Spring Expo Goodies Post #17

Back to some hockey.

One of my favourite pickups of the day wasn't cardboard, but a piece of plastic. This is from a 2004 10-card set that you had to get a single card from when you used a Mastercard at a participating restaurant. It's one of those iconic moments in Cup history, and despite not being a traditional card, is still a beauty.

One appearance of Lord Stanley's mug deserves some more. I wish all non-player cards were as beautifully done as this one. It is far nicer than the non-retro card from the set.

Another addition to my in-progress Senators Frankenset. It doesn't appear that Mike Commodore has any cards that aren't hits. Just autos and this /100 relic. Any port in a storm, and any card will do for set building. I'll replace it if a base card surfaces, but there just don't seem to be any.

A dime box pull of a Leaf? Why?

It's all about the bio on the back. It's one of only a couple that mention his lineage does go to the legendary Hanson brothers from Slap Shot.

Another Leaf? I'm a big fan of Ellis' openness about his battle(s) with depression.

Now this is more like me. A pair of additions to my Alfie collection. A rookie card, and a nifty McDonald's Pinnacle.

And finally, a nice Ron Hextall card that salutes his crazier ways. The back refers to his fight with Chris Chelios, as well as the points he put up in his career. Definitely a rarity on cards from the netminders. He's probably my favourite lunatic in hockey history, and mean that as a compliment.

Spring Expo Goodies Post #16

Back to the box to find some more cards I had yet to post.

Much as I'll probably never get tired of cards that showcase Joe Carter's bounce around the base paths. I'll likely never tire of cards that salute Johan Santana's no-hitter. This card actually made its way onto my Top 10 most wanted list a couple days before the show. I don't know if it set a personal record for time spent on the list, but it has to be close.

And speaking of Carter's leaps, I've got plenty of those in my Jays box. But I didn't have any of the other World Series walk-off homer.

Until I grabbed this one. Strangely, I don't think I have the Joe Carter from this subset.

I'll probably never own the real thing, so this will have to do. I have do idea where this card is even from. There's no copyright information on it, and not even a number on the back. They've even fixed the spelling error on the original. Still, I had no qualms handing over a quarter for it.

Fergie from 1980! Even better - it is an O-Pee-Chee card! Long live the lanceur!

I didn't have a Mets card of Bubba Trammell. I guess I still technically don't, but I'll still put this one in the Mets binder. It's close enough.

Greatest. Oil. Can. Boyd. Card. Ever. OK. It might be an exaggeration, but it is a pretty neat looking card. And it is a short print as well, in return for one thin dime.

And to wrap this rather random 8 pack up, a pair of nice, relaxing Stadium Club cards.

Trying on some Black Diamonds

A trip to Wally World was on the agenda for yesterday. I can't make a trip there without making a trip through the card aisle. Many temptations awaited, but I limited myself to a hanger pack that contained 3 packs of 2012-13 Upper Deck Black Diamonds.

3 packs with 5 cards each (or 6 in one of them). I don't want to scan all of them, so I'll simply show my favourite card in each.

The third pack didn't contain any sort of hit or multiple diamond, so I'll just post my favourite base card from the 5. While it did also contain a Mike Smith card with his incredibly great Wile E. Coyote mask, I can't vote against a Spezza card. In terms of the more hit-based Upper Deck product, I'll easily prefer these to the Artifacts since they don't completely obliterate the background of the picture, but still let the player stand out against it. I wish they didn't recycle photos to the back, but the design is also very nice and clear.

The only multiple-diamond card I pulled was in the second pack. Jeremy Welsh spent more time with the Charlotte Checkers as opposed to the Hurricanes, but it is still a nice card. The name is a lot easier to read with the card in hand as opposed to on a scan.

I kinda hinted at it when I mentioned one of the packs contained 6 cards instead of the supposed 5, but the first pack I opened saw this nice relic appear.

It's supposedly from the 2011 World Juniors tourney. It would have been nicer and definitely more patriotic with both a red and white swatch on the card, but that's a nitpicking thing. There is a hint of stitching near the bottom of the lower one. Brett's in the Tampa system, but he spent more time this past season with Syracuse in the AHL.

Yet another trade w/ Too Many Manninghams

In the post-Expo send out, TMM received one of my care packages, and today, the return goodies came.

Firstly, one card makes a disappearance off of my Most Wanted list, and into my birthday binder. Bernie  looks less like a Hall of Famer turned coach and more like every police captain in any movie that's PO'd at some maverick cop who won't play by the rules. "I don't wanna hear it, McBain!"

And not content with knocking one off my Top 10 list, another one drops off the list and into my 2/14 binder. He joins Carl Bernstein and Frederick Douglass as the 3 non-athlete cards in the binder. He's also the third person that is part of a Hall of Fame that is in the binder. Jim Kelly is the third. Although I'm sure if I were to do some googling, I'd find members of the South New Jersey Sports Hall of Fame in the binder.

Staying with 2/14 theme, here's some more cards for the hit. Not one, but two Viktor Kozlov cards, for one of three folks with cards that perfectly match with my birthdate.

And to continue the theme of good things coming in two, the package wrapped up with a pair of hits for my personal collections.

My first bat relic for Delgado, and a nice card that has him for my two favourite teams. Looking at the other versions of the card in this subset, I'm guessing the relics are both from his Blue Jays years. It's like a card that was created just for my personal interests and fandom. Just like the Hejduk/Gaborik double relic for my 2/14 binder.

And finally, a pair of Alfies. The first is /150. The second is /100. Can't have enough Alfie hits!

