2025 trade package #29: Scribbled Ink

Tonight's trade package, the final one of 2025, came from Paul of the erstwhile blog Scribbled Ink (plus he also ditched Xitter as cool people are wont to do). He and I don't trade all that often anymore as he's been busy with family and other stuff, but fortunately we do get together for the occasional deal. I sent him some cards around Christmas and then of course he sent the above BOX my way, which usually indicates insanely awesome goodies (spoiler alert: it contained some insanely awesome goodies).

Seriously, Paul's basically the Wes of the north when it comes to what he sends me these days from his estate sale purchases. Here's what my former fellow Michigander sent me late in December:

This complete boxed set of 1993 Pinnacle Cooperstown is a great place to start. Not only does it include the box portion, but it comes with an attached panel featuring a good look at the front and back of Cal Ripken Jr.'s card:

Also, box sets with printed checklists on them are awesome. Also also, boxed sets are awesome. This is a great looking set from when the Pinnacle brand really got its design juices flowing. The checklist is excellent and it includes PC guys Ripken, Gwynn, Griffey, Larkin, and Fielder, plus the rest of the lineup isn't exactly chopped liver. For taking a stab at who'd make the Hall back then, they did a pretty good job. Of this bunch, only these guys haven't been selected: Murphy, Mattingly, Bonds, Clark, Clemens, Gooden, Carter, Gonzalez, Fielder, and McGwire. Out of that group, you've got a few "not quites" along with PED-adjacent names. So, yeah, great start!

Here's the rest of the card portion, plus a bonus 2024 schedule for Paul's current home team, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, who play Double-A ball in the Blue Jays organization.

Switching over to football for a minute, Paul included a RC of HOF DB Ty Law, plus Michigan uni autos courtesy of Panini Contenders Draft Picks of FB/TE Khalid Hill and S Tyree Kinnel. Hill was an outstanding blocker who could occasionally catch a pass while Kinnel played in Ann Arbor from 2015-18 as a solid contributor in the defensive backfield.

So what other kinds of ridiculousness did Paul get up to this time? Let's start with this:

Go ahead, get all of your plate jokes out of the way. This roughly 8" plate features some great artwork of the Iron Man throughout his career, and of course it was made to celebrate Cal standing alone as the leader in consecutive games played.

The back has four different write-ups on the outer edge while the inside is useful for identifying it--and making it known you should not be eating off of this thing! I'm not sure who else was part of this series distributed by the Bradford Exchange other than Lou Gehrig and Mark McGwire. Regardless, it's a great looking showpiece and Paul did a great job getting it to me in ONE piece.

Next, if this ball looks familiar, that's because you saw one like it in a trade package from Kerry last year. The main difference is that this one has a different photo, and a black & white one at that, on one of the panels. All I can say is that great minds think alike because this one is just as cool as the one Kerry was nice enough to send me (also in a box!).

That's already some very nice stuff, but we haven't gotten to the true ridiculousness yet. I'll give you a hint: the Ripken ball above wasn't the only one in this package:

As soon as I pulled these out, I immediately DMed Paul and asked him if they were what I thought they were: baseballs (ROMLBs, in fact) signed by Griffey and Ripken. While he couldn't offer a COA from either, the previous owner of them (Paul acquired them through an estate sale) was considered a "reputable" collector. Considering I have zero interest in ever giving these up, that's more than good enough for me to consider them to be authentic. So, one more time, autographed official MLB balls of two of my all-time favorite HOF PC guys of all time: Griffey and Ripken. Now do you see why I'm saying Paul's ridiculous?!

In all seriousness this was just another example of Paul's extreme generosity (you know, the same guy that sent me separate shipments including a Mickey Tettleton signed bat and then a Dean Palmer game-used one) which I assure you I completely appreciate and don't take for granted. I have no idea how to get him back for these but I'm currently scheming away so I can return the favor at some point.

Until then, thank you so much, Paul, for another incredible box of greatness! Your mailings remain undefeated and you've more than earned your place on the hobby Mount Rushmore of generosity with Wes. This was a fantastic way to close out my year in blogger trades and I'm still picking my jaw up off the floor from you sending me those two baseballs. Readers, please show Paul some love in the comments!

