How To Spot A Fake Emmitt Smith 1990 Score Supplemental Rookie Card

Legendary running back Emmitt Smith’s most popular rookie card comes from the 110-card 1990 Score Supplemental Football set.

The 1990 Score Supplemental Football set was issued in factory set form only to Score’s dealers. No hobby boxes with packs.

Cards are designed to look like the regular 1990 Score Football set, except they have blue and purple borders.

Included within this set are rookies and players that switched teams during the off season. Its like an Update or Traded set you see from Topps.

Despite being released during the height of the junk wax era this card continues to hold quite a bit of value. Especially those examples that are in nice condition. Having colored borders makes it easy for chipping to occur.

A few counterfeit/unauthorized reprints of this card recently popped up.

You can clearly see the differences between an authentic card and a fake. Fakes have a blurry and grainy look to them. The color is off. In some cases the font isn’t quite correct and difficult to read.

People use the word “reprint” or the letters “RP” on their listings in an attempt to fool you into thinking that card came from a specific manufacturer. Places like eBay don’t know how or just don’t care enough to learn how to distinguish between the two. The people making these homemade cards are fully aware that passing them off as the real thing could come back to haunt them. Calling them reprints might not bring in the same amount of money, but it still allows them to move their hoard of counterfeits. Its a horribly abused wording loophole.

One of the best ways to tell if your card is authentic is by comparing it to another card from the 1990 Score Supplemental Football set. Specifically one that doesn’t have much value and wouldn’t have a reason to be faked. Score used the same printing method for all of the cards. The print pattern of an Emmitt Smith #101T should look the same as the other cards from this set under a magnifying glass.

Authentic Front

Authentic Back

Magnified print pattern of an authentic card

Fake Front

Fake Back

Fake Front

Fake Back

Phillies ’22 Topps Chrome Auto Contest! – NOW CLOSED

This contest is for a Matt Vierling 2022 Topps Chrome RC Auto. Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Friday, January 27, 2023 @ 7:00 p.m. EST.
• To enter, please leave a comment in this post.
• You can enter once per day.
• The winner will be selected at random.
• Please provide a valid e-mail address when entering.
• U.S. residents only.
• The winner will receive an e-mail when the contest is over.
• The winner has one week to send me their contact information or the contest will be held again.
• Once the contest is over, I will need the winner’s mailing address so I can ship them this card for FREE!!!

Q&A – Does Rob Thomson Have A Rookie Card?

When the Phillies fired their manager Joe Girardi in early June, 2022 their record was 22-29. Coming in to take over as interim manager was Rob Thomson. The Phillies won nine straight games under their new manager. As the season went on the Phillies kept playing better and better. Under Rob Thomson, the team ended the regular season 87-75 (65-46 just under him). On October 3rd the Phillies secured a Wild Card spot in the playoffs. This was the first time the team had made the playoffs since 2011. Beating the Cardinals, Braves, and Padres, the Phillies became National League Champs making it all the way to the World Series. In the end, the Phillies lost the World Series to the Houston Astros 4-2. You never want your team to lose the World Series. But considering how the season started compared to where it ended 2022 was a great year for the Phillies. Citizens Bank Park will have a new pennant on display next year, and the team will receive NL Champion rings. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that the Phillies made the choice to keep Rob Thomson around as manager for the next few years. I think fans have a lot to look forward too.

Does Rob Thomson have a rookie card? Yes. You can find Rob Thomson’s rookie card in the 1987 ProCards set. Card #2351 shows him as a catcher for the Lakeland Tigers. The card has his name as Bob instead of Rob. Rob Thomson was drafted by the Tigers in the 32nd round of the 1985 Draft. He played four seasons professionally in the Tigers minor league system. In 1988 his coaching career began with the Tigers. Starting in 1990 be began a long career with the Yankees that lasted until 2017. The Phillies saw him join the team in 2018.

Like most ProCards, Rob Thomson’s card is fairly easy to find. Due to his recent popularity prices have seen an increase, but are still quite affordable.

