1953 Topps Project - George Kell

Today let's look at the 63rd card in my modest 1953 Topps set, Mr. George Kell...

This is actually a really significant card for me, and not just because it's a Red Sox card.  It's significant because George Kell represents, unless I'm missing one, the fourth Hall-of-Famer in my '53 Topps set.  Yes, I know he was elected by the Veterans Committee but it still counts!

Kell was a very solid hitter (won a batting title and batted .300+ for 8 consecutive seasons!), a 10-time All Star, and finished in the top 10 in MVP voting three times.  George played for a few different teams during his career, and was actually only with Boston for one full season and parts of two others (235 games total).  Luckily for me, his stay in Beantown coincided with the release of the beautiful 1953 Topps set...

Fans in Detroit will undoubtedly associate George Kell with his many decades as the team's play-by-play guy after his playing career ended.  He passed away from natural causes in his hometown (Swifton, Arkansas) back in 2009, at age 86.

Oh yeah, one more thing, when Kell won the batting title in 1949, he struck out 13 times.  All season.  This blows my mind.

Set Progress:  63 of 274 (23%)

Signature Sundays - Mike Bossy

When I found out a few weeks back that Casey from Drop the Gloves was parceling out his Hockey Hall of Fame autograph collection, I was at first a little disappointed.  Only because I've gotten to know Casey through comments and emails exchanged over the past few years, and although we never had a chance to meet in person before he moved out West, I consider him a hobby friend.  I was sad to see him (seemingly) slowing his collection and presumably his blog, although I certainly understand how the love of cardboard waxes and wanes.

Anyway, once that feeling passed I did what any good collector would and looked over his list of cards for sale to see if I could give any a good home!  In the end, we agreed on a more-than-fair deal that brought two new on-card HOF autographs to my hockey card collection.  For this week's Signature Sundays post I'm showing the first of the two, Mike Bossy:

There's not a whole lot I can say about Mike that every hockey fan doesn't already know, but he is most known for being an absolute sniper.  His goal-scoring resume is just amazing.  Mike is one of just five players in the history of the game to achieve 50 goals in 50 games (Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Brett Hull and Maurice Richard are pretty lofty company).  He scored 573 regular season goals despite a career that lasted just 10 years!

Twelve teams passed on Bossy in the 1977 draft (a couple of them twice) because he was considered timid, but the Islanders wisely selected him with their 1st pick, 15th overall.  This choice would shape the future of their franchise and bring more success to Long Island than anyone sitting around that draft table could have possibly imagined.

This guy had the balls to predict that he'd net 50 in his rookie season in the NHL, and he actually backed it up with a 53-goal Calder Trophy season.  I wasn't even born yet, so I have no frame of reference, but this just seems completely amazing to me.  The Islanders would win the Patrick division in Mike's rookie year, but lost a heartbreaking 7-game first-round series when they were upset by the Maple Leafs (Mike chipped in 2 goals and 2 assists in the series).

Returning for his '78-79 sophomore season, Bossy must have used this loss as motivation, as he turned in a career best 69 goals and topped the 100-point plateau for the first of many times.  It's crazy to look at his numbers, but he basically didn't really drop off at all in terms of production when he transferred from Juniors to the NHL.  Insane.  The Islanders were the best regular season team in the league, earning the #1 seed in the playoffs, and this time they won their first series handily, sweeping the Blackhawks.  Everyone must have been awaiting an epic Finals pitting the Islanders against the Canadiens (the #2 seed and clearly the other team in the league that was heads above the rest), but Bossy and his teammates were again upset.  This time it was the New York's other NHL team, the Rangers, who did them in in the Conference Finals.

After two tough playoff eliminations to begin his career, the rest is history.  Bossy and the Islanders would win the next four consecutive Stanley Cups, absolutely owning the early '80s.  Mike would score over 100 points in those four playoff campaigns alone.

Mike Bossy is one of the best pure goal-scorers in the history of the game, period.  Only two players have scored 50 or more in a season 9 times.  Gretzky did it 9 times throughout his career.  Bossy did it his first 9 seasons in the NHL before injury forced him out of the game.  He's also the only other player aside from Gretzky to score 60 goals in a season 5 times.

