1977-78 O-Pee-Chee Glossy Inserts

As I started weeding through my collection yesterday I stumbled upon this great insert set that I had almost completely forgotten about. In 1977 you got one "glossy" insert in each pack of O-Pee-Chee/Topps hockey cards. There are 22 cards in the glossy set, and it's chock full of Hall-of-Famers. It's amazing that I sat on this for over a year, yet Captain Canuck literally beat me to the punch in displaying these cards by just a day. Oh well, I had already scanned in all 22 and got them uploaded to blogger by the time I saw Canuck's post, so here are all 22 cards in their full-color, borderless glory for your viewing pleasure:

#1 - Wayne Cashman - Boston Bruins - As you can see, the design here is very basic. In fact, there's really no design at all. They are the size of a standard trading card, but are just a color photo with a facsimile signature. Wayne's "W" is quite unique.

#2 - Gerry Cheevers - Boston Bruins - Very happy to have another Cheevers card in my collection. As usual, the goalies are my favorites in this set.

#3 - Bobby Clarke - Philadelphia Flyers - One of few cards that shows an in-game action shot. No surprise that the photo was taken during a Washington Capitals game.

#4 - Marcel Dionne - Los Angeles Kings - I'm glad the Kings did away with those awful Purple and Yellow jerseys. Just because you are from LA doesn't mean you need to mimic the Lakers. This shot may have been taken after a scrap, which would explain the lack of gloves on Dionne and the sticks laying all over the ice in the background.

#5 - Ken Dryden - Montreal Canadiens - That mask is awesome. The signature is perfectly placed as well. This is definitely one of my favorites from the set.

#6 - Clark Gillies - New York Islanders - Sporting what appears to be a black eye, like a true hockey player.

#7 - Guy Lafleur - Montreal Canadiens - The old-school Canadiens jersey is great.

#8 - Reggie Leach - Philadelphia Flyers - I believe that is Fred Shero on the Flyers bench in the background.

#9 - Rick MacLeish - Philadelphia Flyers - Great shot on this one, at least by 70's standards. The puck is in the shot and I like the blurred out goal/goalie in the background.

#10 - Dave Maloney - New York Rangers

#11 - Richard Martin - Buffalo Sabres

#12 - Don Murdoch - New York Rangers - I have to confess that this was the one guy in the set I didn't know much about at all. I think he was included because he had a fantastic rookie season the previous year, scoring 56 points in 59 games. He was caught with cocaine in the off-season though, and admitted to having drinking and drug problems. Maybe this is part of the reason he never matched his rookie numbers and played only 320 career games at the NHL level.

#13 - Brad Park - Boston Bruins - Looks like some potential air-brushing going on with the jersey here, but I'm not 100% sure.

#14 - Gilbert Perreault - Buffalo Sabres

#15 - Denis Potvin - New York Islanders

#16 - Jean Ratelle - Boston Bruins - Topps had the same 22-card insert set in 1977, however their cards were slightly smaller in size and had rounded corners. I pulled the Ratelle in a pack I opened for A Pack a Day a long while back if you'd like to see the difference.

#17 - Glenn Resch - New York Islanders

#18 - Larry Robinson - Montreal Canadiens

#19 - Steve Shutt - Montreal Canadiens - Another one of my favorites, Steve has a great signature as well.

#20 - Darryl Sittler - Toronto Maple Leafs

#21 - Rogatien Vachon - Los Angeles Kings - This is my favorite card in the set easily. It's the only horizontal card, it's a great goalie shot and the signature is both interesting and perfectly placed. This actually might be one of my favorite hockey cards from my collection period.

#22 - Tim Young - Minnesota North Stars - Tim Young rounds it out, the only North Star in the set.

Well, there you have it, the 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee Glossy insert set!

David Krejci Collection - Card 24

Just a quick thank you to everyone who commented on yesterday's post, it's good to know I'm not the only collector who feels a little overwhelmed. While I start to weed through what I want to purge I'm going to continue posting what I am enjoying, at least sporadically for now.

