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!

2025 trade package #6: Topps Cards That Never Were

Hey, look, I've finally made it to the last trade package I received in January! It was a busy month for my mailbox as this was #6 for the first month of '25, and it was a PWE from Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were.

He and I tend to send envelopes back-and-forth without warning, which is a lot of fun to do in this hobby of ours. I certainly wasn't expecting this one but enjoyed its contents as usual. Here's what Jeremy gifted me this time:

Not many managers get much more Classic than Sparky, and he still owns the Tigers record for wins with 1,331, exactly 200 more than fellow HOFer Hughie Jennings, the only other skipper in franchise history with more than 700 victories (Jim Leyland hit that number exactly).

Fielder and Fryman, seen on a pair of '92 issues (Big Daddy's a Gold Hologram version), were the main corner infielders in Sparky's twilight years in Motown. They manned those spots together from 1990-96, when Fielder was traded, a year after Anderson's last dugout appearance.

Keith (Topps Holiday) is tonight's only active MLBer but he still looks very promising despite struggling a bit to get his bat going for the surging 2025 Tigers.

When (not if!) I hit 1000 unique cards of Barry Larkin, it'll be thanks to many of you who've contributed, like this Donruss Orange parallel/'24 Panini Prizm pair from Jeremy. As of this post I need just 19 more.

Robson's the only recent guy besides Keith in this post but the OF and 2016 Tigers draftee (8th round) hasn't been in the organization since 2022.

Pudge joins Sparky in this post as a Tigers HOFer and he has something in common with Fielder above as well: the card you see above is the tougher to find Gold Hologram variant. It's really nice getting those knocked off my wantlists!

Big Daddy makes one more appearance featuring the star of my last post, Mickey Tettleton. The Cecil/Mickey pairing posted 35 and 32 HR in 1992, then 30 and 32 the following season when the UD card above was released.

Last up tonight is a 2014 Panini Golden Age Mini Hindu Back of Red Wings HOF C and current GM, Steve Yzerman. He's come in below expectations in terms of getting the franchise back to the playoffs but may still get there with a bit more time. If nothing else he'll always be a franchise icon and "The Captain" that led the team to three Cups.

Jeremy, thanks again for treating me to this fun PWE. I may actually be returning the favor relatively soon once I decide to pull the trigger to mail the small stack I've put together for you.

With that, January '25 trades are done and I should be mixing things up a bit with January's show recap next time.

2024 trade package #13: Topps Cards That Never Were

Happy September, y'all! We're quickly approaching fall, which means college football is back, and the defending national champion Wolverines opened up their 2024 season with a win this past weekend. And somehow the Tigers haven't even been eliminated yet. So it's a great month for sports around here.

Both of those teams and more popped up in the latest trade package I received from fellow Tigers fan Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were back in June. In fact, "more" is a good description for this absolutely stuffed package full of players I collect:

Hey, how about Rich "Dick Mountain" Hill joining the Red Sox to pitch in his 20th MLB season at the age of 44? Jeremy sent me three Topps parallels picturing Hill with three different teams, though none of them are the Sox, a team he's pitched for in four stints (in parts of six seasons). His fellow ex-Wolverine Barry Larkin is another of the school's most well known alumni, and he did indeed dominate at times over his HOF career. Dean Palmer is probably not as common of a PC outside of fans of Detroit, Texas, and maybe KC, so I appreciate folks like Jeremy including him when sending me cards. Meanwhile, Cal's my biggest player collection by far with nearly 1300 cards, like the Topps offerings you see above--my favorite being the die-cut--and a couple more below.

This doesn't happen too often but I prefer the Topps insert to the Panini/Donruss one in this case, both because of the design and photo choice. Tork's had a nice few weeks back with the big team and actually homered off of Rich Hill today! And I can never have too many Verlanders, like my first 2024 issue of him from Bowman.

Jeremy also included lots of basketball stuff. That begins with a three-pack of Hoops-related cards, including the Winter version. Former coach Juwan Howard is next with a pair of college issues, but these are just two of a larger bunch from the package.

If those Howard cards don't scream "1990s" I don't know what does! Meanwhile, LeVert is a top-10 guy in my basketball collection and one of just seven with 50+ cards. Like THJ he got in on the Hoops action too.

