A Lightning Hall of Fame Autograph

Ok. So that's a bit of a misleading title.  Of the 1196 games he played in the NHL only 105 of them were with the Lightning. He did manage to score 24 goals and put up 63 points in the blue, black and silver which is good enough for 36th on the all-time Lightning points leader list (tied with Ryan Craig!).

He's probably best known for his work with Chicago Blackhawks, who the Lightning traded him back to in 1995 for a 6th round pick which Tampa Bay used to draft Eduard Pershin. You remember him, right?


Look at those stats, how could you not remember him? Kudos to me for figuring out how to embed some stats, by the way.  That should help with the deadline fire sale the Lightning should be holding in about a week. My guess is Pavel Kubina, Dominic Moore and Adam Hall are forwarding their mail in March and GM Steve Yzerman is figuring out what to do with some extra mid-round draft picks.

Have you figured out who the newest addition to my autograph collection is yet?

At this rate I'm going to have to start collecting the base Champs set all over again

Hall of Famer Denis Savard was signing for free at the Chicago Auto Show today and with nothing better to do I headed down there.  I don't really have any story to tell like I did with the Esposito autograph (and really that wasn't an exciting story, was it?).

I was kind of shocked at how short the line was for Savard's autograph and then I remembered most folks were at work between the hours of 4 and 6 pm on a Wednesday.  Guess there's something to be said for not having a job. Heck, I even got $4 off of admission because I brought a can of food.  Although, the lady accepting the food wasn't happy that I only brought one.  Look Miss, I like my canned soup, you're lucky to be getting anything.

The car show itself was impressive, if you're into that kind of thing I guess.  A lot of folks walking around taking pictures of cars, I mean A LOT of photos.  It makes me wonder how many actually get printed out- less than 1% maybe? What are they going to do with a picture of a 2013 Honda Civic taken with their iPhone?  Although some folks had some sweet camera rigs, and they didn't look like they were with the press - bloggers maybe?

I did take one picture with my woefully outdated Blackberry.  Ford unveiled the new Shelby Cobra Mustang at the show and I snapped a photo to send to my Pops who owns a 60-something-ish Mustang of his own.  Figured I'd show him the newest member of the family.  Not gonna lie, it was kind of bad ass looking. I imagine it would look sweet stuck in traffic on the Kennedy everyday.

How many words at 2 cents a word would it take to own this? I don't know, I don't do math

Where was I? Oh yeah, the line for Savard. There really wasn't one.  I took my spot at 3:45 or so and there were maybe 20 folks in front of me, including a Blackhawks fan who stopped talking to me once I said my best memories of Savard were of him as a Bolt.  Which was kind of a lie, because I don't really remember him as a Bolt as it predates my fascination with the team (1997) and the only reason I knew he played for the Lighting is because I have a British Long Ton of his cards from the Neo-Vintage era.

The line moved pretty briskly, Denis wasn't chit-chatting with the folks.  He was extremely pleasant even when I put two items in front of him (the card and a 5x7 for my boy Link).  He signed both and wished me a good day.  I debated jumping back in line to get a Montreal Canadians card signed as well, but figured the El ride  home would be packed if I dallied any longer.

Eddie Olczyk signs on Friday, but I think I'm skipping that one.  As much as I'd like him to sign something with the phrase "Happy Humans"on it, I'm not sure I can justify another ticket or listen to some dame spout off the specs of a car I'll never be able to afford.

That being said I'm glad to add this card to the collection.  One of these day's I'm going to figure out what to do with the signed cards other than stick them in a binder.  Till then...well it's going in a binder.

Something for the Baseball Fan in Your Life

If I had the room I would definitely have a sports shrine dedicated to my favorite teams.  Alas, living in the city kind of limits the amount of wall space I have available.  That’s not a complaint, moving to Chicago definitely outweighs having a shelf of bobbleheads hanging over the desk in my office. That being said I still keep an eye out for random things that would look cool once I do have space again.

