Flea Market Find: 1997-1998 Topps Basketball Box

 I was very excited to find a box of 1997-1998 Topps basketball cards at the local flea market this month.  This was pure fun.  I didn't collect much in the nineties so these are cards I am not familiar with.

I paid $12 for the box which was probably a bit much but I wasn't disappointed.  There are a ton of cards that'll go into my personal collection.  I love cheap boxes of cards.  The design is ok.  There is no position or even the team name or logo on the cards.  This is a cardinal sin for me but I'll let it go.  They are cheap cards for a reason.  I like the backs with a new color photo, career stats, write-up and player information.  This is how backs should be done even if I do need a magnifying glass to read them. 

The inserts were fun as well.  Not spectacular but for the time I think they did a good job.

I will say there were tons of doubles which was a bit disappointing.  I still managed to get the big stars, not counting Hakeem Olajuwon, who was the player featured on the box.  Go figure.  Would I buy these at price equal to today's cards?  No.  Again I look at this purely from a fun standpoint and the cards themselves are all a bonus.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat though at this price.   

384 Total Cards
7 Hall of Fame Stamp
 3 Topps 40th Anniversary Cards
2 NBA Draft Redemption Cards (#17 & #18)
2 Checklists
1 Pressure Points
1 Shooting Stars
1 Fantastic 15
1 Rock Stars

Flea Market Sports Card Finds

Can't say no to Dr. J and the fro nor could I to a Seth Curry card. 

Visited a local flea market a few months back.  It isn't near a large city so it is mostly small town stuff but I was pleasantly surprised to find a guy selling cards.  I only picked up a few and didn't pay much of anything for the lot but found some players I like. 

Don't pass up LeBron cards when I get the chance.

All-time Fave Yaz and Paul Molitor

Flea Market & Antique Store Finds - Part 3

I don't remember ever having the '94 Skybox football so these are pretty new to me.  John Elway and Bret Favre were my big pulls in this pack.  I can never have enough Elway cards.  These are some pretty nice looking cards.  Not a ton of information on the front where'll you'll only see the player's name, position and the Skybox logo over a football.  Leaves plenty of room for the photos which are pretty nice.  The backgrounds are muted so the only detail is of the player.  This has been done on many different sets throughout the years and is a hit or miss thing for me.  These I like.  I would like to have seen the team's helmet, logo or at the very least their name somewhere on the front but I won't complain too much as again the front looks pretty good.  The back contains a small write-up, an additional photo, the 1993 and career total stats, and the team logo.  It isn't anything fancy but again I like it.  I'll call this a win.  Glad I picked this up and wouldn't mind seeing some more cards from this set.

Flea Market & Antique Store Finds - Part 2

One of my favorite brandings of the 90's was the Wild Card offerings so when I saw this pack I had to pick it up.  This was a pack of 1992 Wild Card football.   They had a really different colorful design that clicked with me.  The fronts also have the team helmets on them which is also a plus for me.  I thought the numbers on the front had something to do with a game associated with the cards.  I haven't' been able to confirm this and maybe I'm mixing it up with one of the other wild card sets.  Hard to tell. 

Pretty good pull in which I grabbed a Marcus Allen, John Elway, Bret Favre, Richard Dent, and Jackie Slater.  The rookie cards show players in their college uniforms.  The backs have basic stats you'd expect to find and contain a head photo of the player but are otherwise unremarkable.  I definitely wanted to share these as again they are some of my favorites. 

  

Flea Market & Antique Store Finds - Part 1

In April, my daughters and I took a trip to Farmington, Mo.  A great time where we could hang out and have some father-daughter time. While there we took in a flea market and hit a good sized antique shop.  While the girls didn't want anything we still had fun and I ended up picking up some card packs from years past to include some I've never seen before.  Thought I'd share some of what I found here so everyone can enjoy.

First off were a pack of Upper Deck Holiday Inn Play Ball baseball cards from 2007.  There were four cards in the pack and it looks like Cal Ripken Jr. may have been paid to promote Holiday Inn.  I don't remember how much I paid but it was .50 cents or less. 

 

The four cards I pulled were Albert Pujols, Garrett Atkins, Paul Konerko, and Cal Ripken Jr. not in uniform holding a Holiday Inn Premier Club Rewards card.  The cards are nice looking with green borders which is completely different from the 2007 Upper Deck baseball standard set.  The Ripken card is part of a four card set of Ripken cards while the base set is 60 cards.  The backs contains player information, team logo, career stats and a short write-up on the player.  I always enjoy finding cards I've never seen before so this was fun and I liked my pull, especially the Pujols card.