2026 trade package #8: Cards on Cards

May is steadily ticking away so before I let it pass by too quickly, let's start looking at the blogger trade packages I received last month. #1 was from Kerry over at Cards on Cards.

This was yet another excellent envelope from my Big Ten buddy in Oregon, and this time he managed to hit all four major sports with at least one card:

The baseball content fits into one scan but comprises lots of goodness. That Select Miggy card is a Prizm parallel called "Green Flash," and I'm always grateful when they aren't the worst to tell apart. Malloy's no longer in the Tigers' system, but his '25 Topps Archives Black Foilboard is still a keeper. Tigers it-guy of the season Kevin McGonigle is a particular highlight here with a '25 Select Pink & Purple Prizm parallel, numbered /199 on the back. He's pretty much been the most valuable player on an otherwise highly disappointing team, and I'm excited to see if Detroit extending him this early pays off.

SS Bryce Rainer keeps the Select party going with a base card and Silver Prizm parallel to give me seven cards of the #11 overall pick in '24. He entered 2025 as a consensus top-100 prospect and moved into the 30s to start 2026, so he could be following in McGonigle's footsteps before all is said and done. Cal's the lone non-Tiger in this bunch, and one of the nearly 1400 items I have for him is the above '26 Topps 1991 Topps Crackle Foil insert. '91 is a pretty good season to remember for Ripken as he won his second AL MVP with his career-best 11.5 bWAR season. Finally, we're back to Tigers, in '25 Ginter mini form, with a Chrome of on-the-shelf pitcher Jackson Jobe and a Black Border of SS Jace Jung, who's trying to work his way back to the big club.

Next, there was enough basketball stuff to split into a couple images. Kobe Bufkin gets a pair added to his collection, including a very reflective '25-'26 Topps 1980-81 insert which is actually silver foil, not black. Magic youngster Jett Howard earns a solo appearance from Haunted Hoops plus a Topps Chrome insert that pairs him up with his dad and former coach/NBAer himself, Juwan. And then you see the first two of a four-spot of Jordan Pooles, including another Haunted Hoops issue.

Poole's other two cards are from Panini's Revolution brand and Topps Holiday. From the latter, he's joined by Magic star Franz Wagner both in SSP Photo Variation form and a Glitter Holiday parallel, the latter of which has the same raised effect as the baseball product. Lastly, Kerry treated me to my first relic of ex-Heat guy and current Piston Duncan Robinson, also out of Topps Holiday. That's just my second hit (along with an autograph) of the three-point sharpshooter, and I hope his Pistons can complete another playoff comeback against the Cavs tonight.

One last scan closes things out with football and hockey. The former begins with a SAGE card of RB Blake Corum, putting me at 42 cards of my favorite recent Wolverines back. A RC of DL Mason Graham out of this year's Absolute Retail product is next, and that gives me three first-years for the first-rounder. Speaking of Absolute and first-round Michigan defenders, Aidan Hutchinson is next with a Green parallel from the '24 version of that brand. I now own more than 60 cards of the EDGE terror.

Bears star TE Colston Loveland brings us back to the offense with his '25 Score RC that pictures him with the Maize & Blue. That marks just my second RC of the future star. Loveland was a favorite target of QB JJ McCarthy, who's represented here on three 2025 issues: Absolute Retail, Donruss base, and a Donruss Retro insert. My collection of the national champ signal-caller is slowly growing with 26 cards to-date.

And lastly, Kerry tossed in a lone hockey card: a '23-'24 UD base of the Flyers' Cam York. The D-man in his sixth season after a pair in Ann Arbor scored just once during this season's playoffs, but he made it count with a game 7 OT winner against the Penguins.

Kerry, thanks once again for a fun envelope full of goodies that you know I love to collect! I currently have just a small stack of stuff intended for you so I'm not sure when I'll be returning the favor, but when I do, you can look forward the usual array of Cards, Ducks, and Eagles on cards!

I'll be back soon with the second of the three trade packages from last month. Maybe the Tigers can actually string a couple of wins together by then!

4/3/26 card show report: $25, no foolin'

Well this should be a pretty quick one, even if it took me too long as usual to get to.

I headed over to my usual monthly show in early April only to find that my favorite seller hadn't had much time to sort stuff into his sale boxes, meaning there wasn't much new for me to flip through. I ended up spending a year-low $25 because I'm not the type to throw down cash just for the sake of it. And it worked out well because I certainly made up for it this month. More on that in a few posts.

Anyway, that $25 was easily split between 100 dime cards and a trio for which he wanted $15. Here's a look at the loot:

The juniors Griffey and Ripken came from the dime boxes and those cards hail from last year's Topps Archives. Griffey's is from the '64 Topps portion while Cal's is done up in the style of the then-20-year-old '05 Topps set; '96's design can also be found in this product.

And then we come to the day's biggest pickups that account for the three-for-$15 portion: a trio of beautiful 90s Pacific die-cut inserts of Ivan Rodriguez! I noticed these in the guy's showcase and happily accepted the price. In order, above you can see 1999 Pacific Crown Collection's In the Cage followed by 1999 and 2000 Paramount's Fielder's Choice.

