Trade with the Wasteland

I received a surprisingly large package from my new friend down at Is This A Wasteland - No It's Tampa Bay Sports on Wednesday after a trade we had worked out. Some Lightning cards for a few cards I needed for my 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee set. Nothing fancy. Simple deal, right? Wrong!!

No I wasn't bipped, since that is what you are all thinking. Instead, there were not only the cards we discussed but a big ole' fat stack of 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee that I needed as well. There has to be like 100 cards in here. That is really going to make a dent in my list. A dent of epic proportions. I would have had to buy another hobby box to get this many and even that's not guaranteed.

But the pièce de résistance was the inclusion of a set of cards I have never seen before. Not just a set, but a set with it's own tin box. I had to do some research on this one because of my unfamiliarity with it. Here it is.

1996-97 Metal Impressions Mario Lemieux Set

The one in the picture isn't mine. Mine is better. It is still wrapped in the cellophane. I am so tempted to open it but I need to find out more about it first. All I know is it is a 4 card set of my all time favorite player (the greatest player to lace the skates, IMO) and they are all made of METAL!! Metal is cool. I've come up empty on my search though. I'm not deterred. I will figure this out.

Thank you much my friend. You can be sure you will be seeing Lightning coming your way.

(Welcome to two new followers...FieldOfCards and Brian. FieldOfCards is well known around the card blogosphere and you can check out his stuff if you haven't already done so. No, really. Go do it now. I'd like to link to Brian's blog but, well, I'm not quite sure where Brian comes to us from. For now, he is just
Brian. Welcome to you both. Hopefully I don't let you down.)

The O-Pee-Chee Legacy

I don't like to steal articles from other sites. Well at least, I don't like to steal as a general practice. But sometimes there are things out there that you just find facinating.

Over on Sports Collector's Daily, they featured an article regarding the O-Pee-Chee brand, from it's beginnings to today as a flagship product in the Upper Deck stable of cards. As most of you know, O-Pee-Chee was, for most of its existence, known as the Canadian brother of Topps. They have paralleled the Topps brand products in baseball and especially hockey for many, many years.

It is interested timing for this considering the potential demise of Upper Deck because of their licensing battles. With the NHL lockout back in 2004, both Topps and Pacific went into hibernation in the hockey card market. In the Game kept up their production but has never been issued a license in their existence and has only produced cards of legends and minor leaguers. Upper Deck was the only licensed producer to put out cards during the strike. Coming out of it at the end of the would be season, the NHL gave Upper Deck the exclusive license for their products. Topps is still around but no longer produces hockey. Pacific is gone. In the Game is the only other manufacturer left and still have no NHL license.

Upper Deck acquired the rights to revive the O-Pee-Chee name back in 2006 and has produced products under that label ever since. As a primary hockey collector, I have been a bit on edge with all this considering if UD is gone, so will the hockey cards. Thus far, most hockey products have stayed fairly solid from a production and collecting standpoint. Upper Deck has produced some of my most favorite sets over the last few years with SP, O-Pee-Chee, their flagship base sets, and Masterpiece.

Someone will undoubtedly pick up the slack and sign an agreement with the NHL and NHLPA. However, at what cost? I fear we, the hockey collecting community, are going to suffer with inferior products, poor designs, lack of variety and any other epidemic that has plagued the other 3 major sports since the era of exclusitivity was ushered in. Or it could be worse. We may lose the products all together. I hope not.

Here is a link to the article I originally mentioned before going off on a tangent.

Blaster Box Break - - 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hockey

I know I said I was going to stop with the retail blasters and such but I am so far away, it is going to take a miracle to complete this thing. I am more than a few dozen away so a blaster or two may be my only option. I just don't want to get carried away like last year. At least this was a tin and not a box. I like the tins even better, even though there is 1 less pack. Since I already posted this one, I will give a quick list.

The Good News:

I pulled 38 Cards that I needed for my set. Woo hooo!!

The Bad News:

27 cards were doubles. All the Marquee Rookies were doubles (Sean Collins, Jesse Joensuu, John Scott). All the Legends were doubles (Darryl Sutter, Bernie Federko, Borje Salming).

