Signature Renditions: Alexsander Barkov

And the fourth card in my Signature Renditions collection is:

When I first happened across the Signature Renditions set, this was the one that made my jaw drop. This card captures Aleksander Barkov's first goal in the NHL. And what a chaotic goal it must've been. Five of the six Dallas players on the ice are in or around the crease here, including two playing goal alongside the Stars' actual goalie. Then there's the second Panthers player, pinned down to the ground by one of the Stars; defenders. All the clashing green and orange jerseys make for one incredibly vibrant card. My only complaint is that Barkov's signature is so small that it almost gets lost. But it was nice that he included his number when signing.

Like the Seth Jones I showed off earlier, because this is technically a 2013-14 release, I believe it counts as a rookie year card, even though it didn't actually come out until Barkov's second season had begun.

I made three or four unsuccessful runs at this card on eBay, before finally winning an auction. But I had to overpay for it, bidding $24.50 plus $3.50 shipping. That's definitely at the high end of the range this card has been selling for, at least on eBay, where most copies have sold in the $20 to $25 range. But it came with a consolation prize: A second Signature Renditions card from the same seller, which, thanks to this card, came with free shipping. I'll show that one off next time.

Another trade!

There's been a little burst of trading around these parts over the last few days, some of which I've initiated and some that others have. Here's another small batch of cards that just arrived in the mail. Sent the other way were a 1989 Upper Deck John Smoltz rookie and a 1994 Score Gold Rush Cal Ripken Jr.

First up, a new addition to the Steve Yzerman collection from 1995-96 Donruss. Not the world's most exciting card by any stretch, but it's got a clean and simple look. Nice crowd shot, too, including a confused-looking kid who appears to be sitting in a seat made for a giant.

Two things I like about the back. First, it's got a second, large picture, which helps make up for the lack of any narrative or career stats. Second, this set came out after the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season. So Donruss included the players' stats for the season, which was just 48 games long, as well as pro-rated equivalents over a full season. So Yzerman's 11 goals and 38 points in 47 games that year translated into 21 goals and 67 points in 82 games. It wasn't his best offensive year, but this was right around the point he was beginning to develop a more defensive-oriented game.

The bulk of this trade package was from a 22-card insert set in 95-96 Donruss focusing on the 1995 Canadian World Junior hockey team, which won the country's third consecutive gold medal. I've got a bit of a soft spot for Canadian Junior team cards, mostly because they remind of being a kid watching the tournament every year after Christmas. Pictured here is Jamie Storr, who was Canada's starting goaltender in both the 1994 and 1995 tournaments. True story: Storr once flipped me and some friends the bird after one of us (not me!) threw a half-full cup of soda onto the ice and hit him in the back. Storr, who was playing for the Owen Sound Platers then, had just beaten the Guelph Storm in an OHL game.

Here's the rest of the Team Canada cards in the package. Ed Jovanovski and Bryan McCabe were two of several guys on the team who went on to have successful NHL careers, along with Wade Redden, Jason Allison and Ryan Smyth, among others. Shortly after this tournament, Dan Cloutier was traded by the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds to the Storm, who were hosting the Memorial Cup that year and were loading up for a long run. The Storm ended up losing in seven games in the OHL finals to the Peterborough Petes and then lost all three of their round-robin games in the Memorial Cup. Cloutier went on to spend a decade bouncing around the NHL.

Here's a look at the back of these cards, which are some of the loudest you'll see. Each card has three different pictures, though, including the two on the back.

And closing out this trade package are two second-year cards of my favorite baseball player as a kid. The Upper Deck card is typically high-quality but I still love the so-bad-it's-good '91 Classic design.

The last two trades have been small ones, but I just finalized a deal on a monster trade with another Zistle user that I'm super excited about. It's going to finalize one of my favorite team sets of all time, add to the Yzerman collection and give me a big boost towards two sets I'm hoping to eventually hand collate. Really looking forward to that package!

