Yep, it’s been a while. I took some time off creative writing, while focusing on photography. However, I'm back with a new article for the 90s kids out there, and feeling good about it. Stay safe during Corona and take a gander. Here’s an exercept below.
Banner image by Steve Duck, and published over at Homecourt in full.
Chasing Paper: Basketball Cards in the ‘90s and Their Future
Before you could serve Pau Gasol $200 for a shout-out, ‘90s kids stockpiled pictures of basketball players made from cardboard, plastic and ink. Tear open a dazzling foil packet, inhale the fresh scent of chemical print, and you’d possess juvenile hard currency. You could score a “rare” holographic Michael Jordan card. You might also get jumped for being too showy with the loot. Pre-internet, b-ball collectibles were the youth stock market, and teen investors were all in.
Sports cards were devised way back in the 1900s. Cigarettes came with collectible inserts to forge brand loyalty (as if nicotine wasn’t enough). Cards often had facts about the player on the back, which perhaps birthed the modern day stat-head. In an era when people couldn't afford books and the internet sounded like an abstract fishing device, trading cards were dubbed “The Working Man's Encyclopedia.”
After World War 2 caused a paper shortage, cigarette collectibles faded out. The next wave was bubble gum cards. The most valuable ever is a Bowman 1948 George Mikan, which will reportedly run you over a mil. Not bad for a dude who shot underhand and wore spectacles in game.
Around this time, Topps entered the game. If you collected ‘90s ball cards, these guys are the OGs. Topps have printed everything from barbershop quartets to Spongebob pictorials, but sports is their hallmark. Together with competitors Upper Deck and Fleer, the hoop card Hydra breached pop culture.