2023 eBay purchases: rockin' around the Christmas Tariks

With 2023 blogger trades all wrapped up I'm moving on to my eBay purchases from the last four months of the year.

We'll start back in early September when I happily spent a bit more than $12.50 delivered for my second plate of Denard Robinson. This particular Shoelace 1/1 is his magenta plate used to make his 2013 Absolute RC, specifically the "base" version and not the variation where he's carrying the ball in his other hand. You all know I love me some Denard, and I hope he's one of the holdovers on new Michigan coach Sherrone Moore's staff.

A bit less than two weeks later I was quite happy to win this Trey Burke plate for a little under $10 shipped. The 2016-17 Contenders Draft magenta plate you see above is my third 1/1 of the former college star, but it's my first of him pictured as a Wolverine instead of with the Jazz so it's my new favorite. This one puts Burke one away from joining the double-digit hit club in basketball as the fifth member, though a couple others are also getting close.

At the end of the month I was thinking about how well Tigers P Tarik Skubal had pitched after returning for the season's second half. He started off a bit slowly but ripped off four straight wins in the final month to end the year at 7-3 with a solid 2.80 ERA. I decided I wanted a nice card of his and landed on this 2021 Absolute Rookie Leather Signatures Tan auto for about $13. Maybe I'll get something with actual team logos on it in the future, but I'm a sucker for fun gimmicks like this and was more interested in jumping on something before he possibly develops into a higher-end starter. And even if he doesn't, I've got a pretty cool card of one of the team's solid core of starters.

Next, early in October I found a bunch of stuff for myself and others all from one seller and took advantage of low auction prices and combined shipping. The three cards you see above are the ones I grabbed for myself. First up is a Pudge jersey that I thought was worth a flier at $1.50. He'd joined the Yankees in '08 so UD listed him with them, but he's pictured as a Tiger and I'm betting the swatch is from a Detroit jersey, not that it matters too much to me since I collect his non-Tigers cards too. That appears to be relic #10 and hit #11 of the HOF catcher.

To that I added a pair of Leaf-branded cards of former UM WR Tarik Black, our second Tarik of the evening! Black was a top-200, 4* recruit coming in to Ann Arbor in 2017 but he'd compile just 50 catches for two scores in 18 games over three seasons before transferring to Texas, where he put up similar numbers in the shortened 2020 COVID season. I was very happy to add a couple Wolverines uniform autographs of him to my collection (as subject #240) even though they're from the wish.com iteration of Leaf, which is part of the "way too many parallels with ridiculous names" problem. That said, I have enjoyed the State Pride design over the years.

I included the backs to show that the top card is numbered just 4/4 while the other is #19/20. As best as I could tell, these are from 2021 Leaf Metal Draft Flashback Base Autographs Mojo (even though the provided checklist SNs don't match) and 2021 Leaf Metal Draft Flashback State Pride Autographs Wave Blue. For just $4 and $3, respectively, I was satisfied with what I got.

The next time I spent money on eBay on something for myself it was the first day of December and I was able to score this 2012 Bowman yellow plate of Michigan WR Steve Breaston for a cool $8 even. That year's design has always been an outlier when it comes to Bowman but not in a bad way in my opinion. Then again, it's fairly familiar to me as I already had purchased the magenta plate of the same card! Breaston is therefore one of a number of PCs for which I have multiple 1/1s.

That distinction is true of former Reds prospect Ryan LaMarre as well. The 16th hit in his collection is also the 5th 1/1, which is quite a ratio if you ask me. And this design is also well known to me because the black plate you see above from 2010 Bowman Draft is the third one I now claim ownership of from the set! I've checked off the black, magenta, and yellow versions and just need the cyan, making this one of five plate sets where I have three of the four (others are Chad Henne 2014 Prestige; Clayton Richard 2011 Topps; J.J. Putz 2012 Topps Mini; and Rich Hill 2006 Topps). That was worth a bit under $12.50 shipped as far as I was concerned!

Finally, with Christmas just five days away and having barely crossed the $1800 mark in spending for the year, I decided to treat myself to an upgrade. My copy of Kirk Gibson's 2001 Topps Archives rookie reprint auto was one of my favorite cards in my entire collection, but it was somewhat faded when I bought it, and leaving it and some others out where too much sunlight got to them didn't do it any favors:

That's a recent pic I took of what's essentially an auto-less Gibby and a very faded 1999 SP Signature auto of Griffey (that I pulled myself and regret ruining this much all the time!). So I was very much on the hunt for a much better copy despite the cost of Kirk's signature going up quite a bit.

