2025 trade package #26: the Collector

With Christmas just a couple days away let's have a look at the penultimate trade envelope I received in November. This one was actually a pair of PWEs from Chris, the Collector, who apologized for the lack of baseball but made up for it with some "Michigan" and "hoops and hockey" stuff. As always I was happy to receive anything, especially new stuff, from someone as generous as Chris.

Here's what he sent:

The lone baseball item was a '24 Heritage card that paired up 2012 MVPs Miggy and Buster Posey. Buster's Giants swept Cabrera's Tigers in the World Series, and both should have plaques in the HOF when all is said and done.

Hoops-wise, three players got boosts to their PCs while a fourth makes his debut tonight. A LeVert Prizm base puts him at 70, good for 6th in my collection. Poole's Topps Holiday base is perfect for this time of year. Franz has more cards in my collection than his older brother by a factor of almost three because he appears in trade packages so often, like the Prizm Monopoly card above.

And Yale transfer F Danny Wolf joins the collection thanks to a '25-'26 Topps 1980-81 insert that throws it back to that year's design. After playing his first two seasons for the Bulldogs, Wolf headed to Ann Arbor for the '24-'25 season and was productive enough to get selected #27 overall by Brooklyn earlier this year. Chris pulled this card himself and was nice enough to include it here when I asked if it was available.

As I mentioned, Chris did indeed include some football cards. GOAT QB Tom Brady stars on a 2017 Absolute base with a design that feels like a bit of an anomaly for the brand, though not at all in a bad way, especially since it wasn't split into hobby/retail versions that year. WR Steve Breaston's 2010 Panini Contenders is much more typical of that product's look, and one I tend to enjoy. Prestige has been pretty consistent too, like WR Devin Funchess' 2017 card above, especially when it comes to RCs with college photos that I like to collect. LB David Harris was in just his second season when the '08 Topps card above was made, and he'd go on to pile up over 1100 combined tackles in 11 years, all but one with the Jets (Patriots, his 2017 swan song). And you all know Henne as one of my absolute favorite QBs. The KC playoff hero can be seen above on his 2010 Panini Epix base that came out a couple years before he'd suit up for Jacksonville.

I'll get to Michigan Hockey stuff in a minute, but there was also a pair of non-Wolverwings in the envelopes. There was a group of five pretty cool UD inserts in this shipment and one of them is the UD Portraits card of young star defenseman Mo Seider, whose productive play has helped Detroit show vast improvement this season. He's joined by fellow D-man Jake Walman, a guy Steve Yzerman spent a second-rounder to dump on the Sharks last year, only to see San Jose flip him to Edmonton earlier in '25 for a first round pick. 

And lastly we have the hockey Wolverines, with a nice bit of red indicating a couple Wolverwings! That's the case for C Andrew Copp as seen on last year's UD design. The recently traded Quinn Hughes (Minnesota) and fellow traded defenseman Jacob Trouba (2024, to Anaheim) also hail from that set that offers superb photography. Hughes also appears on a '24-'25 UD insert called "Gaming XP" that notes how long its subjects have been in the league. I'll add that this appears to be a "Speckle" parallel of that insert, which is a tougher pull and therefore even better!

Along with the four portrait cards is a quartet of landscapes. Kyle Connor's Sizzle Reel insert from this year's UD looks fantastic, especially in-hand, and the rainbow foil brings to mind 90s inserts from brands like Select. Wings captain Dylan Larkin gets two very appreciated additions from this year's UD, the very shiny "Compositions," and last year's "Gaming FOV," (I inadvertently flipped them when scanning). As you can see, the '24 product liked the "gaming" theme, which surely was an appeal to a certain younger generation of collectors, and the FOV card has a cool look to it, if you ask me. By the way, I now have 77 cards of #71.

Last but certainly not least is another base card from Upper Deck's base set a year ago, starring third-year RW Mackie Samoskevich. The young Panther appeared in four playoff games last season and tallied an assist in Florida's successful quest to repeat their win over Edmonton. Oddly enough this card is also his debut in my collection, and he appears to be the 98th subject to join that PC.

Chris, as always I appreciate you thinking of me and sending me cards of my favorite players and teams. I'm glad you enjoyed your Christmas Cards as a quick break from the Topps advent calendar rip. I'm looking forward to more trading between us next year and reading more interesting features on your blog. May you and your family have a peaceful Christmas together.

