Living Legend #14

Type: Oddball Card

Acquired: Bought at Show

Again, we have another one of these "Living Legend" oddball cards. As we've seen in the past, the quality of the card is lacking. The back has the generic Living Legends graphic, no color, no bonus photo and worst of all...no stats! That all can almost be overlooked due to the unique photo sported on the front of this card. The majority of these oddball cards have photos that have never been used before on them. You will never see this photo on a Topps, Upper Deck or Donruss card and that alone makes it worth the purchase!

1995 Upper Deck #20

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Bought Online

This card shows off Bo Jackson during the twilight of his career on his last MLB stop as a member of the California Angels. He was only there for one season in 1994 and put up some decent numbers for a part time player with 13 home runs and 43 RBI. He even turned back the clock and stole a base! This offering from Upper Deck is pretty nice. I like the bronze colored foil on the front and the stats are decent, but it is once again, the photography that helps this card stand out in the binder.  The back shot is a nice candid of Bo covering the bases, but the front phot is easily my favorite. It looks like he just took a strike and he is informing the ump that the pitcher missed the strike zone by that much!

1993 Upper Deck #31

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Bought Online

Not too much to say about this card. I got it for about a quarter online a few years ago and I do dig the artwork on the front of the card. The "Bionic Bo" moniker fits Mr. Jackson as this was around the time he was returning from hip replacement surgery. That photo on the back with Bo in glasses, smiling from the dugout would make a great base card by itself! Overall, not a bad card to add to the collection.

1992 Ballstreet Diamond Edition #D15

 
Type: Oddball Card
Acquired: Bought at Show

I think everyone had at least 1 Ballstreet card in their collection back in the 90's. Ballstreet was a fairly popular magazine/card price guide back in the 90's, in my circles not as popular as Beckett or Tuff Stuff, but still pretty popular. The thing that set it apart from the other mags was the inclusion of these foil stamped card sheets that were inserted in nearly every issue. Yes, Tuff Stuff had cards, but the didn't have foil! These card sheets featured some of the biggest names of the era which naturally included Bo Jackson. I remember me and my friends asking our art teacher to use her paper cutter to slice these cards for us. She did a pretty good job in doing so, much better than the shaky & twitchy hand of a 12 year old!

1991 Upper Deck #155

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Pulled From Pack

1991 was the premiere of Upper Deck's football card product and they did not disappoint! Upper Deck had a great reputation built on the success of their baseball cards and that carried over to the NFL when they released this set. The design is great and the photography is top notch. The inclusion of another full color photo on the back and full stats make this a fantastic card for any collector to have in their binder.

1991 Topps Traded #58T

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Bought At Show

This card is probably in my top 10 Bo Jackson cards. This was part of the traded series and reflects the addition of Bo to White Sox roster. He only played in 23 games for the White Sox in 1991, which was incredible due to the severity of his hip injury during the football season. He sat out the entire 1992 baseball season, but came back to play a big part on the Sox roster in 1993 that won the American League West title when he hit 16 home runs and added 45 RBIs.

1991 Topps Stadium Club #462

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Traded With Friend

Topps Stadium Club cards were the cream of the crop in the early 90's. Nothing could rival the UV coating, the premium card stock, foil stamping and high end photography. This card showcases what made these cards so desirable! The minimal graphics on the front don't detract from a solid action shot, the gold foil on the front is a nice touch and The Sporting News report on the back is an excellent addition. The only thing that I really didn't care for about these early Stadium Club cards was the inclusion of the "Rookie Card" shots on the back of the card. Did anyone actually like these?

1990 Topps #522

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Bought Online

I'm pretty sure that I have stated before about my liking this 1990 Topps design and here we have another example. The color scheme really stands out to me and the use of an in game action shot of Bo taking the ball down the field really helps this card standout in my opinion. I also like the previous season scores on the backs of these team cards. I still look at these and see who each team beat and by how much. I love me some Bo Jackson, but it still hurts to see that the Raiders beat my beloved NY Jets by a score of 14-7 in 1989!

1990 Bo 90 NO#

Type: Oddball Card

Acquired: Bought At Show

This card represents one of the first "Oddball" cards, maybe even THE first, that I ever purchased. Before buying this card, I thought Topps, Donruss, Fleer & Upper Deck were the only game in town. Man was I wrong! The 90's were an exceptionally lucrative time for the card collecting hobby and everyone wanted to take advantage and so many of these unlicensed cards flooded the market. Of course I didn't care if they were legit or not, as long as Bo was on the front of the card, you could take my money. This style of Bo card was not only used for baseball, but a few football cards were also created with the same look and style. I've posted some of these in the past and I'm sure I have more in my collection, so you will see more in the future!

