2026 trade package #3: Night Owl

Pitchers and catchers have reported! For most teams, anyway--a few will apparently be waiting until tomorrow, but close enough.

Let's celebrate with the final blogger trade package I received in January. Greg of perennial favorite blog Night Owl Cards sent me a nice envelope with a note hoping I was looking forward to baseball season, which I indeed am!

Here's a look at what he sent:

This was another nice mix of old and new. I still collect Bondo a bit, and this pair put me over the 70-card mark. Clark and Higginson feature on the beautiful UD Gold Glove set, which was unfortunately a one-and-done product. Flaherty's still in the rotation this season but may be the fourth best starter behind three current and former aces, including the (hopefully) triumphant return of JV. Bring on Too Many More Verlanders! And the Griffey quartet here presented me with my first Project 2020 card plus three of the '24 Topps Celebration of the Kid inserts I needed. I'm a card away from being half done with the 24-card set thanks to these, and they're my favorite part of the package.

Monroe, Pena, Sparks, and Young are guys I don't think about very often these days, though at least C-Mo was part of the '06 World Series squad (and Young is or at least was a fellow collector). Keider's unlikely to claim a spot in a star-studded rotation but I'm sure he'll get some spot starts especially when (and not if) injuries strike. Tork was only six years old when 2005 Topps (whose design appears in this year's Archives) was released, and that's the set that includes the RC of his new teammate, Verlander. Gleyber's another Heritage Tiger seen in this post, and Greg also included a Chrome Pink Sparkle Refractor of the 2025 All-Star.

Man, Topps will slap that "RC" logo on literally anything, won't they? Fellow '25 All-Star Riley Greene was often money last year, so the '23 Bowman Platinum New Money insert was wise to include him. Former top prospect pitcher Manning can be seen on his '24 Topps Gold, the reliable standby that's reasonably easy to identify, looks nice, and is numbered to the year it was printed. And last up is another Heritage insert of another '25 All-Star Tiger. Skubal appears in '25 Heritage's 1976 Player Icons insert as well as the Holographic parallel of that set, the latter of which you see above. It's a nice tribute to the '76 set's position icons seen on the cards' fronts. I don't know if "holographic" is the best name since there's not really any kind of rainbow effect to these, but the metallic look is still quite nice.

Greg's a Buffalo fan so he also knows his football. The Super Bowl was played a few days before I'm posting this and a bunch of Wolverines--four former players and three coaches--won the big game with Seattle, which was very cool. Two of the players in this scan--WR Jason Avant and LB David Harris--never won an NFL ring, but the other two guys, both of whom are among the GOATs of their positions, sure did. Brady and Woodson actually both celebrated winning it all in college AND the NFL, though Tom obviously wasn't the starter for the '97 Wolverines. '23 champ AJ Barner, a TE who transferred from Indiana, repeated that feat with Seattle this season, and he even scored the Hawks' lone offensive TD on a very nice route.

Greg, many thanks for this great baseball/football combo which closes the door nicely on the NFL season and has me itching for some Spring Training baseball!

I'll see if I can get myself motivated enough to post my January show spoils this weekend and then get going on February's cards. In the meantime, I hope the rest of you are as excited as I am for baseball and non-sucky weather to return! 

2025 trade package #27: Wes Moore

It's getting later on Christmas Eve but I'm still up for giving some thanks to another cool person who sent me cards in November (and getting a post up before the holiday official hits).

Tonight's cards came from Alabama native and former Pancake King, Wes Moore. I think most people who follow me here are aware of Wes's legendary trade war exploits and a sense of generosity that would put him in the Olympus of traders if one existed. In case anyone reading this hasn't heard of him (or the Pancake King story) before, just search his name on some of your favorite blogs to be amazed.

Anyway, it had been quite a while since either of us sent the other anything, I think, but his joy for giving certainly wasn't rusty when he sent me a nice bubble mailer last month. This one was filled with mostly Tigers, but also some football Wolverines--mighty kind of an Alabama fan towards one whose school was trying to poach the football coach from his!

Here's a look at what I found inside:

I have to say, the guy is still a pro, and the case these came in protected them perfectly.

Just in time for Christmas, this scan of Tigers includes silver and gold, and other colors too! There were enough Refractors in this envelope that I used the insert's name as a tag for this post. Former Tigers Avila and Castellanos fit the bill here while Bondo, Coke, and Big Daddy bring the gold. Fielder also represents silver, like the bells, with an Electric Diamond parallel from '94 UD.