And you know what? For the nice, bold blue signature you see above on my new copy, I didn't think twice about plunking down $53. It's great having such a nice version of that piece in his collection and I'd do it again if I had to. But I probably won't because I'm not letting that sucker get any regular sunlight!

And those nine cards are how I finished up 2023 when it comes to personal eBay pickups. I still have lots more to show off from the end of last year but I'm at least making some headway, and I'll be back soon with more!

2021 eBay purchase: can't spell "LaMarre" without "rare"

I realize I've hyped up this eBay buy a bit over the last few posts, but before I get to it I should probably explain that it's one I'm excited about for myself, not one that most of you will probably care about. Either way, if you're here checking it out, thanks!

OF Ryan LaMarre, currently on the IL for the Yankees, was born in nearby Jackson, Michigan (about 45 minutes from Ann Arbor) and spent 2008-2010 with the Wolverines baseball team before being taken by the Reds in the second round of the 2010 draft. While he hasn't exactly lived up to that fairly lofty draft status, I'm happy to see him back in the bigs for his sixth Major League season (not to mention sixth team!).

As usual I was hunting for rare stuff of my PC guys on eBay and came across a seller with two very interesting LaMarre items starting at $0.99 each. The night they were ending I looked through that seller's listings and found two more tough-to-find cards that I needed with the same starting prices, and this person was offering combined shipping. I was thrilled to win all four for a final price (including tax/shipping) of $22.50, and now this evening you get to see the fruits of my labor in order of scarcity:

First up is the most common and cheapest card. Nobody felt like going over my opening bid of $0.99 for this 2010 Bowman Draft Chrome Gold Refractor (#34/50) so I happily tacked it onto the other pickups. Gold Refractors often look quite nice--this one sure does!--and the price was right, so why not? Ryan has 11 cards in that product's base/Chrome rainbow (that aren't 1/1s) and I'm now down to needing the toughest: base Red (/5) and Chrome Red (/5) and Orange (/25) Refractors. (I really dislike the use of "paper" to differentiate between Chrome and the "regular" cards, so you won't see me doing that here.) I'm sure it'll be a mighty fine rainbow when I'm done with it.

The next most rare card is from a product I'm plenty familiar with: 2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition. Considering this Signature Status Gold auto is numbered 5/5 (eBay 1/1!), you should have fairly high expectations for what's coming next. But first let's admire what we have here. I've really appreciated the look of this set and its various parallels--those die-cuts are cool!--since I ran a group break for it at some point close to when it was released, and even managed to pull a different UM autograph (of Michigan P Matt Miller), then worked on tracking down all of the variations. In LaMarre's case, thanks to my $8.50 bid (the highest of the bunch, but no surprise there since sometimes /5 cards feel tougher to find than 1/1s), I nabbed the last autograph of his from the set and just need to find his Status Emerald (/25) parallel for the rainbow--including owning the 1/1 Black auto!

By the way, I like how Panini noted that Ryan (#62 overall) was the highest drafted UM player since Lance's son David Parrish in 2000. A couple pitchers, Tommy Henry and Karl Kauffmann, came close to topping him in 2019 at 74 and 77, and then last year another pitcher, Jeff Criswell, was taken by Oakland at #58 overall in round two, so he currently holds the crown. For those interested, Barry Larkin was #4 overall in 1985, then Jim Abbott was picked 8th three years later, making them the two highest overall Michigan draftees that signed with the team that selected them.

How do you top a card numbered to five copies? You literally can't do better than a 1/1, or in this case, two! This pair came up in my search of printing plates under $10 and got me looking at the seller's items in the first place. We're going back to the 2010 Bowman Draft/Chrome well with the magenta and yellow plates of the base card. Side note: you can tell them apart from the Chrome plates because the image isn't reversed. I already had a 1/1 auto (the one I just mentioned from 2010 Donruss EEE) plus a plate (2016 A&G) of LaMarre, so these two doubled the number of that rarest of rare items in my collection, plus combined with the autograph above they put him at 15 hits in the baseball collection, just the eighth player to achieve that number.

