Saturday, December 31, 2016

It's the end of 2016, let's see how I did

To say the least, 2016 was an interesting year.  We lost 3 great sports icons (Howe, Ali and Palmer) plus many more celebrities.  The USA elected a business man for a president, which should make 2017-2020 very interesting.

2016 was also a year of upheaval for me.  I was able to get my wife down to Florida with me, and we started the process of finding our "forever home".  It took over 4 months from the day we started seeing houses until the day we signed the contracts and obtained the keys. That certainly affected the blogging and collecting process for me (as it would anyone, I believe).

I decided to pull up my January 1st post last night to see what I wanted to accomplish, and how I did. 

Here's the seven items I wanted to accomplish in 2016.

1.  I'd like to get more envelopes in the mail.  If you want to get picky, I accomplished this.  26 mailers sent out in 2015, 27 sent out in 2016.   To be honest, that's not how I wanted it to go down.  I think more PWE's will help increase this number.  Grade:  D

2.  Finish off a couple of vintage sets.  OK, I could make excuses about how for 4 plus months my life was a little upside down, and I didn't have much time to do anything card related.   Yes, that's true, but it's also bull shit because I had more than enough time to finish off my '64 set at the end of the year, but instead I went off on a tangent and started the SNI Hockey project.   Grade:  F

3.  Player PC 1 of 1's2016 will also see more attention paid to my Sakic, Thome and Lawrie PCs.  White whale cards??  Didn't happen.  I did a fair job though increasing by Sakic and Thome collection this year, but Lawrie didn't get a whole lot of attention. 
As far as the 1 of 1's go?   Fail.   The rest of it I'll give myself a C-.

4.  Get back into a regular writing rhythm.  This will be the toughest of them all.  108 posts during 2015 isn't enough, in my opinion.
This post is #130 for 2016, and with 4 months being a total write-off (bad pun, I know), I feel that the last part of 2016 saw my interest in blogging come back.  If I can write 17 posts in November and 19 in December (including this one), there's hope yet.   Have to shoot for at least 15 per month in 2017.
Grade:  C-

5.  Try and get rid of some of the excess.  Well, I did do that to some extent, by donating a bunch of cards to local charities down here after I moved in.  What I mentioned at the beginning of the year was getting set up on COMC with selling some cards.   I started to put cards together the last couple of months to send off, but never got around to it.  A grade of D- for only fulfilling a portion of this goal.

6.  Read, read and re-read.  It's time to start reading more blogs.  Fail.  Fail.  Fail.  Shame on me.  If there was a grade Z, that's what I would get.

7.  Clean up the blog a little.  Wow!  I actually did do something right this year!!  I really worked on my want lists, rearranged the layout a bit and changed the font.  What I'd like to do is figure out to make a new header for the blog.  I'm going to be generous on this one and give myself a B+.


I have a few things that I want to accomplish in 2017, but that's tomorrow's post.  In keeping with the one card rule for any post I write, here's my Sakic card of the year.


This was part of my secret Santa envelope that Jim from GCRL fame sent me.   This is the rainbow foil 2008-09 OPC retro insert, #98/100!!  I don't know if I had ever seen one of the rainbow parallels anywhere, so getting this card in the envelope was truly unexpected and totally amazing.   Thank you Jim!

To all those out there who actually still read this blog, I want to say thank you for sticking by me in 2016.

Have a great and safe 2017, and whatever you do tonight, please do it safely. 

Thanks for reading, Robert



Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Want list removals courtesy of Cards on Cards

Kerry from the Cards on Cards blog is always good to hit any want list that is put in front of him.  Or maybe it's just my want lists that he has success with.   I don't know for sure, but an envelope that came my way recently from his neck of the woods was full of Blue Jays goodness that certainly made my want list a bit lighter.



Even with the X-Large setting for this scan, the cards still look like minis, don't they?  None of the 4 were in my collection before now.   Love the two Damaso Garcia stickers from the early 80's on the left, the Aaron Sanchez sticker is from this years release, and the Lloyd Moseby on the right I originally suspected to be one of the Topps Micro, but is in fact a sticker from 1987.   Great stuff


I was in shock when I looked at my '90 Leaf Jays want list, there was actually 8 cards on there before these 5 came my way.  Naturally, I'll need those 5 again for my set, so I'll have to hunt for those one day.  I had to check my have list to see if I had the '85 Topps All Star card for Dave Stieb, I didn't.  It's almost as if Kerry has psychic abilities....