Hey, more color! I still remember the hype around '90s Select Certified and its rare mirror parallels, which is somewhat similar to the more recent appreciation for that era's Precious Metal Gems. Fulmer and AJax bring more Refractor heat while All-Star Riley Greene bucks the Christmas colors trend with Sky Blue. No Refractors for Manning but the colorful effect is essentially the same on Prizm and Topps Rainbow Foil inserts. Nokes is a great throwback to one of my favorite 80s Tigers plus the fun stuff we got back then like stickers and boxed sets. And Magglio looks cool on a throwback Topps insert.

Will the Tigers stop pinching pennies long enough to give Skubal (and his fans) the gift of a new contract? I'm not holding my breath, but it's not impossible. Panini didn't have this festive season in mind when they made the parallel Tork appears on, which is more suited for another holiday. The Stadium Club Super Team card is my favorite in the package because I haven't found them easy to acquire and this one includes two of my Tigers favorites in Alan Trammell and Tony Phillips. Turley's another Refractor but I didn't recognize his name, which can happen as Bowman products sometimes include 16th round picks like the ex-Baylor P. And speaking of Refractors, how about a Negative version of a player who was fairly positive for Detroit, Justin Upton?

Last up tonight, the closest to gold these Michigan Football cards come is the maize they're wearing, but there's some silver to be had. And more importantly all nine cards feature college photos, which is very cool!

I'm not a big Leaf fan these days, but I have to say that Trinity Steel card of Blake Corum looks quite nice, partially because of the cool lava pattern in the background (in addition to the cool shot of him running hard as always). His '23 backup and lightning to Corum's thunder, Donovan Edwards, gets four cards added to his collection thanks to college stalwart SAGE. The fourth card is from their Artistry product, but I haven't found a checklist for that yet to get added on TCDb and will have to work on it when I have time.

Defensive backs Will Johnson and Makari Paige join the Don out of this year's SAGE product, and the latter represents my first card of Makari that isn't a Valiant Michigan issue. Ex-#1 WR Greg McMurtry, a five-year NFL vet, looks good on his '90 Score RC. And Colts LB Kwity Paye looks ready to bring the pain on a Wild Card Matte issue.

Wes, thanks for thinking of me once again, and I appreciate your trademark generosity and ability to get nice cards into the hands of others. I don't know if I can find anything you might need but if I do, rest assured I'll work on returning the favor. For now I'll happily thank you for this perfect Christmas present.

I'll be taking tomorrow off, of course, and then plan on returning with a couple show posts next on the docket. Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas, y'all!

2024 August-December card show reports: binging through five shows

Here's a show recap post for my five trips to Taylor in August through December last year because if I do one post for each at this point it may take me until March.

8/2/24:

My purchase-tracking spreadsheet says I dropped $80 at this one, so it was a pretty average show for me price-wise.

First up, some trade bait:

I believe both the A-Rod and Hoffman up top are gone but I think I may have everything else still.

My keepers:

Hooray, a new Granderson! Newer Gwynns are nice but how about some "90s inserts rule!" action for Maddux? Griffey and Ripken complete the quartet. By the way, Bowman's Best's Mirror Image was one of my favorites back then despite the fact that the prospects they featured often didn't work out.

Holo Griffey! A numbered Gwynn! I included the back of the Mirror Image insert plus the numbered Elite Teams insert of the Braves, who definitely lived up to that description. Speaking of the Bowman's Best card, this one was quite good as obviously Maddux and Moose are HOFers, but Colon also had a very nice career, and Wright even managed to last for 19 seasons!

Basketball ended up being the story of the day with a couple of the biggest cards of the haul hailing from that sport: an autograph of Caleb Houstan (my second), the guy who plays for Ann Arbor South (Orlando), plus a nice Lakers swatch of his teammate Mo Wagner (hit #4).

Football didn't get shut out, though, as I came home with both a numbered rookie-year Griese from SPx plus a new Funchess jersey relic (hit #32 for him).

9/6/24:

For September's show it looks like I upped my total spending to an even $100, and a good chunk of that must have gone towards items for trade packages based on what I have scanned to show here. That works for me, though, as I love using these shows as a source of cards to send out to my favorite trading buds.

As for cards that weren't ticketed for specific folks, here's what I grabbed:

What can I say? I'm a sucker for autographed manupatches, and I think those signed metal cards are too cool. I probably only spent a couple bucks on each of these anyway, and hopefully they'll find a good home before long, but I don't think I've had any bites for them on TCDb just yet.

