2023 trade package #8: My Sports Obsession

Let's keep the trade package train rolling with some cards from one of the folks I've been lucky enough to meet in-person a number of times. A few weeks ago Jeff who blogs at My Sports Obsession was up in Lansing with his cousin Sluggo (follow Sluggo's Sports Cards on Twitter!) for a mall card show. Considering they had a more than two hour drive to get up there, it was reasonable for me to hold my nose and drive around half that to the home of the Spartans.

I'll make sure to include a recap of what I bought from them in a future post, but for now I'll just say I was very impressed by their inventory, organization, and prices. Sure, I may be very biased, but I happily put my money where my mouth is there.

Anyway, we both took advantage of the in-person-ness of the situation to bring each other some items for each other. I had a ton for him thanks to a deal I made with one of my TCDb friends (mostly set help for his 70s and 80s sets), and he hit me back with some Tigers, other baseball PCs, and one of our shared interests: Michigan Wolverines!

Here's the loot I get to show off this evening:

Baez's Silver Pack insert is as shiny as his play hasn't been since joining Detroit. At least we Tigers fans can still enjoy one last season of Miggy, even if he's been a shell of his former self the past few years. He's got plenty of shiny of his own, including Bowman Platinum and Topps' questionable Chrome collaboration with Ben Baller. The 3,000 hit milestone card is a classic, and while I'll never have that many of his cards, this bunch did put me over 400, which is very cool!

Cronenworth is a recent enough Michigan guy that both Jeff and I collect him, including his '23 Topps base. PC guy Gwynn gets a trio of adds, include very 90s brand Zenith, a beauty of a Stadium Club base, and '88 Topps Reflux (not a typo, I've had enough of those!). Fellow HOFer Maddux also gets a new trio including a super thick Museum base and a Reflux card of his own. Morris (another HOFer!) gets one of the best cards in the bunch: a Framed Black/Gold Foil parallel of his '03 Diamond Kings base, numbered /100. Original Donruss FTW!

Including the last one in the previous scan, I count 10 many Verlanders, which is a huge chunk for me to add at once these days. Jeff treated me to a pair of numbered parallels from Bowman's Best (/250) and Prizm (/149) in addition to a mix of base and inserts, mostly from recent Topps brands. The Aces card has a design I really appreciate, which is a rarity from the manufacturer these days, though it probably helps that it's a tried and tested look that's been done before, both by Topps and other brands. TCDb tells me I have 568 of his cards, and that number can keep climbing if folks keep sending them to me like Jeff did.

Jeff also included a bit more than a scan's worth of Michigan Basketball stuff. Though this year was forgettable for the team, the cards weren't. 80% of the Fab Five is represented here, including current coach Juwan Howard. I thought it was especially cool that he gifted me cards of both of the basketballing Wagners, with Franz having a 2-to-1 advantage.

Before we hit the gridiron we'll wrap up the basketball content. That would be an SPx card of Maurice Taylor numbered /5400 and an Ultra insert commemorating Webber winning ROY.

Next, a jumbo Pacific card of QB Todd Collins kicks off the well-represented football content. WR Jason Avant stars on a numbered Leaf Rookies & Stars insert (/1000), fellow wideout Funch gets lots of exposure(s) on a more recent card from the same brand (different manufacturer, though!), and stud DE Winovich appears on a SAGE HIT card that shows how far they've fallen since being unable to use logos (still, I appreciate any card that's new to me!).

And now we go over to two 100% football scans. After Brady, the first of three UM QBs in this scan (and four in this post), Darboh and Evans each add a Panini brand RC and SAGE card to their collections. I think my collection of Darboh and Jeff's are very comparable, probably more than any other player we both chase. The numbered Funchess Panini Black Gold card is definitely the thickest of the whole bunch, and it features plenty of black and gold plus a cool acetate-plus-shadowbox kind of style that I really like. Grbac (/3250) and Griese (/2500 and /2000) join Brady in the QB club with some cool numbered inserts. I loved that year's Black Diamond cards and that's actually a parallel of the '97 champ's RC.

The numbered Grieses don't end there, though, as 2005 Score (Scorecard /599) and UD Portraits (Gold /75) double that total. Sweet! A Bowman Chrome U of all-everything QB JJ McCarthy helps grow my small collection of him, and of course I love seeing the college action there, even on a Topps-produced card. Man am I excited to see what JJ can do with this offense now that he has a full year of starts and playoff experience under his belt.

