$30 a week habit: RAK 'em up

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

RAK 'em up

Roughly a week ago I received a bubble mailer and looked at the name, it was somewhat familiar but I couldn't quite place him.

Knew Mike from Quakertown from somewhere, but just couldn't put my finger on from where. Didn't think it was TCDB, didn't have anything on order from ebay or Sportlots, so I was left scratching my head until I opened it.

Mike had sent me an envelope before, and I know him from twitter as @ugxtall88. This envelope was pretty good, as he has paid attention to my likes and sets I'm working on! Check out the great envelope of random goodness...

A trio of '72 Topps needs! I'm slowly pecking away at the '72 set, but it's almost to the point now where in the next year or 2 it could become a serious attempt at completion. Especially love the Don Money photo with the pitcher throwing BP in the background.

Hockey was a big focus in the envelope, and much like the 85-86 OPC set I'm slowly chipping away at, the 82-83 set is another that's starting to take some shape. Still a very long way to go as I'm not even 1/6th of the way in, but seeing these cards come in always elicits a smile, especially cards of coaches that played in the NHL, namely Marc Crawford on the left. Marc played parts of 6 seasons in the NHL, but is much more noted for his 1169 games behind the bench, and being the head coach of the 95-96 Cup champion Colorado Avalanche.

These two cards I scanned together to show the ends of the spectrum you get in this envelope. The Conn Smythe Trophy on the left is from the 72-73 OPC set, something I will start to work on eventually but hasn't been really on the radar at all. On the right is the card I tweeted to let Mike know I received the envelope, a 92-93 Joe Sakic Pro Set Puck card. Something that's been on my want list for a very long time, and if I had a top 10 wanted card list for my player collections, this would have been on it.

These 4 photos I also wanted to scan together, as they may not look like much, but they meant a lot to me to get. The top 3 are Topps team checklists from the 70's, when my Maple Leafs fandom started. The middle card is the 77-78 team list, and I love how the put on the inset a photo of Mike Palmateer inside a Maple Leaf instead of just a plain old circle or box.

At the bottom is a Panini sticker from 89-90 of Maple Leaf Gardens, the locale where I watched many a game from the South Red seats over the years. Affectionately known to Torontonians as the "Carlton St. Cashbox", I fully blame it for the ache in my knees as I got older due to the cramped seating. Will never trade memories of watching games in there though!!

Maple Leafs and goalies, another great combination here. Mike certainly has paid attention. Seeing the Grant Fuhr Pinnacle Mask card in the upper left reminded me that I should be trying to get that subset for my collection, as there was some great mask art in there.

Last up? Another copy of one of my favorite Jim Thome cards, a duplicate yes but if I ever decide to put together the '08 A&G set someday, it won't be a need.