5-2-26 card show report: now THAT's more like it!

I've got July's monthly show coming up tomorrow so it's about time I covered the one from May!

I haven't had much interest in blogging lately, partly thanks to coming back from June show #2--a fantastic meetup with friends, more to come on that--with a ton of cards but also a cold. Also, I got a Switch 2 and Donkey Kong Bananza is amazing. Oh, and I picked up a pair of fun Facebook lots last weekend that have kept me busy.

But I need to cover these at some point, and with the calendar flipping to July, I think now's the time.

So I headed back to Taylor on Saturday, May 2 (instead of my usual Friday), coming off an April where I dropped just $25. However, this time I really made up for it! I spent a whopping $140 at my favorite seller's tables, scoring a lot of nicer mid- and high-end stuff for myself and friends, in addition to paying $30 for an item that will be going out in a trade package. That adds up to my biggest show spending this year, and it was at that point the only time I eclipsed $100 (until Kalamazoo a couple weekends ago).

You'll have to stay tuned to some other blogs to see some of the items I grabbed for others, but here are my keepers for this show:

Baseball. The single non-hit was a '95 Ultra All-Star Gold Medallion of Ripken. I like that Fleer paralleled some of their inserts back then (with a single parallel, Fanatics and Panini!), and this was an easy add. The Pudge relics were fun additions to my collection of the HOF catcher, hailing from an Upper Deck Legends product I bought a decent amount of, plus Donruss's 2005 Leather & Lumber product. I'm pretty sure that the relic combo you see above is a bat plus batting glove. That's a reasonable guess based on the feel of the material, but for whatever reason, Donruss didn't differentiate the serial numbering for the batting glove and fielding glove plus bat combos--they're both SN25. Either way, cool card! While I was at it I grabbed a Tork Heritage bat relic for what I think came out to $4 (one of five cards I got for $20). It's probably a bit of an overpay for a guy who may not be long for the team, but why not?

I found some fun, cheap basketball color in the cheaper boxes, not that I can recall the prices here (likelier 5/$1 than dimes). There's just so many parallels of cards these days that it's pretty likely I need these when I find them, and at worst I can put them up for trade.

Football also got to join in the rainbow fun a few weeks before pride month. Some of these look especially nice, including Nico's and Gary's color match-ish parallels, plus Schoonmaker with a college photo.

A couple more cheapies open the last football scan. Former Cowboy Mazi's blue looks great there, and I was happy to snag another RC of national champ WR1 Roman Wilson.

When it came to the hits, I was quite pleased too. Corum's Contenders relic is somewhat plain, but it's a nice blue Rams swatch, and I think I paid $2 or less for it to make it Blake relic #3. I was especially excited to find a new Henne hit since it's been a while. Donruss' 2008 Gridiron Gear product produced endless variations of relics and autos for the players featured, and I lucked out with what I think I've correctly IDed as a Next Generation Jerseys Combos Prime card, numbered /50. Chad still holds a dominant football collection lead with his new total of 147, 59 of which are relics like this one.

And then there's my most unorthodox card of the day: Ty Wheatley's appearance in 2001 Fleer Hot Prospects' TD Fever insert. The tiny relic included is a piece of goal post cover. It's a bit weird, but it counts! Ty was no stranger to the end zone, going for 40 rush scores and six more through the air in college, plus a nearly identical 40 and 7 with the Giants and Raiders. This was a fun pickup to mark his seventh overall hit, four of which are now relics.

I now have two more shows to cover from last month in addition to July's that I'll be attending tomorrow, but first I'm planning on recapping two trade packages I received in June, one of which was delivered to me at that second show. Stay tuned!

2026 trade package #3: Night Owl

Pitchers and catchers have reported! For most teams, anyway--a few will apparently be waiting until tomorrow, but close enough.

Let's celebrate with the final blogger trade package I received in January. Greg of perennial favorite blog Night Owl Cards sent me a nice envelope with a note hoping I was looking forward to baseball season, which I indeed am!

