2025 trade package #28: Sport Card Collectors

Happy New Year, friends! Happily I'm only a bit behind as I'll need five or six posts to cover last December and then start on this month (which already includes a show and a blogger trade package!).

I received two trade packages from blogger buddies in December just after Christmas, on the same day, actually. One of those was a PWE from excellent enveloper Matt of Sport Card Collectors (and other blogs). By my count I believe this was the fifth time he sent cards my way in 2025 and as always I appreciate his generosity.

This one was an all Tigers six-pack, and here's what he sent this time:

Greene is most certainly a Star of the MLB as 2025 saw him post career highs in runs, hits, HR, and RBI, plus he was named to the All-Star team for the second straight season. Jobe could find himself a regular at the ASG if he can return to health and keep himself that way.

Maeda ended up being a misfire free agency signing before the '24 season as he posted awful numbers and negative WAR before being released last year. However, his '25 Topps Confetti parallel (assuming I correctly IDed it) looks quite nice. Topps (and, to be fair, Panini also) releases WAY too many parallels, but at least some of them look nice enough and aren't extremely redundant.

On a more positive pitching note, Skubal won his second straight AL Cy Young Award last season, which was fun to see. His impending free agency spells doom for Tigers fans, but we'll enjoy him while we have him. He joins teammate Riley Greene as a two-time All-Star and his first card above is a Chrome insert (with a Refractor finish, but that's still the "base" version) noting his appearance in the '24 ASG. Tarik pitched the second inning for the AL and was perfect in the junior circuit's 5-3 win. His other card is a '90 Topps All-Star insert (of the Red variety) throwing it back to that set. Skubal started the '25 ASG and gave up a pair of runs in a game that was decided by a swing-off to break a 6-6 tie.

Lastly, Tork hasn't made an ASG yet but he did have a career season in '25, and a very nice bounce-back campaign compared to 2024. Since the theme today seems to be '25 Topps cards, he fits right in with a Heritage Chrome Silver Sparkle Refractor (again, I believe I got that right), one that also uses a throwback Topps design. The pattern somewhat reminds me of the old Panini foil stickers I loved to pull to fill the yearly album as a kid.

Matt, thanks once again for this post-Christmas present! I'm looking forward to your reaction to what I sent you for the holiday while I work on restocking for your next mailer.

Stay tuned for one more belated Christmas gift that you'll have to see to believe!

2022 eBay purchases: Go Blue! (and magenta and black)

It's been a while since I've had some eBay pickups to show off--it looks like the last purchase I made for myself there was in July--but I picked up a fun pair earlier this month, and as they're both former Michigan guys, why not show them off tonight to celebrate the Wolverines' win over the gutless Spartans last night?

Item #1 is a new 1/1 for one of my smallest player collections for now:

You've seen Braves draftee Jesse Franklin's name pop up a bit here (and on Jeff's blog too!) and now he's back with what will likely be the centerpiece of his PC for quite a while. For around $15 shipped I snagged this signed magenta plate of his 2020 Donruss Elite base. I've long been a fan of Elite Extra Edition and naturally love that this is a full college uni card with the old block "M" clear as day. It's extra cool that these plates are signed, and Franklin has an outstanding signature to boot. Oh yeah, and now I finally own a printing plate with a fully colorized metallic back, something I've been wanting for quite a while. What a great item to add as just my third hit of Franklin's (the other two are also signed) out of 10 cards!

My other score, purchased a bit more recently, is from a seller who should be well known around here since he's my favorite: markaguirre22. He's currently my only saved seller and I tend to check his listings for Michigan stuff weekly to try to snag some great deals, plus take advantage of his free shipping. I don't always end up with the winning bid as I do have my limits, but sometimes I come out on top.

This time I was able to land Clayton Richard's 2014 Topps Mini Black parallel, the card you see on the left. It set me back $4.50 which I thought was fairly reasonable for a card numbered 5/5. Yep, if you thought the flagship product's Black cards were tough, you have no idea what you're getting into with the Minis! I now have all of Richard's non-1/1 versions from the product except for the Pink /25.

Along for the ride as a freebie (another reason to go bid on this seller's auctions!) is Clayton's 2017 Topps Mini base version. This isn't one I was hot after myself because 2017 was the first year Topps made these "on-demand" which I'm not a huge fan of. That means I'll happily take them in trades (or as freebies, of course) but I'm unlikely to want to pay anything for them.

This pair of cards of the former UM QB-turned-pitcher got his collection over a semi-milestone to 151 cards. TCDB tells me he's the #26 overall player in my group of PC guys I'm actively chasing (e.g. ignoring guys like Clemens, Bonds, Jeter, et al who are part of my complete sets). And as you might guess, I'm his top collector on the site by a mile:

Since I had very little to scan, here's the backs of the two cards you just saw:

That's it for tonight but I should be back relatively soon with the last TCDB swap I haven't posted plus a PIF I recently received from another very cool member there. Until then, GO BLUE!

