Monday, January 28, 2008

1986 Sportflics - Fernando Valenzuela

These cards always seemed cool when they first came out. I was also 9 going on 10, when they came out. That could have been part of the attraction. If you look closely at the image, you can see ghosting of all three images. Oooo... scary!

Too bad Floyd Youmans didn't have a card in this set. That would make the Count Floyd reference a bit more relevant. Oh, well. Even though I loved the Expos around this time, would another Expo really made this set any better today? Not really.

Sure, it looks cool, for a few seconds. The novelty wears off quickly though. The only thing I remember doing with these cards is scratching the surface to make different noises. When I was a teenager, I used to see if I could make it sound like that one part of "Life's Been Good" by Joe "F@#*ing" Walsh. You know, that part during the song that sounds like it was done underwater. Yeah, you know the one. You've done it too.

I'm sure the novelty wore off for more collectors than just me. The last time I saw a product from the company it was 1990. Although, Beckett lists another set in 1994. That's three years without a set. Maybe it was because the 1990 set looked like a cheap carnival attraction.

I guess I chose Fernando Valenzuela because like Sportflics, he was very hot and different and in demand for awhile, then he faded away fast. Then, he popped up for one last hurrah before going permanently to the great baseball games only found on ESPN Classic.

5 comments:

morineko said...

I've never had any lenticular cards, except for some World Series inserts that Score put into a factory set in the early 1990s. I'm not really fond of the effect. I have a few lenticular postcards and it's really, really gimmicky (although apparently one of the ones I sent all the way to Finland got there with the effect intact.)

It's odd that you posted this the same day I finished off a Halloween box of Puffs and saved the lenticular insert for greeting card making.

Steve Gierman said...

If you ever want to trade, I'll throw in a few of these for you.

dayf said...

The Joe Walsh comment made me remember the exact scene where The Big Lebowski became one of my favorite movies ever:

"Come on, man. I had a rough night and I hate the fuckin' Eagles, man!"

I have had a rough night and I do hate the #%^@ Eagles, but I still like that one Joe Walsh song.

Believe it or not, but that 1994 Sportflics set is one of the few with an A-rod rookie.

Steve Gierman said...

There's a mighty difference between a Joe Walsh song and an Eagles song. A Joe Walsh song has bite and humor. An Eagles song just has harmony.

Didn't realize that A-Rod was in that 1994 set. Very cool fact!

Kevin said...

I actually have about 5 of the 1994 Sportflics. One is Jason Bere, and the surface is covered with vertical scratch marks. I've had it for almost fifteen years, and I have no idea how, when, or why the hell I did that.