Set them freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

At the last card show I went to (see previous post), I found a small stack of cards in a box that I had no idea what they were. They looked like this.

 

 They had a type of wax paper stuck to them. And I mean stuck. The paper was old and yellowed.... the backs looked like this.

I've seen recent versions of this set and I like them. They're pretty sharp. Asking around if the paper peels off or not resulted in answers ranging from "No idea" to "Doubtful after all these years" to the ever popular "If you peel them, they won't be as valuable anymore..."

You know I was going to ignore that last one. Yeah.... I'm worried about value. If I was worried about value, I wouldn't be buying cards, let me tell you.

But for $2, I decide to give one a try. (Obviously) So I brought Guy home with me and went to work.

Actually, after getting it started, it went fairly smoothly.

And voila! No. I think that's Voici!

 

Shiny and clear Guy set free from his prison forever.

Freebies.

Freebies. Swag. Booty. Plunder. Loot.

It all means the same, and it's all good. Here's a quick post to show off three new additions to my collection that were given to me free of charge.

The first one arrived in the mail from a fellow blogger. This and some baseball cards came from Casey at Drop the Gloves. (we won't comment on the Messier card that was included.... yuck.)

One of the corners is dinged up pretty good.... probably from Casey throwing it across the room when he pulled it. No matter, it fits in quite well into my Odelein/Nilan binder.

Trade night at one of the local shops got me two more gifts. (Well, three, but the other one is baseball related.)
I thought about showing these off with the cards I traded for as well, but generosity deserves it's own post.
I had brought a couple of gifts myself for two collectors who I knew would be there. As fate would have it, one of them had this for me....

I learned something from it. I had always known Dave Hanson had played for the Minnesota North Stars.... but I thought that was it. I found out via reading the back of this card that Dave originally played 11 games with Detroit before being traded to Minnesota for futures. Hell if I can find what the futures turned into.
Dave played 22 games for the North Stars, scoring one goal and one assist before retiring.
For those who need to know, Dave played in the NHL for 33 games, 1G 1A and 65 PIMS. In the WHA he played 103 games with 13 goals, 40 assists and 497 PIMS.


The last card I wanted to show off today came from the same person who gave me the baseball card that I'll show off on Waxaholic at a later date.

Normally I avoid these manufactured letters..... but a gift is a gift. It now has an honoured place in my collection.

Thanks to everyone and as my pal Troll says, I love this hobby!

A pain free and focused card show...

Today was the first card show of the month. There's another one next Saturday, and then nothing until mid-January. Something about a holiday or something coming up.

Anyways... off I went, hoping to find cards off of my lists (always bring your lists kids!) and trying to avoid starting anything new.

And for a change, I was successful. I only brought home cards that were on my need lists, and I only spent $6. I didn't bring home much, obviously, but that's okay. We need to focus. Well, I do anyways.

On to the cards.

I'm really close on finishing this set.... I managed to pick up a Guy Lafleur mini Green back SP. He had about 100 minis in his box.... and had one that I needed.

 Total cost - $Free. Yep, he just handed it to me and said Merry Christmas. That must be the holiday everyone is talking about.

 One card down, total $ 0.00

Next seller... another one card pick up. This one from the 2011/12 UD Heroes set.

 Sir Alex cost me $1.00  That's .50 more than I spent on any other of the Heroes cards... but it was the last one I needed so I splurged.
It was the last one because I had just got this one at another table.

 I packaged Terrible Ted and this shiny Carey Price out of a guy's .50 cent pile.

 Four cards off my lists, total of $2 spent.

Finally I found five cards I needed with one seller. One card is for a fellow blogger, so I won't post it here, the other four cards were for me. Cost for the five cards $4

These are from the 2011/12 UD Victory MVP insert set.
El Sid.

 El Sid's netminder

 The Wasted One

 and some dude that keeps making the Bruins better.

