2026 eBay purchases: rare cards and a coin

Well at least I didn't let the entire remainder of April pass before I posted again! It's been a lazy month for me hobby-wise and as usual I wasn't dying to put the effort into posting, but now I have some motivation to catch up thanks to a couple trade packages that arrived this month.

It was an interesting one for Michigan fans: the highs of the basketball Wolverines winning just their second national title followed by the even more favored hockey team falling once again in the semis of the Frozen Four to the hated Denver Pioneers, who've lapped Michigan in hockey titles, much to my chagrin.

But I can hardly complain about the results, along with football spring practice in the books that has me looking forward to the fall (but not until I've enjoyed some warm weather for more than a few days at a time, please!).

So apropos of almost nothing, here's a look at my four eBay pickups from the first third of 2026:

My first eBay purchase of any type this year, way back in February, was my second 1/1 of beastly Super Bowl-winning LB LaMarr Woodley. For a hair under $9 I'm now the proud owner of this 2007 SAGE HIT black plate of the 46th overall pick way back in '07. It's from the era when a brand like SAGE was allowed to use full team logos, names, and uniforms, and that makes the Michigan uni aspect a bonus.

Here's the base card for comparison:

Not bad at all. Like I said, that's 1/1 #2 to go along with a plate from 2009 Topps, and it marks hit #12 of the big hitter who piled up 58.0 total sacks, 319 tackles, and nine forced fumbles.

A few weeks later in March I scored one of my biggest cards so far of the young year. For whatever reason, my collection of WR Amara Darboh boasts some of the best looking items in my Michigan Football collection, and the rich got richer here. I was willing to go all the way up to almost $20 for this National Treasures plate/prime jersey/auto combo. Why? Once again, there's the Wolverine-ness of the thing: a Michigan uni shot, the logo on the back, and most of all, the fantastically large maize/blue/white jersey swatch. It's a thing of beauty!

Darboh's 51st hit marks his first 1/1 in the collection (surprisingly enough, given the overall quality of his PC), and one I was thrilled to add for sure.

Just a few days later I was finally able to rectify a small issue from a purchase from the February show. As I noted here, I grabbed what I thought were three 7-11 Slurpee Coin sets, but one of them--the 1986 Central Region version--was missing probably the biggest coin: Carlton/Ryan/Seaver. A bit over $6 shipped was enough to snag me two copies of this coin along with a couple dupes of another. And that's one more set knocked off the wantlist!

I was glad to catch the note at the bottom that states, "Nolan holds the all-time mark for K's, followed by Steve and Tom." That was indeed the case at the time, but the list looks a bit different some 40 years later. Ryan still stands along with a crazy 5714 over a crazier 27 seasons, but Randy Johnson (4875) and Roger Clemens (4672) topped Carlton's 4136, and Bert Blyleven (3701) snuck above Seaver's 3640. Those are your top 6, with Justin Verlander hoping to return to health to pitch enough to take over 7th place, currently held by Don Sutton. Only 20 K's separate the two!

And finally we have my most recent pickup. For a penny under $12 I scored my latest Manningham of (too) many just last week. This here is a black plate from Upper Deck's 2009 Heroes product, specifically for the Blue Retail Jerseys insert. Do I happen to own that card like I do with the base of the Woodley above? Could I claim I have "too many" Manninghams otherwise?

While I don't like the 2009 set as much as the 2008 version, which included RCs of Manningham and a bunch of his other teammates that are favorites of mine, it's still a cool looking set, and, I mean, since when am I not gonna chase a rare Mario I need?

Since I threw out numbers for the others I'll note that this is my second 1/1 of Manningham (the other is a National Treasures auto/plate that I showed off on TMM almost EIGHT years ago) and hit #103 of the namesake of my former sister blog.

As always, money well spent, I'd say!

And now I'll try to get back to work on a couple other posts before getting back to trade package action. In the meantime, bring on the warmer weather and more baseball!

2026 trade package #4: My Sports Obsession

There's not much left of this short month so I better get gettin' and start covering cards I received/bought in February!

Trade package #1 for this month was a nice little box courtesy of longtime buddy of the blog Jeff of My Sports Obsession. Jeff absolutely packed a 200-count box with some outstanding cardboard goodies:

Appropriately enough we'll start with baseball now that spring training is in full swing, and not a moment too soon. Happily, a few Tigers old and new lead things off. Baez looks great on designs from Stadium Club and Gold Label, and it's always great to see future HOFer Miggy. Big Daddy's card is another fine example of Stadium Club's top-notch designs paired up with some older photos. And Riley is indeed one of Detroit's Finest.

