The First Post of the Year. Some goals, some cards.

Ahhh, the first of the year. When bloggers from across the card trading world post about goals and ambitions and the like. Wait, it's the end of January and not the beginning? How did that happen? Whelp. I guess there's no need for a long detailed post about what I plan on doing with my cards this year since I'm already a month behind.

Might as well just wait till March and a return to the Orioles Victory Card series. Already have 15 cards scanned, that should get me into early June. Oh god, it's going to be such a long summer. The good news is that, if plans hold, I'll be at opening day (my first ever) to hopefully see a valiant effort against the dastardly New York Yankees. I'm also holding out hope that I'll be able to see Pearl Jam at nearby Royal Farms Arena (haven't been there since the original Baltimore Blast were in town).  Based on how ticket sales went last week, that's highly unlikely, but you never know.

As far as collecting, I do actually have some plans for 2020. As I've tried to do every year since I've had to start lugging this collection around (from Florida to Chicago to Pittsburgh to Salt Lake City) I plan on reducing the amount of cards I own. 

Now a couple of times I've said, "I want to get rid of 1,000 cards this year" or something to that effect, and I've done it. The problem, I've also taken in more than a 1,000 cards that year. So, in the end, I still ended up with more cards than I started with, which is a problem. 

This year, I've refined the goal. My plan is to get rid of 2,020 more cards than I take in. Thus eliminating roughly one shoe box worth of cards from the closet. You're welcome, whatever moving company moves us next.

So far I'm off to a decent start with a -674 card count as of today. Granted 550 of those cards went out in one transaction, but who's counting (technically I guess I am). Also, I haven't bought any boxes of new product yet either. That leads into goal number two.

Limit the buying of boxes. I love ripping packs. It's one of the top things about this hobby that keeps me interested. Whether it's a single box/pack of SP Game Used or 20 some packs of Topps Big League, the joy of not knowing what's going to pop up in the next pack is so much fun. 

My plan for Series One is to just buy a collated set. Those tend to not be too expensive on eBay and will keep the extraneous cards to a minimum.  That will severely hamper the chances of me flipping any inserts or variations for Series One, but that's ok. God knows I have enough from the last few years that I haven't posted or tried to sell yet so I should be able to keep at least some money flowing into the Buy More Cards fund. 

I will most likely buy a few boxes of Heritage or Allen & Ginter when they roll out later in the year. That will give me some time to eliminate more cards and I do love the 1971 design for Heritage this year. I'm sure I'm not alone in that which means box prices should remain nice and high (being smarter was never going to be a goal this year).

Other goals include continuing to build the Personal Collection (currently consisting of Tampa Bay Lightning cards, Vincent Lecavalier cards and Eddie Murray cards). I did manage to get 99.9% of my Lightning cards loaded into TCDB which allowed me to post a Want List for the ones I don't have. That makes trading a little easier. 

I also plan on having my entire collection entered into TCDB by the end of the year, if not sooner. I'm roughly 40% of the way there and it gives me something to do while mindlessly watching TV. Entering cards has shown me that I have plenty of duplicates (thanks junk wax era) and surprisingly, there are people out there that are looking for those cards. I've ripped off a bunch of trades already this year and offers keep coming in every time I finish loading a set. 

My goal in regards to trading is to make sure I send out more than I receive in at least 95% of the trades I make. That will help chip away at that 2,020 fewer cards thing. I've never been huge on getting equal value out of trades, especially since it's mostly base card duplicates that I'm sending out, so throwing in an extra four or five cards a trade isn't going to kill me. 

Woe to those that list any late-80s, early 90s cards on their want lists. If I see you need 1989 Topps cards, you're getting some, no you're getting a lot. I have 2,170 duplicate 1989 Topps cards. that's too many by about 2,000. So beware of your want lists. I will ambush you with extra cardboard.

I do want to finish off a few sets. Last year's base set is still incomplete as is the 2016 base set (that one feels like it will never end). I've completed 46.2% of the 1976 Topps base set so I doubt I'll finish that off, but if I end up close to 75% I'll be happy. There are a couple of older sets that I'm almost done with that I'd like to finish off as well (1991 Upper Deck 88.1%, 1989 Fleer 87.7%), but they're not exactly a focus.

As for singles, I will still be buying PC cards, but also want to pick up some cards of classic players, or classic cards. I picked up a few last year (Griffey Upper Deck rookie, 1971  Thurman Munson, 1985 McGwire that may be a fake, etc). This year I'm looking for cards of the old players like Sandy Koufax and Roberto Clemente. Throw in some of the Robinson boys and Boog Powell as well and I'll be a happy camper. 

Other than that, I just want to have fun. I try not to get wrapped up in drama in this hobby, because, after all, it's just a hobby for me. I'm not in it for the money, just the memories.

In keeping with my goals here are a few cards I picked up recently.

1964 Topps Sandy Koufax World Series #136

I went online with the intention of buying a Koufax card from his playing days. Found this one that was not only affordable, but I really liked the photo of Koufax at full stride, probably right before he made yet another hitter look foolish. 

1976 Topps Dennis Eckersly

The "biggest" rookie card I needed for the 1976 set, Eck came at a reasonable price due to some soft corners. Still, it's pretty well centered and will look good on the page. Now it's just a matter of finding the other 300+ cards I need to finish off the set.

 A trio of Vinny Cards

These three cards put me up to 285 different Vincent Lecavalier cards. That's roughly 7.4% of the available cards he has out there. I'm currently ranked third among collectors on TCDB who have Lecavalier cards. I think with a little work I can get to second (310 cards), but first (374 cards) may have to wait until next year.

Busting Some Packs of Tim Horton's Hockey Cards

Ahhh...the annual fall/winter trip to Canada. For the last two years, Hall of Fame inductions have transported me north of the border in early November. With no Lightning players getting the nod this year (and a trip to Sweden happening at the same time) I wasn't sure if I'd make it up there this year. However, over the summer, friend of the blog Link suggested a trip to Winnipeg (it was the last NHL city he needed to see a live game in). Without any other plans I hastily agreed.

