Tiger Sushi & Odd Couples

I have been sicker than a dog, I am trying to catch up on all things....here's a start.

Mike over at Nomo's Sushi Platter sent me some cards in the mail today to complete a little trade.  The cards coming this way.

A couple of cards got me thinking of unlikely pairings.  This is nothing new for a card to feature multiple prospects with a very small few becoming stars.  I am sure Josh Quattlebaum never expected his rookie to be so valuable! Paired up with a you Edwin Encarnacion.

Everyone is dying for this Quattlebaum rookie!

Another pairing sent by Spiegel was Tigers future stud (then dud) Eric Munson with Tigers killer "Pronk" Travis Hafner 

One of my favorite players growing up was Gary Sheffield, I emulated his batting stance, crushing home runs in the 7th grade summer league.  It's been ironic that many players that I enjoyed as a youth eventually ended up with the Tigers, Sheffield and Pudge come to mind.  

A couple of Cabrera's

Also helped the Nothing But Tigers binder with this Les Moss

Looks like Robert got his cards in the mail, he wrote about it here.

Throzul also had some updates for the cardboard I sent him here and here.

Slug some more Nyquil, chicken noodle, and post about it.

Keep it hot on the corner, pat.

Trading Tuesday

Lots of generosity out there in the world...

Today I had a mailbox full of packages, what a sight!

The one that stuck out most is that Ryan from "O No!" Another Orioles blog, reached out to me about my pursuit of 1984 Topps and sent me a chunk for my new binder.  I am sure to send him that box full of Orioles for his efforts.

Absolutley no Tigers, so here's some future Tigers for you in 1984 style!

We got this stud for a guy named Smoltz

My brother's (Lil' Stevie Cool) favorite Tiger

I also sent a package to Thorzul will Rule in his Trade Me Anything VI event.  Here is his side of the trade.  He's sending me some 2012 Topps Update parallels and some 1984 as well.

Back in December, I had picked up the graded basketball card as one of my contest "wins" at my LCS and thought it to be perfect for a TMA along with some packs he needed and some other cards serving no purpose here.

It was 4 degrees today.

Keep it Hot on the corner, pat

3,473 Tigers on the wall

This week was so busy in my life that I didn't even get through all of my new Tigers.

It was busy alright...we hosted two wrestling tournaments this weekend, final exams for the kiddos, a big win for my team Wednesday night, so all in all, I am wicked tired.

I did manage to haul in at least 150 some new Tigers to get even closer to 6,000 by October.

Thanks to 2x3 Heroes and gcrl for the big lots of Tigers via trade.  Although I missed this card in both trade evals and have now forgotten which package it came in.

Thanks whoever sent this to me.

Stopped by the LCS Friday for a "mini vacation" between all the events, the hook this time was a 1990 Score Bo Jackson he found for me.  What a sweet card!

Rick the Owner had pulled a 1991 Topps Archives with the 1953 Reprint Tigers set for me. Again, haven't had much time to appreciate it yet, but I am pumped to acquire this into the collection.

Also, a rather large selection in the dime box made for some surprising finds not only for myself but for Rick.

He also wondered how Trammell got in the dime box?  My lucky day.

Trammell of the Week is actually not a Trammell since I had plenty of Trammell's in trade packages this week - 157 Trammell's in the PC, four more this week.  Cabrera has popped into second behind Lou Whitaker.

I got this Mickey Tettleton Church's Chicken card as a ebay "pile on" early last week.

I always liked Mickey (as I played catcher during the days of Tettleton with the Tigers) huge power hitter, nice relaxed parallel bat.  It was also cool to see him on TV the last couple year's cheering on his son at Ohio University.

Another weekly add was 4 of these (I have two for trade), with this eBay purchase I mistakingly broke my resolution of not paying for shipping.  There were similar items for similar total charges, so I went for the most cards for the same price.  So about 2 weeks in 2013, one goal has already failed. This card has got me itching to already start Nothing But Tigers II as I already have the #646 card in the original collection.

Nokes was an exciting young player, but faded.  Again another sentimental pick and favorite along with the other big rookie hitter that year.

Plenty more to share, keep sending the trades in.

Keep it hot on the corner, pat.

TTM? WTF!

TTM, yeah I have no idea, still not real clear, but hey, I am still getting used to these new things.

I think I actually completed two TTMs with not even knowing.

So, I dug into my cards this summer and started two piles, Tigers and not Tigers.  Anything that wasn't from the favorite franchise was going to someone else.  The I found one card and then another.  So I then made a box of sentimental or semi-valuable cards.  Then I kept sorting and for some reason I needed to look something up, so I searched online for a checklist which brought me to Trading Card Database.  If you don't already organize your cards online, go here, and if you go somewhere else, consider the switch.  I love it!

