A Mystery

*sun is already shining, heat/mugginess is building, and here I am sitting down with my first cup of joe to type this*

 

I love a good mystery.

Well, except for my coffee. Don't mess with my coffee. I have one way of liking it so don't mess with it and add some flavored mumbo jumbo or replace it with tea. 

Don't you dare.

Otherwise a good mystery is fun. Whether it's a mystery book, mystery movie, mystery mail day or mystery packs that you can buy. A good mystery keeps us on the edge of our seats.

Just like recently, when I tried my very first mystery pack.

Why is it my first? Well that's not a mystery I will leave you hanging on.

I always worry about buying them not knowing what kind of junk could be within. I assume in order to get the money the sellers are seeking, that the "chase" cards are impossible to find and a lot of it is what we could find in nickel and dime boxes. Which I am running out of places to store that kind of stuff. Yes, I have gotten to the point of collecting where space is becoming an issue. Mainly because my boxes to store stuff in are running low.

Another point to make about these mystery packs is most of these packs cost $10 when I could have turned that into a card or even two for my PC instead of possible junk.

But, this mystery pack was different than the rest I found. It was focused on my favorite era of collecting, late 90's and early 2000's. What made this pack even better, it was cheap. It had my attention.

So for $2.25 plus shipping, you get 30 cards. There are "25 cards" plus 5 cards that are Inserts/Parallels/RC cards. Intriguing.

All of the cards are NBA cards from the late 1990's through early 2000's. The seller put the Inserts/RC's/Parallels/#'d cards in plastic sleeves and each pack was wrapped like the above example.

Here's an example of some of the sets that were to be included into these mystery packs,

• 1997-1998 Topps Chrome
• 1997-1998 Bowman's Best
• 1998-1999 Fleer Mystique
• 1998-1999 Fleer Brilliants
• 1998-1999 Topps Finest
• 1998-1999 Skybox Thunder
• 1998-1999 Fleer Ultra
• 1998-1999 Upper Deck Black Diamond
• 1998-1999 Upper Deck Ionix
• 1999-2000 Skybox EX
• 1999-2000 Topps Gold Label

And the list of players that are in it as well,

• Kevin Garnett
• Vince Carter
• Grant Hill
• Shaquille O'Neal
• Anfernee Hardaway
• Tim Duncan
• David Robinson
• Jason Kidd
• Steve Nash
• Paul Pierce
• Dirk Nowitzki
• Richard Hamilton
• Chris Webber
• Kobe Bryant
• Michael Jordan
• Scottie Pippen
• Reggie Miller
• Karl Malone

Combine all of that with the price, the BIG NOSTALGIA FACTOR, how could I say no? So I grabbed two of these packs and paid under $10 for them both. After getting the packs and seeing how I did, I wished I had gotten more as they sold out almost immediately.

*smiles during my next sip*

Time to show you why they sold out so fast after opening them,

PACK 1:

We kick off the pack with a Topps Finest Felipe Lopez rookie card in old school Grizz uni. I would love a pair of those shorts to wear.

(no that's not an extra Lopez, that's the same one) I found John Stockton and a Karl Malone. Man I wished that Jazz team could had won a title. But, those darn Bulls...

Tim Hardaway, Payton, Garrity Finest rookie

Marbury (I wonder if my buddy still collects anymore who was a big time fan), another Payton and a Barkley

Shaq, Garnett, Penny Hardaway (forgot he played for the Suns)

And now onto what's supposed to be the good stuff. I thought I had already seen all of that up to this point.

Grant Hill Wing Men

Charles Barkley NBA All Stars

Elton Brand Topps Gold Label rookie. Imagine how hot this card must have been back then? For me it's about the Gold Label

Kobe! Great photo to. I never busted any of this Fleer Genuine

Cummings Topps Chrome rookie

And a Larry Hughes Black Diamond rookie. If I remember right, the rookies in this product were Sp's.

That was just pack number one folks. I was feeling like I had drank the best cup of coffee I had ever had after opening that one. Well, the cup I have right now isn't too shabby either nor is Pack 2.

*takes another sip*

PACK 2

I remember Mcleod and how hot his cards were supposed to be.....

Here we go some more. Fleer Mystique was another great looking product, PC guy Allan Houston Topps Chrome, Shawn Kemp, Spreeeeeeeeeeewelllll or as MSG called it out

Jamal Mashburn, Ewing, my first dupe with the Stockton, Kittles

A few Gary Paytons, Barkley another Hakeem Olajuwon

Marbury peeled Finest parallel, The Admiral, Hakeem again, Ray Allen

The sleeved cards including Webber, Tom Gugliotta nice die cut insert

Tim Duncan insert. I think it's either rookie year or year after. I can't remember now. I opened this awhile back.

