He Was Flawless

Growing up in the 90's, I got the privilege to watch some of the greatest athletes all time. YES ALL TIME. There won't ever be another Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, John Elway, Brett Favre, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods, and so,so many others including the guy today, Jerry Rice.

Jerry was a baller.

Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl 13 times,named All-Pro 12 times, won three Super Bowls with the 49ers and an AFC Championship with the Oakland Raiders.He also holds close to 100 NFL records. You read that right, 100.

Name any WR from today that will even touch that and I will tell you they won't. Jerry was out of this world and it didn't matter which team or which QB was throwing to him. He did his job and did very well obviously.

The one team I will always associate him with is obviously San Fran. I still have a hard time seeing him in a Raiders uniform or even that one weird year as a Seahawk.

I recently entered a contest from @Showtime43CC on Twitter who was giving away a graded 8.5 2018 Flawless Jerry Rice Flawless Sapphire relic card. This card would hit two PC's if I won it. One, my 90's player sub PC and two, unique relic PC. So I entered the easy contest and hoped for the best.

Well....I got the best...and the best of the best.

Here's the winning card.  I always wonder if these jewels are authentic but I am going to treat it as such.

Back of the card

Pretty cool win!

Thanks to @Showtime43CC for the mail day.

Because of this win, I had to go and Google some YouTube videos of big Jerry plays to take me back. I suggest you do the same.

The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict :Life Lesson

You ever remember that one moment in your life that changed the way you used to look at things? I do.

Back in 1994-1995, I had won $25 from going to Bingo with my grandmother. It was one of our favorite things to do together. She always let me keep the money I won despite being the one that paid for me to get in. I would sometimes even win more than her and she would be happy for me unlike my great aunt. She would buy 25 cards (we used cards and chips at the time and paper and dabbers) for the night and sometimes lose on all of them. While I would win with my lonely three. She would get furious even though I was related. Sometimes even so mad she would throw her magnetic wand and flip her chips and cards onto the floor. It was moments you wouldn't want to say you were related, but sat with her anyways because she always brought you cheddar popcorn and a Little Debbie snack.

Anyways to get back on topic, with that $25 win I wanted something cool. So I had my parents take me to Ames, a local retail department store I have mentioned on here many times, to see what I could find. It was around Christmas time so I knew the shelves could be bare but was hoping to spend my winnings on whatever I could find.

So like a kid in a candy store, well in a department store, I skedaddled my way straight for the toy department.

I went up and down each aisle slowly checking out every toy that was remaining.

And then saw something marvelous. Something so appealing. Something that had an angelic light to it that I couldn't look away. The Saba sword. The sword used by my favorite Mighty Morphin Power Ranger Tommy. It was in a box at the right shelf I could reach so it was destiny. It was a must have and have I did with it. $25 gone and I was happy.

However, my parents were not.

Instead, it was heavy ridden guilt trip home that I could have spent my money more wisely especially when Christmas was coming right up. That maybe I shouldn't have spent all of the money on myself but instead spent it on others.

The joy I had finding that box in the store started to dissipate and something heavy on my heart weighed in and ate away at me. I knew what I had to do whether. My head was saying keep it, it's what you have always wanted. It's your money do with it as you want. But, my heart was a different story. Maybe they are right. Maybe I should have spent it on others being so close to Christmas.

So I  took my Saba Sword out of his box, gave it a good day play and returned it the following day for my full refund. It wasn't easy, believe me, but I did it and after doing so it really wasn't so bad afterwards.

I took that $25 and spent on my family. I bought each one a small gift. I mean it was $25 so you weren't going to get that much anyways and it's the thought that counted.

 

Each one got a sports handkerchief that were $5 each, which for some reason or another I seem to have all of them back except my mom's Cowboys one that I am glad not to have anyways, and it made their Christmas just by this small gift.

That was the day I realized that I didn't need to always come first. It was also the one time in my life my parents actually gave me good advice. The advice that I needed to do things for others and that was my reward. After that, I found myself sharing my school snacks with those who forgot theirs. My lunch in high school for those who couldn't afford it, helping others with their homework and projects, and even losing my entire Toxic Crusaders toy collection when I let someone "borrow them". And also helping the elderly get their groceries by walking to the store for them and by helping my own grandmother clean her house.

It was a life changer. I was giving back and there was no greater feeling.

