LCG Era Random: Sportflics

Sportflics, for those born too recently to relish the phenomenon, were fantastically 80s (and beyond). They were loud, colorful and pretty much completely unnecessary and over-the-top. Sort of like legwarmers. That is not to say they weren’t all kinds of awesome – they, of course, were.

More specifically, the Sportflic was a baseball card/3-D masterpiece. Each featured a traditional glossy card stock back, complete with the requisite stats and profile information on said Major-Leaguer. The front side? Poetry in motion. In fact, the first 1986 Sportsflics set featured 200 of these “magic motion” cards.

Imagine a single “card” that featured not one…not two…but three images of your favorite MLB players in action. Turn the card a bit to the left and see Ozzie Smith pop to life at shortstop. Tilt it a bit right and see the Wizard wondrously appear on the base paths. Maneuver the Sportflic just so and there’s Smith at the plate. Gloooorious.
Get loopy, grab yourself a box of Sporflics and one could be mesmerized for hours on end.

For me, Sporflics got amped to another level in the mid-late 80s. In addition to multiple full sets, my bedroom featured a Sportflics-inspired creation the likes of which I’ve not seen since. In what was part of my early indoctrination/torture as a Mets fan, I received a framed masterpiece that featured Doc and The Kid, with multiple over-sized coin-shaped sportflics-style holograms of each of them in action for the Metros. All sorts of money.

You got memories of Sportflics? Sure you do, and don’t be shy. Wait, did Ozzie just move again? Trippy, man...