COMC Black Friday: Abdullah; and Christmas packs 20 - 22

As with many other bloggers, I took advantage of the Black Friday sale at COMC to add to my collection. At some point, after buying a lot of cards without much more of a plan other than making sure I don't buy something that I already own, I decided to narrow my search down to Browns from the 1999 expansion team.

I have a lot of cards of the expansion Browns team. I'm closing in on 500 different Tim Couch cards, by far the most of any player in my collection. He was the first overall pick in the 1999 NFL Draft.

Second in my collection is Kevin Johnson at just under 300 different cards. He was the first pick of the second round.

But the Browns had two second round picks. With the 45th pick of the 1999 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns selected a Clemson linebacker, Rahim Abdullah.

The Trading Card Database lists 45 cards of Rahim Abdullah, all from 1999. Before the COMC order, I had five of them. I decided that needed to change.

L-R: 1999 Collector's Edge Advantage #151; - Gold Ingot #151; - Rookie Autographs #151

I won't show all of the backs, but I figured this back could give a bit of information about him.

L-R: 1999 Collector's Edge Fury #151; - Galvanized Preview #151

Looking at the above cards, you can see that the tiger paw has been removed from the Clemson helmets. It almost makes it look like he's already wearing his Browns helmet.

L-R: 1999 Collector's Edge Supreme #131; - Galvanized #131 (#/500)

Unlike the previous cards, you can see the paw prints on the uniform shoulders here, but still not on the helmet.

Rahim Abdullah played in 29 games with the Browns in the 1999 and 2000 seasons, starting thirteen games in 1999, and four in 2000. He had an interception against Baltimore in the Browns third game of their expansion season, and recorded two sacks near the end of the 2000 season.

L-R: 1999 Leaf Rookies & Stars #226; 1999 Skybox Metal Universe #227 

The photo in the Leaf card has Abdullah in his Browns uniform, and it appears as though it is against the Ravens. Since they didn't play the Ravens in pre-season, and since he has the ball, it is quite likely that this photo was taken after his interception in Baltimore on September 26, 1999.

The Skybox photo shows the tiger paws on the uniform and helmet.

L-R: 1999 SAGE - Autographs Bronze #A1 (#/650); - Autographs Gold #A1 (#/200)

L-R: 1999 SAGE - Autographs Red #A1 (#/999); - Autographs Silver #A1 (#/400)

There are still two more SAGE autographs to chase: #/50 and 1/1.

Rahim Abdullah does not appear to have played football in 2001, and then made his way to the CFL where he played for both Edmonton and Calgary between 2002 and 2007, winning a Grey Cup with the Eskimos in 2003.

His final year of professional football was with the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League in 2008.

I don't really remember Rahim Abdullah playing with the Browns, but I didn't get much in the way of televised Browns games then. I do remember being surprised hearing his name in his CFL debut as he blocked a field goal against my hometown Ottawa Renegades.

I'm happy to have added these thirteen Abdullah cards to my collection, especially the Leaf card that appears to be a photo of his only interception with the Browns.

----------

The Christmas baseball packs for this post are from one of the most easily identifiable cards sets ever made.

I have three packs to open, and hope to pull a Pro-Vision card.

I don't even want to think about how many of these packs I opened back when they came out...

Pack 1:

The wax from the back of the pack is right on the face of all the stickers. Nice to get a couple of All-Stars with Stieb and Bonds.

A couple of Expos cards. I like that Aldrete's card shows him playing first base as it lists him as an outfielder. Also nice to see an early Tino Martinez card.

Winningham is the second player from the Gary Carter Expos/Mets trade in this pack, joining Fitzgerald's card above.

Puckett adds to a pretty good pack, except that it didn't have any Mets in it.

Pack 2:

Not the Pirate pitching Bob that I was looking for in here.

In my memory, Campusano was Sal, not Sil. I remember him coming into the league with the Blue Jays.

Nice to get Nasty Boy Dibble after getting some Charltons in earlier packs.

Okay, these five cards saved this pack. Hundley might be the worst of this group but he had a good long career and made a couple of All-Star teams. And he's a Met.

Pack 3:

I always liked Segui. Nice photo of Canseco finishing a swing. And I do not remember Dale Mohorcic at all.

I think I would have preferred if Phil Clark's photo was taken behind the plate, but nice to see a catcher crouching in his gear.

I'm not going to complain about getting a Griffey card, and you have to like the racing stripe going down Gardner's leg.

What?!? Shorted another card??? I think this is the third time in four posts now.

I remember the odd time where I would get shorted, and I also remember getting an extra card once or twice, but I'm now wondering if it happened more often than I remember. I mean, really, when I bought a cheap box of cards, especially with these packs having fifteen cards in them, I don't think that I would really have noticed.

Oh, well, I have lots of 1991 Fleer boxed up in my house. It isn't as though I'll miss one more card.

Once again, it is fun to open these packs and be reminded of players that I haven't thought about in a long time.