Category: Sports

First of all, I would like to thank my Twitter buddy, Dub Mentality, for having an amazing card blog and for reminding us of our appreciation for the days of old card collecting and “junk wax.” As well, I would like to thank him for giving me this opportunity to share my wax ripping experience with 1989-90 O-Pee-Chee Hockey. I will be writing the review in “Dub style” to honour his awesome blog site.Back in 1990, I was nine years old and lived in a small town in northern Alberta called Fort Vermilion. At the time, there were eight of us in my family living in a four bedroom house in “Alberta Housing”-a small neighbourhood in the community that consisted mainly of low-income housing. I was the middle child of our family and the second oldest boy-well, third because my parents had adopted one of my older cousins. We all grew up playing shinny on the outdoor rinks and also street hockey in the middle of winters that would quite often see temperatures dip down to -40C (-40F for my American friends). Here we would play for hours pretending that we were NHL greats such as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier, Patrick Roy, and even tough guys like Bob Probert or Joey Kocur-which lead us to “drop the gloves” quite often. Maybe it was the long winters or the fact that hockey was bred into our genes as Canadians; but, we were addicted to hockey and loved playing and watching every game that was on CBC Hockey Night in Canada. It was here that we watched our favourite players and teams and learned the game from guys like Ron McLean and Don Cherry. Despite our love for the game, unfortunately, my brothers and I were financially unable to join any leagues due to the costs of registration, equipment, and travel. But, we found a way to connect to hockey through our long games in the cold weather, Hockey Night in Canada, and collecting hockey cards.I remember the first time I had seen a hockey card. I was seven years old and visiting my cousin. That day he took us to his bedroom and proudly pulled out a photo album full of 1988-89 O-Pee-Chee (OPC) Hockey from his sock drawer. I say “photo album” because it was an actual photo album and this was what we used back in the day to display our cards before we were able to get our hands on any 9 card sleeves. 1988-89 OPC was a great set and featured rookies such as Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan, Pierre Turgeon, and aforementioned tough guy Bob Probert. The moment I laid my eyes on those cards I was instantly hooked. I thought it was so cool to see all of my heroes-Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, and others on a piece of cardboard. I had no idea we even had hockey cards in our small town and had to get some! The next year in 1990 my older brother, cousin, and I began our card collecting life. My older brother and cousin were four and five years older than me so they understood card collecting much better than I as they put their cards in protective holders and I kept mine in a little shoe box that I carried with me everywhere I went. Eventually, the cards began to see some wear and the corners were quite rounded due to all the shuffling around that I put them through. I remember quite often being scolded by my older brother for not taking proper care of my cards.

As I mentioned earlier, we were living in low-income housing so buying hockey cards for us wasn’t always high on my parents priority list. However, I remember one occasion where I missed an opportunity to have some hockey cards as I was out playing with some friends and came home to find that, while I was out, my older brother and cousin got some 1989-90 OPC Hockey cards from the corner store-and I did not. They had all their cards out on the table as they were sorting through in front of me. I was devastated and immediately started crying (I was eight years old and a crybaby, okay?) as I knew I probably would not have the chance to get some again for some time. Well, fortunately for me, my auntie was over at the house that day and she must have felt really sorry for me (or wanted me to stop being pathetic) because, while I was crying in my room for 45 minutes she went out and came back with a full box of 1989-90 OPC Hockey cards. I had no idea that any of this was going on but she came back in the house, called me out of the room, and presented me with the full box of cards. My eyes lit up, my heart felt warmth, and an unbreakable smile came across my face. I was so grateful and will always remember how she made me feel that day as I thanked her immensely and ripped through all 48 packs, opening as gracefully as possible (much to the dismay of my older brother and cousin).That was my first full box of cards ever and just recently I picked up another box of 1989-90 OPC Hockey from Wayne’s Sports Cards here in Edmonton, AB. This was my second full box of these cards since my auntie bought me that first box in 1990. On the bottom there are four “box bottom” hockey cards that featured Mario Lemieux, Tomas Sandstrom, Mike Ridley, and Petri Skriko. On the side of the box there is a description stating that there are four different box bottoms and a total of 16 cards that you could cut out and collect. Inside, the cards come wrapped in blue and white wax packs with a hockey player on the front celebrating a goal and there are 48(!!) Packs per box. As well, there was one stick of gum (I will get to this later) in each pack and don’t worry I didn’t eat the 27 year old gum. However, I do remember the distinct taste of the gum in the packs and also remember sharing the 48 sticks of gum with my siblings from that lone box in 1990. Furthermore, this was near the end of the era of wax as the next year in 1990-91, during the collecting craze, multiple companies entered the hockey card scene and that year very few of them besides O-Pee-Chee and Bowman used wax packs.