Back to the gig, somehow I stumbled across this card.

and as you know, I have confessed my deep passion for 1984 Topps.

So two things happened after that search, (one will be for another post)

The site that had the card also displayed cards that had been shipped out to MLB players for autos.

Now, I looked at my stack of rounded and creased cards and thought, these may not have value but maybe I can collect autos of players that I used to root for.

So I sent out four cards: Alan Trammell, Tom Brookens, Milt Cuyler and Orel Hershiser.

(this will have to do for now, will put up my own card.)

The first one back was none other than Alan Trammell: 1989 Topps All-Star. WOW! My favorite player, my first try at a TTM (i think) in the mail. AWESOME!  Called my  mom, showed my wife, had my dad over, showed him....I was a little kid about the whole deal.

Next one back, 1987 Topps Tom Brookens, Mr. Underrated. Every year Sparky would have another prospect that would push Brookens out of the Hot Corner, and every year Brookens would hold down the spot.  Now he is rumored to take over for Leyland. He'll be spending more time on the Hot Corner moving from 1st to 3rd base coach this year (since LaMont really does have a vision problem!"

 Keep it Hot on the Corner Tom!

Same deal, mom got a call, wife take a look, dad check this out, even made a Facebook post to hear from friends how much they either liked the card, the set, or Brookens.  NICE!

So I sent these out in July and got two back right away, still waiting on Orel and Cuyler.  So if you're reading this Mr. Hershiser and Mr. Cuyler, you will make my day.

So I have some more auto cards and may dive back in this spring to get more TTMs out there.  All these acronyms in these collecting times are a tad confusing, but I think I am getting the hang of it.

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

Nothing But Tigers : Page 1

After just a little over 2 months I finally have my first page completed

(Still developing the scanner/photo skills)

37. Travis Fryman - the heir apparent to Alan Trammell, solid Tigers career, never really a big fan because it was the end for Trammell....just stay at third Fryman!

38. Milt Cuyler - Mr. Speed, stole 41 bases in 1991 and not much after that, he was cool nonetheless, as a nine year old I thought for sure he was going to be like Trout, Harper, Griffey, Jr. (realize: I was nine) currently working for the Twins in Rookie ball, I have had a TTM out to him since July '12 hopefully it comes in soon!

39. Lerin Legrow/Gene Lamont - Nice rookie card here of Lerrin and "Mr. Stop Sign" Gene Lamont

40. Tony Phillips - Stud pickup for the Tigers in the early 1990s, played everywhere..281 BA w. the Tigers, slugged 61 HRs & 70 SBs, overall an underrated Tiger

41. Lou Whitaker - Sweet Lou, maybe the best Tiger of the 1980s, met him in 2007 with my wife, just as "sweet" in person!  I really need to bulk up my Whitaker collection and hopefully he gets his due from the Veteran's committee down the road to get in the Hall

42. Johnny Grubb - the 1984 Grubb card has been challenged by many other #42s, but not many can beat the 1984 Topps design for me.

43. Dean Palmer - one of the benefactors of the steroid era, Hit 30+ HRs in 1993, 1996, 1998, 1999.  In 1999, signed a 5 year contract for $8 million/year for the lowly Tigers and hit 29 HRs in 2000, 11 in 2001 and was out of baseball by 2003.

44. Chet Lemon - 8th in WAR in 1983 & 1984, Nine of 16 year playing career spent in Motown, I have all kinds of Chet Lemon in my collection.  Always had a smile on his face (at least on his cards) and he roamed center every time my parents took me to Tiger Stadium.

45. Jack Morris - How can this guy NOT be in the The Hall?  It's a shame.  So what if he didn't prefer to promote himself with the writers as a player.  He's going to get a boost in my PC.  Just like the Whitaker card on this page, I am a big fan of the UD Team Checklist art cards, similar to Diamond Kings, these bring out the "art of baseball"

This has been a real fun project to work on.  The pages are coming together and even now with a binder with plenty to I am already thinking of Nothing But Tigers II!  I have a 1,600 box almost full ready to go.

Keep making trades and,

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat

2x3 Heroics

After sending out packages to New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Pennslyvania I had some mail of my own waiting at home...

Jeff at 2x3 Heroes and I have a long trade going.  He wrote about it's beginnings here.  We've swapped plenty of email and a couple packages.

I came home this week to find a nice 300 some count box sitting on my stairway.  Could it be?

I tear it open and it mirrors the recent package from gcrl.

Loaded with Tigers:  minis, refractors,

rookies, vintage, new and shiny.

For some reason I was missing a 1990 Upper Deck Chet Lemon to complete my team set, and we all know no one is having fun when missing Chet Lemon, so Jeff shipped him this way.

