The “Last Dance,” the 10-part ESPN documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls’ final championship team in 1997-1998, has rekindled interest in basketball during the coronavirus pandemic. Some of the major stars during that year are featured in what’s been one of the more underrated basketball card sets — 1988-1989 Fleer. It’s easy to wax nostalgic over this … [Read more...]
The Wayback Collector: 1980-81 Topps Basketball the Way They Were Meant to Be
A seller in a collector group to which I belong made the offer. Up for grabs was about 175 panels from the 1980-81 Topps basketball set along with a dozen 'intact' cards. The asking price was $20 delivered, which seemed low enough as it was. But the last thing I needed was to be sucked into another collecting project. Anyway, I'm mostly a pre-War guy, for … [Read more...]
1933 Goudey Sport Kings Set Featured Early Pro Basketball Stars
While the NBA is the top league in the world today, professional basketball actually began before its creation. And while there aren't a ton of pre-war basketball issues floating around out there, the multi-sport 1933 Goudey Sport Kings set featured some of the earliest pros in that sport. Here's a look at the four basketball players in the release. Eddie Burke Eddie Burke … [Read more...]
Ultra-Rare 1950-51 Scott’s Lakers Complete Set Up for Auction
George Mikan was the NBA’s first big man. Standing 6’ 10” tall, the late Basketball Hall of Famer helped redefine the center position during his glory years playing for the Minneapolis Lakers. Mikan broke the mold, so to speak, and along with his emergence as the NBA’s top draw during the league’s early days, regional distributions of the man’s likeness were being distributed … [Read more...]
25 Years Later: 1991-92 Upper Deck Basketball Brought Chase to Hoops
Card collectors of today, with boxes that cost over $1,000 and memorabilia cards that are easy to acquire, might find it hard to believe that when Upper Deck entered the basketball card market in 1991-92 they released what was considered a high-end product. Twenty-five years later, even though prices are low, that first issue is a hobby landmark. Not only was … [Read more...]
The Phone Call That Brought Basketball Cards Back
It was an experiment that would bring basketball cards into the mainstream for collectors. The venerable Sy Berger at Topps may have been the mad professor in this experiment, but the card company's executive needed a willing subject. And Nick Curran, along with NBA commissioner Walter Kennedy, was more than willing to test it out. The result: the iconic 1969-70 Topps “tall … [Read more...]
Topps’ 1981-82 Basketball Had A Regional Flavor
Topps put a different spin on its 1981-82 NBA set, which would turn out to be the last basketball product the company issued until the 1992-93 season. The company released a national run of 66 cards, and then curiously added three 44-card regional subsets to complete a 198-card base set. The subsets were labeled East, Midwest and West and were numbered from 67 to 110, with a … [Read more...]
1975 Carvel Disc Set a Blast from NBA’s Past
If you were a basketball card collector over 40 years ago, there wasn’t much to chase after once you bought enough packs to put the annual Topps set together. The 1974-75 Carvel NBA disc set was a little oasis in that winter desert—as long as you could get your hands on them. Carvel Ice Cream was—and still is—a regional product. The company, which had grown from a one man … [Read more...]
Cheap Vintage: 1979-80 Topps Basketball Set
There's little question that even for the most diehard of vintage basketball collectors, the 1979-80 Topps set is a remarkably tough sell. Given the content, that's entirely understandable. The Design Here's the good: The design is passable - and even unique. In almost every Topps basketball set before it, the team names of the players in question were sprawled either … [Read more...]
1978-79 Topps Basketball Set: Home of Unsung Rookie Cards
To most, the 1978-79 Topps basketball set is one that does little but help connect the ABA/NBA merger era to the popular 1980-81 Topps issue, which features the rookie cards of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Hidden, however, in this collection is a quiet group of underappreciated rookie cards featuring many NBA stars and Hall of Famers. While the set doesn't include high-dollar … [Read more...]