6/6/25 card show report: June boon

So, yeah, I went the traditional route and you're getting my June show recap tonight. It's another short one but still filled with cool stuff so I hope you all enjoy it!

According to my spending tracker, that monthly Taylor Town show on June 6 was my only spending for the month, though I certainly made up for that in July! More to come on that.

Anyway, I dropped $110 on some quality stuff, and some of that included some choice 90s inserts. My usual guy had recently bought out a collection with a good number of those found therein, and he invited me to flip through a big box of those (mostly baseball, some football). They were all unpriced, so I was somewhat careful about what I chose, but in the end I was very pleased with the price he gave me after looking them up. You'll see a few of those below and possibly more in trade packages as they get dispersed.

No trade bait this month, so let's get to the goods!

Now this is my kind of scan! And yes, the "90s inserts rule!" tag is in full effect here. First up is a '96 Sportflix Double Take insert starring Ken Griffey Jr. and then-bigtime prospect Ruben Rivera. The two year run of Pinnacle's Sportflix product remains undefeated when it comes to inserts (and we'll get to another one in a minute) including this one that pairs up a couple stars on an extremely cool lenticular design. That particular Griffey card is paired with another one of my favorites from the era: '98 Studio's Freeze Frame. I think the J. Geils Band would approve of this photograph-themed chase card that's numbered /4500 on the back.

An Al Kaline Iconic Card Reprint from 2019 Topps is the lone exception to the 90s greatness in this scan (besides the two hits, of course), and it gives me yet another tribute to a RC I really need to track down one of these days.

Back to the 90s fun and the decade's other notable junior. Dress For Success is a '97 Leaf offering with a faux jersey feel and even slightly raised lettering that makes the card live up to its theme quite nicely. This one's numbered /3500 and yet another example of the kind of stuff we're denied in this era's creative doldrums. The second of three Cals is a '98 Leaf Rookies & Stars Pennant Edition MVP insert, which is also numbered (/5000), and this one picks a top player at each position on the back, with the Iron Man slotting in at 3B. Finally, we get our other look at '96 Sportflix and its Hit Parade insert. Sure, the scene in the background doesn't change per card, but the motion is still extremely cool and I continue to have a fondness for cards that look like this.

And then we have the pair of baseball hits, both of guys that spent at least some time behind the plate. The first is a 2016 Ginter jersey relic of Victor Martinez, who caught over 850 games, mostly with Cleveland and Boston. It was nice getting him on a card where he's pictured with Detroit, for whom he played the final seven years of his career. He's joined by HOF catcher Pudge Rodriguez on a 2004 Donruss Elite Career Best bat card (#d /200). The bat relic version of the card has a back with a COA statement instead of the base insert's explanation of the titular career best number, in this case his 1999 MVP season total of 113 RBI (he never did reach 100 again), plus becoming the first catcher in the 20/20 club (35 HR/25 steals, both also career bests). The bat chip may be relatively tiny but it's still a pretty cool card to me!

On the basketball side of things I did end up with a single new card: an autograph of Moussa Diabate. My second such card of the French C and former Wolverine (2021-22 only) is a rookie-year insert from 2022-23 Prizm called Sensational Signatures. While I don't think you can describe this one that positively, it's still a fun addition for me.

I scored a football hit as well, but first we'll look at the single 90s insert I purchased from that sport. Collector's Edge was certainly prolific during that decade, and that includes 1998, Charles Woodson's rookie year. What you see above is his second base card in the product, which is numbered /5000 like the rest, but is from the "Super Masters" subset which has a different design than the rest. Rookie year and numbered? Sounds like something I'd like to add!

And finally we have this evening's lone football hit. That ended up being auto #2 of UM and Dallas Cowboys TE Luke Schoonmaker. Found in 2023 Panini Contenders, this very reflective foil card is the Playoff Ticket parallel of his base auto, and it's numbered /149. Hopefully the third-year TE is more successful with the Cowboys than fellow ex-Wolverine/Cowboy at the position Sean McKeon.

That's it for June's show but stay tuned for July's recap which includes a fun cameo! Also I'll be back soon with one of the other posts I promised last time.

2020 trade package #35: Sport Card Collectors

Well if I wasn't in the Christmas spirit before, I sure am now! I'm the proud owner of a few cool Christmas card packages that have arrived over the past couple weeks, and today's post features a big one (in every sense of the work) thanks to Matt over at Sport Card Collectors.

