Today's local card show purchases

I went to my local monthly card show this morning before suffering through watching the Browns game on tv this afternoon. The Browns just didn't seem to match the intensity of the Steelers in Pittsburgh today, and have now lost 23 straight regular season games in Pittsburgh.

I found some new cards to add to my collection, all from the last handful of years.

The Nick Chubb card is acetate, and the white you see in the scan is actually clear for the card. It is a Momentum insert card from the 2022 Panini Chronicles set.

The Martin Emerson card is a Stars insert card from the 2022 Donruss Optic set.

 

From the 2023 Panini Prizm set, here is a Green parallel of Kareem Hunt.

I'm always happy to add a new Clay Matthews card to my collection. This card is an All-Time Gridiron Kings insert from the 2024 Donruss set. The foil on the card seems to be bronze, and looks a lot nicer in hand than in a scan.

The Nick Chubb card is also nicer in hand, with some foil patterns that don't really scan. This is a Draft Diamonds insert card from the 2024 Panini Absolute set.

Dillon Gabriel was just activated from the injured list last week, and added to the Browns roster. This is a Stars insert card (you can see them best on the bottom of the scan, but they do run around most of the border of the card) from the 2025 Donruss Optic set.

Last year's two rookie running backs are shown above.

The Quinshon Judkins card is a Fireworks insert card from the 2025 Panini Prizm set.

The Dylan Sampson card is a Selct Future insert card from the 2025 Panini Select set.

The above cards are both Red, White and Blue insert cards from the 2025 Panini Prizm set. I like getting multiple parallels from the same set at the same time. It makes me feel like I am actually making progress on a team parallel set.

One dealer had the following Browns cards from the new 2026 Topps Heritage set put aside for me. All of them are regular base cards from the set, but I appreciate getting a bunch of them together so quickly because it may relieve me of the urge of buying a blaster for the set if I see one.

The cards pay tribute to the 1976 Topps football set.

Record Breakers! I enjoyed seeing those when I was a kid. This Myles Garrett record breaker is card #1 for the set.

A nice card of Mason Graham, but when I saw it I hoped that there wouldn't be too many Browns cards in this set with the white helmet. As it turned out, this was the only one in the cards that I bought. (I haven't looked through the rest of the team set to see if there are others.)

Since this is my first look at a new set, I'll show the backs for these two cards.

The backs are dark, and a little tough to read, but I like them, and the card has that cardboard feel to it, so I'm happy with that. Nice to see trivia questions on the back of the card.

Now, for comparison, I'm going to pull up a couple of scans from The Trading Card Database to compare.

In a quick glance, I'm happy with the comparison of the front.

The back of this 1976 scan is definitely not as dark, and is much easier to read. My 1976 cards are upstairs so I'm not going to compare one in hand right now.

There is still the orange section on the back with the write up, and stats, but the trim of the card is blue here compared to brown with the new set. The orange helmets in the top left of the card fit nicely with the Browns, and both have them, but the card numbers were bigger in 1976, and the text also appears to be. It definitely is for the name and position.

I think I prefer the individual trivia questions on the back, as opposed to the Who Am I? which has 12 cards dedicated to one player answer.

It is nice to get the Browns first round pick this year with the Spencer Fano card, along with last year's Defensive Rookie of the Year in Carson Schwesinger.

The Browns had a league leader card in 1976, and it had the same look with the rounded top right corner for the player. The text on the 1976 league leader cards only had the team name on them, not the city. And, of course, there was no Sack Leaders cards in 1976.

The set up on the back appears to be the same as the 1976 league leader cards but again the 1976 card back seems brighter, has larger print, and seems easier to read. I think the NFL shield, and the Topps and NFLPA logos are the reason for the smaller print.

I'll probably be pairing these two rookie receivers together in many scans.

I was very surprised to see the Joe Royer card. He was a fifth round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, but didn't report to training camp for personal reasons, and was placed on the Reserve Non-football illness list, designated for return. I'm not sure what his future with the team will be.

With the Browns having a winning record, I don't think that Jerry Jeudy will be traded before the trade deadline. I would hope that they keep him as he is a solid veteran to have behind the two rookie receivers. But I don't make the team decisions, and I know the front office values draft picks.

Finally, I had one non-card related purchase.

Our monthly card show is actually a cards and comics show. I used to collect comics for a long time, and still know some of the dealers.

After hearing that there was a Muppets crossover comic book with the Marvel universe, I really wanted to get a copy of it. However it came out in September, and I didn't hear about it until just before our October card show. I checked two local comic book stores, and didn't see a copy for sale, so I asked one of the dealers at the card show if he had an extra copy of it. He was pretty sure that he did, and said that he would bring it to the November show.

