2025 trade package #11: the Collector

The All-Star break has come and gone since I last posted so it's about time I got another one up. Today you're getting a quick recap of a couple PWEs sent to me by Chris, The Collector, back in May.

This was the second time he'd sent some cards my way this year and he's since done it once more. It sure is great to have him back and I continue to try to send supportive and healing thoughts to his family.

Here's what he sent this time, wrapped up in and protected by a printed out copy of this Defector article ("Never put poison in your mouth."):

These worked out nicely as they could be split into three sports each with eight cards. The baseball section was naturally all about the Tigers, who ended a season-long six-game losing streak last night and look to regain the momentum of their excellent start. The three guys right down the middle, all on '25 Topps parallels, oddly enough, are part of that outstanding squad, with Mize the best of the trio. The inserts you see are, from top to bottom, Rainbow Foil, Spring Training, and Diamante Foil.

There's also a nice pair of (a.k.a. too many!) Verlanders, one of which calls into question my scanning abilities. It looks like I'm just a couple away from 700. I wonder how long it'll take to get to 1K?

When it comes to basketball, Chris sent me quite the poker hand: four pairs. Bufkin, Poole, Robinson, and the younger Wagner bro Franz all had me seeing double. Poole is nearing the 50-card mark while Franz recently crossed it, building up a collection that continues to surprise me. I don't hate seeing the Hoops Winter cards right now while we're in my favorite season but I would probably be glaring at them if it was January.

Lastly, on the gridiron I was treated to another two pairs, but first we'll check out the other players represented. The Don races into the first spot with a cool Bowman Chrome U college action card. Defensive beast Rashan Gary and former UM coach Jim Harbaugh get paired up thanks to last year's Prizm. And like Edwards, upcoming second-year Bengal Kris Jenkins appears in the Maize & Blue on his '24 Score RC.

 As for the pairs, it's all about the defense. First is the versatile Jabrill Peppers, who had a trying year in '24 on an awful Pats team while also dealing with some pretty nasty charges, though he's since been acquitted of those. Hopefully he can stay out of trouble. In fact, he should try to be more like Charles Woodson and keep his nose clean off the field while being amazing on it. He should also put in more effort than Panini did, using identical photos cropped slightly differently on cards from 2021 and '24.

That concludes a recap of the only blogger trade cards I received in May, but don't worry, I've still got lots to show y'all.

Many thanks to Chris as always for thinking of me and putting together a couple very nice envelopes! Chris, I hope you continue to find some time and energy to collect and blog because you should be aware that many of us appreciate you.

I'll be back soon once I figure out what to show off next. Until then, go Tigers, and welcome back to MLB, Rich Hill! 

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.

2024 trade package #25: My Sports Obsession

I'm fresh off watching Michigan's hilarious bowl victory over an Alabama team that claimed they belonged in the Playoff and then did that against basically the Wolverines bench. Now I've got three more December trade packages to cover this afternoon/evening to meet my goal of getting them all done before the new year.

Fortunately for me I'm able to front-load the work as the largest remaining package is the one that got to me next. This was a roughly 200+-count box from buddy of the blog and fellow Michigan fan Jeff of My Sports Obsession. Jeff, I hope you enjoy reading this post in the afterglow of one of our more unlikely bowl victories in team history!

This one took a whole bunch of scans to recap, so settle in for lots of cards to eyeball:

Well damn, a sweet Sparky trio is a great way to start out strong! I remain grateful that the most important manager of my lifetime still gets the odd cardboard appearance. Miggy's count climbs with a high-quality three-spot of his own. And a third franchise legend joins the scan in Ty Cobb, who you'll see in two more scans in this post, including the next one. Stadium Club and Diamond Kings are products with designs that will always appeal to me more than plainer fare such as flagship Topps.

