Hockey from Douglas

Within the last 24 hours I was the recipient of a very generous package of cards from my buddy Douglas of the blog Sportscards from the Dollar Store.  I'll get to those in the coming days, but in the meantime this delivery was a stark reminder that I never even finished thanking Douglas for the last batch of cards he sent!

These arrived many months ago now, but the fact that I haven't found time to show them off is certainly not a reflection of my level of appreciation.  I mean, just look at this!

That is an entire panel of 1982-83 Post Hartford Whalers.  The entire 16-card set.  How awesome is that?  I'd never encountered these previously, and in one fell swoop I've now got the entire team set.

I'm going to leave mine intact, but here's a closer view of one of the single cards just to give you an idea.  What I love most is the fact that Post got some of the more obscure Whalers on the checklist.

Here's a look at the backs, look at all those beautiful Whalers logos all in a row!

A very cool item for my ever-growing Whalers collection, but that's not all Douglas sent...

There was another big old batch of 2013-14 Score needs to be found in the envelope.  I've been chasing this monster 750-card set for over 5 years now, and thanks to Douglas' efforts I'm close to the finish line at last.

Since there was a big brick of these in the package, I'm not going to show them all, but rather just a few highlights that were personal favorites.

As I've mentioned before, the set is absolutely littered with great goal celebration photos.

Another interesting one here, I presume Zetterberg is lunging in an attempt to put the puck into an empty net as time expires.  Feels weird to me that his NHL career is over.

You can't go wrong with a new Marty Brodeur.

Same goes for a smiling Alex Ovechkin!

You certainly can't go wrong with two new Brodeurs.

A nice Season Highlights subset card featuring one of my all-time favorites.  250 power play goals is nothing to snuff at!

As far as the Hot Rookies go, the best name on the entire checklist might be Nathan MacKinnon, who's having a hell of a year this year in Colorado.  Douglas was super generous in his willingness to send this one my way, this was probably the single most expensive card standing between me and a completed set.  Just awesome.

Of course, as with seemingly every package from Douglas over the course of many years now, there were some Hartford Whalers throw-ins to be found!  This one is my very first card from the '92-93 team-issued set, sponsored by Dairymart!

Here's a really interesting one from In the Game, one of the earliest hockey relic cards in my collection actually.  I didn't realize until adding this to my collection on The Trading Card Database that these relics were apparently limited to just 90 copies each.  If I wanted to add one of these to my collection today, it doesn't look like I could do so for less than $20.  Amazing.

Here's another new set for me, 1981-82 O-Pee-Chee stickers.  A lot of obscure names on this checklist, and Norm Barnes here is one of them.  In fact, I'm relatively certain that this is the only Whalers "card" of Barnes.  Great stuff.

We already saw a relic card, how about an autograph to accompany it?  When I think of the Whalers, two goalies come to mind; Mike Liut and Sean Burke.  This Between the Pipes "Decades 1980s" autograph was a thoughtful and much-appreciated throw-in from Douglas.

We'll close it out here with possibly my favorite card from the entire package, this sticker of the Hartford Civic Center from the 1989-90 Panini set.  I have such fond memories of visiting this arena as a kid with my family to see the Hartford Whalers play, and this is exactly how I remember it looking.  I don't think I knew this sticker even existed, or I would have tracked one down long ago!

Douglas, as usual your generosity absolutely blew me out of the water!  Thank you so much!  I can promise that it won't take me months to post the package that arrived this week, you have my word.

Christmas Mantle!

As we wind down 2018, there's one late-year addition to my collection that I want to make sure I feature here on the blog.  This December, I finally got around to crossing a major item off of my baseball card collecting bucket list; a vintage Topps Mickey Mantle!

For as long as I can remember, I've longed to add a vintage Topps Mickey Mantle to my baseball card collection.  In fact, during the very early days after my re-entry into collecting in 2007 I picked up the beauty you see above, from the 1958 Topps All-Star subset.  I first posted it here on the blog around this time of year back in 2008, just as I was wrapping up the first year here at Shoebox Legends.

It's a beautiful card for sure, and one that I'll always cherish, but being an All-Star subset card still left me longing for a plain ol' base card of The Mick.

