Cool Cards from Chris

A few weeks ago, I received a completely unexpected PWE in the mail from my hobby friend Chris, who writes at both The Collector, and the newly-launched The 1993.  I have enjoyed his writing for years, and am especially loving The 1993 so far, given that I was an impressionable 10-11 years old in that great year!  In fact, I've considered launching a "The 1994" blog inspired by Chris' work, but we'll see about that, I have enough trouble updating this one at times...

Anyway, Chris has already featured the small batch of Sox I returned his way on his own blog, so it's high time I got to featuring the cards he sent me here...

Most of the PWE contained some set filler cards from my long-neglected Want List here on the blog.  Most of those set needs were for my 1994-95 Parkhurst Missing Link set.  I was collecting as a kid the first time around when this set was released, and loved the glimpse back at the NHL players of yesteryear.  At the time anyway, I don't think the NHL did a great job teaching young fans about the history of its sport the way MLB did, so I just thought these were great (and still do!).

I don't think I had more than a few packs of the stuff as a kid, but I've been slowly accumulating the set since returning to the hobby as an adult.

So few hockey sets were produced in the '50s and '60s that many of these players are new to my collection entirely.  Case in point, this is my very first hockey card of Rudy Migay, despite the fact that he played in well over 400 NHL games.

My favorite of the bunch that Chris sent along (all Toronto Maple Leafs, coincidentally) has to be this Ed Chadwick.  I've mentioned this on the blog before, but I'm a total sucker for old-school goalie cards featuring brown leather pads and wooden sticks.

This card actually reminds me that I have a fantastic Ed Chadwick card to show off that's been waiting in the wings for a while now.  I'll try to see if I can move that one to the top of the "to be posted" pile...

Rounding out the Parkhurst Missing Link cards is this Tod Sloan Scoring Leader subset card.  Love the mitts here too, actually.

I highly recommend that anyone who has an interest in hockey history pick up some of these cards.  They are a great window to the past, and you're bound to learn a few things in thumbing through them.  I'd just barely tipped past the 50% complete mark on the 180-card set prior to receiving this handful, so I'm well on my way to 60% complete now.

Chris also hooked me up with a modern hockey card, one that I need in my slow-burn attempt to complete the 2013-14 Prizm hockey set.  I wish Panini could have stuck around longer in the hockey card market, as I really enjoyed this release.  I've already completed the 200-card short set, but have a few dozen of these pesky SP rookies still to go.  One fewer now, though!

The PWE wasn't all hockey cards, as I found this very surprising Red Sox need inside.  I would have guessed that I'd already completed the 2014 Topps flagship team set, but a quick glance at TCDB.com shows that is not the case.  Happy to welcome Stephen Drew to the collection.

Last, but certainly not least, a lone need for my 2015 Topps Stadium Club baseball set build.  It's interesting that Chris included this one, as I've been telling myself lately that now that I'm getting more organized and purging so much, I need to get my hands around where I'm at with my 2014-2020 Stadium Club baseball sets.  It's pretty much the only release I enjoy collecting each year, so my plan is to get my want list up to date for every one of those sets.

2015 is the one Stadium Club release from the modern run that I actually do have updated, and thanks to this card I'm down to just over 40 remaining needs to knock it out.  Amazingly, I received another surprise package out of the blue shortly after this one that got me even closer to set completion.  But, that's another post for another day.

Chris, thanks so much for the awesome surprise, it made my day finding these in the mailbox.  I'll try to get another batch of Boston cards out to you soon.  In the meantime, thanks everyone for stopping by, and stay safe out there!