Not only did older wants go by the wayside, but newer release want lists were also damaged.  Love them all, the '16 Heritage, the '15 A&G (which I didn't even have a list up on the blog, but I'll take Kerry's word for it that it's needed), the 2015 Topps and Gypsy Queen also have fewer cards on their want lists as well. 

Side note:  I was sad to Edwin Encarnacion go to Cleveland.  Very sad indeed.  But I don't blame him one bit.  He'll provide better numbers offensively than Napoli, and is also better defensively (although his GP at 1st last year was half of Napoli's).   I think Cleveland is even closer to the WS now with EE in their lineup.


More hits on the want list, including the Power Players Colby Rasmus, who has since moved on to the Astros.  I got a kick out of the AL RBI leaders card, particularly the Jose Bautista portion.  Did Topps actually catch him 5 minutes after a shave?  I've never seen him that clean shaven...

All in all, a fantastic package from Kerry.   Thank you very much Kerry, the cards are greatly appreciated! 

Thanks for reading, Robert

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

A few odds and ends to show off

I originally had planned to post this on Christmas Day, but unfortunately this year I was busier than normal, and my travels took me to places that didn't allow time for posting.  So instead, 2 days later we'll show the few odds and ends I've had laying around for a few days/weeks...

Gardenhire 462, Ordonez 482
One of a handful of sets I'm going to finish in 2017, 2011 Heritage has been a slow burn over the past few months.  The Gardenhire and Ordonez cards above were part of my Black Friday purchase from COMC, and leave me with just 5 cards left to finish the set, including the overpriced (in my opinion) Justin Verlander card.   If Kate Upton was naked on the card with him, I'd pay the $12. 




2007 McDonald's PC1
I got a nice little package from Dave at the Wax Stain Rookie blog just before Christmas, which included this beauty of a Sakic card which I had never seen previously until it arrived in my mailbox.  Dave's envelope also included some more Sakic's, along with a few Maple Leafs that I'd also never seen before.  I have to get off my ass and get some Devils cards his way...


Optic and Chrome
A couple of more McCutchen's for that PC came with the Black Friday order, on the cheap of course.   I had never owned one of the Donruss Optic cards before, but I don't mind the Diamond Kings version of McCutchen on the left.  It's a very high gloss card, and the artwork is well done, logo or no logo.  The Topps Chrome on the right is the refractor version, and was also obtained at a reasonable price.



86/99
Both of the Blue Jays cards above came courtesy of Jim from GCRL fame; the Lawrie is the foil version, needed for the PC.  The Encarnacion is the mini version, serial numbered 86/99 and came in a mini top loader, something that I haven't seen before as well.  I really need to get out more.

Jim also sent me this card below, which was the highlight of the package for me.


89-90 Panini
A lot of the earlier Sakic stuff I need for my PC are the stickers from Panini and other various companies.  This features him in his rookie season, wearing the #88 jersey that he only had for that year.  Check it out, no glove on the left hand, risky playing like that at any time. 

I also learned this past week that Jim started a new blog back in September called cards as i see them.  I'll be sure to keep an eye out for new posts there...

I hope that everyone had a super holiday, and is getting ready for a prosperous 2017.

Thanks for reading, Robert
 

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Serial Saturday #9: 5 for the Hockey Side

A quick post to get some more of the serial numbered hockey cards that I had in my personal collection out there. 

The response to this project has been amazing so far, I've received cards from a few unexpected sources so far (thank you all!), and while I know that this project is going to take a while, I can see that I'm going to enjoy the ride...

So let's get a little closer to the 100 card mark, shall we?  Here's 5 more cards, all serial #'d under 100 from my personal collection.


I've had these cards for what seems like forever.  I remember opening the box of BAP Memorabilia still and remembering how disappointing it was ($70 price tag and zero jersey or auto cards), but the Stu Barnes card I pulled finally finds a spot somewhere.  Stu is numbered 61 out of 200.

The Holik Holo-Silver was a pretty rare card for the time, numbered to just 99 cards.   A lot of the star players from that set have held their values over time.  Holik as you can plainly see is #80.

