Sportcards From The Dollar Store Got Me to Join the Joyride

I opened my mailbox on Monday night, and was pleased to find a bubble mailer from Sportcards From The Dollar Store inside.

Along with a bunch of Browns cards was this card that allowed me to complete my 1991 UK Pro-Set MusiCards set:

The picture is the same as one of their cards in the regular set, but the number and back are different.

Of course, getting this card sent me to YouTube to search for, and watch, some Roxette videos. I think the last time I did that was after Marie passed in 2019.

Thanks, Douglas, for getting this card for me! It is great to add this to its binder to finish the set.

Before I get on to the Browns cards from the envelope, I want to apologize to Tom, and John for recent trade packages that I didn't post. (UNO Browns cards/Batman animated cards from Tom, and nine random, mostly magazine cards from John. I still haven't been down to Watertown to claim the cards you sent for Greg to give to me.)

I also owe an apology to Douglas for not posting about the last package that he sent.

If there is anyone else that didn't hear from me, I apologize to them too.

Sorry, I'm not the greatest blogger.

Now, on to the Browns cards that were in the package.

We start with a couple of quarterbacks. The Brady Quinn card is numbered out of 100.

I liked both McCoy and Quinn. I wish they would have had success with the Browns.

And there were a couple of post-career cards of Hall of Famers.

I wasn't really paying too much attention to the NFL when Paul Warfield returned to the Browns for 1976 and 1977 to finish his career. At the time, as a kid, I was watching the CFL, and Notre Dame college games.

I followed Joe Thomas for his whole career, and sadly was at his last game where he was injured.

There were some cards of Pro Bowl Browns defenders.

That Museum Collection card of Joe Haden has a good thickness to it.

I love watching Myles Garrett play, and have no problem with him having such a large contract, but I'm tired of constantly reading about whether the Browns could/should trade him, or whether he wants to be there or not. I think I would also like to stop reading about him getting speeding tickets.

Next were some cards with jersey pieces in them, of guys who catch the ball.

The Austin Hooper card is numbered out of 75.

I am curious if I were to take all the swatches out of cards that I own, how much material would I have. No doubt I wouldn't be able to make a jersey out of them, but it would sure be funny with all the different colored and patterned pieces.

That kind of reminds me of the Johnny Cash song: One Piece at a Time. Maybe I'll have to give it a listen.

But I digress.

There were also some green cards of guys that ran the ball.

Matthew Dayes mostly played Special Teams in his one season with the Browns, but did have a 71 yard kick return in one game. His card is numbered out of 99.

Nick Chubb has the third most rushing yards in Browns history, behind Hall of Famers Jim Brown and Leroy Kelly. No doubt he would have passed Kelly (less than 500 yards to go) if it wasn't for a severe knee injury against the Steelers that had the net result of limiting him to 502 yards in his last two seasons with the Browns, as opposed to the 6341 yards he had in his first five seasons.

If green isn't your color, I get it. It's not easy being green. But there were a couple of other colored parallels.

There's gold coloring around the borders of that Gold Zone Jamie Collins card.

Who doesn't like color parallels of insert cards? Here's a red Standing Ovation insert.

What? You find those parallels too subtle? Are these any better?

How about some of that Red, White and Blue for that Cedric Tillman card?

Or that full orange background on that Donovan Peoples-Jones card, numbered out of 50?

Actually, I should be happy. These are still subtle compared to many of the Prizm and Mosaic parallel cards that are out there. At least I can identify all of these.

Here are some more receiver cards.

The Panini Origins card of Cedric Tillman is a base card. It has plenty of color and is pretty thick. Nice card.

Fourth-round draft pick Antonio Callaway worked himself into a starting role, along with Jarvis Landry, with the Browns before behavioral issues led to his release in his second season.

And look, we're ending with some hits!

The Topps Supreme rookie year card of Terrance West has a nice big swatch in it, and is numbered out of 25.

The signed Carlton Mitchell card is my fourteenth autographed card of him out of 51 cards that I have of his. I just looked and saw that I'm ranked first in his cards on TCDB. The second place collector has 22.

I saw Mitchell play in the CFL when he played for my hometown Ottawa team.

Thanks again for such a great package of cards. There are some wonderful additions to my Browns collection, and it is always nice to complete a set!

