Football Cards on Shoebox Legends?!?!

Last night I found myself in the local Rite Aid pharmacy picking up some household essentials. While cashing out I happened to look down and noticed that they had a couple of random packs of cards at the register. For some reason I couldn't resist this 100-card football re-pack.

I don't collect football cards at all. Prior to purchasing this pack my entire collection consisted of a pack of 1982 Topps, a pack of 1983 Topps, and 3 random cards. I thought this would make a good Sunday post for the blog though, plus this one pack will more than triple the size of my football "collection". I hate to say this, but at 5 cents per card this interested me more than any of the 2011-12 hockey products that have been released so far. Besides, maybe I'll pull a cool Patriots card.

The pack will be broken up into two posts, one for each 50-card section. Today you'll see all 50 cards from the top section. I'll preface this like I have my other football card posts; by saying that while I do enjoy watching NFL football every Sunday, I am the farthest thing from a historian of the game. So, while I can tell you off the top of my head who won the World Series in just about any year, or how many career points Sergei Fedorov has, when it comes to football my knowledge is severely lacking. Not only do I not recognize the majority of these players, it took me quite a bit of work in some cases just to find out what each card even is. If you notice that I identified any of the cards incorrectly, or failed to comment on something unique related to any of the players, please speak up!

Well, I've babbled on long enough, let's see what I pulled here. Due to said lack of football knowledge, I'll keep the commentary to a minimum and let you enjoy the scans. I'll countdown my favorite 5 cards at the end of the post, but first here are the rest of the first 50 that didn't make the cut, in the order they were pulled from the pack:

1999 Collector's Edge First Place - #19 - Antowain Smith

A name I do recognize right off the bat! After beginning his career with Buffalo, he came to the Patriots for the 2001 season. He ran for 1,000+ yards and 12 touchdowns as the Pats won the Super Bowl. In both 2002 and 2003 he led the team in rushing again, helping New England to another Super Bowl title in 03, his final year with the team.

1992 Pacific Washington Greats - #5 - Steve Pelluer

Went on to play a few seasons at the NFL level, mostly as a backup or third-string guy...

1992 Pacific Washington Greats - #59 - Bud Ericksen

Awesome helmet. Apparently Bud had a pretty interesting life.

1992 Pacific Washington Greats - #51 - Curt Marsh

Went on to play for the Raiders in the 80s. An absolutely crazy story, endured many injuries as a player and would eventually have a foot and lower leg amputated. There's a fascinating Sports Illustrated article on the whole thing here.

1992 Pacific Washington Greats - #83 - Earl Monlux

1992 Pacific Washington Greats - #78 - Don McKeta

1993 Pinnacle - #9 - Ken Ruettgers

1992 Upper Deck - #565 - Rufus Porter

I like the design of 1992 Upper Deck football, had never seen that before.

1992 Pro Set Power - #5 - Sean Landeta

A damn fine punter in his day. Named first punter on the All-Decade 1980s team and second punter on the All-Decade 1990s team. Won two Super Bowls with the Giants.

1994 Classic Pro Line Live - #53 - Ray Childress

This is one that I'm not quite sure about. Its got a copyright date of 1994 on the back, and I went with Classic Pro Line Live as the set name since that's what the logo says on the front, but truthfully I couldn't figure out exactly what this card is. I do like the Houston Oilers gear though. Anyone know this set?

1989 Topps - #224 - James Hasty (RC)

2006 Upper Deck Rookie Premiere - #10 - Michael Huff (RC)

Still playing for the Raiders, in fact had a huge game-ending interception just last week!

2006 Topps - #316 - Kelly Jennings (RC)

Jennings was traded to the Bengals just before the start of the 2011 season, but so far I don't believe he's seen action yet.

2008 Upper Deck - #ERC-ST - Jonathan Stewart (RC)

This is the second card I was unsure on. I know it's from 2008 Upper Deck, I recognize the design from the baseball and hockey sets. The thing is, the card is numbered #ERC-ST. Is this from an insert set, or some type of team-issued set maybe?

2007 Score - #396 - Jarvis Moss (RC)

Currently playing with the Raiders I guess...

2007 Score - #342 - LaRon Landry (RC)

Suffered an injury last season but is back playing with the Redskins again.

2008 Score - #359 - Jordy Nelson (RC)

9 receptions, 140 yards and a TD in last year's Super Bowl. 18 receptions, 309 yards and 3 TDs so far this year.

2002 Fleer Tradition - #14 - Micheal Barrow

1992 Wild Card - #326 - Pio Sagapolutele

Wow that is one of the ugliest looking card designs I've seen in a while. It is wild alright...wildly shitty. Pio was a member of the Super Bowl XXXI champion New England Patriots. Sadly, he passed away in 2009 at age 39.

1991 Score - #596 - Eric Swann (RC)

1990 Pro Set - #566 - Ray Berry

2003 Upper Deck MVP - #56 - Tommy Maddox

I remember this guy's comeback season in 2002.

