2017 trade package #2: Sport Card Collectors

Last month I received my first trade package (of what I'm sure will be many more) from the blog Sport Card Collectors (sorry, I don't have a name!).  The collector of Griffey, NY football Giants, and more had claimed a few of my giveaway lots last year, and you all know I love adding new trade partners whenever I can.

I've said before that I love one-card packages as much as those that are stuffed because I'm lazy and therefore happy to do less work when it comes to posting.  So you won't see me using the word "only" when I refer to what I received; anyway, it's a fantastic card worth a whole envelope of stuff anyway:

It's not so easy to hit the range of Topps cards I tolerate/like/love these days, but this one fits in toward the latter part of that scale since I'll take an A&G framed relic of a player I collect any day of the week (and twice today!).  It just happens to be gravy that this is Miggy's card in the 2016 set, one with another nice design along with a pretty good jersey swatch.  I'll happily add it to the other 10 hits of Cabrera in my Tigers PC as the most recent card and second A&G relic.

With the season starting soon I'm looking forward to another Hall of Fame-worthy campaign for the best player to appear for the Tigers in my lifetime!

Thanks, Sport Card Collectors, and I look forward to trading again whenever I can pile up some Griffeys and Giants for you!

2016 trade package #18: My Sports Obsession's trade package is a fall classic

Buddy of the blog Jeff from My Sports Obsession was in town on Saturday for Michigan's football homecoming game, so we managed to meet up for a few minutes beforehand for a bit of in-person trading.  That's something I don't get to do very often so it was a nice added bonus to our usual ongoing dealing.

I've got plenty of baseball stuff to show off over here plus a good handful of Wolverine stuff over on TMM as well.  The baseball stuff comes at a nice time since we're right in the midst of the World Series, with game 2 hopefully getting played as scheduled tonight (weather cooperating).  I'm rooting for the Cubs to end their curse as I did Boston 12 years ago, but I could live with a very good Cleveland team ending their own drought.

Detroit's own lack of titles hasn't been nearly as bad, but it has been 32 years since the Tigers' Wire-to-Wire '84 season.  Here's a few guys there were part of that championship run represented in cards Jeff gave me:

Sparky, seen here on an '83 Topps base, managed both the Reds and Tigers to titles.  The next group (along with five cards in the next scan) all hail from '86 Topps.  Evans turned out to be a solid free agent signing for '84, then put up nice numbers the next few seasons in Motown.  Herndon was a valuable role-player and had a nice Series, hitting a two-run homer that proved to be the winner in game 1.  Petry was a key cog in a rotation led by Jack Morris and went 18-8 in the regular season.  Tanana's the only guy in this group who wasn't with Detroit in '84; the Tigers grabbed him from Texas the next year and he had a few good seasons with the team.  And of course Trammell (seen here on 1980 and 1983 Topps issues) was the MVP of the Series thanks to a robust .450 average, 2 HR, and 6 RBI, all that after a nice ALCS.

The cards above are of guys I have sorted by player in my Tigers box while the next group includes cards that'll go into my "vintage" (pre-90s) Detroit collection:

Hebner, from '82 Donruss, was better known as an 11-year Pirate and was long gone before the '84 Series.  Cabell, another '83 Topps example, spent a good number of his years with Houston and was in Detroit in 1982-83 only.  Castillo was a backup C/3B and '84 was the apex of his five year career as he also contributed in the playoffs, including a game 3 homer.  Garbey was briefly a rookie sensation in '84, his first of two years with Detroit (he'd enjoy one last season with the Rangers in '88) and also made the playoff roster.  Lopez, a.k.a. Señor Smoke, was a very good RP who went a crazy 10-1 in '84 and picked up a win each in the ALCS and World Series.  O'Neal went 2-1 in three starts as a Tigers rookie that year, then went on to a seven-year career with a total of four other teams.  Finally, Simmons was a rookie OF that got a cup of coffee with the team and appeared in just 100 games over parts of three seasons with Detroit and Baltimore between '84 and '87.

Besides sending Tigers, Jeff included a pair of PC guys:

This Gwynn card from 1996 Pinnacle is very familiar to me as it hails from one of my favorite sets.  However, it isn't actually the base card, but the Foil version instead, made as part of a retail-exclusive parallel of the Series 2 set.  I really liked the ".300 Series" subset and the foil does a nice job of making the card pop, even if foil inherently makes scanning more difficult!

