Mashburn Mondays #1

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Mashburn Mondays.  For those of you that are unaware, I live in Kentucky.  Since there are no pro teams in my state, my fandom has been spread around the country with my love of the Colorado Rockies and Chicago Bears.  Even though I love both of those teams, my biggest fandom is reserved for my Kentucky Wildcats basketball team, even if I am not a huge Calipari fan.  For me, the best decade in sports history was the 1990's for the UK team.  2 national titles (easily could have been 3 in a row) and up near the top the rest of the time.  Even though I collected very few basketball cards as a kid, they are what brought me back into the hobby back in 2006.  I started collecting pro cards of the players from those great 1990's teams, especially Jamal Mashburn my favorite player ever. 

What I am going to do on Mondays is show off some of my extensive Jamal Mashburn collection.  I will show one Mashburn card from the Mavericks, one from the Heat, and one from the Hornets to give the full spectrum of his pro career.  He was with Philadelphia in name only at the end of his career, but no cards were made of him with the Sixers.  I will also show off three cards of a (sometimes) lesser known Kentucky player that deserves a little recognition.

I know many of you are not basketball card collectors by any means, but I sort of like them for one reason.  The abundance of multiple players on a card.  Sometimes in baseball, you get the play at the plate or the double play card which shows two or more players, but basketball often has multiple players on a card and it really gives a better overall view of the actual gameplay.  Also, NBA cards are designated by the split year.  For example 1998-99 Topps instead of just the single year.  I will be identifying them only with the beginning year, because quite frankly I hate the dashed year format.

Enough chatter, let's take a look at some cards.

1993 NBA Hoops Draft Picks #4

Why not start right from the beginning with Mashburn's rookie draft pick card.  He was selected with the #4 overall pick in 1993 by Dallas after Orlando picked Chris Webber, Philly picked Shawn Bradley, and Golden State picked Penny Hardaway.   Gee, I wonder if Philadelphia would like to have that pick back.  As far as the card goes, I like the simplicity and it shows exactly what the player looked like on Draft Night.

Card Grade - B+

Other players on the card 

none

1998 Topps # 25

Mash was traded by the Mavericks to the Heat at the trade deadline in 1997 for three players, most notably Kurt Thomas (who was still active in 2012 BTW).  This card is from the base Topps set from 1998.  This is my personal favorite Mashburn card primarily because there are two other former Wildcats (Walker, McCarty) on the card as well.  I also like the design much better than the 1998 baseball offering even with the brown border.

Card Grade - A+

Other players on the card

Celtics (l-r) - Walter McCarty, Antoine Walker, Travis Knight, Tyus Edney 

Heat (background far right) - Terry Mills (I think)

 2001 Fleer Maximum #78

Mash was later traded to the Hornets in a massive nine player deal involving the likes of P.J. Brown, Eddie Jones, and Anthony Mason.  This 2001 Fleer Maximum uses the same design as the 2002 baseball design.  I have always been a fan of the design for both sports with its use of the team colored border although it is a bit too large.  

Card Grade - B

Other players on the card

Pacers (top-bottom) - Jamaal Tinsley, Al Harrington

Hornets - Baron Davis

 RANDOM CAT OF THE WEEK

Walter McCarty

Unique Cards Owned = 57

1996 Stadium Club Rookies #17

Walter McCarty was drafted by the New York Knicks with the 19th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft.  One of the interesting factoids about Walter McCarty is that the pick used to draft him was acquired by the Knicks from the Heat for Head Coach Pat Riley (himself a former UK player).  McCarty was my favorite Wildcat from the 1996 championship team.  Although he was never a star player, he did manage to carve out a nice 10 year NBA career.  This card is not one of my favorites of McCarty.  It's just way too bland.

Card Grade - C-

Other players on the card
none

 1998 Fleer Tradition #58

McCarty was traded from the Knicks to the Celtics before the 1997 season along with three other players for Chris Mills (former UK player) and 2 2nd round picks. The 1998 Fleer Tradition set used the same design as the baseball set from that year.  It really works well with this card and it is a good photo although I think it would have looked better moved little to the left.  I understand why they didn't because of centering the player, but it still would have looked better.

Card Grade - A-

Other players on the card 

Magic - Bo Outlaw
Celtics - Dana Barros

McCarty finished his career with a half season in Phoenix and one year with the Clippers, but I don't currently own any cards of him in those uniforms and I don't think there are any.  So let's go with a superstar sighting instead.  This is the base card from 2003 Topps which obviously went a very different route from the blue border of the baseball set.  The photo is pretty good with the green headband, although I have no idea why Walter is jumping.  Then again, Kobe has made better players look bad so there is that.

Card Grade - B+

Other players on the card
Lakers - Kobe Bryant


I hope you guys enjoyed this trip to the hardwood even if you aren't a basketball collector.  Sometimes it's nice to step out of your comfort zone though.  I hope you read again next week when I will continue the look back at UK hoops through the years.  I promise it won't be so rambling next time.  Well, actually I can't promise that, but come back anyway.