2012-13 Black Diamond Box Break

Back in December, there was seemingly no NHL season in sight. But that didn’t stop Upper Deck from releasing their 2012-13 Black Diamond set. This set has no redemption cards–just base cards, short-prints (at various levels of scarcity), and jersey cards (and we KNOW what I generally think of those). You might pull an autographed card, but at 1 in every 60 packs, your odds aren’t the greatest.

A box will cost you roughly between $90 to $110, and contains 24 five-card packs. Also included is a 25th “Bonus Pack” which has 5 cards from 2012-13 Upper Deck Ice.

By the way, these cards are all metallic-y, so they do not scan too well.

Here is what I got inside the box I opened: Continue reading “2012-13 Black Diamond Box Break”

Custom Cards: 1986-87 O-Pee-Chee Joel Otto & Moe Lemay

Everyone who has the 1986-87 O-Pee-Chee Hockey set is no doubt annoyed by the cards of Joel Otto and Moe Lemay.

Joel Otto’s rookie card pictures Moe Lemay of the Vancouver Canucks.

Moe Lemay’s card in the set pictures Joel Otto, and adds the text “Now with Canucks.”

This mix up always irritated me. These guys do not have similar names or play for the same team (as were the causes of confusion in the infamous Steve Larmer / Steve Ludzik mix-up). Heck, these two cards aren’t even next to each other in the set. So, this error just seemed to be laziness or ineptitude on the manufacturer’s part. All they had to do was look at the stats for either player to see that they weren’t traded to new teams.

So, I decided to “correct” the mistake, doing a simple photo swap and removing the “Now with Canucks” text on Otto’s photograph. Here are bigger versions of the results:

I actually printed these two customs out on photo paper, cut them out, and placed them in the 9-pocket pages in front of the error cards. They look pretty convincing, even when compared to the real cards in the set.

I plan on sending a printed copy of the Joel Otto “correction” to get it autographed.

Custom Cards: Darren Eliot

Darren Eliot had an admirable collegiate career and played for Team Canada in the 1984 Winter Olympics. He made his NHL debut with the Los Angeles Kings in 1984-85, playing in 33 games.

However, Eliot did not “earn” a card in the 1985-86 O-Pee-Chee set, since that year O-Pee-Chee scaled back its set size from 396 to 264 cards. He was beat out by Kings’ starting netminder Bob Janecyk–also a rookie in ’84-85–as the lone Kings’ goalie in the set.

In 1985-86, Eliot played 27 games for the Kings. But again, he was omitted from the 1986-87 card sets, while teammate Janecyk was featured in both the Topps and O-Pee-Chee sets for 1986-87. That year, he played another 24 games for the Kings, but that did not get him a card in the mainstream 1987-88 sets (though he did get a Panini sticker that year).

Eliot did have three cards in sets issued by the Kings, but never a mainstream trading card. So, at the request of a friend, I made custom cards of Eliot in the design of 1985-86 and 1986-87 O-Pee-Chee cards.

Eliot is currently an in-studio analyst for Detroit Red Wings games. He suited up in 3 games for the Wings in 1987-88.

Custom Cards: Paul McIntosh

Paul McIntosh is a former NHL defenseman. He played 48 regular season games and 2 playoff games between 1974-75 and 1975-76 for the Buffalo Sabres.

But he never got an NHL trading card.

I don’t know Mr. McIntosh personally, but we share a mutual acquaintance who volunteered my graphic design skills to create a card for him. The only pictures Mr. McIntosh had were two black-and-white team issue photos.

Since cards from the 1970s used color photos, I decided to not use an old Topps design. It just wouldn’t have looked right to use a black-and-white picture. (Had that portrait photo been in color, then it would have looked perfect on a 1974-75 Topps design.)

Instead, I decided to tint the photos, pulling a shade of blue from the Buffalo Sabres logo. Since color borders always look odd on black-and-white pictures, I opted for no borders, and used a simple “hockey stick” design for the player’s name.

While I could have used a color photo found on the internet, our intentions were to have this card printed out professionally for Mr. McIntosh to give to his family and friends.

The back of the card has Mr. McIntosh’s biographical information and his NHL stats.

