2020 trade package #14: Bob Walk the Plank

I appreciate every person who's generous enough to put in the effort to send me new cards, whether it's one or hundreds, commons or stars. And it's great to have such a diverse group of friends, including a few with whom I can send higher-end stuff back and forth. It really is a blast when I get to add new stuff to my collection that I wouldn't have thought of, or cards that didn't fit my price range.

One of those folks is Matt of Bob Walk the Plank (and, since his retirement, mostly @walktheplank82). My Mountaineer buddy had last sent me some ridiculously awesome stuff that I posted last December, and then a new envelope showed up about a week ago. "Seems like forever since I sent something your way," said the note he included, though it didn't feel that way to me. I'm also the type that prefers to send the occasional larger package instead of a bunch of smaller ones. Either way, if you looked at what he got me late last year, I think you'd agree that he was allowed as much time as he needed to reload.

I can confirm that Matt spent that time well, as the contents will prove:

There were three cards in this package I knew were coming eventually, and two of those are the 2015 Bowman Draft Blue (/150) and Gold (/50) parallels of Padres two-way player Jake Cronenworth seen above. Matt was nice enough to find those for me on COMC a while ago and I appreciated him including them here as I continue to work on his collection. I'd love to see the former Wolverine get some time in the majors with his unique skillset!

The rest you see here were definitely surprises, starting with Bondo's 2003 E-X RC. This was in the short-printed range of that year's product, which once again went the acetate route, an excellent decision. We sure could use more cards that look like this these days!

Next is an Al Kaline jersey from UD's 2005 Sweet Spot Classic. That's absolutely the kind of thing I can look forward to in an envelope from Matt and I love it. Look at the beautiful classic photo and the vintage jersey swatch of Mr. Tiger, who may be gone but definitely won't be forgotten. I don't have many similar pieces at this point but seeing this one makes me want to drop a few bucks on more if I can find them.

Moving on to a still-active player, I can't say I was expecting to see such a nice autograph of ace reliever Andrew Miller! Numbered just 03/10, this is from 2007 UD Black's Game Day Ticket Autographs Gold Spectrum parallel, another set that uses the ticket motif to great effect. Miller of course wasn't a Tiger for long as they traded him and fellow first-rounder Cameron Maybin in the deal that brought Miguel Cabrera to Motown, but that paid off handsomely for Detroit, and I'm happy for Miller that he was able to emerge as a very effective RP when starting didn't go his way. Miller's not the type of guy I'd tend to keep in my Detroit PC, but there's no way I'm getting rid of a card that's this nice!

And now we switch back to another Hall of Fame Tiger. Pudge will always be remembered more for his time in Arlington, but there's no denying the positive effect he had on Detroit in his four-plus seasons, helping the team back to respectability (and then more). So of course I'm thrilled that my first autograph of the catching legend is this one where he's shown as a member of my team. It also helps that it's on a very cool design from Fleer's 2004 Genuine Insider product, where the section that holds the signature slides in and out of the card's left side. Oh, and Pudge has a great autograph. And it's numbered /150. So, yeah, there's a lot to like about this one!

Heading over to the football side it's totes the GOATs, and two really, really nice cards bookend a fun base trio. The latter include 2002 Topps (not sure how I didn't have that!), 2003 Classics, and 2004 Playoff Hogg Heaven. Card #1, though, was a total surprise: a Torquers (blue foil) parallel of Tom's 2000 Press Pass card. The base version of this alone isn't cheap, so this rarer parallel of a sweet college uni card is awesome! I definitely appreciate it more because it's a Michigan uni card, not because of its value, but that doesn't mean the latter is lost on me!

And as if that weren't generous enough, we'll end on the card that I would say started this particular package. If you caught Matt's surprising new post on Saturday then you might remember that he included some shots of cards he came across while reorganizing and consolidating his collection. One of those happened to be Brady's 2000 Skybox Dominion RC, one he shares with fellow QB Giovanni Carmazzi of the Niners. The Hofstra product was the second QB selected in 2000 (third round), and one of six that went before the Patriots changed their franchise forever at #199 in the sixth.

I don't even want to guess what either of these big Brady items is going for right now since I'd rather celebrate having them. You may recall that I'm slowly chasing every non-auto/relic of each Wolverine in the NFL so the Dominion card is a big get as just my third of Brady's RCs (Fleer Tradition and UD Victory). There's still a long way to go so when someone sends one of these my way like Matt did it really means a lot.

Matt, thanks for once again bringing the thunder in our high-end back-and-forth! I don't have anything nearly as nice to send to you at the moment thanks to not being able to get to a show, but I do have a few things handy and might return the favor soon anyway.

And as a reminder for everyone who's missing Matt's great content, please make sure to follow him on Twitter @walktheplank82 where he now posts his pickups.