As for some non-Tigers, Griffey's '24 Archives card looks nice, Mr. Padre is a throwback to 1985, and it's really nice to see a newer Tommy Henry card. The pride of Portage Northern High School is still with the Diamondbacks and that Blue (what else?) Sparkle Chrome Refractor from '24 Heritage makes a nice addition to his PC.

Speaking of former UM pitchers in Refractor form, how about ex-Pirate (among 14 clubs) Rich Hill, who seems ready to call it a career? We had Mr. Padre, and now it's Mr. Tiger on an '85 Topps throwback, plus the always shiny Topps Chrome Platinum. His fellow HOFer Maddux shows up on two different Donruss Optic cards, and then it's back to Topps Chrome Platinum for another HOFer in Jack Morris. And then we have a pair of '21 Topps parallels of Paredes, the prospect Detroit foolishly traded away for about 40 worthless games from Austin Meadows.

And then what do we have here? Could it be...TOO MANY VERLANDERS! This package was very, very low on dupes, and that goes for this whole scan. Impressively, he managed to capture all four of JV's franchises here, including his stints with the Mets and Giants. It sure is awesome to have him back in Detroit!

That '98 Crown Royale of Maddux is also new to me and makes me long for the fun of the '90s when Pacific was riding high.

Jeff also threw in these Tigers cards that are Christian-themed on the back. Because that's not really my thing and Matt Boyd pops up twice, I'm choosing to thank Jeff for his generosity and then pass them on to John, who I'm sure will love them.

When it comes to college basketball, Michigan's men's team is no longer #1 but it still looks like a threat to make a deep run in March. LeVert and Wagner are examples of past stars, appropriately surrounded by blue on their cards. Meanwhile, Jeff sent me some dupes from the ONIT cards he's been getting, giving me my first cards of junior F Harrison Hochberg, plus star sophomore G Syla Swords and sophomore G/F Te'Yala Delfosse. The latter pair is a good reminder that the women's team has been cooking at times this year too, with an excellent 22-5 record, as they look to make a deeper March run themselves.

Football season may be over but that doesn't mean college collectors like Jeff and me stop thinking about it! This scan starts strong at the RB position with a couple playoff guys in Charbonnet and Corum, with the former winning a ring, though having to miss the Super Bowl. Buckeye-killer Hassan Haskins also makes an appearance. Then we have my first non-NIL-issued cards of DB Jyaire "Sugar" Hill and EDGE Derrick Moore. Hill won it all with the '23 title team in his freshman season and will be back to hopefully lead the defense. Moore was a sophomore in '23 and his TFL and sack numbers increased nicely into his senior season last year, which could lead to a decent draft ranking. Going back to the '25 Score RC of the talented Will Johnson, you all know I love that brand and its college first-years. This scan concludes with one more RB in Thomas Rawls, out of 2016 Prizm.

The basketball items weren't the only ONIT cards in this package by far, and I'm very happy that Jeff included an even larger pile of the gridiron guys than he did last time. There were a few repeats but almost everything was new, with a bunch of these guys due to be back in '26.

Thanks to Jeff I now own 19 of the 79 cards, which feels great since I haven't paid for a single one. I do hope to find more and see if I can help him with his own set chase, though.

Oh, and there's one last card for me to enjoy, the biggest one of the package. It's a callback to the now-shuttered sister blog here as I continue my quest for TOO MANY MANNINGHAMS! I don't know if Super Mario keeps signing stickers for Panini or if they're sitting on a stockpile of them, but either way I'm happy if it means more autographs like this one from 2024 Panini Prizm Deca.

The Super Bowl-winning WR is seen here on the 34th card I own with his signature, out of 102 hits overall (a distant second behind Chad Henne's 146). If you're wondering if the card actually looks that black, well, it doesn't--that's just how the reflective silver Prizm cards tend to scan. As always, this one looks better in person. And it'll look even better in my collection with the 100+ other hits of the pass-catcher who was as smooth as his middle name: Cashmere.

Jeff, thanks so much for this box of greatness (as always), and I look forward to getting you back whenever I have enough to send something you way. I also hope we get a chance to meet up at at least one show this year, but rest assured I'll be treating you to some new stuff either way.

Back "soon" with another trade recap!

2025 trade package #20: the Collective Mind

I've been blogging here since the last week of August of 2010. That's 15 years that have included lots and lots of trades with fellow bloggers. Still, in all that time there are some folks I haven't traded with for whatever reason.

Happily, I was able to cross Greg of the Collective Mind's name off that list in September after we made a jumbo-sized deal via TCDb. You can find him there under his username of LoQtus, which is a nice reference to a huge story line from Star Trek: the Next Generation.

