2019 Sportlots purchases: They Call Me. MISTER Tiger

The subject of today's series finale needs no introduction, but here's one anyway:

A Baltimore native who'll be turning 85 in just a few weeks, he's spent his entire career in Detroit.  This OF won the AL batting crown in just his second full season and piled up 3007 hits over 22 years.  One of just four Tigers to smash 300+ homers with the franchise, he owns the team lead with 399.  He went to 18 All-Star games, won 10 Gold Gloves, and was worth 92.8 bWAR, with a JAWS score that places him 7th among RFs.  In the seven-game 1968 World Series triumph over St. Louis he hit .379 with 2 HR and 8 RBI.  And finally, he took his rightful place in Cooperstown in 1980.

So who else could it be but Mr. Tiger, Al Kaline?  Al's one of the most recognizable Tigers and has appeared on a ton of cardboard in his lifetime, which gives collectors like me lots of options.  This purchase took one of my rich Tigers PCs and made it richer in a big way.

Please enjoy six scans worth of Mr. Tiger!

'83 Donruss HOF Heroes is as old as it gets today, but there's nothing wrong with a card made the year I was born, highlighting a guy who'd just joined the Hall three years earlier.  '86 Sportflics Decades Greats is back one last time here with the "Best '60s Outfielders" including Kaline, Tony Oliva, and Billy Williams--nice choices!  Four more sets also return:  '88 Pacific Legends, '92 Action Packed ASG, '93 Ted Williams, and '94 UD All-Time Heroes.  The 3000 Hit Club member is a natural choice for 2000 UD Hitter's Club's Why3K? subset.  And we get a couple great looks at Al's stance in 2001's SP Legendary Cuts and Topps American Pie.

Speaking of 2001, how about a pair from Upper Deck Decade 70s, a design that I consider superior to American Pie (though Retro is probably my favorite of the three).  2002 brings a flawless Diamond Kings design, plus Fleer Fall Classics, SP Legendary Cuts, and one of my favorite Sweet Spot Classics looks.  Then we get to 2003 with two of three variants of Al's Bowman Heritage card you'll see today.  The base is on the left while the other is the "knothole" version.  Also from that year is Donruss' Team Heroes, a product that was kind of fun but somewhat forgettable in its three-year run.

All right, who here likes black & white photography?  There's plenty of it here in the form of some sweet vintage shots of a young Kaline on some classic designs.  We continue 2003 with Fleer's Rookies & Greats, a nice enough looking set that probably wasn't necessary given the plethora of choices at the time; SP Legendary Cuts in one of its best versions; and the gorgeous Topps Gallery HOF, which is a variation that includes stripes on his jersey.  2004's contributions include a stellar Greats of the Game design (with a classic pose) and a solid offering from SP Legendary Cuts.  After those, 2005 gets into a few more products that look nice but were a little excessive:  while Sweet Spot Classics was usually worthwhile, Donruss Greats, Topps Turkey Red (as a standalone product, not the insert), and Upper Deck's All-Star Classics were a bit much.

Card #1 here, 2005's Upper Deck Classics (not to be confused with the above All-Star Classics), kind of falls in that decent-but-unnecessary club from above, but at least Al's card #1!  I still have plenty of appreciation for SP Legendary Cuts, of course, including the 2007 version above.  A somewhat austere 2008 Donruss Threads base ends that decade, and then we're finally on to this one.  The middle is a Topps trio including 2010 flagship's Cards Your Mom Threw Out (the regular back), which is a reprint of Al's RC I wish I owned; a National Chicle base, also from 2010; and a second consecutive flagship reprint insert, 2011's 60 Years of Topps (reprint of his '66 base).  The bottom three are a bit more in my wheelhouse:  a 2012 Panini trio of Cooperstown, Golden Age, and Prizm.

Here's where we end the run of vertical cards, starting with another Panini pair:  2013 Golden Age and 2014 Classics.  The former is too similar to Gypsy Queen for my tastes but the price was right to add it to a collection I've been wanting to grow.  Next is another card #1 in a set, Leaf's 2015 Heroes of Baseball, a product sold in blasters that guaranteed some pretty controversial Stan Musial autos.  The bottom gets us back to some classic products with 2015 Topps Archives, 2017 Diamond Kings' Heritage Collection insert, and finally, a towering Kaline adorning his 2019 Stadium Club appearance.  Once in a while it's fun to see old greats like Mr. Tiger in Stadium Club, though given how great the product was without them in the 90s I don't think it needs to be a yearly thing.

