National Hockey Card Day

Do you like hockey?  Do you collect hockey-related cardboard?  Do you enjoy getting stuff for free?  If you answered "yes" to any of these three questions, boy oh boy, yesterday was the day for you:  National Hockey Card Day.

For almost ten years now, Upper Deck has sponsored this annual holiday.  Since 2010, collector's have circled this day on their calendars because not only does it celebrate one of north america's most popular sports, many local card shops are giving away FREE packs of hockey cards!  Each year, UD creates a special, exclusive set of cards to commemorate the occasion, which are then made available, in pack form, and handed out in hobby shops throughout the United States in Canada.  When I say "free," I don't mean with a qualifying purchase or some other qualifier either - these promos are completely free with no strings attached.  Walk in the door and the vendor will hand you a pretty blue foil pack!

Or two.

The whole idea behind this promotion is to drive-up interest in Upper Deck's rink-related products, one of only two sports leagues for which the industry big-wig still has an official license.  Additionally, it's hard to increase sales without getting more people in the door; as such, increasing foot traffic for participating local card shops (y'know, the people that hawk their goods) is the other major goal.  And what gets people more motivated to go somewhere or do something besides giving them free swag?

In my opinion, nothing - the marketing campaign certainly worked on me... and has consistently done so since I started hoarding hockey cards in 2015.  Each year, I make the rounds and stop into both of the card vendors nearest to me, both because the holiday offers the perfect excuse to check out what's new in each store and because two free packs are better than one.  Is that kind of greedy?  Maybe, but I reaaaaallllllly want to end up with at least one Blackhawks card.  

Each gratis pack comes with a checklist outlining the parameters of the product, plus five player cards.  Of course, there is both a Canadian and US version of this special set and obviously I've ended up with samples of the latter.  The base set for the ol' stars and stripes is 16 cards deep and is made up of a trio of subsets - America's Rookies, Stars in Stripes, and American Icons.  Furthermore, not reflected on the checklist you see above, there are also a pair of special insert sets, Victory Black Rookies and NHL Global Series, plus a smattering of autograph subjects because every set in the world has to have hits to chase now.

Enough babbling, let's see the cards!  Remember, I collect my hometown Blackhawks and, honestly, those are the only cards I care about.  If I just pull one Indian head sweater, I'll consider this "endeavor" to be a massive success.

Here's pack one, which came from my first stop - the Baseball Card King in Oak Lawn, IL:

Not Blackhawks.  Although, I do like the appearance of the NHL All-Star sweater on Auston's entry - that's kind of unique.

Yay!  A Blackhawk, in the former of Tony Amonte, one of the most reliable scorers in franchise history!  The right winger posted at least 30 goals six times and at least 40 three times, during his time in the Windy City.  Plus, he did not miss a single game for five straight seasons.  Amonte is an American Icon, indeed.

This pack-ripping experience is already triumph.  For frame of reference, it took me until the last card of my fourth pack (yea, I really burned up some gasoline that year) in 2016 to uncover a Blackhawk.  Now, the nerves and anxiety are gone and anything past this point is simply gravy.

That's a good thing too, seeing as the last two cards in pack one were not Blackhawks either.  Although, my wife originally hails from the Philadelphia area, so maybe I'll slip her that Voracek.  Hockey is her favorite sport, after all.

While we're in between packs, let's take a minute to talk about the design.  It's a little busy, especially with that "lower third graphic" - it takes up way too much of the space as it goes obtuse and intrudes upon the photo.  On the positive side, I like the depth created by blurring the background of each photo and adding a drop shadow behind the player pictured.  Plus, it's pretty neat that the skaters "pop out" of the design and aren't completely constrained by the borders, as best illustrated by Buffalo's Mittelstadt.  Overall, despite it's flaws, I find the look of the 2019 UD National Hockey Card Day set to be quite pleasing to the eyes.