I plan on being back tomorrow, Christmas Eve, with the final trade package of November '25. Season's greetings to you all!

2025 trade package #2: the Collector

Today's the first day of March and it sees me returning with another trade envelope from January, the second I received this year.

I was very happy to see a PWE from longtime blog friend Chris ("The Collector") who'd largely gone MIA since shutting down his blog. The cards themselves were nice but in general I was a bit relieved that he was still around. I won't share his brief note or my speculation on what's happening in his world and just say that I'm grateful for the cards and wish him and his family the best.

Here's the contents:

The lone baseball item as Spring Training is kicking into full gear was this '24 A&G Gold Border Mini of former/current Tigers P Jack Flaherty. He was, of course, sent to the Dodgers to help them bring him another ring, and in the time between when Chris mailed this PWE and today when I'm writing this post, Flaherty returned to the team that helped him rebuild some value last year. Given some of the potential question marks in terms of the starters it's nice to have a proven guy like him to go with Tarik Skubal and some of the other young arms.

At the time he sent this both of these sports more associated with winter were still in action, and of course one of them will still be active for a couple months to come. On the football side of things, Brady and Woodson are two of the greatest players to come out of Michigan, not to mention play their positions in the NFL. Since Brady left New England for Tampa it's actually a bit funny to see older cards of him with the Pats. I'd say his record and that of Bill Belichick post-split pretty much tell the story of which of the two was more responsible for their remarkably dynasty.

Last up is hockey, which is still in full swing in terms of both the NHL and NCAA. The Red Wings have bounced back in a big way since firing a very ineffective head coach, and they're actually participating in an outdoor game in Ohio as I write this. A crazy eight former Wolverine icers can be found on the two rosters and six of them should be on the ice tonight. I don't think any of the Wings represented on these cards are still with the franchise, but Michigan alum Kyle Connor is still putting up huge points numbers with the Jets, and he may even crack 40 goals for the second time in his productive career.

Once again, thank you for the envelope and cards, Chris, and for indirectly letting me know that you're hanging in there. Again, I wish you and your family nothing but the best and want to remind you that you have lots of friends in the hobby if you ever need support.

Back soon with another January trade recap!

2023 trade package #22: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

It's November, so I'd better get back to posting if I'd like to be caught up by the end of the year!

That means I'm back tonight with a new trade recap. This package came from my top all-time trade partner, Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store, back in August (yeah, I'm that far behind on some stuff!).

By my count this is the 50th time on this here blog I'm showing off a package from my favorite Canadian in the hobby, so thanks for 50 and here's to many more, Doug!

Let's dig into the contents:

These '88 OPCs, as the Canadian alternative to Topps, bring to mind Detroit's old rivalry with Doug's Blue Jays in the 80s. In fact, these cards carry stats from 1987, the year Toronto headed into the final week of the regular season with a 3.5 game lead but got swept in Detroit to end the season on an 0-7 run. The Tigers wouldn't be back in the playoffs until 2006.

More baseball content, including more Tigers, and Wolverines too! Elliott, an OF in Oakland's system, was a second-rounder in '22, putting him up there with a few recent Michigan Baseball draftees. Jobe was picked #3 overall in 2021 out of high school, and he's settled in as a top 100 prospect, so getting a numbered card of him early is great. I'm glad to have a guy like Rogers behind the plate as the position in Motown has been pretty iffy over the past few years.

Beers is a pitcher, also in Oakland's system, and was a 19th round pick out of Ann Arbor in '21, and here you see him on a Leaf Perfect Game signature card, allowing him to join the hits club. And then we come back to Elliott who also joins the club with an autograph on a sweet looking Elite card that includes some college uni action. I'm thrilled to add both of these guys to the collection!

On the basketball side of things, LeVert is starting to feel like a trade package stalwart, which is great, and so are the Wagner bros, in this case Franz. Webber was one of the most well known Wolverines on the court and I'm glad to see the HOFer in envelopes like these.

Not as excited as I am about the two hits, though! First up is one of the most exciting of the bunch as it's another Wolverine/local pro team guy to add to the collection. Livers is from Kalamazoo and after four seasons in Ann Arbor the Pistons took him in the second round two years ago. Burke, of course, has been in the league since he was a top 10 pick in 2013, and that Purple Donruss Optic auto of his looks great! It's just my third card of his with a signature out of eight hits.

