30 Day Challenge 31: Show me the Monkey!

The just-concluded 30 day challenge was a lot of fun to write and post. Not only did it allow me to post every day in a month for the first time, it was fun to compose each post. But, it's over now. What to do? How about add my own to the list?

Day #31: Show me the Monkey! There aren't many cards that show monkeys on them. I can think, off the top of my head, of maybe 5 and this is the only one in my collection. I got it from a Trading Card Database member while the 30 day challenge was going on. I had to give it it's own post.

30 Day Challenge 30: Favorite card in collection

This has been really fun. I have not posted the challenge image since Day 1 so here it is again to refresh your memory:

Some were harder than others, some very easy that didn't require any mental debate or a second thought.

But day 30 is the hardest. Favorite card in collection? How do I pick that? I have so many cards, 99% of them that I really like...I wouldn't collect them if I didn't love the concept of trading cards.

So in the end...a bit of a cop-out.

No, that's not ALL of my collection....but it is most of it. (the brown boxes in the front are part of my 1/64 NASCAR diecast collection). I can't pick just one. So I went with all of them. The ones with the long side of the box facing the camera are the ones waiting to be scanned, also. I still have a lot ahead of me but as you can see, I've got more done than waiting to do. I still don't expect to finish until 2021 or so. But I'm the world's worst estimator so probably closer to 2025.

Thanks for reading the 30 Day Challenge, it's been fun!

30 Day Challenge 29: A favorite card before 1950

Approaching the end of this challenge. It's been fun to write them. It's nice to not have a long-form post that takes three hours or more to make from time to time. To be honest, I wrote the first 27 posts all on 3/31 and would have done the last three then too but I got too tired, and finished them off on 4/1...the day I plan to post the first in the series. I didn't get any scanning done during that time but it was worth it because I really enjoyed writing them.

I had two cards I debating showing here, both of which are in my collection. One, from 1909, and one from 1911. I decided to show the 1909 card, but both have been shown already in the past. I've shown most if not all of my pre-1950 cards on the blog already so a repeat here is no surprise.

From the 1909 Philadelphia Caramel set comes this card of a gray squirrel. Squirrels are my favorite animal and I can spend hours watching their antics. I also enjoy photographing them. My squirrel album on my website has 460 images, some dating back to the 1980s! Trust me, the photos get better later in the album. They are in chronological order of being posted so as my photography skills improved the photos improved as well. (naturally).

There are very few cards that show squirrels, and even fewer that show gray squirrels. This is the only one in my collection, and I am very interested in trading for any others.
Here's a real gray squirrel I photographed April 9th, 2009- 100 years after this card was made.

As you can see, the artwork is not particularly accurate, especially in the head/neck area. But I still love it.

30 Day Challenge 28: A favorite relic

This one, again, is an easy one and I didn't have to think about which card to show...I just had to locate my scan of it.

 

I have actually shown this card before, when I first got it.  It's a sheet metal card, so it's heavy. And it's got a large part of the Coors Light Pole contingency. It's my favorite relic in my collection by far, and I've got lots of them. I may be a base card guy first and foremost, but I'm within a couple of years away from hitting 3000 relic cards. I can't resist a cheap relic.

30 Day Challenge 27: Favorite 90s or later Oddball

Man, nothing can top the Perlorian Cats. But I still have some 90s greatness to share anyway.

I have been an Olympic fan for a long time. The first one I remember is the 1992 Barcelona games, but my family remembers that I watched the 1988 Seoul games as well. But the first one I was really a superfan of? That's 1996. It was the second one where the basketball games had truly the best players in the world. I had discovered the NBA earlier in 1996 so naturally I was a huge supporter of the 1996 Olympic basketball team.

Sad thing is, I have no memories of the 1996 basketball tournament. I know I watched it. I've watched it in every Olympics. I just don't remember it. I don't remember most of the Olympic basketball, and I wonder if that is because I watch so much basketball that it all kinds of blurs together, where the other sports I only see with the Olympics, so it stands out more? I don't know.

But I have chosen a card set related to the 1996 US Olympic basketball team.

 These cards were on the back of Kraft products- I think the crackers with the red stick and odd consistency but still tasty cheese, but I'm not sure...that was a long time ago now. It's a perfect combination of three of my favorite things- NBA, Olympics, and Cheese. I have 5 of the cards, wish I had the rest. I'm actually amazed I got as many as I did, considering they were actually issued in 1995...The scanner I was using at the time didn't handle the cards well, but believe me, they don't have that crosshatching pattern on the actual card. Another set that will have be be rescanned some day.