Let's end a post chock full of fun cardboard with five horizontal issues.  Up first is Al's second appearance from 1994 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes, a set we also covered when I posted some Mark Fidrych cards.  It looks terrific and I may see about chasing the rest of the Tigers that can be found.  Second is the dual image variation of Al from 2003 Bowman Heritage, the third and final piece of that puzzle.  Speaking of that product, how about the 2004 version, which reprinted Kaline's '55 Bowman card in all its vintage TV glory?  Heading back to modern looks there's 2005 Donruss Champions, a design that left a lot of room for relics and stickers.  And last up is one final SP Legendary Cuts appearance, this one also from 2005, on a design that wouldn't look out of place in Cooperstown.

This huge haul destroyed the century mark milestone for Kaline in my collection, jumping him all the way to 136 items.  That's a healthy total that I'm excited to build on, be it more affordable stuff from Sportlots or maybe some nicer pieces down the line.

I hope you all enjoyed this look at a ton of Kaline cardboard, not to mention this series as a whole.  These Sportlots purchases tend to take me a while to scan and post but I really like how productive they are for my collections, and maybe they give a few of you some ideas of what you might chase there.

With this series all done I temporarily find myself lacking any new in-hand purchases but I expect that to change very soon with a show this coming weekend and a bunch of quality COMC loot soon to be on its way, a lot of which could be heading to readers like you.  Happy December to all, and get ready for Christmas cards from TMV!

2019 Sportlots purchases: Old Tigers' Day

It's a sunny, not-quite-so chilly Sunday afternoon here in Ann Arbor, plus my Wolverines had another nice game yesterday, so I'm feeling pretty good.  Why not keep up the good vibes with some cards?

The penultimate post in this series is kind of a grab bag of older Tigers that didn't warrant their own posts or necessarily fit in with previous themes:

We'll start with "Gator", a.k.a. William James "Gates" Brown, an absolute beast of a PH who spent all of his 13 MLB seasons with Detroit.  That indeed included '68 so he appears in the 1988 Domino's Tigers team set celebrating the champs from that year.  I grabbed this copy because the one I already had from what used to be a complete set was in rough shape.  I still need to track down a few more of these, including Mickey Lolich's card, which I believe I used for an IP auto.

Next is slugging 1B "Stormin'" Norman Cash, a Tigers mainstay after coming to Detroit from the White Sox via the Indians in an absolute steal of a deal.  His 15 years in Motown included five All-Star nods, a ridiculous '61 season in which he won the AL batting crown and socked a career-high 41 dingers (377 career) with 132 RBIs, and a very nice 52.0 bWAR.  Oh yeah, and he was another key player in the '68 squad.

My Cash collection is smaller than I'd like at just 18 cards, only four of which were made during his playing days, but that's what Sportlots is for!  I did add a vintage piece in the '73 Topps card you see above, then added modern issues from 2001 Topps American Pie (which, again, came up a lot in this series), 2005 Upper Deck Classics, and 2013 Panini Golden Age.  Don't be surprised if I add more vintage items to this bunch in the near future.

The next two guys are even more well known.  My collection of Cobb is fairly healthy thanks especially to generous traders, but I was excited to add a pair of beautiful Fleer Greats of the Game cards from 2001 and 2002.  As for Ernie, the voice of the Tigers, he doesn't have a lot of cardboard to chase, but I still came up with a younger Harwell on his 1989 Pacific Legends issue, plus the gorgeous 2003 Topps Gallery HOF.  The latter set really is a work of art, and kudos to Topps for including him here.

And here we have a couple more Tigers greats.  Heilmann starred for Detroit in the early part of the 20th century, spending 15 of his 17 MLB seasons with the Tigers.  He was an outstanding hitter for average, winning four batting titles and hitting .403 in 1923, and had a bit of power to spare, too.  Can anyone here guess when MLB implemented new baseballs?

Heilmann's .342 career average and 72.2 bWAR were eventually enough to get him in the Hall in 1952 after 13 years on the ballot, and almost 50 years later he appeared on the 2001 Greats of the Game base you see above.  It's one of only four of his cards I own, but as he can be found in many other products I like, that number may increase before much longer.

Last up today is 15-year vet Harvey Kuenn, an OF/IF who spent eight very good seasons in Detroit, where he accumulated eight of his 10 All-Star appearances, was the '53 AL Rookie of the Year, led the league in hits four times, and won the '59 AL batting crown.  He was flipped to the Indians before the 1960 season for Rocky Colavito, who gave the Tigers four nice seasons himself.

Up top he stars on a couple late '80s oddballs in '88 Pacific Legends and '89 Swell Greats.  The next two are reprint-style offerings from 1991 and 1994 Topps Archives.  The '91 set reprints 1953 Topps, though Kuenn's card falls in the "cards that never were" group mentioned by BaseballcardPedia--he didn't appear until '54, which is accurately represented by the 1994 card.

Finally, the last three comprise a trio of fun 2000s Upper Deck products focusing on past greats.  In order they are:  2002 SP Legendary Cuts, 2005 Upper Deck Classics, and 2007 SP Legendary Cuts.  Combined with what I already had, I now own 15 Kuenn cards, and hopefully I'll track down more of him as well.

