Card of the Week: I Got a Rock

2008-09 Champ's Hockey card #FA-NE - Neolithic Stone ToolsThe 2008-09 Champ’s Hockey set was one of the strangest releases in recent memory. The cards had a design harkening back to the original Champ’s set from the 1924; they came in both standard and smaller, “cigarette” sizes; and had an odd, 192-card “Natural History Collection” subset, featuring animals like the Great White Shark and the Carrier Pigeon. But hands down, the weirdest thing about Champ’s was the one-per-case “Fossil Cards.”

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to get one of these. No, it wasn’t something cool like a Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth or a Wooly Mammoth tusk – just a Neolithic Stone Tool. As Charlie Brown would say, “I got a rock.” Although – as cliched as it sounds – it is kind of cool to own a piece of history. Continue reading “Card of the Week: I Got a Rock”

So, I wrote a letter to Upper Deck…

Way back in March 2008, I got this card in a pack of 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee Hockey:

card

As you can see, it is a Quad Jerseys card of four Minnesota Wild players: Marian Gaborik, Pierre Marc-Bouchard, Adam Hall and Pavol Demitra. I instantly hated this card because it features a purple swatch next to Demitra. Why would you put four Minnesota players on a card, feature four swatches swatches of their jerseys, but use a Kings jersey for one of the players? It doesn’t make sense, and it ruins what would otherwise be a fantastic card.

Would you make a game-used card that featured a game-used swatch of a Kings jersey worn by Wayne Gretzky, but use a photograph of Gretz with the Oilers? No, that would be stupid, and kill what could otherwise be a nice presentation. Yet, each year Upper Deck gives us cards of showing a player wearing the jersey from his “new” team, but using a swatch from a jersey from his “old” team. I once got a card of Marc Savard that pictured him as a Thrasher, colored the card in Bruins colors (and said “Boston Bruins” at the bottom) and used a swatch from a Flames jersey. That was one messed up card.

So, I’ve decided that I will no longer accept this. On September 15, I sent the Minnesota Wild Quad Jerseys card back to Upper Deck with a letter explaining that I did not want this “defective” piece of merchandise.

Dear Customer Service,I recently pulled this “Quad Jerseys” authentic game-used memorabilia card from a pack of O-Pee-Chee Hockey cards. Naturally, I was excited to get it, as these cards are hard to come by – one in about every 288 packs.

However, my excitement quickly turned to disappointment and frustration because there is a defect on this otherwise great card. This Quad Jerseys card features four players from the Minnesota Wild Hockey team – but the swatch in the lower right-hand corner is purple. Never in the team’s ten-year history have they ever worn jerseys containing purple. So, I am not sure why a purple swatch was placed on this otherwise wonderful card.

I understand that you may not have another copy of this card available to exchange for this defective one. I would gladly accept any other jersey card in lieu of this one, as long as it has the proper-colored swatches on it. It can be of any hockey team (though I am particularly fond of the Chicago Blackhawks).

Thank you very much for your assistance in this matter.

Your customer,

Sal J. Barry

To make sure this letter did not get “lost”, I sent it via Signature Confirmation, so that someone would have to sign when the Post Office delivered it. On September 18, it was delivered and signed for by someone named “Ventura”.

On September 30, I received a padded envelope from Upper Deck. It contained a letter–mostly the typical “form letter,” but the bottom is actually personalized to my particular case…

SalThank you for your recent replacement request. The Upper Deck Company strives to produce the highest quality trading cards on the market and we apologize that the card(s) you recently purchased did not meed these standards.

We are however more than happy to replace any damaged cards from our replacement stock and hope you will enjoy the enclosed replacements.

We offer product replacements for our valued customers for 8 months or while supplies last, which ever occurs first. Factory stamped cards will be replaced with factor stamped cards. However, laser printed cards are replaced with hand-numbered replacements.

Thank you again for your continued support and we look forward to assisting you in the future.