Weekend card show - Syracuse Part 1

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to two card shows last weekend. 

Saturday saw me wake up early, and make the two hour drive to meet up with Night Owl. He was then kind enough to do the rest of the driving to the Syracuse card show.

I will say that it was better that the Syracuse show was on the Saturday as the weather was a lot better on Saturday. There was more snow on Sunday, and I probably wouldn't have made the drive then.

Before going into the show, Night Owl gave me a team bag of cards, and apologized that there were so few Browns cards in it.

There were four.

The first was a nice 1993 Topps Gold card of Touchdown Tommy. I already have a copy of this Tommy Vardell card in my collecction, but it was good to see the card again.

The next card was a Prospector Emerald insert card of Tim Couch from the 2000 SAGE HIT series. It is numbered out of 999 on the front.

I needed this card, and am more than happy to add another Tim Couch card to my collection.

The third Browns card was this Retrospective Jerseys card of Braylon Edwards from the 2006 Fleer Hot Prospects set.

I also needed this card.

The last of the four Browns cards was this Rated Rookies Autograph Bronze insert card of Rashard Higgins from the 2016 Donruss Optics set.

This card was another one that I needed in my collection. I'm not generally like the Sportscards From the Dollar Store blog in reviewing penmanship and autographs, but this one seems a little weak. I guess I can see that the first part of the scribble may be a R, but after that, let's just swirl the pen a bit?

It turns out that I needed three of the four Browns that Night Owl found for me. I'm very happy with that.

Along with those Browns, I was also given a number of Mets cards.

I know that Night Owl is working on his 2025 Topps Heritage set. He provided me with some Mets from it.

I really think that last year's team missed the energy that Jose Iglesias brought to the team in 2024, especially with his OMG song.

I've always liked Brandon Nimmo, and his style of game, and wish him well with the Rangers. I'm going to miss watching him regularly.

I was hoping that the Mets would re-sign Edwin Diaz. As much as my nerves may have been tested when he came into games, he usually came out of it with the save. He often came up with big strikeouts when he needed them. (Sometimes after allowing walks and stolen bases to make me nervous.)

As I'm typing this, I just heard that Pete Alonso  has signed with Baltimore. Wow!

I don't fully understand all the criticism towards Alonso's defense. His throwing was bad at times, and he may not have had the greatest range, but I saw him scoop a lot of poor throws up to save the defense. The fact that he was always in the lineup, and the runs he produced overcame those flaws.

I guess it is easy for me as a fan to be upset with Alonso, Diaz and Nimmo being gone from last year's team, but it isn't my money paying them. I just hope there is a plan to replace them.

I still like all three players and hope they have much individual success.

I liked seeing the two 2024 Topps Holiday cards in the bag, with the regular card and Christmas tree variation of Jeff McNeil. Cool!

And this photo definitely shows that the lighting in my room wasn't good when I was taking them.

I know that everyone thinks of Tom Glavine as a Mets pitcher since he did win his 300th game there. He had a solid five seasons with the team.

I'm not very familiar with Chuck Estrada, but did see that he pitched seven seasons in the Majors. His final season was 1967 with the Mets.

I had heard of Tommie Agee for being on the 1969 Miracle Mets, but I didn't know until a few years back that he hit the only home run to the upper deck in left field at Shea Stadium.

Here are a couple of numbered cards. I think Curtis Granderson was a favorite wherever he played, and this is a nice Gypsy Queen card to own.

I think that the Mets are going to try playing with a  bunch of their younger talent this year. Brett Baty has shown flashes of really good play with the Mets, and he will need to play consistently to help the team.

Again, the lighting in the room sure didn't help the top card look good in the photo that I took.

I loved watching R.A. Dickey pitch with those knuckleballs, and was happy to see him win 20 games and the Cy Young in 2012.

And I'll end the Mets cards with a Mike Piazza card.  That always puts me in a better mood.

As Night Owl mentioned in his show recap, upon entering the show, we saw tables being run by his former colleague's family. I spent some money there on Browns cards, which will be among the cards in the second part of my show recap. 

A little further down there was a table that had a lot of interesting Bills stuff. It caught my eye and I wandered over to it. When the dealer there saw my Browns jacket, he said he had something that I might be interested in just around the corner of his table. I was intrigued, so I moved over to take a look.

