Marc B's First PWE

After a somewhat depressing post last week on the occasional guilty feeling that this hobby gives me, I decided to take the weekend off from blogging and from cards in general.  I'm still mulling the topic over, and I'm certain there will be some changes this year to the way I collect, just not entirely sure what that will look like yet.  In the meantime, stepping away for a few days definitely helped, and I'm ready now to show off some of the cards that folks have sent me in recent weeks.

Leading things off we've got a great PWE that recently arrived from my friend Marc B, full of hockey goodness.  Though we've yet to meet in person (another thing I hope will change in 2016), Marc and I have developed quite a friendship over the years, and exchange a few emails each month.  We've got a lot in common, and thus plenty of common ground to talk about, like being fans of the Bruins and collecting hockey cards in general.  This is apparently the first PWE Marc has ever mailed out to anyone, I'm certainly honored to be its recipient!

Marc certainly has a solid grasp on what I enjoy, and it shows with this PWE, starting with the Cam Neely Award Winners insert above.  I've gone on record quite a few times regarding my love for the inserts in the first few Fleer Ultra sets.  There's no question that Upper Deck was king of the hockey landscape in the early to mid-'90s, but when it comes to inserts give me early Fleer Ultra any day!

I can't seem to help but to gravitate towards cards that are really shiny, and Marc delivered on that front as well starting with this Prism Jason Allison.  This one threw me for a bit of a loop when I was cataloging, because even though it clearly says Prism 2000 it turns out it's actually from the 1999-00 set.  On a side note, I do not miss these alternate sweaters for the Bruins.

Here's an interesting Joe Thornton from Upper Deck SPx.  Hard to believe this was printed up more than a decade ago now.  I'm definitely getting old...

Rounding out the trio of shiny Bruins is this Anson Carter from '98-99 Pacific Dynagon Ice.  Pacific really rose to prominence as a brand after I was done collecting cards the first time around, and was gone from the scene before I picked back up, so virtually all of their sets are strange to me.  Some of the designs have aged better than others, but they certainly seem to have been innovative to say the least.

Now here's a set I definitely do recognize, 1992-93 Bowman.  I'm not sure if Marc sent this one because he knows I enjoy getting new Joe Sakic cards, or because of the Jim McKenzie Whalers photobomb, but either way I like it!  A great card from what I think is a very under-rated set.  I bet a complete '92-93 Bowman set laid out in a binder would be pleasing to the eye.

While I've pretty much knocked out the 1994-95 Upper Deck SP base set, the Premier inserts are few and far between in my collection.  This Cam Neely is one I most definitely didn't have, and again we get some bonus Nordiques in the background.

Here's another one from a set I'd never encountered before, Pacific Revolution.  This is basically the definition of loud and over-the-top (and I mean that in a good way).  All kinds of shiny with a firework motif going on in the background.  Again, this one was a great fit on multiple fronts, as the 'Canes are the continuation of my beloved Hartford Whalers franchise.  Gary Roberts has actually carved out a successful post-NHL career for himself as a personal trainer, and was known for being obsessed with physical fitness during his career.  I guess you have to be in order to last 21 years in the NHL like he did!

How about one more new-to-me Pacific set?  This one has a bit more of a subtle design compared to some of the other Pacific sets of the era.  Hard to believe this is just my fourth Byron Dafoe card, period.

This particular PWE wasn't all about the Bruins.  In fact, Marc managed to send a quartet of new Whalers cards, which at this point is no easy feat!  This draft picks card from '93-94 Donruss is one I don't recall ever having seen before, which is somewhat amazing considering the sheer number of hockey cards that were coming into our household in the early '90s, between my brothers and myself.

Here's another mid-'90s insert, this time courtesy of Score.  For an insert with a theme of checking (Check-It), you'd think the folks selecting the photos could have found a more interesting or vicious check to show, but what do I know.  Either way, a new Whalers card is a new Whalers card.

This Glen Wesley is just my third Platinum Player's Club parallel, all of them Whalers.  If memory serves, at least one of the two that I had previously came from Marc as well!

And now, for my personal favorite card from this particular PWE...

I don't know how on Earth this happened, but somehow I've gone the 20+ years since this Ultra All-Rookie insert set was printed without having any clue that it even existed.  These are actually acetate material, everything but the blue background that Pronger's photo is super-imposed on is clear.  How did I not know that Fleer Ultra had an acetate insert set?!?!