Mike wasn't just a regular season scorer without any playoff grit.  He once scored all four game-winning goals in a playoff series for the Islanders, and scored the Stanley Cup winning goal in back-to-back seasons during the early '80s run.  In addition to the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year, he won a Conn Smythe, multiple Lady Byngs and was a many-time First Team All-Star.  He was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991, and his jersey number has been retired by the Islanders.

If you've made it this far I have one more fact for you that makes all of the above that much more amazing...Mike Bossy skated in his final NHL game at age 30!  I am really happy to be able to add Mike's signature to my hockey card collection at last.

Classic Hockey Cards - The Leafs' First Goal Scorer!

A while back I acquired my very first 1933-34 O-Pee-Chee card, of none other than Bun Cook.  Today's post features my second card from this iconic, inaugural set from everyone's favorite hockey card manufacturer:

George Patterson may not have enjoyed the most distinguished career at the NHL level, and when you look up the '33-34 O-Pee-Chee set in your latest price guide you'll notice he's a common.  There are still so many great things about this card though, including but not limited to:

• Again, you just can't go wrong with any card at all from the first ever O-Pee-Chee set
• George scored the very first goal in the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs (well, the first goal after Conn Smythe named them the Leafs)
• It's a bit tough to see, but featured on the card is a sweet New York Americans sweater.  They existed from 1925 until 1942, when a combination of financial strain and World War II effectively put an end to the franchise.  I could (and should) do a whole post on just that franchise sometime.
• Over a 20-year professional career George played ALL OVER THE PLACE, including Kitchener, Hamilton, Toronto and Montreal in Canada.  As far as the United States goes, how about New York, New Haven, Boston, Detroit, St. Louis, Buffalo, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Hershey, and even right down the street from me in Providence!  That's a man who just loves the sport right there.
• Missed time in 1931 after breaking his arm in a fall suffered during a horse race with drunken teammates at a bootlegger's farm.

There's no way I'm going to top that last one, so I'll stop there...

Here's a closer look at the card.  There is one large crease that goes right through Patterson's skates, but other than that this one is a beauty!  Much better shape than my first card from this set, that's for sure.

Finally, a look at the backs, which are the least exciting thing about these cards if I'm being fair.  I don't delude myself into thinking I'll ever finish this set (Howie Morenz and Eddie Shore combined book at $4,000 alone), but I'll certainly pick up cheap examples like this whenever and wherever I can!

Pack Rip - 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen

Here's the fifth and final pack I received as a gift this past Christmas, 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen.  10 cards inside, here's what I pulled...

Ervin is still around, and made 32 starts in 2013 for the Kansas City Royals, registering an impressive, career-best 3.24 ERA.  Damn good trade by the Royals, who got 200+ innings out of him in exchange for a minor leaguer I've never heard of.  Currently a free agent...

Another guy who had a very solid, 200+ innings 2013 season, and posted an even better ERA than Santana (3.16), although it was in the National League.

Adron was released by the Cardinals after very few appearances last year, and is currently looking for a home for 2014.

Nice to end up with a 2012 card of David Price, given that it was the year he captured the AL Cy Young Award.

Most known for taking a line drive to the head this past summer, missed a couple months and returned to post an impressive 2013 stat line of 11-3 with a 2.76 ERA pitching in a brutal AL East.  Certainly a player to watch in the coming season.

It took me a couple of minutes to realize this, but this Tony Gwynn is the more rare photo variation version.  The variation?  It's the same exact photo just cropped ever-so-slightly closer.  I'm sure I can get something nice for this on Zistle (or if anyone who reads this wants to trade).

Same with this, my mini was actually a Sepia parallel of Ben Revere, serial #'d to 99.

Now very well known around Boston for the infamous flip over the right-field bullpen fence at Fenway Park this past fall.

Slugged his way to 36 home runs and 100 RBI in 2013, but hit just .233 with 186 strikeouts.  Pedro's got a bright career ahead of him if he can improve his eye at the plate just a bit (and maybe even if he can't).

Matt was traded to the Astros in 2012, and had a decent season last year, swatting 21 home runs, 25 doubles and 77 RBI.

