Finally nailed a big one

Now I know for a lot of you guys, this isn't that big of a hit.  But for me this is huge.  I don't normally pull anything decent from packs.

I decided to pull the trigger on a hobby box of Upper Deck series 1 to try and finish my base set and nail a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Young Guns.  While at the LCS, I decided I would buy the last two loose packs of series 1 they had as well.  Thanks goodness I did, because in the first pack I ripped, BAM, I pulled the RNH Young Guns card.  My collecting week,month, heck maybe even year is made now.  Now I can open my hobby box tonight without the nervous anticipation of having to hit this card.

Pack Rip #8 - 2011-12 Upper Deck Series 1 Fat Packs

Product: 2011-12 Upper Deck Hockey Series 1 Retail Fat Packs

Cost: $4.99 per pack
Qty: 4 packs
Cards per pack: 32

Location: Shopko

I must admit, I have an addiction to this set.  I don't know why, but I get all nervous if I go to the store and don't buy any of this.  I love the set, but I don't like the feeling I get when I don't have any to rip, I didn't realize someone could really go through card withdrawls, but I was.

Anyway, I had to take a grumpy kid for a ride last night so we went to the one store we never go to, Shopko.  At first I only found a couple fat packs of OPC, but then we found the motherload, Upper Deck Series 1 fat packs.  I quickly put back the O-Pee-Chee and grabbed the four remaining of these they had.

Base Cards:  I pulled 121 out of these packs, some were dupes.  I now need 74 to finish my series 1 basic set.



 Hockey Heroes:  Pulled 2, Gordie Howe and Gump Worsley.  I love the legends cards.

 Young Guns:  Pulled my first two young guns cards ever.  While they weren't the big one, I was glad to get these.  48 more to go.

UD Canvas:  I was very happy with the Mika Zibangejad Young Guns Canvas that I pulled.  That will either pay for one of these packs by going on Ebay or will be added in with a trade to someone.  Also pulled a Jaroslav Halak Canvas.  I love the Canvas set, but I don't think it will be possible for me to finish, it's just too damn big.

As I have said before, I am in love with this set.  I will most likely be picking up a hobby box of this on Saturday and hopefully that will knock out the rest of the set.

1981-82 Topps Peter Stastny #39

There is no better way to start posting the cards in my player collections, than starting out with a hall of famer.  Here is the Topps Version of Paul Stastny's rookie card.  I picked this up in a lot of 110 cards from the 1981-82 Topps set off of Ebay for $0.99.

Stastny defected to Canada in 1980 along with his brother Anton.  In his rookie season, Stastny netted 39 goals and handed out 70 assists to total 109 points.  He was the first player to score over 100 points in his rookie season, since Gretzky wasn't technically a rookie in 79-80 due to his time in the WHA.

Pack Rip #7 - 2011-12 Upper Deck Hockey Series 1 Retail

Product: 2011-12 Upper Deck Hockey Series 1 Retail

Cost: $2.99 per pack
Qty: 2 packs
Cards per pack: 8

Location: Target

 So I finally broke down and bought a couple packs of these.  I had a little house money to still play with off of a gift card so I picked up these two packs and two rack packs of series 2.  I didn't pull much in these, but the photos are great.

 Pack 1:  So as you can see, I suck at scanning, I am going to have to really pay more attention to the sideways cards.

#85 - Josh Bailey - I have never heard of this guy, but he's wearing an Islanders sweater, so he is alright in my book.
#61 - Daniel Briere - This is a great card...The photo looks to be the press conference after the Flyers won the division.
#125 - Evgeny Dadonov
#62 - Chris Pronger - This guy is a dick.
#120 - David Booth - Florida's leading scorer in 10-11
#104 - Jaroslav Spacek
#115 - rob Scuderi
#AW26 - Phil Kessel All-World Team

Pack 2:

#84 - Kyle Okposo - Great shot after an Islanders victory.
#188 - Zdeno Chara - The big bruiser firing a slap shot.
#128 - Sam Gagner - Celebrating a goal...looks fired up!
#13 - Henrik Sedin - As much as I hate the Sedin sisters, this is a cool card, celebrating a conference championship.
#151 - R.J. Umberger - Columbus may suck, but this sweater is sweet.
#51 - Matt Cooke
#199 - Checklist - Well, doesn't this card suck...A Sedin, Robbie Lou, and Kessler
#C85 - UD Canvas Alex Ovechkin - Sweet insert...Best pull of the lot.

