Insert Set Flashback: 1997-98 Fleer Key Ingredients
Posted: Monday, January 23, 2012 Filed under: Inserts | Tags: 3D, Alonzo Mourning, Collect, Fleer, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O'Neal Leave a comment
The Set:
1997-98 Fleer Key Ingredients
Set Odds:
1 in 2 series one retail packs
Key Cards:
Shaquille O’Neal $1.50
Scottie Pippen $1.00
Why I Like It:
I actually didn’t know this set existed until recently, but its metallic looking finish jumped out at me. These players are the ‘Keys’ to their teams, and each card has an identical background of the paint which is, as with several inserts sets from the late 90s, not a flat card. There’s a 3D type effect that makes the player stand out against the background. Fleer also produced a Gold version of these that were inserted at 1 in 18 packs.
I am putting the regular set together, and have just a few more cards I need to finish it. You can find the ones I need on my Insert Wantlists page. Let me know if you have any of the remaining cards there. I have lots to trade. You can leave a comment or contact me at HoopsHobby@gmail.com
Wednesday Wax: 2002-03 Fleer Hot Shots
Posted: Thursday, January 19, 2012 Filed under: Box Breaks, Wax | Tags: Cards, Collect, Fleer, Hot Pack, Hot Shots, John Salmons, Karl Malone, Vince Carter Leave a comment
The Set:
2002-03 Fleer Hot Shots
24 packs per box, 8 cards per pack
Base set contains 100 Basic cards, 29 Give and Go, 39 All-Stars
27 Rookie Hats-Off /350
6 Vince Carter Hats-Off /350
6 Rookies /350
Hot Hands Parallels /199, Rookies /99
Give and Go Dual Event/Game Used /50
All-Stars Triple Event/Game Used /25
Hot Shots 1:8 packs, Event Worn 1:30 packs
En Fuego 1:12 packs, Event Worn 1:44 packs
Net Burners 1:24 packs, Event Worn /100
Hot Numbers /350, Event Worn /50
Parallel Versions of Event Worn cards
Our Break:
Hot Hands Parallel (4): Grant Hill /199, Antoine Walker /199, Eric Snow and Keith Van Horn /199, John Salmons /99
Hot Shots (3): Yao Ming, Mike Dunleavy, Jared Jeffries
En Fuego (2): Vince Carter, Shaquille O’neal
Hot Numbers (1): Richard Jefferson
Net Burners (1): Steve Nash
Hot Shots Event Worn (1): Kareem Rush
Rookie Hats-Off /350 (3): Casey Jacobsen, John Salmons, Ronald Murray
Vince Carter Hats-Off /350 (1): Curtis Borchardt
En Fuego Event Worn (1): Karl Malone
Impressions:
A fun time for basketball breaks, to be sure. The chase cards here are the Yao Ming rookie memorabilia cards, the All-Star Triple jerseys numbered to 25, as well as the other parallel memorabilia versions of the insert sets.
An excellent base set with lots of inserts, parallels and memorabilia cards in each box. This is a 2000s box with a 90s feel. It has two subsets. The Give and Go cards for the most part show a point guard or high assist man on the front with the finisher on the back. The second subset contains participants in the previous year’s All-Star weekend, and by participants, I mean in the rookie-sophomore game, three-point contest, dunk contest, and All-Star game. That’s why we have guys in there like Chris Mihm.
These cards have a glossy finish, more noticeable on the darker cards like some of the Rookie Hats-Off cards. These memorabilia cards are condition sensitive, particularly on the corners.
Want to point out that the typical box will not contain 6 memorabilia cards. The overall odds of pulling a memorabilia card are 1 in 8 packs, but this box contained a ‘hot pack’ with 4 memorabilia cards in the one pack (the 4 Rookie Hats-off cards).
Not sure how many redemption cards were inserted for this product, but we were lucky enough to avoid them.
Overall a blast to open, and it was certainly exciting to open a hot-pack, even if we didn’t hit any of the higher valued rookies such as Yao, Carlos Boozer, or the scarcer All-Star or Give and Go jerseys. A product I wanted to open at the time it came out, and still a worthwhile break today.
