News & Views

Fifteen ’53-54 Parkies

Every so often, I’d find a 1953-54 Parkhurst card at a show for $5 or $10 and buy it. Then one day, I realized that I had 17 cards from the set–enough that I figured that I’d start pursuing this set as one I’d like to complete.

Nothing will trump the 1951-52 Parkhurst set in the mind of collectors for its significance as being the first, ahem, “modern” set and it’s plethora of rookie cards (Howe? Richard? Never heard of ’em).

But I feel that the 1953-54 set is when Parkhurst really started to hit their stride. The cards are bigger and the backs are more informative. The smaller Parkies feel more like toss-ins from a bag of tobacco (I know, they were gum cards), whereas these feel like hockey cards.

Last month, I purchased 15 more cards from the 1953-54 Parkhurst set, bringing me up to 34 out of 100 cards. Enjoy the scans:

18 – Dick Gamble

20 – Eddie “Sipder” Mazur

21 – Paul Meger

29 – Bernard (Boom Boom) Geoffrion

54 – Jack Evans

59 – Claude “Chuck” Rayner

72 – Lidio “Lee” Fogolin

75 – August “Gus” Bodnar

78 – Al Dewsbury

83 – George Gee

86 – Samuel “Sugar Jim” Henry

87 – Hal Laycoe

89 – Real Chevrefils

90 – Edward “Sandy” Sandford

91 – Fleming Mackell

Some Satire for Saturday

I found two funny, hockey-related satirical articles recently.

This one, from The Onion, makes fun of penalties in hockey and Brendan Shannahan.

NHL’s Critics Find No Evidence That Penalty Box Reforms Players

The second article is from a website called E-mails from an Asshole. Here, the guy pretends to be a minor league hockey player who wants to coach a youth team–this one is a bit off color, and may offend some readers:

Special Skaters

I hope at least one of you found these funny (or at least the Penalty Box Reform article).

Tomorrow, I will post a mega-update of some vintage cards.

Vintage Pickups: Two 1963-64 Topps Cards

Although I’m not really chasing after the 1963-64 Topps Hockey set, I couldn’t pass up these two cards. I paid $8 for the pair. Not bad for almost-50-year-old cardboard.

Here are scans of the back. These cards were in damn good shape for their age. No stains or creasing, just some soft corners.

More vintage goodness to come.

1957-58 Topps #6 – Larry Regan

I bought a lot of vintage hockey cards at the show last weekend. It’s been almost a full year since I last added a card to my 1957-58 Topps set. Larry Regan is my 14th card, bringing me one step closer to completing this 66-card set.

The front has a light crease and the corners are soft.

But the price? A whopping three-and-a-half bucks.

Set completion as of 11-25-2011:
14 out of 66 cards = 21.2%

Another RC for the PC

Michael Frolik hasn’t exactly been “tearing it up” this season with the Chicago Blackhawks–he’s scored 7 points in 16 games–but he seems to be fitting in on the Blackhawks. I guess I like Frolik enough that when I saw this card at a local card shop, I had to have it.

If you are going to get a rookie card, it might as well be an autographed one, right? That is unless, of course, it is a card of someone like Crosby or Ovechkin that will cost you thousands of dollars.

Anyway, next weekend, I will be going to the Sun-Times Sports Card Show in Rosemont, IL (November 18-20). Is anyone else going?

I’m back…and another Hockey News article

Hockey season is in full swing, and I’ve been too busy to enjoy it. My career transition from web designer to college teacher seems to have been a success, as I am teaching at three different schools now, as well as once a week at a grammar school.

The bad news is, I have less and less free time for blogging. But that should change, as I always seem to have tons of extra time once the semester starts winding down.

But onto some good news: my second article was published in The Hockey News, in their November 7, 2011 issue. Blink and you might miss it–it is at the bottom of page 11, and the article is smaller than the size of a hockey card. You can find the issue on the newsstands now.

Puck Junk is 4 today

October 5, 2007 to Present

Puck Junk is 4 today.

But October 5 is an important day for two other reasons:

Yep, both Mario Lemieux and Patrick Roy were born on October 5, 1965. Coincidentally, I recently purchased the two Topps Rookie cards you see above. I guess today was the “right” day to share them here. 

But getting back to my original point, four years is a pretty long time for a website to exist. How many sites and/or blogs have you seen come and go since 2007, card-related or otherwise?

In retrospect, I’m glad that I started this site for 3 reasons:

1. Having a blog about hockey cards has helped me keep up with what’s going on in the world of card collecting.
2. Maintaining this website has led to a lot of great opportunities–writing for Beckett Hockey in the past and The Hockey News this season, as well as appearing on The War Room radio program (I’ll be back on it again this season, too).
3. Best of all, having this website has allowed me to meet other hockey card collectors, either in person or via the interrwebs. Some of them I’ve traded cards with, while others have just sent me stuff out of the kindness of their hearts. Hobbies are fun, but they are more fun when shared with others.

With thousands of cards released over the past 100 years, and new cards coming out all the time, I’ll never run out of things to collect–or talk about.

So here’s looking to the next four years.

1960-61 Parkie & Topps Pickups

In addition to all those great 1963-64 Parkhurst cards I got at The National, I also picked up a few 1960-61 cards.

I figured that if I was going to start collecting 1960-61 Parkies, I should get one of someone significant, like Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion.

This Parkie card of Sid Abel looks great, and only cost me $8.

A line card of Don Marshall, Henri Richard and Dickie Moore. I guess line cards are a thing of the past, given that players change teams so frequently now that no trio really stays together for long.

This Nels Stewart card is from the 1960-61 Topps set. Twenty-seven of the 66 cards are of All-Time Greats–players from the early 20th century. I have always liked the look of these cards; a 1920s design sensibility, but done up in bright colors indicative of the 1960s.

1963-64 Parkhurst #42 – Alex Faulkner

This was the last 1963-64 Parkhurst hockey card I bought at The National, and by far the most expensive to date. I have never heard of Alex Faulkner, and had no idea why this card–his rookie card–was selling for upwards of $100. That didn’t make sense to me. He’s not the most famous Red Wing, and certainly not the most famous Red Wing to wear number 19.

This is a good example of why it is important to do your research and know exactly what you are looking for. Thanks to Wikipedia and a friendly dealer from Detroit, I found out that Faulkner was the first person from Newfoundland to play in the National Hockey League. And despite only playing 2 seasons and 101 games in the NHL, he still has “rock star” status and this card–his only card–sells for a premium.

The Beckett high value of this card is $120. I picked this one up for $42. I think I did OK here.

Oh, and this brings me one (somewhat bigger) step closer to finishing my set. I now have 46 of the 99 cards. When I go to the Sun-Times card show in November, I’ll try to pick up 4 more to make it to 50.

Parkhurst Percent Counter: 46% Complete