After designing the card, I had copies of it printed by a company called My Custom Hockey Trading Cards. For $59, plus shipping, you can get 150 cards printed that are as good as Upper Deck in quality. Cards are printed full-bleed, full color and have glossy UV coating on both sides. (True, I am an advertising partner with My Custom Hockey Trading Cards, but only because they do great work.)

After having the cards printed, my friend gave the cards to Mr. McIntosh, who lives in Buffalo but works as a scout for the Dallas Stars. He was happy to finally get a trading card showing him with the Sabres.

Review: 1993-94 Stadium Club All-Stars

46 greats from the ’93 All-Star Game

The 44th NHL All-Star Game, held at Montreal Forum on February 6 of 1993, was the end of an era for the league’s annual best-vs-best game. This was the last time the Wales Conference and Campbell Conference would square off; next season, they were renamed the Eastern Conference and Western Conferences, respectively. It was also the last time the All-Star Game uniforms would feature the familiar black, white and orange palette that had been the game’s color scheme since 1973.

1993-94 Stadium Club All-Stars - Mario Lemieux — Mario Lemieux

The 1993-94 Stadium Club Hockey set featured a striking, 23-card insert set dedicated to the 1993 All-Star Game. The cards were seeded 1 in every 24 packs of Series One. One side of each card had a portrait of a Campbell Conference All-Star; the other side, his Wales Conference counterpart. Its combination of great players, good portraits and a timeless design makes for a cool insert set worth owning. Continue reading “Review: 1993-94 Stadium Club All-Stars”

Custom Cards: 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee Jeremy Roenick & Curtis Joseph

Those of you who follow this website are probably familiar with my Autograph Blog. But few of you probably knew about my now-former Custom Hockey Card blog.

Yep, I had a custom hockey card blog. And I hadn’t updated it in 2 years, so I decided it was time to let that one go. If only all webmasters were so conscientious and would clean up cyberspace by deleting their abandoned blogs.

Anyway, I’m still going to make custom cards. And I am going to show off some of the cards I made in the past. Here are two customs from the 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee set.

Curtis Joseph appeared in 9 games for the Calgary Flames in 2007-08. All of his cards from that season picture him with his previous team, the Phoenix Coyotes. The following year, he’d play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. No cards were made of Joseph with the Flames, so I made a custom using the 2007-08 O-Pee-Chee set. It’s not the greatest looking set, but it is easy enough to spoof. I used this card to fill in a gap in my Career in Cards article about Joseph.

On the other hand, Jeremy Roenick did not get any cards made of him during the 2007-08 season, save for a few Jersey cards. Roenick said prior to the start of the season that he was going to retire, but San Jose Sharks General Manager (and former teammate of Roenick) Doug Wilson talked him into playing 2 more years with the Sharks. Like Joseph, I also did a Career in Cards article about Roenick, so I needed something to put for that season. J.R. netted his 500th goal in 2007-08, so it is disappointing that he didn’t get any cardboard that year.

Review: 2004-05 Upper Deck All-World

2004-05 UD All-World #36 Patrik EliasPatrik plays Charades. His card reads: Snowman on fire. — 2004-05 UD All-World #36 Patrik Elias
Patrik plays Charades. His card reads: Snowman on fire.

The homeless scuffle over crumbs, the poor haggle over bites, and the millionaires and billionaires?

The latest NHL lockout is proof, once again, that we’re just people and pie. No matter the size, there’s always going to be a fight for a larger slice.

With that in mind, whenever the NHL starts play again, I’ll be back. Castigating men for greed is better left to a monk.

What I do hope is that this lockout produces a curiosity as memorable as this one from hockey’s last nuclear winter.

Milan Hejduk looks as befuddled by this color “scheme”—”scheme” implying actual forethought—as many collectors were when Upper Deck released 2004-05 All-World.

In the midst of a lockout that would eventually see the entire season wiped out, a number of NHL stars played overseas to stay in shape and in the black. Upper Deck capitalized on the now apparently once-in-a-decade opportunity to capture familiar stars in unfamiliar surroundings. Continue reading “Review: 2004-05 Upper Deck All-World”

Review: 2012-13 Upper Deck Series One

No season? No problem! Upper Deck shines despite lack of strong rookies

Year-for-year and dollar-for-dollar, Upper Deck is the best hockey set a collector can buy. It’s combination of exciting action photography, broad player selection and desirable rookie cards make this a perennial favorite of causal and serious card collectors. Driving Upper Deck’s immense popularity for the past decade were its short-printed “Young Guns” rookie cards, where collectors can hope to pull a card of one of the top new rookies for the season.

