2021 trade package #14: Scribbled Ink

My second package that arrived last week came from buddy of the blog Paul of Scribbled Ink (more commonly on Twitter these days). He'd let me know that he found something interesting at an antique/thrift shop plus I knew of a couple cards he'd set aside for me. I can't say I was exactly expecting this, though!:

I'll have to admit, my first thought when I saw this was

Well, there were indeed some cards to be found:

Here's a five spot of 2021 Topps Tigers. My collection of those was next to nothing because it wasn't like I was gonna go out and buy any packs, plus I didn't get into the dime boxes at the last show. Miggy is continuing his decline as most expected, but he'll still be fun to watch as he chases dual milestones of 500 HR and 3000 hits. One or both of this marks will probably need him to play until next season, but with Detroit in the midst of an endless rebuild there's not much reason not to play him! He's paired up with fellow "masher" Jonathan Schoop, who hasn't lived up to that moniker as much as say, catcher Wilson Ramos, in 2021.

Jeimer's been fairly reliable, though, and may be a rare example of a good outcome of an Al Avila trade. Is that possible? I hope to see that trend continue because the Tigers need all the bats they can get right now. Flipping over to the mound quickly, I was never really the biggest fan of Buck Farmer, so I wasn't terribly disappointed when he was let go recently. Paul's guy JaCoby is a player I do hope sticks around a bit longer, though, since he's a pretty good OF (if not a future top three guy) with a streaky bat but very good defense. I included the '95 EMotion Pudge here as he's in my collection of former Tigers and didn't fit in elsewhere. That was definitely one of Fleer's cooler 90s products.

Scan #2 includes the PC guys. Griffey leads off this group, and Longball Lore is a good set to include him in since he's one of just nine players to reach the 600 HR mark. This A&G insert from 2020 mentions him tying the MLB record for consecutive games with a homer at eight in 1993 (with Dale Long and Don Mattingly the only other players to do so). Fittingly, the '20 Update Chrome card that comes next also has something to do with dingers, namely Junior's 1994 HR Derby performance, the first of three he won.

Moving on, Mr. Padre is part of Topps' 70th anniversary celebrations in its 2021 flagship product. This 70 Years of Topps insert of Gwynn is done up in the 1974 design and the back explains that the set was released in one series for the first time that year, which I didn't know. Next to him is a Verlander Paul asked if I needed, and I said yes because I wasn't aware it existed. 2014 Bowman's Hometown is a parallel that brings to mind the International and Interstate versions you could have found in the late 90s.

Switching over to the horizontal axis we start with another '95 EMotion example of another former Ranger/Tiger, Dean Palmer. I was curious about the use of "alert" up front, and the back states, "Despite 22 errors in 1994, Palmer showed good range at third." A Gold Glover he wasn't, but he could hit! Sticking with that side of the infield we see a 2020 Topps Chrome Update Pink Wave Refractor of the Iron Man. I think there's too many types of Refractors (and Prizms too!) out there, but I'm cool with both the pink and the "wave" pattern here. By the way, like his fellow Junior above, this one highlights a HR Derby, in this case Cal's 1991 performance.

And last up we have the Michigan cards, three of which even feature Michigan unis--a relative rarity when it comes to baseball compared to basketball and football! My first Criswell card came from Jeff (and Sportlots) but was a Team USA card, so I'm a bigger fan of these 2020 Prizm Draft offerings: base and Green Pulsar (I believe). Very cool to see college action on a baseball issue like this.

Next, I was in on Cronenworth well before he surprisingly turned into a quality player after being dealt to the Padres, but his star turn has resulted in many more items than he'd previously had on his checklist, not to mention increased prices. That means I really appreciate Paul thinking of me with his 2021 Donruss base, one that stars the iconic "Rated Rookie" logo.

I should probably temporarily rename this blog "Too Many 2020 Topps/Chrome Updates" until I get 'em all because they've been doing a lot of work feeding my PCs. Dick Mountain doesn't have that many cards of his yearlong stint with the Twins, but this is one of them. He sure looked good making the Yankees bats look ridiculous the other night!