Back in June he'd commented on one of my Facebook purchase recaps where I mentioned that the pile included a nice stack of a number of recent football base, especially from 2024. Greg mentioned he'd be interested in a starter lot of '24 Prestige, and I could certainly make that happen.

In total I sent him almost 400 cards between 2024 Prestige and Zenith retail, plus a few other baseball and football items, and in return I chose around 90 baseball and football cards that I could use. Win/win!

Here's what Greg sent my way:

I almost always sort things to scan alphabetically so it was a happy coincidence that scan #1 is a bunch of Tigers legends. Sparky and "Wahoo" Sam Crawford have the best looking cards thanks to the might of Topps' Gallery HOF product, and Crawford sees his same photo used on UD's also fantastic SP Legendary Cuts set. Miggy stars on a Stadium Club card representing a product that deserves to be in the HOF. Cobb and Gehringer (All-Star MVP ring) join in thanks to Panini's Hall-focused Cooperstown product. Gibby was still managing Arizona in the fourth of his five seasons there when his Panini Hometown Heroes card above was made, but he's known more as a Tiger (and to some degree, as a Dodger, but just for one very significant moment!). And of course there's another of my favorites in Grandy. Let's count: one many, two many...

...three many Grandersons! And this one is the best looking of the trio, but that's not much of a competition with UD Documentary and GQ being the other options anyway.

After Grandy there's a nice little run of Griffeys that extends into scan #3. The brands and years are all over the place and that's something I never fail to enjoy. I'd have to say my favorite overall here is the Ultra card because we get lots and lots of views of Griffey's sweet swing but not as many of his fielding prowess.

Occasional deals like this one help me to have a player like Griffey chase overall collection leader Cal Ripken Jr., whom we'll see in a bit in a smaller quantity. Ken's less than 100 cards short of Cal's 1360 as of this posting, and that's not bad!

Mr. Padre Tony Gwynn is next and the second of the big four PC guys in this bunch. I managed to get him over the 1000-card mark at some point this year which is super exciting, and I look forward to having all four over that milestone soon. You'll see more of him in the next scan plus another below, and again there's a fun mix of designs. I can't easily pick a favorite look here but I do really like the photo on the Topps Opening Day base.

There are just three more Gwynns to choose from here but I love that the Pros & Prospects card makes him look like he's breaking the sound barrier thanks to those lines in the middle.

The guys I already mentioned got nice boosts to their collections but I think Maddux, #3 of the four big PCs, got the nicest bump in this trade, both in terms of quality and quantity. '97 Zenith is a particularly nice looking set but the others aren't exactly chopped liver either.

Numberwise Maddux is behind Barry Larkin (994) with 968 on the way to 1000, but the best part is that I don't care who hits it first because I win either way! It's great that he gets an entire scan to himself here, not to mention some more very nice designs like Fleer Genuine/Insider, Leaf, and Sweet Spot. The Topps Moments & Milestones numbered card is apparently my 26th from that voluminous product, and I seem to have way more of this card (#15) than the others (12, 13, and 14) from the 2007 set combined.

Maddux even encroaches on this scan with one more vertical card, but we'll be seeing him again momentarily.

Before getting to the 4th big PC guy I did come up with a couple other Tigers stars. 3x WS winner Jack Morris made the cut with cards from '88 Donruss All-Stars (the oldest card in the deal) and 2004 Donruss World Series Heroes. The latter is actually a Blue Holofoil parallel and numbered /100, and the color works very well for the team it's celebrating. Magglio joins Gibson in Tigers lore with a big playoffs homer of his own, plus you see him here on a 2008 Topps Chrome Trading Card History insert, one of the manufacturer's fun chase cards from back when they gave a shit about them.

Lastly, I "only" ended up with two Cals, but one of them is a '97 Burger King card, which gives me five of the eight in a set I'll eventually complete. And while I'm not much of a Ginter fan, I do like the insert celebrating his record consecutive games played streak.

Moving over to the horizontals, Panini's Cooperstown pops up a few more times for Detroit/Philly HOFer Mickey Cochrane, Gwynn, and Mr. Tiger Al Kaline. That quote on Kaline's card from Ted Williams is very high praise, no? Meanwhile, Griffey gets one more appearance, Gwynn gets a few more, including a pair from the excellent Donruss Champions product, and Mad Dog returns. He indeed won his third Cy in '94, and would finish with a consecutive quartet thanks to an insane 19-2 1995 campaign that included 10 complete games, plus of course a World Series ring.

