More than seven years after the set's release, I'm still chasing after the 2009-10 Upper Deck Champ's Yellow parallels. With just 100 cards in the set you'd think I'd have knocked this one off by now, but the one-per-box insertion ratio makes these far from easy to come by.
Hell, there are still a few cards I swear I've yet to see to this day. A while back though I managed to secure half a dozen more for about the price of a blaster.
First up is Dion Phaneuf, who has been with two other teams now since his days patrolling the blue line for Calgary. These days he's donning a Senators sweater.
Michael Frolik won a Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2013, and was pretty instrumental in the Cup run too. He chipped in for 10 points in 23 games during that post-season run. He's now with the Flames and is enjoying a successful season to date.
Brandon Dubinsky is now with the Blue Jackets, and I think just about everyone is shocked at the season they've put together.
Here's the one retired player in the lot, longtime Canuck Markus Naslund. Markus retired from the game the same season this card was printed.
Those four are nice enough in the sense that they get me 4% closer to a complete set, but it was the last two cards that were really significant:
Patrick Kane has already cemented a spot in the hockey HOF someday. A Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy, Conn Smythe Trophy and
three Stanley Cups already, and all before his 29th birthday. He could probably hang up his skates tomorrow and still get in. Understandably there are a ton of Kane collectors out there, so it feels good to grab this one.
Same goes for the final card I've got for tonight! Anyone who's tried to build a decently rare or valuable hockey set within the past 10 years knows that Crosby can present a significant hurdle to overcome. I had only seen one or two of these listed for sale before, and both in the $25-$35 range, so when a saved eBay search alerted me to a recently listed Buy-it-Now copy with a price tag under $9 I pounced immediately.
Who knows if I'll ever complete this set. I think I say that any time I post one of these. With these in hand though I'm at 44 cards and the halfway point is within reach, so I guess you never know. Maybe I'll get lucky with a few more in 2017.
If you're a set collector, what's the toughest insert or parallel set you've ever taken a crack at? If anything comes to mind please leave a comment!
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9 comments:
These are from the season before I got back into hockey so I didn't know too much about them. I'm starting a project to complete the 2012-13 Score Gold Rush set. While those were one per pack, there are over 500 cards so I guess it's a different challenge, yet somewhat similar. I'd love to try something more uncommon like the Black Ice parallels...but I believe that would be an unattainable task.
-kin (ifeellikeacollectoragain.blogspot.com)
I believe that if you keep working on it you'll complete a set of this variation eventually. There has been enough of the Champs product busted to justify thinking that the parallels have been pulled already. Good luck!
I just opened a box of this stuff and have a ton of the Gold parallels for trade.
The short prints from the 1964 Topps Giant oddball set have been a long-term thorn in my side. Budget-friendly examples apparently don't exist.
To this day, I am trying to piece together the Heritage Baseball set from 2001. I bought a bunch of it that year but am still missing a few of the base and a bunch of the SPs. I haven't gotten any closer to finishing it over the past few years because I tend to look at the selling prices on some of those SPs and I tend to decide to spend those funds elsewhere.
Are you only trying to put together the yellow set at this point?
I like the cards. Never seen them before. Good post.
I thought the '62 Civil War News set would be easy. But I'm scrounging thru eBay almost every day looking for the last six I need at an affordable price.
Shlabotnik is right about the Topps Giants SPs, they can be a bear. I got lucky on a few that I bought but have never seen since.
I've got a binder of the 2012 Gypsy Queen black minis. The minis are usually my trade bait for GQ and Ginter, but I liked the look of these. Only 219 more to go!
Tim, just the Yellow parallels at this point. I already completed the regular base set and don't plan on tackling the easier-to-find green or red parallels. Of course I chose the most rare ones to go after, ugh!
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