With these done I'm down to one more post, a big one starring a single player, and I'm really looking forward to getting that one done since I know a bunch of you will enjoy it.  It'll take me a bit to put together so look for it in a few days as I work to try to get it done before my attention turns to COMC shopping this holiday weekend!

2019 Sportlots purchases: Willie and the Bird

The afterglow of Michigan absolutely dominating MSU yesterday has me plenty energetic on this chilly Sunday, so let's go back to my unposted Sportlots stuff and have a look at a couple of guys who were winners in their own time.

Rookie phenom Mark Fidrych burst onto the scene and the national consciousness in 1976 with his trademark nickname,

a crazy pre-pitch routine on the mound, and some absolutely dominating numbers:  a 19-9 record, league-leading 2.34 ERA, 24(!) complete games, and a 9.6 bWAR. He was named the AL ROY and placed second to Jim Palmer in the Cy Young balloting, plus he started the All-Star game.  As a rookie.  TWENTY FOUR COMPLETE GAMES.  CC Sabathia tops the list of complete games by active MLBers with 38, and Justin Verlander is second with 26.  The Bird did it in a season.  Wow.

Unfortunately a knee injury in spring training the following year derailed that momentum, and a torn rotator cuff suffered a few weeks later sapped him of any effectiveness for the rest of his career.  Though he seems to have enjoyed his post-playing life, he sadly passed away in 2009 after an accident while working on a dump truck.  Fans of the Tigers and the sport in general will always remember Fidrych fondly for his amazing '76 season and mound antics.

Because of his brief career he didn't appear on a ton of cards so my Bird collection was fairly small before this latest Sportlots run, but I was able to boost it a bit with this fun group of seven pickups:

The oldest card in this scan is Mark's 1980 Topps base, which gives me all of his single-player flagship issues and leaves me short just a league leader card from '77, the same year his RC was produced.  Next is the low end but solid '88 Pacific Legends, which did quite a nice job with player selection, which I'm betting you'll agree with if you like collecting both stars and fan favorites.  Then comes '92 Action Packed All-Star Gallery (once again!) which is packed with lots of great players in a small set.  1994 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes is another product we've seen more than once in this series, and the design brings to mind Upper Deck Vintage designs that would come out in the ensuing decade.

Then we get into the next decade where things are a little more modern.  Again, you'll see a lot of sets repeat as I often tried to find all of the available Tigers I needed while searching each, so Topps' funky 2001 American Pie gets another appearance here.  I was also excited to find the Bird in Fleer's classy 2004 Greats of the Game, even though he was only really "great" for one season.  And lastly, it was also nice to see him make the cut for SP Legendary Cuts (sorry) as that always offers a nice design and is generally filled with legends as well.

This lucky bunch of seven cards give me 22 of the Bird and have me wanting lots more.  The Fleer Greats card has my favorite design while Action Packed and UD provided the best photos.  I've put his other cards I'm interested in on my TCDB wantlist, so don't be surprised if you see him make another appearance here in the future!

Next we move from the mound to the outfield and a player who enjoyed a much longer and productive career in Motown.  William Wattison Horton patrolled the deeper part of old Tiger Stadium for parts of 15 seasons from 1963 until he was traded to Texas in 1977.  While here he socked more than 250 of his 325 career homers, made four All-Star teams, put up a career-best 5.4 bWAR in 1968, and was a driving force behind that team that won it all for a reeling city.  His #23 was retired in 2000 and his contributions to the team and city as a fan favorite made that a natural choice.  You may have seen this clip before

in which Horton, from his LF position, made a perfect throw home to catcher Bill Freehan to nail speedster Lou Brock in Game 5 of the '68 Series.  The play was crucial with Detroit down 3-1 in the Series and helped turn things around, with Detroit owning the last three in a row.

My collection of Willie is also smaller than I'd like it to be, but purchases like this one help motivate me to grow that number with more cool stuff like this:

I was glad to give this group a triple dose of vintage goodness.  Topps cards from 1975 (I already have the Mini) and '76 flank a simple oddball-ish example of 1976 SSPC.  I still need to track down Horton's '64 Topps RC, or any of his cards from the '60s for that matter, as the oldest I have of him right now is from 1971 Topps.  There's something for me to work on in 2020.

The next couple are from sets you just saw in Fidrych's scan:  '92 Action Packed ASG and 2001 Topps American Pie.  I really like the photo Action Packed went with, which shows a focused slugger at the plate in an old-school Tigers uni.  The back notes that he was fourth in franchise history in HR at the time with 262, and Cecil Fielder (who was traded) and Lou Whitaker, who were active back then, never caught up.  In fact, only one player managed to eclipse him (as well as #3 Hank Greenberg):  Miguel Cabrera, who'd need 61 more to top franchise legend Al Kaline.