Though they don't all look it, all of LeVert's cards are different because they're either regular or Winter versions, or parallels with small color foil differences. Caris gives way to Glen Rice, my top basketball guy with over 200, currently the only member of that club. A single Duncan Robinson has him tied for third in my collection of players with that last name (according to TCDb) behind David and Rumeal, and tied with Glenn. Jalen Rose is another Fab Fiver to get some love here thanks to eight total cards, three of which you see here.

That many different cards means we get to see Rose on a number of teams and designs, which is always great. And that's also true of his Fab Five teammate Chris Webber, #2 in my collection and nearing 200 (Howard and Rose are 3 and 4, the only others above 100). He was the most popular player in this mailer with 27 cards by my count!

Lots of Webber means lots more 90s stuff, and these definitely take me back to my teenage years. Out of all of these, the Upper Deck base feels a lot more timeless to me than the other designs that are more a product of their time (though still fun).

As we approach the end of the 90s and get into the aughts we get into some designs that appeal more to me. UD3 was a very cool product in multiple sports, Ultra was a perennial favorite, UD continued a streak of quality, Bowman's Best was superior to its recent baseball efforts, and even Topps Tipoff looked solid. Fleer's Premium was pretty nice as well, but the weird Topps Chrome design here feels like a rare miss.

Here's the last of the Webbers including a cool UD trio from later in his Sacramento tenure, then a couple horizontal issues from Ultra nd Stadium Club. The Award Winner card refers of course to his '93-'94 Rookie of the Year nod in a close vote against Penny Hardaway, another guy who went on to a very nice career.

And we'll finish up with football. Jeremy hit a whole bunch of names here too, which I loved. Brooks and Cooper are kind of deeper cuts for folks that aren't fans of the program like I am, but Brady, Calloway, Carter, Edwards, Henne, and Hutch are all pretty well known, I'd say, especially the GOAT and the biggest reason the Lions have returned to respectability. (By the way, this isn't the last time you'll see Aidan in this post!)

If you thought that first scan had a lot of talent then feast your eyes on this one. Kenn was a five-time Pro Bowler at LT for the Falcons. Long was a fantastic LT in his own right, and a former #1 overall pick. Owens spent nine years in the league at linebacker as a Rams first-rounder. Wheatley's storied Michigan career led to 10 NFL seasons--not bad for a running back! Fearsome LB/DE LaMarr Woodley won a ring with the Steelers. And Woodson is simply an all-time great in both the college and pro games. The Select insert that includes Hutch and Nico is especially cool as it features talent from all aspects of the game: offense, defense, and special teams.

The last I have of the football stuff is these horizontal cards. All guys were mentioned above except new Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh. The Brady/Woodson insert is fun given their notable playoff history that will forever link the '97 champion teammates.

Jeremy, thanks again for this huge amount of great cards that'll benefit many of my collections! I have some interesting stuff set aside for you and may be shipping them out within the next week or two depending on how things go.

As for posting over here, I think next up will be another show recap, or I may get to eBay or Facebook Marketplace purchases, whatever I feel like. Until then, eat 'em up, Tigers, and GO BLUE!

2023 trade package #10: Topps Cards That Never Were

Hey, why don't I show off another envelope I received last month? This one was a surprise from Florida resident Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were. Jeremy has been a fun trade partner as he collects the Rays as well as the Tigers, who will always remain my favorite MLB team even when their owners ignore their way to a perpetual rebuild. Here's what the maker of missing Topps cards PWEd up to me this time:

Up top we have a pair of Topps cards that ARE, both of Wolverines I collect. First is a zoomed-in action shot of San Diego's versatile Jake Cronenworth, who's switched to playing 1B from primarily 2B after the Pads acquired Xander Bogaerts. Though he hasn't put up gaudy numbers he remains a key piece for a team with playoff expectations. TCDb tells me I have 82 of his cards, and it's very cool to be well on my way 100 when a few years ago he wasn't even considered a serious MLB prospect.

Meanwhile, Barry Larkin's card is one that was made this year to look like it was made in '88. Obviously it wasn't since the photo shows Larkin wearing one of my favorite versions of the jerseys the franchise wore late in his career. His card back then looked like this,

and the stats on the back from his first two seasons didn't portend his HOF career, though 1988 would be his first of 12 All-Star appearances. This is one of 938 Larkins I own as I continue the march to 1,000+!