I'm resisting the urge to immediately go find all the rest of these.  Shouldn't be too hard to resist because they're relatively expensive.  Of the seven that are listed on COMC right now, six of them are going for $9.99 or more!  I guess I'm not the only one who sees the beauty in these.

Marc, thank you for the fantastic PWE.  All of these were great, and the acetate Pronger alone is one of the best cards I can recall getting in a PWE in quite some time.  I'll do my best to return the favor soon!

One Card Post - Twin Mullets

What:  2012-13 Upper Deck SP Authentic #186 - Mario Lemieux/Jaromir Jagr
Where:  Sportlots
How Much?:  $1.00

Why?:  Another great image courtesy of the Authentic Moments subset from SP Authentic.  Hard to believe that Jagr is still playing in the league today.  Not only still playing, but enjoying a resurgence with 14 goals and 30 points in 38 games played for the first place Florida Panthers.  That is not a typo, the first place Florida Panthers.  Oh, and Jaromir was recently named a team captain for the upcoming NHL All-Star tournament.  Not too bad for a guy who's turning 44 in a few weeks!

Cardboard Guilt

Today's post may come across as a bit negative, but I want to talk about a feeling that seems to creep into my head at least a couple of times a year, a feeling I've dubbed "Cardboard Guilt".

As a collector, maybe you've experienced this feeling in the back of your mind from time to time.  Maybe you've subconsciously felt it without even realizing it.  Perhaps you've never felt it at all and won't be able to relate.  What I'm talking about, obviously, is a feeling of guilt over money spent on this hobby of ours.  Let me set the stage a bit...

I've been very fortunate in life (and worked extremely hard too) to end up with a career that's challenging, interesting, and as a side bonus pays well.  My wife and I own our own home, I have zero student loan debt, zero credit card debt, heck even my car is paid off.  I'm meticulous about saving, for retirement, emergencies, and then some.  I'm a big fan of travel, and have been lucky enough to take at least one significant vacation every year since my wife and I have been married.

I keep a hobby budget to curb my spending, and am pretty good about staying within it most months.  I've never extended myself in the hobby to where I couldn't afford it, never put cards on a credit card, never missed a monthly bill for anything, etc.

So why then, with all of that being said, do I sometimes feel guilty about spending my hard-earned money on sports cards?  It's not all the time, but it's a recurring feeling that has popped up in my mind over the years that I just can't seem to permanently escape.

It might stem from the fact that in almost every other aspect of my life I'm a minimalist.  Anti-clutter.  The opposite of a hoarder.  I like clean, concise and simple.  I think it goes deeper than that though...

The more I chew on it, the more I think it may have to do with the lack of real meaning or sense of direction in the hobby for me sometimes.  What exactly is it that I'm trying to do here?  I'm sure many of you are this way, but here's how my card buying tends to go in a nutshell:

1. I pick up some cards (singles, lots, sets, binders, boxes, whatever) that I'm really fascinated by during "the hunt"
2. I enjoy the card(s) for a few minutes, scan and inventory them, perhaps do up a nice little blog post here on them
3. From there, they go into a binder, or a box, or a pile where they're rarely looked at and then...
4. Repeat step 1 in a seemingly endless loop that's been going on for about 9 years now...

So, I ask again, what is the point of all this?  It passes the time, sure.  The sorting and organizing and list-making satisfies my mild OCD, of course.  But what is my end game?  Do I plan to just go on like this for decades more?  Where will I store 10,000 Red Sox cards?  What about when it hits 15,000?  20,000?  When you have so many cards that you can't even remember what you have, are you really enjoying them all at that point?  If something were to happen to me, would my poor wife be stuck with an entire room of cardboard to figure out what to do with?

Maybe it's the fact that I've been sick, maybe it's the winter blues, but these are the thoughts I've been mulling over the past few days.  Am I crazy?  Can you relate?

There Are Soccer Young Guns?!?!

I learned something new thanks to the latest PWE I received from Joe Shlabotnik of The Shlabotnik Report, and that is that Young Guns cards aren't just for hockey!

