The Return of Retro: 2012 Panini Hoops And Upper Deck Fleer Retro

It's no secret I'm a fan of 90's inserts and design, so I'm always excited when I hear a company is going to release retro cards. In the case of Panini and Upper Deck, both are releasing 2012 cards featuring actual designs from previously released products. I know some collectors aren't fans of the recycled design idea, but I'm liking what I'm seeing.

Panini is releasing buyback auto'd cards from the '89-'90 Hoops set in their 2012 Hoops release and Upper Deck is producing some inserts from those awesome late 90's Fleer insert sets for their 2012 Upper Deck Fleer Retro release. It's hard to argue with those great 90's insert designs, but I love buyback auto's too. I think the buybacks will be nice and certain players like David Robinson will be highly sought after, but the use of several designs in the Fleer Retro product is a nice plus. I'm definitely going to have to go after both.

Which one do you do you like best and think will get the hobby into a frenzy?

 2012 Upper Deck Fleer Retro

  2012 Upper Deck Fleer Retro

 2012 Panini Hoops

Alonzo Mourning In The Hoopography House: '94 Fleer Illustration

'94 Fleer Illustration Alonzo Mourning

This 1994 Fleer Illustration card of Alonzo Mourning isn't worth really much at all, but it sure is fun!!! I'm a big fan of those old school Charlotte Hornets jerseys, and Mourning is one of the all-time warriors of the NBA. As much as I liked Zo and how he approached the game, I'm up in the air on the Hall of Fame. At 17.1 points/game, 2.8 blocks/game and 8.5 rebounds/game he does have respectable career stats, but I'm not quiet sure those numbers are enough. Certainly time will tell, but what do you think? Is Alonzo Morning an NBA Hall of Famer?

The Jordan Collections (Part 10): '96 Jam Session Show Stoppers

'96 Jam Session Michael Jordan Show Stoppers

We all have our "White Whales", and I'm no exception. Sometimes I feel like there are 1,000 sports memorabilia items I'm chasing at the same time, but every now and then I add a piece to my collection that really gets my blood flowing. This week one of those items came in from a conquest on the Bay. This '96 Jam Session Show Stoppers Michael Jordan card is really a centerpiece in my collection. I'm currently trying to put this set together and of course, the Jordan is the toughest card in the set to acquire.

90's insert sets came in all shapes and sizes. Whether it was die cuts or holograms, card designers let their imaginations go wild. One prominent design feature was foiling. I was a big fan of foiled card surfaces back in the day and continue to be a fan to this day. Most cards that have foiling incorporated in the designs today are mainly used as an accent on boarders or around jersey pieces. That's fine by me as the foiling always looks great and really dresses a card up even if it's just used as an accent. However, some companies went all out with foiling during the 90's by creating entire card surfaces made up of the stuff.

The '94 Fleer Ultra Power in the Key set (click here) is a prime example of the use of foiling during the 90's. If that's not enough foiling for you though, checkout this '96 Jam Session Show Stoppers Michael Jordan insert. Not only is the entire surface foil, but it's a taller 2.5 x 4.75 inch as apposed to the traditional 2.5 x 3.5 inch card size. That means a whole lot more foiling. Which I like.

The scan really doesn't do this card justice. These Jam Session cards look a little better in hand. The entire set consists of nine cards and were inserted into hobby boxes at a ratio of 1:48. I only have the David Robinson and Jordan from the set, but I'd love to put this set together. Some of my favorite 90's players are featured in the set including Michael Jordan, Anfernee Hardaway, John Stockton and Grant Hill. Not too shabby of a player checklist.

It's always nice to get the Jordan out of the way when building a set. It's usually the toughest and most expensive card in a set. These Show Stoppers cards don't appear on the Bay that often, but they're also not the most known about cards either. hopefully I can grab a few more of these soon. So if anyone has any cards from this set, let me know. Here's a link to my trade album and want lists. I'm certainly open to trades for this… Yet Another 90's Insert Set.

Happy Collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

The Jordan Collection (Part 8): '92 Fleer Pro-Vision

'92 Michael Jordan Fleer Pro-Vision

I've posted some of the rarer items I have in these The Jordan Collection series posts, but this 1992 Fleer Pro-Vision card is as far from rare as they come. Actually, you can add this card to your collection for right around $.99. There are thousand of these Pro-Vision Jordan cards floating around. Yet, it's abundance and lack of book value don't take anything away from it one bit. It's a great example of how junk wax really isn't junk wax.

