Generosity. Pass it on.

One of the greatest attributes of this hobby is the generosity from fellow addicts. As the card shows and trade nights roll along, friendships develop. You start keeping an eagle eye out for not just stuff for your collection, but cool things for people you know as well.

I was the beneficiary of this at the last card show. Instead of rolling out my purchases, (you may still see some of it later) I thought I'd show off two gifts that were by far, the treasures of the day.

From fellow blogger, bamlinden, of My Hockey Card Obsession fame, presented me with these two beauties for my Lyle Odelein pc. Two media slides from the late 90's.

My scanner decided not to participate this evening, but you get the gist anyways. These are awesome. Not found on any checklist by any means, but a more than welcome addition to the binder. Plus I can now make as many 8x10's of Lyle as I want. World domination to follow I'm sure.

Next up was from one of the sellers that has been setting up recently. We'll call him Vintage guy here. We'll call him that because to him a new card is something from 1985.

Because of our common collections, we've done our share of conversing. During those he discovered, and remembered, my ongoing collection of Joe and Jimmy Watson.

He's getting ready to move across country for his retirement soon. During his packing, cleaning, etc... he came across some odd ball items from the 1976 Canada Cup. On Canada's roster was a very young 22 year old puck moving defenseman named.... Jimmy Watson. In his second year in the league, here he was on the grand stage. And Vintage Guy had original 8x10's and post cards of most of the players.

Boom.

I love it. And, like the Odelein slides, it's something I've never seen before. In person or online.
Perfect.

Just when I needed a hobby pick me up. Thanks guys.

Flames all around us...

Not much to say really. The latest card offerings since Upper Deck flagship came out have been.... bleh to say the least.

Went to a large, well, large for this area, card show last weekend. If I get around to scanning the cards I'll post on that later.

 

So for now, I'll show off a couple of ttm returns I've received in the past little while. Both Calgary Flames related. I'm all about themes ya know.

 

Goaltender Jonas Hiller kindly signed three pics and a card for me. One for each of his teams...

 

Anaheim Ducks

 

Calgary Flames

and of course Switzerland in the last Olympics.

oh, and a card sans mask in case you were wondering what young Jonas looked like.

and the future of the Flames. Mr Franchise, Sean Monahan.

Sean is not known for his penmanship.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the returns.

Has anybody else been testing the through the mail waters? Any successes? Failures? Stories?

TTM Success - Norm Ullman, Hall of Famer.

I recently got back a successful autograph request from Hall of Famer, Norm Ullman.

Norm started his career with Detroit in 1955-56, and ended it with the WHA's Edmonton Oilers at the end of the 1976-77 season.
His NHL career with Detroit lasted 12 1/2 seasons before a blockbuster trade sent him to Toronto for the next 8 1/2 years.
In that trade, Detroit sent Ullman, Floyd Smith, Paul Henderson and Doug Barrie in exchange for Frank Mahovlich, Pete Stemkowski, Gary Unger and Carl Brewer.

Norm managed 490 goals and 739 assists in 1410 career NHL games. His last two years of pro hockey were spent in the WHA, recording 130 points in 144 games.

He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1982

This is actually the second request Mr Ullman has returned. Last year I sent him four cards for him to sign.

I love adding pieces of living history to my collection. Photos like the ones above will always have a place in my home.
Thanks Norm.

What I took home from the National

well..... nothing. That's because I didn't go. I'm not one of the cool kids that gets to travel across the country for a card show.

However, I do know several people who did go. One of them, not to mention names (but he might be a certain Trevor Linden collector with blogger name of bamlinden) said he wouldn't mind doing me a favour........ and he hooked me up with a great piece for my collection.

a beauty of an 8x10 of former Habs 'tender, Andre Racicot. In their Stanley Cup winning year, Andre had a record of 17 wins, 5 losses and a tie while backing up Patrick Roy.
Andre was signing autographs at the show on Saturday.

A great photo with a cool inscription. Funny story about the inscription.... but it's one of those, you had to be there kinda things.

This autographed 8x10 brings me to 10 different current and former goalies who have worn the bleu, blanc, et rouge.

Only 67 more to go.

Some of those dead guys from the 1920's are going to be tough.

Thanks Brett!!!

He's Big, He's Bald....

He's Alex Auld.
Alex played last season with Montreal, before signing in the offseason for his second stint in Ottawa. I sent two 8x10's and two cards to him c/o the Senators. Alex was kind enough to sign and return all four items.

During his one year with the Habs, there was defenceman Hal Gill at 6'7", Alex at 6'5" and then Carey Price at 6'4". You know your team has issues when two of the three biggest guys on the team are your goalies. Thankfully, Jacques Martin and his smurf patrol are gone... and Randy Cunneyworth did his best to increase size and toughness.

That's Roman Hamrlik (#44) helping out Alex.... Roman is having a pretty good playoff series with Washington right now.

Both cards I sent were from 2009-10 OPC. The Update card...

and his regular base card.

Thanks Alex!!! And good luck to you wherever you end up playing next season.

TTM Success! Glenn Hall - Hall of Famer

I really have got to knock off some of these through the mail success' I've got piling up in the draft folder.

So today I give you Hall of Fame goalie, Glenn Hall.

 Glenn "Mr Goalie" Hall spent 4 seasons in Detroit before being traded to Chicago where he played for another 10 seasons.
In the 1967 expansion draft, St Louis chose both him and Jacques Plante for their new goalie tandem. Talk about instant success.

 Glenn ended his career with over 400 wins, 84 shutouts, and a 2.49 GAA with one Stanley Cup win. He won rookie of the year in 1956. Over his career he also won three vezina trophies as best goalie.
Glenn is probably best known to the casual fan as the goalie in the photograph of Bobby Orr flying through the air after scoring the 1970 Stanley Cup Winning goal in overtime. You know the one.

I'm glad to have a success from such a great player.

TTM Success! Brett Hull, The Golden Brett, Hall of Famer

Ahhh... I may never catch up from my time without a scanner.... (read:slacking)....
In celebration of the fact that the St Louis Blues are in first place overall for the first time this late in the season since....... a horrifically long time, I'll feature a Blue today. Not just any Blue either.

Today's TTM return is from Hall of Famer Brett Hull.
Brett certainly lived up to the expectations of having a famous father... he scored over 80 goals in one season, over 70 three times, over 50 five times and over 40 eight times. Including the vaunted 50 goals in 50 games.

Where did I get this? Why, from Brett Hull of course.
What is it? An 8x10 from his days in St Louis.

Nice! Although Brett decided to keep the three cards I sent him. If any of you get extras from him, They're Mine!

Thanks Brett!