My Collection Quest

Although I consider myself strictly a hockey card collector, every now and then I stray a bit and buy baseball cards–but only if they are from my childhood.

As a kid in the mid-to-late 1980s, I watched quite a bit of baseball–sometimes because the Cubs games pre-empted The Transformers or G.I. Joe cartoons that I watched so religiously, and other times out of actual interest.

I bought my first pack of baseball cards in 1985, and continued buying them until 1990. But by then, hockey had taken over as my sport of choice to collect, and I sold off all my baseball cards.

Then a few years ago, I picked up complete 1985 and 1989 Topps Baseball and Traded sets.

Last week I picked up 4 more years from the “junk wax” era:

• 1986 Topps Baseball Set with Traded Set
• 1987 Topps Baseball Set
• 1988 Topps Baseball Set with Traded Set
• 1990 Topps Baseball Set with Traded Set

When I go to the National next month, I will try to find a 1987 Topps Traded set. It shouldn’t be hard, but the trick is to get one for cheap. Then I will have every Topps baseball card set from 1985 to 1990. Worthless cards to die-hard baseball card aficionados, but timeless for this hockey fan.

I recently purchased 7 cards from the 1961-62 Topps Hockey set. They either have creases, rough edges or minor staining on the back. But for $3 each, I can’t complain. These cards are 50 years old, after all.

Click on any of the images to see larger

#21 – Action Near the Cage – Vintage Bruins-Blackhawks action from the ’60-61 season.

#49 – Earl Ingarfield – Played in the NHL from 1959 to 1971.

#63 – New York Rangers Team Photo – I love these old team photos.

#8 – John Bucyk – The Chief! Bucyk played 21 seasons with the Boston Bruins.

#64 – Going, Going, Goal! – Rangers’ goalie Gump Worsley gest beat by Bruins forward Dick Meissner, who pokes in the puck at the goal line.

#20 – Boston Bruins Team Photo – Another great team shot. Team photos should be included in newer card sets, don’tcha think?

#23 – Rudy Pilous (coach) – Am I the only one who likes cards of coaches? From the back of this card…

Rudy, never a big league player himself, drove Black Hawks to Stanley Cup last season…Rudy’s a big, amiable guy with real gift for handling men.

See? Hard-hitting information you can’t find anywhere else but on the back of a vintage card.

What’s better than a Mario Lemieux rookie card?

TWO Mario Lemieux rookie cards.

Bought these two 1985-86 Mario Lemieux RCs at my local card shop last week. 

Now, you’re probably thinking, Sal, does anyone really need two Mario Lemieux Rookie cards?

Well, no…I guess not.

So, If anyone would like to work out a trade for one, drop me a line.

I know it’s been FOREVER since I’ve last posted–actually 8 days, but I’ve been so busy that it’s felt like an eternity. I’ve picked up a lot of neat stuff over the past month, but just haven’t had the time to blog about it until now. 

Anyway, I normally hate on the jersey cards–but not when they are of my favorite player, Chris Chelios. And one of them is actually a game-used stick card. That’s not as bad, right?

The card you see above is from the 2001-02 Pacific Titanium set, has a piece of a SHER-WOOD stick and is numbered 144 / 252.

And this card is from the same set, has a piece of a patch and is numbered 007 / 112.

I have several hundred Chris Chelios cards, but surprisingly very few are jersey and memorabilia cards.

Anyway, this week I should have a bit more free time to show off some of the cool stuff I got recently.

Two weeks ago, I asked readers of this blog if they collected graded cards. I also expressed my overall disdain of the whole card grading thing.

But earlier this year I sent in two cards to get graded. I figured that I couldn’t really have an opinion in the matter unless I experienced it.

Plus, Beckett gave me two free card gradings when I renewed my subscription to Beckett Hockey. What do I got to lose? Besides the postage fees, of course.

After careful consideration, I sent in the following 2 cards to Beckett Grading Services:

2008-09 Champ’s Hockey Neolithic Stone Tools – The reason I chose to get this card graded was that it is super thick, and I figured that a grading slab would be better protection than keeping it in the toploader it came in. Plus, this isn’t a card that I would display or put in a card page (obviously). So getting it slabbed seemed to be the way to go.

But would someone please explain how this card only received an 8.5?  It went from Upper Deck to me to Beckett. OK, I did handle it for about 5 minutes when I scanned it for a Card of the Week article. But I didn’t play a game of flips with it or anything like that.

Next up…

2009-10 Fleer Ultra Ice Medallion James Van Riemsdyk 1/25 – I sent this card to get graded purely for investment reasons. One day, I hope to sell or trade it to a James Van Riemsdyk collector. The card has a print run of 25, and mine is numbered 1/25. It also got a Gem Mint rating (9.5). I think if someone was a JVR fan, this would be a pretty awesome card to own.

