Random Wax: 1990 Score Football

 

1990 Score: Boomer led the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl in 1988 and had a really good career.  He was a 4X Pro Bowl selection and 1X All-Pro.  He twice threw for over 3,500 yards and 28 touchdowns.

1990 Score is an easy one to like.  The design is fairly simple but seems to work even without the team logo.  I do wish the colors had matched the team's colors more in line like that Steve Deberg card.  It was time to show off this pack whose scans have been gathering dust since 2021.  Two Eagle Hall of Famers here.

The backs were great and were fun in terms of design and color compared to Topps cards.  The tradeoff is the lack of career stats.

Great Vance Johnson photo and I do remember him doing that in games.  Fun cards and I wouldn't mind picking up more of these someday.  And no, I did not know the answer to the trivia question.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
1 – Top Gun
1 – Ground Force
1 – Super Bowl Trivia

Random Wax: 1991-1992 Topps Stadium Club Hockey

91-92 Stadium Club:   First hockey pack of the year and we'll go old school.  Luc Robitaille played 14 seasons for the Los Angeles Kings but won a championship with the Detroit Red Wings.  He made the All-Star team eight times and is a member of the NHL Hall of Fame.  

Topps rolled out Stadium Club in 1991 across the sports, maybe in response to Upper Deck taking trading cards to a different level.  Plenty of good photos even on simple headshots like the Kirk Muller here.

Not enough stats on the backs for a Topps offering but it's still nice and colorful with a photo of the player's rookie card which is really cool.

I'm not a hockey expert but I enjoy hockey cards.  I think when done right, they can be some of the best in the hobby.

I just don't think of Topps hockey cards from the 80s but the photo here shows the '84 set followed a somewhat similar design as the 1983 Topps baseball design and there isn't anything wrong with that. 

Also get some nice horizontal offerings in the set and I like this photo.  It's not in game and just something different but still relevant.  I'll do more hockey later this year and look forward to it.

BREAKDOWN:

12 – Total Cards

1 – Hall of Famers

Random Wax: 1988 Fleer Baseball (3 Packs)

1988 Fleer:  Tony Gwynn led the league in batting average eight times.  He hit over .320 in 13 seasons.  He was a .338 career hitter with a .388 on base percentage.  Just crazy greatness.

A couple more Hall of Famers in Cal Ripken Jr. and Dennis Eckersley.  Mike Greenwell was no slouch in the hitting department, playing 12 seasons with the Red Sox ending his career with a .303 batting average and .368 on base percentage.

SuperStar Specials are fun cards.  I wish we had more like these today.  I know Topps tries with team and checklist cards, but I also want something closer to these.

We love Fleer stickers and the '88 design was great with different options.

Cincinnati traded Jeff Montgomery to the Kansas City Royals for Van Snider after only one season.  Yep, didn't know who he was either.  KC was the clear winner there as he played 12 seasons for the Royals ending with 304 saves.

Kent Tekulve's walkout music, Rubberband Man, was a classic as was the Pirates unis.  He talks about it some here.  Ron Gant looking 12 and Joe Niekro and the lost art that is the knuckleball.  I always like pitchers who threw it.

The backs of the stickers were just as much fun.  A color photo would have been better, but I'll take it.

More greats from the era.  I'll always take an Eric Davis card and always wonder what if...?  Fun design, fun set and so many fun memories of these players.

BREAKDOWN:
45 – Total Cards (3 Packs)
3 - Stickers
2 – SuperStar Specials
2 – Major League Prospects

Random Wax: 2020-2021 Illusions Basketball

20-21 Illusions:  Some of Donovan Mitchell's numbers are down slightly this season but the Cavs are the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference.  I hope they do well in the playoffs.  They have a solid starting five who are obviously gelling this season.

I have a soft spot for Illusions, especially some of the older designs.  First time I'm showing this pack and wow does it age well.  Mitchell has raised his game, Morant is one of the most athletic players in the sport and Doncic is still crazy good and now a Laker.

We get retired greats on some of the inserts.  These Living Legends aren't my favorites but I'm not complaining.

The Saddiq Bey is an Orange Parallel.  This pack only had 12 cards but I'm definitely happy with it.  I also get a nice Trae Young pull.  The Hawks will likely be in the play in tourney, but they aren't that good this season so I'm not really sure what to expect out of them in the playoffs. 