My keepers:

It's always great when I can add rarer cards like Artist's Proofs to my PCs, including Palmer's. Pudge shares his '93 Pinnacle Team Pinnacle insert with another excellent if not HOF backstop, Darren Daulton. And I'm sorry that Gwynn's the one to get covered by the peel's sticker on '95 Donruss Dominators insert you see above--a favorite of mine, by the way--but I got this one to pair with a copy that I do have peeled, so now I have one of each to enjoy.

I scored a few more basketball items this time, and THJ was the highlight as I found three new cards for his collection, including a Panini Prizm auto that represents my sixth signature and 13th overall hit of the ex-Wolverine and current Pistons standout.

The football side of things was very offensive, but only in terms of the positions represented, because I was quite happy with my little haul. The Threads jersey of Braylon gives him 95 total hits, keeping him in 4th behind Henne, Manningham, and Long, though the race to be the second to 100 is anybody's game. I also found my second auto of TE Nick Eubanks on a red parallel of his Contenders Draft issue, and believe it or not, the one I already own isn't from the same product, but an entirely different one!

10/4/24:

October was a bit of an outlier as I spent just $55, but in thinking back to that day and looking over what I have here, I'm pretty sure I recall that being a day where my favorite seller had lowered some of his prices even more so I got a lot of bang for my buck.

The available trade bait:

I'm pretty sure each of the autographs/jerseys was just a buck, plus the numbered inserts and other 90s stuff were just too cool to pass up and try to get into someone else's collection.

Not a ton for me either this time, but a few cool items:

The Maddux, Ripken, and Pudge cards were all fun additions, plus I nabbed my first card of IF prospect Trey Sweeney, one of the guys that came over in the Jack Flaherty deal with the Dodgers. If he can help force Javy Baez off the roster then he'll forever be a legend in my mind. Meanwhile, the Manning ended up being a decent chunk of my purchase price, and if I'm being honest, probably an overpay, but I thought it was a very cool piece with huge swatches, a signature, and numbering to just 10 copies. I don't know what his future is with the Tigers but this is the kind of card I see myself keeping even if he moves on.

RBs Chris Evans and Hassan Haskins stole the show on the gridiron for this month, though defenders Rashan Gary and Chris Wormley also get in on the action with cool numbered cards.

11/1/24:

I spent $105 on this one and didn't come home with any up-for-grabs trade bait, but I believe I did score some nice items for trade and Christmas card packages. But better yet, I had a very nice day bringing home some cool hits for myself, much of which I think was in the $2-$5 range:

A jersey produced by Fleer's Ultra brand becomes relic #18 (and hit #19) for Mad dog. I'm the most excited about the Arrington/Henne dual because it's getting harder to find reasonably priced copies of cards for either that I need, and Henne's one of my favorite PC guys. Arrington gets his 56th hit and Henne keeps a secure grip on the top spot in the sport with his 145th(!).

I landed pairs of autos of the rest of the players. Butt's are from Panini's Absolute and XR, and the Michigan TE who was anything BUT booty cheeks in college jumps up to 13 hits. DT Mo Hurst started his career with Oakland as seen on signature cards from Luminance and Prizm, but he's since moved on to San Fran and then Cleveland. I now own seven hits of his, all signed like these. And lastly, DPJ finally made his hits collection debut with a couple Panini Chronicles autos that were parallels done in the Obsidian design. I believe the Purple is limited to 30 copies and the Orange is /25. While they remind me a bit of many recent Leaf designs, I'm relieved that they weren't made by that execrable manufacturer, and instead I've got two quality college uni cards of one of the most talented wideouts to pass through Ann Arbor recently.

12/6/24:

With the holiday approaching quickly in December I planned on throwing down more cash towards Christmas cards fodder and was quite successful. The $115 I spent was second only to February's $130 cost, and I think the results speak for themselves as you look over the various posts and Tweets mentioning some of the cool stuff I sent out.

Once again, no unassigned trade bait, but some very cool keepers:

My favorite vintage guy was around and I think $15 of my total went to him for this trio of super cool Freehan items. Those include a '65 Topps Hot-Iron Transfers, '70 Topps Super, and '73 Topps Candy Lids. I'm always on the lookout for new Freehan stuff because anything I don't have is something I'll treasure. That made these an exciting purchase for sure!

I believe everything else I got for myself from my favorite seller was from the cheaper boxes, so everything here was probably $1 at most, and more likely $0.25 or $0.50. Once again, the "90s inserts rule!" tag is in full effect, and you have to know I was loving it. Fun insert designs starring three of my favorite 90s heroes always make my day. By the way, I think Freehan and a Pacific card featuring in the same post is very apt since they each remain criminally underappreciated these days.

