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My Story: 88 Fleer Basketball

epatmythesepatmythes Posts: 1,514 ✭✭✭

6 years and 2 weeks...

Back in the summer of 1987, at the age of 10, I first got introduced to the wonderful world of baseball cards. Nothing too serious, just the occassional rush of opening some packs every now and then when I had an extra buck or two. The simple thrill of pulling one of your favorite players from a pack. Trading cards with the other kids in the neighborhood. It was pure fun, a simple hobby, something to enjoy and share with your friends. A little over a year later... that is when the hobby became a serious obsession!

Living in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, I was a transplant from Rockford, Illinois. Across the alley was my friend Tim and his older brother Tony. They too were "Yooper" transplants from Chicago. Not only were we all friends, but we also shared an affinity for the Chicago Bulls and a young kid named Michael Jordan. Having started collecting cards in 1987, I can honestly say I don't ever recall opening, let alone seeing, any packs of 1987-88 Fleer basketball. In 1988 however, that's a completely different story. 1988-89 Fleer basketball became our shared obsession. We got our allowance, or we returned pop cans for refunds, or made money doing yard work or shoveling snow... however we got money... we usually used it to buy packs of 1988-89 Fleer basketball. I still vividly remember sitting around the kitchen table at Tim & Tony's house, opening packs, trading cards and putting together sets. We'd help each other complete sets, but as you might guess, we rarely traded each other our extra Bulls cards! Over time, we probably put together 5-10 sets each. Man, what a year that was! The hobby had me hooked at that point. Certainly due to those memories, to this day, the 1988-89 Fleer basketball set has been my all-time favorite set!

Fast forward many years. After high school and into a 4-year stint in the Air Force, I dabbled in and out of the hobby most of my early adult life. In 2003, I found eTopps cards and got sucked back in to the hobby on that platform. eTopps was my main focus for many years, but it soon became a dying platform and I still was dabbling a bit in traditional cards. By that time, I had been living in the St. Louis metro area for over a decade and there was this pretty decent baseball player on the Cardinals team. Something Pujols, you might have heard of him. At a local card show in 2009, I bought my first graded Pujols rookie card. A 2001 Upper Deck PSA 10 that I still own today. That was the first card in what has now become a nearly 8 year bender of almost exclusively collecting PSA graded cards!

For roughly the first 2 years, I had no real collecting focus. Sure, I collected Pujols cards, especially his rookies. My collecting focus was basically, "hey, what Pujols cards don't I have and wow, look at that, I like that too, I want it!" Some of those things I saw and liked were Michael Jordan cards. In my collection I had a 1988-89 Fleer Michael Jordan PSA 10. I mean, given my history, how could I not own a copy of THAT card!?!?

So, on March 8th, 2011, I made the decision to take a shot at completing the entire 132 card 1988-89 Fleer Basketball set in total PSA 10 condition. Honestly, I didn't know if it was a realistic goal! Would I have the patience for building a complete set? Could I be smart about it? Would I get frustrated and sell it off before completing the set (as I was known to do with past raw vintage set efforts)? I had my doubts, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. On that day, for the whopping total of $108.86, I took the plunge with the purchase of these 3 cards to get my set project started...

By the end of 2011, I had amassed 55 of the necessary 132 cards.

In 2012, I added another 32. Oddly enough, for being such a Jordan fan, it took me until April 6th, 2012 to finally acquire my favorite Michael Jordan card of all-time for my set! I owned a PSA 9 previously, but this was the 10 I've desired for so long!

I added 14 more in 2013 and another 11 in 2014.

Like most sets, it wasn't terribly difficult to get to the 75-80% mark. Sure, some cards cost more than others. Stars and rookies weren't always inexpensive or readily available. Many low pop cards didn't come up very often. I began 2015 only 20 cards short of completion. Unfortunately, several of those were very low population cards. Many of them rarely came up for auction, let alone the occassional insanely priced Buy-It-Now! At that point, I just wanted to avoid becoming discouraged and maintain my focus on making the right deals that would hopefully allow me to complete the set before I turned 40! I only purchased 4 cards for my set in 2015.

I acquired most of the remaining 16 cards in 2016, 14 of them to be exact. We're still of a time where many of us remember the market boom leading up to the 2016 National Sports Collectors Convention. I can look back now and see that, yes, I considerably over-paid on 3 of my early 2016 low pop card purchases. After the National, I knew it would serve me well to just be patient. By that time, I was only 4 cards away from completing the set!

