The 1990-91 Skybox cards were part of the overproduced, “junk wax,” era, but there were some important rookie cards in the set. This Glen Rice card is one of those must-have rookies! It’s a wonderful contrast to his ’90-91 Hoops rookie card. This Skybox is more futuristic, while the Hoops is more classic. This contrast was, of course, by design. Turn over any ’90-91 Hoops or Skybox card and you will see an “NBA Properties, Inc.” copyright. This division of the NBA had a guiding hand in both Hoops and Skybox. These weren’t independent entities, so the contrast in the two sets was most certainly planned.
Skybox really distinguished itself with the image on the front. Some don’t like how the computerized backgrounds eliminate the majority of the photo. Others believe these cards put the emphasis completely on the player, without any distraction. Skybox also used the reverse for much more photo space than Hoops. And the Skybox reverse photos are interesting in that they feature more intimate photos of the player. They’re either from a non-basketball, public setting, or they’re casual, relaxed moments from games where it was possible to get a still face shot. This Glen Rice is from the second category. A famous example of a non-basketball shot is the Michael Jordan card where the reverse is of him golfing!
Just a quick look at a card I enjoy, but I hope it at least gave some new perspective on the ’90-91 skybox cards.
In Short: (Innovative Stat Box) Despite the overproduction and low resale value, ’90-91 Skybox is underrated, even the stat box was innovative for the time. They could’ve just printed a few seasons and called it quits, but instead, we got to compare the player’s performance last season with the average of all the players at that position. On this Glen Rice rookie for example, we can see he’s already outscoring the average forward after one season. Or we could look at how Jordan dominated the average guard in all categories, nearly tripling them in points per game! With a full-color additional photo, these card backs showed a level of thought that the hobby hadn’t seen in a long time. I mean, compare it to these other ’90-91 reverses. Please subscribe and collect with us at CatalogedClutter, where no card is too common to spend some time with!
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