Inserts of the 1990s: The Most Relevant, My Personal Favorites, and the Most Valuable

[@michaelgolden4938]

whatta history lesson. you're really creating some great content, Chris. a boon for the hobby, and a little spark in our lives! :)

[@joshjohnson6987]

Really liked this video. Blast from the past

[@billthehofcollector4525]

NOTHING touches the competition, creativity, and design of the mid-late 90’s. Best era, with many of the best players. Super underrated. Pick a player and collect! You won’t regret! I supercollect in this era. Sub and learn

[@sebastienmillon6149]

100%. A lot of non-kobe/mj hofers are great values imo

[@christophertimmermans7788]

@@sebastienmillon6149 Its the best. Back when I was very young I couldn’t afford Topps Finest and Chrome. These sets there is extreme value. Some are eager to get rid of them, others eager to buy and people who spent 8,10,12$ a pack in 94 kept them mint, they are a great flip. Some you probably won’t even need Ebay. Put a Topps Finest nba card in front of one of your buddies they’ll give you a few bucks for it lol.

[@AtomicZombieAndroid]

The 90s are the best decade of the Hobby. Thank you for sharing.

[@jfamily5626]

In 1990 I pulled a chuck knoblauch auto numbered out of 3000. Still my greatest moment in baseball cards

[@fnpal]

Inserts in the 90s were as popular or even more popular than rookie cards. I LOVE 90s INSERTS!

[@JunkWaxInvestor]

There was one of those UD Game Jersey Auto Michael Jordan cards from Upper Deck in 1997. Similar to the one that you showed from '98. One sold at Goldin Auctions in May for $2.05 Million! Check it out.

[@cortlandlampe1983]

I think you're talking about the iconic 1997-98 Upper Deck Basketball Game Jersey inserts. At 1:2,500 pack odds, it was a tough pull for sure! I'm surprised Chris didn't mention those, because it includes the first Jordan jersey card AND the first Jordan autographed jersey card, which was serial numbered to only 23. The card features a piece of Jordan's 1992 NBA All Star jersey.

[@mattk1631]

Love the 1996 Pinnacle Skylines cards to Chris. I was asking dealers at the National if they have any and all of them said "no" and a few looked at me like I had a horn coming out of my head.

[@collectorinvestordealer]

They are tough to find nowadays!

[@ianundercover6295]

Definitely going to try an add the first serial numbered card and first jersey relics, as well as others that caught my eye, thanks

[@heinzdelf]

Great Video as always, please do more of these they are very fun, helpful and best of all bring back all the nostalgia and innocence of collecting. thank you 😊

[@lifelessons4998]

This is an awesome video. So refreshing from what others are making. Keep doing the history lessons.

[@MclaughlinTV]

I had a 1997 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems Green Ray Allen when i was younger, and am kicking my self i never kept it. I can only imagine its value today.....

[@PatMcCarthy420]

1997 was the pinnacle(no pun intended) of the hobby imo. So many new innovations that are staples in today's hobby. Imagine if Upper Deck never did jersey cards?

[@tenclubcards]

Amazing video to start the weekend off. Nothing beats 90s designs, inserts and parallels! The only correction I would make is the 1990 Score baseball set had the first die-cuts. My friends and I used to make them. Unfortunately PSA won't honor them as they keep coming back altered 😊

[@fformentif]

I have the Ray Allen Metal Platinum Portrait. It's beautiful indeed, late 90's inserts are the best. 24 years have gone since I've pulled it and I still enjoy it. Btw, It's a shame Ray's cards are so undervalued

[@thehighlanders607]

This was really well done! Thanks for the vid!

[@averagejoe7638]

I've been waiting for a video like this. Great job. I would love to see this video in Sport Specific. I think Flair Hot Gloves in 94 were iconic.

[@davecj10]

Requested this a while back. Glad to see it finally! Thanks for the content Chris!

[@jamespotts756]

1992 Finest football had refractors. Great channel. Love the video.

[@collectorinvestordealer]

The first year of Finest football is 1994

[@PhuryousOne]

Nice vid. Brings back tons of memories. You probably could have done a 2-hour episode with this topic considering all the inserts back then and still only covered a fraction. It was a good time to be alive. lol Outside of refractors, I think my favorite insert from the 90's is the Jordan '93-'94 Fleer Ultra Scoring Kings. I liked the '92-'93 Topps Stadium Club Beam Team too. Also a fan of the early Topps Gallery of Heroes eventhough I wish they offered more/different players in those sets.

[@joshwalker2321]

Like a walk down memory lane. Thanks for the video and info Chris!

[@greglees5436]

That Topps Chrome Kobe black refractor 🔥

[@mrp1924]

The Michael Jordan 1998 jersey auto out of 23 was on sale on eBay for the longest time, the seller was asking over a million for it.

