Follow up to the lost cards post, plus a few more Jays in the house

Thank you all for the great response to last night's post.

I have sent follow up emails ( or comments if I don't have your email available ) with responses.

I also have to send a quick, and very delayed, shout out to a couple of people who sent me a package.

First up is Marc from Remember The Astrodome who sent me a package of Blue Jays goodness, including a couple of Panini Triple Play cards...

The Bautista Triple Play card is cool, although the beard I don't think does him justice.  I don't even recall getting any of the Jays stickers over the past couple of years either, so the Lawrie was a good find.

Blog reader (and fellow Jays fan) Richard from southern Ontario sent me a great envelope of Jays goodness.  Since I'm a little pressed for time, I'll show off just a few.

How about some '87 Donruss Opening Day

Love the burgundy (?) red borders, they really look sharp.  Doesn't hurt either that there are a few of the Jays all time best players in this group as well.


You are going to be seeing double here in a few seconds.  Your eyes aren't playing tricks, I promise..

Can't complain about these two!  2004 Cracker Jack full size and mini of Roy Halladay. 

Marc and Richard, thank you both for the great envelopes, much appreciated!

If you have received an email/follow up comment from me regarding last night's post, let me know.


thanks for reading, Robert

Brrrrrrr

It's cold here today in western PA, with the thermometer only hitting 15 degrees.  Luckily, I received an envelope of Blue Jays from Daniel at It's Like Having My Own Card Shop to warm my heart (or so to speak).

Daniel responded to one of my posts last week that featured a trio of emerald Diamondback cards that he was interested, and before too long a trade was born. 

First, I think Daniel now holds the distinction of having sent me the smallest cards I've ever seen or owned.

I would say that these cards are roughly 1" by 1.25" inches (I couldn't find a ruler), and the backs are very difficult for me to read without a magnifying glass.  Nevertheless, they're home now.


Every envelope that I receive in the mail seems to bring with it something that I've never seen before, and these MVP Scouts Choice inserts are no different.

Funny how this off season has brought the careers of these two cornerstones of the Jays early 2000's teams into perspective.  Halladay retires a hero.  Wells gets released by the Yankees and his career could be at an end, but unlike Halladay his contract and performance is vilified by the media. 

More new stuff, well new to me anyhow.  I thought to myself after seeing these 2002 SPx cards "gee, maybe I'll pick up a few packs of SPx this year".  Then I remembered it's an Upper Deck product.  By the way, Eric Hinske is the only player that will appear in both envelopes, as I sent Daniel a Hinske parallel from 2013 Topps featuring him as a Diamondback.

As a lover of all things parallel (a sickness, I know), this Gold Leaf parallel from '92 was cool to get.  It is the first Jays gold parallel from this set that I have, only 18 more to go!

Finally, the card that was the coolest was this 2010 Topps 206 Polar Bear back mini of Travis Snider.  I know that I've never seen one of these before (yes I do lead a sheltered life), so this was another great card to find in the package.

Daniel, thank you for the great package of cards, much appreciated!!

Stay warm everyone, and thanks for reading, Robert

Right idea, meh on the execution

While doing my Christmas shopping (yep, still talking about the season) at Kmart, I dug through the card aisle and found a couple of boxes of 2008 UD Heroes.  I had never cracked even one pack of these cards, and was never really curious about them.

The cheapness in me saw these blasters priced at $9.99 each, and because of that 2 of the boxes wound up making the journey home with me.  I'd seen scans here and there in the blogosphere, and I think that I may have a card or two towards the Jays collection, but other than that my knowledge was limited.

From what I ripped, I liked the idea of the set, but some of the cards in the set just didn't remind me of a "hero".

Let's take a look...

First, we have the one per pack black parallel

Jeter, Robinson and DiMaggio?  Yes, I would definitely consider them heroes.  Lincecum with his hair cut, has a good shot at becoming one.  Erik Bedard and Bill Hall?  Sorry fellas...

