2024 trade package #18: the Lost Collector

Happy December! Tonight I'm finishing off my trade packages from August, and this one was a fun surprise envelope from A.J., the Lost Collector.

He and I don't trade a ton as this is just the fifth bunch of cards I've received from him according to my stats, but I think that's mostly because his collection is a bit more specific and I haven't always had great luck finding cards he needs, especially for his signature Tino Martinez PC. But that's totally fine as it makes it more special when we can send cards back and forth.

Here's a look at what he sent this time:

HOF pitcher Jim Bunning is more often associated with the Phillies, and it's their cap that he wears on his plaque in Cooperstown, but he spent a very productive first nine seasons of his career with Detroit. That means I was happy to see him wearing the Olde English "D" on that 2019 Topps Archives Silver parallel, which is numbered /99 on the back. Fellow former Tiger Nick Castellanos also gets the serial treatment on a 2019 card out of that year's Bowman: a Sky Blue parallel limited to just 499 copies as stated on the front. That's a nice numbered pair!

The other cards in this package represent Michigan Football guys, who I might have mentioned beat Ohio State for the fourth year in a row yesterday (just making sure nobody forgot). These cards bring to mind the ones A.J. sent me last December (which I finally covered this past February) as those were 100% Wolverines gridiron guys.

A Score RC of WR/PR Ronnie Bell (who was recently waived by the Niners) leads off this group. Another star WR comes next in the form of Nico Collins, who's back and starring for the Texans after a few weeks off due to injury. DB Brad Hawkins follows on one of just 12 cards he has to his name, and that reminds me that I need to grab one of his signed cards from that '22 SAGE product. Injured difference-maker edge Aidan Hutchinson comes next with a cool pair from 2023 Donruss Elite and Score (Celebration insert). It would be amazing if the Lions could make an improbable run to the Super Bowl with Hutch returning from his injury to lead the team to their first ring. And lastly, we have one more WR in Donovan Peoples-Jones, who doesn't seem to have played anywhere during what would be his fifth NFL season after being cut by the Lions in the preseason. He's represented on a great looking Score Red parallel (pictured in a Wolverines uni!) from his 2020 rookie season.

A.J., thanks so much for this fun surprise PWE and the goodies therein! I appreciate it as always, and I'm happy to get to say that you'll also be getting at least a little something Christmas cards-wise from me at some point this month, likely before the big holiday.

As for the next few posts, I count five more trades I still need to cover, plus I'm aware of at least one more on the way, so I'll likely keep these recaps going before seeing how I want to tackle my remaining 2024 pickups (Facebook Marketplace, shows, eBay, TCDb deals, and COMC once they arrive). My priority remains thanking folks for their generosity that's 100% in the spirit of this holiday season!

2023 trade package #s 34-37: Bob Walk the Plank, The Collector, The Lost Collector, and A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts

So I can finish up covering the trades I received from bloggers last December before the calendar flips to March, here's a combined trade post featuring the last four envelopes that hit my mailbox before Christmas '23:

Former Bob Walk the Plank blogger Matt and I still manage to swap cards at least once or twice a year and I enjoy that we tend to keep things fairly high-end, or at least above average. This time he sent me a very nice Michigan-themed Christmas present after picking up some stuff from COMC:

Merry Richmas! Of the five you see there, four are new to me and the fifth was a great deal he didn't want to pass up despite knowing it was a dupe for me. The latter would be card #1 in the scan, a Bright Yellow Back from 2017 Heritage that isn't numbered but is limited to just 25 copies. That's most definitely a good idea of the generosity remaining in this envelope. The other Hills include his 2019 Topps Mini Pink parallel (/25), 2020 Topps Mother's Day "Hot Pink" (/50, and could have fooled me on the color!), 2020 Topps Mini Pink (/25), and 2020 Topps Update Black (/69, NICE). That's an outstanding selection of recent numbered Hills and it's not like I get to add this many of him at once very often!

Joining him on the baseball side is one more dupe Matt couldn't pass up, a 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Gold Refractor (/50). He's obviously got great taste because pre-2010-and-later Refractors continue to look fantastic!

Finishing up on the football end of things we have a pair of very rare Wolverines. Former TE and solid broadcaster Jake Butt is up first with a 2017 Panini Certified Mirror Green auto. It's really tough to make out on the scan but along the upper-right edge it's numbered a ridiculous 5/5--hell yeah! That's my 9th hit and 7th auto of the talented pass-catcher. Flipping over to defense, there's my third signature of LB Mike McCray, and certainly my best as it's a 2018 Elite Orange Status die-cut auto numbered 07/10. The signature's nothing to write home about (pun intended) but the card design--die-cut plus numbered--and home college uni action photo make this a winner in my book.