In keeping with the World Series theme, Gwynn made it to two of those--one in '84, which I've been discussing this whole post, and then against the earlier portion of the late 90s/early 2000s Yankees dynasty, in '98.  He went on to hit nearly .400 with a homer in his nine Series games.

Jeff hit one of my other major PCs, a guy we both chase in Cal Ripken Jr.:

The Iron Man made his lone Series appearance in '83, his second full season and third overall.  After the Fall Classic he'd be named AL MVP, and though he didn't contribute much to the five-game win over the Phillies, he did have a nice ALCS (against Jeff's White Sox!).  The first card in this scan includes his stats from that year as it hails from '84 Topps.  The others are from 1989 Topps Glossy All-Stars, 1992 Leaf, 1992 Pinnacle, 1993 Upper Deck, and 1994 Pinnacle (with a great photo).

Cal's Orioles did make it back to the playoffs in 1996 and '97, but they lost to the Yankees and Indians, respectively, and that was it for Ripken's playoff experience.  Here he is on cards from '95 Score, '98 Donruss, '98 Topps, 2000 Impact Mighty Fine in '99, and 2015 Topps Update Rookie Sensations.  Definitely a nice bunch for one of my favorite PCs!

Thanks for some great new cards, Jeff!

Please don't forget to head over to TMM for more baseball goodness while you settle in for game 2 tonight!

2015 trade package #33: Christmas with the Planks OR Yes, West Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus

(Yeah, I've been stretching it on the titles recently, so what?)

It's the night before Christmas Eve and I'm excited to have a pre-Yule trade package to celebrate the occasion.  For the fifth time on this here blog alone this year I get to show off cards I received from my favorite West Virginian (suck it, "regular" Virginia), Matt from Bob Walk the Plank.

Matt's such a generous trader that you really never know what you're gonna get, but rest assured, if the package is light on cards, it's heavy on awesomeness.  Bob Walk's #1 fan sent me two cards this time with a promise of more to come (we're not just gonna stop trading?  Whew!) and just wanted to make sure to send me something before Christmas, which was very thoughtful of him.

Here's what he sent:

Nick Castellanos 2014 Topps Five Star Golden Graphs auto (#02/50)

See what I mean?  Dude sends you some high end stuff!  This isn't the first time Matt's sent me a Castellanos autograph this year--in fact, it's at least the third!  This time it's a Five Star issue, thick as hell with a signature in bold gold, which looks as great on a card as it does on signed memorabilia, especially thanks to the effective black background.

I now have five 'graphs of the Detroit 3B, and I'm pretty sure all but one of those have come courtesy of Matt, who somehow finds a way to score great stuff like this and send it my way, which makes me glad I put as much thought as I do into what I send down to Morgantown.

Al Kaline 2015 Panini Cooperstown Induction Signatures Red auto (#36/49)

And speaking of high-end cards, here's the highlight of the envelope, all decked out in Christmas red!  Back before September, I had exactly zero autographs of Motown great Al Kaline in my Tigers collection.  Then Matt struck with not just one, but a pair, that month.  Now he's gone back to that well and bumped up my Kaline signature count another 50%, and I'm simply floored.  What a great looking card from this year's excellent Panini Cooperstown product!  I love the integration of the Hall of Fame logo, but most of all, Kaline's outstanding signature makes this card a winner.

Matt, I don't know how you do it, but whether you send me two cards or 22, I'm surprised every time.  Thanks for another amazing year of trading, and I can't wait to see what 2016 brings.

In the likely event that I don't post anything tomorrow, I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and say thanks for making 2015 another great year of collecting.  I hope some of you are enjoying the Christmas cards I sent your way, and that all of you get some nice stuff in your stockings, if not your mailboxes, this holiday season!

2015 trade package #32: ATBATT's Operation PWE hits 48105

My third trade package of the month was a fun surprise PWE from Stealing Home of All Trade Bait, All the Time.  He first sent me cards back in May, and come to think of it I don't think I returned the favor (d'oh!).  That didn't stop him from including my address in his large scale Operation PWE, in which he sent me some nice Christmas cards:

First up is a pair of Miguel Cabreras from 2014 Topps products.  The first is from Heritage while the other is from flagship in the form of a Yellow parallel.  Both cards highlight the AL's RBI leaders in 2013, with the latter leaving off Robinson Cano.  Crush and Miggy paced the league with 138 and 137 ribbies, respectively, while Adam Jones was next with 108, a huge dropoff from the top two!

