Hockey cards, collectibles and culture
Congratulations to Canada’s Olympic Hockey Team–and their fans–for winning the gold medal on Sunday.
Yes, I wanted USA to win. And they came close. Very close. But in the Olympics, close gets you the silver…
Nonetheless, it was a great game. It was a great tournament. Many close games. Many upsets. Many competitive teams. Borrowing from my Star Trek metaphor, if the 2002 tournament was “Wrath of Khan,” then this was “First Contact” all the way.
I’ve been a bit slow in my acquisition of old Parkhurst cards so far this year. But I did manage to snag this beauty for under $4, shipped. William Hicke is the 22nd card in my ever-growing 1963-64 Parkhurst set. Hicke has two cards in this set; I purchased his other card back in November.
Today, I’d like to give a special thanks to Mike G. of Taunton, MA for hooking me up with a bunch of hockey cards from my want list, including…
…2 shiny cards from the 2002-03 Topps “Own the Game” insert set…
…and a bunch of Upper Deck cards from last year and this year.
And some MVP cards too!
Mike, thanks for helping me out in my collection quest.
Well, the Chicago Blackhawks did just that in a trade with the Minnesota Wild on Friday, and I’m left scratching my head. Continue reading “Bye-bye Barker”
This weekend, two NHL teams will be giving out an exclusive trading card set of Upper Deck trading cards.
The cards more or less resemble the 2009-10 Upper Deck hockey cards, but with subtle differences, and will be given to the first 10,000 fans who attend the game.
If anyone picks up an extra set of either that they would not mind trading, please drop me a line.
Thanks to DFG for sharing info about this.
Photo by Sal J. Barry
Did anyone who watched the Super Bowl yesterday remember the Miller High Life commercial, where they featured four small business owners?
Well, that baseball card shop owner is my “dealer”! I have been a customer of Tim’s Baseball Card Shop since he opened his store in my neighborhood in Chicago. Tim Herron is a friendly guy, he prices his stuff very fair and he’s very patient with kids.
Tim’s Baseball Card Shop, along with 3 other small businesses, were picked by Miller High Life to be featured in a Super Bowl commercial that touts the “little guys” for a change.
Needless to say, all of his customers were very happy for Tim. He’s a nice guy, and my number one source of hockey cards. Hell, I watched some football game just so I could see him on TV.
In addition to the commercial, Tim was featured on several news programs, including Fox News. It isn’t every day that a baseball card store owner gets to be on TV, let alone the Super Bowl.
OK, so maybe I did not encounter a Dalek trying to sell me hockey cards…but I damn near came close this past Sunday when Shellie and I visited a Chicago-area mall. Staring me down at the end of a dimly-lit corridor was this monstrosity:
Don’t be charmed by the pretty pink and blue lights…this thing is evil. EVIL!
Upon closer examination, the window displays cards of Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith. A little green sticker at the top says “Guaranteed unsearched,” while a white sticker at the bottom says “4 cards for only 25 cents.” The machine also sells Star Wars CCG cards, and the Dalek–I mean vending machine–behind this one sells baseball and football cards.
“It’s only a quarter–here,” said Shellie, handing me a quarter from her purse.
“Ah, why not? It will give me something to blog about,” I replied.
I put in a quarter…and nothing happened.
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a quarter and put that one in, thinking that would fix the problem.
It didn’t.
Perhaps taking inspiration from the Hanson Brothers of Slap Shot, Shellie said “Stand back” as she kicked the machine hard enough to rock it back and forth.
Instead of 4 cards, the machine spat out 6:
Ian Fraser, Mike Kruselnyski, Sergei Fedorov, Johan Garpenlov, Geoff Courtnall and Daniel Marios. A bit heavy on the 1991-92 Stadium Club.
“Try that again,” I suggested. 2 more cards emerged:
Ken Wregget, and is that….? Yes, it is Eric Lindros on water skis. (soon to be a “Card of the Week”).
“I should just leave you here with a roll of quarters,” Shellie mused.
“No! These are the kinds of hockey cards that I’m trying to get rid of, not get more of.”
Later that day, on our way out of the mall, we passed the evil machine again.
“Here–one more time,” said Shellie, handing me a quarter. I think she liked this thing more than I did. Maybe she enjoyed kicking it.
Next to the coin slot, in the tray where the cards land, were these 3 freebies–perhaps the machine vended them after we left?
Kelly Miller, Marc Bureau, Brad Lauer and Mike Hough. Hardly what you’d call “star cards.”
For 75 cents I am the proud owner 15 useless hockey cards from the early 1990s. Two things surprise me:
1. I didn’t get any Pro Set cards, but did get 7 Stadium Club cards.
2. The cards were not vended in cardboard sleeves to protect them. Similar machines in the 1980s and 1990s would usually put the cards inside a folded piece of cardboard. No so today, as the cardboard folder would be worth more than the cards they protect.
So, take my advice: if you see one of these Star Card vending machines at a mall near you, keep walking. Or better yet–run!
My first ’63-64 Parkhurst card of the new year, Ralph Backstrom bumps me up to 21 out of 99 cards in that set. Four more cards, and I’ll be 1/4 of the way there.
In 2008, I only purchased 2 cards from this set (though one of them was Gordie Howe).
In 2009, I made a more concentrated effort to build this set, picking up 18 cards for my set.
This year, I hope to get another 24 cards for this set–about one every two weeks. On a limited budget, that makes it a challenge. Most of the cards in this release are not that hard to come by, but I’d rather wait until I can get a good deal. This Backstrom card here cost me $8.02, but it has no creases, no marks and four sharp corners…well worth it for a 47-year old card.
Last week Monday, Shellie and I got a few autographs from Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell. I got a photo signed, while Shellie got a Champ’s card signed for me. Campbell commented on the card, saying that he thought it looked cool.
We also put together this 40-second video:
…are now on sale, so you better hurry and buy some before they are all gone. Because the team would love you to buy into all the hype.
Two years back, the Blackhawks put their convention passes up for sale in March, if I recall correctly. Last year, the passes went on sale around February. For the 2010 convention, they started hawking (ha!) convention passes back in December 2009. Why so soon? What’s the rush?
“Well, they gotta pay Marian Hossa somehow, right?” suggested my girlfriend Shellie.
Good point. $12 million a season doesn’t raise itself.