Can Any members help with this!!!

[lil5up3rman]

Hello Guys/Gals we received this message and we were wondering if anyone has extensive knowledge on this topic that would be willing to help out SCF and discuss these cards with this writer, if you do please contact myself or rocksaysits420 and we will forward you to our boss to get the ball rolling, thanks. Daniel



My name is Pete Croatto. I am a freelance journalist based outside Philadelphia whose sportswriting has appeared in Grantland, The New York Times, SLAM, and other publications. How are you?

The reason for my email is that I'm writing a piece for VICE Sports on the three ridiculous team cards that are part of the 91-92 Hoops set. Of course, I'm talking about the Hornets "flying" card, the Nuggets "stockbroker" shot, and the Pacers on motorcycles.

The main focus on the story will be looking at how these cards happened, but I'd also like to find out about their place in basketball card history as well as how basketball cards have evolved as a business and hobby since the early 1990s.

I was hoping someone at SCF would be willing to talk to me about that.

Please let me know if you have any questions or requests. Thank you very much. I look forward to hearing from someone.

Sincerely,
PSC

[rocksaysits420]

OK, the 3 cards in question are from the 91092 hoops set and are the team checklist. the Hornets is # 276, the Nuggets #280 and Pacers # 284, they all book for 10 cents and we all know how common they are/were. If anybody wants to see them here's a link to them

http://www.comc.com/Cards,sc,=1991-92+hoops,p12,i20

[WilyWestbrook0]

I have no idea how those cards happened. I'd say only reps from Hoops at the time, along with whomever took the photos, would know the detailed story of how those interesting pictures came about.

As far as their place in card history, there's not much of a notable one - those cards were just some of those occasional funny cards from the early nineties that we thirtysomethings remember laughing over in our youth. 1990-91 SkyBox also had some funny pictures, for example, particularly on card backs (Bill Laimbeer fishing, Karl Malone on a horse, etc.). Most of these, including the 1991-92 Hoops team cards, do not carry additional value, as rock pointed out. One exception is the Sam Vincent/Michael Jordan #12 card from the previous year's Hoops, which does command some additional value (a buck or two), and which is better-known. Have something unusual with MJ on it, and that will be more interesting to collectors than creative photography.

How have cards evolved? That one I think most of us can tackle. :) In 1991-92, there were no "higher end" and fancily designed sets dominating the market like Finest, Chrome, or SPx, let alone mega high end sets such as Exquisite or Flawless. Gloss and gold print weren't even the norm yet - plain Upper Deck was your priciest at just over a buck a pack! That is because the market was still family and kid driven then, whereas now it's toward richer consumers who want the flashy, rare stuff.

There were very few insert sets that year also; those didn't become more popular until the mid 1990s, when collectors started caring more about design and harder pulls as opposed to mere broad collectability.

Autographs were extremely rare and difficult to pull; some even argued they "devalued" the regular card. Today, autographs are the most sought after card type in the hobby, and you can find autographs of nearly every player in the league.

Game used jersey cards were completely non-existent. Nowadays, game used cards are common - at least plain one-color swatch cards - and it's only the stars and patch variations that command major value.

Serial numbered cards weren't part of the basketball hobby yet, either, except in some college sets, where the production run was given (Classic and Front Row, I believe), but the actual sequential printing of the card was not.

Set-building was still a thing - 1991-92 SkyBox had an immense base set for that very reason; it was a little more challenging to put together. Most sets were also broken into two different series: one to start the season, and one released during mid-season to account for all the trades so collectors could get cards of their favorite players in their new team uniforms. Nowadays, set building is far less common to see among collectors (though it still exists), and there is no such thing as "series 1" or "series 2." Panini just releases different sets throughout the year to account for the trade changes.

Perhaps most notably, the production amounts of cards were extraordinarily high - millions upon millions - due to market demand and the type of lifestyle Americans had at the time. There was no mass Internet, so collecting and trading was done among family, friends, and neighbors. You could find cards at pretty much every gas station in the nation in 1991-92; that is NOT how it goes now - good luck finding any cards at a gas station! Sadly, the mass production now means most cards from 1991-92 can be had for pennies. Very, very, very few cards from that year are worth even $10 or more.

Hope that helps.

[lil5up3rman]

Thanks a ton for your input Khendra. Daniel

[rocksaysits420]

do we need to contact that person or e-mail him?

[Italy61587]

No offense, but who really wants to read an article about 3 obscure cards from an early 90s set that was completely irrelevant??? Head scratcher for sure

[lil5up3rman]

Italy61587 - no offense taken as we didn't understand their relevance either.

[WilyWestbrook0]

I'm guessing he grew up in the era, has those cards, doesn't realize how common they are, doesn't realize how few people would care about such a thing today, and doesn't know just how much the hobby has changed since then. Keeping in mind his likely unfamiliarity with cards and their history, I tried to give a neutral treatise as such. :)

[lil5up3rman]

Khendra,

I agree with you he probably has little to no knowledge of the hobby today.

[13stepper]

Khendra,

I agree with you he probably has little to no knowledge of the hobby today.

This would most likely become the most interesting and relevant part of the article. I'm surprised there aren't more articles discussing the pursuit of rare modern Basketball insert cards and Licensed Exquisite cards and what people are willing to pay for them.