Living Legend #13

Type: Oddball Card

Acquired: Bought Online

Here is another one of those generic "Living Legend" cards, but hold up...that photo on the front is actually pretty AWESOME! Bo on the base path getting ready to snag another bag! Again, I am completely surprised by the choice of photo for this type of card, but also I am yawning at the extremely boring and repetitive back of the card. Still have no idea what year these were made as there is no year printed on the cards, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was the early 90's.

1990 Topps #285

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Bought At Card Show

This was the very first Bo Jackson football card in my collection! I had quite a few Bo baseball cards in my collection by 1990, but no football cards. One fateful trip to a flea market in NJ changed all that. My Dad took us and we stopped at all the booths that were selling cards. My brother was collecting Ken Griffey Jr., but I was on the hunt for Bo. One of the tables we went to had a stack of his cards and my Dad gave me and my brother each $10. I bought a lot of cards that day including this first Bo Jackson football card and I can't get enough of the beautiful totally 90's graphics!

Living Legend #15

Type: Oddball

Acquired: Bought Online

Bo Jackson in flip top shades! Was there anything cooler than that in the early 90's? Besides the fantastic front photo, there really is not much else to say about this card. The back is bland and these "Living Legend" cards all use the same black & white image. I have a few more of these types of cards in my collection, so get ready for that!

1990 Score #10

Type: Insert Card

Acquired: Trade With Friend

This 1990 Score set had some great subset cards of Bo Jackson. I've featured a few of them on this blog like the "Ground Force" & "Record Breakers" cards, but this is the base card from the set. The photo on the front is a little lack luster as it shows Bo either slipping on the turf or being tackled by a gaggle of Bengal defenders. I've noticed that a lot of Bo football cards from around this time feature him running against the Bengals. I wonder why that is? The photo on the back is fine, would have liked to see more stats/info instead of a large helmetless photo. Overall it's a pretty "Meh" card.

1991 Score #100

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Pulled From Pack

The photo on the front of this card is solid. The graphics on the front are fine, but the back of this card is where it shines. I always like to see the "candid" photos of our favorite superstars captured on cardboard. Look at that million dollar smile. Pretty sure that's what he looks like right before he embarrassingly runs you over to score an 80 yard touchdown. 

1991 Fleer All-Pro #10

Type: Insert Card

Acquired: Trade With Friend

This is one of my favorite 90's Bo Jackson football cards. I like the silvery colored border, the amazing font and word boxes, the dual photo front...I LOVE IT ALL! This also marks around the time where I was at my peak in card collecting and brands were just starting to dip their toes into the world of insert cards. It was such a thrill to pull one of these from a pack of FLEER! 

1991 Collegiate Collection #AU1

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Bought Online

I've said it before and I'll probably say it another million times, but I am an absolute sucker for and Bo Jackson card that features him in his Auburn uniform! He really was a beast on the college gridiron! I remember seeing packs of these "Collegiate Collection" cards at the local card shops. I bought a few Auburn packs in hopes of getting a Bo card, that did not happen. I also bought some North Carolina packs in hopes of getting a Michael Jordan card, that didn't happen either. Finally, thanks to the amazing invention called the internet, I now have one of these Bo cards in my collection!

1991 Score #641

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Pulled From Pack

The artwork on this Team MVP card is fantastic! I like the illustration of Bo and the minimalistic background really helps to make the image pop! This card highlights the tandem of Marcus Allen & Bo Jackson, showing how they led the Raiders to the 5th best rushing offense in 1990. These feats helped earn Bo his first Pro-Bowl birth that year. I can only imagine how many more there could have been?

1991 Downtown Athletic Club #51

Type: Limited Set

Acquired: Bought Online

I stumbled upon this card while doing an ebay search for Bo Jackson cards a few years ago. Before then, I had never seen this at shows or online. It's a nice looking card from a set given out by the Downtown Athletic Club that highlights past winners of the college Heisman Trophy. I also received a card of fellow Heisman winner and Auburn alum, Pat Sullivan, when I bought this.

1991 Wild Card #108

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Bought Online

Wild Card was a pretty decent card manufacturer in the early 90's. They only lasted a few years, but they put out some nice looking cards. I like the action photo on the front of this Bo football card with the number border. The back has a shot of Bo looking fresh in those sweet shades and fair amount of stats. I never did get any of the numbered parallels of this card, but I'm sure I'll be hunting them down sometime soon!

1990 Score #330

Type: Base Card
Acquired: Pulled From Pack
I remember my friend's grandma was having a yard sale and she had boxes of 1990 Score football cards for $10 each. I had to have one of them! So, I did a crazy amount of household chores in a short amount of time to get the money to buy a box. This was one of the cards I pulled from that box and it is one of my favorite Bo cards. How can you not love a card that features one of the NFL's premiere power backs thundering down the field with a bolt of lightening striking in the distance? You can almost hear the electricity in this card. Someone really needs to bring back the "Ground Force" subset...like now!