Hobby Happenings

Just some hobby happenings from Shoebox Legends World Headquarters over the past week or so here...

So, I had two copies of this Kylian Mbappe Black & Gold Wave Refractor from the 2018 Panini Prizm World Cup set.  It's not quite as desirable as the Silver Prizm that I flipped into a 1940 Joe DiMaggio, but it's a desirable card nonetheless.  I sold one copy in July to generate some funds for other cards since I was on a spending freeze, and just this past week finally made the decision to part with the other.  It got listed this morning, 3 day auction starting at $9.99 with no reserve.  We'll see where it ends up!

Because I've been on a run of these of late, here's another of those fantastic '72-73 O-Pee-Chee high number WHA cards.  Couple soft corners here, but this one is a beauty with really bold color.  Plus, I have precious few cards of the short-lived Philadelphia Blazers.

Here's my latest Helmar T206 card, and by latest I mean that I picked it up many, many months ago and am just getting around to featuring it now.

In the case of this card, I picked it up more for the subject than for the artwork, which is unusual as Helmar goes for me.  The thing is, Benny Kauff is fascinating to me in that he was the best hitter in the short-lived Federal League!  He led the league in batting average in both years of its existence, which makes this card just awesome.

I'd love to pick up Benny's 1915 Cracker Jack release someday, but that's a couple hundred dollars all day long, so for now I'll enjoy this beautiful card for $9.99 instead.

Here's a look at the back, very well done and different from my other two Helmar T206 backs.  These are just absolutely beautiful cards, I'm really overdue to pick up some more.

Well, that's it for now, just a quick trio of cards for you, one that's on the way out, two more that pass it on the way in.  The revolving door that is my collection these days.

Thanks as always for stopping by, and I'll be back this week with some great trade packages from my hobby friends, as well as a few pick-ups of my own!

One Card Post - A Houston Aero

What:  1972-73 O-Pee-Chee #303 - Gordon Labossiere
Where:  eBay
How Much?:  $.65 (part of 40-card lot for $25.99)

Why?:  I've really been enjoying chasing the first-ever WHA cards from the '72-73 O-Pee-Chee hockey release this year.  When I found a lot of 40 cards from this set for sale, many of them from the WHA subset, at a price that worked out to 65 cents per I couldn't jump fast enough.

Gord Labossiere was your classic example of a guy who had trouble staying on an NHL roster full-time, but was really able to revive his career at the WHA level.  He did manage to play in over 200 total NHL games between 1963 and 1972, but found himself playing in the AHL just as often as in the NHL during that stretch.  Labossiere migrated to the WHA to begin the '72-73 season with the Houston Aeros, and would play with that franchise for the next four seasons (the final four of his professional career).

Gord racked up a career-high 96 points during his first year in the rival league, and would go on to win two Avco Cups (the WHA's equivalent of the Stanley Cup) during his tenure with Houston.  This is actually the first Houston Aeros card I've landed from this release to date. 

With Gord here I'm now up to 10 of these, and I've got a few more to post still.  I'm starting to think that I might be able to knock off this entire subset by the end of the year, that would feel like a pretty significant accomplishment to me!

'72-73 OPC WHA - The Quest Continues

It's been a lot of fun so far working on the '72-73 O-Pee-Chee WHA subset, and I've really kicked it into high gear the past few weeks.  Today I've got another pair to share with you, each plucked from eBay for just a couple bucks...

Winger Wayne Rivers appeared in just over 100 NHL games throughout the '60s, tallying 15 goals over that span.  He played his last NHL game in '68-69, but like many players found his "second wind" when the WHA was founded in the early '70s.

Wayne Spent the WHA's inaugural season with the team he's pictured with here, the New York Raiders.  He lit the lamp 37 times that year for New York and scored at just about a point-per-game pace, something he'd continue to do throughout his WHA career.

The Raiders were a doomed franchise, lasting just one season under that name, but I'm pleased to have a second card representing them in my collection nonetheless.

Rosaire Paiement (the man whose name is so long it doesn't quite fit on this card) bounced back and forth in the late '60s between the Philadelphia Flyers and their AHL affiliate in Quebec, before finally landing a more permanent roster spot with the expansion Vancouver Canucks to begin the '70s.  When the WHA was founded though he jumped ship and joined the Chicago Cougars.

Paiement became a staple of the Cougars' offense, appearing in every single game for the franchise over their entire 3-season existence.  Known as a guy who wasn't afraid to rough up an opposing player, he also scored at least 25 goals in each of those three seasons with Chicago, and would go on to play in over 450 WHA games before a sucker punch to his left eye abruptly ended his career.