He'd let me know to expect this bountiful bubble mailer--special for the occasion since he's a big fan of PWEs, so don't think that went unnoticed!--and I was happy to see it safely arrive. First, the note:

See what I said about Christmas spirit? As Matt mentioned, he sent me both a bit of stuff I was sort of expecting trade-wise and lots more that I'll certainly consider a generous gift.

Here's what was inside:

One of my surprises right off the bat was this 2001 Pacific Private Stock Game Gear 2018 Topps Major League Material Relics jersey of former Tiger V-Mart. I do love making fun of Topps for cribbing this design from a product released more than 15 years prior, but it's one I recall fondly so I'll allow it! This is just my second hit of Victor with the Tigers so it was a fun addition I didn't see coming.

I'll paraphrase the overused joke here and say that someone once asked me which Verlanders I wanted. My response: "Yes." Matt happily obliged here with TOO MANY VERLANDERS, and in this case "too many" equals a perfect page of nine. Better yet, everything here is new to me. I love the two Panini cards--a Diamond Kings Artists Proof (hard to see the logo in the bottom right) and an Optic Prizm--and the Chrome Sepia Refractor is extremely cool as well. TCDB tells me that I'm right at 450 cards of Mr. Upton after this haul, so many thanks to Matt for some really nice JVs to bump up that total.

And speak of the devil, here's one item I did know was coming. A couple months ago a reasonably priced plate of one of his favorite PCs, Rodney Hampton, came up for sale on eBay. I snagged it so Matt wouldn't miss out on it and traded it to him for future considerations. We eventually agreed on a 2005 Topps RC of Verlander, which is worth a lot more than it used to be. I don't remotely understand how flagship rookies that exist in abundance are worth so much but other people can spend their money however they want. As for me, I already have one of these, but now I have something nice to send to fellow Verlander collector Paul who could definitely use one; Merry Christmas to him!

The rest of the package was absolutely stuffed with Michigan Football stuff, which was a blast to go through. I decided to separate these into three scans worth of stuff that's new to me and one large image of the rest so I didn't have to do something like 11 or 12 scans here.

While not every single card featured a college photo it sure feels like the majority of them did, which is 100% awesome. This scan includes four new RCs for my Rookie Blue project, half of which are maize & blue cards: two of injured sideline-to-sideline LB Devin Bush plus Classics cards of Jake Butt and Mo Hurst. They wouldn't be the only first-years in this package....

Besides them, we have a Butt insert (huh-huh, huh-huh /Butthead voice), numbered Braylon, and Gold Press Pass parallels of Hart and Bennie Joppru, and a SAGE IHT base of former DE Tim Jamison. I initially had Hart in the dupes pile until the light hit it correctly and I was able to note that it had gold foil, which meant I could happily add another card to his PC!

I'm designating the top row here as not quite RC status. 2020 Cowboys TE draftee Sean McKeon appears on Panini Chronicles cards with Donruss and Optic designs--cool how they used photos from two different games--and a Scorecard parallel. I believe the Chronicles cards are technically considered inserts, so for now they won't go towards the RC project, but I'm still very glad to have them.

Former QB Navarre makes an increasingly rare cameo (his stuff is just harder to find for some reason) on a Press Pass parallel of his own, this one appropriately Blue, while handing off the ball to a guy we'll see in the next scan.

Do-everything defender Jabrill Peppers also gets a nice trio of his own. Shiny Optic and Prizm parallels bookend another Classics RC appearance, and those inserts represent just a couple more pro uni cards. It's been nice watching him make some plays this season for the hapless Giants!

Last up are a couple 2004 inserts of that RB I just mentioned, Chris Perry (Hot Prospects and Topps), a sweet Elite base of Mr. Heisman Charles Woodson, and a double-the-fun duo of '08 draftees Jake Long and Mike Hart that I somehow didn't have. Woodson and Tom Brady have pretty much become staples of Panini's yearly college themed sets and that's totally fine by me, though I'd be happy to see even more past Michigan legends.

That was the last of the "new" stuff but this huge surprise also counts, in a way. I already owned Terrell's "raw" 2001 Pacific Dynagon Retail RC but I surely won't say no to a PSA 10! I will say that if I didn't already have a copy I probably would have cracked this, but now it'll be fun to keep one slabbed like this.