At last we approach the end of the Maddux cards. The Classic Clippings base is quite nice but it stands no chance against the 2005 Elite Face2Face insert that pairs him up with Bagwell and is numbered /1500. Speaking of numbered cards, I thought the 2008 UD Piece of History Cut From the Same Cloth Silver insert /149 was cool as it pairs up Carlos Guillen with the previously seen Ordonez. Those two were instrumental in the Tigers surprising everyone by making it to the '06 World Series.

Lastly, minis of Gwynn, Maddux, and Verlander (just one many!) from GQ and Ginter close out the baseball items. I did, however, include Michigan Football coach Fielding Yost in this scan since he didn't fit in nicely with the rest of the stuff from that sport. The West Virginia alum was a pioneer and innovator of the sport, winning six national championships and lots of games in Ann Arbor and getting his name all over the place, including the current hockey arena on campus (formerly a field house).

The first of three football scans mostly focuses on star WR Braylon Edwards and transfer RB Justin Fargas, but TE Devin Funchess and QB/HC Jim Harbaugh make cameos as well, with the latter being almost literal on a card that includes journeyman QB Mitchell Trubisky.

Things get pretty exciting for me in this scan as I love picking up anything new of RB and former position coach Mike Hart, especially numbered inserts. The Playoff Contenders Round Numbers Gold (/1000) pairs him up with Thomas Brown while the other is a Press Pass Reflectors parallel numbered /500 (and featuring a college action photo!).

I wouldn't usually pick up a card celebrating a Tom Brady interception but that was Michigan-on-Michigan crime thanks to CB Marlin Jackson. He's joined by another star Michigan defender in Jabrill Peppers. The we get a nice little bunch of cards of Denard Robinson, one of which includes The Good Place favorite Blake Bortles.

Last up is this very nice octet of horizontals, all but one of which are college cards, to my great joy. Braylon makes one more appearance from one of his brief tenures with the Jets, and Funchess adds a couple SAGE HIT cards to his collection.

The rest here represent a bunch of my favorites from the draft class I still love the most from 2008. WRs Adrian Arrington and Mario "Too Many" Manningham(s) are joined by RB Mike Hart and QB Chad Henne on some Press Pass and Reflector cards (also /500 like the one from earlier) while Henne gets a solo card from 2008 SAGE Aspire's 5 Star insert, very apropos for today being the first day of the early signing period. I really love the look of the rainbow foil, numbered Reflectors paired with Press Pass's design from back then.

Once again, many thanks to Greg for making this huge trade! It was awesome working with him and I hope to do so again, but until then, keep following him at the Collective Mind as he gets settled in from his recent move and reestablishes his card room.

I believe I'll be back soon, possibly as early as tomorrow if possible, to cover September's show before attending the December version to close out the year. Stay warm, stay safe, and try to enjoy some stress-free holiday planning!

2025 trade package #18: Cards on Cards

It's almost Thanksgiving and I've finally made it to my August cards! First up is a fun package from Kerry of Cards on Cards, whose Oregon Ducks are still solidly in the playoff chase while my Wolverines have some heavy lifting to do.

Kerry sent me a typically excellent mix of baseball, basketball, and football, so let's dig in to the pile:

Panini's Mosaic brand has kind of gotten stale in my eyes but Select offers some cool parallels like the Orange Flash Prizm--a Tigers color match if there ever was one--that serves as my first card of Tigers IF prospect and 2023 second-rounder Max Anderson. While he's potentially part of the team's future, a Miggy Absolute Green parallel of his retail version is a nice reminder of the past. Back to the present, Kerry treated me to a card of his namesake Carpenter, the slugging OF for Detroit.

A '25 Topps Blue Holofoil (numbered /150) leads off the next trio, and that puts me just a few away from 150 cards of the former Wolverine. Even logoless, the Select Gwynn looks great with a cool shot of Mr. Padre about to add another hit to his total. Likely 2026 3B Colt Keith finishes off the group with a ready-for-Christmas Donruss Red/Green Laser parallel from this year.

Another former Wolverine leads this group as Larkin offers a Green Prizm that comes with hints of red, not to mention more of that hue thanks to the name of his team. Someone managed to find an image of Leyland not smoking for his Donruss Optic appearance. And Meadows, who may get shopped this offseason as Detroit looks to improve in center, joins Carpenter from Heritage, though in this case his is a holofoil card.

While Mize can't quite claim the "Titan" status that Skubal and his pair of Cys has earned, he's looked quite good in the rotation. The Donruss Red/Blue of Rainer is just my second of Detroit's first-round SS from '24 who ranks among the top 100 prospects in the game. And Tork was certainly a gem this past season compared to his previous struggles.

