2024 trade package #27: Baseball Cards Come to Life

And now we've come to my final trade package of 2024. This one arrived just after Christmas and was a fun surprise from Bo over at Baseball Cards Come to Life. He and I had previously made a trade via TCDb a couple years ago but this was our first "blogger" trade outside that site. Bo asked for some of the beat-up vintage I made available a few weeks ago and I came up with a pretty solid group of those for him in addition to some other stuff that I found on his wantlists.

He was nice enough to return the favor with some extremely cool stuff he must have pulled straight from my own wants as all were new to me:

The top group here represent my favorite items in the entire package. I wasn't familiar with the 1969 MLB PhotoStamps because their combination of vintage and oddball-ness made me unlikely to notice them. So I'm grateful to Bo for gifting me four of the Tigers that could be found: PC favorite Bill Freehan and fellow Detroit greats Willie Horton, Denny McLain, and Jim Northrup. I love the fact that these came out the year after that team won it all, and receiving these inspired me to add the others to my wants: Kaline, Cash, Stanley, McAuliffe, and Lolich.

The vintage action didn't stop there, though, as he included two '72 Topps base that I needed: Ted Simmons plus Darrell Evans' In Action subset appearance. That's a second-year of Simba and it puts me very close to his full Topps base run. Technically it's a second-year of Evans as well; His RC came out two years earlier instead, then he got consecutive base sports in '72.

Going back to oddball-ish stuff, the bottom row includes a Superstar back of Mr. Padre, a Topps Sticker of Willie Hernandez (shared with HOFer Steve Carlton), and a UK Mini of Jack Morris. There's enough of these one-offs that despite being common still represent holes in my collection, though not if someone like Bo can help it!

Next, he included a trio of Brandon Inge needs. Though I've long since had the '07 Topps base, I did indeed lack the Red Back seen above (I didn't scan the reverse, so trust me, bro). From that same year I was also treated to a horizontal photo of him attempting to make a crazy diving play in the stands (found in that year's Upper Deck product), and then Brandon's appearance in Topps' throwback 206 product released in 2010.

The last of the baseball content was one of a number of 2001 UD Vintage team checklists I've been chasing for a while because they include one or more guys I collect. In this case, Cal's the lone Oriole in my PC, but I do remember this team well, one that included ex-Cleveland star Albert Belle, Jeff Conine, Brady Anderson, and more.

Did Bo's generosity end there? Most definitely not! Also tucked into this envelope were three former Wolverines I needed from 1975 Topps football: longtime NFL O-linemen Dan Dierdorf and Reggie McKenzie, plus 10-year NFL CB John Rowser, who suited up for Green Bay, Pittsburgh, and the pictured Broncos. I now have 12 cards from this set, partially thanks to Bo, and just need #s 203 (an All-Pro card that includes HOF G Tom Mack) and 395, which is Giants RB Ron Johnson.

Bo, thanks for sending all of these needed cards my way! I hope we can increase the frequency of our trading in the new year and fortunately that shouldn't be too difficult with you making your wants available on my favorite trading site!

And once again thank you to everyone who contributed to TMV as a reader, commenter, and trade partner. I appreciate you all and will keep going in 2025--as long as none of you try to hold me to a three-post-per-day pace. I can't promise I'll put up six posts in a single month! But please do keep in mind that I still have a good amount of 2024 content to cover in the form of pickups from Facebook, TCDb, eBay, and shows, plus at least one other surprise source.

I'm not sure how long it'll take to catch up on those, so for now, I'll wish a happy new year to everyone who took the time to read this. May your 2025 be filled with good news, good friends, good food, good health, and everything you could want!

TCDB trade roundup: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

I actually had some intention of getting this post done over the weekend but then TCDB needed to do its database migration and I didn't want to put this together without access to that, so here we are!

Again, I don't always feel like I have to have a theme, but I came up with eight trades that brought me between one and five cards and thought that would be a fun grouping. So here we go!

Deal #1 today is from Texas A&M fan amalum who sent me five total cards (one that's since gone out in another deal) for a college uni card of his team. I scored this quartet:

Yes I do get Verlanders from TCDB deals from time to time, and spoiler alert: you're about to see another one. The football cards were enjoyable adds as well. Calloway's obviously long been retired but Peppers (Pats) and Wormley (Steelers) are still active.

