Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 1989-90 Fleer NBA wax pack (Hour 9)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today's your day then as we launch 12 in 12 -- a series of a dozen breaks of past wax packs in a dozen hours. We'll post one every hour on the hour all day long today ... this is Hour 9.

The pack: 1989-90 Fleer basketball wax
The cost: $6.50

What's inside this one? Keep reading ...

Cards per pack: 15 plus one sticker (see all in gallery below)
Base set completion: 
15 of 168 (9 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Inserts: 1
'89 All-Star Stickers (1) -- Hakeem Olajuwon

Autographs/Memorabilia: None

What's Buzz-worthy: This is the last of the early Fleer NBA classics, but it's still one that's pretty affordable and somewhat easy to build. It's a relatively small set and with 15 cards per pack you can build it somewhat easily if you find fresh and un-pillaged wax. Typically Fleer collation was consistent -- you'll get X copies per card per box in most years -- in both baseball and basketball depending on the years. This particular pack included a Patrick Ewing base card, another Ewing appearance in the All-Star subset and then a sticker for another Hall of Famer. This pack also included four Rookie Cards -- none really notable -- and a few reliable NBA names from the past. The biggest names in this set are the Hall of Famers you'd expect from the era -- most notably a crisp Michael Jordan card. If you land a card of one of the John Williamses, check those backs as they were swapped and then corrected. There's also a variation on Gerald Wilkins' college notation on the back of his card (Tennessee or Tenn.) but not much else. These are a fun rip if you can find them cheap (this price is about as high as I would go, but lower would be better) but it might be worth it compared to the messy and heavily produced release that followed this one the next year and a number of Fleer NBA releases that followed.

Product Grade: A
Pack Grade: A-
Fun Grade: A-

What's next? Be back in an hour ...

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