Two more Cobbs to start this scan look Georgia peachy to me thanks to Topps Chrome Platinum and an era-appropriate Sepia parallel from Stadium Club. Cronenworth is one of a bunch of guys in this post that both Jeff and I collect and I'm happy we can keep sending them back and forth, especially when I get beauties like a Holo and another eye-popping Stadium Club look. Elliott, a 2022 2nd-rounder out of Michigan, is probably another guy I found out about thanks to following Jeff's posts as he's often better at catching the newer guys than I am. Griffey stars on one of a number of instances of the fantastic Topps Museum product. And my Gwynn PC got a very nice boost in this package--including one of my favorites in Stadium Club Chrome--with a bunch more in the next scan too!

See? Lots more Gwynn, lots of fantastic designs! Museum, Stadium Club, Chrome Platinum, Gold Label, and some inserts too. Lots of great additions to his collection. The crazy Prizm parallel represents another PC guy we share in P Steven Hajjar on a Michigan uni card. And he's followed by a Retail version of a Mr. Tiger Panini Absolute base.

No suspense here as the Griffey/Gwynn pairing above joins Maddux and Ripken in this scan to complete the big four PC group. Cal's probably the player we trade back and forth the most in terms of our shared PCs, though a few guys probably do come close. I loved seeing Tram join Sparky above from the Purple Donruss parallel. Then, counting the next scan, we have four many Verlanders, which is twice as good as two, especially when they're this shiny.

With those three Chrome parallels I'm starting to approach JV rainbow territory. Baez's second appearance also gets the Chrome treatment. Cobb (Black Foil parallel) gets in on the action one more time with a flat-out classic shot of his baserunning skills. One of two last Gwynns serves as a reminder of one of Topps' recent-ish gimmicks, and then baseball goes out on top with Stadium Club base of two of my favorites--who retired and also entered Cooperstown in the same seasons--getting feted in fantastic horizontal shots.

Jeff also sent me a huge group of basketball Wolverines which I always appreciate since I don't put much money towards the sport. There was a fun mix of brands and designs with a few that popped up multiple times. A Premium Iggy tips things off, and then in a fun twist, I just looked on TCDb and found out that I now own as many cards of Kobe Bufkin as his namesake Mr. Bryant! THJ's in my top five with the four above him all over the 100-card mark. Houstan's a bit newer to the collection but the college card and shiny parallel here are great additions.

Young Jett Howard plays for the NBA's version of the Columbus Blue Jackets, a.k.a. Ann Arbor South, and his dad's fourth in my PC with 123 cards. LeVert is #7 and one of eight players who've reached the 50-card milestone. Livers may not be with the Pistons anymore but Cracked Ice parallels often look cool. McGary's college and pro careers were both far too short.

With the number of Jordan Poole cards I've received this year I'm somewhat surprised he's not ranked higher, but he's still just one card shy of joining my top 10 cagers thanks to hauls like this one. Remember when that Prizm Monopoly product was a huge thing for a minute? Just one card for Rice but the NCAA champ remains top dog with 206 cards, still the only player to eclipse the double century mark.

If Robinson's parents had any foresight they would have named him "Three-Point" instead of Duncan since he was responsible for way more of the former than the latter. Rose is the last of my top four over the 100-card mark and grouped nicely with two of his Fab Five teammates. Sauce Castillo was a fun guy to watch in college and the pros, and as the UD card captures, he indeed helped Michigan to the NCAA tourney final in 2013, a six-point loss to champion Louisville. Wagner bro Franz closes out the basketball group, and the young star's card count has absolutely exploded in my collection, climbing up to 47 for the 9th spot.

Now we switch over to the sport of the day: football. Believe it or not, Brady's not my top football guy--that distinction belongs to his fellow QB Brian Griese--and Tom Terrific ranks only #7, the last guy in my football 300-club. That's probably because I really don't put money into a guy like him since his prices tend to be overinflated. Still, you can always count on the kindness of strangers friends, and I appreciate this six-pack from Jeff! He also sent me a nice bunch of five cards of transfer RB Zach Charbonnet, who's had his ups and downs with Seattle.

I'm not quite a quarter of the way through the RCs of Charbonnet I'm chasing but it does help when someone's nice enough to send them to me! Charlton was a fun player with a cool nickname. Collins is two TDs away from matching his career high of 8 set last year, and maybe he can come up with a big pair in Sunday's game. Speaking of a big pair, actually, let's make that a three-of-a-kind with RBs Corum, Edwards, and Haskins here. I need as many as I can get of the first two, with Corum in his first year and the Don headed for the draft.