Alright, I'm sure some readers are saying, "What does this blogger know? He doesn't even have the right year in the caption under the card". Actually, the card is from the '92 Fleer set. I have absolutely no idea why it says Fleer '91 on the front of the card, but it does. The card is part of a six card insert set called "Pro Vision". It's a fun set that features the likes of Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson among others. The set has a modest $4.00 book value that certainly wont break the bank. If you are looking to put together a fun and inexpensive set, Fleer Pro Vision is a great candidate. Here is an eBay link to some current Pro Vision auctions (click here).

Happy Collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

An All-Star Post For The NBA's All-Star Weekend: '93 Fleer All-Star Insert Set

1993 Fleer All-Star Michael Jordan

The NBA All-Star Weekend is almost upon us and I'm really excited. because of that excitement, I thought it only fitting to put up as many All-Star themed posts as possible. Some of these will be reposts from the past few months, but I'll mix in a number of new posts, videos and polls. Actually, I wrote a bunch of new posts last weekend that I have scheduled to be published periodically throughout the rest of this week. So stay tuned for all those posts and get ready for a fun weekend of basketball. With Blake Griffin in the Dunk Contest, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen squaring off in the 3-Point Contest and the game itself, it should be great!!!

One of the more popular basketball inserts of the early 90's was the '93 Fleer All-Stars set. This was a 24 card set that featured the Western and Eastern All-Stars from the '92 NBA All-Star Game. Hence, no Shaquille O'neal rookie all-star card unfortunately even though this is a set from his rookie year. However, the set is littered with tons of 90's stars and superstars like Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Scottie Pippen and many more. The set featured a horizontal design with images of the players in their All-Star uniforms. There's a blue background that looks great, but is unfortunately susceptible to chipping. This is the biggest problem collectors need to worry about when attempting to put this set together and is very noticeable as you'll see the tail-tail white edges or chunks that indicate edge wear and chipping. Definitely look closely at any images if you are buying these cards on-line through the secondary markets or trading.

The set is not terribly difficult to put together. It only consists of 24 cards and they were inserted into series 1 pack at a modest rate of 1:9. It has a solid book value of $100, but you should be able to put the entire set together for well under that if you can save on shipping costs. Most of the cards sell as singles for around $2.00 to $5.00. The Jordan is the tough one, but can be had for right around $10.00-$40.00. Here's a BGS Graded 9 Jordan currently for sale on eBay as a Buy Now: (click here) and an ungraded Live eBay auction: (click here). Also, here's a complete set in a Buy Now eBay auction with a $60.00 reserve: (click here). I took the easy way out and bought the entire set all at once from a seller on eBay. I haggled the price down to $30.00 plus $5.00 shipping for the entire set. No question, good deals are out there if you are willing to be a patient collector.

Although this '93 Fleer All-Stars set is not my favorite insert set from the 90's, it's high on the list. Many of my favorite hoops stars are in this set and I love the overall design. Hope you enjoyed this All-Star themed post. Stay tuned for more NBA All-Star posts and remember to… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

Hoopography Top 25 PC Countdown: #8

(1994 Shaquille O'neal Fleer Ultra Jam City)

The Hoopography Top 25 PC Countdown continues with this 1994 Shaquille O'neal Fleer Ultra Jam City foil insert card. This masterpiece of foiling combines many of my favorite card attributes including being a 90's insert as well as an Orlando Magic era O'neal card. This was a hot item back in the day and commanded a pretty solid price of $30 - $40. I never could afford a card anywhere near that when I was a younger collector, but I remember admiring this card behind the glass in the local card shops. Today the O'neal Jam City card sells for a much more affordable $10 - $15. However, buyer beware! Foil cards are notorious for edge chipping and soft corners, and these Jam City cards are no different. It took me some time to find a mint version.

I've had a lot of fun with this countdown, and hopefully everyone else has enjoyed it as well. There're only seven cards left in the countdown, and I'm sure you'll pickup on a common theme. For now, stay tuned for the next Hoopography Top 25 PC Countdown post and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

Hoopography Top 25: #14

Shaquille O'neal was the biggest name in basketball trading cards when I was growing up. It was the time of the "Shaq' Attack". Sure, "His Airness" was also at the peak of his collectibility, but O'neal took the NBA by storm in 1993 and never looked back. It didn't matter what type of card or which company produced it, his RC's were hot!

I could remember going to the local sports card shops and looking at all the O'neal RC's in the glass cases. There were a lot of sports card shops back then, so I saw a lot of his RC's. One of those cards that I gawked at happens to be the #14 card in my Hoopography Top 25 countdown. This '93 Fleer Ultra All-Rookies O'neal insert was one of the most sought after basketball cards of '93.

