2019 trade package #19: Parts of My Past

Time sure flies, doesn't it?  Especially when you're lazy about posting new stuff?  I can hardly believe that this evening's post marks the 15th time I'm showing off a trade package from Matt over at Parts of My Past!  As was the case in May, May again, April, and April again, I was treated to a PWE from my fellow 90s collecting bro.

Here's the goods:

Yesterday's post included a card of OF Daz Cameron, one of the prospects that came over from Houston in the Verlander trade.  Today's includes a 2019 Bowman Chrome Scouts Top 100 insert of pitcher Franklin Perez, initially thought to be the biggest get for the Tigers in that deal.  He indeed remains a top 100 guy but needs to get healthy and stay that way to have a shot at success in the Majors.

Next to him was a surprise autograph of a guy that serves as a possible outcome for Perez:  Seth Greisinger.  The '96 first-rounder--#6 overall, ahead of guys like Mark Kotsay, Eric Chavez, and R.A. Dickey--made 21 stars with the '98 Tigers, lost a pair of seasons to injury, then appeared in just 21 more games in 2002 and '04-'05.  He's got a nice signature, though, and that's a highlight of the Best autograph you see above.

Then we get into Matt's wheelhouse with a trio of Griffey cards, all of which are new to me.  The Griffey dupe exodus continued its monthly journey from Vermont to my mailbox, landing me a sweet UD trio:  base cards from 2002 flagship (another from Junior's subset) and 2007 Goudey, plus a '92 Team MVP Hologram (also flagship), which was definitely my favorite from the envelope.  If you found a hologram card (non-lenticular category, like Sportflix) you loved in the 90s, chances are the good folks at Upper Deck were responsible!  Ken continues to work toward #1 PC guy Ripken with 864 cards.

Speaking of Cal, who rules the roost with 909 items and counting, he's here too, on a 2017 Topps Memorable Moments insert (one of two Ripkens in that set) that highlights his MVP nod in the All-Star Game played during his sunset season 18 years ago.  Timely content!

Last up is another All-Star in blog namesake guy Justin Verlander on a textbook Topps Heritage insert from last year:  New Age Performers.  Mr. Upton continues to be a performer all right, with a 10-4 record and 3.7 bWAR at the break.  He still needs more than 150 wins and ~44 bWAR to equal his output with his original team, though!

Matt, once again, thanks for a fun surprise PWE!  I nabbed a few more Giants items at the show this past Saturday and will put together a return when I have a bit more to fill a mailer.  Meanwhile, keep those PWEs flying out of the northeast so the rest of us can keep having a blast opening them!

2019 trade package #11: Parts of My Past

Some of you might recall that Matt of Parts of My Past sent me a pair of PWEs filled with some Ken Griffey Jr. cardboard in April while ridding himself of some doubles of a guy we both PC.  I showed those off a few weeks ago in a post chock full of 90s Griffey goodness.

Why am I reminding you of that?  So you don't think you're experiencing a bad case of déjà vu as I show off two more PWEs worth of Juniors from Matt today.

That's right, the Great PWE-Sender (with apologies to Freddie) is at it again!  Here's what was in store for me this time:

There was a perfect nine-spot of vertically-oriented cards--the magic number for scanners.  And this bunch has lots of designs I really enjoy.  1995 was a good year for Score--the '95-'98 run in general was solid--and I still enjoy that Hitters Inc. subset.  

1999's Bowman's Best and Skybox Molten metal had shiny examples of different parts of that trademark swing.  Two instances of Topps Gallery in its heyday can be seen here:  1999 and 2002.  We need more of this and less of Fire, Five Star, and your other dumb products, Topps!

Fleer brings a couple 2001 issues with its one-and-done Game Time base set plus a Grass Roots insert from 2001 Tradition.  The manufacturer would use that title again the following year, then once more in '06.

