Contest Cards from the Trading Spot

Recently Johnny's Trading Spot ran a contest as part of his blog anniversary and the first ten people to comment won a prize of some sort. Not long after, a small bubble mailer from John landed in my mailbox. I was expecting the typical assortment of Reds cards but when I opened it I was shocked to see two baggies full of vintage hockey!

The blue border 1979-80 Topps cards should instantly be recognizable for the Wayne Gretzky RC. While there wasn't a Gretzky card included, there were some commons from the set, including some old school teams that don't exist anymore. I messed up on scanning this, I should've kept the teams somewhat together but anyway, I've now got cards from Colorado Rockies NHL team, something I didn't have before!

These are from the 1977-78 Topps set and have a somewhat close resemblance to their 1977 cousins in baseball with the way the player name, team name, etc. written at the bottom. Again, more Rockies cards. The Rockies at this point were in their second season in Denver, having moved after only two seasons in Kansas City (that reminds me...I need to work on getting some KC Scouts cards).

By far the most notable name in this batch though is Hockey Hall of Famer Bob Gainey. He spent 16 years with the Canadiens. His accolades include being a six-time All-Star, four-time winner of the Selke Trophy (top defensive forward) and finished in the top-ten of Selke Trophy voting an additional five times, also won a Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL playoffs MVP, and won the Stanley Cup five times (four straight from 1976-1979 and again in 1986). Newer fans will remember him as the last coach of the North Stars and subsequently the first coach of the Dallas Stars. He also came back and coach Montreal for two seasons in the mid-2000s.

No such luck with Hall of Famers in this next batch but there is longtime Red Wings goalie Jim Rutherford and Penguins center Syl Apps (son of early NHL player Syl Apps), and the hair of Dennis Ververgaert.

The oldest cards included in the package was this quartet from the 1973-74 Topps set. The Gilles Meloche card I think is a duplicate but I'll need to check my hockey binder to be sure. Obviously, someone didn't like the fact that Reggie Leach was traded to the Flyers in 1974. Two seasons after the trade, Leach won the Conn Smythe.

The final batch features cards from the 1980-81 set. On top, we have three North Stars, including two former seals in Al MacAdam and Gilles Meloche. I should note that MacAdam was part of the trade which landed the Flyers the aforementioned Reggie Leach. I really dig the colorful design on these cards. They're just fun to look at. 

A few interesting cards to note here. First, the card on the right center. Yes, it's that Joel Quenneville. The former Blackhawks and now Panthers coach. I had zero clue he ever played for the Rockies. Also in this batch, there's Hall of Famers Marcel Dionne and Michel Goulet and the Guy Chouinard card is a first year Calgary Flames card as the Flames moved from Atlanta to Calgary in the summer of 1980.

Thanks to John for running the contest and for all the cool old hockey cards. I'll have to see what I have to send over as a "thank you".

Let the Digging Begin Pt. 2

I'm back now with round 2 of the cards from the shoeboxes I went through. This will be quite the mixed bag of stuff.

I'll start with basketball. I don't follow the NBA at all and honestly couldn't name five current NBA players. There was a lot of junk wax basketball that I'll probably end up donating. I might keep these two, not sure yet though. I will say that the Kevin McHale Fleer sticker is pretty cool.

Golf cards. I used to play golf and actually was on the high school junior varsity golf team for a few years. I never was good enough to make it to varsity. Back then, I used to watch golf on TV and knew who the top players on the tour were. I never made it a habit to collect golf cards though. I found them kinda boring to be honest. Anyone out there collect golf cards?

Something I do collect though is hockey. I feel bad as I hardly watched any hockey this season and now the playoff have started. I feel like I missed out. Anyway, I'm definitely planning on watching some playoff hockey. The card above is of Eddie Olczyk, who I'm sure most of you will recognize from the NHL on NBC broadcasts.

I talked about Upper Deck Vintage in the baseball portion but I had no idea there was Upper Deck Vintage hockey. Finding both Brett Hull and Patrick Roy cards were an unexpected surprise.