Meanwhile, back at the rink, let's take a look at the contents of pack #2, this one coming from Baseball Dreams & Memories in Crestwood, IL:

Not Blackhawks and my first double.  I'd be a lot more disappointed if I didn't already pull Amonte.

In the words of one Ariana Grande - "thank you, next:"

ZOMG!!!!!!1!!!!!!1!!!!!  We have a bonafide Blackhawks hot pack!

Falling two in a row, we have two of the greatest players to ever don a black and red sweater.  Chelios played in the NHL forever, 26 seasons to be exact, including spending the entirety of the 1990's with Chicago.  The Captain was a reliable scorer and led the Hawks to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1992 and was thrice first-team All-Star.  Although, as much as an offensive presence as Chelios was, he was nothing compared to Patrick Kane, who is simply one of the best to ever pick up a hockey stick and continues to work magic on the ice.  He is almost single-handedly keeping the 2018-19 edition of the Hawks in contention, perhaps the most hot and cold team in franchise history.

With these pulls and my earlier Amonte score, I've now pulled the entire Blackhawks master team set from 2019 Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day and it only took my two packs.  I could never have reasonably expected this pack-bust to go so incredibly well - what luck!

To be completely frank, I don't even care what the final card is anymore.  I've got what I came for... and then some!

But, I'll include it anyway, just to be complete.  Sorry Andrei, but your star as been far outshone.

As you can plainly see, National Hockey Card Day was a rousing success for me this year.  That said, I'm extremely curious about your experiences with the day of free hockey cardboard.  Did you partake in the day's festivities?  If so, what did you pull and were you satisfied with what you found?  What was your experience like?  Did you even know this was a thing?  Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

In the meantime, if you need me, I'll be giddily sorting my new promo cards into my Blackhawks All-Time Roster Collection; I'm fairly certain that all three of these oddballs will be usurping the players' previous representation.

Oh and how much longer until National Baseball Card Day?

Here's the Story

Graduation is near as the school year inches ever closer to an end.  Kids are restless, staring out windows instead wistfully and wishing they could be outside carousing in the increasingly summer like weather (or playing Fortnite, whatever kids do these days).  Teachers are just trying to keep it together, crawling across the finish line as they try to guide these students to summer break.  In just over a week, the 2017-18 calendar will officially conclude, as children and teachers alike celebrate surviving yet another school year.  The end is nigh!

Accordingly, many teachers in our building have begun to straighten up their classrooms in order to get ahead on the upcoming, yearly clean-out .  While summer break is a joyous occasion for student and teacher alike, the latter definitely does not enjoy having to pack up their entire workspace each and every June.  With that in mind, oftentimes, staff will attempt to cast off anything they don't absolutely need for the sake of sparing space and time; those items usually end up in the teacher's lounge, free to a good home.  This week, the tables of the staff sanctuary have been well-stocked with knick-knacks, books, and old teaching resources... a sort of educational yard sale.

Yesterday, while stuffing my lunch in the lounge refrigerator, I noticed what looked like an old card catalog on the microwave counter, next to a stack of worn workbooks.  As a noted cardboard fiend, anything even remotely resembling cards will always catch my attention and this box was no exception:

The "Story of America," eh?  In card form?  Color me intrigued, Uncle Sam.

The note that was tucked under the box stated that the previous owner had these cards tucked away for several years.  Having not taught history for nearly a decade, she decided to finally cut ties and dispose of her former historical teaching tools.  I suppose these bad boys wouldn't be of much use i Algebra, would they? 

So, with plenty of other important, graduation-centric tasks to be done, I - of course - dropped anchor and immediately flipped open the lid.  Well, after stashing my sandwich in the fridge, anyway.

Wow - that's a lot of colorful cards!  I suppose it takes a lot of paper to cover over 200 years of history.