All four major sports got represented this time, including my 9-0 Wolverines from the gridiron. Asiasi transferred but of course I'll take any cards of such players as long as they don't appear in a college uni other than Michigan's. I guess Brady's retired for good, eh? He'll still appear in products for years to come, I'm sure. Hill's been good for Cincy's defensive backfield as a rookie, notching a couple picks and 1.5 sacks while being near the team lead in tackles, and his Bengals actually face off against Doug's Bills in just a bit as I'm writing this. Rudock's Spectra card is die-cut and SUPER thick, and this Neon Green insert, which brings to mind the upcoming holidays in the form of a Christmas tree, is numbered just 12/15! Lastly, ex-Michigan RB Charbonnet, who like Asiasi transferred out west to UCLA, is seen in his Bruins uni on the two cards above so I won't count them towards his collection but until I can find pro uni issues of his, I'll be happy to own a couple of the talented Seahawks back.

We'll finish up with hockey, as is tradition (for Canada and therefore the world). I grouped the Wings with the Wolverines since it made sense to me to show off all the cards from one sport like I do with the others, so here you see a couple of my favorites in D-men Konstantinov and Lidstrom, plus a couple other recent Detroit icers.

On the Michigan side of things, this group reminds me I just enjoyed a 10-1 Wolverines pasting of Lindenwood at Yost Ice Arena last Saturday during the football team's bye week. That's a good indication that the program is still a talent factor capable of producing guys like the ones you see above.

I had to squeeze one last non-hit into this scan, a sticker of Wings captain Dylan Larkin, one of the best to come out of Ann Arbor in the past decade. He's continuing to produce points like a machine and seems to be benefitting from the signing of local guy Alex DeBrincat!

Let's end with a bang thanks to four especially nice hits that typify Doug's generosity. I mean, the first two are plates! Number one is Jets star Kyle Connor, a Yellow plate from 22-23 O-Pee-Chee. The base set has a design that's nice to look at as usual and of course I'm thrilled to add my first 1/1 of the sniper. 

He's joined by my first card of any type of ex-Wolverine Chad Kolarik, a talented four-year Michigan C from 2004-08 (meaning I saw a good number of his games live). His NHL career amounted to a cup of coffee with the Blue Jackets in 2009-10 and a few more games with the Rangers the following season. Card #1 in his collection is one of UD's outstanding framed plates inserted into their high-end The Cup product, and this magenta plate was used to produce his Artifacts cards in 2010-11. Welcome, Chad!

I'm no less hyped for the other two cards here. The first is just a flat-out amazing booklet of former Jet/current Rangers D-man Jacob Trouba out of Panini's Playbook. Booklets are very cool items to add during a period of lack of innovation, and I love the combo of jersey pieces and a signature plus the shadowbox effect. Not only all of that, but this one's numbered AND a RC! Trouba's collection has grown nicely especially thanks to the sender of this package and he's among the hockey hits leaders with 18 now.

Finally, we travel near the end of the alphabet to one last player joining my collection tonight. Defenseman Cam York was drafted #14 overall by the Flyers in 2019 and he went on to play two seasons in Ann Arbor. Since then he's spent a good amount of time manning the blue line for Philly, and will soon be suiting up for his 100th career game. He joins my collection tonight thanks to a Rookie Materials jersey from 2021-22 Upper Deck, and I look forward to finding more of his cardboard myself or in future envelopes from Doug.

Speaking of which, one thing that finally motivated me to get off my butt and post was receiving another envelope from Canada just last week. I still have a few other trades to get to before then but I'll try to put in more effort to get caught up soon.

Until then, thanks again for package #50, Mr. Corti, and I look forward to seeing what I can do by the end of the year to return the favor!

2022 trade package #23: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

It's October which means it's cooling off rapidly and we're heading full speed into hockey season (pro and college!). What better time to show off a package from Canadian buddy of the blog Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store?

Don't let his blog's name fool you, though--Doug's no cheapskate. Not only does he send great cards my way every time, but he also packages them with a level of care that goes above and beyond despite the extra cost. Seriously, for at least the second package in a row I think about 75% of the weight was made up by toploaders.

