Vintage Chicle Tigers: Tommy Wishes the Tigers Luck

The Tigers are headed to the World Series, and I couldn't be more thrilled. They looked crazy strong against the Yankees. The only thing I could have to complain about is how much focus the Yankees got for getting swept. All the world seems to want to talk about is how terrible the Yankees offense was. But there's much less talk about how amazing the Tigers' starting pitchers were. Fister, Scherzer, and, of course, Verlander, have been on fire. The Vealtones extend a nod and a hat tip your way, boys.

To honor these great pitchers, I'll show off a recent cardboard acquisition of another WS Tigers pitcher: Tommy Bridges.

Beauty of a card, right? From one of my favorite vintage sets: Diamond Stars or Chicle or whatever you want to call it. This one is pretty beat up and darkened, but still awesome. Especially since Tommy was the shit. He played all 16 of his seasons for the Tigers, and helped the Tigers win their first WS in 1935, winning 2 games in that series. So, here's Tommy tossing some luck Verlander's way. Like he needs it! Ha!

And here's the back, in case you're interested, which looks like some piece of ancient parchment Indiana Jones might've pulled from a tomb. Diamond Stars' backs look pretty boring, but if you've never seen one, instead of stats they write lessons for young ball players. Pretty unique.

I snagged this card off of the ol' eBay for right around $5. A steal, really, for these cards in any condition. I'd love to finish the Tigers team set someday, but it'll be tough with players like Hank Greenberg, Mickey Cochrane, and Charlie Gehringer. For now, Tommy here will join my other Tigers card from this set:

And I'm hoping the Tigers add another WS win to their history. Go Tigers!

Big Ol' Trade Post--A Napkin and some Rhubarb at the Clubhouse

Tigers won last night, after too many hours and extra innings of stress and torture. WTF Valverde, and WTF Leyland for keeping him in? Anyway, with the hard-earned win, it's time to show off a bunch of Tigers cards.

I'll do that by posting about some trades I'm so behind on, and it's a real disservice to the great bloggers I've been trading with. They sent such great stuff, and it definitely deserves to be shown off.

I saw this card and another posted for trade over at This Way to the Clubhouse. I contacted Mark, and we got a trade going. I love the manu-stitched signature thingy-do, but probably only because it's Kaline. But Mark had lots more to send:

Some very nice Verlanders for the PC. Can't wait until he's pitching again.

And more cards of Miggy and Pudge for the other PCs. Mark paid careful attention to my lists and sent some great stuff I needed. I love the 7-11 Pudge. I remember getting those off my Slurpees as a kid.

This is my favorite card of the trade. Love it. They just can't make enough cards of Sparky. And this has to be one of my favorite Topps manu-patch sets.

All in all, a fantastic trade. Head on over to This Way to the Clubhouse. Mark has some interesting player collections. Go make him a trade offer.

The next trade comes from Rhubarb Runner over at "é rayhahn, rayhahn". We've had a few great trades in the past, and Rhubarb never disappoints. On this trade, he spent weeks hunting down cards for me, and he ended up with the perfect stuff. Now, doing that kind of work takes one helluva trade. Here a few of my favorites he sent.

 

I'm always excited to get a new Pudge card, but this one hits everything on my favorite list: scrap-o-jersey, Tigers uniform, and catcher's gear. Great card.

 



Then some Mr. Triple Crown bat relic goodness. Donruss had a simple yet classy design with this set. There's something very cowboy saloon about this that I like.

And finally, some more Miggy, along with a slew of fairly unlikely cohorts. I'm not sure how they decided on this group. Great multi--shades-of-gray GU card.

If you have some very cool Twins stuff or just enjoy good writing, go check out "é rayhahn, rayhahn".

For the last trade of this post, here's another blogger I've exchanged bubble mailers with in the past--the witty scrivener, the enigma, Napkin Doon.

Nap sent some awesome Tigers vintage. I love the Gates Brown. I have almost no 1965 Topps cards. Eventually, I'll try to finish the vintage Tigers teams sets, and Nap helped me get an early start.

Nap also sent along some cool Ted Williams Tigers cards. And some very nice Verlanders and Cabreras for the player collection. Bottom right, an auto of Scott Sizemore, no longer a Tiger, but an interesting player, one I like to follow.

Thanks for another great trade, Nap. I'm grateful for the generosity of all of these great bloggers. Thanks, dudes. Now, onward to another Tigers victory which will surely be insured by my massive trade post.

Verlander's Secret to Winning: Fastball Flakes

Verlander pitched a beauty last night against the A's, and we're onto to the next round of the playoffs. What Tigers fan isn't completely thrilled right now? But how did Mr.Verlander pull of yet another amazing post-season complete game shut-out win?

The answer is flaky and made of lightly frosted whole wheat.

Justin's loading up on these bad boys, Fastball Flakes, or as we call them around my house, Verlander Flakes. I'm not sure if others in the country are seeing these. I'm guessing not. In Michigan, at our Meijer stores--which is the Midwestern Wal-Mart, but better--they've been hawking these boxes all season. And they're so cool. Foolishly, though, I snagged a box when they were $3.99 and now they're clearanced at $1.99. Pretty great piece of Verlander ephemera. I love the design of these, the signature, the pic of Verlander, how he looks like he might take a chomp of flakes out of that gigantic spoon.

Here's the back of the box. Verlander's looking quite intense as he secretly munches some flakes behind his glove. And an offer for a T-shirt I won't be ordering; I guess they were too cheap to pay to put Verlander's name on the shirt, but, hey, Fastball Flakes, yo!

So, have other Verlander collectors out there seen these boxes? If so, better nab them up so you, too, can have Fastball Flakes power.

Cabrera's Triple Crown: Farewell to My Miggy Steals

Mr. Cabrera is forcing me out of my mini-hiatus. The Vealtones must congratulate Miggy on his triple crown.

To celebrate, here's a recent eBay purchase for the player collection. A great-looking card of Miggy wearing the wrong uniform. But that's a magical piece of bat there.

That's a little better with Miggy in his proper, current uniform Both of these cards cost me around two bucks a piece. And it just goes to show how undervalued Miguel has been to collectors for a long time. This is no breaking news. Many have discussed this before. Now I fear I won't be nabbing such great deals anymore.

Like this rookie card I got for under three bucks shipped. Try finding a deal like that now.

And here's the lowest numberd Miggy card in my collection 5/10. It's from the most ridiculously redundant set Topps ever made, the set that killed the coolness of getting a numbered card. I got this card, along with the Sheffield for one dollar shipped. (Any one need the Sheffield?)

So maybe the days of great deals on cool Cabrera cards are done for a while. I had to ease off on collecting Verlander last year for obviously similar reasons. I still need a Miggy auto for my collection, and I might be waiting a while for that now. If anyone has one to trade, I'll send you a brick of cards.

But I really could care less about the impending cardboard Miggy gouging. I'm just so thrilled that my guy won the triple crown, made such history. He's such an exciting player to watch and treats his fans so well. He's earned his day in the sun. Really, he's been earning it for the last ten years. And if he doesn't get MVP this year, then there's something seriously wrong with those voters.

Can anyone ever be upset when a player they love and collect becomes expensive to collect for these kind of reasons?