Verlander needs zero introduction here and is among the Finest in my collection for sure. The auto of left-side IF prospect Rucker out of '25 Donruss was a very nice surprise, and I look forward to seeing if the '23 fourth-rounder can move up in '26. And Gwynn closes out the baseball stuff in style thanks to an '85 Donruss jumbo card that gives a nice look at an old San Diego uni.

As a Portland fan, Kerry knows basketball well, so I'm never surprised when he includes some new basketball stuff for my collections. I like the mix of players, designs, and color here. You can see Poole on both versions of '24-'25 Totally Certified--one plain, one foil--and I'm not entirely clear which is the "base" going off of TCDb images, but I'll figure it out at some point. Also, my Franz Wagner collection (plus a Mo!) got another nice boost thanks to this envelope. I'm now over 60 items of the younger German Wolverine bro.

And that's partially also thanks to this bunch of Panini stickers! Bufkin, Poole, and the Wagners were seen above while 2025-26 Pistons teammates LeVert and Robinson fill out the group. The foil of Franz is my favorite because it takes me back to my childhood days of ripping Panini sticker packs (usually baseball) and hoping for the foils and holos.

And we'll end on a high note with football. I believe Colson's out for the year but love the look of his Prestige Xtra Points parallel. Corum picked up his first NFL TD against the Titans in week 2 and I hope he gets more chances. Browns first-rounder Graham's been a bit quiet this season but I think given time he'll be creating chaos on the DL in the NFL just like he did in college.

Speaking of excellent defenders, the trio of Hutch/Paye/Gary has been a very good one for their respective teams! They've combined for 18.0 sacks this season with lots more sure to come. As for the next guy, the question isn't Will Johnson be great, but Will Johnson stay healthy? If so, he could be a draft steal (second round) for the Cardinals after a decorated career in Ann Arbor.

Those accolades included winning the '23 national championship with the next two guys. McCarthy's still showing some rust after being injured all of last season but if he can get right and limit his mistakes, he could be the next great Michigan QB in the NFL. And Sainristil's college play was as shiny as his Mosaic parallel above, a game that I think will translate well to his job with Washington.

Last up is easily my favorite card in the package because it's a new (and relatively recent!) autograph of former blog namesake guy Mario Cashmere Manningham! You all know Super Mario was one of my favorite college receivers and I was excited to see him win a Super Bowl ring even if he had to catch passes from gumpy fivehead guy Eli Manning. Despite his short career he continues to pop up in products more than a decade after his final season, and that includes last year's Panini Mosaic offering. This marks hit #101 and card #33 with a signature on it. Hell yeah!

Kerry, thanks so much for this outstanding envelope! It remains a pleasure to trade with someone who has similar preferences in sports (especially when it comes to colleges) but different teams. I also received your recent box(!) you sent me and will happily show that off when I catch up. Until then, I'm looking forward to hitting you back right around Christmas. Also, good luck to your Ducks, and may they take down the Trojans this weekend!

I'll be back with more trades soon and will be enjoying my own college football Saturday tomorrow as Michigan takes on Maryland. GO BLUE!

2024 COMC purchases: Nine from November

With the finish line now in sight I'm even more motivated to get this post done and call 2024 a wrap! Here's a look at the cards I bought for myself during COMC's Black Friday sale:

First up is hit #1 of another UM WR to wear #8 (besides another guy in this post), Ronnie Bell. The receiver/returner outplayed his practically anonymous recruiting rankings and was a key contributor as the Wolverines marched back to respectability under Jim Harbaugh. The Bowman's Best University card pictures him with the Wolverines (instead of the 49ers who'd eventually draft and then release him) and that's a great start for his hits collection! Sure, it's a sticker auto and he signed with his initials, but at least he added an inscription with his jersey number.

The day's other "first" is my second hit but first signature of LB Devin Bush II, a three-year Wolverine who did some nice work in 2017 and 2018 in Ann Arbor. The Steelers took him in the first round in 2019 and he's since bounced to Seattle and Cleveland, but was good enough to appear in an autograph insert (#d /299) in 2020 Panini Legacy.

In spot #3 is the other WR #8, the sure-handed Jason Avant, who was able to rescue the planted Michigan flag in Columbus this past season after Buckeye Jack Sawyer threw his hissy fit once his OSU team lost to Michigan again. Avant never won a Super Bowl with the Eagles but did have a solid 10-year career mostly spent with them, and I was thrilled to add another Triple Threads jersey/auto of his from his 2006 rookie year. The one you see above is the Sepia version /75 and is hit #66 of #8.