Finally, spark plug OF Jordan Nwogu makes his collection debut, joining former teammate Criswell out of 2020 Prizm Draft. The former walk-on was a blast to watch out of the leadoff spot, leading the team in batting average last year and enjoying the excitement of a College World Series final appearance plus getting chosen by the Cubs in the third round. He's a guy to keep an eye on to make lots of noise in the bigs and I'm excited to track down more of his cards.

Well that was a pretty exciting bunch of cards I think, so thanks Pau--

What?

A box that large, $11 in shipping, and there were only cards inside, you say? Yeah, I guess you're right, I should see if there's anything else...

Oh yeah, here's something else:

Remember Ken Griffey Jr., Bart? He's back! In Bobblehead form! This hand painted bobblehead (it's NOT A DOLL, MOM!) is a super cool piece to add to my collection, and I really appreciate Paul finding it, thinking of me, and anteing up to send it to me.

Let's open it up and take a look:

I would guess that Griffey was the main reason I became aware of San Bernadino, located in southern California. Young George Ken was the #1 overall pick in 1987, of course, and he'd play most of his second pro season with the Spirit, Seattle's A+ team from '87-'94 (and again from 2001-06). They've changed classes, names, and affiliations a few times since, but that's where he found himself for a chunk of 1988, and that year Best would make him #1 (a full year before Upper Deck) in their Minor League set for the team:

Of course, the following year he'd begin his illustrious career just two years after being drafted, and he wouldn't look back. But Spirit fans got to see glimpses of his greatness before that, so why not celebrate one of your franchise's greatest alumni with a bobblehead? The Spirit did exactly that, and as far as I can tell this bobblehead was given out in 2001. Overall I consider it to be a very nice looking piece that's in great shape, plus it's even somewhat limited--this one is stamped "4078/5000" on the bottom. That it's complete with the packaging is icing on the cake, but I'll likely display it with my other bobbleheads freely because I like doing that. This is a very cool surprise indeed!

Paul, thanks for the cardboard and, uh, hand painted surprises that were perfectly targeted at my collections! I tip my cap to you for putting in the effort to find stuff for me, not to mention going out of your way to ship it to me. Hopefully with another couple shows on the calendar soon I'll be able to return the favor!

Speaking of trade packages another one arrived today, so I'll probably show that off soon in between a recently arrived eBay purchase and another that should ship soon. A steady stream of incoming cards is certainly keeping me busy!

6/2/18 card show AND Tigers game report: a great day? :Repeated nodding:

Last Saturday ended up being one of my best days of 2018 so far, starting with a show, ending with a Tigers game, and some extra fun in between!  To prove how great it was I'm going to recap both the show and game in one post.

First up was a trip to the usual monthly show in Taylor.  I had a friend with me coming to the game and didn't want to keep them waiting while diving through the boxes for too long (plus I eventually run out of patience anyway) so I wasn't at it as long as usual.  Still, I came out with almost 100 cards for a nice even $20--mostly quarter cards except for a few $1 additions.

A number of those are football inserts that I'm showing off on this evening's TMM post, so please sure to head that way when you're done here.  As always a large chunk will be going towards trade packages while I've got a few things for you to see right here:

We'll start with this 2008 Topps Moments and Milestones card of former blog namesake Curtis Granderson.  Curtis has a few cards in the product, which contains numbered versions highlighting particular stats, such as his 23 homers in 2007--the year he piled up that many triples, as well as 20+ doubles and steals to form a prolific foursome.  As you can see here this is card #8 from the home runs subset, but he's got plenty of others to chase.

As it turns out this ended up being interesting foreshadowing for later in the afternoon....

Hooray for 90s inserts!  This pair of Tony Gwynn parallels hails from Score's 1998 Rookie/Traded product, which continued the silver foil Showcase insert from the flagship version.  Score!

Speaking of pairs, here's some pocket aces, in a manner of speaking.  I ended up finding two Greg Maddux inserts from the early 2000s I liked:  2000 Pacific Invincible's Diamond Aces and 2003 Ultra's Photo Effex.  As always, "ace" is an understatement when describing Maddux.

You just never know who the big winner will be until you walk out of the show, and in this case it was #1 baseball PC guy Cal Ripken Jr. with eight (his uniform number, of course) new additions. 

