Hockey Cards

Even though I primarily collect baseball cards, I've been a hockey fan for slightly longer. My first hockey game was early in the 1973-74 NHL season, when I saw the Atlanta Flames take on the Philadelphia Flyers at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. I didn't go to my first baseball game until May of 1974 (Phillies-Dodgers at the old Vet).

My best friend was the one who got me into hockey cards, and I had a bunch that he gave me from the 1972-73 season, and I collected up until 1979 or so. Sadly, those cards are long gone.

But with my return to baseball collecting this year, I decided to start a PC of one of the most exciting young players on my team, the Flyers: Claude Giroux. So last week, I found a seller on eBay auctioning a 5-card lot of Giroux base cards, and I took the plunge:



Giroux's got an extensive checklist (especially for a young player), so I think using him as my hockey PC will keep me busy there. Plenty of GU's and autos to go along with his base cards.

Don't hesitate to steer me in the right direction - I'll be looking mainly at Upper Deck, SP, and Panini. I don't like the O-Pee-Chee cards, and I won't bother with the likes of Fleer.

Wednesday Pulls

I'm a sucker for blaster boxes. Bowman Draft, Bowman Platinum, Topps Series I, Topps Heritage. I have no problem deciding on the spur of the moment to go to Target and drop $20 on one. Usually, I don't have much luck.

Until yesterday.

I bought a Topps Heritage blaster, only my second of the year, and ended up with 2 hits:



Now, I'm not much into the Game-used/Relic cards; this is actually the first one I've pulled, and only the second that I own (I bought a Matt Barnes GU/Auto a fw weeks back). This card doesn't have great value on eBay, so I guess I'll hold this for trading purposes.

The Halladay/Barton card, on the other hand, got me a bit more psyched. I'm a Phillies fan, and the A's are one of the teams I root for in the AL (the Orioles being the other), so this one is a little more special. It's also the second "stamps" card I've pulled. I made a mistake selling off the other one so quickly, so I will hold this one for trade bait, too, unless the value goes through the roof.

I also pulled 3 SP's from this box, Miguel Cabrera, Yunel Escobar, and Aubrey Huff. I'm currently negotiating a trade with someone who's collecting all the SP's - I'm attempting to pad my PC in exchange for some of those. The Cabrera card, though, is selling for $5 on eBay, so I may hold that one for a better trade.

I'm looking at buying my first hobby box, too. The 2011 Bowman comes out next month, and I think I'm going to take the dive, buy the box, and hopefully score some more hits.

Thursday Mailday

I received two more cards today that I bought off the 'bay to add to my PC's.

Here's the first, and one I really, really like - a 2010 Bowman Platinum Matt Barnes GU/Auto card, 128/740:


(now if I could only figure out how it got vertical when I took it horizontal)

And then there's this one, a 2009 Upper Deck USA Star Prospects card for Jameson Taillon:




I've been very pleased with both my selections and the prices paid. I'm thoroughly enjoying getting back into the hobby again.

Zach Britton

When I got back into card collecting recently, I contemplated certain prospects to add to my PC. I chose Zach Britton of the Orioles as one of those for a few reasons -he's the O's #1 prospect; he was very close to the bigs; and when he got to Baltimore, I'm in their TV market, so I could follow him on TV.

Britton got his first big-league start this past Sunday, in Tampa against the Rays, and was simply dominant. And a fortunate eBayer made out like a bandit because of it.

I was pricing some Britton cards this morning, and I saw that someone had put at least 13 Britton cards on the market recently (the picture was one of them). The auctions ended last night, and this person ended up raking in over $450 for those 13 cards - a collection of Bowman colored and serial numbered autos and Donruss Elites.

I was both happy and jealous to see this. Happy because people are now recognizing Zach Britton, and jealous because this guy made a huge haul in one day, either by chance or by opportunity. Either way, I assume it's what most of us strive for as collectors, to someday make big bucks off our cardboard.

Monday Mailday, 4/4

I've been hitting eBay pretty hard the past 10 days looking for bargains for my PCs.

Here are two cards I received today from what should turn out to be a pretty fruitful week for me:



Both of those for less than $6 total. Two nice additions to my 1948-80 Phillies collection.

The Richie (call me 'Dick') Allen card was his last one from his tumultuous first tour with the Phils from 1964-69. He was part of the infamous Curt Flood deal with the Cardinals in 1970.

Lefty's card is from the season following his monster 27-10, 1.98 season in 1972 for a team that won just 59 games. He finished 1973 at 13-20; not what people expected after '72.

More to come this week...