2018 trade package #21: Night Owl

Highly decorated and prolific blogger Greg, whom everyone knows better as Night Owl, was nice enough to send me a great little package after I completed a few of his wants a couple months ago.  Getting a Night Owl package is lots of fun because I never have any idea of what I might get.  Oh sure, Tigers will likely be part of the equation, but in what form?

There's no reason for me to keep you in suspense, check them out!:

Mini Miggy, Donruss Miggy, Topps Miggy, Blue Miggy.  Sounds like something you might hear on The Big Bang Theory followed by "Bazinga!" ::laugh track for 10 minutes straight::  That blue Donruss parallel is perfect and I love the throwback to the '84 set.  And no, I don't remember flipping the Topps and Donruss base cards while scanning these.

Recuperating starter Michael Fulmer looks good on the plan-but-solid '18 Donruss design, as does Mr. Tiger on a name variation.  There's also a Topps Rookie History reprint of Kaline that's another reminder that I need to knock that original card off of my collecting bucket list before it gets reprinted 20 more times.

Greg also fired the McCannon a couple times with a pair of inserts.  Naturally I'm especially attracted to the Refractor from 2015 Chrome but the Big League card from this year is no slouch.

Of course I was excited to see two Verlanders among the goodies, especially since one is a true RC:  his 2005 Donruss Throwback Threads base in which he looks every bit of the 13 years younger that he is as pictured.  I say true RC as opposed to the ridiculous "(RC)" designation that lingered for a few years.  Anyway, that's a great card, not to mention generous on Greg's part since JV escaped Detroit's poor coaching and reestablished himself as a top pitcher!

Joining that is a Topps team card from 2015 which is very cool since those don't tend to be easy to track down, at least without having to purchase the whole set.  They're also easy to miss since the photo up front is identical, but the large numbering on the back beginning with "DT-" is very helpful.

I tossed the rest of the modern Tigers in this same scan, and those include another 2015 Chrome Refractor, this time swingman Buck Farmer, a couple base examples of 2018 Big League in the form of Dixon Machado and Jordan Zimmermann, a 2015 flagship Snow Camo ("SNOW CAMO?!") parallel of short time closer Joe Nathan, and a 2018 Opening Day insert of fan favorite mascot Paws.

I said "modern" Tigers above because here's where things got especially interesting.  An '84 Fleer base of Chet Lemon, a guy who was an All-Star that year on a fantastic team, is about as mainstream as it gets.  That's followed by a fun new addition for me, a '94 Ted Williams base of Mark Fidrych.  I neither have many cards of that brand or player, so it's definitely a cool throw-in for me.

Next is a five-spot of old, olllld Tigers from 1992 Conlon, giving me a great opportunity to learn about more players from that era:

• Shea was with the Tigers from 1927-29 and again in '39.  The backup catcher's career spanned parts of 11 seasons and six teams, and his claim to fame appears to be when he was sent to the Browns by Boston for future HOF catcher Rick Ferrell.
• Sorrell pitched his entire ten-year career (1928-37) in Detroit and put up decent numbers, including a 92-101 record and 17.0 bWAR.  Unfortunately for him, by the time the 1935 World Series team rolled around he wasn't on the mound much, and sometimes out of the 'pen when he was.
• In Stoner's case somehow a rapper of the same name did not impede my search results.  The pitcher came from a huge family where pretty much all of the kids seem to have been named after famous people--Ulysses S. Grant in this case--and there's also a story about how he came to have an oddly bent index finger on his pitching hand on his SABR page.  He spent most of his nine year career in Detroit, in 1922 and 1924-29, and went 50-57.
• Tavener was nicknamed "Rabbit", and why not back then (1921 and 1925-28, plus a year in Cleveland).  The SS was small even for his era at 5-5, small enough that Ty Cobb didn't want him, but he put up a few solid seasons in Motown.  So I guess now we know what it would be like if someone my size played in the Majors in the 20s!
• Finally, Joyner Clifford "Jo-Jo" White was lucky enough to earn a cool nickname and get a ring with the '35 Tigers.  The OF was with Detroit from 1932-1938, and while it doesn't look like he lit up box scores, he was apparently a solid enough option off the bench to appear in both the '34 and '35 Series.

