Through The Mail

In the summertime, a used book store near my house was going out of business. My wife and I had frequently gone there some weekends to grab CD's, DVD's, and the occasional book or two. The last weekend they were open for business we decided to see what they still had left. While I was in the sports book section, I noticed they had a book called "The Baseball Autograph Collector's Handbook". Intrigued, I decided to buy it. What this book does is give the address for retired and current players so you can obtain autographs through the mail using a self addressed stamped envelope. So, as of today (December 31st), I have sent out 10 cards to be autographed. 2 of them came back within a few weeks stating that I had the incorrect address, but after the first week, I had already received my first response.

It came from a guy named Jack Heidemann. This guy in my opinion is a class act. He even sent his business card autographed back with the card I sent him (to the left of the Topps card is his business card - I have only showed the back of his business card, I wouldn't want Mr. Heidemann to receive phone calls because some guy in PA posted his personal phone #). If you don't know who Jack is, he was a former first round draft pick of the Cleveland Indians in 1967 (11th overall). He had a .211 Average, with 9 HR's and 75 RBI's. I sent Mr. Heidemann a card I had purchased off COMC for .43 which just so happened to be his rookie card and BAM...Autographed. Pretty awesome right?!

After a few months had gone by I still hadn't received another autograph back. I began to worry that everything I had sent had either gotten lost or the player just threw away the card I had sent along with my SASE. The day after Thanksgiving came and the wife and I decided to put up Christmas lights outside. The mailman came so I went to go grab the mail. To my excitement, I had received 2 more replies!

The first was from a player named David Clyde and the next from a player named Pete Broberg. Both had played pro ball in the 70's. Both autographs look like the guys used the same marker! Either way, I don't care, I was just excited to receive a response.




As of right now, I have 5 outstanding requests from J.T. Snow, Matt Brunson, Ben Davis, Mike Ivie and Jerry Reuss.




So far I am having a blast with this. I have already purchased more envelopes and stamps for future requests. I am going to hold off for now until I receive a few more responses from the players listed above, but I fully endorse this idea to anyone who has the itch to try something different with their collecting habits!

COMC grabs

Right after the Penguins won the Stanley Cup, I ended up selling off one of the cornerstones of my collection (Cup Black Kris Letang 1/1). With a little bit of the money I had received from the transaction, I bought a new trash can, computer desk and also added some funds to my COMC account and paypal account. I picked up so many small grabs (30 cents here and 40 cents there), but had also grabbed quite a few cards that I had my eye on. Below are the COMC cards that cost me either close to $1 or more

1999 SP Authentic Future Watch David Boston Excitement Parallel RC /250

I just love these! I now have Ricky Williams, David Boston, Jermaine Fazande, Cade McNown and Rob Konrad. I'm going to continue to pick these up. That foil just looks amazing when you look at it from the side. The scan never does this parallel set justice, I assure you.

The next card is of a HOF Left Wing that was drafted after former Atlanta Braves ace Tom Glavine. Give up? It's "Lucky" Luc Robitaille. I have had this card a few times and have traded it every time. This one, however, is going to stay with me for now.


1987/88 O-Pee-Chee Luc Robitaille RC #42

I just love COMC, it's so cool to pick up vintage baseball cards (especially rookies!). These next 2 cards that I picked up, I believe I spent less than $7 on the pair! Both cards are in excellent shape.

1974 Topps Dave Parker RC #252

1977 Topps Andre Dawson/Gene Richards/John Scott/Denny Walling RC #473

 

 


Growing up, Andre Dawson was one of my all time favorite players. In 2nd grade, I traded my friend Josh for his beat up, creased to crap 1978 Topps Andre Dawson (2nd year) card with that Topps Trophy on it. I loved that stupid card and even carried it around in my Mario Brothers wallet. Sadly, it's probably no longer in existence.

Staying with the baseball theme....

There was a certain card, I don't know why, but I just never thought to pick up/buy. Well, I can now say that I own this card of the Iron Man himself...

1982 Topps Baltimore Orioles Future Stars  Bob Bonner/Cal Ripken/Jeff Schneider RC #21

 

 

And now to the biggest purchase I have ever made on COMC. This is the first time I was specifically drawn to COMC for a card. When the seller and I decided on a price is whenever I started filling my cart with the other cards in this post. I have always been a college football fan up until a few years ago. It just wasn't fun to watch (to me, anyway) anymore. When I did watch it was usually an Iowa, Michigan State or USC game. Those are the teams I have always liked. In 2014, I had been watching this CB from Michigan State make play after play. He's probably my favorite player in the NFL currently on the defensive side of the ball. Hopefully he will fully nail down that starting CB job. Anyways, here it is, the best card of the bunch (in my opinion)...


2015 Panini Contenders Super Bowl Ticket Trae Waynes RC 1/1

Panini really outdid themselves with the design and overall glamour of these cards. The foil just shines for days on these! Since this pickup, I have grabbed 2 other Super Bowl tickets from this year. It's by far my favorite of the contenders sets. Well done Panini!

Sorry for the hiatus...how about a few pack rips?

Hello everyone and Happy Holidays!

I had been on a little bit of a hiatus and also have removed the Cup Black 1/1 portion of my blog. I realize that not everyone is as passionate on collecting those as I am. You may see me post them as pickups in blog posts, but for the most part, I will just make a milestone post once I get to 50.

So today while I have some time free with the wife out shopping (spending the plethora of gift cards she received this Christmas), I have decided to blog. Since there are so many things I have picked up in the past few months, I will try to break the posts up as COMC grabs, Trades, Pack rips and eBay purchases. Enough about my life, let's get on with the show of various cardboard items full of ink and cloth!

I am going to start this post with my various pack rips. Shortly after my last post, I had a day off work and decided to go to my local card shop. You know the story, you go there to grab a few packs of toploaders and sleeves and end up spending $60 on toploaders, sleeves and packs. I ended up grabbing 50 toploaders and a pack of sleeves and 2 packs of 2015/16 SP Authentic hockey, 1 Pack of 2003 Playoff Contenders Football, 2 packs 1996 Topps Chrome Football and 1 pack of 1997 Bowman Chrome baseball. I had fantastic luck and should have bought a lottery ticket immediately. Instead, I went home and added cards to the toploaders I purchased and cleaned up my desk. Enough rambling, here is the loot:

In the 2015/16 SP Authentic packs, I was obviously shooting for a McDavid, but I ended up getting the consolation prize and was still extremely happy...