It was a custom art piece/print that a friend of his made. It sounds as though his friend has done athletes and musicians. Coming in a cheap frame with a $5.00 price tag, I was in.

And once again, I didn't really notice my shadow in the picture until I put it into the blog.

In my recent Detroit card show blog, I picked up the 1989 and 1990 Pro Set Final Update sets.

For the original cover price, I added the 1991 Pro Set Final Update set. Again, I probably have an open one somewhere.

The seller also had a number of 3 sheet team sets for the 1993 McDonalds Gameday cards.

I already have the Browns set, and they didn't have Bills or Raiders sets that would have been nice to pick up for friends, but they did have a Packers set that I will be giving to a friend as part of her Christmas present.

He also had another set of pages that I had never seen before.

For another $5 I picked up the six sheets that Fleer and Sports Cards Magazine put out in 2001, with six cards on each page.

The seller had a bunch of other interesting items that I didn't buy, but I really wanted to make sure I was getting some Browns cards at the show, and this was one of the first tables that I had visited.

I'll continue my show post later with a part two, mostly of Browns cards but with a few other different items that caught my eye.

Weekend card show - Ottawa

I went to two card shows this past weekend.

The first was in Syracuse with Night Owl on Saturday, and then there was a local card show in Ottawa on Sunday.

I had less purchases at the Ottawa show so it will make an easier post. I'll get to the Syracuse show afterwards.

I was happy to find these two Mason Graham cards. They bring the start of his cards in my collection to three. Graham was the Browns first round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, from Michigan.

I've been happy with his play as a rookie. He has helped the middle of their defensive line, and I expect him to only get better.

A couple more Nick Chubb cards for the collection. The Panini Select card is a Silver parallel from 2020, while the card on the right is a Power House insert card from the 2021 Panini Prestige set.

With my recent purchases (including the Syracuse purchases), I wondered how many different Nick Chubb cards I own. I'm up to 186 cards, which places him 8th in my collection.

This made me look to see where I ranked for Chubb on TCDB, knowing that really isn't that much for how many cards he has. I'm 4th, over 100 cards behind 3rd, and only one card ahead of 5th. The top ranked collector has 880 cards.

A pair of 2021 Panini Illusions cards, both different parallels.

The Schwartz card is a Trophy Collection Emerald card, while the Mayfield card is a Trophy Collection Dots. 

The dealer made sure to show me that it was dots, and that it wasn't just a plain image. It really didn't seem to affect how much I paid for it, so, sure, it's dots. I really wonder if I would have noticed it on my own. In certain light, in person, you can see it better. You can see them around the uniform number on the larger background image.

And here are a pair of David Njoku parallel cards. To the best of my knowledge, the one on the left is a Mosaic Green parallel from the 2022 Panini Mosaic set. The card on the right is a Black and White Checker insert from the 2023 Panini Prizm set.

I don't think I had ever seen a Black and White Checker parallel card before. I like the look. And that it fits the description, not like all the Mosaic parallels.

Here are a couple of Amari Cooper parallel cards. On the left is another Trophy Collection Emerald card, but this one is from the 2022 Panini Illusions set. The card on the right is a Lazer parallel from the 2023 Panini Prizm set.

Showing the Lazer card at different angles shows more laser-like lines on the card. In the photo, they mostly seem to be appearing in the bottom right of the card.

How was Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah a rookie in 2021? I know he's missed this whole season due to a severe injury last year, but it doesn't seem like he's been on the team that long. His card is a Neon Green Pulsar parallel from the 2021 Panini Prizm set.

Cedric Tillman has also battled his share of injuries with the Browns. His card, on the right, is an Elite Series Rookies insert card from the 2023 Donruss set.

We finish this post with two Browns stars. 

Ozzie Newsome had a Hall of Fame career with the Browns, and this card is, I guess, a Reactive Blue Mosaic parallel card from the 2023 Panini Mosaic set.

The card on the right is from an insert set that celebrates (honors?) the best of Panini Instant cards.  This card is from the 2024 Donruss set, and the Instant card celebrated Garrett being named the 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

Garrett is a bright spot on this year's Browns team. Barring injury, he will probably set the single season sack record this year. He has 20 sacks this year, and needs three more in the final four games to break the record of 22.5.

