1992 - For those collecting - share a moment with us?

Stone193

This was in the same box with the other items I misplaced a while back - I saved it since it had Shaq on the cover and he was white hot that year!

OK - it was the height of the hobby explosion of modern - so many sets - too many great inserts that were hot as all get out!

What do I remember most?

No ebay, the internet was new to the hobby - sportsnet was all the rage, most purchases made live or thru pubs like SCD, Tuff Stuff - Beckett was still standing fast to their morals that they should just do the stats - not promote or sell them.

This was just after I took my son to the National in Atlanta - he had a great time - getting autos - seeing greats like Johnny Bench, Pete Rose and much to my chagrin - Willie Mays.

I think Justin pulling his first Rookie Sensation from a 92F cello pack stands out also.

What about you?

That was a great year in the hobby for many people.

Thanx for sharing.
mike

MeteoriteGuy

Those rookie sensations were HOT.

That was about the time I left the hobby, but I do remember pulling a few Topps "Gold" cards and getting overexcited about them.

lsutigers1973

That issue of SCD is date 8/7/1992. That was about the same time I was headed home after drinking... I mean flunking out of LSU.

Brian48

What I remember the most? I believe that was the year I officially left the hobby. Didn't get back into it until 2004.

yankeeno7

As far as card memories...
1992 Donruss Diamond Kings. For the first time they were high end inserts. People buying packs like crazy hoping to score the DK.

1992 Fleer Ultra was the first set of its kind with the high gloss technology. The inserts were one of the most popular cards I had ever seen. Award winners, All Stars, etc. All the sports too. Fleer finally got into autographs with their Ultra inserts. I think it was Gwynn?

1992 Topps had the scratch offs for gold cards. Once they got in HUNDREDS upon HUNDREDS of winners because if you held them up to the light, you could scratch the winning area, they reprinted and stamped the mail ins with "winner". Topps also did the entire Factory Gold Set with the special Brien Taylor autograph. I remember the auto alone selling for 80-100 bucks.

Just some things off the top of my head.

Edited to say that I suppose Stadium Club in 1991 was the first real high gloss set....but ultra surpassed in quality by a football field.

Estil

And who could forget the GIGANTIC 900 card sequel to Topps' landmark 1991 Stadium Club set? And don't forget the 1992 Leaf Gold set (I'd LOVE to get that set if I can find one for a good price).

yankeeno7

Oh gosh yeah...92 Gold Leaf Rookies...hotter than hot!

perkdog

I was out of the hobby from 1987 until 2003, I think it was a good thing I missed out on all those 1988 and up overproduced stuff- although I wished I got into Vintage during those years!

RedHeart54

One word: Bowman. After three years of substandard cards it became one of the hottest sets of the 1990s. It seems a player just had to be rumored to be good and his card would sell for $5-$10. (The same thing goes on today, of course. It just seems the cards are $100+.) Bowman ventured into football and also improved their hockey set that year and both were equally hot.

Stone193

<< <i>I was out of the hobby from 1987 until 2003, I think it was a good thing I missed out on all those 1988 and up overproduced stuff- although I wished I got into Vintage during those years! >>

I wished I had spent more time on the 19th and turn of the century baseball.

mike

savoyspecial

1992 bowman baseball!!

greg

nearmint

The last new cards I bought were in 1990 (Score football, of which they printed trillions), and by 1992 I was collecting vintage only. By then I had completed the sets I had started as a kid, and I was on to starting other 60's football sets. I lived in Columbus, Ohio, at the time, and there were shows practically every weekend. I seldom bought graded cards, and I spent my time scouring the raw cards at dealers' tables. I also bought quite a few cards via call-in auctions in SCD. By then I think Teletrade was around, too.

VitoCo1972

<< <i>

This was just after I took my son to the National in Atlanta - he had a great time - getting autos - seeing greats like Johnny Bench, Pete Rose and much to my chagrin - Willie Mays.

Thanx for sharing.
mike >>



Why was Mays to your chagrin? Did he disappoint? I've never seen him in person.

