Christmas Card Highlights- NHL takes the lead

Christmas, as was teased on Christmas day, was great this year! I got 879 new cards, which is the 11th most I've ever gotten in a single day! The high number of new cards was helped by the fact that I've not been buying cards for myself as a general rule, so there was not a lot of duplication. Normally, by the time we get to Christmas, I've got at least a blaster of everything. Not this year. Only Donruss NASCAR and Hoops had any sort of representation in my collection, and both had less than a full blaster's worth. (I'll get back to that later for NASCAR).

So, not only did I get a bunch of new cards, I got a bunch of new people too:
34 NHL
10 NBA
3 NASCAR
19 Olympians

What's more...that puts NHL above NBA in total number of people in my collection! That's really amazing when you consider these things:

• I've been collecting the NBA since February 1996, the NHL since January 2017
• I have more than 93,000 different NBA cards, and "only" 13,000 NHL cards
• I have actively worked on my project of getting at least one of every NBA person for several years now, and have not even made the list of who I should be looking for in the NHL yet
• Roughly 80% of the people in my NHL collection...or more, I'm just guessing...arrived to me as gifts from fellow collectors
• The NHL numbers are actually probably a little higher than my records show, because I keep finding people I missed when I created my original list of who's in my collection! 

Now, part of the reason that the NHL has more people already than NBA is that the NHL gets much better card coverage. The NHL gets at least three 500 card sets every year- sometimes the sets have topped 800 cards, let alone 500- the NBA has not gotten a set with 500 cards since the 1990s, despite being a 525-player league. It is also for this reason that I predict someday, I have no idea when, but probably sooner than I would guess- the NHL will have more total cards in my collection than the NBA will. There are simply more cards produced, so I have much more chance to add cards to my collection...and that's not a new thing. The NHL has had more cards produced than the NBA in literally every decade of the NBA's existence. NASCAR's not in the running, despite the fact that I've collected it avidly since Christmas 1992, because they get even LESS cards. For instance, you could take all the base cards produced during the 2018 season, 5 sets...add them all together...and only come up to 490 cards. That's 10 cards less than the Upper Deck flagship for NHL, 85 less than the NHL Panini Sticker set, and 110 less than O-Pee-Chee, and that's not even counting the usual 100 card OPC update set! So you can see why, despite the fact that I've collected NASCAR the longest, it's not in the running for number of cards or people in my collection. 

There is a small asterisk to this as well- the number of people counted for hockey, is ALL hockey people. It includes Women's players, minor leaguers, international, etc. The NBA total is JUST NBA. The total does not count WNBA players, college only people, international, etc. A part of that is because hockey does not have the stigma of the NCAA, and a part of that is because, when I created the list of people in my collection, I didn't differentiate them as I did for the NBA- I wasn't yet  watching the NHL- and I don't have anywhere near all of them scanned so I cannot easily figure out which ones are truly NHL, and which ones are not...and I'm not sure I'm ever going to make that distinction. So, I have a lot more basketball people than hockey people- but I have more hockey people than NBA players. It probably doesn't make sense to anyone but myself.

I will show the person who put the NHL in first in my monthly wrap-up of the new NHL players to enter my collection. It won't be too soon because I've only scanned about 8 of the 34 new players I got for Christmas, and I have not scanned people I got before Christmas yet, either! So, look for it in mid-January, most likely. 

Now, I'm sure nobody opened this post to see me ramble on about something that only matters to myself, so, here's some of the "hits" I pulled, and some non-"hits" that needed scans for the Trading Card Database- that's all I've had time to get scanned, so far, which is why this is so hit-heavy. Literally all the base cards I got for Christmas were already scanned on there. 

 Violet Pixel parallel appears to be one-per blaster in the OPC Platinum last year; the blaster I bought for myself when new contained Auston Matthews.

 An insert parallel serially numbered to 25!

 This is from the Complete Materials insert in 2018 Certified- not that it says that anywhere on the card- the top left relic is firesuit, bottom left is tire. Both on the right are sheet metal, which happens to be my favorite kind of relic for NASCAR. Byron won Rookie of the Year in 2018, he's really talented and can probably win a Cup title someday.

 The orange parallels are blaster exclusive, and I lucked out, getting three of them. I think I was only supposed to get two, as I received two blasters.

 The second Certified Blaster gave me a firesuit relic of Bubba Wallace! One of my favorite drivers in the sport, with the potential to be my #1 favorite some day. Nearly won the Daytona 500 and still finished second despite Denny Hamlin running him into the wall on the final lap.

 I love the Cracked Ice insert parallels in Donruss. I pulled 4, you're going to see them all in this post.

 Gold parallel.

 Green parallel.

 Before 2017, Derrike Cope last appeared on cards as an active driver in 2000. (He's been active in NASCAR the entire time). He's the last active driver who was racing when I discovered the sport in 1992. Although he does appear as an active driver in some sets, his cards in Donruss are vintage. This photo dates to 1988.

 More Cracked Ice. This photo is circa 1977.

 Press Proof parallel, holofoil, SN to 99.

 Brad Keselowski firesuit

 This red parallel was in the first pack of the box!

 So, after not getting a new Derrike Cope card since 2000, I pull 3 base cards, one SN parallel and this autograph in one day! This photo dates to 1990, specifically February 18th, 1990, when he won the Daytona 500- his first of two career wins, both coming that year. It was the biggest moment of his career, winning the Daytona 500 is generally the biggest highlight of anyone's career.

 More Cracked Ice. Would have been a perfect card if the image was in color.

 Last Cracked Ice of the box. Came out of the last pack of the box, too.