Monday night the Bruins ousted the Buffalo Sabres from the Stanley Cup playoffs and advanced to the second round. David Krejci had probably his best game of the very exciting series, notching two goals and an assist, his first 2-goal playoff performance of his young career. The playoffs have been nothing short of amazing so far, and this series was no exception. With all the screaming at my television over the last couple of weeks, I'm pretty sure everyone in my neighborhood knows I'm a hockey fan at this point. Even better news came for Bruins fans yesterday, as it was announced that Marc Savard will return from his concussion to play center for the B's in the next round.

I couldn't keep up with my goal of posting a Krejci card for every goal or assist in the series (3 goals, 2 assists total), so in lieu of that here's the best Krejci card I haven't featured yet. This one comes from the 2007-08 Upper Deck Ultimate set and is from the Signed Ultimate Debut Threads insert set. Rookie card? Check. Auto? Check. Serial numbered? To just 10. Multi-colored patch? Check. Once again this is the type of card I would normally never pursue, but I'll pick up any Krejci card out there.

I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I am going to be rooting hard for the Montreal Canadiens to beat the Washington Capitals tonight. OK, on that note I need to go, I feel nauseous!

#1 - 2007-08 Upper Deck SPX (Auto/Dual Relic/#'d to 999)
#2 - 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee Premier (Auto/Quad Relic/#'d to 299)
#3 - 2007-08 Upper Deck Ice Fresh Threads (Dual Relic)
#4 - 2008-09 Upper Deck Champs Mini
#5 - 2007-08 In the Game Heroes & Prospects
#6 - 2009-10 Fleer Ultra
#7 - 2007-08 Upper Deck SP Authentic (Auto/#'d to 999)
#8 - 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee
#9 - 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee
#10 - 2009-10 Upper Deck
#11 - 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Stat Leaders Insert
#12 - 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Retro Parallel
#13 - 2005-06 In the Game Heroes & Prospects
#14 - 2007-08 Upper Deck MVP
#15 - 2008-09 Upper Deck Powerplay
#16 - 2007-08 Upper Deck Young Guns Rookie
#17 - 2009-10 Upper Deck Victory Gold
#18 - 2009-10 Upper Deck MVP Winter Classic
#19 - 2007-08 Upper Deck Rookie Class
#20 - 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Gold Parallel
#21 - 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Retro Rainbow Parallel (#'d/100)
#22 - 2009-10 Fleer Ultra Ice Medallion Parallel (#'d/100)
#23 - 2007-08 Upper Deck The Cup Rookie Gold Auto Patch Parallel (Auto/Patch/#'d to 46)

Thinking of Packing Up the Shoebox...

The fact that I haven't posted here in a week and a half is pretty telling. I'm in a bit of a rut when it comes to collecting. After 3+ years back in the hobby, quite frankly I am getting bored with modern cards. There are too many sets, too many variations and gimmicks and parallels. 95% of what I buy ends up boxed in the closet, never to be looked at again, at least not for a very long time. Rather than being a hobby that I enjoy, it has felt more like a burden or a chore to keep up with recently. Even sets I wanted to collect at one point feel like they are just boxes wasting space in my card closet. The time and energy involved in my job, home ownership, family and an upcoming wedding have made it difficult for me to find more than a few minutes to read other blogs or even so much as look at a card. I am constantly behind in mailing out packages despite the very limited amount of trading that I do.

On top of all of this, my hobby is starting to clash with my personality. In almost every aspect of my life I'm a well-organized minimalist. I like to keep things basic. When I open the door to my card closet though, I feel like I need to make an appearance on TLC's "Hoarders: Buried Alive" (has anyone else even seen this show). Lately the cards have even been creeping out of my card closet, into my office and other areas of the house. What is the point of this ridiculous rant you ask? Well, I'm thinking about packing it up. Lately I've entertained the idea of ending (or at least drastically changing) the Shoebox Legends blog. I am tempted to part with 90% of my collection, either through eBay or fellow bloggers/traders. I'm not 100% sure yet, but at this point I am leaning towards keeping my vintage (pre-1980) baseball, a handful of hockey sets that have meaning to me, my Krejci collection and all of my graded cards and dumping the rest. Going forward I would collect just Krejci and graded vintage baseball and hockey hall-of-famers. I guess my point is that 10% of my collection probably brings me 99% of my enjoyment. The other 90% is wasting space, energy and giving me a generally uneasy feeling.