So there you have it, two more subjects from the crazy days of the WHA.  This pair puts me at 9 of these now, which is starting to feel like a nice little collection but is still just a fraction of what's out there.  Fine by me though, more cards to chase and as a matter of fact I already have others to show here soon...

WHA Trio!

As I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago, one of the sets I decided to work on here in 2017 is the subset of WHA cards that were included in the high number series of the '72-73 O-Pee-Chee release.  The Larry Cahan card that I posted that day was the fourth I'd shown here on the blog, but I actually have three more that I picked up a year or two ago and never got around to posting.  Let's check them out!

First up is center Joe Szura of the Los Angeles Sharks.  Joe toiled in the AHL throughout the '60s before finally making his NHL debut with the Oakland Seals in his late 20s.  After just 90 games over two seasons with Oakland he was back in the AHL, this time with the Providence Reds in the little state that I call home, Rhode Island.

The WHA gave Joe a chance to briefly revive his career, as he latched on with the Los Angeles Sharks for the league's inaugural '72-73 season.  After that it was off to the Houston Aeros for '73-74, followed by one final season in the obscure North American Hockey League to wrap up his career.  On a side note, how great is that LA Sharks logo?

Here's the first card I ever picked up from this release.  As a Whalers collector this one was essential, as Jim Dorey is the only New England Whaler to appear in this set.  Jim was a rugged defenseman who had spent a few years plying his trade for the Maple Leafs before New England poached him.

Jim found immediate success at the WHA level, as he helped the Whalers win the league's championship that very first season, and would remain a star in the league throughout its 7-year existence.  As one of the few cardboard representations of the lone championship that the New England Whalers/Hartford Whalers franchise would ever win, I've always treasured this one.

Lastly, the star of today's trio, the one and only Gerry Cheevers!  Gerry was one of the biggest names to jump from the NHL at the WHA's inception.  He had just helped the Bruins win two Stanley Cup Championships in a three year span before making the leap to the rival league.  Bruins fans could not have been very happy at the time about that turn of events.

Not surprisingly, Gerry excelled over the three seasons plus that he spent with the Cleveland Crusaders.  He was hands down one of the better goalies in the WHA, and was named all All-Star in each of those seasons.  Eventually he'd depart from the Crusaders over a financial dispute with management and return to the Bruins, where he finished out his professional career.

This card represents one of only two HOFers present in the '72-73 OPC WHA subset.  Nice to have half of the HOFers covered at this early stage of my project.

Well, that's a wrap for today.  There are just over 50 of these cards in total, and today's post brings me to 7.  A long way to go still, but I look forward to it.  Thanks for reading as always!

Cahan & the Cougars

Just a quick one card post today, featuring what was probably the best hockey card bargain I got on COMC over Black Friday weekend:

During the 1972-73 season, O-Pee-Chee included some cards from the newly founded WHA in their flagship hockey release.  This was the only year of the WHA's existence where O-Pee-Chee mixed the WHA cards in with the NHL cards in the same set; going forward the WHA would receive its own separate release.  These are tough to find in general (and even tougher to find at a reasonable price), due to the fact that they were included in the much rarer third series print run of the set (cards 210-341).

I've had three of these in my collection that I showed off on the blog a few years ago now, Jean Payette, Norm Beaudin, and Bobby Sheehan.  Larry Cahan was the best deal I've gotten on one of these by a long shot though.  Sure, the corners aren't perfect and there are a couple of wrinkles along the bottom edge, but these cards are so tough that all I look for is one that's visually appealing and decently centered if I can help it.  I was absolutely astounded when I found this one listed at 78 cents, and snatched it up immediately.

As far as the subject, Larry Cahan was a physical defenseman who began his professional hockey career all the way back in the late 1940s!  He finally made his NHL debut with the Leafs in 1954, and wound down his career just about 20 years later with the Cougars of the WHA, the team he's depicted with here.  Unfortunately, he was one of the two players who laid the combined hit on Bill Masterson in 1968 that resulted in his death.

Here's a look at the back.  I wish O-Pee-Chee would have put the team logos on the reverse for this subset, instead of using the WHA league logo.  Other than that though, a pretty fantastic vintage hockey card if you ask me!

I think I'm going to get off my butt this year and finally begin chasing after all of the WHA cards from this release.  It won't be easy, and I doubt if I'll ever find another for less than a dollar like this, but it will be a fun project as I really enjoy learning about the teams and players of the "rival league".  I did manage to use some expiring eBay Bucks last week to secure a few more of these...coming soon!