I already have a box of posters and autographed 8x10’s that I’ve lugged from Florida to Chicago and plan on framing and hanging once I have a man cave to decorate.  Of course, if anyone is interested in an autographed 8x10 of Corey Schwab I think we can work out a deal.

Along with the basic things to hang on the wall, I’m always looking for something a little different to hang up as well.  A few years ago I got wind of an artist who has been putting out some unique pieces of art dedicated almost solely to the baseball fans among us.

Chris Speakman is a print maker living in Massachusetts (won’t hold that against him) who has been churning out one-of-a-kind screen prints on his website for the last few years. Those of us who collect baseball cards might remember the 2009 insert set based on his work.

His limited edition prints evoke the World War II-era propaganda style posters that have recently become popular.  To me, the use of the teams primary colors really make them pop and would look fantastic on the wall surrounded by other team-related memorabilia.

 Dodgers fans should rejoice because he just announced his latest MLB-approved pieces- Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp.  The screen prints will each be hand-made, signed by Mr. Speakman and limited to just 200 copies.  The fifty-dollar price tag isn’t too unreasonable for the quality of work he provides.

I haven’t bought one for myself yet, but I did buy one of Camden Yards as a present a few years ago and can attest to how great they look in person.  Framing them probably won’t be cheap as they measure 21x17, but would well be worth it. This isn’t something you hang on the wall with thumbtacks.

It would be nice to see him expand into other sports (God knows I’d spend $100 for a Lecavalier) or offer a greater selection in his posters.  But that’s just a minor complaint. Having an artist out there (even if he’s a Red Sox fan) putting out works as creative as his should be appreciated.

Top Five Lightning Rookie Cards to Own

As the internet’s resident Tampa Bay Lightning card collecting blogger I must say this post is long overdue.  As the Lightning bandwagon grows (it’s actually more of a mini-van at this point) folks out there are going to want to know what cards they need for their collection. Well I’m here to drop the cardboard knowledge on you!

Coming up five names for this list was fairly easy.  That’s what happens when you follow a team that has been in existence less than 20 years.  I didn’t have to go back 40 years and figure which long-dead greats should make the list.  Nor did I have to debate which Hall of Famer should I leave off.  For the record on two members of the Hall of Fame have donned the black, silver and blue – Dino Ciccarelli (111 games) and Denis Savard (105 games). Spoiler alert – neither made the list.

I debated a couple of names from the pre-Cup teams, names like Selivanov, Puppa and Zamuner. In the end, I thought I’d stick with players whose rookie cards showed them in Lightning uniforms (with one exception). If I’d extended the list to 10, at least one of those names would have definitely made the list (but so would Nikita Alexeev – hey my list, my rules!).

One benefit of being a Lightning collector - low prices.  There isn't much demand for the cards below so they're pretty easy to pick up (with one glaring exception). 

With no further adieu – I present the Top Five Rookie Cards Lightning Fans Should Own

5. Brett Connolly 2011-12 Upper Deck - $4.25-$6.99

The new kid on the block has had an up and down rookie year.  His cards have slid back down a bit after starting off hot (around $10) when the Upper Deck series was first release.  His performance at the World Juniors provided another bump, but lately the prices have been coming back down (getting benched does that). 

Connolly could very well be the first of the new crop of Lightning stars to emerge in the NHL.  If things work out as management hopes, names like Carter Ashton, Dustin Tokarski, Cory Conacher and Tyler Johnson could be gracing this list pretty soon.

4. Brad Richards 1997-98 Upper Deck - $1.25- $5.00

Yes he’s a Ranger now (a dastardly Ranger who scores overtime goals against his former team), but he still has a loyal following in the Tampa Bay area.  Moving to the bright lights of the big city hasn’t affected his cards that much so they’re still relatively easy to obtain. 