How about the Yankee Stadium Legacy cards?  This was quite a novel concept that UD released across several brands in the 2008 season.

The Babe Ruth card was cool to get.  I had never heard of Frankie Crosetti until I pulled the card ( a nice round game number to boot), so I did a little research.  Crosetti led the AL in 1938 in an interesting group of 4 categories for a light hitting 3rd baseman/shortstop.  Plate appearances (757), stolen bases (27), strikeouts (105), and hit by pitch (12).  I would certainly believe that he could lead the league in the first two, but strikeouts and HBP?  Those two categories are usually led by sluggers.

Can you imagine if someone in today's game led the league in strikeouts with that low a number?  I'm sure that there a couple of hitters that are at 100 or more strikeouts by the all star break in today's game.

Would you call Alex Rodriguez a hero?  I'm sure that could stir up a good debate.  Bob Gibson?  Yes, he's  hero worthy in my opinion.

I like the idea of the multi-player cards.  4 heroes in 1.  No misses here as far as I can see.

Of course, the parallel freak in me had his fix with the two cards you see above.  The Sea Green Al Kaline was the best pull of the 2 boxes, #'d 44/99.  The Emerald Green is of Josh Willingham, #174/499.  I unfortunately didn't get any charcoal, brown, navy blue, purple, red, light blue or beige parallels.  I guess I was just unlucky...

I do like the idea of the Heroes set.  I like the idea that Upper Deck only did the set one time.  I don't like that they included a lot of players that I definitely wouldn't consider 'Heroes'.

I know I've bitched and moaned on other posts previously about how some sets include too many retired ball players.  The UD Heroes set, by name alone, leads me to believe that all the players in the packs could be considered heroes.  More players like Carew, Bench and Yastrzemski should have been included.

But then again, I'm sure that someone, somewhere has Josh Willingham has their hero.

The term hero, upon reflection, is certainly relative to the person using it.

thanks for reading, Robert

My top 25 sets #13: 1990-91 Upper Deck Hockey

Set 1990-91 Upper Deck Hockey
Number of cards in set: 400 (low series) 150 (high series)
Affordability: 9.5
Key RCs:  Jaromir Jagr, Mats Sundin (low), Pavel Bure, Sergei Fedorov (High)
Is the set built?:   Many times over.

What I like about this set:  This is the set that introduced me back into collecting in late 1990. Even though this set is the epitome of the overproduction era (I once owned 15 full sets of these cards..), it is still a classic.  The design is clean, the back has up to 5 years of stats with a 2nd full photo.  Speaking of photos, some of the photos in this set (see Bob Probert card here to get an idea of what I mean) feature the best hockey photography ever.

Late to the party?  No problem, shouldn't cost you but a couple of week's budgets (for my blog anyhow) to complete this set.

What I don't like about this set:  The true 'purist' would love to see a complete set of stats for each player on the back, but with that leaves no photo.  In other words, there's not a whole lot wrong with this set, outside of letting the presses roll.

For me, 90-91 UD hockey is what got me back into collecting over 20 years ago.  I feasted on this set heartily, and will have a soft spot for it for many years to come.  While it may not remain on the top 25 over the coming years, it will always be a reminder of a crazy time in the sports card world.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Another set completion, this one only took 10 years

2002 Upper Deck Baseball, series 2.  One of the smallest "Series" that has been released by any company over the years.  245 cards is also an odd number for a set of cards.  Why not bump it up to 250?

Anyhow, this set was finally completed on Wednesday with the addition of card # 521.

Val Pascucci is a big man.  6'6" 265 lbs.  Drafted in the 15th round by Montreal in 1999, Val got his first card 3 years later in the 2002 set.  Pascucci did not play a major league game until the 2004 season, when he had 62 ABs for Montreal.  Val didn't get another shot in the majors until 2011 with the Mets. 

Val even spent a couple of years in Japan (05 & 06), and has to his credit 251 minor league HRs over a 14 year career. 