A little cursory research tells me that these reference cards were produced by Grolier, Inc.  Before the days of instantly attainable information on the internet, these sorts of encyclopedic card catalogs were a popular learning tool.  People of a certain age might remember Sportscaster Cards, Safari Cards and Greenhouse Cards which were all pumped out via subscription service.  Groiler's Story of America cards were no different, produced from 1994-2001, updated in yearly fashion.  This particular box appears to date from 1997, as several specific events from that year are referenced throughout the set.

As a former aspiring history teacher, these 4x6 cards might have come in handy had I continued down that path.  However, as a current trading card collector, these intended educational tools turned out to be of use to me on my current path, as well.  As you can see, our massive history is broken down in to several, more easily digestible categories - America at War, Famous Places, Important Events, etc.  Seeing as we are a nation of sports fiends and athletics have often played a key role in the development of our country, it should come as no surprise that they show up fairly often in these cards of America, mostly as part of the "Life in America" subset:

I mean, how can you tell the story of America without discussing, America's national pastime... am I right?

As for the cards themselves, each subsection is color-coded, with "Life in America" being assigned green.  On the left, we have a timeline which dates the event or person spotlighted on the card.  In the middle we have a photograph or artist's depiction; in this particular case, we have a lovely 1887 Aquarelle print titled “Base Ball" - by L. Prang & Co. - representing the gestation of baseball.  Lastly, on the right ,we have the "who, what, when, where" and a visual indicating where in the country this event/person achieved notoriety.

On the backside, we have a detailed account of what's shown on the front, along with some bonus trivia.  As you might be able to read, Grolier opted for the origin story involving Alexander Cartwright (rather than the myth of Abner Doubleday), distilling the complicated and oft-argued story down to a basic paragraph, easy enough for a kid to get the basics.

All in all, I can see how these would make for a great source of quick information in the days before every man, woman, and child had a tiny computer in their pocket at all times.

Baseball shows up a few times in Grolier's box.  Not only is the game covered in the broad sense, but it's also showcased through some of the larger figures in the sport's history... names so notable that they crossed over from the world of sports into the larger cultural zeitgeist.  For instance, like the Hank Aaron which rests at the top of this post.

Or, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson - two names that even someone with the most minimal knowledge of baseball would most likely recognize.  The Jackie Robinson card, in particular, would have  come in handy back in February, as several classrooms in our building did group projects centered on the Hall of Famer in honor of  Black History Month.  Colloquially, Jackie appears to be one of the most popular subjects, year in and year out, at least as far as I've noticed.

As important as the game is to the USA, baseball wasn't the only sport covered by Grolier in this box:

Of course, hockey is a distinctly Canadian invention, but I suppose America has played a strong hand in it's modern development.  The team depicted is the 1917 Seattle Metropolitans, who became the first American team to win Lord Stanley's Cup.   Speaking of the Stanley Cup, how about those Golden Knights?  Will they pull off the historically improbable feat of winning a major sports championship as an expansion club?

Speaking of topical sports, the month of May is traditionally associated with a certain, specific one-day event:

And I was just blogging about how little cardboard representation the Indy 500 and open wheel racing gets too.  The 102nd running of the most famous event in auto racing will be taking place this Sunday and I cannot wait!

On that note...

NASCAR and Jeff Gordon are both repped by this card describing what occurred during the 1997 running of the Daytona 500, another one of motorsports' crown jewels.  That February, "Wonderboy" became the race's youngest victor, at the tender age of 25 (a record since eclipsed by 20-yr old Trevor Bayne in 2011).  This May, Gordon was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, at the age of 48.  Time flies, doesn't it?

Sidenote - Billy (from Cardboard History), would this count as a NASCAR card for the purposes of your collection?

So far, we've seen Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Jeff Gordon, etc., some of the most recognized names in the history of North American sports.  All in all, this box does a pretty good job of covering the "who's who" in our sporting lineage.  With that said, there's no way that Grolier was going to exclude what may be the BIGGEST name in our sporting history;

After all, in 1997, "Air Jordan" and his Bulls were coming off their fifth of six NBA Championships, with five NBA Finals MVP awards for MJ.  In short, the legend was in the prime of his notoriety when these cards were printed and distributed.  This oddball will make a fine addition to my small, but growing Chicago Bulls collection.