After those we end the day with a couple "newer" cards.  The first is 2006 Fleer Greats of the Game and another gorgeous design.  I also love that year's version for its various team Greats insert, which includes the Tigers, but this is simply another joy to look at.  Horton is my eighth Tiger from the base cards and I'm short just the Denny McLain, which I might get eventually, but I'm not terribly motivated since he's been such a jackass since he retired.

Last up is 2014 Panini Golden Age, a set whose design and checklist definitely evokes A&G and Gypsy Queen.  That means it's not exactly high on my list of favorites, but I was still happy to add it to Willie's collection.  The back highlights his outstanding 1968 season as the AL's "dominant offensive force" in "one of baseball's most pitching dominated seasons."  His bat certainly loomed large for the Tigers both in the regular season and playoffs, but don't forget his arm as seen in that clip above!

This fun look at a pair of fan favorites gets me down to two more posts, which I hope to have done soon with COMC's sales looming.  My plans include one more multiplayer post followed by a big solo finish I know other Tigers fans will enjoy.

2019 Sportlots purchases: Let Me Tell You 'bout Kell

Everybody, be it Tigers fans or those that root for other teams, remembers Ernie Harwell as the voice of Detroit baseball, but those who caught Detroit games on TV from the '70s to the '90s will brag about the great PBP/color pairing of George Kell and Al Kaline.  The two were together for so long that I naturally associate their names when I hear either mentioned.

Today we're going to be focusing on Kell, a HOF 3B whose almost 40 years as a broadcaster bolster a less obvious induction case.  The Arkansas-born infielder originally signed with Brooklyn in 1940 but the released him a couple years later, and it was only in 1943 that he ended up with the team that gave him his start, the Philadelphia A's.  They flipped him to Detroit in May of 1946, and that's where he had his longest tenure, six-plus seasons, before stints with the Red and White Sox and finally the Orioles.

A very good hitter for average, if not power, Kell won the 1949 AL batting crown and was named to 10 All-Star teams.  He wasn't able to compile the kind of counting stats Hall voters prefer as he played in under 1800 games over parts of 15 seasons, leaded to a 37.4 bWAR and a JAWS number that puts him way below many players at his position.  Still, the Veteran's Committee elected him in 1983, and we Tigers fans are happy that they recognized a guy who enjoyed a solid playing career before finding his calling in the booth.

Kell isn't as popular among collectors as a guy like Kaline, so I hadn't received many of his cards in trades, and a smaller number of cards with the Tigers means I didn't pick up many myself in the past.  Fortunately it was Sportlots to the rescue once more with these 22 new items for my collection:

Once again there's lots of familiar sets from this series in today's post while a few stand out a bit.  Up top is the oddball-ish trio of '88 Pacific Legends, '93 Action Packed, and '93 Ted Williams.  You see those every once in a while but not terribly often compared to a lot of the other stuff coming up.  After those we have retro themed cards from '94 Upper Deck All Time Heroes and '98 Sports Illustrated Then & Now.  Then we keep up the black & white/sepia party with 2002 Greats of the Game and 2003's Flair Greats, SP Legendary Cuts, and Sweet Spot Classic.  I don't get sick of looking at these beautiful designs so I hope you don't get sick of my singing their praises.  What a great bunch of vintage photos on classic looks!

Compared to the last scan, this one is full of some fairly mainstream brands, though that doesn't dim their excellence.  Up top we finish off 2003 with the beautiful Topps Gallery HOF and then head into 2004 with strong offerings from Greats of the Game and SP Legendary Cuts.  The latter isn't quite as nice as other designs in the series but Fleer Greats kills it as always.  Down the middle are another gorgeous Sweet Spot Classic look, from 2004, plus 2005 Donruss Greats and the same year's Sweet Spot Classic, with a design I don't love quite as much as the previous two, but a terrific vintage photo.  At the bottom are one more SP Legendary Cuts appearance (2007) and a pair that used the same photo:  2013 Panini Cooperstown and Topps Tribute, another spiffy high-end set specializing in HOFers.

Now here's the scan where I get to mix things up a bit.  Kell's 2018 Topps Archives base is fairly standard, with its '81 Topps design.  And we've seen SP Legendary Cuts a bunch today, but this is our first horizontal version.  Then get into the unorthodox a bit with George's 2013 Panini Cooperstown Colgan's Chips disc insert, which is my fifth from the product.

But perhaps the most interesting item today is up last, a vintage throwback from a more modern time out of 1993 Upper Deck's All-Time Heroes.  Baseballcardpedia helpfully explains that these are done in the style of a 1912 set called Hassan Triple Folders (T-212), and this is indeed a tri-fold card, with the three distinct sections pretty clear in the scan.