He had this one comic left. There were multiple variant covers, and although there was one that I may have preferred before this one, I really like this one too. Considering he only had the one book, I really didn't have a choice in the matter.

I read the comic this afternoon, and quite enjoyed the stories inside. But, I'm a huge Muppets fan, so I'm probably a very easy audience for this book. Your mileage may vary.

I'm hoping to post again before next month's card show. I've got some posts that I've wanted to write, but I've just been too busy and tired with everything going on right now in life to do so.

Recent local card show purchases

A couple of Sundays ago, I went to the local monthly card show and came home with a number of cards that were new to my Browns collection.

I always told myself that the only 1962 Topps card that I needed for my Browns collection was Jim Brown's card. 

(That was what was left after getting an incredible gift from Dave at The Herschel Hoard blog, for which I will forever be grateful.)

But seeing a small stack of 1962 Topps cards on a dealer's table, I figured that I would flip through the cards in it.

To my shock, I came across this following Detroit Lions card.

Oh, did I say Lions card? Ummm, that's a Browns uniform (twice) on that Lions card. That makes it a Browns cards for my collection. (And I'm sure that I'll always be finding more cards like this that I didn't know about since checklists don't list them as playing with the Browns.)

Traded to Detroit. It's right there on the back.

Milt Plum was traded to the Lions in March 1962 after publically criticizing Paul Brown over play calling.

I was very happy to find this D'Qwell Jackson rookie card from 2006, numbered out of 999.

This 2022 Fuzion insert card from the Panini Luminance set really looks way better in person. I had never seen it before.

Nick Chubb signed a one day contract with the Browns earlier this season in order to retire with the team.

I guess the parallel for this 2022 Panini Prizm Lockdown insert card is called a No Huddle Prizm. Okay.

And the scan of this My House insert card from the 2024 Donruss Optic set also doesn't do the card justice.

I'm pretty sure I will never run out of Myles Garrett insert cards to collect as long as I'm adding to my Browns collection.

I don't think that I had ever heard of the 2025 Topps Resurgence set before, but one dealer had all these Browns waiting for me to buy.

Here are base cards of two of their 2025 rookies. It was nice that the Sanders card wasn't overpriced. So many are.

I didn't look at these close enough when I bought them. It was only when I got home that I realized they were Prism Refractors.

This card is a Sky Blue and Pink Shock Refractor. At least I can identify the colors.

Is it funny that I like Bond's number 16 on the toe of his shoes?

Here are two inserts from the set.

The Judkins card is a Protonyx insert card, while the Sanders is a Voltaic insert card.

The next card wasn't actually from the card show. I bought it at my local friendly card store the day before. But it fits with the new acquisitions.

This is one of the many parallels from the 2025 Topps Chrome set, but I really like it.

I'm sure we're all familiar with the Camo parallels, but this one went one step further...it is a Team Camo. For each parallel in the checklist, the cards have camo color-matched to the team colors. I can really get behind this concept. The only problem with them is that they appear to be hard to find.

Here are a couple of Dillon Gabriel cards from the 2025 Donruss set - a Press Proof Purple parallel, and a The Rookies insert card.

I also added these two 2025 Quinshon Judkins parallels. 

On the left is a Purple Shock parallel from Donruss Optic.

On the right is a Black and Red Prizm Shock parallel from Panini Select.

Shocking names to these parallels?

The same dealer with the Resurgence cards also had all these 2026 Topps Flagship cards for me. 

He had low price stickers on the rookie and insert cards, and tossed the base cards in with the rest of my purchase. The base cards brought me very close to having my team set, and I have all the Browns rookies.

Okay, I like their team card!

Garrett is still with the Browns here.

Jeudy has had some key catches in the Browns last two wins this year. I'm glad to see him playing well while trade rumors are circulating about him.

Both of last year's rookie quarterbacks.

The Browns first pick in the 2025 draft. It sounds like he'll be coming back from an ankle injury soon. I can't wait. He was having such a good season before he got hurt.

The Browns two newly drafted wide receivers, both making a good impression so far in their rookie seasons.

Fano was the Browns number one pick in this year's draft, and was named the starter at left tackle before the season began.

Taylen Green is our 2026 version of what seems to be the quarterback drafted in the later rounds. He showed some flash in the preseason.

Topps 35th Anniversary cards in the NFL set. Garrett is from a veteran's insert set, while Boston is from a rookies one.

Baseball has their Stars insert, so does football which you can see with the card on the left.

On the right, there is a Profiles card.

Let's see what sort of analysis we can get!

