Signature Sundays - Rollie's 'Stache

A couple of years ago, I finally got around to picking up an autograph of the great Rollie Fingers.  The card came from the 2009 Upper Deck Goudey set, and I was really happy with the pick-up.  Here's a look at it:

Just a great card.  I love the Goudey design, and Rollie has quite a signature to boot.  One thing has bothered me about the card since picking it up, though.  To folks who were collecting baseball cards in the 1980s it should be glaringly obvious.  No mustache. 

If you were to poll a hundred baseball fans and ask them what the most recognizable facial hair in the history of the game is, I'm willing to bet more than a few of them would list Rollie Fingers.  Yet here he is, clean shaven from earlier in his career with the A's.  I've been tempted to take a black marker and draw the mustache onto this card myself, but a few months ago I found a better solution:

In 2002, Topps included some buyback autographs of HOFers in their flagship set.  All autographs were on card, and hand serial numbered (I've seen some like Rollie here with 300 copies, others with 200).  When I stumbled upon Rollie's '85 Topps version I knew I had to make a play for it, and to my surprise and elation my winning bid was less than $10!

The '70s were before my time, so wearing a Brewers cap and rocking the 'stache is exactly how I remember Rollie from collecting as a kid.  I would also have to say that this is hands down the best mustache in my entire autograph collection.

The back has the Topps hologram, which I guess proves that this is legit vs. someone getting creative with an '80s Topps common and a blue sharpie.

I have to say, this may be the most rewarding "$10 or less" card I've picked up in a long, long time...

Pack Rip - More '95-96 Upper Deck Series 2

Another snowy Saturday night in New England, let's take a look at a dozen hockey cards from 1995 in a shiny, foil wrapper...

Nice start.  I already pulled the base version of this card, now I have the Electric Ice parallel to accompany it.

A couple of great close-ups to start off the base cards.

I can honestly say that despite hundreds of NHL games played I have absolutely zero recollection of Ronnie Stern.  Most likely because he played the bulk of his career with the Flames, on the opposite coast.

Cameo appearances from some real star power on Kris Draper's card...

A very young Dan Cleary, sporting a shiner?

Devils draft pick, never made the NHL.

Alexei Vasilyev played a single NHL season, with the New York Rangers.

That was a little boring I guess.  If I get back from dinner early enough I'll try to post something later tonight to make up for it...

Back to the OPC Well

A few weeks ago I posted a "pick any 10" lot of 1979-80 OPC hockey that I grabbed for a reasonable price off of eBay, after finding out about the auction from my Dad.  As I mentioned in that post, I was so pleased with the results and the condition of the cards that I decided to go back and pick out another 10.  Here, in numerical order, is what I came up with this time around...

Starting things off is a Boston fan favorite, Rick Middleton.  While maybe not an absolute star, he seems to have been in that second tier of players just below that, and racked up just shy of 1,000 career points at the NHL level.

Once again I'm showing the backs of all 10 cards.  It should be illegal to post a '79-80 hockey card on a blog and not show the back.

Mike Rogers here is the only card in this lot that I already had a copy of.  I had a feeling it would be a condition upgrade, and it certainly was.  Here was my former copy:

I was sort of surprised that Mike Milbury was still available to select.  Coach Milbury charging into the stands to beat a fan with a shoe still ranks as one of my all-time favorite hockey moments.

I had no idea that Mike was a football player in his youth, and apparently a very good one.

I figured this Don Maloney record breaker would be more interesting than just a standard common.  This card represents Don setting the record for points by a rookie in a playoff season.  I'm too lazy to look up whether he's been topped since, but I'm willing to bet he has been.

This one sort of fell into the "so bad I have to have it" category.  This has to be one of the worst photograph selections in the entire set.

Yes, I even managed to sneak a HOFer into this lot!  I always forget that after his days with the Rangers Jean would wind down his amazing career in a B's sweater.  I like this card quite a bit.

Possibly my favorite from this lot of 10.  I selected this one solely for the awesome Cleveland Barons jersey, and I'm glad I did.  Also, this card is just about flat out mint, which isn't easy to find when it comes to this set.

Possibly the best cartoon from this lot as well...

Last, but certainly not least, I was able to add three more Whalers cards that I needed to my collection.  Terry Richardson is sporting some equipment here that wouldn't have even cut the mustard for my childhood hockey team in the late '80s.  This is my very first card of Terry, who played just 20 career NHL games.

Again, my first card of Jim Warner who has just 32 career NHL games to his credit, all of them with the Whalers.

In closing, Bob Stephenson.  18 total NHL games, and just 4 of those with the Hartford Whalers.  Pretty amazing that he even got a card!

Well, that does it for this group.  I think I've picked this seller clean, to the point where I won't go back a third time.  Very pleased with my grouping of 20 though!

Leave the Cards in the Snowbank Please

Just four weeks ago we were having one of the most mild winters on record here in New England; not one significant storm and I could still see the grass on my front lawn.  Fast forward to today, and here's a look at my mailbox:

*fished a PWE from Mark Kaz out of this very snowbank this afternoon

I'm not generally one to complain about winter, but I'm ready for baseball season at this point.  Here's a recent pick-up with plenty of green to remind me of warmer days:

That's all for now, got some more shoveling to do...

Pack Rip - '95 Upper Deck Baseball

Here's another quick pack of 1995 Upper Deck Series 1 baseball, from a cheap retail box purchased a while back.  12 cards total, including the promised one-per-pack Electric Diamond parallel...

Starting off solid with recent HOF inductee Randy Johnson serving as the pack's parallel.  Randy is a guy who I don't actively collect but always love pulling a new card of.  To me he had to have been one of the more intimidating pitchers to step into the batter's box against.

You're not seeing double, I pulled two Glenn Williams cards in a row.  This is actually sort of a common occurrence in the packs I've opened from this box so far.

A nice horizontal Montreal Expos card.  Looks like it's going to be a close pick-off play at first here...

Ugh.  Moving on...

Play at the plate!

Easily one of the least flattering facial expressions on the checklist.

Back-to-back Pirates, back-to-back cards showing the ball in mid-air.

A solid rookie to close out the pack.  While this was nowhere near the most exciting pack this box has to offer, all the cards were new to me (other than the double I got within the pack).  Since I'm planning to collate a set, that's about the best I can ask for...