Here's what the back looks like:

I'm kind of amused that the left panel is a photo of Kell with the Tigers while the excellent play at the plate photo is from a game he played while with Boston.  But that's the kind of thing you can do with an oddball item like this!

This nice bunch of Kells bumps his collection up to a more respectable 40 cards, and this series has me inspired to continue to add to it along with many of the players I've already featured or will be soon.  On that note, stay tuned for three more all-Tigers Sportlots posts!

2019 Sportlots purchases: the Core of the Roar in '84

It's been more than 35 years since the '84 Tigers went wire to wire and won it all, and while I was still in diapers when that happened, I love that team and many of its players to this day.  That made me think of a fun way to show off another group of Sportlots pickups featuring some of my favorite Tigers PCs.

No, I didn't grab these from Sportlots--they've all been in my collection for years.  But a great way to kick things off today is to point out how successful some of Detroit's drafts were in the 70s, with choices that gave the Tigers many of the key players that starred for them the following decade.  1978 Topps just happens to have highlighted most of these guys on its multiplayer prospect cards!  Let's take a quick look at some of those drafts before we get to the cards:

1974:  Detroit takes future catcher and slugger Lance Parrish at #16 overall.  Lance hit more than 200 homers for the Tigers and made six All-Star teams before leaving as a free agent.  In '84 he posted a career-best 33 homers, won  Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, and chipped in two homers and five RBI in the postseason.  By the way, the 10th round of this draft saw the Tigers select a high school pitcher named Mark Fidrych.

1975:  OF Jason Thompson was Detroit's 4th-rounder and he went on to a decent career, though he was gone before '84.  A guy who did stick around, for 19 seasons, was 2B Lou Whitaker, selected one round later.  The should-be HOFer formed an iconic double play pairing with SS Alan Trammell, won the 1978 AL ROY, and was an All-Star from 1983-87.  In 1984 he matched Parrish's feat, winning his second Gold Glove and Silver Slugger, and in the playoffs he accounted for nine runs, six of them in the World Series, serving as a reliable table-setter.

1976:  Detroit's most successful draft included a second round SS from San Diego named Alan Trammell, whose 20 years in Detroit were finally recognized by HOF voters.  Six All-Star appearances, four Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers, and the left half of one of the best double play pairs of all time will do that.  So will posting one of your career best regular seasons before going off in the playoffs for 13 hits, 3 HR, 7 R, and 9 RBI on your way to being named MVP of the World Series.

A couple rounds later the Tigers selected another high school pitcher from California, righty Dan Petry, who'd be a reliable part of the '84 rotation along with the ace they took next, BYU righty Jack Morris.  Morris won nearly 200 games for Detroit, and in 1984 he went off for 19 victories, including a memorable no-hitter, then won all three of his postseason starts, including two complete games in the main event.  He padded his HOF resume with rings in '91 and '92, with the former being considered one of the greatest performances in the history of the game.

Oh yeah, and two rounds later Detroit selected another SS (its third of four in eight rounds) out of Cal-Poly named Ozzie Smith.  He wouldn't sign and was instead chosen by the Padres in the fourth round the next year.  I wonder whatever happened to him?

1978:  The final piece of the puzzle wasn't pictured with the guys above because he was drafted the same year those cards were made.  Detroit used the 12th overall pick this year on Michigan State baseball/football star Kirk Gibson, and he rewarded the team with some outstanding play in the mid-80s, with 1984 the start of a nice five-year run that culminated in one of the greatest World Series homers ever.  But first he would be named MVP of the '84 ALCS against the Royals, then pop a pair of long balls ("He don't wanna walk you!  He don't wanna walk you!") in the game 5 clincher.

So as you can see, four drafts in a five year span in the 70s were the key to Detroit winning it all 35 years ago.  Now let's look at some new cards of that talented core:

These three players only had one or two cards each so we'll get to them first.  Both Gibby items are of him as a Dodger, but that's cool given how iconic his '88 game 1 homer was.  Up top is the gorgeous 2002 Topps Tribute (a base card, if you can believe it) while a 2002 Fleer Fall Classics insert called Series of Champions sits below.  I definitely need more of the older Topps Tribute in my life.

I repeated the vertical/horizontal pairing with Tram.  Both hail from 2005 Donruss brands with the top being a Donruss Greats Souvenirs insert and the bottom being the first of his two base appearances in Donruss Champions (#204).  I'm not sure why they made non-relic versions of the Souvenirs card since the name makes less sense without one, but whatever.

Sweet Lou is one of my supercollections, so I was glad to notice at some point that his 1986 Sportflics Decade Greats appearance wasn't on my checklist.

