Things Rescued From Auction

For some reason, don't ask me why, I have been trolling the Bay quite frequently lately looking for different items to fill in some gaps in my collection.  One of those gaps has been some missing cards from my Penguins and Steelers tribute card-o-rama.

Those of you that have been around for any length of time may remember this post about my wife's contribution to my madness way back in when.  She brought these home to my utter amazement and even permitted me to hang them up.  If you recall, I had decided to use one frame to feature all the Pittsburgh Steelers that have been elected to the Hall of Fame (or at least as many that would fit).  The other frame would be for the Trib Total Media All Time Penguins team which features 15 players and 5 Honorable Mentions. 

Since I decided to put them up, I have been trying to find the perfect cards of each player to put in.  The holders are snap-tite's that anchor themselves by sliding in and out of pre-mounted strips.  I'm sure many of you have seen these before.  The problem lies in the fact that the holders are vertical.  If you want them to look nice and uniform, the card images have to also be vertical.  My other dilemma has been that I didn't want to duplicate any set designs.  So if I have a 1974 Topps Franco Harris, I need to have some other year for Joe Greene. 

Les Binkley and Randy Carlyle have been my two Penguins that I have yet to fill in since I can't seem to find any Binkley's and the only two Carlyle cards I have currently are already being used (one in a set and the other year/brand is already represented in the frame).  Despite the two holes, the frame filled up quickly as most of card collection is hockey and I have been actively accumulating stuff since the mid-80s.

As for the Steeler frame, that has been a bit harder to fill.  First, I limited my Steelers to only those that spent the bulk of their careers with the team, were integral in building the team, or spent the most productive of their careers in Pittsburgh.  This helped to eliminate Cal Hubbard, Marion Motley, Bill Hewitt, and Len Dawson.  It took out Greasy Neale too since he was a coach for only one year.  I also didn't include Dick Lebeau because although a pivotal coach in Steelers history, he was elected for his playing days with Detroit.  He will almost certainly go in as a coach down the road.

So I was down to 20 players/coaches/owners that had to be filled in.  The players with modern cards (ie. 1960s to today) were easy.  The bump in my road came with The Chairman Of the Board Art Rooney, Dan Rooney, Bert Bell, Bill Dudley, Ernie Stautner, Walt Kiesling, Bobby Layne and John Henry Johnson.  I also didn't have a vertical card of Chuck Noll but do have a temporary one in its place. 

This was supposed to be an Ebay post though.  Here are a few I picked up to fill in some holes in the Steeler "Hall Of Frame".

 1985 Football Immortals Bill Dudley #37

 1988 Swell Hall Of Fame John Henry Johnson #140

 1991 Enor Hall Of Fame Bert Bell

1991 Enor Hall Of Fame Art Rooney

I know these are odd ball cards from "off the grid" sets but sometimes you have to dig deep.  I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg to get this filled up.  Plus, since it will be on display, I didn't want any of the better cards being exposed to too much light or conditions that would cause fading.  I still want it to look cool though.  I know there is a different Art Rooney card out there with almost the identical photo but I haven't seen any Bert Bell's.  So for now, I will temporarily suspend my rule of 1 card per set in order to accommodate both the Enor cards. 

Oh, and just to round out my purchase for some almost free shipping, I picked up these too.

 

1976 Wonder Bread Franco Harris #3

T206 Honus Wagner

The Harris was to help complete the Wonder Bread set that I am sort of on-again off-again working on.  The Wagner is because I have always wanted a copy of this card.  I'd take the real thing too if I had a quarter of a million to waste.  If I am going to call myself a Pittsburgh collector, there has to be at least one of these in my Pirates collection.  Now there is.

After Careful Deliberation

I have decided that one of the card frames is now going to contain the Pittsburgh Penguins All Time Team.  Trib Total Media announced a week or so ago the All Time Team as voted by both fans and local media people and for the most part, with possibly one exception I think it is dead on. 

One of the criterion was that it contain players from all eras of the team's history with the exception that current roster players are not eligible.  That was one of the sticking points for me since a public opinion vote on all time players was bound to include players of today like Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, Staal, etc.  Since these are the guys that won the latest championship, they are the ones that many younger fans and "bandwagoners" remember.  For me though, I was concerned with the guys that built the franchise and made it what it is today.  Granted, the bulk of the players involved are from the late 80s/early 90s back-to-back Stanley Cup teams but that was a pivotal time in franchise history.  However, they didn't forget many of the players of the past that kept this team viable for the pre-Mario years and struggled with the team along the way.


This awesome group will be honored in an interactive display at the Trib Total Media entrance of CONSOL Energy Center. The Trib Total Media Penguins All-Time Team Zone, as it will officially be known, (or "hey, you know that section with all the cool digital stuff about the players") will also include displays honoring other Penguin players, builders and fans.  So in honor of that, and since it will probably be a long time before I get to see the real thing in person, I am creating my own All Time Team display with one of the card frames.

The list is comprised of 15 players and 5 honorable mentions...perfect for a 20 card display, including:

Mario Lemieux

Ron Francis

Jaromir Jagr

Rick Kehoe

Kevin Stevens

Jean Pronovost

Paul Coffey

Larry Murphy

Ulf Samuelsson

Tom Barrasso

Syl Apps

Joe Mullen

Dave Burrows

Les Binkley

Pierre Larouche

Randy Carlyle

Rick Tocchet

Martin Straka

Ron Stackhouse

Lowell MacDonald

Not a bad lineup.  I'm not focusing on a certain card either.  I couldn't fill this thing with rookie cards even if I tried.  Instead, I am picking out a variety of cards that feature the players in their Pens uniforms that are eye catching and can tell a story.  Each card is going to be of a separate year and brand.  I am trying for no duplication of cards designs.  The last qualification is that it has to be a vertical picture.  Horizontal won't work since the display has to be mounted upright because of the case tracks.

So far it is looking pretty good.  Right now, I am two cards short as I can't seem to find any Randy Carlyle cards in my collection sporting a Penguins uniform (which is really strange).  I am also without a Les Binkley in a Pens uniform.  Les could be a harder pull since he played so long ago.  His 68-69 rookie card is a horizontal shot instead of vertical (although I do still want that for my team collection).  My only shots are his 69-70, 70-71 (probably my best option since it shows him in full gear minus a mask which he didn't wear), or 71-72 (which I am already using for Syl Apps spot).  If I can find the 04-05 ITG card, he is featured as a Penguin but most of the various reprint/retro sets have him as an Ottawa National. There are a few on the Bay so we will see what happens. 

I will try and post the final project when it is finished and in the meantime, figure out what I am using the other one for.  I'm guessing Steelers but I can't figure out which yet.