eight total) while winning his fourth (of six) Silver Slugger award and second of three straight Gold Gloves. When you have a catcher playing like that, you're going places! And that's exactly what this team did thanks to his two homers and five RBI in the playoffs. One of those bombs went against Goose Gossage in the 7th inning of game 5 of the World Series, an inning before Gossage refused to walk Kirk Gibson and allowed his second jack of the game, putting a bow on the Series for the Tigers. Lance spent parts of 10 quality seasons with Detroit before ownership got cheap and let him walk after 1986. He'd then spend the remaining nine seasons of his career with six other teams, most notably the Phillies for two years and the Angels for four. A Hall of Famer he wasn't, but the Big Wheel formed a formidable 80s battery with fellow stalwart Jack Morris.

Since I covered everyone in this scan, please enjoy some interesting items of a few players that were already discussed. A sweet Kaline insert, a Donruss issue of Hal with Cleveland, and a Lance Parrish parallel were the lone horizontal cards in this group. Parrish pops up a few more times on some fun oddballs including an oversized Donruss piece, Topps Scratch Off, Kellogg's hologram, and 7-11 coin. '84 OF Chet Lemon joins the Kellogg's fun with a pre-Tigers issue as well.

I put a lot more time and effort into this post while deciding to focus on the careers of the players instead of discussing the cards, and I hope that work shows! For my part, while I don't usually like to take this long putting together posts, it was lots of fun looking back at some of the HOFers and World Series heroes of my favorite MLB team. What do you all think? Any favorite players or sets here?

I'll be back with one more post in this series but I have a ton of other stuff to cover so I'm not quite sure when you'll get the finale. Either way, you can count on seeing LOTS more cardboard here soon.

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 Sportlots purchases: Timeless Tigers

Late in the evening on Saturday the rain let up in Ann Arbor, but the Wolverines didn't when it came to pummeling Notre Dame.  I had considered celebrating on Sunday by posting the Michigan Football RCs I got from Sportlots this time, but then I didn't feel like doing all that work for now.  Instead I thought back to my Sparky Anderson post from Saturday and the mention of UD's terrific 2004 Legends Timeless Teams product, so that's exactly what I'll be showing off today.

16 teams have cards in the 300-card set, and happily for me the Tigers are one of them.  As a matter of fact, Detroit comprises 31 of that total, spread out over four teams:  1968, 1972, 1984, and 1987.  Only two of those teams won titles so in Detroit's case it might have been more fun to get the guys from '35 and '45, but as far as how this set is handled it still works out nicely.

I already had something like nine of these cards since a good number of my PC players are represented, and then I took the opportunity to fill in the rest via Sportlots, a decision I'm glad I made.

Here's all 31 cards, fronts and backs, broken up by each "timeless team":

Man, what a roster Detroit had in '68!  HOFer Al Kaline played in only 102 games, but the outfield of Horton/Stanley/Northrup was excellent--good enough, in fact, that manager Mayo Smith made the bold move to put Stanley, the CF, at SS, to get all of their bats in the lineup.  Needless to say, it worked!  PC guy Bill Freehan posted a career-high bWAR of 7.0 leading all hitters, while 31 game winner McLain and Mickey Lolich were a fearsome one-two punch.

The backs include brief write-ups along with career stats and a high-up view of old Tiger Stadium, except for Memorable Moments cards, which cover a notable stat, game, or series.

While the '72 team wasn't nearly as successful, they did push the eventual champion A's to five games in the ALCS.  The lineup was largely the same, though their performance didn't approach what it had four years earlier.  Freehan led the hitters while Lolich starred in place of the departed McLain, sent to the Senators back in 1970.  Still, the mix of players and their near playoff success explain their appearance in this set.

Honestly, how often would you see a RP that wasn't a closer for most of his career show up twice in any other set?  Canadian John Hiller had an impact on both of the teams shown so far, but his only big year as a ninth inning guy was 1973, when he put up 38 saves.  It's cool to see him get credit among the other stars you see above.

And now we get to my favorite team, with plenty of fun choices in terms of player selection.  Tram, Gibby, and Sweet Lou are all PC guys, of course, and I'm always happy to add new stuff when it comes to Lemon, Morris, and Sparky.  Speaking of Jack, I was surprised his memorable moment wasn't his no-hitter!  If I was in charge of the player selection I would have found room for Lance Parrish and Guillermo Hernandez, but this is still a great group.

HoJo is an interesting choice here as he would become more famous with the Mets later in the decade, plus he went 0-6 in limited World Series action.  He was a solid contributor during the regular season, though, and it's too bad he didn't get to stick around Motown a bit longer.

Analogous to the '72 squad, the '87 team was quite similar to the one that won it all fewer than five years earlier, but they couldn't quite get over the hump, getting flattened in the ALCS by a fun Twins team that rode some potent bats and excellent pitching to their first World Series (at least with that name).  The Tigers put up some nice offensive stats of their own, in large part due to the guys you see here, plus Darrell Evans (who also has an argument for inclusion in the set) and ROY C Matt Nokes, who filled in nicely for the departing Lance Parrish.  Morris had another nice year and the rest of the pitching was solid (or even better, in the case of Doyle Alexander, at the cost of a young John Smoltz).  That was the last time the team would sniff the playoffs until their surprise pennant in 2006.

I love that some of my favorite Tigers pop up in this set more than once--Kaline and Freehan above, the Tram/Gibby/Lou trio, Sparky, Morris, et al.  And I simply can't say enough about how cool this product was.  Throw in the autographed versions and you've got a real winner.

I'll work on getting more stuff from this purchase scanned and posted, but in the meantime, what do you think of this set?  Did your favorite team make the cut?  Were any fun players included that were key contributors to winning clubs but didn't tend to get any cardboard love?  Please let me know in the comments!