Both of these insert sets are among my favorites from the decade--one whose chase cards obviously rule--and are part of the fantastic history of the Pacific brand. The In the Cage cards simulated batting cages, though other versions also replicated foul poles in more examples of the manufacturer's ingenuity. Better yet are the glove-themed Fielder's Choice die-cuts, which are not only cut to conform to the shape of a fielder's most important equipment, but even simulate the webbing! Pudge is a natural fit in these sets as won 13 gold gloves, good for first place among catchers and three better than second-place star Johnny Bench.

The Cage card is my first from that set while the '99 glove joins Greg Maddux and the 2000 card gets added to the Ripken and Gwynn I previously snagged. I can't wait to add more of these, especially if I can find them at these outstanding prices.

We'll finish up with some basketball and football dime cards. Bufkin, LeVert, Robinson, and Wagner are all examples of some colorful inserts of hoopers I was glad to snag for 10 cents each. LeVert's Pistons are actually battling his former team, the Cavs, as I write this, and that's because they managed to overcome a big deficit against Mo's Magic.

As for football stuff, I turned up last year's Score base of former Packer/new Cowboy Rashan Gary to go with a pair of '25 base of national champion QB JJ McCarthy out of Donruss and Panini's Mosaic.

This could have been a bit of a downer of a show but I was able to turn that around with some "90s inserts rule!" goodness, plus I didn't regret having a bigger budget available this month, so once again, it was a good show.

I'm anticipating that my next three posts will be blogger trade packages, followed by the May show recap, a May trade, and my first TCDb deals of the year. I certainly have plenty to recap, even if I'm slow and lazy about doing so. I'll try to get motivated to at least show off the trades soon to thank the senders for their generosity.

2026 trade package #5: Batting Out of Order

Many of you may have heard the phrase "many happy returns" before. It's usually said in the context of celebrating something like a birthday or anniversary. But in this case I'm using it literally to express my happiness that Tom, who formerly blogged as "The Angels, in Order" is back at it with his new blog, "Batting Out of Order." I love the blogosphere and the people that make it fun, and Tom is most definitely one of the collectors I've enjoyed following over the years. So here's to your return, Angels/Patriots guy!

As for how that relates to tonight's post, well, I actually received cards from Tom in February thanks to posts he'd put up. This ended up being two PWEs but I felt like just combining them into one trade recap. You guys still get to see how generous he is and what he was nice enough to send my way, both earlier in the month and on the final day of February:

The football cards were actually the ones that inspired these PWEs but I'll start with baseball first as usual. Card #1 is Riley Greene's base from '24 Heritage, and he looks great on the classic '75 Topps design. The second is a great example of the tomfoolery you'd find in Upper Deck Fun Pack: a '93 All-Star Scratch-Off card that folds out to let kids play out an All-Star matchup. Gwynn and Puckett make for a terrific pair! After that, we return to Heritage with Brandon Inge's 2009 base card, which increases my count of the versatile Tiger to 81. And last up is a card that initially looked to be a double, but I should have known better since Tom and I are friends on TCDb. While the front appears to be a '99 Topps base card that includes Mike Piazza and Jason Kendall along with Pudge, it's actually a 2011 Topps 60 Years of Topps insert. Nice!

As for football, I asked for each of these cards in the comments of Tom's posts and he was nice enough to send them right away, which he definitely didn't need to do! I appreciate that he did, though, while also including the cool baseball stuff above.

The most recent two were the result of him breaking a fat pack of 2025 Absolute Retail Football. I noticed that he'd pulled two of my Michigan guys: Dolphins rookie DL Kenneth Grant and Vikings QB JJ McCarthy. You can tell these are retail because Grant's card doesn't include a serial number and JJ's doesn't have a holofoil front. I'm pointing that out here because lots of people mislabel these on TCDb and I have to get the incorrect images removed. Anyway, retail or hobby, I collect 'em all, and I was happy to get this pair from Tom, with Grant's card arriving as my third RC of the big man.

And then we have the card he sent me earlier in the month. Tom found some cheap Uno Elite Core Edition football cards at Target and was willing to send me the blue version of kicker Jake Moody that he pulled. Jake's the only Wolverine I've seen pulled so far but Charbonnet and Hutchinson are out there as well. Maybe I'll find them in a quarter (or cheaper) box at a show while I also see if I can help Tom fill out his Patriots team set in the various colors.

Tom, thanks once again for the PWE times two! I'm also always happy when you have something I can use (and vice versa) and thank YOU for always being cool too! I really appreciate you going the extra mile to send these out after I asked about them even though you didn't have to. Hopefully I'll find some stuff at the next show to return the favor. Until then, I'll be continuing to enjoy your new blog. Welcome back!

2025 trade package #18: Cards on Cards

It's almost Thanksgiving and I've finally made it to my August cards! First up is a fun package from Kerry of Cards on Cards, whose Oregon Ducks are still solidly in the playoff chase while my Wolverines have some heavy lifting to do.

