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!

2023 trade package #2: a Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts

Jon of a Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts was the sender of my second trade package of 2023, and I'd say the contents are worth coining the phrase "small things come in good packages." Check out all the cool stuff, some of which is of diminutive stature, in this envelope:

I teased the tiny stuff but I'm starting with standard sized cards. Gwynn is a Refractory Chrome insert from 2019. Mr. Tiger's shiny parallel was inserted into Topps' solid 2011 Lineage product. His longtime teammate Mickey Lolich's item in spot #3 is from 2001 Topps Archives Reserve, a beautiful Chrome Refractor version of the excellent base set.

Below those are a pair of 2014 Panini Golden Age sticker cards, each with four players. The first is awesome since it includes Kaline and another '68 teammate, Willie Horton, who's gotten a bit of love in some of these throwback sets (plus the excellent Catfish Hunter and Yaz). The big draw for me on the second is Michigan Heisman-winner Tom Harmon, but Detroit boxer Joe Louis is a huge plus. Naturally I'm happy to see The Man as the third subject, and the youngest DiMaggio is no slouch either. Ty Cobb (who won a car for splitting the batting average crown with Nap Lajoie, sort of) wraps up the baseball content in the scan.

The last regular sized card in the bunch is a rookie year insert of Charles Woodson out of 1998 Skybox Premium. The reigning Heisman winner made the D'Stroyers set by obliterating offenses with his ball-hawking ways first in college, then the pros. As a reminder, he accumulated 65 INTs (with 11 leading to TDs) and forced 33 fumbles (and returned a couple of those for scores as well).

Ah yes, the much-hyped small stuff! Let's start with a nice stack of Minis. The first three are 1999 Pacific Private Stock PS-206 cards featuring PC guys Tony Gwynn, Greg Maddux, and Dean Palmer. Yes, that's a funny combination, but I have lots of player collections! These look nice though I tend to think of the 2001 set more often.

The others are from Panini Golden Age products. Gehringer is from 2012 and is the Red Candy back. Fellow Wolverine and to a lesser degree ex-president Gerry Ford is from the 2013 set's Carolina Brights backs. Also from the UM football team we have Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch and a double-dose of the previously-seen Harmon from 2014. Hirsch and the first Harmon are Hindu backs while the other Harmon is a Mono back.

And all by himself from 2014 Ginter's Black Bordered set is Sparky Anderson. It sure is fun adding stuff of him since managers don't appear on nearly as many cards as their players do, understandably. I love the image of the pensive skipper, probably wondering if he should live up to his nickname of "Captain Hook" or leave Jack Morris in.

Everything else in this scan and the next one is a sticker, and boy is there some great variety here! The first two you see, Chet Lemon and Larry Herndon, hail from 1981 Topps Stickers, and those of course are pre-Tigers items but still 100% welcome for me. Everything else with the exception of the 1983 Ripken seen in the final image is from the '82 set, and there you see Lance Parrish, Herndon again, Jack Morris, Darrell Evans, Lemon again, and Morris along with Denny Martinez/Steve McCatty/Pete Vuckovich. The rookie-year sticker of Cal is very cool, and it's one of his two appearances in that set.

And here we have the final six stickers, once again with a mostly Tigers lean broken up by another Ripken cameo, which happens to be the second '83 sticker I just mentioned. That's because these are all also from that very set. Evans makes his second Giants appearance, Herndon makes his first as a Tiger, and Dan "Peaches" Petry joins in the fun. After the Ripken we have a pair of Lance Parrishes that form a full image of the apparently disinterested subject.

This was a very fun and diverse group of new additions to my collections and I have to thank Jon for all the effort he put into identifying and sending cards I could use, especially mini and sticker types that I often don't tend to buy for myself for various reasons. I also appreciate when folks like him go the extra mile to send items of, say, Tigers players in different uniforms, and especially Wolverines of any type. So this was a fantastic second package that kept up the momentum from the first one I showed off earlier.

I'm happy to report that Jon has already been handsomely rewarded for this bounty with a fat stack of cards of some of his own player collections that I had fun rounding up on Sportlots, and I look forward to his reaction to those when he has time!

As for me, I'll likely try to recap this month's show before January is over, both because not doing so would be pretty lazy, plus the February one is right around the corner. Until then, go check out Jon at http://pennysleevethoughts.blogspot.com!

2014 trade package #37: this post is not a SCAMB

I'm showing off what may be my final trade post of 2014, though if that changes I certainly won't complain.  In this case, Braves fan Scott from Sports Cards Ate My Brain contacted me a couple weeks ago to let me know he had a vintage Tiger card he wanted to send me.  I was able to find a similarly vintage Brave for him, and thus a trade was born, and it's my first with Scott, which makes it even cooler.  Here's what he sent:

Dick Kryhoski 1950 Bowman

This is my vintage Tiger, and it doesn't get much more vintage-y than 1950 Bowman!  I believe this is now the oldest card in my vintage PC, so the fact that it's a Tiger is an even bigger bonus.  I didn't know much about Kryhoski, so of course I headed straight for baseball-reference.  He was a Yankees signee (no draft in those days) that was traded to Detroit in 1949.  The 1B was with the Tigers for two of his seven seasons, then swapped to the St. Louis Browns in a deal that brought fellow vintage collection member Cliff Mapes ('52 Bowman) to the Motor City.  He was then sent back to the Yanks in the 1954 deal that led to Don Larsen being in pinstripes; well, Larsen HAD led the league in losses with 21 (with just three wins) that year.

So now I know more about another former Tiger and can add a great, old card to my collection!

Scott threw in a few other cards including

Ripkens!  Four to be exact.  The UD card notes that "Hector Carrasco becomes answer to trivia question" as he was the pitcher that allowed Cal's 3000th hit on April 15, 2000.  Nice group of cards for sure.

Finally, Scott made this a special trade package by including a pair of legendary Wolverines:  Tom Harmon, who won the 1940 Heisman, and Bo Schembechler, Michigan's ubiquitous coach.  Harmon comes from a set honoring Heisman-winners while Bo, of course, hails from 2013 Panini Golden Age, which included several different sports.

Thanks, Scott, for a fantastic trade, and I'm looking forward to doing more dealing next year!  Readers, enjoy the controlled chaos that is Sports Cards Ate My Brain tonight.