Mail Day #11: Color Guards!

I won these in a lot together on Ebay. I paid a little more then I wanted to but I figured I got a deal because I saved on shipping individually. I'm currently 7/18 on the set. I know I'm missing: Roy, Brodeur, Vernon, Cujo, Vanbiesbrouck. Osgood and Rhodes. Not sure of who else at the moment. I'll have to track down a checklist!

TTM Mail Day #4: Brad May

Brad May was drafted first overall by the Sabres in the 1990 entry draft. Over time he was expected to turn into a power forward with the ability to score 25 goals. It never happened and his best season was in 1995-96 with 44 points, 15 of them goals. He is best remembered for his "May Day" goal in the playoffs.

I remember watching the goal as I was a big Sabres fan in the early to mid 90's when the team had Hasek, Lafontaine, Hawerchuk and going absolutely crazy!

If anyone wants to write May make sure to send him a sharpie as he signed mine with ball point pen.

Brad May
c/o CBC Hockey Night in Canada
Audience Relations
P.O. Box 500 Station A
Toronto, ON
Canada, M5W 1E6

Pack Break #11: 93-94 UD Series 2 Hockey

In October I bought a ten pack lot of 93-94 UD Series 2 off ebay for .99 cents. The packs turned out to be pretty decent and I even pulled two Chris Osgood RC's.

This was the last pack I held on to and it was easily the weakest pack of the bunch. I usually pulled a few star base in each pack but this one held none.

When your best base card is Kelly Miller or Dave Manson, you know you have issues. Thanks a lot UD for great collation and giving me two Patrick Carnback cards in the pack. I'm glad to see that over the years they have fixed collation issues *sarcasm*.

I managed to pull two decent World Junior cards from the pack. Jason Allison was a star player in the late 90's but faded into obscurity when his slow foot speed was not suited for the new NHL.

My SP card was not great either. Remember when Malakhov was hyped as a future star defenseman? In the 92-93 season he actually put up 52 points in 64 games! The season after he put up 57 points and then it all went downhill from there. He put up some decent numbers during his time with the Habs but he never came close to the hype placed on his shoulder and never unlocked the potential he had.



Mail Day #10: Amazing Patch!

I picked up these two Brathwaite cards off ebay. In the bidding stages for the patch card I was worried I was going to lose out to a set builder. I don't like to blow too much money on cards but I knew this was a card I had to have for my PC. I'm not sure if I'll ever see a patch this nice again. I'm glad I won it and for a great price! It's nice to have it in hand and bring it home. It's a card that I'll know I'll always enjoy and will have in my PC forever! I still can't get over the patch and that it's an actual piece of the Flames logo!

Mail Day #9: Baseball Pick Up

It's been a while since I've picked up any baseball cards, so when I saw this card for just a few dollars with shipping I went for it. I got it off another site, other then ebay. I find a lot of the US sellers do not like shipping to Canada and if they will, they charge way too much.

I really like the look of this set and being a Jays fan I really wanted the card. I was thinking about going after the set but quickly changed my mind when I realised it was pieces from the "workout" jersey. Not to mention the high shipping prices I would have to pay to obtain the cards.

Mail Day #8: Goalie PC

I had a really good mail day today. I picked up two nice cards for my Ron Tugnutt PC through trade and a card for my Color Guard set from Ebay.

I already thought this card had came and that it was lost in my house. I was thankful when it arrived in the mail today!

I love the look of this set, although I wished that the jersey swatch would match the jersey Tugnutt is wearing in the card. This is a patch variation 8/254.

I really like the ITG BAP All-Star jersey cards. I've been looking for this Tugnutt for a long time and I finally landed it! It's instantly one of my favourite Tugnutt cards.

Failed Trading Card Ideas Part 2

2) Cards in a Can or Tin

Pinnacle was trying all sorts of crazy ideas in 1997-98 and they decided to market a product: Pinnacle Inside that featured cards in a can.

The card series was actually well designed and creative. The idea of cards in a can though, just did not fly! The first problem was that most people like to bust their packs right away. With the can, you had to use a can opener to open your pack.

The tins came in two variations: the common silver tin and the rare gold tin. I personally never saw one of these gold tins. As a kid I managed to get one can. It was on the way home from church on Christmas Eve in 1997 and we stopped at a convenience store to buy milk. They had the cans and my Mom saw me eyeing them and said I could have one. This was great because the $5 price was a full week's allowance at the time!

About six years ago a local dollar store got these cans in a busted about 4 or 6 cans. While I liked the cards, I did not like having to open each can. It's a burden if you don't have an electric can opener.

The Pinnacle Inside series had an insert set called "Stoppers" and featured the best goalies of the NHL on 3D disks. I always thought this was pretty cool. I also really like the "coaches collection" cards that were a foil version of the regular base card.

It's a shame that this series was produced in the can as it gets no love due to this. Pinnacle understood the challenge of opening a can and swtiched to a tin for 97-98 Pinnacle Epic.


1997-98 Pinnacle Epic

 Donruss also produced a really nice set in 1997-98: Donruss Preferred and sealed their cards in tins. I remember the set being extremely popular when it came out, although it did not return for a second year.

The idea or producing cards in can or tin did not last long. I see a trend forming here and it seems that collectors really enjoy the standard size card in a standard wrapper.