2015/16 SP Authentic Future Watch Jack Eichel /999

After ripping the SP Authentic I decided to try a 1997 Bowman Chrome Baseball pack. I pulled a few rookies that I wasn't sure who they were (Geoff Goetz & Chris Stowe), but I did get a former #1 overall pick!

1997 Bowman Chrome Kris Benson RC Refractor #R167

 

I tried to scan this thing over and over, but above is the best I could do. It's a nice looking refractor. I really like the design of these cards and if there were any more of these packs left at the shop, I probably would've bought them.

Lastly, I ended up ripping the football packs. The Topps Chrome packs were a blast from the past to see those names I haven't seen in a while (Drew Bledsoe, Heath Shuler, Ben Coates, Erik Kramer, etc.)...just awesome! The card I was hoping for, I didn't pull which was a Keyshawn Johnson rookie. However, I did end up with something better..

1996 Bowman Chrome Marvin Harrison RC #156 



....and finally the lone 2003 Playoff Contenders pack. Although the auto that I pulled wasn't an actual player, I was still pretty pumped on what luck I had:

2003 Playoff Contenders Season Ticket Mike Martz Auto /574



As you can see, I had a pretty good day. I don't normally rip too many packs, but on this day I was glad I did. You can say I got my $60 worth!

To the card show we go!

The end of May is always an exciting time for me. First of all, it's my birthday, and second, it's the Pittsburgh Card Show. This is basically the only show we have. The downfall is, for the hockey collector, it's mostly vintage football and baseball cards. It really doesn't matter to me, I've been going since the early 2000's. My wife usually tags along. I usually make it out on the first day the show opens which is a Friday, but this year my wife and I had things going on and decided to go early on Sunday morning. We arrived about 10 minutes before the doors opened. For people that complain about going to card shows, I ask...why complain? For a guy like me, it's only once a year and I still get that excitement when I walk in just like I did as a kid. I've read similar sports card blogs where the blogger complained about stuff being marked up and the trash that people are selling, but I simply disagree.

Entering the show:

Wallet - $50

Admission fee - $6 each

Once I paid the admission fee that gave me a grand total of $38 to spend.

There is a certain vendor at this show that I typically hit up first. He and his wife are friendly and usually remember my wife and I and he always gives a great deal. So I glanced over to his usual spot which is diagonally left to where the entrance is and there he was. We walked over and I started to sort through his different bins. Below is what I spent .25 cent each on:

2014/15 OPC Platinum Martin Brodeur Rainbow
2015/16 OPC Platinum Tyler Seguin Rainbow
2015/16 OPC Platinum Andrew Ladd Team Logos Winnipeg Jets Die Cut Insert
2015/16 OPC Platinum Claude Giroux Team Logos Philadelphia Flyers Die Cut Insert
1990/91 Upper Deck Trevor Kidd WJC RC
1990/91 Upper Deck Peter Bondra Young Guns RC (Not Pictured - Given away to a friend)
2010/11 SPx Ryan Reaves RC /499
2014/15 SPx Anton Forsberg RC
2015/16 UD Artifacts Ryan Strome Emerald Parallel 18/99 (Jersey #!!)
2015/16 UD Artifacts Adam Henrique Ruby Parallel /399
2015/16 UD Contours Corey Crawford Blue Die Cut Parallel /499
2005/06 Upper Deck Jakub Klepis Young Guns RC (Not Pictured - Given away to a friend)
2015/16 Fleer Showcase Hot Prospects Trios Mark Alt/Petr Straka/Evgeny Medvedev RC /599
2005/06 UD Ultimate Jamal Crawford Blue Parallel /125
1995/96 Topps Finest Jerry Stackhouse RC 

My total came to $3.75, so I still have $34.25 left..

I then started to look in this guys $1 bin and picked out these 4 gems:

2007/08 SP Authentic Future Watch Devin Setoguchi RC Auto /999
2007/08 SPx John Zeiler Spectrum RC /25
2001/02 SP Authentic Notable Numbers Joe Sakic Jersey /1178
2001/02 Pacific Martin Havlat Auto /500 (Not pictured - traded)

My wife even got in on the action and picked out $3 worth of Penguins cards for a friend of our families son who is 9.

After the haul above, that brings my total to $7, which would leave $27.25 left in my pocket...

We walked near where people were lining up for autographs from retired players. There was an older gentleman selling some hockey, baseball and football cards. He also had a 3200 count box filled with cards in toploaders. Nothing was marked with prices, so I just sifted through everything and started picking out what I liked and handing it to my wife. I ended up grabbing these 13 cards and we started negotiating on a price. We ended on $13, which was fine with me. Below is the lot:

2002/03 SPx Trent Hunter RC /999
2007/08 UD Artifacts Yutaka Fukufuji Silver Parallel RC /100
2015/16 UD Trilogy Anthony Stolarz RC /999
2013/14 Upper Deck Young Guns Beau Bennett RC
2013/14 Panini Prizm Tom Wilson RC (Not pictured - given to a friend)
2014/15 SP Authentic Future Watch Colton Sissons RC Auto /999
2008/09 UD Ice Ilya Zubov RC /999
2010/11 SP Authentic Future Watch Evgeny Dadonov RC /999
2000 SPx Ben Petrick RC Auto /1999
1972 Topps Jose Cruz RC
2015/16 SPx Robby Fabbri Rookie Jersey
2015/16 SPx Jake Virtanen Rookie Jersey
2015/16 SPx Nikolai Ehlers Rookie Jersey 

 
















So with $13 more spent, my total left over is at $14.25

My wife and I started walking away when a vendor screamed out to me "Hey dude, do you like fishing?" I was wearing my Fishpond hat, so I walked over to his table and we talked fishing a little bit and I saw in a locked up case on his table that he had some hockey cards. He unlocked the case and handed me a few stacks of hockey cards he had in the case. I went through them and picked out 4 cards and asked how much for the 4 in question and he said, "for those...let's call it $8 since your a fisherman." Sweet! I handed him $8, thanked him and we were on our way.

The 4 cards from the mention above were:

2013/14 Panini Prime Austin Watson Quad Jersey/Auto RC /199
2015/16 Fleer Showcase Hot Prospects Shane Prince Patch Auto RC /499
2013/14 Fleer Showcase Hot Prospects Elias Lindholm 2 Coloer Patch Auto RC /375
2013/14 Panini Select Rickard Rakell Auto RC /399

So $8 more spent means I only have $6.25 left..