Meanwhile, Hutch continues to climb the leaderboards thanks to days like this one, and I hope the former Hot Rookie gets a chance to return in a big way for a Lions playoff game. The Bowman Chrome U love continues in this scan with a pair of champs in Johnson, an upcoming first-rounder, and McCarthy, who was anything but unexpected to Michigan fans, but most definitely a delight thanks to his calm leadership. I don't wish transfer QB McNamara anything but good health (and maybe a better head) next season. The Prestige card of the former "Money" kicker is the highlight of two Moody cards, though he's going through a nightmare season for the Niners and clearly isn't right after an injury. And Ojabo has quietly put up a couple sacks this season for Baltimore, though I don't get the impression that his playing time has been growing.

If you could pick a color for a parallel on a DPJ Browns card, why would you go with anything other than orange? Schoonmaker has one game left to try to equal his rookie season total of 2 TDs while his teammate Mazi has been slightly better during his own sophomore campaign. I love Donruss' Rated Rookies cards and the Optic of defensive back DJ Turner looks sweet! WR Roman Wilson joins a few of his other title teammates in this post on another excellent card. And GOAT DB Charles Woodson gets three more for his own collection, enough to secure him the #3 spot by that many cards over Braylon Edwards.

We're not quite done yet because there were two cool Prizm relics of recent Wolverines in this package. Charbonnet makes his second hits PC appearance with a Neon Green Pulsar parallel of his jersey card, and that's joined by my first relic of Lions terrorizer Aidan Hutchinson: a beautiful Honolulu blue swatch!

And even then we're still not quite done because Jeff included a rare hockey card, though given the photo it was an obvious inclusion. Shields was an excellent netminder in the early 90s, winning 111 games before suiting up for the Sabres, Sharks, Ducks, Bruins, Panthers, and Thrashers in parts of 10 NHL seasons. The photo of him in action at what I'm guessing is Yost Ice Arena is as Classic as the card's brand.

Jeff, thank you once again for this absolutely ridiculous stack of cards that hit so many of my PCs! I hope you enjoyed your own Christmas package, and I can promise plenty more White Sox, Michigan, and other PC cards will be heading back your way in 2025, when I hope we can also meet up at a few shows.

Stay tuned this evening for two more (much shorter) trade recaps to close out the year!

2022 trade package #24: Cards on Cards

You all know I root for teams nicknamed the Tigers and Wolverines, a couple mammals that aren't terribly similar. Along the same lines, one of my favorite trade partners, Kerry over at Cards on Cards, chases, uh, cards of Cardinals as well as Ducks. By the time this past Saturday was over we were both satisfied with our top-10 college football teams' big wins against overmatched opponents.

So why don't I finally show off the contents of a fun envelope he sent my way that showed up last week?

Part of me hopes that Baddoo (2021 Heritage Chrome /572) isn't a starter next year meaning the Tigers put some effort and money into the lineup, though if he earns a spot I wouldn't be mad. Bojarski is an OF prospect from South Africa via Australia. That's quite a nice six-pack of Miggy cards--three each from Panini and Topps! My favorite is definitely the DK Aficionado insert. And hey, how about another RC ('21 Topps Big League) of recent favorite Jake Cronenworth?

Please continue sending all your Grandersons to me, please! Be like Kerry, who sent me a 2005 Topps Total Silver that you see above. I want more! I believe I correctly IDed the Larkin as a red parallel from '22 Donruss (close enough that it could be pink), and naturally the color works perfectly with his team. Will Meadows return in 2023 to full strength after suffering from 50 different injuries/ailments? Thanks to this envelope I continue to add to my Mize and Skubal collections, in this case with '21 Gold Label RCs. Ripken still dominates the PC totals with one new card here from '22 Topps Fire (the DK Cal base is the only dupe in the whole envelope!). And the last card up in this scan is the first of three of two-time Series-winner Verlander, who finally earned his first dub in the Fall Classic.