Fleer had been in the trading card business for quite some time by '93, but the Ultra set was the first premium basketball set Fleer had ever released. To say they did a great job with the 'Ultra release is an understatement. From the on-card Scottie Pippen Career Highlights Auto's to the Ultra Rejectors and Ultra All-NBA inserts, the '93 Fleer Ultra product had it all.

The All-Rookies inserts were really hot when they first came out. The O'neal had a solid $40 - $50 price tag originally, but that didn't last very long when collectors realized the set was not very rare. The odds of pulling an All-Rookies card was one in every thirteen packs. With ten cards in the entire set, it wasn't too long until the market was flooded with these cards. The O'neal RC from the set has fallen in value to $25 since the days of the "Shaq' Attack". You can actually go on to eBay today and pick one up for less than $10 (click here).

Regardless of book value, I still really like this card. It reminds me of the days when I first got into the hobby as an eager young sports fan, and couldn't afford this ultra cool O'neal RC. Plus, checkout the first Shaq' Reebok Pumps O'neal is Rockin' in the card. Those are classic.

Rookie Cards For $10 Bucks or Less: Shawn Kemp Fleer, SkyBox, Upper Deck

Basketball fans can’t talk 90’s NBA basketball without mentioning the “Reign Man”. Shawn Kemp was a devastating 6 foot 10 inch athlete who could catch an ally-oop from fellow running mate Gary “The Glove” Payton better than anyone in the Association. In addition to his athleticism, Kemp also had the skill-set to work down low in the post. He averaged 14.6 points/game and 10.9 rebounds/game with a .488 field goal percentage during his NBA career. Those numbers are a bit skewed because of a few seasons when his averages dipped for a number of reasons including weight issues. It was reported that Kemp showed up to Cavaliers’ training camp weighing a hefty 275 lbs. during the ’99 lockout shortened NBA season.

I like to remember the Shawn Kemp that many referred to as “Man Child”. This was the player that no team had an defensive answer for during the mid 90’s. For all of Kemp’s natural abilities though, it would have been fun to watch how much better he would have been if he had only put more time into the game and himself. As it is, I'm still a fan and enjoy watching old clips of Kemp Reignin’ down on Seattle.

I've done a couple of these “Rookie Cards for $10 Bucks or less” posts thus far, but this is the first time i'm featuring three rookie cards of one player. The best part about featuring Kemp’s three rookie cards is that you can add all three of these RC's to your collection "...for $10 Bucks or Less”.

1. 

   -The ’91 Fleer RC features a great action shot of Kemp doing what he did best, dunking. This is my favorite Kemp RC out of the three. Just checkout that awesome blue and red trim around the photo of Kemp. Coupled with the yellow surrounding Kemp's name, this card is so bad it's actually cool. The card has a book value of only $1.50 due to the over abundance of the card. In fact, that is the case for all three of these cards. Trading card manufactures mass produced their sets and thus killed the value of their own products during the late 80’s and early 90’s. eBay auction: (click here for an eBay “buy now” auction featuring the ’91 Fleer Shawn Kemp RC).
   

1. 

   -The ’91 NBAHOOPS RC has a fairly simple design. I can’t say it’s the best looking card ever made, but it’s a nice buy at around $1 on the secondary markets. Again, the card only has a book value of $1.50 like the ’91 Fleer RC. eBay auction: (click here for an eBay “buy now” auction featuring the ’91 NBAHOOPS Shawn Kemp RC).
   

   
   

   
   

1. -The final Kemp RC is a ’91 SkyBox card. The ’91 SkyBox set is one of my all-time favorite sets. I actually like both the ’91 and ’92 SkyBox sets. They have some really funky early 90’s graphics and designs. The Kemp RC from the ’91 set has some of those funky graphics and is a good looking card. Nothing like some randomly colored lines going through the background of a card. Kinda like the always cool laser background used in 90’s school photos (you know the ones I'm talking about). This Kemp RC has a book value of $2.50, but typically sells for right around $.50 to $2. eBay auction: (click here for an eBay “buy now” auction featuring the ’91 SkyBox Shawn Kemp RC)
   

   
   

(Just for good measure, Kemp's Top 10 Slam Dunks)

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Hoopography Top 25 Countdown: #15

I love acetate cards. It's easily my favorite trading card technology even though I've been cheating on it with refractor cards lately. Acetate is basically the name given to cards that are produced by encasing or printing an image on a translucent piece of plastic. The heyday for acetate cards was in the mid 90's. Unfortunately, trading card companies have gotten away from this technology which really is a shame. No doubt, I'd love to see a company come out with some acetate inserts featuring some of the modern day superstars, but I'll continue to also hunt down some of the better acetate cards of the past.

