2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 - Box Break #1

I love Upper Deck brand hockey cards as much as I love criticizing Upper Deck the company. Heck, maybe I like Upper Deck brand cards even more. This set of cards has been one of the few things the card company has gotten right consistently for the past two decades.

I went to a card show recently and bought 3 boxes of 2011-12 Upper Deck Series One. Here are the results of my first box:

171 Base Cards

Buying a box puts you close to a complete base set. I bought 3 boxes with the hopes of ending up with 2 complete base sets, 100 or so doubles and 18 different (fingers crossed) Young Guns.

6 Young Guns

The 6 I got in this box were Devante Smith-Pelley, Yann Sauve, Adam Henrique, Brendan Nash, Vincour and Marcus Kruger.

3 UD Canvas Cards

I'm not a fan of parallels, but at least these Canvas Cards use different photographs than the standard base card. The canvas texture doesn't do anything for me, though. The 3 in this box were Pekka Rinne, Jarome Iginla and Jussi Jokinen.

1 UD Exclusives

Alex Goligoski 054 / 100. Moving on...

2 Hockey Heroes

Looks like Upper Deck went way oldschool with this one. I got Gump Worsley and Jean Beliveau, which is good because I'd vomit all over my shoes if it was Mark Messier again this year.

2 All-World Team

A.K.A. the insert set that no one wants. I got cards of Henrik Zetterberg and Viktor Hedman.

1 EA Ultimate Team

WTF? Or more fittingly, what's the point--of this card or the set? The back of the card just talks about new features of the Electronic Arts video Game NHL '12, and how it has won many awards. Why did they even put players on the front? These are basically "collectible advertisements."  WHY DOES AN ADVERTISEMENT COUNT AS ONE OF MY EIGHT CARDS IN A PACK?

2 UD Game Jersey Cards

Looooouuuuuuuuu!

Whoooooooooooooooooooooo?

No really, who is Lars Eller? Sounds like that ugly little man who plays drums for Metallica.

Stay tuned for my next two box breaks, coming later this week.

Card of the Week: In Memory of...

When a player changes teams, card makers always found a way to respond. Current companies like Upper Deck and Panini will get a very recent photo that shows the player with his new squad, while back in the day Topps and O-Pee-Chee would alter the photo to "change" the player's uniform--or at the very least mention the trade somewhere on the card. But how do card companies respond when a player passes away? This heavy topic is almost always avoided by card makers. There have been a few notable exceptions, like this tribute card of Terry Sawchuk released by O-Pee-Chee in their 1970-71 set. (Full Story)

Vintage Pickups: Two 1963-64 Topps Cards

Although I'm not really chasing after the 1963-64 Topps Hockey set, I couldn't pass up these two cards. I paid $8 for the pair. Not bad for almost-50-year-old cardboard.

Here are scans of the back. These cards were in damn good shape for their age. No stains or creasing, just some soft corners.

More vintage goodness to come.

1957-58 Topps #6 - Larry Regan

I bought a lot of vintage hockey cards at the show last weekend. It's been almost a full year since I last added a card to my 1957-58 Topps set. Larry Regan is my 14th card, bringing me one step closer to completing this 66-card set.

The front has a light crease and the corners are soft.

But the price? A whopping three-and-a-half bucks.

Set completion as of 11-25-2011:

14 out of 66 cards = 21.2%

Photo Purchases

I have a weakness for 8"x10" photos.

No, they aren't collectible, nor are they "worth" anything.

But there is something so immersive about their relatively large size (compared to hockey cards), their ease of storage (just throw 'em in a binder) and their endless varieties. Whenever I see a dealer who sells photos, I try and find offbeat images that I don't see everyday.

Here are some 8"x10" goodies I got...a while ago. I meant to put these up sooner, but they've been in a pile of stuff on my floor the past 3 months. Either way, enjoy these pics!

Bobby Hull - Hull played 9 games with the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80. He didn't have a card back then that showed him as a Whaler. Since then, several companies have shown Hull as a member of a Whaler, but seeing him in green and white still gives me a shock to the system.

Mario Lemieux - Speaking of shock to the system, here is Mario Lemieux in the visiting locker room of the old Chicago Stadium. The Penguins had just swept the Blackhawks in the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals--a moment that still pains me to this day (plus, I lost a $5 bet to my sister, a die-hard Pens fan).

Wayne Gretzky - Gretz, the Cup and an Oilers jersey...it just feels so right.

Bobby Orr - And this just feels so wrong. Orr skated a whopping 26 games with the Blackhawks due to injury, and retired because he didn't want to get paid for not playing. I love the Blackhawks, and have the utmost respect for Bobby Orr, but I wish he stayed a Bruin--especially since Orr's agent, Alan Eagleson, lied to Orr in order to get him to sign with Chicago.

Derek Sanderson - This is Sanderson at the end of his career, after the drugs and alcohol had taken their toll. He skated with the Pittsburgh Penguins for 13 games during the 1977-78 season.

Bill Gadsby - I was going to get this photo autographed by Gadsby, but then found a few color photos I decided to get signed instead.

Dino Ciccarelli - Dino celebrating a goal against the Sabres. Great photo!

Bobby Hull & Gordie Howe - Another scene from 1979-80. This photo is beyond cool.

1986-87 Chicago Blackhawks - I collect Blackhawks team photos, and hope to get one from every season.

