2025 Facebook Marketplace purchases: July spree

Hello, friends! It's now November and I'm still working on covering stuff I got in July. Let's get down to it with my three Facebook purchases from that month.

Numbers 1 and 2 were nearby each other so I scored them on the same day. First up is a big three-row box that was advertised as being mostly Chrome cards. Figuring I could at least use those for trade bait, I drove to Westland, which isn't that far from me, and spent $30 on that box. As advertised, it was mostly Chrome-type cards, with a bit of recent regular cardboard mixed in, and I'd say the majority was 2024 Bowman Chrome Prospects and 2023 Topps Chrome.

I'll have nice stacks of each to add to TCDb eventually, but for now, here are my keepers:

A new card of Michigan alum Tommy Henry was quite exciting for me, and that one above is also a good reminder to mention that there were a couple stacks of Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary cards in the bunch as well. Tigers IF prospect Lee hails from the huge stack of '24 Bowman Chrome Prospects. McKinstry and Vierling are recent Tigers that represented some of the non-Chrome stuff while Scherzer of the pennant-winning Jays makes a couple appearances on other products.

All in all it was a very reasonable pickup for the price, and a number of cards from this box made it into trade packages that have gone out or will do so by the end of the year.

That same day I headed back to Livonia for I think my third purchase from a guy who sounds like he buys collections and then clears out parts of them (here's my most recent post of cards I bought from him from earlier this year). This time I ended up with a pair of four-row boxes filled with a bit of everything (but mostly the bigger sports) for $70. These have been a great source of keepers and trade items for me recently, especially more recent stuff that I haven't found at shows or had sent to me in trades. They've boosted my inventory of '20s baseball and football inserts for TCDb which has been a big help.

I found a ton of keepers from these so I'll keep my comments short.

Last year's Donruss showed up in force in this purchase, much to the benefit of a number of my PCs. Hatfield and Pesky hail from a 90s Topps Archives product, and interestingly enough, both are '50s Tigers who'd previously played for the Red Sox. The Donruss EEE of Michigan alum O'Halloran, college uni and all, was a super fun gem in this big pile of stuff.

Rose was the lone basketball keeper for me, which is fine. My football PCs, especially for some recent rookies, really got some nice bumps, with 2024 first-years especially well represented. That includes Michigan-to-Iowa transfer TE Erick All, plus Indiana-to-Michigan transfer TE AJ Barner, who won a title with Michigan and has gone on to be fairly productive for the Seahawks.

Griese and Harbaugh are all well-known past NFL Wolverines while Collins and Gary continue to be stars for their teams. I love the Michigan uni RCs of a couple more champs, Colson and Corum.

EDGE Jaylen Harrell is a guy who didn't get a ton of hype (or many cardboard appearances), but he led the '23 champs in sacks and was taken in the 7th round by Tennessee, making the NFL just like his dad. Jenkins, another NFL legacy, also made some noise on defense for the title-winning team, and he's one of a bunch of Wolverines playing for the Bengals. Law was fantastic in college, as pictured, before his HOF NFL career. And Milton may have transferred to Tennessee but I'm still collecting any of his non-Volunteers RCs.

The Halloween-themed Score-a-Treat product popped up a bit in this purchase and I was glad to add a couple Wolverines out of the '24 version. Speaking of "treat" it was fun to find three RCs of kicker Jake Moody, the erstwhile Niners PK. Wilson was one of my RCs from '24 Rookies & Stars, plus the previously mentioned Score-a-Treat. Woodson was maize & blue through and through but does look good there in red.

Lastly for football, Brady and Victor Hobson join in the fun on horizontal multiplayer cards.

Then we move on to a huge stack of Steve Yzerman cards I didn't have, many of which are from the 90s. It's not like I ever got rid of any of his cards--I just didn't really collect hockey as a kid, and most of what I have of him has come to me through trades.

There's not much to say other than there's some pretty cool stuff here on a huge mix of products and designs.

And here's the last of the cards of the Captain. He's apparently a single card short of becoming the third hockey player to hit 100 different cards in my collection, joining Wolverines Marty Turco and Brendan Morrison. Wolverwing Dylan Larkin is next at 75, and the next closest Motown guy that didn't play for Michigan is Sergei Fedorov at 59, so obviously this was a great boost to Stevie Y's collection.

Speaking of Larkin, he's one of three Michigan icers represented in this purchase thanks to UD MVP, joining Seattle's Matty Benier's and young goalie Jack LaFontaine.

Last up is definitely something of an oddball. Back in 1993 a set called Metallic Impressions Cooperstown Collection was released, apparently aiming to be the first of more releases. That didn't happen, but at least we got to enjoy this crazy swing at the fences. It's a tin of 20 metallic cards featuring HOFers and stars. I found one for sale nearby for $10 and happily went to pick it up a few days after I nabbed the stuff you see above.

