How do u get into the hobby?

Mine was year 98' the nba cards was a boom here. U know what is hit in most kids at that time I should join also, Everybody has a GH,Penny,Kemp,Jordan. everybody was crazy about Grant and Penny. to name a few. I collect some at that time, but all I have was base cards and all are bought to me by mom, months passed then I stop. back again in 03' rookie year of bron pick up a couple of nice low.end bron and wade rc's then I stop collecting again. now mid 08' I was searching the net for some nbacards, then I found out we have our own Phil. forum, thats the time I knew I was back again in the hobby, and planning to continue a long run, I really love the hobby and had no plans of retiring again.




how about u guys? how did u get into the hobby of collecting cards?

I got into them in around '90-'91? It was massive in Aus around then with card shops popping up every where and all the kids were trading in school. Collected for a few years then got into cars and all my money went on them for a good decade and cards got put in the cupboard. Then started getting back into the NBA again about a year ago and decided to look into cards again and got hooked on it.

think i started around 1991 because i was playing basketball & loved watching the NBA & cards were taking off everyone was collecting them & before you knew it there was a card shop opened up. I collected basketball for 3 years then started collecting NFL & i remember I pulled an Emmitt Smith Living Legends card & it had a BV of $100, it was the biggest pull from a pack i ever got. Stopped collecting in 1996, by that stage i had NBA, NFL & NRL.

I got back into cards about a year ago when i started watching the NBA again & found my old collection.

I do also remember collecting Garbage Gang cards in the late 80s

MG13 said:

think i started around 1991 because i was playing basketball & loved watching the NBA & cards were taking off everyone was collecting them & before you knew it there was a card shop opened up. I collected basketball for 3 years then started collecting NFL & i remember I pulled an Emmitt Smith Living Legends card & it had a BV of $100, it was the biggest pull from a pack i ever got. Stopped collecting in 1996, by that stage i had NBA, NFL & NRL.

I got back into cards about a year ago when i started watching the NBA again & found my old collection.

I do also remember collecting Garbage Gang cards in the late 80s

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i think i had those garbage gang cards aswell as batman and NRL in primary school.

Im guessing you'd be about 30 aswell?

Verse1 said:

i think i had those garbage gang cards aswell as batman and NRL in primary school.

Im guessing you'd be about 30 aswell?

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haha batman i forgot all about the batman cards from the 1st movie

yeah im 28

Its funny how the same trends reached from here to where you are even back in the days of no internet etc.

I remember having some Kim Bassinger insert from the Batman cards and was the coolest kid on the school yard at lunches for about 2 weeks, that was my 15 minutes right there

Verse1 said:

Its funny how the same trends reached from here to where you are even back in the days of no internet etc.

I remember having some Kim Bassinger insert from the Batman cards and was the coolest kid on the school yard at lunches for about 2 weeks, that was my 15 minutes right there

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I was living in Canberra (go the Raiders) at the time of Garbage Gang & Batman cards. My favourite card from Batman was the Batmobile action shot from the movie with the flame coming out the back.

nice story guys. keep em comin.

my love for the nba started in 1992... my first ever exposure to it was the 92 all star game, magic's farewell. watched it at a friends place by chance and then card collecting stemmed from there bit by bit, as i found it the easiest way to have an involvement with the nba from abroad without being able to go to games etc.

never looked back since

Started in '93 when NBA was huge and all my mates were collecting, collected pippen and 94-95 fleer and James Hird. There were card shops everywhere, beckett was the bible, it was fantastic. Stopped collecting in 96-97 when all the card shops shut down and i couldn't buy cards anymore.

Got back into it 3 years ago when i moved found all my old folders and completed my 95-96 fleer metal set, then picked up alot of hirds i missed, then bought a box of 06-07 sweet shot (cause i could never afford a box then), then a case, then it all flowed on from there

this is a good thread

mines 93 94 hoops series two cards they were givin out for two bucks with red rooster meals i was in bout year 5 i think my first ""big"" insert was a hakeem supreme court haha
but yes as the hobby drifted off id get some big finds at a swap meet or something every couple of years or so and get a few months interest in it but prob the internet the last 2-3 years has really kept the interest going im sure it will slow up again one time or another as lifes importants come along but im sure il never sell the pc collection and will always pick up interest again

Well... mine is kinda a weird one lol! The reason was because of.............. McGyver!

Now, if you think that's weird, heres why....

