The Heat Miser is a Lakers fan

the things you learn scanning your basketball card collection.

Lost & Found: Trades and a RAOK

The white boxes I use to store my collection are great. They've kept my cards safe and secure now since the mid-1990s...I would never, ever store my cards in anything else.

However....they all tend to look exactly alike. Sometimes, when you're frantically trying to find something so you can scan it and post it, you accidentally check a box you already checked, or you don't check one because you thought you already did.

That's exactly what happened here, both instances, for me! I've mentioned that I lost some cards that I had gotten in trade with Kenny / Zippy Zappy and as a Random act of Kindness from Corky. In both instances, I looked at the boxes the cards were in, but I apparently didn't open them. Because, when I was not frantically trying to find them so I could post about them, but just going through boxes randomly, there they were...two separate boxes, containing the cards that had been missing for 11 months (Kenny) and 3 months (Corky) respectively.

Obviously, since you are reading this, I've found the cards! And while the focal point is the cards from my fellow bloggers, that's not ALL that was contained in these boxes...

I'll start with the package from Kenny, since he's waited the longest. The majority of the trade was based around the 2018-19 Panini Stickers NHL set. He needed some of the dupes I had, I needed some he had, and I so I sent him what I had, which was 6 stickers if my memory is correct...which at this late date I can't guarantee. In return, he sent me something like 60 in return as well as some other cards I didn't expect...including 2 new Hendrik Lundqvist cards I needed!

from 2016-17 SP Authentic and 2015-16 UD Portfolio, respectively.

Here are some sort-of-random stickers as an example:

Tuukka gets the scan and post nod because he is the lowest numbered sticker, so he was on top.

The caricature cards they did are just so bizarre I have to show them.

 Both Mikas!

Love the team logo cards!

Even some of the All-Stars!

And playoff cards, which, while they didn't say anything about it, I think are short printed.

That's a pretty decent cross-exam of what he sent. Of course, he also sent me the Japanese singers in their underwear who have consistently been in the top 5 most viewed albums on Cardboard History Gallery, day in and day out.

Puzzling, isn't it?

Also in the box was remainder of the box of Beach Boys cards I bought, which is one of the six sets I completed in 2019 including:
base...

parallel...

insert...

insert parallel...

..and even one of the two relics in the box.!

Beyond that was the majority of a huge trade with Trading Card Database member MrDonnee, who is always a VERY generous trading partner. He always, always, offers more than double the number of cards he asks for. There are three sets from 2004-05 with more than a full page's worth alone, example shown of two of them, 2004-05 Hoops and 2004-05 Upper Deck. The other is 2004-05 Bowman Chrome and I just didn't feel like scanning any Chrome cards right now.

I really liked the 2004-05 Hoops set since it was a throwback to the 1994-95 set, which as you may recall, is one of my favorite sets ever. I don't know if I'll ever complete the 2004-05 set, since I have about 2 of the SN rookies at the tail end of the set, but this trade got me a LOT closer, adding 20 of the missing veteran base cards! I like the 2004-05 UD set as well, but it doesn't resonate with me as much as the Hoops set does. And I "only" added 11 cards from that set in this trade.

Moving on to the second box, almost the entire contents of this was from Corky. He had gotten some of the Big 3 cards, and offered me his dupes. I gladly accepted them! The Big 3 league is comprised mostly of retired or can't find a contract and want to show what they are still capable of players, and it's mostly made up of guys who played near the end of my first NBA era, although there is at least one player who's heyday was before I even started watching in 1996! If they had made a set for their first three seasons it would have been more 1990s guys, but I'm just glad they made a set! I have been politely requesting cards be issued since the series started, and have been ignored every time. Not even a reply when these came out of "hey, check these out!"...they cost themselves me buying a box, because Corky sent me almost the entire set. (97 of 100 cards) I only need to find Mario Chalmers, Glen Davis, and Favorite Photos #92. None are on COMC right now but I will keep checking. The other portion of the box was part of one of the gifts from Shane, the 1995-96 Stadium Club Members Only set, and a handful of the Topps inserts from 1976-77 hockey.

The set is filled with guys I've been rooting for for years...