The other two Verlanders are from last year and 2022, with the latter being a parallel of the Flame Throwers insert. The dude is definitely a marvel, still throwing easy gas at his age. Congratulations to him on a second ring even though I hate his team.

Besides his bird teams Kerry collects a (totally not defunct and no I wasn't confusing them with the Sonics, why do you ask?) basketball squad as well, the Trail Blazers, so I'm not too surprised to receive some of that sport from him. Most were of recent star Jordan Poole of the Warriors, who just signed a nice fat contract, by the way. The first six items you see here feature the man who just won a ring, including a Michigan uni card, a Hoops RC plus its Winter version, a Panini sticker, and more. And as if that weren't thoughtful enough he included a pair of college cards of Mo's brother Franz Wagner. These hail from 2021 Panini Chronicles Draft's base version and the Marquee subset, which also looks quite nice.

Kerry, thanks again for thinking of me and sending this loaded envelope my way! I just landed a couple cards for you at the most recent show and I'll figure out when I have enough to send you one back myself, likely by Christmas at the latest.

2021 trade package #3: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

I'm back tonight with the last January trade package that I have in-hand (so far, at least!), another Canadian special from buddy of the blog Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store. For some reason he's generous enough to keep sending me packages even though I've owed him at least one for a while. Fortunately I just got one on its way to him, so things will start to even out a bit. I didn't hit him in time for Christmas (or anyone else, for that matter) but I think this one will get there before his birthday on 2/14 (send him some cards of guys born that day!).

Anyway, this was another multi-sport bonanza with a few things I knew would be included but mostly some outstanding surprises:

Let's begin with the Wings stuff, a nice red and white quartet. I'm glad the Applicator, a former Spartan, is no longer in Hockeytown, but his base card along with Nielsen's from 2020-21 Upper Deck looks fantastic. I'm glad UD is still around in some capacity because their designs are top notch! Turgeon's still a work in progress but his Upper Deck Ice RC, #d /999, fits in with the comments I just made about the brand's design chops, with Ice being a particularly cool motif. And then there's The Captain, a.k.a. The GM. The star of a Team Canada Juniors card made by--who else?--Upper Deck has his work cut out for him in terms of a rebuild, but what a great moment it would be to see the guy who captained the Wings to their first title after a long drought do the same from the front office!

Switching over to Michigan Basketball stuff, I enjoyed checking out this bevy of recent guys. NCAA tourney legend Jordan Poole leads the way with six cards, finally getting his collection to double digits, and that's thanks to a cool quartet of rookie-year issues, some of which are Panini Chronicles-related, and a nice Contenders college action card. A Nik "Sauce Castillo" Stauskas RC with a bit of a hardwood feel is another cool highlight. 

Then we get to a trio of cool hits. Poole features on a die-cut relic from a Crowne Royale set, a product known for that design feature. The Hoops sweater card where Jordan co-stars with Iggy Brazdeikis had me laughing and was perfect for ugly sweater season. And then there's one more Michigan uni card to enjoy: a Contenders auto (my first card of any kind, in fact) of Kentucky transfer Charles Matthews, who headed north to Ann Arbor for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. Those were coach John Beilein's last two years coaching Michigan and included reaching the title game in '18, losing to Villanova. I'm not the biggest basketball fan but this is a really nice bunch!

The football side of things was less voluminous but no less effective. On the left is LB and #60 overall selection by the Pats last year, Josh Uche. Doug's responsible for sending me my first card of the four-year Wolverine who put up 14.5 sacks his last couple years in Ann Arbor. That would be his RC from last year's Rookies & Stars product. I've never been a fan of that product's design but will definitely overlook its faults since it used a college photo!

The other is my 12th relic (and 35th hit overall) of former UM WR Amara Darboh, and it also hails from Panini's R&S. While he didn't turn into much in the NFL he was lots of fun to watch in college and I continue to enjoy collecting him. Darboh's no longer with Seattle, the team that drafted him, but since pretty much all of his cards were made during his rookie year of 2017, that's who he's pictured with here, and it comes with a nice Seahawks blue swatch.