A few years later I picked up another sweet Mantle, seen here.  I've professed my love for the combo cards in the '50s and '60s Topps sets many a time, so I'll spare you that here.  Let's just say that even years later this remains one of my absolute favorite cards from the '60s, period.

That's two beautiful Mantle cards in hand, but even after all these years I never managed to land one of his Topps base cards.  I guess I just never made it a priority, at a time when I had the funds available anyway, to grab one.  For whatever reason this year, I hadn't spent a dime on cards at all since a very small batch of pick-ups on COMC during their Black Friday promotion.  That meant that I had the entirety of my monthly allocated hobby budget available to me for December.  On top of that, eBay offered up a 15% off promotional code a while back, and in the end I scored this:

Yes, after more than a decade back in the hobby I can finally say that I own a flagship Topps Mickey Mantle base card!  There was such a feeling of satisfaction in grabbing this one, and even more so when it arrived last week, that I'm questioning why I waited just so long to cross this off my list of hobby things to do.

When I look for vintage cards these days, I typically have three criteria:

1. PSA-graded (I truly don't care about the grade, this is purely for authenticity since I'm typically buying sight-unseen via eBay or another website).
2. Decent centering - unless the card is so rare that this makes a decently centered copy impossible and/or out of my price range, I prefer a card that's at least halfway centered.  Each collector who is into vintage has their preference it seems on which qualities matter most, but to me centering is typically more important than "sharp corners", for example.
3. Does not look like it was run over by a Mack truck - I want something that presents well and that, regardless of the grade it was assigned, looks appealing.  I'm not a guy who's chasing the best copy of a card, and I'm certainly not that guy when it comes to someone like Mickey Mantle who I can barely afford in the first place, but I don't want a card that's so beat up that it's going to nag at me to upgrade it someday either.

In a nutshell, I'm looking for low-grade, (relatively) low cost examples that are still visually striking or present much better than you'd expect based on their low grades.  I think this one fits that bill nicely.  I'm not going to win any awards or be featured in a Mantle super-collector article in Beckett or anything, but to me this is an absolutely beautiful card that I'd never even consider upgrading.

Best of all, the "lowly" grade of "VG - 3" resulted in a price tag below $100, and that was before the 15% off promotion, which made my take-home cost closer to $80.

Here's a look at the back, apologies as I always have difficulty with getting crisp scans of the backs when it comes to PSA slabs for some reason.

So, there you have it, my first proper Mickey Mantle card.  I'm still beaming over it, easily one of my more satisfying pick-ups of 2018!

Were you able to secure any major or significant additions of note to your collection this past year?  Looking back over the past twelve months, if there are one or two acquisitions that stand out in particular I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Buyback Franken-set: Teke RC and some '99s

I'm trying to get to 1,300 total buybacks before the end of the year, so let's bite off another ten today...

1976 Topps #112 - Kent Tekulve

Here's a kick-ass buyback, the 1976 rookie card of everyone's favorite bespectacled reliever, Kent Tekulve!  I've got a few Teke buybacks now, but it's hard to top his rookie.  I snagged this one off of eBay a while back for about $3.  How's it looking as far as the franken-set?

Well, I have a really great Orioles buyback already in slot 112.  That fantastic shoulder patch alone gives Tekulve a run for his money.

Gotta go with Kent though!

This number is part of a completed page, here's how it looks now with Tekulve inserted.  Great variety here, with 1974 Topps being the only duplicated set.

1991 Topps #605 - Jeff Reardon

Next up, an example of 1991 Topps at its finest.  I've always enjoyed this playful Jeff Reardon card.  Aside from featuring a great photograph, I enjoy this one because Jeff had a great season as the closer for the Red Sox in '91.  In fact, it would end up being the final All-Star season of his career.

Speaking of All-Stars, this '79 Rick Monday stands in Reardon's way in the franken-set binder.

Have to go with the Reardon.  I'm a child of the '80s/'90s, so 1991 Topps just holds more memories for me.  Doesn't hurt that it's a Red Sox buyback either.

