The Champ's Is Here! - Box 2

Top 10 cards from Box #2:

10:

While this still isn't the guy named Connor you want to pull, he's become a very solid netminder as the Jets work their way to the playoffs.

9:

Here's another member of the '15 rookie class that's developed into a solid player, making it more than just that guy named McDavid.

8:

Although a dupe, I still like adding these to my recaps, just so I have an excuse to scan them.

7:

The Traditions cards generally end up higher on the list, but this one is a dupe as well.

6:

The hit parade starts with a Sedin.

5:

Although it is a dupe, Lanny is always a player that I rarely need an excuse to scan a card of.

4:

Forbort's always a fun name to say out loud.

3:

The obligatory "base card I'm glad I don't have to purchase".

2:

The auto takes the #2 spot. While this probably should get the #1 spot, being an on-card rookie autograph of a good player...

1:

The oddball-ness of Champ's has to win out. A silver /25 parallel of a CrossFit athlete? Fine by me.

And there you have it. Box #3 tomorrow, and this one will have the toughest pull of the case. Sorta...

Card show miscellany

A whole bunch of stuff picked up at a small local show several weeks back. In the order of whatever order they get uploaded in.

Technically, this one was not the first one uploaded. Since blogspot orders things alphabetically, Ntema was closer to the end. But I uploaded this one for the back of the card, which is file 151. And I purchased this one for the back of the card. This is actually the second time I've done that for this player. Why?

The same reason as before: The international back to the card is written in Lingala.

A trio of new cards for my 2/14 collection. A SPd Black Diamond card of Gaborik, followed with my second Prizm Select card in the past two days. The final item isn't a card as all, but a sticker from 1993-94 Panini. You'll see more 2-14 content and 1993 sticker content as this post continues. Gaborik moves to 148 total cards, with Calle at 30.

Such as right now for the 2-14s. There was a binder of $1 baseball autographs at the show. I got some for myself and some for my trade partners. You'll have to wait to see those at other blogs when their mail arrives, but these were part of the "For me" portion. The signature might not be the most legible, but it is large and distinctive. These are my 8th and 9th Clarkins in the binder.

Kitchener Rangers alumni auto! If that's a 9 next to his name (errr...initials), he signed that sticker when he was wearing #9 in Buffalo. He wore #12 with the Blues.

Sure, this might look like a Boston College card, but I'm sure I can give it a nice home in my Bills binder.

This time, it is Shawn Green that comes out of that dollar binder, and I'm really surprised to look at my collection and realize that this is the first Green auto I have. But when I see that most of his autos out there are of the Dodgers variety, and that his Toronto ones are mainly buybacks at COMC, then it becomes a little more obvious why I didn't have one before.

Basketball miscellany! A Celtic and a Canuck.

Another player's autograph makes his debut in my collection, and another one I'm surprised about. After his Mets implosion, his autographs weren't exactly costly. But, here it is. 6 out of 8 letters being legible also makes him an outside contender for my penmanship collection as well. This auto/bat relic is numbered out of 150.

Random Mets content. Brett Harper never reached the majors, but baseball-reference has him still active in Mexico last season.

Back to the $1 auto binder with a trio of Mets autos. Jeff McNeil was briefly a Double A last season, but got stalled with the injury bug. Cory Vaughn, son of junk wax mainstay Greg Vaughn, was released by the team at the end of the 2015 season, and played independent ball last year. Reese Havens retired without reaching the bigs, but Thole was able to get a career for himself as RA Dickey's personal catcher.

Mask binder randomness! Shiny cards and Champ's in the same post, but my favourite here is easily the overhead photo of Luongo. A clear view of the top of the mask, and the puck as he makes a save against the team that traded him. I would really love to see multi-relic/auto cards released that feature the various players that were part of Mike Milbury missteps. I know I'd chase down a Spezza/Chara/Yashin triple card.

More hockey miscellany. Like the mask cards, these came from a quarter box. Stanley Cup hoists are always welcome in my collection. Next to that is a Vancouver Millionaires throwback, and the top row wraps up with a red parallel of George Parros. I believe those were from wrapper redemption packs. A nice variety of names from the past in the middle. The bottom row start up with a decent rookie card of a guy in a forgettable jersey. The last two were cards I picked up in case Shane @ Shoebox Legends needed them. He didn't.

More stickers. This time of Kitchener Rangers alum.

A whole bunch of Senators cards. While I do like the new parallel Alfredssons for my collection, and the best last-named goaltender ever with Kelly Guard, I've got to vote for my first 2016 Tim Horton's card, featuring Erik Karlsson and the Rideau Canal. I only wish they'd chosen a winter shot with the waterway frozen over and filled with skaters.

And the last of the cards were two more $1 autos. Despite the lack of a massive 'fro, the Oscar Gamble is a nice random addition. As for Parker, I'd hoped that Matt @ Bob Walk the Plank needed this, but it would have been a dupe for him. So, it is off to my penmanship collection.

And there you have it.

2015 Adventures in Repacks: Part 44: Back to the Dollarama

And another Surprise bag pick-up.  All 4 parts of the repack contained cards. No supplies this time around. Leading off:

which contained:

Of course, the rookie card of Palushaj will be set aside for a future TMM mailing. Of the rest, the highlight is the Baie-Comeau Drakkar jersey.

Which was of the Canadian team variety:

Hard to dislike any repack that includes a Finest card. Even if it is just a base.