And some who aren't guys at all! The Big3 league is actually the first professional basketball league in the world that has women coaching men.

And RIP to Andre Emmett, who was murdered last year during a robbery, while walking down the street in the city he lived in. He became the first person active in the Big3 to lose his life while active.

I chose a Ranger to show from both sets...shocker, right?

Thanks to everyone who either traded with me or just outright sent me the cards that appear in this post.

20 Thousand Hockey Cards

I hit a major milestone on the 19th, and didn't even realize it at first! Yes, the title gives it away...20 thousand different hockey cards....that's unbelievable to me. And, I know I've said this before, but I have my fellow collectors to thank for more than half of them! Case in point? The 20,000th card was a gift from SumoMenkoMan, who sent me a factory sealed box of the set in either 2018 or maybe even late 2017, I can't remember. Due to my year-long burnout that lasted all of 2019, I have not actually touched the box they were in for over a year...err, I should say, had not. I very much have now!

I'm kind of in disbelief because this is so amazing. I've only been officially collecting hockey cards since January 2017. That's not a long time by any means...yet I've already built a pretty amazing collection, by my standards. And I have no intention of stopping any time soon...granted, I did have 3000 cards already when I started collecting (exactly 3000) which also came from friends.

The milestone card ended up coming from 1991-92 Pro Set Platinum. It's not my favorite set, due to the lack of the player's name on the front and the font used for the player's name on the back...but it's still a fine set and I'm well on my way to completing it...hopefully when I finish the box Ryan sent I'll finish Series 2. I'm currently at 140 of 300 cards but I've only opened about 6 to 8 packs out of the 36 packs in the box, so I've got a lot more coming. Interestingly, when my friend sent me the nearly 3000 hockey cards in 2015, he sent a bunch of series 1 but only 2 cards from series 2...so the box Ryan sent me will turn out to be almost all new! The set was kind of innovative, though...it's tied as the first borderless set and the first glossy, UV coated set. And may be the first set to not have names on the front, I don't know for sure. Certainly the first in decades. I'm not very familiar with sets from the 1960s and back.

I have been thinking for a while now that at some point the NHL will someday hold the #1 spot in my collection. It's a long time off, but maybe not that long at the rate I'm going! What's even more amazing is that I've hit a new NHL milestone every single month of 2020 so far...and I might be able to keep that up, considering the size of the stash I still have from Ryan, Shane, and the stash I built up for the Card of the Day project that gave me the burnout. I'm going through them slowly so I don't overwhelm myself but it is a key reason that I've gotten a new milestone every month, since I've dipped into the stash at least once every month, so far. In case you're wondering, to take the top spot the NHL will need to increase by 73,000+ cards. Considering how many more hockey cards are available than NBA, I am quite sure it will happen, especially as I'm spending much more time and energy on the NHL currently.

This is that milestone card:

Set Completed: 1990-91 Score American

It's funny, when I was doing the factory sets on Easter, I needed less cards from Score than Topps...in my head, I reversed it, thinking I needed more Score and less Topps. I'm really glad I did this factory set because I discovered some errors in my paper listing- cards from the identical except for numbers 100 Hottest Rookies and Rising Stars promo set were listed as base cards, so this was good to be able to figure that out. Also, a lot of the cards I had from the set were in rather poor shape, so many upgrades will come from this set. In the end, I added 224 of the cards to my collection on Easter.


