Finally, wrapping up the Spring Expo goodies

I might as well get this done before Canada Day!

Plus, I need to use that box for Series 2 storage.

Damn, I love pinstripes on relic  cards. Especially when I can pick them up for a dollar.

A Princeton educated goon? Awesome!

And two relics deserve a third. How about a HOFer? Although this is event-worn as opposed to game-worn, so it might be from his golf shirt at an old-timers tournament.

To continue with the HOFers, here's a pair of hockey ones from one of my favourite designs.

Milan Hejduk is not a Hall of Famer. He likely will not be. But he's an honoured member of the 2/14 club, and I'm happy to add this parallel into that binder. Once my latest COMC and sportlots orders get here, there will be quite a few new faces for that binder.

A nice, albeit quite psychedelic refractor of a pretty good pitcher.

And to wrap things up, a card I got just because I liked the guy's nickname.

Another S2 Jumbo

I'll try Target tomorrow in an attempt to find some retail of this set. Until then, it's still Jumbos from the LCS. Thankfully, I did do better this time in terms of building the base.

My favourite photo of the pack was this one. But that's only because it looks like Conger is flipping the bird as opposed to merely tossing a ball.,

Chicago teams get the runner up spot in this pack, with a high leg kick from the White Sox, and a nice throwback for the Cubs.

Although no new Mets base cards entered my humble abode, the were 4 Blue Jays in the mix. Gose might be the least necessary horizontal card in the series.

Time for the inserts!

The parallels! For more interesting usage of the horizontal medium here.

Not the most spectacular player for the MtM insert series, but I have been coming across a lot of Frazier's cards lately. Although that might have been influences by back-to-back Fraziers in my first ever Fairfield repack.

Fred's unprecedented game? Becoming the first Aler with 3 homers, 5 hits and 10 RBI in one game.

A "The Elite" of Buster Posey.

My '72 mini.

But, I'll save my favourite find for last. I definitely gave a "Yes!" when this one came out.

Straight into a top loader with this one! It's not a hit, but I'll definitely consider it to be the best card in the pack.

PWE Power!

I'd sent Condition: Sensitive some Rockies, Bruins and Redskins a few weeks back. I never got around to posting the trade, mainly because I bindered and boxed the goodies surprisingly quickly for me.

However, a PWE arrived yesterday, with  a note about cards I could use.

Turns out, 2 cards dropped off my top 10 list, and 3 off of my Senators Frankenset list. Let's look!

My favourite of the bunch was this one. Not just for one less card on the list, but this Parkhurst issue was the only pro-level card of Hank Lammens career. The only other ones that zistle seems to think exist are minor league cards. It's always nice to come across cards of this nature, especially when they fit into your collection perfectly.

Dominic has a few more cards to his name, but as best as I can tell this is his only Sens card.

And this was Ken's only Senators card. A truly awful picture choice by Parkhurst, though. I'd think this was a Steve Thomas card just by looking at the photograph. But, a Sens card is a Sens card, and this one's joining the binder. I'm sure it will be the worst picture in the binder though.

But here's one for my Kitchener Rangers alumni set. There were several Don Edwards cards available, but this one became my want for the airbrushing. That's a Buffalo jersey that's been turned into a Calgary one. He must have loved that towel around his neck, as it is one of four cards of his that features that style.

And finally, one I wanted for my mask binder. Fire is obviously a popular motif for Calgary masks, but the flames on this one are more yellow as opposed to the bright orange that usually appears. Vive la difference!

Thanks for the PWE! I'll have to see what I've got around to return the favour!

More Fun with Repacks

A couple weeks back, I picked up another 100 card pack from Target. This one was a completely sealed hanging pack, but a sticker on the outside did promise 3 Vintage cards inside. I hadn't bought one of these before, so I grabbed one of them from the hangers, and these are the highlights.

I'll leave the vintage until the end, and I'll start with my favourite card in the pack.

Yes. My favourite card was a minor league card. It's all about the blue uniforms and Quinn Mack's attempt to make them look intimidating. It's from Indianapolis' days an Expos affiliate. Bonus marks for the thankfully defunct cartoon logo in the corner.

I won't say the repack was junk wax intensive, but this was the newest card in the pack. I won't complain though, since although there was numerous cards from that era, it never really got repetitive while thumbing through, excepting a streak of about 10 1990 Score cards in a row.

But when they include a nice bunting photo like on the Oquendo, I won't complain. Other great pictures are the post-play-at-the-plate of Carlos Hernandez, and Shane Mack holding third base like it is a life preserver in the middle of the ocean. Bonus points for the helmet skipping away.

How'd I do for Blue Jays? You're looking at it.

Somewhat better in terms of Mets. I love Alfonzo, but it's hard to hate any card of a pitcher against Wrigley's ivy backdrop.

