Cards: Action Packed 1992, Fleer 1995
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o The San Diego Chargers
Sent: 10/7 Received: 10/27 (20 days)
Failure: TTM 2010, C/o The San Diego Chargers
See Also: Cris Dishman, Dish (3)
Well I thought I’d give Cris another shot with less cards. After making a big blitz of former Oilers in 2010, I was surprised not to receive anything back from Cris Dishman courtesy of the Chargers. I tended to other stuff but when I published my master list of Oilers that I had gotten on Fanmail, they told me that Cris was easy to get, so I planned on reloading and trying again. He was on the back burner for a couple of months here until I joined SotL at Bubba Mcdowell‘s recommendation, to where I found the Facebook heaven for football players. Seeing that Cris was on here and that he was active- I decided to go ahead and give him another shot on these two cards.
At that time, I really liked what Fleer was doing with their 1995 set. It was really daring to have the information on the front of the card like that and the player name and team information really reminded me of Skybox’s 1992 release. Crystal clear photography also really assisted as well in the production of this piece. The Action Packed 1992 card was right at the end of what I felt was their best work. Already in their 1991 offering, they had annoyingly decided to flip the stats on the back, in landscape form from left to right on random cards, and they continued this trend in 1992, and by 1993 I was out of the market.
Cris Dishman engages his fans on Sotl which is refreshing. When I asked him what his favorite memory was about playing football outside of being drafted, he said it was the comradery of the locker room after games that no business could ever match. He filled my request through the Chargers in roughly 20 days.
These sets of cards really reflect the evolution of quality and style in the 1990s of football cards. The 1993 Topps card is honestly like any other regular Topps branded football card up to this point during the football card war- boring. Realizing that Topps was probably getting killed in the market by other companies the brand by 1995 made a move to foil stamping, high quality photos, the removal of that gum that you could kill a man with, and a variety of other upgrades. The Topps Finest card here is truly among my favorites. Another one of my other pet favorites, after I had left the market completely was the Fleer 1995 cards. Fearlessly branding type across the card and around players that you normally didn’t see, you really got a feel for these cards on an epic scale complimented and framed by excellent photography. I was extremely happy to add these signatures to my collection.