Ed Strikes Again!

A couple of weeks back I received a package from Ed at Roll Out the Barrell. The reason for the package was that Ed had a small stack of 2008 Upper Deck baseball set aside for me that both of us had completely forgotten about. There were a whopping 24 cards that I needed, including this fantastic Justin Verlander card. I don't care what anyone says about Upper Deck, I absolutely love this set. I've been slowly piecing it together over the past couple of years through packs and generous packages from other bloggers. I'm tantalizingly close at this point, just 34 cards away from the 799 card set. I've recently updated my Want List to include this set and a few others, if you have any dupes laying around and can help me out let me know!

The best part about this package was the unexpected though. Ed was kind enough to include some awesome 1970's hockey cards! There is quite possibly nothing better to receive in a trade package than vintage hockey.



This 1974-75 Topps checklist brings me one card closer to this set as well. I've got this one up to date on the Want List also. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out that this was a '74 card! The bulk of the cards were 1976-77 Topps Boston Bruins.

I like this set, and it's sadly under-represented in my collection. There seems to be a mix, at least in the Bruins cards I received, between portraits against a plain background, like the Gilbert above, and action shots like these:

Like so many 1970's sets, many of the action shots were taken in Washington in games against the Capitals. I love the Cashman card especially. This year's Bruins could take a lesson in screening the goalie from Wayne here.

Dallas was Bobby Orr's defensive partner for a few years in the 70's. He looks a little confused here...

A couple of members of the Hockey Hall of Fame!

What a great card of the Bruins' captain! One last 1976 Topps...

I really appreciate this Cheevers card. Not only because it's a vintage Bruin I needed, but because Cheevers was someone I saw a lot of growing up. He did the color commentary for the Hartford Whalers games on TV in Connecticut when I used to watch back in the day. His play-by-play partner, Rick Peckham, still calls games for the Tampa Bay Lightning on the Sun Sports network down in Florida. I am definitely going to have to add some more Cheevers cards to the collection.

Ed also threw in 2 1975-76 Topps cards, which I have even fewer of. O'Reilly was the kind of enforcer that I wish we saw more of in the NHL today. He wasn't on the team just to fight, he had some skill as well. In the 77-78 season he racked up 29 goals and 90 points. I'd like to see Donald Brashear or Colton Orr put up those kind of numbers.

Once again we have an in-game action shot taken against Washington. I love the photo on this card.

Ed, thanks again for a fabulous package. You really made my week with this one!

Card of the Month - March 2010

Well it's about time I got on track with the Card of the Month in 2010. I missed out on January and February, but March's card more than makes up for it. I mentioned in my last post that I'm not a big fan of relic cards, but like most collectors I do make exceptions:

2009-10 Upper Deck Trilogy Classic Confrontations - #CC-HABO

This recent eBay win just arrived in the mail yesterday, and instantly becomes one of my favorite Whalers cards. I am starting to see some Whalers cards in current sets, like the Gordie Howe from last year's Champs set. This particular card came from a set I would never even think about purchasing, 2009-10 Upper Deck Trilogy. This is one of those high end sets where nobody builds the base and it's all about the hits, at least as far as I can tell. A "hobby box" will run you over $150 and you'll get less than 50 cards altogether. The only reason I even knew about this card was that I stumbled across it while searching the term Whalers on eBay.

Those of you who are extra perceptive may have noticed the card number, CC-HABO. Well the HA obviously signifies Hartford. The BO? I think you know where I'm heading with this. Here's the back of the card:

Pretty sweet huh? Apparently the Classic Confrontations inserts pay homage to great rivalries from the NHL's past with one team per side and three jersey swatches per team. I can't think of a concept that's better suited for my collection. I grew up a die-hard Whalers fan and used to hate the Bruins, so the rivalry that this card represents is perfect. Then, when the Whalers moved to Carolina, I (reluctantly at first) adopted the Bruins as my new local team.

I paid $13 for this card, which seems pretty reasonable. It's definitely the most swatches I have on any one card in my collection and considering some of the big names on here I didn't think it was too unreasonable. Besides, this card so uniquely fits my collecting interests that I probably would've paid twice that for it. So there you have it, March's Card of the Month!

