Bad Ad

I saw this advertisement at a bus stop in my neighborhood the other day. It is an ad for the NHL on VS., featuring Chicago Blackhawks players.

A poorly-designed ad. Yes, I’ve been quite critical lately.

The first thing that bugs me is how close Dave Bolland and Jonathan Toews are. I have never seen hockey players lean into each other–shoulder to shoulder–when jumping the boards. Plus, Bolland’s eyes are looking right at Toews, while Toewes is looking off into the distance. Shouldn’t he be looking at the guy he’s about to collide with?


Secondly–why doesn’t Toews have a stick?

Third, Adam Burish’s elbow makes a cameo. That number 37 at the left edge of the poster used to belong to Burish. Now, no one wears it because all the new ‘Hawks know they can’t possibly replace Burish’s awesomeness.

There’s a wider version of this ad that I’m trying to get a photo of–it’s on the side of Chicago buses, but the darn things won’t hold still long enough for me to snap a pic. I wonder how man ex-Hawks are on the larger (wider) version of this advertisement.

1957-58 Topps #22 – Pierre Pilote

I received this eBay purchase in the mail today. Finally, I’ve added a “big card” to my 1957-58 Topps set build.

This is Hall of Fame defenseman Pierre Pilote’s rookie card.

As you can see, the centering is way off.

However, there is no creasing and the corners are good.

Plus, I did not pay much for it. The Beckett high price for a Pilote RC is around $100. I got this for $23 shipped. It feels good to get another card for this set–but it feels really good to get one of the big boys out of the way.

Set completion as of 11-3-2010: 
11 out of 66 cards = 16.6%


Minor League Mistakes

Those of you who read my Autograph Blog know that I recently visited all 30 American Hockey League websites, looking for each team’s player roster.

For the record, I am a professional web designer and graphic designer. I would love to be the webmaster of a pro hockey website. I think that mistakes or poor design on a professional website show laziness or lack of interest on the part of the webmaster / web team.

Thus, I feel the need to point out some of the more amusing mistakes I found on a few of these sites.

Mistake #1 – Distorted Images

Nathan Oystrick looks fat. In fact, every Peoria Rivermen player looks fat because their headshot photos are distorted.

Without getting into boring technical solutions, the picture needs to be taller, like this:

See? Much better? And it would only take them 5 minutes total to fix this problem for all the player pages. 

Mistake #2 – Incorrect Data 

Allegedly, the Syracuse Crunch have a center on their roster named COMING SOON. He has a page on the site, too.

Though COMING SOON’s height and weight are unknown, he was born July 06, 2010. I tell ya, these prospects keep getting younger and younger.

But he must be good because he is the first player listed under Forwards:

Even worse are the stats for goaltender Timo Pielmeier:

C’mon, guys–fix your database! Because I really want to know how well he did with the Cologne Sharks!

But this third one really takes the cake…

Mistake #3 – Bad Graphic Design

Amputee cheerleaders! Yes, the New England Patriot Cheerleaders–and their phantom limbs–will be at the Worcester Sharks game on Saturday. This image is currently on the Sharks’ home page:

Why do the cheerleaders fade out below the knee? To make room for the text, of course. But it looks stupid. When it comes to design, you try until you get it right…or don’t try at all.

In Other News…

  • I will not be on The War Room this Wednesday (11/3), but will return to the show next Wednesday (11/10).
  • This month is allegedly National Blog Posting Month. So, I’m going to try and update this site and my autograph site every day.


3 new cards for my 1957-58 Topps set

As I mentioned last week, I am now trying to build a set of 1957-58 Topps Hockey. Here are 3 cards that bring me closer to completing the 66-card set:

#18 – Leo Boivin – Boston Bruins – Boivin played 18 seasons in the NHL, and was a member of the inaugural Pittsburgh Penguins team in 1967-68. The next season, he would play on the Minnesota North Stars with this guy…

#27 – Elmer “Moose” Vasko – Standing at 6’2″, Vasko was a large defenseman back in the day. He was a member of the Blackhawks team that won the Stanley Cup in 1961. Interestingly, he was once fined $100 by the North Stars for not playing aggressively enough.

