2/28/25 card show report: Marching into spring

I've been slacking again, or more accurately, focusing on other stuff that's grabbed my interest. That said, I haven't forgotten blogging, even if I'm terrible at keeping up with it!

Some of you may recall that I combined my first two 2025 shows into a single post because both dates were in January. Similarly, the "March" show's first date (since I usually go on Fridays) was the final day of February. Confused? Don't worry--the April and May shows took place during their corresponding months.

Once again it's been far too long for me to remember the details on this one, but I spent an almost-yearly high of $115 (January's was $120), largely thanks to one high-end card that I'm sure will get posted on another blog soon enough. There was also the usual nice stack of trade bait destined for some of my favorite folks, plus this unassigned stuff up for grabs:

The baseball stuff was mostly very cheap autos with a stray relic thrown in.

As for football, I went for a couple eye-popping patches and a patch/auto, plus a couple other cheapies I'm hoping someone will take off my hands. You know the drill: claim 'em if you want 'em!

And then there's my small pile of keepers:

Fleer's Lumber Company went through a number of different looks over its multiple iterations, and the '94 version isn't at the top for me, but it's still a very good one. I love me some numbered 90s inserts (they rule!) of my favorite stars from the era, so that Black Diamond Maddux (#d /1500 on the back) was a nice find for me. Cal's '83 Donruss second-year is a rare 80s base of him I didn't own, not to mention a reminder of the year I was born. Pacific's 2632 insert honoring his streak is one I don't recall seeing before so I was glad to snag it. And the Leaf Clean Up Crew insert offers a look at a very powerful infield trio for Baltimore that included two of the guys in the 500 HR/3000 hit club plus the SS with the most career bombs at his position.

On the basketball side of things I once again came home with a Caris LeVert insert out of what I'm sure was a dime or quarter box, plus a nice Bulls red jersey swatch of Fab Five guy Jalen Rose, my fifth relic and seventh total hit of the 13-year NBAer.

I now have a couple more shows to recap but first will be returning to trade packages with two from the month of March, then a few other incoming items.

2025 trade package #4: Chronicles of Fuji

It's the last day of March so of course I'm still covering trade envelopes I received back in January, but that's what happens when you slack on posting!

Last time you got to the contents of an envelope from a blogger who's also a teacher, and that's the case once again this evening. Tonight's cards arrived from all the way on the west coast courtesy of Mark of the Chronicles of Fuji. Fuji sent me a nice little surprise that was heavy on my favorite MLB team. They may have started the season 0-3 against the defending champs but I still think they'll be decent this year.

On to the cardboard (and more!):

Not only is the theme here "Detroit Tigers," but almost everything's an insert, and oddly enough, none of these guys are active Major Leaguers anymore, with Miggy being the most recent to have retired. Porcello last pitched in 2020 and Jackson hung 'em up after the 2018 campaign, the same sunset season for RP Jacob Turner, who ended his MLB tenure where he started it. Dmitri's bro Delmon Young is next with 2015 being his final MLB year, and Magglio's 15th and last was 2011. 2003 second round P Jay Sborz did make a single appearance with the big club in 2010, giving up five runs while recording a pair of outs, and that was the apparent end of his pro career.

This is a fun mix of inserts and players, with home run heroes Miggy and Magglio ranking above the rest, though AJax remains a favorite of mine.

Oh yeah, and then there's one more fun little bonus: that eBay gift card! Fuji was already generous enough to send me some cards, but then he went way above and beyond by gifting me $50 to spend at the source of some of my bigger pickups! To give you an idea of how seriously I'm taking that, I haven't spent it yet, and as a reminder, this envelope made it to me in January. I'm looking forward to picking up a heavy hitter or two to justify the great expense Fuji went to here, and whenever I do find the perfect fit(s), rest assured you'll see a post right here.

Fuji, once again, thanks so much for the great Tigers cards and the eBay credit, I really appreciate it! I don't have a lot set aside for you right now but I'll keep stocking up until I can hit you back.

 Meanwhile, stop me if you've heard this one before, but stay tuned for more trade recaps soon!

2024 TCDb trade roundup part 2: the pretty goods

Following up on my last post, here are the rest of my 2024 TCDb trades that I hadn't covered yet.

By my count this recap includes a total of 34 trades and 1 PIF from 33 different members. Going by my transaction history, the last one you'll see alphabetically here from zmaciag was the first to be marked complete, while the most recent one (yobshabob) actually arrived in my mailbox last week after a huge USPS delay (we agreed to the trade late in December).

These all went well as usual. I was very grateful to receive a PIF from generous member mzentko, plus I got to meet fellow UM Football fan MichiganFan9 (imagine that!) in person to swap cards at a location convenient to both of us.

Since there's a ton of images chock full of some of my favorite Tigers, Wolverines, and other PCs, I'll let the images do the talking this time. Enjoy!

b14rebel:

bballkm32:

brcdad:

Burefreak:

Chefjacob:

CollectorKing23:

CollectorTBNL:

dirtysock47:

Forallitsworth1971:

heattreat:

hershey:

homerjg007:

ILLRIMESAYA:

Jaskau82:

Miabert1:

MichiganFan9:

Misfits138:

MViP:

mzentko (PIF):

Orry04:

PennsylvaniaTiger:

philliesphan (1 of 2):

philliesphan (2 of 2):

poorlittlecritter:

propmaker:

RAMONESRULE:

RyanFrueh (1 of 2):

RyanFrueh (2 of 2):

Thejexican18:

tnewman5280:

Twinjim8791:

Vnbball:

wischeese:

yobshabob:

zmaciag:

With these covered I may move on to the remaining 2024 card shows I have yet to recap. I'll be back soon!