This brought me back to the 80s with these:

And this might be my favourite of the break. Although I've already got one, getting another one of Lanny's OPC swan song (complete with the wrong date for his retirement) is nice for my misc collection. Cooperalls make an appearance, as does a Bruin.

And to wrap it up, this pack.

Strangely, the highlight for me here is was the Bill Thomas. For a simple reason: Prior to pulling this card, I'd never heard of the guy.

And there's another $2 worth of fun!

2015 Spring Expo Goodies - Part 6 - I Love the 80s!

Howzabout some random 80s hockey cards from the show?

Here's one I got simply for the oddness factor. Serge Savard on any team other than the Habs seems wrong, but he did wrap up his career with a couple years on Winnipeg . This issue was the only card he got from his time on the team during his career, although there was an issue from ITG in the mid 00s that also had him ain a Jets uni.

This might be the blurriest photo I've ever seen on a card, especially for a major name. It really looks like someone from OPC just took a photograph of a television that was showing a Colorado Rockies game.

And here we have your typical card that looks like a really bad airbrushing. The only problem is that this came after Ivan had spent 1 1/2 seasons with the Canucks. So perhaps this was the best photo they had. Which is depressing. At least it was an improvement over the previous year's card.

A) Per-Olav Brasar is a fun name to say out loud.
B) This photo is apparently of Brent Ashton, in an uncorrected error.

Speaking of fun names. Brownschidle.

Boimstruck.

Ruotsalainen. And according to hockeydb, Reijo didn't play in Finland. He was just there. He came back for a short run with the Oilers in 86-87, playing for 16 regular season games, and then their entire Stanley Cup run.

And to wrap this up, here's a card that isn't from the 80s but is a 1975 issue. From an era of really bland photos on hockey cards, I love that he's just casually standing over an opponent who is flat out on the ice.

And there's a few more cards to go from my Expo box. I might finish the singles before next week and get on to the box breaking.

Zistle Trade w/ Orlando Bolts

Usually, I'm the one doing the contacting on zistle to make a trade. This time, someone contacted me. Amazingly, I actually had all but one of the requested cards available. I threw in a few more to make up for my poor organizing skills, and the trade was born.

And it was a pretty good sized one, where I added a lot to my various PCs.

But, my beloved Bills only for one card. It being this Predictor card of Thurman Thomas, complete with pring so fine on the back I'd screw my eyesight up even worse than it already is trying to read it. But, this leads into hockey most of the way home.

Up next, a pair of cards for my various PCs, and hitting two of my favourite designs. I've professed my love for Champ's before and its hockey salute to Ginter. I'm not sure I've done so for the push pin design, but if I haven't, I should have.

An interesting thing about this trade is that despite the package heading to Florida, OrlandoBolts was from Guelph, Ontario. That's just down the road from me in Kitchener. The Guelph Storm are probably the top rivals of the Rangers, depending on how the London Knights are doing relative to the other teams. That leads into Part 1 of the Rangers alumni in this trade, featuring more from Champ's and 1988-89.

And here are some more, from a variety of sets. The big winner here is the Tkaczuk in the middle, since you really can't go wrong with anything 79-80 related.

There was also a nice variety of Senators cards. A notable here is Daniel Guerard, who makes his debut in my Senators collection. I'm betting that's a PEI Senators uniform, as he only played two games in Ottawa. Still, that's good enough to add to my boxes. I like the photo choice on the Baker. Unless that's against the Islanders, he's in his road blacks on his way to yet another loss. And there's the Rookie Cup! On a hockey card! WOO-HOO!

2/14 cards come in all shapes and sizes. Here's a new mini for the collection - and yet another Champ's card in the set.

And to wrap things up, here's some more 2-14 babies. There might be a dupe or two in the whole lot, but I'm going to plow through these arrivals (and an even larger trade package) over the weekend to get things pared down. I'm thinking some of the 2001 Topps might be dupes, or merely the Topps cousins of the OPC version. These include my 81st card of Milan Hejduk, who regains over the overall lead by 1 card over Marian Gaborik.

Anyhow, thanks for the trade, and I might be sending a PWE your way sometime late this month with a Guelph Storm alumni or two inside.

Another Too Many Manninghams Trade - The Non-Baseball goodies

This morning, the baseball goodies got posted. Tonight, the best of the rest.

I'm always happy to welcome new faces into the 2/14 binder. While Clowney was becoming the third 2/14 birthday boy to be picked #1, 193 picks after that pick, Wenning was drafted by by Baltimore 194th overall in the 6th round of the draft. Since he was a QB, even if he doesn't play a down in '14, he still should get a bunch of cards in this year's sets. Or at least an inexpensive auto. Or at least cheaper than one of the guy drafted 193 spots earlier.

Milan Hejduk's retirement likely means that he will be surrendering his overall lead in the 2-14 binder shortly. To be honest, I've probably got enough unsorted Marian Gaboriks to have him take over the lead right now, assuming I get to sorting them within the next month. But, he is the first person in the binder to reach 60 total cards.

This is my 8th Ilya Zubov card in the 2/14 collection. He played 11 career NHL games. At least this signature is a little more legible than his usual scrawl.

Leaving the 2/14 folder behind, but staying with the Sens, here's a new card for my Sens hit collection. And a new player, as Brian Lee makes his debut among the hits.

And to wrap things up, a nice patriotic appearance of Lanny McDonald. I'm not sure what this relic comes from, just that it was used in an official hockey game. Are old-timers games considered official?

So, that wraps up another trade. As usual, there is another package on its way to Dennis already, sent before this one even arrived.