The excitement of chasing the Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning rookie cards brought energy to the hobby in 1992-93. Many companies jumped into the market with not just one, but two, sets. Basically, 1992-93 was the season of introducing the “premium set” to collecting. Topps reemerged for the first time since ’81-82 with a regular set and a premium set called Stadium Club. Fleer wasn’t going to be shown up easily though, and they did the same thing. In addition to their regular set, they produced a premium set called “Ultra.” Like the Stadium Club cards, these Ultra cards were glossy, full-bleed action photos with the team and player names taking minimal room on the bottom. Knowing that collectors would be chasing those rookie cards, Ultra made sure to clearly identify them with a gold-foil ribbon that says “Rookie” below the brand logo. The backs of these Ultra cards were very nice. There were two photos of the player, one action and one close-up, against a basketball court background.
Ultra, at 375 cards, was a bit more condensed than the sprawling early ’90’s junk wax. And the two Series were balanced, 200 cards in Series I and 175 in Series II. This avoided the problem ’92-93 Skybox had where Series II packs seemed like they contained the same cards over and over again. But what can you expect when only 86 of the 413 cards were in Series II. Series II Ultra was loaded with rookies, more than 40 of them… This #266 Latrell Sprewell rookie card is not on the level of the Shaq or Alonzo Mourning rookie, but it is still a key card in the set.
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