Digging through the dime box: 80's and 90's hockey

Here's the hockey portion of the cards I picked up last weekend from a dime box that was really a nickel-and-a-half box.

My scanner really struggles with white-bordered cards sometimes, something that's going to be a recurring problem in this post. Oh well...The guy I picked this cards up didn't have any hockey cards from the '70's like he did in baseball, but he had a handful from the '80s, including this Greg Millen from 1981-82 Topps. This might be one of my favorite set designs from the decade, although I don't think there's a single '80s set I don't like and my favorite probably changes based on whatever one I happen to be looking at. Judging by the technicolor-tone green of the jersey, I'm guessing this is an airbrush special. Have to love that attempt at a whale patch!

Up next is a handful of cards from 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee. This is one of my least favorite designs from the decade, although I still like it.

I've always disliked cards that show a player wearing one jersey but listing him as a player for another -- except, that is, when they include the "Now with..." stamp. For some reason, that makes me like the card.

Now here's an airbrushing disaster. If it were up to me, all of the cards of traded guys would use the "Now with..." stamp.

Older goalie cards are the best. The equipment always looks so much manlier.

Yet another great '80s design, this time from 84-85 Topps. Don't see too many cards with a blurry stick blade right in the middle of the image.

One of the six Sutter brothers. I believe this is Ron's rookie card.

Though I grew up in Toronto, I never became a Leafs fan mostly because the team was a league-wide laughing stock through my entire childhood. One of the few Leafs players I recall liking was Alan Bester, who had some great games on Hockey Night in Canada when I happened to watching. I seem to recall he went through one stretch where he stopped 20 of 21 breakaways. The one guy to score? Steve Yzerman. (It's possible that entire anecdote is a figment of my imagination.) Anyway, I was happy to add his O-Pee-Chee rookie card for 7.5 cents.

Here's the batch of cards I was most excited to add. I'm getting awfully close to hand-collating the 1988-89 Topps set (another design I love, surprise, surprise) and I found several that I needed in this particular dime box.

A great look at the old Quebec Nordiques uniform and a Tom Selleck-quality mustache. This was one of the cards featured on the box for this set.

Wayne Gretzky's wing man.

And a third-year (I think) Chris Chelios card. I believe I am now exactly 10 cards away from finishing this set.

As the title of this post suggested, I also pulled a few '90s hockey cards, including a bunch from '92-93 Fleer Ultra. That's another set I would like to hand collate, although I'm nowhere close right now.

The Vancouver Canuck teams of the early '90s were a fun group to watch. They were led by a couple of young future Hall of Famers in Pavel Bure and Trevor Linden and sported these sleek uniforms.

If you're not going to use the "Now with..." stamp you may as well just airbrush the uniform. This approach is the worst of both worlds.

Jim Paek was the first Korean-born player ever to make the NHL. He only lasted a few years -- but managed to get his name engraved on the Stanley Cup twice, as part of those stacked Pittsburgh Penguin teams.

A Tampa Bay Lightning card from the team's inaugural season.

Finally, a handful of random additions...

One for the Guelph Collection!

I mentioned how much fun those early '90s Canucks teams were. Kirk McLean was their starting goalie, and probably my third favorite player behind Yzerman and Ron Hextall. And he's one of the players I got an autograph from when I was a kid.

Whether it's baseball or hockey, Stadium Club always has interesting photos.

One good shot of a guy tying his skates deserves another, I guess.

Lastly, this was probably my favorite find of the lot, purely for sentimental reasons. I took an art class in junior high where one of the projects we had to do was to bring in a picture of something and paint it. I painted this card, a beautiful overhead faceoff shot taken during the 1991 Stanley Cup finals.

Digging through the dime box: Vintage Blue Jays

Flipping through a dime box is always fun. But it's even better when the box is full of vintage cards -- and when the dealer offers to sell 'em for 15 cents for a buck.

That's the situation I lucked into this weekend at the local card show. I ended up pulling nearly 90 cards in all, most of them baseball or hockey cards from the '70s and '80s. I'll show off the baseball portion of the haul today, beginning with this Blue Jays team card from 1978 Topps.  

The 1977 season was the first one in Blue Jay history. Like most expansion teams, they struggled mightily in their first year, finishing last in the AL East with a 54-107 record. They had some decent young talent, though: Doug Ault here was one of three Jays who made the Topps All-Star Rookie Team. 

I wasn't born yet in 1978, so most of the team is a total mystery to me. Rick Cerone is one of the names I recognized. 