2022 trade package #3: Bob Walk the Plank

This evening's trade package comes from a guy who blogs maybe slightly less than I do--I mean, come on, it's March already! Matt, who used to blog at Bob Walk the Plank, and now can be found more commonly on Twitter, hit me back in our longstanding back-and-forth dealing by directly shipping a package of goodies from COMC. They even arrived in the same year he requested his shipment! (Seriously, they do seem to be getting better on that front.)

Matt surprised me with some quality stuff (as usual) including a couple deep cuts that show how much he pays attention to the players I collect.

Here's two pages of some outstanding additions to my collections!:

Scan #1 opens with six cards from Brett Adcock's 2016 Bowman/Chrome Draft rainbow. Adcock, a P drafted by Houston in 2016, never made it beyond AA and was seen pitching in indy ball last year. He has just 31 cards to collect according to TCDB (making him today's deepest cut), with five of those being minor league issues and 10 more that are 1/1s, so my collection of 11 is pretty solid (#1 on TCDB, baby!). Up here you can see the Blue Border /150; Chrome Gold /50, Green /99, and Purple /250; and Gold Border /50 and Green Border /99. The remaining five I need for the rainbow are #d /150, /25 (x2), and /5 (x2). Well done, Matt!

Next up is a lone Hal Morris, but given that I'm at 302 of his 469 (#1 on TCDB, baby!), anything new is a good find. Better yet, this is a numbered '90s insert: 1997 Circa's Rave parallel, which is limited /150 copies, quite rare for the time!

Right after him is another pitcher, though one that's not quite as obscure as Adcock. Murray pitched for the Padres, Tigers, and Indians, and trades like this one keep me inching toward his 39 cards. Thanks to these I have 29 (#1 on TCDB, baby!), including his '97 Bowman Blue Ink auto and '98 Bowman Chrome International Refractor. The latter's especially nice as, besides being a Refractor, it's a somewhat tougher find given the era. I need to track down two more of his '97 Bowman signatures and another '98 Refractor /5 to sew up his non-minors (and others, including a buyback) collection, which is pretty cool.

Scan #2 beings with a bit more baseball before veering off into other sports. First up is card #218 in my collection of former Mariners/D-Backs closer J.J. Putz (#1 on TCDB, baby!) a surprisingly rare 2014 Topps 1st Edition. Hit the link to see how those were inserted and you'll see that just 10 copies were made of each card! They're not serial-numbered but at least have the obvious logo up front. This is a very rare card I was unlikely to get myself so it was perfect for this envelope.

Speaking of rare and former Michigan pitchers, next is a numbered pair of Clayton Richard, who's near a milestone at 147 cards (#1 on TCDB, baby!) out of his 437. On the left is a beautiful 2008 Bowman Draft Chrome Gold Refractor /50, and its diminutive partner is the Pink parallel /25 from 2019 Topps Mini. Very cool cards of the former QB-turned-pitcher.

Speaking of QBs, heading over to the gridiron I was very happy to see a new Chad Henne for one of my larger football PCs. I currently count 313 cards of the former UM gunslinger in my collection (#2 on TCDB...CRAP!) and few are as rare as the 2014 Rookies & Stars Longevity Black (#d /10) parallel you see above. Then again, I do have a cyan plate to go with that. Well, I did say "few", didn't I? This is certainly a nice addition to one of my favorite PCs.

And next we have a pair of talented college wideouts in David Terrell and Amani Toomer. The Terrell is card #157 in his collection (also #2 on TCDB...for now), a 2002 Pacific Adrenaline base with a "Pacific Nights Special Edition" stamp and digital serial numbering /10, making it one of the rarest cards in his bunch. I don't know much about that promotion that looks to have appeared across a number of Pacific's products, but I love the rarity and am happy to have the card.

Meanwhile, Toomer's card, #318 (good for a distant 3rd on TCDB, maybe I should stick to baseball) is somewhat similar, from a set called 2002 Playoff Honors Player of the Week Panelists. The backs are numbered, also to just 10 copies, and the write-up about each player's qualifications is pretty nice, if Amani's card is any indication:

Hail, hail, indeed!