And now we get to the usual main event: Michigan Hockey. Compher, Hughes, Hyman, and Trouba are all from the previously mentioned '20-'21 Upper Deck product that I'm already in love with, though Trouba's card features one of the funniest miscuts I've ever seen! I only have three cards of former RW David Oliver, but then he doesn't have many to chase, so this 1995-96 O-Pee-Chee card is great. And Patch makes yet another SCFtDS trade appearance out of '19-'20 UD Overtime, with the Vegas winger responsible for three goals in just six games this season.

Hockey hits? Hockey hits! The Ebbett (auto #6, hit #8 overall) is an ITG stickergraph, but the designers did a nice job of hiding that fact by placing it on an image of a rink. Andrew has an outstanding signature and even includes his jersey number, which is always cool. He played four full years in Ann Arbor starting my sophomore year so I believe I got to see every one of his home games and I'm glad to collect cool stuff of his like this auto.

Werenski's a much more recent guy, and the young d-man is fun to watch even if he plays for Columbus. He hit the 20-goal mark last year in his fourth season, and that was in fewer games than the others! This UD Game Jersey includes a very nice royal blue swatch from a Blue Jackets sweater, and I can't think of a better color for the former Wolverine's first hit in my hockey collection!

Last up here is a card Doug teased me with, and for once the scan may actually do it justice. Found in an Upper Deck product called Chronology, it's a gorgeous Jacob Trouba patch auto done up in the style of UD's Masterpieces, with a beautiful red border tying it all together. That goes especially well with his patriotic jersey colors now that he's with the Rangers. Oh, and the gold pen auto isn't bad either. I've got some nice cards of the young star defensemen in my collection, but nothing approaches the sheer brilliance of this one, probably my favorite card in the whole package!

But we're not quite done. He had to send these latest traders in a larger than usual envelope to accommodate one more item he teased, plus another that I believe was a surprise:

Upper Deck's Be a Player product offered a set called Portraits in 2006-07, and the titular items could be found signed by one to four players. One of my favorite PC guys, Brendan Morrison, made the cut for the checklist, and the result is this beautiful 8x10 that features a nice action photo and a dedicated space for a nice, large signature. What a cool item, one that's begging to be put up on the wall in a place of prominence in my card room. Fellow favorite dude Marty Turco can also be found here so his has gone on my wantlist, and I was disappointed to discover that the Frozen Four-winning pair didn't get a dual card to themselves. Anyway, very cool of Doug to both acquire this for me and deal with the logistics of shipping it.

And if he was already doing that, well, in for a penny, in for a pound, right? I was totally surprised to see this awesome signed 8x10 of another guy who starred at Yost Ice Arena for a couple years I had tickets, 2005-06 and '06-'07: Jack Johnson. Jack was a blast to watch during his college days, a major force on the ice, even if he sometimes took stupid penalties. It was no surprise when the #3 overall pick from the '05 draft went pro after a pair of seasons, and he's enjoyed some ups and downs over a long NHL career.

This photo is signed in blue (naturally!) sharpie and is from game action against the Lake Superior State Lakers of the former CCHA, Michigan's longtime pre-Big Ten league.

This information from the back wasn't as helpful as I'd hoped so I'm not sure if it came from one of two '06-'-07 games (2/16/07 @ LSSU, 2/18/07 in Detroit) or a pair of away games in Sault Ste. Marie in November of 2007 the following season. Either way, it's a very cool piece and a nice addition to my collection of Michigan autographed memorabilia!

Doug, thanks again for an extremely cool package of stuff--you always manage to surprise me with some amazing cards, and sometimes other items too! I hope the envelope I just sent you gets there safely and quickly and that you're just as geeked about your latest haul from our ongoing deals!

With all my incoming trades covered for now I think next time you'll be seeing my first eBay pickup of 2021 before I get back to the rest of my 2020 COMC haul.

2020 trade package #7: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

I'm finally back, and it's about damn time.  It's just been hard to get motivated to write since I'm working from home and don't really feel like being around my computer, as opposed to normal circumstances where coming home and doing card stuff like blogging is a nice treat.

