One Card Post - An Elite Roy

What:  1993-94 Donruss Elite Insert (#'d /10,000) - Patrick Roy
Where: COMC
How Much?:  $6.40

Why?:  It's amusing in today's hobby landscape to think that a set serial-numbered to 10,000 copies would cause an uproar, but that was certainly the case in the early '90s when the famed Donruss Elite Series inserts hit the market.  These were absolute gold back in the day, and are one of the rare examples of cards that have held their value fairly well over the years.

There are 15 of these available from the '93-94 release, an original set of 10 and then five "update" cards.  You can certainly find them, but expect to pay a few bucks even for the lesser players on the checklist, often times $10 or more for HOFers.  I think I got a solid deal on Patrick Roy when the seller accepted my best offer of $6.40.  That's three of these in hand for me now, a dozen to go.  I'm not chasing the set vigorously, but hopefully a few more bargains like this one present themselves down the line...

One Mailer, Two Team Sets Complete

Recently I received yet another stellar package of cards from my longtime hobby friend Douglas, who writes at Sportscards from the Dollar Store.  Quite frankly, I have no idea what I did to in any way deserve the kindness that Douglas has shown me again and again over a period of many years now.  He is truly one of the more generous people that I've encountered in all the time since I've returned to the hobby.

This latest delivery was large enough that I'm going to have to break it up into a few posts for ease of ingestion.  I believe there were over 100 cards in the mailer in total, which is especially impressive given what postal rates are like these days between the US and Canada.

Today's post is going to cover a couple of complete Red Sox team sets that were to be found, the first of which is 2018 Allen & Ginter.  I love that over the past month or two, and thanks solely to the generosity of other collectors, I've finally started adding some J.D. Martinez Red Sox cards to my collection.

This batch was actually my very first in-hand look at the 2018 Allen & Ginter offering.  I used to pick up a few packs of this stuff each year, but I've all but completely sworn off retail wax for a good long time now.

I like the design overall.  The rolled up scroll element along the bottom border has an air of 1962 Topps to it if you ask me, and that '62 release is one that has grown on me considerably as the years have gone by.

Dustin Pedroia was technically a member of the 2018 World Series championship club, but barely.  You have to wonder if his chronic health/injury issues may have him hanging up the spikes soon.  Certainly a guy that you could see remain in the game for a long time in a coaching capacity if you ask me.

Douglas' package included 15 Red Sox cards from this release, and I found when I went to add them to my collection on The Trading Card Database that this actually constitutes a complete team set.

A good selection overall of current young stars...

...and legends of old.  Is it just me, or does this image of Ted Williams look a bit more "washed out" than the other cards in the set?

This is the first of a few Rafael Devers RCs that were included in this delivery.

I like the very dated jersey on this Roger Clemens card.

Your reigning AL MVP!

A guy who apparently can't find a team for 2019?

As far as retired legends, it's your usual suspects here in Williams, Pedro, Ortiz, Boggs.  How about some more obscure names, Topps?

The last card on the checklist is a new Xander Bogaerts card.  Looks like a Red Sox mega-collector joined The Trading Card Database on Christmas, and has since surpassed me as far as the largest Bogaerts collection on the site.  Not by a little bit either, they've got more than twice the number of Bogaerts cards that I do at present.  Challenge accepted!

As if a complete team set wasn't generous enough, I got two cards from what I believe is the release's largest insert set, Fantasy Goldmine.  Familiar names here with another Wade Boggs...

...and a new Nomah!

Rounding out the Allen & Ginter portion of the package was the Devers RC in mini version.  I really grew to love mini cards once I acquired the appropriately sized binder sheets for them a few years back.  I've got a whole section of a binder with all my Red Sox minis just randomly paged, and they sure are a lot of fun to flip through.  This one's already snugly in place.

The other set that Douglas did serious damage to with this latest package was 2018 Stadium Club.  Again, I purchased none of this myself.  My only exposure was a handful of cards that I received in a package from my friend Kin a few weeks ago.

