Leaf card of the day--1971-72 Topps #80 Dave Keon

For $2 at this month's card show, this was a no brainer...

Getting a couple of 76-77 OPC wants out of the way

Within the orders that I had placed on COMC over the past couple of weeks came a pair of cards to knock down a hockey want list for a change.

I would love for Upper Deck to start using these types of team leader cards in their modern sets.  OPC would be the natural place for them to land, since the set size is so large.  They could even get away with it in the base set, put half of the teams in series 1, and the other half in series 2.

Anyone ever notice with these team leaders cards that there aren't goalies included?  Wonder why that is...

thanks for reading, Robert

1977-78 Topps Wayne Thomas

I'm hoping to make this blog a little more relevant in 2015 with posts a little more often than once a month.  What I want to do is just grab a card that I have in my sights, and do a quick little post.

Do the backup goalies skate on the ice with a towel wrapped around their necks anymore?  Just seeing this brought me back to the days when I first started following hockey back in the mid 70's.

Flipping to the back....

I see that Wayne earned the Molson Cup for the Habs in 73-74, and played 42 games in net.  Then I think, wasn't Ken Dryden part of that club?  It appears that Wayne was the beneficiary of Ken Dryden's holdout for a better contract.  The next season, Wayne would sit on the sidelines for the entire season while Dryden and Bunny Larocque shared the goaltending duties. 

The Leafs gave up a first round draft pick to acquire Thomas so he could play a grand total of two seasons for the Leafs.  Wayne wound up losing the starting job to Mike Palmateer in 76-77.

Wayne wound up being waived at the beginning of the 77-78 season and was claimed by the Rangers, where he would play for 4 more seasons before retiring. 

Wayne is now a VP and assistant GM of the San Jose Sharks, 2nd in command to long time GM Doug Wilson.

No longer turning my nose up at Topps

I really don't know why for many years I didn't bother with Topps hockey.  It's pretty much the same as OPC hockey was back in the 70's and 80's, with the exception that the sets were smaller. 

What's even stranger is that I'm not actively trying to put any sets together from either the 70's or 80's (save for 76-77 OPC), so if my predisposition to larger sets is no longer in the way, what's the problem.

Well, I guess there isn't one any more.   At the National (yea, I know it's been over a month), I found a table with dime boxes full of late 70's and early 80's Topps hockey.

I went to work digging out the Leafs...

Some great names from that era here...Salming will always be one of my favorite Leafs, along with Sittler.  Vaive and Derlago from the Canucks really was a steal for the Leafs; Tiger Williams was the "fighting" heart of the team, and Jerry Butler was a solid penalty killer and 4th line player.  But the Leafs get Derlago, 4 seasons of 30+ goals, and Vaive who becomes the first Leaf ever to score 50 in a season.  I love that I now have a card of someone not named Gretzky wearing the number 99 in the NHL as well.  Paiement wore it in Toronto for 4 seasons between 1979-82 before being traded to the Nordiques. 

Fast forward to the mid 80's, the Leafs are in the middle of a decade long run of below .500 seasons despite having some decent talent on the club.  Rick Vaive and Steve Thomas both got a Leafs photo on their 87-88 Topps card even though they were traded to Chicago in September of '87.  Same goes for Derlago, as he only played one game in Toronto in the 85-86 season before moving to Boston for Tom Fergus. 

The 85-86 design is one of my favorites from that decade, I like the logo placement in the upper corner, with the players name and position in the bar on the bottom that features the teams dominant color.  87-88's design wasn't as thrilling to a lot of people; it kind of reminds me of a couple of 60's baseball sets with the team name in a circle. 

The 77-78 and 78-79 designs were from my early collecting years, and are still are a pair of my favorites.  Getting players such as Sittler and Salming for 10 cents apiece still makes me smile because if I had waited until November at the Expo to pick these up, I probably would have had to pay more to get them. 

Unfortunately the table that had these cards was at the end of my National trip, and the funds were starting to run low.  There was quite a few cards that I could have picked up and started a few Topps sets from these years, but I would have been able to start only one of them, and choosing which one would have been difficult since I like them all.