I already indicated that the Elite autograph above was the most expensive at $8.50, but would you believe these plates could be had for $2.98 and $3.01? With prices like that it was easy enough to throw down a bit of extra coin for a tough autograph you don't see listed every day!

This high quality haul bumps my LaMarre PC up to 40 cards of 104 listed on TCDB (yep, I'm #1 by a mile), but out of the rest in my wantlist only around 25 aren't 1/1s, Minors cards, or other issues that get the lowest amount of my attention. I certainly hope that number grows a bit this year, especially if he's able to return from injury and have a bit of success (even if it would be for the hated Yanks).

Putting together this post really makes me appreciate how happy I am having switched from being a box breaker and set collector with no focus to a player collector that still has a ton of options of players to chase. That's provided me with the resources to bolster some of my favorite collections--especially the Michigan ones--with super high-end finds like these. If you get anything out of this post other than "Wow, those look nice!", I hope it's that evolving as a collector is your best chance of continuing to enjoy the hobby instead of getting burned out and resentful of what the manufacturers and flippers have turned it into today. Find a player/team/theme/mini PC to collect and have fun!

With nothing else expected to be headed my way that I'm aware of, it'll probably be back to the Sportlots stacks next time for more baseball fun.

2020 eBay purchases: plates a-plenty and more!

I need to post some cards so I can put them away, so here's what I purchased for myself on eBay over the first third of the year!

Card #1 is a 2007 Fleer magenta plate of blog favorite pitcher Rich Hill. I snagged this way back in January as my only non-show pickup for the month. I'm always up for a new 1/1 for my favorite PC, and a bit under $8 shipped was enough to get my first of this plate set, though it's my seventh 1/1 from that year. I still have some investigating to do regarding my 2008 Triple Threads 1/1s of Rich before I can get an accurate total, but for now he still rules the roost with 137 hits, 24 of the ultimate rarity.

I grabbed three more plates in February--two for myself--and one more the following month, giving me a fun run of five straight 1/1 purchases on eBay. The first was this J.J. Putz yellow version from Topps' flagship set, also out of 2007. Setting me back a little less than the Hill, this is my second oldest Putz plate, with one from 2006 Upper Deck taking the crown. That one is the only non-Topps card, oddly enough. While Hill has a commanding first place lead in 1/1s, Putz enjoys a smaller gap as his 11 in my collection have Clayton Richard's nine close behind.

The other card I grabbed for myself in February was a surprising win for me: I plunked down just $7.26 for my first plate of former Wolverine defensive beast Rashan Gary. This black plate was used to make his 2019 Donruss RC, but Panini's not the type to make things easy and actually inserted it as a hit in their Plates & Patches product last year. Both Panini and Upper Deck are known for doing this in some of their high-end products, which gives them a nice boost, though at the cost of the original sets that lose those potential pulls. Anyway, I was excited to get such a nice piece to add to the two autographs I own in his small collection, and I look forward to seeing what he could do in his sophomore NFL campaign (if there is one).

The last plate today stars former UM pitcher Matt Miller, one of many former baseball players of that name. This one was in the Brewers system for a while, plus he only appears on cards from 2010 Donruss Elite Extra and 2011 Topps Heritage Minors and Pro Debut, so he's easy enough for my to identify. I'm not even sure the last time I posted cards of him here (or on TMV) since I completed his 17-card run quite a while ago. Happily I now have my first plate to go with those, and the 1/1 Donruss EEE autograph I bought a while back, so I can lay claim to 20% of his 1/1s! By the way, at a bit over $5 delivered this one kept up my trend of declining final prices of cards I'd been buying on eBay, which was temporarily interrupted by a trade bait 1/1 I grabbed earlier this month.

Fortunately this non-1/1 got me back on track. My most recent purchase, made about two weeks ago, is a new Ryan LaMarre auto from 2012's unlicensed Onyx Platinum Prospects product. An Autographs Inscribed version hand-numbered on the back /5, this cost me a paltry $2.73 as I won it from my favorite eBayer, markaguirre22, from whom I've bought a bunch of very cool Michigan-related items. It also doesn't hurt that he offers free shipping! The design is about on par for the type of product, but I do love the gold ink, and the "Go Reds!" inscription is great. I'm glad to make it my 12th LaMarre hit, 10 of which include his signature.

In total I've spent under $50 on eBay over the first four months of this year and have scored six plates, one other trade bait item, and the LaMarre you just saw, meaning I'm still getting some good value despite my buying being way down.