Not too bad, most of these players are still making an impact at the Major League level a couple years after this set's release, which is more than I can say for some packs.  As someone who doesn't rip much wax it was kind of fun to see some of the products I've been missing out on the past couple of years.  After three straight baseball posts it will be back to hockey here this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday.  Until then!

Red Sox Classics - Joltin' Joe's Little Bro'

This year I'm going to continue the trend I've been on of trying to add fewer, but more significant cards to my collection.  Everyone has their own tastes of course, but I've really found that for me adding one or two iconic cards to my collection is much more rewarding than opening a bunch of packs.  Kicking things off for 2014 is a card that was formerly fairly high on my Red Sox want list...

While Joe is the obvious name that comes to mind when you hear DiMaggio, younger brother Dom was no slouch.  Dom played all 11 years of his MLB career with the Red Sox at center field, and was a 7-time All-Star!  Not to mention he missed three of what would have been the prime years of his career (his age 26, 27 and 28 seasons) serving in the military in World War II.  Playing primarily in the '40s, he doesn't have a whole lot of cardboard out there, and this '49 Bowman is one of my favorites.

Dom had one of my favorite old timey nicknames, The Little Professor, which he was dubbed based on his small stature (5'9") and odd spectacles (of which only the right frame is really visible on this card).  He played in over 100 games in every season but his last, which was 1953, and led the AL in runs twice, triples once and stolen bases once.  In the end he was close to a .300 hitter at the MLB level (.298), had nearly 1,700 hits, more than 300 doubles, and scored over 1,000 runs.

This copy's in great shape, with just a small stain near the top of the card (only really visible on the back), which doesn't bother me in the least.  Here's a better look at the back:

This is actually my 5th 1949 Bowman Red Sox card, which takes me 1/3 of the way to completing a team set.  I'd love to knock out the remaining 10 and will definitely be keeping an eye out for them.  Dom here was probably the biggest name to knock off the list, aside from maybe Bobby Doerr.  It feels good to finally add the first vintage Dom DiMaggio to my Red Sox collection.

1953 Topps Project - Eddie Miksis

Time for the first addition of 2014 to The 1953 Topps Project, Mr. Eddie Miksis of the Chicago Cubs...

Eddie enjoyed a 14-year MLB career that began with the Brooklyn Dodgers all the way back in 1944.  Brooklyn pursued Miksis as a youngster, but it was hard to crack that lineup as a teenage infielder with names like Reese and Robinson on the roster.  During the 1951 season he was dealt to the Chicago Cubs, where he remained through the end of 1956.  After that he hung on for two more years where he saw time with St. Louis, Baltimore and Cincinnati before hanging up the spikes.  He was basically your classic utility player, having played all four infield positions and patrolled the outfield during his time as a pro.

Of his 14 MLB seasons, Eddie appeared in 100 games or more just 4 times.  He admirably missed close to two years of play while, like so many athletes of this generation, he served his country (Navy) at the tail end of World War II.

Miksis is also famous for lending some young guy named Ernie Banks (a man who would largely marginalize Eddie's playing time) a glove during Banks' first spring training.  Eddie passed away in 2005 at the age of 78.

Set Progress:  62 of 274 (23%)

Signature Sundays - Five Stanley Cup Winners

I promise I'm going to start showing some autographs that aren't from this set soon, but with about a foot of snow on the ground, temperatures in the teens, and the NHL season in full swing, it just feels like the right time of year for more great hockey autos from Panini Classics Signatures...

With Sochi just around the corner, it seemed like a fitting time to show Neal Broten's autograph, since he was a member of the 1980 'Miracle on Ice' US Olympic team.  He went on to enjoy a solid, 17-year NHL career that included a couple of All-Star appearances, a 105-point season, and scoring the Cup-clinching goal for the New Jersey Devils in 1995.

Guy Carbonneau was a very good defensive forward, and was key to the Canadiens' championships in 1986 and 1993, and even went on to win a third Cup with the Dallas Stars later in the '90s.  He won the Selke Trophy three times over a five-year stretch in the late '80s/early '90s, pretty damn impressive.

Speaking of the Selke Trophy, here's a guy who became known as one of the best shut-down centers in the game, and won the award back-to-back in 2006 and 2007 with the Hurricanes.  Rod also captured a Cup, as team captain with the Hurricanes in 2006.  While he may not be a Hall-of-Famer, 450+ goals scored and close to 1,200 career points isn't too shabby by any standard.

Kjell Samuelsson was drafted by the New York Rangers, but after playing just a scant 39 games with the club was dealt to the Flyers, where he'd enjoy the most successful years of his career.  Luckily for Kjell, he was traded to the powerhouse Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992 (the trade that brought Mark Recchi to Philadelphia) and won a Stanley Cup with that team just a few months later.  He'd end up back with the Flyers a few years later, and wrapped up his career with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2008-09.

Finally, Rob Blake.  Rob played many years in Los Angeles, where he lost in the Cup finals in '93, became the 11th team captain (after Gretzky departed for St. Louis) and won a Norris Trophy.  He finally got to hoist the Cup in 2001 when, like Kjell Samuelsson, he was the beneficiary of a late-season trade that sent him to the Colorado Avalanche.  Blake is one of a small number of players who won Olympic gold, World Championship gold, and the Stanley Cup.

Well, that's a wrap.  I think it's great that five guys who lifted the greatest trophy in sports all held and signed these hockey cards.  This lot brings me to an even 80 autographs and counting from this set...

Pack Rip - 2011 Topps Series 2

Here's the fourth of five packs I received as a gift this past holiday season.  I've had pretty good luck with the first three, resulting in some good trade bait, some set needs, and even a couple brand new Red Sox cards.  Today I'm opening a 10-card hobby pack of 2011 Topps Series 2.  I do have about 50% of the Series 2 set already, so I'm interested to see how I do in terms of set needs.  Knowing how Topps' collation can be I have a feeling I'll be getting either all dupes or all cards I needed...

Interesting start to the pack, in that I pulled Clint's base card from my 2010 Topps pack as well, which also shows him running out of the batter's box...

A little bit of star power with Jason Heyward, who missed close to 60 games due to injury this past season.  Will be interesting to see what kind of numbers he can put up if he stays healthy in 2014...

Justin Verlander, giving the ol' stink eye.  If the Tigers could have produced any kind of run support for Justin this past post-season they might have found themselves World Series Champions.

I admit that I've never heard of Barry Enright, and after looking up his stats I can see why.  He was dealt to the Angels in 2012, made just 7 total appearances with them over 2012 and 2013 to the tune of a 13.50 ERA, and is now a free agent.  The good news is that I needed this card for my set, along with the first three!

I don't mean to sound insensitive, but thank God this guy got hurt after just 9 appearances for Boston in 2013, or else maybe Koji Uehara never would have gotten a shot at the closer role.  He's currently a free agent, and considering what kind of heat he had, at least before his injury, I'm sure someone will give him a shot this coming season.

Pure awesomeness.  This Diamond Anniversary parallel of the short-printed legends variation is just fantastic.  These are actually a decent pull from flagship Topps, the cheapest I can find this card on either eBay or COMC is $6.  Barring some miracle pull in my final pack, this will probably turn out to be the single best card from these gifted packs.

Don't care much for the Kimball Champions minis, so this one is off to my Zistle trade list.

Same with this 60 Years of Topps reprint.  I'd love to own a copy of this '70 Topps card one day, but this reprint is going to my trade box.

Hundley is still the primary backstop in San Diego, and he set career highs this past season in starts at catcher (102), at-bats, hits, doubles (19) and home runs (13).

Teahen was traded to the Blue Jays in the summer of 2011, and after finishing out the season with Toronto mainly spotting as a defensive replacement or pitch hitter, was released by the team.  He's signed a few minor league contracts since, but has never cracked a big league roster and is now playing in the Atlantic League.

Well, that was a very solid pack.  I needed every one of the base cards, scored a killer Eddie Murray parallel, and even got a couple of inserts to use as trade bait.  I'll have another rip with my final gifted pack up sometime in the coming days...

Completed Set - 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee Premier Hockey

The hockey card landscape was changing during the 1990-91 season.  No longer were Topps and O-Pee-Chee the lone wolves on the horizon.  Their standard, cardboard stock and (let's be honest) less-than-impressive photography wasn't going to cut it in the new decade, not in the face of newcomers like Upper Deck (fancy counterfeit-proof holograms!).  Even lesser brands like Score and Pro Set had to at least be in the peripheral view of the folks at O-Pee-Chee.  The response?  O-Pee-Chee Premier.