I guess I just had to find a bunch of cards at 10 cents apiece of my beloved Blue and White heroes to change my mind about Topps hockey.  

I guess I'm just weird that way...

thanks for reading, Robert

Welcome back MVP

I was always a fan of this set.  Back in the 90's it was a cheaper alternative to the myriad of other sets that were on the market, plus it had one of my favorite parallels ever, the silver signature parallel.

When I recently read that Upper Deck was going to resurrect MVP as a base brand again rather than an insert as it has been the past few years, I was happy.

Cheap cards, with a little something to chase, is right up my alley.

I bought a blaster while I was up in Canada during August, and when I amazingly spotted one in the card aisle today at Wal Mart, I quickly snapped it up.

The set consists of 300 cards, as it has in the past.  But now card #'s 201-300 are SPs, found 1:1 in hobby packs, 1:2 in retail/blasters.  That breakdown was a little disappointing, but not unexpected in today's SP driven card market.

The design is nice, although there may be a little too much border on the front for some people's tastes..

I think Upper Deck wanted to make sure that people knew that these cards were the MVP brand.  The logo/lettering appears twice on the front.

And twice more on the back customers are made aware that this is the MVP brand.  A little bit of overkill if you ask me.  Maybe a secondary photo on the back instead of the MVP logo would have enhanced these cards.

Also returning are my beloved silver script parallels.  I like the fact that they are distinguishable from the base set by the silver borders (along with the faux signature).  This blaster was very good to me, as I pulled 6 quality players.   This is probably going to be a chase set for me again, as I'm finally about to finish the 99-00 MVP silver sig set very shortly. 

Now, the blaster I bought in Canada netted me a Mikkel Boedker gold signature card.  I figured that I just got very lucky, since the gold signatures are #'d to 100.  Well, either I'm very lucky, or the gold signatures are in each blaster, because I pulled another one...

Love it.  Ryan O'Reilly, #'d 98/100.  In the past versions of MVP, I never pulled any gold signatures that I can recall.   Now 2 in 2 blasters?  Can my luck be changing that much?

Now this next insert I'm going to gush a little bit about...

The 3 stars of the week inserts are a fantastic idea in my opinion.  Not based on just guys who are young, or hot in the collecting world, these cards feature players that earned the 3 stars during a specific week during the NHL regular season.  

How many times are you going to see Taylor Hall, Semyon Varlamov and Max Pacioretty on a card together??  I don't recall seeing any kind of inserts like these in the past, and I'd love to see more of these in the future.  With 26 of these available (one for each week during the season), it's also an attainable insert set to put together.

MVP also has a colors and contours parallel set that is found in hobby packs that will drive team and player collectors a little more crazy as well. 

Sorry for the blurry image

No, I unfortunately don't have the Joe Sakic die-cut yet, but naturally as a Sakic collector I would love to have one for my PC.  A quick search of eBay shows that these have a bit of a wide price range so far; a lot of the commons going for about $2-$3, while a Bobby Orr purple die cut has a $40 BIN price tag on one auction that I found.

I'm hoping by the time the Hockey Expo in November rolls around that the price tag drops a bit, which I'm thinking it will since the 14-15 Upper Deck series 1 releases that week.

All in all, this has been a fun and inexpensive rip so far, and it just may replace my OPC chase this year.

thanks for reading, Robert

The other half of the great card state

Not to be outdone by the 3 cards that Pat sent, Dennis from the Too Many Verlanders blog hit me up with a great PWE today as well.

A couple of Maple Leaf autos never hurt the cause....

I never dabbled much with the one auto a pack Be A Player releases from the mid to late 90's.  I've never been a collector that chases autographs, however I'm also someone who doesn't sneer at them when they come my way.

The 97-98 Leafs were not a very good squad, finishing with only 69 points and failing to score 200 goals during an 82 game season.  Derek King was third on the club with 47 points, and Alyn McCauley was a 20 year old rookie who accumulated 16 points.  While King only played one more season in Toronto before being traded to the Blues, McCauley went on to play 4+ more seasons in the Blue and White, becoming a solid 3rd/4th line player during the long playoff of 2001-02. 

