After bringing home a big pile of 1970's hockey cards last month, I only grabbed this late-career Cesare Maniago this time around. This is from 1977-78 Topps and I think it's the final regular-issue card of Maniago's career.
I also grabbed one card from the 1980's in the form of this "Future Stars" from 1982 Topps. This is Jesse Barfield's true rookie card, although Topps also gave him a standalone card in the 1982 Topps Traded set.
One from the '70's, one from the '80's and, now, here's one from the '90's in the form of a Chrome Jose Canseco. There is no way I will ever pass on a card of Canseco with the Blue Jays.
I found exactly one base card from 2006 Allen & Ginter, which was the first of the modern-day A&G sets and which I'm trying to build now. Progress report: 106 out of 350 (30.3 percent)
I'm not really much of a fan of ITG's "Heroes and Prospects" cards, but I couldn't resist picking up a pre-rookie card of one of the brightest young stars in hockey today. This is from ITG's 2008-09 release. Tavares, who was drafted first overall in the 2009 draft, also had a card in ITG's 2007-08 set.
J.P. Arencibia put together a couple of historically bad seasons for the Blue Jays a few yeas ago, so it's hard to believe how fast he started. He homered in his very first at bat for the Blue Jays, one of two he clubbed in his first game for the Blue Jays in 2010. It seemed then like he was destined to be a star. I'm guessing this photo is taken from that first game. I also really like some of the other elements in this card, including the HSBC ad in the background and the Rick Scott-looking dude talking to his buddy in the stands. And while Chrome cards aren't usually my thing, this one really looks nice in hand.
I'm not collecting any of the other Allen & Ginter sets, but I will sometimes grab some of the non-baseball players cards, especially when they feature the greatest tennis player of all time.
New Blue Jay star? Check. Card design from my childhood? Check. Costs exactly one quarter? Check. (This is from 2013 Topps Archives, btw.)
One more A&G card. This one, from 2013, is significant in that it completes my Blue Jays team set from that year. It's the only A&G team set I've managed to put together so far.
The hockey box included a handful of cards from 2014-15 O-Pee-Chee Platinum, which I'd never seen in hand before. I have to say, I wasn't much of a fan. But I grabbed this card anyway, since Sam Reinhart is one of the top hockey prospects in the world and one of a handful of guys who realistically beat out Connor McDavid for the Calder Trophy this year. This is actually my second Reinhart rookie. I pulled his Young Gun card out of a pack late last year -- the only decent Young Gun I managed land despite buying about a dozen Series 1 packs and an entire box of Series 2.
And here is the first of two big finds for the show (although neither of these came from a quarter box). There was one dealer who had a handful of '50's, '60's and '70's hockey cards for sale. Most of 'em were priced far beyond what I was willing to pay, but I did plunk down $20 for two common cards from 1953-54 Parkhurst. This one is a rookie card of Eddie "Spider" Mazur, who played 132 games over parts of six seasons with the Montreal Canadiens and the Chicago Blackhawks. He's actually got an interesting career arc: He suited up in the 1951, 1952 and 1953 playoffs for Montreal before ever appearing in a single regular season game with the club. He was the first player in NHL history to score four playoff goals before playing a regular season game. His record stood for 60 years before it was broken by Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers in 2012. The dealer had several 1953 Parkies to chose from; I picked this one because it was in probably the best shape of any of them, particularly the back, which is nicely centered, and because his name on the back includes "Spider" in quotes.
I also grabbed this one of the New York Rangers' Don "Bones" Raleigh, because he was one of the few players I had actually heard of and because it was also in good condition -- or so I thought. It doesn't show up in hand nearly as clearly as it does in the scan, but there is a big crease running straight through the center of this card. I'm not normally a stickler for condition when it comes to cards this old, although I probably wouldn't have paid $10 for a non-graded one if I had noticed the flaw. That's what I get for not paying attention, I guess. Either way, though, it's still a fantastic addition. Raleigh, who got the nickname "Bones" because he was so slight, was one of the most popular New York Rangers of the 1950's. He made his debut for the team when he was just 17 years old and was the first Ranger ever to score four goals in a game. He is perhaps best known for scoring back-to-back overtime game-winning goals in games four and five of the 1950 Stanley Cup Final, which New York lost to Detroit. He was a two-time all-star and ultimately played more than 500 games in a Rangers uniform. Crease or not, he's a fantastic addition to my tiny collection of 1950's hockey cards!
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