As of this writing Rob Thomson only has about (20) different cards. We don’t see as many manager cards made as we use to. Other key cards of his include 2008 Topps Gift Sets New York Yankees #15, 2009 Topps Heritage Rob Thomson / Tony Pena / Kevin Long / Dave Eiland #465, and 2009 Topps Yankee Stadium Opening Day #27.

Celeb Rookie (Sorta): Shamu

For some collectors this card is their white whale. More like killer whale.

Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, Mia Hamm, and Tony Hawk. These are just some of the top athletes whose rookie cards were included within various issues of Sports Illustrated for Kids. I’m betting the millions of people reading this wish they would have saved some of those issues as many of the key cards command big dollars today. If I could, I’d travel back in time and stop myself from discarding the July 1999 issue which came with the Serena Williams rookie card. I probably saved the Rickey Henderson, Mo Vaughn, Vinny Castilla, and Randy Moss from that month. At the time tennis cards didn’t stand out to me as something to keep.

Sports Illustrated for Kids would occasionally go off the rails making cards of unusual things. The April 1998 issue is one of those times. Collectors that month were given nine cards of famous animals. Spencer (Hurdling Cat), Shirley (Tricycle-Riding Elephant), Zeke (Ball-Catching Dog), Secretariat (Racing Pig), Buster (Skating Macaw), Rosie (Dunking Baboon), Twiggy (Water Skiing Squirrel), Sparky (Soccer-Playing Dog), and Shamu (Jumping Whale). Shamu is probably the most well-recognized card.

The original Shamu was an orca that performed in shows at SeaWorld San Diego during the 1960s. She was caught in 1965 and died in 1971. Upon her death, the name “Shamu” was trademarked by SeaWorld and given to other orcas over the years. Lots of orcas went by the name “Shamu” at the same time in various SeaWorld parks. These orca shows have been phased out due to incidents with trainers, and a 2013 documentary called Blackfish.

Like all cards found in Sports Illustrated for Kids, Shamu’s is very condition sensitive. The cards came in a perforated sheet that needed to be pulled apart. A lot can go wrong when doing that.

I wish I could call this Shamu’s true rookie card (many do). But during the 1980s/1990s Little Debbie Snack Cakes offered cards of Shamu and his gang of characters. Those needed to be cutoff the box. It really wouldn’t surprise me if SeaWorld sold some type of trading card set in their gift shops as well.

The Sports Illustrated for Kids card is by far the one you see the most often. When you have someone or something with very few cards the one in the public eye on a regular basis can be viewed as the real rookie. I guess it depends on how you look at it, and what you consider to be a true rookie card.

Crazy rookie card logic not only applies to sports cards. Aquatic mammals too.

Card of the Day: Marshawn Lynch 2007 Upper Deck Star Rookie – Rookie Exclusives #280

Celeb Rookie: Mickey Mouse

Twenty years before Mickey Mantle made his trading card debut another Mickey was being featured on cardboard for the first time. I’m talking about Mickey Mouse.

Mickey Mouse made his public debut in the short film Steamboat Willie which was released in 1928.  It was a tremendous hit.  Animated shorts eventually turned into full-length feature films.

Three years after being introduced to the world, Mickey Mouse received what is now considered to be his true rookie card.

Drawn by Floyd Gottfredson, this premium was made available during the May 27, 1931 Mickey Mouse comic strip.  In that particular story, Mickey had his picture taken.  Fans of his could get a copy of that picture if they wrote in during the “High Society” story line.  This is the card they’ed receive.  It measures 3-3/8″ x 5-3/8″.  At the bottom it reads “Gobs of Good Wishes, Mickey Mouse” and “Me too, Butch”.  As you can see, Mickey’s streetwise friend Butch is standing in the background.

Mickey Mouse’s 1931 First Newspaper Premium Picture Card takes us back to a time when he was just beginning to make an impression on the world. Truly an interesting piece of history. Very few of these cards exist today.

