Redemption Song - A Tale Of Uncertainty

Everyone has had a problem...errr, wrong word choice.

Everyone has had an issue....no that isn't it either.

Everyone has had an experience with Redemption cards.  Yeah, that's the ticket.  Experiences can be defined as some type of contact with or observation of the facts or events surrounding the existence, ability to obtain or not obtain, or downright nastiness of a redemption card.  As such, those experiences are mostly unique (albeit sometimes repeated...over and over and over again).  You would be hard pressed to find ten collector's in a row that you could ask the question, "Have you had a bad experience with a redemption?" and not find at least one that has (in some circles, all ten may).

For as much as people get excited about getting the "hits" out of packs of cards, that excitement is sometimes filled with trepidation and uncertainty when those "hits" come out on those super thick, white cardboard slugs.  I am no different.  Let me walk you through my thought process when I unearth one of those scary scratch-offs.

My first reaction is joy.  I know that when I see a super thick card in my pack it can be one of three things.

1. It is a "decoy" card with all the sexiness of a '52 Mantle you won on auction that was shipped in a PWE from a Canadian post office somewhere outside of Ontario (for those confused, that is bad).
2. It is a "hit" and probably some type of memorabilia card because why else would it be so thick.
3. It is a "hit" in the form of a "decoy" with a scratch and sniff sticker requiring the use of a coin which I no longer possess because I just used it to purchase the pack it came from.    

So I shuffle through the rest of the cards in the pack, hoping I won't be further disappointed by what was probably a knee-jerk reaction type purchase and I am getting annihilated on.  Then I see it.  The plain white cardboard slug with a manufactured sticker affixed mostly crooked and text that was printed using a dot matrix printer with recycled typewriter ribbon.  I quickly adjust my eyesight to squint mode so that I can decipher the half faded, half illegible text.  I then immediately realize what I have...either something nice or something, well, not so nice.

Let's assume nice for a moment...My brain reacts in a way that probably most collector's do in that if it isn't a redemption for a player in one of my PCs (either individual or team) I begin to contemplate whether this might be something I really need.  If I am at home and near a computer or my phone is charged and ready to go, I will hop online to see if there have been any of the redemptions or the cards they refer to actively moving on the open market (generally this is via Ebay, COMC, Collector Revolution, Beckett Marketplace, or a couple forums I joined at one time or another).  There is going to be a distinction in price usually between the redeemed cards and their place holders.  Sometimes, especially when a product is new and there is still some excitement, the unredeemed cards have a much higher demand and will get sometimes double, even triple the redeemed value (I can only assume people are paying for that uncertainty I talked about earlier).

Nice or not so nice, in most cases I balk on the selling of the redemption card.  I tried it once and it didn't work out in my favor.  I guess that is because I never can seem to time the market right.  Regardless, I am then left with two options, scratch or not scratch and find a trade partner.  Nine times out of ten, I'm trading with other bloggers/collectors.  They too understand the issu..eh em...experiences with redemption cards and sometimes just don't want to deal with it.  I completely understand.  So the other 98% of the time, I'm left with no option but to scratch and hope for the best.  

I have personally dealt with Topps, Upper Deck, and Panini when it comes to redemptions but I have no first hand knowledge of trying to get anything back from the other manufacturers like Leaf, ITG, Press Pass, TriStar, or Sage (did I miss anyone?).  So I will just say this...I am one of the fortunate ones that has not had an instance of never receiving a redemption, receiving the wrong redemption, having to receive a replacement redemption, or being told "what redemption?" by a nameless customer service rep.  I know I'm in the minority and I know I must be one of the lucky ones.  The only experience that I have had to endure is the wait time because the act of waiting to receive a card you should have had in your hand in the first place is agonizingly painful.  

A lot can happen from the time a redemption request is made until the time that item reaches your hands.  Players can become injured.  Players can get traded.  Players can go into a slump or become social and public pariahs.  In some cases a player could die in the time it takes to receive your redemption.  What?  It could happen.  It might be a fringe-type freakish event, but it could happen.  But in that time you are waiting to receive the card, the worst thing that happens (I guess the death thing is really THE worst but...) is second guessing the decision to redeem it in the first place.  

I go back and forth with myself, wondering what I was thinking all the time.  It isn't healthy.  But I know I can't be the only one that does that.  In a world filled with collectors, filled with unopened packs, filled with eager-to-be-scratched cardboard, there has to be others that experience the same anxiety, the same uncertainty, the same lack of faith in the system as I (despite never being burned, yet).

There is more to this story.  This is only the beginning of another post down the line.  

Redemption Song

Here is a first for you in the world of redemptions.  Well maybe not a first for you per se, but definitely a first for me.

As I was perusing some boxes I found a few more redemptions that had never been redeemed.  These were in addition to the ones I found the other day.  (In case anyone was wondering, I have held on the Panthers one from Upper Deck for now but I redeemed to Panini one.)  Both of these new found ones were from Panini.  The first was from the 2011 Panini Football Rookies and Stars set.  It was a Longevity Rookies Signatures card, I believe of Tyron Smith of the Cowboys.  Not sure who he is or if he still exists but whatever, free card.  The second was from 2011-12 Playoff Contenders Hockey.  It was supposed to be a NHL INK Duals Gold card of Ryan McDonagh and Tim Erixon.  This one I had to see because I have heard of these being skipped over in favor of replacements by Panini.