Glad that this set is finally out of the way...just 7 more sets to finish to reach the goal of 25.

Thanks for reading, Robert

The irony of how I finally completed an 18 year old set

Last weekend, I decided to stop putting off obtaining singles towards completing some sets that I've had going for a long time.  The oldest set that I've had on my lists is the 94-95 UD Hockey set.

570 cards that were released in 2 series.  One of my favorite hockey releases from the mid 90's (if not my favorite).  Since I updated my want lists for hockey a few months back, this little list has sat there, neglected.

I only needed 2 cards.  What was so tough about picking up these 2 cards from Sportlots?  Honestly, I don't know.  Even better, when I went onto Sportlots on the weekend, the cards that I needed wound up coming from 2 different sellers.

The first one arrived Tuesday...

Kick his ass Sea-Bass!!

No scrub there.  It's sad to think how many goals this guy could have scored if not for a 2 year period in which he only played 22 games due to knee and thigh injuries.

OK...on to the final card, which came on Wednesday.  The sad part of this irony is, I don't even have the card in my PC.....

One day, I will own a Nordiques Sakic jersey.

Yes, Joe Sakic arrived Wednesday as the final card I needed to finish off this set.  I thought I had this card already in my Sakic collection, but in reality the only version I have is the Electric Ice parallel.

Finally nice to get this set out of the way after all these years.

2001 Fleer Tradition baseball is next oldest....only 12 years old.  I've got lots of time....

Thanks for reading, Robert

Another one bites the dust

The remainder of the Sportlots purchase of last weekend arrived on Thursday.  Two more envelopes of singles that finished one set and helped me get closer to finishing 3 others.

The victim this time?  2008 Upper Deck, Series 1

It's nice to get another set out of the way.  Actually, it feels really good to start getting some of these sets that have been hanging over my head for quite a while completed.  Sad to say however, that the two sets I've completed this week are just the tip of the iceberg.

I currently have 2 sets that are both just one card away from completion...

2002 Upper Deck Series 2 (need card # 521)

Baseball or not, this man died way too young...

2012 Topps Series 2  (need card # 334)

His next HR gives him 12 straight 30 HR seasons...

Then there's two sets that are in need of nothing but SPs......

2008 UD Masterpieces

Forget kid in a candy store...he runs the candy store now!!

2011 Topps Heritage

looking over his shoulder at Hechavarria

Yep, the Heritage is going to be a bitch to complete with about 50 SPs to obtain, while the Masterpieces is down to 14 SPs to go with the acquisition of the Donny Baseball card shown above.

By the way, if you missed last nights post....got a little Contest going on.  Tell me your opinion, don't be shy.

Thank you for reading, Robert

This post is not X-rated

Sorry guys, have to try and keep it as clean as possible.   I've noticed that there has been the odd curse word thrown into my posts lately, and I am almost beginning to wonder if I should be setting up a swear jar for each 4 or 5 letter word I mistakenly post (lol..mistakenly, yeah right).

Well, I'm hoping that this post will help me along to a weeks worth of posts describing the loot I received from Kyle over at the JABOs blog.  Kyle's card draft went quickly and without a hitch and was a great value from where this guy sits.

(Speaking of card drafts....Greg over at Plaschke, thy Sweater is Argyle is getting one together and needs 4 more peeps....let's go!)

OK...enough pimpage...let's get on to the cards.  This post is not X-rated, but it is about cards from the Upper Deck X sets.  I had never seen one of these cards before I had joined a couple of box breaks at other blog locales, and the sets quite intrigued me.

This card draft netted me just one X card, from the 2009 set, but it's a good one for me...

Roy Halladay from the 2009 X set.  Compare/contrast this one from the 2008's that I have in my collection:

Reminds me of a beer I used to drink when I was younger.

I would say that the 2008's look a lot more like an X than the 2009 die cut does.  These cards became kind of a curiosity for me, because I thought that the X die cuts were kind of cool, so I decided to look them up in the magazine.

