My favorite back then was easily the Fleer Ultra inserts. The colors, holos, foils, etc that they applied blew my mind. I know everyone loves the 93 Finest Refractor, but that one never really caught my eye like The Elite Series and Power Plus cards. The 90s were a magical time. If I'm being candid, I have no clue what to make of any Panini brand card nowadays.
Ultra really did a put a lot more effort into their inserts game in the early to mid 90s that really separated them from the rest of the pack. The 90s are mostly remembered as the height of the junk wax era, but I agree that if you focus after 1992-3, the 90s really were a magical time. And I'm sure that you're not alone having no idea what the current companies are doing in terms of how many versions of each card are out there
Great video good list lot memories of looking for those insert cards one you left off my personal favorite was 1994 Leaf Gold Leaf Stars and 95 was sick too
That was a great one for a short time, I loved those 95 myself quite a lot! I just didn't include it because for me it didn't last long enough...thanks for the contribution!
I remember pulling that 1991 Donruss Elite Nolan Ryan that year. It booked for $600 and I sold it to a LCS for $300 and bought a 1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig from Sport Card Plus in CA. Crazy times!
Thanks for checking out the video and commenting! I definitely remember the craze around the fleer sensations in 1992, especially the Big Hurt! I didn't include it simply because I didn't open a lot of those boxes that had that set, but it's a common belief that was the one that sparked the whole transition into chasing inserts.
The 1994 set was particularly nice for me. I've considered making a video about my top 10 single year insert sets, and the 94 would definitely make that!
@brutusonbaseball I had doubles of the whole set,unfortunately I hit some hard times had to have back surgery and a hip replacement back to back,sold what little of my childhood collection and got dick for all my cards,none graded but I still had some nice stuff I think they are undervalued,I bought tons of boxes and never pulled mattingly, Maddux or bonds I had to buy them,I miss them
@DamonTul sorry to hear that, definitely some great cards there. I have the whole set except the Bonds card...no idea why that one is so tough for me to get a hold of!
@brutusonbaseball I seen the bonds on ebay pretty cheap ya know because of the steroid scandal,if I had it I'd give it to you for nothing but I don't anymore
A trip down memory lane. Some others I loved that weren't mentioned include 95-98 Zenith Z-Team, 97-00 Topps Gallery Of Heroes, 94-98 Fleer Diamond Tribute, and especially the 96-99 Ultra Diamond Producers.
Thanks for sharing! I never collected Zenith, but I do remember those Z-Team cards were awesome. Gallery of Heroes was great too, but toward the end of my insert collecting days.
Thanks for giving me some homework! Gotta find if there are any Rynos in these sets! The Mother Lode inserts in the 96 Metal Universe are the the cleanest, most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Great video!!!! Subscribed!
Dude the crazy thing about that heritage edition set, I found an Andre Dawson and because he was dressed in the old uniforms I just always thought he was a dead ball player and still playing 😂
Hard to disagree with any pick! My top would be slightly different but you had them all. Those years 92-94 though were great for insert card designs. And with fleer doing the hot pack stuff during that time, was great to buy packs. 😊
@@brutusonbaseball for the pure chase of them, elite would be number 1, followed by diamond kings and then pro visions. Those are the ones that made getting packs more worth it. Started about the same time as you
What a beautiful set that was! I've got another video in the works that is my top 10 parallel sets...sneak info that pinnacle museum will certainly be high on that list!
1992 score big head inserts 1991/92 fleer insert provisions illustrations...they had nolan, doc gooden, jose c, frank thomas, cal ripken.... awesome painting style Ps i have that 92/93 big mac diamond king, love that card
Absolutely beautiful inserts! Only reason I didn't include them was because they came so late to the game and I already had quite a few ultra inserts I collected by then
I stumbled into the 94 pinnacle series (found them really cheap) and have been enjoying it. I really like the Museum prints (almost look like a holographic wood block print).
LOVE that parallel set myself, probably my favorite. I've got another video in the works of me favorite parallel sets from the 90s...that one just may be at the top!
Great video! So many awesome insert sets from the 90’s! One thing to mention is that the Pro Vision cards in 94 and 95 for together to make one big picture, which in my opinion makes them even cooler.
Thanks for watching! That's a really great point that I totally forgot to highlight...and one of the biggest reasons those pro vision sets were so great on the 9-card binder pages! Thanks for pointing that out 😁
Good picks but I expected to see some type of hologram insert if not only in honorable mentions. They were a new thing in early 90s and really nice. My favorite hologram insert was the Upper Deck Then and Now. I also like the Denny's grand slam and the SP hollow views.