Upper Deck was able to sneak a bunch of young players into their main set before they were drafted by creating a subset called “Program of Excellence” and showing them in dramatic staring-off-in-the-distance poses or in their Team Canada gear.  A very young Vincent Lecavalier is featured in this set as well.  Is that card on the list?  Only The Shadow knows.

3. Martin St Louis 1998-1999 Upper Deck Rookie - $.99 - $2.99

There are so many weird things about this card - the Calgary uniform, the number 46, the fact he isn’t scoring a goal. Marty’s entry into the NHL wasn’t exactly accompanied by fanfare. As a non-drafted, college player who toiled in the AHL for three seasons he didn’t get all of the bells and whistles that card companies lavish on top prospects.  So his Upper Deck rookie was just a common card released in the era of over produced sets.  Since there are a lot of these cards out there the prices remain low.

When he eventually retires I’m sure there will be some talk about the Hall of Fame for St. Louis.  He should have over 350 goals and close to 1000 points. I hope it’s enough for him to be enshrined, but you never know with these things.  If he is inducted it will be interesting to see if his cards get a bump in value.

2. Vincent Lecavalier 1997-98 Upper Deck Black Diamond - $1.29-$4.99

It’s almost criminal that Enzo’s cards go for so low on eBay.  There are some parallel versions (Triple Diamond) that trade for around $20 or so, but those don’t pop up that often and we don’t consider parallels as true rookie cards here at the Hopeful Chase headquarters (except for the number one card on the list).

I think the relative affordability of Lecavalier’s cards is reflective of being a star in a non-hockey market. To the hockey world outside of “Hockey Paradise” his declining numbers and escalating salary have hit him with the dreaded overrated label and that affects his collectability.  That being said, if had been traded to Montreal the value of his cards would have escalated no matter what his performance would have been.

I’m not even going to offer you a cheaper alternative.  If you can’t spare $1.50 – get off of eBay right now. 

1 .Steven Stamkos 2008-09 Upper Deck The Cup Patch Auto - $1700-1800

This is going to be the first card I go out and purchase once I hit the Powerball.  For those not familiar with “The Cup”, it’s pretty much a product geared toward the 1%.  Four card “boxes” can sell for more than $400 online and even the base cards normally hit the secondary market for more money than I care to spend.

Stamkos’ card is the card to have out of the 2008-09 set. It started off high and never wavered.  As he continues his march to being the most elite goal scorer in the NHL I don’t see it tapering off any time soon.

There are less expensive rookie cards out there to bring into your collection.  His 2008-09 Upper Deck Young Guns goes for about $50 on eBay these days.  As I’ve mentioned before, the Young Guns rookies are pretty good cornerstones for player collections.  If that’s still a little too rich for your blood his 2008-09 Upper Deck MVP card can generally be had for less than $5.  

National Hockey Day Comes to the States

I'm too lay to check, but I'm pretty sure at some point in the past I've bitched about there not being a National Hockey Day in the U.S. for us hockey card collectors. Well, 2012 marked the debut of NHCD south of the Border.  Huzzah!  So I was obliged to visit the Local Card Store and pick up a pack.

I had checked ahead of time to make sure they had the packs and was told that they were free to collectors with any Upper Deck purchase.  Luckily for my broke ass that wasn't limited to just boxes of product and I was able to get just a pack of Series I to qualify.

I won't waste your time with the results of the Series I pack - the highlight being a Tomas Vincour Young Guns. Lets move right to the five card NHCD pack (plus bonus Tim Thomas card!).

A Swede, A Russian and A Czech start off the US version of this pack

You're looking at:

Gabriel Landeskog (America's Franchises)
Alex Ovechkin (America's Franchises)
Jaromir Jagr (America's Franchises)
Zach Parise (Stars in Stripes)
Mike Modano (American Icons)
Tim Thomas (Memorable Moments)

Not a bad pack, but nothing that I feel the need to hold on to.  If anyone needs any of these let me know.  If anyone has a Patrick Kane I'll take it off your hands and if any of our Canadian readers have a Stamkos they don't feel the need to hold on to - let me know.