Well, that's the rest of 2024 in show recaps for me. I believe what's left for me to cover for last year at this point is COMC, eBay, Facebook, and something else really fun that I don't think I've teased yet. Once I can catch up on those I can get to some cool trades I've received this month, January and February's shows (I'm sure I won't have those all done by this Friday), and maybe more timely TCDb trade recaps.

You might even say I still have a whole lot to...show you! (Sorry.)

2024 trade package #17: Cards on Cards

I'm in a very thankful mood as I write this post, and not just because this past Thursday was turkey day. I'm grateful I still have family around as I get older, and friends to hang out with, a secure job, enough money to live my lifestyle, and a home.

And more specifically, today I'm very thankful that my Michigan Wolverines beat Ohio State for the fourth straight year despite breaking in a first-year coach, weathering injuries, having one of the worst QB room/offensive coordinator combos in program history, and having nothing to play for but pride, But they did it anyway!

And even more specifically to the hobby and this blog, I'm extremely grateful to everyone I have the privilege of trading with and talking to about cards, plus those who read and even comment over here despite my relative lack of posts.

In a similar vein, I'm very thankful for old blog friends I go way back with, like Kerry of Cards on Cards. Kerry's my college team/pro teams collecting doppelganger in the northwest, and he was one of the earlier folks I traded with waaaay back in 2010 not long after I started Too Many Grandersons. He sent me a fairly large envelope of stuff back in August, and I'm thankful that folks like him don't mind me taking until it's a hair before December to recap it!

Here's what he sent:

Some big names I collect to start things off with Miggy, Cronenworth, Greenberg, Greene, and Junior Griffey. Jake was born eight years after Topps originally used that design in 1986.

That's Griffey and now Gwynn and Maddux; Will the quartet be completed? Read on to find out. But first, check out these super nice additions to my collection of Matt Manning. My favorite: the 3D card, easily. We need more of these and fewer Refractor patterns (colors are fine). The Clearly Donruss acetate card is a close second, though!

His fellow high draft pick Mize also gets in on the action to a lesser degree. Morris and a few other '84 Tigers popped up in that Pinnacle Limited set much to the benefit of Detroit collectors like myself. Oh, and the short wait is over: Kerry did indeed complete the group by including four Ripkens, including a cool Red (I think?) parallel numbered /2023. Cy Young-winner Skubal is next, and while I fully expect our cheap-ass owners not to make a reasonable attempt to sign him, I'll enjoy him wearing the Olde English "D" as long as I can.

Next, Tork is definitely facing a make-or-break season as a former top guy who'll need to earn a spot on a team that should be contending in the AL Central. I really like the mix of Panini designs Kerry included here. The Sport Kings card you see of Tram is my first of the HOF SS from 2024, and that's another one of those products than can be useful for finding players you don't necessarily see much elsewhere. Hopping back to present players, could Verlander return to the Tigers? It's not out of the question, but locating that cool gold playing card-type issue on TCDb was as I'll need to do research on a checklist. Finishing out the baseball stuff, Griffey and Cronenworth make repeat appearances while a John Denny Swell card from 1990 puts me down to just nine short of that set.

While Michigan Football's overall record this year has been pretty disappointing (though wins over the two rivals on the schedule sure helped!), the basketball team is looking pretty nice under new coach Dusty May. I know I said that in my last post but that continues to be the case. None of the guys in this scan played for him but they've all since played in the NBA so that's cool. Bufkin's in his second season with Atlanta, THJ is putting up some minutes with the Pistons, and Houstan and Howard are both with Ann Arbor's pro franchise in the south, Orlando (more on that below).

The former coach's son is getting increased minutes for the Magic in his second season, which is nice to see. Speaking of familiar names, I think most people know Jordan Poole and Duncan Robinson, whether or not they know about their Ann Arbor connection.

I haven't seen this many Duncans at once since Kerry's Cardinals employed father & son duo Dave and Chris! Rose is one of a couple Fab-Fivers you'll see tonight. And as for Franz Wagner...

...the budding Magic star is yet another Orlando player represented here. It may be too late for me to get an autograph of Mo's younger brother at a reasonable price but I really appreciate Kerry passing along this many cards of Franz in one package. Meanwhile, THJ makes one more appearance in sticker form and then we have Jett's dad on a phone card, which is such a 1990s thing I think I just teleported to the mall to go to a music store after watching an episode of TRL when I got home from school. A very cool addition indeed!