And we'll finish up on the ice as Michigan Hockey heads into conference tournament play before hopefully securing a #1 seed and eventual Frozen Four appearance. One guy who was no stranger to those was former WolverWing and head coach Red Berenson. My 39 cards (tied for second on TCDB by just one card!) of the Wolverines legend include this amazing pair. On the left is a 2004-05 In the Game Franchises US East card depicting him with the Rangers, one of his four NHL teams, albeit the one he spent the least time with. It's #d /10 with a Chicago National Convention stamp that seems to be more accepted than some of the random ones you'll see pop up at times. That's joined by a card from one of the cooler hockey products in recent memory: 2012-13 In the Game Motown Madness. The Gold parallel you see of the five-year Red Wing isn't numbered but is said to be limited to just 10 copies. Sweet!

Last up this evening is a technical Michigan uni card of a goalie who almost took the team all the way to the top in 2011. Shawn Hunwick was out of his mind that year and eventually made an emergency appearance for Columbus in the pros, leading to a few cardboard appearances. I own 37 of them (hey, #1 on TCDB, baby!), and the one you're seeing today is a Sapphire parallel #d /85 of his 2012-13 Upper Deck Artifacts RC. It's been tough sledding finding his cards at reasonable prices so I really, really appreciate Matt including this one as much as anything else in this envelope.

Matt, thank you once again for a very thoughtful mailer that clearly shows how much effort you put into finding some great cards for my Michigan PCs, even chipping in towards the ones where I'm clearly #1 on TCDB (baby!). I always love our deals because we both value sending some top notch stuff to each other, and I promise that'll continue from my end after I build up enough to send a package your way.

Up ahead: lots more trade packages and eventually cards from TCDB deals!

2021 eBay purchases: still king of Dick Mountain

Card collecting for me is a fun hobby so I don't aspire to much there aside from completing some sets and chasing player collections. That said, I do put some extra effort into being the top of the heap when it comes to collecting Dick Mountain, a.k.a. Rich Hill. I have close to a 300-card lead on the second best member on TCDB, and nobody else has stepped up to claim the title, though as I've asked before, why would anyone else take it that seriously?

Anyway, I made four eBay purchases myself in the months of July and August with each of the results heading to my Hill collection, and now I'm showing them off in what I consider least to most impressive:

All four of these came from the same seller while I only purchased two of them. Some of you probably know what that means: they were sold by markaguirre22, a.k.a. Gary. Not only has he been selling Rich Hills (and some other recent Wolverines too) at great prices with free shipping, but he's also thrown in some bonuses a few times now, making him my favorite seller by far.

So what we have here is a quartet of Hills from 2017 and 2018 Heritage. The pair of 2018 cards represent my earliest purchase in this group, made the day before Independence Day. I dropped a hair under $1.50 for the one on the right, a 100th Anniversary parallel that features a cool gold foil stamp. Those were apparently limited to 25 copies, not that Topps could be arsed to number them. I decided the price was fair for a card that limited, and then Gary threw in the base version on the left, which I also needed, and which happens to be short-printed, so I certainly appreciated the generosity.

And then just a couple Saturdays ago I snagged the card you see in the upper-right for a bit under $2, a steal of a deal considering just five of them apparently exist. That's because it's the 2017 Heritage Reverse Stock version, with a glossy-ish back and matte-like front. And then I was pleasantly surprised to find the Bright Yellow Back version on the left in the same PWE, since I hadn't bid on that one, which is a tad easier to find at 25 copies. Again, no serial numbering here.

Here's a look at the backs to give you a bit better idea of what's going on, though the Reverse Stock card is much easier to discern in-hand. I doubt I'd notice the different shade of yellow on the back of the left card, especially if I was sorting through a box or case break, but I'm not Topps' target audience, so I'll just be glad the seller knew what he had and labelled them clearly for me.

Next up is yet another Hill entry from Upper Deck's 2007 Sweet Spot product. I know these are fairly polarizing in the hobby due to some of the autographs having a tendency to fade over time, especially the ones on the manu-baseballs. I've generally had good luck with mine, though, and this Bat Barrel/Red Ink version looks great to me! It's limited to just five copies, and I somehow managed to win it with a $3.61 bid plus tax and shipping, which made it $8.23, which is still ridiculous. Rich has 24 cards in the product, seven of which are 1/1s, and I have 12 of the remaining 17 now, with two of them being limited to just five copies. The remainders are numbered to 5, 5, 10, 15, and 15. I'll keep plugging away because I look forward to the day when I can show off the full run!

And to finish up, you had to know I tracked down another 1/1--my 25th of Hill--to top what you just saw. This Pure White autograph hails from, get this, UD Black. Rich could be found elsewhere in the product as part of the Illustrious Dual Autographs with fellow prospect Sean Gallagher on cards numbered /25 (which I own), /15, and /1. Besides those, it's this Pure White 1/1 and four plate versions. I haven't done a count lately but Hill--as with most players, I'd assume--has much fewer 1/1 autographs than other types of that card like plates and parallels. Of the 25 cards I own of the ultimate rarity starring Hill (that I have catalogued; still working on those 2008 Triple Threads...), only four (including this one) are autographed, and one of those is a plate. So yeah, this was definitely a big want for me, and that explains why I won the bidding war at a bit over $20 delivered for this beauty.