I was able to fix that and pick up the card, which he shares with Cal Ripken Jr. and Robin Yount in the infielders group of "Best of the '80s."  What a fun set!  A smiling Yount is the easiest to see in my scan but you can also make out Lou in the field, but not a sleepy Cal in the dugout.

While those three guys have player collections and albums here, I haven't done the same for the other two because I don't chase them as much, so it was easier tracking down new stuff I was interested in.  One of those players was Morris, whom I managed to get over the century mark (107 cards) thanks to this purchase.

You know I love me some Sportflics--I think I scored 12 total this time--so I was thrilled to find four cards starring Jack:  two from '86 and one each from the following two years.  Nolan Ryan graces the second card which highlights three players with no-hitters:  Morris' from '84, Ryan's four up to that point, and Dave Righetti's from 1983.

With the stuff made during his career out of the way the rest are a nice mix of sets that focus on or include retired players:  2001 Topps American Pie, 2003 and 2004 Donruss Team Heroes, 2004 Absolute Memorabilia (the rainbow foil hobby version, numbered to 1349), and 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game.  Go ahead, pick your favorite Fleer Greats/Greats of the Game design, there's no wrong answer!

The rest of the Morris stuff includes four cards from 2005 Diamond Kings:  base, Black and White parallel, Gallery of Stars, and Heritage Collection.  Like Fleer Greats you'd be hard pressed to find a bad DK design!  Speaking of Greats, I found Morris' card from my favorite version--the 2000 product that was the first "Fleer Greats of the Game" after the name was used in a Sports Illustrated set in '99.  The last base card is the only one today of Jack with a different team, 2005 UD Classics.  And the other two you see here are from Panini's 2013 Pinnacle Awaiting the Call insert--regular and Die-Cut--which I appreciate more now that Morris and Tram are no longer "awaiting" anything!

Last up today is Parrish, whose five new cards are a mix of big and small.  On the larger end are Donruss Action All-Stars jumbos from 1983 and '85, skirting the year I'm highlighting today.  Then again, they present stats from the previous year and earlier, so it ends up working out quite nicely.  Lance made the AL All-Star team in 1980 and '82-'86, and in '84 he joined Whitaker, Chet Lemon, Tram, Morris, and Guillermo Hernandez in repping the Tigers.

The other trio brings back Sportflics one more time, one from 1986 and two that were made the following year.  The second from the latter is a "Best in Baseball" subset offering that highlights catchers in the AL, which also includes Don Slaught (with the Rangers at the time, though I remember him more with the Pirates) and the Red Sox's Rich Gedman.  I could have added one or two more Sportflics cards of Parrish but stuck with the ones of him as a Tiger, at least for now.

That's it for the '84 Tigers this time, but I still have four more posts left that'll celebrate some more Tigers favorites!

2019 Sportlots purchases: Thanking Hank Thursday

As promised in my last post, today's is much more manageable at just 19 cards of a single player, a guy who certainly deserves his own post.  That would be one Henry Benjamin Greenberg.

The "Hebrew Hammer" and original "Hammerin' Hank" (though Mr. Aaron rightfully gets that nickname now), Greenberg plied his trade in Detroit for "12" of his "13" Major League seasons.  Quotation marks are definitely required here as he got all of 1 AB in 1930, and that season plus 1936, '41, and '45 added up to a measly 110 games split between four seasons.

But when he was on, boy was he on!  He piled up 150 or more RBI three times in his career, socked 58 homers in 1938--and piled up 331 dingers in just 1394 games--won MVPs in '35 and '40, and helped bring Motown its first two World Series titled in '35 and '45.  Oh yeah, and he missed large chunks or the entirety of 1941-45 due to military service.  Yeah, I'd say he was Hall-worthy.

Here's the nice selection of his cards I found on Sportlots to add to my small collection of one of the team's all-time greats:

Here's a mix of the usual suspects you've seen so far plus some new ones, some of which may pop up again in this series.  Hank was indeed an honorary captain for the '84 All-Star Game, played a couple years before his death, and that was a good sign for the team that went on to win it all that year.  Sportflics Decades Greats is back and Greenberg's run in the 30s is honored here.  You'll see a few more from Pacific Legends soon and maybe the raised surface of Action Packed a bit more, plus the always fun Conlon, besides what you see here.

Card #6 in this scan, honoring Hank's military service (one of two of those today) is from UD's Baseball:  the American Epic set made in '94.  Then there's a trio that's a sight for my sore eyes:  the comfortingly familiar 2002 Greats of the Game and Sweet Spot Classics and '03 Flair Greats.  I sure wish we still had products that looked like these, but at least I can enjoy going back and chasing what does exist, especially as it builds up some of my Tigers collections.

