2022 trade package #4: It's Like Having My Own Card Shop

This evening I have another trade package from a well known blogger that happened with an assist from TCDB. I talk to a number of guys on the site who handle IRs (inaccuracy reports) and a few of them are really cool so I've also begun trading with them. While at a show late last year I came across a nice Robin Yount relic for $5 that I knew someone would like, and once I looked over this member's tradelist, we were able to make a quick deal around this card (future TCDB trade post to come).

That deal was mainly centered around a card I knew a certain someone might like: Paul Goldschmidt collector Daniel of It's Like Having My Own Card Shop. In December Daniel confirmed in a Twitter conversation that he'd like the manurelic seen in this post here and that he'd be able to send some stuff back that I could use. That was good enough for me since we've done some deals in the past I was plenty happy with.

He ended up coming up with "a few cards from [my] want lists and a couple of Tigers cards" which ended up being quite the understatement. Just check out all the cool stuff I got back:

The Miggy you see up top is a Pink Refractor from 2019 Topps Chrome, and with the owners finally done with preventing fans from seeing baseball in 2022 it's a great reminder that he's just 13 hits away from joining the exclusive 500 HR/3000 hits club! Right now the membership includes Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Albert Pujols, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro, and Alex Rodriguez. Pretty good company!

Daniel did promise "a couple Tigers" and ended up making good on that with two more Cabreras: relic cards from 2015 Topps Heritage and 2018 Topps. Score! I now own 15 relics of the future HOFer to go with a manurelic and three autographs. I really appreciate Daniel's generosity here.

A bit of the aforementioned wantlist help came in the form of a pair of J.J. Putz cards. J.J. played for Daniel's Diamondbacks for the last four seasons of his career, 2011-14, and saved 45 and 32 games for Arizona over his first two campaigns there. Daniel sent me his 2011 Diamondbacks Topps team issue card as well as the 2012 Target Red parallel from that year's flagship set. Two more down!

That wasn't nearly all when it came to my wantlists, though, as he also sent me these six from 2007 Ultra's Iron Man insert that focuses on one of my top PC guys, Cal Ripken Jr. The 50-card set has a design I can't help but like--black with Orioles orange accents and silver foil--and I hope to put the whole thing together eventually. For now it looks like I have 14 of them so I've got my work cut out for me.

Now if that had been everything Daniel had sent my way I would have already been very happy. He had other plans, though:

...in the form of three very nice vintage cards of Hammerin' Hank! I know Daniel's a pretty avid vintage collector but I most definitely didn't expect these and I'll be happy to add them to my paltry collection of classic cards. They include the well known 1968 Topps Game as well as two league leaders cards from 1972 Topps. In 1971, 37-year-old Hank put up a career high 47 homers (one less than league leader and fellow star Willie Stargell) plus 118 RBI--third behind Torre's 137 and Stargell's 125. That year was just one of seven campaigns where Aaron hit 40+ homers and yet he still managed to set the record with 755. He remains the game's career RBI leader with 2297 while only leading the league in that category four times as well, a testament to how great he was for such a long period of time. Just wow!

Daniel, once again I thank you for all the amazing cards you sent my way, all of which were surprises and better yet, new to my collection! I hope we can trade again relatively soon if I can find more harder to track down Goldschmidts (or other needs).

Looking over on my card desk I currently see five blog trade packages left to cover, plus a crazy 24 from TCDB that I'd like to show off in some way, shape, or form. That's in addition to two shows' worth of pickups. So look for lots more posts from me, if not in a timely fashion.

2022 trade package #3: Bob Walk the Plank

This evening's trade package comes from a guy who blogs maybe slightly less than I do--I mean, come on, it's March already! Matt, who used to blog at Bob Walk the Plank, and now can be found more commonly on Twitter, hit me back in our longstanding back-and-forth dealing by directly shipping a package of goodies from COMC. They even arrived in the same year he requested his shipment! (Seriously, they do seem to be getting better on that front.)

Matt surprised me with some quality stuff (as usual) including a couple deep cuts that show how much he pays attention to the players I collect.

Here's two pages of some outstanding additions to my collections!:

Scan #1 opens with six cards from Brett Adcock's 2016 Bowman/Chrome Draft rainbow. Adcock, a P drafted by Houston in 2016, never made it beyond AA and was seen pitching in indy ball last year. He has just 31 cards to collect according to TCDB (making him today's deepest cut), with five of those being minor league issues and 10 more that are 1/1s, so my collection of 11 is pretty solid (#1 on TCDB, baby!). Up here you can see the Blue Border /150; Chrome Gold /50, Green /99, and Purple /250; and Gold Border /50 and Green Border /99. The remaining five I need for the rainbow are #d /150, /25 (x2), and /5 (x2). Well done, Matt!