Though my overall spending is way down from recent years--I just passed the $800 mark thanks to Friday's show--I'm still throwing money around when it makes sense to bolster my favorite collections. And that's why I can continue to stake my claim as the king of Dick Mountain!

Stay tuned as I'll likely get that show report up in the next few days since I once again don't have much to show off.

Until then, if you have any, show me your Dicks! uh...Rich Hills that you have for trade.

2021 trade package #13: Topps Cards That Never Were

I was happy to get to enjoy a surprise double mail day last week, so I've got two trades to show off before getting back to Sportlots stuff, and maybe even other secret stuff?

First I'm going to show you the very cool PWE sent to me by Floridian Tigers/Rays fan Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were:

Ooooh, more Larkins, I'm already hooked. And I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the parenthetical about the "usual Verlander parallel". More on that in a minute. Here's a look at what was inside:

I guess I'm living in a parallel universe since all three of these are alternative versions of base cards! Card #1 is a Sepia parallel of Barry Larkin's 2020 Stadium Club base. That's a product you could endlessly parallel and I'd be into it because the photo/design combo is Topps at its best (and I just don't understand why they can't bring the same success to flagship). The basic 2020 design, while being very textbook Stadium Club, differentiates itself nicely, and Sepia gives it a classy look for sure. Great start!

I think I may have to hand the first place trophy to card #2, though, a 2021 Donruss Holo Orange insert. The shiny orange border looks really nice on Barry's card, part of the "Retro '87" subset as it reuses that year's design. Makes sense since Larkin's Donruss RC can be found in that very set. Believe me that the scan doesn't do this one justice, especially because it leaves out the "holo" part. Just an excellent looking Barry, and now I want to track down one in red!

Finally, we have what's become an unintentional tradition in Jeremy's envelopes to me. This is the fifth time he's sent me some cards, and the last three in a row have all included at least one JV parallel. You can somewhat tell from the scan that this here is one of Justin's four appearances in 2020 Topps Update's Gold Foil set. His other three are league leader cards while this one highlights his 2019 All-Star Game selection. You'd be forgiven for thinking it's a Rainbow Foil card--I sure did--but the tell is the gold area on the left side of the card. Why have both Gold and Gold Foil parallels? Only Topps knows!

Here's a quick look at the backs, which I like to include when traders are nice enough to limit the amount of work I have to do!

Jeremy, thanks for the fun surprise PWE! I really liked all three cards, all of which I needed, and which are more than easy on the eyes. I should be hitting up at least one show, if not two, in the next few weeks, and I'll make sure to keep an eye out for a few things I think you'll enjoy. And maybe I'll figure out a "usual" type to send your way too!

2021 trade package #10: Topps Cards That Never Were

Baseball is back, bay-bee! The Tigers kicked off the season with a traditional home opener, which meant a sell-out crowd (if not a full stadium, thankfully) braving freezing temps and snow. Miggy homered, John's guy Matt Boyd pitched well, Paul's guy JaCoby Jones knocked in the game-winning run, and the bullpen mostly combined to not sabotage the lead. All in all it was a nice way to open up the month and the season--no foolin'!

Since I'm in a celebrating mood I'll mark the occasion with my latest trade package, a single-card PWE from Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were, who's enjoying weather that's much more my style. That seems very appropriate to me since we both root for and collect the Tigers, plus his other favorite team, the Rays, signed my favorite player, Rich Hill, so we'll have him in common as well.

This is the fourth time he's sent me an envelope and I was happy to see it in my mailbox since he's done a great job of picking out stuff for me in the past. Plus I was thrilled it meant the minimum amount of work since I only had one thing to scan!

As Cap would say, "I understood that reference!" The last time he sent me cards, the first trade envelope of 2021, one of the items was a 2020 Topps Update Rainbow Foil parallel of a certain guy I collect whose name is in this here blog's title. I appreciate the promise of possibly including a Series 2 card next time!

Don't be fooled by the goofy scan, this is indeed a Rainbow Foil card, not some weird experimental purple parallel! As in years past the whole card has that reflective foil look, and this year's return of borders also aids in telling parallels apart.

And yes, it stars one of my favorite guys to collect in Verlander, a guy who's no stranger to opening day. While with the Tigers he was the pitcher in game #1 from 2008-2014 plus 2016 and 2017. Detroit went 6-3 in those games while Justin's record was 3-1 when earning the decision.