The Indifference:

--There were 7 retro parallels, none of which I had.
--I got 2 Canadian Heroes, both of which I had (Drew Doughty, Derek Roy).
--There was 1 League Leader, my third Mikka Kiprusoff.
--There were 2 Team Checklists, again, both I had (Flyers, Blues).
--There was 1 Rainbow, Jhonas Enroth Marquee Rookie.

This has to be one of the weakest boxes I've opened of this years OPC. So far, I have had at least one case hit in each box (3 total), except for this one. I guess you can't win them all. I'm not deterred though.

Any takers out there on a wantlist trade? I'm all ears.

(Lucky #13...The Collective Troll is the newest follower of The REAL DFG. Thanks to the Troll for giving me a shot. For those that don't know, the Troll is a "seasoned" veteran to the blog world and is well known around these parts as a great trader. Check out his site.)

First Trip To the Card Shop in 2010

I was on my way home after work today and decided to take a trip to my nearest card shop. I used to go at least once or twice a month but since last September, I haven't been. My intention was to go and pick up some long needed supplies like GU toploaders, sleeves, pages, and boxes. I have at least 4-5 sets that have been taking up space in my monster boxes that have no business being in there.

Normally, there are a couple of guys that park themselves in there almost everyday. These two babble on and on about their pulls and how thier stuff is so great and yours sucks. They stand over you like vultures waiting to devour thier newly acquired carcasses. You can't even open anything while they are there because they barrage you with questions and ridiculous offers to buy your hits. Well, today was different.

I walked in and they weren't there. In fact, the owner and his partner were there, along with at least a half dozen customers. I have never seen so many people. It was an awesome spectacle. Turns out, they are banned from the store, or at least, that is the rumor. Don't know why...don't really care. All I know is, the environment was so much nicer, calm, and conducive to card collecting.

So I picked up my supplies and spent another 20 minutes chatting with some of the patrons. I guy was there busting some of last years and this years Black Diamond Hockey. He pulled a quad-swatch jersey of Sidney Crosby that I really wanted but couldn't begin to imagine what he would want for it. Last years quad jersey goes for between 50-80 in most cases. Regardless, the urge struck me and my supplies were quickly joined by another box of O-Pee-Chee. If I am ever going to finish the set, I had to buy at least one more box.

Now I have my supplies and I will be able to start making more room for all the cards that are piled up in the shelf in my closet. I'll post anything I might pull out of there. Also, I have a few trades that should be posted in a few.

Busting 2: Electric Bugaloo

More fun with clearing out the closet. I spent a few hours this weekend trying to start to begin an attempt at possibly taking on an organization project. I started with my football stuff since it is the smallest sport in my collection (actually baseball is with only a few hundred cards; double actually its basketball since I have none). If I find anything interesting, I will post it. On with the break-age.

Pack #1: 2005-06 Parkhurst Hockey

#326 Fedor Tyutin
#312 John Erskine
#293 Viktor Kozlov
#133 Steve Konowalchuk
#139 Jan Hrdina
#40 Brad Stuart

A chance at some of the biggest rookie cards of the last 10 years and I get...nothing. The Konowalchuk was interesting because it reminded me of when he announced his retirement due to his congenitive heart condition. He had Long QT syndrome, which I have a relative that has the same thing. Weird how cards can dig up memories.

Pack #2: 1991-92 Pro Set Series I French Hockey

#156 Ray Ferraro
#177 Rick Tocchet
#252 Michal Pivonka
#111 Jon Casey
#211 Rod Brind'Amour
#189 Phil Bourque
#295 Phil Housley (AS)
#298 Garry Galley (AS)
#237 Dave Capuano
#297 Dave Christian (AS)
#36 Carey Wilson
#320 Brett Hull (Hart Trophy)
#171 Gord Murphy
#184 Mark Recchi
#190 Paul Coffey

The only thing worse than this pack of 91 ProSet would have been a pack of 90 ProSet. I did pull 3 Pens cards out of here, undoubtedly ones I already have but nonetheless...

Pack #3: 2008 Score Football

#145 Matt Jones
#120 Kevin Walter
#174 Bobby Wade
#128 Joseph Addai
Matt Leinart - Donruss Decals
#437 Ali Highsmith (R)
#326 Chris Cooley - Glossy Parallel

I am seriously beginning to hate these cards. I didn't mind them at first but now after opening a ton of them, it is losing its' novelty. I did get another sticker for my Trapper Keeper, with that Leinart. He's dreamy...