Next up is a lone Hal Morris, but given that I'm at 302 of his 469 (#1 on TCDB, baby!), anything new is a good find. Better yet, this is a numbered '90s insert: 1997 Circa's Rave parallel, which is limited /150 copies, quite rare for the time!

Right after him is another pitcher, though one that's not quite as obscure as Adcock. Murray pitched for the Padres, Tigers, and Indians, and trades like this one keep me inching toward his 39 cards. Thanks to these I have 29 (#1 on TCDB, baby!), including his '97 Bowman Blue Ink auto and '98 Bowman Chrome International Refractor. The latter's especially nice as, besides being a Refractor, it's a somewhat tougher find given the era. I need to track down two more of his '97 Bowman signatures and another '98 Refractor /5 to sew up his non-minors (and others, including a buyback) collection, which is pretty cool.

Scan #2 beings with a bit more baseball before veering off into other sports. First up is card #218 in my collection of former Mariners/D-Backs closer J.J. Putz (#1 on TCDB, baby!) a surprisingly rare 2014 Topps 1st Edition. Hit the link to see how those were inserted and you'll see that just 10 copies were made of each card! They're not serial-numbered but at least have the obvious logo up front. This is a very rare card I was unlikely to get myself so it was perfect for this envelope.

Speaking of rare and former Michigan pitchers, next is a numbered pair of Clayton Richard, who's near a milestone at 147 cards (#1 on TCDB, baby!) out of his 437. On the left is a beautiful 2008 Bowman Draft Chrome Gold Refractor /50, and its diminutive partner is the Pink parallel /25 from 2019 Topps Mini. Very cool cards of the former QB-turned-pitcher.

Speaking of QBs, heading over to the gridiron I was very happy to see a new Chad Henne for one of my larger football PCs. I currently count 313 cards of the former UM gunslinger in my collection (#2 on TCDB...CRAP!) and few are as rare as the 2014 Rookies & Stars Longevity Black (#d /10) parallel you see above. Then again, I do have a cyan plate to go with that. Well, I did say "few", didn't I? This is certainly a nice addition to one of my favorite PCs.

And next we have a pair of talented college wideouts in David Terrell and Amani Toomer. The Terrell is card #157 in his collection (also #2 on TCDB...for now), a 2002 Pacific Adrenaline base with a "Pacific Nights Special Edition" stamp and digital serial numbering /10, making it one of the rarest cards in his bunch. I don't know much about that promotion that looks to have appeared across a number of Pacific's products, but I love the rarity and am happy to have the card.

Meanwhile, Toomer's card, #318 (good for a distant 3rd on TCDB, maybe I should stick to baseball) is somewhat similar, from a set called 2002 Playoff Honors Player of the Week Panelists. The backs are numbered, also to just 10 copies, and the write-up about each player's qualifications is pretty nice, if Amani's card is any indication:

Hail, hail, indeed!

And we'll finish up on the ice as Michigan Hockey heads into conference tournament play before hopefully securing a #1 seed and eventual Frozen Four appearance. One guy who was no stranger to those was former WolverWing and head coach Red Berenson. My 39 cards (tied for second on TCDB by just one card!) of the Wolverines legend include this amazing pair. On the left is a 2004-05 In the Game Franchises US East card depicting him with the Rangers, one of his four NHL teams, albeit the one he spent the least time with. It's #d /10 with a Chicago National Convention stamp that seems to be more accepted than some of the random ones you'll see pop up at times. That's joined by a card from one of the cooler hockey products in recent memory: 2012-13 In the Game Motown Madness. The Gold parallel you see of the five-year Red Wing isn't numbered but is said to be limited to just 10 copies. Sweet!

Last up this evening is a technical Michigan uni card of a goalie who almost took the team all the way to the top in 2011. Shawn Hunwick was out of his mind that year and eventually made an emergency appearance for Columbus in the pros, leading to a few cardboard appearances. I own 37 of them (hey, #1 on TCDB, baby!), and the one you're seeing today is a Sapphire parallel #d /85 of his 2012-13 Upper Deck Artifacts RC. It's been tough sledding finding his cards at reasonable prices so I really, really appreciate Matt including this one as much as anything else in this envelope.

Matt, thank you once again for a very thoughtful mailer that clearly shows how much effort you put into finding some great cards for my Michigan PCs, even chipping in towards the ones where I'm clearly #1 on TCDB (baby!). I always love our deals because we both value sending some top notch stuff to each other, and I promise that'll continue from my end after I build up enough to send a package your way.

