Local card show purchases

At the recent August date for my local monthly card show, I saw what seemed to be a new dealer with a small showcase of cards on the table. I glanced at it and saw a whole bunch of single cards of some pretty big names from all four main North American sport leagues.

After I was about three steps past the table, it registered in my mind that I saw a recognizable Browns cards in the case.

No, I didn't own an autographed version of it, but I recognized a Joe Thomas card that was there.

I looked at the price, determined it to be fair, and shortly afterwards I purchased this nice autographed rookie card.

It is only the second Joe Thomas autographed card that I own, both from his rookie year. I was very happy to add it to my collection.

I found a lot of new cards for my collection, most of which were 2025 cards that I hadn't seen before. Some of which I was able to trade for instead of buying them.

I also bought a couple of other new autographed cards for my collection.

Here's a look at the additions to my collection from the show.

I'm going to miss having The Chief on the Browns this year, after the team didn't seem to make an effort at re-signing him. I hope he does well with the Chargers.

This card is from the Scripts insert cards set in the 2020 Panini Mosaic set.

Here are a couple more David Njoku cards that I also bought.

The card on the left is the base card from the 2025 Topps Chrome set, while the card on the right is a base card from the 2025 Topps Signature Class set.

Here is a pre-draft card of 2022 Browns fifth round draft pick, Jerome Ford.

The card is a Bowman Chrome Prospects Autographed Gold Refractor, numbered out of 50, from the 2021-2022 Bowman University set.

I also added these other Jerome Ford cards to my collection.

The top left card is a base card from the 2025 Panini Phoenix set; the top right card is a No Huddle Purple parallel (hey, I don't name them), numbered out of 75, from the 2025 Panini Prizm set; the bottom card is a base card from the 2025 Topps Chrome set. All these chrome type cards scan so dark.

Jerome Ford was signed as a free agent by the Washington Commanders during the off-season.

I really liked seeing this Ozzie Newsome card. As I've said before, with no logo on their helmets, unlicensed cards are just as good as the licensed ones for my team.

This card is a Finest Sky Blue Refractor, numbered out of 325, from the 2023 Topps Composite set.

I also picked up another Ozzie Newsome card, along with one of his fellow 1978 first round pick.

If you're going to have two first round picks in a draft year, this is what you hope to draft - a Hall of Famer in Newsome, and another player that should be in the Hall of Fame in Clay Matthews.

The Matthews card is a base card from the 2025 Panini Phoenix set, while the Newsome card is an Epic Performers Mosaic insert card from the 2025 Panini Mosaic set.

I also picked up a couple of parallels of one of Newsome's quarterbacks from the 2025 Panini Mosaic set.

The card on the left is a Mosaic parallel, while the card on the right is a Genesis Mosaic parallel from the 2025 Panini Mosaic set. What makes it "Genesis"? I have no clue. As I said, I don't name these things.

Here are a couple of cards of the Browns first draft pick from the 2025 NFL Draft.

Both of these cards are parallels from the 2025 Donruss Optic set. The card on the left is Holo parallel, while the card on the right is a Purple Scope parallel.

Nice cards for my collection, but not as nice as some of the Mason Graham cards that I see Dennis adding to his Michigan collection.

I also purchased cards of many other 2025 Browns draft picks.

Quinshon Judkins was their second second round pick.

The top left card is an Elite Series Rookies insert card from the 2025 Donruss set; the top right card is a Blue Hyper parallel card from the 2025 Donruss Optic set; the bottom left card is a Red parallel from the 2025 Panini Absolute set; the bottom right card is a Rookie Wave insert card, also from the 2025 Panini Absolute set.

The next two cards were two of the rookie pass catchers the Browns had last year.

Isaiah Bond was an undrafted rookie free agent, while Harold Fannin Jr. was the first of two third round picks the Browns had. These cards are both base cards from the 2025 Topps Chrome set.

The Browns second third round draft pick is in a battle to keep his roster spot this year.

As a rookie quarterback, there are plenty of Dillon Gabriel cards out there for my collection.

The card on the left is his base card in the 2025 Topps Chrome set, while the card on the right is a Class Action insert card from the 2025 Topps Signature Class set.

The top left card is a Bomb Squad insert card from the 2025 Donruss set; the top right card is a Retail parallel card from the 2025 Panini Absolute set; the bottom left card is a Hog Heaven insert card from the 2025 Panini Absolute set, while the bottom right card is a Lazer parallel card from the 2025 Panini Prizm set.

Dillon Gabriel started six games for the Browns last year, but was overshadowed by the other quarterback that they had drafted, fifth round pick Shadeur Sanders.

The card on the left is a Retail parallel from the 2025 Panini Absolute set, while the card on the right is an Anniverary Rookies insert card from the 2025 Score set.

At shows, dealers seem to be putting a premium price on Shedeur Sanders cards. I guess they expect for him to become a breakout star. I expect him to have improved from last year, and that he will be helped by a better receiving corps on the team, but I don't really think that his play is going to stop the Browns from drafting a quarterback in the first round next year. I would love for him to prove me wrong!

The next two cards are also from 2025.

The card on the left is a base card from the 2025 Donruss set. Dylan Sampson was drafted by the Browns ins the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

The card on the right is a Leather Refractor from the 2025 Topps Chrome set. Cedric Tillman is in a training camp battle to make this year's Browns team.

Here are a couple of recent cards that aren't from 2025. 

The card on the left is a Press Proof Blue parallel card from the 2023 Donruss set. Za'Darius Smith played a season and a half with the Browns in 2023 and 2024. He was traded to the Lions at the trade deadline in 2024. It looked as though the Browns were going to bring him back to the team this year, but he ended up signing with the Atlanta Falcons.

The Cedric Tillman card on the right is a Stars parallel from the 2023 Donruss Optic set. I like the card in hand, and understand where that parallel name has come from.

The Browns have had a lot of player turnover, and will have a pretty young team this year.

Sadly, one of the players that moved on was Myles Garrett, who was traded to the Rams.

The top left card is a Play Action insert card from the 2025 Donruss Optic set; the top right card is a base card from the 2025 Topps Chrome set; the bottom left card is an All-Chrome Team Refractor insert card from the 2025 Topps Chrome set; the bottom right card is a 1975 Topps insert card from the 2025 Topps Chrome set.

These definitely won't be the last Myles Garrett cards in my collection. As with any star player, there are many base cards, parallels, and insert cards to be chasing for years to come.

Random pack opening: 1992 O-Pee-Chee baseball

During my last visit to a local card store, I glanced through a box of random packs they had for sale. I decided to buy a couple of packs. Here is one of them.

Classic wax pack wrapper. 10 cards, one stick of gum. Let's see whose card gets the gum.

Tom Candiotti, come on down!

The gum perfectly covers his statistics, but you can see he played for two teams in 1991.

The bottom of the card back shows Skydome, indicating the Blue Jays.

But this is O-Pee-Chee! Although it shows the Blue Jays team banner on the card, there is the "Now with Dodgers" on the front.

I tried to carefully take the gum off. The stick of gum didn't break, and the back isn't too bad.

I remember when the Blue Jays traded for Tom Candiotti to add a solid veteran to their rotation depth. He pitched well in the regular season, but I seem to have memories of him not being as successful in the playoffs.

The next card up is from the Twins.

I remember the name, but don't remember too much about the player.

I really like the stadium photos at the bottom of the cards.

The Expos provide the next card.

With the Expos having been the closest team to me in Ottawa, we used to get a lot of Expos media coverage. I remember Bret Barberie entering the league, and probably saw him play in one of the games I went to in Montreal.

Seeing the Expos uniform brings a smile to my face.

There's a sight that I'm very familiar with, but I'm disappointed we didn't get a field photograph.

Next up in the pack is a California Angels card.

I don't really remember Ron Tingley.

One complaint with this set is that the position isn't on the front of the card. Seeing on the back that he was a catcher, I wish the card showed hime wearing the tools of ignorance. I so much prefer to see catchers in their gear.

Oh, that photo of Anaheim Stadium really makes me wish I was at a ballpark, watching a game on a gorgeous day.

The Cardinals are represented with the next card to finish the first half of the pack.

I don't have any real memories of Scott Terry, other than baseball cards.

Another photo of the outside of the stadium, but at least you can see the green field inside.

Ok, Blue Jays, you're up next.

Again, being close to Toronto, we got a lot of Blue Jays coverage, and with a lot of my friends being Jays fans, I am very familiar with Manny Lee. He was on the Blue Jays first World Series team.

I remember him being a light hitting, good fielding infielder.

A horizontal Red Sox card comes up next.

I guess if you're going to do a headshot, this is a good way of doing it. A pensive look, with the Green Monster and Fenway scoreboard in the horizontal background.

I prefer action shots, but this can be nice for a change.

I mostly remember Jack Clark from the Giants and Cardinals. 

No Fenway photo. Too many years of stats.

I loved card backs like this when I was young. Make sure you fit all those years in there. I would pore over all those stats.

The seventh card in the pack brought another Dodgers card, although this one has the team banner on it.

I remember remember Jose Offerman being in the league for a fair while, but don't have any real memories of him playing. I think I remember him making at least one All-Star game.

I've been to games in a number of different stadiums, but I haven't been to Dodger Stadium yet. I really want to see a game there at some point.

The ninth card of the pack brings a Baltimore Orioles card.

