Back in April, I purchased a box of 2008-09 Champ’s Hockey. It was somewhat of a weak moment. I had just received my income tax return, and I went to a new card shop that I had never visited before. The dealer told me that he’d sell me a box of Champ’s for $100, including tax, if I paid him in cash.
Now, normally I don’t buy high-end stuff. I’m the guy who’s on the sidelines, watching some other schlub open up expensive packs and boxes and getting the good autograph cards, while I seldom buy anything more expensive than regular Upper Deck. For once, I wanted to open an expensive box of something, and I was intrigued by this Champ’s product, with all the dinosaur bones and whatnot.
So, like the beer drinker who for once had enough to buy a bottle of fine scotch, I bought a box of Champ’s. I meant to post this box breakdown sooner, but got sidetracked and then forgot. Today, I found the post-it note that listed what was inside this box:
As you can see, I got three “hits” in this box. First the autographed cards:
How about that? I got a hard-signed autograph card of Steve Stamkos, who was probably the most anticipated rookie from the 2008-09 season. No, he did not win the Calder, but getting a Stamkos ‘graph is pretty awesome, and preferable to an autograph of, say…
…Jon Filewich. Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of this guy. I sure didn’t until I got an autograph of him. He played 5 games in 2007-08 for the Penguins, and has been in the minors ever since. Maybe in 5 years he’ll become the next Maxime Talbot. Or not.
But speaking of Penguins, I got a pretty rad jersey card:
I nearly lost it when I got this Mario Lemieux jersey swatch card. I normally detest jersey cards, because I never get any good ones. Well, I think this one is pretty impressive.
Getting a Stamkos autograph and a Lemieux jersey card made this a worthwhile break. Too bad the other autograph was not of a more, ahem, significant player–but 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, right?
As for the other cards (base, minis, etc.) nothing really stood out in my break. Overall, I like the set, but wonder why the mini set has more cards than the standard-sized set.
I still need quite a few base, rookies, mini rookies and Natural History–yes, I am crazy enough that one day I will own the entire mini set, including all 191 of the Natural History cards. (Plus, I need an extra copy of C295 African Wild Dog to give to my girlfriend, who did a report and presentation in college recently about the wild dogs).
I’ll write a set review once I complete the standard-sized set.
Until then, I leave you with a card of arguably the second greatest goalie ever. Arguably.
Wow, you got a pretty good box there! That Lemieux relic card is great.
I've wanted to get a box of that for awhile… but not enough $$$.
Nice cards.
And yeah, Roy is #2 behind Dryden for sure.