Up ahead: lots more trade packages and eventually cards from TCDB deals!

2020 eBay purchases: plates a-plenty and more!

I need to post some cards so I can put them away, so here's what I purchased for myself on eBay over the first third of the year!

Card #1 is a 2007 Fleer magenta plate of blog favorite pitcher Rich Hill. I snagged this way back in January as my only non-show pickup for the month. I'm always up for a new 1/1 for my favorite PC, and a bit under $8 shipped was enough to get my first of this plate set, though it's my seventh 1/1 from that year. I still have some investigating to do regarding my 2008 Triple Threads 1/1s of Rich before I can get an accurate total, but for now he still rules the roost with 137 hits, 24 of the ultimate rarity.

I grabbed three more plates in February--two for myself--and one more the following month, giving me a fun run of five straight 1/1 purchases on eBay. The first was this J.J. Putz yellow version from Topps' flagship set, also out of 2007. Setting me back a little less than the Hill, this is my second oldest Putz plate, with one from 2006 Upper Deck taking the crown. That one is the only non-Topps card, oddly enough. While Hill has a commanding first place lead in 1/1s, Putz enjoys a smaller gap as his 11 in my collection have Clayton Richard's nine close behind.

The other card I grabbed for myself in February was a surprising win for me: I plunked down just $7.26 for my first plate of former Wolverine defensive beast Rashan Gary. This black plate was used to make his 2019 Donruss RC, but Panini's not the type to make things easy and actually inserted it as a hit in their Plates & Patches product last year. Both Panini and Upper Deck are known for doing this in some of their high-end products, which gives them a nice boost, though at the cost of the original sets that lose those potential pulls. Anyway, I was excited to get such a nice piece to add to the two autographs I own in his small collection, and I look forward to seeing what he could do in his sophomore NFL campaign (if there is one).

The last plate today stars former UM pitcher Matt Miller, one of many former baseball players of that name. This one was in the Brewers system for a while, plus he only appears on cards from 2010 Donruss Elite Extra and 2011 Topps Heritage Minors and Pro Debut, so he's easy enough for my to identify. I'm not even sure the last time I posted cards of him here (or on TMV) since I completed his 17-card run quite a while ago. Happily I now have my first plate to go with those, and the 1/1 Donruss EEE autograph I bought a while back, so I can lay claim to 20% of his 1/1s! By the way, at a bit over $5 delivered this one kept up my trend of declining final prices of cards I'd been buying on eBay, which was temporarily interrupted by a trade bait 1/1 I grabbed earlier this month.

Fortunately this non-1/1 got me back on track. My most recent purchase, made about two weeks ago, is a new Ryan LaMarre auto from 2012's unlicensed Onyx Platinum Prospects product. An Autographs Inscribed version hand-numbered on the back /5, this cost me a paltry $2.73 as I won it from my favorite eBayer, markaguirre22, from whom I've bought a bunch of very cool Michigan-related items. It also doesn't hurt that he offers free shipping! The design is about on par for the type of product, but I do love the gold ink, and the "Go Reds!" inscription is great. I'm glad to make it my 12th LaMarre hit, 10 of which include his signature.

In total I've spent under $50 on eBay over the first four months of this year and have scored six plates, one other trade bait item, and the LaMarre you just saw, meaning I'm still getting some good value despite my buying being way down.

Speaking of throwing money at cards, I think my next couple posts should cover some very cool Facebook Marketplace purchases, and I should be following those up with a huge TCDB trade. Should any trade packages show up in the interim, though, I'll happily give them priority. I hope everyone continues to stay safe and healthy while they continue collecting as much as possible during these crazy times!

2019 trade package #41: Scribbled Ink

My final trade cards of 2019 came courtesy of buddy of the blog and fellow Michigander (for a bit longer!) Paul of Scribbled Ink.  He's a busy dad so I try to meet up with him now and then if we get the chance, and as luck had it we were both available for his monthly neighborhood show in Troy on the last Saturday of December.  I don't tend to enjoy that show as much as the one I frequent in Taylor, though this one ended up working out quite well.  More on that soon!

Anyway, Paul let me know that fellow TCDBer C2Cigars would be in town and was interested in a meetup, which sounded like fun to me.  He was a cool guy and we all swapped a few cards while hanging out at the show for a while.

On a related note, Paul brought a box of stuff for me, and out of that big pile I ended up with a nice chunk of new cards for my PCs.  (I'm trying something a bit different tonight by only scanning the new stuff instead of everything, and we'll see what I do in the future.)

