Mid 90’s basketball. What an era for one of America’s favorite sports. Thanks to the mid 90’s featuring some of the greats to play the game, it was also a huge reason why I got into collecting sports cards.

At the time, Michael Jordan ruled the world thanks to the momentum from the 1992 Olympic Dream Team. Back at home, the US was captivated by MJ and other NBA stars such as Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and a ton of larger-than-life physical specimens on the hardwood. NBA basketball was the #1 draw in sports and the interest spilled over into the sports card market. Of course, all we do is hear about the era being the “junk era” due to the mass production of cards, but 25 years later even if they aren’t worth much, the designs from the 90’s hold up. From simple to in your face, the 90s had it all, man.

In today’s market you can get lucky and make a decent chunk of change on a super rare 90s Michael Jordan insert, or an early Autograph out of the Autographics sets, but unfortunately, most of the stuff you pulled out of packs from the convenience store may not be worth the paper they are printed on. The good news though? The 90’s card companies had fun with some of the images on their cards, at least giving specific cards nostalgic value. I still laugh looking at the 96-97 Collector’s Choice Kevin Garnett card where he is at All-Star weekend as comparing himself to a cut out of Muggsy Bogues. The joke there is the 5’3” Bogues was the smallest NBA player in history, while KG pushed 7 ft. A fun and unique picture you don’t see in today’s sets.

Growing up, my favorite players were Shawn Kemp, Jerry Stackhouse, Anfernee Hardaway, Kevin Garnett and Charles Barkley. As a kid from New England, I loved (and still do) Larry Bird; but by the time I had a long enough attention span to watch a full basketball game, Larry Legend was a shell of his former self and eventually retired. Insert the aforementioned young stars that I gravitated towards, and those were the guys I wanted to collect. Fast forward 25 years and I’m still seeking out their cards at shows or on COMC and eBay.

In fact, it was the Scottie Pippen Rockstars insert that is a huge reason why Card Czar is what it is today. You see, as a kid my business partner Adam ALWAYS hit the awesome Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls cards, so when I pulled a Scottie Pippen Rockstars insert, I immediately had an asset he wanted. As 12 year olds we traded that card. As 32 year olds, we got together for a beer and I told him to bring his card collection so I could see if it was worth anything. He pulled out the Scottie Pippen Rockstars that I traded him years prior and the idea for Card Czar was born!

My interest in basketball cards (and the sport in general) has waned a bit as I have grown older and fallen in love with the NFL and fantasy football, but I still enjoy ripping a pack of the latest basketball product…though I won’t be dropping $1,200 on a box of 2020-21 Donruss. Even if basketball has taken a back seat to football in my PC, I’ll look back at mid-90’s fondly as a time where I was introduced and fell in love with the sports card hobby thanks to the superstars on the court and behind the design of some basketball cards.

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