Kerry sent me a typically excellent mix of baseball, basketball, and football, so let's dig in to the pile:

Panini's Mosaic brand has kind of gotten stale in my eyes but Select offers some cool parallels like the Orange Flash Prizm--a Tigers color match if there ever was one--that serves as my first card of Tigers IF prospect and 2023 second-rounder Max Anderson. While he's potentially part of the team's future, a Miggy Absolute Green parallel of his retail version is a nice reminder of the past. Back to the present, Kerry treated me to a card of his namesake Carpenter, the slugging OF for Detroit.

A '25 Topps Blue Holofoil (numbered /150) leads off the next trio, and that puts me just a few away from 150 cards of the former Wolverine. Even logoless, the Select Gwynn looks great with a cool shot of Mr. Padre about to add another hit to his total. Likely 2026 3B Colt Keith finishes off the group with a ready-for-Christmas Donruss Red/Green Laser parallel from this year.

Another former Wolverine leads this group as Larkin offers a Green Prizm that comes with hints of red, not to mention more of that hue thanks to the name of his team. Someone managed to find an image of Leyland not smoking for his Donruss Optic appearance. And Meadows, who may get shopped this offseason as Detroit looks to improve in center, joins Carpenter from Heritage, though in this case his is a holofoil card.

While Mize can't quite claim the "Titan" status that Skubal and his pair of Cys has earned, he's looked quite good in the rotation. The Donruss Red/Blue of Rainer is just my second of Detroit's first-round SS from '24 who ranks among the top 100 prospects in the game. And Tork was certainly a gem this past season compared to his previous struggles.

Verlander needs zero introduction here and is among the Finest in my collection for sure. The auto of left-side IF prospect Rucker out of '25 Donruss was a very nice surprise, and I look forward to seeing if the '23 fourth-rounder can move up in '26. And Gwynn closes out the baseball stuff in style thanks to an '85 Donruss jumbo card that gives a nice look at an old San Diego uni.

As a Portland fan, Kerry knows basketball well, so I'm never surprised when he includes some new basketball stuff for my collections. I like the mix of players, designs, and color here. You can see Poole on both versions of '24-'25 Totally Certified--one plain, one foil--and I'm not entirely clear which is the "base" going off of TCDb images, but I'll figure it out at some point. Also, my Franz Wagner collection (plus a Mo!) got another nice boost thanks to this envelope. I'm now over 60 items of the younger German Wolverine bro.

And that's partially also thanks to this bunch of Panini stickers! Bufkin, Poole, and the Wagners were seen above while 2025-26 Pistons teammates LeVert and Robinson fill out the group. The foil of Franz is my favorite because it takes me back to my childhood days of ripping Panini sticker packs (usually baseball) and hoping for the foils and holos.

And we'll end on a high note with football. I believe Colson's out for the year but love the look of his Prestige Xtra Points parallel. Corum picked up his first NFL TD against the Titans in week 2 and I hope he gets more chances. Browns first-rounder Graham's been a bit quiet this season but I think given time he'll be creating chaos on the DL in the NFL just like he did in college.

Speaking of excellent defenders, the trio of Hutch/Paye/Gary has been a very good one for their respective teams! They've combined for 18.0 sacks this season with lots more sure to come. As for the next guy, the question isn't Will Johnson be great, but Will Johnson stay healthy? If so, he could be a draft steal (second round) for the Cardinals after a decorated career in Ann Arbor.

Those accolades included winning the '23 national championship with the next two guys. McCarthy's still showing some rust after being injured all of last season but if he can get right and limit his mistakes, he could be the next great Michigan QB in the NFL. And Sainristil's college play was as shiny as his Mosaic parallel above, a game that I think will translate well to his job with Washington.

Last up is easily my favorite card in the package because it's a new (and relatively recent!) autograph of former blog namesake guy Mario Cashmere Manningham! You all know Super Mario was one of my favorite college receivers and I was excited to see him win a Super Bowl ring even if he had to catch passes from gumpy fivehead guy Eli Manning. Despite his short career he continues to pop up in products more than a decade after his final season, and that includes last year's Panini Mosaic offering. This marks hit #101 and card #33 with a signature on it. Hell yeah!

Kerry, thanks so much for this outstanding envelope! It remains a pleasure to trade with someone who has similar preferences in sports (especially when it comes to colleges) but different teams. I also received your recent box(!) you sent me and will happily show that off when I catch up. Until then, I'm looking forward to hitting you back right around Christmas. Also, good luck to your Ducks, and may they take down the Trojans this weekend!

I'll be back with more trades soon and will be enjoying my own college football Saturday tomorrow as Michigan takes on Maryland. GO BLUE!

2025 Retail purchase: Valiant Victors

I'll set the scene: it's mid-July and Ann Arbor's Art Fair is in full swing. The big event draws in nice crowds every year and sometimes means interesting deals to find in the city's stores. I head to Rally House, the location that took over the well-known MDen retailer (which somehow managed to go out of business despite the football team winning a national championship, due to financial mismanagement) to score some cheap t-shirts, and take a peek at the collectible stuff on my way to check out.