Now if only we could get McDonalds to start giving packs away.....

Mail Time! What Did the Postman Bring This Week?

The Super Bowl is over, Spring Training is still a week or two away, hockey is in its pre-trade deadline doldrums and basketball is well.....basketball.  So lets brighten the day with some new cards!  Today we have an eBay purchase and the results of my first ever group break. 

First up is the eBay purchase.  I strayed a little from my 2011-12 mandate of only picking up single cards of players in my personal collection.  Honestly, I was a bit bored with what I was seeing out there so I expanded my search a little. 

With another 4th or 5th place finish projected for the O's again this year I've turned my eye to the future for the club. That got me to looking into their cards on eBay and while Manny Machado is a little out of my range, there is one prospect that is still rather cheap to pick up, and could be just as important to the future of the ball team. 

 2011 Bowman Chrome Johnathan Schoop.  Less than $4.00 with free shipping?  Sure I'll take it.  Of course, the temptation is now to get all the versions of this card.

If my usual luck with prospects holds, Schoop will suffer at least 3 career-ending injuries in the next month and a half; and then get hit by a bus.  When that happens this card will join its spiritual brothers Ryan Anderson and Rick Asadoorian in the "Failed Prospects I Collected" Wing in my Sports Cards Hall of Fame.

For now Schoop is projected as the heir apparent to Brian Roberts at second base. The native of Wedge errr Netherlands Antilles projects to have a big league bat with average defense. He'll probably spend the season in the minors with a possible late season callup, but if he pans out the Orioles could have a very strong nucleus up the middle with him, Machado at short, Adam Jones in center and Matt Wieters behind the plate.

Despite all the hoopla surrounding the newest base set released by Topps I'm sticking by my stance of not buying any packs of it this year.  The only way I planned on picking up cards from this set was through trades and with one group break buy in.  Flywheels over at Cardboard Collections was putting together one of his "Affordable Group Breaks" and I was lucky enough to catch it early enough to secure the O's.

Each participant was able to choose a team and then had another team randomly assigned to him.  My random team - the Chicago Cubs.  Hey that worked out pretty nice.  In addition to the jumbo box of Topps he also ripped up a 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom box as well.  Here are the results.

The highlights of the Orioles base cards and some thoughts.
Hopefully Nick Markakis recovers from his off -eason surgery and rediscovers his power.
Best of luck to Jeremy Guthrie in Colorado.  O's fans will miss you. 
I like to think that this was taken after Nolan Reimold broke the Red Sox Nation on the last day of the season.
Luke Scott played defense?
Josh Bell getting ready to throw one into the stands.

The O's hits.
Frank Robinson Gold Standard.  I know this isn't a popular view, but I like the layout of the Gold Standard cards.  Sure, it looks like a card designed for a signature, but still over all it looks nice.  Nice photo of the player, no clutter and a nice gold medallion in the middle.  That being said, if I get a chance to have Frank Robinson sign a card, he's signing this one, baby.

Adam Jones. Gooooooollllllllllld.  Jones and Markakis celebrating as the ghost of Josh Bell heads to the plate for another strikeout. From what I've seen of 2012 Topps so far they're big on celebration, multiplayer cards - and not just for shortprints, either.  I guess that's cool.

The Cubs base cards:
Kosuke Fukudome.  Wow, did Cubs fans not like Kosuke. I guess when you think you're getting another Ichiro and you end up with Turner Ward you tend to boo the guy a bit.

Milton Bradley.  Yeah, that didn't work out either.

Two Starlin base cards in series one.  His highlight/checklist card (the horizontal one) celebrates his "Youngest Hits Leader" accomplishment. I like Castro, hopefully his off-field issues don't distract from his one field issues.

Reed Johnson.  As much as Cubs fans dislike Kosuke, they love Reed Johnson. Don't know why, but they do. Heck I loved Joe Orsulak as a kid so I've got no room to complain.