And now the team of the day: the football Wolverines! My (new) Big Ten buddy is familiar with how to identify who played for my school just like I'm more than happy to look up guys from his. Transfer TE Erick All makes his collection debut out of '23 SAGE HIT, appearing in a Michigan uni despite having transferred to Iowa. Brady's about the most well-known Wolverines guy in the business but I really have to talk up fellow QB-turned-broadcaster Devin Gardner, who did an outstanding job calling Michigan's game last week after having done a very insightful podcast for a few years. Speaking of successful QBs, I was very happy to see a couple rookie-adjacent cards of '97-'98 champ Brian Griese out of Fleer Brilliants and Upper Deck UD3. Buckeye-killer Haskins is back in the NFL with Jim Harbaugh's Chargers while blog favorite QB Chad Henne rode off into the sunset after carrying the clipboard for another Chiefs title team. Turner is sadly out for the season for the Bengals but hopefully the DB will come back stronger than ever next year.

And last up tonight are these two former Wolverines receivers, both pictured wearing the Maize & Blue on Leaf autographed cards even though they each transferred out! Black was a fairly highly touted WR recruit who produced very little in three seasons before transferring to Texas for the doomed 2020 COVID season. This marks my third signature of the 4* from Connecticut.

Henning, who's also making his collection debut tonight, appeared over the 2020-22 seasons for the Wolverines, rushing for a pair of scores in 2021, with none bigger than the opening score of that year's edition of The Game. Ohio State has yet to beat its hated rival ever since. Meanwhile, Henning remained in the conference and headed to Northwestern, where he picked up five total TDs (four catches and a run) in '23. This season he caught four more and that'll do it as the Wildcats won't be bowling with a 4-8 record. We'll always have that TD in the inspiring '21 OSU win, though!

Kerry, thanks so much again for all of this great stuff! I really appreciate how well you hit so many of my various collections, and it remains a pleasure trading with you for going on 15 years. I'll be gladly including you in this year's Christmas cards and already have a few things set aside for you.

Up next will be one more August envelope, and then we'll see if I pivot to wrapping up the rest of the year's trades before I get to everything else because I always feel like those should get priority.

2024 trade package #14: Sport Card Collectors

As it turns out I have just one trade package from July to post, making catching up a bit easier (though I do have quite a few from August and September). Tonight you get to see the latest PWE sent to me by Matt of multiple blogs but most recently Cards Over Coffee.

Matt treats me to these envelopes a few times a year and I can always count on some cool Tigers and Wolverines (if not stuff that hits other PCs). That was most definitely the case here:

It was sad to see Miggy hang up his cleats after last season, but there's no doubt that having a roster spot plus the DH position open for guys like Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter aided in Detroit's stunning second-half turnaround this season. Honestly, it felt more like 1987 than '88, the year the design of those Topps inserts honors.

Manning, meanwhile, had a 2024 season he'd surely like to forget, going 0-1 in just five starts while not faring much better at AAA Toledo. He's only a few years removed from being a top 50 prospect but time may be running out for him to claim a spot in the rotation.

Lastly, Tork also didn't exactly have a season to remember like his 31 HR 2023 campaign, but considering how poorly he started, leading to his own demotion, the fact that he crawled his way back is a positive sign. He still needs to show a lot more in 2025 to earn a role on what appears to be an up-and-coming team, but for now he'll continue to appear on shiny inserts (like Refractors!) while proudly wearing the olde English "D."

If the timing of this post--a couple days after the Tigers were bounced from the playoffs--seems a bit inauspicious, it's nothing compared to the stunning turn of events for the player and team featured on the first few cards here. Aidan Hutchinson was such a massive piece on a defense trying to claw its way from embarrassment to competency, and his gruesome broken leg halts what looked to be a historic season for player and team. Here's hoping he comes back stronger than ever for the '25-'26 season, and in the meantime I hope the Lions don't miss his intimidating presence too much.

Matt obviously decided that one Wolverine great wasn't enough, so he added four nice looking cards of GOAT DB Charles Woodson. I really like that both of his franchises are represented here: the Raiders, with whom he began and finished his career, plus the team that allowed him to add a Super Bowl to his NCAA title trophy and other college/pro accomplishments: the Packers. If the nine-time Pro-Bowler didn't deserve first ballot admission to Canton, who else would? He's indeed a living legend and it's great to see him back in the Big House when doing his job for Fox.