Then I see them: two boxed complete sets of the 2022 Valiant football team cards. This was the first of two years they made them, and you may recall that I picked up hand-collated sets of the '23 version last year. While I knew packs were available for each year, usually at high prices due to the possibility of pulling some cool autos (and generating NIL money for the players), this was my first time seeing complete sets in boxed form.

"Oh cool," I thought to myself, "those should be a bit cheaper since you don't have to buy a bunch of $15 packs to complete a set. In my mind I was expecting the cost to be in the neighborhood of $100 because I think they may have been more than double that on the old MDen site (when I never even saw them in the store). And though the '22 team wasn't quite as successful as the '23 guys, falling to TCU in the first round of the four-team playoff, I was still interested in getting cards of a bunch of guys that wouldn't appear on any otherwise, plus those of a few alumni I still collect. So basically I was fine paying a decent chunk of change for these.

Wait, $50? That's way better than I thought! There were exactly two sets left on the shelf and I grabbed the other one to send to Jeff like I did with the last one, though he paid me back for that one given the price I paid. And I knew he could get me back with money or trade items for just $50, so why pass that up?

I went to check out and the staff member let me know she'd had her eye on these sets herself but hadn't snapped them up for whatever reason. "Oh well," I thought, you had your chance. Then she scanned both sets and my total came up: $40+tax. WUT. Yep, they weren't advertised as being on sale, but came out to just $20 each. Score!

So as promised I sent a set Jeff's way and kept one for myself that I finally opened for scanning. As it turns out I got dupes of one ex-QB Cade McNamara's three cards and will need to hunt down the missing one, but I'm still very happy with my purchase. As the box notes, it's 144 cards (including three checklists), with the first 100 or so being upperclassmen and well-known youngsters, and the remainder comprising incoming and rising recruits.

WR Andrel Anthony (who transferred to Oklahoma and then Duke) and future star QB JJ McCarthy both get two appearances while I already mentioned that '21 starter McNamara (who was supplanted by McCarthy, to the benefit of the team) has three.

As with the '23 set these have a very nice maize & blue theme paired with colorful action shots, and I really like the look of the set. The backs look like they might have pulled bio and stat info straight from the official MGoBlue.com site, which seems like a reasonable thing to do. The backs also prominently feature the MDen name, which is kind of amusing now.

Ok, that's plenty of description. If you'd like to see the whole checklist please take a gander here, otherwise here's a few stars and other big names I decided to scan:

A few of these guys are in the NFL and even got drafted, and Corum remains my favorite of the bunch. It's fun that Bredeson is still with the team, both as a legacy (his bro Ben played for Michigan) and an absolute weapon of a blocking FB/TE.

This one includes a couple more first-rounders and three different QBs. I showed off one of the two McNamaras I got (like I said, I'm missing the third, #68) but both McCarthy cards because the latter is clearly better. Who didn't love seeing Orji come in on obvious run plays and pick up a big first down? Sainristil remains my defensive MVP for this team.

Wilson was JJ's go-to guy and good for 12 TDs in 2023. Zinter was a key OL who was injured in the Game against OSU but served as inspiration for Blake Corum who scored on the following play and held up a "6-5" for one of the guys who escorted him to the endzone so often. And Grant was one of the "gifts from the football gods" coach Jim Harbaugh often cited, along with Mason Graham, that formed a fearsome DL that anchored a top-notch defense.

I included the checklists (which I now see I scanned backwards, oops!) and a few backs to give you an idea of what those look like.

All in all I was very happy with this purchase and obviously would have been even if I paid more. Sure, I have to track down one card that should have come with the set, but I guess that's the kind of potential QC issue you can get buying from a manufacturer that's not generally known for creating cards. It's all good, and until then I'll happily enjoy owning even more college items of some of my favorites from Michigan's outstanding 2023 team. GO BLUE!

With this post I'm finally done with July and may try to expedite my remaining posts to catch up so I'm not still posting 2025 content in '26. Stay tuned for more!

5/2/25 card show report: it's gonna be May

With another monthly show coming up in less than a week, tonight I'm recapping my Taylor Town trip from May.

Coming off a show where I'd spent a yearly low of just $55 I almost doubled my spending at a $100 even. Oddly enough I may have come home with fewer cards than April, but that was the result of an increase in quality at the expense of quantity. Hey, whatever works!

First up, I did snag a bit of trade bait to make available here, all of which is a bit higher end than normal:

The Lo Duca auto is numbered /227 while the patch is limited to 100 copies. I know I trade with a bunch of Dodgers collectors but decided I might prefer specific offers of items in trade for these as they're on the nicer side. Meanwhile, the jersey/auto of Stewart is /75, and the Sano manurelic isn't numbered.

Please claim any if you'd like to trade for them here or over on TCDb.

As for my keepers, I can also sum them up in a single scan:

#1 PC guy Cal gets yet another addition in the form of a '21 Topps 70 Years of Topps insert that imagines what he'd look like on the 1978 design. His fellow 2007 Hall of Fame inductee (I was there!) Tony Gwynn is the other baseball representative tonight in the form of a pair of early 2000s relics. The vertical card is from 2002 Topps 206 while its horizontal sibling hails from 2001 Upper Deck. The latter came out just four years after Gwynn was on the small checklist of the ballyhooed debut of UD's Game Jersey cards. It was certainly a different time back then! I now count 12 relics in my collection of Mr. Padre, and I'll happily spend in the $5-$10 range to continue growing that count.