The cards themselves are, in my opinion, a very nicely designed set as they have a blue border on the top and bottom with an icy pattern down the side edges. Some of the cards were updated by O-Pee-Chee with a “now with” signifer as many trades were made during the season and new jerseys were airbrushed in the highest quality technology of the time. The backs of the cards include a light and dark pink shading with a no colour border. As well, there is biographical information and full statistics from every NHL season and the most previous playoff. The cards also include information about highlights from the season such as game winning goals and personal statistical highs for the player if any occurred during the season. There are 330 cards in the set and I have most of the cards together but, there were some casualties in this box and I don’t know exactly how many cards that I needed were in the pile of damaged cards because I threw them out before sorting them.Now onto the gum! Although I did appreciate the gum that was in these packs while I was growing up, on this particular occasion I did not. As I mentioned earlier, every single pack had a stick of gum in it. So, that meant there were 48 sticks of gum within this box and gum sitting next to a hockey card for 27 years doesn’t have a good outcome. Unfortunately, although the gum did still present a nice smell, it was attached to every single card and was not coming off as it was fused to the front of each card. 48 packs of cards. 48 sticks of gum. 48 ruined cards.Over the years, OPC has also made Topps as its counterpart and O-Pee-Chee has always been considered to be more valuable to collectors. However, in this particular season OPC started to mass produce their hockey cards more so than in the past and Topps made less cards. Thus, leaving Topps as the more valuable hockey card set from this particular year. As well, this set includes the rookie cards of NHL greats such as Joe Sakic, Theoren Fleury, and Brian Leetch. While also producing a solid crop of NHL rookie cards that saw Trevor Linden, Tony Granato, Craig Janney, Shayne Corson, and Gary Roberts included in the set. In my particular box I was very happy to find two Joe Sakic rookie cards, a Trevor Linden, and a Brian Leetch within the box. But, was not happy to find a second Trevor Linden rookie card with gum plastered to it.

Despite the gum fiasco, I really enjoyed opening this product. The cards themselves are beauties and it was during my first year of being a collector so it brought back so many memories for me. The overall “value” of the cards is not as much as other sets because it was O-Pee-Chee’s season of mass production as we entered the card craze. However, I feel these cards have a lot of sentimental value (thank you, auntie) and there are many quality rookies to be found within. If you find ones that are worth sending in for grading it will be your lucky day! Many of the cards in this particular box were “touched” or had some wear on the edges so I probably won’t be sending in any of the rookies from this box for grading. Nonetheless, I have seen many quality grades on the market from this product-so you would still have a very good chance of receiving 9s and possibly 9.5s from BGS. Overall, it was a fun rip and give these cards a 3 on the Dub-O-Meter and probably would have given them a 4 were it not for all the damaged cards.

Naim Cardinal

Have you ever wanted something so bad you could taste it; but you just feel like it will never happen? I’m not talking about things that are unattainable or just pipe dreams. I’m talking about things that have been within reach but no matter what you do or how much you wish, you keep coming up empty. Sometimes it never happens but you never stop trying to make the dream a reality. But sometimes it does happen and the chase became just as big as the ultimate result, kind of like a Super Bowl Trophy for John Elway. I’ve had a few of those (let’s call them Elway’s) in my life and while some came to fruition, others have ended up on my bucket list with their unattainable brethren.My first memorable Elway was around 1987 when I was 10 years old. Everybody I knew (or so it felt) had a Nintendo except me. My cousin, Coop, had one and I tried to spend every moment I could over at his house. We would stay up late playing Super Mario, Bayou Billy, Ninja Gaiden and Mega Man and I just couldn’t get enough. Corey and Jared had one and we would play RBI Baseball with my Uncle Speedy every time I went to their house. In early 1987, I was rocking Downland and Bedlam on a Tandy TRS-80. I wanted a Nintendo badly but it was elusive. By the time Christmas rolled around, I was almost out of hope. It felt like it was “now or never” for that NES quest.I remember celebrating with my Papa on Christmas Eve, which has always been a tradition. We would rotate the location from year to year but this year was held at our house. I remember Coop getting a Nintendo game from my Papa that year and it spurred a little conversation about the NES. That conversation turned to whether or not I thought Santa Claus was going to bring me one. In my mind, I felt like this was it and I proclaimed that tonight was the night! I remember my dad saying in a very serious tone, “I would not get too excited about getting a Nintendo this year.” I then remember tearing up as I took the box of used wrapping paper out to the roadside trash can. I stood at the trash can for an extra minute trying to wrap my head around what I had just been told. I was devastated, to put it mildly.

It turned out that my dad was just being coy with his ominous statement and I did get that sweet piece of technology the next morning. Somewhere, there is a VHS tape of me walking into the living room that early morning and screaming, “NIN”; unable to even get the full word out. My parents would always set up the camera to catch mine and my brother’s reaction when we walked into the living room. First off, we were half asleep and only awake because we knew there were presents. Second, the wardrobe choices weren’t always the best. We had tightie whities and a t-shirt sometimes; pajama pants and no t-shirt sometimes; and bed hair all of the time. But I could’ve been wearing a woman’s dress that morning and I would not have cared less. My life’s mission had become overtaken by dreams of being a Nintendo owner and my moment had arrived.

I remember that sense of relief when I saw the Nintendo that morning. It was almost like I was tired from running a marathon and I just crumpled by the box and let the emotion wash over me. I have had other moments since then that fit into the Elway category. I felt that way when I got my diploma on the night of my graduation from high school. I felt that way when I got a coveted promotion. I actually felt that way recently when my first interview was published on the Beckett website. There are few things that match the feeling of finally reaching a goal or obtaining something that you’ve wanted badly for a considerable amount of time.

I have an Elway that has eluded me in card collection for almost 30 years. I spoke about it a little in my “Bucket List” article from a few weeks ago. There are several items on my sports card bucket list but the quest for one of those actually began way back when my collecting began. There was one card that I coveted more than any other card when I started collecting in 1989. It wasn’t the ’86 Donruss Canseco or the ’82 Topps Ripken or even a ’68 Topps Ryan. No, the card I wanted in my collection was a 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. That card kept me awake at night sometimes and my desire to have it in my binder burned much like my desire to hold that Nintendo controller in my hand a few years earlier.

