This past season I dabbled just a bit in football cards, picking up one new card for each of the Patriots' 16 regular season games. I still wouldn't say I collect the sport; hell, even after that experiment I still had less than 50 football cards in my cataloged collection on The Trading Card Database.
I would say that I'm slightly more open to adding very selectively to my football card collection going forward. In fact, I've come upon a few more keepers in the time since the NFL season wound down. Today seemed like the most obvious day to show them off, so here we go...
I've always had a soft spot for the 1990 Pro Set hockey release, so it makes sense I guess that I'd enjoy the very similar football set from that year as well. When putting together my latest flat-rate Priority Mail box of cards to send to Billy of Cardboard History I came across this Joe Montana passing leader card. Had to hang onto this one, as it's now the only Joe Montana card in my entire collection. He's a big enough name that he absolutely merits at least one card in my collection, that's for sure.
Since I'm adding a card of one NFL legend to my collection, might as well get his legendary teammate in as well. This is also my first Jerry Rice card, if you can believe that. These two actually survived from my childhood collection. Though my brothers and I weren't football fans by any means, every once in a while we'd end up with a stray pack or some singles.
Now, let's take a look at a few that came my way only recently. These are courtesy of my longtime hobby friend Douglas of Sportscards from the Dollar Store...
Knowing that I'm a Patriots fan, Douglas included these in the most recent trade package he sent a couple of months back now. This Certified Cuts Julian Edelman is a good fit for sure. In fact, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the final home game for the Pats this year, and at that game won a signed/authenticated Edelman photo in a raffle that took place in our box.
Here it is hanging on my office wall at work (pardon the glare!)...
Also received a single of the man who was truly missed this season on the offensive side of the ball.
This one is really cool! It's actually a sticker. I just love the retro look that Panini achieved here. Makes me wish they were allowed to make hockey cards still. Maybe someday...
Rounding out the cards of the team's past and present stars here's a nice, shiny Danny Amendola. I bet a binder page full of these would be blinding!
Rounding out the football portion of Douglas' package was a selection from 2019 Score. Got a couple of cards of Patriots draft picks in Damien Harris...
...and N'Keal Harry. Harry actually saw quite a bit of action at wideout for New England this past year. He showed signs of promise at times, in fact had some very nice catches, though was understandably inconsistent as a rookie trying to get on the same page as his veteran quarterback.
I also got a trio of cards from the standard portion of the set, starting with the team's primary back, in first and second down situations anyway, Sony Michel. I have to say, I love the retro look of this set. A big pat on the back to Panini for a job well done with this release.
So, this experiment didn't turn out so well. Moving on...
That wraps it up for the football cards from Douglas, though I still have more cards from that package overall to get to in the coming days.
Before we part, let's take a peek at some cool Super Bowl-related cards also produced by Pro Set. These survived from my childhood collection as well, and I recall these fondly. The set contained one card for each Super Bowl that had taken place at the time.
Interesting that out of the five I happened to stumble across when purging lately, two of them feature Super Bowls that were held in Miami, the site of this evening's event.
This one's cool, I love the hood ornament theme as a nod to Detroit.
Well, that's a wrap for this Sunday morning. Thanks for the cards Douglas, and enjoy the game tonight everyone! I don't really have a dog in the fight, though I think I'd like to see the 49ers win as it would be cool to see former Patriot Jimmy Garoppolo capture a championship.
Thanks for stopping by, I'll be back this week with more great cardboard. Until then...
The 1990 Pro Set football and hockey design is simple, color coordinated, and they feature well-cropped action shots... which makes it one of my personal favorites. If I lived in a world with unlimited space, I definitely would go out and purchase both of these sets and binder them up, just so I could flip through them every once in awhile and embrace the beauty.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed with those 1990 Pro Set football cards, too! Not sure if I ever opened a pack or had any in my collection back then, but I hope the football set isn't as riddled with errors as the hockey set is ;-)
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