I'll try to be back a bit sooner for the next few posts which will close out 2025 for me. I would expect those to be: the December show, eBay pickups, and one or two posts recapping TCDb trades from July-December. Then I'll be able to move on to 2026 with this month's show and two blogger trades I've already been fortunate enough to receive!

2025 trade package #15: Scribbled Ink

On an afternoon/evening where I'm not stressing over Michigan Football (thanks to a bye) but instead the Tigers, let's take a look at some more cards from July.

Buddy of the blog Paul, formerly of the blog Scribbled Ink, is often the wild card in my collecting circle. I never have any idea what he's going to send and he always keeps it interesting.

Once again he sent me a box, and a rather large one here. Well this certainly has a lot of potential! And as always, Paul came through with some excellent stuff for a bunch of my PCs:

Miggy's always a great way to start, and a photo of his sweet swing is just a nice bonus. Cronenworth is always a safe bet, too, and I hope he and his Padres go far in the playoffs this season. Dingler's been a bright spot at the plate for what's mostly been a toothless Tigers lineup lately. And then there's too many Griffeys! Aside from two others you'll see in a moment, these make up a great selection. The Leaf All-Star insert pairs him up with the Pirates' Andy Van Slyke, which sounds about right for '92/'93. An Upper Deck card highlights his '92 All-Star Game MVP performance. And on the weirder side we have Junior's head on Shaq's body in an SI For Kids "April Fool card" that combined two of the biggest stars of the decade.

Another card for the Griffey-centered "Celebration of the Kid" insert I'm building leads off this scan. Jung's regression this year hasn't helped a Tigers team in need of quality bats. A nice trio of Maddux cards makes him the second of the holy quartet of my big baseball PCs to appear here, with cards from 2001, 2005, and 2024--a huge span! Next, Ripken is the third of the big four, so will we see all of them today? The '75 Topps reprint you see above is actually a Topps Magazine insert and not from a more recent mainstream product. And lastly, Vierling's been a combination of injured and ineffective this season, limiting much-needed OF production for Detroit.

Here's where things get even more interesting, partially thanks to a trio of IP/TTM autos. Clark, who signed a minor league issue, was Detroit's 1986 first-rounder, a hitter who played a bit over 250 games over five seasons for Detroit, San Diego, and Boston. Pitcher Brian DuBois (1990 Leaf) threw in 18 games between 1989-90 after coming over from the Orioles in the former of those two seasons, and that was sum of his career. Finally, P Bill Scherrer was a Reds first-rounder who got sent to Detroit late in the magical 1984 season, and he pitched 3.0 innings over three Fall Classic games in the Tigers' victory, then was out of the MLB after 1988. A very interesting trio!

In terms of the horizontal stuff, it's a Reds pair that starts with a Topps Griffey insert from 2005, which notes on the back that Junior was #5 in active career RBI leaders behind Bonds, Palmeiro, Sosa, and Bagwell; He'd end his career behind Bonds (no surprise there) but ahead of the rest, including beating Raffy by one.

He's joined by one-time teammate Barry Larkin on a beautiful bat relic from 2007 SP Legendary Cuts. Upper Deck products from this era didn't miss, especially high-end ones like this one. I don't add Larkin hits to my collection nearly as often as I'd like to so I really appreciate this one, featuring a nice design and numbering /199, from Paul. It's relic #18 of 27 Larkin hits that I own.

And now we get to the items that explain the size of the shipping box. First up is a piece that completes the big 90s PC quartet: a 1997 Zenith 8x10 Dufex parallel of Mr. Padre, Tony Gwynn. Back in the heyday of fun stuff like Donruss's Studio and Pinnacle's Inside cans, Zenith packs came with one oversized 8x10 insert, and some came with Pinnacle's iconic Dufex treatment like this one. I love this shot of one of the most focused hitters in the history of the game probably about to knock another single into RF.

