Spontaneous Six Degrees of Separation

Last month, Chris... also known as... The Collector held a contest over on his blog that involved the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  He had his readers choose one of the playoff teams and every time that team won a game, they'd receive one entry into his contest randomization.  I was fortunate enough to pick my beloved San Jose Sharks, who happened to have the most wins out of the playoff teams claimed in the contest.  Although that didn't guarantee me a win, it gave me the best odds.

Unfortunately the San Jose Sharks came up short AGAIN in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  But after Chris randomized his contest entries four times, my name came out on top.  The prize package included four team bags packed with hockey cards that I'll eventually show off.

However my hockey posts rarely draw readers, so I lured you in with this lone baseball card included in the prize package:

1973 Topps #310

This diamond cut Dick is awesome!  I'll happily accept any vintage Dick Allen collectors want to send me.

Okay... here's a peek at the stacks of hockey cards Chris sent my way:

If I'm not mistaken, there were 72 hockey cards and the Dick Allen.  Here are a few of the cards that stood out:

2014-15 Ultra #154

It's only fitting that I kick off the hockey cards with a San Jose Shark.  Joe Pavelski is our fearless leader.  Hopefully he'll be skating for the Sharks again next season.

2008-09 Ultra Gold Medallion #40

I'm not sure if I've ever announced this... but I actually PC a few hockey guys.  Brodeur is one of them.  Joe Sakic is another:

2000-01 Stadium Club #182

Here's proof that beautiful photography wasn't only limited to Stadium Club baseball.  This is an awesome action shot featuring Sakic and (his former teammate) Valeri Kamenski.

I'm not trying to do six degrees of separation or anything... but here's a card of Kamenski's 2000-2001 teammate:

1990-91 Score American #100

If you don't collect hockey and want to pick up an awesome and affordable hockey card set, then I'd like to suggest the 1990-91 Score set.  It's filled with a bunch of awesome rookies, features a solid design, and has some nicely cropped action shots.

Okay getting back to the spontaneous six degrees of separation...

1996-97 Metal #51

Messier and Steve Yzerman won a gold medal together in the 1984 Canada Cup.  I wasn't a hockey fan back then, but I sure wish I had been.  That Canadian team was loaded.  Here are just a few of Messier and Yzerman's teammates:  Wayne Gretzky, Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Mike Bossy, Michel Goulet, Grant Fuhr, Mike Gartner, Larry Robinson, and Doug Wilson.

Speaking of the Canada Cup...

1991-92 Upper Deck #26

Chris also hooked me up with this Niklas Lidstrom rookie card.  And guess what... he was Yzerman's teammate in Detroit.

Okay... enough six degrees of separation.  I'll wrap things up with the two relic cards that Chris included in this prize package:

2011-12 In the Game Enforcers Instigator Jersey #I-25

2014-15 Ultra National Heroes Manufactured Flag Patch #NH-ZP

Thank you so much Chris for hosting this contest and sending me this very generous prize package!  It sure helped distract me from that fact that the Sharks came up short AGAIN in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

1967 Vintage Cardboard Lessons

They say you learn something new every day.  Well on Christmas day, I learned a bunch of things about vintage trading cards from 1967ers over at Diamond Cuts and Wax Stains.  He sent me a very generous care package of vintage sports cards.

It was literally a vintage card collector's dream come true.

I'll kick things off with these 1971 O-Pee-Chee San Diego Padres:

Looking at them, they're exactly the same as their sister set: 1971 Topps.  Same font type and color.  Same photographs.  Same colored borders.

However I quickly learned that their backs are completely different:

All these years, I thought that O-Pee-Chee baseball were identical to Topps baseball... except for the card stock, French translations, and the number of cards on the checklist.  Obviously, I was wrong.

By the way... I absolutely love the floating head in the middle of the card.

Next up, 1976ers sent me seven hockey enforcers for my collection:

At first I was scratching my head... wondering... who are these guys?  But thanks to Wikipedia, I quickly put the puzzle pieces together.

In fact, I read up on each of these guys and found out that two of these guys were in the headlines in recent years.  Eleven years ago Keith Magnuson was killed in a car accident, while driving with fellow enforcer Rob Ramage.  Ramage was driving while impaired and was sentenced to four years in prison.

In other tragic hockey news, Gerry Hart is the father of Jordan Hart.  Who's Jordan Hart?  He's a former minor league hockey player who sold painkillers to former NHL enforcer, Derek Boogaard.  On May 13th, 2011... Boogaard was found dead in his apartment.  Apparently he died from an accidental overdose involving Hart's painkillers.

Okay... enough of the dark tales of unfortunate events.  Let's get back to more positive thoughts.

Anyone know Gary Sutherland's claim to fame?

1971 Topps O-Pee-Chee #434

Unfortunately, I didn't.  I had never heard of Mr. Sutherland.  But thanks to 1967ers, he sent me this card... which led me to doing some research... which led me to discovering that Sutherland scored the first run in Montreal Expos' history.  Damn, I miss the Expos.

Another sports franchise that's no longer with us is the California Golden Seals:

Back in April, Mr. Hoyle kicked off my Golden Seals PC with a nice stack of vintage hockey cards, including eleven cards from the 1973/74 Topps team set.  At first glance, I thought that these three singles that 1967ers sent me would be duplicates.  But I quickly discovered that I didn't have the Croteau and there was something peculiar about the Patrick and Johnston.