Upper Deck was brand new to collectors and was unlike any other card that had ever been produced. It had the fancy foil packaging, futuristic hologram, crystal clear photography and even holographic stickers that came in the packs. It also had Ken Griffey Jr. as Card #1 in the checklist. The other characteristic that Upper Deck had that was a backbreaker was the $1 price tag. In 1989, $.50 was the standard with jumbo cello pack’s ringing up at about $.69. So when this $1 per pack set hit the shelves, it was out of my price range. I know how strange it sounds for $.50 to throw something out of a price range right now but believe me, when I went to Wal-Mart or Piggly Wiggly, the odds that I was walking out with whatever the cheapest pack was at the time, were high. Let me tell you, I collected a TON of 1989 Donruss and Topps.

To be totally honest with you, I only remember opening 3 packs of 1989 Upper Deck in 1989. Those 3 packs were in North Georgia, on a choir trip with my youth group. We went into a town that had a small card shop and I bought 3 packs of Upper Deck and several packs of Donruss. I remember Ken Forrester picking up a few packs of Upper Deck too. I got a John Smoltz Rookie in my 3 packs and thought I did o.k. Then Ken pulled the Griffey and my cards were absolutely worthless. It’s strange how much I remember about that first Jr. I saw pulled from UD but how little I remember from the actual trip. I remember I had a girlfriend on the trip, I remember going on a white water adventure and I remember Ken Griffey Jr. I would’ve traded that girlfriend on the spot for that Griffey.

In 2017, some 28 years later, I have yet to pull a Ken Griffey Jr. from a pack of Upper Deck Baseball. It hasn’t been for a lack of trying either. I buy packs whenever I find them in a thrift store or a card shop. I’ve bought multiple boxes off of eBay. I’ve even had a case sitting in my cart on DA Cardworld but wasn’t able to click “buy”. To be clear, I actually own a few Griffey’s but they are in sets that I’ve bought. My wife got me one for Christmas about 6-7 years ago and it was actually the first one I ever owned. I could never force myself to buy a $100 card before autographs came along and I have a pretty hard time even doing it now. So without buying a single or buying the set, the only other way to get one was by pulling it in a pack.

In hindsight, I’ve spent more money on packs and boxes than if I had bought the single card; but somewhere along the way it became more about pulling the card from a pack than actually owning it. So that is where I am today. At the age of 40, neck deep in a hobby that owes a great deal of its popularity to the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr., I still hold on to the dream that I’ll one day pull one from a sealed pack. That’s why we are here today. I received a message on FaceBook from my LCS owner, Charlie Heinisch, that he had a case and was breaking it to sell by the box. I have grown leery of the boxes on eBay because they aren’t sealed and are usually picked through. But I trust Charlie 100 times more than eBay and this was fresh from a case, so I could not resist the opportunity to check something off of my bucket list.Before we crack this box, let’s do the usual overview of the set so we can set this break up properly. 1989 was the premier edition of this “premium” set and is credited with getting the ball rolling with card companies improving their product. It is also credited sometimes with the beginning of the end as far as 90’s production and oversaturation of products. The cards were produced very well and the photography was a step ahead of the other companies. The card had a normal white border but had the first base line down the right side of the card and the Upper Deck Diamond logo in the bottom left corner. The team logo was inset in the bottom right of the card and the players name was below.The back of the card had a full length photo that took up 2/3rd’s of the card back. The stats and a small amount of biographical info could be found to the right of the photo. The very bottom of the card had the famous UD Hologram Logo that authenticated the card. This was something that UD advertised as a way to know the cards weren’t counterfeit. The foil packaging was very different from the other wax packs that were available in 1989 as well. These packs were completely sealed and it was very easy to see if the packs had been tampered with. The set was truly groundbreaking in 1989 and the $1.00 per pack price tag made that clear.

Overall the cards that I opened in this break held up very well. Some of the issues that have shown up over time have been fading and the hologram logo chipping away. Fortunately, this box was in very good condition. This was clearly taken from a good case and I could tell the minute I saw it. Most of the cards were pretty well centered too, which was another issue in the 80’s. Overall, I don’t think I have opened a 1989 UD box that was in as good of condition as this one. That had me excited to get the rip going! Let’s see how I did!First, the packs didn’t include gum, puzzle pieces or bland stickers like the other sets. 1989 UD included Holographic Team Logo Stickers. Every text book, trapper keeper and card album I had ended up with some of these on them.This first group includes some of the better rookies or first year cards I pulled. I missed out on the Sheffield, which is one I really like but I did pull a sweet Smoltz and Jefferies. Most people who collected in 1989 surely remember the names Jerald Clark, Ricky Jordan and Dante Bichette too. The Jay Buhner was a very nice card back in 1989 and I was happy to pull it in this break.Then we have the sweet “Collector’s Choice” Team Checklist cards that had some artist renderings of the team leader. You should be aware of my thoughts on artist cards by now!The young guns in 1989 included some awesome names that bring back a lot of great memories. These were the guys that we had to have. I spent a lot of time trading for these players back in the day. Mattingly was borderline in the young gun category. He could have easily slid over into the veterans group but I didn’t think of him as an older player at that time. I love Eric Davis cards!The veterans had more great players in some pretty cool photos. The Wade Boggs was always cool to me. Mike Schmidt was in the midst of an interview with an obvious 1980’s microphone. I usually prefer my Rickey Henderson cards in Athletics gear but this one is just fine. Ozzie, Tim Raines and The Hawk were some of my favorites!