Next, RB Chris Evans appears to be out of the league at this point, but that wasn't going to stop me from picking up a third Michigan uni autograph of his. I may have passed on other brands but usually tend to like the simplicity of Score's rookie autos, so I had no problem ponying up a couple bucks for this one.

Sure, we've already had Devin, but what about second Devin? I paid less than $6.50 total for the cool pair starring former Panthers WR Funchess and I think that was a steal. The card on the left is a 2015 Panini Black Gold Sizeable Signatures Rookie Jerseys prime version, and I'm thinking you'll agree that it lives up to its "sizeable" and "prime" descriptors with ease. The other is a 2015 Panini National Convention VIP manupatch auto, which isn't the kind of thing I'd pay a premium for, but I do like seeing athletes sign things other than stickers. Funch moves up to 34 hits thanks to the pair.

I'll move down one spot horizontally to discuss the next card, a Jake Long 2008 Topps Triple Threads Sepia parallel. This one came with three really nice multi-color Dolphins swatches to go along with his signature (and numbering /75, like the Avant above). It's a great looking card to add to a collection that now stands at a very nice 98 hits, though he remains in third place behind our next two players.

Forever #1 guy Chad Henne continues to outpace the rest by a mile with his 146th hit, which happens to be one of the higher-end items in his collection. The 12th 1/1 I've landed for him, the card you see above is his 2008 Finest Yellow Plate (the non-auto version). It set me back a reasonable $14 which I don't mind paying for a top PC guy like Henne, whose hit collection isn't too far off of that from all-sports leader Rich Hill. As always, I'm a fan of when manufacturers do the border thing with their plates to make it obvious which color you have, especially in this case where the back is otherwise normal.

And last but not least is former blog namesake guy Mario Manningham. The 2008 Leaf Certified Materials auto you see above (#d /100) is everything I love about 2000s-era cards of some of my favorites, but it may be the most significant from this post for an entirely different reason: it puts Super Mario at exactly 100 hits, making him just the second player behind Henne in the football collection (and third overall including Rich Hill) to reach that mark! It actually wasn't 100% intentional as I would have been happy for Jake Long (again, 98) or Braylon Edwards (95) to make it first, but I only found one of the former I liked and none of the latter this time. So it looks like I get to celebrate Too Many Manninghams as my 2024 year of collecting comes to a close! (The football hits collection also surpassed the 1700-mark before the calendar turned, basketball went over 150, and hockey moved up to 350, with baseball very close to 450.)

Once again, thanks to everyone for making 2024 a great year of trading, blogging, reading, comments, shows, and more! I'm looking forward to treating you to recaps of the cards I've picked up since 2025 started including (at this point) seven blogger-related trade packages, two shows, and four TCDb deals. Look for a post covering the first blogger trade of January soon!

2024 trade package #15: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store part 1: everything but hockey

Tonight let's take a look at part of the latest big-ass shipment from Doug over at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store, received by me in August.

That's right--I said "part of" because he literally sent me this:

I split it into hockey and non-hockey, and you'll be getting the latter tonight. In true SCFtDS form, you'll get to see a large package broken up into multiple posts!

Baseball's up first and my Tigers PCs, some old and many new, were well represented. I don't know if Baez is long for a roster spot but that Bowman's Best is pretty cool. The '72 Gator would be cool enough on its own but this one is a Canadian special: O-Pee-Chee! Miggy makes a few recent-ish appearances here plus one more in the horizontals section. Campos is only 21 and a potential OF prospect to watch. Traded Tiger Canha joins a bunch of others in this post from this year's Heritage.

Cronenworth is of course a favorite. Flaherty is surely happy to be with the NL champion Dodgers while the Tigers got two solid prospects in the deal. Gold is 24 and still in high A while Graham will be that age early next year and seems to be hovering around A+ himself. The Riley Greene playing card is a cool one of a fun player I'm definitely growing to like on the team. And Griffey was pretty good in his day as well.

Jobe is pretty much the franchise's top prospect after going 3rd overall in 2021 and he was though of highly enough to make a late-season MLB debut followed by a couple appearances in the playoffs, which had to be thrilling for a young dude. Jung is another top-100 prospect for the team and while his '24 MLB debut wasn't amazing, it was cool to see the '22 first-rounder get some ABs with the big team. Keith is locked up for a few seasons and could be a key part of a rebuilt offense. Kemp is another OPC Tiger from my Canadian buddy, this one from 1979.

