Random Wax: 1990 Upper Deck Baseball

1990 UD:   Joe Carter had a smile on his face much of the time.  This is a really good photo of him.  A 5X All-Star and 2X Silver Slugger he went on to win two World Series championships with the Toronto Blue Jays.  One on his famous walk off home run.  That Toronto lineup really was stacked.

Just an amazing set from Upper Deck.  My first time buying any since 2018.  In 1990, Greg Maddux would lead the league in hits allowed.  He still won 15 games and had a 3.46 ERA while winning a Golden Glove award and is showing off his skills here.

The backs are really nice.  Colorful with a new photo.  Not all of a player's career stats but enough to be forgiven for the error.  Carter of cours had power but also had some wheels early in his career.  

Some backstop love.

Mark Grace coming off an excellent 1989 season.

These team holograms were maybe 1/3 the size of a regular card.  Pretty cool looking and they scan great.

Some nice photos to end it as well as a Team Checklist.  I love the art on those across the Upper Deck sets.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
1 – Team Checklist
1 – Team Hologram

1992 Upper Deck Football

1992 Upper Deck:   It's hard to find new props for Barry Sanders.  It's all been said before.  He was just crazy fun to watch during his 10 years on the field.  You just knew you were going to see greatness that day.  And this is such a nice photo.

As much as I like this set, I'm surprised I've never picked up packs before.  I love this design.  Simple and the stonework look at the bottom is a great look to me.  Emmitt catching the ball.  Not as a surprise as he had over 500 receptions in his career.

The backs are really nice with a separate photo and has the Upper Deck look we were used too from that year.  Barry's eyes seem to always stand out in his photos.

Youngsters in the set.  Bryan Cox was a 3X Pro Bowl selectee.  I really thought it would have been more.  He also won a Super Bowl with New England in 2001.

Team MVP and Season Leaders cards work nicely.  I like both of those photos as well.

I really like that we get horizontal offerings.

This Thurman Thomas card is my favorite card in the pack.  The photo, cropping, team colors all work for me alot.  As a Bills guy I'm probably biased but that's okay.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
3 – All Rookie Team
2 – Star Rookie
1 – Team MVP
1 – Season Leaders

1991-1992 Upper Deck Basketball High Series

91-92 Upper Deck:  1991-1992 would be the start of a successful run for Mitch Richmond with the Kings after three seasons in Golden State as a member of Run TMC.  Man, could this guy shoot.  He hit 38% of his 3's in his 14-year career.

I've always liked Alvin Robertson and Walter Davis.  Davis is a Hall of Famer and 2X All-NBA who averaged 18.9 points per game across 14 seasons.  Alvin Robertson was a 1X All-NBA, 3X steals champ, Defensive Player of the Year and 6X All-Defensive team selectee in 10 years.  He is also the all-time leader for career steals per game with 2.7.

The High Series backs are the same as the low series 91-92 Upper Deck cards.  The packs contain cards from both series and Jerry West autographs are possible though rare.  I'm a big fan of this set. 

Draft Pick cards are solid, but John Turner only played one season in the NBA.

I like the horizontal cards but I'm not sure Upper Deck did Scott Brooks any favors with this photo.  He looks to be out of control.  Brooks went on to win 521 games as a head coach, most notably with OKC from '08 - '15.

Hersey Hawkins does not look happy by Kevin Johnson's defense in the All-Star Game.  I love All-Star Game cards with actual in game photos.  Hawkins was another amazing shooter who hit 39% of his threes across 13 seasons.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
1 – NBA Draft
1 – All-Star Team

Random Wax: 2024 Topps Baseball Blaster

2024 Topps:  Aaron Judge won his 3rd MVP in 2025.  Doesn't seem like he is 33 already.  His 53 home runs bring him to 368 for his career.  Last season he hit .331 with a .457 OBP, .688 SLG, 1.144 OPS, all tops in the league.  But he's still a Yankee...just saying.

This is a design I like.  Emmanual Clase has since been implicated in rigging pitches for betting purposes.  That is after I purchased this box in May of 2024.  The scandal is a big hit for the Indians and MLB.

Great photo.

That Reid Detmers is a Holiday Parallel.

Pretty cool Easter Rabbit Parallel which falls 1:56 packs and includes Elly De La Cruz on this Checklist card.