30 Day Challenge 26: Favorite 80s Oddball

This one may be my favorite oddball set ever. And while it's an issue from Topps, well...there's no other way to consider this than as an oddball.

1983's Topps Perlorian Cats stickers has cats...dressed in human clothes, doing human things. It's so bizarre, so odd...I love it. Although I have only one pack's worth this may be my favorite set ever, and there's so much going on here that I can just stare at it and see little stuff. Like...why do the cats have swords? What exactly is going on here? Obviously that cat on the right is considering eating whatever that white animal in the cart is. I think it may be a large mouse or rat but it might be a small pig, too. How many stitches did the cat dressers need? Why does the police cat have a bucket on it's head? I could go on...

30 Day Challenge 25: Favorite 70s Oddball

While I have more 70s oddballs, there was really no choice as to my favorite- this is one of the few on the Challenge list that I didn't have to think about, I already knew the answer going in.

1971 STP was the very first NASCAR card set ever. These standard size cards were issued by the STP corporation and from what I have been able to gather were handed out by the drivers...that might not be correct.

Beckett lists these as a 1972 set but they are not, they are 1971. 1971 was STP's first season in NASCAR, they sponsored Fred Lorenzen that year. In 1972 they moved to Richard Petty, they would stay with Petty until 2000. The set, however, includes two cards for Lorenzen and only one for Petty, which does not mention any connection to the STP corporation. It does, however, mention his results for the 1970 season, as does this Elmo Langley card shown. They must be from 1971.

They are very rare- this Elmo Langley card is the only one I have, and I've shown it before. I'd love to get my hands on the rest, but when they pop up they usually go for about $200...I can't do that for a single card. I can't even do that for a box of cards. This Elmo card was Buy It Now on Ebay for $20 in 2015. That was one of those rare times where I didn't mind spending $20 on a single card. I actually worried that the seller had left off the second 0 and wouldn't ship it, but he did...I ended up getting a bunch of great 90s oddballs from him right after that, all at good prices.

30 Day Challenge 24: Favorite 60s Oddball

I don't actually have many 60s oddballs. Again, like the 50s, it's from before I was born so I don't really know what is out there, so I basically only have whatever I've stumbled across.

This one is a set I was aware of and looked for. From 1961-62, it's the Essex Meats St. Louis Hawks set.

This regional issue was made by the Essex Meats company. The cards are not numbered and include several players who got their only card in this set. McCarthy is not one of them, though, he also appears in 1961-62 Fleer. This is the only card I've been able to get my hands on- some of them can sell into the triple digits so I don't expect to ever be able to complete this set.

30 Day Challenge 23: Favorite 50s Oddball

I love oddballs. I don't know any collector that doesn't. I don't have many 50s oddballs in my collection...mostly due to lack of access. I can't collect what I have no idea exists.

This card, for instance, I had no idea existed. Until I found a stash of them for sale, that is...

From 1959, comes Sicle Air Force. These cards came with ice cream on a stick in 1959, and are somewhat whimsical, as this fighter plane appears to be flying through space...it is a Starfighter, after all. Many of the the cards I've got are out of focus. About half feature artwork and half photography. Some of the artwork is a little strange, like a giant missile being launched from the middle of a city...

but mostly they are just fun. Unless you are a communist, in which case it was implied you'd be on the business end of the missile.

30 Day Challenge 22: A common player who seemed to elude me

This is an interesting one, because I'm not sure how it was really meant. I'll post it as I see it.

In 2013-14 I was buying a lot of cards at retail. My second year back into the NBA, I was collecting heavily at that time- more than I am now in fact.

Panini makes very small sets. Most are 200 cards. It's not hard to get at least one card of a person if they are one of the "chosen ones" Panini puts into sets. (With a 450 man league, Panini usually ignores more than half of it).

With the way Panini does things, there are a core group of rookies that they put in every set, and then some other rookies who show up in some sets. Ray McCallum was one of the original group of rookies who was in every set.

Despite my opening a ton of packs that year, I did not get a single McCallum card. He was the only main rookie of the season I did not add to my collection during that season.

Eventually, I've gotten a couple of cards of him. Not many, but he has been rare to see in a set post-rookie season.

In a bit of a humorous twist, I recently found a pack of 2013-14 Hoops that I had gotten in a blaster when the set was new, but I had misplaced it. I opened it up and what do I find?

