I Question Their Intentions

2000-01 Upper Deck E-Card Brett Hull

The Internet is a neat thing, especially now that it is on computers.  That's why when Upper Deck decided to introduce the world to E-Cards, it seemed as though collecting would suddenly advance into the 25th Century.  No more riding your bike to the local dealer to buy packs of the latest trading card.  We're all using our hover boards and moon boots, or riding the monorail to get there.  This is the future!!  

So the instructions on the card tell me to go to upperdeckdigital.com so that I can "digitize" my card.  Why?  Because the only thing better than cardboard Brett Hull is digital Brett Hull.  I went there like they are telling me to.  You know what I found??

This!

Is my card digitized now?  Has Brett joined the ranks of the 1's and 0's?  I sure hope so.  But where is it?  I didn't get an email or an instant message.  Maybe I should click the "Sports News" button.  Or maybe I should check my hover board.  These directions are way too difficult for me to understand.  Technology is scary.  I really question Upper Decks intentions.

Goodwin Hockey Champions

Because there hasn't been another release yet this year for hockey...that is 2012-13, and mostly because I was bored, I decided to get a couple blasters of 2012 Goodwin Champions with a gift card that has been eating a hole in my wallet.

 
I'm a sucker for retro themed sets and this one is intermixed with all sorts of players from all the major sports, NASCAR, boxing, golf, Olympic competitors, wrestling, etc.  But I am mainly interested in the hockey players that are intermixed in here.  I have heard there are somewhere between 16-20 different hockey players mixed into the checklist from the 1-231.  There are also a whole host of parallel versions, mini versions, mini parallels, and of course the memorabilia and autos.  I will say this now, I didn't get any memorabilia or autos but I did get some interesting cards.

I got a total of 9 different hockey cards in the box.  First we have the Eric Lindros featuring a baby-faced Lindros from the 1991 Entry Draft where he was picked by the Quebec Nordiques in the infamous decision that they made, despite Lindros' adamant stand against playing in Quebec.  He held out that entire season and basically forced the Nords to dish him to the highest bidder...Philly.  The did end up with Forsberg in the deal and about $15 million, but in hindsight, this was the death knell for hockey in Quebec.   

I didn't find the actual picture this was from but I found a shot from the event.  

See, there he is now with that awesome tie of his.  

Since these are all paintings or caricatures of the players, some of them are a bit rough in comparison to their actual likeness.  Take Mr. Brett Hull here for example.  I'm sorry, but he just looks a little drunk to me in that picture.  On the other hand, there is an excellent painting of Brian Leetch in a suit with a lapel flower at a podium in front of the American Flag.  This was from his induction into the hockey hall of fame. 

   See...

And the Luc Robitaille lacing up his skates on the locker room bench is a very good artist rendering of the Hall of Famer.  That one is as "old school" as you get with the wooden bleacher benches with the vents underneath.  Old time hockey for sure.

The next grouping features some interesting subjects.  First, we have Jonathan Huberdeau, the third overall pick in the 2011 draft by the Florida Panthers.  He was named MVP of the 2011 Memorial Cup, leading his QMJHL team, Saint John, to the Championship.  He also led Team Canada to the Gold in the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament back in 2010.  Huberdeau has yet to play a shift in the NHL but is surely going to make an impact on a Florida team with a lot of budding talent (I say that with much sarcasm). 

Next we have Captain Crunch himself, Mr. Wendel Clark.  He sports the ever-fashionable bloody eye in this photo.  I found the shot that this probably came from, although he is in a different pose in the painting.  All-in-all it is a pretty good wendering...get it, wendel, render. 

Nevermind.

The next card I had no idea who it was at first.  I actually thought it was Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite (without the mustache).  Then I thought, "Why would Uncle Rico be in this set as "Uncle Rico" instead of as himself, the actor Jon Gries?".  To which my response was, "Why would Jon Gries be in this set?".  And then I though, "And where is his mustache?".  It was then that I read the heading and saw it was Mike Bossy, the Islanders Hall of Famer.  Now it makes sense.  That guy has four Cups.  FOUR!

Not this guy.  Mike Bossy.