Not wanting to visit the broad prairies of Manitoba in the dregs of winter (i.e. January and February when we usually go on our hockey trips) we settled on late October. Not only would that get us up there before the big snow, it would also get us there in time to partake in the one Canadian tradition I am most jealous of - buying hockey cards at Tim Horton's.

I love getting cards with my slightly-to-very-unhealthy fast food. I wish vendors in the States would bring them back. Some baseball cards along with a Big Mac is as American as a Big Mac and a triple bypass. I wrote about cards and carbs earlier this year and am excited to keep buying cards from that set. So when I know the cards are for sale at Timmy's I get excited.

For $1.99 (or $0.99 with purchase of a beverage) you get an exclusive three-card pack produced by Upper Deck. Unfortunately, it's a promotion not available in the States, so picking up some cards is always a challenge. Luckily for me, Link does some business in Canada and is usually up there in time to grab a few packs before they disappear.

This year, I was excited to be able to buy my own (and possibly some Tim-bits as well). So after a nice drive from East Grand Forks, Minnesota we crossed the border into Manitoba. Roughly ten minutes later we saw our first Tim Horton's and we pulled over. I picked up a total of three more packs to add to the stack Link had bought earlier in the year.

There are four Lightning players in the base set and sadly I didn't pull any of them. I did pull a red die cut insert of Stamkos in one of my last packs, but other than that my luck was as barren as the Manitoba countryside (seriously, it's a lot of flat farmland up there).

This isn't the pack with the Stamkos card in it, but is a pretty good representation of the average pack.

Crosby adorns the cover, and he usually does some commercial work for Tim Horton's.This year he and Nate Mackinnon ask some young fans how to make the game more entertaining. 

The base cards are nice and foily. They are also slightly embossed so there is a nice tactile feel to them. Nothing super fancy about the design and most feature the isolated semi-action shots that hockey collectors are familiar with.

The back. A few lines of stats and biographical information. Always nice to see French and English on the back of a card, it reminds me of the old Score Canadian sets that I used to have be the truckload. 

The back of the back shows the odds of the various insert sets. This year's release seemed to have a ton of them. I did pick up a variety of them including the red die cut inserts, a Jack Eichel Clear Cut Phenoms (which is nice an acetatey), a couple of Game Day Action cards, a couple of the Key Season Events cards, and some Golden Etchings. A fairly good representation of the inserts.

There are autograph and memorabilia cards as well, a few years ago I pulled a redemption for a Stamkos jersey card, but you have to have a Canadian address to redeem it and our ploy to make that work, didn't.

As for the insert in this pack:

A red die-cut Ovechkin with a small ding on the bottom edge. A few of the cards had dings in them, which could have been from the fact I threw them in my carry on bag before opening them or they could have come like that from the manufacturer.  Who knows?

I hope to trade out some of the base I have for the Lightning cards, and I may put a few others up for sale, but if you're interested in any of the base cards, reach out to me and we'll see if we can work something out. Also, if you're in Canada and are collecting points with the codes on the inside of the wrapper, let me know and I can send you a bunch.

Thanks for reading.

When You Don't Pay Attention to Those Pesky Details

A few years ago, when I was in the middle of a pretty dumb idea that turned out pretty well, I stumbled across a Steven Stamkos card that I had no idea existed. It immediately became my goal to acquire one of these cards. As with all of my goals, my dedication to actually accomplish it has fluctuated. Mostly, I forget about it for a month or two and then something reminds me of the card and I do an eBay search.

At first those searches came up completely empty, but as of late there are some hits. None with the Stamkos, but Phil Kessel and Jeff Skinner cards from that series have shown up. One particular result peaked my interest. It was a complete set for the 2017 Upper Deck NHL Smashfest Promo Set Rare. The photo showed Patrick Eaves holding a trophy and the design was exactly like the one featuring Stamkos. Sure I was buying nine cards instead of just one, but that wasn't a big deal. It's a complete set! He is part of the set! Therefore he will be in the set! Logic!

I'd get my Stamkos card and then just sell off the others to make a little money back. It was a foolproof plan. Or so I thought.

I put in an offer and after a couple of days it was accepted. Payment went through around Christmas and I sat back and waited for the cards to arrive. While I was waiting I went back into the auction and actually read the details. The seller had posted the checklist in the initial description (which I hadn't bothered to read) and....there was no Steven Stamkos.

What?

Quickly I realized that the 2017 set was the SECOND year that Upper Deck had produced a Smashfest promo set. Stamkos' card was included in the FIRST year. They used the same design to keep continuity, but it featured different players. Even the numbering system lined up. The 2016 set had 11 cards and this set started at SF-12. Bummer.

I don't regret the purchase, after all these are some neat cards to own. The question is, what do I do with them now? Do I keep them and try to put together the whole collection? Do I sell them individually? I busted them out of the cellophane in order to scan them. How do I log them? As far as I can tell the set isn't listed on Trading Card Database yet. Do I enter them as "Hockey Cards" or "Non-Sport Cards"?

So many questions.  In the meantime, since there isn't a lot of information on these cards, here's what was included:

Patrick Eaves SF-12

Derick Brassard SF-13

Alex Burrows SF-14

Aaron Ekblad SF-15

Chris Kreider SF-16

Mitch Marner SF-17

Sean Monahan SF-18

Antoine Roussel SF-19

Cam Talbot SF-20

Tom Wilson SF-21

If you're interested in any of the cards let me know. If you have a Stamkos 2016 SF-7 card that you'd like to trade out DEFINITELY let me know.

The Great Hockey Card Sell Off

As part of my self-created role over at Raw Charge, I've started reviewing all of the hockey releases this year. That requires me to purchase a box of each product.  Well it doesn't require me to, but how am I supposed to review something that I don't have in my hands, right?

In a related note, before I moved to Pittsburgh I divested myself of my non-Lightning hockey collection. I'm trying to keep it divested. So after two boxes of MVP and a box of O-Pee-Chee I have some cards to get rid of. In order to not go into bankruptcy during this project I have listed a few of the items on eBay (feel free to bid away) but I still have some base cards and inserts collecting dust.