Also adding to the package's size and weight: magazines, five of them. Three of them are Becketts, with the first featuring Big Daddy Cecil Fielder up front and the previously seen Barry Larkin on the back, an excellent twofer. Catching phenom Matt Nokes is next, and I'm sure his 1987 All-Star season made him an easy choice to put up front. Last up is Cal from 1992, a year after his second MVP nod.

As cool as those are, they're easily topped by a pair of Sports Illustrateds from May and October of 1984, which I hear was a pretty memorable season for the Tigers. Alan Trammell more than earned his appearances there, especially after being named World Series MVP in October. 

And here are the last few large items. The three Cal images come from what I'm guessing was some sort of commemorative magazine, and a big one at that since they're bigger than a standard page. That first one comes with a great shot of the HOFer sliding into a base.

And the final item was probably the biggest surprise: a sealed audiobook from 2016 about the legendary partnership between Pats coach Bill Belichick and GOAT QB Tom Brady. According to the box it's approximately 14 hours on 13 CDs. Wow! Of course in the aftermath of Brady's defection to Tampa and New England absolutely cratering without him, it's easy to determine which of the pair was more important to the franchise's dynasty (while the other enjoys his college age girlfriend and cratering another team--North Carolina). I haven't decided yet if I'll crack this open and listen to it all, but it's a very cool conversation piece if nothing else.

Paul, thanks as always for a wild package of random stuff I wasn't expecting but ended up loving! I hope you and the family are doing well and that I can find similarly interesting stuff to send back your way before too long.

And while I'm hoping for things that are reasonably possible, maybe the Tigers could win (they lead Boston 2-1 as I'm writing this) and that I'll be back soon with another trade catch-up post for all of you that enjoy them! 

2025 trade package #5: Scribbled Ink

(No image to identify the sender of tonight's package since his blog is now defunct and he wisely dumped his Twitter account!)

Back in late January I received an early contender for the best trade package item I'll get all year. And now here it is, almost mid-April, and it's still appropriate to think that way.

Check out this mystery box sent to me by buddy of the blog Paul, formerly of Scribbled Ink:

WHAT COULD IT BE? So, yeah, I knew what it was, but not what it was, if you know what I mean. This isn't the first time Paul's sent me something of this sort as I posted this package from him a couple Octobers ago that included a Dean Palmer gamer.

Well, Paul struck again, and once again he gifted me an amazing item:

This fine looking Rawlings bat appears to be signed! Let's enhance that image a bit:

This autographed bat is so fine you might even say it blows my mind because, hey, Mickey signed it! That's none other than former Tigers slugging catcher Mickey Tettleton, a favorite of mine from those terrible 90s Detroit squads. The man they called "Froot Loops" added that very inscription to his interesting signature, plus a couple other notes: "3x Silver Slugger" (1989 with Baltimore, 1991-92 with Detroit) and "2x All-Star" ('89 again and '94 in Motown).

I don't know how he does it but I'm impressed that this is the second time he's sent me a full sized whole-ass bat that I immediately love.

Thanks again for thinking of me, Paul! I'm looking forward to getting you back when I have a reasonable stack of cards (if not non-cardboard items, since you like to be so unorthodox!). For now I'll work on getting this displayed along with the Dean-o gamer, and who knows, maybe that'll inspire me to chase one or more myself so I don't have to rely on you for all of my signed memorabilia needs. As always I appreciate your generosity and hope you and your family are doing well, including the future Ohtani (or at least Skenes) you're raising.

2024 trade package #2: Scribbled Ink

My next trade package from January arrived courtesy of another longtime buddy of the blog, Paul, who can be found on Twitter now that he no longer blogs as Scribbled Ink. This one was just full of surprises and, well, just check it out:

It wasn't long after Christmas that the envelope showed up in my mailbox so I'd say the little Tigers helmet was still appropriate for the season. It looks great and has a perfect little olde English "D," and I may decorate a small tree late this year with all my sports-related ornaments.

Paul also included an unopened 2023 team set of his local minor league team, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. The sets you can get starring these teams are very cool, period, and I'm always glad to add more whether I've seen the team or know any players on them. This set includes last year's roster of AA players working their way up Toronto's system and the subject I'm most familiar with is a favorite of Paul and his son, Orelvis Martinez. The slugging Dominican infielder popped 28 HR in his first full minor league season, 2021, then added 30 and 28 more the two subsequent seasons, working his way up to AAA Buffalo. He's a top 100 prospect and I hope his fans get to enjoy his Major League debut soon!

