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 boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We’ll post one every hour on the hour all day long today … this is our finale for today.
The box: 1993 Classic Pro Line Live NFL
The cost: $29
What’s inside this one? Keep reading …
Packs per box: 36
Cards per pack: 12
Cards in this box: 432
Pro Line Live set completion:
267 of 285 (94 percent)
Duplicates: 0
Pro Line Portraits set completion:
44 of 48 (92 percent)
Duplicates: 0
Pro Line Profiles set completion:
110 of 117 (94 percent)
Duplicates: 0
Notables on non-inserts – Barry Sanders, Harvey Martin, Archie Manning, Shannon Sharpe, Ricky Watters, Reggie White, Art Monk, Jerome Bettis, Drew Brees, Jimmy Johnson, Emmitt Smith, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Steve Young, Howie Long, Cornelius Bennett, Lawrence Taylor, Ronnie Lott, Eric Dickerson, Tim Brown, Jerry Rice, Cris Carter, John Elway, Derrick Thomas, Michael Strahan (RC), Marcus Allen, Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham, Joe Montana, Thurman Thomas, Steve Young, Michael Irvin, Brett Favre, Troy Aikman, Rick Mirer, Shannon Sharpe, Sterling Sharpe, Bernie Kosar, Bruce Smith, Andre Reed, Andre Rison
Inserts: 11 (all along with notable base cards from all sets in gallery below)
Pro Line Portraits Wives (5) – Annette Rypien (2), Ann Stark, Cindy Walker, Cindy Reed
Pro Line Live Limited Print (4) – Brett Favre, Ricky Watters, Rodney Hampton, Terry Allen (/40,000 each)
Pro Line Live Illustrated (1) – Lawrence Taylor (/10,000)
Pro Line TONX Preview (1) – Michael Irvin
Autographs/Memorabilia: None
What’s Buzz-worthy: This one stung. Why? I managed to track down a hobby box of this for the first time (I was stuck buying retail jumbo packs as a kid) at a not-ridiculous price and learned that there isn’t an autograph in every box. It turns out the Pro Line Live autos are found a couple times per case in this year, which is a break from the norm of one per box in every box the year before ad in years after. This set marks the first time that Pro Line had not been just portrait photography and it’s still among the coolest brands of its time. You could argue that the 1991-93 Pro Line Portraits are among the most-creative sets ever — unless you’re talking value. Why? They made plenty of these cards back in the day to meet the demands of the time and the added interest that came with certified autographs on a regular basis. (Their non-traditional approach isn’t big with a lot of collectors, too.) Without ink, I was disappointed — but I also was reminded why I bought so much of this (and landed ink) back in the day. The product is made up of three sets — Pro Line Portraits and Pro Line Profiles, which is a nine-card story of a player’s life that fits in a pages, are sets continuing the releases from the first two years and the Pro Line Live set that is the main one. There are some crazy/fun portraits here, including a Brett Favre that was one of the few that wasn’t found in the box. (Still had to show it above.) The gallery below is worth a look. If you do land ink? You could land some big, big names in NFL history (my autos back in the day were Tim Brown and Eric Dickerson) and they’re still in there … if you can find boxes. Oh, and to end today’s marathon on a weird note … these cards still have one of the more-unique smells in cardboard history.
Product Grade: A
Box Grade: B
Fun Grade: B
What do you want to see next time during 12 in 12? Tell us in the comments or on Twitter. We’ll mix in more full boxes and newer stuff if we see that you like it. If you made it this far, thanks for checking out The Buzz all day.
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