As I mentioned a few days ago, my girlfriend ensured that pretty much all I got for Christmas was new clothes. Turns out that she's not the biggest fan of my beat up, old band tees and lucky jeans.
Who knew?
Amongst my wardrobe altering haul was a nice gift certificate from my parents for a pair of new running shoes. It's been a long tradition between us and an apt one at that; having been an avid runner for 13 years, I've gone through A LOT of Sauconys and they are certainly not cheap.
Saucony Omnis - in case anyone wanted specifics
Yet, while the logical side of me understands it, the kid in me would much rather open up a shoebox and find a stash of cards. In steps Shane from the exceptional blog Shoebox Legends.
While it wasn't a literal shoe box, finding a trade package in the mail yesterday was an uplifting sight after a long day at work. Shane offered up an impressive selection of his Blackhawks dupes and I was happy to take them off his hands.
Shane led off strong with this quartet of new names for my Blackhawks All-Time Roster Collection. The most significant name, by far, here is Doug Wilson. Honestly, I can't believe I didn't already have a card for the the club's highest scoring defenceman in points (779), goals (225) and assists (554). It's almost disrespectful - that said, I still don't have a card of Bobby Hull yet either, so...
Cam Barker got himself a Stanley Cup ring during his tenure too.
All of those cards I had previous came out of discount boxes to serve as placeholders; so if anyone wants them, speak up.
There was also another type of upgrade I was able to make:
The nameplate on both of these cards might say Dave Manson, but one is an impostor.
The Pro Set card on the left actually depicts current Hawks broadcaster Steve Konroyd. This was an unfortunate error that was pointed out by the ever-observant Al Kawamoto of Hockey Kazi. Thank you for catching that Al and thank you for allowing me to compensate Shane!
Even after all of that, there was still a fair amount of goodies to be had:
A couple masterpieces put out by Upper Deck of Jeremy Roenick and Steve Larmer. One portrait is far better than the other, in my opinion; but, I'll allow you to draw your own conclusions.
And a couple of more recent Hawkey heroes. Both Seabs and the Hammer have been around since the start of the current dynasty and along with Kane, Toews, Hossa and Bryan Bickell are the only guys to be around for all three Stanley Cup wins. It's always nice to add a few new cards of the core to the collection.
That did it for the hockey portion of the trade; however, Shane threw in a couple of bonus items to close out the package with:
We all know that I'm a Cubs collector, first and foremost. Since I don't purchase a lot of Allen & Ginter (really, I don't buy any of it), this 2013 Shark is brand new to me. I've always had a bit of a sentimental attachment to Jeffy Spellcheck and I was kind of hoping the Cubs could re-sign him at a below-market rate this offseason; but, then the Giants happened.
I imagine that Shane included the Mike Joy card because he does his research. I've mentioned here and there that I was a huge NASCAR fan growing up and still follow the sport with a casual interest. I have a modest collection of auto racing cards and I am sorely lacking in terms of cardboard for guys that broadcast the sport. To me, Mike Joy's voice is a callback to my childhood - so, this card definitely made for a pleasant punctuation mark.
Thank you Shane for the more than generous selection of Blackhawks cards, even if they didn't actually come in a shoe box. I've just dropped off a nice stack of Red Sox cards for you at my local post office; they should all be new to your collection, according to my calculations.
I'll wrap things up today by including my favorite Motorhead song, in honor of the legendary Lemmy, who passed away suddenly yesterday after a brief bout with extremely advanced cancer. It's actually a tribute song for another band we all know and (likely) love and one I don't ever hear anymore. Of course, I don't generally hear any Motorhead on the radio except for Ace of Spades. Anyway, take it away Mr. Kilmister:
There was also another type of upgrade I was able to make:
The nameplate on both of these cards might say Dave Manson, but one is an impostor.
The Pro Set card on the left actually depicts current Hawks broadcaster Steve Konroyd. This was an unfortunate error that was pointed out by the ever-observant Al Kawamoto of Hockey Kazi. Thank you for catching that Al and thank you for allowing me to compensate Shane!
Even after all of that, there was still a fair amount of goodies to be had:
A couple masterpieces put out by Upper Deck of Jeremy Roenick and Steve Larmer. One portrait is far better than the other, in my opinion; but, I'll allow you to draw your own conclusions.
A couple more neat Roenicks. Fleer Ultra was always a brand that lived up to it's name - it's a damn shame that it had to come an end.
And a couple of more recent Hawkey heroes. Both Seabs and the Hammer have been around since the start of the current dynasty and along with Kane, Toews, Hossa and Bryan Bickell are the only guys to be around for all three Stanley Cup wins. It's always nice to add a few new cards of the core to the collection.
That did it for the hockey portion of the trade; however, Shane threw in a couple of bonus items to close out the package with:
We all know that I'm a Cubs collector, first and foremost. Since I don't purchase a lot of Allen & Ginter (really, I don't buy any of it), this 2013 Shark is brand new to me. I've always had a bit of a sentimental attachment to Jeffy Spellcheck and I was kind of hoping the Cubs could re-sign him at a below-market rate this offseason; but, then the Giants happened.
I imagine that Shane included the Mike Joy card because he does his research. I've mentioned here and there that I was a huge NASCAR fan growing up and still follow the sport with a casual interest. I have a modest collection of auto racing cards and I am sorely lacking in terms of cardboard for guys that broadcast the sport. To me, Mike Joy's voice is a callback to my childhood - so, this card definitely made for a pleasant punctuation mark.
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Thank you Shane for the more than generous selection of Blackhawks cards, even if they didn't actually come in a shoe box. I've just dropped off a nice stack of Red Sox cards for you at my local post office; they should all be new to your collection, according to my calculations.
I'll wrap things up today by including my favorite Motorhead song, in honor of the legendary Lemmy, who passed away suddenly yesterday after a brief bout with extremely advanced cancer. It's actually a tribute song for another band we all know and (likely) love and one I don't ever hear anymore. Of course, I don't generally hear any Motorhead on the radio except for Ace of Spades. Anyway, take it away Mr. Kilmister:
Glad you enjoyed the cardboard! I have to confess that I grabbed those Ginter cards totally at random just to serve as "bookends" to protect the other cards. Lucky hit on those!
ReplyDeleteRIP LEMMY
ReplyDeleteLemmy was an interesting dude. He got the most out of his 70+ years.
ReplyDeletevintage hockey is the best!