Great thoughts, I actually had the Denny's hologram grand slam set as part of this video in honorable mentions...but I took it out in editing because it technically wasn't an insert set. I made a video dedicated to that set though called "What Inspires You to Collect"... check it out!
Great comment, I think I would agree if I were only picking a single insert from a single year. For this video I focused more on runs across multiple years, and I just didn't care as much for the Statistical Standouts before or after 1995, but in that one year it was perfect
I love the UD Iooss and Team Pinnacle inserts. I'm hoping to get more. Funny how business works where Pinnacle buys Donruss then goes bankrupt a year later lol.
That's an interesting take about the late 90s being the golden age. Which inserts do you think were the best from that time period? For this list I tried to look at nostalgia and continuity between years, and to me the late 90s was a time of a lot of change and new insert designs. I guess it depends on your mindset, for me the golden age was the early to mid 90 when inserts were still new and evolving...by the late 90s the inserts were getting super fancy and expensive/rare, but I don't hear most collectors from that time referring to that period as the best. I think of that period as the time when I lost interest because there were just too many inserts everywhere, and the only ones worth anything were impossible to find.
@@brutusonbaseball the beginning of the 90’s was arguably still the junk wax era. 94-95 ish things transitioned. With so many products ya and manufacturers competition was real. So many technologies were introduced and peaked in the late 90’s. Innovation. Diecuts, holograms, wood cards, acetate, holo foil, refractors, low serial numbering, 1/1’s, laser and etching, dufex, parallels, and on card autos. No expense was spared. Right before the advent of expensive boxes, online, etc Was still all avail at shops and stores.
If you like “runs” I’d say the platinum medallion, essential credentials, PMG, mirror golds, diamond producers, legacies, are just some examples. In 01, things quickly transitioned to more expensive boxes, less cards. Internet took over. Cards became nothing but relics and sticker autos. And very little foil /good design. It’s THE era for basketball cards and I’d argue the same for baseball. Yes, it lacked key rookies, but the mac/sosa run, and the many HOF’ers made this era.
I’d like to think that it wasn’t the cards that made people lose interest….it was the strike and age. Many in know that got out did so as it was their HS and College years. We all know what took precedent there. There’s a HUGE 90’s group on Facebook and the golden age of inserts are from early 90’s to early 00’s. But primarily late 90’s
All really great points, thanks for sharing! I think you hit on some things about why the early to mid 90s for me were the "golden age". The early 90s were still the junk wax era, but 92-93 was really the beginning of insert mania and I have a lot of nostalgia for that time period. The 94-97 period for me was kind of the height of my collecting days, but at the same time it was a period where a lot of fans were lost because of the strike. For whatever reason, I wasn't one of those, but I do know I lot of people left the hobby during that time. I started university in 97, so those late 90s years were definitely when I stepped away because of time and also the money required to chase the more rare cards. I will also say that the term "insert" is also different for me because I wouldn't put platinum medallion, credentials, mirror golds, or anything like that in the insert category. To me those are parallel sets...and yes I am planning to release my top 10 parallel sets video in the next month or two that may just have a few of those cards you mentioned in there!
![TOP 10 Most ICONIC 90s Cards! | Iconic Insert Sets from the 1990s | [S4 E33]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8qM52Gi77I4/mqdefault.jpg)
Wow, great video! Well done on the production. It was great to see all of the card photos and imagery alongside the commentary. Thank you!
Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to leave a compliment! Really happy you enjoyed it!
Thanks for the reminders on some of these cool insert sets. First year Hot Gloves and First year Elite have to be my fav 2.
My pleasure, two really great choices there and tough ones to collect!
Also bought the Elite Ripken auto many years ago
@@rightfieldcollectibles9021 nice, great one to have...wish I had it!
My favorite back then was easily the Fleer Ultra inserts. The colors, holos, foils, etc that they applied blew my mind. I know everyone loves the 93 Finest Refractor, but that one never really caught my eye like The Elite Series and Power Plus cards. The 90s were a magical time. If I'm being candid, I have no clue what to make of any Panini brand card nowadays.
