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1997 EX-2000 A Cut Above Glenn "Big Dog" Robinson

One of the coolest cards in my collection is this Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson 1997 EX-2000 A Cut Above insert. The Cut Above set is one of the more sought after and best designed insert sets of the late 90’s. They’re also fairly rare with a pack insertion ratio of 1:288. The set also features some of the biggest stars and superstars from that era including M. Jordan, K. Garnett, A. Hardaway, A. Iverson, G. Hill, S. O’neal and more. I’ve wanted to add one of these cards to my collection for a longtime and finally was able to pick up this Glenn Robinson for just under $9. Not bad, as the card has a book value of $40. Here is a link to the last eBay sale for this card (click here). I would also like to add the A.I., “Penny” Hardaway and Grant Hill cards to my collection. Ok, who am I kidding? I would like to put the entire set together. Un-fortunately, I don’t think I can swing the same deal on those cards as I did the Robinson. Many other collectors have been searching for these awesome 90's inserts and prices have skyrocketed.

The card looks great and even better in-hand as it has a refractor effect on the front surface. The back of the card is cool too as the “saw” theme/graphic is carried on to the back. The set becoming harder and harder to put together as prices have gone up considerably. There are only ten cards in the set and it's no surprise that the Jordan will hurt your wallet the most at around $250 - $300.

The “Big Dog” is one of those players that seems to get overlooked by many fans and collectors today, but his 11 year NBA career numbers don’t lie: 20.7 points & 6.1 rebounds/game. The former #1 overall draft choice of the Bucks in the ’94 NBA Draft also made two All-Star games and was selected to the ’96 Olympic Dream Team II.

Here is my most recent eBay conquest and addition to my four sport Upper Deck SPx insert collection. As I'll outline below, I am currently trying to put together four SPx insert sets from the late 90's that feature similar diecut and hologram designs. This Barry Sanders is the second football card to the collection thus far and is pretty sweet if I do say so myself. Here's a little more background on these Upper Deck SPx inserts.

As many of you know, I currently have what seems like a thousand collections going. I can't help it. There're just so many great cards, magazines, kicks and posters out there to collect. One of the first items that got me back into the hobby several years back was the rediscovering of late 90's SPx inserts. Mainly, the '98 SPx Duo View hockey cards, '97 and '98 SPx Pro Motion basketball cards, the '97 SPx Cornerstones baseball cards and the '97 SPx Pro Motion football cards. With the exception of the '98 Pro Motion cards, these sets are all very similar featuring cool die cut designs and crystal clear holograms. Because of those design attributes, I've always liked them.

So far, I have a few cards in four out of the five SPx sets listed above. The first set I started building was the '97 SPx Pro Motion basketball set. In my humble opinion, it's highlighted by one of the best looking Michael Jordan cards in the hobby (click here). Ironically, that's the only card I need to complete the five card set. Even without the Jordan, I'm pretty excited to be 80% done with the set. Unfortunately, I'm not as far with the other four sets. I have the '97 Jeter/A-Rod Cornerstones card pictured above, the '97 Karim Abdul-Jabbar Pro Motion card pictured below and the Barry Sanders card pictured at the beginning of the post.

If anyone has any SPx insert cards from the five sets I'm collecting, let me know. I'd love to get these collections jump started with a few trades. You can look at my want lists and trade album by clicking here. There are a few jersey and auto'd football, baseball and basketball cards in there now. I'm always open to trades with fellow bloggers as well as anyone who is a member of Collectors Card World and Sports Card Forum. Thanks for reading and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

1997 Upper Deck Dominik Hasek Holoview Collection

One of my favorite Buffalo athletes of all-time is former Buffalo Sabres net-minder Dominik Hasek. The "Dominator" was just that, dominant. The six-time Vezina Trophy winner and two-time Hart Trophy (League MVP) winner has a minuscule career 2.02 GAA and .925 career SV%. As much as I like current Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, he's got nothing on Hasek.

Here's a recent Hasek pickup I made on eBay for just under $3.00 including shipping. This 1997 Upper Deck Holoview Collection card combines two of my favorite card attributes with the vivid holoview surface and die-cut edges. I'm also digging the late 90's Buffalo Sabres uniforms. I love getting cool cards on the cheap. Happy collecting and… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

In this third installment of the "Bo Knows" series, I have this 2001 Fleer Authority We're #1 die cut jersey card of Bo Jackson. This card has been in my collection for almost two years now. I was really excited to add this one to my collection. I love die cut cards and I'm a fan of anything Bo Jackson. I'm not exactly sure what I paid for this one as it was a couple of years ago, but I'm sure it was reasonable.

About a month ago I wrote a post reviewing an old school Nike Bo Jackson poster and explaining how Jackson also played semi-pro basketball for a very brief time. The post was entitled, "Bo Knows Basketball?" (click here). I'm a huge Jackson fan, and collect as many of his cards and posters that I can get my hands on. I really enjoyed the "Bo Knows Basketball?" post, especially the YouTube highlight videos and old Nike TV commercials I was able to embed into the post. I had so much fun putting that post together that I thought it'd be cool to do a "Bo Knows…" post for every Bo Jackson item that I'm lucky enough to add to my collection.