Set: 1990-91 Score
Set Size: 440 cards, plus several errors & corrections
Began Collecting: January 31st, 2015
First card added: #312, Patrick Roy
Set completed: April 12th, 2020, 1898 days according to calculator.net
Full checklist and Gallery: 1990-91 Score American
Thoughts: This is a fun set. The borders that are colored like a hockey rink are pretty iconic, and have been thrown back to by the Score brand at a later date...1990-91 was the watershed year for hockey, when other brands were finally allowed to join Topps and OPC, truly kicking off the "modern era" of hockey cards...Score had a lot of subsets, and unlike the Topps set actually included rookies in the set...this set, and 1990-91 Pro Set, are the oldest sets issued to include a player active when I became a fan of the sport in 2016, which is the ageless Jaromir Jagr...there are 9 cards that had an error and a correction issued, supposedly...the factory set was a mixture of both, I am not entirely sure they all exist. I don't consider them needed to have a complete set, I have each number and each person, that's complete for me, although I will continue to look for the other versions forever, unless I find them...the previously mentioned 100 Hottest Rookies and Rising Stars set uses the exact same design, photos and text as the base cards in the set do, but have different numbers, which is very challenging to figure out, and cannot be done without a reference tool like the Trading Card Database...the only insert for the set is the 5 card Eric Lindros set simply called "Eric" that was exclusive to the factory set, which I also got...there are two box sets that I consider inserts in Rookie and Traded, which feature a yellow border, and Young Superstars, which has it's own exclusive design...there are 4 promos available, counting the error and corrected Wayne Gretzky version...the American set has a blue Score logo and only English text, while the Canadian version has a red Score logo and bilingual text, but uses the same photography.
Favorite memory of the set: My mom's reaction when I showed her the Jaromir Jagr card on Easter
Last card needed: #7 Brian Bellows

I believe I have a factory set of the Canadian version waiting in my stash from SumoMenkoMan, so now that I've begun to complete sets, don't be too surprised if you see a completed set post for it by the end of 2020! (Update: I do! And the 1991-92 Score American set as well)

Set Completion: 1990-91 Topps

A milestone was reached this past weekend, on Easter, when I completed my first two NHL sets! I wondered when the first set would be, WHAT the first set would be, that I completed...and in the end, I kind of cheated. I said I didn't want to buy a factory set and get them all in one time. I didn't even open the factory sets SumoMenkoMan sent me...but I relented here. I mean, my mom went out of her way to get these for me, at a trying time for the world, so how could I not, right? And it's not like I got them all at one time- I had gotten over 100 cards from this set already, and I hadn't added any new ones to my collection since 2018. So, yeah, I did the factory set, and added 292 of the 396 cards all in one day. I'm glad I did it, in the end. So what if I have the mental asterisk of getting a factory set? It's not like I got any of the cards new, and repacks have totally disappeared, so my chances for getting cards is dwindling. Instead of setting up hoops for myself to jump through, I should be enjoying the cards as they come to me...so I did. Twice!

Set: 1990-91 Topps
Set Size: 396 cards
Began Collecting: January 31st, 2015
First card added to collection: #364, Yvon Corriveau
Completed: April 12th, 2020, 1898 days according to calculator.net
Full checklist and Gallery: 1990-91 Topps
Thoughts: I love the mint green backs...this was the last Topps set to use the brown cardstock, which I didn't care for as a kid but love as an adult...I've already upgraded 5 cards that I had previously in my collection, 4 of which had wax damage...there was only one insert, Team Scoring Leaders, and one promo, Box bottom panels from hobby boxes...there is one parallel, dubbed Tiffany, that was only available in a different factory set form, that features white card stock and a glossy coating on the front, I have none of those...the cards all have the trademark Topps curl to them that is common pre-1992-93 season.
Favorite memory of the set: This, getting the factory set and opening it, knowing it would be my first completed NHL set, wondering which would be the last card needed as I got near the end.
Last card needed: #3, Wayne Gretzky, of the Los Angeles Kings.

Interestingly enough, more cards were new than I thought they would be. Several of the cards I thought were duplicates turned out to be new, because I had the O-Pee-Chee versions, which had the same photos....including the Gretzky that finished off the set! I knew I already had seen that photo, but it was the OPC card that had resided in my collection.

Cards for Easter

As you all know by now, every gift-giving occasion (or even just because) my family gives me cards...lots of cards. This Easter was no exception, as my mom came through big time - a hobby box of Upper Deck Series 2, a blaster of 2013-14 Score, a hobby box of 1990-91 Upper Deck Series 2, and two factory sets!

I'm not going to talk about the last three right now- I didn't open the Upper Deck box in the mistaken belief that they were all duplicates. (Mom had previously given me a factory set of Series 2 for my birthday in 2017) But, just yesterday, I remembered that in those first two years UD included series 1 cards in series 2 packs, so I will have to open them up and see if I can complete the set. The factory sets will be addressed in the next two posts.

