Sal Barry, Author at Puck Junk

Where were you 20 years ago?

Twenty years ago to this day – December 27, 1991 – I was probably at this game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Winnipeg Jets.

I say probably because I have no recollection of going to this game.

And yet, I have this ticket stub.

My Aunt had season tickets to the Chicago Blackhawks from 1989-90 to 1991-92. I was a lucky kid who got to go to a lot of games during that 3-year span.

I guess when you go to enough games, you are bound to forget a few.

There are so many hockey games that I’ll never forget: my first game (Hawks vs. Islanders) and second game (Hawks vs. Flames) are permanently etched in my memory.

I’ll never forget the standing ovation that Denis Savard got when he played his first game at Chicago Stadium as a member of the Canadiens.

I still remember the shockwaves that went through me when I witnessed a Doug Wilson slapshot rip the stick out of Darren Puppa’s hand.

I still hear those two drunk guys bellowing “GUYYYYY LAFLEURRRRRR” every time Lafleur took to the ice in a game against the Nordiques.

But this game against Winnipeg? I got nothing.

Apparently, Brian Noonan of the Blackhawks got a hat trick. Hat tricks are pretty memorable events, so why don’t I recall this one?

Mike Peluso fought Mike Hartman. I loved hockey fights as a kid, but it probably wasn’t the fight to end all fights.

Oh, and the game ended in a 3-3 tie.

That’s probably why I forgot going to this game. Ties suck.

It’s no secret that, even 20 years later, I still love Pro Set trading cards. So when I found this holiday greeting card at The National back in August, I eagerly bought it. It was sent out by Pro Set in 1990–most likely to companies and suppliers who dealt with them, but it may have been sent out to Pro Set Gazette subscribers (though I cannot confirm that) Continue reading “Pro Set Holiday Card”

Puck-Stopping Pooch

1992 Upper Deck Christmas card #8 of 10 – Ruff Play

Every so often, trading card companies would release Christmas-themed cards. The most famous for hockey collectors is most likely the 1991-92 Parkhurst Santa Claus card. A distant second might be this card, of a humble dog-turned-goalie. Continue reading “Puck-Stopping Pooch”

Eric Lindros Holiday Card

This was one of the many oddball items I purchased at The National Sports Collectors’ Convention, way back in August: a holiday greeting card featuring then-future top prospect and soon-to-be first overall pick Eric Lindros.

I’ve kept this card under my proverbial hat until the time was right to show the rest of the hockey card-collecting world. That time being the holidays, of course. Continue reading “Eric Lindros Holiday Card”

23 cards from 1960-61 Topps Hockey

On a whim, I decided to start building the 1960-61 Topps Hockey set. This was at a card show last month. While I’ve been prioritizing other sets, like 1963-64 Parkhurst, I came across a dealer who had 21 cards in decent shape–most priced at $5 to $6 each. Another dealer had 2 more cards from the set at $3.75 each. Take a look at what I got:

4 – Ernie Johnson (All-Time Greats)

6 – Bill Hay

9 – Jimmy Morrison

12 – Murray Balfour

13 – Leo Labine

18 – George Sullivan

24 – Charlie Burns – Note that he’s wearing a helmet.

Quite an oddity for 1960.

30 – Jack Evans

31 – Guy Gendron

33 – Ab McDonald

37 – Dean Prentice

40 – Don McKenny

41 – Ron Murphy

42 – Andy Hebenton

43 – Don Simmons

49 – Harry Howell

51 – Tod Sloan

53 – Camille Henry

56 – Bob Armstrong

57 – Ferny Flaman

61 – Lou Fontinato – This one has writing on it,

but was only $3 so I couldn’t pass it up.

62 – Leo Boivin

66 – Vic Stasiuk – Always nice to get the last card in the set.

This haul brings my count to 25 cards–or roughly 37% of the set. Of course, I need the biggest two cards: Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, the latter being his rookie card. Otherwise, the majority of the set seems pretty attainable.

6% of a 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Set

Last month I purchased 25 cards–roughly 6%–from the 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Hockey set. This brings me up to 177 out of 396 cards.

