1992 Fleer

 This is a "Top Tier" set for me. I LOVED the look of these cards. I don't know why, because usually when a company goes with a generic background for all of their cards I'm not into it as much. But for whatever reason, the moment I saw these, I loved them and had to collect them that year. 

The one featured was a special series that came with the set. They were painted cards of some of the games best players at the time and I thought they were SO cool! This set really blew me away at the time. 

I even have 2 of the highly coveted "Update" sets that came out that year. They go for a couple of hundred these days but mainly because Mike Piazza's rookie card is in it. I remember buying too because I loved Piazza (still one of my favorite players of all time) 

But no one knew how rare the Update sets for this collection were going to be. Due to poor sales of the base cards, Fleer short printed the Update set without knowing what kind of player Piazza would turn out to be. Kicking off a frantic chase to get his rookie card. At the time, you could only obtain an Update set if your card shop ordered one for you or had extras. (which were rare)

I asked for 2 because I wanted to bust one open for my book and the other to keep in mint condition. When they arrived the sets were already going for a staggering $200 on the market. (very inflated, but the short printing drove the price up at the time of the frenzy)

I remember the owner telling me he was selling them to me for cover price ($30 each) but he wanted to ask me if I would sell one to him for $80 (with the other $30 Update set being free) or $120 in trade. I said No thank you and took them both home. I felt I'd won the lottery. 

Since then, they've gone down in value (like all cards from this era did) but I still have them today. And yes, I did bust open one. I just had to see that Piazza Rookie card for myself. : )