What I am going to talk about is the 2019-20 UD Series 2 box and the Score blaster.

This year's Upper Deck flagship struck a real chord with me...I thought it was a great design the instant I saw it. I even completed the veterans in series 1. Series 2 I didn't have as much luck with. I had previously gotten 1 fatpack, and I think I pulled every single card that I got in the fatpack out of the hobby box again, and even in the same order, Panini style. So, that was disappointing. But I was still able to add a bunch of great cards! I even ended up somehow getting TWO case hits from the same box, with my favorite card being one of them- a Clear Cut parallel, of a rookie, at that!

 This is the second Clear Cut parallel I've pulled, but the first of a Young Gun.

 Luckily for me, later in the box I also pulled the base version! I was unable to pull the Young Guns of Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar or Kaapo Kakko, so my dreams of actually completing the set are pretty much nill. However, I did manage to pull A Kakko...

from the UD Portraits set. If ever there was an insert concept that defines the term "meh", Portraits is it, but UD keeps cranking them out, even if I don't know anyone who actually likes them. This year's, at least, gives you two photos.

All was not lost with the Portraits, however, as I got my first card of two players from the insert:

So there's that at least. The UD Canvas insert is better, because it features full action photos, but I'd still rather have a base card. (I'm actually surprised Canvas hasn't been spun off into it's own release yet) I knew, when I pulled it, the Clear Cut Rookie was a case hit at 1:288 packs. What I did not realize, however, was that the Program of Excellence subset of the Canvas insert were also case hits, and I pulled one of them as well. At 270 cards this insert even has subsets...go figure!

at one in every 188 packs, it's not as rare as the Clear Cut rookie, but still falls one per case.

The O-Pee-Chee Updates- which I'm quite fond of- were varied to a wide degree. I got 5 base, 2 Retro, 1 Blue (Boqvist, a Boqvist hot box!) and 1 Red. I had gotten a hobby box for Christmas and hadn't gotten a single red out of it so that was a pleasant surprise. I managed to add two new players to my collection from the OPC updates as well, Joel Farrabee and Joakim Nygard, who I got both the base and red versions of.

I have to say, though, that I think this is my favorite of the OPC updates! It's always nice to pull parallel of your team...this is only my third Adam Fox card, and amazingly, I was lucky enough to pull the blue parallel from the one fatpack my brother got me! I'll have to nab the base card on COMC eventually, the OPC updates are usually plentiful thanks to e-pack.

Getting back to the base cards...I've not gotten a chance to scan any from the box yet. I was hit by some inspiration in my scale modeling hobby and have spent several days creating things there. I also successfully polished something for the first time! But the modeling has left little time for my other hobbies, like cards. So, since I don't want to push this post off any longer, I will take this time to showcase a card from the fatpack my brother got me, and which I got a duplicate of in this box, so it counts....it's my favorite card in the set, so far. I have purposely not gone and looked at the ones I'm missing so I can enjoy it more if/when I get them.

What a great card this is! Taken from this year's Heritage Classic on October 26th, in Regina Saskatchewan, it has so much going for it!

• snow
• toque
• automotive related ad on the boards
• the absolute certainty that I saw this game + the first Heritage Classic I ever saw
• only card photo taken in the entire province that I'm aware of (at least in Hockey)
• A fairly rare player for my collection (only my third card of him)
• throwback uniform

Even the fact that it's horizontal, which I generally don't care for, doesn't hurt it any. Unfortunately for Rittich, the Flames lost in OT that night, despite 43 stops on 45 shots by the Jets, a 2-1 defeat for the Flames.