Meanwhile, former 3B stalwart Travis Fryman looks snazzy on his '91 Studio base card from that product's debut.  Of course I love that it includes the older Detroit uni.

Finally I got a pair of 2015 flagship Series 1 base cards of will-he-ever-cool-off OF J.D. Martinez and Rick "Thanks for landing us Yoenis Cespedes!" Porcello (whom I'm still happy to collect).  As everyone knows by now, J.D.'s 2014 campaign, his first after leaving the Astros as a minor league free agent, was nothing short of remarkable as he hit .315 with 23 HR and was good for 3.1 WAR (Topps includes that now?  Nice.  Although B-R had him at 4.2 and Fangraphs said 4.0.  Topps gonna Topps...)  He followed that up with an All-Star 2015 and has a bright future in Motown!

One of my other PCs didn't get left out, though, thanks to the inclusion of this pair of Griffeys.  The first is from the '94 Topps base set and was part of the "Masters of Greatness" subset.  The other is from the goofy '98 Pacific Online set, one of those fun experimental products that disappeared as quickly as it came.  In this case, not only did the card include (very old) links at the top of the card ("What's the Internet?") collectors could visit, but this Web Cards insert had a code on the back you could enter into a site to see if you won an upgraded "Winners" card.  I guess we'll never know if this one was a winner!  By the way, Junior has a pair of cards in the product with this number as a fielding version exists as well.

Thanks a ton for including me in your holiday card-giving, Stealing Home, and I'm happy to report that this time I did return the favor and you should be getting a small package from me this week!

2015 trade package #31: the best and the Wertz of GCRL

You know what's even more fun than receiving a trade package from retired blogging legend Jim of GCRL?  Try getting cards from him after seeing similar packages showing up on other blogs.  It makes you feel like part of an exclusive club, and the membership benefits are amazing.

I last received cards from Jim not all that long ago--back in July, in fact.  So I didn't really have any reason to expect to find a PWE from him in my mailbox yesterday.  That last package was stuffed with lots of Tigers base and inserts and capped off by a crazy old 1952 Bowman base of Tigers P Bob Swift.  So what would be in store for me this time?

I ripped open the envelope to find some cards nicely secured in a corner pocket of a standard binder page.  These two cards were on the front and back:

Wow, thanks, Jim--a couple of junk wax Tigers pitchers from 1988 Fleer--you really shouldn't have.  I'll just go ahead and put on my best "that ugly Christmas sweater is for meeeee?" smile and say thanks, and I hope it was worth the posta--

Oh, wait a sec, there was a card sandwiched between those two like they were just there to protect this one, which is a good idea since it's kind of small.  Hmmm, what is this?

Um...ok, wow, I take back my previous smart-ass comments.  This 1950 Bowman Vic Wertz, which, to reiterate, is from 1950, is AWESOME!  Hailing from a Bowman set made in 1950, or 65 years ago, this card details Wertz's 1949 season, which makes since since, and I don't think I've mentioned this, it was produced in 1950.  Which I think is kind of a big deal.

Wertz, a Pennsylvania native, was signed by Detroit in 1942, and the WWII vet went on to play in parts of 17 seasons, nine of which were spent with the Tigers.  A career .277 hitter with 266 homers, the 1B/OF was a four-time All-Star who also saw game action with the Indians, Red Sox, Orioles/Browns, and Twins.  His name is forever linked to Willie Mays after the Say-Hey Kid caught Vic's would-be (anywhere else) homer in the '54 Series.  After his playing career he went on to do a lot of good for the Special Olympics and numerous charities, leaving a positive legacy both on the diamond and off.

This beautiful card of a well-known player is tied for the oldest in my baseball vintage collection along with fellow Tiger Dick Kryhoski from the same set (courtesy of Scott at Sports Cards Ate My Brain) and I can't begin to imagine why I deserve such a nice card, so I'll just go ahead and thank Jim for his customary generosity.  Although he's no longer treating those of us who followed his blog to new writing, GCRL has proved that he's still plenty active on the trade front, so I, for one, won't be ceasing sending him cards, and I hope everyone reading this gets in the holiday spirit and remembers to send cards his way as well.

Thanks, Jim!

