We now have two cards from 1996-97 Fleer in our video collection. First we looked at the Michael Jordan base card, and now we’re looking at a common card, the #18 Chris Mills. We ask in the title, “Is there anything worth talking about?” Sometimes there’s just not a lot to say about a card. In fact, ’96-97 Fleer is almost designed to have “not too much to say.” I like to limit discussions to only what’s on the card, so the fact that Chris Mills recorded a rap single with some other NBA players in 1994 doesn’t count. So let’s talk about why it’s so hard to find conversation in ’96-97 Fleer while we search the card for interesting details.
During the previous season, ’95-96, Fleer had very busy designs on the cards. 1996-97 Fleer took the pendulum completely in the other direction towards simplicity and classic design. Fleer put the focus entirely back on the full-bleed photo. In fact, the only other design element worth noting is the lower-left corner where we find the last name and a splash of paint outlining a basketball printed on the card and the first name and team name in gold foil on top. This is worth criticizing though, because the gold foil on the first name and team almost makes the name look like “Chris Cavaliers.” Maybe the team name should’ve been printed in the back instead. The company and season are in gold foil in a top corner. Very minimal. The reverse was simple as well! Horizontal back with full statistics…no other information. No blurb, no comments. Just the classic choices of another photo and some stats. There are a few carefully selected design features including a background with basketball texture and the team logo. Finally, the structure was classic as well. Two series at 150 cards each. Players organized alphabetically by team and last name with subsets ending each series. So this #13 Chris Mills is one of four Cleveland Cavs in Series I, ear the start of the set. Even the eleven-card packs at $1.99 felt like a return to classic collecting. Keep purchasing, complete that set, and find those inserts!
The only thing I can think of to address is a small detail on the reverse of this card. It lists his college as Arizona. But this isn’t complete… He actually played for a bit at Kentucky. Maybe this wasn’t mentioned because he was kicked off Kentucky due to possibly receiving under-the-table payments. The Los Angeles Times reported that his father received a package with cash, his father denies this. An interesting story if you want to look it up. So there, we found something of note! Well, that’s all for now. Two cards now in our collection from 1996-97 Fleer. Honestly, it’s refreshing to return to an affordable, organized, classically-designed set. Picture and stats, sometimes that’s all you need!
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