Retro Cup:The Early Age

*coffee and bagel in hand, let's go!*

A week or so ago, The Diamond King sent me a box loaded with 90's basketball goodness. LOADED. So I came up with an idea to do a mini series with so many great cards to show off called, Retro Cup. Along with the card showings, I will re-live a memory I had as well when it comes to coffee. So I hope you are sitting down with a cup of steaming fresh hot coffee so we can give this series a go.

*Takes a sip*
 
It was the 1990's and I remember eating breakfast with my mother as my father worked a lot of hours. I was never one to sleep in, ever. I wasn't like one of those teenagers that get up at noon. I was an early riser and always ready to start my day. Just like I am now. My friends used to hate to have me over when I was up and ready to do something fun and they weren't....until I woke them.

There were some mornings I would wake up at 4:30 am, in which my mother was already awake as she would send my father off to work, and we would play a few games of WAR and sip away on coffee before the cartoons came on. Yes, I was not only an early morning person, but also an early coffee drinker. Think I had my first cup at 8 years old. It was the 80's and 90's, we took our chances. We drank water from hoses, got our butts whooped to teach us manners, played outside from morning til night, got hurt and got right back up, didn't get offended so easily, and had coffee under the age of 10. It was good times that I would take back any day, all day long.

But, it was those quiet coffee and cards (see what I did there even though it was aimed towards playing cards) that made the memories.

*takes some cards out of the retro box The Diamond King set. Takes a sip, then two, and is ready to go*

The first handful of cards I grabbed from the Retro Box, are these 1994-1995 Fleer All-Stars. This 26 card set fell 1:2 in packs of Series 1 1994-1995 Fleer basketball.

I don't remember opening up any packs of this Fleer brand, but I ended up with a few of these over the years.

It's the design that really catches my eye. The background not only looks like a basketball, but has the basketball texture. The little dots are embossed.

Back of the card. Even the back looks solid. Different photo used, a decent sized write up and it didn't take away from what the front brought.

Here are some others he sent along as well,

Looking at the checklist and having 11 of the 26, it looks like this set could be acquired not at a big cost. May be something I look into down the road. The set helps not to include that MJ guy whose cards are still high.

*another sip before closing, also munches on bagel*

Even though the cards don't have the nostalgia factor for me in terms of ones I bought in my youth, the players definitely do. I watched a lot of 90's basketball so these guys bring back some memories. Obviously being a Knicks fan in the 90's helped my love of the Ewing one which is why I showed that off first.

*another bite of bagel, butter drips onto the keyboard, curses gotta finish this up*

I haven't had a cup of coffee with my mother in a long time, not to mention a game of WAR. Maybe someday we can sit down, grab a cup of coffee, play a quick game and reminisce. It could even be early in the morning if she chose. If I am somehow not awake earlier enough, the coffee and cards would get me out of bed quick enough.

And yes, that's another pun towards this blog.

Underrated

*cups in hand, we are good to go*
Underrated. It means underestimating the extent, value, or importance of  someone or something.

Like this mornings cup of coffee so far, every brew is different depending on how its composed, it's very underrated in comparison to yesterdays. Yesterday's was amazing, today's is pretty solid though despite not giving it as much recognition as yesterdays cup. Yesterday's was the star of the morning and maybe even the week so far.

But, that doesn't mean that today's isn't good and isn't valued to my day.

Underrated can be said for a lot of things in life. Food (my pizza pasta), television (too many comedies to list here that got cancelled before given a chance), movies (Employee Of The Month comes to mind immediately here with a solid cast/funny as they come but didn't get the big screen love), myself as a blogger and hobby enthusiast (feels that way sometimes), our hobby (I think the actual art of collecting cards gets missed a lot with the money aspect being so important to most)and so on and so forth.

Just because those things aren't the headliners, doesn't mean they don't have their importance in life.

One of the bigger Underrated things I didn't mention above is athletes. I didn't mention it yet because it was going to lead into my collecting of ones that seem underrated to me and I would suspect you as well.

