Cards from Casey at Drop the Gloves

It's high time I got around to a long overdue thank you post to Casey at Drop the Gloves.  Quite some time ago, must be months now, I received a package in the mail from a familiar address.  Truth be told, I don't recall if this was from a contest or if Casey was just being a nice guy, but either way he sent along some really great cards.  I've finally had time to scan and catalog all of them, here are some of my favorites:

We'll start off with this awesome 1970-71 Topps Johnny Bucyk.  First of all, any Topps hockey card from the '70s that I don't already have, especially in this shape, is an awesome surprise to receive in the mail.  When you consider that Bucyk is one of the most notable members of the '70s Boston Stanley Cup teams and a Hall-of-Famer to boot, I was stunned to see this one in the envelope.

That's not all though, there was a second Bruins great and Hall of Famer from the same set:

This one's in great shape as well, and as has been noted countless times Phil appears to be wearing either golf or pajama pants in this photo.

These two vintage beauties are very much appreciated and make this one of the better packages I received all year.  That wasn't all though, Casey included a whole slew of newer Bruins cards as well.  Here are some highlights...

Here's a set I haven't seen much of, 2010-11 Upper Deck SP Authentic.  "Sets I haven't seen much of" will be a common theme throughout this package...

There were a handful of 2011-12 Upper Deck cards that I didn't have, including this awesome shot of mid-air Milan.

I have very few Tyler Seguin cards, so this Certified base card was much appreciated.

A very shiny Black Diamond Number 4 Bobby Orr.  Another set that I didn't have any cards from prior...

I think the Canvas inserts in last year's Upper Deck set were some of the best inserts of the year.  More on that in a future post...

This card, along with the Tim Thomas that led off the post, represents my first 2011-12 Pinnacle.

My very first 2011-12 Score card as well, a year late is better than never I guess.

I used to love the Pinnacle Rink Collection parallels back in the day.  This is my first from the 2010-11 set though.

Also included were a handful of 2010-11 Upper Deck Bruins, none of which I had.  Daniel Paille is my favorite photo of the bunch.

While I gave up on my Krejci player collection, I still do appreciate a new Krejci card.

These two are from a Biography of a Season set that I'm not too familiar with.  I think they're maybe 2010-11 Upper Deck flagship inserts?

My one and only (even to this day) Zenith base card.  For some reason I really like the look of these.

Here's a 2007-08 Upper Deck McDonald's Patrice Bergeron card.  Patrice is the only Bruin in the set, so I guess I can consider this card a team set as well.

Two more shiny McDonald's cards...

Some 2011-12 O-Pee-Chee.  These are alright, but the Retro parallels are way cooler:

Seguin, Marchand, Borque and Esposito!  Wow!  As if all of that weren't enough, there were some Red Sox needs as well:

I'm actually chasing the 2012 Archives baseball set, so these first few counted on a couple of fronts...

These were my first 2012 Gypsy Queen cards at the time the package came, and Casey contributed one of the first cards towards my Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox collection as well.

Thanks for the absolutely amazing package Casey, sorry it took me so long to properly thank you.  You pretty much single-handedly got my modern-day Bruins collection up to a respectable level!  Thanks buddy!

Shoebox Legends Card Draft - Second Bonus Round

Before we get to the second bonus round there are a couple of items of note:

-I just posted rounds 7 & 8 if you want to check it out.  I could use revised lists for jacobmrley, Squires32 and Rayzor, only because you each have around 10 cards or less remaining on your original lists.  Anyone who wants to send me a revised list at this point in the game please get it to me by 5pm EST tomorrow if you want it to count towards the rounds coming up this weekend.  Please note, if you could include the # that I assigned the card on the original draft post on your list it would be extremely helpful and save me some time.

-To that end, Rayzor, I need some clarification on your list.  You have "Prince Fielder" listed, however there are two Fielder cards.  Did you mean #153 (already claimed) or #157?  Please let me know either in the comments here or drop me an email, or just get me a revised list that clarifies.

-Finally, I still need either Rayzor or jacobmrley to select a card from the first bonus round.  Maas and Pettitte are left, if neither of you has a preference I'll just randomly decide.

