This Ol' Box Part IV

 

I haven't done an installment of This Ol' box since September so for those who don't remember the idea for this running series, I initially collected from 1991 till about 2011 before deciding to sell off most of my collection to focus on Game Used Memorabilia. This box contains the remains of my original collection. For one reason or another these are the cards that I didn't sell from my first go around with cards. I thought it'd be fun to look at what's inside and see what I kept and why I kept it. This is part #4 so here we go!

2010 Panini Pro Football Hall Of Fame Collector's Set Class of 2010

 

I'm showing these off as a group since it's set, and there's an easy explanation for still having this set. I bought this set AT the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. In 2010, when Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice got induced into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, my Parents and I decided to make the trip to Canton to go see them get inducted, mainly for Emmitt because me and my dad are die hard Cowboys fans. It was the most amazing sports experience I've ever had. I don't get opportunities to go out much and I've only been to a handful of Pro Basketball, Football and Baseball games, but this experience was the absolute best. We went all out, getting autograph vouchers for a ton of Hall of Famers, going to all the events, the Hall itself which is so damn AWESOME and of course the topper the actual induction ceremony itself which is surreal. Words simply can't describe. Anyways this was just one of many momentos I kept from that awesome trip. On a lesser note another cool reason we went was John Randle was inducted as well. Randle went to school and Texas A&I (now A&M) Kingsville which is really close to where my parents grew up. Unfortunately, I also found out what a complete JERK Randle is, but that's a story for another day.

1997 Upper Deck Diamond Vision Anfernee Hardaway

 

Ah yes..as a kid I probably bought this card because of the super cool motion video technology. A nice little clip of Hardaway completely a breakaway dunk. Diamond Vision were Video Cards that UD created in 1997. I don't remember exactly how much a "pack" (I wanna say it was one card packs) was, but I bought mine at a card show for like $8-$10. I believe Topps did a similar set like this as well for Baseball. I kept because it's just a cool card of my favorite player of all time and I knew selling it for a couple bucks wasn't worth the trade off of just keeping it.

2000 Sage HIT Baron Davis Auto

 

One of those "the story is better than the card itself" situation. The reason I remember this card so much is because I bought it at the last ever local card show we ever had. I don't mean last card show in Corpus Christi, which we are suburb of, I mean of my little town of Calallen. It was held at a local Mexican Restaurant as the owner was huge into sports cards and memorabilia at the time. Once upon a time in the good ol days of the 90's, our little town supported 3 card shops at once. Today...there's one in the entire city and card shows?! Ha...it's been probably 15 years or so. I bought this card for $5 as Baron Davis was coming off a nice rookie season and since this was from a lesser college themed brand (which I am SUPRISED STILL EXISTS TODAY..THEYS TILL HAVE SAGE AND HIT RELEASES FOR FOOTBALL!) which meant airbrushed photos, it was just a cheap way to add a hot young player like Baron Davis' auto in my collection. I kept it because I knew I wouldn't get more than a buck for it, but now I'm definitely glad I did, as it represents the last remnants of Shows and Shops in my little hometown. 

2005-06 UD Trilogy Signs of Stardom Dorell Wright

 

Simple explanation why I bought it. A cheap Ebay Purchase of a guy who went from High School to the Pros and might have some potential. Newsflash: It didn't work out. Wright had an unremarkable yet steady 12 year career in the NBA and is actually still playing in Europe. This card wasn't worth listing so I just kept it

2003-04 SP Authentic Leandro Barbosa Autograph Rookie Card (#1052/1250)

 

Barbosa had a pretty solid NBA Career, winning a championship with the Golden State Warriors at the end of it. He won 6th Man of The Year one year and was also a pretty good scorer throughout his career. I figured he was worth having an auto rookie of so I bought one off Ebay. I could probably sell for a few bucks if I wanted to, but eh, I figured it's part of the "original collection" so I'll keep it that way.

1997-98 Skybox Premium Ron Mercer Autograph RC

 

This card is the most mysterious card is my entire collection. The story is wayyyyy better than the card itself. Mercer was actually a pretty solid prospect coming in the NBA and was the #6 pick overall by the Boston Celtics (who also took Chauncey Billups at #3) and had a great rookie season culminating by making the All NBA Rookie 1st team. His stuff actually sold real well and I remember pulling his Chrome Rookie Card and it was a  $40 at the time 3rd to only Keith Van Horn and Tim Duncan (even at the time he was worth more than Tracy McGrady). He had a couple nice scoring seasons but eventually became a journeyman and faded away in 2005. Anyways, the story of this card. So I can remember the exact year, but Target had this autograph basketball repacks that was $4.99 and guaranteed you I believe 2 autos. The reason these became sooooo popular is because people were finding CRAZY stuff in them. I vividly remember people pulling old Autographics of SUPERSTARS in these things with some people even pulling the 1992-93 Ultra Scottie Pippen Career Highlights Autographs. They were flying off shelfs like hotcakes. I managed to only find 2 of the repacks at my local Target at the time and I didn't get anything special. I did get this card which...remains a mystery to this day. You see..this Mercer has the Skybox Seal but the origins of the cards are totally unknown. On it's face it's basically just an auto base rookie..but, nowhere can you find where this card exists. There's no checklist, there's no set, no mention of a set like this and everyone I've asked has never heard of it. It's pretty crazy. I have no idea what this card actually is. There's a good chance that the company who did the repacks basically bought a ton of Fleer's inventory (that's ll you could get in these repacks, Fleer stuff) and maybe this was a card that was never actually released in the market for whatever reason.  So much intrigue for such a mediocre card. I've kept it just because of it's uniqueness.