Over the last few years, I've been collecting old wax & foil packs of trading cards from the 80s & 90s. When you would buy one of these packs you would tear it open and throw away the wrapper. Never giving it a second thought. Seeing these again brings back memories of feeling the slick paper in your hands, seeing the simple artwork and the smell of bubble gum. In celebration of the return of Major League Baseball after the great lockout of 2022, let's dive into a few of these packs that I have on display and celebrate a few of my favorite players from my #1 team...the NEW YORK METS!
1988 Donruss
1990 Topps Traded
1991 Donruss
1991 Fleer
1992 Topps Stadium Club
Thanks for taking a minute to look at some old packs of baseball cards and humoring my die hard Mets fandom. I hope whoever you cheer for has a great season and you can enjoy the game to the fullest! If you feel like checking out the classic 1985 broadcast of the Mets vs. Cubs game, feel free to watch the Youtube video below. Now let's PLAY BALL!!!
Over the last few years, I've been collecting old wax & foil packs of trading cards from the 80s & 90s. Sure, I have a ton of these non-sport cards from when I was a kid, but the artwork and design of the packaging is something I missed. When you would buy one of these packs you would tear it open and throw away the wrapper. Never giving it a second thought. Seeing these again brings back memories of feeling the slick paper in your hands, seeing the simple artwork and the smell of bubble gum. Let's dive into a few of these packs that I have on display...AGAIN!
FOX KIDS CARDS (Fleer, 1995)
I love this set! I never knew these cards existed back in the mid-90's, but if I had known, I probably would have the entire set! Where else could you get a complete base set of 150 great looking cards that feature Spider-Man, the X-Men, The Tick, Bobby's World and Eek! The Cat? What a great blend of classic after school cartoons! There also was a Fleer Ultra version of this set that included foil stamping on each card and also had some chase cards available like "Power Pop-Ups" and "Suspended Animation" cards!
WildC.A.T.S ANIMATED (Wildstorm, 1995)
I was a fan of the WildC.A.T.S comic when it first hit the stands in 1992. It featured gorgeous art by Jim Lee and the stories were fairly entertaining in a 90's extreme kind of way. My liking for the series had already waned by the time the WildC.A.T.S cartoon hit the air in 1994. These cards are based off of that series and I maybe caught 1 or 2 episodes of it's 13 episode run. Still, pretty nice set.
MUPPETS TAKE THE ICE (Cardz, 1994)
I got a few of these card packs in those 2 comics and 1 card pack combo set that the Dollar Tree used to sell. For $1 you could not go wrong. These cards are officially licensed NHL products and feature the Muppets on the ice in all the NHL teams uniforms and use official logos. There are 80 cards in the set and include such variations as "Team Facts", "Team History" and "Rules" cards. Glad to see Animal representing the NJ Devils here!
VR TROOPERS PUZZLE CARDS (Saban, 1995)
My younger brother was big into the Power Rangers in the early 90's, so when VR Troopers, a sister series to MMPR, hit screens in 1994, he was there to watch it. The premise of the show followed 3 California teenagers who stumble upon experimental VR technology. They use this technology and their martial arts talentsto find their leader's father and also to fight the evil Grimlord alongside their talking dog, Jeb! This pack of cards features cards that are puzzle pieces to a large picture of the canine sidekick. I just found out that the popularity of VR Troopers was close to that of Power Rangers, but the show was cancelled after 2 seasons due to the production staff exhausting all of the Japanese footage they had licensed to make the show! Wow!
1987 TOPPS BASEBALL CARDS
This is my favorite baseball card set of all-time! This was the set that introduced me to card collecting. I love everything about it from the selection of players included to the wood grain borders. It also helps that I could collect the entire 1986 World Series Champions Mets team. I also received my first Bo Jackson card through this set! Now enjoy this hot "Get Metsmerized" jam from 1986 featuring the mad mic skills of Dwight Gooden, Lenny Dykstra, Howard Johnson and more!
A recent obsession of mine has been collecting old wax & foil packs of trading cards from the 80s & 90s. Sure, I have a ton of these non-sport cards from when I was a kid, but the artwork and design of the packaging is something I missed. When you would buy one of these packs you would tear it open and throw away the wrapper. Never giving it a second thought. Seeing these again brings back memories of feeling the slick paper in your hands, seeing the simple artwork and the smell of bubble gum. Let's dive into a few of these packs that I have on display...AGAIN!