The Hits

Yes the 1987 mini-parallels are fantastic.  Yes I want to collect them all despite my disdain for the mini phenomena (does the fact that the Duchess and I own a Mini Cooper make that ironic?)

Timeless Talents - Eh, throwaway insert for me.  Take an old guy and a new guy and stick them together based on some handpicked stat. Ryne Sandberg and Dan Uggla are paired together because they "bring rare power to their position".

Alphonso Soriano Seasoned Veterans - If Soriano made $7 million less a year he would be beloved by Cubs fans.  Instead they want him gone on the next train out of Union Station.

Carlos Zambrano deckle edge - I'm going to miss "Big Z" as are the beat writers for the Cubs.  Along with the first 80 degree day game at Wrigley, the Zambrano melts down and breaks things are time honored traditions in the Windy City.

No big hits, but still a nice haul for what I paid. 

200 Posts... Jeez Took Long Enough

Yup. It took almost two years but  I finally broke the 200 post barrier. I'm not sure if it's an accomplishment or not (heck it seems some bloggers kick out 200 posts a week) but it feels good.  I might take the occasional unannounced break from posting, but I haven't come close to feeling burnt out on writing about sports and trading cards (and occasionally Chicago).  To celebrate the 200th posting lets take a look at what brings you folks to this site.

All numbers are from blogspots "stats" page which probably aren't the most accurate in the world but look way better than sitemeters so we'll go with them.

As of my writing this post folks have viewed 24,855 pages on this blog. Of those 24,000 odd visits 13,872 of them are from the United States, 2,126 from Canada (thanks Captain Canuck!), South Korea checks in with a strong 554 page views which is almost double the amount of people from France (260).

The most popular post is the one I wrote about Carl Crawford signing with the Red Sox. It's been viewed 991 times (yet no comments). The post that surprises me the most is the third most visited page, a quick throwaway piece where I tried to come up with a new nickname for Steven Stamkos.  Apparently "Stamkos mustache" is a popular search term.

Speaking of search times, I'm glad to say "Hopeful Chase" is the number one term used to find the site with 314.  However, as was my nefarious plan, "Sidney Crosby shirtless" is number two with a bullet. In just over three months or so it's already directed 216 folks to my humble piece of Internet real estate. I love that "Joe Flacco mustache" and "Ricky Hatton fat" round out the top four.

As far as sites that refer traffic my way there is a bit of an upset.  I thought the blogroll would be number one, but despite the 361 referrals it is actually second.  Riding on Night Owl's coattails (or having my blog on his blogroll) has led 378 folks this way.  Which is odd, because I don't think we actually talked to each other until a couple of months ago when we pulled off a small trade.

It looks like most of you are running Windows when you take a look at the site (70%), Mac users are second at 9%.  A combined 4% of you guys (and gals) are apparently reading the site via a smart phone of some sort.  Sorry about that, it can't be easy to read my rambling thoughts on such a small screen.  Heck I can barely do it when I type these words down.

Finally, thanks to the folks who took the time to leave the 245 comments.  I do really appreciate the feedback, all of which has been positive so far, hopefully it improves the writing.  Hopefully I have at least another 200 posts in me that y'all find somewhat entertaining.

Thank you!

Super Bowl Preview

Will we see this again?

It’s Super Bowl Sunday.  Well, almost.  I’m typing this up Saturday night waiting for the Julio Ceaser Chavez, Jr. fight to start.  Don’t worry, no boxing in this column (RIP Angelo Dundee) I’ll have my thoughts on Floyd Mayweather’s next big boxing contest in a little while.  For now it is time to wrap up my brief coverage of football.

Sunday will feature two teams that slugged their way to the Super Bowl.  New England advanced only after Billy Cundiff shanked a field goal while New York needed overtime to advance on their side. Despite rooting for one of the teams that lost on Championship Sunday I thought overall both games were pretty fun to watch. Now we move on to the fun stuff.

