Set Completion: 1993-94 Hoops

I'm a set collector at heart. It's always been my driving force, for the first 25+ years I've been a collector. But, it's getting harder and harder to complete sets. I've ranted about that in the past, so I won't rehash it here- but I will say that in 2018 I've only completed 8 sets on the entire year. I've completed that many in a day before more than once, so that should show how much more of a challenge it is. Also, my focus has changed somewhat as well. Instead of focusing mainly on set completion, I've shifted more to my "Names Project", where I try to get at least one card of every person to get one in my three main sports. That is where my focus will lie in the future- especially now that I've taken on hockey, which has more than 36,000 people to chase, according to the Database!

So I've come to the decision that when I complete a set, I'm going to celebrate it with a post. I don't know how often I will get a chance to post in this series- that will be determined based on what ends up getting completed. There are some sets that I am pretty close on, so it may be soon, or it may be months before the next post in this series arrives. Who knows?

Set: 1993-94 Hoops
Size: 421 cards
Began collecting: sometime in 1996
How completed: via trade, with The Collector on the Trading Card Database
Full Checklist and Gallery: 1993-94 Hoops
Thoughts: The 1993-94 Hoops set has never been my favorite for the brand. It's certainly solid, but it can't compare to the 1990-91 and 1994-95 sets, which both rank in my top 3 favorites of all time. This was the first Hoops set to have a parallel, and the only one to have a full length parallel until 1998-99. (1996-97 had a partial parallel) It also featured, I believe, the first pack-pulled autographs of Larry Bird, which I do not have. It is the only NBA set to be exactly 421 cards. This post is the first time I've tagged it in the Labels section.
Best memory of the set: At my birthday party in 1996, the last birthday party I had, one of my friends from school gave me a big box of these cards. Unfortunately I cannot recall his name, but I do remember that I knew him only for that year- the school system routed us to a school for one year and then to a different one after that, and there were people I never saw again because of it. I was in 6th grade at the time, and that's the year my health problems really began...but I remember that box of cards. Unfortunately I didn't keep track of when I got what back then so I don't know exactly which cards I added that day.
Last card needed: #23, Alonzo Mourning of the Charlotte Hornets

Total Blaster 14 + JBF Christmas Tradeathon + NHL #3000!

Kind of late to get this posted tonight, but I have two topics to cover and one of them led to a milestone.

First up, because I opened it first, is my 14th Total Blaster, and although the picture is not good, the blaster it self was a great one...probably my favorite so far.

They are all new, which is nice. Jamie McMurray base, Drew Herring red parallel, the Carl Edwards Acceleration and the Ned Jarrett Hall of Fame placque...Herring was only ever included in this set, it's my second card of him, I have the base version already. With the Edwards Acceleration I'm now one card away from completing the insert.

Here we go! I mentioned in the very first post of this series I was hoping to get some of the tires from the first Eldora race- NASCAR's first major race on dirt since 1971. I had pulled race winner (I think, memory is not so good) Austin Dillon from one of the two blasters I did when the set was new, and now I've pulled Jeb Burton. This is the gold version, clearly SN to 50. This is my favorite card of the project so far. It looks better than my cell phone photo shows.

Next up, I got my trade package from Wes at Jaybarkerfan's Junk in his Christmas Tradeathon. While I regret missing the Andrew Wiggins relic he offered, I still got some great stuff. I will be getting his return into the mail on Friday, I didn't have his address so I had to wait and get it off his return address!

What you see here: 2014-15 Totally Certified Materials Red #82 Julius Randle
2013 Panini Black Friday #40 Trey Burke. Bonus points for this being a set not in my collection, which I didn't realize when I claimed it!
2015-16 Panini Prizm Prizm #243 Alonzo Mourning
2011-12 (I think) Pinnacle Threads #56 Erik Johnson (More below)
2011-12 Past & Present Bread for Energy #12 Kevin Durant

This is actually the exact 3000th NHL Hockey card in my collection! It actually only got that milestone number because I found that 6-card panel in my stash, which I posted about recently but had totally forgotten I had. Not only is this #3000, it's also my first actual NHL relic...and it's a patch! (SN 49/50 on the back too!)
Pretty darn cool. The relic has a different texture than I am used to- the NBA relics that I've got literally thousands of and the NASCAR relics I have hundreds of, the cloth used, none of them feel like this. That might be because hockey uniforms are meant to played on the cold ice, where NBA players are trying to minimize heat, and inside a NASCAR racecar usually hovers around 150 degrees Fahrenheit so they definitely don't want to add any more heat.
No matter what, this card will always be important to me as my first relic from the sport, and a Milestone card at that! (I'm obsessed with the milestone/thousand cards. Don't know why, just is). Once I find this set's listing on the Trading Card Database, it will appear on this list I linked to as well.