I will probably take another day or two to think about things. I may continue the blog, but use it to feature items I'm looking to dump before I put them on eBay, in case anyone is interested. I may cancel the blog altogether. After all, when I started out a couple of years back there weren't a ton of card blogs out there, and I was motivated and interested. Since I started Shoebox Legends there have been literally hundreds if not thousands of card blogs started, most of which all have something more interesting or entertaining to say than I do.

Have you ever felt a drastic drop in motivation or a desire for a mass purge like this? If so I'd be interested in hearing how you dealt with it if at all...

The Best 2-Card Pack I've Ever Opened...

When I purchased my hobby box of Champs hockey from Blowout cards, along with another box I'll be showing soon, I was a few dollars short of the free shipping minimum. I could either pay 7 bucks for shipping or pick out $7 worth of cards, pretty easy decision. I bought 3 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces retail packs at $1.19 each along with a couple packs of '08 Upper Deck Heroes. This Masterpieces retail pack was the best of the 5 packs:

#115 - Roberto Clemente (Short Print) - A great card, and a short print no less! If I had a huge chunk of money to spend on cards I'd go after some graded vintage Clemente's for sure. This is Masterpieces done right...

Chad Billingsley Captured on Canvas Swatch - Well, the relic card results in a 2 card pack instead of the promised 4. I really can't complain though, a jersey card and a short print for $1.19. Night Owl, if you don't already have this one it's yours, just let me know.

Well there you have it, the best 2-card pack I've opened!

Box Break - 2009-10 Upper Deck Champ's Hockey

Alright, so after I busted a retail pack a while back I swore I wouldn't be buying a hobby box of this year's Champ's hockey release. I'm not really a big fan of mini cards at all, and I had already gotten a good idea of what a hobby box would produce from reading breaks on other blogs. For some reason though, these cards started to grow on me. Let me rephrase that, the base cards started growing on me. I couldn't get enough of the old-style borders and outdoor backgrounds. I've had a real itch to bust a hobby box, and Blowout Cards was offering them for just $58 with free shipping if you spent $100 (which I did, more on that later). I figured I'd have fun opening the box, keep all the regular size cards and then use the minis to get some good stuff via trade. 20 packs, 5 cards per pack, here's how I did:

50 Base Cards - Not bad, pretty much all boxes seem to be standard in terms of numerical breakdown. You can expect a hobby box to net you about half of the base set, which is exactly what mine did. Look at that Esposito! How can you call yourself a hockey card collector and not like that card? I think the fact that the checklist is peppered with retired stars is a large part of why I like the set so much.

5 Green Parallels - Seeded 1:4 packs. 2 of my 5 were Bruins (pulled a Terry O'Reilly as well) so I can't complain about that.

2 Red Parallels - Messier was by far my favorite of the 2. These are seeded 1:10 packs. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually like these colored parallel cards. If you've read my blog at all in the past you know that I normally can't stand parallels, but considering the base set is only 100 cards, and a hobby box nets you half of that, these don't really bother me at all.

1 Yellow Parallel - I was really glad that my single yellow parallel card was a retired player. Denis is a name I'm quite familiar with from my childhood collecting days too, as he was still active in the late 80's/early 90's when I was accumulating cards like it was my job. Not as cool as the Lanny McDonald yellow parallel Sal from Puck Junk pulled, but I'll take it. Well, that's about all I was interested in out of this box. Most people find the minis to be the biggest draw to this set though, so let's see what I pulled:

5 Rookie Minis - Seeded 1:4 packs. Nothing special here, just a gold border, tightly cropped photo and a Champ's Rookie logo that takes up nearly 1/3 of the card. I chose to show Benn's card since he's a local guy (Boston College) and did see action in 24 games with San Jose this year.

18 "Regular" Mini Cards - The Rookie Minis comprise cards 101-200 in the set, and after that comes a series of (200 I think) regular mini cards. Like the base set, these are comprised of a mix of retired and current players. The design of the regular mini cards is very minimalistic. This Clarke is pretty cool, but most of the minis aren't as aesthetically pleasing as this one. I also pulled one "red ink back" mini (Jack Johnson of the LA Kings), which is just plain stupid.

3 Historical Figures Minis - This subset consists of former United States Presidents and Canadian Prime Ministers. Snooze...