The MLB stuff starts with some '96 Topps Tigers, and the less said about the teams back then, the better, though the players seen here are of higher quality than the average guy on those 90s squads. Cronenworth's start to the '24 campaign gets Gold Stars from me in addition to Topps. That Griffey Topps insert is deceiving because it's actually a green version and numbered /299! And a couple late 90s Cals lead into just a few more in the next scan.

Seven's just a few, right? The couple recent Topps and Donruss parallels are great--orange really goes well with Baltimore's unis, of course--but those 90s cards are outstanding. 1997's design is one of my all-time favorites from Topps, and Chrome makes it look even better, plus the photo they went with on this one is easily a top-10 Ripken for me. The horizontal Zenith is simply a work of art depicting the HOFer at bat. And the others are excellent too!

Paul even managed to sneak a Verlander (just one!) into this package, a Rainbow Foil from last year's Topps flagship product and one of a small number I own that show him with the Mets.

And last up for baseball, Paul was nice enough to snag one of the last two 1997 Score Hobby Reserve base cards I needed to re-complete my set. It's been a few years since I discovered that while most of my complete set included cards with the "HRxx" numbering on the back, a handful of the cards were the wrong version lacking numbering like that. I chipped away at the set until I got down to just two cards: the Nagy that he picked up and shipped to me, and the Andruw Jones Goin' Yard subset card you see above, which I bought myself on Sportlots last year. So, once again for the first time, I'm the proud owner of the full 1997 Score Private Stock/Hobby Reserve base set. w00t!

And we'll end on a strong note with some football and hockey. The latter is made up of a pair of UD All-Star related cards from the early 90s starring a couple Wings favorites from the team's 90s/2000s dynasty, Fedorov and Yzerman.

And the second football item is quite nice: a triple jersey of former UM QB and current (for now, given his arrest earlier today for OWI) staffer Denard Robinson, my 57th of Shoelace.

But SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP, what is that leading off this scan? Are you kidding me, Paul? An Aidan Hutchinson printing plate AUTOGRAPH?

Yep, sure is! That's an unexpected late Christmas gift if I've ever seen one, and a very, very, VERY generous one at that! Hutch could be found in Leaf's 2022 Ultimate Draft football product and this plate, which is indeed signed, was used to create Aidan's autographs found therein.

This is just my third Hutchinson hit and somehow all three include his signature, but it's going to be extremely difficult to top a signed 1/1.

Paul, sorry for the super belated post but thank you again for the incredible stuff above, truly a great mix that lives up to your reputation for sending a good variety every time. I don't have anything remotely close to the quality of some of this but will be able to hit you back relatively soon, which I can hopefully do now that the shock of the contents of this package has worn off!

This post wraps up January's blogger trades so next I'll either move on to one from the following month or recap some shows or something. We'll see relatively soon.

2023 trade packages #21: Scribbled Ink

Well once again it's been far too long since I've posted--we're in October now!--but here I am back with another trade package, and boy is this one a doozy.

Buddy of the blog Paul, who I believe is enjoying some recreational R&R right now, mailed me a couple sizeable packages back in August and I'll cover them together this evening. I'm curious to see if everyone else will be as blown away as I was!

Scan #1 is all cardboard/whatever they use nowadays. Paul's a dude for the three-card assist for my Cronenworth PC which has eclipsed the century mark since he fired these westward. Panini brands like Prizm and Mosaic were the stars of this one and I'm totally cool with that. Why not when another PC guy like Junior Griffey gets in on the fun with a pair of great shots at the plate? Hill's a rare non-Panini entry here but very much appreciated. I'm curious to see if Mize is part of the team's future next year on a roster that could very much use him back. Ripken was the most represented player this time at five cards, and the best in my eyes is the Gallery parallel you see here in spot #9.

