Man, I loved those early Autographics sets from 1996-97 and 1997-98. The retro ones like this don’t get much hobby love. I had to move this to trade for something I wanted more at the time. But I wish I would have kept this one. Oh well.

These were some of the first, and best, large scale pack pulled football cards - and the design in unparalleled- enough negative white space for the signature. Hand numbered rare parallel. Lots going on for it, especially as a Cowboys fan!

Here are the major career highlights for Elvin Hayes (“The Big E”), one of the NBA’s greatest power forwards/centers:

• College Stardom

  • Starred at the University of Houston (1965–1968).

  • Key player in the famous “Game of the Century” vs. UCLA and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1968.

  • Twice named a consensus All-American.

  • 1968 National College Player of the Year.

  • Finished college career with 2,884 points (at the time, 2nd all-time in NCAA history).

• NBA Career (1968–1984)

  • Drafted 1st overall in 1968 NBA Draft by the San Diego Rockets.

  • NBA scoring champion (1969) as a rookie (28.4 PPG).

  • Played for the San Diego/Houston Rockets and Washington Bullets.

  • 12× NBA All-Star (1969–1980).

  • 6× All-NBA Team selection.

  • 2× NBA All-Defensive Team selection.

  • Helped lead the Washington Bullets to the 1978 NBA Championship (averaged 21.8 PPG & 13 RPG in playoffs).

  • Played in 3 NBA Finals (1975, 1978, 1979).

  • Retired as the 3rd all-time leading scorer in NBA history (now outside top 10).

  • Career stats: 27,313 points (21.0 PPG), 16,279 rebounds (12.5 RPG), 2,398 blocks.

• Legacy

  • Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (1990).

  • Member of the NBA’s 50th Anniversary Team (1996) and 75th Anniversary Team (2021).

This is arguably one of Tim Duncan‘s best cards! His rookie Skybox Autographics, blue variation numbered out of 50 in high grade. Along with his credentials, rubies, and other rookie parallels this is one I’ve wanted to add to my collection for a long time. Duncan recently started signing again, but had a long hiatus after signing for a few years for Skybox, and Topps. He did sign some early Press Pass cards prior to his rookie year as well. The value for his signatures will drop slightly with him starting to sign again, however, I still believe his rookie autographs, especially the rare ones like this, will continue to hold their value over time. Known as “The Big Fundamental”, Duncan led the Spurs dynasty, along with Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. He’s on my list of top 10 to 20 players all time and is a one of the NBA’s good guys.

Reggie Miller has a strong collector base. Which kinda of sucks for me as his rare, parallel, 1/1, game-used patch autos get super pricey. Still there are some great deals to be had and this is the second year Skybox Autographics in high grade. Almost all the Reggie Miller autos this yesr are kind of streaky, but otherwise the card is in fantastic condition and has great color!