These cards are great additions to my long neglected Leaf collection, and were a great surprise when I opened Dennis' envelope today.  Yes, Michigan was a great card state for me today...

thank you very much Dennis, these cards are greatly appreciated!!!

thanks for reading, Robert

Adding pieces of the puzzle--right before the frenzy

I posted on the other blog about a PWE that Doug from the Dollar Store blog sent me.  The remainder of the cards in the envelope hit two of my hockey collections.

First, he sent me this years SP Game Used card of Joe Sakic.

I'm curious what the plans are for Burnaby Joe and the Avalanche organization as the free agent frenzy begins tomorrow.  I'm not too sure that the Parenteau for Briere trade was a step in the right direction for the Avs, but of course I have a tendency to be wrong when criticizing trades, so don't be surprised to see that trend continue.

Colorado's big name free agent is Paul Stastny, who has been rumored to be going to the blue and white, along with a few other teams.  Speaking of blue and white....

Doug also sent a couple of really nice base cards from the 2013-14 Panini Rookie Anthology set.  From all the scuttlebutt I've heard recently, James Reimer's days as a Maple Leaf are numbered, with Winnipeg as the likely destination. 

I almost wish I had taken the day off tomorrow to watch the going's on, but then I remember to a couple of years ago when I took July 1st off, and wound up watching all day as nothing major really took place. 

One of these days I'll have to start putting a Maple Leafs want list together.  It shouldn't be as difficult as the Jays list was, and it will give me a good starting point when I head to hockey shows down the road. 

Thanks again Doug!  I appreciate the cards very much...

thanks for reading, Robert

Slacker---that's right, I'm a slacker.

2.5 weeks between posts.   Not a good thing when you're just starting out a new blog.  It's been tough staying motivated so far this summer, even on the main blog.  But I did manage to snag a few cards for a couple of hockey want lists this week.

A couple of six packs you could say.  

I'm 6 cards closer to completing the 2008-09 OPC set.  Man I'm dragging this one out!

D'Agostini has made a few stops since this card was first released.  He even had an 8 game cup of coffee in the steel city during this past season.  Speaking of 8 games, that's all that Kevin Doell played with the Thrashers back in 2008.  Enough to get him on a card!  Andrew Ebbett is another player who has bounced around, seeing action with 5 teams since he left the Ducks in 2009.

While those 6 cards are good, these 6 coming up I like even better.

I'm really hoping to build, over time, the OPC sets from 80-81 through 86-87.  I love each and every one of those sets, and piece by piece I'll have them in my collection at some point in the future.   I picked these up from one of my favorite Sportlots sellers for a quarter a piece.  I didn't know what to expect condition wise, but these are in great shape.  Even though I picked up 3 Leafs, and one former Leaf (Manno) in this group, the card I was most excited to get on the cheap was the Trottier.  The card is NM at worst, and for 25 cents was an easy add to my purchase on the weekend.

This is just the start of the purchase, I have a whole bunch more singles to show off soon.

thanks for reading, Robert

Despite the red, I had to have this card

I am still considering the Robert Morris card show last weekend a success for myself, even though I wound up with limited time to peruse the aisles.

There was one table that was offering 75% off of relic cards, so I dove in to see if I could find anything worth bringing home.

Even though the swatches on this card were red, I just had to have this card.

The Big M!!  Frank Mahovlich, one of the greatest Leafs of all time.  I love the look of the card, the picture is great, the script is a font that I enjoy reading, and it's limited to just 50 copies.

The price tag was even better.  $3.50

If I can find one of these with blue or white swatches, that would be even better.  None the less, this card becomes a nice piece of my Maple Leafs collection, which is something that I am hoping to grow a little bit more over the summer.

thanks for reading, Robert

More early 70's goodness from Mark

I love these early 70's cards so much that anything I write probably couldn't do them any justice.