Now, there were many other cards with sporting connections to be found in the "Story of America," but I've chosen to only showcase the ones that appealed to me and my collecting interests.  You better believe, after flipping through the massive deck and finding these awesome oddballs, that I took them home to add to me collection.  After all, they were on the house and my official duty as the school IT person is to do anything I can to help our educating staff.  Sometimes, that goes beyond computers and includes getting rid of stuff for the teachers...well, at least it did yesterday.  Gotta clear that counter-space!

Before I go, I'm left wondering, does anyone else have a stash of these oddities in the collections?  Do you consider educational sets like these to be collectible trading cards?  Have ever used a set of these (or similar products) in your classroom, either as a professional or as a student?  Please feel free to weigh-in on these matters in the comment section below.

In the meantime, here's hoping that more cool stuff shows up in the teacher's lounge as summer break dawns!

An Expedition to MARS

Whew doggie - this was one heckuva busy weekend, filled with familial engagements, communions, graduations, and day-drinking.  As far as what concerns Wrigley Roster Jenga and it's "brand", there were two major events that took place during the two-day span:  the Cubs suffered a humiliating three-game sweep at the hands of the hated St. Louis Cardinals and my community held it's long-running, annual resale day.  The former was an offensively and defensively challenged embarrassment that more closely resembled the "Lovable Losers" era of the North Side franchise, while the latter was the day that my hometown waives the usual fee associated with setting up a garage sale and everyone is welcome to hawk their wares in their yards or garage.  One of these two events was much more exciting to me than the other - can you guess which?

In the past, I've portrayed Midlothian Annual Re-Sale Day (MARS Day, for short) as my own personal Christmas.  Ever since I was a 90's kid, prowling for deals on lightly used Beanie Babies, Hot Wheels, and Pokemon collectibles, this "holiday" has been circled in red on my calendar.  These days, what I target has changed, but the level of anticipation remains the same.   That's because, over the last few years, I've stumbled across some nifty things - including a Keith Magnuson autograph, a complete Bowman reprint set, and a full-size Red Bull cooler, among other treasures.  You really never know what you're going to find on MARS!

As part of my most recent exploration - Saturday morning - I salvaged a few intriguing items.  Don't be alarmed, but the following item somehow made it into my purchase pile:

Bought this (on purpose) at the community wide garage sale event. I don't even know who I am anymore. pic.twitter.com/sKWFTbUucm

— Tony Burbs (@RosterJenga) May 5, 2018

While the Cubs' five-game losing streak has been absolutely pitiful, I'm not about to switch allegiances.  However, I do attend a fair amount of White Sox games on an annual basis, seeing as I love our nation's pastime, my wife cheers for the Palehose, Sox Park is a short train ride away, and tickets are much more affordable.  Since I'm not a jerk and support my city, I always cheer on the home team (except when it's a Crosstown tilt), usually wearing a borrowed cap from my brother.  For two bucks, now I can keep things in house with a "Winning Ugly" era hat of my own; you're not going to be able to beat that a Lids location, that's for sure!

Unfortunately, that was the only baseball-related purchase made during my hours of garage sale hunting and baseball cards were nearly completely absent from the bins and boxes.  That's okay though - because, with the Cubs' play as of late, I'm not in much of a baseball mood right now anyway.  On the other hand, while some cheap DVDs, video games, and a pinata (of all things) helped fill the void, there was still one cardboard-related discovery to be made that made the trek worth it:

Of course, the Blackhawks were extremely disappointing this season, as well; but, as we approach the Stanley Cup finals,  I've since gotten over that let-down.  Therefore, a new Blackhawks oddball for my burgeoning hockey collection was just the ticket.