Unfortunately for me, 2 of those cards were the Reggie Miller RC and the set's lowest population PSA 10 card, Clyde Drexler. At the time of the National, those were the 2 most expensive cards in the set that didn't say Michael Jordan on the label. I watched prices drop during the fall and finally landed my Reggie Miller RC right before Thanksgiving for just over $500!

6 years and 2 weeks... on March 22nd, 2017... my patience finally paid off. I successfully won an auction for the last card I needed, Clyde Drexler. No longer was he the single low pop card in the set. He shared that honor with another card (Cliff Robinson) on March 22nd, however, as I write this... another Cliff Robinson 10 has popped in the last 5 days and Drexler is back to being the sole low pop in the set. I expected prices would come down some with the pop recently going up, but in the month prior I lost out on 2 of them that sold in the $1100-1250+ range. To my joy, surprise, amazement, etc... I was the lucky (if you can call it that) winner of the auction you now see on VCP of that card for $860! I still believe in the downward pressure from the growing population. Maybe the next to sell will go for $750. Who knows? I don't care, I got it... I finally got it!

6 years and 2 weeks! That's how long it took to see this project through! I even hit my secondary goal of completing it before I turned 40, lol... that's still a little more than a month and a half away!

My first major PSA company set undertaking is now complete. I'm beyond mere "pride and joy" feelings with this accomplishment. I've got a pretty nice collection in my opinion, and this is now my crown jewel. Feel free to check it out on the Set Registry. My set is Da Yooper Collection.

Now, to figure out what, if any, will be my next truly insane PSA Set Registry project. Right now, I don't have a clue... I might just enjoy this one for awhile!

Happy Collecting!!!

-Eric

Comments

  • Dpeck100Dpeck100 Posts: 10,910 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Awesome!!

  • galaxy27galaxy27 Posts: 7,113 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Congratulations & great post!

  • sinoth23sinoth23 Posts: 152 ✭✭

    Congrats...nice story.

  • craig44craig44 Posts: 10,389 ✭✭✭✭✭

    What a great post. Congratulations on a great accomplishment

    George Brett, Bobby Orr and Terry Bradshaw.

  • frankhardyfrankhardy Posts: 8,044 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I know exactly what you mean about the 1988 Fleer Basketball set bringing back memories. Basketball cards were not popular at all in 1988, but I wanted a whole box simply because of Michael Jordan. I remember pulling 5 Jordan's out of my box. I still like this set to this day. I have a raw set. Yours is a fine accomplishment.

    I have an idea for your next project.....a 1988 Fleer Basketball STICKER set in PSA 10. Have you looked at prices on that? If I remember correctly, there still is not a PSA 10 Mark Aquire.....and Michael Jordan is a $10k to $15k card.

    Shane

  • Bosox1976Bosox1976 Posts: 8,528 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wow - way to go!!! <3

    Mike
    Bosox1976
  • DboneesqDboneesq Posts: 18,220 ✭✭

    Eric - Congrats and thanks for sharing your story with us. Now sit back and enjoy the set!

    STAY HEALTHY!

    Doug

    Liquidating my collection for the 3rd and final time. Time for others to enjoy what I have enjoyed over the last several decades. Money could be put to better use.
  • SidePocketSidePocket Posts: 2,901 ✭✭✭

    That's what collecting is all about. You always remember how you finally got those last cards. Congrats!

    "Molon Labe"

  • shu4040shu4040 Posts: 982 ✭✭✭
    edited March 27, 2017 9:32AM

    awesome story. congrats! i'm right there with you with that being THE SET for me as a kid. It was my first big foray into bkball cards, peaking two years later with the 1990 set. Little did I know they turned the presses up like 1000% on that guy.

    That jordan slam dunk was the card for me in that set as well (i bought my 10 there for maybe $190-$200 before prices shot up, and didn't even contemplate picking up the base card b/c it seemed so boring to me always). In fact I posted after this year's national a small report with what I bought and the key item for me was the Jordan slam dunk card signed from BBCE. As a kid, i couldn't even imagine a cooler card than that.

  • ugaskidawgugaskidawg Posts: 882 ✭✭✭

    Very cool story and love the excitement you are showing for this accomplishment! I feel the same way with my collecting targets.

  • Nice work. The Byron Scott base card is a nice one.

  • MantleFan23MantleFan23 Posts: 686 ✭✭✭✭

    Eric,

    What an awesome story and congratulations on completing the project! Look forward to hearing about your other set endeavors in the future. I do agree that the Jordan all-star is a really cool card! I imagine winning that last card was quite the rush!

  • JBrulesJBrules Posts: 2,116 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Great Post!! Congrats and thanks for sharing such an epic adventure.