Yes, that is a Young Guns card from an Upper Deck soccer set (2008 Upper Deck MLS to be exact).  I had no idea these existed, what an interesting way to kick off a PWE.  I confess to never having heard of Adam Cristman, looks like he floated around MLS for a few years before retiring at an early age from some concussions.

There was actually a soccer card in this PWE that was even better than this one, but before we get to that let's take a look at the other cards Joe graciously sent along...

A 2015 Topps Series 1 set need, score!

A nice Roger Clemens from one of the seemingly endless number of "Broder" unlicensed sets that came out in the late '80s.  I have no idea who that elderly fella with the WH cap on in the background is, but I'm intrigued...

Joe seems to have an endless supply of early '80s Topps Stickers, and this package included both a baseball and a hockey sample.

Here's a super bright and shiny turn of the century Pedro.

1976 SSPC.  Going with nothing but a photo is a bold move design-wise, but I think it works just fine.  I don't think I've ever seen a card from this set that I didn't like...

This envelope truly had a little bit of everything, satisfying my seemingly never-ending itch for minor league cards in the form of this Tim Wakefield from 1992 Skybox AAA.  I'm fairly certain the longtime Sox knuckler is the first Buffalo Bison in my baseball card collection.

From minor league to oddball!  This '75 Hostess is almost perfectly cut from the box.  I'm thinking it was an adult that wielded the scissors in this instance.  This is actually my first '75 Hostess card of any sort, and I'm definitely a fan.

Were it not for the second soccer card, this would have been my favorite card in the package without question.  If you're wondering who that man standing next to Ted Williams is, J.D. McCarthy is famous for taking photos of MLB ballplayers over the course of a couple of decades that were used on postcards.  Some more info can be found here on Bob Lemke's Blog.  I'd never seen this card before but it's fantastic.

Here's that other Topps Sticker, hockey style.  That would be one Peter McNab, in case you were curious.

And now, for the card that was the standout of this particular PWE...behold!

That would be my very first Topps Footballer card!  Everything great about '70s Topps sports cards applied to the sport of soccer.  It sounds silly, but I've wanted one of these cards, any one, for years now.  I just never seem to find them in my neck of the woods, in fact I don't think I've ever seen one in person prior to receiving this.

Joe picked up a couple different examples on COMC and showed them off on his blog just before Christmas.  I left a comment indicating how jealous I was, and not a week later this one was sitting in my mailbox.  Unreal.

I think the backs are just as cool as the fronts, so bright and colorful.  I love the soccer ball card number, and it's pretty cool to get a Liverpool card of a guy who was born in Liverpool.

Joe, I can't thank you enough for your generosity in sending this to me, along with all the other great cards that accompanied it in the envelope.  The English Footballers card is without a doubt one of the most interesting cards I've ever received in a PWE, and the envelope on the whole was spot-on as usual.  I'm going to have to find something significant to return the favor!

Pack Rip - 1996 Fleer Red Sox

Picked this up at the hobby shop months ago, just getting to it now.  Ten new Red Sox cards for a buck?  Sure.  Besides, the pack itself is clearly labeled "$1.99 USA" so I guess I really got a "steal" here.

I'm a huge fan of the 1996 Fleer set, with it's full-bleed photos and matte finish.  These seemed foreign to me though, because they're printed on glossy stock and use foil.  Not the 1996 Fleer that I know.

Here's the back.  As you can see along the bottom, there are 20 cards in this Red Sox team set, so I'm getting half a set just by busting this pack.

I'm not going to provide commentary on all of these, long day so I'll let the cards speak for themselves for the most part.

Lucky me, one of my ten cards happened to be this uninspired team logo.

Well, I guess that provided a few minutes of enjoyment on the cheap.  And my Red Sox collection increased by ten cards.  So there's that.

High Tek, This Card Is

I had no idea there was a Star Wars High Tek set released by Topps recently until I saw a box busted on another blog.  Can't find it to link to for the life of me right now, thought it was over on 2x3 Heroes but maybe not.  In any event, just like with the baseball releases the past couple of years, the cards are a little rich for my blood.  You get just eight cards in an entire box, and they're currently going for between $85 - $100.  Eek!