Next is a single card from BLWinborn40, a member I've now traded with twice. Not only did our first deal go just fine, but he also has more than 1000 successful transactions. So when my end of the trade fell off the face of the earth for about a month I knew not to blame him, and that paid off when it showed up from the black hole that USPS randomly assigns some PWEs for temporary storage. Anyway, I happily snagged this card in return for a couple 1996 and '97 Finest Silver Braves:

As far as manurelics go these plasticky 70th anniversary logos are kind of goofy, but at the cost of a couple cheap 90s cards I'm glad to grab another Verlander. It's actually my fourth manu-card of JV, with the others being more patch-like:

So it's no big deal to me that it's not some "premium" card because it's basically just a fun insert of one of my favorite players. And it was worth the wait!

Next, hey, do you all remember TCDB user cjjt, the guy who sent me the Michigan box stuffed with his Wolverine football (and others) dupes? Well he saw a few Michigan cards on my trade list and told me to pick out a few on his list to make a deal. I think that went very well:

Arrington is numbered /125, Avant 500, and Hart 999. Biakabutuka is a typically sweet Pinnacle Dufex card. And Harbaugh is from the hard-to-scan '98 Score Showcase Series parallel. Those bottom two guys are doing a fantastic job with the 7-0 Wolverines this year and I'm grateful for Hart's seemingly complete recover from a scary seizure he suffered on the sideline last week at Indiana. The quality of these inserts reminds me that I need to find more stuff on Chris' wantlist because there's much more available where this came from!

Kansas City guy homerjg007 was nice enough to work with me on a deal where I sent him 11 cards, a chunk of which were '96 Flair baseball dupes, for these four:

I'm slowly building a decent little Jesse Franklin collection and if I can keep adding Michigan uni cards like the Prizm insert above I'll be glad to continue that. I can't have Too Many Grandersons like the 2012 Heritage Chrome (#d /1963) above, even if he's with the Yanks. And a pair of excellent '97 Dean Palmers (Finest Silver Refractor and Pinnacle Totally Certified Platinum Blue /1999) bolster my #1 position on the site with 435 of his cards, nearly 150 better than the #2 collector. 90s inserts rule!

jj00148 is also a fan of a top-10 football team this year in Tennessee, who just knocked off Alabama in an instant classic. Anything that pisses off Nick Saban is good in my book. Anyway, I was able to flip him a pair of numbered football inserts I grabbed from the quarter box at a show for this Wolverine pair:

These are of course my two favorite players from the 2008 draft class, and among my all-time top 10: the previously seen Hart plus a new Henne as well. Mike's card is a 2008 Bowman Chrome Bronze parallel that's numbered /329. Meanwhile, Chad's card was found in 2008 Donruss Gridiron Gear's Next Generation Silver version and is limited to 250 copies. Football inserts rule too!

If anyone is a fan of one or more of 2022 playoff heroes, Tigers that actually did well this season, or twice-fired managers, you'll enjoy this quartet from Martinma21 that I got in return for some 2020 Heritage and '21 Panini Mosaic cards:

Just to remind everyone, I was in the #CroneZone before it was cool! Though he finished the regular season in a bit of a slump he came up aces in the Padres' surprising upset of the Dodgers, going 7/16 with a homer and five RBI, including a game-winning two-run single to clinch the NLDS in game 4. Here you see him represented twice among the 60 total cards I now own of him. Greene is also an up-and-comer and I like the look of his '21 Donruss Optic Rated Prospect card even though "Rated Rookie" just sounds so much better. And the 2016 Bowman Family Tree Green parallel (/99) is my second of the six versions of the insert that pairs former Cardinals and Royals manager Mike Matheny with his son Tate.