Here's a look at what he sent:

This was another nice mix of old and new. I still collect Bondo a bit, and this pair put me over the 70-card mark. Clark and Higginson feature on the beautiful UD Gold Glove set, which was unfortunately a one-and-done product. Flaherty's still in the rotation this season but may be the fourth best starter behind three current and former aces, including the (hopefully) triumphant return of JV. Bring on Too Many More Verlanders! And the Griffey quartet here presented me with my first Project 2020 card plus three of the '24 Topps Celebration of the Kid inserts I needed. I'm a card away from being half done with the 24-card set thanks to these, and they're my favorite part of the package.

Monroe, Pena, Sparks, and Young are guys I don't think about very often these days, though at least C-Mo was part of the '06 World Series squad (and Young is or at least was a fellow collector). Keider's unlikely to claim a spot in a star-studded rotation but I'm sure he'll get some spot starts especially when (and not if) injuries strike. Tork was only six years old when 2005 Topps (whose design appears in this year's Archives) was released, and that's the set that includes the RC of his new teammate, Verlander. Gleyber's another Heritage Tiger seen in this post, and Greg also included a Chrome Pink Sparkle Refractor of the 2025 All-Star.

Man, Topps will slap that "RC" logo on literally anything, won't they? Fellow '25 All-Star Riley Greene was often money last year, so the '23 Bowman Platinum New Money insert was wise to include him. Former top prospect pitcher Manning can be seen on his '24 Topps Gold, the reliable standby that's reasonably easy to identify, looks nice, and is numbered to the year it was printed. And last up is another Heritage insert of another '25 All-Star Tiger. Skubal appears in '25 Heritage's 1976 Player Icons insert as well as the Holographic parallel of that set, the latter of which you see above. It's a nice tribute to the '76 set's position icons seen on the cards' fronts. I don't know if "holographic" is the best name since there's not really any kind of rainbow effect to these, but the metallic look is still quite nice.

Greg's a Buffalo fan so he also knows his football. The Super Bowl was played a few days before I'm posting this and a bunch of Wolverines--four former players and three coaches--won the big game with Seattle, which was very cool. Two of the players in this scan--WR Jason Avant and LB David Harris--never won an NFL ring, but the other two guys, both of whom are among the GOATs of their positions, sure did. Brady and Woodson actually both celebrated winning it all in college AND the NFL, though Tom obviously wasn't the starter for the '97 Wolverines. '23 champ AJ Barner, a TE who transferred from Indiana, repeated that feat with Seattle this season, and he even scored the Hawks' lone offensive TD on a very nice route.

Greg, many thanks for this great baseball/football combo which closes the door nicely on the NFL season and has me itching for some Spring Training baseball!

I'll see if I can get myself motivated enough to post my January show spoils this weekend and then get going on February's cards. In the meantime, I hope the rest of you are as excited as I am for baseball and non-sucky weather to return! 

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!

2025 trade package #22: Sport Card Collectors

Hooray, I'm now only about a month behind! And my first November trade package came courtesy of the person who sent the final one in October, Matt of Sport Card Collectors. While he sends me PWEs throughout the year, he tends to put together a larger package around the holidays, and that was the case here as these constitute my Christmas present from a person who really values that occasion.

And a very nice gift it was! Here's the contents of the bubble mailer:

First up: a nearly full set of 1989 ProCards London Tigers. Minor league affiliates can change decently often and that was the case for Detroit's AA club, the Glens Falls Tigers, who moved from that city to London, Ontario, a couple hours away from Motown, for the 1989 season. They'd remain there until 1993, switch to Trenton (NJ) in '94, Jacksonville from 1995-2000, and ultimately their current location in Erie, PA. I'll show off the biggest name of this bunch in the next image (plus another guy I collect) but I'll also mention that the group includes 1986 first-rounder (18th overall) Phil Clark, a catching prospect that never panned out.

For those interested, the full team set appears to be 32 cards strong and Matt sent me 25 of those, including the two I would have wanted the most.