I was quickly running out of money and I think my wife was getting terrible bored and impatient and wanted to go to the grocery store, So I decided to look at vendors right in the middle of the show. We walked down that row and I found a guy selling hockey cards. Mostly were overpriced junk like Stephane de Costa RC's marked at $10 and a few Greg Nemisz RC's that were priced at an insane $8! I saw that either his wife, girlfriend or aunt next to him had a 3200 count box filled full of hockey with the words 10 cents each on it. I decided to move away from Mr. Overpriced garbage and see what she had to sell. I went through the first row and picked out 1 card and over the next few, I had 2 more to add. With my wife getting impatient and sighing at being bored, I decided to settle on the 3 cards I picked from the box. The lady smiled and said, "a quarter will do honey." I smiled, thanked her and handed over my lonely quarter. I really don't think she meant for that Daniel Sprong to be in that box, but it was in the middle of a bunch of UD Overtime base, so I guess it was free game - I win there! Here's what I grabbed:

2015/16 UD Overtime Daniel Sprong Blue Wave RC
1990/91 OPC Premier Peter Nedved RC
1990/91 OPC Premier Mike Ricci RC

So, my quarter was now gone...with $6 left, I was pretty content with just leaving, but as we were making our way towards the exit, I ran into a guy I knew. He told me some guy had some sweet hockey cards cheap and pointed over to our right. I asked my wife if we could check it out and then go grocery shopping and her response was priceless, "I guess, I mean it is only once a year..." She's awesome! We venture over to the guy selling hockey and I am really not seeing what my friend was talking about. I mean, he had some older vintage rookies, of Dionne, Brad Park, Gil Perreault, but it wasn't anything I didn't currently own, but then there was a younger guy next to him who had quite a few hockey cards for sale (this must've been the guy he was talking about). My wife starting chatting with the guy about kids and video games, so it gave me some time to burrow through his stash. I wasn't really finding anything until a card caught my eye as something that I could either trade or sell for later. I asked if I could interrupt their conversation and asked the guy how much this card I was interested was. He said, "Well, I'm really just looking over this booth for my buddy, he's out and about right now, but if you got it from this box right here, it's $3." Awesome. I can do that. So I handed him my $3 and my wife and I were ready to head to the grocery store.

2013/14 Panini National Treasures Century Materials Alex Galchenyuk Patch RC /25

Yeah, it's only 1 color, but what do you want for $3? So I spent $35 on cards and $12 on admission and grabbed all of the cards in this post. I think I did ok. Not as good as previous years, but not bad.

Finally, I also was watching an auction that was ending later on that night. In the last minute I put in a ridiculous $16 bid and won this item for less than $11. It's a card I had been wanting since 2006. It's going straight to the PC

2005/06 UD The Cup Gilbert Brule Patch Auto /199

All in all a good day!

Turn back the clock..

During spring cleaning with my wife, I found a large chunk of replica jerseys that I just no longer cared about. We ended up selling off a bunch of them in the past 2 weeks and we split the money 50-50. With my half which was around $50-$55, I picked up 2 shiny cards I've been wanting to add to my PC for quite some time. My eBay alerts were going crazy when these 2 cards were listed in the same time frame, and luckily for me that I had this extra PayPal funds to accommodate such purchases. On with the show!

2007 SPx Rookie Signatures Daisuke Matsuzaka RC Auto

The Matsuzaka was a card when it first came out was sought after by collectors and I watched it go for ridiculous amounts. I sat back and waited for my time to pick one up and got it for less than $30. It's heading straight for my private collection.

Next up, is a card that is SUPER RARE. I've only seen 1 in person myself in it's 16 years in existence. The reason is, was because Lavar Arrington did not sign with the NFLPA and was not allowed to be featured on cards in his rookie season. Fleer Ultra's release that year was one of the first to come out in the early season and they pulled production on the Lavar Arrington card which is # 240 in the set. I've been wanting this card for 16 years, but the 2 times I've had a shot at one, I was a cheapskate. I'm glad I was frugal back then. I got this for 1/2 the price of the last one I tried to acquire. This thing is staying with me!

2000 Fleer Ultra Lavar Arrington RC #240 SUPER RARE

...and finally for the card in the post title of "Turn back the clock"

When I was a kid in the early 90's I loved riding my bike on our street with the neighbor kids, listening to A Tribe Called Quest, roller blading on the street and playing hockey, playing with my GI Joe action figures across the street with my neighbor and of course, playing little league baseball. Back in that time Jose Canseco was all the rage. Not just with my teammates on my little league team, but also with my neighbors, friends and my cousins. I still remember the first time I saw this card. My dad took my brother and I to the local card shop, which at the time was only a mile away from our house. The owner was my mom's best friends brother, so every so often we would get some freebies. There was something I really had to see this time when we were there. There was a rumor that this guy had a certain card which was on every kids wantlist that I knew of back in 1991. Finally when we entered the store, I grabbed the usual which was a pack of 1990/91 Upper Deck hockey. I loved that stuff. The wrapper always smelled like uncooked pasta noodles though (maybe it's just me). My brother then called me over to the display case on the other side of the shop and there it was.....It was like seeing an R rated movie when you were just a kid. We couldn’t look away! I pressed my face right on the glass case and stared at it. I begged my dad to buy it for me, but he looked at me with a "you've got to be kidding me face". I totally understand now, but at the time I was upset. The shop owner wanted $110 for this card. It was in the thickest screw down plastic I've seen. My brother had devised a plan where we would spend both of our allowances, plus birthday money and we would buy it together, but I wasn't having it. I wanted it for myself. That summer I tried everything to raise the money to buy that card, but by the end of the summer with my birthday money and some money I got from helping out around the neighborhood I was about $50 short. Finally my dad said he would lend me the money with the stipulation that I wasn't going to get allowance for a year....DONE. So, he went on a 4 day trip for work (he worked for the airlines) and he said when he got back, we were going to head to the shop to buy the card. When he got back though, the card shop had gone out of business. I remember the sign was still there, but the closed sign was in the door and when you looked in the window, it looked like everything inside had been taken down and just moved other than a few Uhaul boxes. I cried. I'm not going to lie, I did. At home, I asked my mom to call her friend to see what was going on. My moms friend said that her brother had moved down south to be with his fiance. For a 9 year old kid, this just didn't make sense. Being married and in my 30's now, I totally understand. It's been 25 years and I'm sure if you've made it this far, you know what card I'm talking about. Well, here it is...and I got it for $106 less than the price in 1991!