So I've decided to see if anyone wants to take them off of my hands. And to help offset past and future products I have decided to sell them off as team lots. Each team (minus the Lightning) is listed below along with a cost based on what cards are there (no team is more than $5.00).  Payment would be through PayPal.They will ship in a padded envelope and team bag. Shipping is $3.50 and if you want more than one team I will combine shipping charges. Shipping to Canada might be a little bit more, but we can work something out.

Let me know if you have any questions. First come, first served. Leave a comment with the team you want and shoot me an email at yerf@hotmail.com and I'll arrange to ship them out.


Anaheim Ducks  $3.00:

MVP - #2 Ryan Getzlef (2), #54 Jakob Silfverberg (2), #74 Rickard Rakell, #177 Ondrej Kase, #148 Corey Perry (2), #189 Adam Henrique (2)

O-Pee-Chee - #26 Ryan Getzlef, #66 Ondrej Kase, #161 Brandon Montour, #242 Hampus Lindholm, # 66 Retro Ondrej Kase


Arizona Coyotes  $2.75:

MVP - #10 Oliver Ekman-Larsson, #37 Clayton Keller, #62 Max Domi, #134 Christian Dvorak, #192 Derek Stepan (2)

O-Pee-Chee - #55 Clayton Keller, #111 Derek Stepan, #353 Niklas Hjamarsson, #382 Kevin Connauton, #497 Antti Raanta, #326 Retro Nick Cousins, #412 Retro Jakob Chychrun


Boston Bruins $3.00:

MVP - #3 Brad Marchand (2), #43 David Pastrnak (2), #79 Rick Nash, #131 Tuukka Rask (2), #183 Danton Heinan (2)

O-Pee-Chee - #11 David Pastrnk, #222 Jake DeBrusk,, #475 Anton Khudobin, #172 Retro Danton Heinen, #172 Silver Border Danton Heinen


Buffalo Sabres  $2.60:

MVP - #12 Ryan O'Reilly, #58 Kyle Okposo, #93 Sam Reinhart, #121 Rasmus Ristolainen, #182 Jason Pominville, #6 Silver Signature 20th Anniversary Ryan O'Reilly, #121 Puzzle Back Rasmus Ristolainen, #58 Silver Signature Kyle Okposo

O-Pee-Chee - , #256 Benoit Poulet, #293 Evan Rodrigues, #449 Chad Johnson, #16 Retro Ryan O' Reilly


Carolina Hurricanes $3.20:

MVP - #13 Teuvo Teravainen, #44 Sebastin Aho, #78 Justin Williams (2), #107 Jordan Staal, #141 Justin Faulk, #194 Justin Faulk front / Jeff Skinner back error, #194 Puzzle Back Jeff Skinner, #13 Silver Signature Teuvo Teravainen

O-Pee-Chee -  #375 Noah Hanifin, #489 Brock McGinn, # M-44 Mini Teuvo Teravainen, #455 Retro Hayden Fleury, #574 Retro Team Checklist Short print, #44 Silver Border Justin Williams


Calgary Flames $2.30:

MVP -  #4 Sean Monahan (2), #61 Dougie Hamilton, #92 Micheal Ferland, #123 T.J. Brodie, #193 Matthew Tkachuk, #193 Silver Signature Matthew Tkachuk, #248 Silver Signature Ryan Lomberg Short print

O-Pee-Chee -#176 Mark Giordano, #203 T.J. Brodie, #495 Micheal Ferland,


Chicago Blackhawks:

Already claimed


Colorado Avalanche $2.50:

MVP -  #21 Gabriel Landeskog, #81 Tyson Barrie, #118 Alex Kerfoot, #149 Carl Soderberg (2), #188 Erik Johnson

O-Pee-Chee - #46 Semyon Varlamov, #281 Carl Soderberg, #398 Matt Nieto, #454 Nikita Zadorov, #97 Retro Tyson Barrie


Columbus Blue Jackets $3.20:

MVP - #14 Seth Jones (2), #35 Artemi Panarin (2), #64 Oliver Bjorkstrand, #66 Thomas Vanek, #82 Nick Foligno, #108 Alexander Wennberg, #136 Cam Atkinson, #184 Pierre-Luc Dubois, #184 Silver Signature Pierre-Luc Dubois

O-Pee-Chee -#158 Josh Anderson, #192 Boone Jenner, #330 Cam Atkinson, #571 Team Checklist Short  print


Dallas Stars 

Already Claimed


Detroit Red Wings $2.40:

MVP - #16 Dylan Larkin, #40 Henrik Zetterberg, #87 Justin Abdelader (2),#146 Anthony Mantha (2), #173 Gustav Nyquist, #185 Jimmy Howard

O-Pee-Chee - #6 Dylan Larkin, #107 Luke Glendening, #210 Henrik Zetterberg,#235 Martin Frk,


Edmonton Oilers  $2.60:

MVP - #26 Leon Draisaitl, #52 Milan Lucic, #85 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2), #124 Oscar Klefbom, #154 Ryan Strome, #180 Cam Talbot(2)

O-Pee-Chee - #236 Cam Talbot, #342 Kris Russell, #425 Milan Lucic, #486 Leon Draisaitl, #468 Retro Black 46/100 Drake Caggiula (small ding in lower right corner)


Florida Panthers $4.40:

MVP - #17 Aleksander Barkov (2), #39 Jonathan Huberdeau, #69 Vincent Trocheck, #95 Roberto Luongo, #125 Aaron Ekblad, #181 Keith Yandle, #243 Henrik Borgstrom RC Short print, #14 Roberto Luongo 20th Anniversary Silver Signature, #29 Aaron Ekblad 20th Anniversary Silver Signature