Even as an adult now this has carried over. No I don't share my school snacks anymore, but I give in many other ways and luckily I met someone in my wife who is even more generous than I try to be. She had us doing the March Of Dimes walk for many years in which we raised thousands of dollars, we donate clothes to hospitals, started up our own baby clothing collection kit for parents who needed a start on items and many other things small but helpful things. I send out RAK's through card collecting and even though most don't speak a word or post about getting one, I know what I did was good, God also, and that's all that matters.

Giving is better than receiving folks and whoever would have thought that lesson would have been learned through a memory of a Power Rangers toy that serves as a reminder. Which I wouldn't have wanted if I hadn't watched the show. And in which experts say TV is bad for you ;) Well, not in all cases.

The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict:Mighty Max!

The 80's and 90's had some of the greatest cartoons known to man. It was an era of super heroes that all of us should recognize with some we may have forgotten about and maybe even some we haven't heard of.

Boy, do I miss cartoon days.

So it was 1993 and a new hero was about to be unleashed on my TV. That heroes name, Mighty Max!

Here is the introduction theme song to the show.

Mighty Max came out in September of 1993 and lasted for two seasons ending in 1994....sadly.
The series follows Max, an adventurous preteen boy who is contacted with a mysterious package that contained a small statue of a fowl that had Egyptian hieroglyphs on it which stated "You have been chosen to be the cap-bearer. Go to the mini-mart and wait for a sign, Mighty Max".

Max ends up dropping the statue which breaks revealing a red baseball cap with a Yellow M on it which for some reason or another he picks up and puts on. What Max doesn't realize is that the cap has the capability of transporting him across space and time. It doesn't take long for him to find it out when he ends up going to the mini-mart and is chased by an evil lava monster which the hat teleports him to the Mongolian desert where he meets his "master" Virgil and his assistant Norman.

With Virgil and Norman by his side, Max travels the world defending earth against the minions of Skullmaster who was voiced by the very talented Tim Curry. Most of the episodes follow Max battling one of the villains but there were plenty of episodes where Skullmaster would show up to try and battle Max himself. Which the final episode was a big battle between Skullmaster and Max.

With most TV shows at the time, there of course was a toy line to go along with it. It doesn't seem to be that way today as most kids would rather prefer electronic versions of toys. It's a sad world we live in.

At the time of Mighty Max, there was a girls line of toys known as Polly Pockets which were these handheld playsets with mini figures within to use in the playset. My sister had a few of them herself. Well, with Max traveling to so many locations, Mattel came out with their own line similar to the Polly Pockets but with Mighty Max line that were individual playsets with Max and villain figures within.

Of course being a huge fan of the show, I wanted every single set. But, coming from a poor family, it wasn't going to happen. I did end up getting one set even though I begged for months for the one I really wanted, Skull Dungeon.

Like the rest of my nostalgic toys, that one set was sold off. So with some help from my friend @Jake1725, I was able to grab the set from my childhood to own once again.

The set features the episode from Season 2 of Scorpio Rising. Max and gang find a crazed nuclear scientist who plans to use giant mutated scorpions to rule the earth.

Here is the outside of the playset

Nuclear Scientist

Our hero!

Playset inside

Max ready to battle!

Trying to defend his lair!

It was pretty cool to hold one of these in my hands again. The toy itself was 25 plus years old so it has been awhile. The great thing about this set that you don't find often on eBay was the fact it was reasonably priced and came as a complete set. Usually those don't go hand in hand with these. Sometimes the Max figure alone can cost what this set went for and it's also in mint condition.

Here is the commercials for the Mighty Max figures.

The show also was so popular that McDonald's came out with their own line of playsets but it wasn't as cool as they mainly came with the playset and one figure. I did own one of those as well but it wasn't quite the same as owning a real set.

I spent a lot of time in 1993-1994 wishing to become Mighty Max and with lots of imaginative play it brought me there. Today, I wished that statue would show up at my door so I can drop it and reveal the same hat. Except I would be Mighty Matt! Kinda catchy isn't it? I would use that hat to time travel and save Saturday Morning cartoons and the sport card hobby from what it all has become today. It would also be kinda sweet to battle Skullmaster to honestly and bring back 3D Doritos.

The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict: Cadbury Bunny

It was Easter in the 90's for me.

One of the things that was always popular around that time of the year was The Cadbury Bunny. Let's skip right over the Easter Bunny, he couldn't do what this bunny could do. This bunny was the only one who could offer up delicious Cadbury Eggs as he was part chicken as well.

