7/31/26 card show report: Whatever

The past few weeks have been a bit "whatever" sports-wise, what with Michigan Football struggling with its transition to a new coaching staff that was supposed to help; the Tigers' season going out with a whimper and the Red Wings starting with one, proving once again that the Illitch family needs to sell both teams; and the NFL is in full swing but it's hard for me to find any team actually likeable, so I just root for individual former Michigan players.

That "blah" kind of feeling has sort of carried over to my blogging, even though they're not really related. I just don't get the itch to post very often, though don't worry, I don't intend to leave anytime soon because I still really appreciate the trading aspect blogging brings, and I have plenty to show off.

And more importantly, that stuff hasn't dulled my interest in the hobby at all. As a matter of fact, on the last day of July, for what would technically be August's show, I headed east to Taylor and tied my high for show spending for the year at $170.

A large chunk of that money was spent on higher-dollar cards, including a few for myself, but then again, "whatever," right? I haven't been spending like crazy this year (or even the past few years) so a splurge every now and then is fine, especially if I enjoy what I'm bringing home. The results of that thinking are below:

To start with, my 381st Rich Hill card may look somewhat plain, but it's actually the Vintage Stock version of his 2018 flagship base, and is therefore numbered /99. I'm glad to add anything new of his, but a numbered card is even better!

Speaking of pitchers I love to collect, one of my absolute favorites this time was the 2001 Stadium Club Capture the Action Game View of Maddux that you see above. It's not quite a 90s insert as it was made in 2001, but the creativity it brings is certainly in the spirit of the golden era of chase cards. Stadium Club offered some gorgeous insert designs in addition to the perennially awesome base looks, and the addition of the embedded slide is a winner. This is also numbered to just 100 copies. Would you rather have something like this or a slightly different colored variant of the usual Fanatics junk? That's what I thought!

A couple cheap Pudge inserts (which actually demonstrate Topps' most recent lack of design) give way to my first relic of young Tigers IF Colt Keith. It's from 2024 Select and the crazy pattern you see is called a Flash Prizm. No, I can't keep track of all of those either. Colt hasn't turned into the star people hoped he would after promising years in 2024 and '25, but he's still just 25, is versatile, and is locked up on a reasonable contract, so he's got time to become a long-term guy.

Another former Tigers IF, George Kell, made the trip home from this show along with the Maddux above, and I think one or two other cards. His 2002 SP Legendary Cuts bat relic caught my eye and I know I didn't pay as much for it as I thought. The addition of the olde English "D" on the bat chip was a nice touch! That appears to be my first relic of Kell, which surprised me.

Last up from baseball is a relatively understated but pretty solid Cal Ripken Jr. relic. As I march closer to 1500 of his cards, my most significant recent addition to his PC is this 2000 Skybox E-X Genuine Coverage jersey, which is a lovely orange Orioles swatch. There's not a whole lot going on with the design but sometimes that's a good thing. That's relic #10 of the Iron Man in my top player collection.

The football content goes just as hard, if not harder, if you can believe it. The Select base of former Vikings QB McCarthy was from the cheap boxes, but the rest certainly weren't! I'd seen two or three of the big cards in this scan in this seller's "as priced" boxes for quite a while (I'm talking more than a year at least!) and finally said to myself, "whatever," and asked for his best price on them along with the rest of the stuff I picked out. I was satisfied with what he asked and now I own them.

First up is my 78th card of Amara Darboh, and hit #52 (yep, I sure like that ratio!). Hailing from 2017 Rookies & Stars, it's a Longevity Signatures Green auto, and since the serial numbering is right up front you can see why I was especially interested in this one. At just five copies it's my lowest numbered Darboh aside from a printing plate, not to mention the 37th that includes his signature.

Keeping up the WR theme--he was a "TE" briefly in name only at Michigan--is Devin Funchess on a variation of his 2015 Panini Contenders auto/RC. This is the "facing forward" version while a "facing right" front image also exists. This one wasn't nearly as pricey as the others here but was still a fun addition as it joins 36 other cards in my bunches of Funchess.

The last WR in the group is possession guy Jason Avant, a sure-handed receiver for Michigan and then the Eagles. The card you see of him above is from 2006 Leaf Limited, way back when the Leaf name still meant something other than "Endless garbage 1/1s and stupid Trump shit." The bright foil you see is due to the card being a Gold Spotlight parallel of his RC, and it comes with both Avant's signature and a nice two-colored jersey swatch. Though you wouldn't know this by the front, it's almost as rare as the Darboh above, limited to just 10 copies. Just another gorgeous piece of one of my best looking football PCs, now sitting at 67 cards strong.

Last and kind of least, since it pales in comparison to the others--but is still much appreciated--is my third relic of ex-Minnesota QB J.J. McCarthy. The national champ shares a 2004 Donruss Rookie Holiday Dual Sweater insert with former teammate Dallas Turner. As always, these are kind of gimmicky, but also no worse than "event worn" cards, and at least the multiple colors make them more interesting. I'm hoping JJ gets more of a chance with the Giants (or someone else) than he did with the Vikings, who cut bait on him pretty early, at a time when it's become clear a number of young QBs need years to develop. But that's fine since I have no love for the Vikes anyway. "Whatever" again, right?

And that's another successful show in the books. I've got two more to recap and will get to them whenever I feel like it along with the other stuff that's hit my collection since then. Until I do, I hope many of you are doing better than "whatever" when it comes to the teams you root for. Unless you like the Yankees, in which case I'm not sorry!

