Since I jumped back into card collecting, a few months ago, my thirst for more cards has grown. Between sometime in the early 90s and a couple months ago, I did not actively collect cards at all, but seeing some old unopened packs on eBay and then receiving those packs re-ignited my interest in cards. I still had a bunch of my childhood cards, although not in the greatest shape and pretty much worthless as far as any resale value, but I loved looking through them and seeing how I organized them probably at least 25 years ago. Then I went to s sports card show, where I normally go to look for miscellaneous memorabilia and mostly ignore cards, but this time I found some more old unopened packs and bought a ton of them for like five bucks or something. Now I’m addicted. I just love opening up the packs and seeing what I will get. Now I have started buying new packs as well. I started buying some baseball cards and have finally moved on to football as the first sets of 2019 are released. I really have been enjoying the autograph cards. I generally don’t care much about autographs, but it is really fun to get one in a pack, even if they are guaranteed to be in the box:

I would consider myself a super casual card collector. I don’t know all the lingo when it comes to hobby boxes, parallels, box breaks and others. I really didn’t know what any of it was until I looked it up. I also am not one to pay high prices for anything. I just like the fun of opening a pack and seeing what I get and enjoying the look of cards. When I was a kid I never collected cards because they might be worth something (they weren’t). I just liked football and baseball and hockey and collected them because I loved the uniforms and logos and wanted to find my favorite players and teams. These days it is the same. Plus, new cards are so nice looking.

No More Topps Football

In 2016 Topps did not release a Football card set for the first time since 1955. This was because for the 2016 season, Panini had exclusive rights to both the teams and players. If you remember back in the 70s through 1982 Topps released football sets, but none of the players had logos on the helmets. This was because they had a deal with the players association, but not the league. I did not like cards without logos.

During that same era, Fleer could show team logos, but couldn’t name specific players without an agreement with the NFLPA. In 2016 Panini would have an agreement for exclusive rights with both the NFL and NFLPA, which knocked Topps and any other brand that still wasn’t owned by Panini out of the NFL Game. Panini, which acquired Donruss in 2009, now has exclusive rights for NFL cards.

Action Packed Cards

One of the most memorable card sets and a favorite of mine was Action Packed Cards. These cards were embossed, 3D cards that were sold from around 1989-the mid-nineties. I only ever had Action Packed football cards, but they also has sets for other sports and Nascar as well. The cards were priced a little higher than other packs of the time and that probably explains why I don’t have more. As it is I only have a handful of the cards left from 1992. I also liked how the information on the back also included a description of the “action” on the front of the card. I have already decided that I will start collecting these again. As is the case with most cards from that era, you can pick up unopened packs, sets and lots for relatively cheap. The sets also had some special 24K Gold cards, which can also be had at a reasonable price most of the time.

Score

The first 2019 Score set came out this month, so I went ahead and picked up a few packs. Score is yet another brand that is now part of Panini, but i really like the look of these cards and these parallel cards are really nice. I didn’t get any autograph cards, though. Maybe next time. I guess I’m turning into a card addict now, too.