Miggy leads off this scan in festive form that's perfect for the upcoming holiday, and also in a 1989 disguise, back when I was celebrating my seventh Christmas.

Greg Everson is one of the two '89 Procards cards I'm highlighting because he's a Michigan alum who was also born in my hometown of Livonia, Michigan, so that's about as good as it gets. TCDb has nine cards listed for him (all minors issues) and this is my 6th. Not bad! I'll skip over one card to talk about the other '89 London Tigers base which stars the most successful guy in the set: Travis Fryman. Detroit chose the well know left-side infielder with the 30th overall pick in '87 and he rewarded them with eight productive seasons, half of which saw him get selected for the All-Star game. After the '97 season he was dealt to the brand new Diamondbacks, who then flipped him to Cleveland a couple weeks later for Matt Williams.

And now we have some cool inserts to look at. Those start with a Bowman Gold parallel of pitcher Luke French, a guy whose career wasn't really notable. The next card is, though: a '23 Topps Heritage '74 Topps Stamps card that includes Mr. Tiger Al Kaline plus recent guys Tork, Baez, and Greene. I'd actually traded for this card in a TCDb deal but got sent the wrong one, and thanks to Matt I didn't need to go back and get that fixed to land a card I really wanted! Rotation stalwart Mize's card is a '21 Topps 1952 Topps Redux Chrome in all its Refractor-y glory. Franklin Perez, a headliner in the Verlander deal, also pops up on a nice looking Refractor from 2020, numbered /150. And Tork makes his second of three appearances, this one from Topps Heritage's long-running New Age Performers insert.

Tork #3 is a '24 Topps Royal Blue parallel, one of the ones that are mercifully easy to ID. And he's joined by a trio of--or should I say "three many"--Verlanders. Two of those are Topps Holiday cards like the Miggy so that makes them perfect for the season as well.

The rest of this scan is a good time to ask the question, "Do you really like looking at cards of Ken Griffey Jr.?" If the answer is "Yes!" then you're in luck. If not, you'll want to scroll down quite a bit. Also, you all know I collect Griffey and have over 1000 cards of him, so why would you not expect to see these here?

Anyway, Matt and I are very close in age and both loved watching Griffey play throughout the 90s. And so he devoted quite a bit of space in this envelope to cards of George Jr., which I was very happy to accept!

The horizontal group that kicks off the pile includes a couple mid/late 90s base, a 2001 Fleer Triple Crown insert called "Future Threats," and a 2023 UD Goodwin Champions base, the latter of which includes a much more recent photo of the retired superstar.

(Vertical) Griffey group #1 starts with the early 90s and zooms into 1996. My favorites are the Stadium Club Charter Member card with Junior and Senior, the UD superhero card (we all thought he was a superhero back then), and the '95 Stadium Club base showing off his sweet swing.

Here a couple more '96s give way to six checklists from the 1997 Collector's Choice set. Griffey was a UD spokesman for a few years back then so they featured him prominently in a number of products. In this case the lower-end kid-friendly set gave collecting tips for younger folks in the hobby.

Now we're heading into the late 90s and early/mid-2000s with this bunch. For me I don't think it gets better than that 1996-2001 run UD had, including the '98 design you see above. The Fleer Update card marking his 400th homer is a nice addition, and of course he'd sock another 230 before all was said and done. The fourth card is an UD entry from a multi-product effort celebrating opening day in 2000 and it turned out great. The rest are quite nice too, especially 2001 SP Game Used, and unfortunately my scanning went off the rails with the last card, but I didn't notice until I was putting this post together and didn't feel like re-scanning!

Now we're into the late career and post-career stuff, a lot of which is also fun. I'll take UD's Masterpieces over Ginter any day, but now I don't have to choose! Recent Donruss Preferred doesn't hold a candle to the original, but I do like the callback, just like I do with the Donruss base (though the last card in the scan looks much better than the couple from '21). A Topps '86 throwback insert increases my count of Griffey on the Reds, we get one more Goodwin Champions base, and then there's probably the best photo in the bunch courtesy of--who else?--Stadium Club, and a Home Run Derby moment.

