Holiday Greetings from Angus

Just prior to the holiday I received a very generous care package from my buddy Angus up in Canada:

As you can see here, there was quite a variety stuffed into the bubble mailer, including a 1985-86 Whalers yearbook!  I have a few Whalers yearbooks from childhood but was missing this one.  What an awesome inclusion by Angus, especially since the NHL All-Star game was hosted in Hartford that season.

The yearbook is very difficult to scan, so for today's post I'll focus on the awesome cardboard instead.  As you'll see below, Angus covered a whole lot of ground within those five team set bags.  Let's dive in...

I'm always happy on the rare occasion when I add a new Don Cherry card to the collection.  The ensemble that Don is sporting on this '92-93 Parkhurst redemption card is very tame by his standards, but the thumbs up saves the day.  I collected pretty heavily as a kid in the early '90s but have no recollection of this promotion from Parkhurst whatsoever.

Here's a very obscure autograph of Dean Malkoc, who spent two seasons as basically a "7th defenseman" with the Bruins, appearing in just over 70 games with the team.  This is the first card of his that I've ever acquired, pretty cool to get his John Hancock.

Angus is always on the lookout for new Whalers cards for me, which I truly appreciate.  In this package there were two cards that came close to hitting the mark there, but fell just short; the first being this Red Platinum parallel from Pinnacle Totally Certified.  While Keith is clearly depicted as a Whaler here, that Carolina team name across the top discredits this one.  I draw the line at the listed team name rather than the photograph when it comes to a team collection.  On a side note, this one is serial-numbered to a perfectly '90s 6,199 on the reverse.

Here's the other one that I don't count strictly as a Whalers card, for the same reason.  Angus also included dozens of proper O-Pee-Chee Whalers from '80-81 through '84-85, however all of those cards were dupes.  They're a little beat up condition-wise, like this Al Sims, but if anyone needs any let me know as I'm looking for a new home for them.

This 1992-93 Humpty Dumpty Pat Verbeek mini card has actually been sitting in my drafts folder since the last package Angus sent.

Here it is after unwrapping.  You'd receive one of these in a package of chips or snacks produced by Humpty Dumpty.  I'm not sure whether there are any other Whalers on the checklist, but I'm happy to have Verbeek here regardless.

Here's a look at the back, prominently featuring the Humpty Dumpty logo!

Angus included a few new Whalers cards that I was missing this time around as well, starting with this O-Pee-Chee sticker of netminder Mike Liut.  This is the first time I've seen this sticker set that I can recall.

Here's a nice oddball Paul Coffey from his short stint with Hartford.  These were produced by Pinnacle and given away by McDonald's (this is card number McD-1).  The lenticular effect gives them a strong Sportflics/Kellogg's vibe.  A great oddball for a Whalers fan like myself.

Up next are a few cards from another release that was foreign to me, the 1996-97 "Bashan Shabtai Super Stickers" set.  I received two "inserts" from this release in this team logo...

...and this Brendan Shanahan Superstars sticker.  This one is pretty busy, and seems like a great card to show off around the 4th of July with what looks like a fireworks backdrop.

From the main set I got scorers Brendan Shanahan...

...and Geoff Sanderson...

...and my second sticker of the package featuring a Whalers goaltender.

One more sticker, another glorious team logo.  This one hails from the 1993 Panini release.

This next one struck me as a bit odd.  It's from the 1998-99 Upper Deck McDonald's release, an insert set dubbed "Wayne Gretzky Teammates".  As much as I appreciate landing a new Gordie Howe New England Whalers card, he was never a teammate of Wayne's.  Oh well.

These Platinum Players Club parallels are pretty flashy as far as '90s cards go.  I've ended up with a handful of them over the years but didn't have Darren Turcotte's until now.

A nice Jeff O'Neill Bowman's Best insert here, another one I had yet to track down for some odd reason.

Here's the last Whalers "card" of the package, and it's one I could use a hand in identifying.  It's about the size of a standard trading card, and was obviously cut from a panel or box of some sort.  The reverse (forgot to scan it) has some trivia questions and answers about the franchise.  Anyone have a clue as to where this originated?  A long shot I know, but if so please leave a comment!

The package wasn't all hockey cards though, Angus hit me up with some solid additions to my Red Sox collection as well.

Tim Naehring and Troy O'Leary were two of the last cards I was missing towards my 1997 Collector's Choice team set.

Another new one from 1997.  Cecil Fielder graces the other side of this "counterparts" Mo Vaughn.

Angus seems to have access to an amazing number of O-Pee-Chee cards, which I guess should come as no surprise given that he resides in Canada.  In this package he made a number of different O-Pee-Chee contributions to my Red Sox collection from all different years.

I feel like there should be a rule in the blogosphere that any time an O-Pee-Chee card is featured we get to see at least one card back.

From the '81 set I received Jim Rice, which was a dupe, and this Tony Perez, which was new to me!

A nice trio from 1973 too, beginning with Pitcher Sonny Siebert.

Another beautiful back.  The '73 Topps/O-Pee-Chee release contains some of my favorite card backs of all-time.

Third baseman Phil Gagliano passed away just before Christmas this year, at age 74.

The last of the '73s, second baseman John Kennedy.

My favorite OPC cards in this package though had to be the '75s.  This is a set that's super vibrant and colorful to begin with, and the OPC cards even more so.

One more look at a bright back, complete with O.P.C. PTD IN CANADA along the bottom.

The 12-year-old in me snickers any time I welcome a new Dick Pole to my collection.

The last player to bat without a helmet in Major League Baseball!

That's a wrap for the O-Pee-Chee cards, an amazing boost to the Canadian portion of my Sox collection with this delivery.

Angus also tossed in a pair of Turkey Red Yaz cards.  Both of them are Red parallels.  Doesn't get much better than these for a Red Sox collector, though it felt somewhat odd and redundant naming the scans "Turkey Red Red".  This one's from 2005...

...and this one from 2006.  Maybe one of the nicest sunsets on any card in my collection?

Here's the other card in the package that I could use a hand in identifying.  It's clearly from a set labeled Classic Baseball Stadiums, and as you can see on the back this is card number 5 in the set:

There's no year listed.  Anyone have a clue on this one?

Last card of the post is a truly epic one in my mind.  From the 1956 Adventure set we have Harry Agganis.  Harry was a local kid, rising multi-sport star, and military veteran who tragically passed away from an illness during what was just his second season of Major League baseball with his hometown Red Sox.

Read the back of this one, keeping in mind that Harry passed away at age 26.  Talk about some serious life accomplishments in just over a quarter century on this planet.  Makes me feel old.  What a fantastic tribute card to one of the more interesting figures in Boston sports history though, just awesome.

Angus, thanks so much for all of the great cardboard!  Sorry it took me a couple of weeks to get everything together for a post on my end.  You really hit it out of the park and enhanced both of my active team collections quite a bit with this one, and I really appreciate it.