Old Is The New, New?

Like most collector's, I have many collecting goals.  Whether it's a player PC, team PC, or simple commons to fill a set, I want it all and I want it now.  But the reality is, there isn't enough time or money in the world to get it all now or maybe ever.  That's not to say that I don't already have a lot though.  Because, well, I do.

But one thing I don't have a lot of is old time hockey.  By old, I'm talking about pre-overproduction era hockey cards (before the 80s).  Sure I have a few singles here and there.  I even have almost 300 pre-1980s cards in my COMC inventory at my disposal if I wanted, but other than a couple cards, there's nothing substantial to any one set.  

So long story short, on top of all the other things I collect within this great hobby, I've decided to go Turbo and find a vintage set (or two or three) to go after.  There are many sets that I have always wanted to collect like the 1979-80 Topps or OPC set, the 1971-72 OPC set, the 1964-65 Topps Tallboys, or the 1951-52 Parkhurst set.  But those are just way too far outside of my price range to go after the stars and rookies in each set.  I need something that is small, not extremely over-the-top expensive, and possibly attainable within my lifetime.  I first narrowed it down to a few sets to consider:

1953-54 Parkhurst  - 100 cards - Key Cards: Tim Horton, Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau RC, Terry Sawchuk, Bill Dineen/Al Arbour RC Errors, Gordie Howe, Gump Worsley RC

1957-58 Topps - 66 cards - Key Cards:  Johnny Bucyk RC, Glenn Hall RC, Terry Sawchuk, Gordie Howe, Norm Ullman RC

1962-63 Topps - 66 cards - Key Cards:  Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, The Checklist

1971-72 Topps - 132 cards - Key Cards:  Ken Dryden RC, Gordie Howe, The Checklist, Bobby Orr

1976-77 OPC - 396 cards - Key Cards:  Bryan Trottier RC, Bobby Orr, Tiger Williams RC

I think when all is said and done, I'm going to go after all five of them but for now, my winner is going to be the Parkhurst set.  It's small, has some mega HOF power in it and I think I can get most of it for well under the "pie in the sky" values.

What is everyone's opinion?  Do you see any of these being an advantage over the other?  Do you collect vintage sets?  How concerned are you with completion vs. condition?

New Collection: Ball State Alumni Gone Pro

As some of you out there know, I am a Cardinal Alumni.  I went to Ball State from 1995-1999 and pretty much had one of the most eye-opening, thought provoking, entertainingly awesome times of my life.  Much of that experience revolved around the various sporting events the occurred during my time (...although I spent the majority of the time studying and hanging out at the library...).

Those years were very good to be a Ball State fan.  In 1996, the football team won the MAC Conference and got to play in the Las Vegas Bowl (although we lost and to this day haven't won a bowl game).  Men's basketball with Ray McCallum at the helm went on the the NCAA tournament in 1995 and the NIT in 1998.  We sent two guys to the NBA during that time...Bonzi Wells and Theron Smith a couple years later.

Ball State Lacrosse was actually formed while I was there.  At the time it was intramural only but they are now a member of the Men's College Lacrosse Association and the Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association which sees some of the best teams in the country compete.  BSU Men's Ice Hockey was also in it's infancy stages as a club sport.  They will be competing in the Division III of the collegiate club level this year.

So with all that to go off of, I decided that I would make an attempt at building a Ball State Alumni collection that will encompass all sports (men and women).  There have been many professional BSU athletes over the years and it will be a difficult task, I'm sure, to complete a perfect collection.  But I think this will be a fun thing to add some spice to the old PC.

There are many players that have cards out there and there are a ton that were drafted, played a game or two, and were never heard from again.  Because of that, I realize this is going to be a collection of "commons" but should be fun.  If a BSU player is featured on cardboard, I will add them to the collection.

This is in no way a definitive list but some of the players that I will be looking for include:

Blaine Bishop, Timmy Brown, Brad Maynard, Rush Brown, Michael Blair, Corey Croom, Bernie Parmalee, Keith Mckenzie, Nate Davis, Robert Brewster, Dante Ridgeway...and many more

Bonzi Wells, Theron Smith  (that's it, only two ever!)

Larry Bigbie, Bryan Bullington (which will also fill a need in my Pirates team collection), Thomas Howard, Merv Rettenmund, Brad Snyder (and probably some that I'm missing)

I don't know of any.  For real.  Can't name one.  If you know of any, please share.

Tamara Bowie (only one I can think of)