Junior does sneak one last card into this scan as well! I'm working on the '24 Topps Celebration of the Kid insert and this one gives me a total of 8 of the 24, so I'm making decent progress there.

Matt threw in one basketball card and it was a bit of a surprise: a relic of THJ, out of 2018-19 Prizm. He's out in Denver after spending last year with the Pistons, and he's putting up decent PPG as a bench guy.

And we'll close things out with Michigan Football. As I write this post the big news in Ann Arbor is coach Sherrone Moore getting fired for an inappropriate relationship with an employee. I'm sure lots more info will come out over the next couple days, but in the meantime I'm mainly thinking of his wife and three daughters and hoping they can get through this heartbreaking situation. UM will find a new coach at some point and life will go on, but may their lives not be made a million times worse by his awful decisions.

That aside, I have a few more cards from Matt to enjoy. The first is Panini Zenith No Huddle red parallel of RB Blake Corum's RC. He just had himself a game, piling up 128 yards on 12 carries and two TDs including a 48-yarder as his Rams thumped the Cardinals. Hutch is always welcome in a trade envelope, be it on his own cards or on those that include other fantastic college/NFL defenders like Paye and Gary.Ojabo still hasn't found his footing in the NFL and I don't know if he will, but I love college-themed cards that remind me of him helping take down Ohio State. And DPJ may be out of the league but he had some memorable moments in Ann Arbor wearing the maize & blue, like he's doing on a Panini Legacy card above.

Matt, thank you once again for this awesome stack of cards, headlined by the Griffeys but supported by lots more of my favorite PCs. I appreciate the warm Christmas wishes and promise I'll return the favor pretty soon so you have something to put under your tree!

I'll be back pretty soon with another trade package recap!

2025 trade package #17: Night Owl

Somehow the Tigers are still playing this late in October despite their epic second half collapse and some dire playoff game performances, and while I sound pretty crabby about that I'm very grateful because it's fun to have a Detroit team back in the playoffs again.

So let's celebrate the occasion with my final trade package from July, an envelope from Greg, a.k.a. Night Owl, who by the way recently celebrated his legendary blog's 17th anniversary! Greg's consistency and quality remain top-notch and that's really impressive in a hobby that sees people come and go all the time. (By the way, I hit 15 years of Too Many Grandersons/Verlanders a few weeks ago but suck at remembering to note the milestone yearly. Thanks to all of you who still read my sporadic, very occasional posts!)

This was a good package to lead into tonight's game because it's chock full of Tigers, and lots more great stuff:

A good chunk of this envelope was much of the Tigers team set from this year's Topps Heritage, which calls back to Topps' 1976 flagship design. Greg sent me 11 cards representing 10 different players, starting off with key bats like Carpenter (26 HR) and Dingler (3.1 bWAR to lead the offense, and as a catcher no less). Ibanez is a bench bat that I hope gets upgraded for a better chance at a deep run next year.

Jobe's TJ surgery means we may not see him again until the 2027 season. Keith followed up an All-Star Rookie season with fairly similar numbers while moving around the infield (and DH spot) to accommodate Gleyber Torres and a decently improved Javy Baez. RHP Madden, selected after Jobe, remains a good prospect for future rotations but lost the '25 season to a rotator cuff injury during spring training.

Malloy is another OF I hoped would improve the offense but he no longer fields like a playoff caliber player to me so hopefully he gets replaced in the offseason. Rogers was the nominal starter behind the plate but gave way to excellent play by Dingler, and while his bat cratered this year he's at least still valuable for his catching and mentoring skills. And Skubal continues to be Skubal, even if all of his numbers aren't as eye-popping as those from last year. The Tigers are fortunate to have the reigning AL Cy Young winner starting against a tough Seattle lineup tonight.

