Just because a set doesn’t command a high price tag in the market doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. The 1993 Action Packed Hall of Fame basketball card set is Action Packed’s first set of basketball cards and a must have for all collectors who respect the history of the game. Complete sets can be found for under $20 and are worth picking up just to spend some time learning about the early years of the game. Plenty of players represented with a five-card subset dedicated to Larry Bird and another subset for Julius Erving.
All in all, these cards are very attractively designed! The cards are a valiant effort by Action Packed to produce something of high quality. They are thicker with rounded corners. The front has sculptured, raised image of the pictured players with the rest of the full-bleed photograph in an attractive flat, matte finish. The gold foil is intelligently integrated into the cards with a strip marking the 25th anniversary of the Basketball Hall of Fame and a small amount for the company name and name of the player.
The backs are also intelligently designed with a glossy, basketball court background, an abundance of information (bio, career highlights mentioning year of induction into the hall of fame, NBA stats) and touches of gold foil (player’s name and a thin dividing strip). The only design failure is the red and blue font for the “NBA Totals” and “Career Highlights”…such an attractive card would be better served by blending a dark brown, more gold foil, or even simple black text. On the other hand, they did use the colors from the NBA logo itself for these headings. The reverse remains consistent throughout subsets. Whether you have a base card, a “One on One” subset card or a coach card, the similar design gives unity to the set.
This set is interesting in that it actually starts with a subset before getting into the base cards, ten cards called “One on One.” Cards with the same color of this “One on One” logo represent a great matchup or rivalry between two players.
Individual Cards:
- #1 Walt Frazier, One on One
- #2 Jerry West, One on One
- #3 Dave Bing, One on One
- #4 Earl Monroe, One on One
- #5 Willis Reed, One on One
- #6 Dave Cowens, One on One
- #7 Bill Bradley, One on One
- #8 Elgin Baylor, One on One
- #9 Elvin Hayes, One on One
- #10 Nate Thurmond, One on One
- #11 Red Auerbach, Coach
- #12 John Wooden, Coach
- #13 Red Holzman, Coach
- #14 Lou Carnesecca, Coach
- #15 Bobby Knight, Coach
- #16 Dean Smith, Coach
- #17 Larry Bird
- #18 Larry Bird, “Hometown Hero”
- #19 Larry Bird, “Larry’s MVPs”
- #20 Larry Bird, “A Celtics Tradition”
- #21 Larry Bird, “Larry the Legend”
- #22 K. C. Jones
- #23 Slater Martin
- #24 Bob Wanzer
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