90's Rip Party: 1996 Topps Football Hobby Box

In this edition of 90's Rip Party, I go back in time to 1996 and to a football product of Topps celebrating their 40th anniversary. I think this is one of my all-time favorite Topps products as the inserts they put into it looked and felt spectacular. You will have to read on and see the break and I am sure you will agree.

In a box of 1996 Topps Football hobby, you get 36 packs with 12 cards per pack.

The base card design was simple and for once Topps did a great job with the border they used. The photography on these was amazing as well and with the way they did the player/team names it left it open for some great shots.

1,000 and 3,000 yard subsets:

Great rookie cards in the product such asEddie George, Keyshawn Johnson, Marvin Harrison, Eric Moulds, Mike Alstott and many others! The design is the same as the base except the word '96 Draft Pick:

For me, these 40th Anniversary inserts fell 1:4 packs. I got two doubles as well of Brett Favre and Blaine Bishop:

The 40th anniversary product also commemorated Joe Namath and his inserts fell 1:12 packs

These are some of the coolest looking cards around! Broadway's Review where Joe breaks down some of the "top" QB's in 1996:

Turf Warriors is a touch and feel card. It feels like turf! Pretty awesome and these bad boys were a tough pull though no odds were stated, I believe they were at least 1:36

And another beauty of an insert. Hobby Masters! These fell 1 per box. I really like the design.

Overall, another great 90's rip. I think Topps should look back at this product and maybe do something similar with today's they put out. Great photography, well done inserts, and an overall product with their best work.

90's Rip Party: 1995 Score Summitt Football Box

When I wanted to go back in time to do a really fun rip, 1995 stuck out in my mind. Well, it was the year that I REALLY started collecting. It was also the year that a lot of fun products were coming out and when I was thinking about it, one product that I had always wanted to bust a full box of but couldn't before was 1995 Score Summitt Football.

There was a lot of great looking cards in this product starting out from the base cards to the parallels and all the way to the inserts. So I went eBay shopping for one and found an incredible deal on it and snatched it up.

In a box of 1995 Score Summitt football you get 24 packs per box and 7 cards per pack.

Here are the base cards. They are thicker than usual base cards with an elegant design. I especially dig the how the name is displayed and the team helmet done is a bronze foil.

The two subsets:

Rookie cards. This was the class with great rookies such as Kerry Collins, Steve McNair and others.

Checklists:

Now onto the goods, THE INSERTS!

The Ground Zero parallels (the glittery cards) fell at an average of 1:6 packs and the Backfield Stars insert below fell at 1:36 packs so that was a great hit here.

The Rookie Summit pulls I thought were some of the coolest ever and fell at 1:12 packs. The angles the photos were taken and the silver foil in the background made these stand out.

Overall, I was pretty happy with this break. It not only provided a ton of great looking cards, but a lot of memories along the way. I would definitely go back and break another.

90's Rip Party: 1995 Classic Pro Line Football Series 2

In this edition of 90's Rip Party, I wanted to go in a different direction. I wanted to do a product that included phone cards. You're like what? Yup, phone cards. Back in 1995, many found sport player prepaid phone cards to be great collectibles so Proline jumped on that and included them one-per-pack with different $ amounts into their 1995 Series 2 football product. Some were extrememly hard to pull including a $1,000 one. I managed to pull a decent one from this box and there is only one way to see which one..read on!

In a box of 1995 Classic Pro Line Football Series 2, you get a serial numbered box to 47,920 and 18 packs with 6 cards per-pack.

The base cards were as clean cut as you can ask for with wide open action shots:

Same goes with the rookies:

The inserts were nice as well. This is a Printers Proof parallel I pulled that fell 1:18 packs or one-per-box:

These are pretty sweet looking in person and this picture doesn't do it justice. Classic NFL Images Preview cards fell 1:18 or one-per-box as well. The card used one of my favorite technologies of dufex.

Here are the one-per-pack phone cards:

More of the tougher ones to pull. $2 is 1:6, $5 is 1:18

 

and $20 is 1:144

This Printer's Proof Phone Card parallel is 1:75 packs:

The Field General inserts are printed on acetate and fell at a tough 1:60

Overall, some BOOM was in this break! A few tough pulls made this for a fun break. I looked forward to opening every pack to see what surprise was next. Not to mention, I got this box less than $10 so it was quite a bargain for the boom.