Finally, we have the NHL discipline czar, Brendan Shanahan.  I'm going out on a limb here to say this one was taken after winning the Stanley Cup with Detroit.  He has the sweater already torn off and his pads showing.  He is sporting the playoff goatee.  And he is saying that he is number one.  On second thought, maybe it is the Dictator.

Who's Idea Was It: Hockey Heroes

Who's idea was it to make these impossible to find in boxes?

The odds are 1:600 packs that you will get one.  That comes out to about 1 every three cases or so.  That's completely absurd if you ask me.  I was lucky enough to win an online auction for the Art card you see here and came out of the deal fairly unscathed, cash-wise.  Sure its a nice looking card, even better in hand.  But is it 1:600 nice?

In the beginning and for many years, the sets were single subject driven.  I remember the first set in 1991-92 with Brett Hull as the subject.  Even back then the Header cards were practically impossible to find.  But I can tell you I do remember seeing them pulled from packs and their owners being less than thrilled with their discovery.  In fact, I can recall quite a few friends abandoning them since to a novice, younger generation collector, they just looked like an advertisement with no picture.  And who wants that?  The Art card was actually a checklist and was fairly easily found in packs.

Over the years, Upper Deck did a nice job with these sets, including them across the board in all of their sports releases.  

In 1992-93, they chose Wayne Gretzky for the Low Series and Gordie Howe for the High Series, both with limited insertion of the Header cards. The Art cards were checklists and were pulled fairly regularly although I don't remember ever getting the Howe except years later as a single purchase from random boxes at card shows.  My scanner cut off the border for some reason on this one.

In 1993-94 they mixed it up a bit with a Future Heroes set featuring younger stars in the making of the NHL.  I don't think the Headers were short printed however, because I remember getting them quite a few times (or maybe I was just lucky). 

Here is the Art card which isn't really art at all; more like a photo collage (scrapbooking before it was cool; okay maybe it was never cool).  Check out all the talent featured here.  You have Jagr, Lindros, Mogilny, Selanne, Bure, Potvin, Falloon, & Juneau.  How many sure fire Hall of Famers do you see in there...3? 4? Maybe even 6?  Realistically, I would definitely pick 4 and you may even be safe with 5. 



After that season, we didn't see this set emerge again until 2008-09.  Why?  I don't think anyone really knows.  There were a number of sets mixed in to the main release with "Heroes" in the title, such as Lord Stanley's Heroes, Highlight Heroes, Hometown Heroes, or Hat Trick Heroes, but no true Hockey Heroes set to speak of.  That's 15 years without a Heroes set.  Imagine all the other subject material that could have been printed...Lemieux, Bourque, Roy, Bobby Hull, Mike Bossy, the list is endless.


Sidney Crosby was the subject for the 2008 resurrection of the set and was only included in Series I packs.  Like the original release in 1991-92, there was only one set released.  Above is his Art card.  I never pulled one.  I don't know anyone that pulled one.  Other than on Ebay, I've never even seen one in person.  I imagine the collation was similar to this years set although I am not real sure.

The following year split it up again with Martin Brodeur in the Series I set...

and Mark Messier in Series II. 

Again, I have neither of these nor have I ever seen them anywhere but the Bay.  They, along with the Crosby, ditched the white border for a full bleed portrait that is really a nice touch for such a difficult card to pull.

2010-11 chose Steve Yzerman for Series I and Bobby Orr for Series II.  Below is the Bobby Orr Art card featuring "The Goal".  Of course it's just like the others...never seen one live and in person.

To the right here is the header card for the Yzerman set.  It's been pretty much the same every year since the inception of the Hockey Heroes.  The design really hasn't changed that much other than some subtle adjustments to the borders and font.  I actually pulled this one from a pack in one of those multi-repacked value boxes from Meijer a year or so ago.  Needless to say, I didn't throw this one away.  It is in with the rest of the cards from the set.  I have actually had a harder time completing this base set than I did finding the Header.

In 2011-12, as you can see at the top of the post, they decided to venture down a different path, creating a decades theme that features 1950s superstars in Series I and 1960s superstars in Series II.  Next year, they are planning to release 1970s stars in Series I and 1980s stars in Series II.  Maybe for 2013-14 they will continue with 1990s stars and 2000's stars...who knows?