As for football, the lone non-relic I picked up was a 2021 Absolute Blue Diamonds parallel of former UM RB Chris Evans. It's numbered /99 and the color was along the right lines so why not? Next to him we have my first two hits of 2023 National Champ QB J.J. McCarthy, both of which are Vikings jersey relics. On the left is a jersey from '24 Absolute's Rookie Force insert, and that's joined by the same year's Donruss Rookie Phenom Jerseys set. I hope he hits the ground running as Minnesota's QB this season after barely playing during last year's preseason due to injury. For now he becomes subject #265 in my football collection.

Last up is relic #5 (and 6th overall hit) of the electrifying Desmond Howard. He's pictured on the card above with the Lions but this one was actually made by Stadium Club in 2001 to celebrate his appearance earlier that year in the Pro Bowl as a KR for the NFC. That was his lone appearance in the NFL all-star game over his 11 seasons, and he was named to the team on the back of numbers like 457 punt return yards (including a career-high 95-yarder) and TD, plus 1401 kick return yards on 57 tries, including a season-high 70.

That's all for this time but I'll figure out what I'd like to show off next and try to get another post up soon. Until then, if anyone has any solutions for the reeling Tigers, please feel free to share them with the front office in Detroit!

2025 trade package #8: Cards on Cards

We've now made it to the March portion of my year of collecting, and trade-wise that month's first package came from Kerry of Cards on Cards. My college/pro collector buddy on the other side of the country sent me a very nice envelope stuffed with cards representing the three most popular American sports:

The baseball stuff all fit into one scan. Madden is potentially the future of the Tigers' rotation, just like JV was in the past. Maddux and Ripken form half of my big four thanks to Panini brands, while Griffey and Gwynn join them courtesy of a much older Panini sticker set (1991). Star left side infielders Sabo and Tram also came along for the ride in diminutive and sticky form. And speaking of past Tigers, there's a cool BInge from 2000 Bowman's Retro/Future parallel that threw it back to '55 Bowman.

Basketball ended up being the top dog sport this time, which as always was fine since pretty much everything was new to my relatively small collection! Bufkin was one of a few players who got a nice little bump to their PCs, and his bunch includes a few sets that pop up several times here, including a Donruss Winter parallel, Hoops, and Hoops' separate Winter release (which I'm writing about as we happily get closer to summer). THJ, Howard, and LeVert all appeared on just one card this time, but that's cool since they're all pretty well represented in my basketball collection as it is.

Poole stars on a fun trio--a number apropos of a guy who hit a big trey in the NCAA tourney years ago--including a very patriotic Prizm parallel that goes well with the upcoming holiday. Duncan Robinson, another three-point ace, gets a quartet added to his collection highlighted by the start of a Hoops/Winter rainbow. And then we get a look at Orlando's Wagner Bros., Franz and

Mo! This post made me check my count for both of them and currently Franz leads Moritz 53-22, which is a good indicator of which one is more highly regarded in the league.

Last up is one scan of football, all of which comprises guys from the past 10 years of the program. Colson, Corum, and McCarthy are all RCs from the latest edition of Panini's Absolute brand, specifically the non-SN retail set (I do chase those along with the hobby versions). Those guys are joined by fellow national champions Donovan Edwards (UDFA this year), Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, and a RC of WR Roman Wilson. A couple recent high-end defenders close out the group in Aidan Hutchinson (on another Michigan uni card!) and Kwity Paye, as seen on a Prestige Xtra Points parallel.

Kerry, thanks as always for taking the time to identify and send me cards of the pro and college players I collect! I continue to appreciate the effort you put into your trade packages and the quality of what you send, so I'm grateful for another envelope of goodness.

I'll be back soonish with the other package I received in March before showing off cards from other sources.

2025 trade package #7: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

It's the last day of April so let's finally look at the mailer I received from Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store back in February!

Your first place Tigers were well represented in this package that arrived a couple months before the season opened. The past guys are pretty good company between Miggy, Fister, and Grandy, but Carp, Greene, and Jobe are all making big contributions to a club that's exceeded my expectations so far. Speaking of Riley, who needs team parallels when you have your own name parallel?

Keith's been slower to get things going this year but did homer today. Manning's stock may be down but McGonigle's has shot up quite a bit, making that numbered Donruss parallel extra nice. Parker's still working his way back from injury and so is Rogers, but Mize has been a nice story so far as he leads the Tigers with four wins. Morris's Predictor insert is a bit of a combo-breaker, but not entirely since end his 13-year career in Detroit, playing 40 games here in 2000.