But I couldn't keep putting off posting because I have another amazing envelope stuffed with cards from Canada to show off.  As usual that means a generous blowout of a package from Sports Cards From the Dollar Store's Doug.  Last month he sent me a mailer with a little bit of everything and I was once again blown away:

I combined the baseball, non-UM hockey, and basketball into one scan.  My newest Barry Larkin is another high-end base, this time from 2019 Triple Threads.  Cal adds to his lead with a 2019 Panini Black Friday card, which got me thinking: how many fewer people would know about these if it weren't for the Internet?  And the group of Wings looks great, even if their most recent season wasn't.  Lidstrom's Elite base is giving me the 90s feels, and these remind me that I need to get my cards of the team entered on TCDB at some point.

Moving onto the court, Doug's been one of the most generous when it comes to my Michigan Basketball collection.  That's on full display here, starting with my first hit (and actually first card) of one-and-done Lithuanian (by way of Canada!) Iggy Brazdeikis, who was a lot of fun to watch over the course of the '18-'19 season.  That's a really nice blue Knicks swatch on his '19-'20 Prizm jersey card.  Next is a guy appreciated by all Michigan fans, Trey Burke, on a 2015-16 Totally Certified relic that brings the shiny (and is numbered /49), with Trey pictured on his original team (sort of, as he was a draft & trade by the T-Wolves).  Last up here is NCAA tourney hero who didn't write the fantastic Get Out, Jordan Poole, on just his fourth card and first hit, that being an Orange Ice jersey from the same Prizm product as Iggy's above.  What a nice trio!

Heading over to the gridiron, it was largely the Braylon Edwards show, but he had a few friends join him for the trip, making for a nice variety.  As a matter of fact, the first two cards of his in this scan are RCs--2005 Score and Topps Draft (college uni!)--and a first-year of former (Bills!) QB Todd Collins completes the trio, joining Bray-Bray on a posed design.  Edwards' quartet here (with more to come) is finished off by a pair of numbered cards:  2006 Bowman Blue (/500), the best color of course, and 2008 Triple Threads (/779).  Speaking of parallels, one of a pair of Rashan Gary issues Doug he me with is a Red version of his 2019 Score RC (Michigan uni again!).  Plus he went all the way back to the 90s and Fleer's heyday with a Stealth parallel (/300) of Brian Griese.  And last up in this scan is former UM and 49ers S Dwight Hicks on his '83 Topps base, a card pulled from one of Doug's beloved repacks.

The football fun continues on the other axis with this trio.  Braylon insert #1 is a 2006 Gridiron Gear insert called Player Timeline Gold (/500) with a cool college-to-the-pros theme, while #2 is Leaf Certified Materials' often used Certified Potential name (/800).  Rashan Gary then gets his second card of the envelope, a 2019 Contenders Round Numbers insert (another one used plenty in the past) that notes he and new teammate (and fellow Big Ten-er) S Darnell Savage Jr. were top picks last year after Green Bay traded back into the first round.

And then just like that Doug goes back into crazy generous mode with not just a Rashan Gary rookie year auto, but a variation at that!  The base version features the Green Bay logo inside the circle with the team's name, plus the photo shows Rashan in a green jersey running to the card's left.  I was already happy to add this as my second auto of the talented New Jersey native, but I also appreciate that the signature is an upgrade over the Panini Legacy one I bought myself which used about 15% of the sticker.  It's a very nice addition to my football collection and I'll have to work on finding something nice to thank Doug.

As usual in a Buckstorecards package, the icers get the place of honor.  Hockey Mike #1 is Cammalleri on a fun three-team trio.  Connor, who enjoyed a third straight 30+ goal/25+ assist season, gets a beautiful UD pair that really makes me miss the brand's baseball offerings.  The scan closes out with a triple "H" combo that's better than the WWE version:  Hagelin, Hughes, and Hyman.  My Hughes collection is minuscule thanks to his star power so I especially appreciate that slick insert of the D-man who was electrifying in the few games I got to see him play while he was in Ann Arbor.