I have to be honest, you will see this card again...I know that for sure, because I am working on my Top 12 cards of the year post at the end of each month (instead of going crazy trying to write it on December 31st!) and this card was my selection for March. Although the month is not over, the Clear Cut Boqvist is likely to take April's spot)

Now, let me talk about the Score blaster. Panini's NHL license was brief- 2010-14. But their two issuances of the Score brand, wow. They are two of my favorite NHL sets ever. The 2013-14 set is 750 cards! (although the last 100 cards are only available in Rookie Anthology packs). I don't know if the numbers are the same for all teams, but the first team in the set has 18 players with their own base cards! That's incredible. That's the way it should be done. The 2012-13 set is more colorful, but the 2013-14 set is so much larger...almost every player in the league got cards. That's the way it should be done, but almost never is. Yes, I know I'm repeating myself. It's that important. But that's not all! There are also team cards and highlights! The only thing missing are the coaches and league leaders, otherwise this was almost a perfect set. And they also had 1-per pack parallels, which is my favorite kind. I'm one of the few collectors that likes parallels. The set does have inserts, but parallels are more common- which in and of itself is highly uncommon, but I love it. I'd rather have a parallel than an insert any day. 

This is the base card. The section where the team logo and player name, as well as the box behind the Score logo, changes color to match each team's colors. 

The one-per-pack Gold parallel is really brown, but that's OK.

 The Score logo and the stripes also change from silver to gold. There are other colors but I didn't get any- think a couple are Hobby only.

 Here's one of the Season Highlights cards.

And a very cool insert! The photos taken by the camera inside the net can be pretty cool...or they can be closeups of the goalie's butt. That's much less cool, but this photo? Very cool. 

The other insert I got I had to make sure to post because I noticed something interesting about it...

Do you see what it is? 

It's the date of the franchise establishment! By using the 1909 date, they actually are dipping back into the NHA days, which is not something you see too often...in fact, the only other set in my collection that does that is the 1991-92 Pro Set set, which talks about the league's formation. I do know of several other sets that cover that pre-NHL time, including several issued when the league was active, but none of them appear in my collection...yet (or probably ever). 

In the end, I got 793 new cards, which is the most new I've ever gotten for Easter...by a wide margin! I don't know what the next highest number is, but I have an Excel chart of all the days where I got more than 400 cards in one day...and none of the dates of Easter on the list of past Easters in Wikipedia show up on the list at all...so I don't know how huge of a lead this Easter has over others- but it's at least 394 cards. So, this year was definitely an unusual one, but for once, in a good way! 

Stay tuned for the next post, as I celebrate a pretty big NHL milestone. You may be able to guess what it is, considering I basically told you in this post... 

NHL Sets missing from my collection

I finally typed up the list of NHL sets missing from my collection. I had made notes when I was creating my paper listing a while back...I don't remember when I finished. Last summer maybe? I'm sure I wrote a post about it but I can't remember. I do know that nothing newer than 2016-17 was on the paper list. Ever since, though, I've been putting off typing up the list, for no real reason other than the (seemingly) million other things I'm always trying to do at the same time. Today, it was too cold and wet to work on models (actually snowing, on April 10th! Crazy year) and I decided I needed to make this a priority...so I did it, finally. And it wasn't as easy as just copying over what I wrote well over a year ago now. I had gotten some sets but forgot to cross them off, and I only started keeping notes with 1992-93 Bowman. NHL cards started being produced in the 1920s, so I had a bit of work ahead of me. I ended up with three windows open, cross checking off my typed list, with the Cardboard History Gallery, checking to see if the set had an album. If it did, that meant it was in my collection, and I removed it from the typed list and crossed it off the paper list. I also had a window open with the Database and was checking against my collection on there. I also used that to check the cards pre-1992-93. It's a good thing I did, too, because I missed one that I was sure I had, but I don't. By checking the albums to see what I had vs. what existed on the Database, I realized I was missing 1986-87 O-Pee-Chee from my collection.

Even though the NHL is now what most of my collecting is, there's still a massive amount of sets missing- 223 listed, although I did include two not released yet, and one that was released this week. I also included the three main sets issued before the NHL was founded. Although not technically NHL sets, they absolutely count towards the collection. Unfortunately for me, 50 of them are 1980s and older, and while it may not seem like 80s are hard to find, only one of the 80s is NOT a sticker set. the aforementioned 87-87 OPC set. Stickers are MUCH less common than cards, so they will be about as challenging as the vintage cards on the list- 37 of which are Original 6 era or older.

