Category: News & Views

Say Hello to My Little Friends

I am now this much closer to finishing my 2009-10 Champ’s Hockey set:

48 Mini Veterans cards….

…24 Champ’s Mini Rookies…

…and another 3 Champ’s Mini Rookies, 12 Historical Figures and 6 Wonders of the World. Plus 2 Mini Rookies from the 2008-09 set.

That’s 93 mini cards from the 2009-10 set (and the 2 from the previous year).  

I am only 126 mini cards away from finishing the 2009-10 Champ’s set.

I might actually finish this set before my 80th birthday.

If you have some Champ’s minis–from 2009-10 or 2008-09–that you would like to trade, take a look at my Want List.

1963-64 Parkhurst #47 – Robert Dillabough

Time for a quick blog update before I teach class this morning. Here is another card that brings me one step closer to completing the Set of My Dreams.

I’m not quite sure why Robert (Bob) Dillabough was included in the 1963-64 Parkhurst Hockey set. He only played 1 playoff game for the Red Wings in ’62-63. The year this card came out, Dillabough only played 1 game for the Wings, again in the playoffs. So, he was not a regular on the team. Dillabough would go on to be an original member of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1967-68, and an original member of the WHA’s Cleveland Crusaders in 1972-73.

Parkhurst Percent Counter: 44% Complete

1963-64 Parkhurst #60 – Douglas Barkley

Forty! The Big Four-Oh. I now have 40 cards for my 1963-64 Parkhurst set. Douglas Barkley here (card #60 in the set) is the 40th card towards completing my set.  I started putting it together just over 3 years ago.

This card is actually higher grade than most of the other Parkies in my set build. I found a dealer who has a lot of Red Wings that were in great shape. He was willing to cut me a deal if I bought several of them. Most of the Parkies I get are in the $5 to $10 range and have one or more defects. It seemed like a good idea to get commons and semi-stars in EXMT shape for $15 each, like this one here.  Other than the yellowing, which is common for these cards, I really don’t see any flaws.

Parkhurst Percent Counter: 40% Complete

1963-64 Parkhurst #58 – Vic Stasuik

As you have probably guessed by now, I made a lot of headway towards completing my 1963-64 Parkhurst Hockey set.  Get ready to see lots of Red Wings in my next few Parkie posts, as I met a dealer at The National from Michigan who happened to have a bunch of ‘Wings cards from this set–all in surprisingly great shape.

Other than the stain on the back, which actually looks worse in the scan than in real life, this card of Vic Stasuik is in great shape. Four sharp corners, good gloss on the front and no creases.

Parkhurst Percent Counter: 39% Complete

I’d Buy THAT for a Dollar

I sifted through several dollar boxes when I went to The National.

Usually, I avoid these “haystacks,” as I call them, because going through them is time-consuming and you can easily burn through several hours if you stop every time you see a dime, quarter or dollar box.

But since I went all 5 days to The National, I had time on my side. I could spend an hour or two each day looking through such rummage boxes and still have plenty of time to do everything else (get autographs, wrapper redemption programs, etc.).

However, I make 3 rules when buying dollar cards:

  1. I do not even bother to look if the cards are not sorted by sport. If the dealer won’t make the effort to sort the cards by sport, I won’t reward him with my hard-earned dollars.
  2. I only buy the card if it is from a set I am building, a player that I collect, or a team I collect.
  3. Or the cards has to be something intriguing, or something that I haven’t seen before.

All right, enough preaching! Onto my awesome one-dollar finds!

9 Random Rookie Cards

2003-04 Topps Pristine Eric Staal RC (215 / 699)
2008-09 Artifacts Jordan Hendry RC (72 / 100)
2006-07 Fleer Ultra Shea Weber Gold RC
2009-10 Fleer Ultra Chris Durno RC
2009-10 Fleer Ultra John Scott Gold RC
2003-04 Pacific Invincible Joffrey Lupul RC
2009-10 Black Diamond Matt Hendricks and T.J. Galiardi Triple Diamond Rookie Gems
2008-09 Black Diamond Alex Goligoski Triple Diamond Rookie Gems.

2 1992-93 Bowman Foil Short Prints

Brett Hull and Phil Housley. One day, I will have all the short-print foil cards for this set.

2 1970-71 O-Pee-Chee

Tom Webster and Bobby Hull All-Star. I am slowly building this set. The Hull has a few moderate creases, but I really can’t complain since I paid a dollar for it.

5 2010-11 Artifacts Short Prints

Rule the school! I found five short-prints from the 2010-11 Artifacts set for a buck apiece: Mike Richards (504 / 999) and Steven Stamkos (834 / 999) Star cards; Jean Beliveau (896 / 999) Legends card; Brandon Yip (806 / 999) Artifacts Rookie; and Phillip Larsen (393 / 699) Redemption Rookie.

3 2006-07 Parkhurst Short Prints

Phil Esposito (3387 / 3999), Pierre Pilote (1708 / 3999) and Bill Gadsby (1887 / 3999).

4 1997-98 Upper Deck 3 Star Selects Inserts

Bryan Berard, Niklas Sundstrom, Steve Yzerman and Patrick Roy. I don’t even remember when I started collecting this insert set, but I still have a long way to go.

2002-03 Upper Deck Memorable Seasons SPs

Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe and Mario Lemieux. I’ve been picking up the 2002-03 Upper Deck set a card here and a card there over the past couple of years.

1 Chris Chelios Card

1997-98 Pacific Gold Crown Die-Cuts Chris Chelios. Another card for my “Chris Chelios Collection.”

2 2009-10 Black Diamond Quadruple Diamonds

Shiny cards of Joe Sakic and Bobby Hull (as a Whaler!)

1997-98 Donruss Studio Press Proofs

Sergei Berezin and Dino Ciccarelli. I love the Donruss Studio set, and figured that it was time that I track down all the inserts and parallels for it.

4 Topps Reprint Cards

Topps Chrome reprint of 1988-89 Patrick Roy, Topps Chrome reprint of 1973-74 Billy Smith RC, Topps Heritage reprint of  1957-58 Johnny Bucyk RC and Topps reprint of Brett Hull RC.

And finally…

5 Random Cards

A Russian-made Sergei Fedorov card, some weird Donruss stamp card of Pavel Bure, a nice illustrated Upper Deck card of Mario Lemieux and Heroes and Prospects cards of Sidney Crosby and Guy Lafleur from their QMJHL days.

Going through dollar boxes can be a reward unto itself. You hope to find something great, or something that you need, and then experience a thrill when you find a card ou are looking for. Getting it for cheap is just icing on the cake.

1963-64 Parkhurst #26 – Gordon (Red) Berenson

Hope y’all aren’t getting tired of looking at 1963-64 Parkies, because I picked up quite a few of them at The National last weekend. Here’s the other rookie card of Gordon “Red” Berenson–there is also a card of him skating, which I posted last week. Montreal and Toronto players each got two cards in this set, while Detroit players only got a card each.

And that’s another card that brings me a step closer to completing the set of my dreams.

Tomorrow, I will post some newer cards for those of you who be hatin’ on the vintage 🙂

Parkhurst Percent Counter: 37% Complete