I don't care about pulling a huge card or some big name autograph, so instead of buying a box I just hand-selected some cards I liked for one reason or another on the secondary market.  Recently my winnings have started to arrive in my mailbox, and I have the first one to share tonight:

Pretty cool, huh?  I know non-sports cards aren't for everyone, but all three movies from the original Star Wars trilogy are really high up there on my list of childhood favorites.  Hell, I watched our recorded VHS copy of Return of the Jedi (taped with the VCR off of HBO!) so many times as a kid I'm surprised it didn't wear out.  Combine this with my love of the acetate Tek cards from Topps and you've got a match made in heaven.

This particular card is a "Tidal Diffractor", serial numbered to /99.  Yoda was one of my top three favorite characters in that original trilogy, so I knew he was one card I wanted to track down if possible.  If you do the simple math you're paying about $10 a card if you buy a box, and this one set me back just $6.09.  Not bad!

Obviously with transparent cards you're not really in it for the reverse side, but here it is for the sake of completeness.  Enough of that though...

Just awesome.  Instantly one of my more prized non-sports cards, job well done Topps!

I've got a few more from this set coming in, as I mentioned, at least one of which I definitely plan on showing off here.  The others?  We'll see...

The Best Museum Collection Parallel You've Never Seen

I've confessed my love for the Pinnacle Museum Collection parallels numerous times here in the past.  These shiny, "dufex" works of art are probably my favorite parallels of the entire decade that was the '90s, particularly the 1994 set.  With that being the case, of course I picked some up during my Black Friday weekend COMC binge!  One of the cards I grabbed might be the nicest under-the-radar example from the entire 500-plus card checklist.

Before we get to that though, let's see some of the others I grabbed, like this great Pedro Martinez Expos card...

...or the ageless wonder Julio Franco.  I can't believe this guy lasted all the way until 2007 in the Majors, where he played his final season at the astounding age of 48!  Certainly some motivation for me heading into the new year, makes me realize I've got plenty of gas left in the tank to say the least.

A nice horizontal shot of the current ChiSox skipper...

One of my favorite speedsters of the decade, as a kid in the mid-'90s it was impossible not to be impressed by those Cleveland Indian teams.  While no Julio Franco, Kenny hung around until the ripe old age of 40 which is pretty impressive.

Pinnacle did a great job of capturing Eckersley's classic wind-up/delivery with this one.

In case you couldn't tell, I've developed quite a penchant for the guys who stick around in their respective sports for what seems like forever.  Jamie Moyer here was Julio Franco's pitching counterpart, having pitched up until age 49 with the Rockies in 2012!  I've got a couple other nice Moyer cards that were part of this same COMC order to show down the line as a matter of fact.

Been a fan of John Olerud since he batted that astounding .363 when I was at the very impressionable age of eleven.  Also, a lot of folks forget that he actually wrapped up his career with the Red Sox in 2005.  He still hit for .289 even then, with 7 HR and 37 RBI in less than 90 games played.

Will he ever get the call to the Hall?  Not sure, but that's a beautiful card regardless!

Ditto.

Okay, time for the best Museum Collection parallel that you've probably never paid attention to. 

It's not a HOFer, or even someone that would be considered a star as far as I recall. 

Here's the card:

Just awesome.  I can't think of a photo that works better with this particular parallel.  With the way things are positioned it looks like Darryl is turning to shield himself from the "dufex rays". 

Hamilton's passing this past year was tough for baseball fans, but from this point forward I'll also remember him as the guy gracing one of my favorite baseball parallels ever printed...

One Card Post - The First Topps Bauer

What:  1951 Topps Red Back #24 - Hank Bauer
Where:  eBay
How Much?:  $12.99 ($9.99, $3 shipping)

Why?:  It hasn't exactly been the most creative start to the new year here with back-to-back One Card Posts.  I'm still not totally out of the woods though with this cold, so I confess that you're basically getting backed up draft folder material from last year at this point.  Can you really go wrong with the very first Topps baseball set, though?  Today is the first day in a few where I felt better than the day before, so I think the end is in sight!  Hopefully that will also result in something more lengthy and creative soon...

One Card Post - '52 Lenhardt

What:  1952 Topps #4 (Black Back) - Don Lenhardt
Where:  eBay
How Much?:  $11.99 (with free shipping!)
Why?: A One Card Post is about all I can muster today, since I'm still sick.  A classic set like '52 Topps seemed like a good way to ring in the new year at least...