[@billschipper1718]

The 1993 refactors I remember were 20 dollars a pack if you could find one. Then only one refactor card per retail box. I saw a Nolan Ryan refactor going for 4500 dollars.

[@jpmnky]

The 1997 Upper Deck NFL Legends release was a big deal for football collectors. To this day I still buy autos from that release.

[@rsuriyop]

Great short take on the history of sports insert cards. I hope that you can do one of these on oddball cards as there are a lot interesting ones out there as well.

[@johnhickman930]

Love your videos Chris! I know this is an older one, but I watch some over again lol. Thanks for all the sports card knowledge man!

[@spic0li]

Great Vid as always the 1990 pro set hockey had a rare stanley cup hologram insert its possibly the first 90s exclusive insert for hockey

[@pkelley1819]

Great channel! Appreciate all the great knowledge share, and variety of content. Always look forward to seeing your videos.

[@buffering5351]

I would love to sit with you and my brother.yall remind me alot of each other with your knowledge and personality

[@Forthefunofthehobby]

Awesome video. Love the 90’s inserts. I love the 97 gallery baseball stain glass parallels. Really sharp looking

[@jasonvtsportsguy2692]

Great video! Love the knowledge and passion in your video!!! Thanks for sharing the love of the hobby!!!!

[@andrewburkett559]

I was waiting a long time for you to do a 90's insert video, and it lived up to expectations 100%! There was so much creativity and innovation with those inserts, especially in the mid to late 90's and I don't think they get the recognition they deserve in today's market

[@rynowaxx]

Absolutely BRILLIANT video buddy....I consider myself very lucky, I'm sure others would agree, to have come across your channel. Not only are you a GREAT storyteller, but the history and knowledge you pass down to new subs, old subs, loyal fans right down to the guy looking for something else and accidentally found your channel, is PRICELESS. I can't tell you how much I enjoy your videos. Keep them coming my friend.

[@shawn180]

This is why I watch Chris!!!! What an awesome video! I remember pulling these inserts growing up in the hobby with my grandpa!!

[@kyledavidson990]

I picked up a 92 ripken auto recently for $250at a garage sale. Also had a traded rookie in the lot.

[@itmejoe]

I was hoping that you would make this sort of video!. Awesome job, thank you!

[@Probasaur]

I pulled a Triple Threads Yogi Bera Babe Ruth Lou Gherig triple Jersey patch card during early 2000s i think it was a fleer 2001 set iirc when I was like 12 a dealer at a card show offered me 400 for it back then but i declined. Unfortunately leaving things back at home doesn't always turn out well... maybe one day it will turn up.

[@ASMRPeople]

One interesting set because of it being the first of it's type is the 1991 proline. It's the first that I know of to have an autograph parallel of the entire set. The autos came one every few boxes. The most significant card in the set is the belichick rookie. The auto sells for ~$1,000.

[@collectorinvestordealer]

Great one! I totally overlooked that set!

[@rickellsmore8731]

Love the 90’s Inserts!

[@rawdog1431]

Chris are you considering doing a inserts/parallel video for the 2000-2010 & 2011/2020.... and speaking for everyone I’d guess, videos this amazing have u glued to the screen, & would never worry about length of video!! Reall amazing, thank you for the time and work you put in for others... sincerely, thank you.. amazing!! Have a great day!!

[@collectorinvestordealer]

Thank you, I really appreciate the kind words. Inserts of the 2000s and 2010s is a good idea for a video, I'll consider it

[@JunkWaxInvestor]

For 1999, I think I saw one of those UD Retro Inkredible Wilt Chamberlain cards on one of your high rollers list a bunch of months back. Forgot what it went for but it was big bucks and introduced me to that awesome set with the Lvl 2 Autos that where numbered to the Jersey number. Such a cool idea. Awesome video!

[@dandougie363]

U forget my fav set…. 1997 finest gold embossed diecut refractors

[@robertcremeens3166]

90's definitely had some great insert cards. I think the 90's inserts set up the hobby for years afterword. I really liked the atomic refractors from 1998.

[@montrealsports29]

Working at a card store in the early to mid-'90s, I got so many free cards from customers who bought packs only to try to get the inserts because they didn't care at all about the regular cards. There were also several customers who knew which packs had the inserts based on the pack sequencing (especially for Fleer Ultra), so the owner of the store would mix up the order of the packs in the boxes to prevent people from picking out the packs with the inserts. I'm not too sure how a regular card of Dominik Hasek from 1994-95 Ultra snuck into your 1993 inserts, but that is just a base card from the set. It was a very interesting video with lots of cards that I had never seen before.

[@GymAndSun]

Great job this week by the research department.

[@collectorinvestordealer]

They didnt fall asleep for once!

[@larrygitlin6017]

What a review! Incredible amount of information. The hobby changed so much that it was hard to figure out what to buy, so I went all out vintage just opening a few new boxes a year.