100 cards?  That's it?  Disappointing that is for sure.  If the set had have been 200 cards, I probably may have put that on the list to collect it.  100 cards is a time waster for sure, I wonder if Upper Deck was just looking for a place holder set later in the season and came up with this.  The '08s are for trade if anyone is looking to add to their respective team collections.

Sorry if you were expecting something else when I mentioned in the title that the post isn't X-rated.  Maybe you were expecting some Benchwarmers photos?

 All right then, but just a couple....

Hopefully they weren't too provocative for you!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Hand collating sets with the help of hand collated

Hand Collated could easily have been the title of my blog.  I have never, nor likely will I ever, buy a complete set of cards.  It's just no damn fun that way.  The thrill of the hunt is the greatest aspect of putting sets together.

It doesn't even have to be a mainstream "set", such as 2012 Topps or 2008 Upper Deck.  It could be a made up set, like all the players that ever played for your favorite team whose last name starts with the same letter as your last name (mine would be Blue Jays that start with the letter "M", for example). 

For those of you who are set collectors, you know what I'm talking about.  The joy of finally completing a set that's taken you forever to finish, and when you finally find that last elusive piece of cardboard you shout "f--- yeah!!" (oh wait, that's just me...)

I had the good fortune of trading recently with another dedicated set collector, Scott from the Hand Collated blog.  Scott's post regarding our trade pointed out the fact that he's seen a few people who have completed 2012 Topps series 1, while he's still in need of cards from the '07 Topps set. By the way, the last 2 cards I need for '12 Topps series 1 are on their way (thank you Nick...), and the speed at which I've completed that set will be a post in the next few days.

Anyhow, Scott sent me some '12 Topps series 1 ( I won't bore you with those), however, I will show you some of the '08 Upper Deck he sent me.  4 years later, I still love the photos in this set, and I found a few in the cards he sent that I also like.

1st, we have Nomar Garciaparra near the end of his career with all eyes on the ball...

Royals fans will have to help me with the next one.  When did the Royals wear orange numbers on their jerseys??

John Buck has always had great art on his catchers masks, and the Royals mask he wore is no exception:

Somebody has to tell Chad Bradford that there must be a way to pitch that is easier on his back!!

Finally, it never gets old watching Jim Edmonds make another great catch.....

Scott, thank you for the trade, it is much appreciated!!  I look forward to our next trade.

Thanks for reading, Robert

OK, now I can concentrate

Good Sunday evening to you all, hope that those of you who watched the Super Bowl enjoyed the game. 

Now that football season is over, I can concentrate on hockey, and soon (in about 3 weeks) baseball.  Not that I don't like football, but for me it is a distant third to the other two, and if you're wondering where basketball is on the list, it's somewhere behind NASCAR, golf, table tennis, beer pong, and professional roshambo (you get the idea).

Sunday afternoons are free once again to peruse the blogosphere, trying to find inspiration, or looking for cards to pare down my want lists.  The Bay is another way of hunting for cards (you knew that already ...), and sometimes you can find bargains like this one...

Got these two for less than $2.50 on eBay, and naturally the Lind goes straight into the Jays PC.  I will say it has been a great start to the year for Jays autos/relics, as the Lind you see here from '11 A&G brings the total up to 21.   Well on the way to the 30 total I had set as a goal by the end of the year.  If anyone is interested in the Reynolds jersey card, it is for trade...just leave me a comment and I'll be sure to get back to you.

I also need to get rolling on the multitude of hockey sets I've been putting off for quite a while now.  I have a bunch of older sets that I need to complete, along with the most recent offering of '11-12 Upper Deck.  I especially love the canvas cards this year, and they may be tempting enough for me to collect...we'll have to see..

They have a kind of textured look as well, similar to the UD Masterpieces sets of a few years back. 

oh, and one more thing, did you know that Roger Clemens had a 2nd career on the side washing dishes??

I bet you didn't know that....see cards are educational!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Week 26 starts off with some Masterpieces

Good Saturday mornign to you all, hope that your weekend is off to a great start.

