Inbound and Down #42: Sportscards from the Dollar Store

Totally out of the blue, up pops a PWE in my mailbox yesterday from Doug, purveyor of many posts at the Sportscards from the Dollar Store blog. 

Doug helped me out with a dozen cards of my favorite hockey team and hockey player.  

It's already been 4 years since these cards came out.  I remember buying packs Score hockey like it was yesterday.   Now that I think about it, the last time I was able to buy a pack of Score hockey was when I lived in PA; haven't seen one pack since I moved to FL almost 3 years ago.

Some recent Upper Deck additions.  Getting the Marleau from this years Ice set was a nice find as that's another product that doesn't make its way to shelves down here in the tropics.

I like the variety of hockey products that Upper Deck has produced over the years.  One of my favorites has always been SP Authentic, I've loved it since it first came out in the late 90's.  I'd be a bigger fan of the Champs set if the border wasn't so flowery.  Had to take a peek at my Mats Sundin collection to see if I had that 05/06 Parkhurst card.  I didn't, so that's another add to that PC that I've recently resurrected.

Doug batted .500 on the Sakic's.   The Marked by Valor card from 2008-09 I have, the OPC Platinum I don't.  I had to do a quick check to see what the Platinum singles of Sakic are selling for on COMC; it was more than I thought at $3.   That's one card closer to 800 for the Sakic PC!

Finally, what is easily my favorite card from the pack, this Netcam insert from 2013-14 Score features a fantastic photo of James Reimer trying to corral the puck in his crease during a game against the Islanders.  There's 5 players in the photo which makes it even better, and they're all identifiable.   The Leafs are easy, left to right James Van Riemsdyk (21), Phil Kessel with the beard, and #36 in the crease is Carl Gunnarson.  The Islander that is pursuing the puck is Frans Nielsen, and I'll go out on a limb and say he didn't score here....

Doug, thank you for the PWE, it was a great bunch of cards!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

My first PC printing plate

While hunting around last weekend on ebay for some cards, I came across an interesting buy it now/make offer card.  It was a black printing plate of my favorite PC player for a great price.

I looked at it right away, and told myself that I'm trying to build a 76-77 OPC set and should be focusing on those.

So, after buying a bunch of the 76-77's, I came across the same buy it now/make offer.  I couldn't believe that this card was on the block for just $14.95

Shipping was $3, so I decided to offer $12 (I didn't want to go too cheap and offend the guy).  He accepted quickly and now I have a great piece for my Joe Sakic PC. 

I told my better half about the card and the great price, and the first thing she says is "do you have the actual card to go with it?  We could put them both in a frame and hang them on the wall."

Damn, she's awesome....

So I'm looking for the jersey card to go along with this.  There are a couple of copies on ebay for $30 shipped, so I'm going to hold off a bit until I can find something cheaper.  No hurry though, there's plenty of time for frivolous stuff like that.

thanks for reading, Robert

Going through the closet: 2013 Heritage

I decided at the time I was putting this set together that I wasn't going to chase the SPs #'d 426-500.  I probably could have waited until now and started picking them up for cheap.   I checked COMC as I started writing this post and there are a lot of the SP cards available for $1.25 or less.  That kind of surprised me.

Anyhow, I decided to dig through this set and find a few cards that I thought interesting, or they brought something interesting to mind.

These two guys probably have hundreds of millions of reasons to smile.   One is a part owner of a baseball team now, and the other will be set for life (and a few other people's as well) once he's done playing.  Is it just me, or does Mike Trout look thin in this photo compared to how he looks now.

Remember the beard?   It almost looks as if the mustache and sideburns were colored in with Sharpie. 

Keeping in tune with the '64 set, the World Series had one card for each game in the series broken down.  How the mighty have fallen, remember the Kung Fu Panda being on top of the world having 4 hits in Game 1, 3 of them homers?  Back of the card stated that he was the first person to have 4 hits in a WS game since Monte Irvin in 1951. 

Good God is it already 6 years since Anthony Rizzo was a rookie?  Love, love, love the Rookie Cup version that Topps used here.  Anyone ever notice that the bat on top of the trophy appears to be a Q-Tip for Anthony's ear?

Card #200.  Hero number.  Topps got this one right on the money. 
Card #200 in the '64 set?  Sandy Koufax.   Perfect.

This is card #201, right after the Kershaw.  Probably the best dual RC card in the set.   Imagine when Manny Machado gets out of Baltimore and moves to a team that can afford him.  Maybe this card will start to rise in value from the very affordable $8 it is now.

It's hard to believe that it's already been 5 years since this set came out.  I might have to have another look at this in another 5 years to see how well players and rookies have turned out.

Thanks for reading, Robert

One pile off the desk

It's been a very long time since I updated my "Just the Hits--Blue Jays" page.  Since last August to be exact.   It's not that I've been remiss in doing it, I just haven't received/bought a whole lot of Blue Jays jersey/auto cards since last summer.

I did have 5 of them on the desk to be added/put away, so I did a few scans and decided to make a quick post out of them.

Each of these three cards I've shown on the blog before; the Delgado bat and Accardo autograph cards are actually the 2nd of each that I now own.  I received the Pat Borders jersey card a few months back and showed it off then.  Pat's jersey card became the first hit from the 2000 year that I have in my Jays collection.

Sean Nolin only lasted a couple of seasons on the Jays roster; after appearing in just a couple of games for the Jays, he became a part of the package that the Jays sent to Oakland for Josh Donaldson.  He's now a part of the Rockies organization and pitching in the Eastern League for the Hartford Yard Goats.   Yea, I love the Yard Goats name as well.

I never realized that this Sean Reid-Foley card was a refractor until I scanned it.  Not a bad autograph, I've seen many worse than this (haven't we all?).

Reid-Foley was a 2nd round pick in the 2014 draft for the Jays, and he's in AAA right now with the Buffalo Bisons.  He's struggled so far there with an ERA nearing 12, but he's only 22 and there's still time for him to develop into a starter for the Jays down the road.

Time to put these away and move on to the next pile on the desk.

Thanks for reading, Robert