The last baseball card of the group stars a former Tiger, one who's due to face his former team in his debut for his newest one. Justin Verlander will get the start tomorrow a day after another former Tiger, Max Scherzer, leads his Mets against Detroit. Jeremy mentioned in his note that this Panini Prizm insert--a Red/White/Blue Prizm--is "the usual Verlander parallel" and that running joke has provided me with some very nice JV cards since the two of us have been trading. I currently count 568 many Verlanders in my collection and as always, I can never have too many!

Last up is a third Wolverine that he was nice enough to include. I've mentioned that the blue 2022 Panini Select Draft cards are the product's retail version when they've come up in previous posts, and now I have another one to add to my collection: GOAT DB Charles Woodson. The set's color scheme continues to complement the Wolverines found therein, especially since they appear in their college uniforms. As always, that's a big plus for me! I wonder how many of the 338 Woodson cards I own show him as a Wolverine? TCDb says just 18 which feels low, but that makes me appreciate the few that I have.

Jeremy, thanks again for the fun surprise PWE! As you can tell by all I said about the four cards you included this time I really appreciate you sending all of them my way. And I'm glad you liked the stuff I sent back down south. This may not be a good season to be a Tigers fan but I hope you're enjoying the resurgent Rays in 2023!

2021 trade package #23: Topps Cards That Never Were

Those of you who were following Jeremy at Topps Cards That Never Were are probably already aware that he appears to be retiring from the blogosphere for good. That's a shame since it's always fun to read what a fellow Tigers fan is thinking, and he produced some pretty cool customs too! Plus, how many people do you know that actually collect the Rays?

Last month marked two years since he first sent me cards, and I've posted PWEs from him on four other occasions: late last year, then this past January, March, and May. This evening I'm back with one last surprise envelope from the erstwhile blogger, one that this past weekend I teased would drive away the clouds and rain that have made up most of the weather around here recently.

As usual the envelope came with Jeremy's customary baseball-shaped note and a nice message. I owe him just as much thanks for the stuff he sent my way! And that includes the brightness you'll see below:

In 1999 Stadium Club Chrome proved to be a beautiful looking insert thanks to Topps combining their perennial best looking base design plus the Chromium elements that took the hobby by storm in other products. It even became its own product for one glorious year in 2000 (and one more time last year). But it's otherwise been a fun insert to find since its 2017 return, and even more fun when you get the Refractor version, which you see above starring one Barry Larkin, a guy I happen to collect. Stadium Club tends to be a Topps product that includes a lot of past HOFers and stars and I'm always glad to see Barry represent the Maize & Blue in sets like this. Plus, I mean, it's a Refractor!

And speaking of shiny Larkin cards, here's my newest version of his 2021 Donruss base: a Holo Purple parallel. I don't tend to think of the Holos as Panini's answer to Refractors as much as I do their various Prizms, which are printed on Chromium-type cards, so I won't compare this to the above Refractor. But I will say it's still a cool shiny insert with a border that makes identifying it a breeze, plus a design that takes me back to Barry's 1987 Donruss RC.

Want to see the Little League home run described on the back you just read? Feast your eyes on this:

There's almost enough shine between these two to make me forget how quickly it gets dark this time of year!

Anyway, I want to say a sincere "thank you" to Jeremy for six envelopes full of some great cards and wish him well as he spends more time with his family. Thanks, dude!

2021 trade package #13: Topps Cards That Never Were

I was happy to get to enjoy a surprise double mail day last week, so I've got two trades to show off before getting back to Sportlots stuff, and maybe even other secret stuff?

First I'm going to show you the very cool PWE sent to me by Floridian Tigers/Rays fan Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were:

Ooooh, more Larkins, I'm already hooked. And I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the parenthetical about the "usual Verlander parallel". More on that in a minute. Here's a look at what was inside:

I guess I'm living in a parallel universe since all three of these are alternative versions of base cards! Card #1 is a Sepia parallel of Barry Larkin's 2020 Stadium Club base. That's a product you could endlessly parallel and I'd be into it because the photo/design combo is Topps at its best (and I just don't understand why they can't bring the same success to flagship). The basic 2020 design, while being very textbook Stadium Club, differentiates itself nicely, and Sepia gives it a classy look for sure. Great start!

I think I may have to hand the first place trophy to card #2, though, a 2021 Donruss Holo Orange insert. The shiny orange border looks really nice on Barry's card, part of the "Retro '87" subset as it reuses that year's design. Makes sense since Larkin's Donruss RC can be found in that very set. Believe me that the scan doesn't do this one justice, especially because it leaves out the "holo" part. Just an excellent looking Barry, and now I want to track down one in red!

