Collecting Whalers - 1994-95 Fleer

With a wedding and honeymoon to pay for in just over a year I'm really scaling back my card budget. I've always been responsible with my hobby, but for the first time I'm closely tracking and limiting what I'm spending on cards each paycheck. Twice a month I set out with my very reasonable budget, and once I hit it I don't even think about purchasing anything else. So far I've been able to stick to the plan remarkably well. The theme for Shoebox Legends in 2010 is cheap! You might think I'd be bummed out about this, but I'm finding that it's quite the opposite. Keeping tabs like this seems to make every dollar count that much more and as a result I'm finding that I'm purchasing only items I really want (no random "what the hell" packs or blasters of sets I have no intentions of collecting). When I decide what I want I'm waiting out auctions and scouring the net for bargains. Perhaps most importantly, I find that I'm thoroughly enjoying what I'm buying as opposed to just filing it away and moving onto the next new thing.

One of January's pick-ups was an eBay win that really excited me. I snagged a box of 720 assorted Hartford Whalers cards ranging from the late 80's to 1997, when the franchise was moved to Carolina. The lot includes every major brand, inserts and parallels, and there are no duplicates! I probably increased the size of my Hartford Whalers collection 10-fold for a mere $.99 (plus $11 shipping). At less than 2 cents a card this box is going to give me hours and hours of enjoyment as I sort through it. I'll be resuming my "Collecting Whalers" series of posts to show off some of the different sets as I organize and catalogue them. First up is 1994-95 Fleer:

#84 - Sean Burke

#85 - Jimmy Carson

#86 - Andrew Cassels

#87 - Andrei Nikolishin Rookie

#88 - Chris Pronger

#89 - Geoff Sanderson

#90 - Darren Turcotte

#91 - Pat Verbeek - Pat was traded to the New York Rangers but this still counts in my book. You could easily miss the "Traded to Rangers" notation at the bottom of the card, and he's with the rest of the Whalers in the set, which is sorted alphabetically by team.

#92 - Glen Wesley

I'm pretty sure this may be a complete team set as the players featured on cards 83 and 93 never suited up for the Whale. This is a very busy design, although surprisingly not too terrible looking. It's a perfect example of why I purchased the box, since I stopped collecting in 92-93 the first time I had never seen these cards before.