A nice variety of Hall of Famers in this pack, even if half of them are after their playing days. The Gwynn wins this one handily. That's just a beautiful usage of a fill-bleed photo.

And a pair of cards of someone who is a pretty good candidate to find himself in Cooperstown at one point.

And while Cooperstown will likely not be in Matt Stairs' future, I'll guess enshrinement in St. Mary's will be a certainty. The only Canadian in the pack.

Of course,  there were oddballs.

And some rather unflattering close-ups. Bobby Abreu is fresh off his victory in the Mr. Lumpy Head '98 competition, and Cecil Cooper is just done with filming his Criminal Minds episode. As the unsub of the week, naturally.

For a while, the Cooper was the oldest card in the pack. It wasn't until the end that I spotted the 'vintage' cards.

Not the best, but I won't complain. I'd probably pull the Downing from a dime bin if I found it in one. It's all about the sunglasses from the Brett Somers collection. Any 70s afro card is always a fun find as well. Garman's an airbrush special, and Hargan would find himself airbrushed into Toronto Blue Jays duds for the following season.

If you can't enjoy repacks for a low price, you really aren't trying.

The Curse of the Dupe Fairy

As I've said before, I'm trying to build Series 2 without buying any non-retail boxes. As of a couple days ago, the usual suspects for retail still didn't have any packs in, so it was off to the LCS for another jumbo pack.

I've only busted stuff from there, so with a couple jumbo packs and a few hobby packs, I've got a little over 120 base cards.

After this pack, who gets added to the base?

6 cards out of about 40-ish base. that go into the old collation box. At least there's a Blue Jay and a nice picture in the Soriano.

Collation?

It stinks!

Perhaps the inserts will save this pack.

Nothing too spectacular among the parallels. Although the camo uniforms really look good with the emerald design. What else?

Again, nothing too spectacular.

Now we're talking! The only two Mets in the package, and they're both inserts. I think they were right beside each other as well. For me, that should be enough to save the pack.

But there was one more card in the pack. I had an inkling there'd be something like this in there when I picked up the pack. I figured it would be another pin like the Trout I pulled, since it felt a little heavy for it to only be cardboard.

It wasn't a pin:

Wow. That's gorgeous. I pulled a Josh Hamilton the first time around, and ebayed it due to not really being interested in Hamilton cards. This time, I'll be keeping it unless a Killebrew superfan wants to trade for it.

A hypothesis

Whether hoisted or held, there is no such thing as a bad card that features the Stanley Cup.

Although I would love to know how Classy Freddie Blassie managed to get in the Penguins locker room for their celebration.

Masked Mondays - Week #24

Since the season will wrap up before the next Monday, this probably the last official week for Masked Mondays until the 2013-14 season gets underway.

So, to keep with a dollar store theme, I picked up a surprise box on the weekend that happened to contain a 4 card goalie pack. Let's wrap up the masks for the season with these 4 cards.

I've posted Riku before on MM, but this time I get to feature the other side of his mask. He's still in the Tampa system as of this past season, but his only appearance in the bigs was a relief appearance.

I'm certain I've posted this card before, albeit not for a MM. Surprising to see such a quick turnaround for getting this year's product into repacks.

It was a Lightning and Avas hot repack, although the jersey didn't always match the team name, or vice versa. Wendell also fits into my collection as a Kitchener Rangers alumni, playing with their great teams of the early 80s. He's also probably the best goalie to come through Kitchener. At least until we see how John Gibson pans out for the Ducks.

And to continue the Avs and Tampa theme, here's Jose Theodore, although he's listed as a Capital.

No Mark Fitzpatrick Bowman card is a good sign for one of these.

Cubism revisited Part 2

Back to the rest of the cube. These comprise the 90 loose cards that were in the pack.

And here's the hit! It's certified, so the back says, although it makes some of the non-Topps baseball releases look licensed.

It is better shown on the back, but this was the second card that was in far less than mint shape.

But, that's concentrating on the bad. I'll accentuate the positive as I work through the rest of the cards.

A new card for my 2/14 binder! Although he spent many years in Philly, this is my first binder card with him in any uniform other than a Habs or Sabers one.

Although it was a card so nice, they gave it to me twice, this was my favourite photo of the loose cards. My 3 faves, all Upper Deck. Not exactly a surprise.

WOO-HOO! 4 more Sens! I might even make this Spezza the one I use for my Sens Frankenset. Just for being different.

Interestingly, there were several points in the cube where I'd find 3 or 4 of the same player in a row, albeit on different cards.

4 Lupuls! But this was really noticeable with the Flyers. I ended up with 4 Tommy Soderstroms.

3 Ilkka Sinisalos. These did include the two oldest cards in the repack.

But I also ended up with 4 Garth Snow cards. All of which feature his Abonibl....Abomd...Abom... YETI mask!

And to wrap things up, 3 more cards bound for a certain collector of Wolverines alumni.