*takes another sip*

If anyone has followed me on any of my blogs over the past eight years, they would know my player collections and they would also know it's not a lineup of mega stars.

It's headlined by Rodney Hampton who had a solid career but once again was underrated when he played in a era with Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders. Despite some of his numbers and trips to the Pro Bowl. But, he meant a lot to the Giants team and helped carry them to some big wins including a Super Bowl.

Kerry Collins played for many teams but he led the NY Giants to the Super Bowl and had the Panthers on the cusp of one. A lot of times it's forgotten that his career almost ended with some off the field issues but he turned it around and put up multiple 3,000 yard plus seasons. He was a solid QB and was underrated.

RJ Barrett plays for the today Knicks, a brand that's known for losing. And even though RJ was a top draft pick in the last draft for the Knicks in 2020, he put up good numbers but still fell to the wayside of Zion and Morant when it came to the rookie talk both in the hobby and on the court. Even though he averages 14 points a game, he's underrated. (just wait til next year)

And my newest PC chase falls into that category as well.

Introducing, Allan Houston.

Allan put up a solid career for the Knicks averaging 17 points a game and could knock down three pointers like no other. But, he still was underrated on the Knicks that had Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, John Starks and Larry Johnson already in place when he signed there after his rookie contract ended with the Detroit Pistons. Which means he was really underrated when it came to the whole league despite All Star and USA basketball appearances.

Allan was the player I idolized on the Knicks when I was a kid (John Starks was second place),that I was always pretending to be when playing basketball against classmates while the rest of them were trying to be some guy named Michael. I didn't try to do all of the fancy moves like MJ, I simply sat back and shot threes.

During this recent spike in basketball card interest thanks to the Last Dance, something in me wanted to jump start my already in place Allan Houston PC. It was a side PC forever that I would add a card or two a year to. Recently, I have been adding quite a few and actually lost count of PC numbers that I think are close to if not surpassed 100 different cards now.

My main focus of the Allan Houston PC right now is autographs. I can always trade/add base and cheaper inserts later on.

I had two autographs already in hand but have since added a good amount of cheap ones with so many of his autos out there.

So here is a look at some of my Houston autographs,

 Prizm autograph I acquired from Shane from Project Pedro blog

For $3, I couldn't say no to this one

Spectacular looking card in person

I pulled this one myself from the Fleer Retro product

I try to only focus on the Knicks autographs, but I am overall chasing all of Allan's. This was the first Pistons one I grabbed.

 

 /25. Really sharp pink parallel up close

First graded Houston auto

You can't see this one, but it's numbered to 10.

And while I was at it, I was going to show you one more of my favorite Houstons but it's not an autograph.....

It's a Allan Houston Star Rubies /150 from Upper Deck's Fleer Retro product. That product was amazing overall and is very underrated in the hobby. UD did a pretty spot on job with re-making a lot of the 90's gems that came from Fleer/Skybox and Allan has quite a few cards in the set along with multiple autographs. This is one of the rarer parallel cards to find.

One more thing I want to mention about Allan Houston, I think a lot of people forget how much he helped carry the Knicks in the 90's. Do any of you remember the 1999 season especially the playoffs? Allan nailed a running jumper in the lane with .08 seconds left to carry the 8th seed Knicks to a victory over the 1 seed, and hated, Miami Heat. It was also just the beginning of his run as he helped carry the Knicks to the NBA Finals that year where they would fall to the Spurs despite him averaging over 21 points a game. He had a load on his shoulders that season and playoff run with a team that was decimated by injuries.

Once again, I don't think anyone will ever think/mention that season because well, Allan Houston was underrated. It was something for me though I will never forget.

*shuffles through a couple more Allan Houston cards to see what else I should post, decides to save them for another day, another time*

*takes another sip of coffee before closing post*

There are days I feel that Cards Over Coffee, both blog and act of doing so are underrated. I need to think of a way to get the word out there more about this and have more collectors enjoy their mornings with a cup of coffee and some cardboard.

And of course some reading material occasionally to jump in on and discuss.

