Trade with Dodger Cardboard & Other Finds

A few weeks ago, Lee from Dodger Cardboard & other Finds reached out to me about making a trade, and I recieved his end on Saturday. Funny how our posts almost came out on the same day as he posted what I sent him a few hours before I did. 

Lee sent me a nice thick stack of cards carefully packaged in these cool Ultra-Pro packages for sleeves that almost resembled team bags. I was appreciative of the extra protection as we got rain almost all of Saturday and nothing is worse than rain-soaked cards. The stack was so big that I just hit some of my favorite cards of the bunch, but they all were great, and 95% were all cards I needed. 

First up are Tigers. The Alan Trammell is a 1987 Fleer Baseball's Hottest Stars insert, which I have never seen. Many of the ones I picked to show are from sets I never had cards of, or only just a few. The same is the case for the '90 Classic Tony Phillips. I have maybe 5 cards from the entire set total. The next 4 cards are from sets I have many cards of, but are of some cool former Tigers. Scott Livingstone was a favorite of mine because I saw him practicing before a Spring Training game in 1992 against the Pirates in Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida, and I took a picture of him leaning against a batting cage. I think I still have it somewhere. I got Milt Cuyler's autograph not at a Tigers game, but at a celebrity softball game featuring Christian music artists and baseball players. It was during the 1998 offseason, and boy, do I have some stories. I found some telephone number about the game, and had the nerve to call it and ask which baseball players were going to attend so I could have cards to sign. The guy on the phone was very patient with me, and I got a ton of autographs because of him. The weirdest thing was that since the Padres and Yankee$ played in the World Series in '98, whoever decided the names of the teams made one be the Padres and one be the Yankees and they all wore the official jerseys. Well, Dante Bichette of the Rockies and Gary Carter of the Expos and Mets both were there. I got Bichette's autograph and asked if he was going to hit 71 HRs in '99 (since McGwire his 70 in '98). He said maybe. I got Carter's autograph as well, and posed for pictures with both, and now I have a nice photo of Dante Bichette in a Padres uniform and Gary Carter wearing Yankees gear. All next to me with a a cheap Orlando Magic hat, Tampa Bay Bucs shirt, and some Fila's that I thought would make me popular (they didn't). I must've left the fanny pack at home. I think I was 15 at the time. 

Back to the cards, the John Doherty reminds me of the time I met some relatives of John's at another Spring Training game and I got talking to them. I found out they knew him and said that I had some cards of him at home (this was after he was retired). They called John and asked if it was ok to give me his address to send him some cards to sign. He was ok with it, and in a month or so, I had some John Doherty cards signed. I've admired Rich Rowland ever since I sent him an autograph request in the mail. Rich signed my cards and added a sticky note that thanked me for hand-writing my letter and that he would sign all day for someone who hand writes their request. The Mike Henneman '94 Triple Play card is only my 2nd card from the entire set. The Damion Easley Pacific card might be as well. I know for sure that the Seth Greisinger card is only my 2nd from '99 Upper Deck Black Diamond because I got my first (a Fred McGriff) back in June from my brother-in-law on my birthday. I don't know why I have so few '99 Upper Deck Victory cards, but the Justin Thompson card from the set helps add to it. The '54 Bowman Kaline is a sweet reprint from 2004 Bowman Heritage. I would've totally got this card signed by Al had I had it about 10 years ago in Spring Traning. The '06 Bowman Andrew Kown kind of stumped me because around that time, I knew just about every Detroit minor league prospect and had seen 90% of the guys in Bowman sets at the time come through Lakeland in single-A ball, but I don't remember anything about Kown. Baseball-Reference shows that he pitched in Lakeland in '06 and '07. I was living in Montgomery, Alabama by then, but I still should've remembered the name. Maybe I am getting old. The Justin Verlander is from 2006 Sweet Spot, a set I have maybe 4 cards from. I have a ton of '09 Topps, but not this combo of Carlos Guillen and Miguel Cabrera. The '10 Brent Dlugach and '11 Bowman Chrome Rob Brantly are card that I could've easily got signed at Lakeland. I have never heard of the '13 Topps Calling Card insert set, but now have a Prince Fielder from it. Last one in the picture is fan favorite Ramon Santiago, who I own an autographed game-used bat of. 

The last 2 Tigers cards are Holiday set cards of Miggy. So far, the only Topps Holiday cards I have are ones that have been sent to me from other bloggers. Lee was also kind enough to give my Auburn Tigers collection a boost, with cards from Sammie Coates, Dee Ford, Tyrone Goodson, Quentin Groves, Bo, Tre Mason, Frank Sanders, the Big Hurt, and a cool schedule card for the '14 season. I have a feeling that if Jameis Winston were convicted of his crimes in 2013 (like he should've been) and not have been able to play in the Championship game, Auburn would've easily won the title and things in 2014 (and the years ahead) would've been alot different. It's funny how things turn your way if you go into a season as a #1 team instead of a #15 team. Glad Auburn knocked 'Bama out of playoff contention this year, though. War Eagle!

Next are some Rays that Lee sent. I don't have many 2001 Fleer Tradition cards, so it was nice to get John Flaherty and a few others. I purchased a good number of '06 Upper Deck packs, but never pulled the Sean Burroughs card. Never pulled his '06 Topps one either. Now I have both. I have always loved Jorge Cantu, ever since seeing him play for the Orlando Rays in 2003. I'm still sore about him not getting selected to at least 1 All-Star game. The 2013 Bowman Platinum Richie Shaffer card is probably the 6th card of him that I have recieved in the past 6 months after owning maybe 1 before that. The '13 Topps Wil Myers card was hot back when he won the ROY award. I'm looking for Wil to break out this year. I love the Camo Mallex Smith card! Mallex has a ton of speed, and I wish the Rays had him (and Myers) back on the team. The Blake Snell insert is from 2017, before he set the Rays team record for Wins in a season. I love the card of Kiermaier making the catch from 2019 Archives. Kevin is the face of the franchise, and I would love to hopefully attend a game this year and get his autograph. The Blake Snell '19 Chrome card gets me very close to completing the Rays set, as does the '19 Heritage Ji-Man Choi. Glad Choi will be back this year. I wish Tommy Pham was too, but at least I have this cool looking '19 Topps Opening Day parallel of him as a Ray to remember him with.

I saved what I thought was the best for last. I don't know where Lee found them, but he send me a Tigers sticker (which I will have to hide from my 3-year old who loves stickers), some photos of Anibal Sanchez and Justin Verlander, and finally proof that I am the worlds greatest Tigers fan. 

Thanks so much Lee for your package. Let's trade again soon.

I have spent the good portion of today working on missing player checklists, finishing off the end of 1957, and working all of the way through 1961. I am off all day tomorrow, my wife is out of town doing some training for work, so once all of the housekeeping stuff is done, I should have a tone of time to knock out some more. I also haven't forgotten about doing a post with some 1951 Topps customs. It is a tad of a pain to make the cards because it is kind of like doing a front and back with all of the text, but I might try to get another 6 or so done, giving you at least 10, and then post them by the end of the week. I was going to try to put my Favorite Player cards, Tigers cards, and Rays cards in binders over the next few days, but after going through letters A-I, I have realized 2 things. 1, I have got way more cards than I realized through trading in the past few months, and I will soon run out of empty binder pages, and 2, it is going to take a little longer than just 1 day off. I think I'll wait until I get some new pages and try the process again, and work on checklists and customs as priority #1 for now.
Thanks for checking out my latest post,
-Jeremy