And I believe I can fllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyy wooooooooooooo. An MJ spotting. Very cool especially being a side PC card and the way his cards have been moving. Fleer Ultra was also the bomb back then

 

It was the back of the card that caught my attention. I am not sure if you can read it, but the Did You Know? was "four hours before every game, Michael eats a 23-ounce New York Steak, either a baked potato or mashed potatoes, a salad and ginger ale."

That's crazy. Can you imagine running around for three hours with that in your system? That's just another reason why he is the GOAT.

*cup one down, next one coming up*

I contacted the seller afterwards and thanked them for a trip back in time and told them how much I enjoyed their mystery pack. They mentioned to me that they may make a second series seeing how this one went, if they could find the rest of their cards.

A week later, guess what they found and made and even contacted me about.

And guess what I did

And guess how I did...

A mystery isn't it....

Too bad that's for another cup of coffee, or two, another day.

My Prize From Cardboard History

One of my favorite blogs, even though I don't comment as much as I should on it, is written by Billy over at Cardboard History.

Watching the way he works with his collection and how in-depth scans, keeps tracks everything from players, the total numbers and the overall, you guessed it, Cardboard History of his collection is phenomenal. There isn't another blogger like that in the 300+ of us out there. I wished I could do half of what he does with his collection.

In the past month or so, Cardboard History celebrated it's blog anniversary and Billy had promised a prize to a winner. What none of us didn't know was that he was handing prizes out to all of us who commented on that post. Pretty cool.

I didn't know what to expect as my prize and it showed up at my door not long ago and it was right up my alley.

Anfernee Hardaway 4-Sport. Nothing wrong with a little Penny.

Steph was a great player in the 90's, I never mind adding another Steph rookie to the collection from 1996-1997 Topps. A buddy of mine who used to collect went in hard on collecting Steph back then. I even was able to trade a small stack of Marbury in exchange for a Tom Brady Fleer Ultra rookie. That also had to do with the fact he hated Tom so much he just wanted him gone.

And the third card he sent was a rookie of Antonio McDyess. What I wouldn't do to have Collectors Choice back again. It was a solid product for it's price point.

Billy also knows my love of football and sent along this Absolute Memorabilia rack pack from 2018.

Let's take a look at some of the key finds. There were other good base cards in it as well, sadly no Giants.

David Williams rookie

Durham Smythe rookie

Austin Proehl rookie

Aaron Rodgers base. The base cards are bold to the eye for sure.

Bradley Chubb Introductions insert. Really liked the shine and design of it. Too bad it hadn't been Saquon or Lamar.

Finally another insert, Late Game Heroes. Nice card. I like the design, photography and shine.

Thanks for the mail day Billy and keep doing what you are doing over at Cardboard History. I always look forward to the next post. If any of you reading this haven't checked out his blog, do so and make yourself jealous of all of his wonderful work.

Sets Of My Childood THE SERIES! Part 11:1996-1997 Upper Deck NBA Rookie Exclusives

Sets Of My Childhood THE SERIES is a spinoff from just a wantlist. I decided not only would I make a want list of each of the sets I am chasing in a tab, but I thought a little breakdown and feature may help get me more set help. I am sure many of the sets I am seeking are nickel and dime type of cards so I am hoping my trader friends can be on the lookout for any I don't have.

Today's set I never really considered putting together before but was quite fond of the cards that gave you "the feels".  I don't have much started towards the set but with your help I may!

  

Found at 1:4 packs of Series 2 1996-1997 Upper Deck basketball, these Rookie Exclusives have a textured background behind the feature player and takes basketball cards to another level in my opinion. 

There are 20 cards in this set to collect, I have two. With one of the more expensive of the group needed in Kobe Bryant. I think this would be a really nice looking set to put together and hopefully I can accomplish doing so.

My current haves are,

13 and 15

How many of you remember or collected these?

Random Card On My Desk:1996-1997 Upper Deck Rookie Exclusives Stephon Marbury

That 90's Card: 1997-1998 Topps Stadium Club Class Acts Refractor Kenny Anderson/Stephon Marbury

    

Front and Back

FANdom Card Of The Day: 2005-06 Ultimate Collection Patches Dual Stephon Marbury/Jason Kidd

2005-06 Ultimate Collection Patches Dual #DPMK Stephon Marbury/Jason Kidd 07/40

Thanks for Jammin JDcards for providing us with our FANdom Card Of The Day. If you would like to participate, email us a card, what it is and email is  to us at sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com!