Trying The Off Brand

*iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttts cofffffeeeeee and blog time!!!*

Sometimes it's not always the brand name items that brings out the best product. Sometimes it's the off brand that not only packs a punch, but gives you your best value back for your money.

It's that way sometimes for food, household cleaning items and even for your coffee.

There are the headliner brands such as Maxwell House, Folgers, Eight O'Clock, Seattle's Best and Chase and Sanborn just to name a few. All of these are fine brews.

But, they also cost about $12+on the bigger cans that hold 22 oz. I need to buy the bigger cans so I am not running to the store all of the time especially in today's world having to wear a mask, follow footsteps on the floor and trying to stay at least 6 ft from everyone.

Followed by a hand sanitizer bleach down in the card.

*takes a sip*

However, this off brand Best Yet coffee still tastes pretty darn good, has 22.6 Oz and is under $10.

It still tastes just as good, has more in it and is cheaper. So a lot of the times I will go that route. Who doesn't love something just as equally good that can save you money?

*takes the next sip*

I feel the world of baseball cards can relate to that scenario.

There is Topps who headlines the baseball card world with it's never ending MLB license, the Maxwell House and Folgers of the collecting world, and then there is that Best Yet brand in Panini who doesn't have the MLB license, but still has MLBPA and USA licenses.

Is Topps more appealing to the crowds because of it's MLB logos? Yes. But, does it pack the punch for the value like Panini does? No.

I think Panini doesn't get enough respect for their baseball card lines. I hear you guys grumbling, I know there is no logos on the helmet or team names even for the player, but if you can push past that, take a look deeper into Panini baseball products, there is so much more you're missing out on.

Not only are most of their products cheaper, but they also come with more hits and have more value per your purchase. This goes for both hobby and retail.

One of their best products with the biggest value/punch is Donruss. Everyone grew up collecting some form of Donruss in their lifetime. I know it was a regular, and still is, in my household.

Let's compare 2020 Topps Series 1 to 2020 Donruss hobby box style.

2020 Topps Series 1 is $130 per hobby box and you get the following,

• One Autograph or Relic Card Per Box (98% of the time that is going to be a single color relic)
• One Silver Pack Per Box

vs

2020 Donruss Hobby Box that goes for $118

• Three Autographs or Memorabilia Cards Per Box (all three will not be autographs, but they also all won't be single color relics either)
• Seven Parallels Per Box
• Four Independence Day Parallels Per Box
• Five Inserts Per Box

They both have the same key rookies to go for as well and the equally good headlining signers for their autographs as well such as ken Griffey Jr, Acuna, Judge and Otahni just to name a few.

I don't know about you, but that cup of Best Yet is looking pretty good in comparison.

*takes another sip, okay, you caught me gulp and now onto cup number 2*

If you still are not convinced by now, well, I brought some examples of their inserts in here thanks to my buddy Grady who recently sent me some. They are not the bland reprints of designs past or those annoying Topps Now fillers, they are bold, bright and creative.

As Seen...it's supposed to make reference to As Seen On TV. A baseball player on TV, what else can you ask for? The only thing these cards are missing is Billy Mays in the corner.

Dominators a long standing line in the Donruss re-created by Panini. Spectacular!

Same goes for Elite Series (the Arenado is a parallel)

And Donruss HIghlights that's been around forever.

Not convinced yet? Let's see one more shall we?

 

Now Playing (I know a lot of us wished this was true). Creative play on words and once again a great looking card.

Don't tell me that these didn't spark some interest for you and that you sat there looking at the team logos the whole time either. I bet you didn't even notice they were missing and are probably going back to look now.

*halfway done cup number two*

I should probably clarify that not all off brands are equal to the name brand. One of those that comes to mind is immediately Kraft Mac and Cheese. There isn't a single off brand that comes close to it and most are pretty nasty. Take my word on this at least.

Once again though, that is my opinion. Everyone has different tastes.

But, the examples I gave above of coffee and cards (this seems to be a thing on here), are more equal or better than the name brand. Don't take my word for it, you will have to give it a try yourself to experience the full flavor.

