’91-92 marked NBA Hoops’ third set in a row. Collectors of the early ’90’s instantly recognize this set because, for Hoops’ first two sets, the border around the photo was shaped like a basketball court key. But in ’91-92, Hoops changed this to a rectangular border allowing more space for the photo.
This was still the era of “junk wax” and over production. Just over a million of these sets were produced. And with 590 cards in the set, collectors sure had a lot of ’91-92 Hoops lying around in shoeboxes and closets. But the sheer, overwhelming quantity of these cards was part of the strategy. We’ve mentioned this before, turn over the cards and look at the copyright, “NBA Properties, Inc.” The league itself had a hand in the Hoops and Skybox cards. There’s a Vice article that gives great insight into the thinking behind these sets from the early ’90’s. It quotes Scott McCauley, the Vice President of Marketing at Skybox International at the time mentioning that they viewed the cards as an “inexpensive gateway” to watching games and buying merchandise. So from their perspective, the more cards, the more potential interaction with different aspects of the sport.
With this theme of an “inexpensive gateway” in mind, there were many small subsets giving collectors a lot of surprises and opportunities to find their favorite players (until they realized the overproduction limited the value on nearly all of these cards as well). The number of subsets made things a bit chaotic and overwhelming. Larger subsets included Supreme Court, Art Cards and USA Olympic team cards. You could also get a gold “USA Basketball” card in packs, but this wasn’t numbered. The smaller subsets (Inside Stuff, Milestones, NBA Yearbook, Stay in School) are often forgotten in the collecting world, but some are very effective. The eight “All-Time Active Leader” cards presenting a list of all-time leaders in a particular stat with any active players highlighted in red. Collectors became aware of any players who might be climbing the ladder of history at the moment. And if this still wasn’t enough, there were a variety of send-away cards like a James Naismith and a basketball Centennial Quiz card, and a “Head of the Class” card individually numbered to 10,000.
So although collectors today tend to ignore this set, its importance in the history of basketball cards really can’t be overstated. Compare 1990-91 Fleer to ’91-92 Hoops and Skybox. These cards broke open a Pandora’s box of exploration and creativity. They might seem a bit chaotic and “too much” today, but after their introduction, companies now had free reign to explore and create!
Individual Cards:
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