Archive for December, 2010

Produce a product that uses traditional cardboard stock, lots of rookies and legends, a retro-themed parallel set, and a $2/pack price point and I just can’t resist! I went to the local shop and picked up a bunch more packs and had some decent luck, hitting a couple of inserts and other things that I didn’t get to review in my first post about the product. Before I get into those hits, I wanted to share a trio of individual pickups from the shop…

What is weird about the Jay Miller is that the TOUGH TIMES banner is cockeyed and is the only one of the six that is like that. Hmm, design fail?

Okay, onto the OPC cards. I bought (I think) 16 packs, so close to half a box.

I got a few of the Retro Rainbow parallels which I think fall at about 1:4 packs. The Schenn is a rookie, so it may be a little tougher, but probably not by much.

I pulled two Black Retro parallels which are supposedly 1-2 a box, so I busted the odds there. They are numbered to 100 and I can’t complain about getting one of my favorite goons and a Bruin.

Two more random insert sets that are 1:4. Meh. Brodeur is KILLING my fantasy team this season. Get it together, man!

I posted an In Action in my previous post but this is one of the SP ones which falls one per case. The normal ones fall one per box which makes me wonder: Who wants to build a crummy looking insert set that has 30 cards at one per box AND 10 cards that are one per case?!

Nice! I’ve decided I want to collect the Legend cards. There is one wrinkle though…

RETRO LEGENDS! I don’t know yet how I feel about these. Do I want to just collect the base Legends or the Retro Legends? I AM TORN!

My big hit will not be pictured because I left it at the shop as part of a deal I am working on. It was a quad jersey card from th Sharks that featured Thornton, Heatley, Pavelski, and Setoguchi. They fall at 1:114 and look pretty cool with floating heads and stuff. Going from memory, all four were different colored swatches with the Heatley having black and gold (it looked borderline patch-ish). Oh, the trade I’m working on: that card and a Stamkos OPC ’79-’80 parallel from his rookie year for a Topps Chrome Jason Heyward rookie auto (I love that guy). I’ll keep y’all posted on that as I can assume you are on pins and needles.

If anyone is building the OPC set, let me know because I now have a rather large stack that I would be willing to trade for any of the Legend cards.

In closing, I hope that everyone has a great (and safe) New Year’s Eve/Day.

Now, I’m off to watch the Bruins take on the Thrashers in what should be an interesting game.

First off, I hope that Santa (or Hanukkah Harry) visited everyone and showered them with sports cards, good cheer, and delicious food.

I wanted to have my 100th post coincide with the blog’s first birthday, but that didn’t work out, now did it. I’ve had too much to write about lately, so for my 100th post, you get a review, a card I’ve been looking for forever, and some more prizes revealed.

Now, let’s talk sports cards. I visited the local shop on Christmas Eve to snag some packs of this year’s O-Pee-Chee release. I didn’t much care for last year’s edition, but the ’08-’09 release was great, especially the retro parallel set. I especially like that they even stayed true to the back design. Anyways, I was mildly interested in this years product, so I picked up eight packs. Let’s take a look at some of the cards, shall we?

For starters, I LOVE the wrapper. Upper Deck usually puts one of four players on its wrappers: Orr, Gretzky, Crosby, and Howe. Whenever Orr is on the wrapper, I am going to buy at least one pack. I dig the O-Pee-Chee font (is this downloadable anywhere?) and the dual language. At $2 a pack, you get six cards. Not too bad, I guess.

The good news first. The card stock is cardboard and I wish all cards still used this. It makes for clean autographs TTM or in person. The front design is not terrible and actually is starting to grow on me.

Now the bad. I’m not sure how I feel about the OPC logo/font being so big; shouldn’t the player (or his name) be the focal point? The back is too basic. There is a ton of empty space just going to waste. How about a little write up or a cartoon? The photography is bland; just about every card features the same boring skating pose.

Each pack contains on retro parallel…

Now we’re talking! The dual colors match the team colors, which is a win. The OPC is toned WAY down, which is another win. The backs are much better than the base backs, but I still have issues here. I really like the old school OPC logo, but again, lot’s of wasted space here. At least on the base backs, they give all the career stats whereas here, we just get last year’s stats. Overall, though, I really like the retro design.

Rookies and Legend cards are seeded 1:2. Out of my eight packs, I pulled three rookies and one legend. Dig em…

I like the simplicity of these cards. The rainbow font looks retro-y and the colors really pop against the white. I might try and collect the legends, but I’m on the fence about it.

There are a few different insert sets seeded at 1:4. They include the All-Rookie Team, Season Highlights, Stat Kings, Team Leaders, Trophy Winners, and NHL Winter Classic. I pulled only one….

The idea is good; I am all about team leader cards. I wish they were part of the base set and not an insert. I also wish they weren’t glossy. Ah well, I can get behind this insert set. But not enough to actually collect it.

I pulled an In Action card as well. These are seeded one per box and there are SP’s that are found in 1:360. Unfortunately, I didn’t pull an SP…

Hideous! I guess they saved all the action photography for this pointless insert set. Ugh.

There are autographs and relics in this product, but I wasn’t lucky enough to pull any. Overall, this is a decent product. I think the last two years of OPC have fallen short of the ’08-’09 set, but collectors seem to dig the product. I wouldn’t mind getting a Subban, Seguin, or any goon, but that’s about it. At $2/pack you can’t really go wrong.

While at the shop, the owner gave me a little Christmas gift…

Love it!

That same day, I received one of my white whale cards in the mail…

2003-04 Parkhurst Original 6 #OS-FF Fern Flaman /85

This is Flaman’s only certified autograph card and one that you rarely see. Once I saw it listed, I made a promise to myself that I would not lose out on it. I paid more than whatever Beckett deemed it worth, but I don’t regret it for one moment. The seller has a ton of these cards on eBay and it’s a really beautiful, but expensive set. He has the Keith Magnuson autograph from this set up now on the ‘bay. I’m tempted but with a starting big of $99.99, I’ll hold off. I am so happy to cross this card off of my list. My next target is the Red Horner autograph out of the ’04-’05 ITG Franchise set.

Lastly, here are some more cards that will be prizes in the contest…