Tuesday, March 14, 2017

A cracked....hockey stick?

Recently Julie from A Cracked Bat and a Hot Dog sent me a box of cards...I had no idea what would be inside said box, but it turned out to be hockey! Lots of hockey! It looks like we are starting to convert Julie to a hockey fan herself, and that's very understandable because the game is very addicting, as I have not gone a day without watching it since November.

In the box, Julie sent me a lucky 13 new sets, ranging in age from 1984-85 O-Pee-Chee (also the oldest card in the box) up through 2016-17 Parkhurst! There were also- I think- 22 new people for my collection! I thought I had everybody in my collection documented, but I found one player that was not on my chart yet the Database showed me it was my 8th card of him, and another player who the Database said was my first yet he appeared on my chart. (it's possible he was on the promos I have not been able to list due to not being able to find a checklist, though, because everything else is listed). In total, I got 99 new cards, and I still have one pack left waiting to open. The cards covered a wide variety of sets and players, and scanning all 99 of them would take me a while- so I'll show just some of the highlights.

I'm also so far backlogged- from mid-February through earlier today I had not typed anything into my chart, and I was sent three large boxes of hockey cards in that time, including this one from Julie. So I may not have the cards attributed to the correct person,so you may see one from Julie in the post from Shoebox Legends, coming soon. But I think these all came from Julie.

I think this one might be my favorite- or the last one I will show. I just can't decide.
 Henrik Lundqvist has quickly become one of my favorite players, and this is my first rookie card of him...only my 5th card of him overall. This is also my first card from 2005-06 Power Play.
My first card of McDavid!
Here's that 1984-85 O-Pee-Chee I mentioned. To me this qualifies as vintage. I know others have different systems but I define anything older than myself as vintage, and anything made after I was born non-vintage. Since I was born in October 1984, this BARELY qualifies, as the season would have been a few days running before I was born, I think, but I should point out that don't limit myself to one area or era and I am thrilled to get any card from any year.


These semi-holograms from 1992-93 Upper Deck are neat cards. But they are partly hologram so that goes without saying. Except I said it!
My first cards from 2001-02 Ice and 2015-16 Ice, both of which are printed on clear plastic. I really enjoy the clear plastic cards!
The back of the Rinne really shows it well.
Those are just spectacular. I can't think of a better word to describe them.

There were three packs of 2016-17 Upper Deck series 1, and this was my favorite photograph. I seem to be favoring the wide angle shots.

I managed to beat the odds and pull a Young Gun!
Considering they are one in every 4 packs and I pulled one from 3 packs, I would say that's beating the odds.

These Summit Ice parallels are also pretty spectacular in hand. Mesmerizing, almost. She sent two, here is the one that scanned better.
It's Jari Kurri if not clear.

But the one giving Henrik Lundqvist a run for his money is this one. I am, if nothing else, consistent.
Holograms will always be my favorites, or contending for them, when I get one. To me, Holograms are the best insert concept ever made. Well, considering the SPx brand, sometimes base cards too. This gift contained some serious star power too- Mario Lemieux is no slouch, and Wayne Gretzky may be the Great One, but there was more than one card of him in there. I didn't scan any of them though...so backlogged, of my own doing. This is my second card from the 1991-92 Upper Deck Award Winners insert. 7 to go. I also have the aforementioned Gretzky.

Thank you so much Julie!

As an aside, this is what is going on today.
That's somewhere around 18 to 20 inches of snow. Somewhere under there is my brother's Chevrolet Cobalt...with possibly 10 more inches yet to come! (think it's done though) The snow eventually did cover the rear quarter panel but this picture is better. As long as we don't lose power, I will be happy.

It was also 2 months ago today I revealed I was now an NHL fan. In that time my friends from the Trading Card Database and the Blogosphere have sent me over 1000 different hockey cards. Incredible. Thanks to everyone! I hope to be able to repay that kindness someday.

10 comments:

  1. Julie sent you some great cards! Lundqvist is the Rangers' MVP so I'm supposed to hate him.. but I cant. Kurri is one of my all-time faves, the Connor McDavid card is awesome, and I'm of course partial to the Pat Verbeek. Not just cause he was a Devil (and a Whaler) but also because 1984-85 O-Pee-Chee is my favorite "vintage" hockey set ever, and the pride and joy of my collection. I have over 70% of the set including all the key RCs in PSA 9 or 10 (currently 10th on the PSA set registry)

    And I'm with you, I consider anything before I was born to be vintage. In my case that's 1980.. which is right around when most collectors draw the line anyway :)

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    1. I think so! I have never seen the point to hating somebody just because they play on another team. I'm "supposed" to hate the Celtics but I don't. It's just stupid, in my opnion. Not that anybody asked me, LOL. You are only the second person I know who reckons vintage the same way I do!

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  2. Nice batch of cards..
    I'm a bit of an oddity.. A Canadian who isn't really much of a hockey fan. I'll watch it during the winter when nothing else is on (Read: Saturday Night) and I don't collect it.. Just two players from my home town.

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    1. I'm the same way with baseball and football...the two most popular sports in the USA, but I don't watch either. I'd be more inclined to watch baseball than football, though. The last football game I watched was the one where Janet Jackson introduced the term "wardrobe malfunction" to the national lexicon :D

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  3. You have some very generous friends! I like the Ice cards

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  4. A bunch of nice ones. I'm a fan of variety so the McDavid scratches my itch. I guess for me vintage is up to when I stopped collecting as a teen. For sure it's going back before I started collecting as a kid. I'd say I'm a four sport guy but for various reasons I've been less into football and basketball lately. I can't get into soccer. I think I'd rather watch lacrosse. Also I'm almost exclusively pro though I'm currently living in a state that has no teams and is heavily into high school and college. The local news is frustrating to watch when girls softball is the big story. Thank god for cable.

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    1. I can't get into soccer either....I tried, during the 2012 Olympics. But I couldn't make it through even one game. Pro for me as well. Anything else and I'm like "why bother?"

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  5. My top three of those..the Lundqvist, the Lundqvist and the Lundqvist. LOL... The Verbeek, Lemieux and Rinne are sweet, too.

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  6. I agree on the Summitt. Those parallels rock.

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