Sal Barry

“An empty table can be a card collectors best friend. A full table, his worst enemy.”

– Sun Tzu, The Art of War*

That said, in a moment of clarity, I decided to take all of the cards that were cluttering my designated “card table” in my Room Of Hockey, and throw them in a two-column shoebox.

Now, I have a clear table–limitless potential!

But I also have a box of stuff that needs to be sorted and put away. A box…of CHAOS!

I wonder how these things happen. A year ago, I used to sit at this same table and open packs, or put cards into pages. I had the space to do that.

Then the table became overrun with hockey cards…

• Numerous cards pulled for trades that never happened
• Unopened packs of Stadium Club from 1999
• A stack of Classic Hockey cards I picked up last summer at a small card shop downtown
• Cards that were meant to be sent out for TTM autographs, but never were
• Old, used top loaders that can be used for trades or as card dividers
• An insert set of Upper Deck Scoring Predictors from the mid-1990s
• Some 1990s promo cards
• A Ryan Kesler Young Guns rookie card
• Numerous odds and ends 

Behold, this Box of Chaos: 

So, I am going to attempt a new collecting habit. 

Instead of putting things on this table and never dealing with them, I am going to put them in this box.

And each day, I am going to put away at least 10 cards. Maybe more if they are all from the same set.

Sure, that sounds like a chore–but it still beats “real” chores like taking out the garbage, washing dishes, walking the dogs, doing laundry or making the bed.

* – Just kidding…Sun Tzu never said that. 

In other news, I rented a space at a neighborhood Art, Craft and Collectibles Fair over the weekend. I was hoping to cash in on what is left of Blackhawks Mania, but not too many people were interested–even those wearing ‘Hawks apparel. I did manage to unload a few 2010-11 Victory base sets, and a few low-end ‘Hawks cards. But my biggest seller over the weekend was Star Wars action figures. I guess in Chicago, Darth Vader is still more popular than Patrick Kane.

This past Saturday was an awesome day for my autograph collection. Former Blackhawks superstar and Hall of Famer Denis Savard was signing autographs at Super Low Foods in Elmwood Park, and I got a bunch of stuff signed. 

Super Low is a small grocery store chain in the Chicago suburbs. I have no idea how they scored Savard to come to their store. And Elmwood Park is a small, insignificant suburb that borders Chicago. I lived in Elmwood Park from 1986 to 1993. My sister R.J. still lives there, and luckily for me she shops at Super Low every week.

About two weeks back, my sister found out about this autograph signing when she saw a picture of Savard, nestled between the sweet corn and the 79-cent pasta…

This was the best photo of Savard they could find?

My girlfriend Shellie, sister R.J. and her boyfriend Chris came along too, to help get a few things signed for my collection. We got there at 12:15 pm, and only 10 people were in front of us. The event was very under-publicized–I think it was only mentioned on this flier–so not many ‘Hawks fans showed up. Maybe 60 or 70. Because of the low turnout, everyone was allowed to get 2 things signed. 

R.J. and I each got an 8″ x 10″ photograph signed by Savvy. The ‘Hawks are her second-favorite team (after the Pittsburgh Penguins), and she used to watch hockey with me when we were growing up.

The four of us also got some cards signed…

1982-83 O-Pee-Chee – I now have 73 cards signed from this set, including 11 Blackhawks.

1986-87 O-Pee-Chee – I am working on getting all the ‘Hawks cards from this set signed.

1988-89 O-Pee-Chee – I have the whole team set autographed. But the Savard card I originally got signed as a kid was autographed in pen. This card replaces the one signed in pen.

2006-07 Blackhawks Team Issue – I have 22 out of 28 cards signed from this set. At the time this card was issued, Savard was the Blackhawks head coach.

2009-10 O-Pee-Chee – An awesome card. It says LEGEND at the top. While Savard’s play was legendary when with Chicago, he had some good years with Montreal too. This card looks especially great signed in blue.

2009-10 Champ’s – Last year’s Champ’s set had a classy design. This is the first card I got signed from that set. I have a stack of extras, so I’ll probably try to get more cards in this series ‘graphed.

Savard signed a photo and card for me.

So, after less than an hour waiting in line, I ended up with 7 autographs from one of my favorite players from my childhood. An Epic Win For The Sal.

As usual, Savard was very friendly. In all the years that I have seen him at signing events (going back to 1989), Savard has always been a class act, talking to fans and thanking them for coming. 

I thought about getting in line to get more cards signed–the line was really short, it was barely past 1 pm, and Savard was scheduled to stay until 3 pm.

But I decided not to be so obsessed with autographs (like I was at the Blackhawks Convention last month). After all, I got 7 things signed by a Hall of Fame player. I thanked my lucky stars for that, and the four of us went to lunch.

Photos by Chris Marsh.

About 2 weeks ago, I checked out a card shop that I pass by every now and then but have never visited. Once inside, the first thing I noticed was this large painting of Bobby Hull on the wall. It even bears his autograph (dated 1997).

Now, you’d think that any card shop that had a badass painting of The Golden Jet on their wall would have an awesome selection of hockey cards, right?

Wrong. Despite the Hull mural – and the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup this year – the store had next to no hockey cards; just a 2007-08 Ovation Update Set and a few packs of In The Game 1972.

It is sad when you visit a card shop for the first time, ready to see what hidden treasures you may unearth for your collection, and find nothing. 

The owner of the store was polite, and explained that hockey was hot right now, and he couldn’t keep it in stock. In fact, he was sold out of the new 2010-11 Victory cards.

So I asked him if he would be interested in buying any hockey cards from the 1960s and 1970s –  I have quite a few duplicate commons and semi-stars I wouldn’t mind parting with. But the owner flat out told me “No,” he only buys baseball cards.

*Sigh*

I don’t understand how a dealer wants to SELL hockey cards, but does not want to BUY hockey cards. Especially with the ‘Hawks being the most popular sports team in Chicago (next to Da Bears, of course).

Not wanting to leave empty-handed, I forked over $10 to buy an Ovation Update Set. Now, I need to find the actual set.

The moral of the story (if there was one) is that a cool Bobby Hull mural on the wall of a card shop is no guarantee that they sell hockey cards.