If I had not lost this pack, not only would I have had a card of him during his rookie season...it would have been an autograph.

Funny how that works some times.

30 Day Challenge 21

The original topic was "a rookie you thought you were investing in". I don't invest. Investors are the enemy of true collectors. Investors don't care about what it is they are buying, as long as they can make a profit. They keep things from being in the hands of people who actually care about whatever it is they are buying, and they artificially inflate prices in a manipulation made only to make themselves feel better.

BS.

What I will do. however, is showcase a player that I thought was going to "make it" in the NBA, but instead never played a single game.

Rod Grizzard was highly touted coming up through college, he was somebody I heard a lot about as a can't miss prospect. He ended up slipping to the second round of the NBA draft, and was cut during preseason. He never played a single NBA game. He did have a professional career- in Singapore, Belgium, Australia, Israel and New Zealand. And for the USBL, which is an American league but so far off the radar they have never gotten any cards. Spent some time in the D-League too. His last year playing professional ball was 2011. I have absolutely no idea what he's doing now.

It would have been tough for him to make the Wizards, who drafted him, that year. The player starting in the same position he played? Michael Jordan. The rookie they chose to keep that year who played the same position was Jared Jeffries, who only got into 20 games that year. It still surprises me that he never got into the NBA. I don't usually hear this much about a player who doesn't make it, but there have been a few. The difference is that so many other people expected him to make it, he actually got cards...

30 Day Challenge 20: Favorite parallel concept

I'm heading to Wayne, New Jersey for the largest scale model car show in the world. While I will have internet access I will probably be too busy to post so the posts for Friday, Saturday and Sunday are being scheduled. By now I am well into the month of April without missing a day and I am hoping to keep that streak going. When I return I should finally have time to type up the three box breaks I've done since I started the 30 Day Challenge, but the Challenge is what you will be seeing for the next few days at least. 

My favorite parallel concept is a long-running one. My all-time favorite is the Refractor concept. Introduced by Topps in 1993-94, they are incredible. I've never met a Refractor I didn't like. Picking one to show here is a tough choice, because I have Refractors in my collection spanning about 20 years. So, when all else fails, I will show one of the oldest.
Refractors just look like they are glowing from the inside, they look great. The first set that had them, 1993-94 Finest, is some of the rarer ones. I only have 5 of the 220.

I just got the base card in trade last year, I wish I had scanned it so I could show what it looks like as well.
Here's a base card of one of his teammates.

Unfortunately some of the early Finest cards, the skin color of the player is turning whitish or greenish, with no real rhyme or reason for it to do so. At least this one is uniform. Not all are.

30 Day Challenge 19: A favorite card from outside the USA

There's quite a few basketball cards in my collection from outside the USA, but I've shown a whole lot of basketball in this program. Let's expand the field a little, and go back to long before the first basketball card was ever issued.

As I've mentioned in the past, ancient history is one of my absolute favorite things to read about. There are very, very few cards that cover ancient history, and this is one of a very few in my collection. Hailing from 1912, this card is from the Player Egyptian Kings, Queens and Classical Deities set. It's my only card from the set, and I won it on ebay a couple years ago. It's not the first time I've shown this card on Cardboard History. At some point I'd like to get the rest of the cards in the set.

Player is from England.

I seriously considered one of the cards from the 1908 Wills European Royalty set, but with 55 of them, I would have a tough time choosing.

30 Day Challenge 18: A player who became coach of my favorite team

The original challenge used the term manager, but in the NBA we have coaches. I don't know enough about hockey history yet to know which coaches are former players.

My favorite team is, of course, the Nets, and they have had former players as coaches on several occasions. The Nets actually had their all-time best player come back and coach, so today we see Jason Kidd.

He played for the Nets from 2001-02 (when this card was issued) through 2007-08, and he coached the Nets in 2013-14. He is currently coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. He does have a Nets coaching card, but it's an autograph and I don't have it. I've never even seen a scan of it.

30 Day Challenge 17: A card from the first set I put together by hand

This is yet another tough one for me, because I can't really remember which set was the first one I put together by hand. This is similar to post #3 but I took that one to be a set I tried and failed to finish, and this one to be a set I tried and succeeded on. Or at the very least a set I didn't cheat and buy a complete set of.

Most of my early set completions were sets that I bought, either as a factory set or as a set built by somebody else, or that I got as a gift from my family.

