This Week In Mail - 3.8.26

For the most part, it was a boring week via the mail.  The top two items didn't show up until Friday and Saturday.  Part of the "boring" start to the week is that the early mail days were just set additions and I just find it difficult to be very excited by them.  Even though I do work on some modern sets, I guess I'm not a true set builder at heart.  I need a reason to build a set and even then it can be pretty boring.  

In addition to the 2026 Chrome Olympics set I decided to buy all the Olympics Topps Now set.  I don't enjoy the lottery aspect in the hobby so rather than buy these directly from Topps at stupid prices, I am just acquiring the singles from eBay at a lower price.  It takes me longer to get them, but others can play the lottery and lose.  This Breezy Johnson is the first card that's made if for the set.  You'll likely see more next week.  I'm playing the long game and waiting for even lower prices via auction on the ones I haven't ordered yet.  Also, I need to sell some more from my eBay store to get the funds.  

These are two more "Buongiorno" insert American Flag parallels /76.  I briefly talked about why I like them in my last mail day post. These two bring me up to three of the twenty cards in the set.  I have a long way to go, but hopefully a long time to get there.  I'll need the time to wait out the ridiculous Alysa Liu prices.  

Nothing special here, but did want to mention that we've watched some of the Paralympics.  It was interesting to see the difference in the Curling Mixed Doubles.  They slide the stone and just let it go.  There is no sweeping like in the Olympics.  We watched the USA sled hockey team annihilate Italy yesterday.  Seriously, Italy needed two late touchdowns to make the comeback.  I also learned that in the four prior Paralympic games, the United States team has outscored opponents something like 120-6.  I did not type those numbers incorrectly.  If memory serves me correctly, I believe they play again Monday and Tuesday.  

If you've never bought a card that you really didn't need to just because it was a good price, are you even really a collector?  I literally won an auction for this card less than five weeks ago, but this one was posted as a Buy It Now for less than half what I paid for the auction.  So, in homage to my friends at NASCARD Radio, I went <click> and snagged this one as well.  

I'm thrilled with the decision.  There is no chipping along the edges.  As long as it's not trimmed, this card is an absolute gem.  I need to check my copy at COMC and perhaps post it for sale.  

Last but certainly not least, this beauty arrived yesterday.  I have a handful of Lloyd Ruby autographs.  I have a handful of Lloyd Ruby postcards.  I did not have a slabbed, signed Lloyd Ruby postcard.  Now I do.  

Until Michael Andretti, Lloyd Ruby was considered by many to be the best driver at Indianapolis Motor Speedway not to win the 500.  The combination of that, his being a life-long Texan (Wichita Falls) and the fact that by all accounts he was one of the nicest men ever has made me a fan despite his career ending before I was born.  

I have dreams of someday commissioning someone to build me a custom case that will display (some of) my 1:24 and 1:18 diecast in the top but have cabinets below to house my card collection.  This will be proudly displayed with my Lloyd Ruby diecast.  I don't need slabbed, authenticated items for my collection but in this form it will display nicely.  All I need to do is downsize my collection and come up with the money.  What I want will NOT be cheap.  

Thanks for reading and following along with me!  

COMC Show & Tell - Blackhawks Pieces of History

It depends on your perspective.  If you're in the hobby to sell and make money, Upper Deck ePack may make you very unhappy.  As a collector, it makes me happy.  It's pulled down prices on some cards that I've been fortunate enough to add to my collection.  These four cards are perfect examples.

2015-16 Upper Deck - A Piece Of History 1000 Point Club #PC-SL Steve Larmer

2015-16 Upper Deck - A Piece Of History 1000 Point Club #PC-SL Steve Larmer (back)

2015-16 Upper Deck - A Piece Of History 1000 Point Club #PC-JR Jeremy Roenick

2015-16 Upper Deck - A Piece Of History 1000 Point Club #PC-JR Jeremy Roenick (back)

2016-17 Upper Deck - A Piece of History 1,000 Point Club #PC-MH Marian Hossa 

2016-17 Upper Deck - A Piece of History 1,000 Point Club #PC-MH Marian Hossa (back) 

2015-16 Upper Deck - A Piece Of History 1000 Point Club #PC-DS Denis Savard 

2015-16 Upper Deck - A Piece Of History 1000 Point Club #PC-DS Denis Savard (back)

All four of these cost me $26.65.  Before ePack, this was what you might pay for one of these inserts.  I understand that there are scarcity levels, but even the most common copies were pricey.  COULD I afford those prices?  Sure, I could make it happen.  But that's money that I can't spend on other things, or it just makes me pass it by and collect something else.

The lower prices work for me, as a COLLECTor.  It's all about perspective and I don't feel badly about it at all.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

2018 Trading Card Database Trade #8 - Detfan6897

Because I know everyone is waiting on this <sarcasm>, here is the third envelope that I received Tuesday from Trading Card Database trades.  It certainly hit a lot of sets and collections, likely because my trade partner collects multiple sports. 

One more checked off the list for the 2017 Topps 1987 insert set.  

Seven more cards for the 2017 Gypsy Queen set.  As I said yesterday, I feel like I'll never complete this set.  I keep plugging away, though.  I can't even imagine what it would be like to collect a massive set like the Upper Deck 40 Man or Topps Total sets.

It was nice to receive Parkhurst inserts in two envelopes from Tuesday.  There aren't many traders with these on TCDB.  

More inserts for the 2017-18 Series 1 master set build.  

For those that don't know, Jeremy Roenick was my favorite hockey player in the 1990s...until the Blackhawks and their miserly owner traded him away.  You could say that even as a teenager, I was a player supercollector.  At the time he was traded, I had about 90% of his cards that Beckett listed.  That collection had to include the Team 2001 and Career Highlights cards above.  I'm picking up his cards again as I come into them, but only if he's pictured as a Blackhawks.  I have no care for his time with the Flyers, Kings, Sharks, Coyotes and whatever other teams he played for. 

Oh, the O-Pee-Chee Marquee Legend is my second copy of the card but since it's a SP, I figured it wouldn't hurt to have another. 

Once the Blackhawks traded Roenick, there was a dark period where I was a fan and listened to games, but had no favorite player.  Enter Eric Daze.  The big man was a serious goal scorer but unfortunately back issues kept him from living up to what we expected. 

I'm confused by the MVP card above.  It's a Silver Script, but there's no facsimile signature.  It just has his name typed in silver.  I do remember this happening with some players (in other sports as well) back in the day.  Does anyone recall why this happened? 

These four Dazes are my favorites.  I love the Collector's Choice "Young Guns" card from before Young Guns were the thing.  The whatever year Topps Heritage with the wood-grain border was a must have.  Also, I miss Fleer Metal.  Those were always some fun cards. 

My love of wood grain continues with the Mario Lemieux.  I have a couple of Lemieux autographed cards in my collection so I don't collect much else of his.  I figure that nothing is going to compare to them.  I do love that Heritage design.  I wish Topps could do one NHL set a year and it was Heritage.  A man can dream. 

Please ignore the fact that I picked up a 2017-18 MVP Andrew Shaw.  The Black Ice Derian Hatcher was one that I threw in for my fiance's Stars binder.  He was her favorite player.  Other than Mike Modano.  She'd leave me for either of them.

Finally, a couple of set pickups.  The top two were the ones I traded for and he added in the bottom four.  I need to buy some more Conlon boxes and get working on the sets.  A lot of the players are also in the T206 set.  These Conlon cards have great backs (mostly text) and I am excited to learn more about the guys in the T206 set from these. 

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year (including $15 back on one Black Friday purchase last week).  They put $63 in my Paypal account last week!  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Mail from $30 a Week Habit

When I arrived home from work on Monday, I saw one of those beautiful yellow envelopes on the table waiting for me.  I've been on a bit of a buying refrigeration, so it was certainly a sight for sore eyes.  The contents were 15 cards from Robert of the $30 a Week Habit and My PCs - One Card at a Time blogs.  The 1990s hockey cards packed quite a punch!

1995-96 Topps Power Lines #4PL Patrick Poulin/ Jeremy Roenick/ Tony Amonte

I'm sure that I has this card in 1995, but after one of the many card purges I made in the late 1990s through the mid 2000s, it was gone.  Thrilled to have another copy of it.

If you didn't know it, Jeremy Roenick was my favorite player as a teen.  I'm slowly piecing back together a PC of him (Blackhawks cards only).  I know that the term "super collector" has been a thing over the past decade or so.  I hadn't heard it before, though I guess you can say that I was one as far back as my teen years.  When Roenick was traded from the Blackhawks, I had almost every card produced of his that I knew of (bear in mind, this was pre-internet), as well as all of his Starting Lineup Figures and a couple of autographs.

1994-95 Upper Deck Predictor Canadian #C19 Jeremy Roenick

I miss Predictor and You Crash the Game cards.  To me, they were the original "interactive" cards. They are one of the things that Upper Deck created that changed the hobby.  I don't understand why they don't exist any longer.  Their MVP brand would be perfect for them.  It's a low-retail set and it comes out before the season starts.  What a great way to get kids interested in both the cards and the game of hockey itself.  What do I know, though?

My favorite thing about this card is the red border.  Anything Blackhawks with a black or red border is just beauty!

1995-96 Score Border Battle #10 Jeremy Roenick

I don't know that everyone will agree with me, but Score made some of the best hockey products of the 90s.  Everything from the base cards to the insert sets were fantastic.

1992-93 Ultra Jeremy Roenick #4 Jeremy Roenick

1992-93 Ultra Jeremy Roenick #7 Jeremy Roenick

I have a couple of cards from this Roenick insert set, but I don't know which ones.  Odds are I need both of them!

1990-91 Score (American) #179 Jeremy Roenick RC

So I need to modify my previous statement about Score.  Their first few efforts weren't all that great and were seriously overproduced by any standards not involving Pro Set.

1996-97 Collector's Choice Crash The Game #C20C Eric Daze

Once the Blackhawks traded away Roenick, Eric Daze was the new favorite and focus of my collection.  His cards also left my collection during one of the purges and I'm slowly acquiring his cards.  It's such a shame that his back couldn't hold up.  As a guy that has some back issues, I know they are no joke.  He had three surgeries in a five-year span.

The only three seasons he was able to play at least 80 games, he scored 30 goals in each (including a 38 goal season).  What could have been.  For his career, he scored 226 goals in 601 games.  That averages out to 31 goals per 82 game season.

Also included in the package were nine cards from 2017 Gypsy Queen for my set.  He even included the Mike Trout!  WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Thank you for the cards, Robert.  I already have some ready for you that will be on the way soon!

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

The COMC Hockeys

A couple of days I posted about the Young Guns cards that came in my latest COMC mailday.  These take a backseat to nothing, but here are the rest of them.

2016-17 Upper Deck Gold Rainbow Foil #40 Artemi Panarin

2016-17 Upper Deck Gold Rainbow Foil #44 Patrick Kane

2016-17 Upper Deck Gold Rainbow Foil #43 Marian Hossa

2016-17 Upper Deck Gold Rainbow Foil #63 John Klingberg

First things first, my scans do the beauty of these cards no justice.  Upper Deck did a fantastic job with them.

I spent a lot of time on ePack for awhile and enjoyed it.  The three Blackhawks cards I "built" myself.  After I saw how cheaply a lot of them were selling for on COMC, I decided against putting in the time and effort.  I bought most of the other Blackhawks (I haven't had them shipped yet) and also the Klingberg.

It's a bit disconcerting that the "top" level cards from series 1 are more abundant and cheaper than the ones from Compendium.  But what can you do?

2015-16 Upper Deck #475 Ryan Hartman

 I'm really happy to see the numbers that Ryan Hartman is pretty quietly putting up for the Blackhawks this season.  I also take joy in seeing the kids that grew up in Chicago (see also: Scott Darling) thriving with the team.  It's definitely a throwback in many ways and you have the think that it's extremely special for a Chicago kid.  He has to much prefer being a Blackhawk to a Canadien!

2014-15 Vienna Beef Chicago Wolves #25 Adam Cracknell

 Adam Cracknell is easily having the best season of his NHL career in 2016-17.  He's reached a career high in games (58), goals (7) and points (11).  I love it for the 31-year old.  The Stars have already signed him to an extension through next season.  He made it to the NHL during the 2010-11 season but so far has just one NHL card, not counting it's two parallels.  I really hope that Upper Deck gets him into either the second or third series of Compendium.  I became a fan early in the season when it seemed like every two or three minutes, the announcers were saying his name again.  In a disappointing season for the Stars, Cracknell has been a bright spot for me.

2012-13 Upper Deck Canvas #C21 Patrick Kane

1995-96 NHL Aces Playing Cards #5D Jeremy Roenick

2016-17 MVP Silver Script #282 Josh Morrissey

2016-17 MVP Green Script #282 Josh Morrissey 

2008-09 Upper Deck Trilogy Combo Clearcut Autographs #CC2JJ Erik Johnson/ Jack Johnson

 I've passively collected Jack Johnson for a few years, since I found out he was born in Indianapolis.  I was living there at the time and there aren't too many NHL players from the city.  I found this one in late December and got a heck of a deal, as a seller was blowing out cards at 90% off.  The scan does it no justice, it's an acetate card and the team logos are underneath the signatures.  It's a fantastic looking card.

1990 Score Rookie/ Traded #100T Eric Lindros

I saw this card on someone's blog awhile back and decided to pick it up.  I remember how hot this card was in 1990 and I couldn't pass on some nostalgia for less than 50 cents.  

If you're on twitter, please follow me @beansbcardblog.

Happy collecting!