Unfortunately, some of the cards you have submitted that are noted as “Not Replaced” are either past our product replacement period or we have depleted stock on them. We replace cards for 8 months from the product release date or until stock is depleted.

Hello Sal,
The Pavol Demitra swatch is purple because we used inventory for when he played with the Kings. Even though it isn’t his Minnesota jersey, it is still game-used and authentic Enjoy yourcard.
CS

Sincerely,

The Upper Deck Company

(The typo “yourcard” is theirs, not mine. *I* use spell-check.)

Upper Deck returned the Quad Jerseys card, explaining that the card was not defective–they just knowingly used a swatch from the wrong team. But it’s cool, because Demitra was a King at one time, just not when he was pictured on this card. Their fuzzy logic is frustrating.

Perhaps as a means to placate me, UD’s customer service also enclosed this 2007-08 Upper Deck Black Diamond “Gemography” card of Patrice Bergeron.

card

So, I gained an autographed card–which is always nice–but still have the same lousy Minnesota Wild jersey card with a swatch from a Kings jersey. Plus, I just now realized that the gray swatch used for Adam Hall is from his days with the Nashville Predators, making this card an even bigger piece of crap. Had I noticed that before, I would have mentioned that in my letter too.

I did not do this as a means to “extort” an autographed card from Upper Deck. While I did ask for a replacement card, I told Upper Deck that I did not care what it was so long as the jersey was “right”.

As we collectors, we should not accept “defective” memorabilia cards, where the swatch is not from the same team as the player pictured. Seriously, who wants that in their collection?

So here is what I propose: if you get such a card in a pack of 2009-10 hockey cards, where the jersey swatch is not from the same team as the photographed player, send it back to Upper Deck. Let them know that you will not accept such a defective card. And it is a defect–not in the manufacturing process, but in their thought process. Remember, these game-used memorabilia cards are what drives up the cost of hockey cards–if we are paying for something, we should be paying for something we want.

Who is with me on this?

Puck Junk is 2 years old…

Puck Junk is two years old.

Yes, the terrible twos.

I should be more happy about this, but I’m not.

I’m a web designer. I make websites.

Sites come and go.

Some of the best websites I’ve done have since gone to website heaven.

My previous “passion project”, which was based on “The Matrix” movies, lasted six years until I got tired of it and took it offline.

Too many hobbies, not enough time to create websites for all of them (though I try).

Conventional logic should dictate that in order for a website to succeed, new content should be added every day. Well, I guess the reason why I’m a bit disappointed is that I don’t update this site every day or every other day.

Instead, I tend to be streaky. I go through some weeks where–BAM!–I update the site five days a week. And then there are other times where I can’t even find the time to update in two weeks. My last post was my tribute to Patrick Swayze…and that was 20 days ago!

For those who are still reading and not bored yet, here are some numbers–who doesn’t love stats?

In Puck Junk’s first season, I’ve updated the site 142 times–67 in-depth articles and 75 “off the cuff” blog posts.

During Puck Junk’s second season, I’ve updated only 85 times–25 full articles and 60 shorter blog posts.

In total, I’ve updated 227 times out of 730 days. Even if I omit Saturdays and Sundays, that would be 227/522, or approximately 43% of the time.

So, that’s adds up to a little less than every other day.

Lately, I’ve been swamped with school work. Grad school has been kicking my butt. I’m doing okay in my “Writing for Magazines” class, but I’m falling behind in my “New Media and Culture” class. One is a lot of writing, the other is a lot of reading. Both are time-consuming, leaving me little time for this site or my autograph blog.

Hopefully, this week I’ll be able to squeeze a little time out to write here and there. I’ve got a Card of the Week to post that’s been a thousand years in the making. I’ve got an interesting Chicago Blackhawks collectible to show off too. Finally, I conducted a hockey card-related “experiment” to see what would happen. I plan on getting these three little gems up on this site this week.