Masked Mondays - Week #20 or Spring Expo Goodies Post #15

Since it is Memorial Day stateside, I was hoping to find some sort of star-spangled mask in my goodie box. Nope. So, I'll have to post a quartet of card of players from US based teams instead.

Thanks to the dribbler that got past Tuukka Rask last week, Vesa no longer holds the title of the guy who let in the most embarrassing goal in recent memory. The only question is which goal did it unseat. Was it the Lydman goal for Buffalo or the Rob Davison goal for the Islanders?

Time for another appearance of Rollie the Goalie from one of his many stops. OK. He only played for 6 teams, but it seems like a lot more. The card is #d to /450. Yay. I guess.

 Double Godzilla! AWESOME!

A seaside scene in Seattle. Why not wrap this one up with a tongue twister? Calvin's a prospect in the Avalanche system, but has yet to make an appearance for the big club.

Ye Olde Football Repack

I mentioned trying my hand with a Fairfield football repack last week. I guess now is as good a day as any to show off the goodies from that hanger. Nothing impressive in terms of hit, but as with many of them, they are a ton of fun to thumb through.

I didn't see any Bills cards poking out of the windows as the visible cards. So, I just went for the one with the most interesting photograph available. Terrell Owens might be a wee bit of a d-bag, but that is a great picture. So many of the football cards have generic running, passing, catching and tackling photos, so it is great to see one with so much goofy personality. And it is a fairly famous photo of Owens - a nice one to see preserved as a cardboard base card.

Who cares if it is junk wax era? Three cards from the WLAF! At least it lasted longer than the XFL! Plus, the Chris Mohr something else that I enjoyed about the pack. From a group of about 80 cards, 6 were either of punters or kickers. That's something you really don't see from modern sets. If I, as a Bills fan, wanted to add a card of Rian Lindell to my collection, my only option is a Topps Total issue where he's 1/3 of those featured on the card. At least Brian Moorman did get a solo card in 2006. Even a 'name' kicker like Sebastian Janikowski only has a handful from outside of his rookie year.

See! Lots of kickers! The Ho and Wagner cards came from the two packs that were inserted in the repack.

The only true Buffalo Bill card in the pack was this oddball of Jim Kelly. It has something on the back about grading cards, and, despite being a 1992 issue, has stats on the back from 1988. Oh well, it is another card for the 2-14 binder.

The closest thing to a hit out of the pack was this Joey Galloway. Numbered to /8799! But if anyone is doing an ever doing an even larger serial #d insanity and need #3784, give me a shout!

This was the oldest card in the package Not exactly vintage, but I definitely could have done worse.

And my favourite photograph among the non-visible cards is a Pro Set? I guess I'm strange like that.

A lot of fun to work my way through, although I don't like the fact that there were only 80ish card in the repack as opposed to the 100 cards that show up in the hockey or baseball ones.

Spring Expo Goodies Post #14

Not exactly Masked Monday, but here's a small pile of goaltender cards I picked up at the show that will make my misc hockey binders.

This was one of several cards were ones that made me think "WOW!" when I was going through the boxes. This certainly was one. I had no idea Marty Turco was the disturbingly flexible.

These were both in the same sleeve for a dime. I don't really care that they're from the junk wax era. These are two cards of a Hall of Famer that really doesn't have too many cards on this side of the pond that aren't part of an ITG set.

Although I only really looked at goalie cards, 1997 Pinnacle looks like a set that would be a ton of fun to flip through. In fact, I did on zistle and ended up adding some more base cards from it to my wantlist. While it isn't all mind-blowing photography, there's still a lot of beauties in that set giving me many binder-worthy candidates.

OK. I just like saying "Carrado Micalef".

No Marvin the Martian? Blasphemy! Neat shot, though.

I didn't have any cards featuring this mistake of a Rangers uniform until getting this. If he didn't play in over 40 games the previous season, I'd almost think this card was airbrushed.

Cheap puns forever! Or at least as I way to wrap up this post.

Spring Expo Goodies Post #13

Will I get through the Spring Expo posts before summer arrives? Probably not, but I'll make an attempt at it with yet another mishmash of cardboard.

Might as well open up with an oddball. Picking up any Mariners era Griffey Jr card from a dime bin is always a win win situation for me. Picking up a goofy one from a set I'd never heard of - even moreso.

I really like the design on the backs of these cards as well. Far better than one would expect for an unlicensed set. Colours. A second photograph. A facsimile autograph. I guess the background picture could have been the Kingdome, but if that's my biggest complaint, it's a neat card.

The All-Star rookie cup looks more like a spittoon here for Blue Jays' first-game hero Ault. A really sad story when one looks back at his life. Depression is a nasty opponent.

This was one of the relics I pulled from a 6 for $10 bin. It's actually one of two that I have left, having shipped packages to others in the card blogging universe. He's was a 2nd round pick of the Raptors, so the fact he played 20 some games for the Raptors this year is more than I'd expect from a  2nd rounder. Or it is an indictment of how sketchy the Raptors were last year. I'll lean to the former, but only because the post season resulted in this photo. Quincy Acy > Me and you.

I couldn't tell you anything about John Van Benschoten, but you have to love this photo. When I first saw the card, I thought he was posing with one of those goofy novelty gloves. Nope. Just an extreme close up.

As I stated in an early post, many of my baseball purchases came from the Fan Favorites set. I'm not sure why I grabbed two Harold Baines cards, but I did. If the 1990 Topps cards from this year's Archives look like this one, working with the team colours, I'll be a big fan of that base set portion.

I'm probably the only one that would rather collect cards of this Ryan Braun as opposed to that Ryan Braun. Hey. He's the only player born in my hometown. Although we now have Scott Diamond from just down the road.

And to wrap this one up, a completely random card of a Hall of Fame umpire.