Finally, we have what's become an unintentional tradition in Jeremy's envelopes to me. This is the fifth time he's sent me some cards, and the last three in a row have all included at least one JV parallel. You can somewhat tell from the scan that this here is one of Justin's four appearances in 2020 Topps Update's Gold Foil set. His other three are league leader cards while this one highlights his 2019 All-Star Game selection. You'd be forgiven for thinking it's a Rainbow Foil card--I sure did--but the tell is the gold area on the left side of the card. Why have both Gold and Gold Foil parallels? Only Topps knows!

Here's a quick look at the backs, which I like to include when traders are nice enough to limit the amount of work I have to do!

Jeremy, thanks for the fun surprise PWE! I really liked all three cards, all of which I needed, and which are more than easy on the eyes. I should be hitting up at least one show, if not two, in the next few weeks, and I'll make sure to keep an eye out for a few things I think you'll enjoy. And maybe I'll figure out a "usual" type to send your way too!

2021 trade package #10: Topps Cards That Never Were

Baseball is back, bay-bee! The Tigers kicked off the season with a traditional home opener, which meant a sell-out crowd (if not a full stadium, thankfully) braving freezing temps and snow. Miggy homered, John's guy Matt Boyd pitched well, Paul's guy JaCoby Jones knocked in the game-winning run, and the bullpen mostly combined to not sabotage the lead. All in all it was a nice way to open up the month and the season--no foolin'!

Since I'm in a celebrating mood I'll mark the occasion with my latest trade package, a single-card PWE from Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were, who's enjoying weather that's much more my style. That seems very appropriate to me since we both root for and collect the Tigers, plus his other favorite team, the Rays, signed my favorite player, Rich Hill, so we'll have him in common as well.

This is the fourth time he's sent me an envelope and I was happy to see it in my mailbox since he's done a great job of picking out stuff for me in the past. Plus I was thrilled it meant the minimum amount of work since I only had one thing to scan!

As Cap would say, "I understood that reference!" The last time he sent me cards, the first trade envelope of 2021, one of the items was a 2020 Topps Update Rainbow Foil parallel of a certain guy I collect whose name is in this here blog's title. I appreciate the promise of possibly including a Series 2 card next time!

Don't be fooled by the goofy scan, this is indeed a Rainbow Foil card, not some weird experimental purple parallel! As in years past the whole card has that reflective foil look, and this year's return of borders also aids in telling parallels apart.

And yes, it stars one of my favorite guys to collect in Verlander, a guy who's no stranger to opening day. While with the Tigers he was the pitcher in game #1 from 2008-2014 plus 2016 and 2017. Detroit went 6-3 in those games while Justin's record was 3-1 when earning the decision.

Unfortunately his TJ surgery rules him out for most if not all of 2021. Neither that nor the fact that he hasn't been with the Tigers since 2017 will dampen my enthusiasm for picking up new cards of him like this one, though. Oddly enough I don't have the base version yet since the one I recently got from Kerry was an SP. I have no problem starting things off with something shiny, of course!

Here's the back with a crazy 16 years worth of JV's stats. If you excise his cup-of-coffee 2005 season and super abbreviated 2020, his average campaign comes to a 16-9 record with a 3.31 ERA and 214 strikeouts, plus a bWAR of 5.2 (and HOF-affirming total of 72.3). And just look at all those times he led the league in one or more stats!

Jeremy, thanks again for the fun surprise addition to my many Verlanders by continuing the rainbow streak! Whenever I can get to a card show after getting vaccinated I'll make sure to gather up a few nice things to send back your way. In the meantime I hope Rich Hill and your Rays have you celebrating too.

2021 trade package #1: Topps Cards That Never Were

After being the source of one of my final 2020 trade packages, Jeremy from Topps Cards That Never Were is back at it again with my first envelope of '21! It's a three-card PWE that expertly pinpoints multiple collections and it makes me glad that I made sure to include him in my 2020 Christmas cards.

The cardboard trio was protected nicely in a toploader with a note on top. Recent pulls are definitely good fodder for trade packages folks send my way considering I don't really bust packs/boxes anymore, much less newer stuff, so I can always use stuff like that. As a matter of fact I did need all three cards here:

First we'll look at the Barry Larkin card on the left: a Green version of Topps' 2020 Decades' Best insert. The back, which you'll see at the end of this post, does a solid job of explaining Barry's inclusion in the set, and so do his stats and accolades from the 90s. His team opened the decade with its most recent World Series title, he won the '95 NL MVP, and he was an All-Star for eight of those ten seasons. Larkin put up a .303/.388/.466 line while walking more than he struck out (remember when guys used to do that?) and was credited with an outstanding 52.6 bWAR, a number better than career marks for several HOFers at the position. While this Wolverine doesn't approve of the color used for this parallel, I'm glad to add the card to Barry's PC, which is nearing 800 items!

