I would not say any of them are close family friends or anything but I’ve gotten some opportunities before/after games and off the court to meet some of these truly larger than life athletes.

This one is especially notable because I literally traded for this card AS RODMAN WAS WALKING RIGHT PAST ME. It was during an impromptu trade night at a Holiday Inn during a Chantilly Show couple of years back. @MojoSports might remember what I’m talking about. The dude was not happy that the hotel got his reservation wrong (Dennis Rodman, not Mojo lol).

I’ll have to tell the full story another time and I actually wrote about the experience for the now shuttered Basketball Card Fanatic magazine, but I promise to share the full article one day soon right here on Mantel!

PS: that super thick patch is part of his sneaker!

This years rookie class (at least rookie cards) were plentiful - chock full of HOFers like Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen, Reggie Miller and John Stockton (I never understood why Stockton never had a 86-87 or 87-88 Fleer card?!). A great set, condition sensitive and centering was tough on these - as you can see in this poorly centered copy. But the autograph in on-card in in-person and still shows very well. Happy to have it in my collection. He was kinda of a punk, but he brought the entertainment factor to the game for sure!