All kinds of cards for the Nothing But Tigers binder.

When Jeff said I am going to send you "all my Tigers" he meant it.   These are the types of trades that keep collectors in the game.  

Head over to 2x3 Heroes today, set it up, send him your throwback jersey cards, your White Sox, trade it, be happy.

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

garvey, cey and TIGERS! OH MY!

What a bundle came to me in a trade with Jim at gcrl (Garvey, Cey, Russell, Lopes)

He sent one of  the final pieces of my 1976 Tigers Team set...

Some Trammell ...

gcrl just made a comment one day on the Hot Corner stating : "Hey, I think I can help you out" and he wasn't kidding, he hit all kinds of Nothing But Tigers for the binder. Stacks and stacks of Tigers that I haven't even seen yet!

Thanks for a great trade Jim!  Head over to gcrl and hook him up.  I know I need to send more Dodgers & double play cards his way.

I am going to easily be on pace to hit 6,000 Tigers by October after this monster trade.

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

3,322 Tigers on the Wall

The 206 card influx this past week is inflated because I had to hand input the team for all 152 of the Upper Deck Documentary set and it takes about a day for the database to count them on Trading Card Database.

However, it was no small week in the collecting world.

Dan at I'ts Like Having My Own Card Shop and I completed a trade this week where I sent him a 1988 Topps Traded Roberto Alomar XRC and some Diamondbacks for a load of Tigers specifically from 1994-now.  WOW!  All kinds of cards I didn't have, you all need to go to Dan's blog and make a trade with him, well worth it.

The trade has reinforced the need to buy a scanner to share my own cards rather than searching for the images online as I cannot find my favorite cards of the trade out there in the web.

BUT! This Matt Brunson RC made it into the Nothing But Tigers binder

Ryan over at Building a Better Collection reached out and claimed some cards off my Clear my Desk --- You Get Cards post towards the end of the holiday, boosting his Braves collection.  He in turn sent sent me a package this week and I was blown away by the diamond sparkles!

"Everything that glitters is not always gold..." but they may be diamonds!

This  Jose Valverde made it's way into the Nothing But Tigers binder collection

Trammell of the Week, I won through eBay bringing the total to 155.

Sorry Tram no trip to Cooperstown this year, maybe next.

Lastly, Ryan at "O No!" Not Another Orioles Blog?! Sent over a Rick Porcello, who may be on his way out of the D, but I hope we stick with him, his numbers are similar to a guy named Dwight Gooden at his age.  Ryan also is helping me out with his 1984 Topps for my Working Backwards set build for some Orioles to be named later.  Thanks Ryan!

I have some more trades coming in this week and need to mail some more out.

Worked on putting all my 1985 Topps in a binder today, I need about 110 more cards to finish the set.

I also have some 800 count box of 1990 Pro Set for trade.

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

Update : COMPLETE!

Over the holiday I was able to finish my first set since beginning the blog:  2012 Topps Update

I finally caved and bought the last four to complete the binder.  $1.65 for Mark Kotsay?

I am not sure what drew my interest to this set?  Maybe the new Tigers?

or the old ones....

Cabrera's BLOCKBUSTER Triple Crown & MVP Season?

Tigers in the World Series?

I haven't even started on the regular base set!

Whatever it was, it was a good chase.

I do have the Billy Butler and Matt Kemp SP if anyone has a good trade in mind.

Thanks go out to Robert ($30 A Week Habit), Jeff (2x3 Heroes), and Ryan at "O No!" in assisting with trades.

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

Working Backwards

The 1984 & 1985 Topps were the elusive sets I never got to collect.  I really started collecting in 1986 and since packs were not available and I am assuming the 84/85 cards were a little higher priced when I went to cards shows, the were quite elusive to my collection.

I love these sets,  I love the designs.

This summer I was able to complete 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 Topps, simply by purchasing numerous wax boxes, collated or factory sets, and then lost momentum in completing sets.  Shifted back to Tigers exclusively.

Over the break I noticed at one of the LCS that they have 1983, 1984, and 1985 available for sale for a pretty steep price.   I could afford to splurge maybe every month and add these sets to my collection, but then what?  I have them all, they would be in binders, and I would enjoy looking at them every so often.

OR....I could pursue to obtain these cards the old fashioned way and collect them one by one.  Looking for commons and stars alike.  Putting trades together with bloggers, scouring dime boxes for the last remaining cards, sharing the excitement in the chase with my sons and followers.  That seems like more fun and fulfilling.

And that is what I have decided--- that I am going to pursue collecting the entire set.  Strictly collect, not cheat and purchase the set at the LCS or ebay.

