The Days of Allen & Ginter - Day 1

I mentioned this in my post yesterday, saying that I picked up a non-SP set of Allen & Ginter 2008 cards. At $10.00, it was too great an deal for me to refuse. So, I figured "Why not take care of a week's worth of posts by looking through the set and showing some of my favourites?". Seems like a plan. It beats being creative.

Before I start, I've got a question. It seems that a previous owner of these cards was a heavy smoker, and the cards do have that tell-tale odour. Is there any way to clean that from them? When my next door neighbour tried to burn his house down by welding on his front porch, I pretty much had to go through a bottle of Febreeze at a rate of 1 per room to clean the stench. I don't think that's the best option.

OK. Aroma related issues aside, away we go. I'll do this in groups of 50.

#10 - Manny Ramirez. A great casual card. Just a nice cardboard example of Manny being Manny.

 #16 - Hiroki Kuroda. I love this one because of the back of the card. Stats from his Japanese career on the back?! Awesome!

#20. Vladimir Guerrero. You just knew I'd love any sort of Ginter Vlad card. This was one of the few cards in the set that I'd already owned.

#26 Corey Hart. Yet another example of the "Hey! The photographer told me to 'look dreamy.". And another example of why it really doesn't work for baseball cards.

#35 Eric Byrnes. There aren't too many action shots in the set, but the ones that are in there are really great.

#39 JR Towles. I'm a sucker for cards with patches on them. I don't think I could have asked for a better one of the then Astros logo. And it is on an obscure player as well. Perfect!

#50. Albert Pujols. And this might be the only true dud of the first 50 cards. It's a shame it is on a star player. The back lists Albert at 6'3, but this particular shot and the framing makes him look a dwarf.

There's a quick thumb through the first 50 in the set.

Masked Mondays - Week #14

4 cards were picked up at the show yesterday that would have made their way into the mask binder. However, only 3 will make it, as I'm sure the 4th would find a happier home in Ann Arbor.

The ones this week aren't the most detailed in the batch. But they're definitely different. Starting off with this Grant Fuhr card from 1993. The interesting portion of this card is evident on the back.

A hockey card with your fish sticks? How very Canadian.

There are not a lot of goalie cards that show the back plate. But here's one of them! It's another card that I'm surprised wasn't in my collection previously. Another beautifully framed card with the narrow hallways of Rexall Place, and the hands at the end of the hall hoping to touch one of the hometown heroes.

And a guy who I barely remember (playing in Atlanta can do that to anybody). A nice use of the alternate logo in the mask design, though.

And finally, the card that will be destined for someone with Too Many Manninghams.

Card show goodies!

What goodies ended up in my collection after the small show this morning?  Quite a few goodies. Some will only be temporarily in my possession, as I recognized some items from people's want lists. Others, will be on their way into my binders and personal collections.

The only card that I pulled out of a box, and despite it not being on my wantlists or personal sets, I just had to have this one. A beautifully framed shot against the backdrop of some sort of military ceremony in Denver. The fact Colina only has a handful of cards, and this is one of them, makes this card great.

I wasn't able to knock anybody off my list of 23 or so Blue Jays who had major league cards, but I did pick up a minor league/draft pick card or 5. This one's my favourite, for the absurdly high number across the back of Anthony Hatch.

Akim Aliu? Why? I'm kinda working on putting a page together featuring cards of players with obscure or rarely seen birth places, cross referencing it with hockey reference. Where was Mr. Aliu born?

Nigeria! Believe it or not, he's not the first player to have Nigeria on the back of a hockey card. Former Buffalo Sabre/NY Ranger Rumun Ndur preceded him. I'm hoping that posting these cards doesn't result in a flood of people posting that they'll send me 50000 Akim Aliu cards, just as long as I'm willing to provide a box for it, a bank account, and administrative fees for the totally legitimate Nigerian Ice Hockey Development Federation.

I did pick up a couple of relics. One for me, one to be mailed out. I'm happy to add this one of a HOFer  numbered out of 100 to my collection. Rod could also join my obscure hockey birthplace pages, as he was born in Taiwan.

