2026 trade package #12: Sport Card Collectors

I've got a second June show to get to tomorrow, which will be another fun blogger/TCDb meetup, so before then why don't I catch up on my mail from May?

The other blogger trade package I received last month was another gem from PWE specialist Matt of Sport Card Collectors. He sent me an envelope filled with quality Tigers during a month where the team was anything but. They went 6-22 including losing streaks of five and eight games with a single winning streak of two. Fortunately things have been a bit better in June with some returns from injuries and better play overall, and they've gone 8-6 plus they have a small lead as I write this.

Anyway, as always, I appreciate receiving cards of my Tigers PC guys no matter how the team is playing. So let's have a look at what Matt sent this time:

Miggy's a great way to start and most certainly always welcome in any envelopes that find their way to my mailbox from generous traders. The '25 Panini Select Orange Flash Prizm is an excellent looking color match of the future HOFer, and the '26 Heritage TBtC subset issue is a fun reminder of Cabrera hitting his 500th homer five years ago. Carp's Silver Portrait from last year's Ginter is a good reminder of how much the team's missed his presence in the lineup and usual production this season. Prince's Select parallel is a great looking insert of the younger Fielder during his time in Detroit. Riley indeed made history last season against the Angels on May 2 when he hit a leadoff solo shot and then three-run bomb in the 9th to become the first player to homer twice in the 9th inning.

Switching over to the mound, Melton, seen on a Rainbow Foil parallel from this year's Topps, has been a stabilizing force for the rotation in four starts: three wins and what should have been a fourth blown by the 'pen. Olson (Heritage Red Border parallel) is still on the shelf for this season but will hopefully come back healthy next year. And of course Skubal's the name on everyone's radar with the Tigers floundering and the trade deadline a few weeks away. Those two Topps inserts will remain with his collection that I'll be keeping whether or not he gets traded. It's funny to me that the '91 Topps design the first card honors came out five years before the ace was born.

Speaking of Tigers aces and injured guys, JV's return to Detroit's rotation continues to get pushed back, and given his age it's hard to say how much he'll be able to offer if and when he's healthy enough to pitch. That said, it's still very cool to have him back in a Tigers uniform. It just looks weird seeing him as a Giant on cards like the '25 Chrome Prizm Refractor and Ginter Mini A&G Back above, so I'll be glad when Topps makes a couple of him wearing the Olde English "D."

Then we have promising prospect Jackson Jobe, and really, how many guys in this post aren't injured right now? The '25 Stadium Club Concentration insert you see above is actually my 24th card of the former #3 overall pick, and it's funny how your collection of a top prospect can grow quickly without you realizing it!

Last up is another '26 Heritage parallel, a Dark Green, with quite the pairing. Skubal and fellow star Skenes led their leagues in ERA in 2025, with Paul's minuscule 1.97 topping Tarik's still excellent 2.21. Both won their league's Cy Young Award (Skubal's second) despite the Tigers' ace winning just 13 games and the young Pirates ace going 10-10, proving that that's not the only category voters consider. It's great that the game has a couple young arms like theirs to match up with some explosive bats in this era.

And as I finish writing this, the Tigers held on to beat the White Sox 4-3. Sorry, Jeff, but don't worry, I won't gloat about it when I see you tomorrow since your team's record is still much better.

I'll give Matt credit for bringing the team luck tonight while I was writing up his trade recap. Thanks again as always, my northeastern friend, and I'll keep piling up some stuff to send back your way whenever it makes sense!

I'll be back soon, though surely not tomorrow with a long drive to and from the show. My next post will likely cover the May show, and then I have a single June trade package to get to before what will be two more show recaps, along with one eBay pickup and a whole bunch of TCDb deals whenever I feel like getting to those.

2026 trade package #9: Topps Cards That Never Were

My next April trade package came courtesy of Jeremy from Topps Cards That Never Were. He's primarily a fan of a couple teams: the Rays and Tigers. His Rays are currently sitting atop the American League with 34 wins. Meanwhile, the Tigers are...not. They're tied in dead last with the Angels, whom they're somehow leading in tonight's game as I write this. To describe the quality of this year's team as "cheeks" is probably being kind.

That's frustrating as a fan, but then again it's not entirely new to me. I was born in 1983 and between then and last season they made the playoffs just nine times, winning one title in three tries (in '84, of course). Other than that, they've finished below .500 in 24 of those 43 seasons, losing 100+ games five times. in 2002 and '03 they earned a combined 98-225 record. And they're well on their way to another one of those seasons that feels like it time traveled straight from the 90s. These guys SUCK.

