Sayonara Salute #17: Owen Nolan

I collect or have collected numerous players from a variety of sports over the years... but only two have binders dedicated to solely them: Tony Gwynn & Owen Nolan.

Before Owen Nolan arrived in San Jose, I was a San Jose Sharks fan without a favorite player. But it was nearly impossible for Sharks fans not to embrace #11. The guy could do everything: score goals, set up plays, be a clubhouse leader, and of course make some tremendous hits on opposing skaters.

A quick look into my Nolan binder will reveal that I was a super collector in the making. With the exception of a few ultra rare cards, I had amassed over 90% of his cards from 1989/90 to 1998/99. I stopped collecting him after a not so "memorable" encounter with Mr. Nolan took place at the 2000 San Jose Sharks Fest. But that's another story for another day.

Today, I want to focus on the good memories... which far outweigh the bad. Earlier this afternoon... in front of his family, friends, and former teammates, a choked up Owen Nolan officially announced his retirement during a press conference at HP Pavilion.

During his 18 year career, he produced the following numbers:

442 Career Goals

463 Career Assists

885 Career Points

1,793 Career Penalty Minutes

5 NHL All-Star Appearances

10 Career Twenty Goal Seasons

6 Career Thirty Goal Seasons

2 Career Forty Goal Seasons

Here's the career highlight video of Nolan produced by the San Jose Sharks:

My favorite Owen Nolan highlight came in front of a hometown crowd during the 1997 NHL All-Star game when he performed the famous "Called Shot" against Dominic Hasek during the third period to wrap up his hat trick:

In addition to that shot, he also set an NHL All-Star game record by scoring two goals in 8 seconds. He continued to set records for the Sharks during his eight years in San Jose. When the Sharks traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2002-03 season, he left as the Sharks all-time leader in goals, assists, and points.

Congratulations Mr. Nolan on an amazing 18 year career. Thank you for the memories. I hope you enjoy your retirement.

Happy Tuesday everyone... and sayonara!

Domo Arigato: AJ @ The Lost Collector

In December AJ, author of the blog: The Lost Collector, showcased his 1/1 sketch card of Jesus Montero that he drew while watching a Giants-Redskins game. I complimented him on his skills and told him I wished I had the ability to draw like him.

He emailed me later that day and offered to create my very own sketch card of whoever I wanted... preferably baseball. I immediately started thinking who the subject would be... going back and forth between Tony Gwynn, Greg Maddux, and Kurt Suzuki.

I ended up picking Suzuki, because he's my current favorite player. AJ mentioned that there might be a delay in creating the card, because a new addition to his family was going to arrive in the upcoming days. Congratulations buddy... hope the little guy isn't keeping you up all night.

Fast forward to this past Saturday and this beauty was sitting in my mailbox:

Thank you so much AJ. You did an amazing job and I'm proud to add it to my Kurt Suzuki collection. I've put it into a screw down and it's now a part of my Oakland Athletics shelf in my office.

By the way... there's a package here sitting next to me with some Tino's for your collection. Hopefully you can use them... they're the only ones I could find. I'll get those shipped out tomorrow.

Thanks again & Sayonara!

Sunday Morning Soapbox: Pack Searchers

I'm a huge fan of discussing "most" things related to sports cards... which is one of the reasons I created this blog. But this isn't the only place I go to talk "cardboard". I'll join discussions at card shows & card shops, in card forums, on other blogs & even over on YouTube.

Two weeks ago, I read Play at the Plate's great post: Interview with a packsearcher. Then this morning I came across a collector's post on the Sports Card Radio Forum, which asked the question... "What is your opinion on packsearchers?".

Well... today you're in for a treat. I'm going to hop on my soapbox and give my take on "searching packs". Like I tell my students... it's an opinion... it's not necessarily the "right" answer, but it's how I feel. Okay... are you ready? Let the preaching begin:

(courtesy of Blowout Cards)

I'm not a fan of people who search packs... mainly because I think it's detrimental to the hobby. I understand that it's not illegal, but personally I feel it's unethical.

Pack searchers increase the odds of them pulling hits and reduce the odds for everyone else. This might not bother some people, because many things in life involve increasing one's personal odds... but personally I think this particular situation is an exception.

When you reduce other collector's odds... you're hurting other collectors. Worse... these collectors may end up walking away from the hobby, because they never pull anything significant.

Or the flipside (and to a much more rare extent)... what about those stories of people who started collecting, because they pulled a cool autograph or relic in the first pack they ever opened? Pack searchers reduce the odds of these magical moments occurring.

Plus... pack searchers often damage the cards in the effort to find their hidden treasures. This is exactly why I'm against the whole "It's like picking fruit" argument (which essentially states that people often feel fruit before they buy it, so why is it wrong to feel packs of cards?). But trading cards and fruit are completely different things. It's understandable for customers to pick up a piece of fruit to see if it's firm or soft. But is it okay for people to squish fruits at the grocery store?

