’90s Week: Talking basketball cards with Zack Schlemmer
By Ryne Prinz
Zack Schlemmer (@FatShawnKemp), creator of FatShawnKemp.com, KicksOnCards.tumblr.com and writer for SneakerNews.com, talked to Friendly Bounce about basketball cards from the ’90s.
Around this time of year, Hardwood Paroxysm usually does a theme week. This year, as the pool of players who began their careers in the 1990s dwindles, we thought it would be fun to celebrate the entire decade. In typical HP fashion, we will be covering ten years of basketball like a cat chasing a laser pointer. There is nothing comprehensive about our plans, around the HP Network we’re simply digging into the players, teams, and stories from that decade which interest us most. Welcome to #90sWeek.
Friendly Bounce: Thanks so much for taking your time to talk to us. How did you first get into NBA trading cards as a hobby?
Zack Schlemmer: Oh man, I’ve been into trading cards since I was a little kid. My dad had collected baseball cards since he was a kid himself, and he got me into it when I was about six years old. I think my first pack of cards was Donruss 1990 baseball — the ones with the orange border and black speckle graphics. I quickly got way more into basketball, so like pretty much every boy who grew up in the early ’90s, I collected basketball cards. I spent pretty much every dollar of the meager allowance I earned on basketball cards until about 1996 or so. It didn’t help that the card shop in my hometown was literally two houses over!
Like most kids, my interest in cards faded a bit as I got older, but then a few years back (my mid-to-late 20’s) I started to get back into it, mostly just for the nostalgia. Looking for a use for all of those now useless and worthless pieces of cardboard, I combined them with my love for sneakers to create my Kicks on Cards Tumblr. Realizing I had so many awesome cards that weren’t sneaker-related, I then started Fat Shawn Kemp as a place to showcase the rest. After I started those sites, I ended up hunting for a lot more cards, and ended up buying way more than I ever had as a kid. Luckily, they were now way cheaper!
FB: That seems to be the theme with anyone that was into basketball cards at one point in their life or another. The best part may have been rediscovering them years later. You mentioned the early ’90s as an important for you and NBA card collectors as a whole. Was that the best era in terms of NBA trading cards?
ZS: The ’90s were the best era for everything! I mean, I may be a bit biased, but I think it was definitely the best era. I feel like it was a little bit… I don’t know… more innocent back then? Now card collecting is all about those cards with pieces of jerseys, and baseball bats, and whatever else they chop up and put in there. That’s all anybody is looking for. Back then you were happy if you got a sick insert card, or a new one of your favorite player to add to the collection. The design was definitely the best back in the ’90s. But even before that, some of the most iconic card designs ever came from the ’70s and 80s (baseball). Around the late ’90s, most cards started getting really ugly. That’s my opinion, anyway.
FB: The word iconic perfectly describes some of the sets that came out in that time. You have your ’90-’91 Skybox, ’89-’90 NBAHoops and ’91-’92 Upper Decks just to name a few. Did you have a particular line/brand that was your favorite?
ZS: ‘91-’92 Upper Deck is definitely a favorite of mine. ’92-’93 Upper Deck, too. ’91-’92 Fleer is another old favorite. The early Fleer Ultra sets were great too. I don’t know if I have one all-time favorite. Too many choices! I can name my favorite insert set though, the 94-95 Fleer Ultra “Ultra Power”!
FB: That Rodman card is a beauty. To backtrack a little bit, why do you think basketball cards were so popular in the early ’90s?
FB: That’s what I was thinking. I wasn’t sure if there was anything in particular, but the industry was huge then. I know many people, when collecting, were trying to get a particular player’s card. But today, even with incredibly popular players like Steph Curry, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, card collecting doesn’t seem to be as big. Did you have a player whose card you were really hoping to get when opening packs?
ZS: I was a big Hornets fan — like every kid at the time — so I was always hoping for some Larry Johnson or Alonzo Mourning. I also collected David Robinson cards. Then, when Penny Hardaway came on the scene, he was who I was always hoping to find. Other than that, I’d say I was just looking for whatever the hot cards were at the time like Grant Hill rookies or Jordan wearing the #45 jersey. Of course, I was also always hoping to find the rare insert cards worth a lot of money. The most valuable card I ever pulled from a pack was a Jordan insert worth $75 at the time. It’s probably worth $3 now!
FB: I opened an NBA Hoops pack a month back hoping for Craig Hodges, and I was let down. What was your absolute favorite NBA card that you’ve ever owned?
ZS: Man, it’s pretty hard to pick a favorite, but the 91-92 Upper Deck Shawn Kemp card is about as sick as it gets.