But that hasn't dampened my enthusiasm for collecting cards of Tigers new and old. Because of that, I'm thankful to Jeremy for the Tigers-centric mailer he treated me to last month, one that also included some other fun items for my collections:

Baez is one of a few Tigers who've been on the shelf for a good part of this season, though the streaky IF/OF wasn't playing well before going on the IL, and his All-Star '25 campaign looks like another random positive season for the enigmatic "El Mago." Bondo was part of Detroit's historically terrible 2003 campaign but I'd still take him over Jack Flaherty right now. In his prime Miggy would have led this team to maybe a few more wins, but it's largely a AAAA roster right now, and things will need to change for the record to improve significantly. I don't know that OF prospect Roberto Campos will be part of that growth, but top-10 CF prospect Max Clark, the 3rd overall pick in 2023, has the makings of a potential star, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do whenever he gets called up.

Former Wolverine Jake Cronenworth is one of the non-Tigers who made the trip up north to my mailbox. The former Ray appeared four times thanks to a pair of Topps Rainbow Foils, a Padres team set card, and a Heritage parallel. The foils look great, but especially appreciate the team card because those are sometimes harder to find than they should be.

Heading back to the past for a moment, we have a cool pair of former 1B/DH types. Darrell Evans' '85 OPC contains his stats from the 1984 World Series season, while my newest card of Cecil "Big Daddy" Fielder is from last year's Panini Prizm set.

Then we're back to a current guy in Riley Greene, who has a tendency to be a bit streaky, but has been one of the top three or four hitters on this year's team. The Archives card is a nice throwback to the 2005 Topps set, one with a design I appreciate a bit more in throwback form.

The late Hernandez takes us back to that same '85 OPC set as Evans above, and man was he a beast in 1984. Jobe, Jung, and Keith are all current Tigers, though the pitcher's still recovering from injury, Jung's spent most of the season in AAA, and Keith's scuffling a bit trying to repeat his solid past two seasons.

Larkin is another ex-Wolverine in this package and I love his Purple Holo Donruss card.

Speaking of parallels, former Tigers IF Scott Livingstone features on a Stadium Club Golden Rainbow insert from 1994. He played his first 3+ seasons in Detroit before being one of many Tigers flipped to the Padres in that decade. Utility guy Zach McKinstry is unfortunately hitting about as well as Livingstone did back then after an All-Star 2025. Montero's been one of the not-as-bad rotation options this year, though that's not saying a lot. And 2024 11th overall pick Bryce Rainer, a SS, is another very intriguing prospect that I hope gets called up in the next couple years in place of washed up FA signings.

It's nice to see three instances of ace P Tarik Skubal here as he chases his 3rd straight AL Cy Young, though between injuries and the team's lost season, it feels less likely that he'll win, and if so, he may not do so with the Tigers. I'll just enjoy his talents as long as he's here. Sweeney hasn't been with the big club since a rough '25 season. And JV's return hasn't been what fans had hoped as he's appeared in a single game: a loss in which he allowed 5 ER in 3.2 innings. At 43, his chances of getting to 300 wins are on life support. But if he can come back and pitch a bit more, it'll be a nice enough story. The trio of cards Jeremy sent of him look great, including an All-Star throwback.

One last scan concludes my recap of the goods, though I should note that I only scanned what was new to me. I'm mentioning that to give Jeremy credit for even more generosity as I'm showing off about half of what he actually sent.

A couple recent Tigers team cards close out the baseball content. When it came to basketball, a couple Fab-Fivers were natural fodder for this package. Jimmy King stars on a Signature Rookies issue that pictures him with this year's national champs, while HOFer Chris Webber appears on a shiny foil Hoops insert celebrating 1993-94's top rookies. His inclusion makes sense since he was the league's ROY over Penny Hardaway and Jamal Mashburn.

In terms of football, Jeremy sent me a nice bunch of Charles Woodsons (speaking of HOFers), several of which were rookie year cards like the above '98 UD Choice. That's a subset card while his RC (which I do own) can be found earlier in the set. That was joined by what I'd consider the most exciting card in the package: a TTM/IP-signed 1999 Bowman of school legend RB Tim Biakabutuka. This was an exciting card to pull out of the stack and I already expressed my thanks to Jeremy for sending it back up to Ann Arbor.

Jeremy, thanks once again for thinking of me with this latest envelope--I obviously enjoyed all of these new PC additions! I'm not sure when I'll be sending a stack back your way, but I will say I'm at least working on it.

I'll try to be back soon once again with my final April trade package, one that had a distinct Canadian flavo(u)r!

2026 trade package #7: the Collector

This is not a drill: we have real actual regular season baseball coming up this week! My Tigers open up the '26 season on Thursday afternoon in San Diego (what's up, Fuji?) in a sign that we're almost over the utter bullshit that is winter.

So what better time to show off a diamond-heavy trade package from Sox fan Chris of the Collector? This is an envelope he sent me earlier this month after he finally got some new Tigers in over the holidays, according to his note.

Here's what he sent:

A few products dominated this envelope, starting with '25 Topps Holiday. In this scan alone you see three of the four cards Chris sent from that product, including slugger Kerry Carpenter, injured pitcher Jackson Jobe, and his fellow "JJ"in IF Jace Jung. Each of the latter two make multiple appearances too. Jobe can be seen on a '25 Topps Archives insert that reuses the 1987 Topps Boardwalk and Baseball design (hey, I remember those!) as well as a Chrome parallel from the same year's Heritage. Jung's other appearance is another '25 Heritage insert, this one called "1976 Redefined" that offers another take on the look of the now 50 year old set.

The bottom row starts with a '25 Update Diamante Foil of pitcher Chase Lee, which serves as a great reminder of how quickly transactions can happen (and how slowly cards are made)--the '25 rookie was flipped to Toronto in December. Speaker of pitchers that debuted for Detroit last season, that's Tyler Owens' '25 Update RC, and he's still with the team after re-signing (minors deal) last year. And then we have the best of the best Tigers pitchers in Tarik Skubal. His first of two issues today is done up in the style of a 1990 Topps base, and the two-time defending AL Cy Young winner wasn't even born until six years later! He also leads off the next scan with the final example of '25 Topps Holiday.

One of the more interesting cards of this mailing is that of IF Trey Sweeney. This is my first example of the '25 Topps Flagship Collection insert, one that apparently could be found in packs included only in Costco's Super Boxes. I find that design more appealing than the base set's for some reason.

Our last baseball item here stars--who else?--Justin Verlander, who thrilled many a Tigers fan upon returning to Detroit for 2026. I think he may even be lined up to start the team's home opener, though I could be wrong. Either way, you can see him above on a '25 Heritage Chrome Refractor that represents card #717 in my collection of this blog's namesake. I'm glad he's no longer with the pictured Giants and back where he belongs, with an outside shot to hit 300 wins if he sticks around beyond this season.

Just one football cards came along for the ride but it was much appreciated: a 2025 Panini Phoenix RC of Dolphins DL Kenneth Grant. It's my seventh total card of the national champ and fourth first-year.

Next, the Wings have scuffled a bit lately due to dropping some tough games and suffering injuries, but they're currently still clinging to a wild card spot. One guy who was no stranger to the playoffs during his time in Hockeytown is HOFer Pavel Datsyuk, who played postseason hockey in all 14 of his NHL seasons, winning two Cups (2001-02 and 2007-08). His 2013-14 Score card above was made when he was winding down his outstanding career.

Last up tonight is a pair of hockey Wolverines, whom I'm posting the day Michigan was officially named the #1 overall seed of the NCAA hockey tournament. Will this be the year they go all the way for the first time since the late 90s? Tonight they're represented by a couple former players, the first of whom is John Beecher (2019-20 to 2021-22). The C is pictured (2025-26 Upper Deck) with Boston, his drafting team, but he was grabbed off waivers by Calgary last November. He's joined by fellow C Luke Glendening, a former Wolverwing from 2013-14 to 2020-21. The four year Wolverine (2008-09 to 2011-12) has since bounced to Dallas, Tampa, New Jersey, and Philly, but was with Detroit when the above 2017-18 Upper Deck base card was released.

Chris, thanks very much for this great package that has me fired up for baseball season to start (not to mention the NCAA hockey tourney)! I'll see if I can't find a few new cards to fit in the increasingly small spaces of your collection, and in the meantime I look forward to new posts in your latest feature covering the top 10 at every position in each sport. Keep up the great work!

As for me, my expected upcoming posts include the March show, a Facebook Marketplace purchase, and some eBay pickups, if one of them ever arrives.