But I don't want to give the quality aspect short shrift either--time after time he sends some absolute gems my way. Here's what came in last month's salvo from across the border:

The baseball section starts things off on a great note. In terms of base and inserts the Larkin looks great (and is new to me!) and the rest are current and recent-ish Tigers.

And then things really get cooking with a trio of great autographs. The first two star the latest member of my Michigan Baseball hits collection (#33 overall), pitcher Steven Hajjar, the #61 overall pick last year (second round) by the Twins who was flipped to the Reds in a deal for Tyler Mahle at the deadline this season. As usual I love Panini's Elite Extra Edition set and its various versions like the ones you see here.

Meanwhile, Franklin Perez was pretty much considered the headliner of the deal that sent above players JV to Houston and Cameron to Detroit, but he's become the least accomplished of the trio (for various reasons). He hasn't turned 25 yet, though, so who knows what could happen? And in that case why shouldn't I enjoy an acetate auto like the 2018 Bowman High Tek card you see above?

Next, there was a whole mess of Red Wings, many of them recent players I don't know as well since I haven't followed the team as much since the days of Datsyuk and Zetterberg. But there's some great stuff in here with plenty of stars, and you know I got excited seeing a pair of Yzermans. That Octopus foil Mascot insert from 21-22 UD MVP is awesome, and the old school stars from Parkhurst are outstanding as well. And that is indeed an IP or TTM auto of former Wings C Mike Sillinger, a former first-rounded who spent parts of five seasons in Motown during his nearly two decades in the NHL. Sweet!

The basketball portion was relatively tiny at just two items which is fine since that's my least favorite of the four major sports anyway. Jordan Poole features on a sticker that probably won't be hanging around goon/former Spartan Draymond Green's locker anytime soon. And THJ has a slightly legible signature on a Prizm autograph, surprisingly my fourth signed card of his. Is he really about to go into his 10th NBA season?! Now I feel old.

Heading over to the gridiron, you can't go wrong starting off with the GOAT in Tom Brady. How often do you get to see kickers on cards like Feely? Big Mo Hurst has announced he'll be there in-person for this weekend's huge matchup against Penn State, and I hope the DL is as hungry for rushing the QB as he was! Speaking of hungry guys rushing off the edge, big thanks to Doug for my first two cards of #2 overall pick Aidan Hutchinson, who's unfortunately languishing a bit with the garbage Lions, but will likely break out before long. I love this pair of Panini Chronicles cards that come from the Phoenix and Recon subsets, especially because they offer college action photos.

And even more football! Paye is from last year's Phoenix. Rawls has been out of the league for a few years but surprised me by appearing in 35 NFL games over for seasons. It's so great to have Shoelace back on the sidelines blaring his megawatt smile while selling recruits on the sport's greatest historical program. Toomer gets to enjoy a typically shiny Pacific design. Woodson surely loves what he's seen this season, including the guys that play his former position. And that Funchess patch/auto is sick! Game- or player-worn doesn't make much difference to me when a card is autographed and sometimes it's just nice to get a great looking patch whether or not it came from a game jersey. That's hit #21 of him further bolstering my bunches of Funchess!

And now we hit the ice, possibly in time for tonight's season openers in New York and LA. The last few years of Upper Deck's base set featured heavily in this package and that's great because I needed many of them, plus you'll see repeat appearances of a few other products. Of these players, Cogliano is with Colorado (having won the Cup with them last season), Connor is still with the Jets, Copp will soon be making his Red Wings debut, former Wing Glendenning is still with the pictured Stars, and rising star Quinn Hughes will be in his fifth season in Vancouver.

This scan is a good reminder of the firepower Michigan has sent the NHL over the past few decades. Larkin the WolverWing is of course my favorite and I really like how UD occasionally brings back Fleer favorites like Metal sometimes. From this group Hyman, Larkin, and Norris will all appear for their pictured teams. Morrison, of course, has been out of the league for a decade but was a quality regular for a long time after a legendary college career. Meanwhile, Motte will join Norris with Doug's beloved Sens and elder statesman Patch will suit up for Carolina in his 15th NHL season!

After a couple more cards of Max this scan moves on to defenseman Greg Pateryn, who I'm slightly surprise has spent as long in the league as he has. I think he's still in Anaheim's system but don't know if he'll be with them (his sixth team) for a second consecutive season. Stewart is a fellow native of Doug's hometown of Kitchener. Turco remains one of my all-time favorites from the program's history. And former #8 overall pick (one of many first-rounders from the program's history) Werenski will be appearing in his seventh season in (hold on, I need to hold my nose while I say this) Columbus.