The Ellis is severely miscut, and the Ullman has a heavy crease that runs right through his mouth.  The interesting thing about the 3 different sets that Mark sent me?   Each set has only 1 action card.  All the other photos are posed.  I wonder if Topps did that on purpose?

 

The 73-74 set is another favorite of mine, although I've never been able to figure out if there is a rhyme or reason to the different color borders.  The Doug Favell airbrushing of his Leafs jersey is horrible, yet funny!  I love the Dave Keon card.  I'm sure that people out there who aren't Leaf fans may have a bit of a difficult time figuring out which player is Keon.  (#14 in blue just in case you were wondering...)

I grew up in an Italian neighborhood in Toronto, and went to an Italian barbershop when I was a kid.  One of the reasons I loved going there?  They had a Leafs calendar on the wall.  The team card you see here reminds me of that calendar.  Without a magnifying glass, I can only make out a handful of players in the photo.  Ellis and Keon in the front row.  Ullman 2nd row center (A on sweater).  Darryl Sittler in the upper left.  Denis Dupere right below him (you can't miss that mustache).  Gord McRae, 2nd row far right, is the only goalie I know off hand. 

I was only 6 years old when the 73-74 season played out, but those are the earliest (and some of the greatest) memories of the Leafs I have.  Seeing my first game in the Gardens up in the Greys (nose bleeds), and loving every minute of it. 

Thank you for the cards Mark!  Brought back a lot of memories for me, and I love every minute of it.

thanks for reading, Robert

I did get a little cheese with my whine, thanks for asking!

Benefactor  noun:

1.  A person who gives money or other help to a person or cause.

If you've been reading at all lately in the blogosphere, I'm sure you're aware of the gentleman who has been providing joy to a lot of collectors, Mark Hoyle.  Mark has definitely been a benefactor to a lot of people lately, including myself. 

Mark noted on my latest post that he would be sending some Leafs vintage my way to ease the pain.  Boy was I shocked when I opened the envelope.  Probably the favorite group for me was the '74-75 Topps cards.

I always loved the league and team leaders cards.  The Doug Favell leaders card was interesting because on the back it had the asterisk with the line "minimum 30 games played"   Favell only played 38 for the Leafs in 73-74, but still got the nod as the best GAA in the eastern division.  I also got a kick out of the Leafs having Denis Dupere as one of the two scoring percentage leaders, even though Dupere only played 28 games and scored just 8 goals.  Henderson should have had that space to himself; at least he played the majority of the season and scored 24 times.

Down the middle the Leafs were deep, with three of the greatest names in Leaf history featured above.  Sittler was the team leader in scoring with 84 points and 38 goals. 

The Leafs were the first team to bring Swedish players to the NHL, one of the two being Inge Hammastrom, shown on the top right.   Inge didn't fare too badly in his time with the Leafs, scoring 20+ goals in 3 different seasons.  The Ron Ellis card is the only action card of the whole stack, and it's a pretty good shot of him circling the net while Gilles Villemure of the Rangers appears to be clearing the puck away.   Jim McKenny played right wing and defense during his Leafs career, and only 10 games in Minnesota kept Jim from being a career Leaf. 

Rick Kehoe actually is more noted for his time with Pittsburgh, scoring 312 goals with the Pens over 11 seasons.  "Cowboy" Bill Flett has a nicely air brushed card for your entertainment; the 74-75 season would be the only one he spent with the Leafs, scoring 15 goals. 

Red Kelly is still the only NHL player in history to win 4 Stanley Cups with two different teams, winning 4 Cups in 6 seasons with the Red Wings in the early to mid 50's.  Red then pulled the same trick with the Leafs, 4 Cups in 6 years during the mid 60's.  I spoke earlier of the Leafs bringing Swedish players to the league, and there were none better than Borje Salming.  Salming finished 3rd in the Calder trophy voting for best rookie, behind Tom Lysiak and HOFer Denis Potvin.  

I think the only card missing that would complete the Leafs team set for me is the Lanny McDonald RC.  That will be high on the list of cards to acquire, maybe at the show in May I'll get lucky.