Stan Drulia was the long shot of long shots to make the NHL, an 11th rd pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1986 draft.  He played in 24 games in the 92-93 season for Tampa, then spent the next 6 seasons in the minors before playing 2 more seasons in Tampa between '99 and '01.  Stan's card is #89.


Carlo Colaiacovo was the Leafs first round pick in the 2001 draft, and the club had high hopes for him.  He unfortunately had a tough time staying healthy over his first 5 years with the team, and wound up getting traded to St. Louis in what would be one of the worst deals for Toronto since the 21st century began.  This card is serial #'d 81.


Why the Avalanche gave up on this guy is beyond me.  One of the top defensive forwards in the league, great on faceoffs, 50-60 points each year, those guys don't grow on trees.  Oh, did I mention the Lady Byng trophy (most gentlemanly player) in 2013-14 for taking just 1 minor penalty?   I'm a Joe Sakic fan, and always will be, but moving O'Reilly out of Colorado will be a move I'll never understand.
This gold MVP from 2014-15 MVP is #'d 98/100.

Whatever you do this weekend, whether it be traveling or staying at home with family and friends, do it safely and responsibly.

Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas Eve, Robert

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Realizing just how many cards I have on my desk

With the generosity of everyone over the past couple of weeks, I've seen the small piles of cards on my desk start to multiply.  Add in the COMC order that I purchased but posted little of so far and the old problem is beginning to build.  So to make sure that the goal of neatness remains intact, I decided to get off my ass and get some more of the serial numbered hockey cards on the blog.

I purchased 7 of them during the black Friday sale recently, and they sat on the bottom of that pile for the past couple of weeks.  No more...


Interesting how the foil on 90's cards scans a lot better than the foil on more recent cards.  These cards are all from sets released earlier than 2000, a time where companies were really starting to use serial numbering to enhance the "chase" value of cards.  It's amazing that Jarome Iginla is still going here in 2016, 18 years after the Donruss Elite card shown above was released. 

I can still remember the year I joined a hockey pool, and drafted a rookie by the name of Tony Amonte in the last round.   The entire pool turned around, looked at me and said "WHO??"  Amonte scored 35 goals and 69 points in his rookie season.  

The Peca and Brind'Amour cards are from the Totally Certified set from 97-98.  The four cards knocked off serial #'s 290 (Amonte), 254 (Peca), 476 (Iginla) and 1146 (Brind'Amour).


The 2nd scan is 3 more recent stars, all of them from Panini products.  The Sedin and Stamkos cards are both inserts, which haven't really been plentiful so far.  My favorite of the 3 is the Ryan Miller card.  I played some goalie when I was younger, and I've always been intrigued by goalie mask designs. 

Also notice that the four cards in the top scan all have the serial numbers on the back of the card, while the lower scan sees the three cards numbered on the front.  Even though that's the case, the numbers are still tough to see; Sedin is #'d 370, Miller is #143 and Stamkos is 192. 

I still have a nice stack of serial #'d cards from Doug to scan and post...that will have to be done before too long.

Gotta keep that ol' desk clean...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Holiday greetings that come in a can

First off, I hope that my video post from the other day hasn't scared anyone off.  Like I mentioned, it's something that I wanted to do for a while, and now that I've figured out the basics, I'm hoping to do a video post maybe once a month, because sometimes running my mouth is a lot easier than typing!!

Anyhow, folks around the blogosphere likely have come across the giveaway from Dennis at the Too Many Verlanders blog.   There was only one thing that I really wanted on there, and that was the Pinnacle can that featured Mats Sundin of the Maple Leafs.  (Item #91 if you're interested in seeing the actual can)

Dennis, being the ingenious fellow that he is, sent me the can with a few goodies inside.  Why waste extra packaging, right?  Dennis was a big contributor to the baseball version of SNI, and I'm sure that he saw the hockey project come by and figured he had to get in on the action as well.

His first six pack of cards were fantastic for me, because they featured sets/cards that I hadn't seen before...


The Bowman Young Stars cards on the left of Kristian Huselius is something that I hadn't seen before.  Unfortunately, I had already added serial #4 to the set recently, so I'm going to have to find a home for that card.  The OPC red parallel of Rusty Klesla, and the SP Authentic of Phil Esposito on the right both will find a home in the set as I didn't have #'s 42 and 46 before now.  Another aspect that I'm discovering with the SNI hockey  version is I'm finding more veterans and legends for the set, compared to the baseball version.   I have both of the Esposito brothers in the set now, and it will not  upset me to find more greats of the game for the set.



