Category: News

The 2010-11 season marks the 100th Anniversary of hockey cards. A century ago, the first set of hockey cards–now known as the C56 set–was released by Imperial Tobacco. One hockey card was placed in each pack of cigarettes to keep the cigs from breaking.

To commemorate this, In The Game is kicking it old school–way old school. Their Ultimate Memorabilia 10 hockey set will feature a base card design that looks like the century old portraits of the C56 set. But there’s a twist–apparently, the set will feature relatively newer players like Mario Lemieux (above) and Ted Lindsay (left). Redemption cards for graded copies of 1910-11 C56 cards will be randomly inserted.

The look of this set excites me. I love painted cards, such as the old Hockey Hall of Fame Postcards, Donruss Ice Kings/Ice Masters–even those Upper Deck checklists from the early 1990s. The thought of collecting a set that looks pre-World War One is enticing.

However, I have never bought Ultimate Memorabilia before. It seems like a very expensive product (several hundred dollars for a 5-pack box). And since I’m more interested in the base cards then memorabilia cards, I don’t know how re-sell-able (if that’s even a word) the memorabilia inserts are.

Has anyone collected Ultimate Memorabilia in the past? How was the set? How much did a box cost? Are the memorabilia insert cards easy to re-sell, or hard to because they don’t have the team logos? 

I am so not a jersey card kind of guy, so shelling out hundreds of dollars to go after “base” cards doesn’t seem like the greatest idea. Then again, I’ve never bought any of ITG’s memorabilia products. Maybe I’ll like them if I try them.

A plethora of computer problems have have kept me from posting my recap about the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks Convention (aka “Hawks Con”).

Problem 1: My video editing software keeps crashing. Coincidentally, my girlfriend had the same problem with her video editing software too.

Problem 2: The flatbed scanner I ordered from NewEgg.com hasn’t arrived yet. My old scanner still works, but the scan quality sucks.

Problem 3: I’ve tried running MalwareBytes (a free malware-removal software) and my computer crashed.

Problem 4: I tried burning things to DVD–so as to free up some space on the hard drive–and that crashed my computer too.

Anyway, once I get to the bottom of these problems, expect a full day-by-day recap that will include video, scans of items I got autographed, a few cool stories and some neat purchases.

In other news, the Blackhawks signed Marty Turco, which means they won’t be re-signing Antti Niemi. They can’t afford him, since the Cup-winning goalie is set to make $2.75 million per year, thanks to his arbitration hearing.

What I don’t understand is, why did the ‘Hawks tie up $3.5 million per year re-signing defenseman Nicklas Hjalmarsson? Hjalmarsson was the 4th or 5th defender on the team, and had he gone to San Jose the Blackhawks would have had the money to re-sign Niemi AND get some compensation from the Sharks. I’d rather have a number one goalie for $2.75 mil than a 4th defender for $750,000 more. Plus, the ‘Hawks have a top defensive prospect in Nick Leddy, who left college after his freshman year to join the ‘Hawks this fall.

The Blackhawks still haven’t confirmed exactly WHO will be signing autographs at the 2010 Blackhawks Convention–or Hawks Con, as I’m gonna call it–this weekend. According to a source of mine, the team won’t let fans know until the convention actually starts on Friday. Continue reading “Who’s Signing ‘Graphs at the ‘Hawks Con?”

A few quick thoughts on what’s going down in HAWKeyTown…

Stanley Cup visiting Elmwood Park – The Stanley Cup will be in the Chicago suburb of Elmwood Park on Wednesday, July 28.. However, the Cup will be at a private event, held at First Security Bank. The Wirtz family owns First Security Bank.

Who’s Signing Autographs? – As of Tuesday, the Chicago Blackhawks still haven’t told us who will be signing autographs at the Blackhawks Convention this upcoming weekend. Sure, some are a given (Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Bobby Hull, Tony Esposito), but who else? Maybe I’ll just bring one card of every Blackhawk ever, just to be safe. The team did announce a pretty explicit autograph policy, though.

Training Camp Fest – On September 18, the Blackhawks will hold a Training Camp Festival. Seriously. For $5, you can watch the team practice. There is also a charity run/walk/skate event, and a 3-on-3 street hockey tournament. Tickets can be bought here.

Easy Come, Easy Go– Last month, the Chicago Blackhawks traded away three good players and a prospect for Marty Reasoner and Jeremy Morin. Last week, the ‘Hawks traded Reasoner to the Florida Panthers for Jeff Taffe. Guess Reasoner’s $1 million annual salary was taking up too much cap space. Funny, though, because the ‘Hawks made a big deal about acquiring Reasoner, going so far as to “Photoshop” him into the Indian-head sweater (above). But Reasoner’s subsequent trade to the Panthers was nary a mention on the ‘Hawks home page.

JR in the HOF – Former Chicago Blackhawk Jeremy Roenick was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame last week. Roenick was a favorite player of mine, so I certainly hope that he will make it into the “real” Hall of Fame when he is eligible in 2012. For those who missed it, I posted a Career in Cards about Roneick earlier this month.