We'll start with a few 2019 Topps Tigers.  Greene (the only Update example here) was traded to the Braves, of course, and utility guy Rodriguez went to Milwaukee on waivers, but the other two seem to be ticketed for a good amount of playing time in 2020.  I think I've mentioned this once or twice before but I got to see Lugo play with Single-A Lansing a few years ago when he was in Toronto's system; He then got flipped to Arizona before heading to Detroit in the J.D. Martinez deal.

Pretty much everything else was baseball PC stuff.  Before I show off the spoils I wanted to demonstrate the composition of this box.  The pile on the left is all Jim Abbott cards while the one on the right is everything else!  I did a count and came up with 80 total Abbotts, 48 of which were unique, and I needed five of those, which means Jeff's getting a bunch of new cards of one of his favorites!

One of the words of the day is definitely "oddballs," and that's a good word when it comes to sending cards to me because there's always a high likelihood that I don't have one you're sending me.  Four of Abbott's cards here fall into that category, including some unlicensed issues and a '92 U.S. Playing Cards four of spades.  Even the more mainstream card is a bit odd--a '92 Studio Preview.  I happen to think preview cards are lots of fun to collect too, and my collection of those is also fairly small.  By the way, there were some really nice Abbotts in the dupes pile, so I want to make sure to give Paul credit for those as well.

The letter "G" is a big one today as well.  One Grandy isn't "too many" but it's a great place to start, and this Orange Refractor from 2012 now has a happy home with me.  Griffey cards from '96 Summit (co-starring Johnny "Noodle Arm" Damon) and 2019 Topps Perennial All-Stars are also very welcome, especially since they push his collection over the 900 mark to 901, allowing him to join Ripken in that very exclusive club in my collection!  A nice little run of Gwynn--the player who got the most new cards this time--follows, and that begins with an odd-ish boxed set Fleer card from '86.

Again, I give lots of credit to Paul for sending some super nice Gwynn cards that I obviously liked since I'd picked up a number of them myself.  This run of five (with more below) starts with another unlicensed item, then jumps ahead to the next couple of decades.  The UD Heroes card actually came out of Prospect Premieres in 2002, which might explain why it looks so different compared to that name's usual design.  And I love the throwback to Donruss's Heritage Collection on Panini's beautiful Diamond Kings card from 2017.

Supercollection guy Rich Hill would appear here but both his items were dupes; That's still worth mentioning since Paul smartly tossed them my way in hopes of feeding my favorite PC.  I can generally find good homes for those anyway.  Instead, how about a super cool Pacific Barry Larkin card, 2000's Invincible, which, as a reminder, is a base card!  Man do I miss Pacific.  Paul certainly didn't miss when he managed to hit my Clayton Richard wantlist twice:  2018 Topps Big League's Blue parallel and 2019 Topps Update.  Clayton's made a decent number of Topps appearances in the last few years for a lower tier pitcher so there's still plenty I need.

I'll include the last card from that scan in this group, which includes four of the packages five many Verlanders!  The Chrome 2019 Topps 150 card above has a Refractor finish while the one that follows it is an X-Fractor from the base product.  Topps Fire isn't really high on my list but of the Gold Mint and Orange (#108/299) parallels above, the latter looks pretty sharp and I do like that it's numbered.

The horizontal cards formed a nice group of eight, and it starts with more winning with Gwynn.  '94 Select and '96 Collector's Choice (with Edgar!) take me back to the early years of my teens when I was collecting a bit, but the UD3 and Ionix cards from a bit later really hit home with memories of some of my prime collecting years before I took a bit of a break in college.

And again, props to Paul for hitting a couple of my slightly more obscure PCs.  Two-sport star Henson gets his 59th card, and and awesome one too, from back when Refractors really meant something and didn't have like 80 versions.  His 2003 Topps Chrome Gold Refractor has that big fat serial numbering (#062/449) that brings back fond memories of collecting in the first half of that decade.  And he also surprised me with a 2002 card of Putz I needed from that year's Piece of History product (#793/950), my 199th checklisted card out of 217 overall.  Well done!

Closing things out here, Cal makes one appearance as a co-star on a 2019 Topps Historic Through-Lines insert with Astros star Carlos Correa.  Baseball-Reference finds that the latter's age 22 season, 2017, was Ripken-esque, plus there's the card's point that both were AL rookies of the year.  And then there's one last Verlander, another appearance from 2019 Topps Update.  Not only can I credit Paul for the 900th Griffey I'm posting, but he's also responsible for JV #400!  As with Junior he's now one card over that mark.  Quite the exciting trade package, no?