Speaking of throwing money at cards, I think my next couple posts should cover some very cool Facebook Marketplace purchases, and I should be following those up with a huge TCDB trade. Should any trade packages show up in the interim, though, I'll happily give them priority. I hope everyone continues to stay safe and healthy while they continue collecting as much as possible during these crazy times!

2017 COMC purchases: playoff PCs

It's been a pretty good postseason so far, and as I write this the Red Sox have been eliminated, making the future rounds even more palatable; now if Cleveland could just close out the Yankees!  (That's not looking likely early)  Of course I'm rooting for the evil empire to lose as soon as possible but I do see the other side of the coin where young star Aaron Judge appearing in more October games is great for the sport.

Anyway, I'm here to post some baseball PC additions from my last few months of COMC purchases.  Five of today's eight players have had good-to-great October success, which I'll note as I show off cards of each player:

Tampa OF prospect Jake Cronenworth hasn't experienced MLB playoffs yet, but that's because the 2015 draftee hasn't even risen above AA yet.  Here he is on another issue (my 10th) from his 19-card 2015 Bowman Draft/Chrome rainbow (the entirety of his checklist so far), a Green parallel (#92/99).

I've got only one guy active in the 2017 version of the postseason, and it's amazing turnaround story pitcher Rich Hill, a.k.a. my favorite PC.  The southpaw lost his lone 2007 NLDS start as Arizona swept his Cubs that year, then he had to wait almost another decade to get back to the playoffs, this time with his current team, the Dodgers.  Rich went 0-1 in two 2016 NLDS games against the Nats, losing game 2 and leaving too early for a decision in the decisive game 5, but went on to win NLCS game 3 against his original team, the Cubs, before the eventual champs took the series in six games.  Thus far he's decision-less after going 4.0 innings in NLDS game 2 against the D-Backs, and we'll see if he can come up big should the Dodgers keep up their strong October play.

I've got two things of his to show off here, starting with his 2016 Topps Black parallel (#02/65).  In my opinion other folks are right when they say that these parallels just don't work as well sans borders, and that's coming from a fan of most borderless designs.  I now have nine of his 18 cards in last year's flagship/mini rainbow.

The other is a 1967 Advertising Strip box-topper from last year's Heritage.  These things can be a pain to track down, but at least it doesn't appear as though there's several versions for each player like there were in 2009 (I do have all three Hills from that run).  I got a pretty reasonable deal on this one, which also includes catcher Kurt Suzuki, who signed with Atlanta this past January, and slugger Mark Reynolds, who's still with Colorado.  Now to figure out how best to store something like this....

OF Ryan LaMarre, a former Reds second-rounder, has seen a bit of MLB action with three different teams the past three seasons:  Cincy in 2015, Boston last year, and Oakland this season, though he was released by the latter in June, so it remains to be seen where he plays in 2018.  I snagged this very rare 2016 Topps Mini Blue parallel (#07/10) of his for a song, and it's my seventh of his 19-card rainbow from that set (he has one more than Hill because Series I Framed cards were /16 while Series II's were 1/1s).  As I mentioned with Hill's card, the parallels just don't work as well with this design, but I at least kind of like the blue. 

Before Barry Larkin headed for the Hall he appeared in two postseasons:  1990 and 1995.  While the latter saw his Reds defeat the Dodgers in the NLDS before falling to the eventual champion Braves (no fault of Barry's as he put up some good numbers), the former made him one of three players in today's post to win a ring.  Larkin's stats in the six-game 1990 NLCS triumph over the Pirates were pretty good, he bumped them up in the surprising sweep of Oakland, giving the Reds their first World Series title since 1976.

What better way to honor that than with this beautiful insert set I've long admired?  This one comes from the 1998 version of Leaf's Heading for the Hall and is numbered 2695/3500.  A textbook example of what we're deprived of thanks to today's Toppsopoly, this classy, shiny design brings back great memories of the 90s.

Current (and certainly unpopular) Cardinals manager Mike Matheny can't claim ownership of a World Series ring as either a player or a skipper, but he does have two pennants to his name (one as each), which is pretty cool.  The former catcher saw postseason action with the Cardinals in 2001, 2002, and 2004, the latter of which saw St. Louis get swept by Boston in the Fall Classic, which I understand was a big deal. After retiring he led the same team to the playoffs from 2012-15, including winning the 2013 NL pennant before yielding to...Boston again!

