The Trading Post #135: Bump and Run Football Card Blog

I'm finally at a point where I can get trade posts up in a reasonable amount of time. Blasters and Card Shop hauls, not so much, but a PWE hit my mailbox from Trevor at Bump and Run Football Card Blog just a few days ago. This marks the second time Trevor has sent me cards, although this time it was baseball-only.

2019 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-17 Dinger

2019 Opening Day remains in my pile of unwritten-about blasters, as does some Big League. Trevor made sure that this set got a place on the blog before the season ended by sending Dinger's Mascot insert card. The Rockies mascot has been a fixture on this blog since the early days, thanks to Opening Day's long-running Mascots insert set.

On this card, an angry-looking Dinger is practicing his high leg kick, something that's not exactly baseball-related unless you're Paul O'Neill. This card-filling photograph obscures the out-of-town scoreboard, so it's not possible to find an exact date, but he (she?) is there every day. Dinger signs autographs for fans behind the batter's eye, but that's not where I obtained my Dinger autograph.

In case you are unaware of why Dinger is a triceratops and not one of the many other non-extinct species found in the State of Colorado, such as a mountain lion, elk, prairie dog, or perhaps someday the wolf once again, this card tells us that a dinosaur skull was unearthed at the Coors Field construction site. It's a tale that has grown in the telling over the years, ranging anywhere from a fossil to an egg to a multi-ton dinosaur skull. Tall tales like that lead some to believe that it's simply an urban legend.

It's true that Dinger was "hatched" at Mile High Stadium early in the 1994 season; the card gets that right. But as far as a skull being discovered? That's not entirely accurate. There have been some pretty significant archaeological finds in Colorado and even within the Denver area, but not exactly at the corner of 20th and Blake. A recent Colorado Public Radio news article shed some light on the real story. It wasn't a skull, but only a few fragments of what is likely a rib bone from some type of plant-eating dinosaur, potentially a triceratops. They're kept in a little box by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, part of their vast archive of prehistoric fossils.

In short, Dinger is about as historically accurate as a purple triceratops mascot can be, but the archaeological importance of Coors Field has been a bit overblown.

2019 Topps Big League Gold #142 Chris Iannetta

2019 Topps Big League made up most of this PWE, such as this Gold parallel of catcher Chris Iannetta. Part of the Rockies' 2007 pennant-winning team, he returned to Colorado in 2018 for a second stint. They released him in August, the latest former Rockie after Matt Holliday to potentially wrap his career up back in Denver.

A lot of collectors, myself included, enjoy seeing catchers in full gear. It's a punishing position, and I have huge respect for athletes who spend most of their career behind the plate. It's not an accident that so many of them become managers. Iannetta clearly prefers Nike gear, as we can see the famous swoosh on both his mask and his chest protector, the latter with his name tag helpfully sewn in. There's also a look at the Rockies 25th Anniversary patch on Iannetta's right sleeve, dating this photo to 2018.

The card back tells us that Iannetta "has a knack for the big hit", hitting eight walk-off RBI in his career. I went to the game on August 21st, 2018, and though Iannetta hit a home run that game, his long fly ball in the ninth inning that could have tied the game fell just a little bit short, and was instead gloved by Hunter Renfroe for the final out.

2019 Topps Big League #152 Charlie Blackmon

Charlie Blackmon has his share of walk-off hits, too. His first homer of 2019 was of the walk-off variety. This horizontal Big League card shows him laying out to make a great catch in front of an outfield banner. The Big League design works a little better in this orientation, as we can see that the bottom banner is meant to be a ticket stub. We're sitting in Section 2019, Row BB, seat 1.

That's one heck of a big stadium if I have to go up at least 20 decks to find my seat.

The card back goes for sort of a Studio vibe, giving us a "Did you know?" fact about the player's life off the field. This card tells us that "Charlie is married to 2014 Summer Games bronze medalist figure skater Ashley Wagner."

That was news to her, let me tell you.

Charlie's actual spouse is named Ashley Cook. Also, on a much more minor note, since when has there been figure skating at the Summer Olympics?

Errors happen, I get it. Maybe a typo in the batting average, a transposed birthdate, something like that I can understand. But to miss that badly on the one and only fun fact is pretty bad. I certainly hope Topps is doing more robust fact-checking than just glancing at Wikipedia. I'm not sure whether that's worse than the Justin Bieber mix-up on Shane Bieber's 2019 Stadium Club card.

2019 Topps Big League Star Caricature Reproductions #SCR-CB Charlie Blackmon

Blackmon was one of many stars to be featured in the Caricatures insert set, which carries over the pennant theme from the base set. There's not much on the card back besides a congratulatory note that is usually reserved for relics and redemptions. Apparently, the original artwork for each of the caricature cards is randomly inserted in Topps Big League as a 1/1, which is what makes the normal card a "Reproduction".

These remind me a lot of 1993 Score All-Star cards, which had a similar plain white background and perhaps a bit better artwork.

1993 Score #530 Ryne Sandberg AS

Remember these? This subset was one of the highlights of 1993 Score. There's a plain white background, some comic-esque artwork, the position, and absolutely no doubt that this subset relates to All-Stars.

Ryne Sandberg was a ten-time All-Star and the 1984 NL MVP. The Hall of Famer earned a spot in the National League's staring lineup at the 1992 Midsummer Classic in San Diego. Score helpfully included the full All-Star lineup on the card back, where we get to see names like Ozzie Smith, Greg Maddux, Gary Sheffield, Tony Gwynn, and more.

2019 Topps Gypsy Queen Green #11 Charlie Blackmon

Returning to the PWE, our final card is another one of Charlie Blackmon. Trevor sent me some green cards last time, and remembered that it's my favorite color on a card. This is my first look at 2019 Gypsy Queen, and the design looks a lot busier than it did last year. I don't recall seeing this brand in the card aisle at Target, and it's not a set I like enough to make a trip to a card shop to find. Still, it reliably shows up via trade year after year, so I appreciate my fellow bloggers keeping me in the loop on the various retro sets that Topps releases.

One of these days I'll crack open that blaster of 2019 Big League I've had sitting on the card table, but not until I get a few more posts written. I just hope I don't find any more glaring errors like figure skating being a summer sport.