Some perspective on "Super Sweet 90's Inserts" from a longtime collector

Recently, I have upped my COMC shopping. While I normally look for error and variation items, I have started expanding my oddball Dodgers and ex-can't-miss 90's prospects collections since I have hit a wall on Matt Luke and Brad Fullmer stuff. On one hand, I love the site and like many of you here, enjoy snapping up formerly valuable or long-odds inserts and parallels of the guys I collect for pocket change (currently on a Karim Garcia and Todd Greene bender). I feel a little gross sometimes but 'power of nostalgia' and all that...

On the other hand, it's, at worst, a sad reminder of the glory days of the hobby; I certainly have no interest in opening today's product and like many others, miss the innovation and variety. At best, buying 90's inserts for change on COMC is a baffling-yet-nostalgic experience for someone like myself as I can vividly recall breaking all of these products while working in a card store ca. 1995-1999.

For those who didn't open this stuff back then, I'd like to remind you how more often than not, boxes were mostly disappointing and pretty formulaic: (1) 1:24 or 1:36 insert, (2) 1:12 inserts/parallels and occasionally a 1:72 hit. 9 times out of 10, you didn't open 1998 Donruss and pull Crusades or Power Alley Die-Cuts, you'd be lucky to end up with a /5000 insert and a Diamond King /10000 and 3-4 press proofs. 1997-98 Circa or Metal Universe was usually a quick $80 down the drain (Neifi Perez if you did land a PMG). Finest boxes had maybe 3-4 refractors per box and generally, they were commons. In 1996, and to a lesser degree, 1997, finding a silver refractor, much less a gold, of ANY player, was a big hit. In 1996 Select Certified, a blue parallel was only 1-2 per box and those boxes weren't cheap!

Even many of the "easier" inserts and parallels of the 90's only fell a few per box and often the checklists were larger back then so plenty of opportunity to be majorly disappointed. Think 1995 Summit Nth degree or 1997 Leaf Fractal Matrix, for examples, both very attractive parallels of little notoriety among collectors today. For other dirt-cheap, all-but-forgotten-yet-tough-to-pull 90's stuff, see: 1996 Select Blue; 1995 Select Artist's Proofs; 1994 Leaf Limited Gold; 1996 Blue Chip Prospects; 1997 SPx Gold; 1997 Topps Stars Always Mint.

In the last week, between eBay and COMC, I have spent $16 (before shipping) on the following cards:

1996 Finest Karim Garcia Gold Refractor
1996 Finest Raul Mondesi Silver Refractor
1997 Select Certified Mirror Gold Todd Greene
1997 Leaf Fractal Matrix Gold Die-Cut Nomar Garciaparra
1995 Studio Platinum Raul Mondesi
1998 Leaf Fractal Matrix Gold Paul Konerko
1998 UD Amazing Great Die-Cut Jose Cruz Jr.

This is fascinating to me: awesome and depressing at the same time! Had I wished to hit any of these cards back then, I'd have had to go through cases of product! Or, of course, I could scour DealerNet and shows and pay 70-80% of book price should I be so lucky to find the players I actually want.

Certain inserts/parallels seem to "trend" and gain popularity from threads like these. Which is interesting and suggests today's collecting community can influence the market on previously dormant sets. Crusades, Fleer Brilliants 24K, etc as some major examples. It almost seems like there is a tier structure to 90's stuff. Crusades and whatnot at the top, Showcase Legacies, Gold Label Reds and other #D to 150 or less in the middle and then everything else. There are many great-looking and equally scarce 90's inserts that get almost no love and I'm fairly certain that it's mostly due to the loss of distribution info and the influx of collectors who missed out on the products.

Yes, it is exactly correct to say there are tiers in popularity of 90s inserts, and pretty much anything else in the world. There is no end to the sets you might collect, and you might be one of a handful of people in the world pursuing a set that in the abstract is the same as Red Crusades or whatever, all that matters is aesthetics. Some are really obscure and tough to find just because people don't take the trouble to sell them, and go cheap when they do. For instance, 2000 Bowman Chrome Retro Refractors, where they used the old-fashioned TV design on veteran players. I spent about a year looking for these, and found few other than Burbank's stock, which was robustly priced. I only got maybe a dozen of them at auction or more reasonable BINs, none at shows or shops, and finally just gave up.

And most limited doesn't necessarily correspond to the best. I really like the 1996 Blue Chips also, and the Hot Commodities companion set. Mostly affordable and obtainable back then, easy but not too easy, and super-cheap today. There are tons of insert sets that came 1 per box or three, and were the big chases at the time. But wait 15-20 years and you can have the collection of your younger self's dreams.

Although my main PC collection is Will Clark, I have started too and will over the next however many years start collecting the types of cards your speaking about. I've had / sold / etc most of these things so I don't have them anymore. But as stated the nostalgia of them is still there and I plan on build a PC around items that I have always liked from my beginning collecting days. It'll be a fun trip and glad your enjoying it.

Ryan

I remember hitting shows back around 1997-98, and seeing (and buying) these great inserts all the time! And then, when I started back again in late 2008, I remember hitting shows and finding nothing. Now, it's the opposite, as the collecting world has helped drag a lot of great semi-forgotten inserts out of the woodwork. I think it'll end up being a cycle where 90's stuff is forgotten, then rediscovered and being everywhere, and then being forgotten again when a set gets too easy to find and too cheap. Or maybe I'm talking out my ass, but it makes sense to me!