Mailday #4 - 2011-12 Parkhurst Champions Minis 44 card Lot from Ebay

I picked these up off of Ebay for $13.90 shipped.  It is all but #1 of the non short print minis from this set.  I absolutely love, love, love these cards.  The guy I got these from paulie_pavillion is a great seller.  He is the same guy I picked up most of the base set of Parkhurst Champions from.  Good deals and he is very meticulous and fast with his packing and shipping.

Out of all the great cards in this set my favorites are Grant Fuhr, Peter Stastny, Rogie Vachon, Tony Esposito, Denis Potvin, and Clark Gillies.

I am now down to only needing 12 base cards, 1 regular mini, all SP minis and all Wire Photos and Rendition Cards now to finish this set.  So far this is my favorite hockey set that I am working on.

Mailday #3 - Trade with Justin from The Hopeful Chase

Justin who runs http://hopefulchase.blogspot.com/ contacted me a couple weeks ago about some 2009-10 Champs minis that he was willing to trade me.  I still owe him a package, it will be in the mail today, I promise.  He traded me 9 minis I needed for my set, I am down to needing only about 423 more minis to finish this set...Holy Cow what did I get myself into.

#359 - Daniel Sedin - One half of the bunk bed sleeping Vancouver twin sisters.
#320 - Daniel Briere
#304 - Loui Erikson
#302 - Dustin Byfuglien - A key player on the Hawks Stanley Cup run from a couple years ago.
#270 - Mike Ricards - Was the captain of Philly's finals team from 09-10.
#264 - Brandon Dubinsky
#246 - Anze Kopitar
#222 - Paul Stastny - The son of Quebec Nordiques great Peter Stastny, who I just so happen to have started a player/team(Nordiques) collection of.
#104 - Andrew MacDonald - Mini rookie.  These are tough to get, so I was pleased that one of these were included with our trade.

Pack Rip #6 - 2007 Topps WWE Heritage III Hobby Box

Product: 2007 Topps WWE Heritage III Hobby Box

Cost: $33.95
Qty: 1 Hobby Box - 24 Packs
Cards per pack: 5

Location: Dave and Adam's Card World

 

I purchased this with the hope of building the base set and getting a nice start on the Allen and Ginter legends set, and I did just that.  I was able to put together a complete base set with about 20 duplicates (they are for trade if anyone wants them, all I ask is for either some wrestling or hockey cards in return, I don't care what.)

 

 Base Cards: The base cards in this set come in 3 designs.  Current superstars are in the 1980 Topps design, divas 1982 Topps, and legends 1987 Topps.  While I am not a huge fan of the 80 or 82 designs, I
do love the 87's for the legends.  The checklist is great too as there were legends I have never had cards of before like Earthquake and Papa Shango and Ric Flair was still in the current superstars and that was my first ever Ric Flair card.  I was able to complete the base set with just one hobby box which means Topps did a nice job with the collation on these.

Allen and Ginter Mini Legends - This is a really cool set that takes the A&G mini design and puts 12 legends on it.  I pulled 5 which is just about right for the stated odds.  I think I should have received one more, but I am okay with 5.  Of the 5 I pulled, one was Ravishing Rick Rude, which is just plain awesome.  Now it will be time to hit eBAY and pick up the other 7 to complete the set.

The Hits - My two hits for this box where a Mr. Kennedy ringside relic and a Victoria auto.  Pretty blah since neither one of them are around the WWE anymore.  I wish the WWE releases would quit featuring sticker autos as well, it really cheapens the auto's in my eyes.  Oh well, if anyone is interested in either of these, let me know, they are both for trade.

Final thoughts on this box is that it was a blast to rip.  I had a ton of fun and was glad to finish the base set.  I probably will not buy another box of it since I have finished the base set and would be wasting money ripping packs to try and finish the mini set.  It was also a plus that both of my kids had fun ripping this with me as well.  My daughter thinks I am delusional for collecting cards, yet she ripped almost every one of these packs.  My son who loves wrestling was more excited for the gum that came in the packs, that was until he chewed a piece and realized that 5 year old gum is bad...Not nearly as bad as 30 year old gum though, which my wife found out the hard way last year when she at a piece from 81 Topps baseball.