On Thursday, I received my passes to the third annual Chicago Blackhawks Convention–a full 8 days before the convention starts. Last year, I got the passes barely 2 days before the convention started. Of course, the team’s last-minute mailing practices last summer cost Dale Tallon his job.

Anyway, here is what the front of the pass looks like. As you can see, it has a large shiny object on it.

Yup, they put a HOLOGRAM sticker in the upper right corner. It really makes the pass feel both classy and official. Continue reading “2010 Blackhawks Convention – Passes”

I noticed an interesting trend at my local Target retail store–last year’s Upper Deck cards are back on the shelves at lower prices.

Here is a tin of 2008-09 Upper Deck Series 2 Hockey Cards–you know, the series that no one bought–for $12.99.

This perplexes the hell out of me. As my girlfriend can attest, I practically memorize the trading card aisle at my local Target store. Every time we go there–about once a week–I beeline for the cards, hoping to find something new and cool to purchase. I don’t recall 8-pack tins being sold at Target last year.

So, my theory is that Upper Deck had a bunch of unsold 24-pack boxes sent back to them, repacked the packs in tins and sent them back at a reduced price. Further supporting this idea is that these are 8-card packs, and not the standard 5-card packs usually found in tins and blasters.

That might also explain this blaster box of 2008-09 Upper Deck Ice.

I also don’t recall Ice being sold in blaster boxes during the 2008-09 season. Either Upper Deck had a ton of last year’s Ice sitting around their warehouse, or a retailer returned them en masse.

Upper Deck’s “Extreme Value” wasn’t just limited to hockey cards. Old football cards have also found their way to the shelves.

How about that? Nine packs of football cards for $6.99. But if this is 50% off, then the normal blaster price for football is $14, and not $20 like a hockey blaster. Man, even at full price you football collectors have it so good.

I also spotted this complete football factory set for $14.99. It even includes 2 jersey cards. Granted, it is from 2008–like the football blaster–but $15 for a complete set is more of a deal than $13 for 8 hockey packs.

Has anyone else spotted “old” cards from the past year or two making a comeback on the shelves of your local retail store? I guess selling off old cards at half-price is one way Upper Deck is raising the funds to pay off their lawsuits, eh?

An obvious byproduct of your favorite NHL team winning a championship is all of the “puck junk” that suddenly becomes available for sale. This is neither good nor bad to me. Most of this stuff I won’t buy, but it still makes me happy to see ‘Hawks-related merch in July. Continue reading “Hawks Junk…”

Tomorrow (Friday) is Bob Probert’s funeral.  Every fan I’ve spoken to–and every blog I’ve read–have all expressed their sadness at the untimely passing of the popular ex-NHL enforcer.

A short Bob Probert story I’d like to share happened in February of this year, when Mr. Probert called my cell phone. No, I am not claiming to have known the man–but it isn’t every day that a former NHL player calls up a run-of-the-mill hockey blogger such as myself. Continue reading “A Phone Call from Bob Probert”

Former NHL enforcer Bob Probert passed away this afternoon. He was 45 years old.

Probert played for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.

More on this story can be found here.

It is always sad to see anyone die too soon.

On Saturday, I received this form letter from Beckett Publications, encouraging me to re-subscribe to Beckett Hockey Magazine.  This seems like a very strange thing for Beckett to do.

In summary, the letter states that I can receive 7 issues for $29.95–a savings of more than 50% off of the cover price.

It also outlines these key features:

• Unparalleled coverage and card valuations you can trust
• Tips on hockey card collecting with reliable price guides
• Card stock winners and losers from the 2010 Olympics
• Insightful articles and fantastic action on most celebrated stars on the ice
• Hockey show calendar

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the first two bullet points sound like the same thing–“valuations you can trust” and “reliable price guides”. The 2010 Olympics is old news by now. The show calendar is helpful, but what’s this about “insightful articles?”

In a 176-page magazine, such as the January 2010 issue here, 140 are dedicated to the price guide. Only 20 pages–less than 12 percent–are actual articles that you would read.

And as for the articles themselves, most are either capsules about forthcoming products, box breakdowns, or articles that outline a star player’s most valuable cards. Informative, but not very insightful.

Want information about upcoming hockey card releases? Just go to the websites of Upper Deck or In The Game, as Beckett just regurgitates their press releases, anyway.

Box breakdowns? You can find tons of those on blogs and on YouTube.

So, what’s my incentive to subscribe?

I suppose the price guide itself is a reason to subscribe. But other than adding prices for the new sets, and a few changes here and there, it is more or less the same information every issue.

What perplexes me about this special offer is that in the past few years Beckett has been really intent on selling access to their Online Price Guide (OPG). OPG access costs around $50 per year, requires no paper, no mailing and no need to write articles.

So, why the sudden push to sell magazines–at the low, low price of $4.28 per issue? The answer is obviously advertising dollars. The more subscriptions you sell, the easier it is to sell ad space…and the more you can charge per ad.

If Beckett wants to sell printed magazines, then lowering the subscription price is not the answer. Neither is publishing bullet-point lists of “what we got in a box of Champ’s” or “total value of every John Tavares card ever made” articles.

Instead, they should return their focus to printing quality, hobby-related articles that people would pay to read.