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 #27: Wes Moore

It's getting later on Christmas Eve but I'm still up for giving some thanks to another cool person who sent me cards in November (and getting a post up before the holiday official hits).

Tonight's cards came from Alabama native and former Pancake King, Wes Moore. I think most people who follow me here are aware of Wes's legendary trade war exploits and a sense of generosity that would put him in the Olympus of traders if one existed. In case anyone reading this hasn't heard of him (or the Pancake King story) before, just search his name on some of your favorite blogs to be amazed.

Anyway, it had been quite a while since either of us sent the other anything, I think, but his joy for giving certainly wasn't rusty when he sent me a nice bubble mailer last month. This one was filled with mostly Tigers, but also some football Wolverines--mighty kind of an Alabama fan towards one whose school was trying to poach the football coach from his!

Here's a look at what I found inside:

I have to say, the guy is still a pro, and the case these came in protected them perfectly.

Just in time for Christmas, this scan of Tigers includes silver and gold, and other colors too! There were enough Refractors in this envelope that I used the insert's name as a tag for this post. Former Tigers Avila and Castellanos fit the bill here while Bondo, Coke, and Big Daddy bring the gold. Fielder also represents silver, like the bells, with an Electric Diamond parallel from '94 UD.

Hey, more color! I still remember the hype around '90s Select Certified and its rare mirror parallels, which is somewhat similar to the more recent appreciation for that era's Precious Metal Gems. Fulmer and AJax bring more Refractor heat while All-Star Riley Greene bucks the Christmas colors trend with Sky Blue. No Refractors for Manning but the colorful effect is essentially the same on Prizm and Topps Rainbow Foil inserts. Nokes is a great throwback to one of my favorite 80s Tigers plus the fun stuff we got back then like stickers and boxed sets. And Magglio looks cool on a throwback Topps insert.

Will the Tigers stop pinching pennies long enough to give Skubal (and his fans) the gift of a new contract? I'm not holding my breath, but it's not impossible. Panini didn't have this festive season in mind when they made the parallel Tork appears on, which is more suited for another holiday. The Stadium Club Super Team card is my favorite in the package because I haven't found them easy to acquire and this one includes two of my Tigers favorites in Alan Trammell and Tony Phillips. Turley's another Refractor but I didn't recognize his name, which can happen as Bowman products sometimes include 16th round picks like the ex-Baylor P. And speaking of Refractors, how about a Negative version of a player who was fairly positive for Detroit, Justin Upton?

Last up tonight, the closest to gold these Michigan Football cards come is the maize they're wearing, but there's some silver to be had. And more importantly all nine cards feature college photos, which is very cool!

I'm not a big Leaf fan these days, but I have to say that Trinity Steel card of Blake Corum looks quite nice, partially because of the cool lava pattern in the background (in addition to the cool shot of him running hard as always). His '23 backup and lightning to Corum's thunder, Donovan Edwards, gets four cards added to his collection thanks to college stalwart SAGE. The fourth card is from their Artistry product, but I haven't found a checklist for that yet to get added on TCDb and will have to work on it when I have time.

Defensive backs Will Johnson and Makari Paige join the Don out of this year's SAGE product, and the latter represents my first card of Makari that isn't a Valiant Michigan issue. Ex-#1 WR Greg McMurtry, a five-year NFL vet, looks good on his '90 Score RC. And Colts LB Kwity Paye looks ready to bring the pain on a Wild Card Matte issue.

Wes, thanks for thinking of me once again, and I appreciate your trademark generosity and ability to get nice cards into the hands of others. I don't know if I can find anything you might need but if I do, rest assured I'll work on returning the favor. For now I'll happily thank you for this perfect Christmas present.

I'll be taking tomorrow off, of course, and then plan on returning with a couple show posts next on the docket. Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas, y'all!

2025 trade package #24: My Sports Obsession

November ended up being a very social month for me as far as the hobby goes. Less than a week after I attended the show with Angus that I just recapped, I headed about an hour and a half west to meet up with Jason, John, and the person who handed me this trade package, Jeff of My Sports Obsession. It was a Saturday show that I was able to go to with Michigan on a bye week (I'm sure Jeff wouldn't have missed the game either!) and things also worked out for Jason (and his lovely fiancé) and and John to have time to spend there.