This Chico Maki stamp hails from the 1974-75 NHL Action Stamps checklist, a 324-ct set which was issued in promotional strips at participating grocery stores throughout North America.  While kids across the country originally obtained these 2.1" x 1.6" hockey "cards" from Loblaw’s, IGA, A&P, Acme, etc., I found mine in a driveway in the "Jolly Homes" neighborhood.

There was still one other way to acquire a sampling of these non-postage stamps and it came in the form of a book:

Issued by the league itself, these books contained a write-up on the previous year's Stanley Cup Champions (the Philadelphia Flyers), profiles for each team competing in the '74-75 season, and - perhaps, most importantly - a full sheet of Action Stamps:

These stamps were intended to be separated, wet, and pasted into corresponding pages for each club's roster.  For example, my Chico was intended to be affixed to this page:

As you can see, the whole set-up is quite similar to the popular Topps and Panini sticker albums we see for the various professional sporting leagues today.  Also, while I'd rather have had Stan Mikita than Maki, I'm not going to complain about such an interesting, vintage discovery at the bargain-basement price of two dollars.  After all, I'd never even heard of these oddities before this weekend.

Chico may have been the only Blackhawk included as part of the one-page sampler; that said, he wasn't the only Chicago-connected player on the sheet:

The trade of Phil Esposito to Boston in 1967 ranks near Brock for Broglio in terms of the worst transactions in Chicago sports history.  The center went on to cement a Hall of Fame legacy in Bean Town - but, never forget, the first two seasons of his star-studded career were spent in the Windy City.
Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the spectrum, Joey Johnston spent the last year of his professional hockey career in Chicago.  After several years with the Golden Seals, the winger played in 32 games with the Hawks in '75-76, with only five points and zero goals on his ledger. 

Unfortunately for me, all three of these men were previously represented (in Indian-head sweaters, no less) in my Blackhawks All-Time Roster Collection.   Nevertheless, this was still an intriguing find and a welcome diversion from the baseball atrocities occurring concurrently.

All in all, not a terrible outing for MARS day - nothing out of this world, but I didn't get totally skunked.  The Blazing Saddles DVD that I purchased will provide hours worth of entertainment and   the stamp book was definitely worth the price of admission.  Does anyone else have any 1974-75 NHL Action Stamps of their own, or perhaps further information on this oddball set?  Maybe you see a stamp that you need in the sheet above?  Does your community have their own version of MARS Day?  Feel free to let me know in the comments section below!

You never know what you'll find on a MARS expedition.

Adding to the Roster

This morning, the Chicago Blackhawks finalized their roster for Opening Night on the 2017-18 NHL season.  Jordin Tootoo, J-F Berube, and Tomas Jurco have been cut loose, while Vinnie Hinostroza has been returned to Rockford.  Meanwhile, in the most exciting bit of roster movement, 2016 first-round draft selection, Alex DeBrincat, will officially make the jump from junior hockey to the big show.  The wunderkind will be the first Blackhawk to make the jump since teammate Brandon Saad briefly made the leap to open the 2011-12 campaign.  It's going to be exciting to see if Alex can hang with the big boys, right off the bat.

Also officially surviving cuts were John Hayden, Tommy Wingels, Lance Buoma, and Anton Forsberg, of which the latter three will be making their Blackhawk debuts when they first hit the ice.  But, I don't have any cards of those guys, whatsoever.  Cue the sad trumpet.

Although, I did recently acquire some cards of some former Hawks to add to my Blackhawks All-Time Roster Collection.  So, in honor of the United Center residents updating their active roster, let's take a look at the updates I've made to my roster collection:

It's appropriate that blue-chipper DeBrincat should be the center of attention, seeing as all three of the cards I picked up just happen to be rookie or prospect cards.  Here's hoping that Alex works out better than these guys.

Matt Keith was a right-winger drafted 59th overall in the 2001 draft by Chicago. He made his NHL debut on February 24, 2004, against the Flyers, and on March 1 of that same year, against the Predators, he scored his first goal.  Right about there is where the highlight sheet on Keith runs out.  His Blackhawks career amounted to 22 games over the course of three seasons before he was traded to the Ducks for P.A. Parenteau.