BREAKDOWN:
12 – Total Cards
3 – RC
1 – Retired Great
1 – Living Legends
1 – Orange Parallel

  

1992 Pro Set Racing NASCAR (4 Packs)

1992 Pro Set:  This set gives us one of Jeff Gordon's earliest cards.  He does have earlier cards as far back as 1987.  Gordon is a NASCAR legend.  He won four championships, he finished top five in the standings 11 times, and won a total of 93 races.

These cards are a pretty simple but I'm good with the design.  The name sits in what could be thought of as part of a race track and the Pro Set logo includes a checkered flat.  No borders can be tricky but these look good.  The photos are fairly varied as well.  Allison, Schrader and Martin finished 3rd, 9th and 6th respectively in the 1991 NASCAR standings.

We get Rig or hauler cards which are always fun.  I really like these.  This is Davey Allison's.

There are also Legends cards which include legends like Marilyn Green who was the first Miss Winston as well as drivers like NASCAR greats Junior Johnson and Cotton Owens. 

Team cards are nice as well.  

Crew cards highlight team personnel like crew chiefs, the pit crew, and engineers.

A good on track photo of the cars on these Card cards.  I picked up these four packs on eBay.  The price was great, and the seller took a while a to ship.  I was wondering if they were having second thoughts.  I'm very happy I grabbed these.  Fun cards and plenty of great drivers.

A Miss Winston Card. Renee White held the title from 1996-2001.  

I really like seeing the haulers.  Something about them is fun.

Some drivers get a horizontal card. I like this one.  It looks like Michael Waltrip's photo is on the side of a hauler or promotional banner.

Dale Jarrett would go on to win a NASCAR Championship in 1999.

The backs are great.  Nice write-up, photo and stats and player/team info.  Alan Kulwicki would go on to win the 1992 NASCAR Championship.  He is the last driver/owner to win a championship.  Sadly, he would die in a plane crash the next April.

BREAKDOWN:

48 – Total Cards

11 – Crew

8 – Legend

7 – Rig

3 – Car

2 - Team

1 – MRN Radio

1 – Miss Winston

2024 Upper Deck Marvel Studios Series 2: Cinematic Blaster

Studios Cinematic 2024: Chris Hemsworth does a great Thor.  I've always been a fan of his character though I do believe his character went too far with the over-the-top humor.  Still, Hemsworth does a great job.

I really like this shot with all the chaos in the background.  Thor: Love and Thunder is not a movie I care for.  I thought it had a lot going for it, but it went with too much comedy which overshadowed what good it did have.

The base set here continues numbering from Series 1.  Like Series 1, the designs are the same which are fine.  I like the middle design here the most.  The other is design is okay and reminds me of a Fleer Ultra look.

These are pretty simple, but I really like the card and concept.  As a kid I had a Marvel lunch box so this takes me back.  I like the Lunch Box Legends cards.

Here are two UD Debut inserts.  The one on the right is an Outburst Parallel.  I like the UD inserts. 

UD Canvas are nice cards and something we see across Upper Deck sets.

This is the Jumbo Parallel I pulled.  They are okay but I have no idea what to do with oversized cards.

The backs are fine.  I like how the set's focus on the actors as well as the characters from the movies.  I like the appearances listing as well for some reason.

Specifically, this set showcases cards from the Marvel movies Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.  

These inserts aren't bad.  We have UD Portraits, Dazzlers Green and 1995 Collectors Choice SE Retros.  The Collector's Choice is my favorite though I wish they had gone with white borders.

I always liked the Lady Sif character and thought they could have done more with her and the Warriors Three.  I like this set but I'm more excited about Series 1 and the television shows covered there.  

Fun box of cards.  I'll pick off singles, but I won't be doing full blasters.  We'll end it with Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff/Scarlett Johansson who is always fun and a favorite of mine.

BREAKDOWN:

35 – Total Cards

3 – UD Debut

1 – Jumbo

1 – UD Canvas

1 – Dazzlers Green

1 – Outburst Parallel

1 – UD Portraits Gold

1 – Lunch Box Legends

1 – 1995 Collectors Choice SE Retros