6/6/25 card show report: June boon

So, yeah, I went the traditional route and you're getting my June show recap tonight. It's another short one but still filled with cool stuff so I hope you all enjoy it!

According to my spending tracker, that monthly Taylor Town show on June 6 was my only spending for the month, though I certainly made up for that in July! More to come on that.

Anyway, I dropped $110 on some quality stuff, and some of that included some choice 90s inserts. My usual guy had recently bought out a collection with a good number of those found therein, and he invited me to flip through a big box of those (mostly baseball, some football). They were all unpriced, so I was somewhat careful about what I chose, but in the end I was very pleased with the price he gave me after looking them up. You'll see a few of those below and possibly more in trade packages as they get dispersed.

No trade bait this month, so let's get to the goods!

Now this is my kind of scan! And yes, the "90s inserts rule!" tag is in full effect here. First up is a '96 Sportflix Double Take insert starring Ken Griffey Jr. and then-bigtime prospect Ruben Rivera. The two year run of Pinnacle's Sportflix product remains undefeated when it comes to inserts (and we'll get to another one in a minute) including this one that pairs up a couple stars on an extremely cool lenticular design. That particular Griffey card is paired with another one of my favorites from the era: '98 Studio's Freeze Frame. I think the J. Geils Band would approve of this photograph-themed chase card that's numbered /4500 on the back.

An Al Kaline Iconic Card Reprint from 2019 Topps is the lone exception to the 90s greatness in this scan (besides the two hits, of course), and it gives me yet another tribute to a RC I really need to track down one of these days.

Back to the 90s fun and the decade's other notable junior. Dress For Success is a '97 Leaf offering with a faux jersey feel and even slightly raised lettering that makes the card live up to its theme quite nicely. This one's numbered /3500 and yet another example of the kind of stuff we're denied in this era's creative doldrums. The second of three Cals is a '98 Leaf Rookies & Stars Pennant Edition MVP insert, which is also numbered (/5000), and this one picks a top player at each position on the back, with the Iron Man slotting in at 3B. Finally, we get our other look at '96 Sportflix and its Hit Parade insert. Sure, the scene in the background doesn't change per card, but the motion is still extremely cool and I continue to have a fondness for cards that look like this.

And then we have the pair of baseball hits, both of guys that spent at least some time behind the plate. The first is a 2016 Ginter jersey relic of Victor Martinez, who caught over 850 games, mostly with Cleveland and Boston. It was nice getting him on a card where he's pictured with Detroit, for whom he played the final seven years of his career. He's joined by HOF catcher Pudge Rodriguez on a 2004 Donruss Elite Career Best bat card (#d /200). The bat relic version of the card has a back with a COA statement instead of the base insert's explanation of the titular career best number, in this case his 1999 MVP season total of 113 RBI (he never did reach 100 again), plus becoming the first catcher in the 20/20 club (35 HR/25 steals, both also career bests). The bat chip may be relatively tiny but it's still a pretty cool card to me!

On the basketball side of things I did end up with a single new card: an autograph of Moussa Diabate. My second such card of the French C and former Wolverine (2021-22 only) is a rookie-year insert from 2022-23 Prizm called Sensational Signatures. While I don't think you can describe this one that positively, it's still a fun addition for me.

I scored a football hit as well, but first we'll look at the single 90s insert I purchased from that sport. Collector's Edge was certainly prolific during that decade, and that includes 1998, Charles Woodson's rookie year. What you see above is his second base card in the product, which is numbered /5000 like the rest, but is from the "Super Masters" subset which has a different design than the rest. Rookie year and numbered? Sounds like something I'd like to add!

And finally we have this evening's lone football hit. That ended up being auto #2 of UM and Dallas Cowboys TE Luke Schoonmaker. Found in 2023 Panini Contenders, this very reflective foil card is the Playoff Ticket parallel of his base auto, and it's numbered /149. Hopefully the third-year TE is more successful with the Cowboys than fellow ex-Wolverine/Cowboy at the position Sean McKeon.

That's it for June's show but stay tuned for July's recap which includes a fun cameo! Also I'll be back soon with one of the other posts I promised last time.

2025 trade package #9: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

It's the final day of May and I'm ready to recap the other trade package I received in March. As it turned out, that was the second month in a row I received a crazy nice mailer from Doug across the border at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store. I know I say this a lot, especially when it comes to his mailings, but this one was a DOOZY!