As for his 203-04 Topps Traded single, I think the teal borders play nicely off of the old, all-black jersey look.

David Rundblad was selected 17th overall in the 2009 draft and bounced around from St. Louis, to Ottawa, to Phoenix, where he played with their AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates, as shown by this 2013 Choice Top Prospects single.  Eventually, David landed with Chicago during the 2013-14 season.  The former big-time prospect was already a journeyman by this point, though he saw significant time on the ice as a defensive reserve with the Hawks on the way to their 2015 Stanley Cup victory.  However, since that triumph, most of David's rink time has come overseas, in Switzerland and, now, Russia.

Choice, who handles minor league sets for a lot of the clubs and leagues in MiLB and independent baseball, seems to handle their fair share of minor league hockey teams and leagues, as well.  This is the first such example to land in my burgeoning hockey collection.

Here we have another minor league hockey card, but this one comes courtesy of a major manufacturer, In The Game.  More specifically, this card hails from their 2011-12 edition of the Heroes and Prospects line.

Phillip Danault was selected 26th overall in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by the Blackhawks on the strength of his four seasons with the junior-level Victoriaville Tigers (with whom he's seen above) of the QMJHL.  He made his NHL debut in the 2014-15 season with Chicago, as part of a two-game cameo, and then secured a regular spot on the fourth line during the next campaign.  But, his blossoming Blackhawk career was ended in a "go for it all" trade with Montreal, when he was swapped for Tomas Flesichmann and Dale Weise.  Those two did jack-squat in the Windy City, were gone by the time summer hit and without a Cup.  Meanwhile, Phil has since gone on to become a key cog in the line rotation for the Canadiens.

Whoopsy.  Maybe we should have kept our receipt for that deal.

With that, we've covered all of my recent additions to my Blackhawks All-Time Roster Collection binder.  Hopefully, Alex DeBrincat works out in Chicago much, much better than these prospects fared in the Second City.  Also, fingers crossed that I'll be able to track down cardsof the uber prospect, Hayden, Wingels, Buoma, and Forsberg for said binder, in the near future.  It was an off-season of seismic change for the franchise and I'm already struggling to keep up.

Such is the struggle of roster-based collecting.

September Roster Expansion

When it comes to baseball, the month of September may be the stretch drive in the race for the playoffs, but it's also significant in it's special roster rules.  As you probably know, MLB clubs are allowed to expand their active roster to include as much of their 40-man as they would like to include, as a way of reinforcing a tired club, an opportunity to look at prospects, or acquiring complimentary pieces, et al.  As such, the benches and bullpens quickly become bloated during the first month of fall, as teams  would be foolish not to take advantage of this quirk. 

However, the rosters of Major League Baseball aren't the only rosters being reinforced this September; st least. not on Chris Sutherland's (from The Collector) watch! 

"The Pedestrian Writer" contacted me about a week ago to let me know that he could help me out with my various roster collections and, just days later, a thick, bubble mailer showed up in my mail.  Seriously, the thing barely fit in my apartment complex's mailbox - the mass may have done some damage to the mail-carrier's shoulder.  No matter what, it definitely did some damage on my want-lists, though... and in various sports, too!

Since it's football season, let's start with the gridiron:

The Bears might be unbearable (see what I did there?) to watch again this season, but these former Bears were quite the happy sight for me; they may not be in the proper blue and orange uniform, but all needed representation in my Bears All-Time Roster Collection.  Jonathan Quinn and Danny Wuerffel illustrate just how historically "wonderful" the "Monsters of the Midway" have been at the quarterback position and Marion Barber is most remembered in Bears history for two critical miscues in a game against Denver in 2011 that essentially cost the team a playoff berth.  On the other hand, Blake Brockermeyer had a decent, unheralded, three-year stint as an offensive tackle for the team...

...so, it's not all bad!

