1993-94 Score Dynamic Duo Messier/Graves

This is the second of 3 Ebay card purchases made last week.  It is also a card that has waited a long time to make it into my collection.

This is an insert set that, for some reason, instantly piqued my interest.  Two star players on one card is probably what did it.  Finding out that there was a Rangers card in the set, and that it featured Messier and Graves, made it a must have.  But this was a card that I had never seen in person, and over time, it was pushed to the back of my mind.

The foil was not out of hand yet, so it adds to the card, rather than kill it.  Dynamic Duo is also the nickname for Batman & Robin, but I refuse to think that either one of these two could ever be Robin.  🙂

Now that I finally have this one in hand, I’ve decided that this is a set that I would like to complete.  I believe that there are 10 cards in this set, but there are only about 3 current listings.  If anybody has any of these, I would be interested to buy or trade for them.  Just leave a comment.

One down, nine to go!

My First ’79-’80 Topps Hockey Cards

I was able to get these, courtesy of Listia.  I only used the free credits they give you when you sign up, so these are free cards!

I don’t know much about this set, as I was born in 1979.  About the only thing I can tell you, is that Wayne Gretzky’s rookie card is in this set.  But I do have to say that I really dig the design of these.

First up is Ed Johnstone.   I have no idea who Ed Johnstone is, but he’s a Ranger, so it’s a win for me.  But I have never liked the jersey with the Rangers shield on it.

While I have been a Rangers fan for 20+ years, I couldn’t tell you anything about Mr. Johnstone here.  But thanks to the card backs, I can give you one interesting tidbit.  Check it out!

And secondly we have someone who I have heard of.  He’s actually a pretty good player.

It’s a small difference, but I’ve always heard him referred to as Billy Smith.  As you know, Billy here was part of the 4 Islander Stanley Cup teams from 80-84.  I don’t recall him in his playing days, but I do remember my dad talking about him, as well as others players in the dynasty(my dad was a big Islanders fan).

The condition of both the cards aren’t great, but they were free, and they’re are from a pretty nice set.  Smith’s obviously the better, and the more well known player.  But, he gets shown second because he’s an Islander.  And you know the Rangers – Islanders rivalry.

Pack Rip – 1991 Topps Stadium Club Hockey

These aren’t anything special, but I wanted to rip a pack tonight, and this was the only sealed pack I had on me at the time.

When these came out, they had one thing going for them.  And that was the Kodak “Imaging Technology”.  The technology used for these cards basically made these cards photo-quality.  I had started collecting hockey cards about 2 years earlier, and at the time these were released, I would buy packs of any new hockey cards when I would see them.  And I bought plenty of packs of these!

This is a card that was in every pack of these cards, and I’ve always thought it was pretty funny.

By todays standards, these seem really dull.  Dave Andreychuck is the star of this group.  Tim Kerr wasn’t too shabby either.  When I was a kid John Ogrodnick was a favorite of mine, just because I thought it was fun to say his name(it still is!).

On the back of the cards, we see the Topps rookie card of the palyer depicted on the card.  This is a neat concept, especially for kids who were younger.  Like myself at the time.  As they are today, rookie cards of the stars were always popular, so this was helpful.

And I’ll end this psot with my favorite 3 cards of the pack.

Mats Sundin is onviously the best card in the pack, but that’s not the reason why he’s one of my favorites from the pack.  It’s for the Nordiques jersey.  The same goes for the other 2 cards.  I am still a fan of the old-school teams and jerseys, from the 80’s and 90’s.  Seeing these old jerseys takes me back.

’88-’89 Topps Patrick Roy

This is a card I have had in my collection for quite some time.  And it’s only one of two cards I have from this set.  I don’t have many cards that came out before 1990.  But the ones that I do, are pretty cool.

I remember where I got this card from as well.  I got this card when I was about 15(’94-’95).  There was a card store(that shall remain nameless), that was a short ride from my house, that I would frequent from time to time.  The guy who ran the place was quite shady.  It seemed like most packs you would buy had none of the top players, rookies(good ones anyway), or any inserts in them.  Well, we found out, and basically had proof, that the store owner, was opening the packs, taking the good cards, and then re-sealing the packs with mostly commons!

This did not sit well with me, and I decided to get a little revenge.  He had a buch of dime, quarter, and $1.00+ boxes of singles in the shop.  I loaded up a small box with a bunch of different cards.  Most of them were 10-25 cents, but I threw a few of the higher priced cards in the mix as well.  When I went to pay, I made it seem like all the cards I got were in the 10-25 cent range, and paid the total.  This was on of the cards I put in there.  It’s not worth a whole lot, but I felt that it was warranted because of his shady practices.  I wouldn’t do something like that today(I was 15 at the time!), and I’m not proud of it.  But I will always have that memory, which is kind of cool, since memories are part of the hobby.  Right?

An Introduction

Hello all.  My name is Jason and when it comes to collecting trading cards, I am a fan of hockey and non-sports cards(as if you couldn’t tell from the name of my blog).  I’ve been a fan of trading cards since I was about 8 years old(1987).  It all started with my step brother giving my younger brother and I a binder full of Mets and Yankees cards in it.  Soon after my older brother gave my younger brother and I a few binders of other baseball cards.  I collected baseball cards for a short time, and started collectiong hockey cards around 1990(I wasn’t a big fan of baseball).  It’s a given that I was also buying my fair share of non-sports cards as well.  It seems as if Topps had trading cards for every major property in the 80’s and early nineties.

These days, I’m an occasional collector.  I still have a lot of the hockey cards I had when I was a kid, and every now and then, I’ll end up getting a few packs, sometimes a box.  But I should have plenty to share here.

And here’s the perfect card to kick things off!  😉

This is a 1993 Looney Tunes Hare-OS card.  This card was traded between my younger brother and I many times.  But then we made up a rule that he would have to trade me any Wayne Gretzky card that he got, and I would have to trade him every Mario Lemieux card that I got(I still think that was pretty fair).  We were wierd, I tell ya!