Eddie Lack retires- how does it compare to my other sports?

On March 30th Eddie Lack announced his retirement from professional hockey, due in large part to injury. Why is that a big deal, you may wonder?

Because the very first card out of the very first pack I ever opened after I officially became a hockey collector was Eddie Lack! I found some packs of 2014-15 MVP at the now closed antique mall I loved so much, and this was the first card I saw from the first pack I opened.

To date, it remains my only card of Eddie Lack in my collection.

It's an interesting comparison to my other two sports. I opened this pack in January 2017, so he retired 3 years and 2 months after I added his card to my collection. In the NBA, my first player out of my first pack was Sam Cassell, who got me started with that sport on Valentine's Day 1996. He would play through 2007-08, 12 years after I got the card!

In NASCAR, my first sport, well, that's totally different...my first card didn't come from a traditional pack, it came with a Racing Champions die-cast car, and Richard Petty, who was my first card, he had already retired by the time I got the card- Christmas Day, 1992. He retired at the conclusion of the 1992 season, which ended on November 15th, just one month and 10 days before I got the car, card, and GI Joe knockoff figure. Like Cassell, who is now a coach, Petty is still involved in the sport, as a team owner.

I know that in the grand scheme of things, this only really matters to me, but I thought it was interesting enough to get a blog post out of it. I've been meaning to write it up since the day I read it, but have been kind of busy with other hobbies, and just got a chance to write it today.

Some more highlights from the collection I bought

Just some random cards I want to say something about that I found in the collection.

 This card, 1997-98 Topps Chrome #102, became the 91,000th different NBA card in my collection.

 I got a bunch of new cards for the 2000 Topps USA set, which I ranked as my all-time least favorite set. At least the Women's Team got actual in-uniform photos, unlike the Men's Team, which was all poorly done photoshop.

 2000-01 Bowman's Best is a really under rated set. And it looks fantastic in hand.

 2000-01 Fleer Mystique Gold #77. Funny thing about this set- the Gold set, which is not common, I think one per box, but I am not sure- I have gotten three copies of the Chris Porter card, this is my first card of the set that is not another example of that one card. What are the odds?

After seeing this, now I want to hunt down an actual autograph of Cedric Ceballos, Even if his actual signature looks like it reads "Glo Cilill"!

 I saw a big lot of 1991-92 Fleer and thought they were just going to be duplicates, but since I check every card just to be sure, I was able to find that two of them were the Tony's Pizza food issues, both of which I needed! (not shown: Vlade Divac)

 Another insert from 1996-97 Metal.

 These Flair Showcase cards are spectacular in hand.

 I never even noticed the Soaring Stars insert had a parallel until I got this one...which is bad as not only are they listed on the Database, more than half the set has scans. Not sure this was the best photo to use given the position of his left hand!

 1997-98 Topps was the first set I ever made a wantlist for, on Looseleaf. I didn't include these Minted in Springfield parallels, only base cards. I got one of the 4 base I needed in this collection, and I'm sure I'll find an excuse to post it, once I get it scanned.

 This card really shows the Refractor-ness of a Refractor. This isn't just a base refractor either, this is the Coverless refractor! (which means it's actually a thin plastic card, and both sides are Refractor technology)

I always have loved the 1999-00 HoloGrFx set. (even if it has a stupid name). This looks so much better in hand! This is the gold AUsome parallel of this insert, I also got the standard silver version, but have not scanned it yet. Or maybe I already had it. I don't remember. I've been through roughly 40,000 cards since I got this collection and I'm barely above "overwhelmed"!

 This card, from 1995-96 SP, is actually an error. The "Future NBA All-Stars" wording at the top is triple printed, but none of them line up, making it quite a challenge to read. The prediction was correct, though. He would be an All-Star in the 2000-01 season, and probably could have gotten more if not for a devastating knee injury that cost him all of the 2002-03 season and adversely affected his explosive jumping ability going forward.

1995-96 Ultra is one of those sets that really mean a lot to me- when I was first beginning to collect, and first learning about the sport, it was one of the first sets that entered my collection. While I only know the exact order of the first two sets for sure- 1995-96 Fleer and 1995-96 Hoops, Ultra would have been somewhere in the 3rd-5th slot for entering my collection. My gut feeling is 3rd. I'm still a few cards away but I knocked 6 off my wantlist with this collection, including all three of the rookies I needed! Not pictured, yet, are Brent Barry and Mario Bennett. I have not scanned them yet.

