The Affordable Topps

I think with the prices of the hobby today, for those that didn't grow up and collect in the pre-2000's era, you would fall flat on the floor if you knew packs were actually under $3 at one point. Quite under.

I can't say how thankful I was to grow up in an era where a lot of decent products were really affordable. One of the products I speak of is today's. For $1.29, you could get a 13 card pack of either 1995 Topps Series 1 or 1995 Topps Series 2 football cards. I found my packs right at the grocery store so it was convenient as well. Yes, that's also a pun well intended.

There was 468 cards in the set for both series. The design was very similar, same thing they did up til 2015, to the '95 baseball release. The cards feature color action photo with white borders and matching team stripe. The design was basic but appealing to a 12 year old.

What was more appealing was the 1,000 club and 3,000 club subsets in the set. I absolutely loved the designs on these.

 

Another eye pleasing design was the expansion subsets.  If you couldn't tell by my man Brunell pics on this blog, I was a big fan of Mark in Jacksonville. Loved watching him and still need to add his autograph to my collection. 

The rookie cards featured the players in their new uniforms. Done were the college crossovers.

 

I didn't pull a lot of variety when it came to my insert finds in 1995 Topps. I pulled a ton of these 1:4 packs Hit List inserts. I didn't complete the set as I kept pulling a lot of doubles.

 

The better pulls for me were the 1:12 pack ProFiles inserts that featured Steve Young breaking down some stars of the game. I gave this Emmitt to my mom years ago and wished I still had it.

 

 

Other insert finds that I didn't pull then but have added to my Rodney Hampton PC since, 1,000 yard club booster which fell 1:36 packs. These look sick like the Summit Ground Zero cards I shared yesterday.They came in 1,000 Yard Club, 3,000 Yard Club and Expansion parallels only.

 

 

And a Mystery Finest! These were the coolest things in the world. I really wished Topps would bring these back. The cards featured a black peel off so you didn't know the player or if it was a refractor. It added a lot fun mystery to finding these in packs.

 

Other inserts were, Air Raid, All-Pro, Finest Boosters, Finest Boosters Refractors, Florida Hotbed, Mystery Finest Refractors, Sensational Sophomores,  and Yesteryear. There was also a parallel to the base set you could only find in Factory Set form that was an expansion stamp for both Jacksonville and Carolina. I still need a Rodney Hampton for each of those parallels.

So you get a solid price and some nice looking cards. Imagine if the hobby was like this today and the growth we may see. As you can see above, it's not always about the autographs and jersey cards at least for me, some simple nice looking cards like this I would take any day over the hits especially with it being affordable.