Signature Sundays - Brian Leetch!

This Sunday we've got a big name Hall-of-Famer and one of the premier defensemen of his day, Brian Leetch:

Brian racked up quite a bit of hardware en route to the Hall, including the Calder Trophy, Conn Smythe Trophy, two Norris Trophies, won the Gold at the World Cup of Hockey (as Captain), and even hoisted the Stanley Cup!  One of the better offensive defensemen of his day, Leetch is one of only a small group of blue-liners to record 100 points in an NHL season (and I believe was the last D-man to do so).  Brian even played in a Bruins sweater for one largely forgettable post-lockout season, the final of his brilliant career.

This particular autograph is short printed, like the two I showed from this set last week.  Many of the HOF players in the set are, which makes them doubly tough to track down at a reasonable price.

If my count is correct I'm up to 127 autographs displayed here on the blog from this set, between the original release and the additional ones that came out with Contenders this past season.  I've still got a few more yet to go believe it or not!

Discount Hobby Shop Haul

Here are a few more cards I got on the cheap last time I was at the hobby shop a few months back...

I don't mind beat up vintage cards in the least.  Sure, I'd like to replace this awesome '60 Topps Joe Gordon card with a nicer example someday, but for 25 cents I'll gladly accept this one as a placeholder until that day comes.  Pretty much all the baseball cards in this post are in this type of shape.

I chose this one as much for the back as I did the front.  The 1960 Topps manager cards have some of my favorite card backs of all time, virtually all cartoon!  Before picking this one up I had no idea that Joe Gordon was a 9-time All-Star, and more impressively was the MVP of the American League in 1942!

There were a handful of 1981-82 O-Pee-Chee hockey stars in the 6-for-a-dollar bin, and I grabbed them all since I have precious few cards from this set.  They're all in good shape too, by '80s O-Pee-Chee standards anyway.

My very first 1972 Kellogg's card, also from a 6-for-a-dollar bin!  I could see this being shipped out in a future trade package, but I wouldn't mind hanging onto it either.  We'll see...

10 cents was what this '61 Topps card featuring Dick Drott's impressive flat-top set me back.  As I've said before, I'm going to buy any card from the 1960s that I don't already have for ten cents, regardless of condition.

That holds true even if the card is missing a corner, like Carlton Willey here.  Just couldn't leave him behind at a dime.

Don't know what got smeared on the front of Ken Johnson's card...

Definitely the most recent card from my haul, this Reilly Smith is from this past year's Upper Deck flagship effort.  I picked it up solely because I had yet to acquire a card of Reilly with Boston, and he was an integral part of the team (for long stretches at least) last season.

Finishing things off is probably my favorite out of this bunch.  Yes, this 1968 Topps Willie Stargell also came from the 6-for-a-dollar bin, and no it is not a reprint.  It is, however, badly mangled along the top.  This was instantly tossed into my pile, there was absolutely no way I was leaving a card of a Hall-of-Famer and one of the top sluggers of his day behind at that bargain price.  Although '68 Topps doesn't exactly break the bank, it's unlikely that I would have picked one of these up had it not been for the extreme discount.

You can see the damage more easily on the back, but I won't be losing any sleep over it!

That's all for today, hope to have an autograph or two posted tomorrow for Signature Sundays.  If the weather is half as nice wherever you are as it is here I hope you can get out and enjoy it!

Hockey Grab Bag!

The 2014-15 NHL season is just around the corner, and I can't wait.  It's been primarily baseball on the blog for the past few months, but expect an increase in hockey content as the winter approaches.  For today, I've got one of these great $1 grab bags that they sell at a hobby shop near me:

They come packaged in a brown lunch bag and typically contain between 65 and 80 cards.  I've opened a couple before, and found them pretty enjoyable.  At just over a penny per card you really can't go wrong.

In this particular bag there were 10-15 cards that I already had, including a couple of Whalers.  Those got sent off to the trade box.  For your viewing pleasure (or pain), I've scanned in every one of the remaining cards that I didn't have.  Let's get started...

I'm not going to provide commentary for every one of these due to the sheer number of cards, but to start right off with a new Sergei Fedorov card made this a win already.

Here's the one dupe I will show.  Once in a while you'll be lucky enough to get a really beat up vintage card from one of these.  This time it was in the form of a very well loved '79-80 Topps Harold Snepsts.  I've already completed this set in much better condition than this one, so I'll end up mailing this out to someone at some point...

I feel like I must have just about every junk wax Lindros card at this point, but every time I think that I find another one.  This is the Canadian bilingual back version.

Lots of nice goalie masks in this particular bag.  Douglas, if you want any for your mask binder just leave a comment or drop me an email.

Mr. Hockey's son, former Whaler, and Hall-of-Famer Mark Howe.

I definitely don't need any more 1990-91 Score cards, but I have very few from the rookie/traded set, so this one was a win.

The shop owners usually do pretty well with including at least a few big stars in every bag.  I was happy to see this 2002-03 Upper Deck Sakic in my stack, my very first card from this set.

Between these grab bags and a discount $6 blaster I picked up, I'm getting close enough to a complete 2012-13 Upper Deck hockey set that I might actually considering putting up a want list and finishing it off.

Of course there are going to be a few junk wax cards, but at least this one's full of obnoxious colors and a great North Stars sweater.

I would imagine this would be the highlight of the pack for some.

I'm not big on Artifacts, didn't even have one from this set in my collection before opening this grab bag.

Pro Set French!  And another great mask to boot.

Love this one.  Probably had 5 copies of it as a kid but didn't have one any longer until now.  I would definitely consider buying a box of this stuff on the cheap just for the nostalgia value.

Google translate tells me "jouez la bonne carte" means "play the right card", however from the English version of this card I know it means "play smart".

Shiniest card in the package, though it didn't come across that way in the scan.

Runner up.  I like this one better though.  My first Prizm card, and boy are these nice in person (and so much better than their baseball counterparts since they can show logos and use team names).

Brayden was taken by the Lightning in the 3rd round of last year's draft.

More Pro Set French.

I really like this one.  From a time with the Ducks were still (unbelievably) called the Mighty Ducks.  The gloss of the ice and the puck on edge really make the photo for me.  One of those "worthless" commons that I can still really appreciate.

Never had any cards from this set before either.  They don't look half bad.

Adrien looks like he was playing in the street with his friends and was just told by his mother that it's time to come in for dinner.

Boy is this non-licensed atrocity a low-production effort.  A kindergarten student could design a better hockey card than this.

Probably the most colorful card in the package overall.  Even though this would normally be way too busy for my taste, I kind of like it for some reason.

The Senators, Mighty Ducks and Sharks.  Covering all the early '90s expansion teams with this one.

I know Victory is a cheap set but Claude Giroux is one of my favorite current players to watch, so I was happy to land this one.

Niedermayer hot pack.

Rick Nash hot pack.

Closing things out with a very shiny Vinny LeCavalier from 2005-06 SPx.

52 new cards for my collection plus some trade bait for roughly what you'd pay for a candy bar nowadays.  Can't beat that!  I actually have a few more of these to rip through, I will post another couple as the season nears if there's any interest.