Although, this pun is gloriously bad. The worse the pun, the better it is!

Vinny Sutherland played in exactly one game for the Bears and it came during the 2002 season.  Against the Lions, he returned 3 kickoffs for an average of 16.3 yards a return - he was released a few days later.  However, at least he stuck around the Bears long enough for Chris to be able to send me his card and make that joke!

Lastly, while he wasn't totally new to my binder, a jersey upgrade of Glyn Milburn was also included in the stash.  As nice as those old school Broncos uniforms are, I prefer my orange and blue every time. 

That about did it for the Bears roster portion of Chris' exceptionally generous trade package; but, we're far from through with this yellow, padded mailer.  It's time to turn the thermostat way down and take a shift over on the ice rink.  Hockey season is just around the corner and Mr. Sutherland decided to commemorate the occasion by assaulting my Blackhawks want-list, as well.

I'm not being hyperbolic when I use the term "assault" either:

 

For those keeping score at home, that's nine new additions to my Blackhawks All-Time Roster Collection binder, including one of the few players from the current dynastic period which have eluded my grasp (Jeremy Morin), some beautiful, vintage O-Pee-Chee (Wayne Van Dorp), and a sweet, gold-bordered parallel (James Wisniewski).  See - this assault is coming on stronger than a Daniel Carcillo check into the boards!

...and yet, it's not quite done:

Another pair of jersey upgrades close out the hockey portion of the trade package. 

Gerald Diduck might technically be listed as a Hartford Whaler on the 95-96 Leaf single that Chris forwarded my way, but, with all that's 90's holofoil and tiny text, the photograph dominates that pasteboard.  And what uniform is Gerald wearing in the photo?  Thus, it's a Blackhawks card, to me.  Meanwhile, I can't help but get a kick out of the fact that Phil Russell is depicted in almost the exact same position at the exact same angle, in photographs that were taken about a decade apart.  Plus, that 02-03 Fleer Throwbacks single is gloriously simple and slick.

That pretty much covers the hockey portion of the mailer.  As you can see, Chris' trade offering is already hard to top and speaking of hard... there was still a hardwood section yet to be seen.

For good measure, Chris tossed in some basketball cards, of which Charles Oakley was needed for my Bulls All-Time Roster Collection.  He may be a New York Knickerbocker here, but 90-91 Skybox is such a fun and iconic set that I'm not at all bothered by that fact.

Now if all that you've seen in the post above wasn't enough, Chris further continued his assault on my trading card stocks by graciously including a hefty stack of Cubs cards which had gone unclaimed in his 50/50 giveaway a few weeks ago.  Is this guy not a gem or what?

In that stack, there were...

...90's gems...

...recent needs...

... a significant pre-rookie...

...a couple more pre-rooks, featuring Jonathan's brother and a potential future addition to my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection...

...and minis!  Normally, I honestly don't care much for mini-cards, as they play too many games with my near-obsessive compulsive storage and organization of my card collection.  However, as a counterbalance, I absolutely adore oddballs and this shiny Panini sticker is an eye-catching one.  Furthermore, the Starlin Castro on the left is the first time I've seen one of these 2011 Topps Kimball Champion minis in real life and they are gorgeous.  If a tobacco card and a piece of fine art could have a baby, it would look like these Kimballs.

With that, we've finally reached the end of Chris' seemingly bottomless bubble mailer of goodies.  All told, his exquisite trade package netted me 5 new Bears (plus a jersey upgrade), 9 new Blackhawks (plus two jersey upgrades), and 1 new Bull for my various roster collections, not to mention a bunch of fun, new Cubs cards.  How's that for September roster expansion?!

Thank you Chris - this package was easily the highlight of my week and I'll make sure to get an equally generous return package in the mail, ASAP, stuffed with Red Sox and Devils (my Packers stocks have been completely depleted, though).  Also, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for anything featuring former Bears OL Todd Burger.

September roster expansion - it ain't just for the Big Leagues!