Scan one of six today is all about 1996, the year I turned 13 and Biakabutuka was drafted in the first round by Carolina. Inserts from Bowman, Pinnacle (Trophy Collection, a.k.a. Dufex!), and Ultra are the pro uni cards here, but as I do when I can, I went college-heavy thanks to Classic, Collector's Choice, and Press Pass. I don't quite like the Paydirt cards as much as regular Press Pass, but there's no bad choices here. Still, the Trophy Collection parallel (my third version of his '96 Pinnacle issue) is my favorite.
The second group opens with a bit of a 'tweener as Score Board's All-Sport PPF is listed as a 1996-97 product. I still need to figure out if I've acquired all the Wolverines found within. The next four are beauties made in 1997 with great designs brought to you by Donruss Preferred, Stadium Club, and Topps/Chrome. The '97 Topps flagship design for the baseball set is one of my favorites and once I saw what the football version looked like I was hooked. Ultra looked great as (almost) always in '98. And 1999 starts out strong with a super cool Absolute SSD clipboard/acetate base card, plus a couple Bowman-branded pieces.
Scan #3 keeps up the blistering pace with lots more quality, including a 1999 trio of Finest, Stadium Club, and UD. There's a reason certain brands keep repeating, and that would be that I think they're amazing. I'd even go so far as to say that I think in general Stadium Club's football offerings looked better than baseball, though both have been fantastic. Dipping into 2000 there's lots more shiny thanks to Elite, Finest, Fleer Showcase, and the debut of Quantum Leaf (done up in a very nice blue), plus solid looks thanks to Fleer's Focus and, once again, Stadium Club!
This fourth scan begins with one of the least interesting cards I picked up, a base card from 2000's Topps Collection. However, the run of good stuff thereafter from 2001 restores any lost momentum. An excellent example of a Bowman's Best design I enjoy combines with a fun Fleer trio to offer plenty of pop, joined by my favorite football version of Pacific's flagship product, the always enjoyable Playoff Contenders, and Quantum Leaf Part 2: Electric Blue-galoo.
Having reached the fifth scan we're through all of the vertical cards, but there's still plenty to take in here. One more Stadium Club issue pairs up nicely with Gallery to put up as strong a one-two punch as any other duo here, with both hailing from 2001. Ultra and UD, from the same season, bring strong photography and good looks. Check out Tim coming out of the backfield for a pass! Another blue-hued card from '01's Vanguard by Pacific is a nice way to close these out.
Last up is this fun little quartet of horizontals. If you liked UD's second-year SPx outing as a baseball fan then you'll feel right at home when it tackles the gridiron, as on the '97 card that kicks things off here. Ultra makes one last cameo with a base/Gold Medallion pair from '99 that sees the RB fighting for a couple more yards after contact. And lastly, we close on a fun (and fierce!) note with Pacific's 2001 Prism Atomic, a die-cut base card that seems to work well with just about any team logo.
The 47 cards I showed off this evening aren't the most I picked up for one player--a couple guys you'll see in upcoming posts topped that mark--but they still made a huge impact for my Biakabutuka collection as it sailed over the century mark to 118 items. After putting together his album last year and getting an idea of where I was at quantity-wise it feels great to have crossed one milestone for him already. Now to do the same with the other PC players languishing under 100!
But before then, watch for three more posts highlighting four more players. GO BLUE!
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