Cal continues to dominate my baseball player collections (and all sports, in fact) with over 1200 cards thanks to generous packages like this one. JV's Astros are headed back to the postseason, and nothing against the dude himself but I hope his team falls to the winner of the Jays/Twins series. Woodson's blue (what else?) parallel was a fun football throw-in.

And then we have the biggest (literally) card of the envelope: a dual jersey booklet of two of my favorite Tigers of the past 20 years! It's weird to me that A-Jax retired a year sooner than Grandy, who debuted six years prior to Jackson, and then of course they were both involved in the three-team trade between the Tigers, D-Backs, and Yankees. And here they are together again! If this booklet looks familiar that's because I previously nabbed the slightly rarer Gold version:

I really appreciate Paul tracking this down on COMC and sending it my way!

That's it for the card portion of the two shipments (though they hardly deserve a "that's it) but Paul had bigger things up his sleeve.

I know Paul to be many things and one of those is an excellent photographer. He's taken some great looking photos, many of which I've seen, and one thing he likes to do is print out some favorites and get them signed. He did exactly that when Tigers pitching prospect Reese Olson and the organization's AA Erie SeaWolves visited Paul's nearby New Hampshire Fisher Cats late last year. He ended up with three very vibrant photos of the future (and now current) Tiger warming up, then sent those off to be signed. He kept one, sent one to John, and included one for me here as well.

As you can probably tell I slightly ruined the bottom of the photo trying to remove the blue painter's tape holding it to the cardboard it shipped in, but I figure I can either cut off that portion or cover it up with framing. The popping colors and cool baseball action can't be overridden by something that small anyway.

I really liked that he included not only the COA from the local-ish (to me at this point, not him!) signing, but a ticket from that game as well. That's a perfect compliment to a piece I'm glad to have. And I hope Paul continues pursuing his photographic hobby at other games.

So that leaves one more item, something that came in an oddly shaped box:

(5000-card monster box for scale)

Ok, so I knew in general what the item was by the shape, but not specifically what he'd paid a hefty amount to send me. That ended up being this:

Wow, that's a black beauty of a bat! Louisville Slugger is obviously one of the most well known makers of MLB lumber and this one is a stunner. But wait, that's that?...

Do my eyes deceive me or is that name up there one Dean Palmer, celebrated slugger of some 90s Tigers squads and a favorite of this guy right here? Hell yeah it is! And it's my first game-used memorabilia item as far as I'm aware. What an absolutely amazing item for my collection!

(Admire my knob)

While I decide how I want to display this, likely with at least one or two other bats that would be worthy to join it, I'll just celebrate how cool it is to have it and throw some big respect Paul's way for acquiring it (I believe along with something for his own collection) and going to the expense of shipping it 700+ miles from New Hampshire to Ann Arbor. WOW!

I owe Paul a huge thanks for some absolutely huge--both size and how impressive they are--items I had the pleasure of showing off tonight, and now I'm glad I found some quality stuff I could send his way the last time I hit him back, which I'll try to do again very soon. Thanks, Paul!

For the folks reading this, what's your favorite item Paul sent me this time?

I'll be back with lots more stuff to cover soon, and I may go a bit out of order so I can make some trade bait available in anticipation of sending out a pretty large stack of packages after this Friday's show. Stay tuned!

2023 trade package #11: Scribbled Ink

This evening's trade package comes from buddy of the blog Paul, a Michigan transplant living in New Hampshire. Throughout the year I can pretty much count on Paul sending me a few oddly shaped packages containing stuff I've never seen or heard of, and that's exactly what happened here. This one included cards, sure, and we'll look at those first, but those of you who don't skip the rest of the post will be rewarded with some very cool collectibles!

The cards portion opens open with a pair of Cronenworths, which is a great way to start. Jake and Rich Hill are Michigan's two main alumni in MLB right now, though Hill's fellow lefty Tommy Henry's been pitching a bit for Arizona as well. And out of the trio, Cronenworth isn't a pitcher while also being a young-ish semistar, so he's made a good number of cardboard appearances. Thank you to Paul for including him here, especially that cool Refractor!