Honestly, I don't expect to ever have any cards from many of the earlier sets. They are just too costly; that's history I won't be able to document. However, there's still a bunch of modern sets to work on. And the work has already started, because if you remember the packs SumoMenkoMan sent me last summer, which I wrote about a few months ago, three of the missing sets were included! Not only will I be able to get these cards represented, I have an actual pack to open. I also have 3 of the sets waiting to ship from COMC, although I don't know when I will actually be able to do that with the virus situation going on. I've actually been holding off on opening the packs until I could type the chart up and double check it.

What I'm NOT going to do is go out and hunt down cards from each of these sets like I did when I made the NBA list several years ago. I nabbed almost all of them on COMC in one fell swoop, going in and just buying the cheapest card available just to have the set represented in my collection. It was a bit of a rush when I did it, but I find that it wasn't really all that fun, and now I don't have the enjoyment of getting a new set totally at random, other than newly issued sets. With the NHL cards, I'm going to take it as they come...and enjoy the thrill of the hunt. I still have some of the store-made repacks I have held since 2017 and boxes upon boxes of cards sent to me by other collectors...what treasures await me in them? Only time will tell.

The list, like my lists for NBA, NASCAR and some non-sport sets, is always available from the Sets Missing from my Collection page in the top of every post, but I've also copy & pasted it below. As I get the missing sets, I will remove them, so by C&Ping it here, it will be a record of the sets that were missing from my collection at the time I created the chart.

Please note that this is only major sets. It doesn't include promos, team sets, lower levels, International, etc...all of which I collect and want to have. This is just mainstream sets. Underlined sets are simply year breaks, and the sets struck through are those that I have coming to me already- the three packs from Ryan, and the cards waiting with COMC.

1910-11 Imperial Tobacco

1911-12 Imperial Tobacco

1912-13 Imperial Tobacco  (Although the three Imperial tobacco sets predate the NHL, they were for the league the NHL spun out of and I would count them just the same)

1923-24 William Paterson

1924-25 Champ's Cigarettes

1924-25 William Paterson

1925-26 Unknown producer

1926-27 Unknown producer

1933-34 Unknown producer (Labeled as Anonymous V129 by Burdick)

