This 1990 promotional set was a trial of Action Packed’s initial design. It’s not the only time the company was testing the design out. There’s a 1988 baseball test issue that’s very similar. The basketball cards in this set were used to try for an NBA license for a set of basketball cards. Unfortunately, an Action Packed basketball set using this design didn’t make the cut, but it was used for a football set. But, contrary to what you might find in some locations online, this isn’t only a basketball set. There’s this Sugar Ray Leonard card as well as three hockey players (Lemieux, Getzky and Yzerman). The cards are very attractive, featuring Action Packed’s typical rounded corners. The athlete is embossed. And, in what can be considered the “base” set for these promos, we have a gold-foil stamped border. On the back, we see that these were clearly promotional. In addition to the small photograph, short bio, and career highlights, the backs are distinguished by the outline of the word “Sample” and a very light outline of “Not For Sale.” There’s a crease where the card is folded. There’s also this blank white box with a star to the right of it…The star takes the place of the card number in these promotional cards.
Great info on the back! We see Sugar Ray Leonard’s 1976 Olympic gold medal. His 36 career wins (25 knockouts) with only one loss and one draw. And we’re reminded that he came back from a multi-year retirement to win a match over Marvin Hagler. Of course, basketball fans don’t need to be told that another member of this set would also later come back from a retirement and be a champion.
Why did I call the gold-foil stamped border a “base” set? With other cards in the set, the border keeps collectors on their toes. We already discussed a “white border” Patrick Ewing. There was also a Michael Jordan white border that was spotted on eBay in 2012. BGS graded a Jordan that they labeled as “Silver Border,” but be careful when collecting variations. Even camera angle can make these cards look drastically different. PSA has silver and gold varieties listed for all of these cards on it’s website, but doesn’t indicate that cards have been found for all of them. All of this makes me think that things are still unsettled here. The most logical thing I’ve heard about the borders, but completely unverified, was that Action Packed printed a few white border versions as a sample for an NBA license. This explains the few Ewing’s and one Jordan that has been seen. They thought they would get the license and started printing the gold versions early. Once rejected, they stopped production and stamped the “Sample” info on the back. But the point stands to keep your eyes open and expect the unexpected in this set! There are even unfolded varieties.
So a set important to basketball card collectors, but I wanted to look at at least one of the non-basketball members of this set!
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