Griffey's next and he gets three additions to his collection: a Fleer/SI base issue which is a collaboration I've always enjoyed, a fold-out mini-poster from the same product, and a numbered (/299) parallel of a 2022 Topps insert celebrating big postseason moments. If you're too young to remember Ken Griffey Jr.'s winning run in the '95 ALDS against the Yankees (plus his five homers in the series), well check it out!

Fellow PC guys and co-HOF entrants Gwynn and Ripken also made appearances in this package. Mr. Padre is seen on 2022 Topps diamond-themed insert that treats him as the baseball royalty he is. Meanwhile, Junior Ripken's cameo is a 2018 Storybook Endings insert that talks about his 2001 retirement.

Paul doubled up on the ex-UM players with a basketball representative in Chris Webber. One of the most famous to play in Ann Arbor, the NBA HOFer appears on a card that almost literally screams 90s in its design (Fleer's Skybox Z-Force).

I thought it would be fun to scan the fully folded out Griffey mini poster and also include the pair of stickers Paul sent me from the fine folks who produce his bats (and I believe his son's as well?) for his adult league, the Walter Bat Company. Based on the interaction I've seen between them on Twitter they seem very communicative and easy to work with which is awesome when you're paying for someone to make something you're comfortable with. Kudos to them for great customer service!

And now we get to the first of the non-card items, and what a fantastic one it is! Apparently a company named Spectra Star sold these marbles with player images embedded in them in the early 90s. This group is "Set #2" and includes HOFers Yount, Ripken, and McGriff, certified star Fielder, and Cory Snyder, who was kind of decent in 1988.

The back gives you some stats of the players plus the flip side of the marbles, which contain team logos. Up top you can see the groupings from the other three sets, and now I kind of want at least two of the others if not the rest, as one includes Jim Abbott and Ken Griffey Jr. (plus Paul's PC guys Canseco and Ryan), and another has ex-Wolverine Chris Sabo.

I love the oddball 90s-ness of these and like the idea of keeping them in the packaging for display purposes. If I end up picking up the rest I'll make sure to show them off here, and I'll give another hat tip to Paul for introducing them to me.

Here's something I definitely didn't expect either: a book written by "Al Kaline's last bat boy," Dennis Clotworthy. It was released around 2014 and considering the number of great stories I have to imagine the author has about Kaline and his teammates from that era, this should be a very interesting read I'll be sure to check out once I'm caught up on a couple other books.

Oh, and it happens to be signed by the impeccably-named author, too! I'm a fan of the "Go Tigers!" inscription and love that he abbreviates his former title as "L.B.B." Rest assured I'll let my fellow Tigers fans know how this was once I've read it.

Last up is a 20-year-old Fleer-produced team truck. I think I was at least vaguely aware of these or something like them from the team (when discussing them with others the name White Rose came up too). While that terrible 43-119 squad led by an overmatched Alan Trammell is one I'd rather not remember, this is a very cool item that I'll be happy to display somewhere in my card room or on my living room bookshelves with similar collectibles that show off my pride in the team I continue to root for no matter what.

Here's a quick look at the bottom of the box which shows that these were apparently limited to 1500 made, making me wonder how much they were distributed regionally as opposed to nationally.

And one last shot of the top of the packaging to give you a bit more detail.

Paul, thanks for some great cards and even cooler surprise oddball stuff! I appreciate you always keeping me on my toes as I never know what you're going to send and what rabbit holes you'll send me down (seriously, those marbles are too cool!).

Looking over at my card desk I think I'm down to just two more blogger trades but that can always change quickly so maybe I'll try to get to them soon so those generous folks can get their due. Until then, go get 'em, Tigers!

2023 trade package #1: Scribbled Ink

I've been slacking long enough in 2023, so let's start looking at cards that are new to me this year! Tonight I have this year's first trade package courtesy of buddy of the blog Paul, of the defunct Scribbled Ink, who can still be found tweeting at @Scribble4me.

A bit earlier this month he let me know to expect something, and not long after I had the following on my porch:

Quick backstory there: among the things I sent Paul for Christmas was a signed Marcel Dionne jersey. It was a crazy good deal and I couldn't pass it up, and I'm glad he appreciated it. I'll show off what was in the box at the end but first we'll dive into the "CARDS" envelope.

