We all have some - check them carefully.

Early 90's basketball that is.

Most sports card collectors that have bought collections or random bulk boxes without a doubt have some early Skybox, Hoops, Ultra, etc. basketball cards. Are you a collector of these or do they languish in boxes in the closet, garage, or basement. I hope no one stores their cards in the attic.

This post is certainly not meant to offend basketball card collectors - cause that's not what we do here. And I mean no disrespect to the cards themselves. Look at the first Skybox set from 90-91. Beautiful cards, but as someone recently wrote, "about as common as a blade of grass".

I recently ended up with a day to myself, and the weather was crap, so I grabbed a four-row box of what I knew was basketball cards and dug in. I was hoping to finish a couple of long-lingering sets from the era, and maybe find a few gems. 


 It turns out that this was a decent box. The empty space shows how many cards were "keepers". 


The bottom three finish the 90-91 Hoops set. Finally! Some randoms above. 

I didn't take a picture of one of the highlights. A complete set of 89-90 Hoops made up most of the cards pulled and kept from the box. Nice! 

I pulled every MJ card I came across. Retirement fund ya know.


More for the fund here,


Someone along the way did put some mid-90's to modern-ish cards in the box. Here's a sampling,



Then there is this card, 


so...what of it? 

When I entered it into my collection on TCDB I noticed a price entry of $30! That can't be right. 

Sure enough there is something special about this. Recent eBay SOLDS in the range of $35-63!! 

I have no clue about the story of this card and what warrants the price. I must look into this. 

Lesson learned here kids, check every card when you are processing a box, even if you think it is all over-production era stuff. 

What to do with the 90% that I didn't need... When I was actively trading on TCDB - never traded a single card from the OPE years. From my past Sportlots inventory - never sold one either. To the donation center I guess. 

Thanks for reading and keep collecting. 


A collector since my early years. Sometimes a collector without focus. If it piques my interest I may collect it.

Comments

  1. Mark ZentkovichMay 18, 2025 at 10:18 PM

    👍

    ReplyDelete
  2. FujiMay 20, 2025 at 8:25 AM

    A. Always fun to dig through a box of cards when you have some free time. It's even better when you're able to complete a set or two with those cards.

    B. Love that K.C. Jones Then & Now card. Very cool subset.

    C. Congratulations on finding two Jacksons. Any Sam Vincent cards with the MJ cameo?

    D. That 1996-97 Topps card was a SP and tougher to pull than any of the other base cards in the set. It used to sell for a few bucks back in the day. I wonder if it blew up during the Covid hobby boom. Regardless... congratulations on finding one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. POISON75May 23, 2025 at 4:13 AM

    Dude I need that Checklist please trade to me

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ginko-5May 25, 2025 at 7:59 PM

    That's a sick checklist! I don't collect basketball cards, but these ones look pretty sharp

    ReplyDelete

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