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!

2025 trade package #25: Cards on Cards

I know people say this every year, but man did 2025 go by fast. We're just a few days away from Christmas! And on that note, I took a bit of a break from blogging to get Christmas cards sent out to more than 20 very deserving people. It looks like most should arrive before the holiday while a few might take a couple more days. To those of you that made my nice list (not really, just the folks I found cards for), enjoy your gifts!

One of those folks is longtime buddy of the blog Kerry from Cards on Cards, who was nice enough to send me some cards last month. The Oregon fan got an early present yesterday when his Ducks advanced to the next round of the NCAA football playoff, and I'll be joining him in rooting for them, plus Indiana, in the coming weeks.

But for now let's look back a month when I received this from Kerry:

A box? Interesting! What could cause the need for this kind of shipping instead of the usual mailer? We'll see in a bit, but first we'll start with cards:

We'll start with (mostly) some Tigers. I believe I've mentioned '24 2nd round P Owen Hall before here, and he's seen on a 2025 Panini Crusade base card that somewhat calls back to the old Donruss insert that was popular when it was a shiny chase card. Jobe might still be a Star of MLB if and when he gets healthy. Donruss managed to find a photo of Leyland not smoking, so that's nice. Maddux is the lone non-Tiger here and I'm happy to add to one of my big four PCs thanks to cards from 2000 UD Victory and '25 Donruss, the former of which includes fellow HOFer Chipper Jones.

Next, the Wily Peralta looks like the kind of card I'd tend to throw in my commons boxes, but if you flip it over (as seen below) you'll find it's the variation that includes advanced stats and is numbered /300. Nice! '24 first-round SS Bryce Rainer, taken in the same draft as Hall above, and considered a top-100 prospect, also appears on a '25 Panini Crusade card, but in his case it's the parallel creatively named "Crusade" which has a rainbow effect much more in line with the legendary insert. Two-time reigning Cy Young-winner Skubal evokes past franchise aces on a '24 Topps Archives base. And Tork brings to mind another holiday, Independence Day, with a Red/White/Blue Prizm from the '22 Panini Product.

Hey, remember when I recently showed off my loot from Angus and he included Mark Fidrych's '77 league leader card from O-Pee Chee? Kerry sent me the Topps version so now I have both! The diminutive Parrish item is a '91 Panini sticker that I needed of the '84 champs' catcher. I included the back of the Peralta '22 Advance Stat parallel to show off the numbering and statistical variations.

And last up for baseball there's a '24 Panini Prospect Edition Green auto of Tigers farmhand Bennett Lee. The Tulane/Wake Forest C was chosen by Detroit in 2023's 6th round and we'll see if he gets a chance to move up past high-A West Michigan next year to see how he stacks up against other prospects at the position. I'm still deciding what I think of the Prospect Edition (formerly Elite Extra Edition) design since it's such a big difference from past looks, but I do appreciate that it has its own thing going on. And it's cool to have an early signature of a Detroit prospect like Lee.

It may be nearing Christmas now but back when Kerry sent this box it was closer to Halloween, making the group of Haunted Hoops cards very season-appropriate. Bufkin, Goldin, and Poole all made the cut, plus another player in the next scan. That's actually my first card of the Russian-born Goldin, a F who played a season at Texas Tech and three with Florida Atlantic before transferring to Michigan for a productive fifth year. He now plays for Miami.

Speaking of firsts, SF/SG Mike McGee also makes his collection debut thanks to Kerry. His is not a name I knew very well, but I've been making an effort to suss out Michigan alumni for whom I lack cards, and the Lakers '81 first-rounder was one of those. His 1990-91 Skybox base you see above is actually his final card listed on TCDb, but I may chase others. Thankfully, having him on my wantlist worked out because of Kerry's keen eye!

Last up for the hoopers is star Franz Wagner, whose haul is fairly similar to Jordan Poole's above him as he has cards from Donruss Optic, Haunted Hoops, and the latest version of Topps. Those two actually sit a spot apart in my basketball PC top 10 with Franz at 8 and Poole just four cards behind him.

Last up for the card portion is a nice little bunch of football. Transfer (to Iowa) TE Erick All is out for the Bengals' season with an ACL tear, but here we see him on RCs from Absolute (Retail) and Donruss Optic. WR Nico Collins continues the spooky theme with my first '25 card of his: Score-A-Treat. Transfer (to USC) RB Justin Fargas makes one of his occasional cameos thanks to 2004 Topps Chrome, marking my 38th card of Huggy Bear Jr. And while fans have to wait until Monday Night Football to watch the Colts, my favorite current player of theirs, Kwity Paye, looks ready to cause some chaos on defense on a '21 Wild Card Alumination base that proved very difficult to scan thanks to its silver foilyness, but that's cool because it's got a great (and not airbrushed!) college photo.