Kinsler's was a bit of a favorite of mine during his Motown tenure so I love the Refractor above. Larkin is of course a longtime personal favorite and PC guy. McGonigle is an intriguing middle IF prospect that the Tigers took 37th overall in '23. Austin didn't work out but his Tigers draftee bro Parker has shown a bit of hitting ability and a flair for web gems in the outfield so we'll probably see plenty more of him next year. Melton's a '22 4th-rounder out of San Diego State, Morris is a team legend and HOFer, and Olson is looking to be an excellent acquisition whose numbers were hampered by a sorry lack of run support (and bad health luck) this season.

I have to say, it's super cool to see a guy like Magglio in products like Panini's '23 Chronicles, including the card numbered /199 above! As with other players you saw today I'm always glad to see cards of Cal in trade packages. Skubal is largely responsible for taking what looked to be another below-average Tigers squad and making it a big story, with a Cy Young-worthy campaign that led his team to a very unlikely playoff berth! Tork recovered a bit after a dismal start and we'll likely get a better idea next year if he'll be part of the club's future. Tram is another team legend appearing courtesy of '23 Panini Select. And Papa Grande and JV had fans plenty excited back when they were starring on perennial playoff teams.

The versatile Vierling is our last standard vertical issue in the baseball group. Miggy gets another Heritage MLB pair card that looks quite cool as a throwback to past Topps designs. The two guys who led the '82 Tigers on the '83 Topps card had an especially good time in '84! A stray '85 OPC half sticker of Lou Whitaker was a very fun surprise. Jung makes a couple more appearances, including one with the also previously-seen Melton. And then we have a card of a former Tiger the likes of which I wouldn't tend to keep, but there's no way I could turn down the Leather & Lumber black gold signature you see here even if it features failed prospect Christin Stewart. Come on, how cool does that look?!

Switching over to basketball, I believe that every player seen here is currently active in the NBA. Injured Hawks G Kobe Bufkin leads all comers with three new cards. THJ had a solid 14 points in Detroit's season-opening loss last night, and the card you see above is numbered /165, which is cool. LeVert's Cavs are actually scheduled to face the Pistons tomorrow. I couldn't find any stats for Washington's Poole yet this season. And then we have the Wagner bros, Franz and Mo who combined for 30 points (23 and 7, respectively) in yesterday's season opener win against the Bulls.

Basketball got a couple new hits too! Brooks is a newcomer to both my basketball hits collection and UM basketball PC in general. He played as a G for five seasons in Ann Arbor, spanning 2017-18 to 2021-22, then went undrafted, so he's prime fodder for a product like Wild Card Alumination that gets signatures of players who probably wouldn't sniff a cardboard appearance otherwise. While he becomes the 36th subject in my basketball hits PC, Wilson gets his second: a Crown Royale jersey/auto (numbered /199). The 2017 Bucks first-rounder is pictured with the team that drafted him though he's since suited up for Houston, Doug's Raptors, and the 76ers.

As we switch over to the gridiron, transfer RB Thomas Rawls is the lone base card out of 10 items (hence splitting the remaining basketball and football into two scans). WR Amara Darboh gets a nice spotlight down the right side of the scan with three beautiful looking auto/relics. #1 is a dual jersey (you might call them "prime" as they aren't far off from patches) and football combo paired up with Darboh's signature, and the Absolute beauty is the Spectrum parallel of that product's RC, limited to "just" 99 copies. Next is Panini Phoenix's Orange parallel of his jersey/auto, clocking in at 150 copies. And finally we have a Rookies & Stars Dress for Success signature and memorabilia pairing that's also numbered /99. Fun news: these additions allowed Darboh to join the 50-hit club in the football PC! He's just the 11th player to reach that milestone.

The above three hits go quite well with this super sextet. Arrington is one of the 10 other 50-hit guys in my collection and the '09 Topps Magic autographs will always be a favorite of mine. Talented defender Devin Bush II joins the collection with his first hit, a Panini Luminance jersey that makes him football collection dude #254 and the fourth with that first name. I now have 11 Butts including the shiny one numbered /99 above, and I'll leave that there for all of you to get your best comments in. Chesson was a college teammate and position mate of Darboh's and he hit the double-digit mark with his 9th card including a signature (the other's a plate) thanks to 2017 Panini Spectra (#d /199). I would assume most of you who've followed me for long enough remember the namesake of my now-retired secondary blog, Mario Manningham, on a sweet Press Pass college uni signature. By the way, he's one hit away from joining Chad Henne in the 100-hit club while Jake Long needs three and Braylon Edwards needs six. Goals!

