I remember seeing these back in the day, so I immediately went over to COMC to see what other guys are in the set. The set is loaded with stars from the 90's, but two cards really stood out to me. One featured Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. The other Tony Gwynn and Kirby Puckett.
Unfortunately I couldn't find a reasonably priced copy with my favorite player, but I was able to pick up the Bonds and Griffey for $5 (free shipping) on eBay:
1995 Sportflix Double Take #9
My scanner doesn't do this lenticular card justice. Neither does my cell phone, but here's a better look at the card when you look at it from different angles:
I love how Pinnacle had the foresight to pair up two of the greatest power hitters of all-time. By the time both of these guys hung up their cleats, they combined to hit 1,392 home runs and 3,832 runs batted in.
Five dollars might seem like a lot of money for a single insert and if this were your run of the mill 2019 Topps insert, I wouldn't argue with you. But this card (in my humble opinion) is ten times cooler than any insert I pulled out of my 2019 Topps blaster box. Topps has almost single handedly killed my interest in current inserts. I'm tired of the same old rehashed, stale, overproduced inserts that Topps has been flooding the market with year in and year out for at least the past five to seven years.
For being twenty-four years old, this see-through lenticular insert is a breath of fresh air.
What about you?
What are your thoughts on inserts produced these day? Love them? Middle of the road? Leave them?
Happy Thursday and sayonara!
17 comments:
"Topps has almost single handedly killed my interest in current inserts.". PREACH! There's a reason I have a "90s inserts rule" tag and not one for this decade. Not that Panini has been light years better, but Topps' creativity stagnated a long time ago. Very nice choice on the card you bought, truly a fun insert!
Give me the Braves and I can live without the rest.
Almost everything Pinnacle did was outstanding. (though there is those cards in a can) (and the coins were kind of a flop too)
My all-time favorite inserts are all from Pinnacle.
My favorite parallels are from Pinnacle too (Museum Collection in baseball and Trophy Collection in Football)
I'm pretty much over modern inserts, for the most part. Largely due to their pointlessness. The 90s inserts are fun.
Now the only time I'm happy to get an insert is if it's autographed or game used. Otherwise, it's just another card made in place of a base card.
That doesn't stop me from collecting them.
I'm not interested in those sorts of things. Maybe if I had been involved in the hobby when they became a thing I'd feel different. I'm not even sure i could tell you what 'inserts' entails. Or parallels, for that matter.
I have pulled two signed cards from Topps packs and I have bought signed authentic cards (Heritage?) of Billy Pierce. If those are inserts then they are the exception.
I’m more of an insert guy who cares for the Opening Day type of stuff. I’ve enjoyed the First Pitch inserts, the MLB network ones, the Pride and Perserverence ones and some of the unique minor league relic cards I’ve seen in Heritage minors over the years (I think they were called Fragments of the Farms).
With that being said, stuff like the reprint inserts, Topps Now ad cards, and the ‘83, ‘84 cards are just so overdone that I could live without them. As others have said, they are not unique and even some of the 150 card inserts like the award/holiday type ones are just bland, even if it is a card I want.
‘90’s insets were innovative and fun. And as others have said, Dufex ones are great. I wish Topps would experiment more with printing technology. Maybe make some with a Refractor/xfractor/blue wave technology.
Bored with many/most Topps baseball inserts. They seem to save their creativity for their wrestling releases. I just think they overdo the old-timers. Especially when they repeat so many photos. Maybe one insert set with old-timers, and mix them up from year to year. But don't incorporate them into every single insert set. According to TCDB, Mark McGwire had 568 cards in 2018. I bet some guys like Ripken had even more. I think Panini does much better with inserts. I have a lot more fun looking thru my boxes of modern football and basketball cards than baseball cards. The 90s, on the other hand, I'm all in!!!
Definitely agree on Opening Day. Just traded for my 10th mascot from 2018.
