2026 other stuff purchase: Shuck yeah!

It's November and the World Series has come and gone--congratulations to the Brewers!--but as we enjoy the brief fall weather before the usual descent into miserable winter temperatures, I'm flashing back to July. I took a trip down to Mississippi to see a close friend, and her family lives near the Biloxi Shuckers, who happen to be the Brewers' AA affiliate in the Southern League. Of course, this was before Milwaukee's playoff heroics, and even before the trade deadline that nearly saw them flip a few prospects for Tarik Skubal.

The temperature, as you'd imagine for the area, was hot, but mercifully some good cloud cover kept us reasonably comfortable as my friend, her husband, their kid, and I, settled into our seats behind home plate. We watched Biloxi pound the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Miami's AA club) 11-1. Top prospect SS Jesus Made went 3-5 with a homer and 4 RBI as he lived up to his lofty billing, and some other good prospects contributed as well.

I decided to mark the occasion by picking up a team card set from the stadium store, a purchase that set me back about $15. I remember paying closer to half that in the past but between inflation and the fact that Made's in the set, it is what it is. Besides, it's a fun way to remember the trip!

Here's a quick look at the team set along with a few notes about some interesting Shuckers prospects:

Made is front and center when you rip open the box, but that makes sense since he's card #1, naturally.

RHP Bishop Letson is a top-10 guy and he actually started the game I made it to, going 5.0 IP and allowing no runs on two hits and a walk. Burke's a bit outside the top 10 but the 1B bat has crazy good power, and he socked 34 dingers in '26. 

Nobody notable here, apparently, although Cruz did pitch a scoreless inning in the win.

OF Mark Coley II isn't a top prospect but he sure relished filling up the box score against his former team, going 3-5 with three runs and two RBI. Jimenez allowed the lone run for the Wahoos in his 1.1 innings following Letson's start. Merkel got the last two outs in the 7th.

Wichrowski is a top-25 guy but nobody to write home about. Guerrero spent parts of the 80s and 90s in Milwaukee's system as a middle infielder (along with pit stops with a couple KC affiliates), and he's managed the Shuckers in two different stints among his coaching experience. Coach Matt Lipka's name is one I remember from the 2010s as a former Braves first-rounder who also spent time in the Rangers' system, among others, though the IF/OF never cracked a Major League roster in about 12 seasons.

Not appearing in this set are OFs Josh Adamczewski (top 10) and Josiah Ragsdale. The latter went 2-4 out of the leadoff spot with a pair each of runs and RBI thanks to a two-run shot in the seventh. He was traded to the Cardinals in August with another prospect for JoJo Romero and Dustin May.

Here's a look at the back of Made's card to give you a complete idea of the design. Nothing fancy but pretty solid overall, I'd say.

The game, my most recent in-person baseball experience, was lots of fun, not to mention my honorary nibling's first as well, and I'm happy I decided to grab this set both as a souvenir and so I have at least one card of a likely future start in Made!

2024 trade package #2: Scribbled Ink

My next trade package from January arrived courtesy of another longtime buddy of the blog, Paul, who can be found on Twitter now that he no longer blogs as Scribbled Ink. This one was just full of surprises and, well, just check it out:

It wasn't long after Christmas that the envelope showed up in my mailbox so I'd say the little Tigers helmet was still appropriate for the season. It looks great and has a perfect little olde English "D," and I may decorate a small tree late this year with all my sports-related ornaments.

Paul also included an unopened 2023 team set of his local minor league team, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. The sets you can get starring these teams are very cool, period, and I'm always glad to add more whether I've seen the team or know any players on them. This set includes last year's roster of AA players working their way up Toronto's system and the subject I'm most familiar with is a favorite of Paul and his son, Orelvis Martinez. The slugging Dominican infielder popped 28 HR in his first full minor league season, 2021, then added 30 and 28 more the two subsequent seasons, working his way up to AAA Buffalo. He's a top 100 prospect and I hope his fans get to enjoy his Major League debut soon!

The MLB stuff starts with some '96 Topps Tigers, and the less said about the teams back then, the better, though the players seen here are of higher quality than the average guy on those 90s squads. Cronenworth's start to the '24 campaign gets Gold Stars from me in addition to Topps. That Griffey Topps insert is deceiving because it's actually a green version and numbered /299! And a couple late 90s Cals lead into just a few more in the next scan.

Seven's just a few, right? The couple recent Topps and Donruss parallels are great--orange really goes well with Baltimore's unis, of course--but those 90s cards are outstanding. 1997's design is one of my all-time favorites from Topps, and Chrome makes it look even better, plus the photo they went with on this one is easily a top-10 Ripken for me. The horizontal Zenith is simply a work of art depicting the HOFer at bat. And the others are excellent too!

Paul even managed to sneak a Verlander (just one!) into this package, a Rainbow Foil from last year's Topps flagship product and one of a small number I own that show him with the Mets.

And last up for baseball, Paul was nice enough to snag one of the last two 1997 Score Hobby Reserve base cards I needed to re-complete my set. It's been a few years since I discovered that while most of my complete set included cards with the "HRxx" numbering on the back, a handful of the cards were the wrong version lacking numbering like that. I chipped away at the set until I got down to just two cards: the Nagy that he picked up and shipped to me, and the Andruw Jones Goin' Yard subset card you see above, which I bought myself on Sportlots last year. So, once again for the first time, I'm the proud owner of the full 1997 Score Private Stock/Hobby Reserve base set. w00t!

And we'll end on a strong note with some football and hockey. The latter is made up of a pair of UD All-Star related cards from the early 90s starring a couple Wings favorites from the team's 90s/2000s dynasty, Fedorov and Yzerman.

And the second football item is quite nice: a triple jersey of former UM QB and current (for now, given his arrest earlier today for OWI) staffer Denard Robinson, my 57th of Shoelace.

But SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP, what is that leading off this scan? Are you kidding me, Paul? An Aidan Hutchinson printing plate AUTOGRAPH?

Yep, sure is! That's an unexpected late Christmas gift if I've ever seen one, and a very, very, VERY generous one at that! Hutch could be found in Leaf's 2022 Ultimate Draft football product and this plate, which is indeed signed, was used to create Aidan's autographs found therein.

This is just my third Hutchinson hit and somehow all three include his signature, but it's going to be extremely difficult to top a signed 1/1.

Paul, sorry for the super belated post but thank you again for the incredible stuff above, truly a great mix that lives up to your reputation for sending a good variety every time. I don't have anything remotely close to the quality of some of this but will be able to hit you back relatively soon, which I can hopefully do now that the shock of the contents of this package has worn off!

This post wraps up January's blogger trades so next I'll either move on to one from the following month or recap some shows or something. We'll see relatively soon.