A new obsession

A couple of weeks ago, I did a trade with Shane from Shoebox Legends (the best sports card blog on the Internet, far as I can tell). I sent him some cards from 2013-14 Prizm and he sent me a random lot, including some from my Zistle wantlist and quite a few other surprises.

But one card in particular really caught my attention.

On the surface, it's not much of a card. Just a relatively easy-to-find parallel of a boring common in one of the cheapest hockey sets on the market. But really *look* at it. It is absolutely beautiful. I can't quite articulate it, but I think Panini has amped up the colors or altered the picture somehow to make it almost look more like a comic-book illustration than a photograph. The colors are super vivid, and the gold border really makes everything pop (especially compared to the white borders on the base cards). It's worlds ahead of anything I would have expected out of a Score set.

Since receiving this card, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I've spent quite a bit of time browsing the rest of the set online, and most of the other cards also appear to have that digital illustration effect. And it looks like the set includes a whole bunch of great photos, too, just as good as anything in Upper Deck.

Here are just three more, pulled  from the Zistle library:

I like these cards so much that I think I'm going to take a run at hand-collating the gold parallels. This is a monster set -- 550 base cards, plus another 100 short-printed rookies and other subsets -- so it's unlikely I'll ever get there. But the cards are widely available and even the gold parallels are relatively cheap, so it shouldn't be impossible, either. I've already tried to work out a Zistle trade with someone who has a bunch of these available.

If nothing else, it'll be a(nother) fun chase.

A Zistle Trade!

Just finished off a small Zistle trade that saw four random baseball cards go out the door and three new ones come in.

Roger Clemens might be one of the least likable baseball players of all time. But I've always had a thing for press conference cards. It's probably the reporter in me. And this presser capped one of the most surprising moves in Toronto Blue Jay history, when they signed Clemens, who had played his entire career up to that point with the Boston Red Sox, to a four-year, $40 million contract as a free agent before the 1997 season. The Rocket more than lived up to the deal, too, winning the Cy Young award in both 1997 and 1998. He asked to be traded after the 1998 season and the Jays dealt him to the New York Yankees for David Wells, Homer Bush and Graeme Lloyd.

We move from a guy who's widely reviled to one who's widely revered, at least in Toronto: Former manager Cito Gaston, who appears to be tearing up in the midst of a ceremony celebrating one of the Jays' two World Series championships. Gaston, of course, was the manager of both of those teams and he remains by far the winning-est (?) manager in Blue Jay history. But what on earth is going on with that AstroTurf-green sweater/jacket? This card celebrates the Blue Jays' career, active and season leaders in a variety of batting and pitching categories, and I believe it's part of a franchise subset within 2010 Topps. The Jays' all-time leader lists are dominated by two guys in particular: Carlos Delgado, who holds the franchise records for home runs, runs batted in and slugging percentage, and Dave Stieb, who holds the records for wins, strikeouts and earned run average.

The last card that came my way isn't a Blue Jay but it is someone from Toronto: Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto. The 2010 National League MVP, Votto is generally regarded as the third-best Canadian baseball player of all of time, after Ferguson Jenkins and Larry Walker. I know base rookie cards aren't especially valuable nowadays, but I still can't resist 'em.

Signature Renditions: Tony Esposito

Here's the third "Signature Renditions" card in my collection:

One of the greatest goalies of all time and the first member of Sault Ste. Marie's Walk of Fame that I've landed in the Signature Renditions. (Oh, and he's in the hockey first Hall of Fame, too.) The colors work together so well in this card, with the varying shades of browns and gold in the jersey, equipment and signature. And the mask has that slightly blurry, impressionist-painting look that has made me go so crazy for these cards. "Tony O" was one of the first goalies to employ the "butterfly" technique, which this card captures perfectly. 

The card celebrates Esposito's rookie year, during which he won both the Vezina trophy as the league's top goaltender and the Calder trophy as the league's best rookie. He went 38-17 that season, with a 2.17 goals-against average and 15 shutouts. And is there any goalie who has been the subject of more amazing photos than him? 

