Spring COMC Order - Part 3: 1999 and 2000

Okay, I should have just named this the Tim Couch section of my COMC order.

Looking at the stats of my collection on the Trading Card Database, with these cards they show me as owning 373 different Tim Couch cards - the most of anyone in my collection. (For anyone interested, number two is Kevin Johnson with 224 different cards.)

Left: 1999 Fleer Focus - Glimmer Men #1R
Right: 1999 Playoff Momentum SSD - Star Gazing #SG41

Both of these insert cards are shiny foil and look better in person, although as you can see, the Fleer card shows up better in a scan than the Playoff card.

Left: 2000 Fleer Tradition - Tradition of Excellence #3TE
Right: 2000 Leaf Certified - Certified Gold Team #CGT32

The Leaf card is quite shiny, with the burst effect really catching the light.

Top: 2000 Playoff Prestige - Human Highlight Film #HH-60
Bottom: 1999 Skybox Molten Metal #147

I think that other than the set name, the Prestige card really scans nicely.

I have to say that I really like the 1999 Skybox Molten Metal set. There is just something about the durability of the cards. This card completed my team set from the base set. I have a couple of Tim Couch inserts from the set as well, but still need some and there are parallels for a lot of them as well.

Left: 1999 Stadium Club - Emperors of the Zone #E9
Right: 2000 Topps Gallery #141

I'm wondering why Topps came up with the name "Emperors of the Zone" for an insert set. I mean, you hear military terms used for the leaders of sports teams all the time, but Emperor?

And, believe it or not, I actually picked up two non-Tim Couch cards from 2000.

Left: 2000 Collector's Edge Odyssey - Wasssuppp #W7
2000 Topps Chrome #228

Yeah, a "Wasssuppp" insert. Who knew? Now, next question, who's surprised? There were actually two Browns in the 20 card set. I still need to get the Travis Prentice card.

I already owned the Topps Collection parallel card of Barcelona Dragon Ronnie Powell, but I needed this Topps Chrome version, and still need the base Topps card. (I'm sure that is only because I really haven't looked for it.) On the back of the card it says that he was signed by the Browns as a free agent, and then allocated to the Dragons. He did play in 14 games for the Browns in 1999, catching one pass for 45 yards, rushing the ball once for -14 yards, and returning 44 punts for 986 yards.



Spring COMC order - Part 2: Score

With my COMC order I decided to focus on getting a bunch of less expensive cards that I needed for my collection.

I bought one box of Score last year to help quench the urge of opening a box. I liked the cards, and the  insert sets, but as with the year before, found the sheer amounts of parallels to be kind of pointless. I'm a bit of a hypocrite in saying that since I want to collect all the Browns and their parallels, but it stopped me from buying more sealed product, knowing that I could eventually find the singles that I needed cheaper from other people.

Saying that, let's see some of last year's Score cards.

First we'll start with these two Scorecard parallels. These are the first two of the fifteen 2015 Browns Scorecard cards that I've managed to pick up. They at least satisfy one desire I have in a parallel set, they are easily identifiable.

I didn't get a regular Team Leaders card in my box, so you can see it up top. I still need to get the Black and Green parallels.

I really wish the back would have had a checklist, or actually shown the team leading statistics that I assume the card signifies.

Two Browns were represented in the twenty-five card Gridiron Heritage insert set, Paul Warfield and Ozzie Newsome. I already owned the regular versions of both but needed to add a lot of the colored parallels to my collection.

I managed to pick up all but the Black parallel for Warfield.

Already owning the Gold parallel, these complete my set for Newsome.

The Browns also had two cards in the fifteen card Sophomore Selections insert set, neither of which are still with the team. I already owned the regular card for both and picked up these parallels.

Picking up these parallels leaves me only needing the Black parallel for Terrance West, and the Red parallel for Johnny Manziel.

I'm not sure what the distribution is for the different colors, but I guess I should be happy that they are not all numbered and are at least fairly easy to find.

Now I didn't just buy Score cards from last year, I also found these other Browns that I needed.