Next, vintage lovers will likely get a kick out of my two-for-five deal with SaveDaKid. I was able to send him a pair of 2007-08 Topps basketball inserts for these:

If you're in this scan you're a winner, literally. Gator and Northrup were key pieces of the '68 champion Tigers, not that either knew that was in their future when their photos were taken for those '67 Topps issues that still look terrific today. The late Bergman had three years to wait until he'd enjoy the same celebration after he was shown on his '81 Topps Traded card depicting him with his third of four franchises (five if you count his very temporary stay with the Phillies in '84). Morris, the ace of the '84 staff, was still going strong over his HOF career in '86 when he won a career-high 21 games for the first of two seasons (and 20 for the second of three), with those stats captured on his '87 Drake's issue. Finally, star DB Rick Volk won it all in his second NFL season with Baltimore in 1968, four years before the Topps card you see above was made. What a great bunch of champs this group is!

And lastly, I'm happy to end this post on a strong note--a 90s inserts rule! note, to be precise--thanks to a deal I made with SeventhSon in which I sent a small mix of stars for the three below (plus another since included in a trade mailer):

Mr. Padre was the subject of many a great card from that decade, and even though the Ultra Diamond Mine insert is actually from 2000, we'll make that year an honorary member. Don't forget that we didn't really start getting great looking inserts until a few years in anyway. Regardless I love the diamond theme, silver foil, and great photo of the master of his craft.

No offense to that card at all but it can't hold a candle to the greatness of 1996 SPx and its Bound for Glory insert. If the first version of the die-cut hologram base set was a revelation, so was this chase set that also looked amazing.

And finally, yes, I consider the Silver and Gold versions of the base cards from 90s Finest to be inserts, and anyway, they rule. That's a great looking Maddux no matter what you call it.

That's eight more deals in the books but I still have a nice chunk left to cover in addition to a couplep more pending transactions there. To those I can add a couple eBay buys that'll get a post soon, and who knows what else. Look forward to reading about and seeing lots more cards soon!

8/6/21 card show report: more like card SLOW

After returning to card shows in a big way earlier this year I've had less luck the past few months coming home with lots of great new stuff, but that's fine. I've been going to them long enough to know that sometimes there just isn't much in the boxes to interest you, but you never know what the next one will bring.

I did still manage to drop $40 on some useful stuff a few weeks ago, which I believe was split up with 25 going to my usual favorite dealer and another $15 to the guy from Ohio who has great deals on vintage and who was back for the first time this year.

Here's a quick look at what I took home:

The lone trade bait card I scored that I didn't grab with anyone in mind in particular is this jersey/auto of Illinois/49ers/Chiefs WR bust A.J. Jenkins. It was one of a few $2 hits I snagged, and as usual it's up for grabs here and also available in my TCDB trade bait.

It's been long enough since I went that I can't remember how the prices for my vintage pickups broke down, but I think I got something between 10-15 cards for $10 and three more for $5 (two $2s and a $1). Better year, most of them were for me!

Up top we start with my second oldest Sparky (after his '59 Topps RC) out of 1972 Topps. I've still got a good number of his 1970s items to chase (plus a couple from 1960!) so it's fun to land something like this of a much younger George on the cheap. 1968 champ Jim Northrup is next on his '73 Topps base, putting me that much closer to a team set representing the '72 guys that were the last Detroit playoff team until '84. SS/OF (love that split!) Mickey Stanley, one of his teammates for both seasons, completes the row by appearing in the '70 Topps set.

Then we switch orientations and open with a card featuring former Tigers slugger (and '68 champ--see a theme here?) Norm Cash on a '72 Topps issue noting the previous year's home run leaders. Cash and future HOFer Reggie Jackson tied for second with 32 while "Beltin'" Bill Melton led the Junior Circuit with 33 long balls. To the right is pain-in-the-ass Billy Martin's '73 Topps manager card, the second of two sets in which he appears. I always thought it was kind of cool when they included the coaches up front as seen here.

The bottom row is quite impressive as well, starting with easily the oldest card in the bunch: a '54 Topps of Ray Boone, patriarch of one of the baseballest families you'll ever hear about. Ray was with Detroit for exactly five years: June 15, 1953 until the same date in 1958. '54 Topps is a classic of a set with the super cool old school logos so this was a beautiful find for me.

Next to him is a '72 Topps multiplayer RC that stars Darrell Porter (that's him on the left, not in the middle). I grabbed it for a buck in case any Brewers fans wanted it, but I may just keep it since he's one of those underappreciated guys from the era. His substance abuse problems are sad to think about but it's nice to remember him for 17 excellent years as a catcher.