One of my favorite acetate cards also happens to be #15 on my PC Top 25 Countdown. The '98 Metal Universe Titanium Anfernee Hardaway is really a tremendous card. It not only features Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway, but Michael Jordan as well. Actually, many collectors pick this guy up because of MJ's presence. That's made the modestly valued card sell for almost double its $15 book value. It's not uncommon for this card to sell for $20-$25 dollars. That's pretty good during a time in the hobby when most cards fail to even reach their book values on the secondary markets.

For me, the Hardaway (with Jordan) is the gem of the set. I'm a huge Hardaway fan and collector, and consider this Metal Universe Titanium one of his best inserts. As many of you know, I'm a huge 90's insert nut as well. That means I'm currently attempting to put this awesome looking set together along with every other 90's insert set (or at least it seems like that).

I recently doubled my ’98 Metal Universe Titanium collection by adding the Antoine Walker, Juwan Howard (K. Garnett in background) and Kerry Kittles (A. Hardaway in background). I also have the Marcus Camby and Ray "Jesus Shuttlesworth" Allen cards from the set. I really like the J. Howard, but the Hardaway with MJ in the background is still my favorite of the six in my collection.

With six down, I have fourteen more to go. If I really concentrated my time and funds on putting the set together, I could probably put the rest of it together relatively quickly with the exception of the pricey Jordan and Kobe cards. I have too many sets I'm putting together right now though, so this one might take me some time. These Metal Titanium cards are fairly common. They were inserted into packs at a rate of 1:72. That’s really not too bad, and there usually are a few different auctions featuring these cards every week. Unfortunately, A few of the cards can get a little expensive (’98 Pippen Titanium completed eBay auction,’98 Jordan Titanium completed eBay auction, ’98 Rodman Titanium completed auction).

Although it's going to take me a while to put the entire '98 Metal Universe set together, I'm pretty happy to have what I consider the gem of the set in my collection. That's why this "Penny" Hardaway Metal Universe Titanium acetate card is #15 on the Hoopography Top 25 Countdown.

Another 90's Insert Set: '93 Fleer All-Stars

As many of you know, I collect a lot of different players, sports and types of cards, but my main passion is 90's basketball inserts. I simply can't get enough of them. I feel this time period produced some of the most creative and best designed cards in the hobby's history. It also didn't hurt that this was a golden age for the NBA as well. This was also the time when companies couldn't rely on the player auto or jersey relic. Although there were a few on-card autographs being produced during the 90's (click here), they were not as heavily produced as they are today. Whether it was a hologram, die cut, refractor, great photography or simply a well thought out design, 90's inserts had it going on.

One of the more popular basketball inserts of the early 90's was the '93 Fleer All-Stars set. This was a 24 card set that featured the Western and Eastern All-Stars from the '92 NBA All-Star Game. Hence, no Shaquille O'neal rookie all-star card unfortunately even though this is a set from his rookie year. However, the set is littered with tons of 90's stars and superstars like Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Scottie Pippen and many more.

The set featured a horizontal design with images of the players in their All-Star uniforms. There's a blue background that looks great, but is unfortunately susceptible to chipping. This is the biggest problem collectors need to worry about when attempting to put this set together and is very noticeable as you'll see the tail-tail white edges or chunks that indicate edge wear and chipping. Definitely look closely at any images if your are buying these cards on-line through the secondary markets or trading.

The set is not terribly difficult to put together. It only consists of 24 cards and the cards were inserted into series 1 pack at a modest rate of 1:9. It has a solid book value of $100, but you should be able to put the entire set together for well under that if you can save on shipping costs. Most of the cards sell as singles for around $2.00 to $5.00. The Jordan is the tough one, but can be had for right around $15.00. Here's a PSA Graded 9 Jordan for sale on eBay as a Buy Now: (click here) and a BGS 9 Live eBay auction: (click here). Also, here's a completed set in a Live eBay auction with a $59.00 reserve: (click here).

I took the easy way out and bought the entire set all at once from a seller on eBay. I haggled the price down to $30.00 plus $5.00 shipping for the entire set. No question, good deals are out there if you are willing to be a patient collector. Although this '93 Fleer All-Stars set is not my favorite insert set from the 90's, it's high on the list. Many of my favorite hoops stars are in this set and I love the overall design. Hope you enjoyed this installment of yet Another 90's Insert Set and of course… "Every Bounce of the Ball"!