Next up, there's 3 more cards that fit in nicely.  Pascal Dupuis retired last year after developing blood clot issues.  It was good to see him go out as part of the Penguins Cup champion team however.  Saku Koivu overcame cancer to have a solid career of over 1100 games with the Canadiens and Ducks.  I can easily say right now that the Zdeno Chara card on the right will represent the tallest player in the set at 6'9".  If I manage to find a serial #'d card of Darren Pang at 5'5", he will easily be the shortest.

Dennis has also sent me a couple of Blue Jays oddballs in the past, and this phone card of Shawn Green fits in that category

I'll have to get the paper off the back and see if the card works...

A fantastic holiday lot indeed from Dennis, thank you very much, the cards are appreciated!!

Thanks for reading, Robert


Monday, December 19, 2016

Torn, pt. 2 the video

OK, I may lose a lot of followers after this one, but I finally decided, after many months of wanting to do so, to make a video of myself for a blog post.

I decided to tear the Rip card open that I posted yesterday, and I had a little fun making the video.

Enjoy:




Hopefully nobody was scared off, because I plan to do some more of these in the future.

Thanks for reading/watching, Robert

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Torn

Got a nice PWE the other day from the uber creative Gavin who runs the Baseball Card Breakdown blog.  Totally unexpected, which is always the best, this 4 card envelope of fun hit the sweet spots.


My first Topps Triple Threads card from 2016 is the Troy Tulowitzki card you see on the left.  It is the Amethyst parallel (really, aren't we stretching for colors just a bit too far now?) #'d 78/340.  I'm going to have to dig into my collection because my want list says I don't need the Jose Cruz Jr. card in the center, but I sure don't ever remember seeing it.  The Nazem Kadri on the right is a great card, a nice shade of red to contrast the Maple Leaf blue and white.  That one goes right into the SNI hockey set, and is the 6th Leaf to be posted so far...

Now, I have to show this off, because I'm honored to be one of the 25 people on the planet to receive one of these homemade rip cards...


Now, first I'll say God bless Tony Gwynn, he left this planet far too early.

But what do I do here.  Do I tear the card, hoping for something I might really like inside.

Do I keep the card intact, potentially creating a one of a kind collectible if the other 24 recipients pretend to be 8 year old kids and gleefully tear into theirs?

Do I tear the card, hoping to help reduce the Tony Gwynn '89 Fleer card population enough so that the price might climb another 5 cents?

I'll leave the decision for another time...

Thank you for the cards Gavin, greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Serial Saturday #8: one and one

Pushing this post right close to the end of Saturday this week.  I have so many cards on my desk right now from so many of you that it's becoming sensory overload!!  HAVE!! TO!!  POST!!

So, to make a long post (story) short, I decided to go with one page of baseball, and one card of hockey SNI to at least get something out there.

Page 29 is up next for baseball:


Card 253:  Jesse Litsch, 2008 Topps Heritage Chrome #253/1959.  Toronto card #14
Card 254:  Toronto Blue Jays, 2010 Topps Gold  #254/2010.  Toronto card #15
Card 255:  Frank Herrmann, 2008 Bowman Chrome refractor #255/500.  Cleveland card #11

Card 256:  Luke Hochevar, 2011 Topps Gold #256/2011.  Kansas City card #10
Card 257:  Sean Townsley, 2014 Bowman blue #257/500.  Miami card #10
Card 258:  Jose Barajas, 2009 Bowman blue #258/500.  Baltimore card #7

Card 259:  Willie McCovey, 2010 Topps Triple Threads #259/525.  San Francisco card #6
Card 260:  Chris Johnson, 2010 Topps Gold #260/2010.  Houston card #10
Card 261:  Mychal Givens, 2011 Bowman Green #261/450.  Baltimore card #8

This page gets 3 teams to the double digit mark, Houston, KC and Miami.  Toronto becomes the 2nd team to hit the 15 card plateau (St. Louis was the first).   There were only 2 bloggers that contributed cards to this page; both Dennis of Too Many Verlanders and Jeroen of the Dutch Card Guy hit for a total of 5 cards on the page.  The other 4 were my responsibility, 2 from local card shows, 1 from eBay and one from the 2014 NSCC. 


