Whaler Ink from Douglas!

My small hiatus from the blog just so happened to coincide with a few surprise envelopes/mailers showing up here at Shoebox Legends headquarters.  As a result I'm a bit behind in thanking folks, and more importantly returning fire.  Today I begin the process of digging out with a small batch of Whalers goodness I received from my buddy Douglas of Sportscards from the Dollar Store.

In the lead-off spot is this odd Patrick Poulin first round draft pick card.  I'd never seen nor heard of this particular release before, but it turns out this card has more going for it than just a sharp tux!

It's actually signed by Patrick in silver pen on the reverse!  I received ominous copy number 666 of 667.  I'm assuming Arena Holograms didn't last long in the trading card game, but I'm certainly glad they produced this gem for Douglas to locate and send to me more than 25 years later!

There were a few other Whalers I needed included in this particular mailing, including a nice full-bleed Robert Kron from 1994-95 Donruss...

...and a card I can't believe I didn't own a copy of previously, Scott Young in glorious Hartford green courtesy of 1990-91 Bowman.

Here's a mid-'90s Topps card, I really wish they still had a license to produce NHL trading cards.  I'm not sure if that 1995-96 NHL Rookie stamp below the foil Topps logo makes this a parallel of some sort, and I can't check at the moment as the Trading Card Database seems to be having some technical difficulties.  Either way, I appreciate this addition to my ever-growing Whalers collection.

One Bruin made its way into the package as well, a nice Big Z from last season's O-Pee-Chee set.  Without looking, I believe this may be my very first card from that release, period.  What can I say, I just don't buy much current-season product anymore.  Nice to have the set represented in my collection at least.

Lastly, the big card of the package, a sweet on-card autograph of Blaine Stoughton!  Blaine was one of the better players for the franchise in the early days.  Blaine actually transitioned with the team from the WHA to the NHL, and scored at least 40 goals in each of the first four NHL seasons for the Hartford Whalers (topped 50 in two of those years!).

A solid autograph to say the least, thank you very much for the cards Douglas!  I actually have a card set aside that I've been meaning to send you as a token of my appreciation for the fantastic Verbeek stick relic you laid on me a while back.  I will do my best to find the right size mailer and get this off to you before I leave the country on vacation next week!