  • ssollarsssollars Posts: 932 ✭✭✭✭

    Very nice, congrats!

  • That's awesome! I had this set in a factory set and couldn't wait to bust it open and begin trading. Big brother traded for the Jordan card pretty quickly!

    Wish I still had that.

  • sushihotwingssushihotwings Posts: 452 ✭✭✭

    Thanks for taking the time to write up your journey and share it with us. Now I really want to go out and buy a box to rip. Inspired.

    On the hunt high grade Star Basketball.
  • epatmythesepatmythes Posts: 1,514 ✭✭✭

    @frankhardy said:
    I have an idea for your next project.....a 1988 Fleer Basketball STICKER set in PSA 10. Have you looked at prices on that? If I remember correctly, there still is not a PSA 10 Mark Aquire.....and Michael Jordan is a $10k to $15k card.

    No chance, lol... I have looked at the prices. Maybe a PSA 9 run someday, or just a nice raw set to go along with it!!!

  • epatmythesepatmythes Posts: 1,514 ✭✭✭

    @sushihotwings said:
    Thanks for taking the time to write up your journey and share it with us. Now I really want to go out and buy a box to rip. Inspired.

    I know, right... That's another bucket list item for me... a wax box. If that day ever comes, I'm pretty sure I'd have a hard time not ripping it!

  • ghooper33ghooper33 Posts: 306 ✭✭✭
    edited March 27, 2017 8:20PM

    Great story - thanks for sharing! I loved this and the 1987 Fleer set. I am from Atlanta and my foolish brother would trade me his prized Dominque cards for my Jordans cards. :D

    “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.” -Aristotle
  • Kid4hof03Kid4hof03 Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Congratulations, great set but your story behind it is even better.

    Collecting anything and everything relating to Roger Staubach
  • epatmythesepatmythes Posts: 1,514 ✭✭✭

    @shu4040 said:
    In fact I posted after this year's national a small report with what I bought and the key item for me was the Jordan slam dunk card signed from BBCE. As a kid, i couldn't even imagine a cooler card than that.

    That is awesome... share a pic here if you don't mind! Sounds like a dream card!!

  • rtimmerrtimmer Posts: 1,347 ✭✭✭✭

    Very cool set and sounds like a fun journey!

    Follow me at LinkedIn & Instagram: @ryanscard
    Join the Rookie stars on top PSA registry today:
    1980-1989 Cello Packs - Rookies
  • mknezmknez Posts: 1,991 ✭✭✭

    congrats!

    ------
    stupid print dots

  • BrickBrick Posts: 4,922 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Congratulations. Tremendous accomplishment.

    Collecting 1960 Topps Baseball in PSA 8
    http://www.unisquare.com/store/brick/

    Ralph

  • rexvosrexvos Posts: 3,274 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Awesome. Love that set. Congrats.

    Looking for FB HOF Rookies
  • hjrhjr Posts: 46 ✭✭

    Congratulations!!

    Henry Ruiz
  • baseballfanbaseballfan Posts: 5,449 ✭✭✭

    job well done

    congrats

    Fred

    collecting RAW Topps baseball cards 1952 Highs to 1972. looking for collector grade (somewhere between psa 4-7 condition). let me know what you have, I'll take it, I want to finish sets, I must have something you can use for trade.

    looking for Topps 71-72 hi's-62-53-54-55-59, I have these sets started

  • secretstashsecretstash Posts: 1,393 ✭✭✭✭

    Love the 88 fleer set myself. Stickers are the absolute best and worst cards all in one..lol (cool cards but impossible to grade)

  • 1980scollector1980scollector Posts: 2,036 ✭✭✭

    This is exactly why I still read the boards and check in. Stories like this,

    ** Working on the following sets-2013 Spectra Football Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary Autograph set, 2015 Spectra Football Illustrious Legends Autograph set, 2014-15 Hall of Fame Heroes autograph set. **
  • shu4040shu4040 Posts: 982 ✭✭✭
    edited March 28, 2017 5:53PM

    epatmythes Posts: 1,452 ✭✭✭ March 27, 2017 8:23PM
    @shu4040 said:
    In fact I posted after this year's national a small report with what I bought and the key item for me was the Jordan slam dunk card signed from BBCE. As a kid, i couldn't even imagine a cooler card than that.

    That is awesome... share a pic here if you don't mind! Sounds like a dream card!!

    Happily! Here you go!

  • epatmythesepatmythes Posts: 1,514 ✭✭✭

    Red flip 8... dang, that is sweet. Nice add to your collection... outstanding!!!

  • brad31brad31 Posts: 2,530 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Congrats. Enjoyed reading the story of your quest.

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