I think the first one that I actually finished the hard way- card by card, from packs- was 1997-98 Z-Force. I don't know when I exactly completed it but I was done with it by Christmas 1998. When I was doing it it seemed like a bit of a challenge, but I guess time passes differently when you are young. I know I actually completed series 1 twice over but I never completed a second copy of series 2. I was hoping to be able to trade them for something really good if I ever did, but I didn't. I'm not sure where my spare copy is now, but I know it's around somewhere.

Here's just a random card, #96, Lindsey Hunter. This was a set I loved when it was new but not so much anymore.

The cross-hatching pattern you see is my scanner not being able to properly scan the card. The name and Z are foil.

30 Day Challenge 16: A card of someone you appreciate but don't like

Another tough one. I like most people in sports. And the few I don't like, I don't appreciate either. If they have done something to get on my "dislike" list they have to have done something pretty bad. I don't randomly hate people because they were drafted by a team that isn't randomly in a geographical area in proximity to mine...I'm far too smart for that.

If I had the one and only card of John Calipari from his time with the Nets I would show that here, but it's not in my collection. Oh wait, I couldn't show it anyway because it has to be somebody I respect, but don't like.

So I think I will have to go with Kyle Busch.

 Why I don't like him: He complains a LOT. He's used his car as a weapon multiple times. (That's the big one). He races in just about every Busch and Truck race despite being a successful Cup driver. Nothing annoys me more than Cup drivers in the lower divisions. (For you baseball guys that would be like Babe Ruth playing in minor league ball to pad his stats and pocket book)

Why I respect him: He's a good father. He's one of the most talented drivers I've ever seen. He can do things with a race car most people wouldn't even try, let alone be able to accomplish. If he had a better personality, I'd be a big fan. I was a fan, a long time ago- back around 2000-2001, NASCAR literally made a rule to keep him out of the Truck series because he was so much better than everyone else- and he was only 15 at the time. He's a year younger than I am.

I have long suspected that part of his "bad boy persona" may be something NASCAR is pressuring him to do. Once Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed NASCAR didn't have anyone to be the "bad guy" and it seems to me like they may have pushed Busch to act that way. I sort of hope that's the case, but if it is, it's a pretty low thing for NASCAR to do. Just a couple of interviews he's done, a few things he's said, lead me to believe that.

I don't hate Kyle Busch, and he's not my least favorite driver in the sport- there are a couple I neither like nor respect- but I don't celebrate when he wins either.

30 Day challenge 15: A favorite card of the 2010s

Happy Easter my friends. Hope it was good for you...It was for me. My family gave me two hobby boxes, including my first for the NHL. Stay tuned for a Box Break Review for each coming soon. I took advantage of the 80° weather and worked on models today. Luckily, I have a post from the 30 Day Challenge already written and ready to go...

Our current decade, while still in progress, I don't think will be looked back on with great fondness. Too many exclusive licenses, too many manipulated photos, too many small sets, too many players ignored by card companies.

However, the peripheral world of the hobby has certainly changed. Now, you have websites like the Trading Card Database, COMC, and the concept of card blogging, which to me all date to this decade. I know the Database is actually from the last decade, but I only discovered it in this one. I'm not sure when COMC was launched, and I have no idea when card blogging started. I don't know what the first card blog even was. I know I discovered them in either 2013 or early 2014, through the Database's blogroll. I began reading some, and I enjoyed it. I decided to start my own and in November 2014 Cardboard History was born. It's easier than ever before to get a card you want show up right in your mailbox, and while it's true that the concept also dates to the previous decade- maybe even the late 1990s- it was really perfected in the Teens. Yeah, I still think of the 19teens when I wrote that as well.

Now, it's hard to tell how this decade will be viewed in the future because we are still in it- things we love now because they are new might not be something we look back on fondly (as an example, I loved 2002-03 Fleer Box Score when it was new, and now I'm just kind of "meh" on it) and things we may overlook now might be viewed with great nostalgia in the future.

 But for me, the 2010s is going to be remembered as the decade I discovered the NHL. I was aware of what it was in the 1990s, but I didn't become a fan until 2016. In that time, it's become something I can't live without. It's already surpassed NASCAR as my #2 favorite sport. It went from something that I knew existed, but didn't really affect me, to becoming something that's an integral part of every single day of my life practically over night.

