Friday, July 29, 2011

Jordan Eberle comes to Calgary!

Quite awhile ago, I received an email from Martin over at All ABout Cards. He informed me that I was the big weiner winner of his latest contest.
Cool. Unfortunately a nation wide postal strike put a crimp in receiving my contest winnings. I wasn't certain if he had shipped it or not... but a quick email after the strike was over and here today, I receive this beauty...
 not the best design to a card I've seen, but hey, it's a Jordan Eberle rookie auto #/100. I am not complaining.
Thanks for the contest Martin!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

TTM Success! Mike Bullard! No not him, the other one....

Awhile back I wrote away to former hockey player, Mike Bullard for an autograph request. It was then I found out that there is a Canadian T.V. personality by the same name. Who knew? Apparently he is quite famous. Although I can't say I've ever heard of him before now.
Who I do know, is the former Penguin, Flame, Blue, Flyer and Maple Leaf seen below. Mike was a number 1 pick for Pittsburgh in 1980.

 Mike scored 48 goals and had 55 assists for Calgary in '89. The Flames thought so much of his 103 points that they shipped him to St Louis for magic beans.
Although Mike retired from the NHL in '92, he played another 12 years in Germany.

Mike is now the head coach of the Brantford Eagles. Thanks for the 'graphs Mike!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Sweet Trade Night Loot....

As it turns out, having to replace the brakes on your wife's car the day before trade night really puts a crimp in your cashflow. Even if you just buy the materials and do the work yourself. So I didn't have a lot of extra $$$ going into trade night. Which means I'll just have to do extra trading if I want to come home with some cool stuff.
Darren the owner was getting rid of some packs of 09/10 OPC for a buck a pack... so I bought all he had left. I'll show those later....
Onto the trades.

I managed to unload the Monster here onto a Leafs fan who had a Carey Price card I wanted. So I traded this:
 for this, straight up. Both of us were very happy with the swap.
 Always great to add an auto to my growing collection.

Sticking with the Between The Pipes theme, I traded Ollie the Goalie #/29 for another Price card I've been looking for, plus another limited base card. I swapped Ollie and his three colour sweater piece for:
 A Team Canada Carey Price Silver #/20 with a one colour emblem and
 a Masked Marvel #/500, and insert set from Leaf Certified.
 Then my last trade of the night. I swapped a dual auto of Dave Kingman and Frank Howard which I cannot for the life of me find a scan of...... for this little beauty and some future considerations.


Ain't it sweet?
The future considerations will most likely be Braves related. We'll see what my friend Jamie comes up with.

So there you have it, my latest acquisitions. I love being able to trade stuff I don't want or care about for stuff I do and couldn't afford to buy.
Like my friend Troll, I love this hobby.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

TTM success! Don Beaupre!

Now that the mail is back in swing, I'm starting to get autograph returns again. The latest one is from former NHL goalie Don Beaupre.
Finding photos of Donny was super tough. I settled on this one. Unfortunately I couldn't find a good one of his days in Minnesota.
Can anyone tell me what is a little odd from this photo? An internet cookie goes to whomever can.
 This is how I rememebr Don. Rookie of the year, All Star game, and Stanley Cup Finals all in 1981.
 Don signed four cards for me in all....
 I have so many cards from '91 I'll never run out.
 I'm glad I found a use for Pro Set after all these years.
Thanks Don!!!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Steve Mason is ready for the new season with a new mask!

Steve Mason's new mask was unveiled/leaked today... part of it pays tribute to the Columbus area...
 and part of it is just The Awesome.
Thanks to David Gunnarsson for creating it, and to Steve himself for "tweeting" it, whatever the hell that means.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Knocking off a White Whale. Well actually, a black one....

I have been after this card ever since the day it was released into the wild. A lot of you know I'm chasing not only the '10/11 OPC set, but the master team set for Montreal. That means the base, retro parallel, rainbow retro parallel, and the uber black rainbow retro parallel card for each Habs player in the entire set. This also includes the 100 card SP hi numbers, for which Montreal has 5 players included.