As I ripped pack #3 of the box, I had already started to focus on sorting so I didn’t get so worked up about whether I pulled a Jr. or not. And there, right in the middle of the pack, was this beauty! Would it be over dramatic if I told you that I was ALMOST moved to tears at the sight of this card? I have waited for this moment for almost 30 years and here it is. This is the first bucket list item I listed in my previous article and I am now checking it off! I called my daughter into the kitchen and explained to her how important the card was to me because she has heard me talk about Ken Griffey Jr. many times. My wife also knows how big this is because she is the one who bought me the sealed set several years ago at Christmas to help me realize the dream of actually owning one. Believe me when I say, this was a box rip for the ages!There is no way I can give this box less than a perfect score. The packs and cards were in great condition, the rip was super nostalgic and I pulled the card that has eluded me since I was 12 years old. And if you look at the photo, the centering is dang near perfect on this card. The hologram on the back is even completely intact. This is certainly going for grading and will end up in the fireproof. I am also going to earmark this article so I can relive this moment over and over. I saved all of the packs and the box from this rip and it is going into the rubber maid in my closet for safekeeping. This set gets an easy “5” on the Dub-O-Meter and this is truly a night I won’t soon forget when it comes to baseball cards!

J-Dub

Scoring Scale

1. Let me be the sacrificial lamb so you don’t have to buy these cards.  Just read the post and thank me later.
2. There is worse but there is much better – not worth the effort though.

3. Middle of the road – I wouldn’t talk you into buying these but I certainly wouldn’t talk you out of them.

4. You should probably go out and buy a box and enjoy the rip – I did!  It has some downside but worth the ride.

5. Stop reading and find a box to buy and get to Breaking!  What are you waiting on?

It’s been a really hectic few weeks for me. It’s all been a good kind of hectic but it has definitely kept me off of the blog lately. I have been able to jump on YouTube a couple of times for some breaks but haven’t been able to just sit down and enjoy some old junk wax. I started writing a weekly article with Bags Unlimited a few weeks ago and have one other surprise in the works that I can’t reveal for a few more days. This one coming is huge for me personally and I can’t wait to talk about it. Even now as I’m finally sitting down to take a trip down memory lane, my mind is partially off in the distance planning and thinking about my next project. While that’s good for me personally and is giving me a chance to reach more people, it has no doubt made the blog suffer recently. For that I apologize and hope today’s old school football set will help make some amends.