Okay, I've heard about his flexibility on the rush, and about his speed and power, so the file on the left is good.

As for Kyle Brandt's analysis...  Okay, I appreciate him saying that he is perhaps the best player in the game, but comparing him to a dinosaur from Jurassic Park? I may be too old-fashioned for this insert set.

Wait? You might wonder if I found any "hits" at the show. Well, I found a few.

Prices may have dropped on Dorian Thompson-Robinson cards from when I went to a card show in Syracuse with Night Owl during DTR's rookie season in 2023.

This card, numbered out of 10, set me back $5 Canadian.

But I'm thrilled to add it to my collection.

From the same dealer, this 2025 Donruss Rookie Sweater card was the same price. I'll gladly take it, thanks.

These two cards were $3 each. I gladly added them to my small pile from that dealer.

The Landry card is an Away version of the jersey Home & Away insert set from 2019 Score.

The Jerry Jeudy card is a Donruss Threads insert card from the 2025 Donruss set.

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I might as well provide an update from my previous post.

The Ottawa Titans won the 2026 Frontier League Championship!

I went to game three of the best of five finals. The Titans won it in game four.

I would have liked to attend game four, but around six months before, I bought tickets for the Sabaton concert in Ottawa that night.

I really enjoyed the concert but was checking my phone for updates between songs.

Congratulations, Ottawa Titans!

Frontier League - 2026 Ottawa Titans

This year I wasn't able to go out of town to see any MLB games, or down to Syracuse or Binghamton, NY to see one of the Mets minor league teams, but I have been able to attend some Frontier League games to see my hometown Ottawa Titans.

The Titans are in the playoffs now, and I was at their game last night when they swept the New York Boulders, in a best of five series, to advance to the league finals. Last night's attendance was 7912, and it was a great atmosphere!

During the last week of the regular season, the Titans had a baseball cards stadium giveaway. I wasn't able to attend that game, but a friend of mine managed to get an extra set of cards for me!

Bobby Brown has been the team's manager since they entered the league.

As you can see on the back of Caleb Burr's card, the season stats on the back of the cards are for this season, as of August 3, 2026.

The logo in the top right corner on the front of the card is that of the Titans celebrating their 5th anniversary.

The team has players from all over the world, including a number of Canadian players.

Thomas Ferroggiaro was 1-3 last night, and played very strong defensively, but his key at-bat may have been a sacrifice bunt that he dropped down successfully in the 4th inning. The next batter, Hunter Stokely, then singled, bringing in two runs to give Ottawa a 3-0 lead. They won the game 3-2.

Liu Fuenmayor pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the save last night.

Although Michael Fuhrman is listed on his card with a position of Utility, he is a Catcher for the team. He has started all the playoff games, and I've been impressed with his throwing arm. He has thrown out a runner trying to steal second base in both playoff games that I've attended.

Evan Grills has started both playoff games that I've attended this year, getting the win last night. 

Brett Garcia has also pitched in both of those games, and got the win in the playoff game that I attended last week.

Ky Hampton started, and won game 2 of the series that ended last night.

Another use of Utility as the position on the Jack Kalisky card. Then you flip over the card and see pitching stats, but the text underneath mentions that he has hit and played first base for the team this year. He started as the DH in game one of the series that just finished.

Bench Coach card!

Eric Pardinho won the clinching game on the road in the Titans first round playoff series agains the New Jersey Jackals.

Myles Smith had a nice opposite field triple last night in the seventh inning, but was sadly stranded at third when I was hoping for an insurance run after the Boulders had closed to within one run in the top of the seventh.

Jake Steels scored one of the two runs that Hunter Stokely drove in last night.

Jackie Urbaez is the Titans leadoff hitter. Last night in the first inning, he scored from second base on a wild pitch that the Boulders catcher couldn't locate right away. Great awareness and speed by Urbaez. He also had a beautiful defensive play, diving towards second to catch a line drive up the middle.

Two more starters from last night's game, with Taylor Wright playing right field. Taylor Wright doubled and scored in the game.

Also included in the team set is the Titans mascot, Cappy.

One of my friends is part of Cappy's extended stats after those on the back of this card were compiled. We celebrated his birthday in a suite for a Titans game, and Cappy came and visited. A good time was had by all.

I'm not sure who the Titans will be playing in the finals. The Evansville Otters are currently up 2-1 in the best of five series against the Washington Wild Things (from Washington, Pennsylvania), with Washington hosting game 4 tonight, and game 5 tomorrow if necessary.

The Titans will start the finals on the road next Tuesday and Wednesday, for another best of five series, with the final three games scheduled in Ottawa for next Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Go Titans!