As with the first buyback, this one changes a completed page.  Not quite as much variety here, with three entries from 1991 Topps.  This is the highest number page that I've completed so far.

1991 Topps #448 - Craig Lefferts

On the less exciting side of the coin that is 1991 Topps, here's Craig Lefferts.  How did this guy not tear a muscle every time he threw with his leg planted like that?!?!  Aside from that interesting delivery, this isn't that great a buyback to be honest.

The Mike Davis card that currently sits in slot 448 isn't anything special either.

I don't see a reason to make a change, I guess.  Here's hoping a better #448 buyback comes my way some day...

1993 Topps #600 - Bret Saberhagen

Here's a card I certainly remember from childhood.  Not your run-of-the-mill photo that you'd expect to see on an early '90s Topps flagship card.  Looks more like something from Donruss Studio.  Bret had a pretty average season in '93, going 7-7 with a 3.29 ERA, but at least his baseball card is memorable.  It's also my very first buyback of "hero number" 600, which is fantastic.  Nice to cross one of the traditionally tougher numbers off my list for this project.

1990 Topps #66 - Greg Litton

You knew I'd include at least one 1990 Topps buyback, didn't you?  I don't know much about Greg Litton, who survived a few years as a pinch hitter/utility player.  This one's prime to be shifted into the dedicated 1990 Topps buyback binder, right?

Yup, already have this awesome '62 Cuno Barragon Heritage buyback in slot 66.

One card closer in what might be one of the more insane sets I've attempted in my time collecting.

1999 Topps #322 - Reggie Jefferson

As the post title indicates, we're going to look at some 1999 Topps buybacks today.  I'd hand-picked a few of these when putting together a buyback order from an eBay seller a while back.  Reggie Jefferson was selected because...well...because it's a Red Sox buyback and that's about it.

Is that enough for him to lodge a concerned Ed Goodson from the binder?

Nah.

1999 Topps #164 - John Valentin

Sticking with the '99 Red Sox theme, here's third baseman John Valentin.  This one's more interesting to me than the Jefferson.  John's relatively brief career was in decline by this point, but he's always been a fan favorite in Boston.

Standing in John's way is a late-career Mickey Lolich, featuring that glorious Padres brown and mustard yellow combo.

Even this Red Sox fan has to go with the Lolich.

1999 Topps #329 - John Smoltz

Next up on the 1999 Topps buyback front, HOFer John Smoltz!  Now we're talking.  Aside from being a notable name, the photograph here is close to perfect in my humble opinion.  With a relatively obscure card number, I find it hard to believe that this card won't make the binder...

Even 1965 Topps Hawk Taylor isn't enough to stop Smoltz.

He's certainly got one of the better nicknames in the rejected box though.

1999 Topps #139 - Fred McGriff

On the topic of great nicknames, how about "Crime Dog"?  As much as I liked McGriff as a player, what drew me to this one is that blast-from-the-past Tampa Bay Devil Rays uniform.  I thought these were brutal at the time, but a couple of decades in the rear view mirror and there's some nostalgia for them now.

I've got this 1960 Topps Rookie Star subset buyback of Indians pitcher Carl Mathias in slot 139 though, blocking McGriff.

Well, I had this Carl Mathias in slot 139 I should say.  The Devil Rays uniform was just too much.

1959 Topps #354 - Pete Burnside

Alright, that's enough fussing with the '99s, let's close it out with a buyback that was originally printed up a good four decades earlier than those last few cards.  I'm not very aware of Pete or his career accomplishments, but I sure do love the '59 Topps set.

More so than the 1975 Topps set?

Yes.  Barely, but I think so.

Well, I got one new number anyway with the Saberhagen card.  And one more card for my 1990 Topps buyback project, plus a handful of upgrades in the franken-set binder.  I'll take it!

As I mentioned at the outset of the post, I'm hoping to reach 1,300 total buybacks by the end of the year here, and after these I'm certainly close.  Thanks as always for stopping by!

Franken-set Progress: 637/792 (80%)
1990 Topps Buyback Set: 106/792 (13%)
"Rejected" Buybacks: 549
Total Buybacks in Collection: 1,292