I've been remiss in posting for the past couple of days, kind of taking it easy while we're in the off season.  I did manage to pickup a 20 count lot of '08 Upper Deck Masterpieces on eBay earlier this week.  It turned out to be a pretty good deal, the BIN price was $4.99, I had 66 cents in the eBay bucks program, and shipping was free! 

I don't normally publish names/IDs of sellers, but I will say that "baxterbog" is a credit to eBay, and obviously a collector as well.  These cards were packed amazingly!!!  We hear all the horror stories about crappy sellers, that I was compelled to provide a positive experience to the blogosphere.

All right then, on to the cards.  I decided to put the '08 Masterpieces set together after winning the first 60 cards from a contest that Potch had on his blog a while back.  I hadn't given them much thought until last week.  Then I saw the eBay auction and got myself closer to finishing the base set.  Sadly, I don't have any of the SPs yet, so the set will take me some time to complete. 

Here's some of the cards that I picked up:

Masterpieces does a nice job with selecting players and highlighting "milestones".  The card on the left is Asdrubal Cabrera of the Indians.  Naturally, the card commemorates the unassisted triple play that he pulled off against the Jays on 5/12/08, which was the 14th of its kind in MLB history.

The Whitey Ford card on the right is one of my favorites, and the two baseballs in his hands signify the 2 consecutive no-hitters that Whitey threw in September of '55.

Another favorite of mine is the Randy Johnson tribute card on the left.  Arguably the greatest lefty in baseball history (arguably I said...), the card back goes on to describe the 4 consecutive Cy Young awards, along with the pitching triple crown he earned in 2002.

I included the Jonathan Papelbon card on the right because of the image itself.  I of course am not a Red Sox fan, but the iconic image of the joy Papelbon felt after winning the '07 world series is legendary. 

Finally, I chose these two cards to show you because of the "action" that the artist conveyed.  Great stuff.  The Jose Reyes card on the left details the art of stealing a base, something he did 78 times in the '07 season.  I would like to see someone challenge for 100 steals again sometime soon, because the art of stealing a base is something that can change a game quickly, and guys with that kind of speed and skill are great to watch.

On the right is Roy Oswalt, then of the Houston Astros.  Roy's card highlights the fact that in '07 he started his 6th consecutive Opening Day for the Astros, which is a club record.  Hopefully Roy can overcome his back problems and land somewhere this year and regain his past form.

I only need 13 of the base cards to finish that part of the set, then of course all 30 of the short prints as well.  Got some '08 Masterpieces available?  Drop me a line...rmitchell6700 at yahoo dot com

Thanks for reading, Robert

They let the presses roll: 1990-91 Upper Deck Hockey

Good Tuesday evening to you all, I hope that your week is going by well so far.  I decided to create a post on one of my favorite overproduced sets of all time, 1990-91 Upper Deck Hockey.
Released in 2 series, with series 1 containing cards 1-400, while series 2 packs contained cards from both series, including the high numbered cards 401-550. 

There were quite a lot of excellent rookies from that set, including Ed Belfour, Mats Sundin, Pavel Bure, Felix Potvin, Jaromir Jagr, and so on.

I believe at one point I owned quite a few of the low number sets..I now only have 2 complete sets in my collection.  I decided to dig one of them out and look at some of the old photography.  There were some great pics in there.

Here's a couple of guys that were grandfathered in when the mandatory helmet rule came in August of 1979.

If a player had signed his a pro contract before June 1, 1979 they were given the choice of whether to wear a helmet or not.  I believe that the only other player pictured in the set not to wear a helmet during game action was Guy Lafleur.

Here's another interesting card, and not because it's of one of my favorite players, Joe Sakic.  Take a look at the captains "C" on his jersey.  You can clearly see that the "A" had been there for quite a while previously before Joe was made team captain, at the tender age of 21.  Joe was actually a co-captain for the next season, and by 1992 was full time captain of the club until his retirement in 2009.