Unfortunately his TJ surgery rules him out for most if not all of 2021. Neither that nor the fact that he hasn't been with the Tigers since 2017 will dampen my enthusiasm for picking up new cards of him like this one, though. Oddly enough I don't have the base version yet since the one I recently got from Kerry was an SP. I have no problem starting things off with something shiny, of course!

Here's the back with a crazy 16 years worth of JV's stats. If you excise his cup-of-coffee 2005 season and super abbreviated 2020, his average campaign comes to a 16-9 record with a 3.31 ERA and 214 strikeouts, plus a bWAR of 5.2 (and HOF-affirming total of 72.3). And just look at all those times he led the league in one or more stats!

Jeremy, thanks again for the fun surprise addition to my many Verlanders by continuing the rainbow streak! Whenever I can get to a card show after getting vaccinated I'll make sure to gather up a few nice things to send back your way. In the meantime I hope Rich Hill and your Rays have you celebrating too.

2020 trade package #37: $30 a Week Habit

I've made numerous references to not having spent nearly as much as I usually do on cards this year, largely for pandemic-related reasons. There's still a bit more than a week left, of course, but as things stand I'm a bit over $800. My calculator tells me that I'm averaging $15 per week.

That makes me half as cool as Robert of $30 a Week Habit, who was the second nice person who got into the holiday spirit and sent me Christmas cards--verified this time, see?:

Robert is another PWE veteran so he did a textbook job of getting these to me safely while adding a nice note for the holiday. As for what was inside,

HO HO HO, MERRY VERLANDERMAS! It's not Silver and Gold (halfway there!) but it's definitely two many Verlanders and therefore the perfect Christmas gift for your truly.

On the left is a 2019 Prizm parallel that I definitely needed to look up, but fortunately it's one that's serial numbered (/399) so looking it up on TCDB is way easier. In this case it's called "Blue Mojo", and half of that title makes sense to me, but we live in a world of crazy parallel names so Mojo it is. Somehow this is my first of JV's base/variations from the 2019 product, though I do have a couple other inserts. It's new, it's blue, and it's shiny, so I like it!

Speaking of numbered parallels, one that's a lot easier to identify is the Gold one found in Topps flagship packs for almost two decades now (and by the way, I remember busting a lot of '01 Topps and thinking those golds were sweet!). Topps going mostly border-less makes some of them tougher to discern but the Golds still stand out plenty, plus it helps that they're numbered to the year they were made. On the right here is Justin's only entry in the series 1 set, a league leaders card. The co-ace of the Cheatstros totaled 21 wins, hitting that big pitching milestone for the second time after notching 24 in his Cy Young 2011 campaign (another feat he repeated in 2019, actually). In doing so he proved that Detroit didn't know what they were doing in terms of his health, since all he did after being shipped to Houston in 2017 was go 42-15 in those two-plus seasons (before losing 2020 to injury) with the aforementioned Cy Young, a second place finish the previous year, and a World Series ring just months after the trade. Gold indeed.

Just two cards to scan so here's some backs, which let you clearly see the numbering I mentioned, and other interesting stuff.

At some point I might try to figure out how many cards of Mr. Kate Upton I added to my collection this year, but regardless I'm very happy to enjoy the gift of two more.

Thanks for thinking of me, Robert! I'm looking forward to doing more dealing with you next year, especially if shows become possible again and I can get back to acquiring cards and spending money on them at your usual rate. Until then, I hope you have a Merry Christmas, possibly one that includes the gift of cards of your own!

Next up is what stands for now as the final Christmas cards I have in my possession, though if the USPS ever solves its mail constipation issues that could change. Merry Cardmas to all!

2020 trade package #20: Sport Card Collectors

I'm sure by now many of you are aware of the degradation of the USPS service over the last couple months and are experiencing delays of varying severity. Please make sure not to blame your mail carrier, though, or anyone at your local office. This is due to new rules implemented by the latest Postmaster General, which have been successful in realizing his goal of gumming up the system by hobbling postal employees' ability to complete their jobs for the day, leading to bigger and bigger piles of unsorted and undelivered mail. Let's hope we don't have to wait for a new president for this idiocy to end.

That negativity aside, one recent ray of sunshine is that I received a PWE Matt of Sport Card Collectors probably thought would get to me much sooner. He always manages to pack a nice punch into these so I happily tore it open to see the following six cards:

The Griffey and Ripken cards are recent Topps/Chrome inserts--with great photos--that I already had, but if you can't find someone that wants your dupes of either then you're doing something wrong. Great choice of the shots of a young Junior's trademark swing and Cal's defining moment.

And then the rest of the envelope consisted of four many Verlanders! I'm happy to report that all of these are new to me, and they're also a pretty nice looking quartet.