Doug included two very cool hits from this sport as well. One is a swatch of a banner from the 2019 NHL Heritage Classic, and outdoor match that saw the Jets defeat the Flames 2-1 in Saskatchewan. The guy pictured on the card, Kyle Connor, had an assist on the OT game-winner, a notable feat in a notable game. I like that you can tell which part of the banner the gigantic swatch came from. If you gave me a choice between an event-worn jersey and something like this I can't say I'd be mad either way, especially with how nice this card looks. It's just my third hit (all relics) of Connor.

And the other relic stars Werenski, whom we just saw a couple cards to the left. It's a swatch from a rookie photoshoot, and it joins one I already had from the 12-card set of...Kyle Connor! How cool is that? If my Connor PC is small then the pile of Werenskis I have is even more diminutive at just two relics, but as always I appreciate having someone like Doug helping me out with my lesser appreciated collections like this.

Doug, as always, thanks for a fantastic pile of cards. I hope you had a nice Canadian Thanksgiving and that you enjoy a happy hockey new year! May your Sens bring you more joy than pain in '22-'23. And may I continue have luck slowly piling up more cards to send you in our ongoing high quality back-and-forth that I've enjoyed for going on a decade!

I expect to be back with more TCDB trade recaps for the next few posts while I wait for other things to arrive and because I skipped this month's show. Maybe I won't go weeks between posts again, who knows? Until then, good luck to your favorite MLB playoff teams and NHL franchises (and NFL too, I guess) as I continue to focus on the 6-0 Wolverines.

2022 trade package #15: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store has been among the most generous trade partners I've worked with since I started this blog whether we're talking quantity or quality. For the former, this is the 46th package of cards from him that I've posted over here alone, along with 56 I covered on Too Many Manninghams before retiring that blog. Sure, there's some overlap in those, but that's still impressive!

And he's sent plenty of quality over the border to me as well, providing some of the best pieces of many of my PCs, especially when it comes to Michigan Hockey, but many other collections as well.

I'm leading with all that because a couple weeks ago he sent me a tracking number for his latest salvo and mentioned that he'd put a surprisingly hefty amount of insurance on it. What could possibly justify that?

Well the package arrived not that long after, and its size, if not the weight, had me thinking, "Ok, something good's in here, but what could it be?"

There were a few cards to be had,

set aside in their own envelope:

Oh cool, a nice quartet of Kyle Connor, the Michigan native who potted 35 goals and 36 assists in his lone season with UM (2015-16), then bolted for the Jets, who took him #17 overall in '15. All he's done in his five full campaigns since then is average 35 goals a season, including a career high 47 this year (plus 46 assists, also a personal best by a mile). The Lady Byng Award winner ("sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability") is certainly a great player to build a collection of right now as his future continues to look bright. These give me 17 of him, including a RC (seen above) and a pair of relics.

So those were great but obviously not worth the price of shipping and insurance and size of the envelope alone. What else was in there?

Penny sleeves! PressTine is the company that makes Doug's beloved repacks so I'm betting these were included in one of those. Who can't use more of these?

That's still not all, of course. I mean there was this larger item:

Doug mentioned he'd been meaning to send me this sports section from a 2017 newspaper, The Record, which covers the Waterloo area near his home of Kitchener, Ontario. It's pretty obvious why thanks to that attention-grabbing photo of a runner proudly wearing her block "M". Jaimie Phelan hails from Kitchener as well and had a great career as a Wolverine, and that includes what this story highlights: going from last to first in the 1,500 meter (metre!) final at that year's NCAA track championship, earning her congratulations from fellow Wolverine Jacob Trouba (of hockey, of course), and a "family friend" named Bobby Orr. Not bad at all, young lady! This is a very cool mashup of Doug's hometown and mine and I'll be glad to hang onto this.

So if you're looking at the size of that mailer and doing the math with everything I've covered so far, you're probably guessing there has to be something left, right? Those are all great items but that can't be it, of course?

Of course.

Whoa, a signed jersey, sweet! I'll admit I don't know my NHL numbers that well, I wonder who #81 is? Man, this is exciting!