NBA 20th Anniversary Countdown #15: 1996-97 SP

Behold the power of holograms!

#15: 1996-97 SP

Why I like it: Like 1992-93 Ultra, and many of the sets yet to come, it's the design. It was basically a toss-up which would rank #15 and which would be #16, and this set got the nod over 1975-76 Topps for the sole reason that I have memories of this set being new, whereas the Topps set was issued almost a decade before I was born.

Set size/Completion: 146 cards, I have 141 of them, or 96.6% according to the Trading Card Database.

This is one of those rare non-foil/finest sets that you really can't capture in a scan. Each and every card is printed over the top of the SP hologram pattern seen at left, and in hand you can see that shining through the photo and the black bar at right. It doesn't really show in scans, although you can sort of see it in the team name at right. The first 126 cards in the set- the veterans- are done on this design.

SP, as a brand, made it's debut in 1994-95 (although one could argue that the 1993-94 Special Edition set was really the birth of it) and went until 2008-09, when the NBA pulled the license from Upper Deck. SP and later, SP Authentic (the name was changed for the 1997-98 release) is not a favorite brand of mine. (it later came back as a college release but those don't count). Most of the SP Authentic sets had the photos edited down so it was just the player and a white or close to white background. Not something I enjoy. This is the only SP set that makes my Top 20...and I could probably do a top 40 without finding another SP/SP Authentic set. But this one...this one I love.

Here's what the rookie cards look like. It would have been better if they looked like the veterans.

Here's a base card back:

Inserts for the set were actually interesting. In the 1990s the inserts usually were.

Game film...these were the big deal when the set was new. I pulled this one.

These are REALLY hard to scan. Game film would appear in 2001-02 SP Authentic as well.

Inside Info. Available in regular (silver) and gold foil. This one is gold...

Why is it called "Inside Info" you ask?

Because you can pull out a smaller card permanently attached to the larger one!

Premium Collection Holoview made it's third and final appearance. The hologram was smaller than ever.

This would be the last SP set to NOT include autographs.

• #20: 2002-03 Topps 10
• #19: 2004-05 Topps Total
• #18: 2002-03 Topps Pristene
• #17: 1992-93 Ultra
• #16: 1975-76 Topps
• #15: 1996-97 SP

Set Profile - 1995-96 Fleer

My series of Set Profiles moves to the NBA today, and what better set to start out with than the very first set that got me started with the NBA?

By April 1996, I had already been a card collector for 8 years. I was mostly focused on NASCAR and non-sports at that time, but none of my friends at school collected those topics. I was in the 5th grade at the time. My mom saw this and gave me a pack of cards for Valentine's Day in 1996- a pack of 1995-96 Fleer Series II. I doubt she could have known what she began. 18 years and more than 76,000 individual cards later, I'm still going strong! 1995-96 Fleer's design is not one of their best, in fact, it's actually one of their worst- but I still love the design, mainly because of the fact that it got me going in the NBA. From 1996-03 I focused almost solely on NBA cards, getting only one or two packs of NASCAR cards per set, and mostly stopping with non-sports during that time. I have come to regret that, but the NBA takes up roughly 3/4ths of my entire collection, and it all started here.

I will start by showing my very first NBA card, #220, Sam Cassell:

The 1995-96 Fleer design was unusual in that it wasn't one unified design. Each of the four divisions of the NBA got it's own design, and each of the designs was color-coded to each team.
Here is a representative design for each of the four main designs:

The basic player cards account for #1-197, and #201-259. Checklists are #198-200 and #349-350. It is a 350 card set.
In addition to the basic player cards, the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies both made their NBA debut in 1995-96, and they got special designs that ran cards #269-279.