So I submitted my request on 3/2/2013...

Here you can see it was submitted at 9:05 PM.  I also found out from the page that it was numbered out of #25, which was even cooler.  What happened next was unbelievable.

I received the email acknowledgement that the order had processed and I would be waiting the 4-6 weeks like everyone else in the world.  Then, about 10 minutes later, I received an additional email from Panini stating that the card was ready and would be shipped the next day.  WHAT????  "Impossible", I said.  "Completely ludicrous", I exclaimed.   Of course all these exclamations were to myself.

Well guess what was in the mail yesterday???  

This little guy..

 

It took basically 5 days to receive this.  5!  That's an all time record for me and I bet most of you out there haven't received anything this fast.  If you have, by all means share your story in the comments.  Otherwise, bask in the dual-auto gold glory.

Box Break - - 2006/07 Parkhurst

I'm going to start of by saying that I have always wanted to put this set together.  I missed the boat on hockey cards back in 2006-07 because I didn't back into collecting until the following year.  So everything prior went sort of unnoticed for a while.  Upper Deck's resurrection of the Parkhurst brand features a 160 card base set with another 90 "subset" cards to boot.  All of which, are featuring the greatest legends and superstars in the history of the NHL, including what was up to this point one of only 13 cards of Willie O'Ree and one of 6 cards of Clint Smith to be produced (not counting their Beehive photos).  I think even now as cards are starting to get overproduced again there have only been about 40 O'Ree's and maybe 20 Smith's total. 

Over the years, I have picked up a few packs of this stuff and loved everything about the set.  The design to me is very appealing with a sort of brush stroke faded edge to the shots.  For the most part, they are all action shots of the players with posed shots both black and white and in color of many of the early greats of the game.  They also have a nicely placed, unobtrusive logo at the top (as in most Parkhurst sets) and a well designed name plate at the bottom.  The backs, although only summarizing the players career, give a brief write-up on each player.  Also included at the bottom is a beginning and ending season for each players career, something that always comes in handy for any hockey fan. 

The other thing that was cool about this set was the potential for autographs.  They jammed this set full of some of the greatest players to ever lace up skates and got the majority of them to hand sign cards.  Of the dozen or so packs I have ever opened of this stuff to this point, I pulled two autographs and was very happy with the player selection.  

Also in this set are two subsets featuring a celebration of Captains of their respective teams throughout NHL history and one of the first sets to showcase the always lovable Enforcers.  If you relish in the ability to pull a Probert, Kocur, McSorley, Gillies, Williams, or Semenko in one set, look no further. 

I thought I would take a minute to showcase some of the cards for those that may have never seen them as well as the higher numbered, lower print run subset cards.  I'll also show you my, ummm, autograph.

Box Details:
4 Cards/Pack
36 Packs/Box
Guarantees:  None
Base Cards Pulled:  124
Doubles:  13
Serial Numbered Subset Cards:  6
Autographs: 1*

Base Cards

The great Clint Smith and Grapes himself, Don Cherry (I think my only Don Cherry card, actually)

Bobby Clarke and Gump Worsley (I wonder if the pad I have came from what he is wearing in this shot?)

Color barrier pioneer, Willie O'Ree and former Penguin netminder, Michel Dion (you gotta love that mask)

Gerry Cheevers and the stitch mask along with Ed Giacomin (the goalie cards in this set are fantastic)

The Captains (all numbered /3999)

Kelly Kisio and Bernie Federko

Wilf Paiement and Scott Stevens (Where else can you pull an old Colorado Rockies card?)

Walt Tkaczuk and Brad Park (Yes, this box was very Ranger-heavy)

And finally, last but not least, the moment you've all been waiting for...The Autograph...(drum roll, please)

In case you might not be able to read that, it says I am entitled to one autograph card by former Islander/Sabre great, Pat LaFontaine.  You can imagine my initial elation, realizing that upon further review, the expiration date was last year.  Just for giggles, I logged onto Upper Deck's website, scratched off the code (as you can readily see), and low and behold..."You're Redemption Has Expired".  In other words, "We realize that we had a card at one point in time that corresponded to this redemption card and it was sitting here minding it's own business waiting for you to redeem it.  But, unfortunately, you took too long to buy a box of these and we gave your card away in a flea market last weekend to a homeless man to use for toilet paper.  Sorry."  I suppose that was my punishment for pulling two other autographs out of random packs of this product for no apparent reason.  I guess it could have been worse.  I could have been the guy who got the John Quincy Adams cut-auto stuck onto a card of John Adams (sans-Quincy). 

I'm not going to hold that against the product though.  It is still a really nice set to chase that is very affordable and features one of the best player selections you will find in any product.  I will admit that it is going to be difficult to put an entire 250 card set together but I can't say I'm not going to try.