And now, for the second bonus round...

1.  Carew/Fornieles vintage (Carew is creased with paper loss on back, Fornieles isn't exactly mint either)
2.  Dave Leggett '50s Bowman football card
3.  1986-87 Topps Wendel Clark RC
4.  Johan Franzen Young Guns RC

5.  Derek Jeter Diamond Anniversary Parallel
6.  Neuvirth Young Guns RC
7.  Masterson/Papelbon Diamond Anniversary Parallels

First of all, if you skipped past everything I wrote above in an attempt to be the first to comment here don't bother, please go back and read it!  This round will be selected in an order that I have chosen.  I know how it feels to get burned and miss out on a card you really wanted, so I've calculated the order here based on who made out best and worst on their original lists over the first couple of rounds.  Draft order will be as follows:

-jacobmrley (only guy who did not get one of his top two cards in the first round)
-buckstorecards (only guy besides jacobmrley to have to go outside his top three in the first two rounds)
-Squires32
-CaptKirk42
-The Daily Dimwit
-Rayzor
-Dan (sorry buddy, you got the Brooks auto and the #1 and #2 cards on your list!)

Please comment in order and let me know which selection you'd like.  jacobmrley you're up first!

Trade with buckstorecards

I recently completed a trade with buckstorecards, aka Douglas from Sportscards From the Dollar Store.

It started as a Zistle trade, my second so far.  The trade began as a relatively small exchange with some Whalers and '82-83 O-Pee-Chee headed my way.  Douglas is truly a nice guy though, and he kept an eye out for other things I needed, turning this into quite the exchange.  I received this Blaine Stoughton team leaders card that I need for my '82-83 O-Pee-Chee set, along with more than 30 other cards off my want list from the set!

On top of that there were an assortment of Whalers cards, more than half of which I needed.  This '90-91 O-Pee-Chee Pat Verbeek might be my favorite.  I've got the '90-91 Topps set, but not many O-Pee-Chee for whatever reason.  I need to rectify that...

A couple of '92-93 Pinnacle, a team set that for whatever reason I still haven't completed.

1992-93 Topps really is a great set as well.  I think I'm close to a Whalers team set now but I didn't have this Geoff Sanderson...

...or this Bobby Holik.  If the O-Pee-Chee and Whalers cards weren't enough, Douglas also went out of his way to track down three cards off of my Most Wanted list:

First is this Brendan Shanahan from the 2011-12 SP Authentic set.  For some reason, despite only playing in 76 total career games with Hartford, Upper Deck continues to feature Brendan in a Whalers uniform pretty regularly.  In fact it's kind of a shame but it seems that Shanahan, Ron Francis and Gordie Howe were the only three people to ever don the Whalers sweater as far as Upper Deck is concerned.  Oh well, still a great card.

Also off the Most Wanted list is this 2012-13 O-Pee-Chee Pop Ups Ron Francis insert.  This is one I've had my eye on since I first saw it, but I've never been able to find it for a reasonable price and haven't wanted to pay $3.50 to ship a single card from an eBay win.

Finally, we have another new Milt Schmidt, a retro parallel from this year's O-Pee-Chee set.  What a great grouping of cards.  Having a Most Wanted list on my blog has paid off already!

Oh yeah, also in the package were the last 7 cards I needed to complete the 2009-10 Upper Deck flagship set (minus the Young Guns SPs of course).  Feels great to cross another entire set off the want list.

Thanks for a fantastic trade Douglas!  I guess I need to find some replacement cards for my Most Wanted list now...

Shoebox Legends Card Draft - Bonus Round 1

I've just gotten through rounds 4-6 of the draft so be sure to check in to see how you're doing.  May get another round or two up today, if not tomorrow for sure...

In the meantime, here's the first bonus round.  For this first round we're just going with a first to comment order.  If you're one of the 7 participants just comment on this post indicating which card you'd like and it will be added to your stack.

Trust me, this is by far the weakest of the bonus rounds, really just an extra card for all of you since I don't have any interest in these.  Remember, you'll have a chance to trade anything you don't want at the end of the draft as well.