In the late 80's and 90's, Cadbury pushed this bunny around Easter time as their spokesperson because "Nobunny knows Easter better than Cadbury."

Most of the commercials featured other bunnies or animals trying out to be the Cadbury bunny but no one could obviously match up.

Here is one of those infamous commercials I have seen about a million times.

My parents weren't ones to really celebrate Easter. We didn't get together to eat a big lunch. We didn't go and do Easter egg hunting at our house or anywhere else. And most of the time we didn't even get a Easter basket. But, occasionally we would get a gift and those gifts stuck in my mind and one I actually held onto.

 

If you hadn't guessed it by now, it is the Cadbury Bunny. Yup that cute little bunny brought me some Cadbury Eggs as well as he was attached to a cardboard piece that contained six of the mini eggs. The cardboard piece had a note as well from my mother that was simply put, to Matt Love Mom. I still have that cardboard piece somewhere but the bunny had fallen off from it finally and he was what I found for this post first.

The commercials and the bunny itself however weren't the most memorable parts of the Cadbury Bunny in my childhood, it was my uncle acting like him.

It was one of those things you would put on YouTube today. My crazy uncle taking you to a grocery store and out of the middle of nowhere, he would start clucking quietly like a chicken like the bunny from the commercial. It would build up ba ba ba ba Ba Ba Ba BAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHKKK!!!!!!

🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔

It was so loud that more than likely the cashiers could hear him from the back of the store.

Sometimes we would go with other family members shopping and he would start that in only to the displeasure of the other family members around. Me on the other hand, thought it was more than hilarious and probably was the one that provoked him. Watching the other shoppers expressions were priceless. They might have thought he had a screw or two loose. Which he may have.

So this time of year when they occasionally put on one of those Cadbury commercials, I don't think back to how I spent my Easter with no dinners and not much celebrating, I think about my uncle and how he made me laugh. I wonder if he still does it. We aren't too close today and I haven't seen him in many years so who knows.

Before I close another edition of The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict, I wanted to wish you guys a Happy Easter! He Has Risen! I hope all of you have a memorable day and get to spend some quality time with the ones you love and make memories you will never forget. And please bring some Cadbury Eggs over, those things are awesome and will make people want to come (and no this isn't a paid advertisement unless they want to send my some cream eggs for this). Unless you don't want them to come and then I can find my uncles phone number and you can invite him over and guarantee nobody comes :)

The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict:Wave Of The Future!

As spring/summer approaches, I start to dream of warm weather and green grass. I know it technically says spring on the calendar, but believe me, it's far from that here.

All I can see is white, white, white, and some brown from mud on the main roads. It's probably the snowiest winter I can remember since my childhood. So I am doing my best as I type this and can see out my window to picture a shade of green and the bright sun shining upon me.

One of the things I now enjoy in the summer, when it actually arrives, was something that was a bit of a challenge to me back in the 90's and that is simply going to a beach or pool.

 

I know it sounds crazy, just look at this peaceful scene of a beach I visit almost every summer now. In my mind in the 90's, this was like having a day in Horrorland if you ever read that Goosebumps book. I had what I liked to call, waterphobia, a fear of water. But, I had my reasons for it.

And that's where today's story begins.

It was the 1990's, a hot day in the summer and I was at home minding my own business and playing with my toys. I could hear a vehicle pull into our driveway and I feared who it was and what was about to happen. I peeked out the curtain slowly and saw the gray van sitting there and my mom calling my name. "Matt, Matt, Grams here. Let's go. We are heading to the Crystal Lake.”

Worst nightmare confirmed and it has nothing to do with a hockey masked machete wielding man.

You see, my other grandmother, my mom's mother, wasn't like my nice grandmother (my father’s mother) who I have spoken about on here multiple times. She wasn't even like most grandmothers who would bring you cookies and kisses like off from Spongebob. Instead, mine brought me to the lake, specifically the local one named Crystal, where her approaches to teach me swimming was something you might have seen in the 1950's or actually in a horror film.

She would drive you there, drag you out of the vehicle and just toss you in, despite you begging and pleading not to go in because you couldn’t swim. She didn't care and didn't want to hear it, she just wanted to see you move those arms and legs. When you weren't tossed in, you were put in a life vest on your back and pushed back and forth between your uncle and her with the occasional dunking of you under to try and teach you how to hold your breath. Your best way for survival from this torture was to hope that you wouldn't go on that trip because of rain or because it was fall/winter.

