Odds are you don’t know the name Konrad Reuland.
He enrolled at Notre Dame in 2006 with dreams of gridiron glory but had no recorded statistics in seven games played. He transferred to Stanford where he caught 27 balls for 351 yards and a touchdown over two seasons.
The tight end went undrafted in 2011 but caught on with four NFL teams over five seasons, mostly practice-squad work, but he did play in 30 games (starting four) for the Jets and Ravens — the last coming in 2015.
But these aren’t the reasons you could now hear his name.
Reuland died on Dec. 12 after a brain aneurysm at age 29. He was an organ donor and the recipient of his heart was baseball Hall of Famer Rod Carew, a 71-year-old who had struggled with his health after suffering a heart attack in 2015. Reuland’s status as Carew’s donor was revealed this weekend.
We all know Carew from countless cardboard appearances that come from being an 18-time All-Star with seven batting titles and an American League MVP award. (He’s at more than 4,400 different cards with more inevitably on the way any time there’s a new product.)
Reuland, on the other hand, never appeared on an NFL card during his life. In fact, his only cards are found in a single somewhat-obscure release. He has a card in the 2015 Panini Stanford University set — a multi-sport release with past Cardinal football stars. He has a Silver parallel (typically one or two per blaster box), and then a Gold (/25) and Black (/10) parallel — that’s it. The standard card is not an expensive one, but it’s also on that’s not that plentiful given the product’s limited release.
The Stanford release is a 50-card set so you should get a Reuland card in every blaster (80 cards) and, for now, they can be had via the Panini America store.
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