Batman Forever Movie Photo Stickers (Topps, 1995)
Despite the appearance of the now infamous "Bat-Nipples", I always had a liking for the movie Batman Forever. I think Val Kilmer did a decent job as the Dark Knight and the addition of Robin was pretty cool. Jim Carrey was at his peak as a comedic actor, but the casting of Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face always bothered me. After seeing Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent in the 1989 Batman movie, I wanted to see his take on the evil villain. Unfortunately Billy Dee was passed over in favor of Jones. Anyway, these sticker books were pretty commonplace back in the day for any hit movie, but these stickers were not the small Panini versions, these were full card sized stickers! Only something this big could hold in all of the action from the film that was Batman Forever.
Street Fighter: The Movie (Upper Deck, 1995)
Once again this is a movie that was hated by almost everyone who saw it, but I liked it. This movie brought my favorite video game characters to the big screen and the soundtrack was pretty bangin' too! What other album would have a duet between MC Hammer and Deion Sanders? This set produced by Upper Deck consisted of 90 base cards and had some randomly inserted F/X & LE cards. I have never seen these, but I know just like Raul Julia's award worthy performance as Bison, they were probably magnificent.
Star Wars: Journey To The Force Awakens (Topps, 2015)
I absolutely love this set of cards from Topps! I bought a couple boxes of these cards so me and my kids could open the packs in the hopes of completing a full set. I believe we opened 3 boxes and didn't get a full set of 110 cards, but we had a lot of fun while trying. This set from Topps also had some cool subsets & bonus cards including cloth stickers, silhouette foils & patch cards. Collecting this set was a cool way to teach my kids about the movies that led up to The Force Awakens.
X-Files Season Two (Topps, 1996)
My Dad was a huge X-Files fan and in turn I saw almost every episode of the show. I enjoyed it, but the later seasons when Mulder disappeared were not very good and my interest waned. These trading cards from Topps feature stills from some of the classic early episodes along with art cards from the Topps produced comic books. This set had a total of 72 cards and featured some pretty inserts with their Etched Foil & Hologram chase cards.
A recent obsession of mine has been collecting old wax packs of trading cards from the 80s & 90s. Sure, I have a ton of these non-sport cards from when I was a kid, but the artwork and design of the packaging is something I missed. When you would buy one of these packs you would tear it open and throw away the wrapper. Never giving it a second thought. Seeing these again brings back memories of feeling the slick paper in your hands, seeing the simple artwork and the smell of bubble gum. Let's dive into a few of these packs that I have on display...AGAIN!
Batman Forever (Fleer, 1995)
Ah, Batman Forever...the follow up to Tim Burton's grim & gritty Batman Returns. This movie could not have been more removed from it's previous two films. The tone was more cartoony and almost could have been seen as a reboot of the Batman television show from the 60s with Adam West! Just add one dancing Batman and that would have done it! I did see this movie in the theaters, because I was crazy for anything Batman at the time. I collected the original Topps Batman movie cards, but as the series went on my passion for collecting non-sport cards declined. These are actually pretty nice looking cards and the promise of holograms is always a plus.
Bill & Ted's Most Atypical Movie Cards (Pro Set, 1991)
I am going to be honest and say that I never knew these cards existed up until a few years ago. I know if I had seen these as a kid, I would have tried to collect the whole set. Me and my brother were big Bill & Ted fans and would have loved to have this set in our collection. Even though the design is a little lacking, I think it's pretty cool that this set collects all the shenanigans from both Bill & Ted films!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 (Topps, 1992)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 may be my least favorite of all the TMNT movies, but I actually dig these cards! I like the borders of the base cards, the backs are nice looking and the art cards subset is a very cool addition. I only picked up a few packs of these when I was younger, but I look to rectify that error soon. I would like to add this set to my TMNT collection.
Shadow Hawk (Comic Images, 1992)
ShadowHawk debuted in the Image comics series Youngblood in 1992. He definitely was a hero of his time. He was dark, brooding and brutal to those he would catch in the act of a crime. He would literally break evil doers spines and leave them for the police to pick up. Pretty nasty stuff. These Comic Images cards are just like most of there other sets. Colorful backgrounds with decent artwork on the front and colorless card backs containing a part of an overall story. The only reason I bought any of these cards though was to see if I could score one of the elusive prism cards!
