Do you remember "Find the Nolan"?

Excellent photography in the 1991 upper Deck set at least. Chipper RC

Flashing back to 1991, I can remember you were excited to even pull one of the 9 Nolan Ryan subset cards from a pack. I myself was obsessed with the 1991 Upper Deck basketball series with Larry Johnson and Dikembe Mutumbo RCs and spent every dime I could put together to buy those packs. One of the few sets I ever put together busting packs as a kid. The advantage over baseball was that they wouldn't sell out as easily so you could buy as many packs as you wanted.

I don’t remember that, but that was probably because I was hitting 1991 Topps pretty hard. That UD was not in my budget.

More. I believe Marino, Howe, Gretzky and maybe a couple more.

1991 was such a great year. My life back then was all about Baseball/Baseball cards and the Nintendo Entertainment System. I eventually upgraded to the SNES for my bday in late 1991 but overall, such great times. I also never found a Nolan or any autographed card for that matter. Boxes are super cheap but I just gave up on me ever finding one. Heck, I have never even pulled a Donruss Elite card and I have opened up a case worth of those 1993 cards.

Just goes to show how much product was produced in the early 90’s when a card numbered to 2500 is hard to find.

@mrmopar said:
More. I believe Marino, Howe, Gretzky and maybe a couple more.

I believe Walter Payton (1992 low #) and Brett Hull (91-92 low #) were the only other two not pictured. UD stopped inserting them by 92-93.

My LCS occasionally acquires collections that also contain junk era unopened that he'll often blow out at $5-$7 a box just to save space and quickly recoup a portion of his cash outlay. Over the years, I've bought multiple boxes of Upper Deck from him from that era. The whole idea, the main motivation, really, is that I'm hoping to buck the odds and pull one of the autos. Hasn't happened yet.

I've also ripped multiple boxes from him of the Donruss that had the Cal Ripken autos advertised (1992???), with no luck.

Makes me want to look to buy some of these. Remember them back then, with only 2500 made and no ebay they were not an easy find.

I ripped probably 40 boxes of this stuff recently.....found nothing! no jordan, no nolan...no nothin'

Any Payton...what I great card too.

For anybody who was lucky to find one was the autograph insert card the first card in the pack with the autograh not facing the front of the wrapper?

Found a reggie jackson one.

@countdouglas said:
I had completely forgotten about it until this thread, so had to go dig it out. While not the Montana Heroes autograph, this short print box topper poster was a pretty cool hit at the time. It's roughly 11" x 15.5" and folded up just does fit inside the top of the 1991 Upper Deck. I have no idea of the insertion ratio, just that I don't remember them being in every sealed box. Does anyone know more about this poster?

I was not aware of it before now, but a quick scan of ebay shows a half dozen for sale for around $10 average. Didn't check ended listings to see if any had actually sold recently.

@Tibor said:
The posters were in sealed cases
that were marked saying that there was a poster inside, about one in seven.

Thanks! That is what I was looking for. I knew they weren't an every box insert, but didn't know how rare. So to clarify, they were only in cases that were marked, and then only in 1 in 7 boxes from those cases, or only 1 in 7 cases were marked, with every box in those marked cases having a poster? I know they're not worth all that much, but back then, anything extra from a box of cards was a neat pull, and I've kept it stashed away all these years.

@Tibor Wow! Thank you for the info. While I knew they weren't an every box insert, I did not realize that the Montana poster was anywhere near that "rare" of an item.

@countdouglas said:
I seem to remember that Larry Bird and Wilt Chamberlain may have had the Heroes autographs inserted, also.

IIRC the Bird was in packs but the Chamberlain was not. The Chamberlain was only available from UD as part of a framed set. I don’t think it was numbered.

Neither Bird nor Wilt were in packs

@ElvisP said:

@countdouglas said:
I seem to remember that Larry Bird and Wilt Chamberlain may have had the Heroes autographs inserted, also.

IIRC the Bird was in packs but the Chamberlain was not. The Chamberlain was only available from UD as part of a framed set. I don’t think it was numbered.

Bird and Wilt Heroes cards were in packs, but I should have clarified the autographs were not

@Moonman said:
Does anybody know if the Hank Aaron hologram card was 1 per box in the high series? I have one and they seem to be abundant. Just wondering

Heroes of Baseball
In 1991, Upper Deck organized a series of "Old-Timers Game" events at Major League ballparks nationwide. In conjunction with these games, Upper Deck also organized card shows. Dealers who setup at Heroes of Baseball card shows were entitled to purchase a special run of 1991 Upper Deck Lo-Series boxes that contained an exclusive Heroes of Baseball insert set. The set features three of the participants plus a a fourth card of all three players painted by Vernon Wells, Sr. Autographs of all three players were randomly inserted.

A Hank Aaron hologram card was issued to promote the Heroes of Baseball series. Unlike the Heroes of Baseball inserts (see above), the Aaron Hologram was inserted in all Hi-Series packs.

@NRCollector said:
There's now a site dedicated to tracking all these early 90's Upper Deck cards. Check it out! If you've got one that isn't tracked yet, please add!
https://find-the-heroes.vercel.app/

Cool website! The website says that 164 of the 2500 Ryans have been reported. Probably alot of work went into this website. Thanks for sharing!

@craig44 said:
these are just so nostalgic for me. I should try to pick up a Nolan. it is such a shame so many of the autos have faded over the years. i wonder if it was the markers they used or something about the gloss on the card that caused the fading?

Some of them have held up really well, and some have faded. Other than maybe left out in the sun, don't know why some are good and some aren't. They've gotten pretty pricey over the years.

Sharp example 1
Sharp example 2
Faded example

Much appreciated for the link.