Seen here is the base card from that set along with the blue, gold, green, purple, and red, numbered to 500. My one and only true rainbow from any set.

In the past few months I’ve pivoted strongly from collecting cards as an investment to collecting cards as a source of joy. My collecting had become a little too starchy-collared and cold as I’ve aged. After all, if you’re collecting purely as a means to invest, you’re not always buying what you love.

My mindset changed when I was looking through 1990s inserts on Beckett Marketplace and realized that instead of owning one ritzy $200 graded card, I could own several hundred fun singles. I never really had a favorite football player growing up, but Bengals QB Jeff Blake was someone I always appreciated, and he has tons of colorful (and cheap) cards from the whimsical mid-‘90s. Here are some of my favorites that I’ve picked up. I pulled the 1995 Topps Air Raid from a pack of cards at Toys R Us thirty years ago and it’s one of my all-time favorites.

Got this 1996 Pinnacle Trophy Collection card of Bengals QB Jeff Blake. He played a handful of games for the Jets in 1992 and apparently he kept some of his old team’s gear in tow for warmups in cold games. I can’t recall seeing another card picturing a player wearing merch from a former team.