A Card Showin' I Went

Before the holiday weekend I attended the Sun Times Sports Collectibles show.  There wasn't really a good reason for me to go since no vendors accept PayPal in person and that's where my card budget is located.  But I knew Sal and Tim would be there and they lured me in with the promise of free cards. 

So I went.  I browsed, but did not buy.  Finally I met up with my fellow bloggers - and blogger aficionado Nick B. and swapped out some cards.  I had one card for Sal and about 15 commons for Tim....I left with 52 new cards. 

I was also able to live vicariously through those two and watched them bust a couple of boxes of product I won't be buying this year (Upper Deck Base and Parkhurst Champions).  It's fun to rip packs even if I'm not keeping the cards.

Here is a sample of the cards that have been added to the collection:

From Sal - An ITG redemption from the National earlier this year and an Emerald Parallel of Steven Stamkos from Artifacts.  It's numbered 35/50 and is the lowest numbered card in my Stamkos collection.



Some more Sal cardboard goodness.  A Cedrick Desjardins Luxury Suite Rookie numbered72/899.  Sadly, Desjardins is no longer in the Lightning organization.  He could have helped out with their current goaltender conundrum.   Next to him is a Victor Hedman Rookie Materials card from Upper Deck.  The back of the card swears that he wore the jersey - at a rookie photo shoot. Big Vic is having a rough year so far, the Bolts need him to improve to have any chance of making the playoffs.



Just a small sample of the goodies that Tim provided.  First up is a retro-parallel of Dwayne Roloson from this year's O-Pee-Chee set. Next to Father Time is a card that Tim thought was just a base set at first.  Instead, it's an unannounced parallel version.  It's the playoff beard variant.  That's not a joke, the first 50 cards in the set have a variation featuring the player rocking his best facial hair.  Seeded at 1:9 packs it won't be easy to complete, but not impossible either.

Finally, a Jimmy Wright Young Guns card.  He made the team in his rookie year, but has yet to crack the line-up since.  Hopefully, after a solid season in Norfolk he'll be back up on the roster soon.

The generosity of fellow collectors never ceased to amaze me.  Thanks, guys!