2015 trade package #12: reestablishing contact--er, contract--with Bob Walk the Plank

The last time I swapped cards with Matt from Bob Walk the Plank the calendar still said January.  Somehow between then and now neither of us managed to score enough trade bait to send to the other.  Fortunately that changed this week--I sent Matt a nice little package that arrived to him today (so watch for a trade post soon!) and then received a very cool one from him a few days ago.  He promised me something outside of what I usually collect, and I was definitely scratching my head when I found this in my mailbox:

A note further added to the intrigue:

"What the hell's in there?" I thought.  The answer:  two very unique somethings:

As many of you probably know, Topps has been selling their photo licensing contracts signed by the players, and Matt was cool enough to send me documents of former Tigers Bobby Higginson and Dmitri Young.  Higginson's was signed in 1996 for a three-year term while Young's was the same deal in 2004.  Unique is definitely a good way of describing these!  There's many things baseball collectors can acquire outside of cards--action figures, bobbleheads, jerseys, etc.--but being able to pick up the contract--a signed one!--a player signed giving a company the right to use his likeness on a card is something else entirely.  Unique indeed!

Here's a look at the back of Higginson's contract, including the Topps Vault hologram in the lower-right corner, plus the Topps Vault COA envelope and COA itself, with the serial number matching the hard-to-scan hologram:

We've made some doozies of trades, Matt and I, but I have to say I'm impressed with how much he surprised me with this one.  Thanks again, Mr. Scott, and enjoy your spoils as well!

A trip around my blogroll, November edition

I've got nothing I feel like blogging about for now, but I did feel like highlighting some of my favorite posts so far this week:

A Pack to be Named Later busted a pack of 2000 Fleer Tradition football, which is a pretty great set in my opinion, and I don't think I've seen those opened online before.

ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession showed off a pair of beautiful mid-90s Matt Williams Donruss Elite inserts.  As a kid who collected during that era, seeing these brings back fond memories, even if I didn't pull one until YEARS later because they were so rare at the time.

Paul from Card Boarded highlights the awesome paint job on Red Wing goalie Jimmy Howard's mask.  Nice combination of the Spirit of Detroit statue and the Olde English "D," Jimmy!

Colby from Cardboard Collections is doing his best to inspire a friend's kid to join the hobby by making it rain Phillies stuff, so go help him out!

Johnny from Cards From the Quarry is back at it with his awesome Quarry Unlimited custom set, 2013 edition.  Today's post features the multiplayer rookies design (my favorite), but don't miss his other posts in the series!

CynicalBuddha of Collector's Crack scored some cheap but awesome boxed sets from a card shop warehouse sale.  There's some pretty sweet stuff to see, and oh, hey, one of them has Jim Abbott on top, so let's use that image!

Fellow Michigan fan Charlie of Lifetime Topps Project got a small trade package from some guy who runs a blog called Too Many Verlanders.  He'll be getting another one from me soon!

Fellow Simpsons enthusiast UncleMoe of My 2008 Topps Set Blog is giving away a Daniel Hudson auto and 2013 Topps Update hanger box in a contest, so make sure to get in!

NachosGrande is counting down his favorite cards from UD's 2005 Past Time Pennants set in multiple posts.  This one happens to include HOF shortstops Cal Ripken and Ozzie Smith along with should-be HOF pitcher Jack Morris.

Brian at Play at the Plate has a mother competing with his mother-in-law to see who can buy him more blasters.  Remind me how I can marry into that family.  Also, he pulled a Verlander, so thumbs up!

And finally, the best post from this week (which happens to be last alphabetically in my reader):

Doug from Sports Cards From the Dollar Store posted this glorious card that needs no further comment as you're obviously already basking in its glory right now.

News and notes, plus an All-Star trip through the blog roll

I've been less active the last few days due to a busy weekend and an illness that knocked me on my ass.  However, I did want to cover a few things today, then take a quick run through my blog roll to highlight some of the cooler stuff I've seen in reading my favorite blogs.

First up, my COMC package arrived yesterday, a day early!  That includes some trade bait for a few of you, and I'll be sending a bunch of packages and PWEs out sometime this week/weekend.  Plus you'll have some cool stuff to check out over on TMM.

Also, SportLots packages continue to roll in, which has been fun.  I've got more "You Complete Me" posts to write up, and again, some pickups will be highlighted on TMM.

Finally, of course, tonight is the All-Star game!  I'm pulling for the AL, of course, due to six Tigers making the team.  Here's five of them (Verlander was warming up to start the game) in a picture taken on Sunday--the game I attended:

From MotorCityBengals.com

Ok, now let's do something I haven't done in a while and highlight cool/interesting stuff from the blogs I read every day!

• TMV Win-Win contest-winner 26 Cent Summer is showing off some card show pickups, and the quality so far is top-notch, including a nice score of 7-time All-Star Sandy Koufax.
• Jafronius opened a pack of 2013 Opening Day to celebrate tonight's game over on A Pack to Be Named Later.  He didn't pull any All-Stars!
• Brad of Brad's Blog has some last-minute Brad trade bait.  Brad.
• Famous person birthday noticer hackenbush noted that yesterday was all-time great Lion Barry Sanders' 45th birthday.  Shoeless Joe, Ginger Rogers, and Will Ferrell are also feted.
• Dime Box Nick of Dime Boxes brings back his very cool "Short Term Stops" feature and today looks at players that enjoyed (or didn't) very brief stops with the Angels.
• Hot Corner Pat (hey, it works) of Tigers-centric blog the Hot Corner lists his Tigers PC All-Stars based on the number of cards he owns of each player.  It's a fantastic list, and now I've got some catching up to do!
• My Cardboard Mistress' Spankee busted a blaster of 2008 Upper Deck X and DID succeed in pulling 2013 All-Stars David Wright, Justin Verlander, Joe Mauer, Miguel Cabrera, and Jhonny Peralta.  Plus, a decent amount of what he pulled represented his PC guys, which is always great to see.
• Everyone's favorite Night Owl is celebrating his birthday coinciding with the All-Star Game for the first time since I was 2!  Happy birthday, Greg!
• Another Dodger fan named Greg, from Plaschke Thy Sweater is Argyle, had a nice article about Clayton Kershaw posted onto Facebook by the real deal!  Congrats, Zakwin!
• Don't be too surprised, by Fuji celebrated Oakland A slugger Yoenis Cespedes winning the 2013 Home Run Derby over on the Chronicles of Fuji.  In related news, Jose Valverde was spotted getting pitching tips from Mike Gallego.
• Kevin of the Mojo Beard has been living under a rock--will someone please tell him about Yasiel Puig?
• The Prowling Cat takes a timely look back at Nolan Ryan's All-Star appearances.  Yes, one of those extremely ugly-ass Pacific cards is included!

That's it for today, so enjoy your favorite blogs while you hopefully get to see some of your favorite players take the field tonight.  Remember:  this time it counts.