Oh. Oh wow. I think those cards were a hint, guys. This here is most definitely a signed Kyle Connor jersey! Let's open it up and have a nice look at it:

The only hockey jerseys I own are a few versions of Michigan's, and nothing too high quality, so I'm very, very impressed with how nice this one is! That Jets logo patch dead center is T-H-I-C-C.

And here's the back while I have it unfolded. Connor's nameplate is huge and in great shape and the numbers are excellent too. Kyle picked a nice place to sign his name plus he added his jersey number, a nice touch.

See?

Just for the hell of it I snagged a shot with the jersey and its included COA. I haven't figured out how I'm going to store/display this just yet but I have to say that framing it isn't exactly out of the question since this is most definitely a piece made to be seen!

Doug, you've sent me some doozies over the years, enough that I should put together a post showing off the best of the best, which I'm sure would be very impressive. But I have no idea how I'm going to return the favor on this one. To be sure, I will, but I'll have to do some searching to find something that justifies this extreme level of generosity! Thank you so much for one of the coolest items in my whole collection, a rare add to my autographed memorabilia collection. I look forward to reading comments from some awed and/or jealous readers after posting this! WOW!

2022 trade package #10: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Today is (or was, depending on when you're reading this) my birthday, and I'm mentioning that mostly because, one, I turned a year old in the weeks between posts, and two, this evening's cards come from a guy who loves collecting people born on his own birthday, February 14. That would be Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store.

I don't collect anyone specifically because they were born on my birthday (though I think that's an awesome sub-collection), but if I did, some of the top choices would include:

• Baseball: Bartolo Colon, Martin Dihigo, Brad Penny
• Basketball: Joe Dumars, Tracy McGrady
• Football: Nelson Agholor, Pete Metzelaars
• Hockey: Kris Draper, Pat Verbeek
• Other/non-sport: Tommy Chong, Bob Dylan, Patti LaBelle, Alfred Molina, John C. Reilly, Kristin Scott Thomas

Anyway, once again Doug hit my mailbox with a beefy envelope, one this time that was probably 75% toploaders by weight! There was also a ton of fun cardboard goodness and that's exactly what you'll get to see this evening:

Baseball 1 of 3: current and former Tigers. Most of these aside from Avila are from pretty recent products that I wouldn't have opened myself, such as this year's Heritage (which you'll see more of in a minute). Remember when Baddoo was a rookie instead of a guy in a sophomore slump? There's some nice designs here to look at, though!

Baseball 2 of 3: starts with more Heritage Tigers, though Niko's long gone. It's nice to add to my minuscule Haase collection, though. And hey, there's a brand new Rich Hill for one of my favorite PCs! They even got him back with his current team, Boston. Also, how about that trio of slick Mize cards? (There's a few more in the next scan too!) The Chrome card is a 2019 National Convention Orange Refractor numbered to just 25, so I'd have to call that one the best in his growing collection. The Chronicles Clear Vision and Clearly Donruss (both acetate but somewhat difficult to tell from the scan) look amazing for "base" cards too.

Baseball 3 of 3: includes the rest of the Mize, including two more Chronicles versions, showing off that product's versatility. Two many Verlanders proves to be just right for base/inserts of the ageless wonder.

And then there's some top-notch hits! Demeritte bounced back to Atlanta after flunking out with the Tigers but his 2020 Select auto (#d /199) looks great. There was no way that would overshadow a  colorful Michigan uni signature of Jesse Franklin, numbered to just 50, though--that's a beaut! And one last hit sees a pairing of the previously mentioned Chronicles and Verlander in jersey form. Noice!

Red Wings 1 of 2: guys like Lidstrom and Yzerman will always be the top draw for me when it comes to Detroit hockey cards in trade packages, but the numbered Mantha and Rasmussen items are great as well.

Red Wings 2 of 2: it's a Turgeon two-fer! Turegon was a 2014 third-rounder that appeared in just nine games over two seasons with the Wings, and since then he's signed with the Wild. You couldn't ask for better with these two relic cards that feature bold red jersey swatches, though!

Basketball 1 of 1: That Hoops parallel of Caris LeVert (Teal Explosion) is something to look at! Rice and Rose are Michigan royalty at this point. And another Michigan uni auto is more than welcome to join in the fun! This time it's new basketball PC member Mike Smith out of last year's Panini Chronicles Draft. Smith was a grad transfer who started at Columbia before playing the 2020-21 season in Ann Arbor, one that saw Michigan get to the Elite 8. He's the 31st different subject in my basketball collection and this was a great card to start his PC.