Well we're not quite done yet.  "Bipped with Sabos" is your new favorite band name that you're gonna steal, and in my case I laughed at seeing these 90s Topps second-years of Spuds because of a purchase I made that that day's show.  Anyone need this card in quantities ranging from 1-12?

The final baseball item is a graded copy of Alan Trammell's '84 Topps Rub Downs oddball issue.  I already had a regular copy but Paul pointed out that this one got an '84 grade, so it'll be fun keeping it this way.  Until I crack it, trim it, and resubmit it under the name "Vary Gee, sports card influencer" and it comes back as a 110.  By the way, SGC bills itself as "THE MOST TRUSTED GRADING & AUTHENTICATION SERVICE IN THE INDUSTRY," which is like Curt Schilling calling himself the most trusted athlete in a room with Aaron Hernandez, Ray Rice, and Pete Rose.  Good luck with that.  Anyway, cool item!

And at last, the final item in the box was this Jordan Poole 2019-20 Prizm Draft Prizm parallel, my first of a guy who 1) hit this amazing buzzer-beater in 2018 to send Michigan to the Sweet 16 on the way to an appearance in the title game,

and 2) is not Jordan Peele, the hilarious actor and brilliant writer/director of Get Out.  I'm very happy to begin his collection with a college card.

Paul, thanks again for all of this and so much more!  I'm looking forward to more trades and hopefully a couple games and shows before you head to the northeast.

With my 2019 trade packages wrapped up I'm planning on covering the aforementioned late December show next, then I'll decide if I want to finish up 2019 with my COMC loot before moving on to my first show of 2020, trade package (a box!) #1 from this year, and my first buy on eBay.  Stay tuned!

2019 trade package #39: Cards on Cards

In the end the Citrus Bowl went about as expected, even if it took longer than I thought for Alabama to put it away.  Still, I loved watching my Wolverines and am looking forward to the 2020 season as eagerly as usual.

Speaking of 2020 let's open up the year with a trade post as I continue to catch up on 2019 acquisitions.  I'm going chronologically--in the order these envelopes arrived--and I love that I get to start 2020 off with a bang.  Kerry of Cards on Cards sent me one of the finest packages I've ever received, which is saying something considering some of the gems that made their way to me from some of the greats of blogging.

As Kerry celebrates Oregon's thrilling Rose Bowl win, enjoy this celebration of some of my favorite collections!

We'll open things today with an eight pack of future Tigers.  These hail from 2019 Topps Pro Debut and pretty much every guy is in the team's 20 prospect rankings.  Pitchers Manning and Mize are the jewels of the organization and could form a killer 1-2 in the rotation if both beat the odds and reach their potential.  It's also nice that a few offensive prospects are rated highly since the team could use them ASAP, such as outfielders Cameron and Meadows.

And some more Tigers of the near future and/or now.  Boyd may not be long for Detroit if they can get a good haul for him (sorry, John!), and Greiner hasn't shown much, but we should see a good amount of the others, such as Paul's dude JaCoby Jones.  Kerry tossed in another Mize to bolster his tiny collection.

Speaking of current Tigers, here's a nice five-pack of LF Christin Stewart, who hopefully has a better season this year because he could be a mainstay here for years.  Between what Kerry sent me and what I already had I finally felt like I had enough Stewarts to enter them on TCDB and came up with a total of 15 thus far.  Not bad!  My favorite is the Panini Chronicles card that reuses an older Certified look that I've always loved.

I was able to pair up most of Miggy's cards with those of free agent Nicholas Castellanos in one scan, and that made me think I should look up how well they did as teammates.  From 2013 until Nick was traded last season, they combined for 260 HR, 995 RBI, and 27.9 bWAR.  This bunch of (mostly) 2019 cards is a great reminder of how much fun they were together.  The Cabreras also pushed him past the 300-card mark, which is awesome.  Donruss' Optic is a highlight here multiple times.

I challenge you to find one boring scan in this post, just one.  Can't do it, can you?  This one includes some nice base of some important Tigers from the aughts, Ty Cobb, a numbered Torii Hunter, and two fun McLain inserts.  2013 Hometown Heroes is one of Panini's best products of the last decade and I liked both cards you see here:  the stamped States parallel, and even more so, the round Sportdiscs lenticular insert.  I've had my eye on Jim Abbott's card from the latter and now I really want it having seen this McLain in-hand.