Tonight's hockey side of Serial Numbered Insanity is this Blake Wheeler card, another part of the Hockey Expo mailer from Doug of Sportscards from the Dollar Store fame. 

I always thought that Wheeler was a Boston draft pick, but a quick bit of research showed me that he was actually the 5th overall pick in the 2004 entry draft by the Phoenix Coyotes.  He played 4 years for the Golden Gophers of Minnesota before signing with the B's in 2008.  2 years later they traded him to Atlanta, which is now the Winnipeg Jets.  That A you see on Blake's jersey is now a C, as he replaced the departed Andrew Ladd as the captain of the team. 

This card is serial # 746, and is the first Jets card for the SNIH.  The only team left without a card featured on the blog?   Carolina.  What's even worse is I don't have any Hurricane serial #'d cards yet.
Oops...

Just 8 days until Christmas, do you have your shopping done yet??

Me neither...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Friday, December 16, 2016

Shanny

I'm sure that I've looked at dozens of copies of this card over the past several years.  Each time, I've known that I need the card for my 88-89 OPC set.  And each time, I've passed on it.   Can't figure out why though.

Finally, I broke down and bought a Brendan Shanahan RC during the Black Friday sale at COMC.  I'm pretty sure that the price was the main factor for the purchase, as the card cost me less than $7


The card is in great condition, and it appears that I was waiting for the right copy at the right price to come my way all along.

What makes this purchase even greater is now I can add it to the center of the 9 pocket page where it belongs.  Those of you who are long time hockey fans will appreciate the talent that is on this page...


5 Hall of Famers (Housley, Gretzky, Shanahan, LaFontaine and Robitaille), Sandstrom and Olczyk both scored almost 400 goals each, Ken Linseman played 15 years in the NHL/WHA and Ron Sutter played 18 years. 

Now, all that's left to finish off this set is the Brett Hull RC.  Maybe the January card show will be the place to find that one...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Card of the year? It's not baseball, and it's not hockey either

Call me what you will.   Geek.  Nerd.  Dork.  I've heard it before, and I'm sure I'll hear it again.

P-Town Tom has a contest going on right now for card of the year. I'm sure many of you thought I would select this card as my choice.


Sure, it's got the bat flip we all remember from the 2015 ALDS against the Texas Rangers.  But that's old news now.

I've seen this card on my desk daily for the past few weeks, and the geek/dork/nerd in me can't help but be enchanted by it.


Sure, it might be just a shot of a mountain, but it is after all the tallest point on our planet.  The write up on the card back is what gets me stirred up.

  1. Rising more than 29,000 feet above the Nepal-Tibet border (and growing a 1/4" each year), Mt. Everest is over 60 Million Years old.  OK, how in the hell does someone figure out a 29000 foot mountain grows a quarter inch each year??
  2. Winds can bluster beyond 200 MPH and temperatures can range from 100 degrees above to 80 degrees below zero.  200 MPH winds, and I'm here worrying about hurricanes? 
  3. In 2015, for the first time in 41 years, not 1 climber reached its summit -- but a record 22 died trying.  Fascinating point, yes, but quite morbid, don't you think?
As I've pointed out countless times on this blog, I've never been a big insert fan.  But this card for me takes the cake.  I have a computer/card room where the only thing on the wall is my Maple Leafs clock.  Maybe a giant version of this card in a frame might adorn the wall someday.

Yes, I do like the card that much.  It is my card of the year.  

Thanks for reading, Robert

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

It's happening again

The post title has kind of a "two-prong" meaning for me.  My first thought when it comes to the title is my somewhat semi-regular posting routine.  Yes, a lot of what I'm doing right now is posting cards that I've either bought or received lately, but the mere fact that I've hit double digit posts each of the past 4 months (and well on the way to doing it again here in crazy December) means that I'm hitting my stride again. 


When I'm getting cards such as the 71-72 OPC cards you see above, I'm not letting them sit for days, weeks, even months on end before A) posting about them or B) putting them where they belong.

Yes, another small problem I'm developing (note that I used the word small) is there are piles of cards developing on my desk again.   When I lived in PA, my wife was afraid to use the computer because of the endless piles of cards on the desk, some 300 to 400 cards high, for fear of knocking them over.