Pack #4: 2007 Topps Football Rack Pack

1 Awesomely delicious stick of oversized gum
#173 Reggie Brown
#116 Michael Jenkins
#124 Drew Carter
#232 Terence Newman
#219 Chris Cooley
#203 George Wrighster
#404 LaDainian Tomlinson (LL)
#168 Jerricho Cotchery
#215 Joe Klopfenstein
#235 Dunta Robinson
#273 DeMeco Ryans
#91 Kevan Barlow
#285 Walter Jones
#183 Darrell Jackson
#35 Jeff Garcia
#166 Amani Toomer
#318 Thomas Clayton (R)
#335 Rhema McKnight (R)
#362 Patrick Willis (R)
#377 Marcus McCauley (R)
#287 Brady Quinn (R)
#389 Eric Weddle (R)

Wow! I can't believe I opened a pack that had gum in it. The smell alone brought back fond memories of opening packs of Topps cards back in the mid 80s. I also can't believe there wasn't one of those stupid Favre cards in there. There were six rookies, none of which amount to anything from a "hit" perspective. I think I may hand collate a set of these. I have to have at least 60-70% of the set laying around.

Pack #5: 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Hockey

#139 Michal Rozsival
#439 Chris Phillips
#262 Erik Johnson
#481 Ray Whitney
#516 Brian Lee (R) - Rainbow Parallel
#125 Rob Niedermayer - Retro Parallel

Good News! 2 Parallels in one pack, on being a Marquee Rookie. Not bad if I do say so myself. Better News! I needed all of them for my set completion. Even Better News! I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.

More Fun With Pack Busting

In my continuing effort to rid the world, ie. my bedroom closet, of unopened packs of cards, I present to you another episode of Pack Busting for Dummies. This is a mixed bunch that includes hockey and football because, yes...I am that crazy.

Pack #1: 2007-08 Ultra Hockey

#191 Slava Kozlov
#65 Henrik Lundqvist
#177 Jason Pominville - Gold Medallion
#46 Curtis Joseph
#44 Georges Laraque

Another Ultra hockey pack. I don't know why I have so many of these. I can't remember if there was a retail box or blaster that I opened and left the packs in a box or what. The GM was Jason Pominville; the SOB who scored the game winner over the Pens last night. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Pack #2: 2005-06 Upper Deck Rookie Update Hockey

#92 Ed Belfour
#6 Kari Lehtonen
#57 Patrik Elias
#14 Miika Kiprusoff
#62 Rick DiPietro

The Goalie Pack. Except for Elias, who I am sure somehow got into this pack by mistake.

Pack #3: 2008 Donruss Classics Football

#40 Andre Johnson
#97 Roydell Williams
#61 Laurence Maroney
#19 Carson Palmer
#42 Peyton Manning

The first football pack in the mix. Not a very good one if you are an insert/"HIT" collector. I don't have any of these in my player albums so these will at least be a welcome addition. Other than the Roydell, the rest will go into the album.

Pack #4: 2008 Score Football

#285 Deion Branch
#239 Donovan McNabb
Carolina Panthers - Donruss Decals Tattoos
#293 Torry Holt
#246 Lito Sheppard
#381 Anthony Alridge
#87 Heary Colbert - Glossy Parallel

Score football is like Collector's Choice in hockey. It exists. You occasionally run into some cards from it. You are usually no better off than you were prior to opening it. I may very well give these to my kids to throw around the house at each other like they do with all their other toys.

Pack #5: 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Hockey

#452 Alexander Edler
#120 Paul Martin
#136 Chris Kunitz
#307 Patrick O'Sullivan
#437 Ryan Malone
#516 Brian Lee (R)

The Brian Lee Marquee Rookie is alright. I also pulled a Kunitz in a Ducks uniform although he is now a Penguin and a Malone in a Penguin uniform although he is now a member of the Lightning. I also needed two of these for my set. At least from a practical standpoint, this was the best pack of the bunch.

Stay tuned for more pack madness.

Box Break - - 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hobby Box

For my first trick, I am going to pull a rabbit out of my hat. For my second trick, I'm actually going to bust some hobby boxes for once.