This pair, which puts me at 60 of his 218-card checklist, includes the St. Louis version (one for San Fran also exists) of his 2005 Topps Cracker Jack Mini Stickers, plus a 2016 Bowman Family Tree insert that pairs him with son Tate, a 2015 draftee and prospect for...seriously, the Red Sox?  You can't make this stuff up!

Cincinnati 1B Hal Morris was a teammate of Larkin's for a good chunk of their careers, so his playoff experience mirrors that of the SS, winning it all in 1990 before falling to the '95 Braves.  Hal's numbers weren't as good--like one World Series hit in the four game sweep of Oakland--but he was still a contributor on both October squads.

As you can see, I had a ton of luck finding some of his better-than-low-end stuff I didn't grab from Sportlots, twelve cards in all, mostly of the insert variety.

This group includes 90s gems such as:  1995/96/97 (Silver) Donruss Press Proofs (cards 1, 4, and 6, respectively), '95 Select Certified Mirror Gold, '95 Stadium Club Clear Shots, and '96 Studio Bronze Press Proofs.  I love everything in this bunch as Press Proofs were always highly sought after, and the Stadium Club insert is super cool.

This quartet starts with Hal's '97 Finest base card, from the rarer Silver subset, and the Embossed parallel, which never interested me much, but does come without a protector, which is nice.  Those are joined by his '97 Flair Showcase Row 0 (a.k.a. the "toughest" base card) and his 1999 Pacific Prism Holographic Gold parallel (#413/480), one of two numbered cards of his I picked up (though the Press Proofs above are limited, they're not individually numbered).

And then a pair of horizontal cards:  1995 Stadium Club Virtual Reality Members Only, which was a parallel of the parallel with simulated full 1995 season stats on the back (get all that?) and the Radiance parallel (#2863/4500) from Upper Deck's all-numbered 1998 SPx Finite.  Oddly enough, both Royals cards were numbered!

I'm working towards the midpoint of Hal's roughly 360-card run with 157 in-hand and scanned, plus LOTS more on the way via Sportlots.

Bobby Scales had to wait a decade after being drafted to get cups of coffee with the Cubs in 2009 and 2010, so he never reached the postseason, but it must have at least felt like a validation of all of his hard work that he made it to that level.

As I continue to attack his 31-card checklist, I scored my 22nd in the form of this Blue parallel of his 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom rookie (#44/99).  That means I lack the Gold parallel and, frustratingly, his numbered card from the base set!  Oh well, I'll track it down eventually.

Sweet Lou Whitaker is today's last player, and I think it's pretty well known that he won a ring with the '84 Tigers before going the Larkin/Morris route and losing his other playoff appearance to the eventual champs (Twins, '87).  Whitaker was a spark plug for the '84 wire-to-wire champs, pairing five hits and four walks with six runs scored in the five-game Series victory against San Diego.

COMC was kind to me once again in letting me land a pretty nice card of his, this 2005 Topps Retired Signature Gold parallel (#467/500).  It's one of those times when Topps combined a modern design with older photography and executed it very well, plus this version has the added bonus of the striking gold look.  It puts me just 45 cards short of his not-quite-300-card run.

Don't forget to check out my last few TMM posts (and next few) for other COMC goodies while I work on getting my enormous Sportlots haul presentable for future posts!

2017 trade package #12: Cards on Cards

Kerry from Cards on Cards is a guy I don't trade with often, but since we're fairly similar collectors--we both chase MLB and college teams--our deals are always great.  The last time I posted cards from him on this here blog, not quite a year ago, I was the happy recipient of a buttload of useful Tigers and a plethora of new Ripkens.

The man who calls himself Madding took things to another level this time by doing major damage to my player collections, hitting a ridiculous 13 of them.  "Hope you can use some of these!" said the guy who, in addition to another buttload of Tigers (seen below), flipped me 19 PC cards, an outstanding 16 of which were new to me.  And I'm not talking a dime card here and a common there, either.  Can I use some of these?  Has Topps disappointed me for 10 years running?  Hell yeah!