RoarIn84

That was my golden year..... i remember loading my stuff in my trunk, going to school (i was 17), getting out and immediately going to my local weekly 'hit-or-miss' shows every monday (freedom hill) and thursday (american legion for those in the detroit area) and setting up a table. all night i would sit there, cards on my table, while the same customers would come thru to see if i, or anyone (even the comic book guy) had anything new. there was always the comic dude, the over-priced, low grade vintage guy, the guy with all the cutting edge stuff (Finest, '92 high series football, fleer update, etc....), the flashy, snot-nose teenager who just bought a collection at a ripoff or cleaned up at an auction (the ones every other wednesday at 9&Kelly) and the guys who think their cards are worth 5x what they are, but still have a box of junk grab-bags for the kids. me, i was a combo of all the above. yeah, who could forget the Shaq Pack attack????? who would strike gold and hit the Stadium Club Beam Team???? or the Hoops 2 Magic's All Rookie team???? or the Topps Gold??? You had ANY series 2 basketball and you had profits!! I busted a case of 1992 Classic and made a killing! Everyone missed the boat on Bowman tho..... i remember the baseball was the sweetest as far as rookies, but the Hockey and Football were 'en fuego' due to the short print gold cards. if a dealer was lucky enough to have an SP filled box, he could command $20-30 per pack!!! 1992 was a crazy year- Inserts everywhere, new products galore and no grading! NM-MT Gwynn rookies could still fetch $40-50......

frankhardy

I was a teenager buying Fleer basketball and Hoops. I thought they would all be worth something someday if I hung on to them.

CDsNuts

alnavman

Upper Deck football and Upper Deck Hockey....they were going to make me a rich man....especially the french hockey

Morgoth

I just thew away 2 sets of 92 UD Hockey and BB over the weekend and 1 set of 92 stadium club BB. The stadium club set in a box had stuck together so badly the cards were tearing when I tried to pull them apart.

WinPitcher

Was my first yr out of the hobby after running a store for almost 8 yrs.


Steve

digicat

<< <i>One word: Bowman. >>



I don't remember 1992 Bowman taking off until AFTER 1992. I still recall dismissing 1992 Bowman as lame, and spending my high school lunch money on the cool looking 1992 Fleer Ultra.

The local Albersons had 2 bins full of 1992 Bowman cellos in the front of the store, untouched, for months until they pulled them for something else.

Steviedoobie

<< <i> >>






/////////////////////////////////////


Oh man, this card was the craze!!!! I remember the talk that went along with it....people actually thought she was good!

EagleEyeKid

1992 was the year I hunted for Fleer Cello packs.
There was a liquor store down the street where I worked and
I would always tell the store owner to hold them for me when
he ordered them. The Frank Thomas rookie sensation was the craze,
along with the Bagwell, and Phil Plantier. Two other things happened
that year for me.....I pulled my first autograph card from a pack. It was
the Tony Gwynn from the 92 Fleer Ultra packs, and sold it for $150. This
was also the year I was introduced to Pack Wars, and Box Wars. Yes, we
would Box War whatever.....best card in the entire box takes everything,
and the loser had to pay for everything.

Stone193

<< <i>

<< <i>

This was just after I took my son to the National in Atlanta - he had a great time - getting autos - seeing greats like Johnny Bench, Pete Rose and much to my chagrin - Willie Mays.

Thanx for sharing.
mike >>



Why was Mays to your chagrin? Did he disappoint? I've never seen him in person. >>

Johnny Bench and Rose were the best - they were friendly - happy and havin' a good ole time while signing.

Then we got to Mays - the line was short and that musta bothered him big time - he never looked up to say something to my son and I just looked at him and walked off. What a tool!

mike

RedHeart54

<< <i>Oh man, this card was the craze!!!! I remember the talk that went along with it....people actually thought she was good! >>



Well, she was definitely good LOOKING. I was 15 when she got popular and I went a little ga ga over her.


Two other sets that defined 1992 were Fleer Update with Piazza, Tim Salmon, etc. and 1992 Score Traded. (It was about as popular but it didn't have a Piazza.)

Stingray

I remember buying 1992 Basketball and thinking man, there are some nice photos in this set, so clear you could see the expressions of the fans on a lot of cards!!

chaz43

<< <i>

This was in the same box with the other items I misplaced a while back - I saved it since it had Shaq on the cover and he was white hot that year!

OK - it was the height of the hobby explosion of modern - so many sets - too many great inserts that were hot as all get out!

What do I remember most?

No ebay, the internet was new to the hobby - sportsnet was all the rage, most purchases made live or thru pubs like SCD, Tuff Stuff - Beckett was still standing fast to their morals that they should just do the stats - not promote or sell them.

This was just after I took my son to the National in Atlanta - he had a great time - getting autos - seeing greats like Johnny Bench, Pete Rose and much to my chagrin - Willie Mays.

I think Justin pulling his first Rookie Sensation from a 92F cello pack stands out also.

What about you?

That was a great year in the hobby for many people.