I'll recap that show a bit later this month after covering the other trade packages and the usual monthly show, but for the purposes of this post I'll briefly say that I really enjoyed getting to hang out with these guys and look at some cards. It's a treat getting to enjoy this hobby with others that feel the same way and I'm grateful that they all made the effort (and glad that I did too).

Of course I was dumb and didn't get a picture with everybody for the bit of time we were all there (just with John when I dropped him off at home, though I'll share that in the show post), but at least I made sure to maximize my time with everyone there. That includes Jeff, who beat us all to the venue and therefore left sooner. We still got to talk for a while while flipping through cards at the tables run by a family he saw all the time when he and his cousin were doing shows, and that was a good time.

And of course he brought me some cards. LOTS of cards. I always appreciate it when someone puts in the time and effort to set stuff aside from me, and Jeff's one of the best at it thanks to the work he does for a card shop near him.

Here's what he brought me this time:

Miggy hit six career grand slams--I just looked it up--and I'm sure each ball felt like that Mosaic card looks when it left his bat. I hadn't added a new card of Michigan alum Franklin in forever so I loved seeing that Refractor. Griffey, Gwynn, and Maddux all pop up in this scan on Prizm cards, and you'll get to see the fourth member of that quartet plenty in this scan. The two colorful Panini-branded Kalines are among the coolest cards in tonight's bunch (even if "Pink Ice" sounds more like a drug reference than a baseball card).

See what I mean about Ripken? Jeff and I have a bit over 2400 Cals between us so you'll always see lots of his cards go back and forth in our trades. I really like the Diamond Kings and Gallery cards here, and there's even a rare Gypsy Queen design that works well with a photo of the HOFer in the field. These aren't the only cards of the Iron Man you'll see tonight, though. Before we get to those, it's back to the Prizm well one more time with HOF Wolverine Ted Simmons and a nice shot of him wearing the tools of excellence. He's followed by (future former) Tigers ace Tarik Skubal on a couple recent Topps inserts.

I'm hoping my fellow Tigers fans and I get to enjoy Skubal for at least as long as his predecessor Justin Verlander, of whom Jeff sent two many this time on a couple shiny parallels. The final non-hit portrait card is a checklist from a Wendy's/Coke '84 Tigers set that I've actually seen pop up a few times lately on Blusky and blogs, which is fun, and hopefully I'll add more of those myself. A quartet of landscape Ripkens rounds out the leader of the big PC foursome, including a typically beautiful Stadium Club shot of a guy known for staying long after games to sign for kids.

There were a couple surprise autographs mixed in with the baseball stuff: a 2016 Bowman Platinum Green (/75) of  Michael Fulmer and 2021 Topps Chrome Update Autographs signature of Kyle Funkhouser. These are my first signed cards of the two pitchers. Fulmer was that year's AL Rookie of the Year after coming over from the Mets, though his effectiveness waned and he found himself in the bullpen. Funkhouser was Detroit's fourth-rounder in 2016 (after the Dodgers took him in the first round the previous year but didn't sign the Illinois native heading to Louisville). He also didn't pan out in the end, but a Refractor is always fun and he has a very nice signature.

The last baseball item is a fun oddball piece: a 1994 team schedule. Detroit went 53-62 in the strike-shortened season, Sparky Anderson's penultimate year managing the club. My PC guy Tony Phillips led the team in bWAR while Travis Fryman and another PC favorite, Mickey Tettleton, made the All-Star team. David Wells and Mike Moore were the most effective pitchers that year. Yeah, the 90s sucked for Tigers fans. But items like this are fun to keep!

In a bit of a surprise, a Panini Phoenix RC of Franz Wagner was the only basketball item, but a very good one!

As for football, the content pretty much matched both the quantity and quality of baseball. That begins with RCs of TE Erick All. Buckeye-killer RB Tim Biakabutuka pops up on a 2000 Collector's Edge insert that's numbered /500 on the back and color matches pretty well with his Panthers uni. Transfer guy Charbonnet, who plays the same position, also appears thanks to Panini Prizm, and I'm enjoying seeing him play weekly for Seattle. And then there's a quartet of Nico Collins, who continues to star especially when the QB throwing his way isn't ass. Nico added a pair of TDs in today's win and eclipsed 1000 receiving yards for the third straight season. I have to say that Panini's retail version of its Illusions brand scans quite nicely and largely looks just as good as the hobby version.