I've also spent the entire decade working on scanning my card collection. I began the process in 2009, but I've been working on extensively this entire decade, and I still have enough cards ahead of me that I don't expect to finish this decade either. It's going to be when the majority of my collection was scanned, and that's something that is pretty important to me.

However, with that said, I'm going to show a non-sport card today instead. You'd think I would show a hockey card, or an NBA card- I did get back into the NBA in 2012, righting a wrong I inflicted on myself in 2006, but I'm not. You may remember what I wrote about ships earlier in this 30 day challenge. Well, a piece of one of those wonderful ships outshines any sports card to me.

How anyone could not love this ship is beyond me. It's a thing of complicated beauty to me. And to have a piece of wood off it's deck? That's so amazing it's almost unbelievable! It says on the back that this wood was removed off the ship during it's 1972 replanking. This is basically something that would have been considered waste..but I consider it one of the greatest cards in my collection. I pulled it from a box of 2009 Topps Heritage Heroes Edition in 2012, and I consider it not only the best non-sports pull of my entire life, but in the top 5 all-time. It is my favorite non-sports card in my collection. I do wish they hadn't cropped it so tightly though, and more of the actual ship was visible on the card, but I'll take what I can get.

In case you are not aware of the USS Constitution, here's a very brief overview: During the American Revolution this was the latest and greatest in warship concept. She fought in the Revolution, the War of 1812, the Barbary War, and possibly the Civil War. She is still on the active roll of the US Navy but no longer actively fights. I could find out her entire history with a quick trip to Wikipedia but I want to finish writing these Challenge posts, I know if I do that I won't get any more writing done for the rest of the day! 🙂

30 Day Card Challenge 14: A favorite card of the 2000s

Before I begin today's post, thank you to EP, got the package today​..Great stuff! Will cover soon. Now, back to the series...

This is a tough one as well. The 2000s are a bit of a let down compared to the greatness of the 1990s. When I am going through my cards, the majority of them are actually from this decade, but it's the 1990s that I really enjoy the most. In fact, I became so disenchanted with the cards that I left the NBA in late 2006...although now, looking back, I consider it one of if not the worst mistakes I've ever made in my life.

There were some good things in the 2000s- don't get me wrong- but it is no 1990s. It was also when I was farthest away from the hobby. 2007 and 2008 were my worst years in the hobby- 2008 in particular. I only got 14 documented new cards during the entire YEAR, and 13 of them were the bonus set that came with the NASCAR yearbook, always a Christmas present from my mom.
2009 was my card renaissance, and it's when I came back to the hobby full time, it's also when I got back into non-sports for the first time since roughly 1997.

But again, I have to go with a NASCAR card, one of my greatest pulls ever.

I pulled this card, of my all-time favorite driver, from a single pack purchase from the Target in Kingston, NY, in late 2003. Since about 1998 I had not really done much NASCAR cards- I'd get maybe a pack of each set, maybe none at all. Until I pulled this one. This single card drew me back into collecting what was my favorite sport at that time on a full time basis. I've never left the sport since then. Pulling this one is one of the more important "touchstones" of the hobby for me. I'll talk about that more in 2018 as I celebrate my 30th year in the hobby. NASCAR may have dropped down to 3rd place now behind the NBA and NHL (already), but Dale Jr. is still my all-time favorite driver, and probably always will be. Although I post more about Elton Brand, if I were to make a list of my favorite athletes from all sports combined- something I don't think I'll ever do- they would be tied at #1.

30 Day Challenge 13: A favorite card of the 1990s

Ah, the 1990s. My favorite decade in history. Not just card history, but overall, in the entire documented human history, which goes back to roughly 5000 B.C. The 1990s are my favorite decade in all of them. And it's not because it's the decade I grew up in, either. That's more of a happy accident, really, it was just pure luck that I got to grow up during this time period. (My least favorite decade is the 1580s, in case you are wondering)

The 1990s cards are the best. It was truly the best decade, with the best designs, the best set composition, the best time to be a collector with cards everywhere. It's got so many sets I love that I could show a thousand cards in this post and not run out of favorites. But...the challenge is to show ONE favorite card of the decade. I knew it would be a card from either 1994 Action Packed or 1996-97 Ultra. In the end I went with Action Packed because for me the 90s were more about NASCAR than the NBA, although by the end of the decade card wise the NBA had pushed NASCAR by the wayside.