#280-319 are Rookie cards. I have never particularly cared for the Rookie design for this set. The four rookies that played for the Expansion teams (Damon Stoudemire, Jimmy King, Bryant Reeves and Lawrence Moten) all got cards in both the Expansion subset and the Rookie subset.

Cards #320-348 are the Firm Foundation subset, which represent one player from each team. Several rookies are included in this subset.

The complete 350 card gallery can be found on the Trading Card Database here: 1995-96 Fleer GalleryMost of the scans come from my collection, as I completed the set on January 9th, 2003.
There are no parallels for the set.

Inserts - Click each insert's name to see the checklist and either partial or full galleries on the Database
There are 14 insert sets for 1995-96 Fleer, including insert parallels.
Class Encounters is a 40 card set that includes players who were rookies in 1994-95 (#1-20) and 1995-96 (#21-40). I have 20 of the cards in my collection.

Double Doubles is a 12 card set that features players who can be counted on to put up a double/double in most games. I have 10 of the cards.

End 2 End is a horizontally based 20 card insert, which features players who excel at both offence and defense. I have 13 of the cards in my collection.

Flair Hardwood Leaders is a 27 card insert set, that was seeded one in each Series I pack. It features the thicker card stock and foil printing normally used in the Flair set. Despite being issued in the main Fleer set, the cards carry the Flair logo, not the Fleer logo. Each team that was in the League in 1994-95 has one player represented. I have 25 of the cards.

Franchise Futures is the rarest of the 1995-96 Fleer inserts. It is only 9 cards, and I have only one of them. It features players who teams could build their future around. It also features foil etching.

NBA All-Stars is a 13 card set honoring the players chosen to be All-Stars during the 1994-95 season. The first 12 cards are dual-sided, with the front representing an Eastern Conference player and the back Western Conference. The 13th and final card in the set is for Mitch Richmond, who was voted MVP of the 1995 All-Star game. I have 10 of the cards.

Rookie Phenoms is a 10 card insert set highlighting 10 of the top rookies from the 1995-96 season. Each card is printed with etched technology. I have three of them.

Rookie Phenom Hot Pack is a parallel of the Rookie Phenom set. At the time, Fleer seeded several insert sets where if you got a Hot Pack, you got the entire insert set. But instead of just getting the regular insert set in complete form, they issued them with a red foil Hot Pack logo. I was lucky enough to get one of the Rookie Phenom Hot Packs in my box, so I have the complete 10 card set.

Rookie Sensations was a 15 card set highlighting the top rookies of the 1994-95 season. I have 14 of the 15 cards, or 93.3%.

Stackhouse's Scrapbook was a mutli-release set issued across all Fleer brands in 1995-96 and the start of 1996-97. Note than only #S-1 and S-2 were issued in the Fleer set in 1995-96, the listing on the Database is incorrect in listing one of the Ultra and Metal issues in the checklist. The numbering system carried over across brands and years. I have both the issues from 1995-96 Fleer.

Total D was another horizontal set, this one highlighting players who excel at defense. I have 8 of the 12 cards.

Total O highlights players who excel at offense. It was retail exclusive, and I only have 2 of the 10 cards, as my collection was built through the Hobby release.

Total O Hot Pack is the only 1995-96 Fleer insert I do not have represented in my collection. It was retail exclusive and the Hot Packs were quite hard to pull in both retail and hobby. Since I do not have any in my collection, I cannot show a scan, but two of them have been posted to the Database.

Towers of Power is another insert using etched technology, and is one of the rarer inserts from this set. It highlights the Center position, and is a 10 card set. I have two of them.

There is also a European release for 1995-96 Fleer. 1995-96 Fleer European There is a major difference in the set, as instead of being a 350 card set, it's 499 cards. The first 197 are the same, but then, instead of going into checklists and series II, most of the inserts in the American set are numbered as part of the base set in the European release. The European release also includes Team cards, which is a team logo over a floor pattern. These have no American counterpart. Unlike most of the European sets issued in the 1990s, this set is almost entirely in English, whereas most were bilingual. The team cards feature a glossary of basketball terms in multiple languages. I do have some of these cards, but they have not been catalogued by me- yet.

As always, thanks for reading!