Here's another interesting pair, these 1998-99 UD Choice "preview" cards. I'm not sure what the deal is with these but, according to the checklist on TCDB, it looks like maybe that only odd numbered were issued. 

Upper Deck Victory always felt very basic and mundane to me. I suppose that was the point? Just a simple, basic set for the set builders. I like the base cards here, especially the Patrik Elias.

Rounding out this mixed bag of oddities are these cards from the WCW Nitro trading card game. I had no idea these even existed, let alone there was a trading card game featuring WCW stars. The wrestlers featured on here are Ernest "The Cat" Miller and Berlyn. Judging by that, I'd say these are probably from the fall of 1999.

So there's a weird little mixed bag of cards. I'm still going through the mountain of football cards and hope to have a post up on those soon.

Empty Arena Card Show

Last weekend I finally had a spare Saturday so I figured I would treat myself. I made the 45 trek up to the Nutter Center in Dayton to hit the monthly card show. Typically, the show is held in the adjoining gym but due to a last minute change in schedule (there was a robotics competition the same day) the show got moved into the main arena. 

Now, I've been to this arena numerous times for WWE shows and never in my wildest imagination did I think I'd be sorting through dime boxes on the same arena floor where Bret Hart made his triumphant return to WWE back in 2010. Also, going into the main arena and seeing the seats completely empty, was a bit bizarre. Anyway, let's take a look at my haul.

Behold ... all kinds of goodies and oddities. Let's look closer ...

There was one vendor selling these old retail sets for a buck each. There were lots of good sets to choose from honestly so narrowing it down to three was a chore. There was one Revco box set but it wasn't in that great a shape so I settled on these, a 1986 Topps Baseball Champion Superstars set and two sets from the old Hills department store. At a later date, I'm planning on giving each of these their own post.

I couldn't resist a Bronson Arroyo bobblehead for six bucks. When I unpacked it at work, I could see why it was six bucks. It was a little chipped and there was a very small piece broken off at the bottom of the base on the back but other than that it was fine.

Now on to the cards! First up, hockey! These all came from a dollar bin that was marked down to 50 cents each. So much good stuff especially with the Eric Lindros Maple Leafs card, Curtis Joseph as a member of the Coyotes, Brodeur, Patrick Roy, and others.

More from the 50 cent bin with Sergei Federov in a Columbus uniform, Mark Messier as a member of the Canucks, and some vintage! The Jean Pronovost card is from the 1975-76 Topps Hockey set. That season Pronovost played in 80 games, scored 104 points (split evenly between goals and assists). He also finished second in the voting for the Lady Byng Trophy that year.

Speaking of vintage hockey, one dealer had a 15-card stack of 1968-69 Topps hockey in his case. I asked to thumb through them and quickly noticed no price. I found two I liked and asked how much. Quickly, he turned to his Beckett as I shuddered inside. He sat the book down, shrugged his shoulders and said "eh, how about five for the pair." Ummm ... ok! So, let's reiterate ... I got a card of a Hall of Fame goalie (and a short-tem stop card nonetheless as the 1967-68 season was his only in L.A.) and a card of a guy who founded a very successful coffee chain for a measly five dollar bill.

I also added to my football collection. Everything you see here was from a nickel bin, except for the Terry Bradshaw which was out of a dollar box.

I swear I'll get to baseball cards here in a second. Before I get to that, I got this giant stack of WWE and UFC cards for ... brace yourself for this ... for free! As I was thumbing through them at the table, I asked the guy how much they were each. He said to take the whole stack as he didn't want them. I offered to pay for them but he insisted. 

Here are the only four I wanted from the stack. Clockwise from the top left is Michael Bisping, Terry Funk, Edge, and Frank Mir. The Edge card is a beautiful card as it's taken after his win at WrestleMania 27 in 2011 in what would turn out to be his final match.

Getting to baseball now, I managed to knock off two highly sought after cards from my wantlist. First, this 2018 Topps Update Matt Harvey. This is one of only two Reds cards that I know of that were issued of Matt Harvey as a Red. The other card is from the 2018 Kahn's set that was issued at the ballpark. (Yes, the Reds still make their own cards for the stadium giveaways).