2015 trade package #12: reestablishing contact--er, contract--with Bob Walk the Plank

The last time I swapped cards with Matt from Bob Walk the Plank the calendar still said January.  Somehow between then and now neither of us managed to score enough trade bait to send to the other.  Fortunately that changed this week--I sent Matt a nice little package that arrived to him today (so watch for a trade post soon!) and then received a very cool one from him a few days ago.  He promised me something outside of what I usually collect, and I was definitely scratching my head when I found this in my mailbox:

A note further added to the intrigue:

"What the hell's in there?" I thought.  The answer:  two very unique somethings:

As many of you probably know, Topps has been selling their photo licensing contracts signed by the players, and Matt was cool enough to send me documents of former Tigers Bobby Higginson and Dmitri Young.  Higginson's was signed in 1996 for a three-year term while Young's was the same deal in 2004.  Unique is definitely a good way of describing these!  There's many things baseball collectors can acquire outside of cards--action figures, bobbleheads, jerseys, etc.--but being able to pick up the contract--a signed one!--a player signed giving a company the right to use his likeness on a card is something else entirely.  Unique indeed!

Here's a look at the back of Higginson's contract, including the Topps Vault hologram in the lower-right corner, plus the Topps Vault COA envelope and COA itself, with the serial number matching the hard-to-scan hologram:

We've made some doozies of trades, Matt and I, but I have to say I'm impressed with how much he surprised me with this one.  Thanks again, Mr. Scott, and enjoy your spoils as well!

Thank you everybody for a great 2014 and happy new year!

Before 2014 ends I wanted to say a quick thanks to everybody who made 2014 another great year of collecting for me.  That includes everyone that read and commented on my blogs, traded with me and/or sent me cards for no reason.

I showed off 37 trade packages over here and another 21 on Too Many Manninghams; even with some of those overlapping I'm once again thrilled by the number of cards I received from you guys this year.

Fuji kicked things off with my first TMV trade of 2014 while Doug was responsible for 2014 trade #1 over on TMM.  I was happy to end the year with my first trade with Scott at Sports Cards Ate My Brain and--what else--another awesome Sports Cards From the Dollar Store package!

In between I made other first deals with Tom from the Angels in Order, Matt at Bob Walk the Plank, vintage guru Mark Hoyle, Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown, Tony of Off Hiatus Baseball Cards, Reader Eric Eckstein, Keith of the Home Run Apple, and Chris from the Raz Card Blog.

Additionally, two traders really stood head and shoulders above everyone else (though of course I appreciate everyone who sends me cards!), and those two are Doug C. of Sports Cards From the Dollar Store and Matt of Bob Walk the Plank.  I continue to work with each of them on "standing" deals that involve multiple envelopes flying back and forth every month.  All told, I showed off five packages from Doug on Too Many Verlanders and another ten on TMM.  Matt's respective counts are seven for TMV and two on TMM.  Both guys are easy to work with and willing to put in the effort to find stuff of your favorite team(s), even if that involves looking for college players!

Money-wise, I'm proud to say I stuck to my budget, which I may go into in another post soon.  Despite being reasonably judicious about my spending I was able to have a very good year which of course included picking up this beauty:

Not only that, but I also made mincemeat out of my baseball and football set wantlists, completing a bunch of sets on both and ending the year needing just three cards from one set.

Finally, I was able to get a lot more organized and give away cards not once but twice, including my Spring Cleaning promotion and Christmas Cards.

I hope 2014 was as enjoyable for the rest of you, and that everyone has a great 2015!

2014 trade package #37: this post is not a SCAMB

I'm showing off what may be my final trade post of 2014, though if that changes I certainly won't complain.  In this case, Braves fan Scott from Sports Cards Ate My Brain contacted me a couple weeks ago to let me know he had a vintage Tiger card he wanted to send me.  I was able to find a similarly vintage Brave for him, and thus a trade was born, and it's my first with Scott, which makes it even cooler.  Here's what he sent:

Dick Kryhoski 1950 Bowman

This is my vintage Tiger, and it doesn't get much more vintage-y than 1950 Bowman!  I believe this is now the oldest card in my vintage PC, so the fact that it's a Tiger is an even bigger bonus.  I didn't know much about Kryhoski, so of course I headed straight for baseball-reference.  He was a Yankees signee (no draft in those days) that was traded to Detroit in 1949.  The 1B was with the Tigers for two of his seven seasons, then swapped to the St. Louis Browns in a deal that brought fellow vintage collection member Cliff Mapes ('52 Bowman) to the Motor City.  He was then sent back to the Yanks in the 1954 deal that led to Don Larsen being in pinstripes; well, Larsen HAD led the league in losses with 21 (with just three wins) that year.