Well, Douglas knocked out a complete team set with this release as well.  Unbelievable.

I'm not sure if this is common across the entire set, or if it just so happened to play out this way for the Red Sox cards, but an inordinate percentage of them seemed to use the horizontal layout.

I think Douglas just about doubled the number of J.D. Martinez Red Sox cards I have in one fell swoop with this delivery.

I love the way this photograph is framed, just a shame that the Stadium Club logo itself blotted out the 'F' in FENWAY on the scoreboard.  Still a nice card though.

Another card closer, I will regain the top spot someday!

I always got a kick out of the gimmicky over-sized glove cards, and Pedroia's in this set is no exception.  Makes me snicker every time I look at it, definitely one of my favorite cards that I've seen from this release.

A lot of Boggs in today's post, that's for sure.

Finally, what I would consider the most visually appealing card, at least as the Red Sox go, from this Stadium Club set.  I didn't get into trying to pick a card of the year for 2018, I don't pick up nearly enough new product to have a qualified opinion on the matter.  If I had though, there's a strong chance this would have been it.  An absolute stunner of a photograph of the Splendid Splinter.

Well, I think that's more than enough content for today.  I'll have at least one, maybe two more posts up to get through all the goodies that Douglas sent my way.  Until then, thanks for stopping by...

The Year of Frugality Begins with Bill Nyrop

I've mentioned once or twice in the first month of the year that my main goal for 2019 is to significantly cut back on the amount of money I'm spending in the hobby.  I'll spare you the boring details, suffice it to say that our household income has been at least temporarily reduced, and pretty significantly at that.  It was a calculated and conscientious decision by my wife and I, and while we're not going to struggle to pay the mortgage or anything, I am attempting to cut back on small, unnecessary expenses like buying lunch at work and...sports cards!

You might think that this would bum me out, but I actually view it as a fun challenge.  The reality is that I've been very fortunate so far in life (and worked very hard, too) and have had plenty of chances to acquire amazing cards over the past decade plus since I returned to collecting.  Slowing it down a bit will give me a chance to spend the time I would spend hunting new cards on appreciating those instead, and posting here more often.  This seems to be working out well, as I've managed a post every single day for the first three weeks plus of the year, by far the best start of the twelve years I've been writing this blog now.

Now, I'm not going to try instituting a card buying "ban" or anything that drastic.  The fact of the matter is, I enjoy this hobby and this community and don't really want to take a year off from that completely.  Instead, having a loose and simple goal of reducing my hobby spending allows me some leeway to enjoy myself, while still giving me a challenge to do so on a budget.

Well, in a bit of irony, my first purchase this year actually came on New Year's Day!

Watching the NHL's Winter Classic that day between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins at Notre Dame, I was intrigued by a piece that NBC did during the intermission on Bill Nyrop.

I was fascinated by the piece on Nyrop, because despite being what I would consider a fairly rabid fan of all things hockey since I was a kid, I didn't have any recollection of the man whatsoever.  I guess I can be excused since he played his final NHL games before I ever drew my first breath, but I'm still surprised I haven't heard more about him.

Anyway, Bill was a very solid defenseman for Notre Dame (of course), and then later for the powerhouse Montreal Canadiens team of the late '70s.  He won three Stanley Cups with Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge before stepping away to go to law school and start his own practice.  He'd later return to hockey in a coaching capacity, but sadly aggressive colon cancer claimed his life at just 43 years of age in 1995.

I was so interested in Nyrop's story that I decided I'd like to add a card of his to my hockey collection.  At the next commercial break I pulled up COMC on my phone and searched for all of Bill's available cards.  He doesn't have a whole lot out there actually, and it didn't take me long to settle on his 1976-77 rookie card for 99 cents.

