Lots Of Blue

I have shown off most of the trade mail day I did with Shane from Cheap Wax Wednesday, now it's time to show off the rest in what may.be the last post on here.

Why could this be the last post when football season is just around the corner? Well, the realization of running three blogs is starting to take it's toll. This one, the least favorite of readers, would be the first sacrifice I will make. Could there be another blog leaving after this decision? There may be. Am I shutting the door completely on this blog? No but for now any future NY Giants posts will take place on Matt's Wonderful Blog Of Hobbies.

So, I say let's go out with a bang if this is the way it completely ends by showing off some great Giants cards I got from Shane.

Here is the gallery,

 

Some great cards huh? I agree.

Thanks again to Shane for the trade.

And thanks to you guys for checking out today's post!

Marauders

In the last part of my Dave Brown pickups from the 90's, today we are tackling one my first 1997 Collectors Edge Marauders.

This was one of those inserts I had hoped to find in packs but no such luck.

When I got this card in from Burbank Sportcards Beckett Marketplace, where I saved 10% off by using code 15Burbank, I didn't know what to expect since I had never seen one before.

It was actually a really nice surprise.

The card is super thick and features a motion background that gives out a 3D vibe. 

There are two players on the card, one on each side, that I don't know what the connection is yet to them. Maybe there isn't one.

There are 25 cards in this set falling 1:20 in the Super Premium Packs only.

I am not sure if this would be a fun set to collect or not, but since I liked this one so much, who knows what I may do. But, for now, I plan to focus on grabbing some more 90's Giants inserts.

Rivalries

There was always one team in the 90's the Giants played that gave me nightmares, that team, their rival the Dallas Cowboys.

Not only did the Cowboys always found a way to beat the Giants, sometimes embarrassingly, but it always felt that Emmitt Smith and Deion Sanders were the main reasons why.

Today's card came from 1997 Pro Line and features one of those said players.

Deion always found a way to hurt the Giants. Whether it was as a receiver, a kick/punt returner or as a defender. He was always a pain in the Giants side.

 

Of course a lot of the times having Dave Brown as your QB didn't help the Giants cause either. But, he did have a great game in the late 1996 matchup surprising the Cowboys with a 20-6 victory.

The Rivalries insert was made up of 20 cards and fell 1:35 packs. Dave Brown was the only Giant featured in the set.

I was able to add this card cheap at Burbank Sportcards Beckett Marketplace where I saved 10% by using code 15Burbank at checkout.

Giants Cardboard:Adding Some Autographs

I mentioned a couple of day ago my order with Burbank Sportcards came with some Giants not named Eli and today was the day I planned to show those off.

First we start with my very first Shiancoe autograph. He didn't do much with the Giants as he was Jeremy Shockey's back up but shined more with the Vikings later on.

Only my second Tiki Barber autograph in a Giants uniform comes Illusions. This does mark my first Tiki autograph jersey card though. I think the design and layout on this card is well done.

Tiki was a stud running back for the Gmen, just wished he could had won a Super Bowl.

90's autograph and a Giants player, sign me up. Lewis was a first round draft pick of the Giants in 1994 but I don't think he ever lived up to expectations after a successful college career.

My final autograph snag was this Dave Brown from Inscriptions. Brown doesn't have many autographs out there, I mean why would he looking back on his career, but he was a Giant and I grew up watching him play so I needed one of him. I already had this card but my autograph wasn't as strong as this one as mine had started to fade some. I hope to protect this one better but these acetate autographs can be scary over time.

My next mail day from Burbank Sportscards Beckett Marketplace  will most likely be more Giants pickups because I save 10% by using code 15Burbank at checkout and who doesn't like to save money? I suggest you try it as well.

Breakin' Wax:1995 Pinnacle Zenith Football

1996 Zenith along Ex and the Spx's of the 90's were king to me. Nothing topped those. I know I mention often how much I love this set or that set, but deep down, those three can't be touched.

One product in the 90's I never got to open for football was 1995 Zenith. I opened TONS AND TONS of 1996, but never once laid sight on 1995.

In my latest box break from Shane over at Project Pedro Blog, I finally got the opportunity to open some even in box form for the first time.

In every box of 1995 Zenith football, there were 24 packs of 6 cards. There was a shot at three different inserts in every box, most notably, Z-Team.

There are 150 base cards in the base set, designed like the yellow brick road I would say, including veterans and

"rookies". For some reason or another, Zenith didn't do real rookies. They made it like baseball and called rookies, "rookies" from the year before like this Willie. In the three year run of the 90's, it never once put a true rookie card in it's product.

Like I said earlier, there are three chase inserts in the product.

Second Season which I didn't recognize at first. I assumed it was apart of the base set until I saw the numbers on the back. These fall 1:6 packs.

 

Give me some dufex baby! These Rookie Roll Call fell 1:72 packs and are beautiful both front

 

and back. I am chasing this set as well and you can also see that not more than 1200 sets were produced.

And finally the moment you have been waiting for....Z Team John Elway. Wowza!! These fall 1:24 packs or one per box. Much different than the 1:3 boxes the 1996 ones fall.

Just like with the 1996 version, I plan on chasing down the 1995 one as well. Cards look amazing.

How does this one live up to 1996? Well, it falls flat with the one insert and the base cards. 1996 base cards put these ones to shame. The Z-Teams look better in 1996 as well, but love me some dufex so this one is solid. Hard to beat a perfected product like the 1996 version.

I am working on so much from the Zenith 1996 product still and this one as well including the dufex inserts, Z-Teams, and base ones.

What are your guys thoughts on Zenith? Have a favorite year of it?

Breakin' Wax:1995 Pro Line Classic Series 2

Pro Line was a great 90's product that had autographs and top notch photography.

One of my favorite products of 1995, there are many, was their Series 1 Pro Line Classic.

So when I saw a Pro Line Classic Series 2, I was pretty excited.

However, it was a much different product. Instead of autographs, it focused on Phone Cards. Collectible Phone Cards was where it was at in 1995.

So let's check out my next box break thanks to via Shane over at Project Pedro Blog

Every box of 1995 Pro Line Classic was numbered, cause you don't want over production. Every box had 18 packs with 6 cards per pack. Each pack came with one of those "money makers" Prepaid Phone Cards.

The base set looked much different in Series 2 than 1. The photography was still there, but the bottom of the had an added shine to it. The cards were also more susceptible to damage.

Here's a few of my favorite base cards from the 100 card set,

Dave probably throwing to the other team here

Love the background of the Giants endzone

Bretts down and dirty!

Dan busting a move

There was some fun inserts however in this product.

Images Preview Card fell 1:18 packs. Back in the 90's you would sometimes find an insert as a preview of an upcoming product. That Images product was pretty cool by the way with it's etched aweomeness.

Printers Proof on a hot top rookie!! Well, back in 1995. No odds given.

Phone Cards. These fall one per pack for the $1 ones. Odds get tougher the more they are worth.

$2 phone cards fell 1:6 packs

And this $5 one fell 1:18 packs. Not too shabby of a player either

And it's also numbered to 3577. Kind of an odd number to be numbered to, but I will take it.

Gary Vee also had a 90's magazine,

 

Sorry, that was a Gary Vee joke if he had a magazine in the 90's. This is what I was saying earlier about how hot Phone Cards were and why Pro Line was pushing them so hard.

This was a fun break, not very costly either. I was hoping to land a couple of the cool inserts but no such luck here. It is what it is but the Emmitt Smith was a good find.

Any of you collect Phone Cards in the 90's?