Card #1 is a Masters of the Game insert from 2019 Diamond Kings. I think it could have used a bit more in the background to make it more interesting, but other than that this is another DK look I like. Sticking with Donruss brands, Panini brought back the old Highlights name this year and then made a bunch of parallels of them, as they're wont to do. I'm very pleased with how my scanner picked up the look of this Pink Fireworks version, which I thought was a fun choice from their designers. By the way, the back (seen below) notes that this particular highlight was JV notching his 3000th strikeout, and it reminds the reader that he actually recorded it on a wild pitch that allowed the hitter to reach first!

Last up we have a couple 2020 Topps-branded issues. On the left is a Gypsy Queen Tarot of the Diamond insert that was previously unknown to me. GQ's never been my style but I do really like how Topps executed the tarot card motif here, especially with the rounded corners and card stock. And you'd better believe he's an ace no matter what kind of deck of cards you're talking about! Speaking of aces, he's joined by former Astros teammate Gerrit Cole on a 2020 Heritage ERA leaders base subset issue. Verlander's 2.58 placed just a bit behind Cole's 2.50, but Verlander had the last laugh with 21 wins to Cole's 20, and the AL Cy Young Award.

Here's a quick look at the backs since I only had one page worth of cards to scan and thought the post could use a second image. Is that Donruss Verlander bringing back the 80s feels for anyone else?

Matt, thanks for hitting my mailbox and collections yet again this year! I happen to have a "Giant" stack to send your way at some point that I think will nicely return the favor.

2017 JustCommons purchase: just the rest

Previously:  Jim Abbott, Kirk Gibson, Barry Larkin, Hal Morris, Chris Sabo, Alan Trammell

Back in late May I made my largest JustCommons purchase yet:  around 330 cards for about $57.  That total included a few things heading into trade packages, but overall I added almost 300 new cards to some of my baseball PCs.  Over something like seven different posts I'll cover those new cards, player by player!

I've been busy/lazy/tired/sick since I last posted on this series, but it's long since past time I finished it, so let's get it done!  Today's post includes four players for whom I didn't land enough cards to merit their own posts:

Hey, a new Rich Hill!  This one is another entry in his 2016 Topps/Chrome rainbow, in this case the Chrome Sapphire parallel.  About a year ago these came out in complete set form, limited to just 250 sets, along with tougher parallels--thirteen numbered /5 and a pair of SuperFractors; the "base" cards like this one aren't numbered, though.  The blue is a very nice color for this design, though the fact that there's not much "border" on this card gives you less of it.

My 256th Hill issue keeps me right around the 2/3 mark of his run as he's appeared in a few other products this year, much to my approval.

Former Reds/Astros/Pirates pitcher Ross Powell makes his second appearance on this here blog (and first in about six months) with his RC out of 1994 Topps Traded.  Powell toiled in the minors for Cincy from the point he was drafted in '89 until a 1994 trade to Houston that brought seven-year Reds C Ed Taubensee back to the Reds.

I love me a good update/traded set, and Topps' '94 version is one I don't currently own in its entirety, so it's fun to pick up singles like this once in a while.  It gives me four of his seven cards, all '94 issues, with a couple reinforcements on the way!

Don't worry, not every player in this post is a former Wolverines LHP, but we do have one more to get to.  The two-sport talent Clayton Richard, a former Michigan QB, (as if I haven't mentioned that before) was picked up by the Cubs in 2015, and he went on to appear in 48 games with them between then and 2016, though he was let go before Chicago's World Series run.  Richard landed on his feet, though, with a return to San Diego as a decent innings-eater if nothing else; he remains a possibility for an August waiver claim/trade.

My lone pickup of him here is his 2015 Topps Update base that reflects his new Cubs uniform.  I actually already had the Gold parallel before this one, giving me just the pair from that year's rainbow.  Overall I have 112 of 154 issues of his that I've counted.

Former Tiger Alan Trammell threw out the first pitch for today's game, but it's his double-play partner Lou Whitaker who's starring in this post, outdoing the other guys with four new cards.

First up is the oddball of the bunch, a 1984 Fleer sticker, which happens to be my second of his from that bunch.

Next is a somewhat more mainstream example of a card from Donruss' 1990 Baseball's Best boxed set, in this case the AL version.  You can read more about those cards on BaseballCardPedia.

Then we have a couple parallels, starting with the Silver Signature version of Lou's 1995 Collector's Choice SE base.  SE was a slightly different version of Collector's Choice that included more foil and different photos, but it still included the signature parallels like this one, which includes a cameo of Twins CF Alex Cole trying to steal second.

The last one in the quartet is Whitaker's all gold foil Gold Medallion parallel from 1996 Ultra.  I believe this is the only year Fleer went with this design as the '95 version used a smaller medallion around the brand logo and subsequent versions went away from foil entirely.