So now I know more about another former Tiger and can add a great, old card to my collection!

Scott threw in a few other cards including

Ripkens!  Four to be exact.  The UD card notes that "Hector Carrasco becomes answer to trivia question" as he was the pitcher that allowed Cal's 3000th hit on April 15, 2000.  Nice group of cards for sure.

Finally, Scott made this a special trade package by including a pair of legendary Wolverines:  Tom Harmon, who won the 1940 Heisman, and Bo Schembechler, Michigan's ubiquitous coach.  Harmon comes from a set honoring Heisman-winners while Bo, of course, hails from 2013 Panini Golden Age, which included several different sports.

Thanks, Scott, for a fantastic trade, and I'm looking forward to doing more dealing next year!  Readers, enjoy the controlled chaos that is Sports Cards Ate My Brain tonight.

2014 trade package #36: I got Razzed with Tigers!

My first trade package of December arrived a bit earlier this month out of the blue courtesy of Chris over at the Raz Card Blog.  I had commented on a couple of his 2014 Topps Mini break posts letting him know I was looking for three of my Michigan guys, and he was nice enough to send over one copy of each player, all of which you can see tonight on TMM.  He then upped the stakes by throwing in a trio of some guy that plays for Detroit too:

Justin Verlander 2014 Topps SP

Not only is this a very cool card for commemorating JV's second no-hitter three and a half years ago, it's also short-printed which makes it a very nice get indeed.  For those of you that need a refresher, Verlander no-hit the Brewers at home in '07, then followed up that gem with another in Toronto four years later.  That means this shot was staged later in Detroit, but it's still a great idea for a card.

Justin Verlander 2014 Topps Stadium Club Triumvirates Luminous

I love the timing of Chris sending me this sweet insert because I showed off Justin's base card in my last trade post.  As much crap as I give Topps, I commend them for finally giving in to reason and bringing back the Stadium Club brand AND resurrecting some of the cooler inserts, especially the Triumvirate concept.  By the way, if you're curious like I was regarding who completes the trio, the other cards are Stephen Strasburg and Adam Wainwright.

Justin Verlander 2014 Topps Mini Relics jersey

If this package was a surprise (and it was), then this was the surprise icing on the surprise cake--a JV jersey!  It's my eighth Verlander relic and 14th overall hit of my favorite Tiger.

I must say I was thrilled to add three great new cards to my Verlander PC, especially from a package I wasn't expecting.  Thanks a ton for a great trade, Chris, and I'm happy to say that you should be receiving a fun envelope of your own very soon.  Readers, go get yourselves Razzed over at the Raz Card Blog right now!

2014 trade package #35: Sports Cards From the Detroit Store

First, just a real quick note that all 25 (I didn't do that on purpose, I promise!) packages are in the mail as of this morning, and I think more are due to arrive in the neighborhood of Monday/Tuesday, so enjoy, and Merry Christmas to all!

Meanwhile, Doug over at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store sent me the usual M-Bomb of Michigan PC guys in late November, and I'm showing off that haul over on TMM tonight, but I did also want to highlight the Detroit stuff he sent my way:

First up is a trio of Wings cards representing one of Doug's favorites in Daniel Alfredsson, who appears to have finished his career in Detroit, and puck-handler extraordinaire Pavel Datsyuk.  The second Datsyuk is a cool sticker from this year's OPC set.

Of course the highlight for me is a pair of cards of this here blog's namesake.  The insert on the left is a Cut Above card from 2012 Topps, and better yet Doug flipped me JV's base card from the excellent looking 2014 Stadium Club set.  It's about damn time Topps brought back TSC, and I'm happy to see that Justin's card came out great thanks to the solid photo and typically excellent design.

Thanks for not forgetting my other collections, Doug!  Readers, we all know the NHL is full swing, so check out the hockey action over at Sports Cards From the Dollar Store now!

2014 trade package #34: GCRL out of nowhere!