But a work stoppage of the NHL is currently preventing new players from entering the league. Since a player has to appear in one game to appear on a card, how would Upper Deck Series One fare without any of the 2012 draft class? Continue reading “Review: 2012-13 Upper Deck Series One”

Card of the Week: Lester B. Pearson RC

1952 Topps Look ‘N’ See #99 – Lester B. Pearson

Being an American, I was not really knowledgeable about Lester B. Pearson, other than he had a National Hockey League trophy named after him. I was vaguely aware of his political career. Then again, I couldn’t name all of the U.S. Presidents if asked to do so (I failed that test in fourth grade, FYI). Yet, the name Lester B. Pearson was one of those names synonymous with excellence in hockey, like Art Ross or Conn Smythe. So, does he have a rookie card? Yes, he does–but it isn’t in a hockey set.

Pearson never played professional hockey, but he did excel at the collegiate level. He played for Oxford University’s Ice Hockey Club, which won the first-ever Spengler Cup invitational in 1923. Later, he would coach the University of Toronto’s varsity hockey team.

But it is politics is what Pearson is famous for. He would serve Canada as their Ambassador to the United States, as a member of Canadian Parliament, the President of the United Nations General Assembly and the Prime Minister of Canada. Plus, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for his efforts in ending the Suez Crisis, and he pushed for the redesign of the Canadian flag to the one we all now know and love.

Overall, Pearson was a pretty awesome guy, so I understand why a hockey trophy had to be named after him. From 1971 to 2010, the Lester B. Pearson Award was given to the best NHL player as voted by the Players’ Association.

The Pearson Award has made several cardboard appearances over the years, including 1990-91 Pro Set (left) and 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee (right).

As for Pearson himself, he has appeared in a scant few card sets because he was not a professional athlete. He had a card in the 2008-09 Upper Deck Masterpieces set, but his very first card appears in 1952 Topps Look ‘N’ See, a set that features historical figures such as politicians, generals, explorers and inventors.

Click pictures to enlarge

Each Look ‘N’ See card has a trivia question on the back. To read the answer, you lay a piece of clear red plastic over it to reveal hidden text. The answer to the question on Pearson’s card is “He’s the head of the Canadian delegation.”

Here, Pearson is depicted as just a humble U.N. Delegate. As far as trading cards of politicians go, this works well as a “rookie card,” as it shows him before he went on to become a Nobel Peace Prize winner and Prime Minister of Canada.

In 2010, the Lester B. Pearson Award was renamed the Ted Lindsay Award, which is a more fitting moniker. While few politicians have equaled the good he did nationally and internationally, Lindsay’s efforts and sacrifice led to the formation of the NHLPA.

The award for best player as voted by his peers should be named after Lindsay, given that what he did directly benefited NHL players. But after learning about Pearson, I wish his name was still somehow associated with hockey. Perhaps the name Lester B. Pearson will once again grace the placard of a trophy.

Review: 1997-98 Pinnacle

In the quest to put out product quickly and cheaply, sports cards manufacturers, like drug dealers, have consistently undervalued the power of quality.

Of course, it’s because they know the junkies will keep buying.

This doesn’t mean that the addicts have lost all discernment, however. Personally, I fiend for powerful sports photography in my cards.

Granted, investing in sports photography is not a moneymaking venture for card companies.

But occasionally, those of us who appreciate a beautifully-photographed set are given a treat. From the first years of Upper Deck to Topps’s Stadium Club, and even now, with Upper Deck’s annual flagship release, we see cards that capture the grace of Sergei Fedorov gliding and the crunch of Rob Blake hitting and the explosion of 16,000 fans screaming.

Pinnacle, which debuted so ignominiously by having different sports share the same funereal design in 1991…and 1992…and 1993, finally chucked the black for sun dresses in their 1994-95 flagship release, continuing this theme until their last release in 1997-98 (before the brand’s recent revival by Panini).

1997-98 Pinnacle was one of my first boxes ever because of its affordability and stunning photography. I also pulled one of my first big pulls from it. But before we get to that, let’s spotlight a few of those wonderful pictures: Continue reading “Review: 1997-98 Pinnacle”