This Week's Puck Junk Podcast; The One In Which Redemptions Are Discussed

Check out this week's Puck Junk Podcast where Sal Barry and I discuss the new Walmart/ePack only release of 2019-20 Parkhurst, as well as dive into the pros and cons of redemption cards.  Are they evil?  Maybe. Are they necessary? Also maybe.

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Redemption Song: For My Son!

For those of you that follow my Twitter account, you probably already saw this one earlier.  But for those that don't...what's wrong with you?  Just kidding.  Let me explain.

I generally try to involve my children (I have two of them) in my hobby as much as possible.  I wasn't exposed to this hobby by another adult.  It was by kids my own age with similar likes and interests.  These days, it just doesn't work like that.  Kids don't do a lot of collecting on their own and are more interested in other hobbies.  Nonetheless, I get them involved by showing them what drove me into the hobby in the first place...that connection between the cardboard and real life.  Whether it's the game photos, stats on the back, write ups about the player, or simply putting things in order by name, number, position, etc., there are engaging ways to get kids into collecting.

But that's a totally different subject for another time.

I took the boys with me to a card show in Chicago a few months back (November to be exact) and they both got to split a hobby box of Topps Football.  The excitement of them splitting the box, choosing which packs to open and then battling out who got the best cards in each pack was priceless.  But one of the packs that my youngest son opened contained the all too familiar Blue Topps Card with the word "CONGRATULATIONS" across the top.  Yes, he pulled a redemption.

How do you explain a redemtion to a six year old?  Well you don't.  We are saving that for another post as well.

This one was different though.  It was for an Uncut Sheet.  I hadn't seen these pop up at the time but wondered just what that entailed.  Regardless, as I always do, I gave him a choice.  Would he like to sell it and see what he could get for it or redeem it and see if he gets the item.  His choice was to redeem.

Fast forward through months of waiting, every other weekend being questioned as to whether it arrived yet, and watching his disappointment as we checked the status online only to see that it was still in process.  Today in the mail.  It arrived.  And it was HUGE!!!  Huge enough that it had to be signed for.  Huge enough that it almost towers over Mr. D (which isn't saying much since he is six after all).  Without further adieu...

BEHOLD...

  
Thank you, Topps for actually sending this.  While I was pretty sure it would get here someday, there was that brief moment of doubt where I thought it just might not ever arrive.  You have made this little guy very happy.

Redemption Song - 2011-12 Artifacts

Little yellow packages in the mail are always fun.  Especially when you aren't expecting anything.  Basically I never EXPECT anything, although between Ebay and other online adventures, I pretty much have something on it's way on a regular basis. 

With redemptions though, you really never know when (if) they are going to come.  I have had the fortunate luck of receiving all my redemptions that I have ever sent in.  The only time I had an issue was when Upper Deck ran out of autos a few years ago but replaced my card with something better (it went from a rookie auto of a guy I never heard of to a veteran auto of a guy that I have).

So the other day, I had a little yellow package waiting for me on my desk when I got home from work.  That is usually the place my kids leave them when they get the mail everyday.  The package was somewhat recognizable as it was labeled from everyone's favorite redemption center on Aviation Parkway in Morrisville, NC.  Before opening the pack, I went to the UD redemption page to see what these could be as I didn't remember sending anything in recently.

Ahhh, yes.  Now I remember.  These must be from the boxes of Artifacts that I opened last October.  Two boxes yielded two redemptions.  It was a bit disappointing to say the least since that meant that the rookie "hits" were actually not in the box but at the time, I had no idea who the players were since one was a NHL WILD CARD redemption and the list hadn't been published yet.  Now that I see this, I still have no idea who the players are.  (just kidding)

Actually I am somewhat familiar with Peter Holland as he was a highly touted draft pick in 2009 for the Anaheim Ducks.  I think he plays for the Syracuse Crunch but I'm not entirely sure.  Horak I had to look up because I hadn't remembered him until I read his bio.  He was actually able to make a roster spot on the Flames for 2011-12 and he scored his first NHL point last year against my Pens.

Here they are in all their glory...

Did I mention that they are both numbered out of /699.  I know.  I can hardly contain my excitement either.  As you can see, I'm not too fondly attached to either of these and I am not a master set builder of the Artifacts sets (base is my limit because of all the short prints) so if there are any of you out there that need either or both of these, check my lists, throw me a couple cards in trade, and they are all yours.