90's Rip Party:1994 Fleer Ultra Series 2 Football 1 Pack Break

If you haven't figured out this yet, I am a huge fan of Fleer products. That is why I was led back to 1994 to break a pack of 1994 Fleer Ultra Series 2 football. 

One of my favorite things about Fleer products was the inserts. They were always so bright and bold and very well done. Also, when it came to Ultra in particular, the base cards had tremendous border-less action photography as you will see below. The one thing I like to look for in a base card is as much action as they can show!

1994 Fleer Ultra Series 2 came with 12 cards per pack and one of those cards was a guaranteed insert or as they call it, a "limited edition" card.

Let's see how this break went and which "limited edition" card I ended up with:

BOOM! Scoring Power Ricky Waters! The pack states that inserts will fall from 1:3 to 1:37 packs. So I have no idea where this one falls in particular.

Overall, you get one special insert per pack with some more rarer than others. I liked this break. Great action base cards, insert per pack, this is exactly what you want in a 90's break.

90's Rip Party: 1996 Bowman's Best Baseball 1 Pack Break

One of the greatest innovations of the 90's, other than holograms, was the invention of the Chrome technology. This technology still stays true to today as most of these products still exist and are some of the most sought after on the market.

There were 6 cards per pack in 1996 Bowman's Best Baseball with chances at special refractor cards, die-cuts and commemorative cards of Mickey Mantle. To say the least, this was something special.

Now onto how I did in this break.

 

Pulled two of the Larry Walkers as well.

Big Unit! Love the hair!

Overall, a fun break never knowing what you could find inside, but in terms of this particular break, a bit of a disappointing one in terms of getting two doubles.

90's Rip Party: 1993 Stadium Club Series 3 1 Pack Break

Raise your hands if you miss Stadium Club...yep...I see a lot of hands. Now despite Topps finally bringing back this popular brand in 2014, you know as well as I do, it won't be the same. Just like a redone movie, they always add too much extra stuff and don't stick with what made it popular in the first place. The original is always better.

Back in 1993, Stadium Club consisted of three series. The one I am opening today is Series 3. In Series 3, there were 14 cards per pack. All base cards featured sweet border-less photography. The inserts all fell at a 1:24 ratio making them about one per box pulls and adding more value to them when pulled.

Speaking of one of the inserts being pulled, did I pull one? The only way to tell is to check out my break!

KAPOW! Here it is! Pulled one of the 1st Day Issue parallels to add to the PC. The only problem is, do I add it to the 90's PC or the Yankees one?

Overall, the base cards themselves were worth the chance here. However, pulling the only insert from the box was a sweet added bonus! I would definitely go back and try again!

90's Rip Party: 1999-2000 Topps Basketball 1 Pack Break

Yup, you guessed it. I wanted to Michael Jordan hunt again. The only difference this time was the fact I was insert hunting as well. The problem was that this break provided neither for me. However, 1999-2000 Topps did provide me with 11 cards in a pack and gave me a shot at some sweet looking inserts and even a NBA Superstar autograph.

What did I get in this particular break, well you will have to read on to find out!

Overall, wasn't a terrible break in terms of the players I pulled and I did get a rookie. One of my favorite cards was the John Starks (Knicks fan) even though he was playing for the Warriors at the time. I wasn't a huge fan of the orange bordered design in this product even though I get what they were trying here to try and match a basketball color. However, with this kind of color it takes your focus off from the photo and puts in all onto the border. I can't even look at them without being blinded!

90's Rip Party: 1990 Topps Football 1 Pack Break

Well, I busted a pack of 1990 Donruss baseball earlier today, why not dulge into a pack of 1990 football now.

In 1990 Topps football, each pack came with 15 cards and one stick of gum. One of the cards was a "special' extra glossy 1,000 Yard Club insert. The design of the cards was fun and some of the cards had some good photography. Once again, these are the kind of cards you can use for a Caption This segment.

Now onto this break:

Overall, not a bad break. I ended the pack with a Joe Montana card and a Odessa Turner for the Giants PC. Not to mention the insert of the bruising James Brooks. It's probably not something I would bust again just because of the weak rookies in this product (Emmitt was in this one) and the fact that I already have 2 factory sets I picked up at a yard sale. But hey, a one time break is always fun.