This was actually the first card I added to my collection from the Sousafly Collection. I was really excited when I opened the box and saw a case labeled 1995-96 Collector's Choice Debut Trade. I was a little less excited when I realized I wouldn't be completing my set...it was 132 copies of this same card! I later found more, and I'm now over 150 copies. I've never seen that many copies of one card before.

Error Gallery : Caught in Packaging

Most people consider this damage. I do not. While it's not an error in card production- it's an error made by the card company, as they package the cards. It's something you can pull from packs, and I have...many times over. I've also traded for them when I have been able to.

It's the second most common error in the hobby. It's also one of the hardest to get to show up in a scan, and I have a bunch more I'm not bothering to show, because you can't see anything in the scan at all.

1994-95 Hoops #436

1995-96 Skybox #32

2012-13 Panini Marquee #3

This LeBron is actually my newest example of this error, I pulled it from a box.

2007 Press Pass VIP #46

This one was so badly mangled that the card isn't even square anymore.

1993-94 Hoops 5th Anniversary #317

 Interestingly, this one got it right under the bottom foil stripe to the bottom of the card.

1993-94 Skybox #214

1994-95 Upper Deck #222

 Caught so tightly that the top right of the card is actually ripped at the crimp.

1995-96 Upper Deck #164

 When it comes on foil it's actually easier to see.

1996-97 Skybox #200

This one is hard to see in the scan, but you can see it a little bit on his leg. I mostly included this scan so I could thank Chris of The Collector for sending it to me.

This was another that was a little painful to pull. It remains my only card from this insert out of my all-time favorite set to this day, now 22 years after I pulled it.

I have a lot more that I have not even scanned yet...but I could say that about every error. When I do, it will give me more to post.

One more to finish this project...which I have scheduled for noon tomorrow. When this post goes live I will be at the world's largest model car show, the NNL East, in Wayne, NJ.

NBA 20th Anniversary Countdown #7: 1995-96 Fleer

The one that started it all!

#7: 1995-96 Fleer

Why I like it: This is the set that began my now 20 year association with the National Basketball Association.

Set size/Completion: 350 cards. I completed the set on January 9th, 2003. I completed 1994-95 Skybox and 2002-03 Topps 10 on the same day.

I've written about this set before and I am sure I will write about it again. The first post I wrote about it was only my 8th post in Cardboard History history, and I really covered it totally then, not a lot I can say now that I didn't say then, but hopefully I have more readers now, so click on the word before in green and read my first post on the set. I didn't know how to make the pictures bigger back then, so you'll have to click on them to see them better.

The one thing I didn't cover the first time around was the back of the card.

They are pretty terrible, there's a reason no one ever talks about the back of this set. At least they are color coded to each team.

• #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
• #14 1992-93 Upper Deck
• #13 2012-13 Hoops
• #12 1997-98 Ultra
• #11 1992-93 Fleer
• #10 1994-95 Fleer
• #9 1996-97 Upper Deck
• #8 1997-98 Stadium Club
• #7 1995-96 Fleer

19 years collecting the NBA

Valentine's day 2015 marks 19 years that I've been an NBA collector. it is also the one year mark since I hit 75,000 different cards. That was, truly, a coincidence. I normally know when things like anniversaries are coming up because I write everything down (I'd forget otherwise) but I saw a box online marked down more than half price, so I had to get it, and it arrived that day.

Valentine's day doesn't mean a whole lot to me, because, well...

But who needs romance when you have collections?

I'm very much like Comic Book Guy in real life. So what if I have not had a girlfriend in more than 20 years? I've got no time for that stuff when I have cards that need sorting.


Also, you don't meet many women when you are spending your entire life sorting cards.
Notwithstanding:

 

 

or:

 

or even:

On a serious topic, next year at this time I'll be planning for my 20th Anniversary of collecting the NBA. That's something worth celebrating. But HOW I should celebrate...Hmm...I'm open to suggestions. I've already completed 1995-96 Fleer, the first set I started with. (As I've shown before, this was my first NBA card) So that's out. I can thank my mom for giving me my first pack that Valentine's Day...I bet she had no idea what kind of monster she was creating...but I'm eternally thankful that she did!

I have no ideas as of yet, but I have 366 days to decide.

As always, thanks for reading. And, maybe, laughing a little!

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!