Super Stars MusiCards (Pro Set, 1991)
Here is yet another set of cards Pro Set put out in 1991. This one is a little more appealing to the eye due to the bold colors and stylish borders. I always wanted these cards growing up and would see ads in the comics all the time for these, I just never found them at the stores I got my cards from. I may have to search for a box online somewhere. Maybe I can find one cheap on ebay? Now relish in the glory that is the ProSet Super Stars Musicards commercial from 1992!
A recent obsession of mine has been collecting old wax packs of trading cards from the 80s & 90s. Sure, I have a ton of these non-sport cards from when I was a kid, but the artwork and design of the packaging is something I missed. When you would buy one of these packs you would tear it open and throw away the wrapper. Never giving it a second thought. Seeing these again brings back memories of feeling the slick paper in your hands, seeing the simple artwork and the smell of bubble gum. Let's dive into a few of these packs that I have on display...YET AGAIN!
Nintendo Game Pack (Topps, 1989)
I absolutely loved these cards as a kid! Any time we went shopping with my Mom for either clothes or groceries, we would get a pack of Nintendo scratch off cards. For 25 cents you got 3 scratch off cards to entertain you and 2 stickers to decorate your books, trapper keepers or even your Nintendo! But, the biggest draw was the secret tips on the sticker backs. How else would we have known to hit Bald Bull on his 3rd jump for a KO?
Superman: The Movie (Topps, 1978)
To many people Christopher Reeve will always be THE Superman. These cards came out before I was even born, so needless o say, I did not collect these as a kid. As a collector though I can really appreciate the simple design of the cards.
Tiny Toon Adventures (Topps, 1991)
Tiny Toon Adventures was a staple in my house. After we would get home from school we would turn on the local Fox5 station out of New York and watch it along with some other great 90s toons. Surprisingly I never did own any of these cards growing up, but had to add a pack to my growing collection.
Supergirl (Topps, 1984)
I have not seen the Supergirl movie in at least 25 years. The only memory I have of this movie was that it was on TV during a sleep over at my house with friends. One friend got homesick and had to go home. Totally a bummer!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 2nd Series (Topps, 1990)
If you have read this blog before, you know I love me some Ninja Turtles. Me and my brother collected these cards so we would have cardboard versions of the cartoons we loved so much! Of course it didn't hurt that Usagi Yojimbo was featured on some of the cards. We loved that guy!
A recent obsession of mine has been collecting old foil packs of trading cards from the 90s. Sure, I have a ton of these non-sport cards from when I was a kid, but the artwork and design of the packaging is something I missed. When you would buy one of these packs you would tear it open and throw away the wrapper. Never giving it a second thought. Seeing these again brings back memories of feeling the slick paper in your hands, seeing the simple artwork and hearing the foil crinkle as you tore open a fresh pack of trading card nirvana. Let's dive into a few of these packs that I have on display...AGAIN!
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (Fleer, 1995)
I remember taking my little brother to this movie when it came out in 1995. About halfway through the movie the power went out in the theater. We were given the option of waiting for the lights to come back on or get a refund. With a 7 year old Power Ranger nut with us, we stayed and enjoyed every minute of Ivan Ooze's reign of terror over Angel Grove!
Popeye Trading Cards (Card Creations, 1994)
I worked at a store that sold these cards and every now and then when things would get slow, I would open a few packs hoping to track down some of the chase cards randomly inserted into the packs. These included Character Foil Cards (1:9), Evolution Chrome Cards (1:36), and Popeye Power Cels cards (1:360). I never got one, but the chase continues thanks to the Dollar Tree!
Guinness Book of Records Cards (Pro Set, 1992)
I never collected these as a kid, never had any desire to collect the set, but when old foil packs of trading cards can be had for $0.50 each, I'll add them to my collection.
Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures (Upper Deck, 1996)
Oh Jonny Quest! In 1996 The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest debuted on Cartoon Network. The show was actually pretty entertaining as I remember, but only lasted 52 episodes. It had a mix of traditional animation and computer graphics that added to the new look Jonny. I never knew these cards existed until recently and when given the chance, I grabbed a pack for my collection. Chase cards in the set include Action Quest Pop-Up cards and Heat Activated Hadji's Clues inserts.
Youngblood Trading Cards (Comic Images, 1992)
Lastly we have a pack of Comic Images Youngblood cards featuring art by Rob Liefeld. Back in the 90s Liefeld's art was the hottest around. Looking back now, not so much. I've talked about Comic Images card sets before and this follows the same pattern of basic art, little to no backgrounds and Prism Foil cards as the chase set. For all it's fallbacks, this set still takes me back to the 90s comic book boom that helped me fall in love with comics.