I'm going to try something quite different this year on the blog...I'm going to attempt to publicly track how much money I spend on sports cards over the course of the year.  I think it'll help motivate me to show the cards I do acquire, and also help keep me honest with my goal of being frugal.  It may very well be something I abandon by the time the snow melts, but a goal never set is a goal never met as they say.

1976-77 Topps Bill Nyrop RC - $.99
2019 Running Total (as of 1/1/19) - $.99

COMC Blaster - Clearing Space

If I had a theme for collecting in 2019, it would be the "Year of Frugality".  I'm not going to pretend that I won't spend a single dime on new cards all year, and I'm not setting any strict goals for spending either (I've kept a budget anyway for about the past 6 years, so nothing new there).  I am truly making a concerted effort to spend considerably less money acquiring new cards though, and considerably more time enjoying and posting about the ones I already have.

Thanks to an Amex gift card that I received for a work anniversary last year I was able to pick up a few last cards off of COMC with pretty much nothing spent out of pocket, and had enough credit to ship them too.  I expect it will be my last COMC shipment for some time due to my above-stated goal.  Anyway, I need to make some room in my card chest before that last batch arrives, so let's do a "COMC Blaster" to clear some space...

I pulled all the cards at random for today's post, as I typically do, so it was coincidental that the first card up is a Blue Cubes parallel from O-Pee-Chee Platinum, given that I featured a card from this parallel set on the blog just last Friday.  These are beautiful cards, and somewhat rare being numbered to /65.

Joe has the most career points of any active player in the NHL, currently sitting at 16th all-time.  He's got a real shot to move up two more spots before season's end, too.  An absolute lock for the HOF when he eventually decides to retire, I was astounded that I was able to add this card to my small pile of Blue Cubes parallels for just $1.65.

For my probably-not-so-wise attempt to complete a 2011 Topps Chrome Atomic Refractor set, we have two more contributions in today's "blaster", catcher Russell Martin at $1.50...

...and Twins pitcher Joe Nathan at $1.30.  As I've mentioned before, I'm pretty much past the point where I"m able to find any of these that I'm missing for under $1, so I thought $2.80 was a fair price for this needed pair.  I'm at 187 out of 220 now, or 85% of the set.  Inching closer...

I've mentioned a few times that I was a huge fan of Jurassic Park when the movie came out in 1993.  Hell, I still watch it probably once a year.  Over the past year or two I've developed a small collection of cheaply-acquired dinosaur cards because of this.  When I remembered that there was actually a Jurassic Park set from Topps, and that it had hologram inserts, I immediately hit up COMC and tracked down this velociraptor for 85 cents.  Looks great in hand.

While we're on the topic, here's one more of those lenticular 3-D inserts I've been collecting from the 2015 Upper Deck Dinosaurs set.  Up to a baker's dozen now, and I think I got a good price on this one at 74 cents because I believe the aquatic and flying dinosaurs at the end of the checklist were short-printed.

Here's another Sam Reinhart RC that I picked up a few years back during said rookie season.  A nice shiny card, but honestly I wouldn't shell out the 75 cents that I paid for this today as I'm more refined in my collecting and to a certain extent less easily distracted I guess.

On the other hand, I have no regrets over the 85 cents that I spent to land this Wayne Gretzky '94-95 Ultra All-Star insert.  I'll buy just about any Wayne Gretzky from the '80s or '90s that I don't already have for $1 or less, and I'm a sucker for '90s inserts as well, so this was a perfect fit.  I've got more Gretzky cards at 190 and counting, than any other player in my collection as entered on The Trading Card Database so far.  In fact, I enjoy landing new Gretzky cards so much that I have a small series of posts planned for the blog this year on that very topic!

Back to baseball for a moment, I landed this '62 Topps Frank Malzone for 61 cents.  I probably should have offered 62 cents, that would've been fitting.  This card leads me to ask myself why I haven't made more of an effort to prioritize missing '60s Red Sox cards when they can be had for this little coin?  I'm tempted to look but...it's the "Year of Frugality"...