Signature Sundays - Gerry Cheevers

I've professed my love for the 2006-07 Parkhurst on-card autographs numerous times, and this week's Signature Sunday post is my most recent acquisition from the set:

I've wanted a Gerry Cheevers auto for a long time, since I got back into collecting really.  Not only is he one of the iconic goaltenders for my current favorite team, but he did color commentary for all of the Hartford Whalers games that I used to watch on TV as a kid growing up in Connecticut.  There are a lot of Cheevers autos out there, but I've wanted this one in particular since I first saw it.  The '06-07 Parkhurst set has some really great photos, and this one's a prime example.  I never wanted to pay more than $20 though, and recently my stinginess paid off as I landed this one for $12.50 plus $3 and change for shipping. 

Hall-of-Famer, 2 Stanley Cup Championships and oh yeah...a stretch of 33 undefeated games in 1972.  Can't beat that for about $15 shipped!  The only thing that would have made this card better would be inclusion of Cheevers' stitch mask, perhaps the greatest mask in hockey history.  Oh well...

My First Card Draft Haul

A few weeks back I participated in my first ever card draft over at The Diamond King.  I had a great time picking out my top cards and waiting in anticipation to see how each round played out.  In the end, counting a couple of bonus rounds I ended up with 25 cards.  Here are my 15 favorites:

This Stadium Club 3x3 Luminous Garciaparra insert is one of the strangest die-cuts I've seen.  I wasn't really shooting for book value or overall value of my draft, was really just taking the approach of trying to land a few Red Sox cards, as well as some unique miscellaneous cards for my collection.

Along those lines, here is a Red Sox card that I knew I wanted and was happy to land somewhere in the middle rounds.  It's a Topps Combos insert from the 2001 Topps flagship set.

Since I had won the above insert I decided to grab this one as well, from the same Combos insert set and also featuring the Splendid Splinter.

This 2002 Topps Tribute Bo Jackson card is actually really, really shiny.  It's super thick too.  A great shot of a really fascinating athlete.

Couldn't pass on this '73 Kellogg's Mickey Lolich.  This may end up as trade bait someday, but I'm hanging onto it for now.

There were a few Garciaparra cards in the draft, and this was the other that I really wanted to land.  I've only recently started scanning and cataloging my Nomar cards, and I knew I needed this one.

This Donruss Originals "What If 1980" insert doesn't really fit any specific aspect of my collection, but I really like the look of the card, which is obviously a riff on what a 1980 Donruss set may have looked like.

I accumulate Ozzie Smith cards when I can, and of the few that were in this draft this 1995 Stadium Club Ring Leaders insert is the one I wanted most.  This is just an awesome, totally over-the-top gaudy 1990s insert set, I'd like to complete it one day.

Yes, I know this is the single ugliest card in the 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces baseball set, but I needed this parallel (green linen I believe it is called) for my Red Sox collection and was able to snag it in the later rounds of the draft.

This Heritage Stephen Strasburg featuring the Topps All-Star Rookie Cup was actually my selection in one of the bonus rounds.  I don't buy much new wax any longer, so my collection lacks a bit of modern day star-power.  I was happy to end up with this one.

Along those same lines I drafted my very first Mike Trout card in another bonus round, from this year's Topps Chrome set.

The Expos are what drew me to this '97 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion Vlad Guerrero card...

Here's one of my higher-round picks.  I'm not really sure why I never owned a copy of this Donruss Maddux rookie until now, but I'm glad I've finally got my own after all these years.

Here's the one card that in retrospect I probably had slated higher than I should have, a David Ortiz RC from '98 Stadium Club.  I took this card in the 4th round, when really I should have saved it for much later than that.  I don't mind though, as a Red Sox fan and collector it's about time I got an Ortiz RC of some sort.

Finally, another addition to my ever-growing Nolan Ryan collection, from the '81 Topps set.

Thanks to The Diamond King for a great draft!  I had so much fun with this that it inspired me to do my own draft.  There are actually 3 spots left, and registration is open until 6pm EST today if you're interested!