I picked up a couple boxes at a local show a few weeks ago for a pretty decent price. I finally had the time to break them so I wanted to share.

The first box is a hobby box of 09-10 OPC hockey. OPC is one of those sets that I try to chase down every year and inevitably spend triple of what it is worth in getting all the cards. This years set will probably be no different. I already had picked up a blaster when they were first issued and with this box together, I am well on my way to the 600 card beast of a set. Here is the breakdown...

2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hobby Box

36 Packs per box
6 Cards per pack
129 Base Cards / 500 Base Set
No doubles
Guarantees: Retro variation cards, 1 per pack; Canadian Heroes card; 18 Rookies or Legends; 9 Regular Set Gold parallels; 1-2 Retro Set parallels; 9 OPC Inserts (2 signature cards, 3 quad-materials cards per case)

Rookies: (9)

Scott Lehman, Jamie Sifers, Grant Lewis, Derek Peltier, Sean Collis, Riku Helenius, John Scott, Jesse Joensuu, and Brandon Segal

Legends: (9)

Denis Potvin, Bernie Federko, Darryl Sutter, Clark Gillies, Red Kelly, Gilbert Perreault, Lanny McDonald, Borje Salming, Patrick Roy

SP Parallels: (12)

Gold Marquee Rookies: Kris Chucko; Canadian Heroes Foil: Mike Bossy; Gold Legends: Bobby Clarke; Retro Rainbow: Adrian Aucoin, Jere Lehtinen, Marek Zidlicky; Gold Regular: Adrian Aucoin, Daniel Sedin, Manny Legace, Maxim Lapierre, Niklas Kronwall, Matt Bradley, Keith Ballard.

Regular Retro Parallels: (36)

I'm not listing them all. That would take too long.

Inserts: (18)

Record Breaker: Zdeno Chara; In Action: Mikko Koivu, Trophy Winner: Evgeni Malkin; Stat Leader: Alexander Ovechkin; All Star: Evgeni Malkin; All Rookie Team: Patrik Berglund; Team Checklists: Nashville, Toronto, Carolina; Canadian Heroes: Haley Irwin, Martin St. Louis, Chris Phillips, Shannon Szabados, Colleen Sostorics, Becky Kellar, Kim St. Pierre, Drew Doughty, Derek Roy

Auto: (1)

Peter Budaj (yes it's a sticker auto)



If you haven't seen the regular issue cards yet, here is a sample...
I like the design (although some people might find it too busy). It features nice full color action shots of the players surrounded by a double line border like some of the early 80s issues. Upper Deck could have toned down the branding logo at the top to make way for the players name but it does make for a clean design.

So if you are keeping score on my box, I think I beat the odds for a box considering I got a case hit with the Budaj auto. It was nice to pull one out of a pack for a change instead of the redemption scratch off like last year. As for the other cards, I pulled exactly the box breakdown from UD's sell sheet. I was especially happy with the 2 Malkin inserts, at least from a PC standpoint. I also think the selection of rookies was pretty decent.

Overall, I would give this set an 8/10 and my particular box a 9/10 because of the PC insert pulls and of course the case hit on the auto.

Another box of O-Pee-Chee and more dissap...No Way!

I stopped at Target on my lunch hour again. There was 1 tin left of 08-09 O-Pee-Chee Hockey (you know, the one with Gordie Howe, I mean, Mr. Hockey, as he is now known by all card manufacturers). I had to have it so...

It started as pretty much all of them had. I pulled 10 Rookies, most of which I had already (Jonathan Ericcson and Darren Helm being the highlights). I also pulled 5 Rainbow parallels, Forsberg the only non-common. Two Season's Highlights, an All Rookie Team scrub, another one of those stupid Trophy cards, and the Predators Team Checklist. I like these and I don't know why. Maybe because they are shiny.

With three packs left and all hope almost gone, it happened. I opened a pack and inside there was more cellophane. I was confused. It turned out to be a 2007-08 OPC Thomas Plihal Marquee Rookie...with an autograph. SWEET!! But what the heck is it doing in a pack of 2008-09? Apparently Upper Deck "bought back" a bunch of cards and had them autographed.
Mine isn't priced currently at the posting of this. Cool nonetheless. But wait, there's more. Two more cards and there was this index card in the pack as well...


Today was a good day.