That was it for additions to my collection at the Ottawa show. I tried to keep it a little lighter on the wallet after my Syracuse trip.

Detroit Card Show Part 2 and a Visit to a Windsor Card Store

Continuing on from the last post, I have some more Browns cards for my collection from the Detroit card show.

I'm not going to complain about finding a modern Jim Brown insert from the 2017 Score set.

Also from the 2017 Score set are two insert cards of David Njoku, the third first round pick the Browns had in the 2017 NFL Draft.

Here are a couple of Baker Mayfield cards that I added to my collection.

To the left is a 2019 Panini Chronicles card. I don't remember seeing any of these cards before, and managed to pick up a couple of Raiders from the set for a friend at the same time. I like the card, perhaps because it seems different, and is easily identifiable.

To the right is a 2020 Panini Phoenix base card. I laugh at the Browns handwarmer that he is wearing around his waist. I actually bought one a few years ago, and have never used/worn it.

The Myles Garrett card below is from the 2021 Panini XR set.

The cards of Mayfield, Odell Beckham Jr., and Nick Chubb are red parallels from the 2021 Panini Absolute set.

I can be a bit hypocritical in regards to parallel sets. I complain that there are too many of them, and hate how I can't identify what they are most of the time. Yet, I love getting them for my team, especially when they are easily identifiable like these ones.

Here are a few 2022 Donruss cards. The top one is an Action All-Pros insert card of Nick Chubb, while the bottom two cards are regular base cards.

Here are a couple of insert cards from the 2023 Score set.

Nick Chubb was the heart of the offense going into the 2023 season, and I understand how he fit in The Franchise insert set. Sadly, he was hurt by a really bad hit to the knee against the Steelers in Week 2, that tore his ACL, MCL, meniscus and medial capsule that caused him to miss over a year of play.

No surprise to see Myles Garrett in a Sack Attack insert set.

I like the Panini Illusions cards with the photo featured in the forefront of the card, with it also repeated with a ghostly image in the background.

This Dorian Thompson-Robinson card is an Emerald Trophy Collection parallel from the 2023 Panini Illusions set.

I think back to going to a card show in Syracuse, with Night Owl, at the start of the 2023 season. Thompson-Robinson had shown some nice flashes during training camp, and I was looking forward to finding a card or two of him. I saw a dealer with a couple of nice autographed cards of him, but he was looking for over $100 on each. I wasn't prepared to pay that for a late round pick that probably wouldn't develop into a star quarterback.

The Browns traded Thompson-Robinson to the Eagles for Kenny Pickett last off-season. I believe that he was waived by the Eagles at the end of training camp.

David Bell was drafted by the Browns in the third round, out of Purdue, in the 2022 NFL Draft. I thought that he had potential before an injury at the start of the 2024 season. He announced his retirement from football due to injury earlier this season.

I found this 2021 Pro Set Power - Power Prospects Autographs card for a couple of bucks, which I had no problem with.

For my collection, I will buy college or prospect cards of players that wind up being drafted by the Browns, so this card fits.

I'm not sure how I got the following Austin Hooper card for $3.00. I know it is a Browns card, but it is an autographed card numbered out of 10. I'm not complaining though.

It is from the 2020 Panini Illusions - Superlatives Red insert set.

As well as the loose cards above, I bought myself a box of the 2025 Score-a-Treat Hallowe'en set at the card show. I had already bought some of the cards from the set but pulled three Browns that I needed from my box.

I was really happy to get the Quinshon Judkins card. He's having a good rookie season so far, and seems to have a lot of potential.

The cards in these two posts were not all my purchases from the card show. I bought small stacks of Raiders and Packers cards for some friends here in Ottawa. Mostly from the dimeboxes but a few cheap hits as well.

The day after the card show, after spending time with my sister and some cousins, I managed to get to a card store in Windsor about an hour before it closed.

I went to F & C House of Cards and really enjoyed the store.

One thing that really makes me happy when I go to a store, or a table at a card show, is when I see monster boxes sorted by teams. It helps save me time when I can focus on small sections of cards. I was very happy with some of the cards that I found in their box.

