Panini Dominion Brass Bonanza - Tiger Williams

My next Dominion Brass Bonanza card has arrived! Today's card features one of the NHL's most legendary tough guys:

Yes, card #7 in the set is none other than Dave "Tiger" Williams. Another nice looking card, but again an interesting selection for a set that pays tribute to the Whalers. Williams joined Hartford after being acquired from the Los Angeles Kings at the beginning of the 1987-88 season. He only wore the green and blue for 26 games though, and was released by the team in February of that same season. In those 26 games he scored 6 times and accumulated 87 penalty minutes. He would never skate in an NHL game again. Four cards into the set, and three out of the four players didn't even eclipse 30 career games with the Whalers. Strange.

Nonetheless, this is still a pretty sweet auto to have. I've always appreciated a good scrapper, which is why I featured Tiger in my COMC hobby box this summer. Dave is the ultimate king of the sin bin, with an all-time high 3,966 career PIM.

Four cards down, six to go!

My Set:

#3 - Keith Primeau (#'d/50)
#5 - Paul Coffey (#'d/50)
#7 - Tiger Williams (#'d/50)
#8 - Daryl Reaugh (#'d/50)

The Ultimate Hockey Card Set - Card #67

I've been so focused on both my Hartford Whalers collection and the start of the 2011-12 NHL season that I haven't selected a card for the Ultimate Hockey Card Set yet this month. Time to rectify that...

Today we'll induct card #67. Unlike my last selection, this one wasn't too difficult. There were two cards that made the final cut, but it was clear from the beginning which one was better. First let's build some suspense by looking at the runner up:

1980-81 Topps - Michel Goulet (RC)

This card has a lot going for it. Hall-of-Famer rookie card? Check. From my favorite decade of hockey cards, the 1980s? Check. Sweet Quebec Nordiques jersey complete with fleur-de-lis shoulder patch? Check. Goulet was an absolute sniper, a 500+ career goal guy, including 4 consecutive 50 goal seasons. A welcome addition to my collection.

Despite everything I just said though, this card is far from perfect. For starters, the 1980-81 Topps/O-Pee-Chee design isn't one of my favorites. In fact, it's among my least favorite designs of the decade. The Topps version is especially irritating due to the scratch off material covering the player names. I'm so tempted to scratch it off because it drives me nuts, but pretty much my entire set is unscratched and the anal collector in me just can't do it. The other thing that hurts this card is the photo, it's just not a great choice in my opinion. Even an appearance by Robbie Ftorek as a background lurker isn't enough to save that picture.

These flaws aside, sometimes you just plain lose to a better competitor. Without further adieu, here's the card that bested Michel for a place in the set:

Card #67 - 1984-85 O-Pee-Chee - Steve Yzerman (RC)

Like I said, a pretty easy decision. Another rookie of a Hall-of-Famer, but this one with a significantly longer and more successful career than Goulet had. As a player, Yzerman was the man. 10-time All-Star, 3-time Stanley Cup champion, 6th in career points (and unlikely to be bumped down any time soon). Served as team captain of the Red Wings for two freakin' decades. In this day and age, you have to respect a guy who sticks with one team for his entire career. It's easy to see why he is perhaps the most beloved figure in Detroit sports history. In his short time as an architect he has certainly turned the Tampa Bay franchise around. You have to think that Steve's got a different type of long successful career yet to come in the game of hockey.

In terms of the card itself, this is pretty close to perfection on cardboard. It's from one of the most universally loved hockey sets of the 1980s, or of all-time for that matter. I would argue that this is one of the iconic cards of the decade, along with the Mario Lemieux and Patrick Roy rookie cards. There are some other great rookies from the 80s sets, including Bourque, Hull, Messier, Francis, Kurri, Stastny, Shanahan, Sakic and others, but in my mind the Yzerman, Lemieux and Roy cards are a cut above.

The back details Yzerman's incredible 1983-84 rookie season. I've had the Topps version of this card for years now, but this O-Pee-Chee one joined the collection this summer when I purchased an entire mint 84-85 O-Pee-Chee set from the hobby shop. I've mentioned before that I collect on a budget and keep a good record of what I spend on my hobby. The 84-85 O-Pee-Chee set was one of only three times in the last two years that I've spent more than $100 on a single item, but I think it was well worth it.