Jake Cronenworth 2015 Bowman Chrome Draft Blue Refractor (#030/150)

Tampa's seventh-rounder out of Michigan two years ago, Jake's off to a pretty good start in high-A ball.  This lovely Refractor is my ninth card of his out of his run to-date, all of which comprises a 19-card 2015 Bowman/Chrome Draft rainbow.  For a Wolverine alum you can't do better than blue!

Chris Getz 2014 Topps Camo (#32/99)

This parallel of Getz is one I could have sworn I had, so I was glad I needed it after Kerry went to the trouble of sending it my way.  It features one of the best photos on a Getz issue and is my 10th card from Chris' 17-card sunset season rainbow (and #81/106 overall).

Ken Griffey Jr. 1993 Hostess

Ken Griffey Jr. 2003 Fleer Showcase

I think you all know I don't supercollect Griffey--I'm not made of money--but I'll happily take anything I can get of one of my favorite 90s/2000s stars, like this interest pair that spans a decade.  Oddballs like the Hostess food issue are always interesting to me since I usually know so little about them that I'm generally unable to peg the year or brand at a glance.  And Showcase is one of Fleer's better mid-end issues, with Griffey's card a textbook example of a classy and pleasing design.

Rich Hill 2016 Topps Rainbow Foil

I can't say I've ever received what I'd call a bad trade package, but whenever Rich Hill appears in one I'm more than happy to call that envelope a winner as he remains my favorite guy to PC.  This Rainbow parallel is my eighth of his 18 2016 flagship...uh...rainbow cards, featuring one of the dumber choices in photograph.  What can I say?  Topps gonna Topps.  Anyway, this marks my 259th of Hill's 374 cards I have checklisted, and #276 overall.  Good luck to Rich on a return to health and effectiveness for the Dodgers!

Ryan LaMarre 2016 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini

Ryan LaMarre 2016 Topps Rainbow Foil

LaMarre made what I thought was a surprising appearance in last year's flagship and A&G sets, the former with his second team, the Red Sox and the latter with the Reds, the team that drafted him.  Since then he's signed with the Angels and then been flipped to Oakland, with whom he's appeared in three 2017 games.  I actually landed the Cyan plate of the A&G mini before I landed the card above, my first of his six from the product (besides two from A&G X).  The Rainbow parallel makes its second appearance today as my sixth of Ryan's run from last year's flagship.  Kudos to Kerry for helping me cross the 50% mark as I own 28/54 of his issues so far.

Heath Murray 1998 Bowman Golden Anniversary (#13/50)

This was a package full of surprises, and few of the items were as surprising as this limited parallel of Murray, a guy who's not exactly obscure but appeared on just 30 cards, 24 of which I already owned.  Two of the five I now need also hail from this product, the Chrome International Refractor and Chrome Refractor version of this card, limited to just five(!) copies.  I tip my cap again to Kerry for digging up a need like this.

Michael O'Neill 2014 Bowman Chrome Prospects Series 2 Blue Wave Refractor

The best part about getting this card, besides the fact that it's a Refractor and another one to knock off the checklist, is that it got me to look up O'Neill and realize that he's now with the Rangers after signing a minor league deal with them a few months ago.  Hooray for not having to collect more Yankees if he gets to appear on more cards!  And hooray for a new Refractor, my 10th of his 42-card 2014 Bowman Chrome/Mini rainbow and 30th of 85 overall.

Jim Paciorek 1993 BBM

If the Murray was surprising, the inclusion of this foreign Paciorek issue was straight up jaw-dropping!  A much more obscure former Wolverine, Jim's career consisted of 48 games in 1987 along with two cards from that year:  Fleer and its Glossy version.  After nabbing those I hadn't even looked into other Paciorek card possibilities.  As it turns out, Jim played six seasons in Japan:  four with the Yokohama Taiyo Whales and two with the pictured Hanshin Tigers, as depicted on this card out of the pretty well-known BBM brand.  What a fun card to dig out of a trade package!

J.J. Putz 2008 Topps Triple Threads Emerald (#103/240)

J.J. Putz 2008 Topps Triple Threads Gold (#70/99)

Kerry's no putz as he managed to send me two new '08 Triple Threads parallels of Michigan native J.J.  Besides an All-Star patch card and five multi-player relics, Putz appears on a base card and five parallels, and of those six I now own four (the base and Sepia are the others).  With the retired pitcher unlikely to make any future cardboard appearances hopefully I can continue making some headway towards his 327 cards; I currently own 193 (and 205 including 1/1s and others I don't count toward his mainstream checklist).