So all that's left is the item that necessitated to box, and what a surprise it was:

A commemorative Cal Ripken Jr. baseball! And one that comes with its own ball cube making it easy to display! One panel features a printed image of the Iron Man while one of the sweet spots includes a facsimile signature and inscription marking his 2131th consecutive game played to surpass Lou Gehrig's streak. 

Meanwhile, another panel lists out a number of his accolades. The lack of mention of his final streak total of 2,632 and HOF election make me think that this was produced before 1998 but I could be wrong. There's nothing on the COA (and why does a ball with a facsimile signature need a COA?) that I could find to indicate when it was made, but then again I don't really care because it's simply a very cool item of one of my absolute favorite players and I really, really like it. And more than that I appreciate Kerry going to the expense of shipping it with everything else you saw here tonight.

Kerry, thanks for everything, I really enjoyed this box! Good luck to your Ducks against Texas Tech at the Orange Bowl, enjoy the envelope I sent your way, and have a Merry Christmas!

I plan on finishing up the final two November trade packages before the holiday this week and then we'll see how it goes catching up on everything else (including potential December card packages) after that. I hope everyone's staying warm and gearing up for a comfortable, stress-free holiday season!

10/3/25 card show report: scary cheap October cards

Catching up on these posts has gone decently well since I've actually put some effort into writing more often! Here we are with the last post I have planned for October.

Tonight we'll take a look at what I picked up at that month's show. I spent a paltry $50 that day, my low for the year by $5 (April), but that's ok because I definitely made up for it over the final two months. Plus I brought home some fun stuff for myself:

The baseball scan includes a fun mix of 90s/ish inserts and relics-ish. Gwynn's card is a 2002 Topps Gold, back when you could tell it was that parallel (and not "gold toile redgold waveblue"). It's numbered /2002 on the back and represents just the second year Topps printed that parallel after it began with the excellent 2001 set. I really like how these look, especially compared to the doldrums of the 2010s and 20s designs.

Next is Pudge on a 2000 UD Ultimate Victory Lasting Impressions insert. UV was the higher-end Chrome-like version of the budget Victory brand, and Rodriguez was one of 10 superstars found in this set. He'd just won the '99 AL MVP as well as his 7th straight Gold Glove (out of 10 in a row and 13 overall) and 6th straight Silver Slugger (of 7) and made his 8th of 10 consecutive All-Star appearances, with four more yet to come. So yeah, he made a lasting impression and fits right in with this set!

The unfolded Maddux card is the reason for the "90s inserts rule" tag tonight, though the others are close enough to be honored too. He's seen here on a 1998 Circa Thunder chase card called Limited Access, which includes a typical front and back but folds out so you get even more content inside. That includes another image and some stats in various situations from his first five seasons with the Braves:

(It took me a minute to figure how what these numbers represented until I checked just his Atlanta stats!) Pretty cool, eh?

As for the other interesting cards, first up there's a manupatch of Griffey from 2003 UD Patch Collection's MVPs insert. This one represents his '97 AL MVP win. It's a fun manufactured relic and came to me relatively cheap, so I'm quite happy with it.

Next is a 2005 Bazooka Blasts Relics bat of former Tigers SS Carlos Guillen. Don't ask me why he's listed with the Angels there since he only ever suited up for Seattle and Detroit. This looks to be my second relic (first bat) of the three-time All-Star who was quite productive for some 2000s Tigers teams.

And going alphabetically saves the best for last: a Greg Maddux 2003 Fleer Tradition Milestones Game Used Gold jersey (numbered /100 on the back). I snagged this with a few other cards in this scan and one or two in the next one for a very good total price. Mad Dog's 15 seasons of 15+ wins was a very impressive feat, and he achieved that in consecutive seasons (actually 17, in the end), plus an 18th in 2006 (and missed by one in '07). From 1988-2007 his average record was 17-10, and that's how you get to 355 career wins! This cool relic marks my 20th such card of Maddux and 21st hit overall.

With most of the attention on the baseball stuff, we'll quickly switch over to basketball and football to close things out. The former includes some nice color of Trey Burke, Caris LeVert, and Jordan Poole, and I continue to be able to find stuff like this in the dime and quarter boxes decently often. They grab my attention enough even though they're from my least favorite sport, and I'm happy to add them, plus cool stuff like Juwan Howard's '98-'99 Bowman's Best base.

As for football, RCs of Seattle RB Zach Charbonnet and Washington DB Mike Sainristil were nice finds for my chase of first-years. Harbaugh's a '97 Collector's Edge Extreme Foil insert, though there's not much of that feature on the card besides the swoosh running along the left and curving around to the bottom. And last up is one of my favorites from this month: my second of what amounts to three Charles Woodson entries from a 1998 Press Pass insert called Triple Thread. The '98 Heisman winner as well as QBs Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf each got a trio of cards in this set, naturally, and the versatile Woodson was the one true player who could claim the set's name. The three cards fit together kind of like Stadium Club's Triumverate, and I'll show those off once I nail down his card #7.