Finally, I have to tie this in to the Hartford Whalers. Did you know that Hartford had an opportunity to take Yzerman with their #2 overall pick in the 1983 entry draft? Do you know who they drafted instead? This guy:

Ouch.

The Ultimate Hockey Card Set, which is now up to 8 cards and counting, can be viewed here.

Panini Dominion Brass Bonanza - Paul Coffey

Time for the next installment of the Brass Bonanza autograph set from this year's Panini Dominion release. Today, we have card #5, the first Hall-of-Famer:

I figured it only made sense to show this card next, as Coffey came to the Whalers in the same trade that brought Keith Primeau (whose card I showed off last) to Hartford. While Primeau was on the roster for the entire 1996-97 season though, Coffey was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers after just 20 games played in a Hartford sweater. You could make an argument that player selection has been questionable so far with this insert set. 20 career games for Coffey, 1 season for Primeau, and 20 career games for Daryl Reaugh. In terms of the significance of the auto itself though, this Paul Coffey card blows the other two away. One of the top offensive-minded defensemen of his era, Paul's distinguished career includes some of the following highlights:

• 4-time Stanley Cup champion
• 3-time Norris Trophy winner
  
• 14-time All-Star
• Currently 2nd in career goals, assists and points for a defenseman (behind Ray Bourque)
• Currently 13th in career points for any position
• Holds NHL records for most goals in a season by a defenseman (48) and most points in a game by a defenseman (8)
• Holds NHL records for most goals, assists and points by a defenseman in a playoff year
  
• Inducted into the Hockey Hall-of-Fame (2004)
  

Not a bad resume! I would have to say this is one of the better on-card autos in my hockey card collection.

Like the first two cards I've shown, Paul's is numbered to 50 copies.

My Set:

#3 - Keith Primeau (#'d/50)
#5 - Paul Coffey (#'d/50)
#8 - Daryl Reaugh (#'d/50)

Four New '71s

I only have time for an extremely quick post today, and it's been some time since I last posted baseball, so here are four 1971 Topps cards. Picked these up at the hobby shop a few months back and they've been in draft state forever.

#329 - World Series Game 3

#67 - AL ERA Leaders

#245 - Jim Kaat

#340 - Rico Petrocelli

Easily my favorite of the bunch...


So there you go, four new additions to my 1971 Topps collection. I picked these four out in particular because the lot contains some pretty damn good players and the cards are in fantastic condition for '71 Topps. Best part is, the shop owner charged me just $2 a piece for these.

The 2011-12 Season Begins!

As I'm sure every hockey fan knows, the moment we've all been waiting for is now just a couple of hours away. At 7 PM Eastern time the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins battle the Philadelphia Flyers to kick off the 2011-12 NHL season. The Canadiens and Maple Leafs have a 7 PM face-off as well, and the Penguins and Canucks round out the evening with a 10 PM start. Unfortunately, I have to work this evening (horrible timing!), so I'll be late to the action, most likely catching the Bruins tilt on DVR around midnight tonight. Hopefully this random David Krejci card will bring both the Bruins and my favorite player some luck this evening:

This is David's Upper Deck Trilogy rookie, one of the last Krejci rookies I was missing, which arrived in my mailbox a few weeks back courtesy of eBay. It's shiny, which is nice, but is a little too busy for my liking, which may explain why I never pulled the trigger on it until recently. It's hard to tell because of the foil, but this card is serial numbered to 999 copies.

The back is nothing special either, with the same photo recycled from the front. Maybe not the world's most exciting card, but it brings my Krejci collection to 42 unique cards and counting.

Anyway, here's to another successful season for the boys in black and gold! Best of luck to all hockey fans this year, regardless of who you root for (except for the Canadiens, I hope they go 0-82-0).

Pack Rip - 1978-79 Topps Hockey

Let's take a break from all the Whalers for a bit and look at another pack of 1978-79 Topps hockey from the lot of 17 that I picked up a few months ago:

12 cards plus 1 sticker, here we go...