Box Break - 2009-10 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey

When I decided to collect the 2009-10 Upper Deck hockey set, I pre-ordered a Series 2 hobby box from Dave & Adam's Card World. The box actually arrived over a month ago, but I only recently got around to scanning in all the cards. To be brutally honest, I'm getting a bit tired of this set, so I'm going to give you the quick and dirty box break, much like Captain Canuck's. You've already seen plenty of Series 1 base here, and series 2 is no different:

One nice thing about Series 2 was pulling some of my first base cards of stars with their new teams, like Marian Hossa. Aside from that though, I think the photography was pretty flat, at least on most of the base cards I pulled. I didn't get any base doubles, but the reason for that is not good. I'll explain below...

I did get my requisite 6 Young Guns rookie short prints. Nobody special here. Logan Couture was taken 9th overall by San Jose just a couple of years ago, but has seen action in only 12 games for the Sharks this year. Unfortunately most of the big name rookies were in Series 1, which is one complaint I have with the set. Not as big an issue as this though:

Once again this year, as has been the case every year since I got back into collecting, Upper Deck was kind enough to include a high series Victory card in every pack of 09-10 Series 2 hockey. I did get some cards I was happy with, like these two. Marchand played a handful of games at the beginning of the season for Boston and is seeing some action again with Savard's recent injury. I was happy to pull the Kane card too, as I missed out on his Young Guns rookie in Series 1. That being said, please stop doing this Upper Deck.

While annoying, I did pull my first John Tavares card as well. That positive was quickly outweighed by this negative though:

This is not a standard Victory high number card, but a gold parallel. Not only do I get cards from a set I have no interest in collecting, but I get parallel cards from a set I have no interest in collecting. Once again, STOP DOING THIS! Okay, now onto the inserts...

Rookie Debut

Verdict: Crap. The idea is alright, but the design is horrible. I only pulled one luckily, and it was Matt Duchene, so I guess I could've done worse.

Playoff Performers

Verdict: Snooze. Could these first two inserts be any more bland?

Hockey Heroes

Verdict: Better. Martin Brodeur was the subject in Series 1, Mark Messier is featured in Series 2. I pulled two of these, this one is my favorite.

Captain's Calling

Verdict: Right back to the crap. Seriously, who would want to collect this insert set?

Draft Day Gems

Verdict: Great. I can't explain why, but for some reason this is the one insert set I actually like. I was glad that this one continued from Series 1. The Gilmour is one of my favorite cards from the box. Finally, the hits:

Samuel Pahlsson High Gloss - These High Gloss inserts are, well...high gloss. They're numbered to 10. I lost an auction for a Krejci on eBay by $.50, and not surprisingly the only seller who has another wants about twice what the first one sold for. Anyway, if a Blue Jackets collector exists out there, which I highly doubt, I'll gladly trade Sammy here.

Ivan Vishnevskiy Rookie Materials - I can count on one hand the number of Dallas Stars games I've watched the last few years, so I have to admit I've never heard of Ivan. Looks like he played just a handful of games for Dallas and was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers before the trade deadline earlier this month. Wouldn't mind parting with this one either...

Tomas Holmstrom Game Jersey - I'm not big on relic cards at all, but I thought this one was actually pretty cool. The Red Wings were huge when I was an impressionable young hockey fan in the 90's, and they're still one of my favorite teams for that reason. Holmstrom is a career Red Wing and has won 4 cups with the team. In closing, the worst two cards in the box:

Seriously? No, really, is this a joke? With all due respect to the sport of ice dancing, this seems ridiculous. Is Ice Dancing a popular sport with hockey fans?

Well, I'm just going to come right out and say it. That box sucked. My opinion of Upper Deck's hockey releases has taken a serious hit after ripping this box. I don't even think I would bother trying to finish this set if I wasn't already so far into it. It's insulting that they cram one unwanted Victory card into every damn pack. Because of this I'm still missing a significant chunk of the base set and have no base doubles to trade either. On top of that, if I'm going to spend $60 on a hobby box, it would be nice if they put just a little effort into the inserts.

I've hand collated the base Upper Deck hockey set each year since getting back into collecting, but this was discouraging enough that I may have to rethink my strategy. Maybe next year I'll just buy a base set on eBay and save my time and money.

WTF?

Can someone please explain to me how this isn't grounds for a suspension or fine of any kind? It's not like this is Cooke's first time, he's got a history of this and has been suspended before.