Austin Czarnik actually signed with the Flames as a free agent heading into this season, and has appeared in more than a couple dozen games with the team so far.  I guess I liked this one as a way to remember his couple of abbreviated seasons in Boston, and thanks to the e-Pack promotion the price was right at 75 cents.

I grabbed this Score Gold Rush parallel of Brian Propp because I must have all the Whalers.  Also, it was insanely cheap at 45 cents.  I should have checked my list first though, as I've already got a copy.  Oh well, I'm sure I can find someone to route this copy to.  Chris the Collector maybe?

Today's post began with a Blue Cubes parallel, now we've got a White Ice parallel from the same set.  These aren't quite as rare (#'d /199), and don't look as stunning, but I loved the parallels in this release almost without exception.  Plus, Tarasenko is (was?) one of the best snipers in the NHL.  He's certainly having a down year, as are the Blues on the whole.  $1.85 for this one.

Here's a mid-range, solid addition to my Xander Bogaerts collection.  Always nice to add any new RC of my favorite active player, and bonus points for this one given that 2014 Finest is one of my favorite sets of the last decade.  This is the Green Refractor, numbered along the top to /199.  I paid $3.50 for this one a while back.  I've now got the regular Refractor, this Green, the X-Fractor, and two autos (Blue Refractor and X-Fractor) of Xander from this release.  Would love to add a couple more cards to that rainbow someday.

I feel the same about Jaromir Jagr as I do Wayne Gretzky, always happy to pick up any and all cards I don't already have.  I wanted something in my collection to represent Jaromir's stint in Calgary, and again thanks to e-Pack the price on this O-Pee-Chee Retro parallel was too tempting to resist at 43 cents.

Pretty coincidental that I pulled another 2016-17 Young Guns card, minutes later and from a different drawer, for this post.  Danton is still with Boston, and had a great year last year in his age 22 season (16 goals, 31 assists).  He seems to have found a steady spot on the roster, appearing in 77 games last year, and all but two of the team's games so far this season.  40 cents, thank you once again e-Pack!

Because I'm all over the map and have trouble focusing at times while browsing COMC, we're actually going to end today's post with a pair of Star Wars cards.  While certainly not a major character, Ask Aak is one I certainly remember and even had the Kenner toy of when I was a kid.  As a lover of acetate cards I enjoy the Star Wars High Tek releases, and snapped up this Tidal Diffractor parallel (#'d /99) from the 2015 set for 70 cents.

Finally, one of the Topps "TBT" online exclusive releases that really interested me was the Star Wars set done in the style of 1980-81 Topps basketball.  Less than 1,000 of these sets where printed, and based on COMC sales I certainly don't seem to be the only one interested in them.  I brought this one home for $3.62 about a year and a half ago via an accepted best offer.  Cheapest copy today is around $2 more than that.  This is the second one of these to join my collection, and I'd love to track down the remaining four.

Well, we're at $19.95 as far as today's running total goes, just about perfect.  Hopefully you saw a card or two that piqued your interest.  In any event, thanks for stopping by!

One Card Post - Pastrnak Exclusives

What:  2016-17 Upper Deck Exclusives Parallel (#'d /100) - David Pastrnak
Where: COMC
How Much?:  $4.50

Why?:  It's 0 degrees out in Rhode Island, with a wind chill of -20.  I'm sure for some of you who live further north than I do this might be considered a "mild" winter day, but for the climate I'm used to it's pretty damn cold.  Seemed like the perfect day to feature a hockey card on the blog.

Grabbed this Exclusives parallel of Bruins winger David Pastrnak last November on COMC, just a few days before their famed Black Friday sales promotion.  I thought the $4.50 asking price was more than fair, and this made for a really nice mid-range addition to my small Pastrnak collection.  David's having another stellar year so far, sitting within the top 20 in the league in points, and tied for 9th place with 27 goals at the time of this post.  I highly doubt whether I'll run into another copy of this one priced at less than $5 ever again...