That's it for the month of October, at least for now. I may show off a non-card Facebook purchase from then if I feel motivated enough, but I'm really more interested in finalizing my blogger trades, shows, eBay pickups, and eventually, TCDb deals from the second half of the year. So I would expect my next post to dip back into trades, in this case from November. Maybe even soon!

9/5/25 card show report: $70 in September

Tomorrow's a show day, likely the last of 2025, so as I continue catching up on stuff from earlier this year let's take a look back at my September trip to TaylorTown.

Pickings were a bit slimmer this time but still not as paltry as they were when I spent a yearly low of $55 in April. $70 was my total and I came home with these:

That Crawford/Kaline/Kuenn quartet is a very nice one, with "Wahoo" Sam and the '53 AL ROY showing off some pleasant Diamond King designs and Mr. Tiger repping the Zenith subset from '23 Panini Chronicles. Those bordered cards are always winners for me. Fellow Tiger Riley Greene joins in the fun on a Topps Chrome Refractor from this year's product.

No Griffey or Gwynn this time, but I did fish out one each of Maddux and Ripken. Mad Dog hails from DK's "The Club" insert while the Iron Man is seen on an '86 Fleer Star Sticker.

Just one many Verlander from that trip, but at least it's a numbered one: a '23 Topps Gold parallel of his league leaders card appearance noting that he led the AL in wins with 18 (against just 4 losses), good enough to earn his third Cy and second as an Astro. His fellow Tiger from 2005-2010, Jeremy Bonderman, represents the purchase's lone hit: a 2004 Studio Game Day Souvenirs relic. As you can see this is the "Number" version with the swatch cut out to display Bondo's #38. Speaking of numbering, it's limited to 300 copies, and marks my 7th hit (all relics) of the 2001 first-rounder. I miss the old Donruss!

The word of the day when it came to basketball was "color" as I nabbed a veritable rainbow in the dime and/or quarter boxes (I can't remember). LeVert is already in his 10th NBA season and happily his first with the resurgent Pistons. Poole liked his "W" teams as he was drafted by the Warriors and later traded to the Wizards. He was traded to New Orleans in a three-team deal earlier this year.

I found an even bigger quantity of LeVert's new teammate, Duncan Robinson, in those same boxes. Panini's Donruss Optic, Prizm, and Select combine to form this crazy mix of colors. I'm just four away from the 50-card mark in Robinson's PC, so maybe I'll put a little more effort into finding a few of him tomorrow.

I picked up 10 basketball cards, so why not duplicate that effort with football? I was glad to score a few numbered inserts this time, starting with a 2002 Fleer Premium Star Rubies insert. It takes the already beautiful base design and gives it a ruby motif with a red border and foil background, plus it's numbered to just 100 copies. I don't know if Charbonnet is taking the league "by storm" but the third-year RB seems to be making the most of his opportunities, and he's already matched last season's total of 8 rushing scores with a few games to play, which is awesome. Nico's been a bit banged up at times while dealing with a very inconsistent QB, but he's got 4 receiving TDs plus he just ran in a score as well, and he still has time to eclipse his own 8-TD personal best.

Speaking of injuries, LB Junior Colson unfortunately can't stay healthy, but at least I can still buy cards of his like this 2024 Panini Certified Pink parallel that's numbered /225 on the front. If the Bowman Chrome U of Donovan Edwards looks familiar that's because it's the base version of the Purple card I showed off this past Saturday when I recapped August's show! And EDGE Rashan Gary is as laser-focused on piling up sacks and TFLs as the Oranger Laser Prizm you see above.

Ty Law continues to appear in releases from long after his playing days, like 2024 Topps Chrome (and its X-Fractor parallel) and I think that's awesome for the HOFer. Speaking of Refractors, I scored one of early 2000s Michigan QB John Navarre's 2004 Topps Chrome RC. One of the flat-out nicest cards of the day was a Gold-Framed parallel of WR David Terrell's 2001 Private Stock rookie, numbered to just 49--quite a low number for the era. And GOAT DB Charles Woodson closes things out with a 2024 Topps Signature Class insert called "After Image" that looks pretty nice considering Topps came up with it (and it lacks team logos).

That should be it for September, I think, though I'll verify that before moving on to October. I'll also be doing some Christmas shopping at tomorrow's show if I can, then supplement that with eBay if necessary, before sending out Christmas cards (I'm skipping COMC entirely this year for obvious reasons). I hope the rest of you stay safe and warm as the holiday season heats up!

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!