Day 1 at the Expo: More walking than buying

My camera phone skills at work again

I figured I'd get the photo up right away for this post rather than making you wait.  These two cards were the highlights of my first day at the Expo.  They came from one table that had dollar boxes of  cards from various years.   I went through them and found 16 cards for the 71-72 OPC set that I started a short time ago.   Among those 16 were the two cards you see above.  For a dollar apiece, I couldn't leave them there.

The only other table that I bought cards from was one that had several boxes of modern OPC singles.  I wound up buying a bunch of singles for a couple of different sets, including a bunch of SPs from the 2008-09 set.  I had priced them out to be $45, and when the dealer handed the cards back to me and asked for only $25, my day was made.

Spending a total of $40 on cards the first day was a lot better than I expected to do.  I put a good dent into a couple of modern sets, got a nice group of cards for an older set, and avoided the discount wax that I usually succumb to at this show. 

Tomorrow I'll hopefully add to my Joe Sakic collection, and maybe dig up something that I didn't see in my 3.5 hours today. 

I'll let you know....

Thanks for reading, Robert

Two weekends, two shows, two missions

I'm absolutely spoiled.  You can ask my wife, she'll tell you.  I lucked out this month and have two card shows over a two weekend period that are within a reasonable driving distance.  One was the local mall show last weekend, where I kept to the vintage baseball sets that I've been chasing after.  If you missed that post, you can see it here.

Now this coming weekend is going to be the same, only different.  I'm headed off to the Expo just outside of Toronto and will spend the better part of 2 days hunting for cards to finish off some hockey sets.  Some sets are newer, some I've been working on for quite a while.

One set that I'm hoping to finish off is the 2008-09 OPC set.  I'm down to 49 short prints after picking up these 4 off of Sportlots last week

I picked these 4 up only because the 2 sellers that I had purchased other cards from had these on for relatively cheap.  It was just happenstance that the 2 Legends SPs turned out to be two of the all time greatest Blackhawk players, Tony O and Denis Savard.  Zubov has played a grand total of 11 NHL games.  So much for being a "marquee rookie".  Kyle Turris is now with the Senators, and playing reasonably well since coming from the Coyotes two seasons ago.

I'm also hoping to pick up some more cards for my Joe Sakic PC..

I picked these three cards up a couple of weeks ago during a trip to the LCS.  I wish this card shop was a little more local, as I have to drive almost 30 miles to get to it, but when I do get to visit the trip is always worth it, as the Sakic cards above show...

The crowds should be pretty big each day at the Expo, largely because of the big names that are going to be giving autographs.  Bobby Hull, Mario Lemieux, Guy Lafleur, Mike Modano and Vladislav Tretiak join former Leaf greats Lanny McDonald and Borje Salming.  Not that I chase any autographs, but it should be pretty cool to see those guys up close and in person.

If you're looking for me on Friday, I'll be the guy wearing the flaming horse jersey.  Don't be afraid to say hello.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Seeing double

I decided to get a little more involved in trading lately, and as usual I've been rewarded with some great cards that have helped me build some great sets.

I received a couple of envelopes within a few days of each other, first from Jeff at the Fan-Attic Sports Cards Blog (the link shows off what I sent Jeff's way).  The 2nd envelope was a PWE from one of my best suppliers (if cards were drugs.....), Pat from Hot Corner Cards.

Both gents have obviously been paying attention to my adoration of the shiny blue parallels from this year's Opening Day set.  But what are the odds of 2 different bloggers sending me the same card...

That's a lot of breath leaving Teixeira right now

Great minds think alike?  It would have been wilder had the serial numbers been relatively close together.

Use 1 for the SNI set?  Use them both?  What do you think?  I'd love to hear what you think...

Thanks for reading, Robert

The so bad it's good set. My top 5: 2001-02 UD Vintage hockey

I will say this, my quest to post a top 5 for each set that I complete is doing some good.  It's forcing me to take a look at some of the sets that I started years ago.  Sometimes those years actually turn to a decade or more, which is the case with the set I just finished this week.

I finally finished the 2001-02 Upper Vintage hockey set, with the word vintage being used very loosely.

Definitely not the greatest release ever put to cardboard.  But it was one of those sets that I vowed when I first started this blog that I would complete, and now finally it has been put to bed.

So try and suppress those yawns, and take a look at my top 5 cards from this very monotonic set.

#5:  Dan Bylsma

There are 37 cards listed in the Trading Card Database of Dan Bylsma.  By my count, 27 of them are parallels.  For a guy that played during an era where there was a multitude of sets and cards produced, Dan sure didn't make the cut for a lot of sets. 

It's also cool to see Coach Bylsma with out his glasses...

#4:  Wes Walz

Let'z zee, how many wayz can I type wordz with the letter z inztead of an s??  Maybe one of the funniest error cards I've come across, you have to wonder how Upper Deck blew this one.  Walz played 607 games over a 13 year NHL career, and I'm sure that not one time in the box scores did anyone spell his name Wez. 

#3:  Miroslav Satan

There was a time when I actually liked these 3rd uniforms for the Sabres.  I'd like to think that my mental faculties have gotten a lot better in the decade since then...

I don't know if it ever would be a good idea for Satan to be walking around with sabres attached to him....

#2:  Daniel Sedin

Another classic mistake by the Upper Deck company (at least in my opinion).  Anyone who has followed hockey for the past decade knows about the Sedin twins.  For some reason, in this set Upper Deck included a card of Daniel, but didn't use Henrik.

Maybe UD thought they could get two cards for the price of one? 

#1:  Dominik Hasek

I will give credit for Upper Deck getting Hasek on a Red Wings card for this set.  Hasek was traded by Buffalo to the Red Wings after 9 seasons in the Queen City.  Hasek paid immediate dividends for the Wings by leading them to the Stanley Cup in 2001-02.  Hasek was only one of 3 cards in the set that didn't feature the player in some kind of hockey "action" pose.  The other 2 were players that also found new homes in 2001-02, Jeremy Roenick and Doug Weight.

So there you have it, the best of the best...or so to speak.

Thanks for reading, Robert

At least I can say that one of my 2013 goals is complete

I decided at the beginning of 2013 to set a bunch of collecting goals for myself, as a lot of other bloggers do.  In some cases, I've done all right with following them.  In other cases, they've been an absolute write off.  In hindsight, looking at what I set for myself at the onset of the year, I went a little overboard. 

I did manage to hit one of my goals today at the monthly card show.  I purchased nothing but vintage, and with the 12 cards I bought for the '64 set, I'm now over 60% complete.

The 12 cards I bought worked out to a 6-6 split.

Here's the 6 low numbers...

I was happy to pickup another of the leaders cards that start the set off.  I only need three more to complete the leaders set. I also decided to grab cards today that were in better condition than the VG level I've been picking a lot of lately.  Naturally, they cost a little more, but they were worth it. 

I also picked up 6 high number cards, 4 semi highs and 2 of the high number cards.

I always like looking at the rookie cards and seeing what players accomplished during their careers.  The name Paul Speckenbach was one that I had never heard of before, and for good reason.  I did a Google search of his name, and the 6th entry was none other than GCRL's post about him just over 3 years ago.  Wayne Schurr only pitched 1 season in the majors.  In 1964 he pitched in 26 games and had no record.  There is a quick post about him as well over at the Great 1965 Topps Project blog. 

I also decided to grab a few more '62s today, 10 altogether.  Here's the best of the bunch...

I think the the win leaders card is the first Warren Spahn card that I own.  I have tried to pick up any of the Alou brothers cards quickly when I see them on the cheap.  A poor man doesn't like to spend a lot of cash on Cash, and getting the All-Star card for $2 was something I couldn't pass up.  I haven't really attacked the 62 set with any gusto, but with the 10 cards I picked up today, I'm just over 10% complete.  A long way to go, but there's no hurry with this set.

Today might be the first time ever that I went to a card show with an actual plan, and stuck to it.  I didn't purchase a card newer than 1973.

Let's see if I can make it two shows in a row next weekend.  Since I will spend two days walking around the Expo, I'm sure that at one time or another, I'll lose my way.

But what a way to go....

Thanks for reading, Robert