How collector Nick Andrews built two iconic autographed basketball sets

Nick Andrews is not afraid of a challenge. As a kid collector in the 1980s, an early school assignment had him sending some Ryan Sandberg and Red Sox player cards through the mail for autographs.

Little did he know then that it would set the table for a couple of impressive hobby feats he would pursue many years later.

Andrews stopped collecting for a while but returned just before COVID because his love of sports and collecting was shared by his son, who was beginning to collect cards, too. 

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Andrews quickly realized, however, that his passion fell more on the vintage side of the house than the modern side. He started to collect not only vintage cards but signed vintage cards.

Any set collector knows how difficult collecting a base set can be, but Andrews was soon tackling the iconic 1986-87 Fleer Basketball set—all autographed! He wound up finishing the set in five months in July of 2022. He did it by buying and trading cards, and sending them through the mail for autographs. He figures he has invested roughly $70,000 in the set.

He also got some in-person autographs at player autograph appearances, but as we all know, these in-person signings have risen in price in recent years. Three of the players in the set are deceased, and it goes without saying that increases the degree of difficulty.

Andrews also completed the sticker set autographed as well. He even had the checklist cards signed by referees and team owners from the time period. Oh yeah, he also added a Nike Co-Founder and Chairman Phil Knight auto as well. Talk about dedication.

So what do you do for an encore after completing a 1986-87 Fleer Basketball autograph set? Start working on the iconic 1969 Topps Basketball “Tall Boys” autograph set, of course.

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While he completed the ’86-87 set in five months, he knew this set would be 10 to 20 times harder. At the time of this writing, he is six cards away from completion. They are: Luther Rackley, Bob Boozer, Howie Komives, Guy Rodgers, Bill Bridges and Flynn Robinson.

If you can assist with any of those six cards, please reach out to Nick at Sportscardmadness@gmail.com or on Instagram @BostonCardHunter.

When not completing difficult autograph sets, working or spending time with his family, you can also find Nick co-hosting the Sports Card Madness podcast with his brother-in-law LZ.

— John Newman is a collector, dealer and the host of the Sports Card Nation podcast. Catch his Hobby Quick Hits on Monday and his guest interviews on Friday on your favorite podcast plat­form. You can reach him at sportscard­nationpc@gmail.com or on Twitter at @sportscardnati1

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