O-Pee-Chee -#8 Aleksander Barkov,  #195 Evgenii Dadonov, #206 Nick Bjugstad, #252 Michael Matheson, #323 Jamie McGinn, #377 Colton Sceviour, #403 James Reimer, #553 Roberto Luongo Season Highlight Short print, #323 Retro Jamie McGinn, #403 Retro James Reimer, #445 Retro Black 91/100 Mark Pysyk (small ding left side)


Los Angeles Kings  $3.00:

MVP - #5 Jonathan Quick (2), #47 Dustin Brown, #83 Dion Phaneuf, #109 Drew Doughty (2), #128 Jake Muzzin (2), #144 Anze Kopitar (2), #166 Tyler Toffoli, #83 Dion Phaneuf Puzzle Back, #109 Drew Doughty Puzzle Back, #128 Jake Muzzin Puzzle Back

O-Pee-Chee - #304 Christian Folin Silver Border


Minnesota Wild  $2.50:

MVP - #18 Mikael Granlund, #46 Jason Zucker, #80 Eric Staal, #103 Ryan Suter (2), #199 Devan Dubnyk (2)

O-Pee-Chee - #21 Devan Dubnyk, #87 Jason Zucker, #297 Nino Niederreiter, #539 Louis Belpedio RC Short print, #515 Retro Jordan Greenway RC Short print


Montreal Canadiens  $2.75:

MVP - #19 Max Pacioretty, #99 Jonathan Drouin (2), #126 Andrew Shaw, #171 Shea Weber (2), #187 Brendan Gallagher

O-Pee-Chee - #54 Jeff Petry, #86 Phillip Danault, #108 Artturi Lehkonen, #370 Alex Galchenyuk, ,#499 Retro Brendan Gallagher, #303 Andrew Shaw Silver Border


Nashville Predators  $4.00:

MVP - #20 P.K. Subban (2), #48 Filip Forsberg, #77 Viktor Arvidsson, ##114 Ryan Johansen (2), #129 Roman Josi, #161 Pekka Rinne, #178 Kyle Turris (2), #195 Ryan Hartman (2), #241 Eeli Tolvanen RC Short print, #129 Roman Josi Puzzle Back, #195 Ryan Hartman Silver Signature

O-Pee-Chee - #51 Austin Watson,  #280 Pekka Rinne, #357 Colton Sissons, #419 Ryan Hartman, #117 Retro Filip Forsberg


New Jersey Devils  $3.50:

MVP - #22 Nico Hischier, #50 Taylor Hall, #89 Corey Schneider (2), #120 Kyle Palmieri (2), #175 Jesper Bratt

O-Pee-Chee - #24 Nico Hischier, #60 Kyle Palmieri, #98 Jesper Bratt, #135 Taylor Hall, #174 Will Butcher, #421 Keith Kinkaid,  #466 Retro Patrick Maroon, #431 Blake Coleman Silver Border


New York Islanders  $2.50:

MVP - #1 John Tavares, #56 Josh Bailey (2), #91 Anders Lee (2), #138 Jordan Eberle (2), #172 Nick Leddy (2), #221 Michael Dal Colle Silver Signature RC Short print

O-Pee-Chee -  #443 Jaroslav Halak, #516 Michael Dal Colle RC Short print


New York Rangers  $3.20:

MVP - #28 Mats Zuccarello (2), #60 Kevin Shattenkirk (2), #72 Mika Zibanejad, #106 Kevin Hayes, #133 Ryan Spooner (2), #140 Chris Kreider (2), #246 Lias Anderson RC Short print

O-Pee-Chee -  #337 Kevin Shattenkirk, #423 Brady Skjei, #446 Marc Staal, #129 Retro Ryan Spooner


Ottawa Senators $2.75:

MVP - #23 Mark Stone (2), #51 Mike Hoffman (2), #115 Matt Duchene, #179 Bobby Ryan, #212 Erik Karlsson (2)

O-Pee-Chee - #28 Mark Stone, #171 Bobby Ryan, #232 Jean-Gabriel Pageau, #345 Cody Ceci, #346 Retro Thomas Chabot


Philadelphia Flyers  $3.00:

MVP - #6 Sean Couturier, #41 Shayne Gostisbehere (2), #88 Jakub Voracek (2), #113 Wayne Simmonds (2), #139 Claude Giroux (2), #196 Nolan Patrick (2), #113 Wayne Simmonds Silver Signature, #26 Wayne Simmonds 20th Anniversary Silver Signature

O-Pee-Chee -  #544 Retro Tyrell Goulbourne RC Short print


Pittsburgh Penguins $4.00:

MVP - #57 Kris Letang, #86 Derick Brassard, #111 Phil Kessel (2), #150 Matt Murray, #155 Conor Sheary, #176 Carl Hagelin (2), #236 Zach Aston-Reese RC Short print

O-Pee-Chee - #5 Sidney Crosby, #84 Derick Brassard, #128 Tristan Jarry, #220 Jake Guentzel (2), #258 Bryan Rust, #333 Olli Maatta, #361 Conor Sheary, #128 Retro Tristan Jarry


San Jose Sharks  $2.80:

MVP - #24 Joe Pavelski, #32 Evander Kane (2), #53 Logan Couture, #94 Tomas Hertl (2), #105 Joe Thornton, #156 Martin Jones, #177 Mikkel Boedker (2)

O-Pee-Chee - #68 Brent Burns, #263 Mikkel Boedker, #585 Team Checklist Short print, #165 Kevin Labanc Silver Border


St. Louis Blues  $2.75:

MVP - #27 Brayden Schenn (2), #59 Jaden Schwartz (2), #102 Alex Pietrangelo (2), #142 Alexander Steen, #158 Colton Parayko, #167 Jake Allen (2)

O-Pee-Chee - #427 Ivan Barbashev, #462 Carter Hutten, #331 Retro Vince Dunn


Tampa Bay Lightning

These cards are mine ALL MINE!!!!!