With this small haul I moved the needle on Lou's collection up to 242/288 with a lot of toughies remaining (and a bunch of oddballs incoming!).

Whenever I can get back to semi-regular posting, watch for some new trade packages before a huge run of stuff from Sportlots!

2017 trade package #1: Sports Cards From the Dollar Store

Like many millions of people yesterday I watched the Super Bowl, and like some percentage of those millions, I was thrilled to see the team I was rooting for win.  Without Michigan alumni Tom Brady and Alan Branch I don't know that I'd have any particular affinity for the Pats, but the fact that their dynasty began with #12 (along with another Wolverine, Ty Law) has made me a New England fan at least until he retires.  

While I understand why lots of folks were rooting against Tom Terrific and his team--I got sick of Jordan's Bulls and Jeter's Yankees, so I know the feeling--I hope they realize they're witnessing the greatest QB the game has ever seen; if they don't, honestly, it's their loss.  If they'd rather buy into the "Spygate" and "Deflategate" BS instead of admitting that New England is the class of the league and has proven that it doesn't need to cheat to win (and that science demolishes any possibility of the most recent witch hunt), more power to them.  Me?  I'm just feeling privileged to be watching the GOAT.

Speaking of that title (/segued) and moving on to things a bit more relevant to more of you, I've received two trade packages already from Greatest of All Traders Doug from Sports Cards From the Dollar Store since the beginning of the year.  One arrived in January, and while I was too busy/lazy to get that posted, or even send a response package, another one showed up last week!  I'll get to that one when it's its turn as I was the beneficiary of some very generous traders last month and want to give those their due as well.  

In the meantime, I've got some great stuff to show off to you.  Don't forget to head over to TMM this evening for more goodies, including a pair of patch/autos that are so sick you'd think they ate at Taco Bell.

And now, here's SCFtDS's 22nd trade package seen on this here blog:

Rich Hill 2016 Topps Clear (#03/10)

This one's a bit of a hybrid purchase/trade.  A Canadian eBayer made it available last December but I wasn't in love with paying extra for shipping.  Luckily for me Doug was willing to bid by proxy and he won the card for an are-you-kidding-me $6.94.  Totes MaGOATs.  These Clear parallels are beautiful and therefore one of the few things Topps has done that don't draw my ire.  Sometimes I wish they weren't so ridiculously limited, but being numbered of 10 does increase their appeal a bit, as if they even needed the help.

Another entry in Rich's 2016 Topps rainbow gives me 270 cards overall and 253 of his current run of 373.

With that out of the way, how about some hockey, eh?  You'd better believe that was included in the form of "Red Wings:  From 'A' (or is that 'eh'?) to 'Z'":

Looks like Doug was a Hockeytown magnet in his recent case break and Dollar Store pack purchases.  Though Detroit is having a down year (and, really, decade), it's nice to see some familiar faces in Athanasiou, Datsyuk, Howard, Kronwall, and Zetterberg, plus past Wings Barr, Racine, Robiltaille, and Samuelsson.  Lucky Luc's card fits nicely with Hill's thanks to the design and is easily the second best card in this post.

Thanks again for my first and (I believe) sixth packages already this year, Doug!  While I don't have a ton set aside for you right now I did have a bit of luck at the show on Saturday and will try to get a package out soon, especially since I know someone who has a birthday coming up!

2016 eBay purchase: happy Sweetest day to Lou

Yeah, yeah, Sweetest Day was last Saturday, but the title works so let's stick with it.  Also, I bought today's cards last Friday, so there's that.

Despite the large number of players I PC, it's not always easy to add a bunch to one or more of those collections at once.  Luckily, eBay came to the rescue and did some damage towards the checklists for five different guys I collect, two in particular.  Four of those are featured on today's TMM post, including blog favorite Rich Hill, whose Dodgers were bounced from the playoffs yesterday, but who at least took advantage of a second 2016 postseason opportunity by winning game 3 of the NLCS for L.A.

All told I purchased 13 cards from massive eBayer BurbankSportsCards.  Ordinarily I probably wouldn't pay their prices for most of the cards you'll see, but enough had been difficult for me to find, and I just couldn't put a price on the feeling of accomplishment knocking this many cards off checklists.  So in the end I threw down a bit more that $15 delivered and enjoyed some much-needed progress.

