Tigers Win! The Stars Revived

Game 4 was a nail-biter. Game 5 was a little smoother. Once this guy sent one over the fence.

And what a beautiful thing it was to see Miggy doing what Miggy does. He's still hurt, but perhaps we're seeing an upswing. Speaking of a beautiful things, this snazzy card comes from a trade with Mr. Baseball Scott.

But it wasn't just Miggy having a comeback.

Verlander's game was a masterpiece. Let's take a moment to humbly reflect with Justin.

Ohm.

Done?

So are all the doubters finished asking what happened to Verlander, as if he's been a junk pitcher all season. He had what would be a career year for most pitchers, and now he's pitching at an unbelievable level again. Let's take this right on over to Boston!

JV Earning His Stacks of Cash with a First

The Tigers won their opening day game, and Justin Verlander had a first. Of all his accomplishments, he had never won an opening day start. Well, yesterday changed that when he pitched a beauty. Only 5 innings, but no earned runs and 7 Ks. He's already earning his new ridiculous contract, and if anyone deserves such an absurd amount of money, it's my guy.

Hey, cheer up, JV. Things are going great for you.

This is one of my most recent acquisitions for the Verlander player collection, scored off of eBay for under $3. I love the design of this card, the background sky, JV's stoic, contemplative countenance, all the fancy junk swarming the blah-gray jersey swatch. Great card.

Justin had a first yesterday, and so did we. Evy Jo and I watched our first real baseball game together, took a nap through a few of those middle innings. Babies should come with a warning: when held to chest, may cause drowsiness.

No Average Trade, No Average Verlander

At this point, most of you probably know all about Jason and his great blog Joe Average Collector. I was lucky to chat with him and trade with him early on in his blogging career, and we've had some amazing trades since. And they all started with one card Jason originally offered me, a card I still can't believe I own:

What an extremely stunning card. This is my first Verlander patch card, and that's about the primest patch one could get. I think this is my favorite Verlander card I own, and one of the shiniest gems in the collection.

 

And with this trade, Jason, being the super generous guy he is, threw in a bunch of sweet extras:

 

 

More Verlanders, including a 2006 rookie.

 

 

We also traded for this very cool All-Star Avila card.

 

So, that was our first trade, and since then, Jason just keeps sending me awesome cardboard:

 

Such as this dynamic duo of vintage and new, well-loved and manu-patched, all-star and hall-of-famer. This was our second trade, which leads to our most recent one.

 

For this most recent trade, Jason dug into his vintage and found a bunch of great gems. Here we have a quad of my favorites, '68s and '58s. This Charley card might be the most unmanly card of a Tiger ever, which makes it perfect.

 

He also sent a woodgrain '55 Bowman Tiger I needed. Zuverink only started a couple dozen games for the Tigers, but his vintage visage was one I needed for my vintage Bowman Tigers team sets.

 

To wrap up this vintage trade, here's a complete work of baseball card art. I absolutely love this card, Gray's portrait, his somewhat sneaky-looking smirk. The background is so cool too. Man, this is one of the best cards I've seen in a while. Good luck, modern cards, in trying to compete with this.

 

Oh, yeah, there is that. Sorry, '53 Gray. This card is a bit more thrilling.

 

Thanks, Jason, for an amazing trio of trades. Be sure to check out Joe Average Collector's Blog for tons of great writing, and if you're lucky enough to get to trade with him, you won't be disappointed.





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.

Card Show Show-off: Kaline, Rollie, and Ambiguous Keller

I usually start off my card show reviews with the dime boxes, but I'll flip things around this time and start with the big purchases. I went to this show a little over a month ago. It was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a mall show, but still good despite proximity to Gap mannequins and mind-numbing muzak.

Here's my big splurge. A pretty epic Kaline get for the player collection. I'm not a hug fan of 1960 Topps and all the extreme close-up portraits, but I love this card. There's some whimsy in Kaline's eyes and an awkward half-smirk. The color design really works well here, too, the yellows against the red, the old Tigers logo pulling it all together.

Here's the back, just for fun, complete with goofy cartoon rendition of Kaline catching a fly ball. Who knew he had so little hair under his cap?

This Kaline card was marked for $6, but I talked the guy down to $5 and got him to throw in this card for free:

I just always like these combo cards from the early Topps sets, and getting this card for free made the above Kaline all the sweeter.

I also picked up some game-used for a hell of a bargain:

My Rollie Fingers collection is quite casual, but he just looks so damn cool on cards I can't turn down a good deal. I love the green jersey here, which obviously is not from a Brewers uniform. I usually hate these kind of team mash-ups, but it works for this card.

When I first started collecting, as a kid, Boggs was my guy. The reason I liked him is kind of ridiculous: his mustache looked like my uncle's facial hair. Well, that was enough for me. And now I have a little bit of jersey from Mr. Flaming Mustache Fried Chicken Eater.

I also found a great dollar box from a guy dealing almost exclusively Tigers cards. Usually in Michigan Tigers cards are way over-priced, but I found some crazy bargains.