Is there anything more 1990s than this? The dark squares are gold foil, by the way. Normally, I hate cards where it's just a photo of the person in front of a digitally generated backdrop, but this card has so much sentimental value that it overpowers that.
1994 was my second year collecting NASCAR (started the day after Christmas 1992, but I consider 1993 my first year) and the 1994 season cards are my favorite in NASCAR history. And none top Action Packed. It's bright colorful design, the ample use of gold foil, the embossing on every card...to 10 year old me this was the greatest thing ever.

To 32 year old me, the sentiment is the same.

About the only thing that could make it better would be if I had the whole set. Yes, my all-time favorite NASCAR set is still not one I've completed. My other option for this post, 1996-97 Ultra NBA, also remains incomplete. You'd think my favorite sets in my sports would be something I  would have completed long ago, but no. While I would be thrilled to complete them, it will also be a little sad, because it means that I wouldn't be able to enjoy getting any new ones any more. Of course, they both have parallels...

Sometime during 1993, I saw Ricky Rudd's showcar, which was the first time I had ever seen a NASCAR race car in person. No pictures, but I remember where it was. I'll never forget it.

30 Day Challenge 12: A favorite card of the 1980s

Now we get into the really tough stuff. The 80s and especially 1990s are in my opinion, the best decades this hobby has ever seen. (except non-sports, which peaked before WWII). I was born in the 80s, I began collecting in the 1980s. Not as great as the 90s, but there are some very memorable sets from this time period. You have my gateway to vintage NBA cards (1981-82 Topps), the entire Star brand, the rebirth of Fleer, and the birth of Hoops- one of the only sets that's ever gotten it truly right. NASCAR starts getting cards on a regular basis in 1988, comic book based cards became a real thing instead of a rarity, plus throw in the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi sets of 1980 and 1983, respectively. The first mainstream Olympic card set dates to the 1980s as well. There are so many good choices and picking a favorite was not easy, in fact I would go so far as to say that the 1980s were tougher for me to pick than the 1990s will be- the real question there is do I pick a card from my favorite NBA set or NASCAR set? I'll be doing that as soon as I save my draft for this post, so I'll know pretty soon. My readers will have to wait 24 hours (give or take) to find out.

I seriously thought about going with a Star Wars card here...even though I am pretty down on Star Wars right now. I hate what Disney's done to it, and 2016 was the first year in my life where I did not watch any Star Wars movies. 2017 will likely join it. Still, I love the battle of Hoth and if I had a card that showed it, you'd probably be seeing it here. But I don't. I don't remember if they didn't show it on a card, or if I just either don't have it or didn't scan it. Either way, my favorite part of the Star Wars franchise does not appear on a card from the 80s in my collection, so you get NBA instead. Shocker, right?

This is one of the key cards in my collection, John Stockton's rookie card. His true rookie card, from his rookie season, not the 1988-89 card Beckett says it is. The Star company had the NBA exclusive license from 1983-84 through 1985-86, and all three sets used the exact same design, just changing the colors for each team and the year listed. (Which I've always been annoyed by, because the NBA should NEVER have just one year listed. It's just outright wrong.) But it does not detract from the greatness of Star cards.

In the 1990s I was a huge fan of the Stockton-Malone era Jazz. Their two runs to the finals, both losses to the Bulls, were so impactful that I still sort of root against the Bulls franchise to this day- despite the fact that nobody on those teams that took down the Jazz has been with the Bulls since the 1999-00 season. 

The only problem with Star is that they are hard to come by, and can be very expensive when you do. The 1984-85 set has some of the biggest names in NBA history making their card debut- besides John Stockton, you have Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and somebody you may have heard of by the name of Jordan. Not to mention the established superstars like Magic, Bird, Drexler, Wilkins, etc. 1984-85's rookie class is one of if not the greatest rookie classes in history, and they all got their rookie cards in 1984-85 Star. I'll never be able to get most of them, but for my birthday or Christmas one year my mom got me the Jazz team set, which includes Stockton's RC as you see above. I'm still kind of shocked all these years later. It's a card I wanted but never imagined I'd ever get. I am a cheapskate, after all.

Any day a new Star card can be added to the collection is a day to celebrate. I prefer to get them in team bags but if I come across a single I'll usually pick it up anyway. Star cards, by nature, are rare enough that I know if I don't get it then, I may never get it at all. It'd be far better to have a duplicate to trade if I pick up a single and then later get the team bag, but it's never happened.

Sorry for the crappy scan. The scanner I was using at that time didn't handle the Star card fronts very well. At some point I'll rescan it, but I don't know when that will be.