Insert Set Flashback: 1997-98 Ultra Jam City
Posted: Monday, January 16, 2012 Filed under: Inserts | Tags: Blake Griffin, Cards, Collect, David Robinson, Dwight Howard, Fleer, Jam City, Juwan Howard, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, NBA, Ultra Leave a comment
The Set:
1997-98 Ultra Jam City
Set Odds:
1 in 8 series 1 packs
Key Cards:
Kobe Bryant $8.00
Shaquille O’Neal $4.00
Kevin Garnett $3.00
Why I Like It:
Oh man, how to get started. How sweet would a modern-day Jam City set be? Blake Griffin, Dwight Howard, LeBron, etc… highlighting a set of the league’s best dunkers? Or a set with past slam-dunk champions? The Jam City name had tons of potential.
The cartoon-y black and white background makes the color shot of the player jump off the card. Putting some of the league’s arenas into the background would have been a nice touch.
One thing I found amusing from the cards above: How does Juwan have a pass into Jam City when the back of the card says that he likes to step out for 18-footers? Howard could throw it down in his younger days, but at least mention that rather than his set-shot ability.
Pickup of the Week, 1999-00 Fleer Focus Feel the Game
Posted: Friday, January 13, 2012 Filed under: Pickups of the Week | Tags: Cards, Collect, Feel the Game, Fleer, Grant Hill, Memorabilia Leave a comment
The 1999-00 Fleer Feel the Game sets were some of the earliest basketball game used card sets released. The Fleer Focus versions inserted at just 1 in 288 packs. At those odds, I am surprised that the Grant Hill card pictured above has a high book value of only $20. These can be had at an affordable price, they just don’t show up that often.
Question – Today, most products guarantee at least one memorabilia card per box, most more than that. How has your enjoyment of the hobby been impacted by the decreased rarity of memorabilia cards?
Insert Set Flashback: 1995-96 Fleer Total D
Posted: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 Filed under: Inserts | Tags: Collect, Fleer, Gary Payton, Hakeem Olajuwon, NBA, Scottie Pippen, Total D Leave a comment
The Set:
1995-96 Fleer Total D
Set Odds:
1 in 5 Series 1 packs
Key Cards:
Michael Jordan $8.00
Shaquille O’Neal $3.00
Scottie Pippen $2.00
Why I Like It:
I opened more packs of 1995-96 Fleer than I’d care to admit in my early collecting days. I was drawn to the set because of its variety of styles and patterns. It’s also a large set so I didn’t find myself pulling the same players all the time. The Total D set points out the defensive powerhouses of the mid-90s, such as ‘The Glove’ Gary Payton, shot-blockers Olajuwon and Mutumbo, and lockdown perimeter defenders in Jordan and Pippen. The back description shares the player’s accolades on the defensive side of the floor.
While the uptempo, flashy offenses are often more fun to watch, getting crucial stops down the stretch wins games. The Dirk-led Mavs finally broke through and won the championship last season after acquiring their defensive anchor in Tyson Chandler. It’s hard to see them matching that success this season with Chandler now in New York. Defense certainly matters, and these guys, showing their ‘Total D’, were the best at proving it.
Wednesday Wax: 1994-95 Fleer Series 1
Posted: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 Filed under: Box Breaks, Wax | Tags: Cards, Collect, Dennis Rodman, Fleer Leave a commentThe Set:
1994-95 Fleer Series 1
24 packs, 21 cards per pack
Base set contains 236 base cards, 1 Toronto Raptors logo card, 3 checklists
Rookie Sensations 1 in 3 packs
All-Defensive 1 in 9 packs
League Leaders 1 in 11 packs
Pro-Visions 1 in 5 packs
Triple Threats 1 in 9 packs
Award Winners 1 in 22 packs
Career Achievement 1 in 37 packs
Our Break:
Lots of base cards, lots of duplicates
All-Defensive (5): Mookie Blaylock, Charles Oakley, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Dennis Rodman
League Leaders (2): Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Dennis Rodman
Pro-Visions (5): Jamal Mashburn x2, John Starks, Dennis Rodman, Dan Majerle
Rookie Sensations (10): Vin Baker x3, P.J. Brown, Sam Cassell, Anfernee Hardaway, Chris Mills, Dino Radja, Nick Van Exel x2
Triple Threats (2): Patrick Ewing, David Robinson
Impressions:
Have no reason to complain on much of anything from this box, as I got it off ebay for the price of most modern-day lower-end packs. However, I couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed to pull multiples of inserts, particularly the three Vin Baker rookie sensation cards. Also opened a ton of duplicates in the base set. Pretty sure we came close to completing the base set, though. Also had to spend a considerable amount of time pulling the cards apart. Didn’t notice any damage to the cards because of this, though.