I had zero interest in learning how to swim and I was fine dealing with the heat and I was just fine with it being sunny,hot and sweating. I would have rather had all of my toys/cards taken away from me, burned in front of me with me being the one lighting them on fire, than take a swimming trip with her.

That's how bad it was. I referred to her as the mean grandmother to others growing up.

I dealt with this situation for years with my mean grandmother and fortunately it finally ended when she gave up going to the lake as she got older. It was the biggest relief ever. That kind of relief you get when you may have been holding it waiting to go to the little boys room and finally getting in there.

She actually as a person began to change some with her aging,  and started to lighten up a little, even though she did have her mean tendencies occasionally. We had actually even started to bond some as I got older up until she passed from having multiple strokes and was pulled off from life support.

Even though she made my life miserable early on, I was still heartbroken by the loss of her.

Despite her no longer being around and hadn't been to the lake in years, my fear of water however, lived on. The only water I felt safe with was the ones I could watch on TV in movies like Jaws or in these unique insert cards from 1997-1998 Flair called Wave Of The Future.

These inserts fell 1:20 packs and has a player appearing to be in a wave. Literally.

The card features a plastic coating that encloses a glittery liquid that moves the glitter around when you shake it or press on it. We don't see bodacious cards like this anymore.

 

I tried to capture the angle of this card to show you both the liquid and the plastic coating.

The back of the card was basically a plain card but with the plastic surrounding it.

The set had 12 cards featuring upcoming stars of the future of the league, but most in this set didn't get too far including Keith Booth who only made it in the league for two years. Flair had been making this series in its products for awhile, but these ones were by far the coolest of all.

I remember how exciting it was to pull one of these out of packs when I was younger when the product came out. I think it equals out to one per box so it wasn't an easy pull for those times. I can't remember who I pulled back then, but it wasn't a super star by any means and was lost over time and forgotten.

I was reminded of these cards when I found this one in my Wes mail day and would love to build the set now that I own another. Would be a unique one to have especially if these cards still have the liquid in them after all of these years as I have seen some on eBay recently that do not.

Trying to build a set based on a water theme doesn't scare me today, however, going out into a deeper part of a lake or ocean still does. I still don't care if I ever learn how to swim, but at least I am able to go to a beach, lake or even a pool and walk out to the water and be up to my waist just fine. I thank my wife for that and the confidence she gave me in doing so.

We all have our fears, mine is spiders, snakes, water and my grandmother at one point. I also fear long winters, this blog disappearing and the hobby dying some day when it comes to a bit more unrealistic ones. It doesn't matter what your fear is, it's how you deal with it. I feel like I have dealt with mine pretty well even though the bad memories do pop up occasionally like they did for this post. However, my dealing with it tries to make me focus on the good times I had with my mean grandmother such as her making me coffee (as a kid that was awesome), eggs, toast and homefries while I watched cartoons. Or when she took me to the grocery store once and let me pick out a treat. Or the time she mistakenly bought me the same figure for Christmas I already had but I kept it anyways because she tried. 

Life is about making positive memories and not dwelling on the negative ones. It's something I do every day. Every negative situation has a positive to it if you look at it with the right mindset. Go out and try that for yourself today and you will live a better life.

As for my set chase of these Flair cards, as always I may need some help from trading buddies to pull it off. Got some, drop me a line and let me know! Please also send some sunshine and green grass along as well.

I Love It When You Call Me Big Papi

Well, I showed off Cube 2 earlier this week from my box of goodies from Wes and said maybe next week for Cube 3.

After looking at what my options were for posts this week, well, I didn't have any. I had no incoming mail days. I have some trades in the works, but none are in stone. So until something comes in or I get inspiration to write another Origins post, I will be posting more of the cubes til then.

Today's cube had a nice ending to it but let's check out what was between the cardboard.

This was the card on top of the cube. Autographed so a good start.

Big Unit! I was always a fan of his and in the mid 90's when Randy had his long hair whipping around all sweaty he reminded me of my father when we would play baseball together. My father had let his hair go for awhile and his facial features and lanky body were just like Randy's. Of course my father's arm was nowhere near Unit's.

Another Scherzer rookie in these cubes.

A few other rookies including Carlos Beltran. We all know I dig my rookies.

A couple of David Ortiz cards.

There's another chicken find in here!

Liked the micro-etching on this Schmidt/Carlton. Very cool looking card.