Lastly, if my words didn't convey how many Michigan Football cards were in this package, hopefully this picture will help you. There's even more maize & blue here, and besides a number of guys you already saw, plenty of my favorites like Arrington, Henne, and Shoelace. Michigan cards never go to waste here, and I'm glad to say that Paul's not the only one (besides me) getting something out of this gift that keeps on giving, as Jeff will be the proud owner of a few new cards himself! Hooray for the season of giving.

Matt, thanks again for this amazing mailer full of Tigers and Wolverines (which sounds way more dangerous when I say it that way!). I really appreciate your generosity, including going outside of your comfort zone to send a package this large all at once. I've had another great year of trading with you and you can bet I'll be back at it in 2021!

Next time, even more giving! Stay tuned while you're decking those halls....

2018 trade package #25: Sport Card Collectors

It's been raining PWEs in my area lately, a fun development that I hope doesn't cease in 2019.  One of those is featured in this evening's TMM post while the other is my third such envelope from Matt of Sport Card Collectors in as many months.  The expert PWE-partier has flipped some fun stuff my way this year and I was happy to see his note in this envelope that promised to continue the trend next year.

Here's what he sent my way this time:

It's a Tigers insert party!  Cobb is a Vintage Legend from 2010 Topps.  Recent former 2B Ian Kinsler looks great in a Detroit throwback uni on a themed insert from 2015.  Ace closer K-Rod looks a bit smaller than usual on a 2016 A&G Mini.  J-Up is looking good on a Black parallel of the Tigers version of his base card from 2016 Heritage.  And the newly-retired V-Mart gets in on the act with a 2014 Chrome Purple Refractor.

And then completely out of the blue, there's this guy.  Joining my IP/TTM auto collection is this signed copy of pitcher Doug Bair's '85 Topps base!  Originally a Pirates draft pick, Bair came to Detroit in a trade with the Cardinals in 1983 (after winning a ring with them the previous year) and hung around until late in the '85 season, meaning he was an '84 champ.  He pitched sparingly during the playoffs, with a lone appearance in the Series, but was a decent option out of the 'pen that year. 
It was definitely a nice surprise to pull out a new autograph for my collection, especially an '84 Tiger, and that's the kind of fun stuff Matt comes up with.

Thanks again for yet another fun trade package, Matt, and I'm looking forward to hitting you back with a very nice Christmas envelope of your own as soon as I have everything in hand.  After that I'm looking forward to more great trades in 2019!

2018 trade package #24: Sport Card Collectors

After another of my usual unscheduled "I don't feel like blogging" breaks I'm back and thankful to be showing off cards from two trade packages!  Please head on over to TMM this evening for a Canadian-American Thanksgiving celebration.

Meanwhile, Matt of Sport Card Collectors was nice enough to let me know another of his signature PWEs was on the way, and it indeed arrived a few days ago, packed with cards of a team I'm thankful to have rooted for all my life:

As he often did at games I enjoyed in recent years, 2B Ian Kinsler will lead things off.  Kinsler benefited from his trade to the Angels after the 2017 season because they ended up flipping him to the Red Sox, allowing him to finally get a ring.  This 2016 Stadium Club ISOmetrics insert highlights his 6.0 WAR (fWAR, I'm guessing) in 2015, a typical season for the talented second-bagger.

Joining him is a duo of inserts of now-former Tiger Victor Martinez, who finally retired after the 2018 season.  I'm one of many who wish the Tigers hadn't extended him a few years ago, but I do appreciate what he did over his seven years in the Motor City, not to mention a pretty solid MLB career overall.  In this scan he appears on a 2015 Elite Gold Stars insert plus a 2016 Gypsy Queen Green Mini (#58/99).

The last player in this group is Max Scherzer, a pitcher who hasn't finished lower than fifth in Cy Young voting since 2013, his fourth season with Detroit, when he won his first of three such awards.  His two-year streak in the NL was broken by Jacob deGrom's insane performance this year, but second-best isn't bad at all.  Neither is that 2014 Topps Heritage Red Border parallel.

Matt surprised me by sending this pair of 2012 Elite autographs along for the ride.  On the left is former pitcher Will Clinard (#177/790), a low pick in 2012 that was out of the game in 2015 but landed on his feet with an insurance job.