When I see inserts these days all I think about is that could have been a Base Card and the price of the box could have dropped by $0.25. Add up all the inserts and the box should be about $10-$20 cheaper I suppose. I didn’t collect during the late 1990s, but the inserts were wild looking for sure. I agree with Billy. The inserts looked fun!
Check out the Skylines insert set from 1997 I believe. I loved Pinnacle for the base set and their inserts, rivaled TSC in my eyes. Now working on building the 1995 Museum Collection parallel set!
The '90s inserts are fun, but they spawned the garbage way sets are issued these days -- and the depressing way some people collect cards -- so I really have no use for them. If they are well thought out and well executed then I will make an exception, but that comes along maybe once every 10 years.
90s inserts. The current ones are so boring, bland, and lack creativity. They are just vehicles to reprint cards we’ve seen a million times of jam more hall of famers into a set. Give me Crusades, Epix, Triumvirates, Hot Gloves, Hard Hats, Wave of the Futures any day over the junk I pulled this year.
They are turrrrrrilbe. No innovation or effort. They feel like base cards to me. They won't ever touch what the 90s brought to us or even the early 2000s
I've harped on this many times. Inserts are way out of control as far as volume, and way down on originality. Topps keeps quashing the good ideas out of flagship. Like Jeremy says, there were good ones like First Pitch, P&P, etc. Gotta give them props, though, they seem to be putting them into Allen & Ginter. Must be a whole separate suit committee.
These redundant tribute sets in old designs need to wait their turn in Heritage, since they'd be triple redundant as products by themselves. And the annual "let's reprint the most popular star rookie cards" tradition has got to stop.
http://diamond-jesters.blogspot.com/2019/03/topps-needs-to-stop.html
dennis - i didn't really want to comment on panini stuff, since i don't really chase after their cards. but i imagine i'd take 90's inserts over their stuff too ;)
john miller - you're a smart man
adame - their dufex parallels were pretty awesome. as for the cans and coins... lol... i actually liked them
billy kingsley - it doesn't stop me from collecting them either. if i pull them in a pack or if i receive them in a care package, i'll gladly give them a good home. i just don't go out of my way to buy 95% of them anymore
commishbob - i guess technically a certified pack pulled autograph is an insert, since it was inserted into packs. the cards i'm referring to in this post are non-autographed, non-game used, and non-parallels inserts found in packs.
jeremya1um - opening day mascots are very cool. i'd say they're part of the 5% of inserts produced these days that i find interesting
david switzer - wow. mcgwire had 568 cards last year? that's insane. i don't really chase panini baseball cards, but i agree with you in regards to panini football. some of their inserts are cool.
sumomenkoman - i wish topps would only include 5 or less inserts in each box. if they did that, they'd give collectors their base cards, while making them feel like they pulled something special when they found an insert in a pack.
flywheels - pinnacle skylines are beautiful. i've been looking for the gwynn for decades. best of luck on the 1995 museum collection set. love the dufex technology.
night owl - i agree. card companies went out of control during the 90's. but that's the thing that annoys me about topps. they should learn from the mistakes made during that decade. instead, they're repeating history.
the lost collector - hell yeah. all of the sets you listed are awesome!
sport card collectors - i imagine its hard for the people at topps to come up with new innovative ideas, since they're forced to create a bunch of new inserts each and every year. if they just slowed things down... produced a fifth of the number of insert sets... then maybe they could actually produce something interesting and innovative.
gca - i enjoy some of the insert sets in a&g too. i'd say they're part of the 5% i enjoy. lol. those rookie reprints are a complete joke. last time i enjoyed them were when they used them as manufactured relics back in 2013 or 2014.
Nice card. Two great players. Maybe they'll both be in the Hall one day. Good luck finding the Gwynn.
Modern inserts? Nope. Boring, uninspired.
Most modern inserts are kinda meh for me, but every once in a while one comes along and really grabs my attention. The "Dudes" from 2017 A&G come to mind.
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