#183 - Chris Oddleifson

I'm ashamed to admit that I had never heard of Chris. He played his last NHL game before I was even born, so I guess I can't be too hard on myself. Oddleifson broke into the league with the Bruins, but spent the majority of his career with the Canucks. In fact, he was even Vancouver's captain for a single season (1976-77).

#100 - Phil Esposito

Now there's a name I do recognize! Any time you pull a Hall-of-Famer from a pack of 1970s hockey cards you're doing alright. 1978-79 was arguably Esposito's finest season of his 6 in a Rangers sweater. He appeared in all 80 games, scored 42 goals (his 8th and final time reaching the 40-goal plateau), and added an impressive 20 points in 18 playoff games.

#207 - Vancouver Canucks

Good start to the pack if you're a Canucks fan. Pretty much every collector I've talked to misses team cards, maybe someone will smarten up and start including them in their sets again.

#247 - Jim Watson

Watson played 221 career NHL games, and another 231 in the WHA. If you can believe Wikipedia, he scored the first goal in Buffalo Sabres history.

#261 - Grant Mulvey

The very last player card in the set. The final 3 cards, 262-264 are Stanley Cup semi-final and final cards. Grant had an impressive 5 goals and 2 assists in a single game against the St. Louis Blues during the 1981-82 season.

#225 - Dave Schultz

Goon! Dave still holds the record for most penalty minutes in an NHL season, with 472 in 1974-75 with the Philadelphia Flyers.

St. Louis Blues Sticker

#140 - Gerry Cheevers

For me, this is the card of the pack. I've mentioned this before, but I've always felt an affinity towards Cheevers, as he did color commentary for the Hartford Whalers TV broadcasts I used to watch back in the day.

#17 - Kent-Erik Andersson

Another player I'm not really familiar with. A quick check shows that he played 7 seasons in the NHL, 5 of them with the North Stars.

#246 - Greg Polis

Yawn...

#32 - Andre St. Laurent

Alright, this pack is headed downhill fast!

#232 - Ed Westfall

That's a bit better. 18 seasons, 1,000+ games played, and a member of the Bruins championship teams of the early 70s. The final, wax-stained card of the pack is:

#167 - Dave Forbes

Unfortunately, Forbes is perhaps best remembered for a pretty rough stick foul that effectively ended the career of Henry Boucha.

Not the world's most exciting pack, but I needed most of these for my set so it was still a success in my book. I've got a few more of these left if I can ever get around to posting them...

Panini Dominion Brass Bonanza - Keith Primeau

I think I went on long enough about how much I like these cards when I posted the first one on Saturday, so let's just get on with it and see the second pick-up from this 10-card insert set. Today's post features card #3 from the set, Keith Primeau:

Keith's time in Hartford was brief. He was traded to the Whalers just before the 1996-97 season from Detroit (along with blue-liner Paul Coffey). In return the Whalers sent Brendan Shanahan to the Motor City. In 1996-97 with the Whalers, Primeau appeared in 79 games, registering 26 goals, 25 assists, and 161 PIM. The team did not make the playoffs. On the other hand, Shanahan went on to win 3 Stanley Cups with the Red Wings (including the first two seasons after the trade), something Keith was never able to do in his 15-year career.

I'm guessing Keith may not be the biggest fan of the Hartford Whalers...

As the back of the card indicates, the Whalers packed up and headed down to Carolina for the 1997-98 season. So, as it turns out, the 96-97 campaign would be the only one Primeau would spend with the Whalers. This card's a welcome addition to my collection nonetheless. 2 down, 8 to go...

My Set:

#3 - Keith Primeau (#'d/50)
#8 - Daryl Reaugh (#'d/50)

Panini Dominion Celebrates the Hartford Whalers!

A few weeks ago Panini released its answer to Upper Deck The Cup, a high-end set called Dominion. Initially, I was only mildly interested at best. After all, I knew for a fact that I wouldn't be buying a box at close to $400 retail. I figured if anything I'd grab a couple of cards on eBay like I did with The Cup. Then Captain Canuck tipped me off that there were some Hartford Whalers autographs to be had! Turns out that 2010-11 Dominion includes a 10-card Brass Bonanza autograph set featuring players from the Hartford Whalers in their green and blue! Great choice for a set name, the Whalers theme song is still popular with fans even after all these years.