Thanx for sharing.
mike >>




I was buying 1992 Topps Stadium Club Basketball Series 2 cases ( which I still have) for $180.00 a box which was a good deal at the time. Drove 200 miles to get them. I just sold one box for a couple of months ago for $19.95. Like I said in another post, I have had my ass handed to me more than a couple of times in this hobby/business or is it business/hobby? chaz

Aric

92 was also the year that saw me step away from the hobby but not before making it to my only National Convention thanks to the perfect timing of a family vacation to Florida. I was able to coerce my parents into stopping in Atlanta for the biggest gathering of cards I had ever seen. Most of my money was quickly dropped on current packs. And there was no way my parents were going to stand in one of the autograph lines with me, nor would they cough up the change to acquire any autographs. I did walk away with a few promo sheets that I could have traded at the time back home for some decent stuff. I decided to hold on to them instead. They were limited to 50,000 and obviously would be super valuable one day. LOL.

gumbyfan

<< <i>1992 was the year I hunted for Fleer Cello packs.
There was a liquor store down the street where I worked and
I would always tell the store owner to hold them for me when
he ordered them. The Frank Thomas rookie sensation was the craze,
along with the Bagwell, and Phil Plantier. Two other things happened
that year for me.....I pulled my first autograph card from a pack. It was
the Tony Gwynn from the 92 Fleer Ultra packs, and sold it for $150. This
was also the year I was introduced to Pack Wars, and Box Wars. Yes, we
would Box War whatever.....best card in the entire box takes everything,
and the loser had to pay for everything. >>



No love for Rich Delucia?

thekid8

1992

My "baseball childhood" ended

1992 was Gary Carter's last year.

jrinck

I think that's the year I bought a Conlon set and a few mail-in sets, but I pretty much stopped collecting new cards after the '89 sets.

saucywombat

I believe Todd Van Popel and Ben McDonald cards may have still comanded some premium at that point. 1990 Leaf was huge and the King Card was '89 UD Jr., Nolan Ryan RC (was it $2000 back then?) was the mythical beast that would be the envy of any collection.

I remember spending most of my money on the Ultra. Probably was $4-$6 a pack back then. Also remember buying a bunch of Donruss Rookie packs looking for some insert card that I forget mainly because the Wal-Mart also had Bowman Jumbo Blisters that my friend was "stupid" for buying b/c they were "worthless"

As it turns out everyone who collected then spent way more than they should have.

Beck6

I remember I bought a box of Triple Play when they first came out instead of a box of Bowman. They were the same price at the time. The Triple Play had inserts and that made my decision.

Estil

<< <i>Oh gosh yeah...92 Gold Leaf Rookies...hotter than hot! >>



I was actually refering to the 1992 Leaf Gold parallel set, not the Gold Leaf Rookies set. That was one of the most beautifully designed parallel sets ever. I'm considering starting a run of Leaf sets up to 1995 but not unless I can start with this set (because by comparasion, the regular 1992 Leaf set is a yawner).

MajorDanby

I started collecting in 91, so 1992 was very early in my hobby adventure. at that point, the hobby was very innocent to me. I busted packs with the utmost glee...jumping for joy with my sister when i get a griffey or a thomas...or really any high end star of that era.

I remember parallel cards becoming big...with 92 topps starting it off with topps gold. High end sets, like studio, stadium club and ultra, were on fire. Insert cards, specifically donruss elite and the upperdeck sigs, were gaining momentum (i would say in 94-95 is when they really caught on fire). Griffey, Ryan, Ripken, Thomas and Gonzalez were the big names in the hobby.

My sister collected basketball...given this, i kept up with the basketball portion of the hobby for the most part though i didnt personally collect. Shaq really sparked interest in collecting basketball cards. I think his cards really ushered the hobby into the mainstream. The 86-87 fleer set...and return of topps...those are big moments in the hobby....but it seems like 92 going forward was when basketball collecting gained more relevance.

MajorDanby

<< <i>The local Albersons had 2 bins full of 1992 Bowman cellos in the front of the store, untouched, for months until they pulled them for something else. >>



Ahh...the local Albertsons was my source for cards. Shops were too far from where i lived...and my parents weren't exactly huge supporters of my interest in collecting, of all things, cardboard pictures of baseball players. I remember always going to the front of the store to view the newest products...always asking my mom if i could buy a pack or two. Albertsons held card shows twice a year. Very fond memories. I remember Darryl Kile, who owned a home in the area, would make an appearance or two to sign balls and cards.

Bottom9th

I had a store back then and remember selling basketball like it was going out of style.
I got lucky one day and stumbled accross a case of Stadium Club at Pace membership warehouse.
I didn't make a ton of money in my shop, but 1992 was a good year.

frankhardy

These cards were from a couple of years before. I started a thread to show these off, but I thought I would show them here, too. I just got these today after 488 days.