But before we get to the football cards, let’s talk about football itself. I miss playing football as a kid. I didn’t get a chance to play football in high school for several reasons. Maybe they are excuses more than reasons but it just wasn’t meant to be for me. I really enjoyed playing the sport and I think I know the sport and played just good enough to have been able to make some additional memories in high school. But I experienced a major head injury when I was a 3 year old and since that day, any hit I take beyond a normal tackle has resulted in splitting headaches. I was able to play when I was young but I almost always had a headache at the end of the game. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t very good for me but what did we know about head injuries in 1985?That’s not the only reason I didn’t play high school football. I was also a non-imposing, solid 5’9”, 165 lbs in high school. At my high school (Mitchell-Baker), that wasn’t going to translate into football player unless I ran about a 4.5/40 or better. That wasn’t happening either. My high school won the state title in 1989 and 1992 and was 52-3 during that span. We had a 6’8 QB that went on to play basketball at NC State. We had a pair of inside linebackers that were both 6’5, 250 and were brothers. Our running back was an absolute monster and we had two DB’s that would knock a player’s chinstrap off with their unbelievable hits. I just wasn’t blessed with the size, strength or speed to hang with that type of athlete. I tried, believe me, but our high school team was built like a junior college team.Let me give you a little perspective. In 1992, we were 14-0 when we met up with Washington County in the State Championship, who was 14-0 as well. That team called their home field “The House of Pain” and had a linebacker by the name of Takeo Spikes (Auburn), a running back named Robert Edwards (Georgia) and his brother Terrance (Georgia) who played wide receiver. All three of these players dominated in the SEC and made appearances in the NFL. Mitchell-Baker beat that Washington County team 27-10 and the game was never really close. We had 6 AJC All-State players on that team with 4 of those being 1st teamers. As much as I was the Barry Sanders of my front yard on Saturday’s with my friends; those friends weren’t 6’4, 280 pound linemen chasing me either.I had one moment in high school that made me think I could have fit in but it was short lived. It was a major moment for me though. I was in a P.E. class and we were playing flag football on the practice field. Most of the students in the class were average dudes like me, but for the importance of this story, our starting QB and one of our DB’s was also in my class. Our P.E. teacher was one of the coaches and the head coach was there watching. During the game, I ran about a 12 yard inside slant and caught a touchdown from the starting QB and I was being covered (loosely) by the starting DB. So technically, in my high school career, I caught a TD pass from our QB who lost 2 games ever as a starter. So I guess I knew how to play but I would have never been able to sustain that over a full game or especially a full season.Now that I’ve covered how good my high school team was, I will tell you about the undefeated team that I did play on. This team was made up of 2 players; me and my cousin Dusty. In 1990, we started a tradition of playing football at my Granddaddy’s house on Christmas night that lasted 4 consecutive years. Our opponent was Dusty’s brothers, Corey and Jared, who were my age. Dusty was 2 years older than us but he was also the smallest of all 4, so the teams were matched up pretty evenly. For those years, the meal and gifts took an absolute backseat to that football game. We would only get socks and fruiters from the grandparents anyway.The field was about 20 yards long and the same width or shorter. There was a slightly raised concrete driveway that represented one end zone. At the other end of the field was a dirt driveway that was in total darkness. Both end zones presented major hazards for us as kids. The sidelines were boxwood bushes that we would plow into on one side of the field and the other boundary was protected by a dogwood tree and a big saw grass (pampas) bush. If those obstacles weren’t enough, there was also a water meter and surface rock in the field of play. The ground was usually hard from the cold and there were pitfalls all around us but we weren’t fazed. I guess I should also mention that there was a lone flood light on one corner of the house that lit the field, very poorly.Dusty and I won that first matchup and to be honest it was a bit of a surprise. Jared actually played on his high school team and Corey was a short rock of a running back that was a nightmare to tackle. Turnovers and field obstacles all met in the perfect storm to lead us to victory that night. In ’91, we would win again and we started bragging during the middle of the year. In ’92, Corey and Jared started practicing plays in the front yard on Thanksgiving and Dusty saw them, which gave us even more ammunition to pick at them about. We won again, even though Corey and Jared wore matching bandanas like Rico Suave. By ’94, I had grown a little bigger (beefier) than the others and was becoming harder to bring down. We won in ’94 rather handily and the series fell apart after that.We still gather for Christmas and even today, we talk about striking up what we call “The 5th Annual”. We are all too old and would probably break something if we played but I look back on those days so fondly. We spent a lot of time playing football together, whether in the yard or on Nintendo. We also all collected cards as well and 1990 was a pretty solid year for Topps Football. We strived to collect all the players that we used on Super Tecmo and we would emulate them in the yard. So when my buddy Shane Salmonson found this box of ’90 Topps at his LCS for $4 and offered to pick it up for me, I didn’t hesitate on having him snag it.In classic Topps fashion, ’90 Football came with 36 packs per box and a stick of bubble gum that has now become a white powdery unknown substance. The packs were a whopping .50 cents per pack and there were 15 cards per. The insert in the set was the “Special 1,000 Yard Club” glossy card. The wax packs were some of my favorites as they had the generic QB with bright and bold colors about to make a pass. This pack just SCREAMS 1990. The design was decent with a white border and green striped box in the top left of the card. The player name was at the bottom with the team name and position and the Topps logo was in the bottom left corner with a football inset. The back of the card was a varying pinkish red color with black type for the stats and player info. They were nothing special but they are very nostalgic.My main guys in 1990 were Bo, Christian Okoye, Randall Cunningham, Barry Sanders and David Fulcher based on my Tecmo teams. But I liked a wide range of players back then. That was the NFL of my youth and I recall a laundry list of players that were “favorites”. Let’s see what this 27 year old box held.

Leaders
These were the leagues best from 1989. Barry Sanders led the league as a rookie with 1,480 rushing yards. Okoye finished a close second with 1,470.

All-Pro’s
There were some big names found in the All-Pro group, which is not a big surprise. Jerry Rice, Sanders, Reggie White, Okoye, Joe Montana and LT led the way with this group. I also pulled my David Fulcher card here.

Draft Picks
The big get in 1990 was this Jeff George rookie. The Falcons traded George (or the pick) to the Indianapolis Colts for Andre Rison. That worked out for the Falcons a lot more than the Colts. The long term big get in this group was obviously a very young looking Junior Seau.

Super Rookies
The big names here are obviously Deion Sanders and Troy Aikman, but Dave Meggett and Steve Atwater made pretty good names for themselves at the pro level. Rodney Peete didn’t exactly pan out but wasn’t terrible either.

Record Breakers
Aikman and Montana were the headliners in this group. Flipper Anderson made an appearance in the Record Breaker set and 1,000 Yard Club. He was a very underrated receiver in the late 80’s. And of course, Kevin Butler is a Damn Good Dawg from UGA!

Offensive Studs
I pulled my other favorites here with Cunningham and Bo. I also added Ickey Woods and Thurman Thomas who made noise on Super Tecmo. I was always a fan of Warren Moon and would like to add an auto to the PC one day.

Defensive Studs
These were THE GUYS back in the late 80’s. They were sack masters and ball hawks for their teams and Dent is was a huge part of the ’85 Bears Championship. I was always partial to Joey Browner because of his great first name but he was a very good NFL player.

1,000 Yard Club
This is really a who’s who of offensive studs in the NFL in 1989. It’s easy to forget John Taylor and Roger Craig when you have Jerry Rice but this insert set highlights just how prolific the 49’ers were back in the day. They had 3 representatives who reached 1,000 yards.

Box Bottom
In late 80’s and early 90’s Topps fashion, they had 4 cards on the box bottom. These were the players of the week for Weeks 5-8. I remember how good Jerome Brown was when he was lined up on the opposite end of the line from Reggie White. Brown lost his life, along with his 12 year old nephew, in a car crash in 1992 at the age of 27. In additional bad news, his son Dunell was sentenced to 25 years in prison for second degree murder in 2012. He was also 27.

Oh and I didn’t forget about my buddy Scott Berger!