1933-34 Canadian Gum

1933-34 Hamilton Gum

1933-34 O-Pee-Chee

1933-34 World Wide Gum Ice Kings

1934-35 O-Pee-Che

1935-36 O-Pee-Chee

1936-37 O-Pee-Chee

1937-38 O-Pee-Chee

1937-38 World Wide Gum

1939-40 O-Pee-Chee

1940-41 O-Pee-Chee

1952-53 Parkhurst

1953-54 Parkhurst

1955-56 Parkhurst

1957-58 Parkhurst

1958-59 Parkhurst

1958-59 Topps

1959-60 Parkhurst

1960-61 Parkhurst

1961-62 Parkhurst

1961-62 Topps Pending

1962-63 Parkhurst

1963-64 Parkhurst

1965-66 Topps

1968-69 O-Pee-Chee

1974-75 O-Pee-Chee WHA

1975-76 O-Pee-Chee WHA

1976-77 O-Pee-Chee WHA

1981-82 O-Pee-Chee Stickers

1982-83 O-Pee-Chee Stickers

1983-84 O-Pee-Chee Stickers

1983-84 Topps Stickers

1984-85 O-Pee-Chee Stickers

1985-86 O-Pee-Chee Stickers

1986-87 O-Pee-Chee

1986-87 O-Pee-Chee Stickers

1987-88 O-Pee-Chee Stickers

1987-88 Panini Stickers

1988-89 O-Pee-Chee Stickers

1988-89 Panini Stickers

1989-90 O-Pee-Chee Stickers

1990-91 Panini Stickers

1991-92 Panini Stickers

1992-93 Bowman

1992-93 Panini Stickers

1994-95 Panini Stickers

1996-97 Donruss Canadian Ice

1996-97 Fleer Picks

1996-97 Panini Stickers

1997-98 Leaf International Stars

1997-98 Pacific Paramount Pending

1997-98 Pacific Revolution

1997-98 Panini Stickers

1997-98 Pinnacle Bee Hive

1997-98 SP Authentic

1997-98 SPx

1997-98 Upper Deck Diamond Vision

1998-99 Pacific Revolution

1998-99 Panini Stickers

1999-00 O-Pee-Chee

1999-00 Aurora

1999-00 Panini Stickers

1999-00 Revolution

1999-00 Ultimate Victory

1999-00 Victory

2000-01 O-Pee-Chee Pending

2000-01 Pacific Private Stock Draft Day

2000-01 Pacific Private Stock Titanium

2000-01 Panini Stickers

2000-01 SP Game Used

2000-01 Topps Gold Label

2001-02 Fleer Legacy

2001-02 Pacific Private Stock Titanium Draft Day

2001-02 SP Game Used

2001-02 NHL Legends

2001-02 UD Playmakers Limited Pending

2001-02 UD Premier

2001-02 Upper Deck Stanley Cup Champs

2001-02 Top Shelf

2002-03 Between the Pipes

2002-03 In the Game Used

2002-03 MVP

2002-03 SP Game Used

2002-03 Upper Deck Classic Portraits

2002-03 Premier Collection

2003-04 Be A Player Memorabilia

2003-04 Be A Player Ultimate Memorabilia

2003-04 In the Game Used Signature Series

2003-04 In the Game VIP

2003-04 Pacific Complete

2003-04 Invincible

2003-04 Private Stock Reserve

2003-04 Private Stock Reserve Titanium

2003-04 Panini Stickers

2003-04 Parkhurst Original Six Boston Bruins

2003-04 Parkhurst Original Six Chicago Blackhawks

2003-04 Parkhurst Original Six Montreal Canadiens

2003-04 Parkhurst Original Six Toronto Maple Leafs

2003-04 Parkhurst Rookie

2003-04 Topps Pristene

2003-04 Honor Roll

2003-04 Trilogy

2003-04 Premier

2004-05 In the Game Franchises Canadian

2004-05 In the Game Franchises US West

2004-05 In the Game Franchises Update

2004-05 UD Legendary Signatures

2004-05 Upper Deck

2004-05 Legends Classics

2004-05 Ultimate Collection

2005-06 Artifacts

2005-06 Be A Player

2005-06 Panini Stickers

2005-06 Upper Deck The Cup

2005-06 Ultimate Collection

2006-07 Artifacts

2006-07 Panini Stickers

2006-07 SP Game Used

2006-07 Upper Deck Mini Jersey

2006-07 Upper Deck Sweet Shot

2006-07 Upper Deck The Cup

2006-07 Ultimate Collection

2007-08 Hot Prospects

2007-08 O-Pee-Chee Premier

2007-08 Trilogy

2007-08 Upper Deck Mini Jersey

2007-08 Upper Deck Sweet Shot

2007-08 Upper Deck The Cup

2007-08 Ultimate Collection Pending

2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Premier

2008-09 Ovation

2008-09 Panini Stickers

2008-09 SP Game Used

2008-09 Trilogy

2008-09 UD Black

2008-09 Upper Deck The Cup

2008-09 Ultimate Collection

2009-10 Be A Player

2009-10 Ice

2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Premier

2009-10 Ovation

2009-10 Panini Stickers

2009-10 UD Black

2009-10 Upper Deck The Cup

2009-10 Ultimate Collection

2010-11 Adrenalyn XL

2010-11 Crown Royale

2010-11 Ice

2010-11 Panini Dominion

2010-11 Limited

2010-11 Upper Deck The Cup

2010-11 Ultimate Collection

2011-12 Ice

2011-12 Panini Dominion

2011-12 Panini Prime

2011-12 Panini Titanium

2011-12 Ultimate Collection

2012-13 Classics Signatures

2012-13 Panini Dominion

2012-13 SP Authentic

2012-13 SP Game Used

2012-13 Upper Deck The Cup

2013-14 Crown Royale

2013-14 Ice

2013-14 National Treasures

2013-14 Panini Dominion

2013-14 Playbook

2013-14 Panini Prime