Once again... O-Pee-Chee switched things up.  This time they changed the color of their borders on several (possibly all?) of their cards.  The Patrick that Mr. Hoyle sent me looks exactly the same as the one you see above... except it has a yellow border.  The Johnston I received earlier in the year also has a yellow border.

Pretty cool, right?  I had no idea there were so many differences between vintage Topps and O-Pee-Chee.

Here are a few more O-Pee-Chees that 1967ers sent:

And once again... another history lesson.  Did you know that Frank Fernandez holds a record involving home runs?  He has the most home runs in MLB history for someone with a career batting average less than .200.  Before Christmas, I had never heard of the guy... but thanks to 1967ers... that's no longer the case.

Okay... just realized that I've spent over an hour on this post and based on word count... it's one of the longest posts of the year.  Time sure flies by when you're having fun and learning new, exciting, and interesting things about your favorite teams and the hobby you love.

Don't worry... I only have three cards left to share:

First up is a 1963 A&BC Footballers card of Les Massie:

1963 A&BC #45

Now believe it or not... I actually have seen these 1962 Topps baseball look-a-likes.  From what I understand, Topps had a licensing agreement with ABC Chewing Gum, similar to the agreement they had with O-Pee-Chee.  I have seen singles from these sets floating around blogs for a few years and have always wanted to add one to my collection.  However what I didn't realize is that they aren't your standard card size.  They're actually the same size as the 1975 Topps Minis.

Next up is the final and coolest enforcer card in my collection:

1973-74 O-Pee-Chee #3

Once again... I had never heard of Phil Roberto before receiving this package and unfortunately there's not a lot of information about him on the internet.  But that doesn't matter, because the photograph on this card is what makes it special.  I haven't seen to many hockey cards that actually picture guys fighting.  In fact, I'm guessing that outside of a few ITG Enforcer cards, this is my only copy.  Best part about it... it's forty years old!

Finally... I've saved the best for last:

1968-69 O-Pee-Chee #29

Now normally, I'd reserve throwing around a superlative like "BEST" in a "thank you" post, because I appreciate any card that anyone sends me.  However this card isn't just "any card".  It's a card that's been sitting on my Top 10 wantlist for a long time.  It's the most beautiful hockey card ever and to put things into perspective, in my humble opinion... it's the 1956 Topps Jackie Robinson of hockey.

One of the things I want to do is create a personal sports card hall of fame... and when I find some time to do it... I can promise you that this card will be in the inaugural class.

Thanks Chris!  I have a stack of vintage basketball I've accumulated over the years.  Hopefully it'll help you with your collection as much as you've helped me with my vintage hockey and baseball collection.

Happy holidays and sayonara!

Blog Trade #37: Sportscards From The Dollar Store

I recently completed my second trade with Douglas over at Sportscards From The Dollar Store and it just so happens to be my second official trade of 2014.

Douglas offered to track down some 2011-12 ITG Enforcers autographs for the set I'm building the next time he went to his local card show and ended up picking up these two cards:

I'm slowly chipping away at this set... and with the Grimson and Semenko, I need only thirty-five more autographs.  If you have any available for trade you can view my wantlist: HERE.

The other card in the trade is this 2006-07 Upper Deck "Young Guns" rookie card of red hot Joe Pavelski:

Not including tonight's game against Minnesota, Little Joe has scored seven goals in his last four games and is second in the league in goals scored.  This is a huge addition to my San Jose Sharks collection.

Last, but not least...

Douglas hooked me up with a few bonus cards, including a very shiny Sharks logo sticker from Panini.

Thanks for the great trade!  I shipped out your package on Tuesday, so hopefully it arrives sooner than later.

Speaking of shipping... I'm shocked by the shipping rates from the United States to Canada and vice versa.

Douglas did an amazing job of packaging up the cards in a padded mailer and it only cost him $2.20 (equivalent to $1.99 USD).  On the flipside, I sent his package in a PWE (plain white envelope) and it cost me $7.35 USD.  That's over three times the cost and it wasn't even in a bubble mailer.  Does anyone understand this price discrepancy?

By the way, before I get huge amounts of hate mail for using a PWE... I promise I received the okay from Douglas.  In fact, he actually suggested it to help reduce shipping costs.

Thanks again for the awesome trade Douglas!  Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Domo Arigato: ucffans (CCW Member)

It's been two weeks since Christmas, but the gifts keep arriving at my doorstep.  This time, I received packages from fellow Card Collectors World Forum member ucffans.

He's the TTM moderator on the forum and wouldn't you know it... he included this amazing Sal Bando autograph:

Two weeks ago, I wrote about how this exact card was one of my favorites in this set.  It's the newest addition to my Oakland A's shelf in my office.

He also sent me a bunch of A's rookie cards and inserts:

In a separate package, he included a bunch of new cards for my Japanese athlete binder, plus a few more Kurt Suzuki cards for my collection:

And finally, he sent me this awesome Chris Chelios memorabilia card for my hockey enforcer collection:

Thanks Brett!  I'll make sure to give these cards a good home.  And now that I have your address, I'll make sure to send some extra Tony Gwynn cards I have laying around your way.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!