Round 2 brings a few more familiar looks:  2003 Fleer Fall Classics--a great reminder that Greenberg played in four World Series--plus 2004 SP Legendary Cuts and Sweet Spot Classics, with different designs using the same photo.  The newcomers here start with a 2003 Topps Record Breakers insert that highlights that 58-bomb campaign in '38, making him one of just nine players to reach that mark.  Also from 2003 is an Upper Deck Play Ball 1941 Reprint, which is probably as close as I'll ever get to owning the original.  And then there's one last vintage/modern mashup:  a 2010 Triple Threads base that has a newer design but a super cool old-school photo of the legend.

These last four hail from Panini brands so some of you have probably gone off to read something else, but for those have stayed, check out some pretty cool stuff!  Up first is another card that gives due credit to Hank's military service:  2012 Cooperstown With Honors.  The back does a great job of explaining just how much of his career he gave up for his country:

A rare non-player card is next in the form of a 2013 Cooperstown Museum Pieces insert.  Panini did a great job of showcasing some of the Hall's most interesting artifacts, such as Hank's 300th home run ball.  Given a fuller career of something like 15-18 full seasons, he likely would have been a member of the 500 club.  A pair of 2014 Classics cards capture that:  the base plus an insert called, yep, Home Run Heroes.  The back of the latter notes that Hank was just the fourth player to get to 58 round-trippers, and he still leads the franchise 80+ years later, with Cecil Fielder's 51 in 1990 (hit over the course of four extra games) getting the closest.

I hope you all enjoyed some cardboard of another Tigers legend.  I have a few more players to feature here and would love to get them all done in plenty of time to show off what's sure to be lots of COMC Black Friday/Cyber Monday loot when it arrives next month.

2019 Sportlots purchases: Sparky Saturday

With a couple hours to kill until Michigan's second straight night game I thought it would be fun to go back to my unposted Sportlots stuff and see what I wanted to show off today.  In the spirit of the Fall Classic I chose a guy who guided his teams to five pennants and three World Series wins:  George "Sparky" Anderson.

Sparky's managerial career was a very good one, and it started off on the right foot with the Reds reaching the World Series in his first season, 1970.  They'd repeat that feat in '72 before the Big Red Machine won it all in 1975 and '76.  The Tigers were fortunate enough to acquire his services in 1979, and he became a franchise icon thanks to his 17 years in Motown, highlighted by the wire-to-wire '84 champs.  Though he led the Tigers to just one more playoff appearance in 1987, he left the team after 1995 having won more than he lost, and he'll forever be remembered for the magic of 1984.

That's where his career ended, but some of you may have seen an interesting story recently about how he almost became the skipper of the Angels with their new manager Joe Maddon getting set up as heir apparent.  If you didn't catch that I highly recommend checking it out.

Ok, time for some cards, with a quick note that I have a couple more of him to show off in a future post.

There's a nice mix of Reds and Tigers cards today and I'm cool with that, especially since it highlights Sparky becoming the first to manager World Series winners in both leagues.  Up top, a couple Topps parallels--'87 Tiffany and '92 Gold Winners--bookend '88 Pacific Legends, a product we'll see a bit more of in this series.  A '96 Upper Deck checklist--which I saw in someone else's post a month or two ago and knew I had to have--is the last vertically oriented card made during his career.  What a great photo!

With those covered it's time to get into the main course:  products that tend to focus on retired MLBers, legends, and HOFers.  The second and third iterations of Fleer's always excellent Greats of the Game are right down the middle, one each for both teams he skippered.  And the bottom brings a terrific 2003 trio of Fleer's Fall Classics, SP Legendary Cuts, and Topps Gallery HOF.  Topps hasn't produced anything matching that Gallery product lately but I sure do appreciate the ones that appeared in the early aughts.

The classy and attractive '03 Sweet Spot Classics leads off this scan, and it's joined by a 2014 A&G base at the bottom as the only clear Tigers cards; 2012 Panini doesn't clearly depict or list a team.  From there it's the franchise where Sparky enjoyed the most success.  2004 is represented by SP Legendary cuts once again, and then one of his three appearances in a set I still love:  Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams.  I have a post in this series planned covering just that product and I'm looking forward to it!

2005's lone representative is from Upper Deck Classics while that same manufacturer's 2008 Goudy product uses an image that looks very familiar for some reason.  2013 Panini Golden Age and 2017 Topps Archives join the previously mentioned Cooperstown and A&G cards as the only ones from this post made this decade.

We'll close out the post with a trio of horizontals, the first two of which are the lone vintage cards today.  Up first is the '75 Topps checklist, not that I had to point that out to any of you thanks to that set's instantly recognizable design.  I was fine with the condition considering the low price but thought I might share the back of this one since

one of its owners used it as originally intended!  Who needs pristine when you have fun stuff like this?  I wonder if this person ever tracked down the last two he needed for his team set.

Sticking with vintage is an issue that isn't a checklist, from '78 Topps, one of my favorites given its bevy of four-player prospect cards, many of which star my favorite Tigers.  This one covers his stats as a player, including his one MLB season with the Phillies.