Here we'll finish up with the non-PC Tigers.  The Miggy is from 2015 Prizm and is numbered /100 which is pretty sweet.  I also checked J.D.'s and V-Mart's combined Tigers stats and came up with 214 HR, 825 RBI, and 21 bWAR (though as opposed to Miggy and Nick, I combined their entire Tigers careers, not just the years they coincided).  Soto is another potential future piece and I'm not sure why I didn't include him in one of the earlier scans.  And lastly, Kerry surprised me with a pair of Miggy jersey relics from 2017 Topps flagship--one from each series.  It looks like these give me 15 hits of one of the greats of the past decade, broken down into three autos, 10 relics, and a manurelic.  Not bad at all!

The Tigers half was outstanding but where things got really interesting for me was how well Kerry hit my player collections.  I'm not sure if he took the time to check my wants via my PCs page, or on TCDB, or what, but he managed to hit a ton of players with new stuff, and I needed every last card you'll see, starting with this bunch.

The Abbott is the same Hometown Heroes States parallel you saw above, and I really like it, though it would have been fun, as I usually say, for "hometown" to refer to that player's birthplace, meaning Abbott could have had a Michigan stamp himself.  All three cards of Astros pitching prospect Adcock from 2016 Bowman Draft/Chrome are new--Refractor, Sky Blue Refractor, and Silver (/499)--and give him a nice bump.  Granderson and Griffey appear on 2019 Topps-branded base, with Junior a single card away from 900!  I claimed the 2019 Topps Walgreens Yellow parallel of Hill after Kerry pulled one back in November because I'm your friendly neighborhood Hill supercollector!  And the LaMarre 2016 Topps Gold parallel is the first of his I've added in a long, long time, getting me up to 30 of 54 cards I've got checklisted for now.

I can't emphasize enough how impressed I am with what Kerry picked out here because not only did I need everything in these scans, but they're also not just a handful of common base cards I can check off of a list.  This group is a great example, beginning with a trio of Hal Morris issues:  an '89 minors card, '95 Pinnacle Nth Degree parallel, and an oddly named '98 Pacific variation called Red Threatt (the extra "T" is for "threat!").  Putnam finally gets a new addition thanks to the beautiful 2017 Topps Chrome Sapphire Edition and its beautiful blue background.  Putz gets an insanely nice triple play of 2005 Prestige Xtra Bases Red (/150), 2006 Upper Deck Gold (/299), and 2007 Upper Deck Predictor Blue (the last of the Predictor versions I needed!).  And lastly in this scan is a 2009 Topps 206 base of George Sisler that I thought I had until I found out this was a short print--wow!

With this scan we're almost done with the baseball stuff in the package.  The first six star PC leader Cal Ripken Jr., who stands alone in consecutive games played and cards in my collection (the latter number:  946).  I have to say that the Gallery Preview up top looks quite nice, even if much of the artwork in the final product wasn't really up to par.  The other three cards here are of blog namesake guy Justin Verlander-Upton.  While the 2019 issues are nice enough I'm oddly a fan of the 2009 Topps card since it's the Target parallel with the cool retro back texture.  I don't like the idea of retail exclusives at all but at least once in a while the execution is good.  Justin gets up to an almost milestone-worth 396 items.

I saved the best of the baseball stuff for last because I was floored to find these two cards in the package.  On the left is a 2009 Topps 206 Mini Framed auto of former blog namesake guy Curtis Granderson.  As I always say, these mini framed cards look terrific and Grandy's is no exception.  The artwork does a great job of capturing his enthusiasm and joy for the game, and I would love to see him return to Motown to mentor some of the young players on the team.  Anyway, well done by Kerry to surprise me with my 10th Granderson hit and third auto.  In case you were wondering, I still don't have too many!

The other card is one I'm also very excited about as it's just my second of Michigan pitcher Karl Kauffmann, and this one's even cooler as it's a Wolverines uni shot.  A few different Michigan draftees made it into several Panini-branded products in 2019 and I'm looking forward to capitalizing on those, though fortunately I didn't have to wait thanks to Kerry's generosity.  This 2019 Prizm Draft auto looks great, and if it's a sign of things to come then I think I'm going to enjoy chasing more of the 2019 College World Series runners-up!

That's right, we're still not done because there's still football stuff to get to!  The '95 Finest Everitt is the other card in this post that I asked Kerry about and again he was nice enough to send it my way.  Few Michigan fans can top his level of intensity in supporting the maize & blue, I'll tell you that much.  As for Jake Ryan's card, the 2015 Crown Royale base is his lone RC that qualifies for my Rookie Blue project (his other rookie is an autograph), so I can cross his name off the list and continue hoping that he can stay healthy long enough to earn himself a good shot in the league.