Toronto Maple Leafs 

Claimed


Vancouver Canucks  $3.00:

MVP - #30 Daniel Sedin, #70 Henrik Sedin, #122 Bo Horvat (2), #170 Loui Eriksson, #70 Henrik Sedin Puzzle Back

O-Pee-Chee - #37 Brendan Leipsec,  #177 Brandon Sutter, #237 Derrick Pouliot, #272 Michael Del Zotto, #452 Sven Baertschi, #469 Bo Horvat, #470 Henrik Sedin, #470 Retro Henrik Sedin


Vegas Golden Knights $5.00:

MVP - #42 Jonathan Marchessault (2), #73 Alex Tuch (2), #84 David Perron (2), #132 Cody Eakin, #153 William Karlsson, #198 Erik Haula (2), #245 Tomas Hyka Silver Signature RC Short hand

O-Pee-Chee - #7 Marc-Andre Fleury, #94 William Karlsson, #164 Erik Haula, #255 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, , #372 Deryk Engelland, #537 Tomas Hyka RC Shorthand, #132 Retro Reilly Smith, #255 Retro Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, #291 Retro Nate Schmidt, #319 Retro Alex Tuch, M-37 James Neal Mini

Washington Capitals $3.20:

MVP - #9 Evgeny Kuznetsov, #36 John Carlson, #98 Tom Wilson, #145 Braden Holtby, #186 Nicklas Backstrom, #210 Alex Ovechkin Short print (2)

O-Pee-Chee - #57 John Carlson, #201 Alex Ovechkin, #246 Dmitry Orlov, #288 Matt Niskanen, #359 Brett Connolly, #397 Jay Beagle, #424 Retro Phillip Grubauer, #492 Retro Alex Chiasson


Winnipeg Jets  $3.00:

MVP - #31 Patrik Laine, #65 Blake Wheeler, #127 Nikolaj Ehlers, #152 Dustin Byfuglien (2), #162 Connor Hellebuyck (2)

O-Pee-Chee - #9 Patrik Laine, #99 Connor Hellebuyck, #150 Mark Scheifele, #244 Dustin Byfuglien, #366 Josh Morrissey, #578 Team Checklist Short print, #594 Connor Hellebuyck League Leaders Short print, #M-22 Nikolaj Ehlers Mini

A look at 2018-19 Upper Deck MVP (cross posted at Raw Charge)

How about a little break from baseball to talk about hockey cards? Over at my other piece of internet real estate, we're gearing up for the start of the 2018-19 NHL season. What better way to get it started than to open up a box of hockey cards?

If anyone is putting this set together go ahead and drop me a note. I'm only keeping the Lightning cards, everything else is available for sale/trade.

MVP isn’t going to wow a collector with their photo selections. It’s mostly full body shots of players skating and looking up the ice. This year’s version features a border on the left side and a full-bleed photo on the other.

It honors the original 1998-99 set with the slightly mechanical left-hand border but isn’t a blatant copy. The player name is easy to read along the border, but the team name and position gets a little lost in the MVP logo at the bottom. It’s a nice, clean looking card.

Read the rest at Raw Charge...

Dusting this space off with a 2017-18 Upper Deck Series One review

Wow.  Two months since I've posted here.  That's not good for the brand (no I'm not sure what my brand actually is).  I have been writing, at least about the Lightning.  It's all over at www.RawCharge.com.

I do plan on posting more stuff in these parts soon.  For now, here are my thoughts on Upper Deck's Series One product.  FYI - I will be posting all the base (minus the Lightning cards) and some of the inserts on my page at trading card database. Just go to www.tradingcarddb.com and look for me - lightningfan7609.  I should have them posted in the next day or so.

Here we go.


It’s the best time of the year, well at least for hockey card collectors. November means that Upper Deck’s flagship product has finally been released. While MVP and O-Pee-Chee are nice sets to wet the appetite, this is the set that gets the collectors going. Mainly because of the rookie cards, aka Young Guns, which serve as the bellwether for how a player’s career is going to be seen by the public.

Read the rest here....

Alex Killorn's Pretty First Goal is Captured on Cardboard

It's summer. The hockey writers are starting to pack up their cabins and return to the grind, but there is still a good couple of weeks until real news starts breaking. Until then we are left with finding different sources of inspiration.  Today's inspiration?  A hockey card.  This hockey card in fact.

A 2013-14 Panini/Score First Goal insert featuring Alex Killorn.  How did the copy writer describe the goal?

“Killorn was pushing the puck toward the Florida net late in the first period of a Feb. 16, 2013 game and had a split second to make a decision. He could’ve dropped it off to an open Vincent Lecavalier or pull the trigger himself. Killorn took the shot and got to celebrate his first career NHL goal.”


Is that how it actually happened? Read the rest over at Raw Charge.

Is it time to invest in a Steven Stamkos Rookie Card?

Simple question - Should I buy a Steven Stamkos rookie card right now?

For the most part, values of hockey cards tend to stay fairly flat. While there might be a ton of fluctuation upon their release, they tend to find a level after a few months. Barring any career ending injuries or absolute overproduction of cards (Jaromir Jagr) a superstar player’s rookie card will slowly increase in value over time.

For the numerical break down read the rest of the post over at RawCharge.

Welcome Back Yanni and Who is Going to Be on a Hockey Card?

There was a blip of news in the Lightning world today as the club announced they were signing forward Yanni Gourde to a one-year, two-way deal. It's not quite the same as if, say Nikita Kucherov signed a deal, but it's still something. Mr. Yzerman brought back a player who was familiar with the system and should have a nice role in Syracuse with the occasional call up to Tampa Bay.

Gourde did pick up two games of NHL experience along with an assist last season when the Lightning forwards were ravaged by injury. He caught a bit of the bug as well as he suffered an injury to his finger during his two game stint with the club before being sent back to Syracuse.

He had a solid year in the AHL racking up 44 points, but not good enough to make the Black Aces Squad for the post-season. The Lightning did tender him an offer to retain his rights earlier this off-season and wrapped it up with the contract on Monday. He has an uphill battle to make the Lightning in training camp, but he will be a leader in what will hopefully a competitive Crunch squad.

That's nice and everything, but if Gourde is playing significant minutes for the Lightning, something has gone wrong. However, I did think that it solved something that has been bothering me all summer. Who would be the Lightning's representative in Upper Deck's Young Guns collection this year.