Ex-Tiger DeMeritte's fantastic 2020 image, one of the best of that year, gets the Chrome and Refractor treatment, and I have a feeling we'll see this one popping up in highlights for years to come. Miggy leads off the hit parade with a 2024 Ginter jersey, my 16th such card of the future HOFer. A beauty of a jersey/auto of '24 Tigers bullpen ace Tyler Holton was one of the bigger surprises of this mailing. Limited to just 25 copies, it comes with a solid signature and cool jersey swatch. And we'll end the baseball content with a non-Tiger: my first auto of former Wolverine Jordan Nwogu. The Canadian Cubs prospect eluded my hits collection up until Doug rectified that, and he becomes baseball hits PC guy #41. Nice!

I took way too long to post this package but it's still not that close to Halloween yet, no matter what that LeVert Hoops card would have you think. Franz had a career best season, albeit one limited a bit by injury. Ex-coach Juwan looks great on a gorgeous '90s SPx design. And LeVert makes a second appearance in the form of the second relic I can claim of him: a jersey inserted into 2020-21 National Treasures.

I didn't time it this way on purpose but this scan ties in well with the recently completed NFL draft. The group includes five '24 rookies, all of whom were difference-makers for Michigan's recent title, plus a base of talented vet Rashan Gary. It looks like I'm shy four more vets (Aidan Hutchinson, Nico Collins, Charles Woodson, and Ty Law) and one RC (Jaylen Harrell) to complete the team set. As always I'm a fan of Score using college action photos for the first-year guys.

Former Pats Ty Law and Josh Uche plus Giant/Raider Ty Wheatley round out the base portion of the football content. Then former TE/WR Devin Funchess double dips with a very, very nice pair of hits. His 2019 Certified auto, numbered to just 30 copies, features a typically eye-pleasing holographic design, and that marks 15 cards I own that include his signature. It's joined by a large jersey swatch from that year's Crown Royale, a decent throwback to the excellent Pacific brand. Funch continues to outpace the other three Devins in my football collection with 35 hits.

Fortunately some of the other teams represented today have been or were at least moderately successful this year because both of the hockey squads underachieved and missed their playoffs. So it goes, but I still enjoy collecting them! First up we have the local pro team, and a mix of recent and older. The big highlights for me are the bookend images here: Pavel Datsyuk and Nick Lidstrom. The 2014-15 Metal card of the former may have been a tough scan but it looks great in-person. And the further we get from Lidstrom's playing days, the more I appreciate the things he did to make the Wings a perennial playoff threat.

Unlike the second Datsyuk above, Lidstrom's second card--also a Fleer brand throwback--scanned very well and the image represents just how nice it looks. Seider's SP Authentic card is a shiny look at the future/present of the Motown blue line. Shanahan's UD insert looks just as pleasing in my hands as it does in 2D on your screen. And Sheppard was a favorite of mine from the Sega EA Sports NHL game days.

In this last Wings scan, Veleno and Yzerman are linked as the latter flipped the former in March in a deal to bring former Detroit goalie (and Doug's fellow 2/14 baby) Petr Mrazek back. Zetterberg was another of those stars the team doesn't seem to be developing much these days, but maybe we'll see more of them again in the future.

Speaking of player development, Doug included a pair of hits of former prospects. Ex-Spartan (barf!) Taro Hirose appears to be with a German team now but he was a decent prospect at one point and good enough to appear on beautiful UD cards like the numbered Black Diamond signature you see above. Meanwhile, Smith, seen on a very nice numbered jersey in the form of a large Red Wings red swatch, was one of the team's two 2016 second-round picks, and he's since bounced around a bit, finally landing in Philly's system.

Lastly, the Michigan Hockey content may not have been abundant, but the quality and a big side of shininess were most definitely there in spades. Just look how that top row trio of Beniers and Connor cards just pops! The numbered Hughes is especially nice right now as he chases a second straight Norris trophy, competing with a guy in the next scan. Hyman scored exactly half of his 54 goals from last season but still had a decent enough year for the Oilers. And Larkin continues to be a good captain for a Wings squad that continues to fail him.

You want more shiny and/or numbered? You've got it! A pair of pretty Pacioretty cards begins tonight's last scan, courtesy of UD's Allure and Ice brands. Trouba's finally away from the Rangers and that's probably the best I can say about his season. Werenski is Wolverine Norris Trophy finalist #2 this year thanks in part to his career highs of 23 goals, 59 assists, and 82 points. And yet another top-notch card of a high-end blueliner will close things out tonight: a numbered Black Diamond of Cam York. My York collection is small but pretty much nothing but bangers thanks to Doug, with pretty much everything being this high quality.

Many thanks to Doug, my favorite Canadian trade partner, who managed to send this and another mailer plus post the first part of the package I recently sent his way before I finally got off my butt to recap this February envelope! I look forward to seeing your follow-up posts as I try to reload for future considerations.

2024 trade package #24: Cards on Cards

Continuing with my marathon posting of trade packages this evening, here's #1 from earlier this month: a basketball-heavy mailer thanks to Kerry from Cards on Cards. Maybe this is something he can read as he nervously awaits his Oregon team's Wednesday Rose Bowl matchup with the hated Buckeyes. My suggestion: the Ducks wear crazy-ass jerseys all the time anyway so why not make an Oregon version of the iconic winged helmet and wait for Ryan Day to poop his pants like he usually does? Oh, and I happen to know that he has another envelope from me that may include one or more Ducks whenever he gets a chance to open it.