The Wills Cinema Stars tobacco set (also released in 1931) has a card that pictures both Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. You’ll find that card to be much more readily available.

Celeb Rookie: Sonic the Hedgehog

What was the first thing you had on your mind this morning?  If it was “Does Sonic the Hedgehog have a rookie card?”, then you’ve come to the right place.

Introduced to the world in 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog is an iconic video game character.  This fast moving, chili dog eating speedster has been on a never ending quest to stop the evil Doctor Robotnik from taking over the world.  Many gamers, including myself, have fond memories of watching this dude speed through loops and tunnels.  The sound of Sonic collecting those gold rings has been permanently ingrained into gamer’s heads.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were the two games I played the most on my SEGA Genesis.  Both games could be played separately.  Thanks to the “lock-on” technology, it was possible to connect Sonic the Hedgehog 3 into the top of the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge.  This allowed people to play the game as it was originally intended.  Cartridge space and time constraints resulted in SEGA splitting them up into two games.  Figuring out both games could be connected together like that was super cool.

Sonic’s official rookie card can be found in the 1993 Topps Sonic the Hedgehog set.  Every box comes with (36) wax packs.  The whole set is comprised of (33) cards, (33) stickers, (15) promos, and (6) Prism inserts.  Card #1 pictures Sonic in the Green Hill Zone, which is the first zone in Sonic the Hedgehog.  Cards feature actual pixelated screenshots.  However, Sonic was not left pixelated like he normally would be in the game.  A pixelated Sonic was swapped out for an animated one.  On the back are game tips, and Rogue’s Gallery.

It should be noted that U.K. candy manufacturer Trebor Bassett, a division of Cadbury, issued a 48-card tobacco size set based on various SEGA titles.  Despite each of these cards having a copyright date of 1991 on the back, they were actually released in 1994.  Three Sonic titles in here are Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3.  Given that the first Sonic game came out in 1991, it wouldn’t have been possible for this set to have been released that same year because the two sequels didn’t arrive until 1992 and 1994.  Don’t be fooled into thinking Sonic the Hedgehog #35 from this set is his real rookie card.

Celeb Rookie: Gumby

“I’m Gumby dammit!” Who could forget Eddie Murphy’s iconic take on this classic character while on Saturday Night Live? The answer is nobody.

Created in the early 1950’s by Art Clokey, Gumby is one of the most well-known stop-motion characters ever to hit television and movie screens. Along with his main sidekick Pokey, Gumby travels through various environments and times in history. From racing cars to going to space, Gumby has done it all. On these adventures trouble makers such as the G and J Blockheads are encountered along the way. Over the years more friends and characters have been added.

Does Gumby have a rookie card? Yes.

The Gumby line of merchandise seems to be endless. Growing up I didn’t know someone who was without at least one bendable Gumby toy. A Gumby-like figure did make an appearance in 1991 Topps Wacky Packages under the name “Scumby”. But does a parody count as a true rookie card? I think that might be a discussion for another day. Now we’re crossing over into Wander Franco 2021 Bowman’s Best territory. For the sake of this post lets stick with the true Gumby set from 2001.

Toon’s Station released a preview set of Gumby cards in 2001. The set consists of a title card, plus six other cards. One of which pictures Gumby’s creator Art Clokey. Honestly, I would treat the title card as Gumby’s true rookie card. 2,500 preview sets were produced. The same image of Art Clokey was also used on a promotional card separate from the preview set.

As you can probably guess the preview set and promotional card were just suppose to be the beginning. Plans for a 100-card set were in the works, but didn’t materialize. All we know is that Art Clokey autographs would have been used in it.

Card of the Day: Joe Burrow 2020 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Exquisite Rookie Auto

Avalanche 2020/21 UD SPx Rookie Jersey Auto Contest Winner Announced

Congrats to Zachary Lahay on being the lucky winner of the Martin Kaut 2020/21 Upper Deck SPx Rookie Jersey Auto #’ed/375. Once Zachary Lahay sends me his mailing address, I will ship this card ASAP. Thanks!