Everything else in the scan features one of my larger football PCs, especially in terms of hits, Jake Long.  The first two are 2008 Panini brand inserts from Rookies & Stars and Contenders, and they both bring that signature Panini shininess (and numbering-- /1000 and /500, respectively) from the late aughts that gets me every time.  Blue is a great color for a parallel version of an insert, such as the Icons card, also numbered (/250).  And my favorite Oregon fan even threw in a relic I could have sworn I had (but didn't) out of 2008 Bowman, highlighting that year's #1 overall pick.  That brings him up to 84 hits, good for fourth behind Henne, Manningham, and Braylon.

I was able to give our last subject of the day his own scan, even if I noticed later that I didn't remotely put these on the scanner in any sort of order (and didn't feel like fixing it).  WR Amani Toomer's career spanned a good run in the hobby meaning he earned a ton of cardboard appearances, and Kerry didn't disappoint with these six.  There's Ultra Gold Medallion parallels from 2006 (the die-cut one) and 2006, plus numbered parallels in the form of a 2001 Pacific Impressions Hobby Red Backs (/280) and 2008 Bowman Blue (/500).  Yep, the former is pretty much as described with all text and effects on the back in red.  And after a 2006 Turkey Red base we get to the day's final surprise, a 2004 Prestige Game Day jersey of the Super Bowl-winning wideout.  It's pretty much right in my wheelhouse in terms of the kind of thing I'd be chasing on COMC and it marks his 25th hit, making him the 16th football player to reach that mark.

Kerry, I can't thank you enough for the obvious effort you put into such an incredible trade package other than to say that you more than earned the last couple envelopes I sent your way!  Enjoy the afterglow of your guys' Rose Bowl win as you await St. Louis' Spring Training date and I'll work on putting together a return when I can.

The rest of you can stay tuned for two more trade packages (one in-person!) plus a larger than expected show haul from the end of last month, and possibly another show report from my usual monthly location I'll likely hit up on Saturday.

2019 trade package #34: The Collector

Something like seven out of my 18 Christmas card packages appear to have been delivered thus far, and this evening I'm happy to be posting a package of my own from one of those recipients, Chris of the Collector.

I've known Chris since before he dropped the "Pedestrian" in his blog's name and we've sent cards back and forth a few times.  Most recently he sent me a PWE full of Tigers toward the end of July, and today he's back with another one that skewed toward my preferred Wolverines collection.  Here's a look at what he sent:

First up is a pair of J.J. Putz cards I wasn't positive I needed until I checked them against his collection.  I have over 200 cards of the former Michigan pitcher so it's always tough for me to find new ones, but apparently not for Chris, who knocked both the shiny 2002 Topps Reserve Parallel (#094/150) and 2009 Mets Topps team set cards off my list.  Nice!  And yes, the former is really referred to as "Parallel", but as goofy as that is, checking off a numbered parallel from his RC year is a big deal for me.

Sticking with baseball is a tasty oddball--at least, I'd assume it's tasty.  I don't think I ever really got into Cap'N Crunch and I'm more of a Cinnamon Toast Crunch fan when it comes to sugary cereal.  Either way, Cal's card from that brand's partnership with Topps is a nice addition to his collection, logos or not.

From the world of basketball, where Michigan lost a heartbreaker in OT to Oregon this afternoon, is Nik Stauskas, a.k.a. "Sauce Castillo", on his 2014-15 Donruss RC.  You purists can have your Topps Rookie Cup all you want but I'll take that Rated Rookie logo any day!  It's crazy to me that he already seems to be out of the league after playing for five teams over the same number of years, but maybe he'll be back.

Finally we'll head over to the gridiron, where bowl season is due to start next weekend.  Chris hit me with a pair of Tom Brady offerings:  a 2017 Panini Contenders Draft picks base as well as an insert from 2019 Score called "Captains" which seems pretty self-explanatory.  Of course I love seeing the shot of #10 with the Wolverines, and Michigan's upcoming date with Alabama is a good reminder of how Brady brought his team back against the Crimson Tide for a win in the 2000 Orange Bowl.

Joining the GOAT QB is another 2017 Contenders offering, this time a Game Day Tickets insert of rookie year TE Jake Butt, also rocking a college uniform.  Poor Jake can't seem to stay healthy since a bowl game injury that year, and I wish him a full recovery and real shot in the NFL.  For now at least I can smile and say that I have 17 Butts!

Chris, thanks once again for thinking of me with this nice PWE (and note, an underrated part of the package) that included exactly zero dupes and seven new cards I'm glad to have.  Here's hoping your Christmas cards get to you in a reasonable amount of time!