This is one of the best buys I've landed so far. The seller initially had it listed at $30 with free shipping and the option to make an offer. I bid $20 (which, at the time, was the maximum I was hoping to pay for any one of these cards). He countered at $25, which I declined. A few days later, he lowered the asking price to $25. And a few days after that, he dropped it to $22, at which point I jumped. I can't believe no one bought it before I did. I've only seen this card sell one other time on eBay for less than $30 (and that was at $29). One looks like it even sold for $150, although that was a crazy outlier. This one was one of the few times where slow-playing on eBay actually worked out. 

The Captain and the Cup

For a long time, the knock on Steve Yzerman was that he was a soft, offense-only player whose teams would always crumble under the pressure of playoff hockey. Yzerman, of course, eventually rewrote that narrative, leading the Red Wings to three Stanley Cups in six years and becoming revered as the consummate team captain, a player who completely changed his game in order to help his team win.

All of that, however, happened after I had stopped collecting hockey cards. So one of the coolest things about getting back into the hobby is finding new ones that depict Yzerman in various states of celebration with the most iconic trophy in sports. Like the one above, from the "Cup Celebrations" subset in 2005-06 Upper Deck Power Play. It's the perfect hockey player smile!

As I kid, I would have flipped out to come across this, which was a simple base card in 1997-98 Score, which came out just after the Yzerman had won the first of his three cups. With the sunglasses and the white shirt, I'm guessing that this photo was taken during the Red Wings' parade through Detroit.

Also from 1997-98, but the Upper Deck set. I'm not sure if this is a base card or if "Game Dated" cards were a subset within the main one. Either way, gorgeous shot of the the team circling around the rink with the cup. I *think* that's Kris Draper looking rapturous just over Yzerman's right shoulder and waiting for his turn to hoist the trophy.

This die-cut card is one of my favorites. It's from an 18-card insert set, "Playoff Highlights," in the 1998-99 Be A Player release, which came out just after the Wings had won their second consecutive cup. I made a few unsuccessful runs at this card at eBay, before finally getting a seller on COMC to knock it down below $7.

I like this card so much, I'll show off the back, too.

This card celebrates Yzerman's third cup, which he won in 2002. It's a smaller-than-normal card (though not quite a mini) and I think UD Retrospectives was an insert or parallel set in Upper Deck's 2002-03 Artistic Impressions release.

One of the silver linings to the 2012-13 NHL lockout is that it forced hockey-card manufacturers to come up with some different concepts, since they couldn't rely on rookie cards to drive sales that year. And this was one of the best: ITG's History of Hockey. It was one of those four-cards-to-a-box, high-end products that included rookie buybacks, autograph buybacks and artistic memorabilia cards. The Yzerman card commemorates the 1997 Cup win, which was the first for the Red Wings in 42 years.

Here's the back of the card, which comes pre-slabbed. This is the silver version, each of which is numbered to 40. There are also gold versions numbered to 10. It's probably the second-most valuable Yzerman card I own, after his O-Pee-Chee rookie. Beckett puts the low value at $40; got this one on eBay for $19.99, plus shipping.

Bonus card! It's not the Stanley Cup, but it's the next best thing: The Conn Smythe Trophy, which is given the most valuable player in the playoffs. Yzerman won during the Wings' 1998 Cup run, when he lead the league in scoring with 24 points in 22 games.

2014 Stadium Club: The Stro Show

I really like last year's Stadium Club release. Some of the photos are incredible, from the atmospheric overhead shot of Jose Reyes' swing to David Ortiz's selfie with President Obama. But I just can't bring myself to pay $60 for a box, especially since I could generally care less about the inserts.

But what I can bring myself to do is pick off certain cards.

And here's my first one. An on-card auto of the most promising -- and most likable -- young player on the Toronto Blue Jays. Stroman's a great story. Listed at 5-9 (but actually even shorter), scouts have been skeptical about Stroman all his life, even though he's got great stuff and a wide arsenal of pitches -- including a sinker that he developed on the fly last year and apparently already compares favorably with some of the greats. Even though he was an advanced college pitcher, he fell all the way to the 22nd pick of the 2013 when the Jays (who had already passed on him once) finally chose him.