1986 Donruss Rated Rookie Jose Canseco RC 

It's here!

A few posts back, I had said that in a batch of cards I purchased from a seller that a card was missing. This card was special to me and I had been trying to track one down for some time. Well, the seller got back to me and let me know he had forgot that one in the bunch that he shipped out to me and he would get it to me ASAP. It arrived and I am floored to add this to my PC.

2000/01 SPx Johnathan Aitken Spectrum RC 8/50!

Back in 1997, I would read anything related to hockey. My dad worked for the airlines, so if someone left a magazine or paper behind and it was sports related, he would take it home for me to read. One week he got a hockey publication from Brandon, Manitoba that someone had left behind and he gave it to me. I was glued to reading about this hockey team I had never heard of before called the Brandon Wheat Kings. They talked about Cory Cyrenne, Kelly Smart, Peter Schaefer, Burke Henry and Johnathan Aitken. Not exactly household names, but these guys quickly became legends in my mind. Later that summer, Boston chose Aitken with the 8th overall pick in the NHL Draft and I tried to grab any cards of him that I could find. Now, in 2016, I can say I now own 100% of his cards. Although he only had a brief career in the NHL, I'm still a fan of his because had I never latched on to this team, I'm not sure I would even pay attention to anything other than the NHL. I'm still a Wheat Kings fan to this day. I pay attention to their players currently, and also in the NHL and even have a iphone case cover of the Wheat Kings.

Moving on to some of my auction grabs..

I ended up selling a few more things from the spring cleaning that I did. I found a pile of football cards that I listed and although they took a bit longer to sell, they eventually found a new home. I also ended up selling one of my 1/1's from my collection that I no longer wanted. This gave me some money to put away in savings, and also some money to play around with. I ended up bidding on a bunch of 1998/98 SP Authentic Future Watch Power Shift Parallels and some other things that caught my eye. 2 cards in particular had been on my wantlist, so I was happy to finally check those off. Below is the haul:

All are 1998/99 SP Authentic
Future Watch Danny Briere RC /2000 (to the PC!)
Future Watch Scott Kelman Power Shift RC /500 (to the PC!)
Future Watch Peter Reynolds Power Shift RC /500
Future Watch Johnathan Zion Power Shift RC /500
Future Watch Mike Zigomanis Power Shift RC /500
Future Watch Rory McDade Power Shift RC /500
Future Watch Olli Jokinen Power Shift /500
Wendel Clark Power Shift /500
Trevor Linden Power Shift /500
Mark Messier Power Shift /500
Daniel Alfredsson Power Shift /500

The Scott Kelman is heading to the PC because that guy is an enigma to me. A 1st Round pick of the Coyotes, never making the NHL, playing for 13 different teams. He's definitely traveled during his career and for some reason that intrigues me. The Briere is just a card I've always wanted, but felt it was always going for more than I wanted to spend. I got it for $3 and I think that's a fair price. As for the rest, I'll probably trade them at some point or sell them as a lot.

The other 2 cards that I purchased from the same seller were SUPER rare cards that are serial #'ed to 10. Can't blame a guy for grabbing them ultra cheap!

2000/01 Be A Player Memorabilia Danny Cleary Emerald 6/10
2007/08 Upper Deck High Gloss Gilbert Brule 2/10

A friend of mine was talking to me about his recent acquisitions and was boasting about a sweet Game Jersey card from Upper Deck he got of Andy Pettitte that was made to look like the Game Jersey cards from 1996. Hearing this made me think about 1996, when a kid pulled the Ken Griffey Jr Game Jersey from a pack at the sports card shop I used to frequently go to. The shop owner told me the kid came in bought 3 packs and BAM! pulled the Griffey. I ended up finding one of these 1996 Game Jersey cards and it was reasonably priced, so I ended up buying it. It's actually a pretty cool card. I remember the player being ridiculously amazing in the infield, but couldn't hit worth squat. One of these days, I will get my hands on one of the hockey ones, until then, I will keep this one in my PC. Here is my 1996 Game Jersey card...

1996 Upper Deck Game Jerseys Rey Ordonez

I finally caved..

I finally tried out COMC.com. I added $50 to my account about 3 weeks ago and was picky and made every cent count. I ended up getting about 100+ cards. The most expensive card was a Marty Brodeur Zenith Z Team card that I paid $4.75 for. I paid 29 cents for 14 cards and paid 30 cents for about 10-12 more. I looked for deals and found them. Here is the haul:

Baseball:

1994 Bowman's Best Brooks Kieschnick Refractor RC
1994 Bowman Jason Isringhausen RC
1994 Bowman Brooks Kieschnick Foil RC
2003 Bowman Chrome Dustin Yount Gold Refractor RC /170
2000 SP Authentic Future Watch Kaz Sasaki RC /2500
2002 SP Authentic Future Watch Freddy Sanchez RC /1999
2002 SP Authentic Future Watch Oliver Perez RC /1999
2002 SP Authentic Future Watch eric Patterson RC /1999
2004 SP Authentic Future Watch Mike Rouse Gold RC /99
2004 SP Authentic Future Watch Kaz Matsui Bronze RC /249
1989 Upper Deck Jerome Walton RC
1990 Upper Deck Kevin Maas RC
1992 Bowman Pat Listach RC
1992 Bowman Cliff Floyd RC
1992 Bowman Garrett Anderson RC
1992 Bowman Scott Hatteberg RC
1993 Topps Finest JT Snow RC
1991 Stadium Club Phil Nevin RC
1993 SP Johnny Damon RC
1993 SP Russ Davis RC
1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations Jeff Bagwell Insert
1970 Topps Leron Lee/Jerry Reuss RC (Ex Condition)
1972 Topps Doyle Alexander RC
1992 Topps Gold Winner Brien Taylor RC

Basketball:

1995/96 Fleer E-XL Blue Jerry Stackhouse RC
1995/96 Fleer E-XL Blue Antonio McDyess RC
1995/96 Fleer E-XL Blue Joe Smith RC
1995/96 Upper Deck Electric Court Rasheed Wallace RC
1997/98 Bowman's Best Charlie O'Bannon Atomic Refractor RC
1999/00 SPx Jonathan Bender RC /3500
2000/01 SPx Mamadou N'diaye Jersey Auto RC /2500
2003/04 SPx David West Jersey Auto RC /1999
1999/00 SP Authentic Eddie Robinson RC /1500
1995/96 Topps Gallery Ed O'Bannon Private Gallery RC
1995/96 Topps Gallery Bryant Reeves Private Gallery RC
1996/97 Topps Chrome Kerry Kittles RC
1993/94 Topps Finest Calbert Cheaney RC
1994/95 Topps Finest Eddie Jones RC
1994/95 Topps Finest Eric Montross Refractor RC
1995/96 Topps Finest Joe Smith RC
1996/97 Topps Finest Ray Allen RC 
1996/97 Topps Finest Jermaine O'Neal RC
1996/97 Topps Finest Antoine Walker RC
1996/97 Topps Finest Steve Nash RC
1996/97 Topps Finest Stephon Marbury RC
1996/97 Topps Finest Allen Iverson RC

Football:

1995 Summit Ki-Jana Carter Ground Zero RC
1995 Pinnacle Ki-Jana Carter Trophy Collection RC
1995 Action Packed Rookies & Stars Ki-Jana Carter Star Gazers RC
1993 SP Natrone Means RC
1993 SP Garrison Hearst RC
1993 SP Rick Mirer RC
1999 SPx Chris McAllister RC /1999
2006 SPx Antonio Cromartie RC /1299
1998 SP Authentic Die Cut Curtis Enis RC /500
1998 SP Authentic Die Cut Ryan Leaf RC /500
2007 SP Authentic Jon Beason RC /999
1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold Jeff Blake RC
1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold JJ Stokes RC
1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold Tyrone Wheatley RC
1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold Frank Sanders RC
1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold Ki-Jana Carter RC
1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold Chad May RC
1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold Mark Bruener RC
1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold James Stewart RC
1996 Pinnacle Zenith Orlando Thomas Artist's Proof
1996 Pinnacle Zenith Kyle Brady Artist's Proof
1997 Pinnacle Zenith Steve McNair Artist's Proof
1997 Pinnacle Zenith Z Team Mirror Gold Keyshawn Johnson

Hockey:

1996/97 Black Diamond Chris O'Sullivan Gold
1996/97 Black Diamond Daniel Tkaczuk RC
1993/94 Fleer Ultra Peter Laviolette RC
2007/08 UD Ice Thomas Greiss RC /1999
2002/03 Parkhurst Jay Bouwmeester Gold RC /100
1991/92 Parkhurst Keith Tkachuk RC
1994/95 Pinnacle Ray Bourque Rink Collection
1995/96 Pinnacle Jeremy Roenick Rink Collection
1995/96 Pinnacle Steve Larouche Rink Collection Artist's Proof RC
1995/96 Upper Deck Electric Ice Steve Larouche RC
2013/14 Upper Deck Beau Bennett Young Guns RC
2013/14 Upper Deck Jonathan Quick UD Canvas
1994/95 Flair Hot Numbers Brendan Shanahan Insert
1994/95 Flair Hot Numbers Brett Hull Insert
1994/95 Flair Center Spotlight Wayne Gretzky Insert  
1994/95 Flair Center Spotlight Mario Lemieux Insert
1994/95 Flair Center Spotlight Eric Lindros Insert
1996/97 Pinnacle Zenith Terry Ryan RC
1996/97 Pinnacle Zenith Tomas Holmstrom RC
1996/97 Pinnacle Zenith Z Team Martin Brodeur Insert
1997/98 SP Authentic Future Watch Tyler Moss RC
1997/98 SP Authentic Future Watch Mike Johnson RC
2002/03 SP Authentic Future Watch Steve Ott Auto RC /999
2005/06 SP Authentic Future Watch Dustin Penner RC /1999
2006/07 SP Authentic Future Watch Alexander Radulov Auto RC /999
2007/08 SP Authentic Future Watch Mike Weber RC /999
2007/08 SP Authentic Future Watch Mark Mancari RC /999
2007/08 SP Authentic Future Watch David Moss RC /999
2008/09 SP Authentic Future Watch Cam Paddock RC /999
2008/09 SP Authentic Future Watch Chris Stewart Limited RC /100
2010/11 SP Authentic Future Watch Evegeny Dadonov RC /999
2010/11 SP Authentic Future Watch Jared Cowen Auto RC /999
2011/12 SP Authentic Future Watch Erik Condra RC /999
2011/12 SP Authentic Future Watch Jarod Palmer RC /999
2011/12 SP Authentic Future Watch Calvin deHaan RC /999
2011/12 SP Authentic Future Watch Simon Despres Auto RC /999
2013/14 SP Authentic Future Watch Darcy Kuemper RC /1299
2013/14 SP Authentic Future Watch Jonathan Marchessault RC /1299
2013/14 SP Authentic Future Watch Frank Corrado RC /1299
2003/04 SPx Rookie Stars Peter Sejna Radiance Jersey Auto RC /50

I think I did fantastic! Some of these were cards I wanted when I was a kid and others were just priced right. I am very excited about these purchases and will plan on putting $10 in my account each month to grab some more stuff. I am seriously regretting not trying this sooner.

Don't you hate it when....

So, I had a VERY successful week of selling some things from my spring cleaning closet clean out. Due to this, I have had a nice chunk of change in my Paypal account. I sent a bunch to my checking account and left some for some eBay grabs.

This first bunch of cards I purchased for 49 cents each and I am excited about each one.

1995 Upper Deck Electric Gold Reggie Roby

1995/96 Upper Deck Electric Court Gold Scott Brooks

1997/98 Stadium Club First Day Issue Rodney Rogers

1997/98 Stadium Club First Day Issue Calbert Cheaney

I was a big fan of Cheaney as a kid, so I was excited to grab this parallel of him. The Electric Golds were inserted 1:36 packs, so picking up those was just icing. As for the Rodney Rogers card, why not grab another First Day Issue? These don't scan as nice as I would like, but I feel they are sweet additions to my 90s collection.

Moving on, I had also been watching a few auctions of a collector who was selling off a bunch of 2005/06 SP Authentic Future Watch Auto RC's. I have a bunch of these currently, but there were 4 that I was planning on bidding on. After being outbid on 2 of the cards, I made sure that I won the other 2. I was floored to pick these 2 up for less than $14.