I knew right away that I was going to chase these, even though it won't be the easiest task. First of all, the Dominion set has been extremely well received, and because of this the cards are selling for really good value on eBay and in the secondary market. The set currently has a ton of collector attention, so there aren't going to be any last minute eBay bid bargains to be had. Secondly, the autographs are serially numbered with pretty low print runs. 8 of the 10 cards are numbered to 50 copies, and the other 2 to just 24 copies. Regardless, I think this set would be a great cornerstone to my Hartford Whalers collection. In fact, it was kind of the motivation for the recent slew of Whalers posts, as well as a good organization of my Whalers cards after all these years.

Anyway, as I accumulate these Brass Bonanza autos and they start arriving in the mail, I'm going to post each one to track my progress. First up, we have card #8, Daryl Reaugh:

W-O-W. I'm obviously biased, but I think these cards look amazing. Very clean design...border-less white card with Dominion logo, team and player name in foil along the bottom. The photo is nice, prominently displaying the Whalers sweater and mask. Just above each photo is the Brass Bonanza branding. The nice big Whalers logo to the left almost looks like a medallion being suspended by a ribbon of blue and green. A perfect space is left for the signature, just above the team name and below the logo. The autos are on-card and done in blue Sharpie, which was one of two obvious choices (green being the other). Very well done Panini! Considering what kind of recycled garbage has made its way onto some Panini backs, I was almost afraid to turn the card over. When I did, I was pleasantly surprised:

I think that is a pretty classy-looking card back. I really like the elegant border and the large photo (different from the one on the front, thank you!). Player name and position are listed, the Whalers logo makes another appearance, and there is a brief write-up about the player's time with Hartford. The card is serial-numbered along the bottom. Maybe not a perfect back (career Whaler stats would have been a nice touch), but pretty nice overall. Anytime you get a different photo that large on a card back you've done well in my opinion.

As far as thickness, this card definitely has more substance to it than a typical card, but it's not as thick as Upper Deck's The Cup cards are. I would say it's about 2/3 as thick as a card from The Cup. In my opinion the quality of the card itself just seems a bit better than The Cup.

Daryl is the only goalie in the 10-card set. Interesting choice as he played just 20 career games with Hartford, all in 1990-91. All in all, I say job very well done by Panini with these! What do you think of the design? Have you purchased anything from 2010-11 Dominion?

Quarter Box Haul

In response to Card Boarded's post, here are a few cards recently scrounged from the quarter box at the hobby shop:

Here's my 1995-96 Studio Rookies card, the recently retired Paul Kariya....

I'm a sucker for any inserts from the first 3-4 Fleer Ultra sets.

The 1994-95 Upper Deck SP inserts were great back in the day. In fact, I liked them much more than the 94-95 base cards.


Lindros was HUGE during my first run at collecting, I guess the kid in me still can't pass on one that I don't have for a quarter.

Another card for the Fedorov collection, I'm up to 78 now. This is from the 1998-99 Upper Deck flagship set. It's part of the Rookie Rewind subset. Interesting concept, and since I was done collecting before 1998 I had never seen this one.

I grabbed three cards from the 1995-96 Pinnacle International set, each from the International Influence subset. Fedorov...

...Jagr...

...and Selanne. Interesting that two of the three will playing in the league this season.

Finally, a Brett Hull Hat Tricks card from the 1991-92 Bowman set. Not too shabby for $2.50 huh?

More Whalers coming this weekend!

Thanks for the Memories Tito!

It's looking more and more likely that after an epic late-season meltdown, Terry Francona will not be back next year as the manager of the Boston Red Sox. I truly believe that the decision is mutual, and that this would've occurred under just about any circumstance (save maybe a World Series title).

Tito was the best manager this team has had in my 20+ years as a Red Sox fan, and was the man at the helm when they broke the infamous World Series curse in 2004 (then repeated in 2007). Change is inevitable though, especially after a collapse like the one the Sox just experienced. He's served his time, brought championships to the city, and now it's time to move on. Besides, would you want to manage John Lackey for another season? Didn't think so.

Best of luck to you Terry, in Chicago or wherever you end up! Thanks for leading the hometown Red Sox to the only two championships of this young baseball fan's life.