Skubal was indeed tops in AL strikeouts last year since that's one of the three stats that make up the triple crown he claimed, but what's even more impressive is that he topped that number with 241 in '25 over the same number of games while also improving his ERA and bWAR (wins were a bit harder to come by as he dipped from 18 to 13 thanks to that second half swoon). And the final Heritage card is of new '25 Tiger Gleyber Torres, who proved to be a pretty good FA signing with a 2.9 bWAR season at second in a year that saw regression at SS from the likes of Trey Sweeney and Jace Jung. He allowed the Tigers to slot guys like Baez and Zach McKinstry at SS and get better production there.

A Topps Spring Training parallel of PC guy Jake Cronenworth leads off the non-Heritage stuff and I'm mighty thankful to have a Michigan alum be a big enough name that folks remember I collect him. Team HR leader Riley Greene headlines a group of 2025 Bowman cards that include his base and a Purple parallel numbered /250. Double "J"s Jackson Jobe and Jace Jung follow with base cards of their own plus a couple Chrome inserts of the injured hurler: Rockstar Rookies and Rookie of the Year Favorites. The latter is die-cut to play off the flag motif at the top of the card, so that's fun. While that award is off the table for him, I'm rooting for Jobe to return to health and a second shot at success on the mound.

The final page starts with a couple more '25 Bowman-related items. 2023 first-rounder Kevin McGonigle shot up prospect rankings this year and the middle infielder looks like a potential star in the making for a team that could use more offense. '24's top pick Rainer, a SS, joins him on a Chrome card, and he's got a top-100 prospect pedigree as well.

Top PC guy Cal Ripken joins the previously seen Skubal from 2025 Topps' throwback to the 1990 set, which isn't my favorite design but is still a sight for sore eyes after they beat the dead horse of 1989 last year.

Second place finisher in team HRs Tork brings back '25 Heritage for a curtain call with Chrome Refractor and Silver Sparkle Refractor parallels. His rather successful season was almost as big of a relief to fans as I'm sure it was to him given his struggles last year, and I hope we get to see his powerful bat in the lineup for years.

We'll close out the baseball portion with a fun anomaly in this package: a card that's not from the last couple years. Greg included an '83 OPC of 1984 World Series MVP Alan Trammell, which I'm considering a good omen for tonight even though he sent it months ago.

And our final card tonight is a lone football item: a '23 Score base of Titans WR Nico Collins. Michigan's run-focused offenses have tended to downplay the WRs over the years even with the presence of talented receivers, but once in a while one is able to pop in the league, and that's been Collins, who's gone for 8 and 7 TDs over the past two seasons, plus over 1000 yards in both, and is hopefully on his way to career highs this year.

Greg, thanks again for this outstanding baseball-heavy envelope that you sent back in July which I'm only showing off now. I appreciate the Heritage Tigers and all the other very useful stuff for my PC. I hope my Tigers continue to advance but also that they don't have to face your Dodgers, though if it comes to that I'll happily wish your team well while rooting against them!

I'll be back soon with non-trade stuff from July, and in the meantime, EAT 'EM UP, TIGERS!

2025 trade package #10: Sport Card Collectors

We're in mid-June and the MLB season is getting close to the halfway point, but things were just getting started for my Tigers and the other clubs back in April when Matt of the Sport Card Collectors family of blogs sent me a cool pair of PWEs mostly featuring that team.

Here's what Matt sent me this time:

Bowman is often the home of prospects you've never heard of (and likely won't ever hear from again), and Ardoin's no exception--he pitched just three years of Minor League ball. Miggy and I were both six years old when the '89 Topps set the insert above is based on came out, and one of us went on to a storied MLB career. '24 World Series winner Flaherty is back in Detroit's rotation, and the results have been somewhat mixed, but he's still a solid guy I'm glad is on the team (plus, who'd say no to a Refractor?).