Ichiro and a Moose. Fun photo.

A few more autographs including the card on the top of the cube.

Cosart All Star game material. I like the fun not your average jerseys.

And to end this cube, yes, your eyes are seeing what I see. A 1997 David Arias (Ortiz) rookie card! I have been wanting one of these for some time and that's coming from a Yankees fan. I sometimes wonder if I had one of these at one point as I bought ton of Ultra back in the day but probably got misplaced in a few moves. But, now I know for certain that I do!

That's it for Cube 3. Remember when I show these off, I am only showing off the key cards from each and not everything or this post could go on and on.

Another cube reveal coming up tomorrow!

TTM Score: Happy Happy Joy Joy (Check This Out!!)

In the 90's, when we weren't outside or having a really rainy day (cause honestly rain didn't stop us from going out) we had so much great TV to watch.

There was Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Friends just to name a few adult shows that I watched as a child. SyFy channel actually played sci-fi shows/movies (I loved watching the classic black and white Godzilla movies on there when I was a kid). We had TGIF, Saturday Morning Cartoons on all local networks and SNICK. We had shows that scared us, made us smarter and were just plain weird.

We also had a cartoon that pushed the limits for kids but was so much fun to watch. I have mentioned before a few times my love of Ren&Stimpy and showed off some of my fun collectibles, but none will top the recent one I got in the mail.

I recently wrote a letter to John Kricfalusi who both created/animated the show and was a voice as well telling him my appreciation and love of Ren&Stimpy. He returned my TTM request a few weeks later with some awesome surprises.

First off, he wrote to me. Yes, wrote me a letter back!Now it was mainly promoting his store, but a hand written letter with a thank you is pretty cool.

Secondly, he included this unique sticker. I assume it must be something in his Spumco shop.

Then he included two amazing sketches, to me and signed. So, so cool!

Ren, a psychotic Chihuahua,

and the dimwitted cat Stimpy

John, if you somehow or another read or see this, thanks for returning my request and for making my childhood awesome.

I gotta find a way to get these three pieces framed together and set them up next to my other Ren&Stimpy items. I also still need to find that Ren plush from the 90's to pair with my Stimpy.

Coached

So far my July posts have been a lot of mail day ones.

That will have to be a common thing for this month.

Some of the mail days this month were big and some were small but were all equally great and appreciated.

One of the bigger ones came from P-Town of Waiting Til Next Year blog. As I previously mentioned, there was so much in that mail day, that a breakdown had to happen as it wouldn't all fit into one post. Not even close.

Today we look at a few coach cards I found for a coach PC I don't speak much about. I mostly look for the guys I knew growing up but will add some of the newer coaches of today when cards are made of them. It's definitely becoming a less common thing with smaller checklist sets-most sets seem to have 100 veterans and 50 rookies-and more autograph or material content. It's probably why I don't set collect anymore. As a team collector, I want the team. Give me that head coach, top olineman, punter, kicker, and full back. I want em!

Since those don't exist much, let's take a look at a few I found in a time period where they did.

Marv Levy. I best remember him coaching the Bills through most of the 90's. He took them to 4 straight AFC Championships but couldn't ever win the big one.

Jerry Sloan was an incredible coach for the Utah Jazz. Another coach like Levy however that went to the big game, but couldn't pull off a win. Of course when you face the games greatest player in MJ, that task became a 100 times harder.

Tom Landry on the other hand, big time winner. Landry won two Super Bowl titles (VI, XII), five NFC titles, and 13 Divisional titles. He holds the NFL record for longest tenure with one team.

Another Super Bowl Dallas Cowboy champion coach was Jimmy Johnson. He won two titles with the team as well with the big trio of Aikman, Smith and Irvin and now I watch him on the NFL Fox pregame show. One of the best NFL pregame shows out there.

And finally, Joe Gibbs. He won three Super Bowls all with the Redskins. He did so well that Washington brought him out of retirement in 2004 in hopes he could replicate his performance. Well, I think Joe forgot how much the game changed as he struggled two out of four years and the other two he suffered early playoff exits. But, he still will always be remembered as one of the coaching greats.

 

I also failed to mention he is a NASCAR team owner. Guy has always kept himself busy. He at one time employed one of my favorite racers in Tony Stewart where Stewart won two championships.

I keep wishing there was at least one product for each sport that incorporated coaches. I know Panini did with it's Prizm basketball and that was cool. But, baseball and football need their love soon to. Hopefully one of the companies will read this and jump on it. I am sure I am not alone in wanting at least one expanded product.