I have a base of 1985 that I received one year as a Christmas present and treasured this set.  They are all in pretty good condition which is solid since I wasn't even in double digits when I got them.  I had the Mark McGwire Olympic Rookie but somehow over time it has WALKED OFF, but returned in the form of a trip to the card shop.

1984 is going to be pretty tough, but I did get a little jump start with  Cal Ripken cards in the dime box in my significantly north LCS.

So please, offer up what you have (remember I have all kinds of football to trade away) and I look forward to 2013 completing some childhood goals.

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

I Can Hardly Stand It!

Tomorrow the BBWAA will announce the 2013 class of Hall of Fame inductees.

The drama of course is the first round of PED users to have their name on the ballot.

I can hardly wait...two Tigers have a legit shot at getting in the hall with the surrounding drama.

I have made my case before, but nonetheless, here it goes:

Alan Trammell in his 12th year on the ballot deserves to go in.

Year on ballot: 12th (named on 36.8 percent of ballots last year)

Career stats: 9,376 PA; .285/.352/.415; 185 HR; 1,003 RBI; 1,231 R; 236 SB 

Was he the best player in the league?  Maybe not.  To this kid from 1984 - 1994, he was.  His numbers are just shy of Barry Larkin (last year's honoree).  I've said in the past my late father-in-law voted for the Hall and he looked at dominance.  Trammell was a World Series MVP, six time All-Star, 1987 AL MVP runner-up, 4 gold gloves, 3 silver sluggers.  Not a hint of PEDs.

Plenty of accolades, but maybe not enough the next two year when you consider the shortstops coming up.

There is a place for Trammell in the Hall and I will be there when it happens.

Jack Morris, probably the most likely to get in this time.

Years on ballot: 14th (named on 66.7 percent of ballots last year)

Career stats: 549 games, 254 wins, 186 losses, 3.90 ERA, 3824 IP, 2478 Ks

Better stats than Holt Wilhelm, Bert Blyleven and 10 other HOF pitchers according the baseball-reference HOF monitor, Ace of 3 world title teams, No Hitter in 1984, not a hint of PEDs,

A better argument than mine for Morris can be found here.

Like I said, I can hardly stand the wait, I am sure Morris and Trammell are in the same boat.

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

ROLLLLLLL TIDE!!! We Have A Winner!

In the Innaugural Hot Corner Cards National Championship Giveway your winner, via 2x3 Heroes is Jeff!

Here is the final breakdown:   Alabama 42 Notre Dame 14. ND had 270 yds passing

Jeff - ND 28 Tide 17, 363 yds passing
Spiegel - ND 24 Bama 21, 433 yds passing

In other news I won a orange Gatorade on the game.

Jeff wins on the tiebreak as both guys picked the Irish to win in Miami.  I didn't even make it to kickoff, but did awake after the first score and gave up again by the half thinking "45 more days until spring training!"  

Thanks guys and ROLLLLLL TIDE!

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

3,116 Tigers on the Wall

This week saw the last of the big holiday purchases to get into the collection.

I wanted some unique items, so I did some searching.

Leading off, The Trammell of the week was a 1981 Kellogg's 3-D Superstar!

This card didn't have much cardboard but the "3D" makes it pretty cool, which brings my Trammell collection to 154.

Second addition this week was a handful of dime box grabs from the LCS and a large amount of 1971 Topps Tigers.  A major effort will be put forth to complete this team set the first part of the year.

Third spot, was adding some cards I had as a kid and haven't found yet.  I had the 1975 mini Al Kaline (I believe my Aunt gave this to me for a gift) Nowhere to be found.  So I snagged the regular for one of my Christmas adds.  I always liked Kaline, mostly as a broadcaster growing up along Hall of Famer George Kell.  He has been invaluable to the franchise.  

Cleaining Up,  was the 2008 Upper Deck Documentary team set ( read: 164 cards, one for every game of 2008, plus a season summary, plus an All-Star Card of Carlos Guillen).  I really liked the concept of having an individual card representing each game of the season.  I am sure a very labor intensive task, I was wrong. The first 100 cards has ten players, in order, with the same photo.  

Then it moves into groups of three of the same player every 15-20 cards, so essentially the same card, over and over again.  I will take some to review the season, maybe for some bed time reading (on second thought this team was supposed to score 1,000 runs and started out 0-7, and finished in the cellar!)

Cabby did move into second place with "Sweet Lou" Whitaker, in my all-time player collection with his 40+ cards in the collection.

The home run of the holiday season was the card I always wanted as a kid, but I will leave that for another post this week.

All kinds of trades pouring in should make for a busy week.

Remember to enter the ND Title Game giveaway. ROLLL TIDE!

Keep it Hot on the corner, pat.