Repack Wars: hockey style

We're going to switch up Repack Wars, leaving the green grass and heading to the cold ice with this box. I have posted a couple packs of this over at APTBNL and I said I would do a repack war on the box, so without further delay, let's see how my $13 (Target 10 pack repack box) was spent. Standard repack wars rules apply.

We begin with 08-09 OPC. Now, as opposed to the baseball OPC I get in repack boxes, I don't mind the OPC brand so much. This pack had a lot of no one in it, so the nod goes to the retro insert.

 

09-10 Upper Deck. SHOOOOOOOOOOTER! A couple nice cards in this pack, but Sharpie wins by default. The font on this set, though, is weird. Too small? Bad choice? Just something doesn't work.

OPC from 09-10. Even with the ads on the uniform, this is a pretty insert card.

2008-09 Upper Deck. Now, I did have a Blackhawk in this pack with Seabrook, but I am going to go with the ex-Blackhawk Roenick for the winning card. He will always be in the Indian Head in my mind.

The lower end of Upper Deck's 08-09 offering with Victory. I skipped past the Malkin, the Tanguay and the Kesler to settle on a nicely framed shot of Carey Price.

Take away a card I will be posting soon, this is the winner of the box. This came from a pack of 1991 Sportscards Ultimate. See more of the cards at this APTBNL post. I have found Scott Niedermayer's mailing address for TTM requests and this card will be mailed soon. I hope I get it back.

Just like their baseball cousins, this 07-08 Fleer Ultra features some stunning images. The insert of Doug Weight doesn't get the win, though, because the gold background looks like crap.

Yeah, I know. It's a Dead Wing. Here is an insert from 2010-11 Upper Deck. The rest of the pack was blah, and it was either this insert, or a Daniel Sedin card. I can respect the career of Lidstrom, if not the jersey. And the only thing I'll ever feature on this blog of a Sedin is this:

Before you get all bent about the cheap shot, everyone forgets Sedin started it:

So no - the Sedins don't get one word of praise here at 2x3 Heroes. Moving on.

A rack pack from 08-09 Upper Deck. LOTS of nice cards in this pack. had to go with this amazing card of Backstrom fighting off a shot. You have the puck, his mask, nice close up - stellar.

DING DING DING! We have a hit in the last pack,  2006-07 Upper Deck MVP. And not just any old hit....

Dual autographs! Andy McDonald never played with the Ducks, getting a few years with the Islanders and is now in Europe. Kunitz is now a Penguin. Both are sticker autos, but a good hit in my book.

I am calling this box a win. Just like this is a win...

Throwback Thursday - 01.24.2013

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Dave Hollins - 1994 Upper Deck - Philadelphia Phillies

Trade to the Great White North

I'm going to let you ALL in on a little secret. I had another purpose for the card giveaway. Yes, I wanted to give back to all that read. I wanted to clear out some cards I didn't care and put them in hands of people that would. The other reason - it was a way to expand into potential trade opportunities. There, I admit it. I totally suckered you ALL in to possibly getting a trade with me and getting even MORE cards. I am such the cad.

Well done, Jeff. 

Ok - that's really not true. However, a side effect of the giveaway was that people could find my wants page, and that worked out a million times better than I ever expected. Take this trade. Doug with Sports Cards from the Dollar Store picked his two cards. When I got his address, he made mention he might have a few cards to fill my set needs for my Topps 89-90 Hockey. It ended up to be way more than a few for that. And Doug did a great Blackhawks dump on me to boot. Including

Shiny Hawks.

Hall of Fame Hawks.

All Star Hawks. Damn - I miss those orange, white and black uniforms.

Throwback Hawks.

Hawks weari....wait. What the hell are those?

And a dang purdy relic of Doug Wilson. She's beautiful. And remember those Topps?

 

When Doug was finished digging and shipping, he left me needing ONE card to complete the set. Ok - who can help me with a Trevor Linden? Yeah....it's his rookie. But if you have one, I'll work out a great deal for it. 

Give Doug's blog a look. Hockey and baseball. Senators and Blue Jays. Can't go wrong. Thanks Doug. I'll buy the next Molson.

Three envelopes of white

I'm not sure if this will be a pattern for 2013, but if it is, I won't mind. I like dropping 4 or 5 cards on someone just cuz.... why the hell not. I've had the benefit of three PWEs showing up at the 2x3 Heroes headquarters over the past couple days. And boy, do I like what I saw within each one.