Football 1 of 1: base cards of two football royalty as well are certainly welcome, but I'm sure your eyes went right for the big guns like mine did! He may only use about 40% of the sticker but Rashan Gary's still a draw for me, especially when it's a new autograph of his, and a college uni card to boot! That's auto #5 to go with a plate in his collection. And speaking of plates, the next card was probably the biggest surprise of the package for me. That's former Michigan DL Chris Wormley with the team that drafted him, the Ravens, on a 2017 Panini Unparalleled Black Plate that would have been inserted in that year's Plates & Patches product. Would you believe it's already my second 1/1 out of just four hits of the current Steeler? That's crazy but certainly worthy of its surprise appearance here!

Michigan Hockey 1/3: and as always we end with the sport of honor, hockey. Doug treated me to a good number (if not all) of the Wolverines from 21-22 OPC which looks nice as always. Connor had an excellent season and Copp chipped in a goal and two helpers in the Rangers' win this evening as I was writing this post. I'm mainly pulling for them to win it all this year since two other UMers--Tyler Motte and Jacob Trouba--also play for New York. Colorado with Andrew Cogliano and Jack Johnson (both seen here) would be #2 but they're still Colorado and what self-respecting Wings fan wants to root for them? Speaking of Wings and Wolverines, Dylan Larkin is another of the players Doug included from OPC.

Michigan Hockey 2/3: hey, there's Tyler Motte, whom I just mentioned! There's some other familiar players here as well but it's very clear that Josh Norris is the highlight. A rising star for Doug's beloved Sens, he was a 2017 first-rounder for San Jose but traded to Ottawa the following year. After two solid seasons in Ann Arbor he got a cup of coffee in the NHL in 2019-20, jumped to a 17/18/35 line the following season, and this past year he doubled his goal total to 35! Those are some great looking cards Doug sent me, especially the coveted Young Guns, which I'm sure was a double because nobody just throws those around.

Michigan Hockey 2/3: Werenski is the last of our non-hits here, including that MVP card that LOOKS like an auto but is just the latest version of UD's "Script" parallel that used to look more obviously like something else, e.g. foil. Still a fun card, though.

And then we have some fun hits for the icers as well. Like I said, Connor had a hell of a season, tying for fifth in the league in goals with 47. I'm sure he was much happier about that than he looked on his 2018-19 UD Rookie Photoshoot Flashback Materials jersey card, just my second hit of his.

Wolverwing Dylan Larkin almost equaled his career high in goals and points with 31 and 69, respectively, despite playing on a bad Wings team I hope improves at some point. The hockey stick theme is a fun design on his 2020-21 UD Game Jersey, already hit #9 for me. 

And lastly, Motte isn't listed among the playoff leaders in scoring this season but he's no stranger to the playoffs after a run with the 2019-20 Canucks, so who knows if he might be a hero if the Rangers make it all the way to the finals? His signature looks especially sharp on a 2016-17 Ultimate Collection autograph done in the style of 2006-07 Ultimate Collection's auto RCs. Numbered of 199 it shows him pictured with the Blackhawks, the team that drafted him and his first of four franchises to-date. It's my third auto and seventh hit of a guy who put up huge numbers in his junior season at Michigan.

Doug, thanks so much for sending such a large quantity of great cards, especially the hits as usual, that'll be great additions to my collections! I promise not to wait until I age another year to recap the next package you send, but before that I hope I'll be hitting you back. And at least I have plenty of time to try to stock up on 2/14 cards before next February....

Next up should be another blogger trade package, then depending on how things go I would think I'll be getting back to TCDB trade recaps. Until then, I hope the weather continues to warm up and improve in your area and that you're getting some sun and fresh air like I am--you're never too old for that!