The guy that has $1 80s repacks, with 1961 cards thrown in was also there. I grabbed a couple of them, and found these 1961 beauties lurking within. Sure, they're commons, but they were also nice surprises. Bob Bruce, is one of only 46 pitchers to strike out the side in an inning on 9 pitches.

As for the rest of those 80s repacks?

Here's a sampling. My faves are the Hough with the knuckleball grip, the casual Easler photo and the pair of Quisinberry cards.

I'm working on acquiring at least one card of players who spent some junior time with the Kitchener Rangers. A nice mix of 6 newcomers to that collections. Eminger and Campbell were both members of the team that brought home the team's second Memorial Cup back in 2003. There's some older stuff there as well, notably Walt Tkaczuk, who is also one of the greatest NY Rangers of all-time.

A-Rod? Why? Because I picked up a non-SP base set of Ginter for only a purple portrait of Sir John A. MacDonald. 300 Ginter cards for less than 5 cents a card? I was all over that.

There's a few more that I got that will show up tomorrow on masked Monday. Until then...

A pair of small zistle trades

A bunch of set filler (mainly) on the way out, and only about 20 cards coming my way. Let's look through some of my goodies that came this way.

I'm really happy to bring this one into my collection. I've hinted at my love for game shows before, even proclaiming that Chuck Woolery was my favourite card in the 2011 A&G set. Yup. Not my favourite non-baseball card. My favourite card. Another piece of cardboard with game show greatness? Come to my home! I hope in 2033 to find an Alex Trebek card in a Heritage set.

I already have this one in my 2013 Mets team set. But the "Los Mets" jersey made it a must-have for my Mets team binder as well. Sure, Manny's time in Queens was forgettable at best, but the uniqueness of this photo will be memorable.

And a mascot card!

3 new additions came in for my 2/14 binder as well. The regular Bowman of Willie Ponder (sounds like a gag Tube Bar name) joins the Chrome version. And another Kelly Stinnett Mets card. He's the only one in the binder who has spent time on either of my favourite baseball teams to earn a card.

4 new members were also welcomed into my alphabetical Jays collection. I haven't added any of the 2013 guys to my wantlist yet. I figure they'll end up in there soon enough on their own. And yes, DJ Boston is Darryl's brother. His 6 ft 7 in. brother. I saw him play some games for the Blue Jays then A affiliate in St. Catherines.

And a few Mets for my Mets binder as well. My first Dave Telgheder! WOO-HOO! (I'd love to know why waterlogged is a suggested correction for the spelling of his last name).

Top 10 cards from 1990-91 Bowman Hockey

I mentioned picking up a repack box that included 5 packs, and a complete 1990-91 Bowman set. It did feature the interesting Brett Hull card  that I posted earlier. While nothing in this set is noteworthy for value, I did pick it up since pretty much every dollar store repack I've ever bought has had at least one of them. The photography is mind-blowingly dull. Lots of cards of guys skating around during warm-ups, or sitting around on the bench. Surely, for a photography fan like myself, there has to be at least 10 interesting photos in a set.

Surely?

#10. Bob Essensa. #131. I think my love for the masks will come through in these picks. 4 of my top 10 are netminders cards, although only 2 of them are purely mask cards. If I came across a second one (Don't send me one!), I'd have no qualms adding it to the mask binder.

#9. Kelly Hrudey. #144. The other purely mask card in my top 10. A hint of going beyond just the team colours on it, with a hint of the Hollywood mask that was to come.

#8. Bryan Fogarty. #173. I was convinced, after watching him just dominate in the OHL with the Thunder, that he'd put up good numbers in the NHL. Sadly, his demons got the better of him, and he passed away at only 32 years old. As for the card, it's an interesting scramble by the net photo, with the puck nicely framed at the bottom.

#7. Ed Belfour. #7. A nice action shot with the snow flying and Ed guarding the five hole. Probably one of the better cards from the set. And if you have $80 floating around, you can pick up a graded one at COMC.

#6. Jon Casey. #183. The action's better in the Belfour, but I give this one the nod for Casey's intimidating stare.

#5. Dave Poulin. #36. Yawning? Or yelling at his teammates? Given the nature of this set, I'm wagering on the former.

#4. Jon Morris. #84. Just a generic action shot. But considering the dullness of this set, this card of Jon Morris skating with the puck and the chase being on is enough to make this #4 in my list of cards in this set. Depressing, no?

