Mad Trading Cards

Over Christmas, a co-worker gave me a Mad Magazine paperback book and some Mad trading cards.  They're kind of cool, but are probably too small to read the small print on the backs.  (Honestly, I mostly read Crack when I was a kid.)  

Trading Cards: Swimsuits

I'm a bit embarrassed by this post for a couple of reasons.  One, I'm posting cards of girls in swimsuits.  Two, there's just a couple of pictures and I'm throwing this up to finish the trading card scans I had.  (I should have planned this out better.) 

To somewhat explain, in the 90's collectible trading cards were a big thing and there were cards of everything (like these).  These cards are mostly model cards (Portfolio 1993).  There's a cheerleader card and there's that Benchwarmers card in the corner.  I think those were models in a sports setting.  (Bobbie Phillips was on an episode of Stargate SG-1 and starred in a show about NASA astronauts The Cape.  I was a fan of hers.)      

Just to make this more embarrassing, I'll disclose that there were actual porn cards and I did buy a couple of packs.  I don't have those any more.  And just to make myself look dumb, I also had a bunch of art cards by Olivia de Berardinis.  Yes, her.  The Bettie Page artist.  Oh boy, do I wish I'd kept those.  I'd be using those now to draw from.  I can still remember some of those cards.  I don't know what was I thinking when I got rid of them.  

Trading Cards: Basketball

I'm not posting all of my sports cards or any baseball cards (to this point), but I'll post these because they're interesting.  

Somewhere in the 70's when I was a kid, someone bought a random pack of basketball cards for me.  I'd never seen the sport at the time.  Looking back, it's hard to believe who I got in one pack.  There's Rick Barry, Robert Parish, Pete Maravich, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  That's a bunch of Hall of Famers there.  When I showed my card collection to a store owner in the 90's, these were the only cards he thought were valuable.   

I have Dream Team cards.  The 1992 Olympics were the first time they allowed pro players to play (at least for the US).  I think the first two cards were giveaways (McDonalds?).  I bought the others in packs of Olympic cards.  I was trying to get a couple of specific female athletes (and I don't even remember who now).  I bought packs and packs and never got them.  Gosh darn, it!  Another Michael Jordan!   

At the bottom is the only other Olympic card I kept, Oscar de la Hoya.  I thought he was cool.  The other two basketball cards are prospect cards.  I had recently lived in El Paso at the time, so I was happy to keep a card with a UTEP player.  Then there's Latrell Sprewell.  This is the guy I usually blame for why I no longer watch the NBA.  (No, this was long before Lebron James and BLM.)  I do not have the time or inclination to go over that story right now.   

Trading Cards: Comic Ball and Others

I showed my trading card collection to a co-worker a few weeks ago.  It was in three binders.  One of them is a double-sized one.  He was shocked that I kept saying that I just had a few cards.  It's true compared how many I used to have.  

I have a bunch of baseball cards that I collected in the 70's.  I kept most of those.  In the 90's, I started collecting again when the hobby became fashionable.  Unfortunately, I mostly collected non-sports cards.  These weren't really valuable in the end and I ended up getting rid of most of them.  

These first two pages are Comic Ball cards.  Legendary animator Chuck Jones created these and I loved them.  I collected them in packs.  At some point, I had enough that, after a friend gave me a gift certificate to a card shop, I managed to get the rest of them (including a hologram Elmer Fudd as an umpire, which was I think was the most valuable).  At that point, I suddenly didn't care about them and now owed a few hundred of these cards.  I just kept these because they were my favorites.

This page is random.  I got one pack of the Looney Tunes NFL cards.  They weren't by Chuck Jones, but weren't bad.  There's Spider-Man and Rogue.  I had a whole bunch of superhero cards.  Piles. Especially the X-Men.  These were the only two I kept.  Then I got some Star Trek cards.  Good God!  Why?  Lastly, I have some cards that came with my NASCAR diecasts.  (There's a collection I still have and love.)