Another card I was in search of was the Scooter Gennett Topps Now card commemorating his 4-homer game back on June 6, 2017. Not only was he just the 17th player in MLB history at the time to record a four homer game, he was the first Reds player ever to do it. The price tag on it was still $10 but I couldn't resist for a card I've been searching for ever since it was issued. 

Here's a pretty neat card, an Ozzie Smith manu-relic patch card numbered to 75. I got this from the same guy I got the Matt Harvey Reds card from. 

Another manu-relic card. I don't really hate on these as much as a I've seen a lot of people do. I personally think they're neat cards. The medallion here looks like a class ring but it's Randy Johnson as an Expo. I'll take that any day.

A few more bargain relics in players I collect.

I got these from a guy that said he was just cleaning out his garage so he had a bunch of random stuff like dime boxes, random loose vintage cards, and these. These are 1977 MSA discs that were issued in cartons of Pepsi and they cost me nothing at this show. Since I bought a nice stack of cards from him, he threw these in as a bonus.

Of course, I can't go to any card show and not pick up some vintage. I know the Billy Martin has some writing on the surface but it's a Topps card of Billy Martin with the Reds. I couldn't resist.

I nabbed this 1960 Wally Post as well from the guy who gave me all the wrestling and UFC cards. I like the card but there's something about it that seems a bit off. Maybe it's the border brightness or how sharp the corners are, I'm not sure. The back seems brighter that the 1960 Martin as well. Regardless, I only shelled out a few bucks for it.

Who can pass up vintage oddballs? I can't. These were a buck each.

Early 80s goodness for 50 cents each. 

Moving on now to where I did the most damage, the dime and nickel boxes. There were only a few vendors that had bargain bins so I made sure to make the most of them and I dug through each one thoroughly. The first was the regular vendor who has singles of all the new stuff. I nabbed a ton of new Gypsy Queen base cards for a dime each. These aren't all of them, just the highlights of the batch.

Some fabulous dime bin Reds from the 1980s. My favorite here may just be the Chris Sabo Toys R' Us rookie card.

90s oddballs? Sure, why not.

Some great 90s base cards including Jose Rijo working as a member of the Reds grounds crew. He always did fun stuff like that while he had a bad shoulder injury.

Some cool horizontal cards. Willie Greene was a decent third baseman for the Reds in the 90s and had a bit of pop in his bat too. His best year was 1997 where he played in 151 games and hit .253 with 26 homers and 91 RBIs.

Some great mid-2000s stuff to add to my collection.

And finally some newer Reds cards. Reds cards weren't the only thing I dug out of the bargain bins though ...

Here's some stars of the 80s, including a cool Graig Nettles that's not only a sunset card but also a short-term stops card as he wound up his career with the Expos in 1988.

These 1987 Donruss cards were a nickel each. Yes, a nickel each. I was so excited that I accidentally grabbed two of the Tim Raines card.

Can you guess what all these players have in common? If you guessed they are all former Reds, you'd be right. One of my guilty pleasures of collecting is getting cards of former Reds players in different or unfamiliar uniforms. Some of these I barely even remember like Tim Belcher with the Royals or Dave Parker with the Angels.

The bargain bins just kept on giving like these cards Hall of Famers. The most expensive here was the Griffey for a buck.

I hit some player collections as well ... some Dennis Eckersley Cardinals cards and Paul O'Neill who I enjoy finding cards of in bargain bins.

A bunch of random cards here. Just all kinds of cool stuff.

Buybacks! Yes!

Lots of inserts from some Hall of Famers. I love the Hank Aaron cards with the old school Braves jersey.

Diamond Kings are my favorite Panini product. I'll scoop these up from bargain bins all the time. The Orlando Cepeda card is just beautiful.

More random stuff. 

And finally, a bunch of really, really good stuff. I never really collected Justin Verlander cards when he was with the Tigers but for some reason, I'm drawn to cards of him with the Astros. I can't really explain it.

That wraps up my card show visit for the spring. I spent more than I thought I would (mainly due to the Ozzie Smith and Scooter Gennett cards) but I think I still came out on top though and even knocked two cards off my want list.