The theme of this scan is "color and chrome." I love getting cards (especially colorful cards) of Blake, who scored a TD and had a couple very nice runs against the Lions' porous defense earlier today. I don't think too many others would give a second thought to a card of Amara Darboh, but Jeff and I both would, and I love the colorful Optic card of the WR. Michigan sorely needed Grant and his DL partner Mason Graham this season, but I hope things go well for the Dolphins rookie, seen on his first Score card. Between the years Aidan and his dad played for the Wolverines, there was HOF G Steve--no relation--who's seen on last year's Topps Chrome return, along with fellow HOFer Ty Law. Jenkins is another young ex-Wolverines defender I'm watching with great interest. JJ's had a bit of a rough first year as a starter but still shows a lot of promise, and his alma mater's fight song is the best. Ojabo's Contenders Optic features a very nice design and action photo of the fearsome defender.

The second-to-last scan begins with AN ORJI IN THE ENDZONE! (Thanks to Bowman Chrome U.) Like Orji, QB Brandon Peters transferred out, in his case to Illinois, though he has no cards depicting him as a Wolverine, and therefore I don't count him in my collection. The trio of A-Train inserts look great, with two hailing from Pacific brands and one from UD. Like fellow RB Tim Biakabutuka above, Tyrone Wheatley adds a numbered (/500) Collector's Edge insert to his pile. He hasn't had much NFL luck, but I'm happy to add another RC of national champ WR Roman Wilson to my collection. And the pair of Woodson cards looks great, especially the Select Draft Picks parallel where the red really makes the best college football uniform pop.

The last cards I'll show off tonight are ones I really appreciated since I wouldn't likely add them myself anytime soon. ONIT appears to be the latest brand handling the cards being sold for NIL money for a number of schools, and their overall design is pretty solid. I believe Jeff bought a few packs (which aren't cheap) or found singles otherwise, and gifted me these six. We'll skip talking about the guy who should be shot into the sun, but it's great getting the rest (plus I can cross the ex-coach off my checklist now).

Browder is a true freshman WR who appeared in seven games this season. El-Hadi is a fifth-year OL who came back for one more season where he finally got more playing time. Goodwin (son of Michigan alum Jonathan) is a sophomore WR who played in all 12 games and caught 11 passes for 145, and was also sometimes a pretty effective pass-blocker. Senior EDGE Derrick Moore was one of the most effective players on defense in '25 with 10.0 sacks, and next year's defense will surely miss him.

Finally, QB Davis Warren is one of those great stories you sometimes hear about in the college game. He overcame leukemia in high school to walk on at Michigan, then persevered long enough to get most of the playing time in 2024 after JJ McCarthy headed to the draft. It was a trying season for Michigan but against all odds he helped the Wolverines beat Ohio State for a third straight season, and also started in the bowl game win over Alabama. Whatever he does after graduating this year, he'll surely be great at it.

Jeff, thanks so much once again for this huge stack of goodness you were generous enough to bring me at that show. I have no idea what's in store for our favorite college football team going forward, but I'm thankful to have friends like you with whom I can root for them and trade some cards. I'll get a return envelope back your way at some point soon, possibly before Christmas.

Readers, you can look forward to three more November trade recaps before a couple show posts and one looking at a few eBay pickups too.

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!

2024 Facebook Marketplace purchases: a few Facebook finds

As I near the end of my 2024 pickups so I can move on to this year's stuff, here's a quick look at my last three Facebook Marketplace purchases from last year. It's been long enough that I think a few of the items got mixed in with each other, but those details aren't as important as just showing off the goods.

So in mid-August I made two stops in one day, which was pretty cool. Trip #1 was to a garage sale that was thankfully largely inside a garage on a day when it decided to be pretty rainy! I saw an intriguing bunch of sports stuff for sale and made my way over. Here's most of what I picked up for an even $40:

I'm not sure if this matted 12x16 piece was a stadium giveaway or from something else but I thought it looked extremely cool. The top photo includes lots of team greats, all of whom are among my favorites in the history of the franchise, plus it notes the Tigers' four World Series titles to-date. The bottom is made to look like an envelope with a cancelled Tigers stamp, and it celebrates Miggy's 2012/13 consecutive MVP wins. I'll get this framed and put up at some point.

This stained glass piece doesn't specifically say it's Tigers-related but that's the feeling it gives me anyway. It was just $0.50 and I ended up sending it to Paul.

