The 90's Are Here

Last week, I was sent a big box full of 90's goodness from the great @imqualifying who knows how much of a 90's card geek I am. I don't care what sport, what team or what players it is. I love it all. Even the non sport stuff. I mainly enjoy the 95-99 stuff the most but a few of the older inserts are nice as well.

The 90's as I have stated many times is still my favorite era to collect from. So many cool cards and designs and one company line that continuously put out great stuff was Playoff. Just look at these 1998 Absolute rookie cards. I like the McQuarters who was a big player in the Giants Super Bowl 42 run.

 

Draft Pick inserts from 1998 Playoff Prestige. The regular version of these is silver and fell 1:9 packs while the parallels that are shown here, were found in retail and special retail pack and boxes. I think the colored are much more impressive looking. Speaking of looking, it seems I have a start of a Shehee rainbow....

 

Mr. Ryan Leaf. Everyone's favorite bad draft pick example.

 

And Germane Crowell. I dig the minor embossing on these as well.

 

My final card to show off today, is a 1998 Playoff Momentum End zone Xpress Ryan Leaf which is cool in many ways. It's printed on plastic card stock with lots of rainbow foil and team color blended in. These were found in retail packs at a rate of 1:13 packs. It's not something I ever found in packs so a nice addition to my 90's PC in my opinion.

 

 

Well, I said this was a box of goodies so I can only say this is the start of something good. There is more to come in the next few days so stay tuned!

TTM:Through the Mail Autos

TTM, otherwise known as Through the mail autos can be a fun experience for any collector. The anticipation of possibly landing your favorite player from your favorite team. Wow. You can drool just thinking about it. I have only been lucky enough to land one of my favorite players from my favorite team the New York Giants. But I have landed other autographs from pro athletes using Through The Mail.

The Giants player I recieved is RW McQuarters who I sent this Topps card to after the Giants had won Super Bowl 42. I was actually shocked to have gotten it back. I sent him a letter of thanks for making big interceptions in the playoffs that season to help carry the Giants through to the Super Bowl. And to show his appreciation for me as a fan, he sent me the card back signed.

I have some tips on how to land some autographs from your favorite teams without having to spend anymore than 2 stamps.

1st: Send to the team headquarters and ATTN to the player you desire
2nd: Don't aim for the star players. You most likely will never see them back
3rd: Best time to send is in the off-seasons for any sport
4th: Send a SASE with a stamp on it with a card included. Don't ask for too much
5th: Make your letter personal. Don't just type up a generic letter. Make it about their career and yourself.

I have not had great success, 12 returned out of 60, but I did have some returned and these were my keys to success. I wish you all luck and I will be sharing on and off which ones I got back. One of those is posted here.

If you have any other questions just leave them in the comments section and I will do my best to answer them.