2026 TCDb trade roundup: May through August smaller trades

Happy September, all! School is back in session for many or will be soon. As far as my interests the Tigers...uh...well they don't matter, but Michigan Football kicks off their season tomorrow night, and that's a big reason to celebrate.

Tonight I thought I'd finally take a quick run through a chunk of my TCDb trades from this year. I've completed 36 official transactions through the site (including a PIF or two) and most of those ran from May, around when I re-enabled trading on my profile, and the end of last month.

In this post you'll see the smaller trades, as in the ones that required just one or two scans. I'll give a bit of context where it makes sense, but otherwise I'll try to let the cards do the talking. Enjoy!

AdamD

Since you don't see him here too often, Brian Simmons is a Michigan Baseball guy, and when this member offered me that '99 Pacific Crown Royale Opening Day parallel (numbered /72), I couldn't accept quickly enough. I own 26 of his 45 listed cards and most of what I need at this point is lower-numbered or Minor League stuff. That made this deal an exciting one for me!

b14rebel

Reed is another Michigan Baseball guy who played for the Tigers. That Robinson/Oliva/Kaline was a really nice addition too!

Billsfan560

These Rookie Sweaters are a bit goofy but just as good as any "worn for a second" relic, and that's my fourth such card of transfer QB Joe Milton III.

davidandrew21

A bit of help for multiple sets here: '95 Finest, '15 Topps Cal Ripken 2632, and '16 Topps Tribute to the Kid. After all the deals I'll eventually post here, I need the following total from each set, respectively: 6, 0, and 9. Yep, I'm all set with that Ripken set, which is pretty cool!

Dmbramer

drew_engquist

Hershey

Hubbard is the guy of interest for me on the three-player basketball card as it's a RC of the Michigan Basketball product. Speaking of multiplayer cards, the Topps sticker that includes PC guy Mickey Tettleton (along with Astro Dave Smith) has another interesting guy on the back:

Sweet Lou! That's an excellent combo if I do say so myself.

immmike

JBurrow9

The Jenkins here is a True Blue parallel from '24 Rookies & Stars and is numbered /149 on the back. The Perry was supposed to be a Chrome Silver parallel from '06 Topps Draft, but this member accidentally mis-IDed what's actually the unnumbered Black version. That was fine since I needed it as well.

JerPie69

Junk_Wax_Junkie

leftyscore

I love that Call to the Hall Gwynn, another example of a '90s insert ruling, as they do. It's bookended by a couple of multiplayer '06 Topps Co-Signers numbered parallels. Dunn's paired with teammate Griffey on a Bronze numbered /150, and Maddux was a natural comparison for Prior on a Silver Bronze (confused? I am!) limited to 125 copies.

Maximus

The Delgado might look a bit out of place here and in my collection, but it closes the book on my '94 Pinnacle Series 1 set chase. Meanwhile, the McGary tri-color jersey/auto was a nice reward for a couple Cowboys autos I was glad to get rid of. It's my second signed relic of his and 9th hit overall.

MichiganFan9

It sure is nice to make at least a little progress on the Michigan TK Legacy set, even if it's a single card. Lund indeed starred on the gridiron for the Wolverines, but he decided baseball was his sport in the end, and split his career with Brooklyn and Detroit (with a short stop between the two as a St. Louis Brown).

mvs0219

pcantara (trade 1)

One of my two trades with this member included an '88 Topps Sticker featuring ex-Wolverine Dave Brown of the Packers. In case you're interested, he's joined by Larry Kinnebrew of the Bengals on the front, and the back stars HOF RB Eric Dickerson.

pcantara (trade 2)

The other deal I made with him looks even nicer in comparison. Nico looks awesome on a Blue Prizm wearing his college uni. And though I'm sad that the NFL hasn't worked out for him after an injury, I loved getting my first hit of K Jake "Money" Moody, an autograph out of '23 Absolute. Here's hoping he can work out his kicking issues and earn another job nailing PATs and FGs!

RaymondC15

rneagle2

If you couldn't tell, the player on the bottom sticker is former Wolverine Jabrill Peppers. I didn't feel like adding another scan just to fit it in because I'm lazy.

RoyalCornhusker

The numbered Horton is quite cool, but I was also happy to add my second auto of Wolverine David Ojabo after this member was willing to work with me to find something he could use. Hockey alum Stiver and the five ladies from '25 UD World of Sports are all making their debuts in this post, and it's especially cool to have some representation of less common sports involving some of my fellow Wolverines!

smitha1

There's plenty to like here but the biggest addition for me was the '98 SPx Finite Spectrum parallel of PC guy Dean Palmer numbered /2250. And if you were as much of a fan of the slugging 3B as I was, then you'll especially love the next deal...

TpocketT

This may be the most fun bunch of cards in this post. I acquired around half of what you see here in one trade for five cards (all pretty much just junk autos), and then sent him $25 for some of the nicer ones, including the Larkins and everything numbered. Speaking of the latter, Barry's '03 Topps Chrome Refractor is SN699; The Matheny '06 Chrome Red is good for just 90 copies; Dean-o has one from the same set as the Larkin plus a Gold version limited to 449. This is just a beautiful bunch of cards that hits some of my favorite baseball PCs. Refractors rule!

wireguy66

I'll cover the remaining trades in one or more future posts, though first I'm planning on getting back to more important stuff including trades, shows, an eBay purchase, and a few more Facebook Marketplace finds. Yep, I've had even more luck with the latter lately. Stay tuned for those, and until then, GO BLUE!

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!