2005/06 SP Authentic Future Watch Dion Phaneuf Auto RC /999
2005/06 SP Authentic Future Watch Cam Ward Auto RC /999

2 awful looking autos, but I am excited to have them nonetheless. Seriously though, how does that auto above say Cam Ward? I'm baffled!

Now to address the title of this blog post. A seller on eBay had a bunch of auctions listed. All of the items were listed less than a dollar and combined shipping was ridiculously cheap. There was 1 card in particular that I had been looking for, for ages. It had been on my eBay alerts and when the alert went off on my phone, I was so excited I had to tell my wife (who really did not care at all). So, I bid on a bunch of this sellers items (especially the card I had been looking for) and won them all for under a dollar each. Below is the huge haul

1997/98 Donruss Studio Hard Hats Teemu Selanne /3000
2007/08 UD Artifacts Frank Mahovolich Silver /100
1998/99 Black Diamond Double Diamond Red Mark Messier /2000
2006/07 SP Authentic Limited Martin St. Louis /100
2007/08 SP Authentic Limited Shane Doan /100
2005/06 SP Game Used Gold Scott Niedermayer /100
2002/03 UD MVP Classics Golden Pascal Rheaume /50
2005/06 UD MVP Platinum Jan Hrdina /25
2000/01 Black Diamond Precious Gems Diamond Gold David Gosselin RC /100
2015/16 Upper Deck Young Guns Emile Poirier RC SP
2013/14 Fleer Retro Shawn Bradley Star Rubies /150
1999 Upper Deck UD Exclusives Jason Dickson /100
1999 Upper Deck UD Exclusives Rafael Roque /100
1999 Upper Deck UD Exclusives Matt Clement /100
2000 Upper Deck UD Exclusives Bruce Chen /100
1999 SPx Radiance Corey Koskie /100
2003 Topps Finest Gold Boss Bailey Gold Refractor RC /50
2003 Donruss Elite Status DeWayne Robertson Die Cut RC /63
2014 Bowman Orange Allen Hurns RC /299
2003 Fleer Focus Anniversary Silver Joey Harrington /25

When the package arrived, I sifted through the pile as fast as I could looking for that 1 card that I've been looking for and....it wasn't there. Don't you hate it when this happens? I guess the seller either a) forgot to pack it with my order - or - *GULP* b) sent my card to someone else. I'm really hoping it's not choice b. I messaged the seller and he responded right away to let me know he was away, but would check when he got back home. Now the wait begins. I'm really hoping he just forgot to send it.

Have a Happy Easter everyone!

Turn Back The Clock Break!

I love sports cards from the 90's. It takes me back to a great time in my life of hanging with friends and just being a kid. When I saw a Jumbo box of 1995 Action Packed Football listed for less than 10 bucks a few months ago, I jumped at the chance to own it. When the auction ended and I had won, I asked my wife if she would want to partake in the opening process. She kindly obliged. That is one thing she loves about my hobby...BREAKING PACKS. A week and a half after the auction had ended went by and the box arrived safely on my doorstep on a Saturday afternoon. The problem of that was that we had company staying with us that weekend from out of town, so it would be impossible to sneak off and break this bad boy open. I decided to take it up to my den and put it away for a weekend where she and I had nothing to do. Well, last night after we ran errands and I sold some things on a trade site, it was the perfect time to start the "rippage" of packs. I grabbed the box out of the closet and we commenced the breaking. Now for those who are not familiar with this product, below are the specs:

• 24 Packs Per Box
• 10 Cards Per Pack
• Quick Silver Parallels Inserted 1:6
• Rocket Man Inserts 1:12
• 24kt Gold Parallels 1:72

 

The base card design features the usual from Action Packed, the photo of the player popping right off the card! The helmet of the current team in the top right and the players last name flowing down the right side and into the Action Packed logo with the year. Back in 1995, I bought a ton of this product, but never tried my luck at a box. Here goes with the break:

Base Card Design below

Front

Back

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rookie design was much similar in the front, but only reversed. The players last name is on the left side, with the team logo above it with the name flowing right into the Action Packed logo and year.

Front

Back

 

 

The back of the Rookie Cards feature sort of a spotlight design on the players photo, the players college statistics are up above with a little bit of information about the player. On this card, Action Packed wants you to know that J.J. Stokes "doesn't win races ---just games"....well someone tell that to the 49ers!

As specified, we did receive the correct amount of Quick Silver Parallels. The best one being Tony Boselli. The rest of the Quick Silvers were pretty much commons.

 Also, we pulled 2 Rocket Man inserts. When this product was released in 1995, I can only remember pulling one of these and it was of Natrone Means. I think we did better in this box by pulling Michael Irvin and Errict Rhett

Well, the break was fun, but I was a little upset that we didn't pull a 24kt Gold Parallel. So, we decided to just put together the set. I am missing only 1 card, #25. I'm not sure who the player is. When we got to the cards in the 70's I noticed I had 2 #76's, but the Steve Young looked off. See below:

They both look like #76 to me. I flipped them over to discover....

We had actually pulled a 24kt Gold Parallel and a good one at that! All in all a great break and my wife and I had a blast! If anyone has a duplicate of card #25 in this set, please let me know, I would really like to complete this set and I'm sure we could work out some sort of deal. Thanks for reading folks!

Who?

It happens all the time when your hobby is collecting sports cards..."what's that you say?" How about pulling a rare card of someone you've never heard of. It has happened way too many times to myself and I have to say, it drives me crazy. I have been saying that lately I've been selling quite a few items and downsizing my collection. On the weekends, I've been going through boxes and getting rid of anything I think I can move (whether it be on eBay or trading sites). I've been rather successful lately at getting rid of large chunks of stuff that I just either forgot that I owned or stuff that just meant nothing to me. Today, when looking at this box labeled "Baseball Parallels", I stumbled upon a card I forgot I had. Let me take you back to a few years ago, we'll say 2009 or 2010. I was at my local card shop and I was purchasing a few packs. Normally my routine is, buy some mid-to-high-end product, then scour the loose pack bins that they have in the middle of the shop and pick a few odds-and-ends. I think I picked up a bunch of hockey packs and then grabbed a pack of old Upper Deck baseball and an old pack of Fleer Ultra football. I remember the hockey packs being a total bust, but what was yielded in the Upper Deck baseball and Fleer Ultra football were great (if you are into oddball players). If I hadn't looked in that "Baseball Parallels" box, I would have totally forgotten that I had this card. I remember when I opened the pack and I was sifting through the cards and I saw Star Rookie, I got excited....then I was like "Who???" Also, for my own pleasure, I decided to show off my other pull from the Fleer Ultra pack. I know who that player is, but some people might not.