Collecting Whalers: 1995-96 Topps Stadium Club

I'm still scanning my way through the monster lot of Hartford Whalers cards I picked up on eBay. Recently, I stumbled across these 6 1995-96 Topps Stadium Club cards. I was done with my first run at collecting by this point and never snagged any of these when they were released.

#4 - Glen Wesley - I actually like the design from this set. The borderless photos are nice and crisp and I like the little TSC puck logo.

#29 - Sean Burke - Great action shot, although it looks like Burke may be on the verge of giving up a goal here.

#38 - Nelson Emerson - The only horizontal card in the bunch...

#61 - Andrew Cassels

#149 - Andrei Nikolishin - It's actually Nikolishin, not Nikolishen. They got it wrong on the front but right on the back. Nice job Topps.

#EC172 - Geoff Sanderson - Extreme Corps - Given that this is card #172 I'm guessing that Extreme Corps is a parallel of the base set maybe? Anyone know?

What Do These Guys Have in Common?

What do these 14 players all have in common? Any guesses. The depressing answer will be revealed shortly...

ANSWER: You were pretty close Captain. These 14 players, along with 90 others, all have more points this year than ANYONE on the Bruins. Yes, that's right, the Bruins' top scorer, Patrice Bergeron, is 105th in the league in points. Somehow the B's have won 2 in a row, and are looking to make it 3 straight against Pittsburgh, in a game that's very close as I write this. The offense just isn't there this season though, even if the B's make the playoffs it's likely going to be one and done.

2010 Heritage? I'll Take the Original Thank You Very Much...

As every collector knows by now, the 2010 Topps Heritage set has been released recently, and pays homage to the 1961 Topps set. While I'm sure these cards look great, although I've yet to see any in person, I just don't have it in me to try to collect a Heritage set. I tried in 2007 when I first got back into cards, but 2 hobby boxes, a dozen hobby packs, and a few dozen missing short prints later I realized Heritage is not for me. Instead, I picked up some original '61 Topps Red Sox on eBay:

#354 - Billy Harrell - Billy appeared in just 173 career games over the course of four seasons for the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox.

#53 - Russ Nixon - Nixon is pictured sans hat, and in a sweater that does not appear to be a Sox jersey. What's strange is he did play for Boston in 1960 as well as in 1961. Must be an older photo.

#268 - Ike DeLock

#236 - Don Gile - Another guy who lasted only 4 seasons. Finally, my favorite of the bunch...

#16 - Billy Muffett - This picture is fantastic! If you ask me, almost nothing beats a vintage 1950's card featuring a great pre-game warmup shot on a sunny day! Sorry but in my mind this card puts any 2010 Heritage I've seen to shame. Total cost for these five cards including shipping was less than 2 packs of Heritage.

Thank You Justin G!

I've received a couple of packages in the last week or two that and would like to provide the proper "thank you post" for each. First up was an unexpected package from Justin G. of Is This a Wasteland - No It's Tampa Bay Sports. Justin was kind enough to send a small package of cards out of the blue. Here's what was included:

8 2006-07 O-Pee-Chee Boston Bruins cards were thrown in, including these 6. Remarkably, I needed 7 out of the 8! These cards are only 3 years old, yet 5 of these 6 players are no longer with the team.

2010 Topps - TOG-2 - The Curse of the Bambino - I'm sure Justin sent this along because Ruth is pictured in a Red Sox jersey. Little did he know that Tales of the Game is the lone insert set I'm actually going to try to collect from the 2010 Topps release, and this is one I didn't have!

2009 Upper Deck X - UDXJ-YO - Kevin Youkilis Jersey - Sweet! This is my first game-used/relic Youkilis card. I didn't buy so much as a single pack of Upper Deck X last year, but I've ended up with a handful of Sox thanks to all the generous bloggers out there. Finally, my favorite card from the package:

2006-07 Parkhurst - #182 - Wayne Cashman - Captains #'d 3243/3999 - The 2006-07 Parkhurst set is one I'd love to build one day. In fact, once I get through my 09-10 Upper Deck set I may have to make this one next on the list. These "Captains" subset cards are numbered to 3999.

Thank you so much for the thoughtful package Justin! I'll do my best to get something back to you soon.