Ojabo is one of a surprising three defensive guys in this post, and the mirror finish on his Blue Select Draft issue is very team-appropriate. DPJ's Prizm parallel (Pink or Purple, I forget which) gives us a run of three straight Michigan uni cards. I hope to see CB Ambry Thomas healthy for a full NFL season with the Niners, with whom he's pictured on the above Prizm RC. Beastly RB Tyrone Wheatley gets two totally different insert additions from '95 Pacific and 2000 Black Diamond, with the latter numbered /1000 up front. And we finish up tonight with one last defender, DE Chris Wormley. This one's a parallel of his 2017 Panini Phoenix RC and it's numbered /199, which made IDing it much easier.

Jeff, thanks again for another great meetup! I hope to catch you and Sluggo at another show before long depending on when you'll be in the area next, and before then I'll show off the haul I bought from you guys for a very nice deal.

But before I get to that I still have a few trade packages to catch up on, so hopefully I'll be back soon with more of those!

1/7/23 card show report: sure, January

This post which will probably be my last one of the month will cover the show I made it out to three weekends ago. That's the opposite of what happened at that time last year when some circumstances, largely the weather, made a trip to Taylor a no-go. I was happy to get this year in show-going off on the right foot!

On one hand I felt like this trip was a bit less successful than usual because for the roughly two hours I spent there digging through boxes I didn't come home with a ton, having spent "only" $45. However, the dearth of stuff I wanted in the higher-end boxes made me spend more time in the dime boxes, which I was very happy to see. I never ignore these because I know how many gems can be pulled from them, if not in value at least in sets and designs I appreciate.

My cost breakdown that Saturday from my usual seller was as follows:

• 70 dime cards
• 10 $1 cards
• 6 that were 3/$5

He knocked the price down a couple bucks to $25. While I was waiting for him to get back from one of his smoke breaks (gross habit but it never affects his cards so it's fine) I looked through the box of stuff owned by a guy who sometimes splits a table with him. His prices tended to be on the higher side but he was open to negotiation, so I grabbed cards he had labeled for $10 and $15 and offered him $20, which he accepted. One of those went out in a trade package and you'll see the other below momentarily.

First up is the trade bait that didn't get mailed out or set aside:

A '95 Pinnacle Artist Proof in a dime box? Yes please! That's former Padres pitcher Joey Hamilton practicing bunting in the cage. Ex-Giants bopper Matt Williams is next with a '95 Donruss Long Ball Leaders insert that was also just ten cents. That was the case as well for former UNC WR Brandon Tate's 2009 Bowman Draft Blue parallel (#051/199). Should any of these interest you, please feel free to comment below or make an offer for them on TCDB.

Next is the small amount of baseball I picked up for myself:

Mr. Padre features on a 2020 Diamond Kings All-Time Diamond Kings insert, which is merely a shadow of the good old days of the insert, but still nice to see all the same. I was a bit surprised I didn't have Maddux's 2000 Topps All Topps insert, but I didn't mind the risk of a double for just a dime.

And the big pickup this time from the second seller I mentioned is Cal's 1996 Leaf Limited Lumberjacks insert. I believe this was the second year the original instance of Leaf released these super cool chase cards that had a real wood feel to them and that were numbered to 5000 copies. I'm always on the lookout for amazing 90s inserts like these so I didn't feel bad about throwing down $10 for it, even if that ended up being a bit of an overpay compared to eBay. It's not like I spent a crazy amount on my other pickups that day, plus, as everyone knows, 90s inserts rule!

Meanwhile, my football pickups were relatively more plentiful:

Most of them came from the dime box as well, and Texans WR Nico Collins was the big winner with six additions to his PC (currently 31 cards). Five of those are base or Pink parallels from 2021 Panini Chronicles (base, Legacy, Panini, Prestige) and the one that set me back a buck is a very sharp 2022 Donruss Elite Status parallel that's a beautiful blue and numbered /499.

Joining the latter in the dollar box was a pair of QB J.J. McCarthy's Bowman University base from last year. My first cards of the stud signal-caller who led Michigan back to the NCAA playoff may be airbrushed due to licensing issues, but it's not the end of the world, and I'm sure I'll get some "real" college uni cards soon. For now I'm excited to have a start to his collection.

And last up is one more dime card that I couldn't resist. Out of '22 Panini Illusions it's Charles Woodson's appearance in the Clear Shots set. These acetate inserts are both colorful and see-through so they're fun to look at. I love seeing the GOAT DB continue to pop up in products like this years after his retirement.

Barring unforeseen circumstances I should be back in action in Taylor next Saturday so hopefully I'll have another show recap for you in the next couple weeks. Until then I expect to be covering my Sportlots package from late last year (which arrived earlier this month), one or two new eBay buys, and at least one new TCDB deal.