This was a pretty sweet trip back to the NFL that raised me. I would have loved to have played fantasy football back then too! I will forever be a fan of this NFL era and there are so many true stars that we will never see again like these found here. As for the set, there really isn’t anything fancy about the design and the box includes a ton of kickers and offensive linemen that water it down. But the Super Rookie’s of Deion and Aikman were very sweet and a Junior Seau Draft Pick card is always nice to add. If I ever started one of those autographed set quests, this would be on my short list. Overall, I would give the set a “4”. The price is nice and the stars are abundant. The design was a little behind Action Packed, Pro Set and Upper Deck by 1990 but I like that they stuck with the wax pack a little longer than the others. And a price of $4 is just icing on the cake!

What say you about 1990 Topps Football?

J-Dub

Fellow Twitter Collector, Frank King, submitted the following to me for publishing on the Dub Mentality Blog.  Give Frank a follow on Twitter (link at the end) and let him know your thoughts on the article.  Thanks ~~ Dub

The year of 1991 was a precarious time. That was the year the Cold War ended with the dissolution of the USSR. It was also the greatest year in cinematic history as both Terminator 2 and Point Break premiered. For me, this was the year when I moved from 8th to 9th grade, the differentiation between Jr. High and High School in my small town Texas ISD. In 8th Grade, you couldn’t have a care in the world. At age 14, I couldn’t drive unaccompanied yet but I really had nowhere to go. That summer I had my first job but it was nothing serious, just teaching rifle and shotgun classes to kids younger than myself. Life was pretty awesome, for about the first 8 months of that year. 

August and everything after was kind of a beating. August meant starting my freshman year, which in Texas, meant Football. And freshman football at my High School meant getting your brain kicked in twice a day by someone who outweighed you by 80 pounds. Our high school was too tiny to have a huge varsity squad. If the varsity squad didn’t brutalize the freshmen and sophomores as tackling dummies in practice, who then would they brutalize? As an 8th grade athlete, nothing mattered: it was all for fun. The differences are huge moving up just one level.

1991 was also my golden year of collecting cards. The 1990 Upper Deck pack I had bought at a 7-11, which I had pulled a sprinting Bo Jackson from, had hooked me. Cards were in every store in 1991 and I sampled every set I could find. One set I was aware of but couldn’t find was the Line Drive Minor League set. I was only aware of this set because a card dealer at a tiny card show in a local town hall had sold me a signed Keith Miller, Buffalo Bisons Line Drive card for $1. I remember thinking, “Cool, didn’t even know anyone made Minor League cards”. Then I moved on buying Upper Deck, Topps, way too much Fleer and Score; never giving a second thought to the minor league sets. Twenty five years later, I traded @collectiblesall for 3 boxes of unopened Line Drive AAA and AA.The cards come wrapped like only one other set I have ever seen, the 1992 Legends of Indy set. They aren’t in wax packs or cello or sealed foil like the Upper Deck sets of that era. For the lack of a better term, they are wrapped in little trash bag wrappers. Those wrappers stretch and pull and and fight you as you try to rip the cards from their grasp. The term “rip” doesn’t even apply.The cards are clean with minimal graphics over a better than expected quality photo. The placement of the photo on the card initially hits me as a miscut, but it’s not. There’s a little too much white at the top. Truth be told, I dig white card stock; Always have. Maybe that’s another call back to that first 1990 UD pack. And white card stock is great for autographs, which I am all about.The checklist is huge considering what you are getting; the roster and coaches of all 26 AAA affiliates at the time. Line drive grouped the teams within the checklist. For example, all the Tulsa Drillers are consecutively numbered. Honestly, I wish EVERY set did this. I know Topps is doing bits within their checklists but I’m over that.On to the hits! And I use that term as loosely as possible.There are no inserts in this set. No sparkle. No chrome. Just pure, uncut base. There are rookies on their way up in the AAA set.There are guys you knew, guys you’d heard of and guys you may never hear of until 25 years later. This Jeff Bannister card is what made the AAA box a win for me. For anybody who does not know the story of Banister, he’s a man worth knowing. He almost lost his leg to cancer in high school. After being told he’d never walk again, much less play again, he fought his way to a september call up with the 1991 Pirates. Yes, those Bucs. He got one infield hit and that was it for him in the Majors. Three years later, he was managing a low A team of his own. Twenty years after that, he’s the manager of my Texas Rangers. In 2 years, he’s won 2 AL West division titles and AL manager of the year. When I pulled this card I gasped audibly because there is only one Banister Topps issue and that’s in the 91 Traded set. I can’t find any of that set and if I did, hell if I’m splitting it up. I really cannot do Banister’s backstory justice so here’s a link to a 2014 Article on him by the Great Jamey Newberg.There are also guys on their way out. I never knew Cecil Espy played after he left the Rangers. And getting quite a few more of the OKC 89’ers wasn’t too shabby.

The thing I also see in these cards is a place and time in baseball. The ill fitting uniforms, almost as if they were wearing a hand me down uni just like I was in 1991. Younger versions of the stars we knew. But I also see guys who were about to take a step up that were unprepared. The point about guys you’ve never heard of is that if you get these boxes, you are going to end up with 90% or more of the cards being players that peaked at AAA. This is why baseball is the most difficult sport. Not the ‘toughest’, but the most difficult. There are 4 levels of minor league ball and only the top 5% of any of the players in those leagues are going to ascend to the next level. And still, all of them are 1000 times better than most of us ever were at playing the game. Opening their packs 25 years later gives them a bit of the respect they are due.