#29 – Ron Murphy – Chicago Blackhawks – Murphy played in the NHL for 18 seasons, and was also a member of the ’61 Cup-winning ‘Hawks team. 

Set completion as of 10-27-2010: 
10 out of 66 cards = 15%

Selling at a Card Show – Recap

Yesterday, I sold hockey cards at a sports card show. Or, more accurately, tried to sell hockey cards at a sports card show.

As good as this show has been in the past (at least, from a buyer’s perspective), a few things kept this show from being profitable for me.

Did I break even? Sort of. The table cost me $40. I sold $40 worth of stuff. 

The show went from 9 AM to 2 PM. Here’s a quick rundown…

8:10 AM – Arrive at the show.

8:45 AM – All set up. If you build it, they will come…

9:10 AM – OK, maybe not. Perhaps this was too ambitious of an endeavour.

9:15 AM – Made my first sale. $20. A few other small sales follow.

10:00 AM – Still haven’t broken even.

10:30 AM – Haven’t sold a thing in 40 minutes.

11:10 AM – The room has gotten loud. More people. Maybe things will pick up.

11:50 AM – Finally broke even. Just over 2 hours left in the show.

12:05 PM – A hush falls across the room. One dealer has packed up and left.

12:30 PM – The Bears are playing? Really? I wish I thought of that before deciding to sell at this show.

12:50 PM – The only people looking at my table are other dealers. At this point, about half of the 50 or so vendors have either left or are packing up.

1:15 PM – I decide to call it quits, and pack up my table.

1:30 PM – Sal-vis has left the building.

So, what went wrong?

First, few people came. I’ve seen this show get crowded, but unfortunately not this time.

Second, the economy is still bad. Back in the day, most collectors would spend $5 on a card they wanted. Now, they either try to buy it for $3 or don’t buy it at all.

Third, the $%&* Bears were playing! Whatever small buzz the show had was pretty much killed once the Bears game started.

What really riles me, though, is that many of the people I saw were wearing Blackhawks apparel, and yet they didn’t want any of my sweet ‘Hawks stuff.

Anyway, here’s a few pictures of my set up:

Blackhawks cards from 1970 to 2010. .There’s also some old team calenders and a few other odds n’ ends.

Complete sets. Sure, a lot of it is “junk wax” era, but some of it was newer. I even had a few insert sets from the 1970s, and a complete 1982-83 O-Pee-Chee set for sale.

Non-Blackhawks hockey cards, including 2010-11 Victory Rookies, some 2009-10 Young Guns, and other decent cards from the late 1960s through the 1980s.

I had the most hockey cards and memorabilia at the show, my prices were great (seriously), but few people equals few sales.

The promoter–who is a very nice man–asked me if I wanted to do this show next month. I politely told him no, but said that I might be up for trying this again in  a couple of months.

And the crazy thing is, I just might try again. 

Or maybe that’s a stupid thing…

I have more thoughts on this, but those will be saved for a future blog post.

I’m Selling at a Card Show this Sunday

So, for the first time in 15 years, I plunked down some money to rent a table at a sports card show.

Yes, I’ll be at a card show…but to SELL, not to BUY. What a twist!

The show happens this Sunday, October 24.

Everyone near Chicago who reads this blog should come to the show and buy my hockey cards and memorabilia. Here are the details:

Sports Card & More Show
Sunday, October 24, 2010
9 AM to 2 PM
Orland Park Civic Center
1 blk. W. of La Grange Rd at 147th St.
Admission: $1

I’ll even provide this map to make your journey easier….

Click on the map to see larger

Still not sure? Well, you can follow this link to get driving directions from your place to the show.

So, why am I selling at card show? Although I am in this hobby for the enjoyment it gives me, I’ve got too much stuff and need to clear out some space. And hopefully make enough cash to buy some of the upcoming products like Certified and Score.