Okay, you're probably wondering how I needed a regular Brady Quinn rookie card. I was sure I had it, and if I dug out and rifled through all my doubles, I probably did, but recently when I was going through my binder, and I looked at the 2007 Score Brady Quinn card that I had in it, I realized that it was the Glossy parallel and not the base card. There really isn't that much of a difference between the two, and that is a pet peeve of mine. I want to be able to tell the difference. Say what you will about serial numbered cards and creating an artificial scarcity, but at least I know what I have and can tell the difference. In any case, while looking through COMC for the sale, I figured that I would just grab the Quinn card to fill the hole in my collection.

I have the regular Future Franchise Derek Anderson card from 2008, but this is the Gold Zone version numbered out of 500.

It is hard to tell from the scan, but the top card is the Gold version of the 2014 insert set Brothers in Arms. I already owned the regular Blue version, but still need the Green and Red versions.

This D'Qwell Jackson card is the only Browns card in the Numbers Game insert set, and it doesn't come in multiple colors, but there is a Glossy parallel out there that I need to find. (Or at least I think this is the regular one. Sigh, I hate Glossy parallels.)

Spring COMC order - Part 1: Pre-expansion

As with many other collectors, I took advantage of COMC's recent sale and picked up roughly 100 cards for my collection. Most were post-expansion, with a lot of parallels included in the bunch, but I did manage to pick up a few pre-expansion Browns cards as well.

I added three 1962 Topps cards that I needed.

I love the little action photos on the side of each of the cards.

I was finally able to add Ray Renfro's 1962 Topps base card to the Topps Buck of the same year. Gotta love that grin and hair!

Bob Gain played his entire 12 year career with the Browns, making the Pro Bowl five times. This is the sixth Bob Gain card in my collection, which covers all of the Topps, Fleer and Post Cereal cards during his playing career.

This is the only Browns card for Howard "Hopalong" Cassady, who played in 5 games with the Browns after being traded to them from the Lions just before the 1962 season. He had 7 punt returns and 10 kickoff returns for the team in those games. I don't know who is in the action photo - Cassady wore 40 with the Browns, as he did with the Lions. (If that is a Browns player with the ball, and it is number 10, before 1962 the number was only worn once by a Browns player, in 1957 by quarterback John Borten.)

The next card that I ordered from COMC was actually a double. I don't know why I thought I needed it, but as it turns out the one that I received is in better condition than the one I already owned so I'm not going to complain or worry about it.

1968 Topps Stand-Up

Now, of course, having a duplicate is really tempting me to actually stand one up. I won't, to keep it in good shape for someone else that might need it, but it is tempting.

Next, I added another 1977 Topps Mexican card to my collection. With this card, I now have half of the 24 Cafes cards.

This card completes my Steve Holden collection - all four cards of it. I don't know Spanish, so other than seeing "AA" and knowing that it should be "WR", I'm not sure what it stands for.

Steve Holden played 48 games over four years with the Browns (1973-76), before finishing his career with 6 games for the Bengals in 1977. His best season was in 1974 when he caught 30 passes for 452 yards and 3 touchdowns.

I actually had bought the last two cards well before the sale and they were sitting in my account waiting to be shipped.

These are the last two All-Star Browns scratch color variations that I needed. And I'm so close to completing the regular Browns sets as well - I've completed the blue, gold and black variations and only need five more green cards for the set.

The next few posts will show other additions from my COMC order.

Night Owl trying to trick me

Breaking away from the Browns for a post, I received a nice little envelope of cards from everyone's favorite Night Owl.

To put a smile on my own face, I'll start with the Mets two World Series wins.

 

For the time being, I will use this Gil Hodges manager card to represent him as a player in my Opening Day Lineup project I am working on.

Dwight Gooden looks so young in this picture.

Gary Carter was and is still my hero. He is the first sports hero I had as a kid. I became a catcher. I wore number 8. His trade to the Mets cemented my allegiance to that team. (I always had a soft spot for the Expos, being the nearest team to me growing up, but I kind of liked having a team that I could cheer for that would cheer against my dad. The Mets were that team until the Carter trade, then they became my favorite team.)

As for Bob Ojeda, one fun question to ask a baseball fan is which Mets pitcher led the team in wins and ERA in their World Series winning year of 1986. He is the answer. He was a good pickup the off-season before from the Red Sox and had a win and no-decision against them in the World Series.

Oh, wait, the title of my post is about Night Owl trying to trick me. Well, let's get to that. So, one of the first cards that jumped out at me was a Sportflics card, which as you know don't always scan with the picture that you want them to. This one kind of did.