We begin in the early 90s with a pair of '92 Topps Gold Winners.  I never get sick of that shot of Ripken next to the Gehrig memorial.  Sticking with the decade but jumping forward we have high end offerings in the form of 1999 Flair Showcase Row 3 and SPx.  Did Showcase ever feature a bad design?

Moving into the early 2000s I came up with another fantastic pair:  2001 Topps HD and 2003 Playoff Portraits.  HD was another one of those beautiful Topps products that fell by the wayside so we could instead suffer through the endless garbage they offer today, but at least its light burned bright for a couple years.  Portraits, meanwhile, was a very nicely done artistic effort, and I continue to chase my PC guys from that set.

We'll finish up the show recap with some more recent examples:  2016 Diamond Kings and 2017 Stadium Club.  Both are fairly recent revivals of classic brands and are each executed very well.  Stadium Club's continuing quality proves that all is not lost when it comes to Topps!

With the show out of the way we headed east for the baseball game and a fun giveaway.  Because we parked in the structure of one of the nearby casinos--free parking and a short walk to Comerica--we both played the slots for a bit.  I threw some cash and free play into one of my favorites of late, the Simpsons, and just a few spins later was rewarded with a win that took care of the day's expenses with a bit left over.  Sure is nice to get paid to have fun!

Shortly after we made for the ballpark in hopes of snagging the day's promotional item, one of the main reasons I picked this game.  Despite bad luck in the past, the day's good fortune continued and I was able to bring home my prize:

a Bill Freehan bobblehead!  The Tigers are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the '68 champs, and the former Wolverine/Tiger is the second of four players to receive this honor.  You can see the rest as I decided to scan the four sides of the box for completeness:

At this point my day was pretty much already made, and we settled into our seats in foul territory in right field, an area called

"Kaline's Corner" to honor the turf roamed by Mr. Tiger.  The weather was gorgeous and our view was great, and happily the game turned out to be a fun one.

Here's my scorecard with a few notes:

1. Jeimer Candelario, the prize of last year's Alex Avila/Justin Wilson swap with the Cubs, led off the bottom of the first with a homer, and many of us thought the rout was on.  Not so much, though, thanks to Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ's excellent eight strikeout performance.
2. Also, Toronto took the lead in the third with a couple doubles and a single.
3. New RFer Nicholas Castellanos came up with a clutch two-out double to knot up the score in the bottom half, though!
4. Unfortunately, Tigers start Matt Boyd gave up a pair of solo homers in the fifth to put Detroit down again.  An impressively large Toronto contingent made a respectable amount of noise throughout the game, especially during this inning.
5. He got put in!  Curtis Granderson replaced starting Blue Jays LF Teoscar Hernandez after the latter fouled a ball off his foot.  The former Tiger favorite struck out twice and couldn't quite haul in what would've been a tough catch.  Needless to say I was thrilled to see him back in Motown, even for just a game.
6. Castellanos was at it again (as was the very productive-for-this-game bottom of the lineup) in helping to tie the game up in the bottom of the fifth.  His bat has certainly responded to the team moving his glove to the outfield.
7. Boyd overcame giving up four runs to put up a decent effort by making it through seven innings, better than it looked like he'd do after giving up those two fifth-inning homers.
8. The "rally goose" story was all over at least the local sports news a couple weeks ago, and it lead to a fun hype video up on the scoreboard during the Tigers' eighth-inning rally.  Of course everyone went nuts--it certainly didn't hurt that it worked!
9. Catcher John Hicks was the surprise hero with a huge single during that rally.  He'd struck out in each of his previous three ABs, but following a Miguel Cabrera single (after two strikeouts of his own), Victor Martinez ground-rule double (which temporarily prevented a run) and Niko Goodrum intentional walk, the backstop got one to drop into shallow center to plate the game-winner and first of two insurance runs.
10. As bad as the Tigers' bullpen can be, relievers Louis Coleman and Joe Jimenez had things on lockdown for that afternoon, throwing two perfect innings and sending everyone home happy.

That was it for my super Saturday, one I hope I can top later this year.  In the meantime I have a COMC package arriving possibly as soon as tomorrow, a Sportlots cart that's almost ready (I'll be testing their Box option and report back!), and plenty more.  Eat 'em up, Tigers!