Ultra really did a put a lot more effort into their inserts game in the early to mid 90s that really separated them from the rest of the pack. The 90s are mostly remembered as the height of the junk wax era, but I agree that if you focus after 1992-3, the 90s really were a magical time. And I'm sure that you're not alone having no idea what the current companies are doing in terms of how many versions of each card are out there
Great video good list lot memories of looking for those insert cards one you left off my personal favorite was 1994 Leaf Gold Leaf Stars and 95 was sick too
That was a great one for a short time, I loved those 95 myself quite a lot! I just didn't include it because for me it didn't last long enough...thanks for the contribution!
I remember pulling that 1991 Donruss Elite Nolan Ryan that year. It booked for $600 and I sold it to a LCS for $300 and bought a 1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig from Sport Card Plus in CA. Crazy times!
That is not only a really great pull...but an even better trade! Way to go!
Great video. Well done!!!
Thank you so much! Appreciate the comment!
Really fun countdown! That Ozzie Smith Pro Vision card is spectacular
Thanks for the feedback! Yes, that was always one of my favorite all time pro vision cards
Great video! The one that is nostalgic for me is the 1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations! I was thrilled to pull a Frank Thomas back in the day!
Thanks for checking out the video and commenting! I definitely remember the craze around the fleer sensations in 1992, especially the Big Hurt! I didn't include it simply because I didn't open a lot of those boxes that had that set, but it's a common belief that was the one that sparked the whole transition into chasing inserts.
Beautiful
Thank you!
The fleer flair hotgloves di-cut ones were the sweetest inserts hands down!
The 1994 set was particularly nice for me. I've considered making a video about my top 10 single year insert sets, and the 94 would definitely make that!
@brutusonbaseball I had doubles of the whole set,unfortunately I hit some hard times had to have back surgery and a hip replacement back to back,sold what little of my childhood collection and got dick for all my cards,none graded but I still had some nice stuff I think they are undervalued,I bought tons of boxes and never pulled mattingly, Maddux or bonds I had to buy them,I miss them
@DamonTul sorry to hear that, definitely some great cards there. I have the whole set except the Bonds card...no idea why that one is so tough for me to get a hold of!
@brutusonbaseball I seen the bonds on ebay pretty cheap ya know because of the steroid scandal,if I had it I'd give it to you for nothing but I don't anymore
A trip down memory lane. Some others I loved that weren't mentioned include 95-98 Zenith Z-Team, 97-00 Topps Gallery Of Heroes, 94-98 Fleer Diamond Tribute, and especially the 96-99 Ultra Diamond Producers.
Thanks for sharing! I never collected Zenith, but I do remember those Z-Team cards were awesome. Gallery of Heroes was great too, but toward the end of my insert collecting days.
Dude i was so worried you weren’t going to mention the 1992 Team Pinnacle insert set, then you didn’t disappoint!
BOOM! Glad you waited until the end for the big payoff!
Great video, lots of fun. Thanks!
Awesome, thanks for watching and commenting!
Thanks for giving me some homework! Gotta find if there are any Rynos in these sets! The Mother Lode inserts in the 96 Metal Universe are the the cleanest, most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Great video!!!! Subscribed!
I always love handing out homework! I'm sure there's lots of good Ryno cards in those sets. Thanks for watching and subscribing!
Very cool video. Loved team pinnacle!
Thanks for watching and commenting, always happy to hear from other collectors that have the same great taste in cards!
Dude the crazy thing about that heritage edition set, I found an Andre Dawson and because he was dressed in the old uniforms I just always thought he was a dead ball player and still playing 😂
That's a great story, I can imagine it could be really confusing if you didn't understand the theme!
Hard to disagree with any pick! My top would be slightly different but you had them all. Those years 92-94 though were great for insert card designs. And with fleer doing the hot pack stuff during that time, was great to buy packs. 😊
Totally agree, hard to differentiate at the top. Great years for design though like you pointed out. Which one would be your #1?
@@brutusonbaseball for the pure chase of them, elite would be number 1, followed by diamond kings and then pro visions. Those are the ones that made getting packs more worth it. Started about the same time as you
@@richardbianco9674 great choices
a lot of good information. ty
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great video
Thanks for watching and commenting!
94 pinnacle museum collection set was mine, loved that Starburst like effect
What a beautiful set that was! I've got another video in the works that is my top 10 parallel sets...sneak info that pinnacle museum will certainly be high on that list!
1992 score big head inserts
1991/92 fleer insert provisions illustrations...they had nolan, doc gooden, jose c, frank thomas, cal ripken.... awesome painting style
Ps i have that 92/93 big mac diamond king, love that card
I'm very nostalgic for those old illustration styles too
96 and 97 Fleer Ultra Thunder Clap were sick inserts
Absolutely beautiful inserts! Only reason I didn't include them was because they came so late to the game and I already had quite a few ultra inserts I collected by then
I stumbled into the 94 pinnacle series (found them really cheap) and have been enjoying it. I really like the Museum prints (almost look like a holographic wood block print).
