Going on a Fantastic Voyage Back to 1993

About a week and a half ago, I met a buddy for some burgers in Burbank.  He is also a card collector.  He had been mentioning to me about Burbank Sports Cards for awhile now.  I was a short drive away from the shop.  I finally decided to go to check out Burbank Sports Cards.  I may be one of the few collectors in the LA area never to be a customer of this card shop.

The shop looks like a big warehouse but, the store itself is very small.  Most of the purchases are done on a computer and the employees will get the card for you.  The shop did have some 2011 packs, a quarter box and some random packs from the 90s!!!  The 90s packs really got me jazzed to purchase some.  The packs were even cheaper now than they were back in the day. 

I picked up a handful of packs from my favorite era.  I may have another post or two showing my pulls from those packs.  I wanted to start off by showing you guys some cards from one of the best sets ever. 

1993 Upper Deck,baby!

The photography in this set is amazing.  Using a picture of a hall of famer clumsily stepping on first is a great choice.  Another great photo choice is of Joe Orsulak jumping to catch a homer run ball.  The ball is no where in the shot.  It is safe to assume that that ball is outta here!

Having good base cards are a way for companies to get me to buy a ton of packs.  It gets dull buying pack after pack of a set with bland base cards.  Most cards in the set are of the base variety so, card companies should keep those cards fresh looking just like Upper Deck did in 1993.

This is a Henry Cotto card.  Cotto is looking like a bad ass with a neatly groomed, cool mustache and wearing some Oakleys that every ball player wore in the 90s.  Probably most gym teachers had a pair of these shades also.

Here are some stars of the "Steroid Era."  Jose Canseco is chilling in the back and he was the ringleader of this outfit of cheats.  Juan Gonzalez was one of the better hitters in the 90s.  Gonzalez mashed homers and drove in a ton of runs by playing on some good teams.  Rafael Palmeiro was a sleazy looking spokesman for a boner pill.  I don't ever remember seeing Palmeiro have a big league at-bat.  He played a bunch of years but, I just never remember seeing him do anything on the field that stands out even though he had hit a ton of home runs and collected thousands of hits.  But, I do remember his ad campaign for Viagra.  Pudge Rodriguez is the only one in this photo to have played major league baseball in 2011.  He will probably get a couple million dollars to play in 50 games and mentor a rookie in 2012.

I dislike Gary Sheffield but, this card is super awesome.  It is also cool to see him making a diving play while playing 3rd base.  I just hope that when he got up to make the throw that his cleat got got in the dirt causing a wild over throw.

Upper Deck chose so many great action shots that I had to pass on posting them at the Platter.  I only opened 3 packs of this set and got several slick looking cards. 

Every card company should remember this formula:
Head first dive+Mustache+Gold Chains+Eye Black=Great Baseball Card

Baseball Heroes is a legendary subset.  But, even a legend like Willie Mays doesn't have a spot in my collection due to the ugly Giants uniform he is wearing.  This card is up for trade.

I would like a Mays card with him as a Met.  But, not for this card of course.  I expect something far less valuable.

I really dug this card as a kid.  The White Sox had some good teams in the 90s.  Frank Thomas was a beast.  He had a great eye at the plate and drew a ton of walks despite having a massive strike zone.  Thomas was also known for hitting the long ball.  Just thought I would mention that also.  Robin Ventura is the manger of the White Sox now.  Ventura spent a brief part of his career as a Doyer.  I liked him as a player and I wish him luck in Chicago.

The great photography goes on for this set.  If I ever try to complete an entire base set, 1993 Upper Deck will be on my shortlist of options.  Upper Deck even made Darren Daulton look athletic.  That is tough to do.

I will definitely head back to Burbank Sports Cards to buy more packs from the 90s.  I may even start posting regularly on the topic of 90s pack pulls. 

Also, I have posted the George W. Bush auto on Ebay.  I showed the card in my last post.  The card is up for auction and already has a ton of bids only after one day.  I will track the progress of this card and post about it.  This is the highest valued card that I have ever tried to sell.