Matt, thanks as always for another great PWE! I've got a pretty nice stack going for you and just need to decide when to pull the trigger on sending it your way. I can promise you at least one card that's seasonally appropriate given the rapidly declining temperature here in the northern part of the country.

I should be back soon with what I expect will be a recap of July's show, so stay tuned for that while watching what's rapidly become an MLB postseason featuring uninteresting/unlikable teams. Who the hell am I supposed to root for now?!

2024 trade package #7: the Collector

Happy July, y'all! With the NBA and NHL done for a bit, it's the time of year when baseball gets to shine before the return of college football next month. Let's celebrate by looking at some cards from all four major sports sent to me by Chris, the Collector, back in April.

Miggy most certainly was a star of the MLB over his 21 seasons, and it's bittersweet to see the back of his final Topps Chrome base card packed with his career numbers. Faedo, Manning, and Mize are all trying to bring some Mojo back to the Tigers' rotation (though it's mostly been the bats plus Kenta Maeda letting them down), and Faedo could potentially find himself back in a starting role soon while Manning tries to get right at AAA Toledo. The Verlander /75 is probably the best (and at least my favorite) card in this package, and I'm glad he got to celebrate two World Series titles because the villainous Astros are so easy to root against.

Flipping over to basketball, Chris did a nice job IDing a few former Wolverines I collect, mostly in colorful/shiny form. Iggy's been out of the league but was fun in college. It's crazy to me that THJ will be in his 12th NBA season later this year, and it's possible he'll be suiting up for the Pistons which is even cooler.

Finishing up with basketball we have a Crown Royale insert that evokes the heyday of Pacific, and this one stars another Wolverine/Piston combo, Isiah Livers, though he's not longer with the team. The card is numbered /75 just like Verlander's above and the blue goes well both with the Pistons' colors and those of his college team.

Repping the reigning NCAA champs of football, we begin with a Prizm base of stud defender Rashan Gary, a pass-rushing terror who's earned a good amount of respect in the NFL. Speaking of champs, we all know Griese led a team of them back in 1997-98 before a solid journeyman pro career. McKeon is yet another Michigan alum to have latched on with a Detroit team this offseason, signing with the Lions after four seasons with the team that drafted him, the Cowboys (and that card looks awesome thanks to its college action photo, though it would be even better if the border was something less Ohio-ish!). And lastly, a current Cowboy, Mazi Smith (seen on a Panini Mosaic RC) has a lot of work to do to live up to his first-round billing.

Would it really be an envelope of cards from Chris without some hockey content? No ex-Wolverines this time, but no problem there because I have plenty of love for the Wings too, especially the guys from the teams that were super successful for a good chunk of my life. The late Petr Klima, the first Czech player to defect directly to a team in the US (as opposed to Canada), is seen on his 1988-89 Topps base, and I remember him a bit from his early career in Detroit before wandering the league a bit and then returning briefly in 1998/99. And of course I'll always remember the Captain (1992-93 Stadium Club) for his 22 years and three Stanley Cups in Hockeytown, none bigger than 1996-97 when the Cup finally, finally returned to Detroit.

Chris, thanks again for thinking of me and sending some great new stuff my way! I'm slowly building up some interesting (and not entirely cardboard-based) stuff for you so I can return the favor in the near future. Until then, I hope things are going well with your wife's health situation, and I want to remind you that you've got a bunch of friends pulling for you and willing to help.

That does it for my April trades so next up will either be a quick Facebook Marketplace purchase recap or a look at my haul from that month's Taylor show.

2023 trade package #27: Sport Card Collectors

It's the holiday season for sure--less than a week until Christmas--and I continue to receive cards from generous folks at a ridiculous pace. I may not (hell, I definitely won't) be caught up before the end of the year but that's a nice problem to have.

For now I'll make a small effort in support of that goal by covering the first of a few trade packages I received in November. That would be a pair of PWEs from Matt of several blogs that I may just continue to refer to collectively as "Sport Card Collectors" for my own convenience. Funny story: he sent the envelopes the same day but only one arrived to me a few days later. We both wondered if the other one got lost and then it just randomly showed up a few weeks later, even slipping past Informed Delivery as some mail is wont to do. Either way, they both got here safely, and inside them were these:

I'd certainly like Baez to be a star of the MLB considering what he's making and the amount of payroll he's eating up, but if he can even return to his level of performance from 2022 that would help. Cabrera played for so long that sometimes it feels like he debuted in 1987, when we both turned four. Up there you see one of a pair of dupes Matt sent which I was happy to have since I know plenty of people that could use something like that. The Sepia Refractor looks excellent and as always I love images of his outstanding swing, putting him in a club with guys like Junior Griffey.

