Hockey cards, collectibles and culture
A few days ago, I was at Target and decided to peruse the trading card aisle. I’ve been pretty good at avoiding blaster boxes this year, but I saw something shiny that caught my eye: a collector’s tin of 2011-12 Upper Deck Series One. I was intrigued. This tin did not have the usual “retail … Continue reading “2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 – Tin Break #1”
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 … Continue reading “Vintage Pickups: Two 1963-64 Topps Cards”
Screenshot from the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv website (translated), Sept. 7, 2011 Everyone has either read, heard and/or blogged about the tragic news by now: yesterday, an airplane carrying the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey team crashed, killing 43 of the 45 passengers on board. The entire Yaroslavl hockey team–save one badly burned player–perished in the crash. It seemed … Continue reading “The Yaroslavl Lokomotiv Tragedy”
When I attended The National Sports Collectors’ Convention earlier this month, I participated quite a bit in Upper Deck’s wrapper redemption program. Buying 5 packs of 2010-11SP Authentic earned me one voucher for a redemption pack. In total, I bought 50 packs of SP Autentic (two 24-pack boxes plus 2 additional packs). Here are the … Continue reading “2010-11 SP Authentic Box Break #1”
While at The National, I bought not one but two boxes of In The Game’s Decades 1980s hockey cards. These boxes were the so-called “National Edition,” which cost about $10 more than a regular box of Decades, but here’s what made the “National Edition” more enticing to buy: It entitled you to an autograph from … Continue reading “Decades 1980s: National Edition – Box Break #1”
I had no intentions of buying Panini’s Luxury Suite hockey cards. That is, until I went to The National. In order to get the special, show-only redemption packs from Panini, you had to buy certain cards. I had two options: Buy packs of stuff I already had (Donruss or Pinnacle). Buy packs of higher-end stuff … Continue reading “2010-11 Luxury Suite Box Break”
Click to view larger My sister clipped this comic from the newspaper and gave it to me. I think we all can relate to Charlie Brown here. I know I can. Ironically, it was my sister who always got the one card I wanted-needed-had-to-have when we were kids. Whoever was my personal “Joe Shlabotnik” at … Continue reading “Question: Your own personal Joe Shlabotnik”
In a move completely out of character, I purchased a hobby box of 2010-11 Artifacts Hockey. Partly because I like the design and partly because I couldn’t find many quality vintage singles at the show I attendedon Saturday. Plus, I never buy any high-end boxes. I’m tired of watching from the sidelines, so I decided … Continue reading “2010-11 Artifacts Box Break”
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 … Continue reading “Seven 2005-06 Young Guns”
1992 Upper Deck Christmas card #1 of 10 – Santa’s New Sleigh ‘Tis the season to show off awful, Christmas-themed trading cards. This one in particular was part of a 10-card set issued by Upper Deck in 1992. Each card shows Santa Claus and his elves engaged in different sporting activities – baseball, football, basketball … Continue reading “Santa’s New Sleigh”