A 2005 Verlander rookie for a buck? Yes, sir, I'll take it. Plus it's from one of my favorite mid-2000s sets, Diamond Kings. I have to say, though, that this is just a horrible portrait of Verlander. I don't think it's just because he's missing his facial hair. There's something seriously wrong with Verly's mouth.

This was in the dollar box, too, a 1950 Bowman Charlie Keller. It's in fantastic shape. I couldn't believe this card was in the dollar box, and I even dared to ask the dealer if this was a reprint or an original. He gave it a glance, said it was original, and the whole time I was worrying he'd say, Oops, that's not supposed to be in there. But, no, he sold it to me for a buck. I still can't really believe this is an original, but I can't see anything that screams reprint on it.

The size is right, the printing and color look correct. There is a weird thing going on with the five stars logo at the top right crowding into the text. Here's a comparison with a card up on COMC:

The "Charlie Keller" in red at the top also looks like it's spaced a bit different. So, what do you guys think? Reprint or the real thing? I'd greatly appreciate your sagely insights. Regardless, for a buck, it's certainly worth the gamble. Hell, I might have still paid a buck for a reprint.

So, pretty nice hits from the card show. I stayed on target pretty well, mostly picking up cards that actually fit into the collection. Next post, I'll show off those sweet cheapo boxes.

Wicked Stays Wicked: Another Great Trade

I recently finished my second trade with The Cardboard Don, or Wicked, who almost changed his name, but then, at the last minute, preserved the blog we all know and love. A while ago he expressed interest in some of my trade bait, and we got started on our second trade.

Who doesn't love Archives? Wicked sent along a slew of Tigers from this great set. Of course, the Kaline is amazing. I now have a few different reprints of his rookie. Such a classic card. The Norms are awesome, too, and it's nice to see Chet again. I was a Lemon fan in my youth.

Some very nice Verlanders. And this was a new rookie for me. I bought a lot of Total at one time, and it's nice to finally get this card.

Here's the highlight of the trade. Always happy to score a bit more Verlander jerseyage. SPx designed some pretty nice looking game-used cards. What was the deal with Upper Deck's obsession with Xs?


Thanks for another great trade, Wicked, and I'm glad you're sticking around the old blog.

Belated Trade Posts: Trade Bait Ate My Brain

I completed two trades recently. Well, not so recently. These awesome traders will have to forgive me for taking so damn long to say thanks, but the thanks is of the utmost sincerity. First off, Oscar at All Trade Bait, All The Time and I had been discussing a trade since before he got his blog up and running like the well-greased trade bait machine it is. We eventually got our trade going, and finally I'm getting caught up on posting it.

Oscar sent some sweet Lous I needed. The card on the right may have been Lou's most foily card. Lucky for him that he just missed the foily madness of the late '90s.

Here's a less over-produced Trammell from the junk wax era. Only 5000 of these babies.

Two key Ripkens for the player collection.

This Cabrera GU was much-needed.  I'm not a huge fan of this jersey set, but Cabby can always make a mediocre set cool.

If you haven't checked out his blog yet, and you're looking for another Dodgers trader, be sure to check it out. You have to love the purity of his blog's theme, just like the title proclaims: All Trade Bait, All The Time.

The other trade I'm catching up with was with Sports Cards Ate My Brain. This blog may be one of the best-kept secrets in the Blogosphere. If you haven't stopped over there before, be sure to do so. Scott's a great writer, and an insanely generous trader, as you'll soon see.

We talked about trading for a few GU cards for my player collection.

I never bought much Unique. I picked up a few base cards and parallels, but I never saw any of their GU insert sets. I dig all the baseball thematics thrown in here, with the stitches and the base-shaped swatch. And it's kind of nice to see Cabby fielding for a change. Let's hope he doesn't become a gaping whole at third base this season.

Always great to add some more Verlander fabric to the collection.

So these two cards would have been perfect for a trade, but, like the generous trader he is, Scott threw in a slew of extras.

Some very cool numbered Tigers inserts here. I especially dig the Gomez with the bastardized Mondrian background. The Porcello rookie is great, too.

The highlight of this trade was in the extras. Scott didn't even mention he was sending Verlander rookies, and a huge batch of them at that. These rookies doubled what I previously had for 2005 Verlander rookies, and I'm just blown away. I've always loved rookies, since I came from the generation of collecting that was pre-GU and inserts mania. I especially love the Prestige rookie. Verlander's upper lip is frighteningly clean-shaven and he's wearing some mysterious purple uniform with stirrups.

Thanks again, Scott, and thanks, Oscar. Great trades from two generous bloggers.

Argh! Check Out Me Pirate Treasure

I recently traded with Brian over at Pirates Treasure Room. And this trade was epic. It's one of those trades that take a long time to complete, and that only builds the tension for an epic transaction.

I'll only be able to include some of what he sent, and I really tried to edit myself so this post wouldn't go on forever. It was tough to do, though. I just had to keep scanning all of the glory.