TJMAC

Neat thread. I was pretty much out of the hobby by 1992 other than an occasional pack here and there. '92 was my senior year in high school and girls, beer and parties took the place of sports cards. My main collecting years were 1985-1991. However, I do remember the Fleer Ultra product and Stadium Club and was amazed at the photography. I was glad I pretty much missed the insert craze as I enjoyed opening wax and building sets, which you could do fairly cheap. I remember how irritated I was when Topps and Fleer expanded their product line and Leaf entered the picture. I was the type of collector that wanted one of each set and that was quickly becoming impossible on my budget.

msassin

'92 was the year that I started heavily collecting Starting Lineups.

In Baseball - Frank Thomas was the key piece...I would have to guess that very few sell for more than retail today.

In Basketball - Larry Johnson and Mutumbo were the tough pieces.... this was the last real year you could go in the store and still find stars on the shelf (Jordan)

In Football - Marino was a tough piece....Earnest Byner was the last pieces I needed for my set (another sign that you could still find them in stores)



Forgotten card memories - I made a bundle buying and then selling Fleer Ultra Pat Listach rookies that summer. Upper Deck minor league baseball was a personal favorite to open.

fkw

Events from that era that I remember.......

Graded cards started showing up......... changing the hobby forever (IMO in a bad way).

Biggest (most important) baseball card collection ever was broken up and sold in March 1991 (Copeland collection sold through Sotheby's)
The Auction Catalog is one of the bibles of PreWar card collecting.
PS the T206 Wagner sold for $410K + juice ......... this is the Gretzky/McNall Wagner, purchased raw, and rumored (known) even then to be trimmed and was almost returned right after the auction............ later becoming the PSA-8 we all know now.

Also 1916 F-Unc. Tango Eggs cards were "discovered" that year (hoard of about 500 found).

I used to subscribe to "The Old Judge" and couldnt wait til the next copy arrived. I learned more from Lipset's monthly newsletter and encyclopedia that anything else.

Knuckles

Where do I begin! 1992... I was 12 years old.

Eric Lindros was the man.. a leader who did it all.. he hit hard, fought, scored, passed and I got to meet him at a autograph signing at a sports equipment shop. I got my picture in the paper with him signing the back of my jersey at the event and still have the clipping and the jersey framed on my wall. If only he could have learned to keep his damn head up.

This card had so much hype because his head was placed on someone's body! spooooky magic! and a SP! Wow!


I remember my dad buying me these horribly sweet chocolate hockey pucks that had one card within the pack.


The illusive ProSet Stanley Cup hologram insert.. I opened hundreds of packs and never got one. It would have been like hitting the lottery back then. One just sold on eBay for $13.


Mask cards..


I thought Manon Rheaume was hot but I didn't collect her.

Getting any Russian in a pack was gold.

Teemu Selanne Rookie Cards! He shattered the rookie scoring record by scoring 132 points and his 76 goals was also a rookie record.


Enter the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning.

McDonalds hockey cards!


Gretzky and McNall partnered to buy the Honus Wagner T206 card for $500,000


I could go on and on.

- Garret

Stone193

Thanx for all the great input!

1992 was a great year in the hobby!

Does anyone remember getting exicted when the SCD arrived - it was thick - full of ads and articles - and actually took a bit of time to go thru!

What about all the promos?

The Shaq promos were going thru the roof!



The lower right Shaq is the "stat back" promo from the National - that stuff ruled the planet that year!

mike

elsnorto

I took a break from collecting starting around 1987 up until 1993. In hindsight, I picked a pretty good time to take a break. By that time I was just collecting football and those years were awful with very few exceptions (1989 Score being the biggest in my mind).

Snorto~

Knuckles

Upper left Shaq was one of my pride and joys for sure.

Goodsport40

Shaq was in what seems like 15 different subsets in UD basketball that year. Also, was 92 the year of the UD basketball locker that had packs in it?

Also, I remember a woman at my favorite card shop that started crying when she pulled one of these from a pack:




Sure was fun back then. I will admit to actually liking 1992 Fleer baseball! Yikes!

Robert

Ladder7

Lose the cap Shaq.

Stone193

Great Shaqs! I don't have that redemption but do have the Magic Shaq card.

This is right from that issue - would like to have pulled the trigger on this one - from the BBCKid when Murphy was a big name in wax.



mike

Ladder7

It's a ten or eleven card set. The Shaq is the only one I'd sent in. Heh, value is about $17 nowadays.

Also ripped this in '92. value even less. Just noticed this after having these for sixteen years. Same suit and tie -likely both card photos were taken the same afternoon;

MeteoriteGuy

Stone193

From M.D. Sports:



Sweet item - the BBCKid found a shoebox of these from a little ole lady who only drove them to church on Sundays!



What a great item to have today.
mike

Ladder7

Instead of us card geeks looking for hottie cheerleaders/supermodels. We should be stalking our local elderly housing.