Starting off we Jaybarkerfan with his power of a single stamp. Some how he has shown me love twice. Again - no complaints. So what came in magic #2?

That's some coolness right there. I love the two golds, especially the Ventura. I had bought one pack of that Studio year ago and thought the idea, while corny, is kinda of fun. But none of the cards in that pack were south siders. Jatbarkerfan just fixed that. Thank you sir!

The second envelope came from Zach, a bit of a newbie in blogland. Check him out over at Underdog Card Collector. Zach jumped on a couple cards from the PWE trade page, and sent me a couple cherry Blackhawk cards.

Love me a nice reprint, especially for a HOF and a retired jersey like Hall. The Amonte is acetate, so I put a piece of white paper behind the card so you can appreciate it. Which you really can't cuz any scanner doesn't show cards enough love. Those are two beuts, though.

Last, we have Chris from the always great Nacho Grande. Chris did one of my favorite things - he ripped a repack box. In one pack he pulled an Adam Wilk. Holy crap that is a no brainer. I always keep my eyes out for Larkin cards, so an email and a stamp later, I have this fine card.

 

I am fairly certain there is no relation to me. Just like I know the first doctor my children had was not related to me. Nor is our current doctor related to me. Yes, I am not kidding. My children have only ever had a family physician named Dr. Wilk. It's not weird.

The Dirty Dozen

Hit a card show today. Not as large as my usual haunt, but we (my wife and I) were in the area, so I took a look around while she spent a little time at another store. The time limited me to just a few tables, and only $15 was spent, but I did pretty well I feel. Dime boxes put me just 2 short of the Panini Cooperstown base set, as well as some knock offs on a couple other sets. Pulled in some nice DP, high cuff and throwback cards for the binders, plus a couple White Sox. Cuz they were White Sox. Duh. My three big pickups...

Yeah - it's not a Blackhawk, but for $3, I couldn't pass up a nice dual swatch numbered to /150. Maybe someone reading this will make this an even better card??? If not, I will still love it.

First of two vintage I grabbed. I got this for $5, and maybe I overpaid a bit. The card is perfect, and the back is unmarked. Plus, how can you not like a card with that team on the front, and names on the back like W. Mays, C. Stengel, H. Bauer, D. Groat, H. Killebrew, S. Musial, and others. And the other vintage?

And thus, the title of the post is revealed. For six singles, I landed a card that is amazing in it's look. I could swear this was pulled from a pack opened yesterday. This '57 Topps leaves me just 12 short of completing my Pierce collection.

First trade of '13

I set a goal of 26 trades for this year. While I posted a trade a week or so ago, I am not putting that one into the 2013 goals. Technically, it was all completed in 2012, so my laziness cannot translate into an achievement.

Some badges you are never meant to acquire.

So let's kick off the 2013 trading season with a killer package from Jack over at All Tribe Baseball. I like me some cards, but I don't like me too many dupes. That's just wasted space. So when Jack put out a call for Cooperstown, I was more than happy to dig into my duplicates and give him a big stack. Plus, any chance a ChiSox guy can lessen the number of Tribe players in his card box, it's a bonus. So how did Jack reply? Let's start with knocking off cards from my 2007 and 2008 A&G needs, plus some 2012 Topps Update. Getting closer to finishing those sets (another 2013 goal). But then Jack stepped it up a notch with White Sox cards of all kinds.

Shiny, refractor-y cards and shiny DP binder cards.

 

Bloused pants and stirrup binder cards.

Throwback binder cards.

And VINTAGE! Plus a bunch more cards of players in the coolest of cool White Sox uniforms. And then, we had this.

That is a COMC image, but I did receive that card. My scanner was doing ZERO justice to the beauty of it, even though this isn't much better. See, Jack included an unopened pack of 2003 Donruss Estrellas - cards from Mexico. He even ripped a pack over at APTBNL if you would like to see more. That Ripken was the inset card, and you really need to see one to enjoy it's silver metallic glory. Here is the rest of the pack. Oh - and my mini poster was Nomar!

Thanks for a great start to 2013, Jack. You have planted the seed for the year.

Throwback Thursday - 01.17.2013

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Shawn Camp - 2012 Topps Update - Chicago Cubs