The pitcher on his right, Drew VerHagen (#111/699) has enjoyed a bit more success after being selected in the fourth round that same year.  He's appeared in 105 games over five seasons, all with Detroit, mostly contributing out of the pen with the occasional spot start.  As far as I can tell he's likely to remain with the team as they continue to rebuild.

Thanks for another fun PWE, Matt, and I'm looking forward to hitting you back for your multiple trade packages with a nice early Christmas present!

2018 trade package #5: Sport Card Collectors

It's only mid-March and I've already received my second PWE this year from Matt of Sport Card Collectors.  Just like last time he sent me a nice little group of Tigers, and in this case he's got me in a spring training state of mind with six cards of four guys who are all on the 2018 squad:

Future HOFer Miguel Cabrera can pretty much bank on having a better season than he did in 2017, which ended with an unthinkable -0.8 bWAR.  His full-season career low was previously 2.7 in 2008 besides a 0.8 mark during a half-season 2003.  Perhaps he'll be healthier and more focused after putting some offseason off-the-field stuff behind him, though it remains to be seen how much he'll contribute to a rebuilding team that's getting younger.

Matt sent me this trio which starts with Miggy's 2017 Bowman's Best base plus--I'm thrilled to say--the Refractor version!  The latter comes across fairly well in the scan but as is always the case, when you have it in-hand you can tell the difference.

Those are joined by Cabrera's base card from Panini's 2017 Chronicles product, which I got to see for myself for the first time thanks to a trade from Paul of Scribbled Ink.  I hope Miggy doesn't go through a prolonged slump this year as the team could use someone like him to keep filling the seats during a down year.

That Refractor is one highlight of this group but my favorite card of the package is this insert of potential future ace Michael Fulmer.  I love getting new cards of him since his future looks very bright, especially if he can stay healthy; his 2017 numbers weren't too far off from those of his Rookie of the Year campaign the previous year, and that's in spite of some health-related ineffectiveness.  By all reports he seems to be healthy now, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him pile up some scoreless streaks, which are the subject of this 2017 Stadium Club insert.  I'll definitely work on getting to some games I know he'll be starting.

V-Mart has been largely useless (or worse!) the last few seasons despite the questionable extension Detroit gave him a couple years ago, but maybe he'll bring something to the table in 2018 as he'll have to earn his way onto the roster.  The DH looks like he's sleeping on this 2017 A&G Mini but he can't afford to let his bat do the same.  Regardless, I hope he doesn't suffer any ill effects from the heart issues he's gone through the last couple seasons.

Last up is starting catcher James McCann, a guy who's been serviceable both behind and at the plate the last few seasons.  He's no catcher of the future but has generally been able to get the job done, including amassing double-digit homers in the past two campaigns.  He handles his position just fine as well as seen in this fun photo on his Gold parallel from 2017 Topps (#0728/2017).

Thanks for sending more Tigers stuff my way, Matt--it's got me looking forward to the upcoming season!  I'll have a return package ready within a few weeks after I reload on stuff I know you'll like at a couple shows.

If you readers are fans of inserts please make sure to check out my post on TMM this evening--it's got numbered stuff, Refractors galore, and more!

2017 trade package #8: I Feel Like a Collector Again

Time to get back to trade packages!  Including this post I currently have three to show off, though that could change quickly considering how generous and awesome many of you are.

So about a month ago I received my first envelope from Kin of the impeccably-named I Feel Like a Collector Again.  It was a three-card PWE that I'm looking at as a fun icebreaker that should lead to future trades, especially since his note mentioned he's got more to send me eventually.

Here's those three cards:

First up is a pair of 2017 Heritage base cards of DH Victor Martinez and reliever Alex Wilson, done up in the style of the Topps set from 1968, the same year as Detroit's second most recent World Series title.  Both of these guys factored in Detroit's win this afternoon over the Twins with V-Mart scoring a run on utility guy Andrew Romine's grand slam and Wilson earning a two-inning save.

Those guys were joined by another current Tiger familiar to anyone who can read the title of this here blog:

From 2011 Topps Chrome, this here is Justin Verlander's Purple Refractor (#271/499).  Kin's note mentions that he figured I already had this very card, but fortunately for me he was wrong!  Instead, it's my 237th different Verlander.  In terms of that year's rainbow I also own the base Chrome and Refractor from this set as well as the base cards from flagship and Opening Day.  It was nice to add some color to that bunch, not to mention a new Verlander in general.

