Last week, Daniel over at It's like having my very own Card Shop asked his readers "what other cards do you have in your collection that pair with other cards?". Nomar Garciaparra's 1992 Topps Traded Team USA rookie card and Mia Hamm's 1994 Upper Deck World Cup card was my response.
Unfortunately... I ran into a problem. I don't own the 1994 Upper Deck World Cup card.
Then on Monday, I read about a graded 1992 SI for Kids card of Mia Hamm selling for $34,440 over the weekend. The little mouse wheel in my brain began to spin, so I grabbed my SI for Kids binder off of my shelf in hopes of finding the card.
Unfortunately... I don't own that single either. But I did discover an uncut sheet:
SI for Kids August 1992
Here's the athletic couple's rookie cards paired together:
1992 Topps Traded #39T
1992 SI for Kids #71
Here's a peek at the card backs...
Now some of you might be wondering... why I'd have a binder full of Sports Illustrated for Kids cards sitting on my shelf. Well... actually I have three. I've been a fan of these cards since the 90's and have been actively trying to put together a master set for almost a decade. How close am I? Not close. But people like Rod over at Padrographs send me singles and sheets from time to time... and of course I'm always on the lookout when I go to the flea market or card shows.
That's why I was absolutely stoked to find a bunch at the card show on Saturday in the guy's 8 for $1 box. Here's what I picked up:
He had probably 100 to 200 singles, but my stack was already toppling over... so I focused on some of the bigger names in sports or people I collect. My favorite find was this guy:
1990 SI for Kids #152
You don't have to know anything about skateboarding to recognize this guy. Not sure if skateboarders have rookie cards, but if they do... this is it.
In regards to bargains... this card was by far the best deal I found. Graded copies sell for hundreds. A raw copy fetched $175 on eBay last week. There's even a reprint that SI for Kids created back in 2004 that sells for $10 to $25.
When I checked my binder for Mia... I looked for Tony too:
SI for Kids May 1990
Well there you have it. Another day. Another card show purchase.
But before you go, here is today's question of the day:
What are you thoughts on Sports Illustrated for Kids cards? Do you collect them?
Personally... I'm drawn to them, because of these key reasons:
#1: They feature women athletes.
#2: They feature a wide variety of sports and athletes.
#3: They are magazine cards... which I think are totally awesome.
As usual... I look forward to reading and responding to your comments. I truly appreciate all of you who take the time out of your busy schedules to read these posts.
Happy Thursday and sayonara!
17 comments:
Yes, I like SI for Kids. I collect my PC guys, and usually will pull a few others too.
Not much into SI for Kids cards, too flimsy, and although I appreciate some of the topics (mostly college hockey and some women's sports), others I have zero interest in (i.e.: skateboarding).
Just give me the Dodgers and I'm done.
I have a bunch! They are awesome. I have some from when I was a kid, a lot from last few years, and have some from a few collections I’ve bought. I also gave that Hawk…you got a great deal!
Loved it when I was a kid. Have a couple of cards in my PCs. You got quite the haul there! & those uncut sheets are nice!
Nice Nomar and Mia pairing. I have a couple of SI for Kids cards, but need to get more. The ones I find in the wild are always in pretty rough shape.
Never read SI for kids,I always preferred the adult version of SI.
johnnys trading spot - i've been accumulating a stack of duplicates. i'll see if i have any braves i can send your way.
night owl - yeah... the flimsiness kinda sucks, but every rose has its thorn (i just heard that song on the radio this morning). i'll see if i have any dodgers dupes for you. i have a few duplicate tennis players. they are yours if you want them.
the lost collector - that's pretty cool that you have some from your childhood. i'm glad there are others who appreciate them as much as myself.
peter k steinberg - i'm glad i was able to add these uncut sheets to my collection before they started to become popular. no way i'd be willing to pay the current prices for them.
daniel wilson - do you only want baseball? if not... i can send some non-baseball dupes your way. i might have some baseball as well... but they're mainly other sports.
sg488 - i would buy sports illustrated when i was a kid... but i actually preferred baseball digest and the sporting news because they had more charts and graphs. lol. i guess i was kind of a lazy reader.
I used to have a subscription to SI for Kids, from '88 or '89 to about 1992. I remember having that Tony Hawk card and tried to get one again on COMC a couple years ago - but I didn't want to pay $10. D'oh!!
That value of some of the cards, particularly great athletes in individual sports - astounds me. I wish I'd done a better job of tracking them over the past 20+ years.
I don't actively seek out SI For Kids cards, but I've picked up a couple issues with the card insert along the way.
But I must say you win the absolute top prize for the most subtle way to incorporate a Bobby Bonilla card on Bobby Bonilla Day! Well played!
I only collect the baseball SI for Kids cards, but I enjoy seeing the pages. I used to steal them from the magazines at my grammar school library when I was a kid (don't tell anybody!).
I do not seek out the cards from Sports Illustrated for Kids, but will pick up singles if I find them and the card fits one of my collections. I do have a few sheets of cards, and Fuji, if you would be interested in them, I would trade them to you. My email is steeltim120276(at)gmail(dot)com.
I am into them big time! I used to subscribe to the magazine just for the cards for the same reasons as you.
If he doesn't take this up, I might!
I don’t collect them, but think they are an important part of our hobby. Love how SI gets around the licensing issue with their magazine format.
@Matt, you can email me at the address that I gave in the reply to Fuji.
chris - i'm actually surprised that more singles aren't soaring in value. i know sports illustrated printed a ton of copies of these magazines, but i'm amazed at how difficult it is to find intact issue from the early 90's. sheets are a little more common... but don't seem to be plentiful. maybe there are a few people out there stockpiling them in their garages or storage units
brett alan - lol. totally unintentional. with that being said... i did consider writing a bobby bonilla day post a few days earlier, but no cards in my collection stood out ;D
nick - our school used to have a subscription and the librarian would give me the cards kids didn't take. the cards were usually beat up pretty good and rarely taken. seems like the posters were more popular with the middle school kids
ohiotim - thanks for the offer. sounds like you and matt are working out a trade.
matt - i still subscribe to the magazine and 99% of the reason is my love for the cards. i do hang up the posters from time to time in my classroom and give them away to my students when we're actually in the classroom
sumomenkoman - yeah... wish more companies would take advantage of that loophole. i love magazine cards.
I didn't appreciate these when I was a kid. Grabbed some baseball ones and ignored the rest. Nowadays I've been looking for them for my Stanford Alumni PC since they cover a lot of sports that don't usually get cards. Hard to find targeted singles online and I haven't done the checklist combing yet so it's a pretty piecemeal operation so far.
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