And now I'm going to borrow one of Night Owl's cooler features (I mean he's got so many), one I don't think he's even used in a while:

For me the best card in the package was definitely the last card you see in that scan, card #61 in a set produced by local paper The Detroit News in 1981 that celebrated 100 years of the Tigers (one that I definitely need to track down now!).  This one honors the World Series champion 1945 squad, and the back helpfully lists who appears:

The biggest names here are Newhouser, who put up a ridiculous 12.1 bWAR that year, longtime Tiger Dizzy Trout, and Rudy York.  Hank Greenberg, returning from three years away due to WWII, isn't pictured for some reason, but he was a big contributor in the win over the Cubs, so I'll at least mention him here.

And then we have the final card in the package, and the only one that doesn't fit the Tigers theme.  It's a 2017 Topps Update base of PC guy Ken Griffey Jr.--a very young Junior Griffey, in fact, working a camera at Comiskey Park.  There's never a bad time to include Griffey in a package of cards heading my way!

Thanks once again for surprising me with all of this great stuff, Greg!  I know we don't trade often but I promise I'll send some more wantlist help and Dodgers so we can do it again!

2018 trade package #5: Sport Card Collectors

It's only mid-March and I've already received my second PWE this year from Matt of Sport Card Collectors.  Just like last time he sent me a nice little group of Tigers, and in this case he's got me in a spring training state of mind with six cards of four guys who are all on the 2018 squad:

Future HOFer Miguel Cabrera can pretty much bank on having a better season than he did in 2017, which ended with an unthinkable -0.8 bWAR.  His full-season career low was previously 2.7 in 2008 besides a 0.8 mark during a half-season 2003.  Perhaps he'll be healthier and more focused after putting some offseason off-the-field stuff behind him, though it remains to be seen how much he'll contribute to a rebuilding team that's getting younger.

Matt sent me this trio which starts with Miggy's 2017 Bowman's Best base plus--I'm thrilled to say--the Refractor version!  The latter comes across fairly well in the scan but as is always the case, when you have it in-hand you can tell the difference.

Those are joined by Cabrera's base card from Panini's 2017 Chronicles product, which I got to see for myself for the first time thanks to a trade from Paul of Scribbled Ink.  I hope Miggy doesn't go through a prolonged slump this year as the team could use someone like him to keep filling the seats during a down year.

That Refractor is one highlight of this group but my favorite card of the package is this insert of potential future ace Michael Fulmer.  I love getting new cards of him since his future looks very bright, especially if he can stay healthy; his 2017 numbers weren't too far off from those of his Rookie of the Year campaign the previous year, and that's in spite of some health-related ineffectiveness.  By all reports he seems to be healthy now, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him pile up some scoreless streaks, which are the subject of this 2017 Stadium Club insert.  I'll definitely work on getting to some games I know he'll be starting.

V-Mart has been largely useless (or worse!) the last few seasons despite the questionable extension Detroit gave him a couple years ago, but maybe he'll bring something to the table in 2018 as he'll have to earn his way onto the roster.  The DH looks like he's sleeping on this 2017 A&G Mini but he can't afford to let his bat do the same.  Regardless, I hope he doesn't suffer any ill effects from the heart issues he's gone through the last couple seasons.

Last up is starting catcher James McCann, a guy who's been serviceable both behind and at the plate the last few seasons.  He's no catcher of the future but has generally been able to get the job done, including amassing double-digit homers in the past two campaigns.  He handles his position just fine as well as seen in this fun photo on his Gold parallel from 2017 Topps (#0728/2017).

Thanks for sending more Tigers stuff my way, Matt--it's got me looking forward to the upcoming season!  I'll have a return package ready within a few weeks after I reload on stuff I know you'll like at a couple shows.

If you readers are fans of inserts please make sure to check out my post on TMM this evening--it's got numbered stuff, Refractors galore, and more!