The other cards star pitchers I love to collect, though I couldn't immediately identify them since I'm so out of the loop when it comes to Topps parallels. It didn't take me too long to label them as Rainbow Foil cards from 2020 Topps and Update. Hill's is from the flagship product, though he does make an appearance in Update too for some reason. JV's from Update on an active leaders card as he's tops in strikeouts (which you'll get to see below). Rich is a free agent after the Twins took a flyer on him and saw him pitch limited innings over eight games, so we'll see what the future holds for the 40-year-old. Verlander's 2021 debut, if there is one, will be delayed since he underwent Tommy John surgery. Hopefully he returns to being at least close to the dominant force he was before a rare injury sidelined him.

Here's the backs as promised. Barry's card does a good job of spelling out his ranks in hitting stats for the decade. It's fun getting to see Hill's entire, well-travelled career on one card. And I laughed at seeing corpulent "free agent" P Bartolo Colon sneak his way into the bloated Update set.

Jeremy, thanks again for thinking of me two months in a row! I appreciate you being well aware of who and what I collect and treating me to new cards I needed that I wouldn't have picked up myself anytime soon. Hopefully you liked the stuff I finally sent your way after this second PWE from you arrived, and eventually I'll try to build up more stuff for another trade.

Next time we'll be sticking with trade cards, but instead of the southeast we'll be heading way out west with another of my favorite guys to deal with!

2020 trade package #36: Topps Cards That Never Were

This evening I'm showing off the first of the Christmas cards I've received so far this month, with two others ready go to after this one. I'm not sure if I'll be expecting any others to get delivered before or after the holiday thanks to the great USPS slowdown of 2020, but all the same I'm happy to have been sent cards from three very cool people.

Envelope #1 is a PWE from Jeremy over at Topps Cards That Never Were. While I don't want to assume Jeremy's intentions, I'm considering what he sent a Christmas card because it's the season for giving, and I'd say he nailed that sentiment. A fellow Tigers fan and not-so-fellow custom card artist, here's a look at what I found in this PWE:

See what I mean? "Found this card at my LCS, and it screamed you." So he grabbed it for me and sent it up here. That's a Christmas present if I've ever seen one.

So what we've got here is Barry Larkin's entry in the Old School Colors insert out of the college-centric 2017 Panini Contenders Draft product. It's a cool insert of a player I collect wearing his college colors, and therefore I love it. I also think it's great that Panini did a little blurb about how he committed to playing football for Bo but went the baseball route instead. UM's had lots of stars go through the NFL but much fewer when it comes to the diamond, so I'm glad he made the choice he did. He was good enough in Ann Arbor to get taken fourth overall in that stacked 1985 first round and never looked back.

Jeremy, whether or not you sent this as a Christmas present, thanks for the early gift, not to mention thinking of me as soon as you saw a Michigan card! You're due to be one of the lucky recipients of Christmas cards from me once I have things in-hand, so I'll be happy to return the favor in the spirit of the season.

I'll be back soon for part 2!

2019 trade package #29: Topps Cards That Never Were

I know I've mentioned multiple times in the past that I love finding new trade partners as it's one of the things that keeps collecting and blogging interesting.  That's why I was glad when Jeremy, who reps Topps Cards That Never Were, reached out to me a couple weeks ago.  It didn't hurt that he was offering up one of my player wants, but it was also fun to be dealing with another Tigers collector.  As it turns out, I was able to send him nearly half my pile of dupe/unwanted Detroit cards, plus a few Rays and other guys he collects.  And what he sent my way was quite useful for my own collection!

Tigers stuff was the majority of this package, so we'll start there.  There was a '90 Topps-sized hole in my Sparky collection because I still don't own that set, but no longer!  Fulmer's and Iglesias' '18 Topps base were also new to me.  Fryman, Gibby, and Henneman were all stalwarts on the Tigers teams of my youth so I was plenty happy to see them again here.  And that Kinsler Elite (#203/349) is my second version of that fun Donruss insert, not to mention the third appearance by the revamped Panini brand in this scan alone.