Check out the goods:

Baseball scan one of two is highlighted by some needed '25 Topps Tigers--Hurter, Keith, and Malloy. Hurter's been part of a pleasant surprise of a bullpen that's powered some wins for the surging Tigers, Keith's bat has improved since a slow start, and Malloy's chipped in some ABs for a team missing a few OF in the IL. That oddball Ripken, an '84 Topps/Milton Bradley partnership, is especially cool too!

I don't need to tell anyone that Skubal's been on fire since last season, while young SS Trey Sweeney is a work-in-progress, albeit a promising one. Devon Travis is one of a number of talented IF the Tigers gave away in awful trades, though they're doing that much less these days (and that's a pretty cool Refractor to boot). And How cool is that Elite Extra auto of former Wolverine Jordan Nwogu? It's my second of the Cubs OF prospect, with the previous one joining my collection thanks to Doug as well, and now I have a new favorite thanks to the college uni shot. Nice!

The basketball portion was a bit smaller but a big boon to my collections. A Bowman's Best Howard insert throws it back to the more creative days of the hobby, and Poole and Robinson represent slightly more recent Michigan NBA alumni, with the latter getting an especially cool appearance.

Then we have three hits, which is where the real fun begins. That Leaf card is my first autograph of the young Bufkin, on a card with a design that honors the 1990 version of the Leaf brand that isn't sketchy in every single way (and a beautiful John Hancock). The well-traveled Burnett (Michigan/Bama/Texas Tech) makes his autograph overall PC debut thanks to Bowman University Chrome, which combines a great college shot and the player's excellent signature. And lastly, French Wolverine cager does the same with a Donruss Optic autograph that's a bit less legible, but at least the card looks great. I now have 39 different subjects in the basketball hits collection, and only three of them don't have an autograph to their name, largely thanks to the sender of this envelope.

Next, the football assortment was similar--just five cards, but some big adds to my collections. Sainristil, the WR-turned-DB who was a huge, huge part of the championship-winning team a couple years ago, gets his first card in my PC not produced by the school itself, in this case a Prestige RC. And then we have even more firsts thanks to a generous quartet of autographs. Each player you see here previously lacked a signature in my football hits collection, but that's no longer the case! Talented DB Dax Hill gets a Michigan uni card from Panini Legacy, LB Carlo Kemp (first overall card as well) arrives thanks to Leaf Draft, DB Josh Metellus (also a first card) stars on a college-themed Contenders Draft issue, and last up is autograph #1 of Dallas TE Luke Schoonmaker, a shiny numbered card found in Panini's Illusions. I now show 264 different subjects from the sport, so even more growth in addition to the basketball stuff above, which I really appreciate!

A couple (non-Michigan alum) Wings made the trip this time in the form of the late Shawn Burr (a Kitchener Ranger!) and Bob Rouse, who won a pair of Cups with Detroit late in his career.

Of course the real action on the ice here featured the ex-Michigan guys. Jason Bailey's yet another guy debuting tonight, and he's a rarity since the OHL card you see above is just one of eight he has catalogued on TCDb after a pair of seasons in Ann Arbor. Cammalleri is my top-rated hockey Mike in the collection with almost 100 cards, such as that Black Diamond you see in spot #2. Hyman is out for Edmonton's cup rematch vs. Florida but did a lot to help get his team there, and a UD Canvas card is a great reminder of the quality player he is. And the last of the non-hits is a sticker of a guy I always refer to as "Patch" given the way you say his name ("patch-or-EH-ty") but I guess "Pac Man" works as well.

And no, Doug's trademark generosity didn't end with the other three sports--he included his favorite as well. I like what Panini did with the design of Jack Johnson's Crown Royale jersey relic as it makes the swatch look huge. That's hit #15 for JMFJ. Wolverwing Dylan Larkin gets another quality relic added to his PC out of 2019-20 SPx, and the numbered jersey card is his 8th out of 11 total hits in a collection I'm proud to continue to grow. And last but most definitely not least, check out the newest 1/1 in my Michigan collection: a 2016-17 UD Compendium Black plate of Steve Kampfer! The four-year Wolverine D-man played sparingly in the NHL over parts of 11 seasons, but found himself in the Compendium Product after a career-high 47 games with the Panthers the previous year. What a great way to end this post!

Doug, thanks so much as always for the time, effort, thought, and money you put into every envelope you send my way. I continue to be floored by your generosity and the quality of stuff you find for folks like me that are fortunate enough to be able to trade with you. I'm looking forward to your last post covering what I most recently sent you while I try to stock back up once again!

I'm thinking the next post should be my first foray into Facebook Marketplace purchases this year, and that should let me close out March.