Steve Boros was a Tiger for four seasons and Red for two so he's a double-dipper for this theme. He's pictured here with the latter team on a 1978 TCMA 60's I issue, and you'll see that brand a bit more throughout this post. I completed his regular checklist a while ago so this was a fun optional addition.
Bill Freehan, of course, was a Tiger for all 15 seasons of his excellent career. This 100% oddball pair includes a repeat of the TCMA 60's set above along with a 1989 Swell Baseball Greats issue that's a bit of a rarity as a Freehan card released during that decade.
Next up is Kirk Gibson, this post's only non-Wolverine, whose two stints in Detroit added up to 12 seasons. You may recall that in this series' second post I showed off a 1981 Kellogg's hologram of Gibby's teammate Alan Trammell. I'm happy to be back today with a 1982 version of another of my favorite Tigers in Gibson. To that I added a couple more oddly sized cards: 1990 Dodgers Target (the first of four you'll see in this series), which is a set you've surely seen on more than one Dodgers-centric blog, plus the oxymoronic 2013 Topps Archives Mini Tall Boys. These are definitely appropriate for a guy that was anything but standard in his heyday.
Former two-sport star Drew Henson is a bit of a technicality as he never suited up for the Reds after joining them in a trade with the Yankees, and then he returned to the Bronx for all eight games and nine ABs in his bust of an MLB career. But as they say, my blog, my rules, so here's an early 90s trio I added to his PC. A 2001 Fleer Tradition base is my third RC of the ex-Yankee, and that's joined by one of Drew's two appearances in UD's fun 40-Man product from 2002, plus a Mini from Topps' 2003 Bazooka.
Barry Larkin is definitely the outlier in today's post as he clocks in with 15 new items, three of which were throw-ins from an apologetic seller. One of those appears after I got Larkin to join in on the Sportflics action (1990) in the form of a '91 Topps Cracker Jack four-player card that appears to be an uncut version, something I hadn't seen. Some higher end Topps--'95 Finest, '99 Chrome, and '01 Gold Label Class 1, add to the fun along with a couple parallels--'92 Topps Gold Winners and '97 Score Showcase Series--plus an '02 Heritage base.
Donruss' Leather and Lumber product was fairly forgettable, just the opposite of last year's Contenders Draft Picks which again brings the fun of college action to baseball collectors. Then we have a pair of horizontal '96s with a Stadium Club subset and Upper Deck checklist that co-stars fellow HOFer Chipper Jones. Those are joined by another throw-in, a '91 Panini Sticker, and slightly larger '03 Fleer Double Header base.
All in all it was a nice purchase for Larkin whose total vaults up to 717 items, second only to fellow SS Cal Ripken Jr.
Former Michigan QB Rick Leach was a Tiger for the first three seasons of his career but today you'll see him with the Jays and Giants. The first three are fun oddballs from Blue Jays Fire Safety sets made in 1984, '86, and '87. Meanwhile, card #4's product should look fairly familiar to a number of you: Mother's Cookies from 1990. Those rounded cards are pretty solid food issues and are always fun to collect. Last up is an item for which I finally caved and added to my cart: a 1991 Leaf error that was supposed to depict San Fran P Jeff Brantley but actually stars Leach. Once again I can call his collection complete!
1990 Dodgers Target card #2 is of Don Lund, a Brooklyn Dodger for parts of three seasons who was also a Tigers OF for four. His BB-R entry notes that the Michigan alum is buried in Ann Arbor's Forest Hill Cemetery where several former University presidents as well as legendary coach Bo Schembechler are interred.
Outfielder Elliott Maddox was a Tiger for just one season a couple years after Detroit drafted him in the first round in '68, but that's good enough to include him today! Here he is on the first card I've acquired since completing his checklist, another SSPC piece, in this case from 1975. By the way, Maddox never did appear on a card with the Tigers; his '71 Topps RC shows him as a member of the Senators, another of his one-and-done clubs.
As with Leach I scored both oddballs and needed checklist cards of Hal Morris, a guy who played for both of the teams featured in this post but of course known mostly as a Red. The top three cards you see are Columbus Clippers issues from 1988 (CMC and Police) and '89 (ProCards) from his time in the Yankees system. It warms my heart every time I think about the 80s/90s Yanks suffering a World Series drought thanks to getting rid of guys like Hal. The other two are 90s parallels from '96 Metal Universe (Platinum) and '98 Topps--the Minted in Cooperstown stamped cards that were, well, what it says right there. I appreciated the small dent in Morris' checklist as I get closer to 75% of his run.
Pitcher Heath Murray was part of both systems I'm covering today but never played for the Reds. He did appear in 14 games for the abysmal '01 Tigers (who'd get even worse in '03) which is why he's here today. While I didn't land any of the five cards I need to complete his collection I did come up with a couple "others" to add from '94 Signature Rookies and Best's '96 Double-A All-Stars, with the latter being light years better in terms of design.
As I did with Maddox I was able to find a couple more cards to add to a completed PC, which in this case is late pitcher Ross Powell, a one-time Red. He's shown with a couple of Cincy's Minor League clubs here: the AA Chattanooga Lookouts (1990 Grand Slam) and AAA Nashville Sounds (1991 Line Drive AAA). Minor League cards don't always have the greatest designs but they're fun to collect thanks to the many fun team names and the fact that they're sometimes the only way to get a player on cardboard.
OF Leon Roberts, who I just learned hit a grand slam off of fellow Michigan alum Geoff Zahn in 1978, is another guy whose collection I've long since completed--noticing a trend here? But I always like to add more cards to a PC when I can, so I came up with this interesting quartet. #1 is a return to the '75 SSPC set made during Roberts' second and final season with Detroit, the team that drafted him. I also found him on a 1987 ProCards minor league issue as the manager of the Tigers' AAA affiliate in Toledo--another new fact I learned! And you know what else I was previously ignorant of? How about the Senior Professional Baseball Association, a 35+ league that featured a number of former stars that ran from 1989-90. Leon appears here on 1989 cards representing this association from T/M and Topps.
Last up today is very well known Reds 3B Chris "Spuds" Sabo, and all three of these were checklist needs, so that was pretty exciting. #1 is an '89 OPC base that leaves me five short of his run from the 80s, and I was glad to grab that because the brand sometimes carries a price premium on this side of the Canadian border. Second is another junk wax era offering, 1990 Donruss Best NL, made a couple years after his NL ROY campaign. And last up is a Gold Rush parallel of his 1994 Score Rookie/Traded base that shows him as an Oriole after he signed with Baltimore that year (before eventually returning to the Reds). This trio gives me exactly 150 cards on his checklist out of the 210 I'm chasing, so it really feels like I'm making progress there.
Stay tuned for one more post like this one packed with a bunch of players, then three more solo posts featuring some very popular PCs!