Inserts were inserted at 1 per pack, over a third of them being from the 25 card Rookie Sensations set. Pulling the Penny Hardaway from this set was nice, and it ended being the best card in the box. The chase cards from this insert set are the Hardaway and Chris Webber ($5 each). The Pro-Visions cards fit together from what I can tell. The Marshburn and Starks pictured above are cards 1 and 2 in the set, and their backgrounds run together. Can’t argue with the variety of the inserts, pulling cards from 5 different insert sets.
It’s worth noting that the rookie cards from 1994-95 Fleer (Grant Hill, Jason Kidd, Jalen Rose, Eddie Jones, etc…), are in the series 2 products.
Recap:
Base Set: 3/5 Stars
Inserts: 4/5 Stars
Value: 5/5 Stars
Overall: 4/5 Stars
The base set design isn’t particularly exciting, but does feature nice action shots of the players. The player name text also goes well with the splotch of color underneath. The ding on the insert score is mainly because we pulled 5 duplicate inserts out of 24 packs. We don’t need even 1 Vin Baker, and certainly not 3. We also didn’t pull any of the inserts with tougher odds, even though we were likely to pull at least 1. Again, a fun break, brings back a lot of memories of opening these as a kid. Can’t argue with the value. The Penny basically paid for the box all by itself. While not as thrilling as the Flair break from last week, or even an Ultra break from the same year, it’s a solid product that delivers a lot of cards, a variety of inserts, and a reasonable amount of fun.
Wednesday Wax: 1994-95 Flair Series 1
Posted: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 Filed under: Box Breaks, Wax | Tags: Cards, Collect, Flair, Fleer, NBA Leave a comment
The Set:
1994-95 Flair Series 1
24 packs, 10 cards per pack
Base set contains 158 base cards, 14 USA cards, 3 checklists
Hot Numbers 1 in 5 packs
Scoring Power 1 in 8 packs
Center Spotlight 1 in 25 packs
Our Break:
163 out of 175 base cards, 73 duplicates
Hot Numbers (5): Dikembe Mutombo, Hakeem Olajuwon x2, Scottie Pippen, Isaiah Rider
Scoring Power (3): Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone
Center Spotlight (2): Hakeem Olajuwon, Chris Webber
Impressions:
Opening this box was the most fun I’d had on a break in a good while, and it’s likely led me to open a box of Series 2 and to complete the insert sets from Series 1 and 2. I think it’s partly because of the current NBA lockout, which has inspired me to go back and watch some games from the mid-nineties, making pulling some of the players from those games pretty awesome.
I remember opening a single pack of 94-95 Flair Series 2 when I was younger (around 8 years old when the set first came out). I was in awe of the packaging. Each pack comes in a little golden cardboard box, which is wrapped in clear plastic. Then the cards themselves are wrapped in clear plastic. While it takes a bit of effort to get to the actual cards, the effort is worth it.
The base cards have something that I miss in modern cards, and that’s player action shots filling the entire card. The fronts feature multiple shots of the player and script text with the player name, with team name below. The back of the card lists the player’s entire career stats, which I always appreciate. What’s different about this set though is that the stats don’t hog the space on the back of the card, as an action photo serves as the background with the stats overlaid. The USA cards show a game by game account for the player during the 1994 World Championship.
The inserts look fantastic. I would have liked to have opened more than 10 out of 24 packs, but their rarity is part of what makes 90s inserts so appealing. Shaq inserts are the most sought after from this Flair set, but I was pretty pumped to pull multiple Center Spotlight cards, beating the odds there. The Chris Webber Center Spotlight and the Scottie Pippen Hot Numbers were the top cards in the box.
Recap:
Base Set: 5/5 Stars
Inserts: 4/5 Stars
Value: 5/5 Stars
Overall: 4.67/5 Stars
The beautiful design on the base set, the high card quality, and the nostalgia factor made 1994-95 Flair Series 1 a great buy. You should be able to find a box online for under $30 including shipping.