For those of you who may not be aware, every year Upper Deck releases their flagship product in two series. Series one usually rolls out in November and features six or seven veteran players from each team. The final 50 cards (well 49 and a checklist) are all rookies and have the Young Guns logo splashed across the card. As these are usually seeded about one in every four pack they aren't the easiest cards to obatin, thus they are usually one of the more sought cards for highend players.

For instance Connor McDavid's version from last year is selling for between $130 and $150 on eBay right now. Steven Stamkos is closing between $45-$60 at the moment. Those numbers will go up as the season begins, especially if McDavid continues to play well.

Last year Slater Koekkoek and Joel Vermin represented the blue and white for the Bolts, this year, well I'm not quite sure. Every team usually has at least one player with a couple getting two. The Lightning have been well represented the last couple of years. Koekkoek and Vermin last year, Vlad Namestnikov, Jonathan Drouin, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Cedric Paquette the year before and Alex Killorn, Richard Panik, Ondrej Palat, Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson in 2013-14. That's a pretty solid release.

While you think, “Hey why not just throw Brett Howden on a card, case closed.” Unfortunately the NHL and the NHLPA have some guidelines for who gets to appear on licensed cards. The number one rule is be a part of the union I'm sure, but the most important is that the player has to participate in an official game. So that eliminates Mr. Howdon.

But McDavid made it into last year's set! Yes, and there is a good chance Auston Matthews will be in this years. Upper Deck usually gambles that the top pick will make it onto the ice before their product drops in November (also one of the reasons that the flagship product releases a month after the season starts). Sets that are released earlier in the year like MVP or Artifacts include rookie redemption cards. Cards are inserted into a pack with a code. You go to the website and enter the code. Months (hopefully only months) later the card ships. That way they can wait until the player skates in the game before releasing the card.

So now that you know a little more about hockey rookie cards, let's look at who the Lightning might have represented in this year's set.

Yanni Gourde – Did he participate in a NHL game? Yes! Twice! Has he had a card released in Upper Deck's base set, yet? No? Awesome! However (there is always a however) he did appear in the “Update” set of Young Guns that was released in Upper Deck SPA. So he's out.

Mike Blundin – He got into 20 games for the Lightning. Wait he's 29? And been in the league since 2006-07? I did not know that. But he's never played more than 40 games for a team so maybe he doesn't have a card. He does? And it's a Young Guns card? Wow.

Matt Taormina – Yeah, he's old like Blundin, but he's been buried in the minors forever! There can be no way he has a card. He does? From 2010-11? The Lighting really are in between prospect classes right now.

Nikita Nesterov – Nope. He was in the 2014-15 SPA update series. Stupid updates.

Tanner Richard – While he did not actually get into a game last year he was called up for the December 20^th match against Ottawa. Depending on if being a healthy scratch counts as participating in an official game he might get the call.

Kristers Gudlevskis – He officially deputed in 2013-14 and added another game in 2015-16. He's actually been in sets before, most notably the 2014-15 O-Pee-Chee set and Upper Deck Black Diamond. However, he has never made the base set. His lack of experience might hinder him a bit. Playing time doesn't really matter as the checklists of previous Young Guns set are littered with “Who are these guys?” players, but they do want to produce cards that people want (it kind of helps sells) and despite being blocked by Ben Bishop and Vasilevskiy he might sneak his way in.

Luke Witkowski – He's a strong maybe. Much like Gudlevskis he has appeared in other sets like MVP and O-Pee-Chee. He would be the safe play for Upper Deck. It would by them some time until Series 2 is released at which time maybe one of the Syracuse players (cough, Adam Erne, cough) gets a call up. Not exactly a household name, he does have a chance to make the team as an extra defensemen.

I'm hoping it's Richard. I have a feeling he's going to find himself contributing to the big club sooner rather than later.

We Take a Break From the Playoffs to Check Out Some Cards

It's time for another CheckOutMyCards quasi-blaster. Flush with some PayPal funds and the need to polish off the 1983 Topps set I fired up the browser and went searching for some more cards to make the shipping worth it. Since you'll see pictures of the front, let's also highlight some notes on the back.

1983 Topps George Brett All Star

The back of the card recounts the 1935 All-Star Game held in Cleveland. Jimmy Foxx drove in 3 of the AL's runs in the 4-1 win. Lefty Gomez picked up the win by pitching 6 innings. Imagine a starter in the All Star game going six innings nowadays? The internet would lose its collective mind. Also, we need more people named “Arky” in pro sports. Arky (given name Joseph Floyd) Vaughn scored the lone National League run.

1983 Topps Rickey Henderson

Hey, Rickey was born in Chicago! Didn't know that. Also, through the 1982 season, his 4^th in the majors, he already had successfully stolen 319 bases. The current active stolen bases leader in the majors right now is Ichiro with 500. However, it took the Japanese superstar 16 seasons to get there. Which means he should tie Henderson's record of 1,406 sometime around 2045.

1983 Topps Pete Rose Super Veteran

In '83, Rose had 20 years of service time in the major leagues. Right now the only active players to eclipse that mark are Alex Rodriguez (22 years) and David Ortiz (20 years). Ortiz is planning on retiring after this year and Rodriguez after next. Who knows if anyone else will get close to that number anytime soon?

1983 Topps Randy Jones

In 1974 Jones lost 22 games for the San Diego Padres. The next two years he won a combined 42 and pitched 600 innings and won the Cy Young award in 1976. That workload took a toll on his arm and he never recovered from a nerve injury he suffered in the last start of that year. In fact, he never posted a winning record in his remaining 6 seasons and finished with an overall losing record of 100-123.

2012 Topps Heritage James Shields

Shields had 11 complete games in 2011. He is still the franchise leader for the Rays with a total of 19 (also with 8 shutouts). The closest current Ray is Chris Archer with 3. Shields is currently tied with Clayton Kershaw for 4^th among active leaders with 22. If you're looking for records that are never going to be broken Cy Young's 749 complete games has to be number one.