1991 Wild Card - #18 - Randal Hill

Yeah, the 1991 Wild Card set wasn't much better looking I guess.

1991 Wild Card - #18 - Randal Hill

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, I got 2 Randals back to back.

2003 Upper Deck MVP - #38 - Javon Walker

Seems like Javon's days in the NFL are finished. He's currently a free agent, and if any team were to sign him he'd have to serve an outstanding 4-game suspension right off the bat.

1991 Wild Card - #55 - Kevin Mack

1989 Score - #264 - Eric Ball (RC)

The only card in the package that was damaged. There's a wrinkle in the card to the left of Eric's head that you can sort of see in the scan.

1989 Topps 1,000 Yard Club - #4 - Henry Ellard

I got 4 of these '89 Topps 1,000 Yard Club inserts in a row. Henry Ellard, who played a few games in a Patriots uniform to end his career...

1989 Topps 1,000 Yard Club - #15 - Roy Green

...Roy Green, who had a couple of monster receiving years for the Cardinals...

1989 Topps 1,000 Yard Club - #12 - Mark Clayton

...Mark Clayton, who was a favorite target of Dan Marino...

1989 Topps 1,000 Yard Club - #16 - Eric Martin

...and Eric Martin, whom I believe still holds the Saints franchise record for most career receiving yards. These cards are really similar to a lot of the glossy Topps baseball inserts from around the same time period.

2000 SkyBox - Checklist

This thing is paper thin and isn't part of the numbered set or anything, I'm not sure why they bothered to include it. It didn't count as one of my 100 cards thankfully. I have placed it in the trash, where it belongs.

1997 Pinnacle - #71 - Ken Norton Jr.

Son of the former heavyweight champ, and 3-time Super Bowl champion! One of the better card designs of this first section.

1990 Pro Set - #398 - Steve Jordan

What re-pack would be complete without some Pro Set? Jordan was a member of 6 consecutive Pro Bowl teams from 1986-1991.

1990 Pro Set - #453 - Vestee Jackson

1991 Upper Deck - #206 - Mark Bortz

1992 Fleer Ultra - #66 - Randy Hilliard

I see the Fleer Ultra football sets looked exactly like the hockey and baseball sets. I guess I didn't expect any different.

1988 Topps - #326 - Marc Wilson

Finishing things off was quite a few consecutive 1988 Topps cards. A few years after this card came out Wilson was at the helm in New England when the team went 1-15.

1988 Topps - #117 - Jack Trudeau

1988 Topps - #330 - Todd Christensen

Judging by this photo I'd say Todd could have almost gotten away with not wearing a helmet.

1988 Topps - #332 - Stan Talley

1988 Topps - #61 - Morten Andersen

The NFL's career points leader! This is probably my favorite card not to make the top 5 that I saved for the end.

1988 Topps - #278 - Raul Allegre

1988 Topps - #307 - Mickey Shuler

1988 Topps - #25 - Vance Johnson

Apparently admitted to abusing his ex-wife on the Oprah Winfrey Show?

1988 Topps - #164 - Walter Abercrombie

Walter was the final card in the top section. And now, the moment you've been anxiously awaiting, my top 5 cards from the first 50...

#5 - 1990 Pro Set - #789 - NFL's Overseas Appeal

This card was just so strange that it got my attention. What an awkward photo of a young Japanese boy jammed between somewhat creepy looking Denver Bronco and Seattle Seahawk mascots and a couple of cheerleaders.

#4 - 1988 Topps - #232 - Shane Conlan (RC)

With Halloween right around the corner, I don't think this one needs any explanation.

#3 - 2005 Topps Total - #496 - Lofa Tatupu (RC)

Lofa had a hell of a start to his NFL career, but after some serious injuries the Seahawks released him this past summer when the two parties couldn't come to terms on a restructured contract. He's currently unsigned. The reason I chose him though is that he grew up not far from where I live now, and went to high school with my wife! The card is nothing special but I thought it was pretty cool to pull his rookie.

#2 - 1988 Topps - #189 - Dolphins Team Leaders (Dan Marino)

I'm a sucker for a good horizontal card, and this one fits the bill. A great action photo of the play-action pass. There was one card in this section though that blew all of the others out of the water, in fact it's a card I've almost purchased a couple of times despite not being a football collector. I was psyched when I saw this one:

#1 - 1989 Topps Traded - #83T - Barry Sanders (RC)

Oh yeah! This card is freakin' awesome. I don't care that its book value isn't very high, it's a rookie card of one of the most exciting players I've ever seen with the football, and a Hall-of-Famer to boot. Barry's rookie is a card that even someone who doesn't collect football can appreciate. This is definitely my new favorite football card!


Well, I hope you've enjoyed this random smattering of football cards on this Fall Sunday. I'm off to watch the action myself, including what I hope will be a merciless beating of the Cowboys at the hands of the Patriots in a couple of hours. The second section of 50 cards can't top this first one, but if there's any interest I'll post it anyway.

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?