Grab Bag - The Great One, The Hit King and a 50-Goal Scorer Auto

Here's another few cards pulled from the "grab bag"...

That's right, a basketball card here on Shoebox Legends.  True, most of what I buy is either hockey or baseball.  At the same time, I think spontaneity, variety and flexibility are some of the best aspects of collecting, so I'm not afraid to branch out from time to time when I see something that intrigues me.  This 1970-71 Topps Barry Clemens card is one such example.  I'm a sucker for tall boy cards of any kind, and I really liked the retro look of this card when I saw it.

I picked this one up at least two years ago at a local hobby shop, and it sat with some other cards on a ledge in my basement from that day on, until I threw it into the grab bag recently.  Never heard of Barry but it looks like he enjoyed a decent 11-year career, during which he played for 5 NBA franchises and recorded 5,000+ career points and 2,500+ career rebounds.

As you can see, this card isn't exactly in mint condition, with a dinged corner and a surface crease on the back, but those are the only real flaws.  Besides, I think I paid $1, and it's got a cartoon!

Next up is the Gretzky base card from the 1994-95 Upper Deck SP set.  Classic case of bad organization here.  I've been accumulating the 1994-95 SP set for a couple of years now and am pretty close to finishing it off.  I picked up this Gretzky at the local hobby shop at least 6 months ago, but totally forgot about it until now.  This was a pleasant surprise, as Wayne was the last big name I really needed for my set.  11 cards to go and I can mark this one complete...

A different photo on the back, how refreshing.

This '88-89 O-Pee-Chee Adam Oates is in great condition, but I've already got one for my set, so this one's destined for the doubles box and is up for trade if anyone's interested.

Here's my favorite card from this bunch, a 2011-12 Certified Throwback Threads Auto of Guy Chouinard.  I don't collect this set, I don't collect this team, and I don't collect this player.  The thing is, I won this for .99 cents plus a couple bucks for shipping.  I just couldn't pass it up at that price.  Besides being a nice looking card, and besides being an on-card auto, there was another reason I wanted this one...

Here's card #1 from the 1979-80 Topps hockey set, depicting the '78-79 season's top goal scorers.  Three Hall-of-Famers.  Three household names that the average hockey fan should recognize.  Three players who all tallied 50 or more goals in '78-79.  But there was a fourth 50-goal scorer that year...

Guy Chouinard of the Atlanta Flames.

Of course Panini recycles the photo from the front on the back, but I still like the card.  As you can see it's serial numbered to 100.

Finally, we have a 1978 Topps Pete Rose Record Breaker card.  Pete here came from the same hobby shop as the Gretzky card above, from the dollar bin.  I was unsure when I bought it, but it turns out I've already got this card.

Off to the trading block for Charlie Hustle.  More cards from the grab bag coming soon...