Cal Ripken Jr. 2002 Upper Deck AL Centennial Memorabilia jersey

This sweet Ripken jersey relic from 15 years ago (seriously?) was another huge and much appreciated surprise.  I've sent Kerry a few decent Cardinals and Ducks hits over the years but nothing that I'd assume would warrant something like this of a HOFer I love to collect!  It serves as a nice history lesson as well as the younger of the two leagues began in 1901 with eight teams, including my Tigers.  As for Cal, this serves as my 10th relic (two of which are manufactured) and 12th hit overall.  Nice!

Alan Trammell 1991 Topps (#389)

Speaking of All-Star shortstops that are should-be HOFers, this '91 Topps subset of Alan Trammell is one of just three PC cards that wasn't new to me.  Not that I'm complaining about getting any dupes of half of Detroit's famed double-play combo!

Justin Verlander 2013 Topps Chasing History (#CH88)

Justin Verlander 2017 Donruss (#95)

Justin Verlander 2017 Donruss Dominators Blue (#135/249)

And speaking of Tigers dupes, I thought the Chasing History insert was a new one for my Verlander collection but was mistaken.  Again, no complaints since I'm happy with any JV card new or old!  The others from this year's Donruss product (hell yeah!) were most definitely new additions, though.  As usual I like the look of the base design while its lack of MLB logos barely registers on my radar.  The numbered Dominator insert is great too, with a design that doesn't remind me of previous iterations.  Nice job by Kerry to pay his respects to this here blog's namesake!

Lou Whitaker 1988 Score

Lou Whitaker 2005 Topps Retired Signature

Last up for my PC guys is a sweet pair of Lous; you can't have Tram without Whitaker and vice-versa!  The card on the left from Score's debut is another fun dupe for me, but the Retired Signature card is a huge get for a couple reasons.  First, as I'm under 50 cards to go in my pursuit of his collection, it's getting harder to find stuff that's new to me.  And just as importantly, some base cards like that one tend to attract unreasonably high asking prices for some reason.  That makes it a big deal for me, besides the fact that I like seeing the combination of older photos with some of the newer designs.  

You got to see three guys in Tigers (well, Detroit Tigers) uniforms up there, but they weren't alone as they were bundled up with a hoard of other Tigers, pretty much all of which I can use, Kerry, believe you me:

This first group could be called "The Killer C's" as future HOFer Miguel Cabrera (Heritage Chrome Refractor!) and maybe-not-as-awful-a-human-being-as-people-thought Ty Cobb book end Nick Nicholas Castellanos, who seems to continue to improve.

Another nice group is headlined by 2016 AL ROY and Tigers ace(?) Michael Fulmer, an insert focusing on Jose Iglesias' glove, and Mr. Tiger Al Kaline.  Those are joined by a pair of RCs of CF Jacoby Jones, who should be getting more looks in the Detroit OF this season.

Donruss Elite!  If anybody on Detroit should be give that title it's All-Star 2B Ian Kinsler, seen here on a card numbered 934/999.  Recuperating-turned-resurgent slugger J.D. Martinez makes a couple appearances courtesy of Opening Day and Topps Stickers.  And I loved the inclusion of the '86 Topps leaders card featuring Lance Parrish, a catcher who might just feel at home in today's game.

Sanchez has been a tire fire this season, Scherzer is unfortunately gone, and Zimmermann's results have been mixed at best, but Upton has been a nice story this season, putting up some pretty good numbers early for a change.  My hope is that he does well enough to opt out of his contract so Detroit can put that money to better use.

Here's one last bunch of Tigers that don't really fall into the group I collect by player but deserve to be shown off anyway.

And last up is one more hit, a Signature Rookies autograph of former #1 pick (11th overall, 1995) Mike Drumright, a pitcher who cracked Baseball America's top 100 prospects the two years after this card was made.  Although he never panned out--no surprise, pretty much nobody did for Detroit in the 90s--he's got a very nice signature, though I'm probably lucky not to have received one from closer to the end of the 5000(!)-card print run.  Nice find!

Kerry, once again big thanks to you for an amazing trade package that did lots of damage to my PCs and will beef up my Tigers box.  I actually have a few things set aside for you and on the way so I'll be happy to be able to respond a bit, though maybe not in a way that's worthy of this envelope just yet!