The last time cards showed up in my mailbox from Jim over at GCRL, way back in August, I was pretty sure that I wasn't expecting them.  That's relevant because another envelope showed up in my mailbox the other day, and it included cards from Jim...that were definitely unexpected.  The very player-specific blogger was nice enough to set aside a few Tigers for me:

Vintage vintage, modern vintage, and modern modern!  Jim happened to send me two cards of players at each corner infield position (you'll see the other in a minute) from four very different eras in Tigers history.  A 3B you could nickname "A-Rod," Rodriguez was with the Tigers for nine of his 17 MLB seasons and is seen here on a '74 Topps card.  "Hammerin'" Hank needs no introduction and looks like the slugger he was in this sepia-toned 2002 SP Legendary Cuts base offering.  And Fielder, seen on a 2012 GQ Moonshots insert, did indeed hit some longballs during his two-year term with Detroit:  55 over two seasons, to be exact; he was also putrid in the playoffs and I don't miss him!

But a player I do miss and am happy to see join my Tigers hits collection is this dude right here:

Dean Palmer 2001 Fleer Game Time Lumber bat

Dean-o!  Palmer was with Detroit for just five of his 14 seasons, and really only played for two full years--1999 and 2000--due to injuries, but those two seasons were very good for him despite terrible Tigers teams.  After eight seasons with Texas and two with the Royals, Dean signed on with Detroit for five years and $36 million, which seemed reasonable after an All-Star 1998 campaign in which he clubbed 34 homers, his second-best total at the time.  The following two seasons with the Tigers, Palmer bashed 67 HR, including a new career-high 38 in '99, while eclipsing 100 RBI, all while mostly playing 3B.

His career quickly went downhill after that, but those two seasons provided me with plenty of good memories during an otherwise bleak era in Motown.  Considering his power, it's definitely appropriate that my first hit of him is a bat relic.

Jim, thanks again for the unexpected but much-appreciated cards!  I can already tell you that I'll soon have something headed back your way (which was already in the works before you sent these!) in thanks for being a great trade partner.  Readers, please point your browsers/feeds to GCRL and help add to the collection of a very focused blogger!

2014 trade package #33: $30 a Wings Habit

(Yes I still exist, I've just been busy with lots of stuff, which is normal this time of year, but one project in particular will benefit many of you, so stay tuned for that!)

Robert of $30 a Week Habit recently told me he was sending me an "envelope" that would hopefully boost my small Red Wings collection a bit.  Robert understated things a bit:

First up is a pair of inserts from 2008-09 OPC, and it just so happens both of these guys are among the greatest to play defense for the Wings.  '07-'08 was Cheli's penultimate season in Detroit, and his last "full" campaign (28 games the following year, then just seven with Atlanta the next to close out his career), which he completed at the ripe old age of 46!  He celebrated by joining the Wings in winning their most recent Cup.  Lidstrom, meanwhile, was indeed an All-Star yet again that year, and won his fourth and final Cup.

Hey, how about some hits?

Kyle Calder 2007-08 Upper Deck Game Jersey jersey

I do remember Calder, who last played in 2010, though I had to look him up to remember when he was actually with Detroit.  As it turns out he was flipped to the Wings in February of 2007 and was reasonably effective for them in 17 games, then he signed with the Kings over the offseason, hence the pair of teams represented on the card!

Chris Chelios 2006-07 Flair Showcase Showcase Stitches jersey

Hey, it's that Chelios guy again!  This is my first hit of the HOF D-man, and appropriately enough it comes in the form of a beautiful red jersey.

Henrik Zetterberg 2005-06 Upper Deck Ice Fresh Ice jersey

Hank is another member of the 2007-08 Cup-winning squad (his only one so far), keeping that connection going for today's post, and better yet he actually scored the winner that year.  He currently appears on two other cards in my Wings PC: this six-way relic and a dual with Johan Franzen.  His first solo entry is this great UD jersey from their Ice product, which was actually still in existence as of last year.

Oh yeah, and to add to the fun, he threw this in as well:

Ivan Rodriguez 2006 Ultra Ultra Fine Fabrics jersey

Keeping up the current-or-future-HOF-Detroit-athletes theme, it's a Tigers jersey relic of Ivan Rodriguez!  It's my third Pudge relic--a base and another jersey--in my Tigers PC, and it was certainly a fun addition to an otherwise hockey-centric package.