When it comes to infielder Colt Keith, he wouldn't be born for another 12 years after '89 Topps' release, and he made his MLB debut a total of 35 years after the abundant firestarter was found in packs, as seen on a cool Topps parallel. While '25 has been a bit of a down year for Keith, Torkelson has reversed his fortunes and is playing like a Star of the MLB, on pace to exceed the 31 bombs he totaled two years ago.

'84 World Series champ Trammell looks regal on a recent Panini Crusade design, and though he was famously screwed out of the '87 AL MVP, he does have a better crown to wear: MVP of the previously mentioned World Series. Verlander, meanwhile, has a trophy case absolutely stuffed thanks to a ROY, MVP, three Cy Youngs, and two World Series rings, not to mention an ALCS MVP. Autumn wasn't kind to him until 2017 with the Astros, and the third time was the charm for Mr. Kate Upton. As always he also looks great in Refractor form.

There were two more baseball items in these envelopes, both of diminutive stature. The first is a Mini Miggy, not to be confused with erstwhile Tiger Avisail Garcia, and the second is a Ginter Mini of 2008-09 and 2012 Tigers OF Clete Thomas, who ended his brief MLB career with the Twins in 2013.

Matt's also one of my more consistent sources of Michigan Football stuff, which I always appreciate, and he included a couple recent defensive guys here. First is a '24 Score RC of LB Junior Colson, who was drafted by his former college coach Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers, for whom he played 11 games last season. As always, hell yeah to the occasional college action RC! The other is a Panini Mosaic base of Aidan Hutchinson, the beastly edge player whose return to health could portend even more success than last year's Lions. My collection of the Lions' best player is growing nicely and is nearing the 50-card mark thanks to envelopes like this one.

Matt, as always, thank you for more of your trademark PWEs as they always include some of my PC favorites. Pretty soon I should also be able to cover the newest pair you sent this month, though I have a bit more catching up to do. In the meantime I look forward to any post(s) you put together on the envelope I just sent your way.

As this was my lone trade package from April I don't have too much more to show off from that month, but I'll be back soon with an outstanding showing of generosity. 

2024 trade package #22: Sport Card Collectors

For whatever reason my mailbox remained trade package-free for the month of October, but that was fine since November and December brought a nice uptick in envelopes.

I believe the first ones in November were three PWEs from my buddy Matt at Sport Card Collectors/Cards Over Coffee. I usually group those envelopes into one post, so I'm counting this as the fourth time he's sent stuff my way this year, and 40th overall. Hooray milestones! Anyway, those really add up and they're fun to tear into.

This time I thought I'd scan the contents of each separately, so I have three images of six cards. Here's what they contained:

#1 starts with a shiny Miggy, which takes some of the sting out of the overused '89 Topps design, as does the fact that Cabrera was an amazing Tigers legend to watch for 16 years in Detroit. Kelly was a solid late-season '23 FA signing who turned into a flip candidate at the trade deadline this year. Tork's roster spot is in on life support with the signing of Gleyber Torres and others potentially in the works, but I'll keep collecting him while he's around. Verlander features on another card using the '89 design, but I can never have too many cards of him. And OF/3B Matt Vierling shines through on a very cool '24 Topps parallel.

All-Star OF Riley Greene, who enjoyed a career year this past season, starts off the second group with a Topps Chrome version of the Stars of the MLB insert. Ibanez (Topps Rainbow Foil) was a capable fill-in at multiple infield spots over the past couple years, though I wouldn't be surprised to see him squeezed off the roster if the team actually puts resources into improving. I love me some shots of #1 PC guy Ripken playing in the field, and though this one didn't scan well enough to show it, his Topps insert is numbered 49/50 up front, making it easily the best card in a very good group. The Green Bowman Verlander that follows is no slouch, though, as it's #d /399 itself! GOAT DB Woodson appears on one of many Panini Mosaic parallels, and former #1 WR joins him in Michigan uni form with a shiny red 2001 Quantum Leaf insert that's #d /4000 on the back.