I saw Fernando Valenzuela and wondered why he was sending me a Dodgers card, which is what you see here.

However, by playing with it, and cheating and looking a the back, I soon came to realize that it was a Mets card in disguise!

Cool Dwight Gooden card, right after the 1986 World Series. And, man, did Mike Scott pitch great against the Mets in the playoffs.

Okay, that isn't so tricky, is it? Well, there was more...

Cool! A modern O-Pee-Chee card! And a 1990 Topps card?!?

Look, I'm Canadian, and I've sent many of you OPC cards. Matter of fact, I even sent Night Owl an unopened pack of 1990 OPC to play with...

Wait a second? Where is the French on that modern OPC card? And look, a surprise 1990 OPC card!

Oh, you tricky Night Owl. You probably pulled that Keith Miller card in the pack I sent you.

 

But really? That Jeremy Reed, that's not O-Pee-Chee.

 

And, now, on to some of the other cards that he sent.

Some pitchers!

One reason I liked the Mets as a kid? The names on the team. I mean names like Matlack, Koosman, Seaver, Kingman and Kranepool. Those were fun names for a kid in the 1977 set that I first started buying baseball cards with. Nice to see Matlack here.

 

And I have always loved a side-arm delivery, well, except when as a left-handed batter I had to face a lefty side-arm pitcher. I didn't really like that. Anyways, good to see the Innis card showing the side-arm delivery.

 

Some infielders

A nice mix of years, including last year's post-season victim. (Sorry, Night Owl, Utley is dirty and didn't even start his so-called slide (tackle) until he was at the base. But I do agree that the rule didn't need to be changed - just call interference.) And hopefully Dilson Herrera will be the future at some point.

A couple of outfielders

And some shiny!

I appreciate all that Dillon Gee did for the Mets in his years there and hope that he plays well in the future.

 

And for the Mets future? I just hope that the young arms stay healthy for years to come!

 

Thanks for the great cards!

 

Some cards from ebay

Along with the Starting Lineup figures and cards that I showed yesterday, I also won auctions for the cards below.

1962 Post Cereal

When I saw this lot posted, I knew that I needed the SP of the Paul Wiggin for my collection. With shipping, the lot set me back just over eight dollars. I'm pretty happy with that. After quickly comparing the other three cards to what I already had in my collection, I think the Parrish card may be an upgrade. I'll have to compare the two a bit more closely.

One interesting thing was found on the back of the Jim Houston card:

It isn't an autograph - I compared it to the signature shown on his other cards. Perhaps this card was used as a divider for someone trying to organize their collection.

I was really happy with another purchase. The "Buy It Now" purchase was for a team set of the eight Browns cards for 1993 Topps FantaSports, and seven of them were going to be new to me. (I already had an Eric Metcalf card.) The rest of the purchase was 2 sets of the 1994 NFL Properties Santa cards which I'm sure I'll show next Christmas.

Top (l-r): #38 Leroy Hoard; #5 Bernie Kosar
Bottom (l-r): #39 Kevin Mack; #40 Eric Metcalf

Top (l-r): #99 Michael Jackson; #177 Team Defense (Michael Dean Perry)
Bottom (l-r): #153 Matt Stover; #41 Tommy Vardell

These cards measure 3x5 inches, and I had never seen them before I discovered the Trading Card Database.

Here are a few of the backs:

I probably would have to spend some time to figure out how their fantasy stats or rankings are figured out here.

I was happy with my order when I got it, but then I was surprised when I actually started counting the cards. The seller must have wanted to provide more Browns cards to a good home because there was a duplicate team set, minus the Kosar card, in the envelope. But wait! There was more...also in the envelope were the following two cards:

1996 Sportscall: #357 Earnest Byner; #359 Vinny Testaverde

They are standard size cards, and I don't think I had ever even seen these phone cards before. The seller made me very happy with their inclusion.

The next three cards were also a "Buy It Now" purchase from one seller to combine shipping.

Top: 2015 Topps Field Access - Autographs #28
Bottom (l-r): 2015 Topps Field Access - Autographs #77; 2015 Panini Crown Royale #143 

All sticker autos, which everyone is so used to seeing now, but take a look at the two different Shelton autographs...

Danny Shelton wore number 55 with the Washington Huskies, but when he came to the Browns that number was being worn by Alex Mack. Shelton then took (was given?) number 71.