Check out that wad of chewing tobacco...

Here's a quick look at the backs. Topps also made them into a little card game for two kids to play (sorta like War, I think).

Most of these cards were probably in good-ish range, condition-wise. But for 7.5 cents per...who cares? 

Jesse must have had the best hair on the team.

In one fell swoop, I think I ended up with about half a 1978 team set. Not too shabby. But there was lots more -- including some 1979 Jays. 

I didn't know this at the time, but this Bump Wills card is actually sort of famous. Legend has it that the president of Topps was tipped off just before the cards were released that Texas was going to trade Bump to the Blue Jays, so he ordered the cards printed with the Blue Jays team name. The deal never happened, and Topps later printed a corrected card listing Wills as a member of the Rangers. The corrected card is apparently the rarer one. 

The Toronto Blue Jays didn't exist before 1977, so, when it comes to older cards, I'm a Montreal Expos fan. This one is from 1971 Topps, which I think is one of the company's more famous designs. 

Up next is a whole whack of Expos from 1971 Topps, leading off with one of the better baseball names you'll ever see (although note that he apparently signs his name "Charles Day." These were in the poorest condition of all the cards I pulled. But come on. Seven-and-a-half cents.

The Expos were founded in 1969 so the 1970 was the second one in team history. They finished 73-89, which was a 19-game improvement over their inaugural year.

Look at those chops. Bad. Ass.

The card back tells me that Jose Laboy was named National League Rookie of the Year in 1969 by the Sporting News. But it looks like he had a bad sophomore slump -- he batted just .199 in 137 games in 1970. 

Speaking of the card back, here it is. I'm a little torn on this one. On one hand, I love the layout and the first year in pro ball/first year in the majors is a neat little tidbit to point out. On the other, only one year of stats is a drag. 

Beyond Canadian teams, I picked up a few other random vintage cards, including this one, which is now the oldest baseball card I own: 

I'm not going to lie, I initially grabbed this thinking it was Hank Aaron. But I decided to keep this Hank Allen card from 1970 Topps because A)It was in great condition and B)It's from the now-defunct Washington Senators, a team that I believe is now the Texas Rangers.

Another nice card back, making up for the lack of a picture with a cartoon and full career stats. Hank Allen hit just one homerun in 1970. Hank Aaron had 38 that year. 

Another card from 1971 Topps, this one for the "Rookie Cup" collection. 

Two more Rookie Cup cards, these ones from 1976 Topps. Note the new trophy design: Whereas the 1971 Larry Bowa had a long, slim trophy on the front; these two have the squatter cup design that Topps still uses today. 

Bill Madlock from 1976 Topps. The Mad Dog had just one the National League batting crown. But I picked this out card for the fantastic old Cub patch on his sleeve.

Buck Martinez would go on to play for the Blue Jays and later manage them for a time. He's now the team's leading color commentator. He was a pretty good catcher, although he's terrible as a color guy.

The garish orange jersey, the bright green turf and the inexplicably pink nameplate make for one awesomely ugly card. 

Rance Mulliniks spent most of the '80s as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, although I really only remember him as the old guy on the team. Had to bite on his rookie card, which is from 1978 Topps. 

Another Bump Wills sighting! This one's also from 1978 Topps, the year before the Jays error card. Rookie Cup!

Cards from the 1980's aren't technically considered vintage, although they're definitely vintage to me. I'm not a huge Carlton Fisk fan or anything, but I really like the 1983 Topps design (probably because it reminds me of 1984-85 Topps hockey) and the picture here is great, both the expression on Fisk's face and the bright colors in his chest protector and the crowd.

And the last of the vintage cards I found, here's a great card of Ferguson Jenkins, the only Canadian baseball player in the Hall of Fame. Fergie had just pitched 217.1 innings at the age of 38. He would play one more season before retiring. 

But that wasn't everything. I also picked up a handful of modern cards, including a pair of Blue Jays from 2011 Allen & Ginter (Adam Lind and Aaron Hill) that refused to scan properly and this early card of current Blue Jay Jose Reyes: 

Yet another fantastic Upper Deck photo and design. This one is from the 2005 flagship set. And it lists him as a second baseman, rather than a shortstop, as he apparently played the keystone for the Mets early in his career. It'd be nice if he'd be willing to move over again now, because he's clearly lost a lot of range over the years. He's still incredibly fun to watch play, though. Nobody seems to have more fun  on the field than Jose Reyes. 

That's it for the baseball. The hockey portion of the haul is up next.