Plus, hockey is (relatively) huge in Chicago right now, so I can’t think of a better time to sell hockey cards and collectibles. At a garage sale in June, I sold quite a few Blackhawks items. And during an “Art & Collectibles Show” in September, I actually did quite well selling hockey cards. Thus, selling at a card show seems like a no-brainer.

Still, there are risks involved–time and money. Cost of the table, gas, food, hiring a dog walker…and cost of placating my girlfriend who will be helping me at the show.

Plus, I’ll probably feel like a fool if I don’t at least break even on my expenses.

I used to sell at card shows in the 1990s, when I was an ambitious teenager. Some days I made a killing, and others I did just OK. But I always had fun. Hopefully, I will have fun this Sunday.

If you read this blog and decide to go to this show, drop by my table and say “hi”.

Starting a New Set

Last week on a whim, I decided to pick up some cards from the 1957-58 Topps Hockey Set. I purchased 7 fair grade cards, only paying about $2 or $3 per card…

Getting these cards makes me want to try and complete the 1957-58 Topps Set. Sure, some of the cards are really expensive, like Gordie Howe, Johnny Bucyk (RC), Terry Sawchuk and Glenn Hall (RC).

But there are only 66 cards in the set, so while some cards are in the $100-$300 range, most of them are not.

The cards you see here don’t look the greatest–some have rounded corners and small creases. They do look a lot better once put in a card page. (Except for the back of that Dean Prentice card–whoa!).

I’ve lowered my standards a bit when it comes to really old cards and condition. Sure, we all want a near-mint card that is 50 years old…but then you have to pay the price. For most of these old cards, I’ll settle for lesser quality if it means picking them up on the cheap.

How Many Licks Does It Take?

Remember that old commercial where the boy asks Mr. Owl “how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?”

Well, getting my new issue of Beckett Hockey Magazine, I wondered how many minutes it would take me to read this magazine.

In the past, I’ve complained that Beckett is 80% price guide, 8% advertisements and only 12% content that you actually read–and yet I subscribed to it because I got it for $3 an issue.

Is it worth it? I guess that depends on how long it entertains me.

Thus, I decided to time myself reading the new issue of Beckett Hockey. I read all the articles and even the advertisements–those are of interest to hockey card collectors. And though I flipped through the price guide, I didn’t read that part page-by-page–that’s pretty unrealistic, as no one would read the price guide page-by-page, line-by line like they would a book or mag.

So, how long does it take to get to the end of a Beckett Hockey Magazine?

For me, 22 minutes, 34 seconds…and 57 one-hundredths of a second (if you want to get all “Olympic Time Trials” about it). I made sure not to just skim the pages, but actually read them.

I guess 22-plus minutes isn’t a bad read. However, it was the content itself that was lacking:

  • The lead-off article “Behind the Scenes at the NHL Rookie Showcase” was a lot of boring photos of the players just standing around, off ice. The photos were also small and dark, as if taken with a camera phone. Actual action shots would be, you know, more interesting.
  • “10 Reasons  to Collect P.K. Subban” was stretching things a bit. Is the fact that a promo card featuring Subban sold for $25 a “reason” to collect his cards?
  • Short articles about the upcoming Score and ITG Ultimate Memorabilia cards, and the already-out WHA Hall of Fame set. Although many bloggers, including myself, have already talked about these sets, you can’t fault a print publicaton for being slow when compared to the internet.
  • “Readers Write” is usually an interesting part of the mag, because it answers hockey card-related questions. This time, only one question…plus a reader telling us what he got in a break of 2009-10 SP Game Used, and how much he sold each card for. Yawn.
  • And there are other short articles, like “Super Collector”–where a guy talks about his Anze Kopitar collection–and the “Top 20 Hot Singles.” A few other “blurbs” here and there.

Twenty-two minutes well spent? I’m not so sure. I wish there was just more interesting stuff to read besides box breakdowns, previews of products we already know about and being told why I should collect a player that everyone is going to collect. Talk about a set from 30 years ago, or some obscure small release we might have missed from 2000. Anything is better than “What We Got in a Box of Premier.”