Secret Santa revealed!

I took part in the Secret Santa again this year, and before I get into it- let's all thank Matt Scott of Bob Walk the Plank to putting it all together. It's got to be a lot of work to do, and it's fun for everyone involved...hopefully Matt, too!

Both years now, the name I received was the writer of a blog I was not yet aware of. Last year, Chris of The Collector and this year John of John's Big League Baseball. That's a cool thing about this community, and this Secret Santa, in that we sometimes end up buying stuff for people we don't really know anything about. Last year's person who got me was also totally new to me, Peter of Baseball Every Night. I just realized when getting the link that I must have forgotten to reply- thank you guys who did, especially Peter for sending me the cards.

Who bought for me this year? I've had the package under the family Christmas Tree since it arrived earlier this month. The return address is listed as Secret Santa so I don't know who it is. Let's find out!

It turned out to be Paul of Scribbled Ink, a blog I was again not aware of before getting the Secret Santa from him! That's two years in a row where that has happened...and both hit me with vintage NBA!

Oh, and the vintage NBA was clearly not all! Take a look at this haul!

Here's a closer look, which is crop downs of this big picture:

 Four cards from 1973-74 Topps, including the Walt Bellamy below, ALL of which I needed! And star power too- Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Walt Frazier...all Hall of Famers! Lenny Wilkins is from 1971-72 Topps, which I've completed, but when I sort my cards I need a duplicate to put on top of the stack to prevent my non-dupes from getting damage or dusty, and I didn't have one before, so that's more than welcome...and he is a two-time Hall of Famer, and the winningest coach in NBA history...can't go wrong there! Some shiiny NHL including 2nd level parallel of Sergio Momesso from 1995-96 Stadium Club Player's Club Platinum! Those were about one per box I think. Have not taken the time to get my lists out and check but I think the Parkhurst set is new to my collection.

 Here's the Bellamy mentioned above, and some more great hockey cards, and an MJ. The Huet is really shiny and great and a McDonald's promo. No idea yet what set the Yashin and Gilmour come from. 

 Here we have two etched cards from Pinnacle's Trophy/Rink collection. These are fantastic cards. A series 2 card from 1992-93 Ultra is great, and the Hull is an Ultra insert...Paul probably didn't know it but Ultra is my favorite brand in the history of cards.

 Check out that Metal Stackhouse insert! 1995-96 Metal is another favorite set of mine and I'm 99% sure I needed that card! The Chauncey is a dupe but a much needed upgrade. And check out that Mario Elie....1st Day Issue! That was a one-per-box parallel! The Artifacts set shown here by Backstrom was not previously in my collection, it's the 2009-10 set. Check out that photo on the Bure card, too!

Vintage hockey! The Hawerchuk is from 1982-83, and the Sheppard from 1988-89. A Ranger! (Brian Leetch) Die cut hockey! And an NBA insert from 2002-03 Topps which I'm again pretty sure I needed! And three more cards from the Be A Player set, which is great because I had exactly one from the set previously! Unfortunately the edge of the picture is a little blurry, sorry about that. I wanted to get it posted up on Christmas Eve so I took exactly one photo and ran with it, lol. I'll begin scanning them soon but I couldn't wait for that to post.

Paul, thank you so much! You may not be an NBA or hockey guy, but you certainly can put together a package that made this one very happy!

Merry Christmas everyone! I expect to get cards again tomorrow- I tell my family it's all I want- so I will probably have a Christmas Cards post up tomorrow too. And thanks again Paul!