About Donruss...I had purchased a blaster back in June, but I had not opened all the packs out of it yet. After I did the box on Christmas, I discovered I was 4 cards short of the complete set. Well, I had one pack out of the blaster left, and opened it on 12/26 hoping to pull the final 4 I needed...no such luck. The only thing I needed in the pack was a Kyle Busch insert, so at least I got my card of the day out of it.

 Moving now to Prizm, it seems I got a Dale Jr. hot box, with two base cards, this insert shown, and TWO of the three Camo parallels that come exclusive to the blasters were of him. Not that I will ever complain about that, he is my all-time favorite after all.

 Here's one of the Camos.

 This insert reminds me of the In the Paint insert in 2000-01 Topps Chrome.

 And a parallel of same, which, despite having a similar photo as the firesuit card, surely taken the same day, is very welcome in my collection.

 I know Chase Elliott won the Most Popular driver award this year...and probably will every year until he retires, just as his father did...but I am not a fan. Card design is pretty cool.

 Red White and Blue parallel of a variation. There is nothing worse than variations in the hobby. They are even worse than exclusive licenses. They have now infected NASCAR.

 Moving to the Olympic box, I have mixed feelings on it. I will discuss that more in another post, for now we see the hits. This "medallion" actually scanned WAY better than I expected it to, being deep set in the card. To be called a medallion implies metal, but I don't think it is- I believe it's plastic. It's cool, either way, and is SN to 99.

 The box advertised one autograph and two relics, but...

 I clearly got two autographs! Both are from snowboarders, which while is not my favorite event, I will watch it...especially snowboardcross. I really enjoy that one but it doesn't get much TV time.

 This US Flag parallel is really, really subtle. How subtle is it? Well, I looked at each card when opening the packs. Then, I looked at each card when making my paper listing. Then, I looked at it again when I entered it onto the Trading Card Database. Then, I looked at it again when I finished listing everything on the Database but realized some cards were missing, including the next card. It was only then- on the 4th time looking at it- did I notice the tiny gold foil serial numbering on the back, making me realize it was not, in fact, a base card! Luckily I remembered getting a "duplicate" of the card, so I didn't go into panic mode thinking I had not completed the set...I still had, but I had a bonus, serially numbered parallel to boot.

 The Gold parallels fall at long odds- one in 66 packs. (one in three boxes) This year, the 4th Olympic set Topps has done in the modern era, is the first time they were serially numbered, and the first time they did not have gold foil logo on the front. Again, very subtle, as the Golds and Bronzes are almost identical. The easiest way to tell them apart is by the serial number on the back. Skating is one of the marquee events of the winter Olympics, and unlike some of the people in the set, she actually did compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics, winning Bronze in her event (with brother Alex, who also has cards in the set)

 Chloe Kim was one of the breakout stars of these Olympics, and easily was class of the field in her competition. A good relic to pull, if I ever go for the set now I won't have to buy it. Although it doesn't show in the scan, there are tiny stars in a pattern in the relic- which, though unlabeled, I believe comes from a team USA jacket, as I believe most relics in the Topps Olympic sets do.

 Not much to show for the NBA- almost nothing needed scans on the Database- but there are a few.
Luka Doncic is everything he was cracked up to be. Barring a major, catastrophic fall-off, he will be Rookie of the Year this year. Just about the only way he'll lose it is if he misses every shot he attempts between now and May- highly unlikely. This is my second card of him.

 My guaranteed blaster jersey card. Well, I think it's a jersey card. Panini never bothers to tell you. It's also my first card of him!

 Mini card!

 Pulling a blaster exclusive parallel of an insert of my favorite player....priceless.

The "Silver" parallel. It's really gray. Getting back to what I started this post with...it's my second card of Hickey, but my first NHL card. I previously had a minor league card of him. If he were an NBA player, it would count as my first card of him. Since I don't make a distinction with hockey, he is not listed among the 34 new people. 

 Pulled the holofoil sticker of my favorite player...awesome.

 I have not pulled too many cards of Zuccarello- my favorite skater in the league- so thought I would show this one.

 Team logo cards also got the holofoil treatment.

 My first Maple Leafs Tavares card.

 The caricature cards in this year's Panini Sticker set are...something else. I still have not decided if that is good or not.

 I did not pull many Golden Knights stickers from my packs. They are the least well-represented team in my collection from the set.

 I like how the Panini Sticker set includes cards for the All-Star game and the Skills competition. I don't like that they left out people from the All-Star game. I would have liked to have been able to get a Brian Boyle all-star sticker (card), for example. Henrik Lundqvist didn't get one either. Funny aside- when I typed up the checklist for the set for the Trading Card Database, the Note section gets an abbreviation for the subsets. This one is called All-Star Skills. I had to add the C for Competition to get ASSC.

 The all-star cards that are in the set seem to be double printed. I pulled three copies of P.K., which I don't mind- he's one of my favorite players in the sport-but I would rather have gotten, say, his regular Nashville uniform sticker, which I didn't get any of, than three copies of the same sticker including in two consecutive packs.

Besides pulling three copies of P.K., the other All-Stars also seemed more plentiful than regular stickers to me. Just because it was the first All-Star game I really watched, and I like the unique uniforms that were all one color, here's one from each team. 

The gray Metropolitan Division doesn't appear really well on any of the three stickers I got showing it. Kris Letang's card features more of Carey Price than Letang, and Claude Giroux's is co closely cropped that the NHL shield is not even fully visible. Also, the Metro should have had gray pants, not black! 

Finally, I end with a rainbow of parallels for Hoops, and one base card for good measure.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my newly added Christmas cards, as much as I've enjoyed adding them to my collection, documenting them, and typing about them!