Take It As It Is

*sits down with cup of coffee, takes a sip and realizes how good it tastes this morning*

Have you ever just said thank you for something you didn't really like because it was a gift and you know they meant well by it? Yeah, I totally get its hard to admit, but admit it. You have done it. I  have done it. The whole world has done it.

I have even done it with coffee.

Every year my wife and I went to the same vacation spot, rented the same room and for those many years became friends with the same owners. They are an older couple that are as nice as anything but don't have the best coffee ever. It's that kind of coffee you would expect from a small time hotel.

The owner every morning from the office porch on our way to head to the beach would say, coffee's hot, come on in. And we couldn't just say no. Could we? No. We would go in, pour a cup in a small Styrofoam cup, add in the powdered creamer and be on our way.

Of course we would drink a few sips and say thank you before leaving.

*takes a sip of real coffee*

At home I have gotten many gifts over the years from family members, especially my mother-in-law that was card related.

But, it wasn't always something I wanted especially in recent years.

In the first few years of marriage, my mother-in-law gave me the usual gifts a man would expect. Socks (which in the summer I wear a lot of sandals), tools (if you know me personally, you would know I don't even hammer a nail in the wall straight. My father raised/taught me sports not how to use a wrench and I have zero interest in using tools),  and T-shirts with writing/sayings on them or dress shirts. Most of which I didn't wear because it either didn't fit or I didn't like the shirts with the big words all over it. Not to mention, I am a plain T-shirt kinda guy.

I guess my dropped hints of sports cards or even sports team apparel didn't get to her then.

In the last 10 years though, I think she finally got the hint and started giving me sports cards for gifts. At first, she hit up the Walmart aisle and grabbed hanger packs. From there, it moved to yard sale pickups where I scored some amazing stuff in that time frame, however as of recent, she is basically getting me those tools again when she is buying complete sets of "junk wax" from local thrift stores.

Out of all of the cards out there, she chooses to pick up the least interesting stuff to me. I would take newer non licensed cards over junk wax. I just don't have the connection to it like many collectors do. I didn't collect in that era, I was brought into the hobby end of 1993/beginning of 1994 and really didn't dig deep into collecting til 1995. So anything 1995-1999 is where I sink my teeth into. That's the stuff I like to see and collect.

The problem is, I don't have the heart to tell her "please no more". Just like with the owners of that hotel with their coffee.

Here's the last couple sets I got as gifts. One for Christmas, one for my birthday which was back in March,

1990 Topps (one of these on June 4th sold for $2.99 minus the shipping on eBay and I can only imagine she probably spent $10+)

I sadly didn't even check to see if it's all there, but it's pretty packed in so you have to assume so.

Some of the cards, in case you lived under a rock then. Sorry. That was meant to come across as a joke but can be read as rude.

1988 Topps. Only $10 for the whole box! (yes, that's sarcasm since one of these on June 4th sold for .99 minus the shipping)

Assuming the set is there again

 

A few of the cards to show off. Once again, I would really be surprised if you haven't seen this stuff before.

*getting up, grabbing a slice of my homemade banana bread to go with this great cup of coffee*

So I continue to act excited when she has me open up that junk wax set at every holiday even though it burns me up on the inside. That 1988 Topps set is actually the third one she has gotten for me. And I always expect that call or check in of, "how did I do? You find any good cards in there? Looks like it had lots of cards for you to sort through."

And my usual response comes out, "it was fun, I found a few rookies I can use and a couple of players I collect." when on the inside it wants me to say, "I have these sets already, it's the same cards over and over again, please go back to grabbing some unopened packs from Walmart."

But, I don't. I have a heart and take it as it is. I even hold onto them, though under my desk, but I still appreciate her thinking of me. They are a gift from her heart and she does her best for me. 

In the end, that's all I can ask for. Well, maybe some coffee would be nice as well.

