An Excuse to Break Out the Basketball Cards.

Not included in the official number of how many cards I have in my card collection, is a 150-card set...of basketball cards.

(What? Basketball cards? I thought this was a Topps BASEBALL CARD blog??!)

Put down the torches and pitchforks, let me explain.

This 150-card set is called 1992-1993 Topps Archives NBA "the Lost Years." The tag line "Lost Years" is appropriate for this set because Topps did not make any basketball cards from 1980-1981 season to the 1990-1991 season. This set features what would have been the rookie cards of many NBA players had Topps been in the basketball card business during the 80's. And the cool thing about this set is that it utilizes all of Topps Baseball card designs from 1981 to 1991. How cool is that???

So anyway, (and this is how clueless I am about matters outside of baseball), this weekend, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducts its latest class into its hallowed halls in Springfield, MA. In it's 50th year, five legends will be inducted, including:

• Jerry Sloan, coach of the Utah Jazz, and winner of 1,000 games with a single team while maintaining a .600 winning percentage,
• C. Vivian Stringer, an NCAA women's basketball coach who has won more than 800 games in her career with Cheyney State, the University of Iowa and Rutgers University,
• John Stockton, who retired as the all-time assists leader with 15,806 assists and 3,265 steals with the Utah Jazz,
• David Robinson, a two-time champion with the San Antonio Spurs, nicknamed "the Admiral,"
• Michael Jordan, the greatest player of all-time!!! His accomplishments are too numerous to put on here (would be a post all on it's own, but there are many sites that already have this information). Let's just say that he's a six-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls and had the attention of every sports fan in Chicago, the US, and the world (how's that for a glowing sentiment).

To commemorate their upcoming enshrinement into basketball's "Gallery of the Immortals", let me show off what would have been the rookie cards of Stockton, Robinson, and Jordan, had Topps made cards in the 80's.

One-fourth of the 1992 "Olympic Dream Team," John Stockton, Michael Jordan, and David Robinson.
Congratulations to Coach Sloan, Coach Stringer, and to the three legends featured today on your HOF induction this weekend.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama