Righting a wrong

One of the first hockey sets that I ever put together was the 84-85 OPC set.  There's no mincing words for me here, I love this set.  I will forever regret selling it many years ago.  So, I'm slowly putting it together again.  I've already picked up a couple of the big RC's, Gilmour and LaFontaine.   I'm kind of avoiding the Yzerman, Neely and Chelios rookies for now (although I'm seeing Yzerman RCs right now for ridiculously cheap) and focusing on the commons and semistar cards to knock down the want list.

I've found a seller on Sportlots that I like who offers free shipping for orders of 100+ cards, so as part of my latest order I grabbed a bunch of 84-85 cards.   If you ever want to watch a great special on what it was like to escape from the communist bloc for a professional athlete, find the hour long special that runs from time to time on the NHL Network that features the Stastny brothers.  Peter tells a very compelling story on how they defected from then Czechoslovakia to Quebec City.  

I love that the name and team plates are in the team's colors.  The mid 80's were a great time to be a hockey fan in Quebec, as the Montreal/Quebec series were very entertaining. 

Finding star cards of Islander players for less than 20 cents is always wonderful, so adding Trottier, Sutter and Smith was easy.   I rounded out the order with a trio of cards from the 86-87 OPC set, including Bill Derlago, who was a favorite of mine with the Leafs in the early 80's after they picked him up in a trade with the Canucks. 

86-87 OPC was a set that I never put together, but always wanted to.   I'm slowly picking up cards here and there, but I know that it'll be a long time before it's done as the $200 Patrick Roy RC won't be coming home any time soon.

First things first; righting the wrong that was selling the 84-85 OPC set in the first place. 

I'm a third of way to fixing that....

Thanks for reading!

Robert

Double Digits

You may or may not remember that I set myself just a couple of goals at the beginning of the year, one of them being the lofty goal of completing 100 trades on the TCDB website in 2019.  It may be a bit tough to complete this goal, but I'm a little closer this week as I hit the double digit mark with this trade with Charles (TCDB ID: chemistclete). 

I sent Charles a dozen cards from various vintage and modern sets, and in return I received a bakers dozen cards from 5 sets that I'm slowly putting together.

Let's start with one of my favorites, 1969 Topps.   Each card I acquire just increases my love for this set, especially the backs.

I'm guessing that time affects the shades of pink that the backs have, as many of the cards I have for the set have a sharp/bright pink color, while others (such as the Roy Face) look dull and faded.  No matter, as the backs combined with the simplicity of the front will make this set one of my favorites when completed.   These 4 put me just over the 1/4 complete mark.

Two more from the '70 set to add to the collection.  I still can't believe that even though I've never really "pursued" this set, I'm approaching the halfway mark (just 36 more to go).  I'll have to look, but I don't really remember picking up any major stars from this set yet, so that will be another hurdle in completing this one.

Another set that I really haven't dabbled much in is the '71 set.  These 4 cards get me to the 100 card total.  As you can see the Spiezio and McQueen cards are going to be set fillers for the time being, as the lower left corners have been clipped, similar to playing cards that have been removed from casino tables.

1 from the '78 and 2 from the '79 Topps sets finish off the post.   The Jerry Reuss Pirates card might feature one of the brightest uniforms ever featured on a card.  Still a beauty though.  The '79 set might be a contender for completion this year, as I'm just over 57% done now, and if I'm able to attend the NSCC this summer (which is my plan), I'm sure I'll find a few dealers there that can whittle down the list.

Trades like this are perfect for me, as they mirror my purchasing habits.   A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Charles if you're reading this, thank you for the trade, the cards are appreciated!!

Thanks for reading!

Robert

Some more Sportlots loot

I've got cards all over my desk.  It's a bit of an epidemic.  I've had a few trades come in over the past week.   I hit the monthly card show on the weekend.  It's been a matter of trying to find time, and when I do find the time, gather the motivation to write some thoughts on the blog.

The other half of the same order that I featured the other day with the Larry Fitzgerald post is a decent selection of cards from a trio of baseball sets.

Not sure what possessed me to stop at just 20 cards from each of the '82 and '83 sets, but that's what I did.

With the '84 set winding down to completion, the '82 (just over 40% done) and '83 (33%)sets will become the likely focus when I start knocking out some sets which are nearly done (more on that in some upcoming posts). 

But it's sets like this that bring back the memories.   I was 10 years old when this set came out in the summer of 1978, and seeing these cards bring me back to a time when buying packs on the Danforth at the convenience stores for 25 cents was the thing.  The string of sets between '77 and '79 are the ones that I remember collecting the most as a kid, and finishing these 3 will give me sense of satisfaction that I never had when I was a pre-teen. 

At least now that I've got this post completed I can get this pile off the desk.

Thanks for reading!

Robert

Just Larry, part 2

From a couple of different sources come 34 more Larry Fitzgerald cards to add to my fastest growing player collection, which now sits at 302 cards.

First, 25 cards from the 2nd Sportlots order from this week, a good mix of older base cards that I still needed...

It's very hard to tell, but the Topps Prime card in the middle row on the left is the Aqua parallel.  It looks more like a green parallel, but I'll take Topps' word for it.

Love the Football heroes card in the upper left corner.  First one of these I've had since I don't remember when (maybe early 90's)?  Lots of Topps and Upper Deck base cards here, and the next scan...

What I've noticed while collecting Larry Fitzgerald cards is that there will be lots of rainbows to chase.  I'm trying to knock down a lot of the base cards before hunting the parallels, which are usually pretty inexpensive. 

The next scan is part of a mega package that I received from now retired blogger Wes, whose swan song on the blogging front came in the form of a mega-mega break.  One of the teams that I picked was the Cardinals, and lo and behold I snagged a page's worth of cards.

Right in the middle is my 4th (?) jersey card of Fitz, a 2013 Donruss Elite Gridiron Gear #'d 165/199.  I'm already getting the Score Drive Team cards confused (bottom row middle).  It seems that there are two versions of this card featuring Fitz, one has Carson Palmer which you see above, the other features Kurt Warner and Edgerrin James, of which I have the base and yellow parallel.  Football products I guess can be just as confusing as baseball, if not more so.

I don't know how I'm going to get around to posting about the mega box of A&G cards that Wes sent my way, there was a ton of them!!  I'll figure it out somehow...

Thanks for reading!

Robert