Anyway, here's what Kerry sent me earlier this month:

Most of the baseball fit in this one scan. Like his cards above, Baddoo may be feeling Blue after being DFAed so new pitcher Alex Cobb could join the roster. Greene, whose roster spot is secure, looks groovy on the Big League card, and he also offers my first look at this year's Stadium Club Chrome insert (not to be confused with the separate base issue). I wonder if Jung will get a chance to stick with the club now that Gleyber Torres has been signed and other moves may be in the works. Donruss' recent products are geared toward folks like me who love collecting classics like Sisler. Skubal, who's going to be very, very rich within a couple years, was an All-Star this year, as the above Topps insert reminded me. Verlander comprises the rest of the baseball content, and the shiny version of his Attax card makes the all-too-common regular versions seem even uglier than they are, if that's even possible.

Topps' flagship design has always been hit or miss with me, mostly the latter, but Stadium Club is rock solid when it comes to looks. I love the horizontal Verlander photo of him finishing his pitching motion, and the Sepia parallel looks quite nice as well.

Most (but not all!) of the rest of the content is basketball, and Hoops-related products are well represented. That works for me since I needed practically everything here! As with football, Panini released a Halloween-themed product called Haunted Hoops, and Bufkin and the younger Howard are two of the former Wolverines you can find in it. Burke is "just" a regular Hoops RC (nice!) and former UM coach Howard gets just his second card from the past decade to join my collection thanks to 2023-24 Topps Chrome, with Topps having to do the logoless thing like Panini does with baseball.

LeVert, Poole, Robinson, and both Wagner brothers also get the Haunted Hoops treatment here. Every card you've seen has been a base except for the two Orange parallels--Bufkin above and Poole here. Poole also gets a new Panini Flux for his PC, Robinson joins Bufkin above from the apparently-difficult-to-scan Hoops Premium Stock product, and Franz adds appearances from Panini Illusions and the most recent Topps Chrome.

Remember a bunch of the guys we just saw? Well they're back--in sticker form! These are all 2023-24 Panini Stickers, and four of them are standard versions while Poole gets a cool holofoil entry and Franz appears in the Global Icons subset representing his native Germany. I hope both Wagner brothers heal up in time to run it back next season!

Lastly, I can always count on a fellow college collector like Kerry to send some Wolverines my way. Better yet, half of these are college uni photos! Hutchinson's season ended too soon earlier this year but with the injury luck the Lions have had in 2024 there's no doubt he wouldn't have made it through the season anyway. That doesn't dampen my enthusiasm for collecting him, and I continue to root for his team to keep winning to make my friends who are Lions fans happy.

His former teammate J.J. McCarthy suffered his own injury before even making it through the preseason, and I hope he returns to health next year as well. For now I'll keep collecting him, especially Michigan cards like the above pair of Score inserts which remind me of happier memories earlier this year when JJ led Michigan to a national championship.

And lastly, I guess the theme of this section is injured recent Wolverines because Wilson also dealt with similar issues in the preseason and has barely played so far in 2024. His pro debut may be done prematurely but boy did he come up big time and time again for last year's title-winners catching 12 TDs including the one that tied the Rose Bowl against Alabama with under 2:00 to go in the eventual OT win for the Maize & Blue. While I tend to favor Score's RC design, Prestige does sometimes have its moments, and I've always appreciated them using college shots as well.

Kerry, thanks again for this envelope stuffed with Tigers and Wolverines! I'll continue my full-throated support for your team especially as a matchup looms with a team with possibly the most toxic fans in the nation. GOOD LUCK, DUCKS!

Well that's three posts I've done today and that leaves three for New Year's Eve, giving me something to do as I watch Michigan's noon bowl game against Alabama (again). Most of the impact players will be gone due to the draft or transferring, and it was already looking like a mismatch before taking that into account, so I won't be expecting a win, but regardless I'll be thankful for one last 2024 Michigan Football game after the calendar year began on the best note possible. LET'S GO BLUE!

2024 trade package #9: My Sports Obsession

My next big old box o' cards in May came from buddy of the blog Jeff of My Sports Obsession. It's been long enough that I'm not 100% certain but I think he gave it to me when we met up at the Kalamazoo show that month (spoiler alert for an upcoming post!). Jeff, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Either way, it was absolutely stuffed with goodies, many of which I'm sure he generously set aside for me while sorting through boxes and boxes of stuff for his awesome side gig. Here's the goods:

Could you really have a set called "Classics" without a guy like Sparky? No, no you couldn't. Jeff's been one of the biggest contributors to my collection of Baez. And this time he made a HUGE contribution to my stack of Miggy cards with 18, or two full scans' worth! These five are a nice start but I prefer some of the ones below.

Diamond Kings and Gallery are brands that always look really nice as far as I'm concerned, and I was happy to get the Gallery parallel as well. I was also happy to see that Topps used one of my favorite designs, 2001's, for Archives. Miggy and Pujols were indeed the active HR leaders at the time that card was made, and with cheater Nelson Cruz having also retired after 2023, Giancarlo Stanton is your current #1 (420 at the time of posting this) and only player over 400, with Trout (378) and Goldschmidt (357) behind him.