2015-16 Nikita Kucherov O-Pee-Chee Retro Variant

The information is a little sparse on the back of this one despite the fact that everything is in English and French. Kucherov is listed as being born in Maikop,Russia. It appears to be a small typo as a quick search lists the town name as “Maykop”. The name translates to “Valley of apple trees”. That's nice.

1983 Topps Ozzie Smith

Woo-hoo! Set complete! Ozzie is shown in a Cardinals uniform as he was picked up from the Padres in a trade on 2-11-1982. The trade was Smith, Steve Mura, Luis DeLeon to the Padres for Sixto Lezcano, Gary Templeton and Al Olmsted. According to The Sporting News the trade almost fell apart due to Smith's demand for a higher salary. The negotiations led to a great quote from then St. Louis manager Whitey Herzog, “Ozzie is a great fielder and baserunner. I'd like to have him. But if he doesn't want to come to St. Louis, I don't want him. No .220 hitter is worth what he's asking [$750,000]”. Restrosimba has a great post on the troubled trade.

(ed note – Upon further review. The set is not complete. Apparently I still need a Robin Yount. Damn my fading memory.)

2012 Topps Heritage Eric Hosmer

Hosmer played two seasons in the Carolina League for the Wilmington Blue Rocks. My parents live in Wilmington, North Carolina. It's a nice little city just a hop, skip and a jump from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Another awesome fact – it was where Dawson's Creek was filmed.

2013-14 Panini Contenders NHL Link Ondrej Palat Autograph

A poorly worded anecdote on the back:

Palat was on a road trip with his AHL club in Hershey, Pa., when he received a call on March 3, 2013 telling him he'd be playing WITH the Penguins that night. His team had a casual dress code, so Palat had to run to a store in Hershey to buy a suit before jumping in a car for the three-plus-hour drive.

OK. So there are two issues with that description. The glaringly obvious one being that Palat played against the Penguins not with them. Also, the game was played on the 4^th, not the 3^rd. Tighten your fact checking game, Panini.

In case you were wondering, Palat picked up an assist on a Tom Pyatt goal in the 4-3 loss to the Penguins.

2014-15 Upper Deck Premier Rinks of Honor Autographed Booklets #RH-JD

Not a bad card for less than a lunch in the city. I didn't realize it was an autograph until I read the back of the card. Drouin signed it in gold ink and it looks really, really nice. It doesn't show up on the scan, but in person it's quite nice.  Now I just have to figure out if I want to display it or just throw it in the Lightning box. I'm going to say that depends on what happens in the offseason with young Mr. Drouin.

According to the back of the card the official seating capacity of the Amalie Arena is 19,204. Upper Deck did check it's facts as the official Amalie Arena website confirms that number. For the 2015-16 season the Lightning averaged 19,092 fans for their home games, good enough for 8^th in the league. And they said hockey wouldn't work in Florida.....

1983 Topps Pete Rose Super Veteran

Wait, what? Yup. I managed to order the same card twice in one order from COMC. Looks like it was left in my cart from a previous visit to the site. Make sure to check your orders, kids. That's $.60 I could have spent on another card.

So that's another quasi-blaster break from our friends at Check Out My Cards. Seriously, check them out and buy something.

https://retrosimba.com/2012/02/12/how-the-cardinals-deal-for-ozzie-smith-almost-fell-apart/

http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400442795

http://espn.go.com/nhl/attendance

Time For Some New Cards

Here it is March and I still haven't bought any new boxes of cards.  Not sure why, I should really have at least picked up a box of Upper Deck Hockey by now, but I haven't.  That doesn't mean I haven't picked up anything new.  Time for another COMC "Blaster Box".  For roughly $20 I picked up some cards I need....well...want is probably a better word.  No autographs or relics in this batch.

On a side note, I would like to thank the US Postal Service for forwarding this package to me.  See, despite graduating with honors I am kind of an idiot.  I actually mailed these to my old address in Chicago.  After not seeing them for a month I had actually given up on seeing these and was going to reorder them.  And then boom - here they are.

So what did my four Abraham Lincoln's get me?

Some Heritage needs.  Hey 2016 Heritage is out!  I'm still working on 2009 and 2012.  I've been putting 2009 together for 7 years?  Crap, I'm never going to finish this damn set.

A couple of Vinny cards for my personal collection.  Any card of Vinny in a "rain" jersey I will buy without even looking at the price.

Have you ever traded away a card you actually needed to complete a set?  Yeah, I've done it a few times.  This Bergeron completes my 2013-14 Upper deck set.  Well at least the non-Young Guns part of it.

Just a random card of two of the greatest players in Lightning history.  I really, really like the Chemistry on Canvas set.

Speaking of canvas - how about some Upper Deck Canvas?  What a nice memory of Jonathan Drouin in a Lightning uniform.

Sometimes I just start adding random Lightning cards.  All of these were under a dollar.  So, at least one of those "Hot Prospects" has panned out for Tampa Bay.  Gudas is currently in Philadelphia trying to figure out how many match penalties he can get before getting suspended.  Korobov is back in the KHL as far as I can tell.  The lesson?  You can't have too many prospects.

Some Young Guns for the collection. A former Lightning prospect, a current Lightning prospect, a Duck who as kind of rumored to be a future Lightning player and Jesper Fast.


Yea new cards.

Group Break Results - Dave and Adams Black Diamond Live Break

As I've mentioned in a previous post I've cut down on my card purchasing. Some of it has been financial, most of it has been space-related and a slim portion has been lack of interest. It's not that there haven't been sets that I want to buy, just none that have motivated me to the point where I've said to myself, “I'VE GOT TO HAVE THAT!” and immediately logged onto the internet to purchase.

I have picked up some new cards through trades (trying to be more active in that regard this year) and have been dutifully picking up my free virtual cards, but I wanted to get some hot-off-the-press, shiny new cardboard in my hands. So, instead of buying a box, I plopped down $40 for a Dave and Adams group break.