LOVE that parallel set myself, probably my favorite. I've got another video in the works of me favorite parallel sets from the 90s...that one just may be at the top!
Great video! So many awesome insert sets from the 90’s! One thing to mention is that the Pro Vision cards in 94 and 95 for together to make one big picture, which in my opinion makes them even cooler.
Thanks for watching! That's a really great point that I totally forgot to highlight...and one of the biggest reasons those pro vision sets were so great on the 9-card binder pages! Thanks for pointing that out 😁
Good picks but I expected to see some type of hologram insert if not only in honorable mentions. They were a new thing in early 90s and really nice. My favorite hologram insert was the Upper Deck Then and Now. I also like the Denny's grand slam and the SP hollow views.
Great thoughts, I actually had the Denny's hologram grand slam set as part of this video in honorable mentions...but I took it out in editing because it technically wasn't an insert set. I made a video dedicated to that set though called "What Inspires You to Collect"... check it out!
95 leaf SS were hands down best insert of 90s
Great comment, I think I would agree if I were only picking a single insert from a single year. For this video I focused more on runs across multiple years, and I just didn't care as much for the Statistical Standouts before or after 1995, but in that one year it was perfect
I love the UD Iooss and Team Pinnacle inserts. I'm hoping to get more. Funny how business works where Pinnacle buys Donruss then goes bankrupt a year later lol.
That Iooss set was really pretty, tough to find though. Pinnacle going bankrupt was a sad day for me, I loved their sets
Missing the golden era of inserts. 96-99
That's an interesting take about the late 90s being the golden age. Which inserts do you think were the best from that time period? For this list I tried to look at nostalgia and continuity between years, and to me the late 90s was a time of a lot of change and new insert designs.
I guess it depends on your mindset, for me the golden age was the early to mid 90 when inserts were still new and evolving...by the late 90s the inserts were getting super fancy and expensive/rare, but I don't hear most collectors from that time referring to that period as the best. I think of that period as the time when I lost interest because there were just too many inserts everywhere, and the only ones worth anything were impossible to find.
@@brutusonbaseball the beginning of the 90’s was arguably still the junk wax era. 94-95 ish things transitioned. With so many products ya and manufacturers competition was real. So many technologies were introduced and peaked in the late 90’s. Innovation. Diecuts, holograms, wood cards, acetate, holo foil, refractors, low serial numbering, 1/1’s, laser and etching, dufex, parallels, and on card autos. No expense was spared. Right before the advent of expensive boxes, online, etc Was still all avail at shops and stores.
If you like “runs” I’d say the platinum medallion, essential credentials, PMG, mirror golds, diamond producers, legacies, are just some examples. In 01, things quickly transitioned to more expensive boxes, less cards. Internet took over. Cards became nothing but relics and sticker autos. And very little foil /good design. It’s THE era for basketball cards and I’d argue the same for baseball. Yes, it lacked key rookies, but the mac/sosa run, and the many HOF’ers made this era.
I’d like to think that it wasn’t the cards that made people lose interest….it was the strike and age. Many in know that got out did so as it was their HS and College years. We all know what took precedent there. There’s a HUGE 90’s group on Facebook and the golden age of inserts are from early 90’s to early 00’s. But primarily late 90’s
All really great points, thanks for sharing! I think you hit on some things about why the early to mid 90s for me were the "golden age". The early 90s were still the junk wax era, but 92-93 was really the beginning of insert mania and I have a lot of nostalgia for that time period. The 94-97 period for me was kind of the height of my collecting days, but at the same time it was a period where a lot of fans were lost because of the strike. For whatever reason, I wasn't one of those, but I do know I lot of people left the hobby during that time.
I started university in 97, so those late 90s years were definitely when I stepped away because of time and also the money required to chase the more rare cards. I will also say that the term "insert" is also different for me because I wouldn't put platinum medallion, credentials, mirror golds, or anything like that in the insert category. To me those are parallel sets...and yes I am planning to release my top 10 parallel sets video in the next month or two that may just have a few of those cards you mentioned in there!
Collecting got too busy and adult orientated at this time. No Fun!
You're quite right, this is the time period where the manufacturers started targeting adults with disposable income rather than the younger generation