R.I.P. Patrick Swayze

Another actor from the film “Youngblood” has passed away. Patrick Swayze died yesterday after battling pancreatic cancer for the past 20 months. He was 57 years of age. Voted People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1991, Swayze is best known for films “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost.” But hockey aficionados will always remember him as Derek Sutton, team captain of the Hamilton Mustangs in “Youngblood.”

Swayze’s character of Sutton was cool. He got the ladies, he could score goals and he could fight. He explained to Dean Youngblood that he’d be happy to play for the “Tallahassee Warthogs,” and also uttered my favorite line in the film: “Thank God there is a sport for middle-sized white boys.”

Swayze is the second person from that film to pass away this year. Back in May, former NHL player Peter Zezel died. Zezel played a non-speaking character named Rossini (he’s the guy who gets sent out to replace Dean at the end of the film, only to skate back to the bench). Although Zezel played mostly for teams that rivaled the Blackhawks, I was a fan of his because of his role in the film.

As a tribute to Swayze–and a belated one to Zezel–here are some custom hockey cards I made (seen at the top, and below). “Youngblood” was a film I enjoyed many times over during my teenage years. Thanks for the happy memories, guys.










FYI, I was up until 3 am making custom hockey cards. I must be nuts. Then again, for what it’s worth I really liked “Youngblood”…

1963-64 Parkhurst #24 – Ralph Backstrom

Ten! Yes, now I have 10 out of 99 cards from the 1963-64 Parkhurst hockey set. That’s 10% of the set–a milestone, you could say.

As you can see, this card has two wicked creases. I purchased it in the same lot as the Jean-Guy Talbot and Gilles Tremblay cards.

The eBay listing did not mention creases, and the photo was too small to see any defects. The dealer offered to refund me $5 (one-third of the total purchase price for the three cards, excluding shipping). But I decided to hang onto it. I can always upgrade later.

Completed my Champ’s base set

I just acquired the last five base cards needed to complete my 2008-09 Champ’s Hockey base set. I also picked up four Champ’s Rookies–including Drew Doughty and Justin Pogge. I now have 76 of 100 Champ’s Rookies.

Most sane, normal hockey collectors would stop either once they have the Champ’s base set or the base set and 100 rookies. But I am not a normal collector. For some foolhardy reason, I am also trying to collect all of the Mini Rookies and all of the Natural History Collection cards. I must really like this set, eh? Anyway, here is what I need to have a complete “master set” of Champ’s:

– 24 Champ’s Rookies cards

– 79 Mini Rookies cards

– 169 Natural History Collection cards

Yep, those last two will take a while. Anyone who has any extra Champ’s cards, please see my Want List. Maybe we can work out a trade.

One Game Wonder #1

1994-95 Score card #217 – Josef Cierny

1994-95 Score card #217 - Josef CiernyIn the 1990s, trading card companies tried very hard to be the first to feature a player – any player – in their sets. They lowered their standards to include practically anyone who came within 10 feet of an NHL sweater. Forget the cup of coffee – even a whiff of coffee would suffice. Josef Cierny was one such player, a one-game wonder who appeared on one NHL trading card. His game was for the Edmonton Oilers in the 1993-94 campaign; good enough for inclusion in Score’s 1994-95 set. Continue reading “One Game Wonder #1”

Review: 2008-09 Collector’s Choice

Victory-like set is un-victorious in making an impression

2008-09 Collector's Choice #23 - Carey PriceIn 2008, former super-pest Claude Lemieux came out of retirement. So did Collector’s Choice hockey cards. After a ten-year hiatus, Upper Deck has dusted off this brand of low-price cards. First produced in 1995, and lasting three seasons, Collector’s Choice was intended to be “kid-friendly” with its price – about a buck a pack – in a market that was rapidly become less affordable for younger collectors. But Lemieux’s comeback was short-lived – he retired after the Sharks were eliminated from the 2009 playoffs. Collector’s Choice’s comeback might be short-lived too. Continue reading “Review: 2008-09 Collector’s Choice”