Gavin Williams and Bryan Woo have turned into an excellent starters in Cleveland and Seattle, respectively.

Fun photo on this Checklist card.

All good photos here.

Another Holiday Parallel on this Yankees Team Cad.

I don't hear Christopher Morel's name as much as Anthony Volpe, but he does have more home runs.  I'm not saying he's a better player.  I just seem to hear Volpe come up a lot and wasn't familiar with Morel.

I'm a fan of 2025 Silver Slugger winner Corbin Carroll who has led the league in triples for three straight years.

Nice Chas McCormick photo with the leap, what looks like the catch and it happening against a baseball graphic.

League Leader cards are always fun.  2023 was the year the Atlanta Braves offense went off.  Like historically good.  And then fizzled in the playoffs against the Phillies.

Some really nice inserts.  I like the look of the 2023 Greatest Hits card and Elly De La Cruz of course helps.  And we get Buster Posey looking all retro on the 1989 Topps Baseball card.

2023 was Miguel Cabrera's final season.  Great hitter and a very likable guy.  2X MVP.  Triple Crown winner.  4X batting titles.  7X Silver Slugger.  World Series Champion.  

We'll end it with some good Stars of MLB pulls as well as our retired great on a Grand Gamers insert.  I wish we got more retired greats in Topps cards.

BREAKDOWN:
84 – Cards
14 – RC
7 – Stars of MLB
5 – Team Cards
4 – Checklist
3 – Future Stars
3 – League Leaders
2 – Holiday Parallel
1 – Retired Great
1 – Grand Gamers
1 – Royal Blue Parallel
1 – 2023 Greatest Hits
1 – 1989 Topps Baseball
1 – Rainbow Foil Parallel
1 – Home Run Challenge
1 – Topps All-Star Rookie Cup
1 –Easter Rabbit Parallel (1:56 Packs)

1990 Topps Football

 1990 Topps:  Bruce Smith was about as dominant defensive player as it gets.  Multiple Defensive Player of the Year awards, 8X All-Pro, All-1980s and 1990s Teams and is the all-time leader in sacks with 200.

1990 Topps isn't the best Topps design but it's fine.  I've always like the 1000 Yard Club card for receivers and running backs.  Hall of Famer Roger Craig won 3 Super Bowls and was a member of the All-1980s team.  So good and rushing and catching the ball.

Plenty of young players in these packs.  You always believed anything was possible when he was returning a kick.

The backs are plain but give us plenty of stats which is always great.  Can you guess which card had the gum against it?

Rich Camarillo was a 1X All-Pro and 5X Pro Bowl selectee in his 16-year career.  I like the Topps All-Pro designations.  Not sure if they align with the actual All-Pro designees, but I'm good with it.  And if anyone deserved it was Rod Woodson who was a 6X All-Pro selectee.  

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
2 – Topps Super Rookie
1 – Topps All-Pro
1 – 1000 Yard Club
1 – 1990 Draft Pick
Gum

Random Wax: 1990-1991 SkyBox Basketball Series II

SkyBox Series II:  When you look at Mark Eaton's career stats of 6 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, it doesn't come close to doing him justice.  Starting his career at age 26 he was twice the Defensive Player of the Year, a 5X All-Defensive selection and 4X block champion in his 11 seasons in the NBA.  He once averaged almost 6 blocks per game in a season.

I could have easily started this post with Scottie Pippen.  Also, a defensive standout, 10X All-Defensive Team, 1X Steals champ, he had a great all-around game and of course won 6 championships with the Chicago Bulls.  Larry Nance made the All-Defensive Team 3X while Ricky Pierce was a 2X Sixth Man of the Year award winner.

We get coaches in Series II which is great.  One of my favorite all-time subsets are these Team Checklists with the team logos.  Love 'em.  Series II also had some good rookies that included Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Vlade Divac, Drazen Petrovic and Glen Rice.

90-91 SkyBox had these great backs.  The stats are different but work and we're in because of those photos.

Rik Smits had a great nickname - The Dunking Dutchman.  We'll end this pack with another team checklist and one of the great logos of all-time.  Seattle seems to be tops on the list of teams who will get an expansion team when the NBA is ready.  Can't wait to see the Supersonics again.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
2 – Coaches
2 – Team Checklists