And bookending the second Gallery offering is a pair of UD base looks.  On the left is 2002 flagship, in this case the first of a 10-card Griffey subset, the back of which notes that Griffey became the youngest player to reach 450 homers in '01 (31 years and 261 days), 15 days better than the #2 guy.  Can anyone guess who that was?  It goes on to mention that he was also the youngest to get to 300 and 400 dingers.  Man, what could have been if he stayed healthy!  That's joined by a 2008 Sweet Spot base, one of a small number of issues showing him with the White Sox during his 41-game stint that year.

And now we move on to a trio of horizontal inserts.  I can still remember watching Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann on SportsCenter, with the pair serving as an inspiration for the always excellent Sports Night, I believe.  I also recall busting a nice version of UD's Collector's Choice in 1997 and chasing the Big Show inserts seen above!

The other two are both inserts from Fleer's 2006 Ultra product, and that's not the only thing they share:  as with Grass Roots above, these titles were used by Fleer multiple times.  Diamond Producers existed from 1996-99, again in 2004, and finally in these cards' product.  Meanwhile, RBI Kings dated back to 1994, and the '06 version was its ninth and final appearance.  2005 was Junior's second of two quality seasons with the Reds (the other being his debut in 2000) so his appearance makes sense here.

Matt, thanks again for the great bunch of Griffeys!  We'll just have to see what I can hit you back with after going to tomorrow's show.  That may actually apply to a few more of you, who should also head back here soon as I continue a nice run of trade posts.

2019 trade package #9: Parts of My Past

Now that I'm back from a trip to Texas to visit friends, plus plenty motivated to post trade packages, show pickups, and more before they get even more overwhelming, I'm ready to show off the third/fourth(!) PWE I received from Matt of Parts of My Past in April alone.  He's been clearing out his Ken Griffey Jr. dupes and I've been fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a few envelopes worth of those--two late last month and two more this past week, which I'll also have to post eventually!

In each case I'm combining the contents into one post since they arrived the same day, plus they just look nicer together.  Please join me in enjoying some Griffey goodness!

Scan one of two contains nine cards, six of which were new to me--a very good ratio when it comes to Junior.  Of the verticals I needed all but the UD Choice card dead center, meaning I'm the proud new owner of a bunch of excellent late 90s stuff from Donruss, Topps, and UD.  I probably even had the UD Choice Draw Your Own Card contest card before but never thought to keep it as a collectible.

The most notable card here is #2 in the scan, a 1999 Topps Stars One Star Foil parallel which is numbered 087/249.  It's somewhat difficult to notice because the numbering isn't done with foil, just a stamp, but if you know to look for it--at the very bottom near the black star--you can make it out:

The horizontal trio here is pretty cool as well and I was plenty glad to add the 2000 SP Authentic United Nations insert that features a very patriotic Griffey.

This quartet was very productive as well.  I miss UD's Black Diamond in baseball form, such as the 2000 version you see up there.  That manufacturer's Ultimate Victory could look terrific as well, and I don't mind at all having a dupe of the one you see starring my favorite swing in the game.  Sticking with UD, their 2002 Diamond Connection product was forgettable but I love the shot of the smiling star seen here.  And then we get one last Topps issue in the form of the throwback 2010 206 set and Kenny appropriately walking off with a sunset behind him.

Thanks to Matt my Junior collection went up by nine cards to 814, and that number continues to grow.  Stay tuned for more of one of my favorite PC guys in trade packages, show pickups, and more.

Thanks, Matt!  I've been loading up and will hit you back soon.

2019 trade package #6: Parts of My Past

I've been wanting to post a nice summary of the results of The Packening but got bogged down with other stuff this week, including a bit of flooding in my basement that pretty much ate up my whole afternoon today (though nothing really got damaged, which is great).  Also, I'm way behind on covering a few other things, including the show a couple weeks ago, plus some outstanding trade packages.

Which is why today I'll be showing off my latest PWE from Matt of Parts of My Past (formerly Sport Card Collectors).  This is actually the second PWE he's sent me this month, and the most recent trade package I posted here was from Matt, my fellow enthusiast of Griffey and all things 90s, including inserts.

