2021 trade package #32: Bump and Run Football Card Blog

Today's trade package is one of the last (if not the last) I received in 2021, and it's one that came about thanks to the stuff I put up for grabs from my Facebook collection purchase. Utah resident Trevor, who writes as Bump and Run Football Card Blog (wow, a football card blog?! Nice!) was interested in one of my '96 Score complete sets as well as a partial set of  '94 Finest (both baseball, to be clear), and I was able to cram those into a padded flat rate envelope.

In return Trevor allowed me to choose some stuff from his tradelist on TCDB. Not only that, but he also threw in even more that I hadn't selected myself. It was a nice win/win deal where I cleared out some unwanted stuff for cards I like, and Trevor got an opportunity to chase a couple sets that probably wouldn't have been a priority for him otherwise.

Here's a look at what the BYU/Packers fan sent over at the end of December:

Miggy was the star of this package with five cards (and also he's, you know, a big star), all from fairly recent sets: 2016 Donruss, 2019 Topps NBCD, 2020 Topps Big League and NBCD, and 2021 Topps' foil-y tribute to to the Topps Big product of my childhood. With the team looking to get out of rebuild mode I'm looking forward to him getting the the 13 hits he needs for 3K and then playing less so the lineup can be more effective.

Speaking of Tigers legends, it's cool to see a B&W shot of Ty Cobb signing autographs for kids in the earlier part of the 20th century. Austin Jackson's a more recent favorite of mine but the set his card here is from, Honus Bonus, was named after his contemporary, so that's cool. Kinsler's another past Tiger I'm always happy to see in any trade due to his effective bat at second. And potential future star pitcher Mize is the only other current Tiger in this package. He indeed made his debut on 8/19/2020 against the White Sox, giving up three ER in 4.1 IP in the loss, though that ended up being the 'pen's fault ultimately. He did pile up 7 strikeouts in that brief appearance, plus he was pretty useful last season, perhaps a sign of things to come for a breakout in 2022?

No big deal at the start of this scan, just one of the best catchers of the 80s and then a HOFer for the next two decades. The back of the Big Wheel's card, from '84 Fleer, mentions he turned down a football scholarship from UCLA to sign with Detroit, which seems to have paid off nicely, even if he played the baseball position that gets a football level of abuse. Pudge's cards hail from '94 Sportflics (w00t!), '97 Pinnacle X-Press x2, and 2002 Topps Pristine.

The well-loved Matchick card was a bittersweet addition here as the former Tigers IF passed away just a few days after this envelope arrived at the age of 78. He played just six seasons in the bigs, three for Detroit, but that included the glory of '68. That season's stats appear on the '69 Topps card you see above.

Possibly my favorite card in the entire bunch is another Sportflics offering, this one from the '87 Team Preview set. The lenticular technology allowed the manufacturer to include 12 different players--three each in the four frames. Aside from a couple guys I couldn't care less about, this one includes Sweet Lou, Dan Petry, Tram, Darrell Evans, Chet Lemon, Jack Morris, Gibby, and Willie Hernandez. A who's who of '84 champs, if you will! It's fun to have one card that fits into this many PCs.

Last up in this bunch is a pair of Fleer stickers, both from 1982. I love seeing a couple fun logo versions, including the Olde English "D" and my favorite version of the team's namesake mascot.

The final scan this evening starts with the last of the Tigers: an insert celebrating team mascot "Paws" and the Tiger merry-go-round, one of Comerica Park's attractions. For my part I tend to think of the Ferris wheel made out of baseballs more than that, but they're both cool features for kids to enjoy themselves at a game.

It feels great knocking a couple '21 Topps Update issues of PC guys off my lists, and that's exactly what I was able to do here thanks to Trevor. Cronenworth has two cards in the set and his combo appearance with Tatis Jr. is the first one I was able to land. I'm probably one of the few people more excited to get the card because of Cronenworth! As for Hill, this is his only Rays issue with the brand (I don't include Topps now since those don't mean anything to me), which is stupid because he signed with Tampa in February and had long since been traded to the Mets when this one came out. With him moving on to (back to?) Boston will he get any Mets cardboard? Then again, who cares? They suck!

Greg Maddux is the last of the baseball stuff and this jersey card from 2004 Leaf Second Edition was most definitely a welcome sight as a surprise addition to the envelope. Leaf produced both Home and Away jersey cards and this is the latter starring one of my favorite all-time pitchers. I now count 15 relics plus an autograph in his collection!

We'll end the post on a couple former Wolverines from other sports. Former NCAA champ Glen Rice remains the king of my basketball PC and that UD3 card from Upper Deck is a great example of how much fun collecting the in the 90s was. Rice also got to experience a pro title, something familiar to the other guy up there, one Tom Brady. The unquestionable GOAT of the NFL may or not be retiring without another ring but he did end up with seven (and five MVPs) in 10 chances, which I hear is pretty good. That's a 2020 Panini Rookies & Stars base you see up there of the Canton-bound signal caller.

That was a lot of words to write about cards but it was worth it to show appreciation to Trevor for an excellent trade package! I hope we can trade again this year, especially if I can land some trade bait you'd be interested in, but for now I have no problem celebrating the end of 2021 with new PC additions!

More trade recaps to come soon!