The Hockey Mikes tour continues with Knuble and Komisarek, both of whom join Hagelin in the previous scan on a nice Score design.  Knuble isn't pictured with Detroit here but his fellow WolverWings Dylan Larkin and Aaron Ward are.  Larkin's collection finally crossed the 30-card mark, and that Aaron Ward is a throwback to the old Classic brand.  Talented blue-liners Jacob Trouba and Zach Werenski close out the scan UD style.

And now I get to end this post with a two-part bang.  #1:  a brand new plate!  Hit #3 of defenseman Greg Pateryn is somehow my second 1/1 of the former Canadien, a magenta plate from a brand I'm not terribly familiar with since I don't really buy any hockey stuff.  In typical Upper Deck fashion, 2016-17 Compendium looks quite nice, and I'm very happy with how the scan came out.  I love collecting these and it was very cool of Doug to send it my way given how 1/1s can be valued by sellers these days.

And this card makes it "bang-bang!"  Even though I knew it was coming it was still exciting to see it in person.  What you're looking at is an Upper Deck Trilogy manupuck auto of the previously-mentioned Jacob Trouba.  This is the Team Logo version with the signature done in beautiful gold ink on a manurelic that brings to mind UD's old brand Sweet Spot, and you can see that it's hand-numbered to just 19 copies.  I now have 11 Trouba hits, many of which Doug sent to me, and this one just elbowed its way to the top of the heap as a flat-out beautiful piece.

Doug, thanks again for another incredible mailer.  I bow down to your card-acquiring skills, and I hope I can return the favor in the near future when it's easier to buy stuff again!

Now that I'm just about done with trade packages I may take a quick detour and do one of those top-10 lists folks are posting because they've offered some pretty cool insights to how those people collect.  Stay tuned and stay safe!

2020 trade package #2: Sport Card Collectors

You just never know what you might get when you're lucky enough to receive a surprise PWE from Matt over at Sport Card Collectors.  Of the many he's sent me, quite a few included some new stuff for my Ken Griffey Jr. PC since he's a guy we both collect.  That's why the one I'm posting today was a bit out of the ordinary, though in a great way!  Check out the cards and see what I mean:

#1 is the first of what I hope will be many autographs of former Michigan pitcher Tommy Henry in my PC.  It hails from 2019 Bowman Draft Chrome, and the numbering on the front is your best indicator in the scan that it's the Refractor version, since that trademark shine didn't really come through as much as I would like.  Henry's got a great signature and a Refractor's always a plus so I was really excited to pop this one out of the envelope.

I was scanning the back to put up on TCDB anyway so I thought I'd include it here for a couple reasons.  One is the (unfortunately way too small) "*Played at Michigan" note, and the other is that it points out his birthplace of Portage, Michigan, which I figured John might like!

Second is this very cool Ripken insert.  Before removing it from Matt's perfect packaging job I thought it was die-cut but then I noticed it's acetate, which is very cool.  I hadn't seen these before though I was at least able to guess it was related to Topps High Tek.  Indeed, it's from the 2019 version, an insert called PortraiTEK, and its shiny, see-through nature won me over, plus it's even serial-numbered.  Who knew that Topps was capable of producing something like this that I like so much?

Matt then tripled my collection of NCAA hero Jordan Poole thanks to this pair from 2019-20 Prizm Draft.  I wasn't aware that the base set includes multiple cards of some of the players so I'm happy to benefit from that in the form of two new Michigan uni issues (though I'm not sure how both could be deemed "RC"s?).  Here's hoping my collection of Poole grows along with his development with Golden State.

Last up today is Michigan WR/returner legend Desmond Howard on a beautifully colorful card from 1992 Classic Four Sport.  Classic tended to be a lower-end brand but it's nice to see that even in '92 they could make cards like this that really popped, going for a modern design that made the Topps and Fleer looks at the time appear positively ancient.

Matt, thanks again for another outstanding PWE!  I'm looking forward to helping you fill out your Kerry Collins collection soon, and maybe I can add to that at an upcoming show.