(Black) Diamonds are my Best Friend

After lucking into a nice, patriotic relic card on my last trip through Walmart, I decided to give the hanger packs another go for a second time. The first time through, I beat the 1:48 (or 1:16) odds on a three pack purchase. This time, I hit on even longer odds.

These fall at a 1:126 ratio. More importantly, the card is really beautiful, and worthy of the longer odds on the pull. The areas at the side of the card beside Mike and the ring are clear. If the card were any player other than Richards, it probably would have been placed on ebay. But Richards falls into my personal collection as a Kitchener Rangers alum, so this one is a keeper.

The only other "hit" I pulled was a triple diamond card of Guy Lafleur in the second pack. A wee bit of damage in the corner, but still a binder-worthy beauty.

The third and final pack in the hanger only contained single diamond base cards. But, when you pull the Crosby base, it is still a pretty good pack. I'll say that the bottom of the card where the name in does look a lot clearer in person that when scanned.

Still, my favourite card among the base set was this beauty of Phil Esposito, The darker colour scheme works nicely with the Bruins colours, and the goaltender couldn't be framed better in the background. I did set me off on a search as to who that was in the background. Given the time period, the #30, and the style of mask sported, it looks to be Bruce Gamble. You can then cross-reference it with wikipedia to learn that Campbell didn't start wearing a mask until the 1970-71 season, when he was traded on Feb 1st. If the Leafs wore white at home that season, the photo was taken on Sat, Nov 14, 1970.

I may have over-analyzed that card a smidgen.