Month: December 2011

25 Rookie Cards for the Collection

With all the vintage cards I’ve been showing on Puck Junk lately, you probably think I’ve turned my back on newer cards.

That is so not true.

Over the past month, I’ve picked up 25 different rookie cards. Some were quarter bin fodder too good to pass up, while others were cards of awesome players at great prices. One was even given to me by a ‘Hawk-hatin’ Penguins fan. Which brings me to the first card, actually…

2010-11 O-Pee-Chee #541 – Nick Leddy (Marquee Rookies). At last month’s card show, fellow blogger Tim (The Real DFG) flat out gave me this card–and didn’t want anything in return. I guess Tim doesn’t like offensively-minded, puck-moving defensemen 🙂

2009-10 Upper Deck #203 – Matt Duchene (Young Guns). This one cost me the most out of all of these. I think I got it for less than “half book” if memory serves me correctly. Now, only 26 more Young Guns, and my 2009-10 Upper Deck set will be complete.

2008-09 Champ’s #137 – Darren Helm. Only 5 more cards and I’ll have all 100 of the Champ’s Rookies from this set.

2007-08 O-Pee-Chee #596 – Mayson Raymond (Marquee Rookies). I like Raymond, and couldn’t pass this up for a quarter.

2007-08 MVP #208 – David Krejci. Totally worth the buck I paid for it.

2007-08 Black Diamond #158 – David Krejci (Rookie Gems). I am slowly putting together the 2007-08 Black Diamond set, including all short prints. I think I got a sizable stack of the short prints for next to nothing (including a Quadruple Diamond Wayne Gretzky), so I pick away at this set when I find a card. This cost me only $2.

2006-07 Upper Deck Ovation #178 – Shea Weber. I’ve been a fan of Weber since his rookie season. Hie is an awesome defenseman, and I always try to pick up his various rookie cards when I find them.

2005-06 MVP #431 – Brent Seabrook. When I see a rookie card of a decent Blackhawk for a quarter, of course I’m going to pick it up. You all may know Seabrook as Duncan Keith’s defensive partner. The two are effective together – in fact, Seabrook was on the 2010 Canadian Olympic team so that Keith could be paired with him at the Olympics.

2005-06 Fleer Ultra #201 – Braydon Coburn. Coburn spent a season with the Chicago Wolves (2005-06) and has since developed into a reliable defenseman who always comes back. (If you don’t get the reference, watch this 30-second video).

2005-06 Fleer Ultra #220 – George Parros. This was Parros before his mustache phase.

2005-06 Fleer Ultra #241 – Ryan Clowe. I got all 3 RCs from this set for a quarter each. I bought the Coburn and Parros cards because I like those players, but this one I actually needed for my set. I’m 34 cards away from finishing it, including Sid and Ovie, so it’s gonna take a while.

2005-06 Victory #298 – Braydon Coburn. Glad they didn’t use the same photo as the Fleer Ultra card pictured above.

2005-06 Victory #280 – Ryan Getzlaf. I couldn’t belive that I found this card for only a quarter. Two of them, in fact.

2005-06 Victory #277 – George Parros. Another RC of the Ducks’ enforcer. 

2005-06 Victory #253 – Brent Seabrook. Another RC of “Seabs”.

2005-06 Beehive #103 – Jeff Carter. I like the portrait style, head-and-shoulder photographs used for the rookie cards in this set. 

2005-06 Beehive #126 – Henrik Lundqvist. A rookie card of “King Henrik”. Worth every cent of the one dollar I paid it for.

2005-06 Beehive #104 – Corey Perry. His bright blue eyes make Perry look like one of the Fremen in Dune.

2005-06 Beehive #122 – Brent Seabrook. Yes, another Seabrook RC that I couldn’t pass up.

2005-06 Beehive #134 – R.J. Umberger. This guy has been a solid player for the Columbus Blue Jackets the past 3 seasons.

2005-06 Upper Deck #216 – Henrik Lundqvist (Young Guns). This card has a “book value” of $12 to $30, so I thought it was an absolute steal for $10.

2005-06 Upper Deck #215 – Jimmy Howard (Young Guns). This photo of Howard stepping out onto the ice is pretty cool. Also note that he’s wearing his mask from his days with the University of Maine.

2005-06 Upper Deck #203 – Dion Phaneuf (Young Guns). Did you know that Phaneuf came in third in voting for the 2006 Calder Trophy? At one time, Phaneuf was considered a better prospect (and defenseman) than Duncan Keith. How times have changed.

2005-06 Upper Deck #230 – Duncan Keith (Young Guns). Speaking of Keith, I got this Duncan Keith rookie card from AU Sports, which is one of my favorite card shops. Now I am only 23 Young Guns away (including Crosby and Ovechkin) from having the entire set.

2002-03 Upper Deck #204 – Sean Avery (Young Guns). I also got this Sean Avery card from AU Sports. This reminds me of my favorite Sean Avery video of all time. (It’s 39 seconds well-spent).

Best Grab Bag Gift Ever

About 10 days before Christmas, my department at Columbia College had a faculty and staff Christmas party. I ended up with this Air Jet Hockey game, which was totally the most appropriate gift for me to get in the “Yankee Swap” gift exchange.

This game is pretty sweet. It measures 20″ inches long by 13″ inches wide. It includes 2 sets of paddles so up to 4 people can play. It also comes with 4 pucks–two round and two triangular. And best of all, it actually does have little holes that shoot air, making the puck glide quite nicely.

I put a hockey card on it so you can get an idea of the size.

This will go down in history as the best “grab bag” gift I ever got.