*finishes post, finishes an excellent cup of coffee*

A Little Positivity

*takes a sip of coffee, gets ready to dive in on some topics of 2020 and go offbeat from cards for a little bit*

*another sip before the dive it*

2020 has been a really bad cup of coffee, my internet has been awful with so many using it do to Covid-19, oh yeah, we have Covid-19, riots and acts of violence spreading like wildfires, we had actual wildfires, killer bees, plane crashes, death tolls and so on and so forth.

But to me, one thing is clear, it's one simple person/act that has spread all of these issues. Have we ever wondered what it would be like to have the opposite of that? What happens if one person was to give to someone, say a kind word to someone and then that person feeling good about themselves passes that along to somebody else who is feeling good about themselves and then passes that along to two people and then that continues to move on. Imagine that, a world of positivity.

I was raised to have good manners mostly by my grandmother. I say please and thank you. I hold the door for anyone behind me. I compliment someone when the moment strikes. I push the shopping cart back to the store. I say good morning to anyone I pass. If I see someone on Twitter who needs a encouraging word or message of hope, I let them know that someone is there for them. I like to make people laugh, hopefully at my jokes and quick wit and not myself, but either way it helps to make someone smile. My wife and I have even bought lunch a few times for an unsuspecting group of people. It doesn't take any effort and comes out naturally and I feel good about it. It would be amazing to see others be like this as well especially during these times where we all could use some lifting up.

I am not saying be like me, but even a small bit of effort, can change the world.

 *takes another sip of coffee, steps off the soap box and moves onto some cardboard*

During these times, I have found some comfort in being nostalgic in the hobby. I think others have as well with players like Michael Jordan, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey Jr, Dan Marino and products like Spx, Topps Chrome and Fleer Metal being put back in the spotlight again.

Some of the hype I fell for, but not all. Some I didn't need to as I already had the hype in me and some of the cards especially Fleer Metal. That was one of my favorites especially when it turned to Metal Universe later in the 90's.

It had some wacky, but incredible background designs especially for 1997 and 1998 with volcanoes, city highlights, etc. The 1999 version I didn't remember much about as it was around the time where girls became more important than cards.

It got me wanting to open some, as along as the prices weren't insane like the other releases of it, and I found packs for less than the advertised price on the package.

So I grabbed four packs. Three to rip, one to keep. It's been a tradition in the last year when I bought nostalgic cards that I keep at least one sealed. Sort of like a time capsule later on in life when I may not be able to find some of these.

It's time to give these a rip.

There are 6 cards per retail pack and I paid $2.25 per pack. There are chances at plenty of great inserts including PMG cards which I was really hoping for. Precious Metal Gem cards of the 90's were some of the best/rare parallels. Never once did I pull one despite plenty of my metal pack ripping. Guess you could say I was a metal head.

Will today be the day I find a PMG? Its time to see (unintended Dr.Seuss rhyme)

PACK 1:

Not a bad start to find Brett Favre as the first card. The card is covered in metal foil with a steelworks kinda headline with the players last name embossed.

Back of the card, you can see the embossing behind the players head. It's an okay design, but definitely not as good as 1997 and 1998. I think it actually would have looked better without the last name header.

Rest of pack one landed me a PC card with Gary Brown and a player PC card in Jake Plummer.

PACK 2:

In this pack we find Keyshawn, Marshall Faulk and two NFLPD subsets. Also found a Amos Zereoue rookie card.

PACK 3:

Corey Dillion, Rod Smith, and Antonio Freeman headline the final pack. Also found a Matt Stinchcomb rookie card.

Not a lot of big hits, but didn't matter. Nostalgia rules! It left me wanting more and wanting to open up that final pack. Which, I didn't. Maybe instead I will find a couple more later on to open online. Seller had a ton.

**finishes first cup, moves onto the second**

So today, I ask you to take a minute out and say hi to someone, hold a door, show a smile, ask how someone is doing, buy that coffee (I know your in line somewhere to get one) for the person in front or back of you, and even return that shopping cart. The walk isn't that far, I promise. It will make you feel good and the person you are doing it to as well.

And who knows, that could start the next up-rise.