These cards may not seem like much now, in fact you can find a complete set in great shape for $20 or so, maybe less.  As someone who was collecting at the time though I assure you, people went absolutely insane for this set.  Three figures plus for a wax box, single cards booking at well over $20, just a pack would set you back $6 or more at the hobby shop if I recall correctly.  Why did the set do so well?  Despite just a 132-card checklist some really great rookies made the cut, like 500-goal scorer Peter Bondra here.

The design was nice, clean and, for the time period, crisp.  When you consider that this card was released by the same company just one season earlier you can see how far they'd come:

There are a good mix of veterans and stars included.  Sure, there are some misses on the checklist, but not many.  When you consider that there were 21 teams at the time, 132 cards isn't very many for a set (roughly six cards per team) but they hit the mark for the most part.

Dino was a very under-rated player, did you know he scored 608 career goals and 1,200 career points?  I knew he was a Hall-of-Famer, but had forgotten that his numbers were that good.

Another very solid player with a rookie card in the set.

The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 1991 of course, it's not hard to see why looking at their roster.

Any set from 1990-91 has the benefit of featuring the Hartford Whalers and their glorious green...well...everything.

John Cullen did not get to share in the Stanley Cup glory though, having been traded to Hartford in the "trade that shall not be mentioned on this blog".

The other side of the trade that shall not be mentioned.

Here's the first of the "big three" rookie cards that collectors went ballistic over back in the day.  This was my personal favorite of the three, as I was a big Fedorov fan.  There weren't a ton of cards of his at the time either.  Topps and O-Pee-Chee's flagship sets were devoid of Fedorov, and Score missed him in their 440-card flagship as well, although they did get him into the smaller Young Superstars and Rookie/Traded sets.  In terms of legit rookies (sorry Pro Set), it was basically this card and the '90-91 Upper Deck card.

I've always liked this card of The Great One.  If 2,000 career points isn't a stat worthy of the front of a hockey card, then I don't know what is.

Matching the color of the photo border to the team was a small touch that really makes this set.  On certain cards, like this Ron Hextall, it really stands out.

Sort of a strange farewell card of Guy...

Here's the second of the big three rookies, Jaromir Jagr.  When the Penguins won the Cup, then won it again the next year, this card just sky-rocketed.  It's amazing to see Jaromir still tearing it up at the NHL level all these years later.  His card is the most valuable in the set, and rightfully so.

The North Stars battled all the way to The Stanley Cup Finals in 1991 before running into the Penguins.  Mike had a hell of a career, with the most career goals and points of any US-born player.  Nowadays his rookie card is the second most valuable card in the set behind the Jagr RC.

Another rookie of a very solid player.  As a kid I was huge on Mogilny because he had been linemates with Fedorov and Pavel Bure in Russia, and all three were enjoying success at the NHL level.

Nedved had just been taken second overall by the Canucks, so this card (featuring airbrushing?) was definitely one to get at the time.  Petr was never really an elite level player though (save for one amazing season with the Penguins) and this rookie now books for a buck.

The rookie card of the guy chosen one pick before Nedved, first overall in the 1990 draft.  Owen had a decent career and lasted 18 seasons at the NHL level.

Here's the final of what I recall being the three biggest rookies when the set first came out, Jeremy Roenick.  I think this is a pretty iconic rookie, although I'm biased based on this being right in my wheelhouse as far as childhood collecting goes.

Another really good rookie...it's easy to see why this set was such a success.

So many Hall-of-Famers...

Here's the last big rookie I'll show, 1989 #1 overall pick and Hall-of-Famer Mats Sundin.  Just an amazing rookie class in this set, and I didn't even show some other lesser-known rookies like Tie Domi, Jeff Hackett, Mike Ricci and Curtis Joseph.

I still can't believe the teams that the Penguins managed to assemble in the early '90s...

So there you have it, a junk wax era classic, 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee Premier.  I actually have an extra set available if anyone would like to trade (very little) for it...