Where were you 20 years ago?

Twenty years ago to this day – December 27, 1991 – I was probably at this game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Winnipeg Jets.

I say probably because I have no recollection of going to this game.

And yet, I have this ticket stub.

My Aunt had season tickets to the Chicago Blackhawks from 1989-90 to 1991-92. I was a lucky kid who got to go to a lot of games during that 3-year span.

I guess when you go to enough games, you are bound to forget a few.

There are so many hockey games that I’ll never forget: my first game (Hawks vs. Islanders) and second game (Hawks vs. Flames) are permanently etched in my memory.

I’ll never forget the standing ovation that Denis Savard got when he played his first game at Chicago Stadium as a member of the Canadiens.

I still remember the shockwaves that went through me when I witnessed a Doug Wilson slapshot rip the stick out of Darren Puppa’s hand.

I still hear those two drunk guys bellowing “GUYYYYY LAFLEURRRRRR” every time Lafleur took to the ice in a game against the Nordiques.

But this game against Winnipeg? I got nothing.

Apparently, Brian Noonan of the Blackhawks got a hat trick. Hat tricks are pretty memorable events, so why don’t I recall this one?

Mike Peluso fought Mike Hartman. I loved hockey fights as a kid, but it probably wasn’t the fight to end all fights.

Oh, and the game ended in a 3-3 tie.

That’s probably why I forgot going to this game. Ties suck.

Pro Set Holiday Card

1990_proset_card_front

It’s no secret that, even 20 years later, I still love Pro Set trading cards. So when I found this holiday greeting card at The National back in August, I eagerly bought it. It was sent out by Pro Set in 1990–most likely to companies and suppliers who dealt with them, but it may have been sent out to Pro Set Gazette subscribers (though I cannot confirm that) Continue reading “Pro Set Holiday Card”

Eric Lindros Holiday Card

1990_score_lindros_front

This was one of the many oddball items I purchased at The National Sports Collectors’ Convention, way back in August: a holiday greeting card featuring then-future top prospect and soon-to-be first overall pick Eric Lindros.

I’ve kept this card under my proverbial hat until the time was right to show the rest of the hockey card-collecting world. That time being the holidays, of course.  Continue reading “Eric Lindros Holiday Card”

23 cards from 1960-61 Topps Hockey

On a whim, I decided to start building the 1960-61 Topps Hockey set. This was at a card show last month. While I’ve been prioritizing other sets, like 1963-64 Parkhurst, I came across a dealer who had 21 cards in decent shape–most priced at $5 to $6 each. Another dealer had 2 more cards from the set at $3.75 each. Take a look at what I got:

4 – Ernie Johnson (All-Time Greats)

6 – Bill Hay

9 – Jimmy Morrison

12 – Murray Balfour

13 – Leo Labine

18 – George Sullivan

24 – Charlie Burns – Note that he’s wearing a helmet. 
Quite an oddity for 1960.

30 – Jack Evans

31 – Guy Gendron

33 – Ab McDonald

37 – Dean Prentice

40 – Don McKenny

41 – Ron Murphy

42 – Andy Hebenton

43 – Don Simmons

49 – Harry Howell

51 – Tod Sloan

53 – Camille Henry

56 – Bob Armstrong

57 – Ferny Flaman

61 – Lou Fontinato – This one has writing on it,
but was only $3 so I couldn’t pass it up.

62 – Leo Boivin

66 – Vic Stasiuk – Always nice to get the last card in the set.
This haul brings my count to 25 cards–or roughly 37% of the set. Of course, I need the biggest two cards: Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, the latter being his rookie card.  Otherwise, the majority of the set seems pretty attainable.

6% of a 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Set

Last month I purchased 25 cards–roughly 6%–from the 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Hockey set. This brings me up to 177 out of 396 cards.

Of course, when you still require the Wayne Gretzky rookie card for your set, you can have 395 cards and still feel like you are about a thousand cards short.

Nonetheless, I now have the second and third-best cards in this set:
 

#175 – Gordie Howe

#185 – Bobby Hull

I got a few other key cards, including…

#161 – Mike Bossy (Record Breakers)

#100 – Bryan Trottier

#215 – Bernie Federko

#145 – John Tonelli (RC)

#164 – Brad Park (Record Breakers)

#225 – Jean Ratelle

#1 – Goal Leaders (Bossy/Dionne/Lafleur)

Another 218 cards–plus a Gretzky RC–to complete this landmark set. In the meantime, I’ll continue to chip away at it, a few cards here and there.

QUESTION: At what point do you “page” your sets? That is, when do you put a near-complete set into pages? Do you get a certain percentage, like at least half? Or do you wait until you have every single card? Or, do you not use pages at all…?

2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 – Tin Break #1

A few days ago, I was at Target and decided to peruse the trading card aisle. I’ve been pretty good at avoiding blaster boxes this year, but I saw something shiny that caught my eye: a collector’s tin of 2011-12 Upper Deck Series One.

I was intrigued. This tin did not have the usual “retail packs,” and yet these were not quite full-fledged “hobby packs,” either. Like hobby packs, you get 12 cards per pack, 1 Young Guns card in every 4 packs and 1 Canvas card in every 6 packs. The only major difference is that the jersey cards here are seeded 1:24 instead of 1:12. So, you may or may not get one in the tin.

The cost was $30 for the 12-pack tin–so this roughly equates to buying half a hobby box (minus the guaranteed jersey card). After some deliberation, I decided to buy it (they had one left). Here is what I got: Continue reading “2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 – Tin Break #1”