2017 trade package #15: Baseball Card Breakdown

I

Love

Tigers inserts and base

Bill Freehan in a case

Chewing gum that's thrown in

And Gwynnnnnns

I

Love

Black, gold, green, and red

This Clayton Richard bobblehead

Packages heavier than sin

And Gwynnnnnns

I

Love

New cards of J.V.

Alan Trammell x3

That defgav is full of win

And Gwynnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Many, many thanks to Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown for a truly fun mammoth trade package, one that warrants a mysterious part 2, coming to a Verlander-centric blog near you!  This one saw a ton of great stuff get added to my collections, from Tigers to Tonys, Mr. Padre and a former Padre (including a bobblehead!), 11 Verlanders, three Trams, and did I mention Gwynnnns?  From the fat stack Gavin sent I happily added 44 new ones to his PC, including a beautiful pair of early Stadium Clubs, that gorgeous Gallery of Greats, Masterpieces, and more!

And I love Gavin too!
Here's to trade packages!

Here's what I did with MY weekend...

Yep, I attended my first ever Brewers game at Miller Park.  My brother and sister-in-law were hoping for a visit before they move this Summer, so I drove up to Milwaukee on Saturday, and we took in the Brewers-Cardinals matchup on Sunday afternoon.

First up, pictures!:

I was thoroughly impressed with how easy it was to get to the stadium off the highway, with very manageable traffic and clearly marked routes.  Parking was a breeze as well since I sprung for the $9 "general" lot, which truly was easy in, easy out.  There was a good amount of tailgating in the lots pre-game, which was nice to see.  This walkway takes you on the fairly short walk from the lots to the stadium.

The dome was open that day, which was great since the temperature was right around 60 and the sky was pretty clear.  You can see Bernie's slide right through the opening, plus the very cool Harley-Davidson Deck on the left.

Here's a shot of the field where you can see what the stadium looks like with the dome open.  Even with it closed I think it would look pretty nice.

 

 

Here's a trio of shots showing off Milwaukee's '82 Pennant and retired numbers.  You can also see Bernie's slide in the first image.  These were from my seats on the terrace (read: cheap, upper deck) level on the third base side.

The view was still pretty nice from up there, though, and I got a few action shots.  Here's a rare case of a Brewer batting with someone on base against Jaime Garcia.

What's a Brewers game without the famous sausage race!  The Polish sausage took home a close win in this one.

Here's the front of my score card along with my $1 pencil.  I dutifully kept score through the top of the 8th, but this one was over by the second when St. Louis scored six runs.  The Brewers were comically inept, both at the plate (besides Ryan Braun), on the mound (sooooo many walks!) and in the dugout (you left Estrada in HOW long, Roenicke?!).  Still, I had a great time since I wasn't really rooting for either team.  I did enjoy this bit of trivia:  Sunday's Mexican pitching matchup of Jaime Garcia and Marco Estrada was the first such to occur on a Cinco de Mayo!

The biggest reason I chose Sunday's game, by the way, was this:

Corey Hart bobblehead day!  Too bad he was on the DL at the time, but it was still a fun giveaway nonetheless.

Here's some key Hart stats along with a blurb about the 1913 Brewers, whose logo and uniforms looked very familiar and spiffy.  The team wore the same thing for the game.

This was the third of 10 bobblehead giveaways this season, and Ryan Braun is next up for you collectors out there--you can grab one of him on May 26.  Hank Aaron is the next best get on July 7.  Not too shabby!

I'm not exactly Comic Book Guy, so I opened it up to take a look and grab a picture.  Very nice!  I do want to make it known that this is up for trade, though I'm just as happy to keep it, and I'd like something just as nice in return, preferably of the Tigers or Wolverines (and I'd want something better than cards).

Despite the epic beatdown (final:  10-1) the Brewers suffered in a game that reminded me of some of the Tigers teams from the dark years, I had an awesome time.  The stadium is excellent and lines for concessions and bathrooms are practically nonexistent due to their relative abundance.  I definitely wouldn't mind catching another game there sometime, but regardless, I'll definitely retain good memories of attending this one with my brother and sis-in-law!

And now, here are some things that rhyme with Corey: