Another 1990s card that is pure art.

In the past few months I’ve pivoted strongly from collecting cards as an investment to collecting cards as a source of joy. My collecting had become a little too starchy-collared and cold as I’ve aged. After all, if you’re collecting purely as a means to invest, you’re not always buying what you love.

My mindset changed when I was looking through 1990s inserts on Beckett Marketplace and realized that instead of owning one ritzy $200 graded card, I could own several hundred fun singles. I never really had a favorite football player growing up, but Bengals QB Jeff Blake was someone I always appreciated, and he has tons of colorful (and cheap) cards from the whimsical mid-‘90s. Here are some of my favorites that I’ve picked up. I pulled the 1995 Topps Air Raid from a pack of cards at Toys R Us thirty years ago and it’s one of my all-time favorites.

Recently picked up this Public Enemy vinyl featuring three singles from their 1987 debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, signed by Chuck D. I believe this is their first single that features a formal cover.

I recently nabbed this CD longbox from Public Enemy’s 1988 album “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”. These are difficult to find in any condition, let alone good condition, and I also got it for a low price.

Some of the younger crowd might be asking ‘What’s a CD longbox?’ In short, when the music industry was transitioning from vinyl records to CDs in the 1980s, music companies packaged CDs in longboxes so stores could continue using vinyl racks and also because it made it tougher to steal the CDs (which were expensive). They were phased out in the early-‘90s and most people chucked or destroyed the longboxes after purchase so they’ve become a nice collector’s item.

Last September I posted about how I purchased a ticket stub from the 2001 Lions @ Browns game in which Ty Detmer infamously threw 7 interceptions for the Lions - a feat that hasn’t been reached since and will probably never happen again. Well, wouldn’t you know it, I now own the jersey that Cleveland Browns linebacker Jamir Miller wore in that game in which he grabbed Detmer’s fourth INT of the day.

I found the listing on eBay, and the seller included a COA from a post-9/11 NFL auction that stated the jersey was worn in 2001 against the Bengals. The jersey has several repairs and is riddled with hit marks of various colors. Jamir Miller was a first-team All-Pro that year, so the usage was consistent with his hard-nosed style of play.

I zoomed in on the jersey and saw bright blue hit marks on the shoulders and immediately started to geek out. I scrolled Getty Images from the Browns/Lions game and found a definite match. Needless to say, I had to make the jersey mine.

I checked multiple images from the Browns/Bengals game and it was clear that Miller was wearing a fresh jersey. This demonstrates a lesson I’ve conveyed multiple times on this platform: When it comes to game-used memorabilia, don’t trust certificates of authenticity from the groups that originally release the jersey to the public even if they come from the teams themselves. Equipment managers most likely throw jerseys into storage closets and can easily mix up the provenance.

I was also able to photomatch this jersey to games against the Seahawks and Chargers, and the mileage it saw is pretty incredible:

Sacks: 3
Tackles: 17
Tackles for Loss: 5
INTs: 1
Players Tackled: LaDainian Tomlinson (for a 4-yard loss!), Ricky Watters, Doug Flutie, Matt Hasselbeck, James Stewart
Number of Times Featured in an NFL Primetime Highlight: 1

9/9/01 vs Seattle

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9/23/01 vs Detroit

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10/7/01 vs San Diego

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