There's still more in the envelope to show, some great cards from the 72-73 and 73-74 Topps sets will have to be displayed for your viewing pleasure.

Thank you Mark, the cards are very much appreciated!!

thanks for reading, Robert

Now that the collapse is complete, what's next?

I've done a lot of thinking about the Leafs lately, probably more than I really should be doing.  Despite what a lot of people say, I don't think that they are as far off from being a contender than people think.

Of course, I don't get paid the big bucks like Brendan Shanahan or Damien Cox, so my opinion is likely to be way off.  

First up, it's likely that this guy is going to be fired some time this week.

1990-91 OPC #51

I don't think that he's going to be a scapegoat for the team's failure to win down the stretch, because it really is his fault.   The team just cannot play defence.  Part of the blame for that can be placed on the talent that he was provided by the GM (more on that later this week), but the fact of the matter is this.  The coach has to teach.  There never appeared to be any kind of system in place to take care of the defensive zone. When the team loses 12 out of its last 14 games to sink like a stone in the standings, someone has to take the hit. 

This next guy has been the subject of a lot of talk as well.   Bad contract, under performing, etc etc.

2013-14 OPC Retro # 609

There's a couple of reasons why David Clarkson didn't perform well this year.  First, the 10 game suspension at the beginning of the season killed any momentum he may have had coming out of training camp.  Second, get this guy a pair of regular line mates, and let him go.  I think that if he had been on a line with Kadri and Lupul on a regular basis, that they could have performed quite well together.  Clarkson is a guy who likes to go to the front of the net on the power play.   Why didn't he see any power play time this season?  Yes, he had a lot of pressure on him with the big contract, but when you don't have a specific role for the entire season, it makes things tough. 

It'll will be interesting to see who the new coach is, and what he does to better utilize the talent of his players.  The rumor of Peter DeBoer taking over the club seems to be that, just a rumor. 

There also has to be a big shake up on the blue line as well.   The Leafs only have a couple of players that can actually play defence at a decent level, and this must be addressed in order to move forward.

It should be a fun summer in Leafland...

thanks for reading, Robert

Brendan Shanahan hired as president of the Maple Leafs

It's the week of former players being hired on as team presidents.  First, it was Trevor Linden in Vancouver, which for me made total sense.

As far as this guy heading up the Maple Leafs, I'm not so sure.

92-93 Upper Deck #122

What has me worried is that Shanahan has no ties to the Leaf franchise at all.  None.  The closest you could say that he's come to the Maple Leafs is having played in the old Norris division against the buds in the early 90's. 

We'll see what he has to say about the current state of the roster when he takes over the reins this weekend (as has been reported).  It will be interesting to see if he thinks the Leafs are just a couple of pieces away from starting to contend, or if another major shake up is needed.

I have a feeling it's going to be the latter.   Should be an interesting summer in Leafland.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Box break: 2012-13 In the Game Between the Pipes

If you take away two things about me from my time spent writing on the blogs, you should know that:

1.  My preference is licensed over un-licensed products
2.  I have a hard time turning down a good deal.

When it comes to hockey cards, these two things can sometimes lead to internal conflict.   That's how it was when I spotted a great deal on a hobby box of 2012-13 In the Game Between the Pipes on the Dave & Adam's website.  For less than half the normal cost, I decided to give this product a try.

I was pleasantly surprised.

For me, the junior goalie cards are OK.  I don't know most of the players, but sometimes that's what is good about cards, you get a bit of an education.

One of the more famous junior teams in Ontario is the London Knights, and I found a history of the team here.  I haven't followed junior hockey in Canada on a regular basis since I was a teenager.   Maybe it's time to get back into it a little more.  Some of the logos and jerseys are fabulous.

Being a part time goaltender myself when I was younger, some of the cards that feature vintage masks are great.

History lessons are always good, so these cards that feature goaltenders from the original six days are a treat for me as well.