In my mind... it comes down to having respect (treating others the way you want to be treated) for the hobby and other collectors. Would it be okay for a card shop to search packs? Of course not! Then why is it okay for consumers?

Unfortunately... it's a part of our hobby and isn't going anywhere in the near future. But I'm a firm believer of the whole "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem" philosophy.

Okay... I'm officially stepping down from my soapbox (for today... stay tuned for future Sunday Morning Soapbox posts). Now it's your turn.

What's your opinion on pack searching?

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone. I'm headed over to my friend's house in a little bit to watch the game. Most people are either excited about the game or the commercials. But not I. I'm looking forward to pigging out on baked potatoes, tri tip, and a bunch of other high calorie goodies. Sayonara!

Do you ever root for the "bad" guy?

"He's the most disrespectful human being I've ever met and I'm gonna put the worst beating you've ever seen on him in the UFC."

That's what Georges St-Pierre said about Nick Diaz after the Diaz-Penn fight back in October. Unfortunately... GSP is injured and won't have the opportunity to back up his words... at least not yet.

Instead, Carlos Condit will take on Diaz tomorrow night in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

I'm writing as if I'm an expert on the subject... but really I know little about mixed martial arts & the fighters that represent the sport. Which is why I did my homework on Mr. Diaz... and from what I've heard, read, and seen... he tends to be portrayed as a "jerk" or the "bad" guy.

But back in November, I had the opportunity to meet Diaz at an autograph signing at Milo's Wide World of Sports Collectibles in San Jose... and he was as cool as ice.

He talked to his fans and took photos with them. An acquaintance of mine had over 70 items signed and Diaz didn't even flinch.

Collectors could get an 8x10, a photo op, and Nate's autograph for $20.

My buddy Mike helped promote the signing, so I ended up getting this personalized 8x10 for free...

Plus I picked up this 11x17...

for $10, because I helped out another guy by standing in line and getting things signed for him.

The winner of the Condit-Diaz fight will defend his title against St. Pierre... and there's nobody GSP would rather fight than Diaz. It doesn't look like a lot of people will be pulling for Diaz tomorrow night, but he'll have at least two people cheering for him: Me & GSP.

Are you a MMA fan? If so... who's your favorite fighter?

I've watched my share of fights and have a handful of MMA relics and autographs, however I can't exactly call myself a fan. A few years back, I was a little more into it... and actively cheered on Matt Hughes... and eventually cheered for B.J. Penn.

But tomorrow night... I'll be pulling for Stockton's own... Nick Diaz. Not because I want to root for the "bad" guy, but because I want to see GSP take on Nick for the title and witness the worst beating I'll ever see in the UFC.

Happy Friday everyone. I hope all of you had a great week. Sayonara!

PC Addition - Garbage Pail Kids Collection

Last Saturday, I walked around the Serramonte Mall card show knowing that I had already eclipsed my monthly cardboard budget and knew I had to demonstrate self control... which is why I only took $40 with me.

But when I found a guy selling a collection of 80's Garbage Pail Kids... I came to the conclusion: Sometimes you just have to say, "what the f%#k".

My buddy and I went to the bank, withdrew more cash and went back to the guy. We talked some more about the cards, then settled on a price: $90 for the GPK collection and a vintage Oakland A's souvenir baseball helmet that is now hanging up next to my 1972 World Series Champions pennant in my office. The helmet is pretty awesome, but was sort of a bonus. The focus of the purchase was on this binder:

If you've been following my blog long enough, then you know I grew up during the 80's and collected these in middle school. Most of my GPK collection disappeared over the years, but there's always been a part of me that's wanted to go back and collect them. So when this opportunity presented itself, I was all over it.

My purchase included complete sets of eight different original GPK series... and one set that's almost complete:

2nd, 3rd, & 4th Series

5th, 6th, & 7th Series

8th, 9th, & 10th Series

The 4th Series set is missing 5 cards:

137b Deadly Dudley

158b Ig Lou

164b Battered Brad

165a Dana Druff

165b Flakey Fay

If by chance any of you guys have these, let me know... I'd love to trade for them.

At first, I was upset about the missing cards, since the guy told me these were complete sets. But after looking through all of the cards and seeing how many extra variation cards he included, there's not much room for complaints. These cards are in MINT condition... freshly pulled from packs. In addition to that, he sleeved them in brand new Ultra Pro 9-pocket pages. The only thing I replaced was the binder, because the old one was a little dusty.

Plus... he threw in a couple of Series 3 wax packs...

Okay... so maybe these aren't for everyone. They don't have famous athletes on them... or even scenes from a favorite movie. But... they're a piece of my childhood and I'm thrilled to add them to my collection.

What about you...

Do you collect anything outside of sports memorabilia?

If so, do any of them stem from your childhood?

Just browse me blog and you'll see that I collect everything from Star Wars memorabilia to comic books. In other words, I'm your stereotypical geek ;-)

Speaking of comic books... I'm headed to Barnes & Noble to see if I can find a copy of The Walking Dead Compendium. Happy hump day... and sayonara!