2013-14 Panini Stickers

2013-14 Totally Certified

2013-14 SP Game Used

2013-14 Upper Deck The Cup

2014-15 Ice

2014-15 Panini Stickers

2014-15 SP Game Used

2014-15 SPx

2014-15 Trilogy

2014-15 UD Premier

2014-15 Upper Deck The Cup

2014-15 Ultimate Collection

2015-16 Black Diamond

2015-16 Panini Stickers

2015-16 UD Black

2015-16 UD Premier

2015-16 Upper Deck The Cup

2016-17 Black Diamond

2016-17 UD Premier

2016-17 Upper Deck The Cup

2016-17 Ultimate Collection

2017-18 Black Diamond

2017-18 SP Game Used

2017-18 UD Premier

2017-18 Ultimate Collection

2018-19 Black Diamond

2018-19 Chronology

2018-19 Clear Cut

2018-19 Compendium

2018-19 Engrained

2018-19 Ice

2018-19 SP Authentic

2018-19 UD Premier

2018-19 Upper Deck The Cup

2019-20 Black Diamond

2019-20 Chronology

2019-20 Credentials (pending release)

2019-20 Engrained

2019-20 Ice

2019-20 O-Pee-Chee Platinum

2019-20 Stature (pending release)

2019-20 Synergy

2019-20 Trilogy

2019-20 UD Premier

2019-20 Upper Deck Buybacks

2019-20 Ultimate Collection

Eddie Lack retires- how does it compare to my other sports?

On March 30th Eddie Lack announced his retirement from professional hockey, due in large part to injury. Why is that a big deal, you may wonder?

Because the very first card out of the very first pack I ever opened after I officially became a hockey collector was Eddie Lack! I found some packs of 2014-15 MVP at the now closed antique mall I loved so much, and this was the first card I saw from the first pack I opened.

To date, it remains my only card of Eddie Lack in my collection.

It's an interesting comparison to my other two sports. I opened this pack in January 2017, so he retired 3 years and 2 months after I added his card to my collection. In the NBA, my first player out of my first pack was Sam Cassell, who got me started with that sport on Valentine's Day 1996. He would play through 2007-08, 12 years after I got the card!

In NASCAR, my first sport, well, that's totally different...my first card didn't come from a traditional pack, it came with a Racing Champions die-cast car, and Richard Petty, who was my first card, he had already retired by the time I got the card- Christmas Day, 1992. He retired at the conclusion of the 1992 season, which ended on November 15th, just one month and 10 days before I got the car, card, and GI Joe knockoff figure. Like Cassell, who is now a coach, Petty is still involved in the sport, as a team owner.

I know that in the grand scheme of things, this only really matters to me, but I thought it was interesting enough to get a blog post out of it. I've been meaning to write it up since the day I read it, but have been kind of busy with other hobbies, and just got a chance to write it today.

Cardboard History History of Cardboard: 1960-1969

The 60s, in my opinion, had the best music, especially from 1964-68. But the cards, especially in the non-sports realm, do not have the same vibrant variety as what had come before; to this date that still holds true. The NBA finally starts to get some cardboard respect, with annual sets debuting in 1969-70.

1960

1960 Revell 50th Anniversary of Naval Flight

1961

1961-62 Fleer

1962

1962 Topps

1963

1963 Topps Flag Midgees

1964

1964-65 Kahn's

1965

1965 Donruss Spec Sheet

1966

1966 Topps Batman

1967

1967 Philadelphia

1968

1968 Topps Hot Rods

1969

1969 Topps Man on the Moon

My 60s collection, for non-sports, is actually pretty slim. The years represented by sports cards here do not have a single non-sports card in my collection, with the exception of 1961. 1960 is also pretty slim- the Revell promo card is the only non-sports card issued in that year that's in my collection, although the year is represented in my NHL and MLB collections. The 1968 Topps Hot Rods set is actually a reissue of the 1966 set of the same name, which had slightly different back coloration. While the iconic 1969-70 Topps NBA set should probably have gotten the nod for 1969, the Man on the Moon set- humanity's greatest achievement- could not be ignored. Even though none of the cards in the set actually have any images from the Apollo 11 mission, mostly being a modified reissue of a 1963 set that is not yet in my collection. (Edit to the original post: The 1963 Astronauts set now IS in my collection, although not scanned yet)