Thanks again for kicking things off, Kin!  I'm looking forward to trading with you once I can pile up some stuff I know you'll like, but for now rest assured that I was glad to receive this Tigers trio, all of which were new to me!

The Royal "We"

When I went to a pair of Tigers games back in mid-September I thought I was done for the year, but then my work source came up with one last pair of tickets for a Friday night tilt against one of our biggest division rivals, the Royals.  With Detroit still in the thick of the Wild Card race at the time, plus wunderkind Michael Fulmer once again taking the hill, I was thrilled to be heading back to the park one more time this season.

Here's a look at my ticket, which is of the season variety and hence features Tigers players.  My two others this year were Jose Iglesias and Miguel Cabrera (both of which I kept), but needless to say I was thrilled to get Verlander on this one, which I took as a very good sign (even though he wouldn't pitch that day).

Here's a gander at my scorecard for what ended up being an 8-3 home team win:

A few notes:

• Fulmer once again lived up to his excellent reputation by retiring the first eight batters he saw, four of them by strikeout, including striking out the side in the second.  He'd finish the game with nine, and struck out eight of the Royals' starters in seven spectacular frames
• I get very angry when my favorite teams' pitchers walk guys.  Why?  Observe KC's Danny Duffy's first inning.  He walked three of the first four hitters, then allowed a run on a wild pitch/catcher's throwing error.  That might have been the worst of it but then Justin Upton actually came up big with a double to knock in another run.  The Tigers scored a pair on just one hit.  Throw strikes!
• Upton was surprisingly effective in this game, and for the first time that I got to see in-person.  His two-out double in the first inning was big, and then he absolutely smoked a no-doubter into the left field seats in his next at-bat
• Cameron Maybin and Victor Martinez joined in the homer fun as well, with the latter starting off the festivities with a solo shot in the third, and the former following up his teammates with a two-run shot the next inning
• Mark Lowe continued to show why he was such an awful free agent signing, coming into the ninth with an 8-1 lead and allowing a pair of runs on a single, walk, and two-out, two-run triple.  The walk was the only allowed by a Tigers pitcher this game, and (B)Lowe simply wasn't throwing strikes when he needed to.  Shane Greene came on to record the final out, and by strikeout no less
• This victory allowed me to end the year with a three-game winning streak I can take into next season!

A wild weekend of wins

Last weekend I was treated to free tickets to a pair of Tigers night games from two different work colleagues--Friday against the Orioles, then Monday vs. the Twins.  This year's team has been an inconsistent squad that doesn't look likely to make the playoffs, but it's still fun to get down to Comerica Park for a game or two, especially when it's free!

Friday night's affair had me in the seats behind the right field wall just a few rows back.  I'd sat there thanks to the same work friend back in July for a tilt with the Twins, which unfortunately didn't go Detroit's way.

It was a beautiful night for baseball, plus I was excited to see likely AL Rookie-of-the-Year Michael Fulmer on the hill for Detroit.  He definitely didn't disappoint.

Here's a look at my scorecard:

A few notes:

• Fulmer went a strong 7 IP while giving up just 2 ER, a.k.a. a quality start.  Naturally the bullpen, in this case Alex Wilson, hung him out to dry in terms of a decision, then vultured the win when Detroit came back.  Anyway, it was a treat seeing a guy who has future ace written all over him
• See that little "7!" for Hyun Soo Kim's at-bat in the 3rd?  I like to use a "!" when I see a big play I'd like to remember.  In this case, LF Justin "Mendoza" Upton made a nice grab to take away a homer from the Orioles LF, though he made it look effortless.  Not unlike Upton's plate appearances--three strikeouts as part of an 0-4 day
• Baltimore scored their three runs on just five hits, with Adam Jones leading the way with a pair of singles and a walk.  Surprisingly, Detroit held big star Manny Machado in check with an 0-4 day I didn't see coming
• Miguel Cabrera had a similarly rough day with three Ks; his rough day along with a typical Upton performance and not much (until late) from Victor Martinez stalled the offense
• Not J.D. "Every day I'm hustlin'" Martinez, though--he singled in three straight ABs and walked, scoring Detroit's first run
• V-Mart hit a dramatic eighth inning blast to break the tie, and that was more than enough for closer Francisco Rodriguez to send us home happy