I've done a couple of low end breaks sponsored by other blogs in the past, but this is the first time I've gone in on a higher end case break sponsored by a major distributor. The product – 2015-16 Upper Deck Black Diamond. The amount – one case, five boxes.

One of my problems with group breaks is that I don't do a lot of research on the product before plunking down my money. I had no idea that Black Diamond was transitioned from a mid-tear product with a relative easy base set followed by a bunch of short printed 3-and-4-Diamond cards to a high-end, hits-based product.

Heck I went into the break without even knowing how many Lightning cards were on the checklist. A post-break search of the checklist showed that the answer to that question was – not many. Steven Stamkos had a base card and a mini relic. There was a Stamkos/Ondrej Palat Exquisite combo relic and a Slater Koekkoek rookie patch card. That's it.

So, as I fired up the computer to watch the break I thought, even if I didn't end up with the Lightning I would end up with a stack of base cards and maybe a nice insert or two. I got nervous when I saw that a box contained one pack of about five cards (with a “bonus” Exquisite card thrown on top). I'm not good at math, but with only about 30 cards getting pulled, I quickly realized that I might not end up with anything at all.

The random generator didn't land me the Lightning and I couldn't create an account for the chat function quick enough to work out a trade so I was stuck with the team that random.org fated I should be paired with – the Winnipeg Jets. Which ended up being.....not too bad. I actually had one of the better breaks out of the group as I walked away with three cards (whoever had the Lightning got zero).

For my money I walked away with:

A Redemption! An Andrew Ladd Black Diamond Pure Black Signatures #'d to 99 Redemption to be exact. I don't have the red-rage factor for redemptions that some folks on the internet have. That's probably because I've had pretty good luck getting the actual card I've submitted or that Topps took care me of the one time I didn't get the card I was expecting. Will that streak continue? We'll find out in 12-16 weeks!

A Nikolaj Ehlers Black Diamond Rookie Team Logo Jumbo. I kind of like the idea of this card. Take a manufactured logo of a team and split it into six cards. If you can put together all six cards, you get the entire logo. It makes more sense than random patches of jerseys. Will I go for the other five cards? Maybe.

A Nikolaj Ehlers Black Diamond Rookie Signature Material Placards #'d to 125. Nice lay out with a big swatch of a jersey that was worn in a rookie photo shoot (at least they're upfront about it) and a sticker autograph. If they're going to use a sticker, at least they did it in a format where it's not hideously out of place. Well done Upper Deck.

So it was nice to pull a couple of cards from this break. Did I make my money back? Probably not, but I did get a few cards that are nice to look at. If you're interested in trading for them – make me an offer (email at yerf (at) hotmail.com).

As for the group break process with Dave and Adams. It was pretty smooth. You go to their live group breaks web page, find a break you want to participate in, add it to your cart and check out as usual. You can watch the break live or a replay on their YouTube page.

For a high-end break like this, they send out base cards as well as the hits. For a break with more base cards you can request your base cards. After your team is assigned by random (which they show on the break) you are given a chance to make a trade. Your chances depend on how many people are watching live so it can be hit or miss. The cards were shipped out a day or so after the break so that was nice.

I would never spend $249 on a box that only contained 6 cards. For $40 for 30 cards, it was a gamble I was willing to take. So it's not a bad way to dip your toes into a higher-end product.

Trade Time - Cardboard Not People

It's been a few posts since I've written about cards. Let's see, my last post about hockey or baseball cards was....still looking....still looking...October. Huh. It's been a while, hasn't it. Especially for what nominally qualifies as a card blog. I guess I should work a few posts in about cards. I haven't been buying too much lately due to a self-imposed financial limit and the fact that I haven't been “wowed” by much lately. So, how does one acquire new cardboard? Trades of course!

This one was sent to me by Trevor. I left a comment on his blog, he left one on mine. There were emails involved and then we finally hashed out a deal. He has the ambitious idea of completing a master set of 2012-13 O-Pee-Chee Hockey and I had some Rainbow Parallels hiding their light in a cardboard box. He had some cards I needed and with the help of the US and Canadian Mail systems I had some new cards.

2010 Topps “The Cards Your Mom Threw Out” Eddie Murray

One of several of Topps' “Hey let's just reprint cards we've made before!” inserts over the last few years. This one features the regular back as opposed to the “original back” which features, well, the original 1978 back of the card.

To my knowledge my mom never threw any of my cards out. Did you, Mom? DID YOU? She had plenty of chances. Most notably during college when I spent four years in Florida and kind of lost interest in collecting. In fact, if I'm not mistaken they actually moved the collection from my childhood house to the townhouse they lived in while I was in college. Thanks for not throwing out all of those Gregg Jefferies rookie cards!

2012-13 OPC Pavel Datsyuk and Tim Gleason

While not as ambitious as a master set, I have been trying to put together a complete set of the 2012-13 OPC hockey set for the last 3 years. At this rate I should be done sometime around 2021.

2012-13 OPC Bobby Orr Short print

One of the reasons it will take so long is because of cards like this. The dreaded short print. The regular base set is about 500 cards so why not throw another 100 short printed cards on top of it. Christ sometimes this hobby drives me insane.

1983 Topps George Brett

A set I'm a little closer to completing is the 1983 Topps baseball. I've actually knocked out most of the “big cards” like the Wade Boggs rookie. This is one of my favorite designs of all time. I like the action shot mixed in with the floating head.

When I think of the first cards I bought/owned it's the 83 and 82 Topps that come to mind. Those were the cards that I kept first in shoe-boxes (hey I was like 8 years old and didn't know better) and are the ones that have been in my collection the longest. I have since acquired older cards, but these are the ones that I look back on with the most fondness. I would have missed these the most if my mom had thrown them away.

And look at that uniform. No belt! Those are the baseball pants we grew up with, kids. You knew you were on a good team when you got a uniform that included a belt. If I remember correctly, I didn't have a belt until high school. That was a good day.

If you guys have some extra O-Pee-Chee lying around – head over to Trevor's site and help the kid out.