5 Natural History Collection Minis - This is the subset that gives Champ's a lot of it's feel. This is where you find the dinosaur cards, etc. Unbelievably, out of 5 cards I pulled 2 different owls.

2 Wonders of the World Minis - I have to admit, pulling a card of the Galapagos Islands was kind of cool. The other one I pulled was of Lake Baikal in Russia, which I was pretty fascinated by when they covered it on the Planet Earth documentary. Finally, we have the "hits"...

Champ's Threads Tomas Kaberle - This is about what I expected for a "hit" after seeing a few other boxes broken. This is a prime example of why I buy more retail than hobby. A big part of the reason why this box cost me $58 was that it promises 4 hits. Well, they are usually junk and I don't care about them in the least. I would literally rather have 4 more base cards. Oh well, I knew what I was getting into when I made the purchase so I can't complain much...

Champ's Signatures Andrew Ebbett - Even worse. I watch a TON of hockey and I've never heard of this guy. A quick search shows that he played for 3 teams just THIS SEASON! That's not a good sign. Ebbett is now with the Minnesota Wild.

Champ's Signatures James Sheppard - Another guy from the Wild roster. He literally scored 6 total points in 64 games this year though. Thankfully I did get 1 hit that was actually pretty cool...

Champ's Threads Steven Stamkos - Sweet! Here's your co-Rocket Richard Trophy winner, tied with Sidney Crosby for the league lead with 51 regular season goals. Not bad for a 20 year old in his second season huh? The Bolts better lock this guy up before he reaches free agency! Amazingly I've never really pulled a good Lightning card until just a couple of days after receiving the Cam Neely I just posted about from Justin G. Justin, send me your new address and the Stamkos will be on its way!

Well, that's a wrap. I can now definitively say after opening a box for myself, that I will not be buying another hobby box of this product. I will say it was a lot more fun to bust than the last hobby box I ripped. I would like to finish the base set and accumulate some parallels, but that's about it. I'm hoping I can use my minis to make a big dent towards accomplishing that, but if not I will be going retail to help finish off the base set. At $2 a pack, you get the same number of full size cards as hobby (3), just one less mini, which is fine with me!

Let's Go Bruins!...and a Thank You

Just a quick post of a Bruins card as tonight's first playoff game gets underway. Many thanks to Justin G, formerly of "Is This a Wasteland...No It's Tampa Bay Sports" who after a move to Chicago now makes his home at The Hopeful Chase. Justin is one of the truly nice guys in the hobby, and sent me this awesome Cam Neely dual two-colored swatch card just out of the blue! Thank you Justin, I really appreciate it. Check back tomorrow for a box break, I should be able to reciprocate this good deed rather quickly!

Go Bruins!

David Krejci Collection - Card 23

With the NHL playoffs starting tonight, I thought it would be appropriate to post a Krejci card to commemorate the end of the 2009-10 regular season. I decided on what is probably the highlight of my David Krejci collection so far, this 2007-08 Upper Deck The Cup Rookie Card (Level 2) Gold Auto Patch Parallel. Tell me that isn't a mouthful!

I don't know much about the Upper Deck The Cup releases, except that they are an ultra high-end product that I would absolutely never bust. I think there are 2 Krejci rookie cards from the 07-08 set. The first is a regular (non-Gold) auto patch parallel which looks very similar to this card except with a silver background as opposed to gold. That version is numbered to 249. Then there is this gold parallel, which is numbered according to the player's jersey number, which in Krejci's case is 46. I had my eye on obtaining one of these for quite some time, but never pulled the trigger until recently. There must be some hardcore The Cup collectors out there, because these things go for way more than your average patch/auto card does on eBay. When I was able to negotiate a Buy It Now seller down to a price that was lower than what I've seen the silver #'d/249 versions going for, I bit.

Some Bruins fans probably feel that Krejci had a disappointing year, but I only agree with that to some extent. There was definitely a dropoff in key statistical categories. Krejci played in only 3 fewer games this year than last, yet he went from 22 goals to 17, 51 assists to 35, and most staggeringly from a +36 (which led the league) to a +8. While it did take him a while to get rolling (remember he was coming off of pretty significant surgery in the off-season) Krejci really seemed to hit his stride in the latter half of the year, particularly during the Olympics and after the Olympic break. There were many games during the season where it felt like he and Patrice Bergeron were the only two Boston forwards doing anything at all.

