Posts Tagged ‘O-Pee-Chee’

So, the first card show of my unofficial season was disappointing. Some of my favourite dealers were MIA and in their place were dudes with crummy cards from the past year. I was ready to go down there and spend some cash but instead only picked up a handful of things. Blah. I would have thought with Brad Park signing autographs, the show would have lots of hockey, vintage or otherwise. Oh well, I did manage to pick up a few things.

Down to only four for this set. The picture they used for Helios is terrible; could they not find something a little less pixelated? Obviously Dionysus is the bee’s knees of this lot.

Three down, three to go. I’m starting to cool on this set. It’s not like I’m crazygonuts about Virgil, Billy Shakespeare, or John Bunyon. In my opinion the only killer card is the Dostoevsky.

These four complete my set. Wait, what? Yeah, COMPLETED SET ALERT! Also, I like Drake and his snack cakes.

I bought all of these from one dealer and in his binder, he had some of last years A&G minis and the National Heroes set intrigued me. I didn’t pull the trigger on any singles, but now I am wondering if I want to build it or not. These minis are so damn addicting.

Also from that dealer was this random card…

He actually had a stack of vintage non-sports cards and this was my favourite of the bunch. I had no idea who Chiang Kai-shek was, but after reading the blurb on the back, he sounds like a HARD dude. I mean, it takes a lot to be compared to Hitler and Mussonlini; just ask G.W. Bush *eyeroll* Anyways, I really dug the colour on this card and the artwork is pretty cool in that wartime, propaganda sort of way. This was the least bloody one of the bunch and I’m sort of regretting not getting some others. Oh well.

Now, onto some of the bigger purchases of the show. These all came from a dealer I have bought from before. He usually gives me a decent deal and today was no different.

1981-82 O-Pee-Chee #106 Wayne Gretzky

A third year OPC Gretzky in great shape for $40? You betcha!

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1995 Signature Rookies Miracle on Ice #25 Mark Pavelich

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1995 Signature Rookies Miracle on Ice #44 Craig Patrick

These two put me at four to complete my version of the set. Just need Silk, Broten, Suter, and Brooks.

The best thing I picked up was also the last thing I saw and it was this…

I have been wanting this for a while and a guy had one for $14 so I scooped it up. I will crack it open tomorrow and put it on my desk at work and then have high school students wonder who the hell it is.

So that was the show. One (barely) vintage card, some Miracle autos and a bunch of A&G minis. Oh, and I picked up some tobacco sized semi-rigids. Not exactly what I was hoping for or wanting in a show, but what can you do? Overall, I give it a…

The big Shriners show is in November and I’m just going to save up all my card money for that and go bananas foster all over it.

It’s taking a lot for me to get the motivation to write a blog entry; weeks of 85-90 degree weather with 90%+ humidity really takes it out of a guy. I’m a trooper though and need to stay consistent. I mean, can I really let down the four people who read this on a somewhat regular basis? There is no special reason for profiling Al MacInnis today. I picked the card on the left at random and decided Al was it.

Al MacInnis was drafted by the Calgary Flames 15th overall in the 1981 draft. He would have cups of Tim Horton’s coffee with the Flames during his first two seasons playing in two and fourteen games respectively. When he wasn’t skating with the big club, MacInnis was skating with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL and tearing it up. He put up 159 points (63 goals, 96 assists) in just 110 games, so the Flames definitely had an offensive talent on their hands.

MacInnis would stick with the team the following season and establish himself as one of the better defensemen in the NHL. In 51 games, MacInnis put up 45 points. During the following two seasons MacInnis brought his game to the next level, tallying 66 points in 67 games and 68 points in 77 games. The latter would earn him a spot in his first All Star game. As good as MacInniss was during those two seasons, he would again raise his level of play. Over the next eight seasons, MacInnis was one of the premier blueliners in the NHL and enjoyed some of his finest seasons as a pro. During that span, MacInnis tallied 639 points in 592 games, averaging nearly 80 points, 22 goals, and 58 assists a season. He would score a career high 103 points (28 goals, 75 assists) during the ’90-’91 season. He would also play in five All-Star games and be named to five NHL All-Star Teams (two 1st Teams and three 2nd Teams). MacInnis’ greatest accomplished came during the ’88′-’89 season when he helped lead the Flames to their first Stanley Cup. He was an absolute beast during their run to the Cup, putting up 31 points in 22 games; this was good enough to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.

This stretch of dominance ended when MacInnis was traded to the St. Louis Blues at the end of the ’93-’94 season. MacInnis would spend the remained of his career (10 seasons) with the Blues and continue to be a top-tier defenseman. Although his numbers would never match his Flames days, he would continue to put up solid numbers. He was a leader on and off the ice and one of the NHL’s toughest guys. He would win his only Norris Trophy at the age of 35 for his ’98-’99 season. He would play in six more All-Star games and be named to two NHL All-Star 1st Teams.

A lot of people know MacInnis as one of the hardest shooters in the league. He would win the hardest shot contest seven times. Oh, and he didn’t use those fancypants composite sticks; Al rocked nothing but straight up wood for this stick.

MacInnis hung up the skates at the age of 40 after just three games into the ’03-’04 season due to a reaggravated eye injury. He would end up with 340 goals (3rd among defensemen), 934 assists (14th all-time, 3rd among defensemen), and 1274 total points (3rd among defenseman). He was rightfully  inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.

The card above is from the ’02-’03 Topps Heritage set. It’s obviously a tribute to the ’66-’67 set. I have no doubt MacInnis would have fit right in during those days. The signature is nice, if not completely legible.  The two cards below are his rookie and his 2nd year O-Pee-Chee cards. At around $25-$30, his rookie is a bargain. OPC probably could have used a better picture of Al, but we have to remember that hockey photography was still pretty bad in the ’80s. His second year card comes from one of my favourite sets, design and colour wise. Man, I didn’t realize that he was 6’2″ and weighed only 193 pounds. Lanky!

1985-86 O-Pee-Chee #237 Al MacInnis

1986-87 O-Pee-Chee #173 Al MacInnis