2021 trade package #24: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Dollar Store dude and Canadian buddy of the blog Doug of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store recently sent me a nice fat envelope for the fourth time this year and it was another doozy! As is often the case when he sends me stuff, all four major sports get hit so there's potentially something for everyone here. And most importantly, everything is for me! Let's look at the contents this time:

The baseball and basketball portions were limited but very strong. We get a look at two Cabreras: future HOFer Miggy plus potential future Tiger Daniel, an OF Detroit took in the second round out of LSU last year. Former Wolverine and sure-fire future star Jordan Nwogu, like the latter Cabrera above, came out of this year's Topps Pro Debut, which seems to be using a mix of designs, and that's always a plus. And the package's biggest hitter is also from that product: an autograph of one of the Tigers' cream of the crop prospects, Riley Greene. The fifth overall pick in 2019, Greene has as much upside as anyone else selected in that first round, and the outfielder tends to slot in just behind Spencer Torkelson atop the team's farm rankings. Doug pulled this bad boy, numbered /50 on the back, himself, and was nice enough to flip it to me for future considerations, which I'm still working on. Just another reminder of his legendary generosity.

Getting back to Wolverines, from a different sport, take a look at the recent-ish due of THJ and LeVert. It's crazy to me that the younger Hardaway will be going into his ninth season this year while Vert will be appearing in his sixth once he's healthy.

Heading over to the gridiron, Michigan's 6-0 start has surprised lots of fans including me. This here group mostly leans towards the rookies but has some vet representation as well. Alexander and Kenn appear on cards made after their first seasons while older Wolverines Brooks and Foote RCs bookend two of this year's newest NFLers in Collins and Evans out of Chronicles Draft, meaning best helmet in college football shows up front and center. And the two biggest items of the bunch come up next: twin (but not identical) autos of former RB Karan Higdon out of 2019 Contenders. The main differences between the variations are the photos and team logos used. The pair doubles my count of Higdon hits to four.

And of course the bulk of the package comprises hockey, with the Wings of Hockeytown dominating the count over the Wolverines. There was a great mix of old and new and I decided to lead off with the players I remember watching growing up along with some guys that starred for the franchise's dynasty in the late 90s/2000s (and a bit beyond). Almost all of these guys won Cups with the team aside from Racine, Sheppard (card #6), and Ysebaert (#7), and the latter are players I remember well from playing EA's super-fun NHL games in the mid-90s. It's fun to be a fan of a franchise with such a great history, and one with some decently recent success too!

Here we have mostly recent players with the exception of one-year Wing Crowder and Gallant, whose Wings career ended a bit before I was really following them. He's since carved out a solid coaching career. Hirose's cards are from UD's pretty cool Allure product, and better yet the back of the die-cut parallel tells you exactly what it's called: White Rainbow. More of this, please!

And we end tonight's post on this scan with a mix of Wings and Wolverines, but no Wolverwings this time. The erstwhile Nyquist and Tatar parallels are 2016-17 OPC Ice Blue Traxx cards, and I know that because once again Upper Deck told me exactly that on their backs. They're cool looking parallels in my book!

As for the alumni of the #1 team in the NCAA right now, we'll start with Connor's card which is a Puzzle Back from last year's UD MVP (part of an image that forms Brent Burns of the Sharks). Sharks draftee and current Sen (Doug's team!) Josh Norris makes his debut in my collection with a 2021 UD Synergy inserted called Rookie Journey Draft, which is numbered /999. Patch is much more represented in my collection due to his stardom resulting in a lot of cards made, like the insert above from 2020-21 UD called Ripple the Twine--a cool hockey term I'd somehow never heard before. And last up is a nicely designed jersey relic starring Jacob Trouba, a defenseman drafted by the Jets who now plays for the Rangers. I like how the swatch forms the blade in the hockey stick design they've got going on. I also like that it represents hit #15 of the former first-rounder in my collection.

And speaking of interesting numbers, which I don't feel like I've done much lately, it's time to celebrate yet another collecting milestone for my Michigan alumni hits collection: 2400 cards! 2401 to be exact, thanks to the three here from Doug. One of these days maybe I'll go through some older posts to try to calculate just how integral he's been in that collection, especially the 300+ from hockey alone, but even without looking I can tell you he's contributed a LOT.

So for the 42nd time on this here blog alone (not including those posted on Too Many Manninghams), I have to extend a huge thanks to Doug for the effort and generosity he put into a fantastic trade package. I look forward to seeing your reaction to the package you just received from me recently (finally!) and trying to up my game to pay you back for these latest goodies, especially that Greene autograph.

This was obviously a typically big trade package but I'll be back soon with a much smaller one courtesy of TCDB.