Hockey Cards

Review: 1998-99 Panini Photocards

Bad photography makes this one forgettable set

1998-99 Panini Photocards - Patrick RoyThe 1998-99 Photocards set was an odd release for Panini. While the company usually focused on making sticker albums, this season they also made this set of “photo cards,” which were similar in size to postcards. Panini also issued a small hardcover album to store the photocards.

You would think that a larger-sized format set of cards would excel, but this one unfortunately does not. This set falters because of mediocre photography, bad cropping and color problems.  Continue reading “Review: 1998-99 Panini Photocards”

2007-2008 Victory Box Breakdown

Earlier this month, I wrote a review of the 2007-2008 Victory Hockey Set.

This is a bit late, but I thought I’d post the box breakdown for the two boxes of Victory that I purchased.

Box 1

  • 177 base cards
  • 18 MVP Rookies
  • 9 Game Breakers inserts
  • 9 Stars On Ice inserts
  • 3 EA Sports Face-Off inserts

Box 2

  • 176 base cards
  • 18 MVP Rookies
  • 9 Game Breakers inserts
  • 9 Stars On Ice inserts
  • 4 EA Sports Face-Off inserts

The collation of cards was very good. Between two boxes, I got an entire base set. Of the 36 rookie cards (18 per box), none of them were doubles. I was able to track down the last 9 rookie cards on eBay.

The insert cards were another story. I got duplicates of several of them, which is frustrating, because there are so many of them. But I’m not sure if I really want them; I mean, will I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I get all 50 “Game Breakers”, or all 50 “Stars on Ice”?

2007-2008 MVP Box Breakdown

Yesterday, in a weak moment, I bought a box of 2007-2008 Upper Deck MVP hockey cards. I knew that if I bought a box, that I’d have to get at least one more to complete a base set. But I’ve always enjoyed opening packs, so I gave in to the Dark Side.

I won’t post a review of this year’s MVP until I get at least a complete base set.

In the meantime, here’s my breakdown of what I got in the 24-pack box.

Base set & Rookies:

  • 165 Base cards
  • 12 MVP Rookies (1:2 packs)
  • Rookie Redemption card (good for 3 RCs)

Insert cards

  • 1 One-on-One Jersey (dual swatch card featuring J.S. Giguere and Dan Cloutier…the Giguere swatch was 2-color)
  • 1 Gold Scripts parallel /100 (Chris Drury 34/100)
  • 1 Super Scripts parallel /25 (Roman Hamrlik 9/25)
  • 2 Game Faces (Forsberg, Jagr)
  • 2 Hart Candidates (Heatly, Kiprusoff)
  • 4 New World Order (Kopitar, Mikko Koivu, Ovechkin, Parise)
  • 4 Monumental Moments (Crosby, Recchi, Scott Niedermayer, Briere)
Not a bad assortment for one box. But insert cards these days–other than jersey cards–always look so 1990s. While I like cards from that decade, the inserts these days aren’t anything to get too excited about. The New World Order cards look like something Fleer Ultra did ten years ago.

Review: 1968-1969 Post Marbles

Pre-expansion collectible is a must for serious collectors

1968-69 Post Marbles

At a glance:
– 1968-1969 Post Marbles
– 30 marbles  (3/4″diameter)
– 1 game board (30″ x 18″)
– Download Checklist

We all played with Marbles when we were kids. Recess was the best time. Heel a small hole in the hard packed school yard and delicately roll your beauties towards it. Now there were several types of games and depending on how good you were could also decide on what size “Crown Royal” bag you would be carrying. Crown Royal has a status all to its own and to marble collectors it meant a great looking tote bag. Kids love to collect things, although I suspect kids today may not know what a marble or alley is. Continue reading “Review: 1968-1969 Post Marbles”

Card of the Week: King for a Day

1979-80 Topps / O-Pee-Chee Dale McCourt – Card #63

Dale McCourtOne day while thumbing through my extra hockey cards, I came across this odd card – 1979-1980 Topps #63, Dale McCourt. This card featured McCourt in his L.A. Kings Jersey.

However, Dale McCourt was never a member of the L.A. Kings. And yet, this card clearly shows him as one. The back of the card even says “AQUIRED: Awarded from Red Wings”. But later cards never mentioned him playing for the Kings. Intrigued, I did some research, only to find that McCourt’s place of employment was, in the end, determined in a year-long legal battle. Continue reading “Card of the Week: King for a Day”

Review: 1981-82 Topps Hockey

The set with a split personality.

1981-82 Topps #11 - Tony Esposito

At a glance:
– 1981-82 Topps Hockey
– 198 cards
— 66 nationally-distributed cards (1-66)
— 66 “East” cards (67-132)
— 66 “West” cards (67-132)
– Size: 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″
– Download Checklist

Featuring a very cool design, the 1981-82 Topps Hockey set was an odd release. Topps’ gimmick from the previous season–the “scratch off puck” to reveal the player’s name–was mercifully not repeated. Instead, Topps resorted to a much different ploy–regional distribution. Continue reading “Review: 1981-82 Topps Hockey”

Card of the Week: Garf Gruntsky

1992 Skybox Garfield Trading Cards #78

Garfield Hockey CardThis is a card that I just randomly lucked into finding. In the early 1990s, I worked in a comic book store, and in 1992, Skybox released a set of Garfield trading cards. Containing 100 cards, the set consisted of random illustrations of Garfield, Odie and other characters from the comic strip. A few of the cards would parody something. This was one such card. Continue reading “Card of the Week: Garf Gruntsky”

Review: 1988-89 Frito Lay Hockey Stickers

A “snack-sized” set.

1988-89 Frito Lay Stickers - Steve Yzerman

At a glance:
– 1988-89 Frito Lay Stickers
– 42 stickers (1 3/8″ wide x 1 3/4″ tall)
– 1 poster (30″ wide x 20″ tall)
– Download Checklist

Quite the small set – both in set size and size of the stickers themselves. Each of these mini-stickers came wrapped in a clear cellophane wrapper, and were inserted in specially marked bags of Frito-Lay potato chips during the 1988-1989 season. These stickers are unnumbered, and all feature the same back-a removable backing with the NHL and NHLPA logos, as well as a copyright date of 1988. Continue reading “Review: 1988-89 Frito Lay Hockey Stickers”