November ended up being a very social month for me as far as the hobby goes. Less than a week after I attended the show with Angus that I just recapped, I headed about an hour and a half west to meet up with Jason, John, and the person who handed me this trade package, Jeff of My Sports Obsession. It was a Saturday show that I was able to go to with Michigan on a bye week (I'm sure Jeff wouldn't have missed the game either!) and things also worked out for Jason (and his lovely fiancé) and and John to have time to spend there.
I'll recap that show a bit later this month after covering the other trade packages and the usual monthly show, but for the purposes of this post I'll briefly say that I really enjoyed getting to hang out with these guys and look at some cards. It's a treat getting to enjoy this hobby with others that feel the same way and I'm grateful that they all made the effort (and glad that I did too).
Of course I was dumb and didn't get a picture with everybody for the bit of time we were all there (just with John when I dropped him off at home, though I'll share that in the show post), but at least I made sure to maximize my time with everyone there. That includes Jeff, who beat us all to the venue and therefore left sooner. We still got to talk for a while while flipping through cards at the tables run by a family he saw all the time when he and his cousin were doing shows, and that was a good time.
And of course he brought me some cards. LOTS of cards. I always appreciate it when someone puts in the time and effort to set stuff aside from me, and Jeff's one of the best at it thanks to the work he does for a card shop near him.
Here's what he brought me this time:
Miggy hit six career grand slams--I just looked it up--and I'm sure each ball felt like that Mosaic card looks when it left his bat. I hadn't added a new card of Michigan alum Franklin in forever so I loved seeing that Refractor. Griffey, Gwynn, and Maddux all pop up in this scan on Prizm cards, and you'll get to see the fourth member of that quartet plenty in this scan. The two colorful Panini-branded Kalines are among the coolest cards in tonight's bunch (even if "Pink Ice" sounds more like a drug reference than a baseball card).
See what I mean about Ripken? Jeff and I have a bit over 2400 Cals between us so you'll always see lots of his cards go back and forth in our trades. I really like the Diamond Kings and Gallery cards here, and there's even a rare Gypsy Queen design that works well with a photo of the HOFer in the field. These aren't the only cards of the Iron Man you'll see tonight, though. Before we get to those, it's back to the Prizm well one more time with HOF Wolverine Ted Simmons and a nice shot of him wearing the tools of excellence. He's followed by (future former) Tigers ace Tarik Skubal on a couple recent Topps inserts.
I'm hoping my fellow Tigers fans and I get to enjoy Skubal for at least as long as his predecessor Justin Verlander, of whom Jeff sent two many this time on a couple shiny parallels. The final non-hit portrait card is a checklist from a Wendy's/Coke '84 Tigers set that I've actually seen pop up a few times lately on Blusky and blogs, which is fun, and hopefully I'll add more of those myself. A quartet of landscape Ripkens rounds out the leader of the big PC foursome, including a typically beautiful Stadium Club shot of a guy known for staying long after games to sign for kids.
There were a couple surprise autographs mixed in with the baseball stuff: a 2016 Bowman Platinum Green (/75) of Michael Fulmer and 2021 Topps Chrome Update Autographs signature of Kyle Funkhouser. These are my first signed cards of the two pitchers. Fulmer was that year's AL Rookie of the Year after coming over from the Mets, though his effectiveness waned and he found himself in the bullpen. Funkhouser was Detroit's fourth-rounder in 2016 (after the Dodgers took him in the first round the previous year but didn't sign the Illinois native heading to Louisville). He also didn't pan out in the end, but a Refractor is always fun and he has a very nice signature.
The last baseball item is a fun oddball piece: a 1994 team schedule. Detroit went 53-62 in the strike-shortened season, Sparky Anderson's penultimate year managing the club. My PC guy Tony Phillips led the team in bWAR while Travis Fryman and another PC favorite, Mickey Tettleton, made the All-Star team. David Wells and Mike Moore were the most effective pitchers that year. Yeah, the 90s sucked for Tigers fans. But items like this are fun to keep!