2016 trade package #14: Happy Random Tigers Appreciation Month from Night Owl

Although he might be the most well-known baseball card blogger, I don't trade with Night Owl very often; in fact this is just my third trade with Greg since I started my own blog, and that last deal came almost four years ago.  But I guess he was thinking about me after I helped him with some of his Nebulous Nine wants as part of my Wantlist Awareness Month effort a few weeks ago because he responded in kind with his own theme:  Random Tigers Appreciation Month.  I would argue these Tigers are more quality than they are random, but I'll let y'all be the judge of that:

Scan #1:  the A&G Greenberg is very nice but is the outlier here as everything else hails from 2016 Diamond Kings (Miggy and the second McCann), 2015 Stadium Club (Castellanos, Cespedes, and the second V-Mart), and 2016 Opening Day (J.D., the first V-Mart, and the first McCann).  Opening day is its usual solid if unspectacular self while Stadium Club does a very nice job of returning to its roots, and Diamond Kings looks simply fantastic.  I'm especially happy to add more of J.D. and McCann here, but everything's a winner.

Scan #2 includes the final Stadium Club card from last year--the recently called-up Moya, who went 3-5 and knocked in Detroit's only run in today's loss.  Next we have three former Tigers:  Ordonez, of whom I've mentioned multiple times that I have a ton of cards;  a Purple Opening Day parallel of Scherzer, who's having a very nice 2016; and Miller, who was sent to Miami in the deal that brought Miguel Cabrera to Detroit and may find his talents on the move again this summer.  Next is a trio of rookies:  from 2009 Heritage we have pitcher Alfredo Figaro and OF Wilkin Ramirez, then Brian Powell from '96 Topps.  Figaro last pitched in the Majors in 2014 and Ramirez saw some action with the Twins in 2013.  Powell was sent to the Astros in a deal for future manager Brad Ausmus and returned later as a free agent.  Last up is a '79 Hostess oddball of Detroiter and former Tiger Ron LeFlore.

Greg also hit one of my player collections with a very cool oddball:

I have Gibby's 1981 Topps rookie but until Night Owl included it in this package I'd never added his Coca-Cola version of the card.  The pop manufacturer co-branded these Topps issues of 11 team sets of 12 cards each.  While I'm not sure of their overall scarcity I will say that to this point I've never found a Gibson card at a price I liked, so I'm impressed that Greg sent me a graded one.  I may pop it out of the case eventually but for now I'll keep it as-is.  What a fun piece of a guy who's a hero to Tigers and Dodgers fans alike!

Greg, thanks for an unexpected and not-so-randomly excellent package of Tigers!  Don't think that the cards I sent you recently will be my last attack on your Nebulous Nine needs, either--every month should be Wantlist Awareness Month!

2015 trade package #27 and 28: two-part, two-part trade with SCFtDS

I'm kicking off November with a post highlighting two envelopes from one of my favorite trade partners, Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store.

About two or three weeks ago, I received a nice bubble mailer from Mr. Corti, my neighbor from the northeast (mostly east!).  It included a five-spot of Tigers and a Red Wing:

Price had already made his way to Doug's Jays (congrats again on their fun playoff run!), but the rest are still Detroit mainstays, and the highlight is the V-Mart Refractor from 2012 Topps Chrome.  Nothing against the 2013 Topps Chrome Verlander, though, which was somehow new to my PC!

Young Red Wings star F Tomas Tatar was a nice inclusion as well, and I look forward to finding out if he can build on his excellent second full season of last year.

That was it for this blog's portion of that first envelope, but then a PWE arrived not long after.  Doug had already surprised me by emailing me a Topps redemption code, which I entered immediately, and he was nice enough to toss the physical redemption card into that PWE:

I was pretty excited about this as I didn't have anything yet of McCann, an up-and-coming catcher for the Tigers.  As luck would have it, the card arrived from Topps the same day as Doug's PWE: 

And here it is scanned properly outside of its Topps-loader (see what I did there?):

James McCann 2015 Bowman Chrome Rookie Autographs Refractor auto (#075/499)

Very nice!  A sharp blue ink, on-card signature on a Refractor--what's not to like?  McCann is a catcher out of the U of Arkansas and was Detroit's first pick (second round) in 2011 (after losing a first-rounder for signing V-Mart).  After a nine-game cameo last year, he was solid in 114 games this season with a .264 average and 7 HR plus 5(!) triples.  With former starter Alex Avila likely to depart, James might just be the heir apparent, so I'm thrilled to have a nice hit of his already.

As always, there's plenty more to see (two envelopes' worth!) over at TMM, so don't forget to check those out too.

Thanks again for some fun new additions, Doug!  I've already got a decent start on a return package for you, plus I should be hitting a show next weekend, so some cards should be crossing the border over to you before much longer.