A Fresh Batch of '73s from Mark Hoyle

The name Mark Hoyle has become synonymous with awesome trade packages on many card blogs.  After receiving a couple of bubble mailers now myself, I can certainly see why.  I would love to see Mark's collection, given that he's probably mailed out more cards to others than I own in total.  I have a mental picture of Mark sitting like Scrooge McDuck atop a giant pile of vintage sports cards.  Then again, Scrooge McDuck's not very accurate given that Mark is one of the most generous people I've encountered in this hobby.

I'm long overdue in posting this, but today I've got yet another impressive stack of '73-74 Topps hockey that he recently sent my way!  It was just last month that I featured a great stack of cards Mark set me from this same set, and he's already struck again.

Mark even managed to upgrade a couple of the cards he just sent me recently, including this Dallas Smith.  "New Dallas Smith" now sits in my set binder.

"Old Dallas Smith" is headed off to a trade partner who I think will appreciate him.

There were a slew of Golden Seals in the package, love those sweaters...

This semi-finals playoff card has quite an odd photo, looks more like a pair of figure skaters than it does a couple of hockey players.

Some heavy airbrushing on this Dick Redmond card.

More Seals!

That has to be close to a complete Golden Seals team set in this package alone.

A couple of Canadiens were inside the bubble mailer...

...including one of the final team checklist cards I was still missing!  There was another unexpected Canadiens card that knocked my socks off so to speak, but that will be shown at the very end of this post.

RIP

Love this team checklist, from the Flames' days down South in Atlanta.

Horrific airbrush job on Doug Favell's card.

I mentioned this in my last post on this set, but I love what they did with using the NHL crest for the All-Star cards.

This is one of those sets where I can't help wishing the entire thing was done in a horizontal layout.  What an awesome card of Stan Mikita.

This one's pretty famous among vintage hockey card collectors.  Not sure how the average fan was supposed to know which of these skaters is the card's subject, Dave Keon.

There were quite a few HOFers in this latest batch from Mark.  I'm not sure where he gets all these great vintage cards but they are certainly appreciated.  Actually, I think I recall Mark telling me that some of these were his original cards obtained from packs way back in the '70s.

Closing things out is a trio of names every hockey fan knows.  Marcel Dionne in his pre-Kings days...

...Phil Esposito, and the card that shocked me more than any other in the entire package:

Whoa!  Speechless on this one.  I thought for sure that Guy Lafleur would be one of the final cards I'd have to track down (and pay for) myself.  Aside from a very slight gum stain on the back this card is in fantastic shape too!  As I flipped through this package my facial expression was pretty similar to Guy's in this photograph.  In total, I added or upgraded an amazing 40+ cards for my set from this one trade.

Mark, your generosity is unparalleled.  I truly can't thank you enough for your willingness to share these great cards with another collector.  Thanks almost single-handedly to your awesome trade packages I'm now within striking distance on a set that I didn't think I'd be finishing any time soon.  I will continue to send you all the Red Sox cards I possibly can, but I'm not sure I can ever make up for these last two packages...