And the final six start out very strong out of the gate with a pair of new Rich Hills! The 2024 Topps Chrome Pink and Refractor parallels push my collection ever closer to 400 of a guy I hope gets one more shot to pitch next season if he's up for it. Will Mize (Topps Royal Blue) get a chance in the rotation to try to repeat his solid 2021 performance or is he out of time? Two (but not too many) more Verlanders bolster his PC total (680 as I'm writing this) thanks to a sweet Diamond Kings pair. And Michigan Football legend Tom Harmon takes us home with a classy looking Panini Golden Age issue of the 1940 Heisman winner who was selected #1 overall the following year.

Matt, thanks once again for all the great cards you hit me with this year! I'm looking forward to more trading after the calendar flips and will start piling things up for you again starting with a show this Friday.

As I mentioned the other day, I may work on getting the remaining trade recaps up between now and the end of the day tomorrow so y'all might get a few bonus posts to end the year!

2024 trade package #19: the Collector

Will I at least get all of my trade package recaps done before the calendar flips to a new year? Probably not, but I'll keep posting these as I feel like it.

Tonight's cool pile of stuff comes from Chris, the Collector, who was a longtime friend of mine here (and of many of you as well). Unfortunately I can no longer link to his blog since it's gone, plus he appears to have deactivated the email address I always used to contact him. Needless to say I'm plenty worried about how he and his family are doing, but for now I'll just wait and hope that everything's fine. Chris, if you're reading this, I'm always here for you!

Anyway, back in September he sent me a surprisingly large package of stuff, and I'll get to why it was so physically large at the end, but first we'll start with the cards:

Baseball part 1 starts of strong with a Jim Abbott and besides a RC of short-term star Brennan Boesch and a Miggy insert, the rest of the scan includes a bunch of '24 Topps Chromes of current Tigers Javy Baez and Kerry Carpenter. You'll see the same product and team pop up a few more times in this post so I have to imagine Chris was part of a group break at some point. I really appreciate him treating me to these as I haven't seen them at shows yet (not that I've looked, to be fair), and I'm liking having a good number of the base and parallels, which include Prism and standard Refractors. I'm also thankful for a trio of new Carpenter cards as my Kerry Bonds collection is still small for now.

"Wahoo" Sam Crawford is always welcome in trade packages sent my way. Davis was a Tiger for 60 games between 1993 and '94, as 1994 Fleer reminds us. 2017 first-rounder Faedo hasn't done much for Detroit but Flaherty worked out nicely in a win-win deal that brought the Tigers two very good players and the Dodgers another ring. And I hope to see Riley in HR celebration mode even more in 2025.

Greene and Higginson are former Tigers while Keith is a potentially exciting part of the future in the infield (and another '24 Chrome entry). Kinsler remains a short-time favorite of mine for his three-plus seasons in Detroit and helping the team dump Prince Fielder. Lipcius has 35 ABs to his name, all with the Tigers in '23, but was grabbed by the Dodgers before the '24 season, so I don't know what Topps was thinking (not that I mind another Refractor). Mikie's career was brief but Parker looks like he could be a mainstay in the outfield for years to come. And Olson could bolster a good young rotation if he can stay healthy.

Hey, it's blog favorite Dean Palmer! Peralta was very solid in Detroit and part of the 2012 AL Pennant winner. Multi ring-winner Scherzer is from one of Topps' All-Star Game-stamped sets, which are cards I don't generally seek out but do like to add. Check out make-or-break '25 guy Tork on three different Chrome cards: base, Prizm Refractor, and Refractor. More-than-0%-chance-'25-Tiger Verlander also appears on 2/3 of those. Worth proved to not be worth the 2nd round pick Detroit used on him in the 2007 draft, though at least guys like Giancarlo Stanton and Freddie Freeman were selected before him and not after.

The unfortunately recently injured Wagner is the only basketball representative here but despite his injury it's been quite a season for him. Former UM coach Harbaugh's done decently well leading the Chargers this year. The fact that Hutch could return for a hypothetical Lions Super Bowl appearance is still a crazy sentence to type. Another ex-UM QB, Patterson looks great on an appropriately blue Score Artist's Proof card that's numbered to just 35 copies! And lastly, Mazi and (also somewhat recently injured) Turner are draft picks from last year on some shiny Donruss Optic parallels, with the Bengals DB getting a second card in the form of a Green Hyper insert to go with his own Holo issue.

