Hobby Shop Blaster

I have a few posts queued up that need a bit more work, including a great package from Johngy. In the meantime, here's a quick post. I had some time this afternoon, so I swung by the hobby shop. Here's my haul, purchased for less than the cost of a blaster (by a couple bucks).

1970-71 Topps - #105 - Bruce Gamble

There were a bunch of 70-71's in the dollar box, but most were a little too beat up for me. This one was my favorite of the bunch though, and is in pretty good shape. Possibly my favorite card in the lot.

1993-94 Upper Deck - SP #42 - Paul Coffey

Out of everything I picked up today, this is one of only 3 cards that were on my want list. I'll eventually complete this 180 card one-per-pack insert set. I think I'm just over half-way there.

1993-94 Fleer Ultra - #357 - Martin Brodeur

Couldn't pass by this one in the quarter box...

1983-84 O-Pee-Chee - #138 - Ron Francis

This one was also in the quarter box. It pains me that my favorite franchise's most beloved player gets so little respect in the hobby. Other than Wayne Gretzky, nobody in NHL history has more assists than Francis. How can his second year O-Pee-Chee card be in a quarter box? This thing "books" at $6. Grant Fuhr's card from this same set (his second year card as well) "books" at $8. That disgusts me. I have nothing more to say.

I was a huge Mikael Renberg fan in the early 90's when he played with Lindros. I always pick up his cards when I find them. In addition to the Parkhurst Calder Candidate insert, I also snagged this Classic Pro Prospects card:


I snagged 3 more cards for my 1968-69 Topps set, which is starting to build momentum:

1995-96 Topps New To The Game - #22NG - Andrei Nikolishin

I've never seen these inserts, but the gigantic Whalers logo in the background sold me on this one.

My first 1996-97 Leaf card, of Renberg's linemate with Philadelphia. What can I say, as a kid hockey fan in the early 90's it was hard not to like the Flyers.

1984-85 O-Pee-Chee - #375 - Tom Barrasso (Calder Trophy)

I snagged 17 more Parkhurst Missing Link cards. I plan to finish this set someday, this lot brings me to around 40 cards.


I love the game action cards towards the end of the set. Included in the lot was one of the key cards from the set:


As I was leaving I saw this in a stack on top of a display case. It's a 1978-79 Topps sticker, inserted one per pack. I have a handful of these but not the Rockies, and the owners were kind enough to let me take it.

1974-75 Topps - #155 - Ken Dryden

This was the most valuable single card of the day, and it gets me that much closer to finishing off the 1974-75 Topps set. I'm well past 80% done now, with just 48 cards left. The back is pretty interesting:

As you can see, there are no stats for Ken for 1973-74, and the cartoon indicates that he's studying to be a lawyer. The blurb indicates that his absence was to pursue a law career. While he did fulfill the requirements for his law degree that season, I think the year off was just as much a result of how Dryden felt about his contract situation with Montreal. The haul wasn't all hockey though, I managed to add 5 new Nolan Ryan cards to the collection:

2005 Donruss Throwback Threads

1994 Topps Gold

2009 Upper Deck 20th Anniversary Retrospective

2010 Topps Rangers Franchise History

1982 Topps Highlight

This was a need for my 1982 Topps set as well. I also snagged a ton of 1990's hockey inserts, but I'm saving those for some future posts, hopefully coming soon!