Gambling-wise here is where we stand:

Link – 5-5 against the spread and 2-4 straight up.

Justin G – 5-5 against the spread and 4-7 straight up.

We both enter the Super Bowl with a chance to finish with a winning record against the spread.  However, when the confetti settles on the field and the MVP proclaims his desire to visit the Rat Kingdom there will only be one.

Per vegasinsider.com the Patriots are the 3 point favorite.

First, via twitter, Link’s pick –

New York Giants 27, New England Patriots 24

That sounds like an exciting Super Bowl.  Isn’t that what we’re looking for?  At least those of us without a dog in the fight.  I really don’t want to have to talk to people about the commercials being better than the game this year.  The stars are lining up for a pretty good offensive game.  It’s in a dome, both teams have questionable defenses and both quarterbacks like to throw the football.

There is a 50 percent chance that I’m going to watch the game at a movie theatre on Sunday.  The Duchess is kicking me out of the apartment for the game and with no party to go to I was thinking bar.  Then I noticed The Vic is showing the game for free.  They have cheap beer and popcorn.  Winner Winner Super Bowl Dinner.

Speaking of dinner, I’m kind of glad that I’m not going to a house party this year. With the fried food ban in full effect it would be hard to resist any type of buffet-style party.  According to some expert somewhere, the only day where Americans consume more food is Thanksgiving.  I’m willing to bet dollars to (fried) donuts that more fried food is consumed on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day in the year.

I’m starting to see people say that they’re tired of the Super Bowl-hype.  Let me tell you something.  Going off the cable grid is the answer to that.  Since we’ve dropped cable I find that I don’t get overwhelmed by sports chatter.  I feel like I have the ability to control what I watch or read about since all of my access is through the internet. I don’t find myself mindlessly drifting to ESPN to watch Skip Bayless yammer on for 15 minutes.  I highly recommend it.

As for my pick.  I’m going:

New England Patriots 31, New York Giants 24

The two themes I have heard this week are that the Giants front four will harass Tom Brady (so calm so poised) all game long and the Patriots will have Julian Edelman covering a wide receiver.  For those reasons everyone is supposedly hammering the Giants at the betting windows.  Somehow, despite being the odds-on favorites the consensus is that the Patriots are the underdog.

I’m not so sure about that.  I can see Tom Brady (so calm, so poised) coming out with a hurray-up/pistol offense and dink and dunk the Giants to death.  The Patriots offense isn’t based on long passes or plays that take a long time to develop.  They love the quick shots to their tight ends and then letting them run for 10 or 12 yards after the catch.  That’s hard to defend, and if they’re going quick-huddle the big four linemen for the Giants are going to be gassed.

Any time you can post a picture of Brady with a goat you have to do it, right?

As for the Patriots secondary matching up with New York’s receivers – that’s going to be an issue, but I think they find a way to minimize the damage.  I think they’ll find a way to keep the receivers in front of them and not give up the long bombs. Bill Belichik has two weeks to figure out a solution.  He might not shut them down, but he’ll make them work for it.

That being said, I think the Giants have a legitimate chance in the game.  A lot of folks think Eli Manning is just lucky.  They point to the Tyree helmet catch and say, “Oh he just flung it up there and got lucky”.  Yes, but did you see what he did to get in a position to be able to throw that pass?  He has a little Roethlisberger in him.  In a good way, that is.  Get your minds out of the gutter, folks.  He hands around and makes the plays he has to make.

For the Giants to win I look for them to try and establish the run and keep the Patriots off the field.  Their offensive line will have to find a way to clear Vince Wilfork out of the way and open up holes for their runners.  Use the run early and throw late. Keep Tom Brady (so calm, so poised) and his band of tight ends on the sidelines.

In the end I just hope for a good game and at least two good commercials that I haven’t seen yet.   

Sorry Rory, this was too good not to share with dozens of readers.