....from the Fleer Ultra pack

1997 Fleer Ultra Jim Druckenmiller Platinum Medallion RC 

 ...and the "WHO???"

1999 Upper Deck Damon Minor Star Rookie Upper Deck Exclusives Level 2 /10

 

March Madness!

Hello everyone. I hope everyone out there is getting ready for March Madness and has their brackets filled out. I just finished mine about 3 hours ago. Anyways, on to sports card talk. Lately, I haven't really been buying a lot of stuff as I had stated in a previous post. I've actually been selling more, and not just sports cards. I have sold some toys I had while I was a kid and made a nice profit from it. I sold a Daffy Duck Pez dispenser, a gun that shoots mini yellow pellets, 2 Spit Balls - which are these rubber balls of a squirrel head and a red haired kid with a baseball hat on that spit water, a Coke keychain from the 80's and 1 sports card which was a Michael Hutchinson RC and that netted me this gem that I had been watching for over a month on my eBay watchlist:

2002/03 SPx Yao Ming 2 Color Jersey Auto RC 166/999

After the purchase of the Yao, I still had some funds in Paypal left over and decided to take a chance on the next card. If you are an avid hockey fan, you surely know the story of Jonathan Drouin. Due to his current situation his card prices have plummeted. I figured I would take a chance on his SP Authentic Auto RC, which I picked up at an AMAZING price. I figure for a Top 5 Draft Pick, it wouldn't be that big of a gamble. For now this one is headed in my PC box (with the rest of the cards in this post). Although I absolutely despise the design on these cards, it's still a decent card of a young star in the making.

2014/15 SP Authentic Future Watch Jonathan Drouin RC Auto /999

Finally, I just wanted to show a card that I have had for a while now. The rarity of these cards is remarkable and they rarely are ever available for purchase. A lot of times when they are, they will sell really quickly. Around this time last year, I had a day off of work. I did some chores around the house, and was winding down to relax. I decided to look at some of my old Pittsburgh Penguins game programs from when I would go to games to see Crosby in his rookie season. I was glancing at some of the rosters and the names were just a blast from the past. Lasse Pirjeta, Cory Cross, Ryan VandenBussche, Rico Fata, Niklas Nordgren and a guy that I enjoyed the most watching...Andy Hilbert. I wondered what the heck he was doing lately. I started doing some internet research and read some things about him. After about a hour or so, I decided to see if I had any cards left of him. When I got through the last box of hockey cards I had, I realized I did not own one. I pulled up eBay to see what cards of his were available. I found a few from sets I had collected back in the late 90's - early 00's. I decided to try the Highest Price search option to see what his best cards out there were being offered for. The 3rd one down on the list caught my eye instantly. I gave it a few minutes of thought and decided to just pull the trigger for $30. It's been in my PC ever since. If you ever see one of these cards at a reasonable price, just buy it. These cards are rarely ever seen or available for sale and if it's a player you like or enjoyed watching, it's worth it to just scoop it up.

1998/99 SPx Andy Hilbert Spectrum RC 1/1

That's all I have for now. Good luck in your brackets everyone!

Shaking Hands, Making Deals

Usually making trades online with a person that you don't know can be hard, but other times can be frustrating. Over the past few weeks, I have been trying to trade more and buy less. So, I scoured the net for certain cards, maybe found on a personal webpage and checked out different hobby sites and I pulled off a few trades that brought in some cards that I am pretty excited about.

Deal #1

I had someone email me on one of the trade sites I belong to in December and I hadn't been on that site since the end of November, so I felt bad about that. I finally responded to the guy. He had asked me if I still had a card that I had posted in a sale thread back in September and that he was highly interested in it. The card he was asking about was a Bogdan Yakimov 3 Color SP Game Used Jersey /499 that I had. Now, to be honest, I don't really remember having this card at all. I went upstairs in the closet of my den and pulled down a Nike shoe box from the shelf. I started sifting through loads of stuff I forgot about and WHAM! There it was. I still had it. So, I responded to the site member that I had the card. The next response I got was something I absolutely hate doing....looking at someones photobucket to find anything interesting. Most of the time, the cards aren't labeled and I would just rather look at a list. I stumbled across a photo that had 9 cards in it with 2 of them catching my eye. I responded to the guy and inquired about the 2 cards I found to be interesting. His response blew my mind...he would take the card straight up for the 2 cards that I was interested in. I was seriously planning on giving him a little more, but he was ok with making the trade because he was not a football fan at all. I threw in a few hockey inserts as freebies (because from this guys photobucket, he REALLY likes inserts) and sent the card out. Since the cards were coming from Canada, they finally arrived at my doorstep this week and I'm happy about the deal.

1989 Score Cris Carter Rookie Card #72

AND 1995 Select Certified Warren Sapp Mirror Gold Rookie Card #127

Deal #2

Usually making a trade fires me up and I just want to trade even more. I found a trade thread that was full of SPx, SP Authentic, Upper Deck and The Cup cards, so I decided to check it out since it was right up my alley. One of the cards posted in the thread really caught my eye. I messaged the poster of the thread and he got back to me within an hour. I sent him a list of stuff I had and he wanted a John Scott SPx Rookie Card and a SPx Jordan Schroeder Dual Jersey Auto RC (that I actually had doubles of- SWEET). I totally understood why he wanted the Scott and he probably sold it for 3 times what it was really worth due to all the John Scott All Star Game hype, but I didn't care. Finally, the card made it's way to me and I'm glad to have it.

