2017 trade package #21: Bob Walk the Plank

After showing off a trade package from Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store (on TMM), I'm back with another bunch of cards from another of my prolific trade partners, Matt of Bob Walk the Plank.  The West Virginian purchaser of Pirates graced my mailbox with a very, very high-end kind of envelope including three cards you'll see here plus another over on TMM (two-parter!).

Let's check out the goods:

I'm sure most if not all of you are going "WHO?" so I'll give extra credit to Matt for remembering that Christian is one of my many Michigan Baseball alumni-turned PC guys.  The card you see here is his 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects Orange Refractor (#08/25), putting me just two short of his rainbow from that product, and three away from his whole 19-card run.  Jason appears to be out of baseball and only appeared in two products (2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition was the other), so I don't see cards of him I need turn up too often.  Great start!

Remember how I said "high-end" above?  You didn't think a low-numbered Refractor, nice as it is, would be as good as it gets, did you?  This is Matt we're talking about!  Bob Walk's #1 fan really upped the ante with this fantastic triple autograph out of Fleer's 2005 Classic Clippings.  The set is called Diamond Signings Triple Blue and the card, numbered 07/99, includes signatures from Gavin Floyd (Baseball Card Breakdown shoutout!), Scott "Victor Zambrano was totally worth it!" Kazmir, and some fresh-faced kid named Verlander.  That's right, this is a numbered, RC year autograph of Mr. Kate Upton that also includes two other solid pitchers (and a total of 96.5 bWAR, more that half of which can be chalked up to JV).  What a ridiculously great card to get as my sixth auto of the 2017 World Series champ.

And now we've finally reached "Silly, ain't it?" altitude as this package not only included a Verlander signature--I'm also the thrilled recipient of a plate as well!  I rag on Topps' Gypsy Queen product because it (along with A&G) takes their A.D.D.--addled player selection to the extreme by replacing, you know, baseball players, with anything any everything else.  But!  But in the rare instance that Topps teases collectors with a representative of this sport in the product, those framed cards--be they inserts, relics, autographs, or plates like this one--look fantastic.  This JV, generously sent to me by Matt the Mountaineer, is exhibit "A".  As you can see by the back it's a yellow version from last year's product, and the diminutive plate still manages to capture a great look at the delivery of a fierce competitor.

While signatures of Verlander may seem to be relatively scarce in my collection, 1/1s are even more so as this is just my second!  I should also mention that I now count a crazy 89 1/1s across all of my PCs.

Thanks again, Matt!  It's a bit of an understatement to say that I didn't see these coming!  Fortunately I'll be able to keep up my end of the, uh, high-end dealing we've been doing in time for a Merry Morgantown Christmas.  I won't tell you what I have for you or when I'll be sending them, but when they do get to you, you'll know it!

2017 trade package #11: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Well, it's been a little over two weeks since I last posted--in fact, this is the first time I'm blogging in May!  But there's been plenty to keep me busy, including fun family stuff, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (saw it twice!), and perhaps most important, improved weather.

But as usual, my lack of posting should in no way indicate a lack of cards to show off, especially since you generous traders keep hitting my mailbox with cool new stuff.  On that topic, I want to give a quick mention that I'm working on return packages for a number of you with cards sourced from eBay, COMC, and likely soon, JustCommons.

One such future recipient is none other than my most prolific trade partner, Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store.  The very polite Canadian collector (who just showed off his loot from the recent Spring Expo, check out those posts!) sent me an envelope that included--wait for it--hockey!  But it wasn't all stereotypical stuff as the other three sports were represented as well.  Wolverines of the hockey--and yes, basketball and football--variety can be seen over on TMM this evening while our baseball example is available right here:

This here is a nice oversized box topper of Miguel Cabrera, a Purple version, from this year's Gypsy Queen.  That product has never remotely interested me, but that doesn't mean a card or two from the set doesn't pique my interest.  In this case I'm a fan of two features:  the oversized-ness and the Refractor finish.  The former gives you a great big photo and makes it something worth displaying while the latter just plain makes it look nice.  Bonus points go to Doug for shipping it in its original pack which sort of gave me the experience of opening it myself.

Hopefully Miggy can overcome his slow start and put up the numbers we're all used to seeing; he fared poorly in the games I've attended this year, and I think a lot of that was due to injury.  Maybe with J.D. Martinez back and Justin Upton looking better than last season he'll start to heat up.

Doug, thanks a bunch for this cool Tigers 'topper!  Pending some eBay and COMC shipments I'll have a return package headed to Canadia as soon as I can.  And yes, it includes lots of hockey content!