We'll start off with the vintage. The constantly mustachioed Jack Morris makes a bottom-right-corner debut, and then there's good old Freehan showing off his catcher's mitt.

From some Tigers classics to the new kid, our new fifth starting pitcher in the rotation. We really need someone to fill this spot, and maybe Turner's the guy.

Brian sent along some always-appreciated Ripkens for the player collection. I'm surprised how well the hologram card scanned. It looks better in the scan than in person.

Some nice Cabby and Pudge cards for the collection. I'm a big fan of the Stadium Lights inserts, and this may be the sweetest card from that set. And a numbered floating heads card is always cool.

I'm surprised I didn't have this card where Verlander is securing his alibi with a newspaper. The bottom right card here is a genuine Verlander rookie from 2005. I always love picking up one of these.

Now we're onto the hits, and they were plentiful. I'm not a big fan of this GU set, but leave it to Verlander to make this set look awesome.

Speaking of Verlander and awesome, check this thing out. I don't collect Mags or Granderson all that much, but I love this card. Simply amazing, and the lowest numbered Verlander GU card I own. This is a new favorite of the collection.

Brian didn't mention he was sending any Pudge cards originally, so this is a bonus, and a helluva bonus at that. Pudge is looking extra puffy in his windbreaker.

Another sweet Pudge GU card here, featuring my favorite things: Pudge, catcher's gear, and a Tigers uniform.

Thanks, Brian, for the fantastic trade.

Be sure to check out Pirates Treasure Room to see the most amazing Pirates card collection in the blogosphere. 

A Wicked Verlander Trade with the Don

I recently initiated a trade with Wicked over the newly and snazzily titled blog The Cardboard Don. I sent him a a Gaby Sanchez auto and some other cards, and he showed me why he's the Don.

He sent me a bunch of old-school minis:

These are just a few of them, but my favorites. I like the way Lou has his hat popped back all badass-like in the '86 Fleer card. I'm always happy to add some oddball Lous and Trammells to the collection.

More Tigery goodness in this slew of Topps Archives cards. I own a few of these originals, but many of them are too pricey for me to own the originals. This is such a cool set, and an unexpected bonus from Wicked.

Some more really sweet Tigers inserts here. I think this is the first red-bordered refractor I have from this year's Topps set.

Always glad to get another Boesch rookie, an X-fractor at that. If Boesch can stay healthy and settle down at the plate, he's going to have a really great season soon. And what can I say about that Cy Young, MVP-winning smile? His smile shows exactly how I felt about this trade. What could be better than a Verlander parallel?

Well, that could be a better. This was the impetus of the trade, and I'm so psyched about getting this card from Verlander's pre-facial hair days. This is from the 2004 UD National Pride set, and it's simply an awesome card. Wicked was very generous to trade it.

Another great trade. If you've somehow missed the chance to drool over Wicked's crazy trade bait, be sure to check it out.

I have to say that after getting a sketch of Coot Veal from Dayf and trading with the legendary Cardfather, this humble blogger feels like he's finally made it in the blogging world. I'm somebody! Johnson, Navin R.! Things are going to start happening.

Trade with Rhubarb Runner

I've completed about a dozen trades with you bloggers in the past year, but wasn't able to post them due to my lack of a blogness. Luckily, Coot Veal came to me and asked if we wanted to get the band back together, and the rest is history. Well, recent history.

So here's my first trade post, featuring cards sent from Rhubarb Runner.

Rhubarb sent a slew of 2008 Documentary, a set I undestand as little as he understands the Bowman prospect sets, which also baffle me. Featured is a gold Cabrera from that set. Then a 2005 Bowman Heritage Verlander rookie. I've been wanting this one for a while, from one of the better looking Bowman Heritage sets. Next, some Pudge cards: a #ed to 400 2002 Diamond Kings with Pudge making his mean face, and then a 2006 Fleer Tradition card with Pudge wearing his best colors and in full gear. Finally, a 2011 Boesch. This is just a great looking card. The horizontals came out so nice in this set.

Rhubarb sent some nice Tigers vintage Topps : 1970 Northrup and 1971 Lolich. I dig Northrup, who comes from very close to my home town. The best MLB player to ever come out of Gratiot County, Michigan, maybe the only one. The Miguel Cabrera 2001 Royal Rookies is a nice addition to the Cabrera collection, as is the 2009 Topps Verlander gold parallel. The Verlander jersey card was the keystone of our trade. Many thanks to Rubarb for tracking down and sending my first Verlander relic. And then, what's this? A Pudge rookie I definitely did not have. 1991 Baseball Card Magazine is what the back of the card says. I couldn't find it listed on COMC. This card is a mystery to me. I had no idea it existed, but it is now my new favorite Pudge rookie. I love the vintage design of this card.

Thanks for the great trade, Rhubarb. Check out my want lists if you're interested in trading and having Coot Veal and the Vealtones play a request for you. We don't do Skynard, though, so don't even ask.