Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 1996 Pro Line DC3 Football
1996 Pro Line DC3 Football is all die-cut cards. Every single card in the set, base or insert, had the same die cut shape. The base checklist is fairly short, featuring just 100 cards. As always, ’90s releases are absolutely loaded with Hall of Famers. This base checklist features 29 players who have been enshrined into Canton.
Other than the base set, there are just two insert sets in the product. Road to the Super Bowl are 1:15 packs while All-Pro inserts are tough finds, landing just once in every 100 packs.
This set is not one for those focused on Rookie Cards. There aren’t any on the checklist.
1996 Pro Line DC3 Football Box Break
Cards per pack: 5
Packs per box: 24
Price paid: $50
Shop for 1996 Pro Line DC3 Football boxes on eBay.
Pack 1 highlights:
Warren Moon, Reggie White, Jim Harbaugh & Tim Brown Road to the Super Bowl (1 in every 15 packs)
You know that feeling when you are really only guaranteed one insert in a box, and it lands in the first pack you open? Yeah, ee too.
Pack 2:
Barry Sanders & Marcus Allen
Pack 3:
Curtis Martin & Carl Pickens
Pack 4:
Terrell Davis, Michael Irvin & Deion Sanders
Imagine opening this pack back in 1996? Absolutely loaded.
Pack 5:
Jeff George & Troy Aikman
Pack 6:
Warren Moon, Jim Harbaugh & Reggie White
Pack 7:
Ben Coates, Rodney Hampton, Tim Brown & Kerry Collins
Coates was a ’90s beast! He was named a Pro Bowler five straight years from 1994 to 1998.
Pack 8:
Jerome Bettis & Drew Bledsoe
Pack 9:
Mark Brunell & Curtis Martin Road to the Super Bowl (1:15 packs)
Pack 10:
A copy of pack 5; Jeff George & Troy Aikman
The short checklist for this set leads to plenty of duplicates.
Pack 11:
Jerome Bettis, Steve McNair & Steve Young
Pack 12:
Tyrone Wheatley & Bernie Parmelee
Yes, I had to reach here.
Pack 13:
Junior Seau, Ken Norton, Jr. & Aeneas Williams
An All-Defense pack here. Seau and Williams are both enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Pack 14:
Barry Sanders, Joey Galloway & Cris Carter
Pack 15:
John Randle, John Elway & Ricky Watters
Pack 16:
Andre Rison & Brett Favre
Andre “Bad Moon” Rison racked up over 10,000 receiving yards over his career. He cleared the 1,000-yard mark in a season on five occasions.
Pack 17:
Robert Brooks, Marshall Faulk & Errict Rhett
Pack 18:
Jim Kelly, Drew Bledsoe & Jay Novacek
Pack 19:
Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith & Hugh Douglas
Barry and Emmitt. Two of the top five? Where do you rank these two running backs?
Pack 20:
Rashaan Salaam & Isaac Bruce
Pack 21:
Bruce Smith & Warren Sapp
Pack 22:
Greg Lloyd, Jerry Rice, Kordell Stewart & Dan Marino
There was a ton of excitement around Kordell when he came to the NFL. He was a solid player, but never quite lived up to that hype.
Pack 23:
Jeff Blake & Natrone Means
Pack 24:
Jim Kelly & Emmitt Smith
Lastly, the Jim Kelly card back. Prominent second player photo on the card backs. I dig that.
This is definitely a good looking card set. I do wish there were more inserts, but the checklist only has the two. I was lucky to even pull a second Road to the Super Bowl insert after finding one in the first pack.
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Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