Here's the latest goods, all Tigers edition:

Platonic ideal of baseball's three true outcomes and former Tigers catcher Alex Avila leads things off with his 2012 Topps Gold Rush parallel.  I remember these fairly well but couldn't recall how they were inserted, then found that they were an HTA set.  The only other instance of this set that appears in my collection is Chris Getz's issue as he's a PC guy, and the name appears a lot more frequently thanks to it original incarnation as a Score parallel.

Formerly effective (but still fun to collect) slugger Miguel Cabera is next on three different recent Topps issues.  The bookends--2017 flagship's Walmart Holiday Snowflake and 2019 Gypsy Queen Chrome--look nice enough, but the real winner here is a Red parallel of his 2018 Gold Label Class 2 card (#41/50).  Though not as fun as its earlier iterations, Gold Label remains a winner, and the red looks quite striking here.  I'm thankful that folks like Matt keep sending me quality stuff like this!

Sticking with the letter "C", there's future former Tiger Nick Castellanos on a 2018 Topps Fire Green parallel (#184/199).  That's never been one of my favorite Topps products, but I do like numbered parallels, and Castellanos is a guy whose cards I plan on keeping even when he leaves Motown.  I'll be sorry to see him go because he's been fun to watch as a hitter, but also hope he's the last bat-only player Detroit signs for quite a while.

Finally, Matt followed up his previous PWE with a card that combines two of that package's features:  Ty Cobb and 2019 Topps' 150 Years of Pro Baseball insert.  In this case the Georgia Peach's card is actually the 150th Anniversary version and therefore one of the product's many cards numbered to 150 (#136/150 here).  Numbered Cobbs are few and far between in my collection so this was a nice throw-in for me.

Thanks again for the second envelope in just a few weeks, Matt!  I hope you enjoyed your flat-rate box of stuff and I'm looking forward to seeing your posts on it!

Stay tuned for a couple more trade posts soon among anything else I managed to get posted soon.

2019 trade package #5: Parts of My Past

Matt of the recently re-branded Parts of My Past (you may remember him from such previous titles as Sport Card Collectors) was cool enough to hit me with my first trade envelope of April, which was (eventually) enough to give me a kick in the blogging ass and post something over here.  As usual I knew I was in for stuff I liked since Matt and I are very similar collectors with a 90s insert-heavy focus (and, hey, I know a bit about renaming a blog too!).

Here's what filled out the PWE this time:

This was a Tigers- and Topps-heavy PWE with five (mostly) recent inserts from that brand, opening up with Matt "YEEEEAH" Boyd, a favorite of John's who's definitely growing on me.  That's his Gold parallel from this year's flagship product, #1476/2019.  His teammate this year, Miggy, follows on a Donruss Optic Pink Prizm from last year.  While Boyd seems to be on the upswing, Cabrera has been on a rough decline the past few seasons.

Next up is a pair of Tigers legends in Ty Cobb and Al Kaline on 2019 Topps inserts.  The Georgia Peach shares one of his two Evolution appearances with a player I don't recognize,

on a card that compares vintage and modern shades.  Mr. Tiger and a great vintage photo are the stars of Kaline's 150 Years of Pro Baseball chase card.  "Greatest players" is damn right, Topps!

Then we hit a couple of my PCs.  The Iron Man is the subject of a 2018 Topps Storybook Endings card which highlights his 2001 sendoff, a season during which, the card notes, he made his 19th straight All-Star team.  In fact, the only years he wasn't sent to the Midsummer Classic were his 23-game cup of coffee in '81 and the following year, his first full season, after which he was named the AL Rookie of the Year.  Not bad, Cal!

And finally, a 2013 Topps Heritage insert matches up Detroit/Philly pitching great Jim Bunning with Detroit/Houston pitching great Justin Verlander, a guy I happen to collect once in a blue moon.  Jim's a HOFer who won more then 200 games, put up almost 60 bWAR, and, oh yeah, tossed a no-no and a perfect game.  Justin's gonna pass him in wins this year or next and eclipse his strikeout count to boot while boasting a higher bWAR already and a ring to go with his pair of no-hitters.  So yeah, these guys are in good company.

Thanks again for another surprise PWE, Matt!  As soon as I can figure out how to get some things packaged I'll have a GIANT return headed your way.