And last up in this bunch is the most diminutive item today: Al Kaline's 1969 Globe Imports Playing Card. If the set it comes from looks a bit familiar to you that may be because I snagged Bill Freehan's version from Sportlots months ago. It's a super oddball vintage item of Mr. Tiger and was obviously coming home with me.

The last two cards today came from my go-to guy at the show, who unfortunately didn't have any room for his dime and quarter boxes this time, meaning most of the stuff he had available wasn't in my wheelhouse. I did gladly drop $2 on my first autograph of former Wolverine basketballer Ignas Brazdeikis and another $5 on a sweet looking UM jersey/auto of RB Karan Higdon, though. Iggy's card is from 2019-20 Hoops' Hot Signatures Rookies set and represents my third hit of his (two jerseys). Meanwhile, Higdon's 2019 National Treasures jersey/auto/RC is just my second hit (an autograph) of the hard-running back. Naturally I love that the relic is from a college jersey instead of a pro one.

Naturally I grabbed a small amount of trade bait too, but it was still on the low end of what I'm used to in terms of this monthly show. No problem, though, since I should be back at it next week, where I'm looking forward to digging through boxes until my back hurts while looking for buried treasure for my collection and others' as well!

8/2/15 card show report: something old, something else old, something Ginter, something Blue

There's still a COMC post or two to go but since it's already been more than a week I didn't want to forget to cover my haul from the monthly show I attended last Sunday.  There wasn't a lot going on but I still managed to bring home a nice bunch of cards for myself along with some trade bait for a few of you.  I'd say the best stuff is over at TMM this evening, but these are pretty nice too:

Barry Larkin 1996 Score (#5)

After showing off 36 Larkins the other day I suppose just one is a drop in the bucket, but it's still significant to me, even if it's "just" a base card.  This is one of three in that year's Score entry--another typically strong one from that manufacturer--along with this subset.  Make it 314 of the star SS.

Vida Blue-Gene Tenace 1970 Topps RC

I was flipping through my favorite vintage dealer's discount boxes when I saw this excellent multi-star RC.  Old rookies are generally my favorite type of vintage to pick up, especially the multiplayer versions, and you just can't go wrong with this pair of Oakland greats.  Blue might not be a HOFer but he put up nine great seasons with the A's that included an MVP/Cy Young combo of a season in '71 and rings from 72-74.  Tenace, whose #1 comp is former A's/Tiger Mickey Tettleton, was an above-average catcher for a good chunk of his 15-year career, the first eight of which he spent in Oakland.  He won the same rings Blue did and was even named MVP in the '72 tilt.

Jim Northrup-Ray Oyler 1965 Topps RC

A different seller let this other vintage multiplayer RC go for cheap, and I couldn't say no to this rookie of former Tiger great Jim Northrup.  Jim spent the first ten-plus years of his career with Detroit and won a ring with the '68 team.  Oyler, a very light-hitting SS, was also a contributor to that team.  Another great add to my rookie collection!

Curtis Granderson 2007 Topps Allen and Ginter Autographs auto

Lastly, I managed to add another autograph to my Granderson PC.  I dislike about 98% of what Topps does with Allen and Ginter, but these framed autographs are still fantastic.  And can you believe that I picked up this signature of the former Tigers fan favorite at a show about 20 minutes from downtown Detroit for just $4?  My 85th Granderson is my 6th hit of the current Mets slugger and just my second featuring his signature.

Here's hoping I have this much luck next month!  For now, look out for more COMC pickups soon.

Card show report: 6/3/12: autos and Tigers and rookies (oh my!)

Presented today with 0% extraneous commentary, I give you my baseball pickups for the show I hit up on Sunday with Dustin:

Jim Perry 1959 Topps RC

Luis Tiant 1965 Topps RC 

Sparky Anderson 1959 Topps RC

Alan Trammell 2001 Fleer Greats auto 

Bill Freehan 2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants Silver auto 

Dan Petry 1986 Topps in-person auto

Darrell Evans 2004 Topps Retired Signature auto 

Jim Northrup 1970 Topps in-person auto

Please keep an eye on the other blog soon for a similar look at my Wolverines-related pickups!