Because of his size, a lot of scouts predicted Stroman wouldn't have the stamina to be a starting pitcher and would end up as a reliever. But he made 20 starts for the Jays last year after being a midseason callup, going 11-6 with a 3.65 ERA and an even better FIP (2.84). Some of the projection systems think he'll be one of the best starters in the majors this year.

Stroman's is really the only auto I wanted out of this set, although I may try and snag a few more if the price is right. I paid $3.50 on eBay, plus a couple bucks shipping. I've since seen a few sell for a bit cheaper, but the difference only amounts to a dollar or two. And adding this to my collection now helps stiffen my resolve to not cave in and buy a full box.

What I'm really after now are the base cards. I'm doing my best to be patient, trying to work out a few Zistle trades and waiting for some to start showing up in the dime and quarter boxes at the card show. But it probably won't be long before I give up and log into Sportlots or something.

Pack Rip! 2014 Gypsy Queen

Bought one other pack during my recent visit to the local card shop to go along with the 1990 Topps.

Ten cards in this one. Chose to buy this over a pack of Allen & Ginter because it was a $1.50 cheaper ($3.50 vs. $5). Don't really know anything about the set, so I'm basically just hoping for some Blue Jays. 

I love the vintage look and feel of Gypsy Queen cards, although they do strike me as awfully similar in style to A&G. Don't quite understand how they fill different niches. 

One-third of the way in and nothing exciting yet...

Here's something different. It's from a 15-card insert set called "N174" which are apparently based on a set from 1988. Scherzer's one of the least interesting names on the checklist. But he might be the richest, as he just signed a $210 million contract as a free agent with the Washington Nationals. Read on Twitter that Scherzer will be paid $80,000 a day every day for the next 14 years. 

I know basic rookie cards aren't especially valuable nowadays, but I still get a little jolt of excitement every time I pull one. Paxton is a promising young starter, and he was actually once drafted by the Blue Jays. They weren't able to sign him, so he went back into the draft. He's Canadian, too.

King Felix. This one's actually already been traded away after someone popped up on Zistle asking for it. This pack is awfully pitcher heavy: Six cads in, and just one position player. 

Whoa. Nicest-looking card yet. Love the detail in the grass, where you can see the fresh mow lines. And the green and blue from the stadium seats are really vivid. 

Nine cards in and the eighth pitcher. There is apparently a photo variation of this card. 

The black-bordered minis are the most common. Each of these are numbered to 199. Don't really know much about Freddie, but it turns out that both of his parents are Canadian and he wanted to play for Canada in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. So I like him.

That's it. Not the world's most exciting group of baseball cards. Card of the pack is between the Paxton rookie and the Rizzuto, which is the best-looking of the bunch by far. The passport tips the scales: Paxton wins! Congratulations, or something.

Ron Hextall Tough Times Auto

I spent more than a decade as a newspaper reporter so it's a safe bet that I'm going to like just about any card done in a newspaper theme -- especially one that features an on-card auto of one of my favorite players.

This beauty is an autograph parallel from a 10-card insert set in 2010-11 Donruss that celebrated enforcers from the 1980's. The base inserts fell about one per box. I love the way the blue ink really pops against the faded, newsprint-like colors of the card itself. The autograph parallels are numbered to 250.

Hextall is the perfect goalie for this set. He was known a guy who played on -- and sometimes over -- the line. He violently slashed Kent Nilsson behind the knees during game four of the 1987 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers, swinging his stick baseball-style in what he said was retaliation for a slash he'd taken earlier from Glenn Anderson. A few months later, Hextall broke a teammate's arm during a practice session ahead of the 1987 Canada Cup; he later said the the teammate, Sylvain Turgeon, was too close to his goal.