I was very happy to see some early 2000s cards in the box. There are plenty that I still need, especially rookies and parallels. (Unfortunately, my memory wasn't as good as I thought it might be, and I did also buy a few cards that I already owned.)

This card is an Extra parallel for the 2000 Fleer Gamers set. I still need the regular version.

Here are two rookie cards of Sean Jones that I needed. I wasn't a big fan of the rookies always seeming to be numbered or short printed.

The card on the left is from the 2004 Playoff Prestige set, and is listed on the Trading Card Database as being a short print. 

The card on the right is from the 2004 Upper Deck Foundations set, and is numbered out of 350.

The following two cards are also from 2004 Upper Deck Foundations.

The Joe Echemandu card on the left is numbered out of 350.

Echemandu only had football cards in 2004. The Trading Card Database has 78 listed. However, those cards have three different names on them, broken down by the sets they're in as follows:

Adimchinobe Echemandu: Bowman, Bowman's Best, Donruss Classics, Donruss Elite, Leaf Certified Materials, Leaf Rookies & Stars, Playoff Absolute Memorabilia, Playoff Contenders, Playoff Hogg Heaven, Playoff Honors, Playoff Prime Signatures, SkyBox LE, SP Authentic, Topps Chrome, Topps Total

Joe Echema: SPx, Upper Deck Legends, Upper Deck Ultimate Collection

Joe Echemandu: Upper Deck Foundations

Pro Football Reference has him in their database as Adimchinobe Echemandu. He was born in Nigeria, and played his college football at California. He was drafted by the Browns in the 7th round of the 2004 NFL Draft.

He played four games with the Browns in 2004, and then another 15 games with the Vikings, Raiders and Texans between 2005 and 2007.

The Luke McCown card to the right is a Rookie Foundations Patches insert card, numbered out of 25. When I bought it, I didn't notice the two dinged corners on the left side, but they don't bother me for the price that was paid for the card.

There were a couple of cards of 2005 rookie quarterback Charlie Frye, from the Upper Deck set.

The card on top is a regular base card, while the card on the bottom is a Rookie Futures Jerseys insert card.

The top card below is a Rookie Futures Dual insert card from the 2006 Upper Deck set. If you can't read the names from my photo, the two players are Derek Hagan of the Dolphins, and Travis Wilson of the Browns.

The bottom card of Carlton Mitchell is from the 2010 Topps Unrivaled set. It is the Silver parallel, numbered out of 299. I don't own the regular base card, but I do own an autographed version of it.

Mitchell played two seasons with the Browns. In his football travels after that, he played for my hometown Ottawa REDBLACKS in 2014. (And yes, their official team name is in all caps.)

I needed this Astral parallel from the 2018 Panini Unparalleled set.

For the picture below, the Baker Mayfield card is an Honor Roll insert card from the 2019 Panini Prestige set.

The Jarvis Landry card is a Season Stat Line insert card, numbered out of 500, from the 2019 Donruss set.

The next card was definitely my favorite card that I bought in the card store. I was always an Eric Metcalf fan, so when I saw this Mirror Signatures autographed card, numbered out of 65, from the 2019 Panini Certified set for CDN $5.00, I couldn't put it in my pile of cards to buy fast enough.

These two Odell Beckham Jr. cards are from the 2020 Donruss set. The card to the left is a Press Proof Blue parallel, while the card to the right is a Retro 1990 insert card.

Two more Anthony Schwartz cards added to my collection. The card on the left is a Gridiron King Bronze parallel from the 2021 Panini Chronicles set, while the card to the right is a Round Numbers Blue parallel from the Panini Contenders Optic set.

As can be extrapolated from the Optic card, he was drafted in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft, out of Auburn.

Here are a couple more insert cards from 2021 sets. The Nick Chubb card is a Montage insert card from the 2021 Panini Mosaic set.

The Baker Mayfield card is a Standing Ovation insert card from the 2021 Panini Rookies & Stars set.

I was happy to find this base card of Jamari Thrash from the 2024 Panini Prestige set because I had received the other Browns cards from the base set from Dennis in my visit to Detroit.

I was happy with my hour-long trip to F & C House of Cards, and will definitely try to go back there if/when I visit my cousins in Windsor again.