Frank King – @TLFrankKing

I have never claimed to be any sort of fashionista. Let’s go ahead and get that out of the way. This has become an even more accurate statement since I hit the age of 40. I choose comfort over style every time my wife lets me. That doesn’t mean that I always look like I’m thrown away but I am a shorts and t-shirt guy 90% of the time. I do try to match when I can but my days of having to have something that is “hot” or a current fad are behind me. I am who I am at this point and you can take me or leave me. “The clothes don’t make the man” has become a quote I hold near and dear at this point in my life.This doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a time when I wanted to be with the “in crowd”. I remember having to have the right design on my Trapper Keeper and having to have fancy batting gloves that made me stand out. Yeah, in the late 80’s and early 90’s, your humble blogger was just like all the other teens wanting to be seen as popular. If you are 30, you probably saw the tail end of the fads I am talking about. If you are younger than that, you probably didn’t get to experience these except in the ironic or hipster sense. By that, I mean the way that old fads come back around and are seen as a novelty or gimmick. People my age lived these fads and they were a part of our life and culture. Let’s go through a few of them.

Fanny Packs
These were also called Belly Bags by some folks. These were actually fairly functional as a clothing item for a kid because you could put some of your toys or collectibles in them instead of your pockets. I remember carrying Nintendo games in mine because we would trade at school. These came in all shapes and sizes and could be extremely generic or could have some cool design from Bugle Boy. There were Ninja Turtles, Alf, Sports Teams and even music groups like the one in the photo. There was also a style that came with wearing them. You could wear them on your hip or on your back or slung across your shoulder if you didn’t want to wear it like the old folks did. I still occasionally see these in my travels and my wife even got one for our last trip to Disney World; again, for the functionality. The fanny pack gets a bad rap in today’s society in my opinion.

JAMS
The only thing that could come in a wilder design than your fanny pack was the classic JAMS Shorts we all had in the late 80’s. These were the shorts that all kids had, whether they wanted them or not. They came in the wildest designs you can imagine. When you have the time, just google JAMS Shorts and see just how nutty we were as kids. My particular favorites came in a cargo style because again, I needed that pocket space for all of my toys. You could put on any shirt you had in your closet and it would match and not match the shorts at the same time. But fortunately, these weren’t the only options when it came to cool shorts back in the day.

Umbros
These were especially sexy on the chicks but guys would wear these as well. I think I had the exact pair that is pictured above. Wearing these was as close to feeling naked in public but not getting arrested as you could feel. As I got older, they shifted to boxers or something I slept in but in the early days, these were standard going out shorts. You could play basketball, go swimming and even go to the local Wal-Mart all in the same day and never have to change your shorts!

Converse All-Star’s
The key to the JAMS and the Umbros was being able to match them up with Converse All-Stars, or Chuck Taylors. These have been around since the 20’s but by the time the 80’s rolled around; we were wearing every color in the rainbow. The brighter they were, the better. I owned them in neon orange, neon green, yellow and red as I remember. I may have owned others but I remember these specifically. I also remember feeling cool when I saw Ferris Bueller wearing them on his day off. They phased out of the NBA in the early 80’s but they continued to be hot commodities to the general public. I would have never worn them playing basketball though because they gave your ankles less than zero support. Once basketball became a heavy part of my life, I had to find something a little more supportive.

Reebok Pumps
In 1989, I was 12 and starting to play basketball daily. A new shoe hit the scene that year called the Reebok Pump. This was an athletic high top that you could inflate using a small basketball designed pump on the tongue of the shoe. You could put these on and pump them up until they were really snug on your ankles. I suppose it was for support but many people used them in an effort to jump higher. Dee Brown famously pumped his reeboks right before a dunk when he won the slam dunk contest in 1991. Well, they didn’t make you jump any higher but you couldn’t tell me that back then.

Tight Roll Jeans
Of course, if you owned sweet looking sneakers, you didn’t want a pair of jeans covering them up. So our answer to that was the tight roll. Trust me when I say that this was an art form. There were people who were famous at my school for their ability to tight roll jeans. I was ok but I was never a Jared McKenzie when it came to the tight roll. If we were going to a party, you might even ask one of the legends to tight roll it for you! This was especially crucial if you were wearing acid wash jeans. I have tried to tight roll my jeans in the recent past and I really suck at it now.

Duck Head
Along with the pants and shoes, you had to find a shirt to wear. I probably owned 10 of these shirts in various colors. The cool thing about the shirt was that it matched every design of the Duck Head shorts that were also very popular at the time. I had so many different shades of their shorts but this shirt is all I needed. I’d be willing to bet that there is at least a 12 month stretch in my teens where I wasn’t seen without wearing something made by Duck Head. This is one of the fads I look back on and want to take back. The pastel colors of Duck Head have not aged well.

Wind Suits
When I wasn’t wearing JAMS, Duck Head or Tight Rolled Jeans, I was sporting a wind suit. This was more of a fall item that we wore to football games and to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving. The wind suit was extremely comfortable and came with matching top and bottom. I wasn’t old enough to match that up with a girlfriend and for that I am thankful. I would not want any photos floating around out there of Dub and an old flame in matching wind suits. This picture may look silly to you but trust me; these things were HUGE when I was about 14.