Y'all know I trade with at least one Blue Jays fan so I spent $3 on this baggie full of Toronto postcards. I still have a ton left with larger quantities of Juan Guzman and Pat Hentgen, slightly fewer of Ed Sprague and Devon White, and a smaller stack of Al Leiters. If anyone would like one or more of these please let me know and I'll see what I can do

Here's the first of a few boxes of cards. There was easily more than $2 worth of '24 Heritage in this box and I've already put some of them to use in trades. I kept a couple for myself and still have over 100 of them available to help anyone who can use them (but no SPs).

This was a fun box to flip through since I love Sportflics! I don't think there were any I needed in the box, but for $3 I got some cards from the first four years of that product to include in trade packages.

This $2 box of '94 Stadium Club ended up being a bit of a bust since the vast majority were in bad condition (foil issues), which is a shame since there was a good number of the Golden Rainbow parallels to be found. I may separate the few good ones out but otherwise don't mind taking the loss of $2.

Once again I'd argue that I got more than $7 worth here. There were plenty of dupes but since these were new enough at the time I threw them up on TCDb where they remain available, and I'm sure I've used some in deals already. If you can use some non-SP base help, I have almost 400 total cards up for grabs.

And last but not least, the lone single I grabbed was this cool 2022 Absolute dual jersey of Mize and Skubal numbered /99. I think the cost was a bit more than $10 but I didn't hate the overpay, even for a relic, because I'm enjoying getting nicer stuff of Skubal, plus the swatches aren't your usual plain white napkins.

With that sale in my rear-view mirror I once again headed in the direction of Brighton to buy a four-row box of cards from the same guy that sold me this shoebox back in April. I talked him down to $60 for the box and happily flipped through it once I got home.

It's entirely possible that there were some keepers in here for me that mixed in with the images for the last purchase below, but either way, once again I easily got my money's worth in entertainment and trade bait. These were pretty much all baseball and football--my bread & butter--and were mainly from the past few years, filling in some holes in my trade bait.

I don't have anything specific to show off at this point but anything I didn't keep for myself or send out in a trade package likely ended up on my TCDb tradelist.

Finally, early in September I noted a guy selling some cards that lives not too far from my mom's place, and for the initial asking price he was offering a bunch of prospect autographs (generally busts from the 90s-2010s), so we made a plan to meet up at his house to look things over.

He ended up being very fair to work with and in the end I bought home this stuff for $120:

Quite a few of these cards were either autographs (as mentioned) or bulk RCs, though like I said, many were scrubs at this point. But for the cost of one or two of my show trips I got a lot of value!

Here's how things shook out in terms of baseball. The first row and a half are prospects, especially 2000s Bowman/Chrome and Topps Traded, plus Bowman Sterling and others. The rest of row 2 plus row 3 are generally other base, some in decently sized groups. Row 4 I believe is all inserts, with a big, big portion being Bowman Gold parallels, but there were some other fun ones as well. And everything in the last row is an autograph or jersey, with more of the former than the latter.

A chunk of these went out in trade packages and I think I traded a few on TCDb as well, but I still have a good amount on that site's tradelist. I'd say the most "significant" card I pulled was this one:

It's been a while since Castillo could be considered a prospect, but an autograph #d /5 isn't something you pull out of a bulk box every day!

Here's a look at the football stuff (with a stray hockey card or two):

These are broken down in rows as following: base RCs, 90s base (mostly Stadium Club and Zenith from 1997, I think), inserts (lots of parallels!), and hits. The group of autos was smaller but still quite useful to me.

And here are the singles I ended up keeping for myself, again with the caveat that I might have mixed in pickups from purchase number 2 above:

Lots of shininess and big names! I especially love the 90s stuff like the Press Proof of Fielder and the Griffeys.

More shiny, numbered, and big PC guys. The Refractor theme was strong in this box and I loved it.

A few more baseball including Two Many Verlanders and a HOF battery of horizontals.

1997 Zenith treated me very well in terms of needed Wolverines but I was surprised by how many nice Brady cards were available too.

Both '97 Zenith and Stadium Club look fantastic, and that A-Train insert (#d /1000 on the back) was the cherry on top.

Obviously Facebook can be very hit or miss when it comes to card deals (or anything else, really), but that makes me appreciate these successes even more. I'll be back at it this year seeing what I can score on the site in between shows, eBay purchases, and blogger & TCDb trades.

But before I get to the new year's collecting, I need to recap my 2024 COMC Black Friday pickups. Stay tuned for those!