Of course, when you still require the Wayne Gretzky rookie card for your set, you can have 395 cards and still feel like you are about a thousand cards short.

Nonetheless, I now have the second and third-best cards in this set:

#175 – Gordie Howe

#185 – Bobby Hull

I got a few other key cards, including…

#161 – Mike Bossy (Record Breakers)

#100 – Bryan Trottier

#215 – Bernie Federko

#145 – John Tonelli (RC)

#164 – Brad Park (Record Breakers)

#225 – Jean Ratelle

#1 – Goal Leaders (Bossy/Dionne/Lafleur)

Another 218 cards–plus a Gretzky RC–to complete this landmark set. In the meantime, I’ll continue to chip away at it, a few cards here and there.

QUESTION: At what point do you “page” your sets? That is, when do you put a near-complete set into pages? Do you get a certain percentage, like at least half? Or do you wait until you have every single card? Or, do you not use pages at all…?

2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 – Tin Break #1

A few days ago, I was at Target and decided to peruse the trading card aisle. I’ve been pretty good at avoiding blaster boxes this year, but I saw something shiny that caught my eye: a collector’s tin of 2011-12 Upper Deck Series One.

I was intrigued. This tin did not have the usual “retail packs,” and yet these were not quite full-fledged “hobby packs,” either. Like hobby packs, you get 12 cards per pack, 1 Young Guns card in every 4 packs and 1 Canvas card in every 6 packs. The only major difference is that the jersey cards here are seeded 1:24 instead of 1:12. So, you may or may not get one in the tin.

The cost was $30 for the 12-pack tin–so this roughly equates to buying half a hobby box (minus the guaranteed jersey card). After some deliberation, I decided to buy it (they had one left). Here is what I got: Continue reading “2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 – Tin Break #1”

Thank You JonWayne

I just want to give a quick shout out to thank fellow blogger Jon aka JohnWayne for sending me the last card I needed to complete my 2010-11 Score Hockey set–a short-printed rookie card of Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Brad Thiessen. It took me almost a year, but I managed to finally complete the 550 card set (the Super-Short Print Rookies are another story).

19 years later, this card is finally mine!

Nope, your eyes do not deceive you–I have been seeking this Mark Fitzpatrick card for nearly two decades. It is from the 1992-93 Fleer Ultra set–the height of the “Junk Wax Era,” though I prefer to call those years “Neo-Vintage.” Specifically, this was from the Awards Winners insert set, back when inserts were actually cool and made sense (All-Stars, Award Winners….uh, Russians….)

It is true that I could have had this card ten times over if I bought it online. It just seemed that whenever I bought a bunch of cards from an eBay or Beckett Online seller, they didn’t have this one. And we all hate the idea of paying $2 to ship one card if that one card is only “worth” a quarter.

There is also something rewarding about finding a card like this in the wild. I found this at a recent show in a quarter box from a dealer named Big Jon, who is an avid Red Wings fan. Upon finding out that it was the last card I needed to complete my set, he told me that the card had been accidentally put in the quarter box, and was actually a ten-dollar card. Ah, that joke is about as old as the trading card industry itself, and yet it still makes me smile a little bit.

Hell, I’m in such a great mood I’ll even scan and share the back of the card….

One thing I’ve learned about collecting is that it is a waiting game. Sooner or later, we all tend to find what we are looking for, no matter how way there out or insignificant.

Fifteen ’53-54 Parkies

Every so often, I’d find a 1953-54 Parkhurst card at a show for $5 or $10 and buy it. Then one day, I realized that I had 17 cards from the set–enough that I figured that I’d start pursuing this set as one I’d like to complete.

Nothing will trump the 1951-52 Parkhurst set in the mind of collectors for its significance as being the first, ahem, “modern” set and it’s plethora of rookie cards (Howe? Richard? Never heard of ’em).

But I feel that the 1953-54 set is when Parkhurst really started to hit their stride. The cards are bigger and the backs are more informative. The smaller Parkies feel more like toss-ins from a bag of tobacco (I know, they were gum cards), whereas these feel like hockey cards.

Last month, I purchased 15 more cards from the 1953-54 Parkhurst set, bringing me up to 34 out of 100 cards. Enjoy the scans: