2026 trade package #16: Bump and Run Football Card Blog

I'm back to show off an August trade package on a day I knew would be bittersweet, but unfortunately ended with mostly a bitter note. Justin Verlander made his final MLB start in what ended up being a walk-off homer win for the good guys. Then Michigan Football left Iowa in the game too long and suffered their own last-second loss after the (correctly called) season-opener against Western Michigan. It always sucks to lose, but it happens and I'll move on. I mean, the Tigers lost more than they won this season and it didn't kill my year.

And anyway, I still have this fantastic hobby to enjoy. Tonight that means I get to celebrate a trade package from Trevor of the Bump and Run Football Card Blog. Trevor has some things going on that I know make blogging, trading, and doing other things difficult for him, so when I say that I appreciate him sending these cards my way, I really do mean it. I'm grateful that he found the time and energy to do so, plus what he picked out for me turned out great:

On the baseball side of things we open with this year's starting catcher, Dillon Dingler, and a 1B/DH of yesteryear in Cecil Fielder. Both hail from Topps Chrome Platinum and Big Daddy's card is Prizm Refractor. It's nice to see fan favorites like Cecil in newer products.

Former Tiger Skubal gets to head back to the playoffs, this time with the usual favorites, the Dodgers, and believe me when I say I'm not rooting against him, just for a different team to win. You see him down the middle there on a Chrome-ified trio from Bowman Chrome and Finest, including a Mojo Refractor.

Speaking of Refractors, IF Trey Sweeney stars on that parallel from Topps Chrome, whereas he hasn't starred or even played in the Majors since a poor '25 season and shoulder injury.

The man of the day, JV, joins Skubal from that Finest release, and he truly was the finest Tigers pitcher of this century, good for 183 wins, ROY and Cy Young/MVP seasons, five playoff appearances, and two Pennants. I'm sure I'll put together some sort of career and collecting retrospective given the name of this here blog!

Last up from baseball is one of the offense's few top performers, OF Riley Greene, in relic form. The Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection jersey of the young star who made his third straight All-Star team in '26. It wasn't a career season for the former first-rounder, as he had fewer hits and HR than last year (in fewer games), but did cut down on strikeouts big time and increased his batting average and OBP. At least we should get to enjoy him a bit longer before he hits free agency in a few seasons. For now that's my second relic of Riley and fourth hit overall.

Like I said, my favorite football team lost, but that's happened to each of the guys in this scan, and they were actually the ones playing, so I'll live with it. First, the shiny Collector's Edge card of HOF DB Ty Law--who won three Super Bowls--is numbered to 3000 on the back, and is a nice addition to one of my football PCs that's over 100+. McCarthy's had little time to find success in the NFL, and hasn't done enough when given a chance, but he did go and win a National Title, so he's got that going for him. You see him above on a Score Throwback insert in his Maize & Blue uni along with a Score-a-Treat issue that would fit right in in a post a week from today when it's October.

Joining him from that set is Charles Woodson, another HOF DB and one who won BOTH college and NFL titles. I have 401 cards of one of the greatest to play for Michigan and in the NFL. And last up is a very cool Press Pass Big Numbers die-cut of one of my college favorites, possession WR Jason Avant, who wore #8 (like one of my MLB favorites, Cal Ripken Jr.). He missed out on the Eagles' success by a bit but was fun to watch, and I love this card combining a jersey number I love with an awesome die-cut design.

Trevor, thanks again for thinking of me with these great new cards! I may actually be able to send you a decent return before long. Until then, please be well and take care of yourself, and enjoy the hobby however you can.

I'll try to be back before the calendar flips to another month with more. Until then here's hoping for Michigan Football to pick itself back up, and for the Dodgers, Yankees, and Red Sox to flame out in the MLB playoffs!

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!