Hockey cards will always be my number one hobby, but collecting photos offers me a nice diversion.

2011-12 Parkhurst Champions box break #3

My third--and perhaps last--box of 2011-12 Parkhurst Champions. We'll skip the formalities and cut right to it:

71 Base Cards

Every time I open a box of these, I get more and more base cards...and less and less short prints.

1 Autographed Card

"Terrible" Terry O'Reilly! Not a terrible card to get.

0 Memorabilia Cards

You know, I'm not sure that there are actually any jersey/game used cards in this set--a fact I like to point out.

5 Wire Photo Cards

These are a really unique idea. I'd even collect a whole set of Wire Photo cards--maybe with white borders instead of sepia to really play up the "Old Time" feeling.

3 Rendition Color Cards

I wish I got more than 3 of these in the box. I'd love it if these were 1 per pack.

0 Rendition Black and White Cards

I didn't know these were so hard to come by.

20 Champ's Minis

4 of the 20 minis were Green Back parallels. Of the 16 "normal" versions, 14 of them were doubles, as I only needed 2. Getting 57 different cards shouldn't be this hard.

So, I thought this was perhaps the worst box of cards I ever opened...

(foreshadowing)

...but then I got this card in my very last pack:

A hand-painted Parkhurst Masterpieces art card of Gilbert Perrault--limited to 10 copies, and seeded 1 in every 4,000 packs (that's 1 in every 200 boxes).

The artist actually painted on the front of the card. You can feel the texture of the paint. So even though there are 10 copies of this card, each one is slightly different since it's hand-made.

The back is signed by the artist, and hand-numbered by an Upper Deck employee.

This is probably the best card I've gotten in a pack--even better than the Neolithic Stone Tools Champ's card I pulled in 2009.

Help me finish this set.
I still need 1 base card (#76) and numerous Renditions, Wire Photos and Minis. Check out my Want List here. 

Likewise, I have a bunch of base and Mini cards to trade (from this set and others), which you can see on my Singles & Inserts for Trade page.

2011-12 Parkhurst Champions box break #2

I went to a card show this past weekend, and picked up a lot of great hockey cards, including two more boxes of 2011-12 Parkhurst Champions. (Last week, I posted the results from my first box).

Here are the results of my second box:

70 Base Cards

Love these cards! Unfortunately, getting a few more base cards--I got 67 in my first box--means that I'm going to get less other cards. Such as...

1 Autographed Card

Only 1 autographed card? My previous box yielded 3 autographs, so I'm a bit bummed about only getting 1 this time.

0 Memorabilia Cards

No complaints here. Moving along...

4 Wire Photo Cards

I guess some of these cards--that feature 2 players instead of just one--are harder to come by.

3 Rendition Color Cards

Rogie Vachon, Darryl Sittler and Cam Neely.

0 Renditions Black and White Cards

What? Not one Black and White Rendition. Sigh.

20 Champ's Minis

These come one per pack. Three of my 20 were Green Back parallels (the ink is green instead of black). 11 of the 17 "normal backs" were doubles. Can you believe it? Doubles? This is only my second box, and more than half are doubles.

I think my first box spoiled me. In my first box, I got 2 more autographed cards, 2 more Wire Photo cards and 1 more Black and White Renditions card. Had this been my first box, perhaps I would not have been so eager to buy more Parkhurst Champions. I love the designs of all of these cards, but hate getting less and less of the cool inserts in subsequent boxes. Speaking of which, I'll post my third box break tomorrow.

2011-12 Parkhurst Champions box break #1

Last weekend, I purchased a box of 2011-12 Parkhurst Champions from AU Sports Memorabilia, a card shop I frequent every week or so. The owners, Scott and Frank, are two of the nicest sport card dealers I know. Frank collects hockey cards, and mentioned that they had a box of 2011-12 Parkhurst Champions in stock. I was intrigued--and all this extra teaching I've done this semester has amounted to some extra cash. I might as well enjoy some of the added funds, right?

67 Base Cards

Wow...I really like the look of these base cards. The photos feature bright, saturated colors (except for the few black and white photos). And the backs feature complete statistics:

Another nice thing is that I only got 3 doubles in the box.

3 Autograph Cards

The box says "Look for 1-2 Autographs Per Box." Well, I beat the odds and got 3! My autographs are of Brent Sutter (raising the Stanley Cup), Tim Kerr and 2011 Hall of Fame inductee Mark Howe.

0 Memorabilia Cards

Yep, I got zero memorabilia cards. You won't hear me complain. In fact, this may be the greatest box of cards I ever opened (or close to it). I got 3 autographs of players I enjoyed watching as a kid, and no silly jersey cards.

6 Wire Photo Cards

Nice! Now, this is an interesting idea for an insert set. I'm going to have to get all of these--right now, I'm feeling tired/lazy, so I only scanned one.

3 Renditions Color Cards

Awesome! Painted cards! This set gets better and better.

1 Renditions Black and White Cards

Some of the paintings are achromatic for that classy, old school feel.

20 Champ's Minis

17 of the minis were "regular", and 3 of them were "green backs." There are only 57 minis in the entire set (10 are short prints), so I have a legitimate shot at getting all of them.

Overall, I like the 2011-12 Parkhurst Champions hockey set and will try to complete it. When I go to the upcoming show in Rosemont, IL this weekend, I plan on buying a few more boxes.