And last up is one of the biggest surprises in this mailing. Doug's certainly been generous enough to send me plates and other 1/1s before, but I didn't expect this Yellow 2020 Leaf Draft plate of former transfer QB Shea Patterson! The two-year Wolverine went 10-3 and 9-4 in 2018 and 2019, a few seasons before things really turned around for Jim Harbaugh's program. This appears to be my 56th 1/1 in my football PC with Shea being the 34th member to appear on at least one. I really enjoyed finding this among the rest of the loot which was already very high quality.

So as you can see I was quite pleased with the baseball, basketball, and football content. As for the hockey stuff, you'll have to wait until next time, but I promise it's worth a look as that stack was bigger than that of these three sports combined! I look forward to sharing that with you so y'all can get a feeling for just how much Doug stuffed into this box.

Until then, thanks so much for another fantastic package, Doug!

2023 trade package #31: the Collector

Happy new year, friends! The calendar has flipped over to another year but in terms of cards I need to recap I'm still stuck in 2023 a bit longer. It's worth it to give credit to some traders that continued to send me great stuff through the end of the year, though.

Tonight's subject is Chris, the Collector. Chris actually sent me a couple envelopes in December and this was the larger of the pair. Here's what arrived in this one:

Sparky's looking mighty fine in Tiffany form! Baez, Miggy, and Greene (plus Tork in the next scan) are all from '23 Topps Archives, and I got at least one of each of the 1956, 1965, and 2003 card designs. The second Cabrera is an insert from that product: 1957 Hit Stars. The Gibby cards were both new to me: a 1990 Starting Lineup rookie year version (so he's shown with the Tigers, not the Dodgers), and 1993 Pacific Spanish's Jugadores Calientes (Hot Players) prism insert. Grandy is from the beautiful Topps Tribute set, in this case 2013's version. And Topps can't keep up with the number of times Hill changes teams so they should just airbrush his jersey and go with "???" for the team.

Here's a bit more baseball plus a basketball pair. Fan favorite Chet Lemon comes from '87 Donruss Opening Day. Ripken is from UD's strange Ionix product released in 2000. Remember when Scherzer pitched for the Tigers? There he is on a 2014 Topps Blue parallel. There's the Tork I previously mentioned, part of the 1956 design portion. And how about that super cool Brandon Inge auto? Sticking with the 2023 Archives theme he's the first card alphabetically in the Fan Favorites Autographs insert, a yearly favorite that mixes current stars with past team guys like Jayson Werth, Jesse Orosco, Devon White, and Chili Davis. Very cool of Topps to include him here on the 1964 design. That's just my second signature of his to go along from one made waaaaay back in 2000. Thanks, Chris!

The basketball portion pairs up Robert "Tractor" Traylor on a '98 SP Top Prospects card that was hard to scan with HOFer Chris Webber out of UD's 2003-04 Glass. I have Chris's Fab Five teammate Jalen Rose from the same set.

There was a bit of football and hockey to be had as well! AC's 1989 Starting Lineup card is one of few (if any) SLU cards I own and a very cool item to find in this envelope. I don't know if I'll ever have the corresponding figure but I appreciate owning the card. Grbac's '98 Bowman Chrome Refractor looks amazing as that insert often does. Oddly enough this envelope didn't include current blog namesake Justin Verlander but Chris did find something to represent my defunct second blog: a Mario Manningham 2011 Rookies & Stars Longevity parallel numbered to just 99. No, I still don't have enough of him! Former teammates Patterson and Peoples-Jones probably couldn't have predicted our Wolverines would be in the national title game this coming Monday and it still sounds strange when I think about it, but I can't wait! And Hutch was a big part of Michigan Football's turnaround, and now he's due a lot of credit for how much he's returned the Lions' D to respectability and helping the team to its first playoff berth in forever.

Chris wouldn't be TCDb's hockeydude if we didn't swap hockey cards once in a while, and here he threw in a 2023-24 UD base of Red Wing C Robby Fabbri. The former Blues draft pick arrived in Hockeytown in a 2019 trade and is now in his fifth season with the winged wheels. He's even looking likely to top his career high of 17 goals with 11 as of this post. Let's go, Red Wings!

Chris, thanks again for all of these great cards, not to mention being a fantastic trade partner and regular reader/commenter. I appreciate the effort and quality you put into envelopes like these and I'm looking forward to trading with you more in '24!

I think I now have six blogger-type trades from December left to cover in addition to that month's show, late year eBay purchases, and lots and lots of TCDb trades from throughout the year, so I'll keep at it as I work on catching up. First, though, should be show #1 of the year for me tomorrow (Saturday), and then Michigan's first shot at a national championship since 1997. GO BLUE!