Totally Rad Bodacious 90's Post: It's So Shiny!

 Today's post is brought to you buy the hot day treat Mickey's Parade Ice Pops,

 

There was not better treat on a hot sunny day than a refreshing Mickey's Parade Ice Pop. Not only were they shaped like Disney characters, but the flavors were much better than a regular Popsicle. Don't tell me you don't agree?!

I would always choose the grape first as that was my favorite of the group but they all tasted great. The hardest part was fighting with my sister for it.

We sadly lost this frozen treat in the early 2000's so for those that grew up to late missed out on this spectacular treat. Maybe someday it will be revived again just like a lot of things from the 90's.

***********************************  

Today we have a take a look at a 1997 Topps Chrome refractor. Topps Chrome inaugurated in 1996 and became very popular very fast. I remember how much I liked the product immediately and how well it held it's value. Can't say the same for today's products even more now since Topps is out of the football card business.

The 1997 version came with a great rookie class that included Jake Plummer (great looking base card I will touch base on at some point), Warrick Dunn, Tiki Barber, and Tony Gonzalez just to name a few. The base set was simply designed for rookies with a thin outside border and name border down one side. The words Draft Pick up to the top.

Refractors weren't one per two packs like today, they fell 1:12-roughly two per box-and were not the easiest finds. Especially when it came to top players. I remember busting a bunch of packs, enough to fill a base set but only pulled a handful of refractors. Mostly nobodies. This was the only rookie one I lucked out on and it's not a superstar by any means.

The back of the card gave us what we all wanted to clarify, if we had in fact pulled a refractor with an R at the bottom near the number.

 

I will showcase more Chrome at another time. There is definitely plenty to show off. 

Joey Kent was a WR for Oilers/Titans from 1997-1999 before not making it on couple other squads and getting done in 2000. He had only one NFL Touchdown to his name and less than 200 total receiving yards for his career.

**If any of you have an extra 1997 Topps Chrome football base set lying around collecting dust I would be extremely interested!**

Card Breakdown:

Brand:1997 Topps Chrome

Insert/Parallel:Refractor

Player Featured:Joey Kent

Card Number:160

Totally Rad Bodacious 90's Post: Going International

 Today's post is brought to you by a treat that became a cereal,

Back in the 90's, there was no better snack when I went to a friend's house than Rice Krispie treats. I could literally eat the whole pan at a time. But, I had to share obviously.

So when they made that special treat into a cereal...I had to try it and it was so stinkin' good.

Saturday Morning cartoons rocked, but Saturday morning cartoons with some Rice Krispie Treats cereal, that's the good life.

The cereal tasted just like the treats and adding milk on it-sometimes I would just eat it out of the box- instead of beside it just helped it even more. It was an all in one snack breakfast cereal extravaganza with ever bite.

I was a little sad when the cereal disappeared off store shelves, but within the last 5 years or so the cereal was revived and can be found on shelves at Walmart. That's the only place I have been able to find it.

And even though I am 20 years older, I still enjoy myself a bowl...or two.

 ***********************************

Back in 1997, Bowman baseball put out International parallels in their product that fell one-per-pack. The only difference between these and the base cards is the background behind the player is a flag that tells what country the pictured player was born in. Simple but distinct parallel to search for. With so many cards in that base set chasing a set of them wouldn't be easy.

For this post I chose this Ricky Ledee because it was the first Bowman International I came across and because of the picture used on the card.

The picture looks like one you would take for your senior photo in high school or one you would use for a dating promotional. Either way, it makes you chuckle some and can even come up with a few captions for.

Here are a few of mine,

"Hey Girl!"
"Whatcha eatin there...wanna share..."
"That face you give when someones talking on and on and your not listening to any of it"

 

Ricky Ledee played 1998-2007 in the MLB for the Yankees, Indians, Rangers, Phillies, Giants, Dodgers, and Mets and won two World Series rings with the 1998 and 1999 Yankee teams. So this card fits perfectly in my 90's PC and Yankees PC.

Card Breakdown:

Brand:1997 Bowman

Insert/Parallel:International Parallel

Player Featured:Ricky Ledee

Card Number:75

By the way, let's hear some of your Ledee captions!

