Blog Bat-around, quirky edition

In my opinion, Blogger Bat Arounds are great.  I always hope to participate when they come around, so thanks to Diamond Jesters for proposing one.... However, this one is going to be hard for me.  I'm supposed to list my 5 best pack pulled hits??  But I don't buy packs!  OK, it's not like I have never opened packs, I have been in the hobby for a loooong time.  But in the last 20 years, all of the packs I have busted have been given to me or won in contests.

So my top 5 might be a little different from what you see on other blogs, but without further ado, here is what I came up with:

#5

1993 Finest Refractor.  This isn't the one I pulled, but that specific card has long since been lost to me.  I assume I will never see it again.  If I remember correctly, mine was an Ozzie Guillen.  Man, I wish I still had that...

#4

Akeem RC - OK, I know this is supposed to be about HITS, and this is a base card.  But what a card!!  I loved it when I pulled it out of a 25 cent pack of 1986/87 Fleer waaay back in my childhood.  And I would love it still today, if it hadn't been stolen from me as a teenager.  This is one the pack I wish I could open again today.  I probably pulled a Jordan RC or two as well, since I opened maybe 30 packs of the stuff.  But I don't remember for sure.  I do remember the Akeem though!

#3

OK, #3 is also a base card.  I don't follow the rules!!  This one is special more because of the story than the card itself.  It was 1991, and Skybox basketball was the new thing.  All gold borders, oooohhh.  Looks kind of pedestrian now.  Anyway, My brother and I were in a card shop when I opened a pack of Skybox.  It had a Shawn Kemp rookie in it.  Nice card, I now collect these, actually.  But back then, I just wanted more Skybox.  The owner said he would trade me another pack for the Kemp, and I said yes!  The next pack had...... another Kemp RC!!  My brother and I laughed, and kept shopping for a while.  Then I decided to ask the owner if he'd make the same trade, and he agreed.  Sucker!  And by now, you probably guessed, I got another Kemp.  The owner and I made one last swap for another pack, and I failed miserably in my attempt for a 4th Kemp in a row.  But boy, was it a fun day!

#2

Kevin Love auto - This card is not so big now, but at the time, it was looking like it could be huge.  Love was turning into a perennial All-Star, and looked like he could blow up.  But he didn't, I shoulda sold it!  I got this out of a box that a blogger gave away.  Oh, and it is numbered /10.  I keep it around because nobody will give me much for it.

And #1.....

#1. Rickey Henderson Elite - #1!!  At a card show in a middle school gym, I was deranged enough to open a pack of 1991 Donruss.  At this time, there had never been anything like these, and my friends and I didn't even know what it was.  We hadn't even heard of these things, and it sure seemed out of place in a pack of Donruss.  We went to a nice dealer and he explained the concept of a serial numbered insert.  I don't even know if we knew what a regular insert was!  It was a weird feeling, holding that beautiful card for a few minutes.  I ended up trading it to that same dealer...  for a Julius Erving RC.  Man, I wish I still had that!