And though it did get the coveted Gem Mint rating, again I have to wonder about some of the numbers. Why did the centering receive a 9.5 and not 10? The card is printed full-bleed, so there aren’t any “borders” that appear larger on one side than the other, like with older cards. The surface received a 10, so Beckett does give a perfect score to some things.

I will admit that I like having these 2 cards graded. They are pretty sweet cards to own, and slabbing them will retain their condition. Should I ever trade or sell them, the condition would never be questioned. But it is unlikely that I am going to send a bunch of cards to get graded anytime soon. And I’ll still shake my head at those who grade or buy graded “common” cards from the 1970s or 1980s.

If you haven’t already done so, please vote in the poll about graded cards (upper-right corner of this website). I am curious to know other collector’s graded card buying habits.

Just wanted to give a quick thanks to Michael Mah for generously donating five O-Pee-Chee checklists to my collection. Michael is a fellow blogger who also writes about collecting hockey autographs. You can see his blog here.

This Saturday, I went to the Sun-Times Sports Collectibles Show in Rosemont, IL. A few quick highlights and lowlights:

• I traded cards–yes TRADED CARDS–with fellow collectors Tim (The Real DFG) and Nick. It was like being a kid again. I got cards I wanted and I got rid of cards that I didn’t want. Best of all, there was no haggling or price guides involved. Negotiations pretty much went like this:
  

  “Here are some cards you need.”
  “Thanks! Here are some cards you need.”

  

• My 3 favorite hockey dealers were not at the show. A large, bearded fellow who calls himself “Big John” and deals mainly in newer hockey singles was notably absent, as was this older Canadian gentlemen who deals solely in high-quality, pre-1974 hockey cards. And my favorite hockey card-dealing couple, Diane and Paul Bogar of D & P Collectibles, were not at the show either. 

• My friend Danny went with me. He’s not into sports cards, but he collects jerseys (the ones you wear, not jersey cards) and logo patches. Danny does well at finding jerseys for steals. It’s always more fun to go with a friend. 

• I couldn’t find any great deals on vintage singles, but found plenty of dealers trying to get full book value for their cards. Sorry, but I can’t afford $200 for a Guy Lafleur rookie card…I don’t care how near-mint it is.And if I’m going to break the bank on one, I’m going to get it from the Canadian guy mentioned above 

• I did pick up some mid-grade vintage singles from the 1960s. I’ll post pictures soon.

• I bought a box of this year’s Artifacts. I know–that is so unlike me. I usually stick to the low-end, 500 card sets, but there’s a first time for everything. Hopefully, I’ll open them tonight while watching the Blackhawks-Shaaarks game.

• Speaking of first times, I bought 4 boxes of In The Game hockey cards. I’ve never purchased any of their “not licensed by the NHL” stuff. Box breaks coming soon.  

•  I purchased numerous autographed cards–for very little money. But I’ll post those on my other blog.  

• The show ended at 5pm. Waaaaaah! I was there for 8 hours, and could have stayed another 2. But then I would have went home broke.  

• Finally, I purchased a 1977-78 Topps Hockey Set for $66. It was in near-mint shape–sharp corners, great centering, perfect edges–but was missing #81 (Islanders checklist). 

Despite my favorite vendors not being there–and the overall dearth of quality-yet-affordable hockey–I had a better time at this show than I usually do. I went with a friend to the show, met a friend there and made a new one. Plus, I didn’t spend all the money in my pocket.

I am now 7 cards closer to finishing my 2005-06 Upper Deck Hockey Set. I recently purchased some Young Guns.

The Series 2 Checklist features Alexander Ovechkin and Jeff Carter.

The other 6 cards–while not of superstar players–weren’t too bad either: Eric Nystrom, Keith Ballard, George Parros, Danny Richmond, Brad Richardson and Ryan Whitney.

I still need 29 more 2005-06 Young Guns to complete RC set. I’ve updated my Want List. If you have some extra YGs from that year, I’d like to trade for them.

This is the set that never ends
Yes it goes on and on my friend
Some people started collecting
Not knowing what it was
And they’ll continue buying it 
Forever just because…

The 2009-10 Champ’s Hockey mini set may very well be impossible to complete. I buy a few, and I need a few more. It’s like the hydra–you cut off a head, and two more grow back in its place. Only in this case, I fill a pocket on a card page, and two more pockets seem to magically empty.

Most normal collectors stuck to only the 100-card base set, then got on their lives. More power to them.

Seriously, what kind of nut would try and put together a short-printed, 480-card mini set that consists of animals, dead presidents / prime ministers, and “Wonders of the World?” Sure, there are rookies and Hall of Famers too. But most of these players can be found in other sets anyway.

Maybe I’m motivated by how hard the Champ’s mini set is to complete? It’s about the journey, not the destination, right?

As you can see from the scan above, I picked up a bunch of Champ’s minis yesterday. 34 to be exact.

Yet, I still need 290 more cards. It’s gonna be a while.

It might never end. 

And for those who are wondering, NO I haven’t finished the 2008-09 Champ’s mini set either.