Basketball cards are the HOT seller, beating baseball for the
first time.
No not because Michael and a 2nd championship vs. the Portland
Trail Blazers and Clyde Drexler, although that did not hurt the
sport’s popularity.
There is a Rookie named Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal
who single handedly has Collectors from all sports buying basketball
cards at an alarming rate to find his rookie cards since he’s
considered a can’t miss Superstar.
Fleer, Hoops, SkyBox, and Upper Deck and all in full swing producing
many cards.
The new company this year is Topps. They have the regular Topps
brand, and they add a high end brand called Stadium Club. Great
looking full front photo’s of the Players with no boarder
on the card.
Stadium Club produces:
1) An insert called Beam Team. One Beam Team card per 36 wax pack
box. There are 21 Players pictured. Michael Jordan is card # 1,
and Shaq is card # 21. Collectors buy the packs up hoping for
a Rookie Shaq Beam Team card.
2) a “Members Only” card. This is a paid subscription
for Collectors who want to buy into the brand and get exclusive
cards with Members Only logo on the cards..
Fleer adds a high end card called Ultra. The cards have great
full front, no bordered photos (front and back), excellent centering,
and a thicker card stock. The cards just feel and look high end!
Upper Deck produces 25+ cards with Michael Jordan’s photo
on them.