Here's a few looks at the tin:

I like boxed sets like this that include the checklist right on the packaging.

"Strictly limited" to just 49,900 sets! The bottom also helpfully describes the way the cards are made better than I can.

Very nicely packaged thanks to plastic inserts that keep the cards from flying around and causing wear and tear.

Not everyone's a HOFer here but you get a nice mix of legends and other guys that some people appreciate collecting.

The backs somewhat give you an idea of how the metal edges are sort of crimped over the backs, so they aren't as thick and heavy as they could be.

Like I said, not everybody here's a HOFer so I even got to add a new Mickey Lolich to my collection.

I wonder who else we might have seen had more of these been made?

Pops and El Tiante get their own scan since 20/9 leaves a pair left over.

This was a very cool oddball addition to my collection for just $10, and now I'm curious if any of you still reading this post own this set or anything similar you'd like to brag about in the comments down below.

Happily I still have at least one more Facebook Marketplace pickup to cover before the end of the year, but first I have lots more to cover. I'll see you all soon!

2025 trade package #12: Sport Card Collectors

Tonight's trade package cards came from the lone blogger envelope(s) I received in June, and none other than Matt of the Sport Card Collectors family of blogs. (Don't worry about me being starved for cards--July ended up being a doozy!) As summer kicked off he sent me a nice little bunch of Tigers and Wolverines:

Who knew back in Spring Training that Riley would be an All-Star? It's no surprise that he continues to make highlight reel plays night after night, though! Jobe's unfortunately on the shelf due to the dreaded TJ surgery, but he's certainly earned his Rated Rookie logo. I believe Keith's '25 Topps parallel above is called "Silver Crackle Foilboard," not that I'd have any clue if I couldn't look it up somewhere. The number of parallels is too damn high!

Moving to the second row, Mize no longer pitches for the Erie Seawolves (or Moon Mammoths, if you prefer, thanks to the wonderful John Oliver), but that's because he's 10-4 for the Motor City Kitties this season! Olson ('25 Topps Holo Foil, apparently? I dunno, I see that and want to call it Sand Glitter, another parallel offering) is also on the shelf for at least the rest of the regular season, but he has an outside shot at a return for the playoffs. Perez (2020 Bowman Chrome Prospects Refractors) was supposed to be the centerpiece in the Verlander-to-the-Astros trade, but that didn't work out--JV's still pitching and Perez hasn't pitched in '25 that I can see.

The last regular sized card is a '24 Topps Update Gold (#d /2024) of short term Tiger Gio Urshela, who appeared in just under 100 games with the 2024 Tigers and then was released. There may be way too many parallels but Topps's Gold is still a solid yearly offering. And last up is a '21 Ginter A&G Back Mini of Daz Cameron, another promising young player that came over in the Verlander trade but didn't work out. He's still active, at least, having caught on with the A's in '24 and Milwaukee this season.

As we head over to the gridiron I'm reminded that Michigan kicks off its season in just three weeks! Unfortunately it's a night game, but whatever. Anyway, the cards Matt sent are a nice lead-in to the season.

From last year's Prestige product he sent me two of Michigan's best recent defenders. Hutch is of course very well known by now, and meanwhile DL Kris Jenkins will head into his sophomore NFL campaign with the Bengals.As with most draftees of the past five-plus years, I still need a lot of the latter's RCs like the one above (not to mention Hutchinson's!).

The second row is even more colorful. First up is a '24 Prizm Draft Red Ice parallel of Michigan DB and NFL HOFer Ty Law. While it's not a color match card, the shade of red plus ice pattern look terrific together, along with a great college action shot. And speaking of colors not matching on a card that still looks great, how about a 2022 Bowman U Chrome Pink Refractor of QB Cade McNamara, a guy who managed to beat OSU before heading off to browner pastures in Iowa?

Matt, thanks again for these fun Tigers and Wolverines additions! I haven't picked up much for you since the last package I sent, but I'm sure before long I'll have another mailer's worth of Giants and 90s inserts to send out east for your enjoyment.

I've got a few ideas for my next post but haven't decided what it'll be just yet--June's show, my eBay pickups from the first half of '25, or a quick recap of some TCDb deals from earlier this year. Either way, you'll see all three of those at some point in the next week or two, so stay tuned for those!

2024 trade package #23: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

My other trade package from November was the typical awesomeness from Doug at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store. He actually managed to get it out in time that it wasn't impacted by the Canada Post strike, which was definitely a stroke of luck considering how long that went on and the fact that we're still dealing with the repercussions of the stoppage. As a matter of fact, I've had a package ready to send back his way for a couple weeks now but unfortunately USPS still isn't accepting mail to send across the border, presumably while their Canadian counterparts get caught up. Oh well, it'll just have to wait.

