2018 trade package #10: the Collector

It's been long enough--about 13 months--since Chris of the Collector and I had swapped cards that he now has a cool banner image.  I've been doing this for seven-plus years and still can't make that claim--I totally need to get on that!

Anyway, Chris recently promised me that he was sending one of my most wanted cards (as seen in the upper-right corner of this here blog) soon.  That ended up being part of a very productive PWE of cards he grabbed from COMC and then sent my way immediately instead of waiting for package filler.  Boy am I glad he did!

Here's the contents:

We'll start with a 2016 Bowman card of Tigers OF JaCoby Jones which is not a RC, but that's fine since he has cards in 2013 Elite Extra Edition and those don't count either.  The guy the Tigers got from the Pirates for a few months of Joakim Soria in 2015 hasn't done a lot of damage at the plate yet but could be an adequate guy on a rebuilding team.

Now we move on to the star of the show and one of my former most wanted:  Jake Fox's 2007 Bowman Sterling Black Refractor (#13/25).  The final card I needed for the slugger's three-card "rainbow" from that product was one of just two I needed to track down for Fox's small collection.  Believe me when I say it's got plenty of Refractor power even if the scan makes the "black" part look more prevalent.  Here's that trio, by the way:

Not bad at all!

The last card I'm chasing is gonna be much, much tougher to track down, though:  a 2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars Signature Quads auto that stars Fox along with teammates Geovany Soto, Derrek Lee, and Micah Hoffpauir.  Just 15 copies were made and I've never seen one, so if you've got a lead on one for sale please let me know!

The other two cards were also PC needs:  a couple 1995 parallels of Hal Morris.  While I was a bit surprised to find that I didn't already have card #2, an Ultra Gold Medallion, the Stadium Club First Day Issue to its left was a no-doubter for me.  Both of these feature nice action shots in the field on excellent borderless designs, but you just can't beat Morris catching the First Day stamp in his glove.  Based on other cards I could find from the set it seems that stamp moved around quite a bit so this very well could have been intentional on Topps' part, which would be awesome.

In any case this pair was very helpful towards my collection as I now sit at 102 cards shy of the 359 I've checklisted for the former Red.

Chris, thanks once again for packing lots of productivity into a Pedestrian (but not pedestrian) PWE!  I really appreciate you taking the time to find those needs on my checklists, especially as you sent a big-time want my way.  Enjoy your well-deserved big box of fun that I already know has arrived to you!

2017 trade package #18: Sport Card Collectors

While it would appear that the Yankees and Tigers had some difficulty getting along today,

fans of both of those teams have no such issues.  Take, for example, Sport Card Collectors, who sent me cards for the second time this year (previously:  back in January).  The collector of the Bombers, as well as the football Giants, Rodney Hampton, Ken Griffey Jr., and much more, was kind enough to grace my mailbox with more cardboard representing my hometown team:

Let's start with a six-pack of Miggy, one of the main attractions in today's free-for-all.  The future HOFer having a very down year is represented on 2017 cardboard from Archives (Retro Original), flagship ('87 Topps), Heritage, Opening Day, Stadium Club, and flagship again (Major League Milestones).  The Heritage is a very nice throwback, but I'll give the win to another well done iteration of Stadium Club.  Now that Topps knows I like it, let's see how they f&$k it up.

Speaking of Stadium Club, player #2 in the scan is second-year star pitcher Michael Fulmer out of that very product.  It's an intense shot of a very talented pitcher I'm looking forward to watching for years in Motown.

Our third player is a recent former Tiger, OF J.D. Martinez, who went off to Arizona for a song.  Simply a fun guy to watch at the plate, I'll miss his bat in Detroit, but I've still put together a decent pile of his Tigers cardboard, and SCC chipped in this pair from 2017 Finest and Gypsy Queen ("Get Gypped by Topps year after year!™").

One Tiger who deserves some nice cardboard for his turnaround since the first half of last season is Justin Upton.  The RF's put up some nice numbers this year, furthering my hope that he'll opt out of his expensive contract so the Tigers can get on with rebuilding.  He's seen here on this post's second-to-last '17 Stadium Club piece as well as a Chrome Refractor parallel (#413/568) from this year's Heritage.

On the complete opposite of the spectrum we have Jordan Zimmermann, once again from Stadium Club.  While Upton eventually improved, the pitcher has been a tire fire from the start, with a 16-18 record (that seems like it's been worse) and 5.58 ERA to-date.

Joining J.D. from this year's Finest is JV, a.k.a. this here blog's namesake!  Verlander has been all over the place this year, but he still fits in well in a product called "Finest."  Not only did SCC toss me a base Verlander, the Refractor is there as well!  Yes, the greatest of all Topps inserts.

And to go 16/16 on 2017 cards, here's a pair of Diamond Collection jersey relics of another Tiger from this year, OF JaCoby Jones, plus an encore of J.D. Martinez.  These simple but solid swatches from one of my favorite brands are a nice way to tie a bow on this well-rounded package!

Thanks for a fun bunch of Tigers, SCC--I hope I can return the favor soon!