Of those five total players, one of them is a mainstay on this here blog:  Lou Whitaker.  I've already had some pretty good fortune in working on his supercollection, but one deciding factor on this purchase was the fact that I was able to add six new cards!  None of these are especially significant individually, but I'll explain just how helpful they are in a minute.  First, the cards:

1988 Score Glossy and 1989 O-Pee-Chee

1991 Topps Tiffany and 1993 Topps Inaugural Marlins

1993 Topps Inaugural Rockies and 1995 Stadium Club Members Only Parallel

See?  A junk wax-era base card, a quartet of boxed set-style parallels, and a mid-90s parallel.  Ok, now for why these are significant:  I now own Lou's run from his '78 RC all the way through his 1992 issues (131 cards) and 229 out of his 250 cards through his farewell 1996 season.  In fact I'm short just three of his cards from 1993, though one of those is the always tough Finest Refractor.  But at this point adding six new cards at once is a big coup as I try to collect 'em all.

On that front I'm currently at about 83%, which means 239 of 287 cards I'm counting.  Also, if you include the "others" I don't consider as part of his mainstream checklist, I've now hit the 250 mark--255 to be exact.  That means I've got fewer than 50 cards to track down, though many of those will be difficult-to-find recent cards, especially hits.

By now it's probably pretty obvious why I was willing to pay more than $1/card delivered.  But if all you read is this post, you're missing out on the card that convinced me to dig through BurbankSportsCards' inventory in the first place.  Don't miss out on that by heading over to TMM this afternoon!

12/6/15 card show report: yes we Ken, Junior!

About this time last month I was showing off my November card show haul, one that heavily featured one George Kenneth Griffey, Jr.  Today I'm back with the spoils of that same show I hit up on Sunday, and this post is once again long on Juniors:

I'll start out with a '92 Panini foil sticker.  Man did I ever love collecting these as kids, and you'd better believe the extra shiny this style delivered delighted my nine-year-old eyes!

Next up, going more or less chronologically, I have a bunch of cards that made me once again break out the "90s inserts rule" label!  My favorite is the '95 Pinnacle Museum Collection parallel as it combines one of the top photos of the 90s with what was easily Pinnacle's best product, plus their signature dufex treatment.  The '96 Ultra Call to the Hall is a very close second, a beautiful, artsy insert that stands up well today.  The lone base card is from Topps' debut Chrome sets, and it remains one of the best of that product's run.

This scan takes us from the late 90s to the early 2000s.  Here I give the nod to the '98 Score Showcase parallel, but the Topps Gallery base from the same year is a very close second.  Also of interest is the paper-then Vanguard Press insert, proving that Pacific took the set's theme seriously!

These are the last of the vertical cards, comprising Ken's '04 Diamond Kings base, a 2005 Leaf subset --here's the front and back:

Definitely a fun throwback to and older Leaf product I enjoyed.  The other two are both numbered, with Griffey's '05 Topps Update All-Star card out of 2005 and a 2006 Black Parallel of a subset that includes HR/K machine Adam Dunn limited to just 55.  Numbered Griffeys?  Yes, please!

And here's the five horizontals I snagged.  I've collected enough of those '94 Triple Play Medalists inserts for other PCs that I may just decide to complete the set.  The SP Baseball Heroes was another artsy-fartsy choice that was easy to make.  And finally, though I don't care for most Gypsy Queen offerings, the photo of Junior sliding at the plate makes a nice addition to his collection.

Although the Kid made up the bulk of my purchase, I did hit three other PCs:

Oddly enough, both of my Gwynn additions today are die-cuts.  The first is from the 2000 Metal Hit Machines insert set, and I have to say Fleer did some fun and interesting things with that theme back when the product existed.  The other probably looks familiar to quite a few of you since it's from this year's Stadium Club, and it features a great throwback image of Mr. Padre.

One good Junior deserves another, so why not Cal while I'm at it?  I landed a five-spot of the HOF SS, including '94 Topps Black Gold, '95 Fleer All-Stars, '95 Topps D3, '96 Pinnacle Starburst, and '96 Topps Gallery.  First, here's both sides of the All-Stars insert:

How good is this HOF SS combo?  These two were your starting All-Star shortstops every year from 1984-92 and 1994!

Like the Griffey equivalent above, my favorite is the dufexed-up Pinnacle parallel, this time from '96.  While I don't care for the 1996 Pinnacle design quite as much as its top-notch predecessor, I do very much like the "Naturals" subset, and this Starburst card really pops.  I also managed to track down a very nice Topps Gallery of Ripken, in this case from the set's debut.

Lastly, I did track down one card of this here blog's namesake--hey, it isn't easy to find cheap Verlanders that close to Detroit!  In this case it's a 2012 Finest Refractor, and as far as I know there's no such thing as a bad Refractor (don't prove me wrong, Topps--PLEASE).

I also managed to get out of there with a few nice trade bait additions that will go well with some Christmas cards I'll be sending soon.  And of course, as usual, there's a few other purchase to check out over on TMM, so please make sure to head over there too!