Oh, cool! I like David Segui. Going from Baltimore to the Mets, and then to the Expos. I remember seeing him play in Montreal a few times.

And a photo of Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. I can't remember when Camden Yards opened, but it has to be soon after this. 

From watching football and baseball games, I really didn't like the shared stadiums for those two sports. 

As for the tenth card in my pack, there was no tenth card in my pack.

I remember this happening now and then, just as I remember getting an extra card in the odd pack.

It's a little disappointing in this case, but what can I do?

I unfolded the wrapper in case anyone wanted to see it. There are a couple of really minor holes in it,  but it is still pretty nice.

I hope you enjoyed my foray into a baseball post.

It was fun to look at some older cards, so I may do this again.

Sportlots purchase - 2007 to current

This post is continuing a selection of cards from my recent Sportlots order. This one will show cards that I purchased for my Browns collection from 2007 sets onwards. It will also finish with a couple of music cards that I also bought in my order.

The 2007 cards start with some Braylon Edwards cards.

The top left card is a Blue parallel, numbered out of 500, from the Bowman set; the top right card is a Series Black insert card, numbered out of 400, from the Donruss Elite set; the bottom card is a Scorecard parallel, numbered out of 750, from the Score set. 

Braylon Edwards is third on the list of players with the most cards in my collection. He is only five cards behind Kevin Johnson, and he has over a hundred cards more than the fourth spot in my collection.

The card on the left is a Refractor parallel from the Topps Chrome set.

The card on the right is a Copper parallel, numbered out of 2007 from the regular Topps set. For the record, Kellen Winslow is the player that is fourth on the most cards list in my Browns collection.

My purchase only had a handful of cards between 2008 and 2105. Here are two from 2008.

On the left is a Scorecard insert, numbered out of 649, from the Score set. This is the eighth that I own of twelve parallels Cribbs has for this set. I still need the Artist's Proof (out of 32), End Zone (out of 6), Gold Zone (out of 400), and Red Zone (out of 100) parallels to complete the run. There is no 1/1 to chase.

The card on the right is a NFL Icons Blue insert card, numbered out of 250, from the Upper Deck Icons set.

Now there is a bit of a time jump for the rest of the cards.

The card on the left is a Mini parallel card from the 2012 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions set. 

Charles White was a first round pick for the Browns in the 1980 NFL Draft. But that isn't why he would have been included in this set. It would be for being the 1979 Heisman Trophy winner while playing with USC. But as a Browns draft pick, I'll pick up cards like this to keep adding to my collection. (I won't collect any Rams cards of his, as they are from a different NFL team.)

The card on the right is a base 2015 Panini Rookies & Stars card of the Browns first round pick from that year's NFL Draft, Danny Shelton. 

The above cards are all from a collegiate 2015 Ohio State Buckeyes multi-sport set.

Hall of Famer Paul Warfield was the Browns first round draft pick of the 1964 NFL Draft.

Brian Hartline finished his seven year NFL career with his final season in Cleveland in 2015.

Donte Whitner played for the Browns in 2014 and 2015 before finishing his eleven year career with Washington in 2016.

If a player wasn't drafted by the Browns, I will collect college cards of players that came out in years that they played for the Browns, so these made the cut for my collection.

The top left Kareem Hunt card is a base card that I needed from the 2022 Score set. 

The top right Donovan Peoples-Jones card is a base card from the 2023 Panini Prestige set.

The bottom left Bernie Kosar card is the base card from the 2024 Topps Signature Class set. If the card looks familiar, it is because the autographed version of this card was shown in a recent post.

The bottom right Earnest Byner card is a Red parallel card from the 2025 Panini Rookies & Stars set.

There were probably about another dozen base cards in my purchase from the last few years that were from various Mosaic, Optic, and Phoenix sets that I couldn't be bothered scanning. Although I want them for my collections, I'm starting to find them boring.

- - - - - -

I did also purchase two music cards in my latest Sportlots order.

The first is a card out of Tuff Stuff Magazine:

Madonna's card was from a twelve card panel that included a Tyson vs Ruddock card, Bo Jackson, Darryl Strawberry, Larry Bird, Mario Lemieux, Eric Lindros, Adam Oates, Patrick Ewing, Cecil Fielder, Troy Aikman and Warren Moon. (As a sidenote, I remember watching the Tyson fight by pay-per-view at an uncle's house in Regina, Saskatchewan.)

Some pretty big names on that panel, but I'm pretty sure she was the most recognizable name of the bunch.

The second card purchased brings my 1991 Pro Set MusiCards Promos collection a little bit closer to being completed.

This card leaves me needing the Public Enemy promo card, and the error version of the Madonna promo card to finish it.

This brings to an end the posts from my recent Sportlots purchase. I'm sure I'll get the urge for another one in a few months or so but we'll see what happens then.