2007/08 UD The Cup Platinum Erik Johnson Parallel Rookie Card /25

Deal #3

For the final trade that I pulled off, it was probably the least painless deal of the 3. Someone posted a wantlist of stuff that ranged from old O-Pee-Chee Rookie Cards to oddball items such as NHL Pogs. As I checked out this guys list, I'm seeing a few things I know I have. I quickly ran up my stairs to the den to find a box that had 3 of the O-Pee-Chee Rookie Cards he was looking for (Luke Richardson, Steve Bozek & Jim Kyte). Also, the NHL Pogs this guy was looking for I was certain I had a handful of them. Now I was not a pog fan at all. I just wanted to clear that up. The only reason I have these pogs is because in high school, I worked as a bag boy at the local grocery store during the pog craze. This grocery store stocked all sorts of different packs of pogs, NHL pogs, cartoon character pogs, etc. The only issue with this was that the grocery store caught onto the pog craze very late and it was near the tail end of the craze. I remember seeing them sit and sit and sit. Finally one day I was stocking shelves and they asked me to take all the pogs to the back where the clearance items were located and mark them down to .25 each. So, I'm marking these stupid pogs as a quarter each and I just looked at the NHL pogs and decided to buy them all during my lunch break. So these stupid pogs have been sitting in a sandwich bag in my possession since 1997. It took me a lifetime to find these pogs for this guy, but eventually they turned up. I had 11 pogs that he needed. So, when I responded to the guy with what I had, he was amazed that I had these pogs. He sent me a trade list that he had that was mostly full of vintage common cards, but a few rookies were included in the list. There was only 1 card I was interested in though. I inquired about the card and the guy sent me a message back with a scan of 3 of that card that he owned and he said "Pick the one you want and it's yours". One of them had 2 rounded corners so I wasn't interested in that one, but the other 2 looked to be in great shape, so I told him that between those 2, he could pick. So to recap, 11 stupid NHL pogs (with the best player probably being Mark Messier) and an OPC Rookie of Luke Richardson, an OPC Rookie of Steve Bozek and an OPC Rookie of Jim Kyte for this...

1978/79 OPC Bernie Federko Rookie Card #143 (a little off-centered)

Now I couldn't completely cut out buying things. I always come across things that are pleasing to my eye either on trading sites or on eBay that I like. It's basically inevitable. This lot below I got at an incredible price of $4 shipped. I just love the 2005/06 SP Authentic Future Watch Limited cards! At the time I purchased the card below, Wideman had not yet crushed that referee and got himself suspended, but by the time the cards arrived, he had. As for the Larsson, I honestly had never heard of this guy! I'm interested in looking him up now that I own one of his cards. And Mats Sundin...what can I say? This goes to the PC with my Jagr and Roenick OPC Premier RC's. What a great lot!

1990/91 OPC Premier Mats Sundin Rookie Card #114
2009/10 Be A Player Daniel Larsson Rookie Card #297  64/99
2005/06 SP Authentic Future Watch Dennis Wideman Limited Rookie Card #240  8/100 

The next 2 cards that I picked up one was actually from last year and I just wanted to post because I am excited to watch him play for my hometown Penguins again. I think this kid is talented. The other card is from a player who just was recently traded from the Vancouver Canucks to the New York Rangers for Emerson Etem. I decided to look at some YouTube videos of this player and was blown away! This kid has talent. The quick release of his shot is the first thing you notice when you actually check him out. His wrist shot is deadly. I actually believe in this kids talent and wish him luck in his future (hopefully in the NHL).

2014/15 SP Authentic Future Watch Bryan Rust Limited Rookie Card #238  4/25
2013/14 SP Authentic Future Watch Nicklas Jensen Rookie Card Auto #286  403/999

I'm sure if you read my blog you notice that I'm a huge fan of cards from the 90's. It's when I grew up. It's also a time when flashy foil cards were all the rage. This next card that I picked up was only 99 cents, but back in the day, it was probably almost impossible to find. I will now take you on a trip down memory lane for me. I was sleeping over my friend Jason's and we were going to trade hockey cards. He told me he had just bought some pinnacle packs and I had to see this card he had. It was a 1995/96 Pinnacle Kevin Lowe Rink Collection card. I remember thinking, "so what, I have like 6 or 7 of these", but something was different with it. It not only was a Rink Collection parallel, but was also an Artist's Proof parallel. At the time, I didn't think this was possible and that Pinnacle had to have screwed up somewhere. I ended up trading for the Kevin Lowe card that night. I'm not sure what the odds were for these cards being inserted in packs was at the time, but I'm sure it was pretty hard to pull one. Anyways, fast forward to 2016, and I had found another that was only listed as a Rink Collection parallel. Sweet for me! This seller also had another card I had been seeking out for some time. Has anyone ever heard of Jonas Johansson?...anyone? *Crickets* Well, I have. I had been looking for a certain Jonas Johansson card. Be A Player (In the Game) had this redemption card that you pulled in packs. This redemption was #'ed for every first round pick that year. Once that draft pick played his first NHL game, you would actually send in the redemption card and get a card back of that player serial #'ed to 100! It was a pretty neat concept to be honest. Well Be A Player ended up going bankrupt. That's when Upper Deck ended up taking over and honoring the redemptions. These redemptions in my opinion do not look quite as good as the Be A Player ones, but what can you do? Now back to Jonas Johansson....Jonas was drafted in the first round in 2002. However, he hadn't made his NHL debut until 2006 (which still remains his only game in the NHL). His redemption could finally be redeemed in 2006. With that in mind, how many people have actually redeemed this card? Who knows? In The Game who produced the Be A Player sets had actually kept track of how many were produced, but when Upper Deck took over, this information remains a mystery. This is the 3rd one of these Jonas Johansson's I have ever seen and what makes it even cooler is that it's the 1st one made! I'm pretty excited to add this to my PC!

1995/96 Pinnacle Rink Collection Artist's Proof Craig Janney Parallel #37

<---- See Artist's Proof Label here

(Back Showing Rink Collection)




2002/03 Be A Player Draft Redemption Jonas Johansson Rookie Card 1/100

Finally, a card from my photobucket files that I had been looking for was a Dan Fritsche Rookie Card parallel from 2003/04. I can still remember pulling that card. I was going to my brothers new house he and his wife had just purchased, to help him make some repairs (since the house was from the 1950's). On the way to his house, there was a small card shop. I made a quick stop to buy a few packs of Black Diamond. I remember the first pack had a Jordin Tootoo Green Parallel RC /100. The other pack had another rookie of Dan Fritsche...sweet. After spending a few hours with my brother and dad making some repairs to the house, I went home to shower and spend a little time with my collection. When checking out the Black Diamond packs I had just purchased, I noticed something I did not catch initially which was that the Fritsche RC was actually a parallel! Later that year, I ended up selling off my collection to gather money for a down payment for my first home, so with my collection went the Dan Fritsche card. I had set an ebay alert for this card about 3 years ago. I was surprised to see it go off a few weeks ago. I put in my bid and won the card. I'm super stoked to have this card again (even if it's not the exact serial #'ed card that I pulled myself back in 2003).

2003/04 Black Diamond Clarity Dan Fritsche Rookie Card #161  8/10