I'm sure some of my fellow Midwesterners are begging for the snow we tend to get around the holidays, but I say let the heat stay as long as possible! Check out Cobb's crazy grip on that Archives base. Cronenworth and Elliott, both Michigan Baseball alumni, are among the PCs in this post that Jeff and I share and I'm always thankful when he's able to help me out. Meanwhile, Griffey's one of my biggest player collections, yet he found a way to gift me a nice bunch I needed.

It'll never not feel weird that Junior wore a White Sox jersey for 41 games in 2008, but at least order was restored when he finished his career in Seattle after that. Mr. Padre is another guy that got a nice bump from this stack, and plenty of those were interesting as well, starting with a wax box card and including a Fleer box set issue plus Stadium Club's even better Chrome version.

Archives, Gallery, SC Chrome again, and even a Pinnacle throwback? Sign me up! It's getting pretty late for Dick Mountain to join a team in time to chase the playoffs but you never know. Barry's another shared PC guy and I'd been wanting that cool Stadium Club base of him walking his dogs for a while. Now I don't have to track it down myself. Maddux looks professorly on a Chrome Ginter card and very distinguished on another Gallery appearance.

The suddenly depleted Tigers rotation could certainly use a healthy Mize right now. Jeff did a nice job sending me a Pudge pair where he's pictured as a Tiger on each. Turnbull's a dingus but the various black/orange Topps parallels do work well with the team's colors. And did Jeff send me too many Verlanders? Maybe not, but he did send me 22 many Verlanders!

Most of them depict him as an Astro (with a few Mets thrown in to show off) which makes sense since we're coming up on the seventh anniversary of the deal that sent him to his first ring with Houston, not to mention the Tigers to their perpetual mediocrity. Anyway, look at how shiny some of these are! There's a few excellent brands in there too.

A quintet of Verlanders (hey, a Tigers card!) close out the "regular" standard orientation stuff while a mini Baez joins two horizontals that start the x-axis run (including yet another excellent Stadium Club photo). But first, we have what's easily the biggest card in the bunch: my first autograph of my fellow Michigan alum and not-so-fellow HOFer Ted Simmons! This was a huge surprise to me as I'd been wanting an auto of Simba for quite a while but had yet to pull the trigger. Bonus points for it being on another Archives card honoring the 2001 Topps design, plus his signature is impeccable. Wow! This makes him the 39th Michigan Baseball guy in my hits collection for the sport. If I recall correctly, Jeff had picked that up for me at the show earlier that day, though again, I could totally be making that up.

And after all that goodness there's still some baseball left, of the horizontal variety. Topps and Stadium Club give us a couple more looks at Miggy finishing his classic swing. Griffey and Gwynn each get cool Archives base appearances, plus Tony's Denny's hologram has me feeling nostalgia for the 90s (but not Denny's--BARF!). And there you see the last three of the 22 many Verlanders.

One page of basketball cards made the trip as well. A pair of Jett Howards bookends his dad. Poole's first season in Washington was decent. Franz and his brother Mo have Germany undefeated thus far in Paris with the quarterfinals coming up on Tuesday. And Webber is yet another guy Jeff and I can help each other out with as he has a ton of cards out there.

Lastly, your National Champion Wolverines were well represented in this box, requiring three scans to cover all of them. I'll eventually land cards of Bell as a Niner but I'm happy to keep piling up college cards as well. I don't like Brady personally but do respect his college and NFL success. Star WR Nico's Red Cracked Ice card looks amazing, and bonus points for being a college uni photo! Blake "The Great" and "The Don" formed a championship duo in the backfield and I'm champing at the bit to add more of both of them as well. Grbac's a 90s insert and that's always a plus in my book. And Buckeye-killer Haskins is another of quite a few Michigan uni cards you'll see in these scans.

I wasn't kidding--look at all of these! There's a lot of defensive talent in this scan, too, between Hawkins, Hurst, Hutch, and Paye. Denard's actually a Ginter card but he was enough of a sensation to cross over into the product that occasionally dabbles in baseball. Schoonmaker is another Harbaugh era TE success story.

Mazi, Turner, and Thomas would have fit well with the above scan as they also starred on the defensive side of the ball. I'm still short on cards of transfer RB Charbonnet but I'm holding onto cards of him with UCLA even though I don't count them towards my UM collection. And finally, what a great way to end things with champion QB/RB duo Corum and McCarthy? I guess Jeff took "Go Blue" seriously this time!

Jeff, thanks again for this generous stack of cards that hit so many of my PCs, especially the surprise addition of the Simmons! I've got a pretty nice pile to get to you at some point plus a few other items to go with the cards, and I'll have to figure out if I'll be shipping everything to you or seeing you at an upcoming show (speaking of which, everyone should make sure they're following Sluggo's Sports Cards). And here's to another great season of Michigan Football coming up in just a few weeks. GO BLUE!