DeliciousBacon said:

I remember hitting shows back around 1997-98, and seeing (and buying) these great inserts all the time! And then, when I started back again in late 2008, I remember hitting shows and finding nothing. Now, it's the opposite, as the collecting world has helped drag a lot of great semi-forgotten inserts out of the woodwork. I think it'll end up being a cycle where 90's stuff is forgotten, then rediscovered and being everywhere, and then being forgotten again when a set gets too easy to find and too cheap. Or maybe I'm talking out my ass, but it makes sense to me!

Click to expand...

I agree that you still need to be careful how much you spend even if they are popular now. You don't want to regret overpaying at any point. My philosophy on this stuff would be buy slow n smart.


Ryan

You are nearly describing me when buying these products back in the 90s. This reality was very much a real leading factor to me quitting buying of new product almost entirely by 2000. You are exactly correct. The casual collector who might buy a single box of the newer releases usually didn't hit crap and an occasional star parallel would make your day. if you beat the odds, it was almost always a scrub and once in a blue moon, really land something cool that would drop in value to 1/10th of it's release point within the year.

I did buy singles somewhat heavily in the 90s, but mainly of sets I really liked or players I collected and not nearly enough now in hindsight. My favorite player at the time was Frank Thomas, so his cards were always in the top 5 in value and thus harder to get at bargain prices...until later when the world forgot about 90s inserts for a while. I went back "into the pool" a few times when the water was lukewarm and bought other singles for great prices, but as much as I enjoyed the unique and innovative inserts, I find the trend today a bit bothersome (tons of people looking for steals on misidentified cards in dollar boxes and/or from oblivious sellers who have no clue a $100+ card is what they just put in their $5 box - so they can hold them ransom from player and set collectors in flips) and wonder if it will hold up over time.

jacksoncoupage said:

For those who didn't open this stuff back then, I'd like to remind you how more often than not, boxes were mostly disappointing and pretty formulaic: (1) 1:24 or 1:36 insert, (2) 1:12 inserts/parallels and occasionally a 1:72 hit. 9 times out of 10, you didn't open 1998 Donruss and pull Crusades or Power Alley Die-Cuts, you'd be lucky to end up with a /5000 insert and a Diamond King /10000 and 3-4 press proofs. 1997-98 Circa or Metal Universe was usually a quick $80 down the drain (Neifi Perez if you did land a PMG). Finest boxes had maybe 3-4 refractors per box and generally, they were commons. In 1996, and to a lesser degree, 1997, finding a silver refractor, much less a gold, of ANY player, was a big hit. In 1996 Select Certified, a blue parallel was only 1-2 per box and those boxes weren't cheap!

Click to expand...

RStadlerASU22 said:

I agree that you still need to be careful how much you spend even if they are popular now. You don't want to regret overpaying at any point. My philosophy on this stuff would be buy slow n smart.


Ryan

Click to expand...

Another point that I am trying to make with this post is that, contrary to "book value" or buzz or whatever, there are still tons of interesting, tough-to-pull-at-the-time and with great eye-appeal inserts that are never discussed in these 90's nostalgia threads and to some degree, even dismissed by some collectors as non-essential or pushed off to the "no rush" section of their wantlists (guilty of this with the Pacific 7-11 pack parallels). What many collectors don't realize is just how difficult and costly it was to pull them at the time. When I see someone balk at a $5-10 price tag on, say, a 1994 Collector's Choice Gold Sig card, for example, my inner old man comes out ready to rant the hobby version of "when I was your age I walked 20 miles in the snow..."

Since I will likely never get to add any new Matt Luke items (another collector has cornered the few low-numbered items made available) and have locked down the majority of Brad Fullmer's stuff, I have started to expand my collection into mini collections of other players who I recall had a lot of hype (Ben Grieve, Todd Greene) or had some hobby heat for a brief period (Shane Spencer). My criteria is a combination of difficulty in insertion odds and eye appeal and am surprised by how much stuff is out there during the 1994-1999 period that is seldom discussed that meet this criteria. Even something like a Brad Fullmer 1999 UD Game Jersey. The card had 1:25,000 pack odds or something ridiculous. I am up to 11 of them now and every time I add one, it's still as exciting as the first one I purchased one in 1999 ($50 plus a 1993 UD Jeter Gold Hologram RC ~ yikes!).

jacksoncoupage said:

Even something like a Brad Fullmer 1999 UD Game Jersey. The card had 1:25,000 pack odds or something ridiculous. I am up to 11 of them now and every time I add one, it's still as exciting as the first one I purchased one in 1999 ($50 plus a 1993 UD Jeter Gold Hologram RC ~ yikes!).

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• Game Jerseys marked "HR" were in BOTH Hobby and retail packs and inserted at the rate of 1:2500/packs.
• The number besides each entry indicates which series it was inserted.

BF Brad Fullmer H2

magicpapa said:

• Game Jerseys marked "HR" were in BOTH Hobby and retail packs and inserted at the rate of 1:2500/packs.
• The number besides each entry indicates which series it was inserted.

BF Brad Fullmer H2

Click to expand...

What were the odds on non-HR numbered? Either way, my shop opened three dozen or so boxes of 1999 UD (mostly through pack wars) and only saw one or two game jerseys.

• Game Jerseys marked "H" were exclusive to Hobby packs and inserted at the rate of 1:288/packs (case hits).

looks like the 2000 ones had the highest odds with 1:12,500

Very nice write up. Kind of a warning for everyone who is spending top dollar on current hard to get, can't miss prospect cards. They are going to be near worthless in 20 years.