With a new winning streak on the line I headed back after work Monday evening for another beautiful night, this time to watch a divisional matchup against Minnesota.  This time I was sitting behind home a bit towards the visitors' dugout, WAY the hell up, which was a lot of fun thanks to the view:

One of Fuji's favorite players, Kurt Suzuki, was in the lineup for the Twins, so I took a few shots.  Here he is before his second inning AB:

Stepping up to the plate:

And taking a hack:

He went on to strike out, but I can't imagine he felt that bad--Tigers starter Daniel Norris finished with a crazy 11 in 6+ IP.  Norris had himself a night, striking out every Minnesota starter at least once except SS/3B Eduardo Escobar.

More scorecard goodness:

• Suzuki managed just one hit but it was a big one:  a solo homer, one of two allowed by Norris.  2015 All-Star 2B Brian Dozier hit his 40th in this game as well
• Detroit's own 2B, Ian Kinsler, started things off with a solo homer, and unlike the previously-mentioned Twins game from July, I didn't miss it!  The Tigers came close to scoring another run on a J.D. Martinez grounder, but after the umpires originally ruled him safe, the Twins challenged and the call was correctly overturned
• Norris was cruising for a while, but as with two of the three pitchers out of the bullpen that night he gave up a pair of walks, which made things more difficult than necessary
• Still, the pen locked things down for 2 2/3 innings and this time Shane Green swiped himself a win
• Tyler Collins took over for Upton in left after the latter injured his leg, possibly on an attempt to snag Dozier's eventual homer.  Collins performed exactly as Upton would have at the dish (for a fraction of the cost) by going 0-3 with a strikeout
• Fill-in 3B Andrew Romine surprised me by having a pretty nice game, going 1-1 with a double, HBP, and walk, the latter of which tied the game back up in the bottom of the 7th
• That was a fun rally, as SS Jose Iglesias followed with a double that scored Romine.  The Twins challenged the very close play at the plate and lost.  The very next play was an Ian Kinsler sac fly that featured another bang-bang play at the dish, and this one went the Tigers' way as well
• Cabrera was having another off night when he decided to give the Tigers a bit of insurance with a moon shot to right-center to make it 4-2
• Rodriguez made things much more interesting in the bottom of the 9th this time after getting two outs.  He walked Byron Buxton and Dozier, then got OF Robbie Grossman to ground out to short

I'm going to guess these are the last games I'll end up attending this year, but at least I finished on a high note with a pair of wins, one of which was secured by a late homer!

On a closing note, if you're still reading this, Fuji, I kept a small souvenir for you that I'll send at some point in the future.

2016 trade package #14: Happy Random Tigers Appreciation Month from Night Owl

Although he might be the most well-known baseball card blogger, I don't trade with Night Owl very often; in fact this is just my third trade with Greg since I started my own blog, and that last deal came almost four years ago.  But I guess he was thinking about me after I helped him with some of his Nebulous Nine wants as part of my Wantlist Awareness Month effort a few weeks ago because he responded in kind with his own theme:  Random Tigers Appreciation Month.  I would argue these Tigers are more quality than they are random, but I'll let y'all be the judge of that:

Scan #1:  the A&G Greenberg is very nice but is the outlier here as everything else hails from 2016 Diamond Kings (Miggy and the second McCann), 2015 Stadium Club (Castellanos, Cespedes, and the second V-Mart), and 2016 Opening Day (J.D., the first V-Mart, and the first McCann).  Opening day is its usual solid if unspectacular self while Stadium Club does a very nice job of returning to its roots, and Diamond Kings looks simply fantastic.  I'm especially happy to add more of J.D. and McCann here, but everything's a winner.

Scan #2 includes the final Stadium Club card from last year--the recently called-up Moya, who went 3-5 and knocked in Detroit's only run in today's loss.  Next we have three former Tigers:  Ordonez, of whom I've mentioned multiple times that I have a ton of cards;  a Purple Opening Day parallel of Scherzer, who's having a very nice 2016; and Miller, who was sent to Miami in the deal that brought Miguel Cabrera to Detroit and may find his talents on the move again this summer.  Next is a trio of rookies:  from 2009 Heritage we have pitcher Alfredo Figaro and OF Wilkin Ramirez, then Brian Powell from '96 Topps.  Figaro last pitched in the Majors in 2014 and Ramirez saw some action with the Twins in 2013.  Powell was sent to the Astros in a deal for future manager Brad Ausmus and returned later as a free agent.  Last up is a '79 Hostess oddball of Detroiter and former Tiger Ron LeFlore.