Next, the foil parallel of Miggy and Riley Greene--a '23 Topps team checklist--is very cool since it shows what's now the past and future of the franchise, as tough as it is to refer to Cabrera in the past tense. If Greene can stay healthy he could be a franchise favorite for years to come! 

The rest of this scan is made up of pitchers still with the team. With a couple new rotation additions in Kenta Maeda and Jack Flaherty, there's much less pressure on guys like the super talented Manning, who could benefit from some veteran guidance. His Panini Mosaic and a Pink Chrome Refractor here put me just shy of 30 cards of the 25-year-old. Fellow first-rounder Mize is also a Pink Refractor, should also be part of the starting five next year, though a return from TJ surgery makes him a bit less of a sure thing. What's unquestionable is that my collection of his has grown even faster than Manning's as that's card #68 for me! Meanwhile, I'm happy to see Wentz in Purple Refractor form, though until he starts performing in a way that isn't detrimental to his team (3-13, 6.90 ERA in '23), the less we see of him the better. It's much less likely the team will need him next season, though, which is good news.

The last of the baseball stuff is, naturally, a new Verlander for me. JV's appeared in Heritage's Then and Now insert a bunch since 2010 and has been paired up with the following:

• Whitey Ford (2010)
• Sandy Koufax (2012)
• Juan Marichal (2012)
• Jim Bunning (2013)
• Bob Gibson (2013)
• Fergie Jenkins (2017)
• Jim Palmer (2019)
• Catfish Hunter (2020)
• Jim Palmer (2020)
• Gaylord Perry (2023)
• Catfish Hunter (2023)

This is the first time he joins "Garylord" (WTF are you even doing, Topps?) Perry in the set, though Marichal is his top comp of the group in Baseball Reference's Similarity Scores. Regardless, that's heady company when you're compared to a group like that!

Matt also included a bit of football content, and I'm glad it can be easier for some of you when guys I collect appear in their college unis in products like Bowman Chrome University. Colson's a LB who'll be appearing in at least 14 games for the third straight season, with game #14 once again being a playoff tilt. His stats are down a bit from some excellent numbers last season but he's still been very solid at the position for an outstanding defense that consistently puts the team in position to win. Once again I didn't mind the dupes here because I can think of at least one person who could use it.

Thanks again for these envelopes, Matt, and I hope you didn't stress too much when one of them disappeared off the face of the earth. I'm looking forward to showing off what you sent me for Christmas once I get a bit more caught up, and in the meantime may you enjoy the package you have sitting under your tree!

More trade recaps to come soon!

2022 trade package #25: Sport Card Collectors

Christmas cards are coming! Both incoming and outgoing, as it turns out. I'll have more details on the outgoing items when I have a bit more clarity on my COMC and Sportlots shipping situations, but the good news is that there will be a Too Many Verlanders Christmas Cards 2022, which means lots of you will be getting presents from me!

As for items going the other direction, I have lots to show off thanks to multiple blogger trades, eBay purchases, TCDB deals, last weekend's show, plus the aforementioned Sportlots and COMC buys.

Today's trade package is a terrific combo of "stuff I set aside for you", Christmas cards, and a giveaway, all from Matt of Sport Card Collectors. My not-so-secret Santa let me know to expect a rare bubble mailer from him and that's exactly what I got just before the calendar flipped over to December. This thing was absolutely stuffed with goodies, so here's a quick rundown on what he included:

A big stack of current and past Tigers dominated most of the envelope. Baez (a very quality Museum base) and the returning Boyd (shout out to John!) are the current guys here. The team very recently cut bait with Candy, who had a good amount of potential but was trending in the wrong direction for what he'd cost. Washington signed him and I'm interested in seeing how he does. I can't say no to a Prizm Refractor and numbered Donruss parallel! Cobb looks great on his Gallery card as well.

Check out the killer G's to start this scan! I love the Grandy '07 Chrome Refractor which was new to me, as was Hammerin' Hank's Diamond Kings Artist Proof (and Kuenn's too!). Infante was a quality middle infielder for some of the Tigers' more successful teams in the 2000s and 2010s. Kaline is always, and I mean always welcome in envelopes heading my way! As is young pitcher Matt Manning, for whom you see two items here before another one that somehow got lumped into the next scan. V-Mart had some big moments before his bat waned late in his career.