Starter Jacket
When fall turned to winter, I jumped out of the wind suit and got a little warmer with a starter jacket. This jacket was one of the most amazing innovations in clothing since the loin cloth. They had them for all sports, with team colors, logos and league insignias. I remember having a Falcons jacket for a while but the most popular in my high school in the early 90’s was the Charlotte Hornet Starter Jacket. Remember, the Hornets were established in 1988 and by the time I got to high school, they had Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning and Kendall Gill. I saw that purple and teal every where I went! I couldn’t find a soul wearing a red and yellow Hawks jacket but there were tons of these. I remember football players wearing them a lot on the sideline too when it was snowing. I’m telling you, this was a great jacket!

Cell Phone
While not a clothing option, I think it’s important to remember the old cell phone from my youth. I remember Zack Morris having one of these on Saved by the Bell and kids were losing their minds! This phone was bigger than the phone in our home but you could take it anywhere and call from it. The first cell phone I had was the bag phone in my vehicle but this beautiful piece of technology was all the rage when I was too young for phones. Now my 10 year old daughter can text her friend. When I was 10, it took me 2 minutes to dial the rotary at my house. I guess it could be worse. I think Scott Berger used to have to be patched through to an operator like Andy Griffith. I kid because I care!By now you may be asking what any of this has to do with sports cards. Well, you are about to find out that this information is extremely pertinent to the box I am ripping. In 1991, a football card product hit the scene that hammers at the 90’s clothing scene. Pro Line produced a 300 card base set with NFL players in somewhat of a “glamour shot” style without the manufactured haze. They were all wearing some form of workout or casual gear with their team logos on them. They were either holding a football or leaning against weights or just standing on the stairs of the stadium. The set is also known as the first football set to include random autographs in packs.The cards were full bleed on the front and had a nice gloss – but not too much- balance. The backs of the cards included another inset photo and only a quote from the player. There were no statistics or even player information. There were a couple inserts that included Payne Stewart and Santa Claus and these could be found as autographs as well. Pulling a Santa auto might be as fun as unearthing a ’91 Donruss Elite. There was also a “Wives Set” that included 7 player’s wives. Who can forget that Jennifer Montana card? I collected these pretty heavily back in ’91 but I am about to take my first stab at ripping a full box. Now you see that the above discussion about clothing was necessary to prepare you for the styles you are about to see.

I knew right away I was going to enjoy this as I pulled this Webster Slaughter in the first pack!

I also pulled this Marcus Dupree pretty quickly too! Remember the “30 for 30: The Best That Never Was”?

The Wives
The full Wives Subset was in the box. From top left we have; Jennifer Montana, Babette Kosar, Janet Elway, Michelle Oates, Toni Lipps, Stacey O’Brien and Phylicia Rashad.

Retired Players
The retired players in the set are in this photo. Orenthal James Simpson is the top left. There are some autos floating around out there in unopened boxes of “Juice”. I always loved this Walter Payton card.

Coaches
All of the coaches are present in this set. I only took a photo of the legendary coaches. One of these is a rookie card of one of the greatest coaches ever!

Quarterbacks
I pulled 10 legendary quarterbacks along with many other not so legendary guys. Steve Young is still a fresh face in this set and Troy Aikman is FEELING THE BURN! I’m always happy to add another Randall Cunningham (QB Eagles) to the PC.

Running Backs
The stable of running backs available here take me straight back to Super Tecmo Bowl. This list includes Christian Okoye, Barry Word, Ickey Woods, James Brooks, Roger Craig and others.

Wide Receivers
There were some solid wide receivers in 1991. My personal favorite was Andre Rison but Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin and Andre Reed were amazing! I had to include Ed McCaffrey here too. Steve Largent was technically done playing but I felt like including him with the wide receivers.

Defense
There is a lot of defensive talent (and ferocity) in this photo. I remember David Fulcher dominating the Bengals defensive backfield and Ronnie Lott is an all time legend. The defensive line had Howie Long, Bruce Smith and Derrick Thomas. Meanwhile, the linebackers included LT, Seau and Kevin Greene! This was 90’s football at its finest!

Zubaz
Pro Line was the licensed carrier of Zubaz in the NFL and the cards did not disappoint. There really isn’t much to say. Just peruse the cards!

The Autograph
I was fortunate enough to pull an autograph. I can’t really find the insertion ratios but in 1992 they advertised one per box. Perhaps 1991 was the same. This was an autograph of Philadelphia Running Back, Keith Byars. The interesting part about Pro Line Autographs is that they are autographed on the back of the card as opposed to the front. The authenticity is a stamp in the lower right corner too as opposed to a statement from the company as is customary now.This set brings back a lot of memories for me. 1991 was a great time to be a football fan. There were some awesome video games, highlight tapes were very popular and there were some true legends playing in the league. I missed one card from building the entire set with this box. I missed Card #42, Cleveland Gary, somehow. I’m sure I can pick it up on the Bay for next to nothing. I also love the autograph cards in this set. The box was $20 shipped and really pretty hard to beat on value. It can be quirky to some and I get that but it was indicative of the time we lived in. Card companies were looking for something different and they found it with this one. I have to give this one a “5” on the Dub-O-Meter. Very cheap box, superstars, Zubaz and an autograph? What else do you need from a box of football cards in 1991?

J-Dub

Scoring Scale

1. Let me be the sacrificial lamb so you don’t have to buy these cards.  Just read the post and thank me later.
2. There is worse but there is much better – not worth the effort though.

3. Middle of the road – I wouldn’t talk you into buying these but I certainly wouldn’t talk you out of them.

4. You should probably go out and buy a box and enjoy the rip – I did!  It has some downside but worth the ride.

5. Stop reading and find a box to buy and get to Breaking!  What are you waiting on?