Thanks again for our yearly trading and in particular this outstanding Christmas present, Matt!

Next I have a fun surprise PWE from Chris, the Collector, which ended up being the second that he sent me last December and third since November:

Former Michigan pitcher and current Guardians prospect Steve Hajjar leads off this one. This is just the 9th card in his collection so the Wolverines uni-highlighted '21 Prizm Draft Green Pulsar Prizm was a fun surprise. I was of course thrilled to see another Rich Hill need out of '23 Topps Chrome Update even if Topps dropped the ball on showing him with the Padres. And Chris tapped into his extensive hockey knowledge to send me a foily 2002-03 Pacific Vanguard base of goalie Steve Shields, a very successful netminder in Ann Arbor in the early 90s who played for six teams over 10 NHL seasons.

And as if those weren't enough, the big prize was this full SI For Kids sheet from the November/December '23 issue starring none other than NCAA Champion RB Blake Corum (plus a few other notable names). Corum and his teammates delivered the greatest possible present to Wolverines fans after the holiday with a Rose Bowl win over Alabama and title win over Washington. He ended his extremely productive Michigan career with school highs in single-season rushing and total TDs and points scored and career records in those exact same stats. I look forward to seeing what he can do in the NFL though I wouldn't ask a single thing from him after his career in the college game that I much prefer anyway. But I'll be glad to add on to the paltry five cards I have for now.

Thank you, Chris, for the extra Christmas present!

Next, after sending me a nice chunk of cards last September, AJ the Lost Collector hit my mailbox again before Christmas with this small but effective group of cards:

I think I'm sensing some kind of theme here.... First up is what's easily my best card of WR Ronnie Bell so far, a '23 Prizm Draft Gold Ice Prizm. It's just my third card of the Niners pass-catcher who outperformed his recruiting ranking in college by a mile, and it'll be hard to top for a while! Breakout WR Nico Collins of the Texans is next, hailing from last year's Score set, and I look forward to seeing him continue his upward trajectory next season. RB/PR Chris Evans hasn't been able to get things going for the Bengals but I'm happy to continue to add his RCs to his collection either way, such as the '21 Donruss Optic up above. And how could you possibly go wrong with two defensive stars Michigan lost, only to continue their dominance in 2023, in Mazi Smith and DJ Turner, out of last year's Prestige? The brand continued its practice of using college photos, which of course I love, and I was glad to cross these off of the needs lists of those two players, for whom I now own two cards and one card of--welcome to the collection, DJ!

Thank you, AJ, for gifting these to me last year just before my team put a bow on possibly their best season ever!

And finally tonight, definitely the most Christmassy bunch of cards that could have sat under my tree came from A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts' Jon. Whether you're a fan of Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon" or get excited at the site of Christmas colors red, gold, and green, you'll love these as much as I did:

Panini's solid 2013 Cooperstown product offered cracked ice-type parallels in a number of colors, and Jon represented three of those over three different players in the HOF-themed product. Wolverine/Tiger Charlie Gehringer is up first with Gold and Red cards, which is great as I apparently already had the Green of him. The Golds are /299 with the Reds a more common /399. Tigers HOF hitter and iconic broadcaster George Kell is next, and Jon sent me his cards in three colors, including the Green, whose set is the most common and not numbered. Another former Wolverine, Gorgeous George Sisler, rounds out the group with a Red card of his own. I'll have to track down his Gold but do have his Green as well. I also have Blues /499 of Sisler and Gehringer, and need to track down Matrix (/325) cards of everyone seen here.

Jon, thank you for a very festive PWE of HOFer PCs (too many acronyms!) to close out the year in collecting, and I look forward to trading with you again this year!

Thank you once again to everyone who sent me cards in 2023, which resulted in an average of 1.5 envelopes/packages per month! No matter how long I keep blogging, I'll continue to work with all of you that enjoy swapping cards as it's one of my absolute favorite parts of being here. I already have some 2024 trades to show off once I finish up the rest of my '23 acquisitions, and I promise I'll get back to sending packages out myself soon. As a matter of fact, two are due to arrive to current trading buddies in the next day or so.

Next time: either TCDb deals (likely split into two parts), a show recap, eBay pickups, or my late-year COMC haul, though the latter will likely be my '23 finale.

2023 trade package #25: the Lost Collector

Let's keep on keepin' on with trade packages! Tonight's comes from AJ, the Lost Collector. Though he stopped blogging almost two years ago now he's still plenty active on Twitter and in the collecting game, so I thought of him a few weeks ago as I was going through some unwanted stuff in my collection and came up with a Wheaties box that included his dude Tino Martinez on the front; I later added a Donruss promo card I found at a show and somehow he didn't have that either!