Even though I acknowledge that it took Krejci a while to get going, I think the team around him was equally to blame for his 09-10 stats, especially his linemates. If Krejci had a drop-off, then his wingers Ryder and Wheeler flat out fell off a cliff. As far as the +/- goes, any Bruin in the + category gets some respect in my book considering the B's were dead last in goals scored. In fact, they were the only team in the NHL to fall short of the 200 goal mark. With the Bruins nabbing the #2 overall pick in last night's draft lottery (YES!!!) I now have visions of Krejci playing with a true goal scorer in 2010-11, either Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin.

Like any hockey fan, I am thrilled that the NHL playoffs are about to kick off tonight. I will basically be glued to my television every night in the coming weeks. I'll be posting new Krejci cards with every goal or assist that he tallies against the Sabres in round 1. Go Bruins!!!



#1 - 2007-08 Upper Deck SPX (Auto/Dual Relic/#'d to 999)
#2 - 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee Premier (Auto/Quad Relic/#'d to 299)
#3 - 2007-08 Upper Deck Ice Fresh Threads (Dual Relic)
#4 - 2008-09 Upper Deck Champs Mini
#5 - 2007-08 In the Game Heroes & Prospects
#6 - 2009-10 Fleer Ultra
#7 - 2007-08 Upper Deck SP Authentic (Auto/#'d to 999)
#8 - 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee
#9 - 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee
#10 - 2009-10 Upper Deck
#11 - 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Stat Leaders Insert
#12 - 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Retro Parallel
#13 - 2005-06 In the Game Heroes & Prospects
#14 - 2007-08 Upper Deck MVP
#15 - 2008-09 Upper Deck Powerplay
#16 - 2007-08 Upper Deck Young Guns Rookie
#17 - 2009-10 Upper Deck Victory Gold
#18 - 2009-10 Upper Deck MVP Winter Classic
#19 - 2007-08 Upper Deck Rookie Class
#20 - 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Gold Parallel
#21 - 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Retro Rainbow Parallel (#'d/100)
#22 - 2009-10 Fleer Ultra Ice Medallion Parallel (#'d/100)

Pack Rip - 2009-10 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Hockey

When I snagged the pack of Champs hockey at Target the other day, they also had this year's Collector's Choice offering from Upper Deck. I haven't seen much written about this set so I picked up 3 packs to satisfy my curiosity. Only 6 cards per pack, which kind of flies in the face of what Collector's Choice stands for, but at least a pack is only $1.29. Here are the highlights of the 18 cards I received:

#138 - Roberto Luongo - The base cards are about what you'd expect. Sure the design changes slightly from year to year, but overall you can expect it to be boring and largely white.

#150 - Jamie Langenbrunner - At least in my 3 packs, the photography is nothing to write home about. Pretty much all of the base cards are tightly cropped shots with relatively little going on, like you often see in the Fleer Ultra releases for example.

#239 - Chris Butler - Choice Rookie - As you can see, the design for the Choice Rookie cards doesn't differ from the base all that much. I also pulled a Davis Drewiske, who I confess I've never heard of, and who doesn't appear to have seen NHL action since the end of March.

#211 - Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Lidstrom - 3 Star Selections - Choice Reserve - Each 6 card pack contains 1 "Choice Reserve" parallel. These are exactly the same as the base cards but with a silver stamped Choice Reserve logo in one corner. I do like these 3 Star Selections subset cards though, they really remind me of the mid-90's Collector's Choice sets.

#164 - Zdeno Chara - Choice Reserve - One of my 3 Choice Reserve cards was Big Z. I'll probably hang onto this one.

#BH17 - Nashville Predators - Badge of Honor - Here's where I think the set scores some points. Collector's Choice is supposed to be a cheaper set that caters to kids, and the Badge of Honor temporary tattoos do just that.

#SU23 - Evgeni Malkin - Stick Ums - Continuing along those same lines are the Stick Ums stickers. I'm too lazy to look it up but I think these are found 1:4 packs.

Well, that's about it. I won't be collecting this set, but I don't regret spending just $4 for 18 cards either. Any of these are up for trade with the exception of the Chara...