Greg also hit one of my player collections with a very cool oddball:

I have Gibby's 1981 Topps rookie but until Night Owl included it in this package I'd never added his Coca-Cola version of the card.  The pop manufacturer co-branded these Topps issues of 11 team sets of 12 cards each.  While I'm not sure of their overall scarcity I will say that to this point I've never found a Gibson card at a price I liked, so I'm impressed that Greg sent me a graded one.  I may pop it out of the case eventually but for now I'll keep it as-is.  What a fun piece of a guy who's a hero to Tigers and Dodgers fans alike!

Greg, thanks for an unexpected and not-so-randomly excellent package of Tigers!  Don't think that the cards I sent you recently will be my last attack on your Nebulous Nine needs, either--every month should be Wantlist Awareness Month!

2016 trade package #13: Cards Cards Cards

Kerry, owner of Cards on Cards--my favorite blog named with the same noun twice along with a preposition--sent me a very nice trade package a couple weeks ago.  It was stuffed with cards, and he hoped I could "use a couple of these!"  Well, my Cardinalphile friend, I'm happy to say I could use way more than a couple.  The very few that weren't new to me will be useful in an outgoing trade package or two, so I can use literally everything.

Here's what he sent my way this time:

Mini Miggy (literally, not Avisail Garcia) is waiting impatiently to get things started....

Lots of Tigers in one page, scan 1:  Miggy's back with a pair of recent cards while erstwhile Tigers Ty Cobb and Prince Fielder (the only time you'll hear those two mentioned in the same breath!) join wunderkind SS Jose Iglesias and a four-spot of unfortunately recently injured OF J.D. Martinez.  I don't think I'd had enough of J.D. to give him an individual section in my Tigers box but this quartet should just about do it.

Lots of Tigers in one page, scan 2:  I think I included that second J.D. in this scan thinking he was the guy pictured on the next three cards, the recently resurgent Victor Martinez.  Joining V-Mart Heritage-style is Anibal Sanchez with a cool Latino jersey.  Blog favorite Mickey Tettleton joins the fun with this older Ultra insert, and he forms a solid battery with a trio of new stuff for blog namesake JV.  I'm glad someone else was willing to send me the Marketside card because Topps is bad enough without throwing Wal-Mart pizza into the mix!

Lots of Tigers in one page, scan 3:  this is either a team set or just a nice chunk of the Tigers from 2015 Heritage, a solid looking set.  Of the nine players, Ausmus, Greene, and McCann are still with the club while Gose, Machado, and Ryan are available at AAA.  Cespedes, of course, was flipped to the Mets in a win/win trade (we love Fulmer!) while Chamberlain gets to suck elsewhere in the division and Nathan looks to get back on track with the Cubs.

And here's the last of the Tigers stuff.  Moya is J.D.'s replacement and I hope he proves to be an able fill-in for a few weeks.  He's got the talent to do it!  Stewart was Detroit's first-rounder last year and has more acting ability in his bat than his actress sorta-namesake.

And now get ready for exactly three pages (bonus points to Kerry for sending a multiple of nine!) of Cal Ripken Jr.!  In the interest of not already taking way longer than I should have to get these scanned I didn't put them into any kind of order, which actually ended up being kind of fun now that I'm looking at them.  The cards in this scan alone span 1989-2015.

I didn't do this on purpose but this second scan starts with three highlight-style cards:  the end of his Iron Man streak from '98 Fleer Update and his 3000th hit from 2001 UD and Topps.  Again you can see a nice mix of years and brands.  I really like the '96 Select checklist at the bottom because the term "Chase Program" referring to inserts was a fun throwback to the 90s for me.

Oddly enough this group features a much smaller time span:  1994-2000.  That would explain the variety in brands and products, including Sportflix (Pinnacle), Stadium Club (Topps), Pinnacle Performers (Pinnacle) x2, MVP (Upper Deck), Metal (Fleer), Upper Deck, Leaf, and Collector's Choice (UD).  Check out Cal talking on his totally portable mobile phone!

Once again, Kerry, thanks a lot for the generous additions to a couple of my favorite PCs and Tigers collection!