I was watching a McGyver episode one day & it was an episode about some guy that stole a really expensive baseball card collection & from that I thought sports cards sounded/looked really cool...... so, I didn't really like baseball much so I decided to collect Basketball cards instead...... picked up my first packet from the newsagent.... 93-94 Hoops Series 2 I believe.

I still remember my first insert card I got (& still have it to this day for sentimental purposes)... was a face2face Richard Dumas & Dominique Wilkins I think is on the other side.

Memories......

90'inserts said:

this is a good thread

mines 93 94 hoops series two cards they were givin out for two bucks with red rooster meals i was in bout year 5 i think my first ""big"" insert was a hakeem supreme court haha
but yes as the hobby drifted off id get some big finds at a swap meet or something every couple of years or so and get a few months interest in it but prob the internet the last 2-3 years has really kept the interest going im sure it will slow up again one time or another as lifes importants come along but im sure il never sell the pc collection and will always pick up interest again

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Haha... I remember that!

I had seen a few of my mates talk/trade cards at school and in the street...

But it was not until maybe '94 when a basketball teammate gave me a lift home after a game.... his mum wanted to stop quickly for a shop.
My teammate begged at the checkout for a 50c pack of hoops.

Not wanting to be rude... out of politeness, his mum bought me a pack as well and I pulled a Supreme Court parallel (1:1 pack) and thought it was SOOOOO cool!

The rest is history

2007 when I was at school and I saw this kid got a pack of the NRL Champions and pulled a sketch card, I thought it was the coolest thing EVER!!!

P.S. I collected the Tazos when I was like in kindergarten.

Wow! I feel really old! I started in 1989-90. My first pack was the 1989-90 Hoops. I remembered pulling a Michael Jordan and a Robert Parish. The very next season, I remembered buying a heap of 1990-91 Hoops series 2 and bundling them all up in rubber bands and absolutely destroying the edges and corners haha. I acquired a few 1990-91 Skybox from friends. Nearby I used to walk to a local card shop called Bleachers and I used to buy the 1990-91 boxes of Hoops and Fleer for 7$ a box with my 10$ alllowance money until I had thousands. I used to trade here and there with friends and got some pretty normal stuff until 1992-93 when Shaq and ZO came about. I became a huge fan of Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning and Muggsy Bogues. That's how my PC of ZO and LJ got started. I stopped in 1999 because of college (NO MONEY!!) and I started up again choosing ZO because he had more cards in 2007. NICE THREAD BY THE WAY!!!

92-93 saw basketball cards for the first time, picked up a pack of UD from the newsagency for 4.95 and pulled my very 1st MJ insert. Got hooked for a couple of seasons, took a break and returned 02-03 after seeing gu cards and pulling one from my 1st pack after returning, I got hooked again!

A_Iverson_I said:

Well... mine is kinda a weird one lol! The reason was because of.............. McGyver!

Now, if you think that's weird, heres why....

I was watching a McGyver episode one day & it was an episode about some guy that stole a really expensive baseball card collection & from that I thought sports cards sounded/looked really cool...... so, I didn't really like baseball much so I decided to collect Basketball cards instead...... picked up my first packet from the newsagent.... 93-94 Hoops Series 2 I believe.

I still remember my first insert card I got (& still have it to this day for sentimental purposes)... was a face2face Richard Dumas & Dominique Wilkins I think is on the other side.

Memories......



Haha... I remember that!

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thats a nice story mate, Mcgyver plays a major part in your collection.

very nice thread. Very nice stories there ! =)


@ 90'inserts - Nice sig, this is first time to see your sig for me. =)

jasonf23312 said:

That's how my PC of ZO and LJ got started.

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Nice story Jason =)

I didn't know you have collected LJ.







Like many people, I started my collection around 1994.
(Many of NBA card collector might start because of MJ then Penny and Hill.
-> 90's Prime)


I have lived in South Korea so I haven't been able to watch many NBA games.

Of course, these days there is Internet so I can see old games through downloading. But at that time No INTERNET !


The first time, I could watch "Air Time of MJ" at local broadcasting.
(around 1993 or 1994)

I didn't like MJ but there were something. I really wanted to watch NBA game after watching "Air Time".



But The only game I could watch is one time per week at AFKN(U.S. Army's broadcasting) and NHK(Japanese National Broadcast system).

But to watch those games, I need parabolic antenna and it costs too much !

Fortunatley, neighborhood bought that parabola so I could watch those games. lol
(Because nobody can devide air.)