Totally Rad Bodacious 90's Post: Printed On The First Day

If you didn't see on Twitter, I had once again started up another blog that lasted 2 days. I tried to revive a 90's blog again but told myself it simply wasn't going to work and that I needed to stick to just doing Sport Card Collectors and Snagging Cardboard (new posts coming soon). There is no way in my busy schedule did I have time to do another one despite telling myself I did. 

However, I did like the concept of the blog and decided to take that over here to begin a new series instead hence today's post. Same will go for Origins Of A Cardboard Addict which I deleted as well and new posts from that blog will appear here time to time too.

So I hope you enjoy this new series and that it takes you back. From here on out the posts will begin as follows.....

Today's post is brought to you buy the snack DunkAroos,

MMMMMMM! DROOOOOLLLLLLL *insert Homer Simpson drool face over a doughnut*

I remember these like it was yesterday. Delicious little cookies that you dunk in a cup of frosting. It's was a kids dream come true and was mine. My parents would pick up boxes of these and I would bring them to school for morning snack and feel like a king over those who would bring an apple. I had many trade offers but declined every time. This was the top snack of snacks.

I ate mine a bit differently than the suggested way to. I would eat the cookies first, then dive into the frosting after. It was one of those eat your supper than enjoy dessert feelings.

I wished they hadn't ever been taken off from the market as I still would have eaten them today. I mean kids eat cookies with frosting in them today? This is the same thing except the frosting is outsdie the cookie. I have saw on a few websites that Walmart has created their own version of this delightful snack but I have yet to see it at my local box store but will continue to check for it.

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Back in the 90's, we didn't need 35 parallels. We also didn't need fancy names or complicated levels of telling what was what. Things were simple and even a caveman could collect the cards.

Which leads us to today's parallel find, a 1st Day Issue parallel from 1993 Stadium Club baseball. When Topps started producing these cards, the first 2,000 cards of each player were printed with the  1st Day rainbow foil symbol at the top and inserted into packs at a rate of 1:24 or roughly one-per-box.

Having an insertion rate like that does two things, it adds value and it makes it extremely challenging to chase down a set if you desired to.

I actually pulled this Boggs in a few pack break a couple years ago. Got lucky I guess you could say.

It is not only the parallel part of the card I enjoy, but that stunning Stadium Club photography is like no other. Here we see Boggs finishing his swing.

The card backs were also more intriguing than most today. They put complete stats of the player including height, weight, place of birth. It broke down all of his stats and where he ranked in categories. It also features a picture of his rookie card. Stadium Club may have had some of the best card backs in the hobby especially this version.

FYI, Wade Boggs played for the Yankees from 1993-1997 and won the World Series with the team in 1996 vs the Braves. Overall he played 18 years and finished his career in Tampa Bay. Most of us forget that.

Card Breakdown:

Brand:1993 Stadium Club

Insert/Parallel:First Day Issue

Player Featured:Wade Boggs

Card Number:601

Not Action Packed

Back in the 90's we were fortunate enough to collect a really unique product called Action Packed. Here are a few examples to refresh your memory,

 

What made the product unique? Well, it was one that included embossing. What is that? Well, it's when they "raise" certain parts of the card to stand up. Meaning a player, product name, etc you could feel higher than the flat surface. It was another step in innovation and made the card feel, well, action packed.

It was a sad day when the product no longer was continued on later in the 90's and I thought all was lost forever til news had broke to me that Panini had revived the brand name in an insert set for Rookies And Stars football.  I had been begging Tracy Hackler to mention reviving the brand to the team for a few years now and thought my dream finally came true.

The inner-child in me, this one,

Anyone remember these bikes?

Came out to celebrate. Those bumpy cards were back!!!

At least I thought they were.

Just like any product or brand name that has been tried to be revive from the 90's, it all fell flat. Literally this time.

Panini had a great design, even captured Action Packed's good photography but failed to emboss the cards. The whole point of the brand name Action Packed is for it to be action packed. These were not.

Not one....

Single....

Bump.

 

  

It was beyond disappointing. But, in someways, I wasn't a bit surprised that another favorite brand from the 90's didn't live up to it's once big podium. 

The only bigger disappointment for me was when Upper Deck revived the Spx designs from the late 90's I so loved but failed to use hologram technology on them. How do you not?!?!!?!

 

 

Everything else is there except that. The most important parts of my favorites are missing.

What brands have you been excited about that were brought back only to disappoint you? Or which ones have been brought back to impress you as much as the original? 

Let me know. I know that second question will be really hard to answer.