Inbound and down #48: Sportscards From The Dollar Store

Doug never ceases with his surprises.  Out of the blue one day last week he drops a comment on the blog, warning me that a Leafs package is on the way.

Now, this couldn't have come at a better time, as the NHL regular season is just 4 days away, and the excitement for Leafs fans is higher than any point in my over 40 years of following them.

Some of the cards that I'm about to show represent a portion of the down years that Leaf fans suffered through.

Vincent Damphousse and Daniel Marois in the top row are from the 90-91 Bowman set, which is not bad considering there really isn't much of a design on the front.  Maybe that's the appeal...

That period of time in the late 80's early 90's the team was starting to improve, some high draft picks and good trades helped the team to a couple of great playoff runs in the 92-93 and 93-94 seasons.

Turning the clock back a bit farther on this page is the appearance of the great Johnny Bower, the "China Wall".  I'm still a bit sad over Mr. Bower's passing last Christmas, as he was a great ambassador for the game, and still made a lot of appearances in interviews for the team.  One day I will try and pick up a few cards from his actual playing days to augment my Leafs collection.

A nice mix of cards in this scan, including a Felix Potvin card which will go right into his PC.  The Brendan Leipsic Parkhurst card in the lower right hand corner isn't the only Leaf rookie from that set I received in this envelope.  More on that in a bit.

The Wendel Clark Stadium Club card on the center right may be the only picture you ever see where Wendel doesn't sport a mustache. 

I see Mitch Marner's card on the lower left and think back to the debate on last night's Leafs telecast on whether he's a single digit million dollar man, or a double digit million dollar man.  Mitch's contract expires at the end of this season, and no matter what the price, he's going to be A) expensive and B) a big part of this team going forward.

5 more Mats Sundin cards, I believe I need all of them for the PC.  If not, they'll go right into the Leafs stash.

These 3 cards were my first look at 18-19 OPC (thank you for that Doug), and will probably go toward building the set.   Down the road I'll be building these OPC sets, as there isn't one design that I didn't like (although there are a couple of "lukewarm" ones for sure), and the 600 card sets are always a challenge.

I really like that they added the All-Star designation on this years set as well, something that they should have done a while ago.   I rushed right out today and bought the only jumbo pack and blaster that Target had of this set.  I'll show those cards off in a couple of days.

Finally, the Auston Matthews card above wasn't the only one in the envelope...

Oh baby!!  Auston Matthews Parkhurst RC!  Awesome indeed.  Never thought I'd see one down here, but now I have it in my house courtesy of Doug.  I'm hoping he stays healthy this year and tops 90 points.  The Leafs power play has looked really good so far...

Doug, thank you for the envelope, it really is appreciated.   I've got my eye on a Joe Sakic card you have on your COMC account that I need.  When I can get some more $$ into the account I may make an offer on it.

Thanks for reading, Robert