Instead of those slashes, Donruss highlight's Hextall's attack on Chris Chelios during the 1989 Wales Conference Finals against the Montreal Canadiens. Hextall came flying out of his crease and absolutely leveled Chelios with a haymaker, apparently in retribution for a hit Chelios had laid earlier on Brian Propp. Donruss doesn't mention it, but Hextall was suspended for the first 12 games of the 1989-90 season because of the incident. (Video of it can be found here.)

I happened across this card, which is my second Hextall auto, while browing eBay a couple of months ago. The seller was asking for a little less than $30, but agreed to sell for around $17. I suspect I overpaid, but I couldn't resist the newspaper-Hextall combination. On the plus side, Hextall is by far the biggest name in the Tough Times lineup (which also includes such luminaries as Basil McCrae and Lyndon Byers). So I'm thinking the rest of the auto parallels could make for a fun, but still reasonable, chase.

Pack Rip!

One of the things I enjoy the most on other sports card blogs are posts about pack rips and box breaks. They make for a nice, quick fix when you can't get the good stuff yourself. So I'm copying the idea here, beginning with a pack of 1990 Topps baseball.

Picked this up for 50 cents last week at a local card shop when I stopped in to buy some magnetic cases. Sixteen cards in this one. Ah, the good 'ole days. Of course, I guess it's easy to put more cards in a pack when you're printing billions of them. This is one of the sets I collected as a kid, so lots of nostalgia here. Hoping for Toronto Blue Jays and some Rookie Cup cards (especially Ken Griffey Jr. or Jim Abbott).

Nice start. Dave Stewart was one of my favorite pitchers as a kid. He was known for his menacing stare from the mound and went four consecutive years with 20 or more wins. And Topps really nailed it with the colorful design in this set.

And we have a Rookie Cup! I would have preferred Griffey, Abbott or even Tom Gordon, but Sheffield is easily the second-best player on Topps' 1989 All Star Rookie team. He won't make the Hall of Fame, but he came awfully close: 509 career home runs, a batting title, nine All-Star teams and three top-three finishes in MVP voting. He was linked to steroids, but I assume just about everyone during that period was juicing.

These cards look especially good when the colors mesh with the player's uniform, as is the case here, with the various shades of blue in the borders matching the main colors in Swift's uniform and the yellow interior border bringing out the yellow outline in the Mariners name.

A's hot pack!

Wait, no, Mariners hot pack!

And we have a Hall of Famer. Molitor ranks ninth in Major League Baseball history with 3,319 hits. He also won a World Series in 1993 with Toronto. Dave Stewart was also on that team, back in the day when the Jays had the highest payroll in baseball and could sign damn near anybody they wanted. Looks like Paul is chewing some tobacco or gum in this picture.

Also: Brewers hot pack!

Okay, so it's an A's hot pack after all. I think I saw another blog name this the worst baseball card photo ever. It features both a terrible air-brushing job and a bushy, red mustache. If it's not the worst, it's the best.

Another Hall of Famer. The Wizard of Oz is probably the best defensive shortstop ever, with 13 Gold Gloves to his name. He was also one of the most exciting players to watch in the 80's and early 90's. Who didn't love his backflips?

A Hall of Fame hat trick! This is either a second- or third-year card of Smoltz (depending on whether you think his true rookie card is the 1988 Fleer Update card). He was elected to the Hall earlier this month, joining his longtime Atlanta Braves rotation mates, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, who were enshrined a year ago. Smoltz is the only pitcher to ever win 200 games and save 150. Fun fact: He's the first player elected to the Hall after undergoing Tommy John surgery during his career.

And we end with a bit of a whimper. Still, that was a great pack, definitely more than 50 cents worth of fun. No Blue Jays, but three Hall of Famers and another guy (Sheffield) who is likely to just miss.

Card of the pack is between Sheffield and Smoltz, both of which are second-year cards. Sheffield's got the Rookie Cup going for him. But I'm going to go with Smoltz, because he actually made it and I like the way the red border brings out the red in the brim of his cap and uniform trim. And even though dime boxes are littered nowadays with late 80's and early 90's baseball cards, any card of a guy who made the Hall of Fame is still pretty sweet.