So, looking at the sticker autographs, I guess the Topps autographs were signed either before the draft, or shortly after, and he signed his old number. It is so nice to see that 55 on a card where he is wearing a 71. The Panini stickers must have been signed at a later time period when he knew what his number would be.

An interesting note to this is that with Mack having gone to the Falcons, Shelton has switched to 55 for this year. He announced that he would have a couple of special meet and greets for fans that had bought one of his number 71 jerseys.

The next two sets of cards were won on auctions.

The first is a lot of Terrance West cards.

Left top: 2014 Panini Immaculate - Immaculate Collection #IS-TWE, #/49
Left bottom: 2014 Topps Platinum - Rookie Patch Auto Green Refractor #ARP-TW, #/99
Right: 2014 Panini Select - Rookie Auto Mojo Red #RA-TW, #/15

An auction of three numbered cards, one to 15, won for $10.50, including shipping. I don't mind that at all.

The last auction was for five autographed cards, one of which I already had before (and didn't bring with me when I scanned these cards), and I won it for $6.75 with free shipping. Here are the four that I needed:

Top (l-r): 2005 UD Foundations - Signature Foundations Silver #SF-CF; 2008 SP Authentic - SP Star Signatures #SPSS-25
Bottom (l-r): 2009 Topps Triple Threads #122, #/70; 2007 SPx #177, #/199

Looking at the signatures, I don't think there is a single one that I would be able to tell whose it was without any context, but luckily for us they are attached to cards that provide that context. That being said, I really like Derek Anderson's signature. It just looks nice and clean.

I love the Massaquoi card in person, as it is nice and shiny, and the jersey just looks cool to me.

The shininess of the Tyrone Moss card also doesn't really come across in the scan.

It sure is nice to add all of these cards to my collection, but they just add to the pile of cards that I'm so far behind with in actually placing into my organized collection. I can't wait for some free time this summer.

More Starting Lineup

The previous posts I did on the Cleveland Browns Starting Lineup figures made me start keeping a closer eye out for those figures that I am missing. Over the last couple of months I have added the following figures:



1988 Bernie Kosar

New Browns' first round pick, Corey Coleman, will be wearing wearing Bernie's number 19 this year.

 

1988 Kevin Mack

I tried taking a couple of pictures of the Mack figure, and it kept coming out like this. The pictures before and after were clear and sharp. Technology doesn't like me. (Or, yeah, I don't know how to use it properly.)


1988 Bob Golic

I managed to get Bob Golic's autograph at last year's Cleveland Browns FanFest. He was great, sitting there signing for everyone and engaging in small talk. I think I got his attention when I told him that I enjoyed him in Saved by the Bell: The College Years.

This gives me three of the five 1988 Browns figures, leaving me to find the Ozzie Newsome and Brian Brennan ones.

I also added the 1989 and 1990 figures of Webster Slaughter. It is nice that they used the brown jersey for the second one after using the white one the first time.



1989 Webster Slaughter



1990 Webster Slaughter

I also picked up some more loose Starting Lineup cards that I needed.

While looking around for the Starting Lineup figures I also came across another interesting figure/toy that I wound up buying, but I'll save that for another post.

One card post

Okay, I'm really busy and keep starting long posts that I never seem to finish so I figured I could post a quick one card post to get me back into the swing of things.

This is a card that I never knew existed until I joined the Trading Card Database. I knew that Action Packed had 24K Gold cards in their regular sets, and have managed to track down a couple of the Browns for my collection, but until I looked on the database, I didn't realize that they put out 24K Gold cards for their Madden set. Once I saw that they did, I knew I had to get this card.



1991 Action Packed All-Madden - 24K Gold #36G

I'm sure I've said it before, but Clay Matthews is one of my all-time favorite Browns, and I think that he should be in the Hall of Fame. After passing on his sons in their respective draft years, I was glad to see the Browns sign his nephew Mike as an undrafted free agent. It just feels right to have a Matthews family member on the team.

I'm hoping this will snap my procrastinating and get me going to post more. I have a couple of trade packages that I've neglected, and I have a COMC order coming in.

Before going, however, I just want to plug the Sport Card Collectors' Sports Contest Challenge contest. Check it out for some great prizes including supplies that I'm sure that all of us could use!