As you can see the cards hit a bunch of my collections and I would have been more than happy with this package if they made up the entire contents, but then Chris threw this in as well:

I was still buying Starting Lineups back in 2000 and already had this Classic Duos combo of Cal with Chipper, but then Chris sent it my way noting that it was a throw-in in a recent purchase of his, and I was excited to get it because not only is it in better condition than the one I already had (the packaging suffered wear and tear due to several house moves), but it also comes in a protective display case that should keep it that way! Oh, and as a bonus, I can pass on my extra to fellow Cal collector Jeff. Bonus!

Chris, thank you once again for your generosity a few months ago and all the great stuff you've sent me over the years. Again, I don't know if you're even reading blogs anymore, but if you are, please know I appreciate our friendship and I'm lucky to have been able to trade with you. According to tracking info, the Christmas cards I sent your way should have been delivered today and I hope you enjoy them and have a great holiday.

With some much-needed downtime coming up I'll work on finishing up trade recaps for this year as best as I can in the next couple weeks.

2024 trade package #14: Sport Card Collectors

As it turns out I have just one trade package from July to post, making catching up a bit easier (though I do have quite a few from August and September). Tonight you get to see the latest PWE sent to me by Matt of multiple blogs but most recently Cards Over Coffee.

Matt treats me to these envelopes a few times a year and I can always count on some cool Tigers and Wolverines (if not stuff that hits other PCs). That was most definitely the case here:

It was sad to see Miggy hang up his cleats after last season, but there's no doubt that having a roster spot plus the DH position open for guys like Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter aided in Detroit's stunning second-half turnaround this season. Honestly, it felt more like 1987 than '88, the year the design of those Topps inserts honors.

Manning, meanwhile, had a 2024 season he'd surely like to forget, going 0-1 in just five starts while not faring much better at AAA Toledo. He's only a few years removed from being a top 50 prospect but time may be running out for him to claim a spot in the rotation.

Lastly, Tork also didn't exactly have a season to remember like his 31 HR 2023 campaign, but considering how poorly he started, leading to his own demotion, the fact that he crawled his way back is a positive sign. He still needs to show a lot more in 2025 to earn a role on what appears to be an up-and-coming team, but for now he'll continue to appear on shiny inserts (like Refractors!) while proudly wearing the olde English "D."

If the timing of this post--a couple days after the Tigers were bounced from the playoffs--seems a bit inauspicious, it's nothing compared to the stunning turn of events for the player and team featured on the first few cards here. Aidan Hutchinson was such a massive piece on a defense trying to claw its way from embarrassment to competency, and his gruesome broken leg halts what looked to be a historic season for player and team. Here's hoping he comes back stronger than ever for the '25-'26 season, and in the meantime I hope the Lions don't miss his intimidating presence too much.

Matt obviously decided that one Wolverine great wasn't enough, so he added four nice looking cards of GOAT DB Charles Woodson. I really like that both of his franchises are represented here: the Raiders, with whom he began and finished his career, plus the team that allowed him to add a Super Bowl to his NCAA title trophy and other college/pro accomplishments: the Packers. If the nine-time Pro-Bowler didn't deserve first ballot admission to Canton, who else would? He's indeed a living legend and it's great to see him back in the Big House when doing his job for Fox.

Matt, thanks as always for another great PWE! I've got a pretty nice stack going for you and just need to decide when to pull the trigger on sending it your way. I can promise you at least one card that's seasonally appropriate given the rapidly declining temperature here in the northern part of the country.

I should be back soon with what I expect will be a recap of July's show, so stay tuned for that while watching what's rapidly become an MLB postseason featuring uninteresting/unlikable teams. Who the hell am I supposed to root for now?!