Random Wax: 2021-2022 Illusions Basketball

21-22 Illusions:   Kawhi is my favorite player, and I've made no secret of that.  This year he's played maybe the best season of his 14-year career.  It's been fun to see.  The Clippers are currently the 8th seed in the West.  I'm not sure they can catch Phoenix for the 7 seed but still, with all the changes the team has made during the season it's been something to watch.

Happy to see CJ on the Hawks now.  He's a professional player and he can shoot.  After trading for McCollum and Kesper as well as Kuminga, I like how Atlanta is constructed.  Still need to figure out their defense though.  Porzingis is with the Warriors now after stops in Boston, where he won a championship, and Atlanta.  That Hayward is an Orange Parallel.

All three of these young players are solid players in the NBA today.

Reflections insert.  While Green's season has been injury marred, he is going in a different direction than Ja in terms of his career.

Wilton Norman Chamberlain.  Man was this guy good and so athletic.  His dominance is not talked about enough.  He wasn't just a big man clogging up the lane though he spent a lot of time there.  His athleticism and skill led him to dominate the 60s.  10X All-NBA, 7X Scoring Champ, 11X Rebounding Champ, 4X MVP, 2X NBA Champ, 2X All-Defensive Team.  All-time leader in minutes played per game (45.8) and rebound per game (22.9).  He also averaged 30.1 points per game and of course had the only 100 point game.

BREAKDOWN:
12 – Total Cards
2 – RC
1 - Reflections
1 – Retired Great
1 – Orange Parallel

1992 Triple Play (4 Packs)

1992 Triple Play:   Bo Jackson was known for so many different things including his smile which helps make this a good-looking card.

Some greats from the game.  Triple Play was a low-end option for kids and collectors.  I've always been drawn to the design.

Horizonal options as well.  Even as a low-end product it gave us good photos.

Triple Play leans into the fun with some of their photos which I really like.

Awesome Action cards come in horizontal and vertical form.  I like these cards.

Little Hotshots are cool cards and this one showcases Dale Murphy.  I like their take on Diamond Kings with these Gallery of Stars cards.  Not a lot going on with the backs, but they are fine.

Five World Series championships for this guy.  His first was with Toronto in '92 and then 4 more with the Yankees.  He had a 2.12 ERA across 29 innings in World Series play.

More stars from the era.  I purchased a box of this off eBay and I'll continue to show them off four packs at a time over time.

Pretty cool photo.  I've never been the baseball Hall of Fame.

These are fun.  Lots of memories, great players and a good design.  A few of my favorite players from that time.  That Eck photo really is nice.

BREAKDOWN:

60 – Total Cards

1 – Checklist

1 – Hall of Fame

1 – Little Hotshots

1 – Gallery of Stars

1 – Awesome Action

1991-1992 Upper Deck Hockey

 91-92 UD:  Brett Hull is a St. Louis legend.  Oh sure, he was a great hockey player.  But his drunk rendition of the Blues' anthem, Gloria when the Blues won the title in 2019 is legendary.  And Upper Deck did really well with this photo.

I'm not the biggest hockey guy and didn't remember this set or design.  I do like the design overall though I'd always be happier with a team logo.  Adam Oates is another Hall of Fame player who played with the Blues.  That Palffy is a 1991 Draft Choice.

Nice photo on the back of this card that has a photobomb from Brett Hull.

The backs are nice and similar from Upper Deck sets across football and basketball.  That Ellet photo is awkward looking.

I love Upper Deck Team Checklists from this era, and we get Tomas Sandstrom on this nice Kings checklist card.

 BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
1 – Team Checklist
1 – 1991 Draft Choice

GOAT

GOAT:   Me and the grandsons watched this one this week in the theater.  We really enjoyed it.  The movies centers around a goat named Will.  He gets a chance to play roarball which is their version of basketball in this world filled with animals.  Since he's a "small" it's a very big deal as he joins the local professional team (Thorns).  It was just fun.  I liked the characters and it was paced well.  The movie has done over $140M worldwide so it must be doing something right.  Steph Curry was part of the movie development, is a producer, and also voices Lenny the Giraffe.

Random Wax: 2023-2024 Haunted Hoops Bundle

 23-24 Haunted Hoops:  Dame should be back on the court in 2026-2027.  His time with Milwaukee was short and not that great unfortunately.  Hopefully he'll retire a Trail Blazer now.  Him being in Portland is just right even if he's 35 and nearing the twilight of his career.

It's Friday the 13th so fun sets like this are perfect.  Zion is having a good year but he's still one of the biggest enigmas in the sport.  You get a mix of Slime and Orange parallels in the set along with the standard white boardered cards.

Youngsters are highlighted on Rising Stars and base RC cards.  Brandon Miller and Chet Holmgren are stars in the league now.

Zach Lavine is a Sacramento King now and out for the rest of season with injury.  Anfernee Simons is a Bull after a short stop in Boston.

Holiday was traded to Portland in the deal that sent Simons to Boston.  Murray was traded to New Orleans but has been out all season with injury.  De'Aaron Fox is now with San Antonio and Wemby.  So much movement in the NBA.

BREAKDOWN:
60 – Total Cards (20 Packs)
15 – RC
12 – Orange
7 – Slime
4 – Rising Stars

Random Wax: 1990 Upper Deck Baseball

1990 UD:   Joe Carter had a smile on his face much of the time.  This is a really good photo of him.  A 5X All-Star and 2X Silver Slugger he went on to win two World Series championships with the Toronto Blue Jays.  One on his famous walk off home run.  That Toronto lineup really was stacked.

Just an amazing set from Upper Deck.  My first time buying any since 2018.  In 1990, Greg Maddux would lead the league in hits allowed.  He still won 15 games and had a 3.46 ERA while winning a Golden Glove award and is showing off his skills here.

The backs are really nice.  Colorful with a new photo.  Not all of a player's career stats but enough to be forgiven for the error.  Carter of cours had power but also had some wheels early in his career.  

Some backstop love.

Mark Grace coming off an excellent 1989 season.

These team holograms were maybe 1/3 the size of a regular card.  Pretty cool looking and they scan great.

Some nice photos to end it as well as a Team Checklist.  I love the art on those across the Upper Deck sets.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
1 – Team Checklist
1 – Team Hologram

1992 Upper Deck Football

1992 Upper Deck:   It's hard to find new props for Barry Sanders.  It's all been said before.  He was just crazy fun to watch during his 10 years on the field.  You just knew you were going to see greatness that day.  And this is such a nice photo.

As much as I like this set, I'm surprised I've never picked up packs before.  I love this design.  Simple and the stonework look at the bottom is a great look to me.  Emmitt catching the ball.  Not as a surprise as he had over 500 receptions in his career.

The backs are really nice with a separate photo and has the Upper Deck look we were used too from that year.  Barry's eyes seem to always stand out in his photos.

Youngsters in the set.  Bryan Cox was a 3X Pro Bowl selectee.  I really thought it would have been more.  He also won a Super Bowl with New England in 2001.

Team MVP and Season Leaders cards work nicely.  I like both of those photos as well.

I really like that we get horizontal offerings.

This Thurman Thomas card is my favorite card in the pack.  The photo, cropping, team colors all work for me alot.  As a Bills guy I'm probably biased but that's okay.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
3 – All Rookie Team
2 – Star Rookie
1 – Team MVP
1 – Season Leaders