Long Lost Canadian Counterparts

Obsessive compulsive disorder can be a pain in the butt.  In regards to collecting... my biggest struggle with it happens to be confronting procrastination.  I totally enjoy sorting and organizing... but sometimes it can be overwhelming to see stacks and stacks of cards staring back at me.  I'll just walk into my office, see them, turn around, and find something else to distract me.

Last week, I took advantage of some extra free time and broke down all of those stacks.  My reward?  I found some long lost purchases.

Today's post focuses on an eBay purchase that was inspired by Stuart over at S.R.'75 Cards.  Last June, he wrote about his new blog banner which included the famous pinch runner card from the 1975 Topps set.  That post sent me on a mission to track down Herb Washington's 1975 O-Pee-Chee card.  Well I found one and the seller had a bunch of other affordable O-Pee-Chee baseball cards from the 70's.  In an effort to save a few bucks with combined shipping, I loaded up my shopping cart.

After going back and forth on which cards were top priority, I narrowed my cart down to ten cards that set me back $25.72 (tax & shipping included).  Two of them were showcased over the weekend, but here's a look at the other eight in reverse chronological order...

1978 O-Pee-Chee #110

Reggie's 1978 Topps card is one of my favorite cards from the 70's.  It features a perfectly cropped action shot of Mr. October and was one of the key cards in the purchase.

1977 O-Pee-Chee #255

Steve Garvey has a lot of great looking Topps cards from the 70's, but this is the only flagship base card that features a well-cropped action shot with all limbs and equipment intact.

If you're a fan of the 1975 Topps baseball card design, then you'll probably enjoy the next four cards...

1975 O-Pee-Chee #561

This card looks great on the front, but that back is marked up:

I'm not sure if I knew about this damage or not.  Based on the price, I'm guessing I did.

1975 O-Pee-Chee #625

This is another classic card from the 70's.  Off-centered or not... there was no way I was pulling this out of the shopping cart.

1975 O-Pee-Chee #463

1975 O-Pee-Chee #465

Not sure if I'll end up chasing down the complete World Series subset, but either way... I'm halfway there.

1973 O-Pee-Chee #500

Gotta admit... outside of a few words written in French on the back, this A's team card looks a lot like it's American counterpart.  I'm not sure even sure if this card is printed on the usual brighter card stock.

1972 O-Pee-Chee

Not a Pirates fan, but I've always liked the Topps version of this card.  Now I have the Canadian version to go with it.

1971 O-Pee-Chee #210

If you needed a good reason to start collecting O-Pee-Chee baseball cards... the 1971 card backs could be that reason.  Seriously.  It's glorious.  Just stare into the eyes of Carew's floating head.

The best part about these vintage cards from Canada is that they're affordable.  These eight cards (plus the damaged Herb Washington and Billy Martin cards) were less than the average price of a Topps baseball blaster.

Well that's it for today.  I found a few more cards hidden in stacks that have been scanned, so you might see them pop up in future posts from time to time.

Until then...

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Overtime!

Hockey posts don't receive a lot of views, but I wanted to document the fact that I watched the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game last Thursday and it was awesome!  It was a back and forth game that was entertaining the entire time.  Unfortunately, I haven't opened up any hockey packs in quite some time.  But back in the 90's... there were years when it dominated my hobby budget.

Here are two cards from that era that represent the tournament in one way or another:

1995-96 Finest Gold Refractor #123

This is a card from my original collection.  Not sure if I pulled this card from a pack or not, but I did open up a fair share of this product.  Anyways... Keith Tkachuk is the father of Brady and Matthew who both played on Team USA in the tournament.

The other guy is arguably the most recognizable hockey player on the planet:

1996-97 Donruss Canadian Ice National Pride #1

Gretzky was the honorary team captain for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game.

This die-cut acetate card is shaped like a maple leaf and is from one of my favorite hockey insert sets.

Congratulations Team Canada!  Heck of a game.