Last up is a 1993 Topps Gold parallel that pairs him up with fellow manager Art Howe, then of the Astros.  '93 would be the last of the latter's tenure with Houston, but he'd go on to manage the Moneyball A's from 1996-2002, and then the Mets for a couple seasons after that.  Suffice to say that his career pales in comparison to Sparky's!

Stay tuned for more Sportlots pickups, most of which will feature more Tigers greats and fan favorites.  In the meantime I'll be putting together my Michigan gameday post for the Wolverines/Irish tilt tonight and keeping my scanner busy.

2019 Sportlots purchases: the Mick x2 (not that Mick)

Part two of my Sportlots haul centers on a couple guys named Mickey, neither of which played for a team that won't be winning a World Series for the tenth straight season, the Yankees.

First up is Gordon Stanley Cochrane, better known by his nickname "Mickey," though he was also called "Black Mike."  This, of course, is the guy for whom Mantle was named.  The HOF catcher/manager spent his first nine seasons with the Philly A's, winning a pair of rings with them in 1929 and '30, plus an MVP in '28.  After being dealt to Detroit late in 1933, he was a player/manager for the Tigers from '34-'37 (and just a manager in 1938), capturing another MVP award in his first season.  Oh yeah, he also led the team to consecutive pennants in '34 and '35, winning it all in his second season and bringing Detroit its first crown in the sport.  He was pretty good, you might say.

To my previously paltry Cochrane collection I added 13 cards, starting with this nine spot.  I don't think anything here is obscure to anyone--Hygrade, Pacific Legends, Conlon, Swell Baseball Greats, and a trio of fun Fleer products that focused on classic players.  The 2003 Fall Classics base that ends the scan is one of two today that depicts Mickey with the A's, which is totally fine by me since it looks great.

The other four continued in a similar vein:  2003 SP Legendary cuts (just beautiful!), '04 Greats of the Game (ditto!) and Sweet Spot Classics (can't go wrong!) and 2013 Panini Cooperstown.  The back of the Sweet Spot Classics base (A's again) notes that Cochrane struck out a ridiculous 217 times in 13 seasons.  That's less than or equal to four players' single-season totals, including Mark Reynolds' 223 in 2009!

I feel great about adding some nice stuff of a Tigers legend, and this has me motivated to track down more on subsequent Sportlots runs.

So Cochrane's nickname beget Mantle's own name, and the next guy was christened after the Yankees legend and fellow Oklahoman:  Mickey Tettleton.

The guy they called "Fruit Loops" (they gave him his prodigious strength!) was drafted by the Oakland iteration of Cochrane's original team, then had stints in Baltimore and Texas that bookended his four seasons in Detroit, 191-94.  It was a very productive stretch for him that resulted in 112 HR and 14.8 bWAR, or around half of both career numbers.  He had an awesome batting stance as a switch-hitter and was often seen with a huge wad of chew in his cheek, something I loved when I was younger (but hate now that I'm aware of its effects).

This Mickey is much more prominent in my Detroit collection as I've made more of an effort to collect Tettleton as one of my favorite recent-ish Tigers.  The 15 cards you'll see here get him up to 87, and this first scan is mostly one of my favorite brands, Stadium Club.  Here you see Mick's cards from 1991-95, plus 2015.  That's a rare good decision by Topps these days!  I really like the 50/50 split of catching/hitting these offer, plus the mix of designs is fun to look at.

Also included is his oversized base card from the oddball-ish 1994 Fleer Extra Bases, which you'll see a couple more times in this series.

Oh hi, "90s inserts rule" tag, how have you been?  I'm not at all surprised to see you here thanks to this bevy of fun chase cards, plus some great base products as well.  Up top we have an early version of Fleer's Lumber Company name, plus Leaf's "should have just made these the base set" Black Gold, both from '92.  You're damn right that Mickey made the cut for the iconic debut of Finest--gotta get me that Refractor!--in 1993, and that's joined by the beautiful (and maybe early Dufex?) Pinnacle Home Run Club and another high-end debut, Upper Deck's SP.  

1994's lone entrant is the last lenticular brand to use the "Sportflics" name before Pinnacle switched it to "Sportflix" for its final two years.  And speaking of Score/Pinnacle, our final two cards, both from '95, are fun parallels from those brands:  Museum Collection and Gold Rush.  I've said it a ton and I'll say it again:  1995 Pinnacle is my absolute favorite version of that product, and the Museum Collection cards are flat-out beautiful.  That's why I didn't mind grabbing another card of Tettleton as a Ranger.

What will I show off next?  I dunno.  I'm not even sure when I'll be posting next, but I've got lots more cards to scan and share with you and I'm looking forward to seeing what you readers think.