Even today's stars are part of the mix:

There's also no shortage of goodies in the box.   One of the more popular inserts over the years has been the Masked Men cards, and I was fortunate enough to pull 3 of them out of the box.

Naturally, the Felix Potvin becomes an instant favorite for me.  These cards scanned tremendously; they are really beautiful in hand.

As far as hits, I received 6 total.  The 3 autographs consisted of one junior player, and two goalies who had careers that lasted just under a decade apiece.

The names on the jersey cards I pulled were a lot more notable.

The dual jersey was of Ed Belfour and Brandon Whitney.  Whitney is a BlackHawks prospect, drafted in the 7th round in 2012.

The other two cards feature a goalie that earned his 300th victory this season, Henrik Lundqvist.

A great way to finish up the box. 

At $47, this box was a great rip.  The original price was over $100, which for me would be a bit too steep for an unlicensed product.  If ITG BTP was priced in the $70-80 range, I might be more tempted to pick up a box when it first comes out. 

I now know what everyone has been raving about over the years.  ITG does a great job for a company without a NHL license.  With Upper Deck owning an exclusive license by the NHL, it appears that ITG will be limited in what it can do for the foreseeable future.

thanks for reading, Robert

One down, 5 to go

What looked like a cakewalk almost 3 weeks ago has turned into a heart attack for this guy.

An eight game losing streak at this time of year will do that for you.  Being a fan of the team that is at the center of the hockey universe just magnifies the pain ten fold. 

All the talking heads in the hockey world have said that for the Leafs to make the playoffs, they would have to win their final 6 games, and hope for a little help along the way.

Last night, the first win was accomplished, 3-2 over Calgary.  Probably the toughest of the remaining 5 games is on Thursday against the Bruins. 

Who do I think is going to be the key to the Leafs winning on Thursday?

This guy.

For Phil to reach the 40 goal mark for the first time in his career, he needs 4 goals in the team's final 5 games.  Phil has gone without a goal in the past 4 games, and I believe that if he pots 1 or 2 against the Bruins, the Leafs will prevail.

Yes, I know that sounds kind of hopeful, but when your team endures an 8 game losing streak at the worst time of the year possible, hope is what you're reduced to.

Ahhh...the life of a diehard Leafs fan.

Thanks for reading, Robert

I didn't go to the show looking for this

It just kind of fell in my lap.  At the big Ohio Sports Collector Convention on Saturday, I was spending a good deal of time looking for a specific '73T baseball card, when my eyes came upon this card.

The dealer who had the card had it taped to a poster board (inside of a top loader, naturally).  The original sticker on it said $2, but it was far enough back from the table that I wasn't 100% sure that the sticker actually said $2.  So I called him over and asked if my eyes were failing me and if the card was actually that cheap.

Upon seeing the sticker, he laughed and said no, but he would price it for me if I liked.   I said sure, and that I would take it if it was reasonably priced.

$25 was his response after looking it up.

Sold.

60-61 Parkhurst #1, Tim Horton.  Easily the best hockey card that I now own. 

You just never know what you'll find when you're not looking.   I have to remember that.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Losing it

The last half dozen games for the Leafs have been heartbreaking to endure.  6 losses after coming back east from the first 3 games of a difficult road trip. 

The playoffs looked all but certain back then.   Now, the Leafs are part of a 4 way tie for the 2 wild card spots, and they are in the worst spot of all 4 squads, having played more games than any of the others.

For myself, I have something to rejoice.  Max from the Starting Nine blog sent me the first hockey cards that I have received from a fellow blogger since I start the "Just another HC blog".   A trio of Leafs to take my mind off of my teams struggles...

Even if the Leafs lose it, and fall out of the playoffs altogether, these three players are going to be vital cogs for the franchise going forward.  If people wonder if Tyler Bozak should be mentioned as part of the core, I would tell them to look at the 1st line's struggles while he was out hurt.  Then when he returned they became maybe the most dangerous unit in the NHL. 

By the way, any card that features a Leaf in their '67 style sweater is an instant hit in my book.  I will have one of those for myself some day.