Kudos to Jeremy for hitting my Tony Phillips and Mickey Tettleton collections as well.  They get less time here compared to many others that I collect--they don't have Google Photos albums, for instance--but I still love collecting that fun pair of 90s Tigers.  Tony's 2000 MLB Showdown card was definitely a surprise for me, and a nice inclusion.

Hicks, Perez, and Stewart are naturally more recent guys, and I especially hope that the latter two are part of the team's future.

Here we have a fun mix of the last of the non-PC Tigers stuff.  Cruz and Nevin are a couple more 90s guys I remember well, and I appreciated that Deivi signed a TTM auto for me way back, possibly because the made the effort of sending my request in basic Spanish.  Pemberton has to have one of the most British names the sport has seen, and he would fit well in a group chaired by fellow OF Reggie Abercrombie.

On the right the trio of team cards is pretty cool, with none more interesting than the one highlighting the 2005 Lakeland Tigers.  The franchise's A+ team, now known as the "Flying Tigers," they play in the Florida State League in the Tigers' spring training complex.  The card appears to have been produced by Grandstand Cards and sponsored by Peter Pan peanut butter, and the team checklist mostly notes an array of uninteresting prospects, plus one Justin Verlander!

Now that we're on to the PC content, first on the agenda is former blog namesake dude Curtis Granderson...and boy did Jeremy ever hit that collection hard with 10 cards, eight of which I needed (you'll see the 10th in the next scan).  Most of what's here is Topps-branded cards from 2010-13 with Grandy as a Yankee, which explains why I didn't have them, but there's a trio of Tigers cardboard as well.  The Uncommon '08 StarQuest insert is kind of cool but I can't deny that the Diamond Anniversary card looks great.

After a 2010 Topps National Chicle of Granderson (putting me at 151 cards of one of my favorite former Tigers), we get to the star of this post.  When Jeremy offered me a 2001 Topps Traded Gold parallel of Griffey (#1619/2001) I was definitely motivated to get off my butt and get a trade done--after all, it was on my single/player wantlist!  I've long loved the 2001 Topps design and its inaugural Gold parallel numbered to the year.  Junior was one of a few players who got a reprint of their first Topps Traded issue as an entry in the base set produced during Topps' 50th anniversary.  Sweet!

Joining that is a fun pair:  a Moments & Milestones card with a bit of damage up front and some paper loss on the back that might interest Fuji for his damaged cards PC, plus a 2018 Donruss Holo Green parallel.  Mr. Padre Tony Gwynn joins him from that insert and brings a base card from the 2015 set along for the ride.  And a slightly damaged 2005 Studio Heritage (#0840/1000) of the other Junior I collect, Cal, closes out this group.

Sticking with PCs but going back to Tigers content, here's a page's worth of Tram and Lou.  As dad was told by mother, you can't have one without the other!  None of these is new to me--I own all seven sets represented here--but I'm still happy to see this bunch of cards of the best double play combo anyone's likely to see for quite a while.

And now we've almost reached the end, but we're not done yet, not if JV has anything to say about it!  Four of the five cards in this scan are new, with just the Postseason Heroes card already having a place in his collection.  I'm not sure how rare the Gold Topps Town cards are relative to the regular ones, but either way, I'll take it.  If Upper Class doesn't describe Mr. Upton's status among active pitchers, I don't know what does.  After Gwynn's card above, 2015 Donruss makes another appearance.  And the Ed McMahon to the Gold Griffey's Johnny Carson in this package is a 2008 UD Piece of History Timeless Moments jersey.  New Verlander hit alert!  A quick count tells me I have 29, broken down into 17 relics, three manu-relics, six autographs, and three 1/1s.  What a nice way to cap off a package!

But not so fast, my friend, because we're not quite done here.  What else would you expect from a guy who writes for "Topps Cards That Never Were" besides...

...custom cards!  Jeremy mentioned that he had done a few custom Barry Larkins and I jumped at the chance because I love seeing what folks do with these.  Not only did he live up to his blog's name with a Topps offering--the Olympic team subset from '85--but he tossed in a couple two player Fleer offerings in the style of the '86 and '87 products.  Nice!

Jeremy, thanks again for a fun first trade, which I'm sure will lead to many more.  I know you received your couple pounds of cards and I look forward to seeing what interested you most out of those.  Once again, hooray for new trade partners!