2020 trade package #16: Bump and Run Football Card Blog

I have a quick post for you to enjoy on this Father's Day Sunday in late June. Trevor over at the Bump and Run Football Card Blog shot me a message recently asking me if I needed a few cards he listed, and it turned out one of those would be new to me. Then the other day a very well packaged PWE showed up in my mailbox: cards in a card saver, placed in the middle of a standard envelope, with the two sides folded in, and all taped over, which I thought was a clever way of adding protection for free! Here's what he sent:

#1 is an '88 Score base of PC guy Tony Phillips, whose cards I'm chasing with renewed interest. The late Phillips played five seasons in Detroit while doing some of his best work with Oakland. A member of two pennant-winning teams, including the '89 champ Athletics, Tony's 50.9 bWAR and versatility put him in the Hall of Very Good. I'm glad to have his base card from Score's colorful debut. Kudos to Trevor for remembering that I collect him.

Second is former Michigan WR David Terrell's second-year base from 2002 Upper Deck. Speaking of colorful, this photo definitely pops! UD had a knack for selecting some great images and letting them be the star of their cards, and I'd love to see them back on the football side of things.

Finally we have the card from Trevor's list that I needed: Mario Manningham's 2008 Upper Deck College to Pros insert. Super Mario was one of three Wolverines (Henne and Long with the others) in UD's second go round with this insert that's fairly self-explanatory. Of course I'm a fan of seeing my guys in their college unis on cards, whether or not they're my favorites from my #1 draft class. This is a cool reminder of the origins of one of New York's biggest Super Bowl heroes.

Many thanks to Trevor for thinking of me and sending these cards my way. I highly recommend adding him on TCDB (user ID tntcardsstg), trading with him, and following his blog. I'll be working on a return shot in the near future!

2019 trade package #20: Bump and Run Football Card Blog

A fun blast from the (relative) past hit my mailbox a week or two ago when I received a surprise PWE from Trevor of the excellently named Bump and Run Football Card Blog.  The first (and only other) time I showed off cards from him was way back in February of 2017, so this was a fun surprise indeed, plus what he sent was terrific:

The baseball portion was appropriately 100% Tigers, starting with a George Kell Archives base from 2016.  That leads to two horizontal inserts.  Ernie Harwell's 2013 Panini Cooperstown Voices of Summer appearance is the first card that caught my eye as I was opening the envelope and one I'm excited to have, especially since my collection of the legendary announcer is scant.  The Hall of Famer's voice was synonymous with Tigers baseball for generations of fans so I love this insert with a photo of him from much earlier in his career.

And the classic Tigers celebration didn't end there thanks to a 2017 Topps Update Postseason Celebration Red insert (#228/250) that honors the '68 Tigers, a team that gets lots of love from Detroit collectors. Winning pitcher and Series MVP Mickey Lolich (#29) can be seen hugging catcher Bill Freehan way in the back as the rest of the team converges to celebrate in St. Louis.  What a cool photo!

And now we get to the main purpose of this envelope as Trevor noted he'd "been saving up some Wolverines" to send my way.  The great news is that all were new to me except the Charlton RC, which I'm sure will have a happy home after one more trip via USPS to Jeff.

Other than that it's a RB/TE/WR bunch with some excellent college uni action.  #1 is power back Jarrod Bunch on his '93 Fleer base.  The reverse notes that he acted as a FB in '92, blocking for some 1,000-yard rusher named Rodney Hampton, which would be cool if I knew anybody that collected him.

Then there's a pair of Xtra Points Red parallels from Panini's 2017 Prestige:  TE Jake Butt and WR Amara Darboh.  I couldn't even tell you the last time I disliked a Prestige design, and as always the product kills it with beautiful college photos, with the nice bonus of the foil finish here.  Darboh makes a second appearance on another 2017 Panini-branded parallel:  Classics' Timeless Tributes Gold.  That's another outstanding design upgraded by a color variation, plus it's numbered 99/99 (last one!).