The first attractive player was Shawn Kemp.

One Green uniform man jumped too high then showed something crazy !

More important thing was he was not just dunker. He was really great.




I thought Shawn Kemp would be great guy.
(Unfortunatley, he collapsed though but he was great VS Bulls and MJ at the Final.)



But most of people didn't think like that.

They thought only MJ and Penny then SHAQ ! =(

And only a few people thought Pip, Barkley.

Because of bad environment of my country. might be.

Even some people didn't know Supersonics and Shawn Kemp.

I can still remember this experience.

It was book convention but there were booth of NBA Magazine.

They sold another items like pictures, Spalding ball etc.

As soon as I saw Sonics Ball, I bought that without hesitate even I was Kid and I didn't have much money though !

And I asked clerk "Do you have any Shawn Kemp Item except this ball ?"

Then He said " Who is Shawn Kemp ?" =(


But it might be not like my country.

Because there are Shawn Kemp Set in 1994-95 Season.






I bought Reebok Kamikaze II and wore when I played basketball with Sonics Green Ball.


I also started to buy Shawn Kemp cards even it was base !





But I also wanted to get nice looking card.

Oneday, I found this card at my Local Cardshop.

Selling Price was 80 USD because BV was 80 USD. =(
(And 1994-95 Finest BOX was 500 USD in my country)




But I was not a rich kid so I couldn't buy that card.

So I saved money to buy that card then finally I got that card ! =)
(But that card is not the same card I bought. I traded that card around 2000-2001. I re-bought that card as really expensive price at bay, because of nostalgia.)




Another started factor was ZO.

After knowing Shawn Kemp, I watched one blue uniform guy blocks very well.

It was really attractive ! He looks smaller than another Center players !

And I could watch end of this game at NBA Music Video of Fox home video.

It was amazing.(And I could know later. He was just a rookie !!)


It was ZO.
(Interesting thing is narrator was Tim Hardaway. After a few years later, they became teammate.)

After knowing ZO, I always discussed 1992 Draft with my friends.

I always said "If I Draft # 1 pick, I would pick ZO as 1st pick not SHAQ." lol

After knowing ZO, I also started to collect his cards.

Of course, many of cards were like that, but this card is one of my excited card when I got.




I can't forget when ZO was traded to Heat.

As soon as I arrived home after school, I watched TV then I could see news ZO+2 players <-> Glen Rice + 2 players trade.

I was really excited. ZO would do something great as I thought.

Because I was Sonics Fan(because of Kemp) I liked Hornets but not much.

But as soon as ZO became one of Heat, I became Heat fan in 90's !
(not now though)




At that time, I played Arcade game, "NBA JAM".

I always used Kemp and ZO like below. =)










Kemp and ZO...Booting of my collection. =)

Thank you for looking =)

NBA Jam was my favourite game. I used to know some cheat that gave them all over sized heads.

i got into cos i liked the sydney kings. i took up basketball at 10 cos of the kings. i lived in a small country town so basketball wasnt very big, it was footy and cricket. i ended up getting a hold of an NBA mag at the newsagent that had posters of jordan, barkley, robinson, malone, stockton. TV Hits ended up having a 3 peat bulls poster in it actually, that would have been 93. i moved from the country town to newcastle but on the way we stopped at sydney and grace bros had UD on the counter.....brought 2 packs and i was hooked, had all my cards stolen in 94, the first and only time i took em to school! cried like a b!tch (more so due to anger than pain..i may or may not have found retribution) stopped in 97 when everything shut, had 200+ pippens but i was going to stop at 333 with his rookie and an auto...i googled pippen rookie in 2002 cos i was bored at work. there was one on ebay australia...i paid $356! stupidiest most niave thing ive ever done, i didnt know about ebay or ebay US. i got into a bidding war with some dude and he ended up emailing me after saying "ha ha i just wanted to see how high you would go) i ended up paying cos i didnt know any different....it would grade a PSA 10 cos its perfectly centred with 4 PERFECT corners....finally got the rookie but then got into ebay more and more and more pippens were popping up, i just started buying them, then found ebay US about a month later, got paypal and 6 months later i was buying stuff (dollar at the time was 53 cents) i intended to stop at 333 but i did a count and i was on 500 then thought i might go for 1000 with rookie and an auto...was at 800 before i got my first auto...during which time a pasttime became a hobby that became an obsession that became an addiction that has now spiralled out of control with no turning back!