For whom does the bell toll?  The bell tolls for thee....

thanks for reading, Robert

The beginning of the end?

After finishing the worst part of their road trip with a 2-1 record, the Leafs looked really good in my eyes.  I believe they were in 2nd place in the Atlantic division when they came back east.

Then the Leafs came back east.  Yes, they've been bad defensively at times this year, but starting in Washington 8 days ago, they looked even worse than ever (at times).   What happened in Leaf land next was not surprising.   The finger pointing started, and they were aimed squarely at this guy.

No, I didn't use a SCORE card to illustrate a point

It's a shame, because at times he's looked very good.  Other times, the team has made him look bad.  And finally he's made himself look bad on a few occasions as well.  I think that when the Leafs acquired Jonathan Bernier last summer

that any confidence the players/management had in Reimer was eroded.   Now that Bernier's hurt, the team had to fall back on a guy that management doesn't have 100% faith in. 

Now, the Leafs are on a 5 game losing streak, and that playoff spot they looked to be a lock for last week is dangling on a wire. 

Funny how a week in the NHL can totally turn things around, isn't it?   Don Cherry on Coach's Corner said that Reimer needs to get out of Toronto this summer; move him to another club for a fresh start.

He's 100% right in my eyes.  Not that I don't like James Reimer, that's far from the truth.  But when the Leafs acquired Bernier last summer, that was the beginning of the end. 

Much like the last week has been for the Leafs playoff chances.

thanks for reading, Robert

2008-09 Upper Deck Masterpieces

I bought a couple of boxes of these back at the November Expo for $25 apiece.  I opened them not too long after that, but never posted a word about them until now. 

These cards are incredible.  Similar to the baseball releases, these artistic cards feature some of the greats of the game in some memorable poses.

How about the Cup presentation ceremony in '94 for the Rangers?

Even though Bettman is in the drawing, it's still a memorable moment.

Don Cherry's greatest player of all time, Bobby Orr, looks great in the '76 Canada Cup.  I can still remember Darryl Sittler's overtime goal to beat the Czech's. 

How about a pair of all time greats in the cage for the blue and white?

One of these days I will own actual vintage cards of both of these guys.  I still love watching interviews with the "China Wall" Johnny Bower. 

This set even includes a couple of cards depicting Lord Stanley and Lady Byng.

A history lesson never hurts when it comes to cards, especially when the people portrayed are responsible for part of the game's history.

The framed cards are also very cool.   I pulled a couple of Oilers from their 80's dynasty teams.

Finally, the jersey card that was in the box features a great red swatch from the "Big Bird", Larry Robinson.

One of these days,  I should be able to get these 2 boxes sorted and see if I have at least one set, if not 2. 

Thanks for reading, Robert

I should have done this a while ago

I finally realized while writing the post called Damn Tins on my other blog that I enjoy writing about hockey cards.   A lot.   That post was one of the easiest posts to write in quite a long time.  That fact told me something.

This blog is way overdue. I love hockey too much not to focus more time on my passion for the game.

I'm not going to stop writing on my other blog, but it will slow down over time.  The $30 a week habit blog will also become a little more baseball centric.  Which is fine.

What are you going to see here you ask?  A lot of Maple Leafs cards.   The Joe Sakic PC has been moved from the other blog to this one.  The hockey want list has also been moved over as well, and will be added to over time.

You will also see posts that represent my opinions on topics, events or anything in general related to the world of hockey.  There are lots of commentators on TV that talk a good game (or at least they think that they do).   They are fair game. 

The one card rule will still apply here.  Just because the word (card) is in brackets, doesn't mean that you're not going to get your dose of cards here.  They could be the focus of a post.  They could just augment an opinion I'm making about something (or someone).  

Should this guy have been named captain of the Leafs a couple of years ago?  Who knows, because being captain of a team in today's NHL doesn't mean what it used to.   Just ask Ryan Callahan. 

Hopefully this little corner of the universe will add a little something to your hockey enjoyment. 

Oh, and there's one other thing that will make its way over from the other blog.

thanks for reading, Robert