And now we return to the power backs.  Leroy Hoard was coming off his second NFL season with Cleveland when the '92 Ultra card you see above was made.  While his rushing TD total only went up by three to five in '91, he went off for nine more scores as a receiver, good for more than half his career output in that category.  I'll bet he wasn't brought down by the arm tackle, or even the airborne player in the very upper-left corner (check that out!).

Finally, campus legend Tyrone Wheatley gets in on the foil-y college uni insert trend with a Superior Pix Instant Impact card from his draft year of 1995.  I'm not sure if the obvious horizontal line going through the RB is a printing defect or just part of the process--I believe less obvious lines were common among Refractors--but it's the only flaw on an interesting card from the brand.  Considering how many similar cards suffer from airbrushing I'm glad to get the full uniform effect plus the iconic helmet--with stickers!

Thanks for thinking of me with this great group of Wolverines and Tigers, Trevor!  I'm getting close to sending you a return mailer that reflects your own eclectic PCs so I'm looking forward to returning the favor.

2017 trade package #3: Bump and Run Football Card Blog

In posting today's trade package I'm thrilled to add another new trade partner to the growing list of those with whom I've swapped cards.  Trevor from the Bump and Run Football Card Blog originally contacted me earlier last year letting me know he could help me with some of my PCs, then claimed some of my fall cleaning/giveaway lots, which finally spurred me into trading with him.

While the majority of the stack was an awesome pile of Wolverines (check them out on TMM this evening!), Trevor hit me up with some excellent Tigers and other PC guys as well:

This first part of the Tigers stack comprises guys I actively collect, including a great 90s Big Daddy insert, a nice addition to my J.D. Martinez collection, and a new Verlander!  While I had JV's 2015 Topps Chrome Refractor I didn't possess the base card until this trade.  Another current Tigers pitcher, Jordan Zimmermann--whose health and performance will hopefully improve in 2017--rounds out the group.

Here's a few more Tigers, starting with Heilmann, a Detroit legend and HOFer you don't really see too often on cardboard these days, out of Panini's excellent Cooperstown product.  It's weird to realize that 2017 will be the fourth MLB season of swingman Buck Farmer.  Gerbe's a Michigan native and a 2006 draft pick that never panned out.  Neither did Schotts, a 2012 third-rounder who warranted an appearance in Panini's Elite Extra Edition set.

Last up for the Motown Kitties is this 2015 Topps Chrome Refractor (yay Refractors!) Rookie auto (#091/499) of Kyle Lobstein, a surprisingly well-traveled pitcher.  According to his BBR page, the 2008 Rays second-rounder has been selected in the Rule 5 draft (Mets, 2012), purchased by another team (Tigers, 2012, and Pirates, 2015), traded (Pirates to Orioles, 2016), and signed as a free agent (Marlins, 2016).  Eventually, though, he's gonna run out of teams in the east and have to head westward!

Besides Verlander's, one of my other PCs Trevor hit was that of Jim Abbott thanks to this '91 Fleer base card.  While the photo of Abbott isn't as interesting as they can sometimes be in depicting his unique delivery, I like the shot of the SS in the background (as well as the large number of empty seats!).  

The other collection he hit is an even better one, Cal Ripken Jr.'s.  When I first saw these I figured I had some doubles on my hands, but all four ended up being new.  For one thing, I managed to overlook the O-Pee-Chee logo in the lower-left corner of the first, and I definitely didn't have that version of Cal's '87 issue.  

Next was one I knew I didn't have, from the oddball-ish '87 Topps Mini Leaders, which notes that Cal finished tied for first in game-winning RBI the previous year with 15.  

From the following year, I figured I had both of Ripken's '88 Score issues, but I figured wrong, so that gap in my collection has been filled.  

Finally, I have a card that was made 20 years ago, an East Meets West subset from '97 New Pinnacle, celebrating some MLB stars touring Japan back then.  I'm happy I was wrong and needed all four of these!

Trevor, thanks a lot for a fantastic first trade, and I'll be happy to do this again soon whenever I can pile up more of your favorite teams!