My interest in oddball food issued sets isn't limited to grocery items. I'll take any sets related to food, including fast food cards like the 1993 McDonald's Basketball cards. Back in March of 1993, I had no idea these cards existed and that's mainly because someone at Upper Deck and/or McDonald's decided Minnesota wasn't worthy of it's own regional release. Instead only fans in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Orlando and Los Angeles were treated to their own 10-card set.
The rest of us had to settle for a 50-card national 'fantasy' set.
So if you lived in one of the lucky areas, you were given a pack these cards when purchasing an extra value meal, and for only 59 cents more you could buy additional packs. What a deal.
Fortunately for the rest of us these cards haven't appreciated in value too much. I picked up this set at a recent card show for $5, simply because it has a Shaq rookie and I don't exactly see these in the wild all that often (especially the other 4 team sets).
It's pretty easy to tell these are from the McDonald's set with the M hologram. And the national set had a numbering system that starts with 'PT' versus 'OR' for Orlando or 'BT' for Boston.
From what I've seen, there isn't a lot of player crossover between the regional and the national sets but Shaq and Jordan have cards in each set, with different photos. A Jordan hologram was also released.
I'll pick these up when I see them, but I'm in no hurry to complete the full set. Like most cards from that era, there's no shortage, but for those of us food junkies this is must have stuff.
Until next time happy hunting!
Believe me its hard to get a complete run of the regional sets from that year I'm still struggling finding the missing Bulls that came after the Dream Team set the year before.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Bulls, I forgot to mention that MJ makes a cameo on Dennis Scott's card.
DeleteI never knew there was a regional set.
ReplyDeleteI remember getting a few packs while on a field trip to St. Augustine, and I would’ve been stoked to get some from the Magic regional set, but still ended up with both of the Shaq’s from the regular set.
I've been snagging these myself for my 'corporate retail junk era' binder. I miss the days when eeeeeeeeveryone was throwing cards at us.
ReplyDeleteI have 23 from this set for trade on TCDb. I'm not sure what I have in my regular collection that is not on the database. Enjoy the hobby all!
ReplyDeleteKnew about the national set, but not the regionals. I wish McDonald's & Upper Deck would have created regional sets for all of the teams (like they did for the 1986 football issue).
ReplyDelete