In a bit of a surprise, a Panini Phoenix RC of Franz Wagner was the only basketball item, but a very good one!
As for football, the content pretty much matched both the quantity and quality of baseball. That begins with RCs of TE Erick All. Buckeye-killer RB Tim Biakabutuka pops up on a 2000 Collector's Edge insert that's numbered /500 on the back and color matches pretty well with his Panthers uni. Transfer guy Charbonnet, who plays the same position, also appears thanks to Panini Prizm, and I'm enjoying seeing him play weekly for Seattle. And then there's a quartet of Nico Collins, who continues to star especially when the QB throwing his way isn't ass. Nico added a pair of TDs in today's win and eclipsed 1000 receiving yards for the third straight season. I have to say that Panini's retail version of its Illusions brand scans quite nicely and largely looks just as good as the hobby version.
The theme of this scan is "color and chrome." I love getting cards (especially colorful cards) of Blake, who scored a TD and had a couple very nice runs against the Lions' porous defense earlier today. I don't think too many others would give a second thought to a card of Amara Darboh, but Jeff and I both would, and I love the colorful Optic card of the WR. Michigan sorely needed Grant and his DL partner Mason Graham this season, but I hope things go well for the Dolphins rookie, seen on his first Score card. Between the years Aidan and his dad played for the Wolverines, there was HOF G Steve--no relation--who's seen on last year's Topps Chrome return, along with fellow HOFer Ty Law. Jenkins is another young ex-Wolverines defender I'm watching with great interest. JJ's had a bit of a rough first year as a starter but still shows a lot of promise, and his alma mater's fight song is the best. Ojabo's Contenders Optic features a very nice design and action photo of the fearsome defender.
The second-to-last scan begins with AN ORJI IN THE ENDZONE! (Thanks to Bowman Chrome U.) Like Orji, QB Brandon Peters transferred out, in his case to Illinois, though he has no cards depicting him as a Wolverine, and therefore I don't count him in my collection. The trio of A-Train inserts look great, with two hailing from Pacific brands and one from UD. Like fellow RB Tim Biakabutuka above, Tyrone Wheatley adds a numbered (/500) Collector's Edge insert to his pile. He hasn't had much NFL luck, but I'm happy to add another RC of national champ WR Roman Wilson to my collection. And the pair of Woodson cards looks great, especially the Select Draft Picks parallel where the red really makes the best college football uniform pop.
The last cards I'll show off tonight are ones I really appreciated since I wouldn't likely add them myself anytime soon. ONIT appears to be the latest brand handling the cards being sold for NIL money for a number of schools, and their overall design is pretty solid. I believe Jeff bought a few packs (which aren't cheap) or found singles otherwise, and gifted me these six. We'll skip talking about the guy who should be shot into the sun, but it's great getting the rest (plus I can cross the ex-coach off my checklist now).
Browder is a true freshman WR who appeared in seven games this season. El-Hadi is a fifth-year OL who came back for one more season where he finally got more playing time. Goodwin (son of Michigan alum Jonathan) is a sophomore WR who played in all 12 games and caught 11 passes for 145, and was also sometimes a pretty effective pass-blocker. Senior EDGE Derrick Moore was one of the most effective players on defense in '25 with 10.0 sacks, and next year's defense will surely miss him.
Finally, QB Davis Warren is one of those great stories you sometimes hear about in the college game. He overcame leukemia in high school to walk on at Michigan, then persevered long enough to get most of the playing time in 2024 after JJ McCarthy headed to the draft. It was a trying season for Michigan but against all odds he helped the Wolverines beat Ohio State for a third straight season, and also started in the bowl game win over Alabama. Whatever he does after graduating this year, he'll surely be great at it.
Jeff, thanks so much once again for this huge stack of goodness you were generous enough to bring me at that show. I have no idea what's in store for our favorite college football team going forward, but I'm thankful to have friends like you with whom I can root for them and trade some cards. I'll get a return envelope back your way at some point soon, possibly before Christmas.
Readers, you can look forward to three more November trade recaps before a couple show posts and one looking at a few eBay pickups too.