AJ was nice enough to send me a pretty sizeable envelope in return filled with Tigers and Wolverines:

Bojarski was born in South Africa and has appeared in games for American minor league teams plus one in Australia, so yeah, dude's well-traveled! Fick's rooftop grand slam was the last homer hit at Tiger Stadium so he'll always have that going for him. Greene, Jobe, and Manning, all of whom appear down a diagonal here, could all be part of the team's future "Mojo." Tommy Henry, the pride of Portage Northern High School, is the lone Michigan baseballer here today, appearing on his Heritage RC from this year. Pudge was indeed a star wherever he went, a total of six teams as it turns out. And as I said the other night, Tork's power potential could make things very interesting for a lineup that's been starving for runs.

Another Tork insert--because why not--gives way to probably my favorite card in the whole package. Gibby and Tram were certainly cornerstones of the '84 champs, not to mention a number of teams that surprisingly couldn't repeat that year's success. The insert you see is from 2005 Leaf, so it's old enough that it was made when inserts still meant something other than TacoMojoPrizmFractor. Too cool!

Over to basketball, a sport in which Michigan's success this year has been fleeting. At least the team has been an NBA factory, producing guys like LeVert and Wagner. I just made fun of Prizms but that first Caris looks great, even if blue is a much better color than green. And if I had to pick between the Wagner bros who play for Orlando, Franz would be my choice as he's been the better of the pair, though I'd be happy to get cards of either.

Oh, hey, football, that sport that Michigan's been great at the past three seasons! Not only are the player selection and overall design variety in the group outstanding, but there's a ton of college uni action going on too! Star WR Nico Collins is finally benefitting from having a QB who isn't a serial sexual assaulter and/or dead-armed retread. Though he may now be dealing with an injury, he's already eclipsed the 1000-yard mark for receiving yards and has also amassed a career high six scores. Hell, you name a stat and it's a new personal mark for him this year.

Meanwhile, Chris Evans hasn't become a star like his Hollywood namesake, but that won't stop me from collecting him. I'm always glad to land new stuff like the above plus a couple more seen in the next scan, putting me at a solid 18 with plenty more to come.

Like I said, green isn't my top choice for a Wolverine alum's parallel, but the color does look solid in Prizm form.

Next we get a look at some rare cards of players on the D side of the ball. Kwity Paye's been pretty good for the Colts since they took him in the first round in '21. This season he already has career highs in fumbles forced and recovered (two each), and his 7.5 sacks are also a personal best with a few games left. He's also got a good shot to surpass last season's tackle (combined, solo, and for loss) numbers, so he's definitely trending in the right direction. Naturally he gets a Green Prizm too!

Ambry Thomas is a DB that flashed a lot of potential in limited play in Ann Arbor and he's made a bit of noise for a Niners team that includes fellow alumni Ronnie Bell and Jake Moody. He doesn't have a lot of non-college product appearances yet but I'm plenty happy seeing him in the winged helmet thanks to SAGE.

LB Josh Uche was a bright spot for the Pats last season after going off for 11.5 sacks, 9 TFL, and 2 forced fumbles, but his 2023 has been about as middling as the rest of the team. Hopefully he can move on to a squad that'll appreciate him more and put him in position to succeed.

Speaking of success, few Michigan RBs enjoyed more in college than Tyrone Wheatley, seen high-stepping to another TD at the Big House on a card made by Classic. Blake Corum's historic career brings to mind the affinity Wheatley had for piling up yards and finding the end zone. What a great photo that encapsulates the experience of watching him play.

AJ, I really appreciate this great package you put together for me that featured some great additions to my collections. Though it's rare to find new Tino items for you I'll keep working on it just in case because I owe you a lot of thanks for this stuff!

So who was the next generous soul to gift me some cards? Check back soon to find out!

2021 trade package #25: the Lost Collector

A.J. may call himself the Lost Collector but this is a dude who's far from lost when it comes to sending great PWEs. The chaser of all things Tino Martinez had promised to send a few Michigan cards my way and then as usual I forgot all about that so the envelope that showed up this past Friday was a surprise to me.

After Michigan's satisfying win over Penn State yesterday afternoon I'm definitely in the mood to show off some Wolverines cards, so here's what A.J. sent my way:

Three players, two brands, and one scan, so this will be nice and easy to recap! McKeon ("Mc-KEWN") was a solid TE in Ann Arbor and went undrafted in 2020 before being selected by the Cowboys, for whom he recorded his first pro catches in this afternoon's demolishing of the Failcons. Patterson, of course, was Michigan's QB in 2018 and 2019 and had an up-and-down career that left him undrafted as well. He's now playing in the CFL where a few other Wolverines have found success, so that's cool. And DPJ is definitely the most successful of this trio, with at least one catch in each game this year, and three TD catches in his previous two games. The 2020 sixth-rounder (which is still ridiculous to me) could see his role increase with headache machine Odell Beckham Jr. gone.