Total for all 9 cards $6. Painless.
And I get to update my lists for next week's show. (Always keep your lists updated kids!)

Even better, now that I posted them on the day I got them, I can put them in their binders so they don't sit on my desk for weeks on end waiting to be scanned and posted.
Like I said people..... Focus!

TTM Success! Guy Lafleur! Le Démon Blond!!!

I am waaaaaaaay behind in posting my TTM autographs. You have no idea how far... so I better start posting.

So why not start with a really exciting one. Well, for me anyways... and they're my 'graphs, so shut it.

Today we feature The Blonde Demon, Guy Lafleur. Here's some stuff I swiped from wikipedia.

Lafleur is the all-time leading scorer in Canadiens history, notching 1,246 points (518 goals and 728 assists) in his 14 years with the Habs. He led the NHL in points in 1976, 1977, and 1978. He tied for a Montreal club record with Steve Shutt for goals in a season with 60 in 1977–78 and holds the franchise record for points in a season with 136 in 1976–77. Lafleur became the first player in NHL history to score at least 50 goals and 100 points in six consecutive seasons as a Hab. Lafleur was also the fastest player (at the time) to reach 1,000 points, doing so in only 720 games. That record has since been broken by Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and a few others.
He won three Art Ross Trophies (1976, 1977, 1978), two Hart Memorial Trophies (1977, 1978), three Lester B. Pearson Awards (1976, 1977, 1978), and one Conn Smythe Trophy (1977). He was a member of the Canadian team in the 1976 and 1981 Canada Cup tournaments, winning the Cup in 1976, and was the recipient of the Lou Marsh Trophy in 1977.
Lafleur was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988

Guy was kind enough to sign three cards for me...

 and three photos.... I'm rather fussy when I pick out what photos to send to people. Let's have some fun with these.... Here we see Guy attempting to score with at least four Cleveland Barons behind him. That's not good news for either Gilles Meloche or Gary Edwards, whichever baron goalie played this game. How did I know that? Let's look further....

 The Barons played two full seasons in the NHL, 1976/77 and 1977/78. This picture is from 1977/78. The Barons had a slight uniform change that year, as did Montreal, the only uniform change Montreal did in 30 seasons. This photos was taken at one of two games that season. December 27th, 1977 (a Habs 5-3 win) or February 23rd, 1978 (another Montreal win 5-1). Those are the only two home games Montreal had against Cleveland that season. Unfortunately, box scores are not easily available for that season. That also tells me that the hapless Baron player behind Lafleur is none other than the infamous defenceman, John Baby. No, I did not make that up.

The next photos is of Guy humiliating the Detroit Red Wings. Although in January of 1982, that wasn't too difficult. January of 1982??? Again, let's dive in for clues. First up, that sprawled goalie is none other than Bob Sauve. He had the best porn 'stache EVAR! Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police went to him for advice on how to cultivate such an epic upper lip caterpillar. This info makes tracking the game easy.

 Bob spent his first 6 1/2 seasons with the Buffalo Sabres before being traded to Detroit on December 2, 1981. The only road game Detroit had at Montreal that season after that trade was on January 30th, 1982. Bob re-signed with Buffalo after that 1981/82 season. Montreal won the game 5-3. Again, no box score to tell me if Guy scored here... but I think it's safe to say. But who is in the background??
Here's where it gets good. In the '81/82 season, more players started to wear helmets. But only four players still wore the old "Toilet Bowl" style seen on the background player. One was Lanny McDonald, but he never played for Detroit. The other three? All played for Detroit! And were all on the roster for this game in 1982!!! What are the chances? Am I too excited over this?? Anyways, It's not Mike Foligno, nor Dale McCourt, so that leaves Mr George Lyle! Come on down!

The last pic is just a great portrait shot...

Guy has just eliminated your team in overtime, slept with your girlfriend, and smoked a cigarette.

He's Guy Lafleur, and you're not.