Thanks, Robert, for another fantastic package, which, by the way, wasn't an "envelope" but a bubble mailer filled with Detroit goodness!  Readers, head on over to $30 a Week Habit for some excellent blogging (and trading) tonight!

2014 trade package #32: 2x3 Heroes in: 'PWE Are the Champions'

A surprise PWE showed up in my mailbox last week, but now that you know it was a PWE you probably won't be surprised by the sender--Jeff of 2x3 Heroes.  I had notified him of my interest in one of his recent pulls so I guess I should have known better that he'd shoot it my way!  Jeff's Blechhawks Blackhawks have won two Cups since the Red Wings last won a championship in 2008, though Detroit does hold an 11-to-5 edge in overall titles.  We probably both at least agree that the Original Six teams are the best, so there's that.  Anyway, here's what was in this PWE:

Here's a Hockeytown quartet, starting with a pair of Wings from 2008-09 OPC:  star forward Pavel Datsyuk and fearless net presence Tomas Holmstrom (who retired after the 2011-12 season).  Those are followed up by Pavel's fellow star Henrik Zetterberg plus a Brett Hull Immortals subset card (#d to 999) out of 2012-13 Certified.  The superlative Hull won a Cup with the 2001-02 Wings.

And now for the card I originally asked for:

Niklas Kronwall 2008-09 Upper Deck Champ's Mini Signatures auto

Mini auto!  Kronwall, a standout defenseman, was Detroit's first-rounder back in 2000, and has been good enough to merit a seven-year contract inked a couple years ago.  Needless to say this is my first hit of him in my tiny Wings collection, so I humbly thank Jeff for it (and for possibly not spitting on it when he pulled it).

Oh yeah, there was one other card in the envelope:

This is a Chris Getz 2010 Topps Peak Performance auto that I've had for a while, and apparently he wasn't able to offload this copy to anyone else who collects White Sox (though why anybody would want to do that is beyond me).  I'm fine keeping a second copy with Getz's PC if nobody else can use it since there's no such thing as too many Wolverines!

Thanks as always for the fun surprise, Jeff.  With some COMC specials to be taken advantage of later this month I promise I'll come up with an interesting return package in just a few weeks.  Readers, please make sure you're following the professor of PWEs at 2x3 Heroes.

2014 trade package #31: Bob Walks the Plank...to Tigertown

I think by now we all know that Matt of Bob Walk the Plank is awesome to trade with, so don't be too shocked at how great this latest trade package is.  While Matt has been an amazing source of Michigan PC cards for me, he often comes through with some nice Tigers stuff as well.  Peep these:

I scanned these two together because I'm actually making them available for trade.  Don't get me wrong, I love the Magglio, but I already have one.  It's definitely one of my faves of his because it's a great callback to the original UD baseball game jersey cards.  On the other hand, I couldn't stand Gonzalez's stupid whiny ass while he was briefly with Detroit, so he can take his PED-inflated stats and fade into obscurity for all I care.  Also, Fleer confusingly labels it as an Indians card when Juan is clearly pictured with the Tigers.  Anyway, if anybody would like to trade for either of these, please let me know!

Austin Jackson 2010 Topps Chrome auto

Aw yeah, here's where it gets good!  AJax may be gone from Motown for good after the deadline deal that brought David Price to the Detroit sent the young star to the Mariners.  Still, I remain of fan of him and his Tigers cards.  How can you NOT like a Chrome, on-card signature of a significant Tigers player of the last few seasons?  This is just my second autograph of Jackson overall (here's the Triple Threads version I already had) and I must say I was surprised to have something this nice pop out of the package!

Mickey Lolich 2004 Sweet Spot Classic Game Used Memorabilia jersey (#222/275)

Speaking of nice additions, here's another one I know I didn't have before--my first relic of Lolich, the hero (and MVP) of the '68 Series.  Mickey won all three of his starts in that series, including games 2, 5, and #7, in which he outdueled Bob Gibson.  He even chipped in a homer in game 2!  And did I mention all three of his wins were complete games?  That's about as good as it gets for a pitcher in the Fall Classic!  This sweet Sweet Spot Classic jersey will go nicely with my Lolich autograph, and maybe I can see if I have his RC to put together the trifecta.

Matt, thanks a ton as usual for some fun new cards that have (or will have) found a new home.  Better yet, I can even promise that I have an interesting return package I'll be sending your way soon!  Readers, head on over to Bob Walk the Plank once you're done reading this post.