#3. Rob Brown. #202. Who says a simple card of someone just sitting there has to suck? Brown's expression makes this card interesting. Just looking on with a mix of scorn for the opposition and a casual "It's OK. We've got this one in the bag."

#2. Mike McPhee. #43. I just love the framing on this one. Especially the stick being held by the anonymous player between the camera and McPhee. Intentionally unique or just incompetence with the set? Probably incompetnece.

#1. Tom Fitzgerald. #116. Holy crap. I love this card. Just an intense face-off shot, with Fitzgerald staring a hole through through his opponent. Just a hidden gem in a set, and on a card devoted to a purely common player. If I'd seen a photo like this on a set like Upper Deck, it wouldn't look at all out of place. Beautiful.

I guess I was able to find 10 interesting photos in this set. It was definitely harder that you'd think.

Trade w/ Too Many Manninghams 3.0 Part 2

On to part 2, and the non-COMC cards portion of the trade.

The 2/14 binder got some more goodies! The highlight of it was a Viktor Kozlov autograph. I have a relic of his already, so this will look nice beside it in the binder.

I hinted at this yesterday, but 2 rather sparse members of the binder got a bit larger.

A six-pack worth of Richard Hamiltons. That Gold Label card sure scans beautifully. But that was dwarfed by:

An octet of David Garrard cards. I generally try to not have two cards from the same set or of the same player on the same page in the binder, but I made an exception for the two Football Heroes cards. They do look really nice together.

Only 1 Jim Kelly in the pack, but it was one I didn't have. Therefore it is another welcome one of the only Hall of Famer in the bunch.

A trio of Jason Bay cards for the Canadian Collection. That Padres card sure is photoshopriffic!

Some fresh Vlads as well.

And to open sandwich the cards of this post between hits, here's a nice mini relic of Alfie.

Great trade! I'll keep my eyes peeled for interesting cards at the Expo.

Trade w/ Too Many Manninghams 3.0 Part 1

After sending some more Wolverines relics his way, his reaction was "What's in your COMC cart?". Unfortunately, it was pretty threadbare at the time. But I did list what was in there, and sure enough they were part of the trade once everything came through. There were more surprises in the package (2 rather sparse members of my 2.14 binder got rather numerous) but I'll just focus in today on what was in my COMC cart at the time.

This one came from way back when I was looking for Viktor Kozlov (we'll hear from him in Part 2) cards from the KHL. I immediately fell in love with this logo. It might be my favourite logo in professional hockey. It's for Traktor Chelyabinsk. There were several cards from Traktor, but this one featured the best photo of the logo, and I can also add another oddity to my mask binder.

Here's another card that seems out of place. But, Vicente Garcia was in the cart for the same reason I chase cards of Damaso Marte. Based on a search through baseball-reference using google, Vicente became the third player for whom there are cards of that match exactly with my birth date. He never made it above AA in the Rockies system, but his card will definitely have a place of honour in my 2/14 binder.

And another first-time entry to the binder. There is an error on the card, as it lists his birth year as 1920, but every source I can find lists it as 1918. Oh well.

There was only 1 baseball card in the mask binder. One that commemorates Charlie O'Brien's debut usage of said mask. This one will be the second, as it features just the perfect photo of the mask. A little more design beyond the Cubs logo would have made it perfect. This was one of two that have dropped off my Top 10 most-wanted list.

2003 Topps would be the only year that the late Cory Lidle had a card where he's in a Blue Jays uniform. This card knocked my list for the alphabetical Blue Jays project down to 23.

And this was the other one that dropped off my Top 10 list. 88 Donruss (OK, Leaf) was one of the first sets I went for, not caring about overproduction or anything. And it is a card of a memorable Met. Bonus!

This was the only relic card in my cart. I'm really surprised that this see that this appears the only relic card out there for a popular Mets. And he has to share the card with Jeter! That is a total bummer. But I'm still really happy to add this card to hit portion of the Mets binder.

Thank for the first round of goodies. More later today or tomorrow!

Product Placement

Something tells me that the fine folks at Bauer might not be very happy with how visible their logo is in this picture.