As for what I got in my final mailing from Kitchener, Ontario for 2024:

We'll start with baseball as usual. I remember Damon's brief stint with the Tigers in 2010 and his decent bat but noodle arm. Larkin and Morris are former Wolverines that won baseball's Ultra best prize in 1990. Walewander seems to be a cult favorite of some Tigers fans.

Heading over to football, Tom Brady starts us off with Topps' return to the sport thanks to their Composite product, one that brings to mind its long lost Fusion set that combined multiple brands, and in this case that includes Chrome. DE Len Ford was one of the most accomplished players to come out of the program, winning an NCAA title and then three NFL rings in a HOF pro career. Harbaugh, of course, needs no introduction, but I hope his ability to quickly turn around the fortunes of teams he coaches becomes the narrative around him instead of the stupid "QB whisperer" crap. Jenkins and Wilson were both drafted this year and I happily added a card each to their RC totals, plus a Scorecard parallel for the Bengals DL. And we go all the way back to RB Hassan Haskins' pre-college days with a Team USA jersey that came out when he was a lower-rated recruit and not yet a Buckeye-killing back.

The non-UM Red Wings all fit into this scan and they also serve as a nice transition into the hockey stuff, giving you a bit of an idea of a couple of the brands that were prevalent in this package: UD flagship and MVP. I'm old enough to remember Ogrodnick's name (likely due to video games made late in his career), though he was gone from Detroit by the time I was really paying attention to the sport. It's very cool to add such a relatively old Wings card to my collection!

Now let's take a look at some Wolverines and WolverWings! Young Kraken star Beniers kicks off the group with another example of UD taking advantage of owning Fleer's brand names like Metal. Compher's having a relative down year with the Wings but then again, who isn't at this point? Connor is once again on a great scoring pace and isn't too far from equaling his '23-'24 numbers, actually. Luke Hughes' stats are also down a bit from last season while last season's Norris winner Quinn continues to stack up points.

WolverWing Dylan Larkin continues to be the heart of the team as its captain, and hopefully a new coach will inspire the team to play up to their potential. Norris suits up for Doug's Senators and is among the team leaders in goals in his sixth season (though two of those saw him appear in just 11 games). Rare Wolverine-in-Buffalo Power just played in his 200th NHL game and has a chance to improve on some decent stats from last season. Trouba, of course, finally got out of New York as he was flipped to Anaheim earlier this month. And not-remotely-rare Wolverine/Blue Jacket Werenski has a chance to finally return to the 20-goal mark, his career high from 2019-20, which would be pretty cool for the stud defenseman. While I'm happy with the various base cards here, he appears on one of the best non-hits, a 2019-20 SP Game Used Orange Rainbow parallel that's numbered to just 103(?) copies.

There are just two horizontal cards to look at this time, but they're both worth a look! Beniers is back with a sweet die-cut numbered issue from 2022-23 SPx, which is probably the best of him in my collection besides the Metal Universe RC above. Connor also makes another appearance thanks to a UD insert called Stars of the Rink that has a cool rainbow "dots" pattern.

And then we have the hits, and boy are they nice ones! Number one is my first autograph of yet another Blue Jacket, defenseman Nick Blankenburg. The two-year Wolverine played three seasons with Columbus before signing with Nashville this past July. I absolutely love the look of his uncirculated autographed acetate RC from UD's Clear Cut brand.

The next autograph is somewhat similar with former Jets/current Wings C Andrew Copp signing an SPx card from the previous year's Clear Cut offering. The holographic background makes it a true throwback to SPx's origins and I feel like UD went away from that design aspect to its detriment, so it's a sight for sore eyes here. That's my fourth auto of the WolverWing.

And last up is one more Werenski appearance (hey, there's a reason he's a top-10 guy in my Michigan Hockey PC!). Though I previously claimed four hits to his name, it took #5 here to add my first signature. That comes from the shiny 2022-23 UD Stature Autographs set, one which appears to parallel the base set, which is already fairly high-end itself. I like that his name is fairly legible and as a bonus he even throws in his jersey number, one he has in common with my top baseball PC guy. Needless to say I appreciate Doug chipping away at the list of Wolverines for whom I need certified autographs, one I'm somewhat maintaining over on TCDb.

Doug, thanks so much for this outstanding envelope to end our year of trading. Again, I'm frustrated that I couldn't send a return sooner due to the strike, but I promise it'll be worth the wait, plus at least I have it ready to go at the drop of a hat. In the meantime I'll work on starting a new stack for you at this weekend's show. I hope you and Mischief had a merry Christmas!

I'll be back soon (possibly very soon!) with more trades from December.