The black bordered rainbow retros are #/100 and are included at 2-3 per box. If the SP's are dropped at the same rate as the regular base inserts.... then you will find them at 1 per 200-225 boxes. So me not finding one in the 5-10 packs I rip every trip to my local card shop should not come as a surprise to anyone. And yet somehow I'm always disappointed when I don't get it. I almost always pull at least one black border... but it's never the one I want.

To the secondary market we go. I found one at a card show, but the guy wanted $80 for it and wouldn't budge. Although he would sell me the black bordered Gretzky SP for $50. Figure that one out.
Saw one, then two on ebay... the first went for $77... the second one I missed and have no idea about the final price. Then I saw another.... and I bid. I went all in. For a cheap bastard like me, this was new territory. I put a max bid into my sniping program (don't judge me) of $50.
Later I changed my mind... spending $50 on a new card... on any card... isn't me. So I decided to cancel my snipe.
Except I got distracted and forgot.
So the day before the postal strike began, I won my White Whale, which is actually a black bordered whale, for $38.77 shipped.
 I was so happy and so confused at spending that much for one card I didn't know what to do. But I paid my bill, to wake up the next day to a nation wide postal strike.
Awesome.
Two weeks later, still no mail. Crap.
But then the strike ended, and 11 days later, I found a yellow bubble envelope in my mailbox with one lone card inside.
It was finally mine.
I think the black bordered Patrick Roy SP will be the next killer on my list.

Does the search ever end?????????

If you're still with me... what's your current White Whale?

Friday, July 8, 2011

2010-11 Zenith Hockey! It's new! It's craptastic!

Took a little visit to the card shop yesterday, and picked up a few packs, among them 2 packs of the brand new right out of the case 2010-11 Zenith. This is serious business folks, only for ages 9+. No mamby pambies here.

Pack One.
 the base cards are meh... an artistic drawn photo with your typical Donini bold lines everywhere.
 Mr Grabner's legs go right into his stomach... skipping all that important stuff in between.
 TJ Oshie's card is pretty good.
 not so much for David Backes.
 I got a rookie in my two packs... no idea how many in a box as Donini doesn't see fit to put the odds for anything on their packs.
Jim O'Brien /999 creased down the middle and one corner dinged. From being in the middle of an otherwise non-damaged pack. Well done guys.
 and I got a Rookie Roll Call of Jonathan Bernier. Probably my favourite card out of the two packs... although I hate the dufex crap that's on it. Love the old uni though.
 Pack two.
Jordan Staal
 As soon as I saw this next one I frisbee'd it across the room almost taking a McFarlane off the shelf before it landed over by a magazine rack. And it came out unscathed!!!! I wonder what happened to Jim O'Brien?
 Now we get to another insert set called "Mosaics"... this is the Minnesota Wild version.
 Yeeeeeah.

Eric Johnson of the Avalanche
 and finally a Hab! Sniper Mike Cammalleri.
 I suppose I should show you the backs..... of course the same "Photo" is used.... no career stats, and the usual fustercluck of Donini lines going every which way. The card number is in the wrong corner, although you will have no trouble reading it.
 and I got a hit!!!! A Winter Warrior card!!!! It's of........

Chris Kunitz. (be careful how you spell his name kids.... vowels are important here, trust me)
Totally underwhelmed. So Tim, if you want Chris here, it'll go in your pile.

So for $20, you have the first two, and the last two packs of Zenith you will see on this blog. I coulda bought a blaster!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

TTM Success! The Punch Line's Elmer Lach!

Awhile back, I was fortunate enough to get back an autograph request from one of the greatest players in hockey history. 93 year old former Montreal Canadien Elmer Lach. Mr Lach was kind enough to sign two photos and two cards for me.
 Mr Lach was the center in between wingers Toe Blake and Henri Richard. Together, they formed The Punch Line.
 When Mr Lach retired in 1954, he was the NHL's all time leading scorer. He was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966.
 Montreal retired his number in 2009. This card from Panini commemorates that. It is numbered out of /49 and may now be the only auto'd version.
Thank you Elmer Lach!!!

Friday, July 1, 2011