Shining Stars first appeared as an insert set, to my knowledge, in 1998-99 Fleer Brilliants, and what an awesome insert set it is. The Brilliants brand in general is a favorite of mine, a one-year wonder, and the Shining Stars set is a standout. The set resurfaced again in 2003-04 Fleer Mystique, another set I… Read More Shining Stars Iterations, Opening a 12-card pack of 2021-22 Illusions
Packs and boxes are, for the most part, available once again at retail stores. I’ve opened plenty of Donruss packs in several forms, mostly the 30 card ‘fat packs’ as well as a blaster. Recently I noticed sports cards for sale on the Game Stop web site. One option was the $1.00 value packs, with… Read More Yellow Flood, a Modern Parallel I Can Get Behind
Retail blasters and hanger packs have started to show up in local stores and are also staying online past a few minutes, which is a welcomed shift. Even though I don’t typically open a bunch of current year products, my son is all about basketball right now (he’s 5) and is showing a lot of… Read More Opening a 2020-21 Flux Blaster Box
2004 was a big year for the NBA and in basketball cards as well. LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, Bosh, and the star-studded rookie class entered the league in 2003 and that 2003-04 season has some iconic card sets, in my opinion. It was also towards the end of Fleer’s run producing basketball cards. What I didn’t… Read More Pretending It’s 2004 – Opening a 2004 Fleer National Trading Card Day Pack
Nothing like the excitement of opening a pack of cards and realizing that things aren’t going like you expected… in a good way. In my case, I opened a lone hobby box of 2004-05 Fleer Authentix, in the twilight of Fleer’s run producing basketball cards, and I was about halfway through the box, if my… Read More Here’s What a Fleer Authentix Hot Pack Looks Like
Back in the early 2000s I opened a box of 2000-01 Fleer Showcase and it ended up being one of my all-time favorite breaks. The base cards are gorgeous with a shiny finish and simple, classy design. Don’t want to think about how much a box would cost if it came out today, but back… Read More Looking for a Legacy – Opening 2000-01 Fleer Showcase
Before you had unlicensed baseball cards from Panini and Leaf that we see today, among others, you had unlicensed cards featuring NBA players and prospects such as 1999 Collector’s Edge Rookie Rage. A pack was included in a lot of basketball packs I picked up off eBay back in December. And I forgot to grab… Read More Kobe Brought His Friends – Opening 1999 Collector’s Edge Rookie Rage
Anyone remember those repack boxes with a bunch of random packs you could get for $10, $15, or $20? The packs on the outside were the appealing ones, the Ultra, the Stadium Club, the Fleer Mystique. And once you got past the packs on the outside, there were ones like Topps, maybe even Topps Tipoff,… Read More 11 Year Old Me Is Smiling – Opening 1997-98 Collector’s Choice
A few posts ago I mentioned a lot of 12 packs I had won around Christmas and shared the first pack I opened. Next up is 1999-00 Topps Gallery. I don’t remember opening many packs from this set around that time. Here are the odds of pulling inserts and parallels as listed on the hobby… Read More Pack Break: 1999-00 Topps Gallery
I’ve been looking forward to seeing cards from the Excalibur brand in person. The Crusade insert set seems to be popular for both baseball and basketball collectors and has a certain nostalgia factor due to the 1998 baseball Donruss Crusade set. I picked up a 15 card pack of 2016-17 Excalibur and I came away… Read More Medieval Basketball Cards
Hoops Hobby 