The next photo is of a player that I hated back in the 90's, Cam Neely of the Boston Bruins.  This guy was a warrior on the ice.  Combination of toughness and scoring ability made the trade from Vancouver one of the most lopsided trades in my mind in Boston history.  This photo of him shaking hands, no doubt after a series victory over the Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes), is an excellent photo that shows the sportsmanship of hockey players each spring, even after beating each other up.

The next photo is something you would normally see on a baseball card, Joel Otto of the Calgary Flames blowing a bubble, likely during a pre-game warmup.

Not too sure though the irony of where exactly he is holding his hockey stick with the words "Extra-Stiff" on display.

But I digress...






























Lastly, I just had to show this card, because it's a perfect example of why I've enjoyed collecting Upper Deck hockey cards since they first came out in '90-91.  The card shows Theo Fleury of the Calgary Flames, all 5'6" of him hurling himself airborne attempting to check an opposing player.

If I'm not mistaken, that opponent is Dave Taylor of the LA Kings.

For those of you that don't know Theo's story, it is a very sad tale of a very talented hockey player who battled the demons of alcohol and drug addiction during his career.

His autobiography, Playing with Fire, chronicled sexual abuse that he had suffered at the hands of a former coach, who recently was found guilty of the assault, and will be sentenced in February of 2012.

Theo was also famous for one of the best OT goal celebrations in NHL history.  Take a look at it here.















The early Upper Deck hockey cards were great, but made in quantities that were mind boggling to say the least.  Still, they will be one of my fondest memories of collecting cards as an adult.

thanks for reading, Robert

'09-10 UD hockey box break #2

Full of turkey yet?   Falling asleep at your computer screen?  Hopefully this won't put you further into the abyss.  I mentioned last weekend that I had a 2nd box of Upper Deck hockey from the Toronto Expo to show you, so without further adieu, here we go.

Base set:  149 cards with no duplicates.   Both boxes that I opened from the show had no dupes, kudos to Upper Deck for this.

 Love the shot UD gets here of Mikka Kiprusoff of the Flames, the eyes show the concentration.  Great photo!



























 




Inserts:   Captains calling: 1  Johnathan Toews ...same as the first box (fail)
              Playoff Performers:  2  Roberto Luongo and Jarome Iginla...same as the first box (Epic fail)
              Draft Day Gems:  2  Daniel Alfredsson and Milan Hejduk...same as the first box  (Fail cubed..wtf!!!)
              Hockey Heroes:  2  At least these Messier Heroes were different from the first box
              The Champions:  2  Ben Agosto, Hayley Wickenheiser.   I've had time to think about this insert, and have decided it would have been better served in another product, such as Goodwin Champions, or something to that end.  Figure skaters and ice hockey, at least for me, don't go together.

Young Guns:  6   MacGregor Sharp, Devan Dubnyk, Andrei Loktionov, Andreas Thuresson, Bobby Sanguinetti, Braden Holtby.  At least I have heard of 3 of these guys, and there were no duplicates from the first box.

Victory:  1 per pack.  I think I did quite well with these in this box.  I pulled two more gold cards, plus 4 Leafs Rookies (Reimer, Gustavsson, Stalberg, Bozak).  Plus the design of the cards is clean and simple, not a lot of logos or anything else cluttering up the card.

And finally, the one per box relic card.....well....

Sadly, not quite a household name, but as we know with most of the card companies in this day and age, not all of the relic cards are going to be superstar versions.

Furthermore, between the two boxes, I was not able to put one base set together (200 cards).

256,258,264,289,292,301,307,310,314,318,322,323,324,332,338,368,375,378,392,394,415,418,425,
428,429,432,438,442,448  are the 29! cards I need to complete a base set....not good at all, considering there were no triplicates at all in the 2 boxes.  I could see coming maybe 5-10 cards short, but 29 is totally unacceptable.