Mazara has discoed off to other teams that aren't Detroit and that's fine by me. I wonder if Meadows will be healthy enough to appear in 100 games this year? Looks like one of Manning's cards got grouped in with fellow injured and talented Detroit P Casey Mize on some nice looking cardboard. Morris makes as much sense as anyone on an insert throwing it back to the '87 set. Nathan was a Tiger for all of 63 games over two seasons--almost entirely a nice 2014 campaign--but that was long enough to get on a team-appropriate Chrome Orange Refractor.

A few of these guys are active but only the guy in the middle--Tork--is currently with the team as they're hopefully cutting out the dead weight to bring in some quality players to pair with the youngsters. I appreciate the card of Spencer since I don't have many yet, and I still have high hopes that he'll adjust to the bigs after a rough 2022. Norris and new White Sox OF Victor Reyes look good in Topps' Royal Blue parallel here too.

Here's the rest of the baseball stuff, starting with a six-pack of A&G Minis. Bunning and Morris are HOF pitchers that began their careers with Detroit so it's fun to see them here together. Each appears on two different versions as you can tell by these backs:

The Topps Heritage Minors auto of former OF prospect (who retired due to injury) Brock Deatherage was a fun surprise! It's numbered /100 and the guy had one of the most metal names in the minors. Just don't look at his social media if you don't want to further lower your opinion of the education level of pro athletes. I love the autograph, though!

And to finish off the sport, why not include a wax pack of '88 Donruss? I haven't decided what to do with this yet but at least for now I'm keeping it sealed.

And now we get to the football content, much of which is made up of my giveaway winnings. The RC/rookie-related cards of Collins and disruptive Detroit Lion Aidan Hutchinson are much appreciated, especially the latter as I work on building a collection of this year's #2 overall pick who's been a "bust" to Spartan and Buckeye fans only.

But I'm most excited about the autographs of Hutchinson and his fellow 2021 partner in crime off the edge, David Ojabo. Hutch's auto came from 2022 Prestige and features a nice shot of him on draft night when his home state team took him #2 overall. He's been worthy of the pick ever since overall, even with a few quiet games. While his signature leaves something to be desired, that's nothing new for athletes these days!

Ojabo's card is terrific as well. He thrived on the other side of the defense that Hutch played, coming up with huge moments himself. The Nigerian-born defensive stud moved with his family to Scotland when he was young, and rewarded Michigan's interest in him with 11 sacks in his one season as a starter, the last of which led to the iconic "O-ja-BO!" call by Gus Johnson in the Wolverines' romp over Ohio State. An ill-timed injury after the season hurt his draft stock but he was still selected in the second round by coach Jim Harbaugh's brother's team, the Ravens. I love having my first autograph of the future defensive star be a Michigan uni card from a Panini Origins autograph set available in this year's Chronicles product.

One last card in this image was a total surprise for me: a Chris Evans 1/1 proof card from 2021 Leaf Metal Draft. It's a Crystal Blue version of the State Pride insert, which ends up being the perfect color for a Michigan guy like the current Bengals RB/WR/KR. Part of the design obscures Michigan's state motto, "Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice" ("If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you") because that's where the autograph would go. The current incarnation of Leaf has been pretty shady, but these state flag cards still look amazing. I'll happily add this as my first hit of Evans, an out-of-the-blue (pun intended!) Michigan uni 1/1 in a very generous trade package!

Here's the back of the proof card for completeness, and because it's fun to stare at.

The three new players here bump the unique subject total count of my UM football collection to 236, and the overall count is a minor milestone of 1600!

We're not quite done just yet because the giveaway included a few other cards courtesy of Panini. Three are from Panini Chronicles like the Ojabo above. The Chubb, numbered /49, is a Purple parallel from the Donruss Retro insert. Goodson's auto is a Contenders College Ticket Autographs Red version. Hall's signature is from the Donruss Rated Rookie Autographs insert. And finally, the parallel of Fant was inserted into 2022 Prestige packs and is an Xtra Points Premium Gold version numbered /99. Many thanks again to Panini and to Matt for giving these away. I've since put them up for trade on TCDB but will happily offer them here as well to those interested in working out a trade.

Matt, thanks so much again for this ridiculously stacked envelope. I'm grateful to be one of the folks you trade with and I appreciate your holiday season generosity here. I can also promise you'll be quite happy with your return envelope once everything I ordered gets shipped my way, so you should look forward to a merry Christmas yourself!

Stay tuned for more great Christmas cards coming soon.