Hockey cards, collectibles and culture
Upper Deck’s policy on replacing damaged cards has changed. They will still replace damaged cards up to a year from the date of the card’s manufacture, but you can no longer just drop the cards in the mail; the process is a bit more involved.
I’ve documented my most-recent return of defective cards to Upper Deck, so you know what to do — and how long it will take – if you get damaged cards in your latest box break.
I love cards that use paintings instead of photos. Sets like the Hall of Fame postcards from the 1980s, Donruss Ice Kings from the 1990s and 2010s, and even the Upper Deck Hockey checklists from the early 1990s were all “must haves” for my collection. There’s just something awesome about seeing your favorite player rendered as a painting; it makes them seem even more iconic. So when Upper Deck announced that they were making a new set of Masterpieces Hockey, I knew I had to buy a box. It took me a while, but I finally got my mitts on one.
A box of 2014-15 Masterpieces costs around $100 and consists of 15 five-card packs. You are guaranteed three hits per box, with at least one (read: probably just one) hit being an autograph. Here is what I got in my most recent box break.
This 2014-15 Upper Deck hockey card of Martin St. Louis does not have an autograph on it, nor does it have a piece of jersey embedded in it. And you know what? It doesn’t need any of those gimmicks to be the best hockey card of the season. All it needed was this amazing photograph that, coincidentally, was taken exactly one year ago today.
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In Puck Junk Podcast #3, Sal and Tim (a.k.a. The Real DFG) talk about:
Trigger Warning: We mention Mike Keenan twice in this podcast. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Pictures of some of the cards we discuss are after the jump. Continue reading “Puck Junk Podcast #3 – May 27, 2015”
In Puck Junk Podcast #2, Sal and Tim discuss:
Scroll down for card images, as well as a map of the NHL teams.
PODCAST INTRO AND ending MUSIC CREDITS:
“Rockin’” Tony Bullard (tonybullard.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
When sports card collecting became huge in the 1980s and 1990s, many comic book stores tried to get in on the action. Often, it was just a few wax boxes and display cases with singles to cash in on the trend without investing too much into it. But at the end of the day, most comic book dealers knew Wolverine better than they knew Wayne Gretzky. Sometimes, you could take advantage of that.
Continue reading “Buying Cards in the 1990s, Memory #2: The Comic Book Store”
This is the first in what will hopefully become a regular podcast series on this website, hosted by Sal Barry and Tim Parish. For those who don’t know, Tim maintains a sports card blog called The Real DFG and hangs out on Twitter @TheRealDFG.
Today, Sal and Tim talk about:
Total running time is 28:17. Scroll down to see some card images.
Question #1: If you listened to the podcast, what did you think? Positive or negative feedback is welcome, but please keep it constructive.
Question #2: What is your opinion on any of the topics we discussed?
Podcast Intro and ending music credits:
“RetroFuture Clean” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
During the sports card boom in the 1990s, you could find hockey cards almost anywhere in Chicago and the suburbs. I went to a lot of card shops back then; there were more of them 20 years ago. But what stands out two decades later is when I found hockey cards off the beaten path.This is one such story. Continue reading “Buying Cards in the 1990s, Memory #1: The Suburban Convenience Store”
This is one of my all-time favorite hockey card photographs. On the front of his 1991-92 Upper Deck “Star Rookies” card, Felix Potvin is shown hoisting the trophy he won as the MVP of the 1991 QMJHL playoffs. Everything about this photo is excellent, from the elated look on Potvin’s face as he proudly hoists the trophy, to the crowd of cheering people who have flooded onto the ice behind him.This picture successfully captures a moment in time.
It also succeeds in explaining why Potvin is a “Star Rookie” without saying a word. We don’t even need to read the text on the back of the card. Using this picture was a great choice by Upper Deck, and says more about Potvin than a staid draft day photo or a shot from Maple Leafs’ training camp. But Upper Deck wasn’t the first company to use this picture on a hockey card.
The photograph on Ryan Johansen’s 2014-15 Upper Deck trading card is bad. No, it isn’t quite as terrible as the infamous Bryan Pitton Score rookie card from a few years back. Nor is it the worst card of all time, though it is the worst card from this year’s UD Series One. Seeing the back of a player on the front of his own card is unremarkable. In fact, this photo is so unremarkable that apparently no one at Upper Deck noticed that they used the exact same photo on Johansen’s card from the previous season. Continue reading “Deja Vu Tuesday: Ryan Johansen”