Negatives:  Between this many cards needed to complete a set, the 3 different inserts that were carbon copies in both boxes, there were too many excuses for me to knock the total grade down.

Positives:  No duplicates for the Victory inserts, or the Hockey Heroes cards of Messier.  The Young Guns were all unique as well, though I could do without the damn checklist being shortprinted (WHY IS THIS?)

The only thing that saved the two boxes from a D grade was the price...$22 each is less than 1/2 of the original box price, so that makes a big difference.

Final Grade:   C-

Thanks for reading, Robert

words in this post:  479.  total for the month, 13484

It's Pascal Dupuis Error Day

It's also Sidney Crosby's comeback day, but haven't you heard enough about him? 

Thought I'd share some interesting stuff I found this evening on Pascal Dupuis' UD 11-12 base card.

First, take a look at his actual career stats, with a thank you to hockeydb.com.  The first error you'll notice on the stats is that hockeydb has him shooting right handed, when in actual fact he shoots left handed.

Second, as you can see he's been in the league 10 years now with 4 different teams.

Now, here's a scan of this year's card...

Something not quite right here.

All of a sudden, Pascal has become quite the goal scorer!!  He's also had 5 years of his career lopped off as well.

I think for a minute, then I realize, those stats are Evgeni Malkin's career stats, not Dupuis.  Now that, is an error card.

To wit, we've all bitched about Topps and their collation issues...well Upper Deck is just as bad here.  I've only purchased 2 rack packs, and in each of the packs, I found the following 4 cards; Nazem Kadri, Tyler Ennis, Logan Couture, James Neal, in the same order, back to back in both packs.


You see that and you wanna scream...what the hell!!?? Then I see this card, and I remember why I buy Upper Deck Hockey cards...

Great card

The scan unfortunately doesn't do the card justice.  This is Drew Doughty of the LA Kings giving away his stick at the end of the game after no doubt being selected the first star.  LOVE the purple and gold retro jerseys, and the purple and gold on the ice gives the card a great look.

UD, you're forgiven....this time.


It's not too often I spot errors on cards like the big error on Dupuis' card, so when I do, I'm definitely going to toot my own horn, or so to speak...

By the way, Sid had 4 points tonight.   No biggie


thanks for reading, Robert

words in this post, 326.   Total for the month, 12255.

Week 17 begins with a box break

Good Saturday morning to you all.  I don't believe that I've ever done a box break for you guys where I've analyzed the contents of a box rip, so I figured I would start with one of the 2 UD 09-10 Hockey boxes I got on the cheap at the Toronto card show last weekend.  Here we go!

Box price $22

24 packs with 8 cards in a pack. (relic card pack contained 6 cards)

Base cards:  147  no duplicates in the box

The base cards featured UD's standard great photos, and this one is my favorite.  Take a look at Ovechkin's stick as he is in the process of shooting.  Look at the bend in the stick, just an amazing photo if you ask me.



















Young Guns:  6  (Parse, Desharnais, Eckford, Perreault, Stoa, YG Checklist)

 While no major names were pulled, collation was exactly as expected, with one every 4 packs as advertised.


















Inserts:  10

The colors really pop on the Luongo and Iginla inserts, and I've always loved the Hockey Heroes cards, so getting 2 of Mark Messier in this box was cool. 

There were other inserts, such as Draft Day Gems, Captains Calling and Rookie Debut that I also pulled as well. 





























Victory Update cards:  24    These cards are inserted one per pack, and come with cards that didn't make it into the original Victory set. 

I was also fortunate to pull two gold victory cards, including the best rookie in the set, John Tavares.

Relics:  1   I pulled a Victor Hedman Rookie Materials jersey card, a nice black swatch.  

Photo shoot material only 

I don't get to break full 24 packs boxes very often, so getting 2 boxes of this at $22 apiece was certainly a great deal for me, and the rip was fun for sure. 

I'll review the other box in a couple of days for you all.  

Thanks for reading, Robert


Words in this post:  314   Total for the month so far:  9854