2020 Score is the first of the two products that featured in this PWE, and it's one with a design I give a thumbs up to, in no small part thanks to college uni photos. Patterson's RC represents the lone base of the four while the other three are Black parallels covering all three players here. Score has traditionally put out quite a few unnumbered color parallels over the last decade and these may be among my first from last year's offering. More Michigan uniform cards are always welcome to join the PC!

The other product you see is 2020 Leaf Draft, which just includes just Patterson and Peoples-Jones in its 100-card checklist. A.J. sent me base and Gold parallels of both guys, which was super helpful in making sure I had my bases covered there. I'm not sure where Leaf gets off throwing a "RC" logo on their cards, but I haven't taken that tag seriously from other brands for years, so why not go nuts? The only real downside of brands like Leaf is that they have to airbrush parts of the uniforms so you get quasi-team looks. Still, I appreciate the product as it's sometimes responsible for cards and occasionally autographs of guys that might not otherwise get them.

The group you see above bumped my collection of McKeon to 5 plus 7 each for Shea and DPJ. Bonus points to A.J. for a 100% college uni PWE!

Here's the backs for completeness. I'm kind of curious why Leaf used gold accents on both the base cards and Gold inserts, but again, Leaf gonna Leaf.

A.J., thanks again for hitting me back just in time for me to celebrate my Wolverines being 9-1 and in the hunt for the playoff with two games left. I'll keep looking all over for cards you don't have, though I know how much of a challenge that is when you could easily rename your blog "Too Many Tinos"!

2021 trade package #16: The Lost Collector

A few weeks ago when I did my show report after getting to one for the first time in forever, I mentioned that as usual most of my money went towards trade bait, which was excellent since that's generally my best source for reasonably priced quality items for trade packages. As solid as everything was, it was only $1.

I mention that because one of the cards I snagged just in case was a Tino Martinez numbered jersey. I deal with enough folks that could potentially use it that I was glad to bring it home, and at worst it could go on TCDB anyway. That worst cast scenario was in no way necessary, though, because the first person I offered it to (via Twitter DM) is a bigtime Tino collector, and as it turns out he even needed it, despite being over the 1,100 mark in that player collection!

I'm guessing that most of you who know him already put together that I'm talking about A.J., a.k.a. the Lost Collector, who was nice enough to show his appreciation in his post here. A.J. didn't stop there, though, as he subsequently sent me an unexpected PWE with a few cards that fit my collections perfectly:

That trio of Tigers along the top is an excellent start! First up is Ty Cobb's appearance in 2020 Topps' Topps Choice insert set. In that one you can find past and present players on Topps designs from 1956, 1965, 1987, 1991, 2008, 2011, and 1971, with the latter being the source for the Georgia Peach's card above. In addition to the usual writeups, the backs mention in large print which set the designs came from, which is a good way to try to educate folks less familiar with their past products.

Big Daddy is up next on his 2019 Topps Chrome Update Family Business insert, and "daddy" is the key word here. Every player in this Refractorized insert has or had at least one other family member in the game, and of course Tigers fans were well acquainted with Cecil's son Prince before he became a star in his own right. Due to the way the younger Fielder's tenure with Detroit ended, my opinions of the two have flip-flopped and I'm back to preferring the guy who brought joy to the area when he socked 51 HRs in 1990.

Last up in the Tigers group is Mr. Tiger, Al Kaline, who got plenty of screen time in my most recent post. Happily, while I added a bunch of new stuff to his collection via Sportlots, I still needed the 2019 Topps Update Perennial All-Stars insert you see above (my third, to go along with Griffey and Ripken). The back states that Al is the youngest position player to start an MLB Midsummer Classic at 20 1/2 in 1955 (the year he won that batting title), plus he'd be named to 13 in a row (15 total), which is the definition of "perennial"!

Last up today is a pair of Wolverines that makes me appreciate this envelope even more, because it shows that A.J. put as much effort into knowing what to include for me as I did in finding something for him. I love my Michigan uni cards and that's exactly what I have here in 2020 Prizm Draft RCs of QB Shea Patterson and WR Donovan Peoples-Jones. It's no surprise that Shea went undrafted after the way his Michigan career went, but DPJ has a chance to make some noise in his upcoming second season with the Browns after putting up 14 TD catches and two punt return scores in college.

And here's the backs for those of you who like to see those.

A.J., once again I'm glad you liked the Tino, and I'll be happy to look for more stuff you could potentially use, especially if I can get back to the same show next week. Either way, I really appreciate you getting me back with this five pack that really targeted my collections nicely!

With nothing else coming in the mail for the foreseeable future I'm planning to be back next time with more Sportlots cards as I continue to work through those stacks.