[@peter12215]

Should check out the calcio sets for some great 1900s and early 2000s soccer card designs. Probably my favorite soccer sets

[@livinwithlt]

Thanks for sharing this awesome collection 🤙🏽

[@jimc.goodfellas]

Us real old school baseball card heads really appreciate this one

[@chrisdb84]

I started collecting in 1997 and I loved that era, especially Upper Deck stuff.

[@wheetie7]

I havnt watched this yet.. but if the wild 1000 stripe, the Lombardi hologram, and the reggie Jackson auto is not on here.. and i believe the Lombardi hologram is the first numbered card!!

[@Precomo97]

Pinnacle Skylines is one of my favorite sets of all time. You're right, they're just so cool and pleasing to look at. Really refreshing.

[@robertgoh1298]

In 1997 there was a MJ Jersey auto which sold on goldin for 2 million this year if not mistaken. Possibly the may auction, it was only in Upperdeck series 2

[@collectorinvestordealer]

I am not familiar with that sale...

[@DPain215]

What an awesome wave of information and nostalgia this video is. Your hard work is evident and very much appreciated with all your videos. Thanks as always for the excellent content.

[@slangnrox7473]

You forgot about the 1997 UD game jersey auto MJ when you mentioned the 98 version.

[@scottpoppiti]

Hey Chris by the way i love the 1997 upperdeck Rey Ordonez with the stripe i wish i had that card

[@michaelgolden4938]

also a really cool example of necessity being the mother of invention. the hobby shrinks, with many card manufacturers in the market, and they innovate with these parallels/inserts to grab as big a piece of the shrinking pie as possible. and now these parallels/inserts are the lifeblood of the modern card hobby.

[@kaitain7595]

Man, Im just stoked that this channel smashed the 40k mark. Glad Im here for the ride.

[@XZOL445]

I remember those Wild Card cards. I think if you had sent that Favre in you would have gotten 1000 of his base card. 1000!!! I still think that's a cool concept.

[@candymanben494]

Iirc, the Wildcard Football "stripe" concept was actually an EXCHANGE program where you could send that card into the factory and they would send you back that number of the base card. Most people sent theirs in to the manufacturer (I believe Pacific Trading out of Seattle?) to exchange so they'd get 1000 Brett Favre rookies instead of just one 1000-stripe card.

[@collectorinvestordealer]

Interesting! I did not know that...

[@thanhdiep4218]

Wow, this is one of my favorite videos because I love inserts! They are so much more attractive then the base cards. Thanks Chris for your time and efforts to put this together.

[@drob2150]

The Upper Deck Heroes sets were awesome. I remember working on putting them together with my dad and looking at them all during the pandemic when we started going through all the stuff we had from the 90's.

[@williambartenslager8040]

Great video. I always loved the Dufex cards from Pinnacle like Z=Team, Rookie Roll Call, and Gamers. The Donruss Elite Painted Warriors acetate die cut goalie masks was great, along with the Select Mirror Golds.

[@ACD1994]

This is like a combination of, high rollers and regular rollers, the 90's edition. Good stuff. I wish I had some of these high end cards, though, maybe one day.

[@incupamestadtemptatur3383]

I love the Heading For the Hall subset you mention have them all but the Kirby Puckett.

[@michaelgolden4938]

i just had a crazy (maybe not so crazy) vision. if the hobby is destined to expand the way some people are projecting, there may be a time when 'card collector/dealer/investor' becomes a legit field of study at the university level (much like someone can study personal finance to become a financial manager/stock broker). if so, they'll need professors. who'd be a better professor of cards than our man Chris.

[@TheRealWarez]

Once their is a numismatics (coins/currency) field of study at University's, it is possible. Highly unlikely, but possible. Numismatics would def come first... Much larger market than cards with a direct relation to historical events in human history.

[@louisquindlen2530]

Great commentary on baseball card history, Is it possible to cover some important sets like 1963 Fleer baseball and the amazing 1947-1966 Exhibit. I just discovered the Exhibit cards and they are beautiful.

[@codyscards6698]

I was lucky enough to own some of the all time great sets over the 90s, just never in the best players lol. Lots of Glenn Robinsons, Kieth van Horne's and other players that didn't pan out. I still own a grant hill credentials from my child hood that I recently had graded a 9 my hga. Great video!

[@z165012]

there are 2 of those Manning 1/1 Masterpieces listed by PWCC recently, so there are issues with that, both are graded

[@blenz25]

I thought you were on vacation Chris. This is one of the best and most informative video I’ve ever seen! I’m gonna have to rewatch this one a few times. I noticed Dominic Hasek too!

[@collectorinvestordealer]

I am travelling at the moment but I pre-recorded videos for the Mondays and Saturdays while I am gone

[@mickcornett2279]

This is great work, Chris.