(Please note that Paul sent much more than what you see here but I was too lazy to scan most of the dupes.)

The biggest former Wolverine currently playing not nicknamed "Dick Mountain," Cronenworth is one of my favorite recent PCs. That collection got a very nice bump thanks to Paul. Highlights include Stadium Club, some Topps and Chrome color, a sweet Donruss Season Stat Line parallel numbered /94 (for the total of runs he scored in 2021), and a Retro '88 jersey from the same '22 Donruss product. Very nice! I now have a pair each of relics and autos of Mr. CroneZone, and TCDB tells me I have 75 total cards, which is excellent (and also tops on the site for now)!

Paul hit a few of my other big PCs while he was at it. The Stadium Club Griffey (Red parallel) is a stunner, and of course I recognize the play it captures (check out a video and more here) as it happened in Tiger Stadium back in '98. What. A. Catch! The Topps Pro Debut insert of a young Junior is very cool too. I'm glad Paul also included a Stadium Club base of Kenny's former teammate Larkin as it captures Barry's Hall of Fame induction in 2012. I still need to grab his HOF plaque postcard, now that I think about it!

The one Maddux card in the package was a literal work of art, produced by talented artist Lauren Taylor. Three other players I collect can be found in the product and I might have to track their cards down as well because this beauty is a huge step up from the MSPaint-quality, drug-induced nightmares that came out of the Project sets.

And what would a baseball recap be without my biggest PC, well on its way to 1200 cards? Cal gets four new items: a couple Topps inserts, a chase card from Prizm, and one of Score's old trivia holograms. Is anyone else sick of 1987 Topps all over again?

Paul also added a trio of Verlanders, and I'd say the Mosaic insert with its "Aces" motif is just too cool to beat, but the "Mojo" Refractor of the '87 Topps card is a worthy contender.

On the basketball side of things we have Mo's little bro and teammate Franz Wagner, who's having a pretty nice season for the Magic. The Chronicles card with the old Hoops design really takes me back while the Prizm parallel is all kinds of patriotic. Bonus points for both being including college action shots!

Closing out the cardboard portion, Paul repeated that feat with the football items he included. Nico's Prestige card from '21 hails from the previously mentioned Chronicles, and it's a good reminder of why I tend to enjoy the brand's college draft cards. Paye's insert from the wildly confusing Wild Card Matte product appears to be called "Weekend Warriors Gold/Green Shield" if TCDB's checklist is to be trusted (and that's the one I'd trust the most, so...) and that comes with a cool Wolverines shot and numbering on the front /40. And then there's the second cool hit of the package: a '21 Contenders Draft auto/RC of Bengals RB Chris Evans. It's just my second of the versatile speedster after I added one from COMC, and his signature looks nice on the typically pleasing Contenders design. Nice find!

(Here I'll insert a quick note that I'm unofficially over 2500 Michigan sports hits, so depending on when I can verify those, I may have a celebration post forthcoming. In the meantime you can always see my collection stats on the bar on the right.)

So as Mr. Pitt would say,

Well I'll be happy to show you:

It's another box! I can't remember if I'd seen these figures before but I have to say they look really good. The bottom of the box has a 2017 date on it and also mentions Loot Crate so I wonder if these were exclusive to those subscription boxes. The figures are sculpted quite nicely and the box boasts the number of articulation points. My search shows that batters come with a plate while pitchers get a mound.

Here's a look at JV out of the box. The little pegs are places where you can attach the figure with holes in its feet if you want to pose it that way. I think the creator did a pretty good job capturing Verlander, with the only real goofiness being the oversized heads, which is actually kind of fun.

I'm going to leave this one out of the box and put it out on display with some of my other stuff like bobbleheads. Big thanks to Paul for including such a cool item of my blog's (current) namesake and a guy we both love to collect.

Paul, thanks for always keeping things interesting whenever you send me a package! I'm glad you liked your Christmas cards and I'm already hard at work on a new mailer for you which will hopefully be ready after another show or two.

Up next is trade package #2 from another one of my Christmas card targets (who should be receiving their envelope in the next day or so, actually).