2018 COMC purchases: ten out of ten

I've been on another self-imposed blogging hiatus, once again spending most of my card time on TCDB as I try to upload my collection, list trade bait, and contribute to the database by uploading scans, correcting checklists, and handle some inaccuracy reports.  It really is addictive!

But today I'm finally making it a point to set aside a bit of time to post the last of my 2018 baseball acquisitions.  These 10 new entries came from COMC, mostly around the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, if I recall correctly.  I have a lot more to post on TMM eventually--Michigan Football loot, natch--but at least today I can finally put these away.  Enjoy!

Former A's prospect Jason Christian starts things off with a beautiful Red Refractor parallel of his 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects base.  This one set me back $10, is numbered 2/5, and is tied with one of the two cards I'm missing in Christian's PC for fewest copies (2009 Donruss EEE Signature Status Gold).  The other is the final card in this rainbow, a Gold Refractor /50.  Both can be had if I'm willing to pay!

#2 is another Bowman Chrome Refractor, this time of Tampa IF prospect Jake Cronenworth, who continues to fight an uphill battle for a spot in the bigs.  Not even $0.50 was enough to score me this Black Wave Asia parallel, my 11th of Jake, all of which are from his 2015 Bowman Draft/Chrome rainbow.  That leaves eight to go.

The final player in this row is one of two new PCs I'm introducing today.  Fritz Fisher is a former Wolverine lefty who signed with the Tigers and appeared in just one Major League game, somehow striking out Harmon Killebrew in his 1/3+ inning of relief.  Gladding was the much more successful pitcher on this multiplayer RC from 1964 Topps.  Fritz's other card came out in the same set two years later, another duet, this time with the more well known John Hiller.

Here's a fun mix of new(ish) and old!  I think I've professed my love for Pacific's Paramount Fielder's Choice cards before, and here's another chance to sing their praises.  The one you see above stars none other than Mr. Padre Tony Gwynn, one of my favorite PCs.  There's a good number of 90s-adjacent inserts I'm chasing of Gwynn and his big four PC cohorts--Griffey, Maddux, and Ripken--and the super cool Fielder's Choice cards are part of that.

Dick LeMay is today's other new PC guy, also of the vintage variety.  The former Michigan pitcher signed with San Fran in 1958 and appeared in 45 games with the Giants and Cubs between 1961 and '63, the sum of his career.  Above you're seeing his '62 Topps RC, leaving me short just his base from the follow-up Topps set.  Yep, another two-card PC!

Card #3 in this bunch had me plenty excited, even if I have a lot like it.  I've managed to complete Zach Putnam's 2008 Razor Letterman base and #d /20 nameplates (check 'em out here) so all I can chase now are the rarer /5s and 1/1s.  This "N" is just the second letter of the six letters (I have the same number of 1/1s!) in the /5 group (I also own a "T") and is #1/5.  After a roughly two-month break from buying on the site starting last June, I may it my first purchase of this shipment on August 1 for $12, and if I can get the other four letters for about that I'll be thrilled.

The last "regular" cards of this post start with a 2017 Topps Update Gold parallel (#0245/2017) of new Blue Jays hurler Clayton Richard.  It's just the third I've got of his rainbow (including the Mini versions) to go along with a base and Rainbow Foil.  The 2017-19 spots on my PC checklists need lots of work!

And then there's a bit of player wantlist help in the form of card #8 out of Flair's 1995 Ripken insert.  I need cards 1, 3, and 5 and then will be able to show off another completed insert set devoted to the Iron Man!

The oddest item of the ten is my second 2009 Topps Heritage Ad Panel box-topper featuring ex-closer J.J. Putz.  It's hard to find a good checklist of these, but I believe I've figured out that Putz appears on three in total:  this one, the one I have that includes Braden Looper and Freese again, and a last one I'm still working on finding with Uribe and Alfonso or Rafael Soriano.  $2.40 wasn't an unreasonable price to pay for one of these in my opinion.

And at last we come to the final card and one of my favorite pickups of this latest shipment.  Thanks to many vintage stars appearing in modern releases it's easier than ever to find them on affordable plates and 1/1s, and that's exactly what I did here with Michigan and MLB legend George Sisler.  Surprisingly it took all of $8 to land one of the better cards in my collection of Gorgeous Georges, a Cyan plate from 2014 Panini Hall of Fame.  While I have a couple cards of him from the other subsets or inserts I didn't have this one.  Hey, a plate's as good a place to start as any!  (By the way, this is 1/1 #115 in my collection!)

Stay tuned for lots of great football stuff from COMC on TMM eventually while I figure out what I'll be posting here next.  With any luck it may be a second card show report for the month!