Mind you, there weren't any stacks of '68 Topps with that many cards in them, but you get the idea.  The piles right now number approx. 1/2 dozen, and they're certainly not of the hundred plus card variety. 

My goal is to keep them moving.   Keep writing, even if it's just babble like this post.

Move them into their proper place, whether it be a binder, or a box, or a plastic 100 count container.  Just get them off the damn desk.


Post about them, so everyone can enjoy them, or despise them (depending of course on your particular tastes).  Even take the time to gush a little about one particular card, like the Alvin Dark below from '69 Topps.


I love this card back, no ifs, ands or buts about it.  Love the artwork, and I actually learned something about Alvin Dark the player, even though this is a card of Alvin Dark, the Indians manager.  I'm going to have to look at the other manager cards in '69 T to see if they are the same on the back.  (I'm assuming they are)

Maybe the best part about the "it's happening again" title is that I'm writing a Wednesday night post on a Tuesday.  Yes, my wife and I go out on Wednesday to our friends house, to spend a few hours playing kitchen table poker and kibitzing with our good friends.  Over the past few months, I wouldn't have even thought about filing a post on Wednesday nights...

I've got the itch again.  The writing itch.   I just have to figure out how to keep it going. 

Thanks for reading, Robert


Tuesday, December 13, 2016

3, 2 and 1 from the almost done (page)

The Black Friday haul from COMC proved quite fruitful for a few reasons.   Part of the purchase was knocking off part (or all) of the want lists on the "Almost Done" page.  Making this a quick and simple post of just 6 cards, which removed one want list and shaved down a couple more...


Why I didn't chase these down sooner, I can't explain.  But getting the last 3 RC's (at least I believe they are, you never know anymore) from the 2015 A&G set puts it to bed.  Now I can start to work on the 2016 set, maybe some time in 2017 I'll start buying some more packs.


There's still a bit of hope that the '64 set may be completed in the next 18 days.  We'll have to see how the Christmas budget goes.  If I spend more than I expect on holiday gift giving, then the final couple of big ticket cards may have to wait until the new year.  Joe & Jerry here are on card #564, another high number off the list.   There are some of you out there that will like the 2nd high number card I bought more...


For just under $7, I finally was able to get a copy that was in nice shape at an affordable price of the LA Dodgers team card.  The only flaw on the card, front or back, is the soft lower left corner.  A lot better condition than I expected. 


Finally, the rookie shortstops card from the '73 set is now in hand.   Completing the '73 set wasn't on the priority list for this year, even though I'm down to just 3 cards.  But finding a Schmidt RC at a decent price has been very tough, and I imagine that will continue for the foreseeable future, unless I get lucky.  I also have the Dwight Evans RC to pick up as well, so the '73 set will probably wait until sometime into 2017 before it's done. 

There are only 14 cards remaining on the 3 want lists on the almost done page.  2 of which I have already bought from the '64 set.  Maybe my next goal will be to wipe out that page entirely before I get another set close enough to move onto the page.

We'll see how that goes...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Sunday, December 11, 2016

One down, 9 to go

One of my long term collecting goals will be to complete each of the O-Pee-Chee sets from the 1980's, beginning with the 80-81 set and moving right on up to 89-90.  Some of the sets I have bits and pieces of starts, there are a couple that I may only have a card or 2 of, and there's a couple that are just about done.

With the black Friday sale at COMC recently, I finally decided to get the last card I needed for the 87-88 OPC quest.  As it almost always is with older sets, the final card or 2 ends up being a star or some other valuable card in the set.  In this case, it was card #53, Wayne Gretzky.

What I decided to do is scan each of the pages to show off this morning.  What I found while going through each one is that the set is very colorful, meaning that the majority of the photos feature the players in their road uniforms (I'm guessing about a 80-20 ratio). 

Enjoy!

























The last card for my 88-89 set is the Hull RC.  Then I get to sit down and see where I am with the 89-90 set (I know those cards are around here somewhere...).  The 80's for me will probably be my all time favorite as far as hockey goes, it was a real run and gun game then where it wasn't uncommon to see teams hit double digits in goals on a given night. 

While these sets may not be as nostalgic for a lot of you compared to 60's or 70's baseball, I will never get tired looking through any of the 80's hockey sets. 

It's about what you like, right?

Thanks for reading, Robert