[@ricecakejohnson]

Love those insert years, each box you were guaranteed to pull a few inserts. It makes opening boxes a bit more fun knowing you had a decent chance of making money with the contents or at least break even. Unlike nowadays where you spend $1,500 on a box of Prizm, and 95% of the time you wont even get half of your money back.

[@bremsbeardcompanyllc7503]

Good video as always. I was curious if you’d mention the 94 Fleer Flair Hot Gloves..I just love the look of them still.

[@justinsmith5422]

A lot of mid to late 90's cards were so well made. I remember the 1999 Gold Lable base cards feeling like the most expensive card compared to nowadays.

[@nicholasfrancis2627]

Im in florida as i write this and my uncle gave me 6 binders full of cards from the 80s-90s-early 00s and i got atleast 120 topps gold label and he put them all in top loaders with no sleeves -___-

[@justinsmith5422]

@@nicholasfrancis2627 yeah it was all binders or straight toploader with no sleeve back in the day..at least for me. The only people using sleeves back then that I knew played Magic and those sleeves are not like those for sports cards.

[@hellocollegejason198]

That griffey first jersey card is so damn good looking. I always liked any card that is printed on wood.

[@james-hb5tu]

One of my favorite videos from you chris great job on this!

[@robmartin1691]

Love it! Got back in to the hobby in 1994 or so. The thought of "inserts" blew my mind back in the day. First one I remember pulling was a Mattingly Gold Leaf Stars. Still have it. - Thought you would mention the Mirror hype of Select Certified more.

[@collectorinvestordealer]

Ah the the Certified mirrors! I definitely should have mentioned those...

[@lukeroszkowski7211]

The best in the business.

[@floridabeacheshighdefdrone1371]

That 98 molten metal Jordan case looks cracked.

[@GymAndSun]

Wow, that Jeter 1996 Select for $202k, and that was in 2019 before the more recent boom

[@richardbianco9674]

Its amazing to see some of these insert sets start to get their dues. Many of those mid 90s fleer metal insert sets were so cool and I had tons of all of them back when i bought/sold regularly. If only I had held on to some of them 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@TheRealWarez]

Ripken's eyes look crazy in that 1995 "Heading For The Hall" insert ( 8:29 )! P.S... I still haven't forgiven you for making the "Adventures with Jeremy" video a split series appearing once a week!!! I want it NOW! 😥🙃 Enjoyed the video, as usual!

[@justins8639]

Great video! Enjoyed learning about the beginnings of much of what the hobby is made of today. Thanks!

[@billyjay]

I love this content. So much nostalgia and a lot to learn at the same time.

[@8NVITE]

thank you sir, truly my favorite youtube channel to watch

[@bulldozer_cards55]

Why has 1993 Topps Black Gold insert set been overlooked for all these years? Such low pop on all the cards.

[@thejayflats]

Legit... as a young junk wax collector... these videos get me excited!

[@willg.2045]

Great stuff! When I was collecting in the early 90s I was collecting Will Clark. In 1993 Donruss produced an Elite Signature Series Will Clark and, realizing I would never get that card and thus never be able to collect every single Will Clark card, my interest waned and I eventually moved away from sports cards. I came back around 1999, probably due to my interest in fantasy baseball, and the landscape was much different.

[@20byrd]

I miss Topps gold. It's more like Topps brown now w/o the gold foil.

[@NuthinFancyCollectibles]

Wow, this was full of information. I’ll have to look through my cards again.

[@TBloodFPV]

ive got the elite series Henderson its a gem

[@magicaloha5593]

Great recap thanks for putting in the time for us. Can you do another soccer for beginners or maybe a little more information for beginners. I've been strictly football and basketball but the soccer market (admit it's money wise and modern soccer mostly) has got me collecting mostly soccer now. Thanks🤙

[@nickbnash]

This was a fantastic video! I really appreciate your awareness of the history of the hobby and the clear way that you present it. These videos are really an amazing resource. Thank you.

[@joshpeters8905]

Also, phenomenal content as always!

[@livefreeordie5513]

Awesome Video!! Still love this insert era of the early 90’s. The Donruss Diamond Kings from the same year as that Ripken sig aren’t rare at all, but I love the art work on them. Used to love pulling them from packs.

[@cacsports]

This was a great history lesson, thanks for putting so many details in the video.

[@problemattic1620]

Re-entered the hobby in November and hadn’t heard of most of these… amazing to see these incredible looking sets with incredible names in them that also hold a very special place in the timeline of sports cards as a whole go for such low prices. I’m told I came into the hobby at a good time, but my god I think it might be the most confusing time for a noobie. Most of the cards I oooed and awwed over the most in this video were the cheapest ones lmao

[@andrewmarks4640]

Jambalaya.....Earl arena and Jean McLeod

[@eugenew6717]

Great video