1963-64 Parkhurst #43 – Pete Goegan

Another card for my fledgling 1963-64 Parkhurst set. Admittedly, I am a bit disappointed in its condition. In the eBay auction, it looked OK, but once I received it I see it has a lot of creases, even more than the Gordie Howe card that I bought last year. Most likely, I did not scrutinize the photo in the eBay auction as good as I could have. No matter, as I paid a grand total of $3.24 for this card, including shipping. Yes, it is not the greatest-looking card in the world, but I am a collector on a budget. Not to sound defensive, or anything.

And this makes 5 cards out of 99.

Thanks Brandon!

A belated “Thanks!” to Brandon Wagner for sending me some hockey cards. Brandon maintains a blog aptly named Cardboard Hockey, ETC., and usually posts about packs of hockey cards he’s opened recently.

Not only did he hook me up with a bunch of 2008-09 Artifacts cards I needed for my set, he also threw in some cool miscellaneous cards, including two packs of 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee and this 2008-09 Collector’s Choice Jonathan Toews card.

OK, Toews isn’t really miscellaneous. He’s the team captain of the Blackhawks, and was a starter in the All-Star game this year. This card shows him in the ‘Hawks second game from the 2008-09 season, against the Washington Capitals.

As for those 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee packs…maybe I’ll open them up and see if the gum still tastes as good as it did 18 years ago.

1963-64 Parkhurst #56 – Billy McNeill

It’s been a while since I purchased a 1963-64 Parkhurst Hockey card. The same day the Penguins won the cup, I got this in the mail. It is a card of former Red Wing Billy McNeill.

The card is in decent shape, with the typical discoloration and rounding of the corners. With shipping, it cost me $4.50.

I now have 3 cards, and need 96 more. Slow and steady wins the race…

Thanks, Greg


Thanks goes out to fellow sports card blogger Greg Armentrout, who sent me a bunch of cards featuring Michigan State Spartan hockey players – and a few coaches too – including this card you see here of current NHL player Rod Brind’Amour.

As you know, I love cards that show players before they made it to the pros, from the junior leagues to the minor leagues. You don’t often see too many college hockey cards, either, so these are very much appreciated. The Michigan State set has cards of a few guys who made it to the pros, including Joe Murphy, Bob Essensa, Kelly Miller and Kip Miller.

Beckett Marketplace purchase

Last week, I decided to purchase a bunch of cards from a Beckett.com dealer. I got free shipping, and it scratched a few itches for me.

For several years now, I’ve wanted to own the 2001-02 Topps Heritage Parallel set. Seeded one per pack, the cards resemble the classic 1971-72 Topps/OPC set, which is among my favorites. No one ever sells these cards as a full set, but I was able to find a dealer that had all 110 cards. About 1/3 of the cards were 25 cents, and another 1/3 were 45 cents. It cost me $61.47 to purchase all 110 cards.

I also purchased several cards to kill off some sets:

— 1989-90 O-Pee-Chee (1 card)
— 1993-94 Donruss (1 card)
— 1993-94 Leaf Hat Tricks insert set (2 cards)
— 1995-96 Pinnacle Select (1 card)
— 1996-97 Leaf (1 card)
— 2008-09 Fleer Ultra (5 cards)

Finally, I picked up another 67 different Chris Chelios cards. I’m trying to get all of Chelios’ cards. I now have 326 different Chelios cards in my collection.


If you are considering ordering from the Beckett.com marketplace, you should know that if you order $50 or more from a single dealer, then the shipping is free. However, if you place an order over $100, then for some reason the site wants to charge you for shipping. So, I’d recommend placing an order between $50 and $99.99, because once your order hits $100 they try to charge you $14 or so for shipping.

The ’73-74 Topps set build

I was at a card show this past weekend, and suddenly decided that I am going to build a 1973-74 Topps Hockey set.

OK, maybe not suddenly. Even my “sudden” decisions still seem to be mulled over.

Truth be told, I never really cared for the ’73-74 design. The variance in border colors are rather haphazard, the team name in that little “ribbon” just gets in the way while the torn edges around each photo seems arbitrary.

In other words, the design just plain sucks. But…I have every Topps set from 1968-69 to 1972-73, so this would be the next “logical” 1970s set to collect. Like I said, even sudden decisions have some rationale to them.

Well, I’m not the only one who seems to dislike this set. At the show I went to, most of the cards were very cheap, and I was able to pick up 133 cards for $53–including Bill Barber (RC), Gilles Gilbert (RC), Dave “The Hammer” Schultz (RC), Darryl Sittler, Marcel Dionne, Stan Mikita, Rick Martin, Gilbert Perreault, a “marked up” checklist and some minor stars.

Checking my collection, I already have a Billy Smith RC. I remember paying $4 for it back in 1991. I also have the Guy Lafleur card from that set–probably paid $1 or $2 for it back then–as well as 14 other commons that I’ve had forever and probably paid a dime each for.

On Monday, I managed to pick up the Bobby Orr card in the set for $5.

Counting the cards I bought when I was a kid, I spent $65 thus far on putting together this ’73-74 set. My goal is to piece the set together for less than the Beckett “low” price of $125.

Of course, I’ll need a Ken Dryden, Bobby Clarke, Phil Esposito, Tony Esposito and a few of those “League Leaders” cards. Once I get those–and an upgraded checklist–the rest I need are commons.

After that, it will be onto 1974-75…as well as all of the “current” sets I’m always trying to build.

Bought some "Old Guns"

This weekend, I picked up several 2003-04 Upper Deck Young Guns cards. Seeing as how these cards are from five years ago, the players depicted aren’t necessarily “young” anymore – at least, not “Patrick Kane young”. Most of the YGs in the group were common, but here are the best of the lot:

Eric Staal
#206 – Eric Staal

Joffrey Lupul
#202 – Joffrey Lupul

Matt Stajan
#242 – Matt Stajan

Milan Michalek
#238 – Milan Michalek

Alexander Semin
#219 – Alexander Semin

Now I have most of the expensive Young Guns from this set. I don’t have the Marc-Andre Fleury card yet, which will be a bit of an expense. Otherwise, I think it’s pretty much downhill from here.

If anyone has Young Guns from this set for trade–especially commons–drop me a line.

Thank you Martin!

I would like to thank Martin Van Olst of Edmonton, Alberta for generously sending some hockey cards my way, including this one…

Jets Sticker

Martin kindly sent me the last five 1987-88 Topps insert stickers I needed to complete my set, as well as some other random cards I needed for some of my sets-in-progress.

Martin–thank you for your generosity. I hope that I can locate some of the cards you need.

Best $2 purchase ever!

I was thumbing through a binder full of miscellaneous hockey cards at the local card shop, and came across this beauty:

1974-75 O-Pee-Chee The HowesThe owner of the shop told me I could have it for two bucks. I informed him that this card was worth significantly more–even though the edges are a bit rough–but he said that I’m a good customer so he didn’t want much for it.

This card is very cool. It is from the 1974-75 O-Pee-Chee WHA set, and depicts Hall of Famer Gordie Howe along with his two sons Mark and Marty. This was Gordie’s first card in three years–his last being in the 1971-72 sets. But this card also serves as a rookie card for both Marty and Mark–the latter who would go on to play 22 seasons of pro hockey (six in the WHA followed by 16 in the NHL).

The card is not perfect. The edges have those typical OPC rough edges, and there seems to be a bit of a blemish to the right of Marty’s head. Nonetheless, for two bucks I ain’t complaining. It might be the best $2 hockey card purchase I ever made.