Two and Two

In my previous post I mentioned receiving an eBay purchase - but I didn't include those cards.

The post before that I mentioned buying myself two Starting Lineup figures for Christmas - so that my daughters could wrap them and leave them under our tree. I didn't show those off, either.

Perhaps I should rectify these two omissions before my Cardbarrel order arrives. [edit: too late]

Let's start with the two card PWE from eBay. While searching for some card supplies I stumbled upon a seller who was offering two hockey cards I needed - for two dollars each.

This special Wayne Gretzky SP is card #512, technically part of the 1993-94 Pinnacle set:

I did not know this existed until I joined TCDB a few years ago and began cataloging my collection. It irked me that this "chase card" counted toward completion, especially since COMC sellers were asking $20 and up for this Gretzky card. Two bucks to call this 30 year old set complete? Deal!

802 goals? Pfft. Alex Ovechkin has more than that.

But that wasn't the only bargain I snagged from this seller. Twenty years ago Topps released its final hockey card set, and one of the inserts from that flagship release featured eleven Cards That Never Were -- or as Topps called them, "Lost Rookie Cards":

This implies that the featured players never got a proper rookie card the season after making their NHL debut. While Jeremy Roenick does fit this criteria -- he played 20 games during the 1988-89 season and this is the 1989-90 design -- some players in the set do not. Ron Francis, Mario Lemieux, and Joe Sakic are among the players who did have a proper rookie card after their rookie season. These cards ain't lost.

The J.R. I received in the eBay PWE has scratches up and down the front, which is disappointing for sure. But I can't be too mad; COMC sellers ask at least $6-10 for this one. Now all I need is the Brett Hull. Hopefully I'll find that one for $2 or so because I'm not paying $10-15 to finish an 11-card insert set.


Now for the SLUs. I got a nice head start on building a basketball collection when Jon sent me some loose Legends. Lots of centers on my shelf, not enough guards. But which 1980s/'90s era stars can I afford to add?

Michael Jordan? Nope. Despite the overabundance of his piece, there are more than enough MJ collectors to drive up the price (an issue I'll encounter soon re:1988-89 Fleer.)

Reggie Miller? That would be my first choice, but um... it's incredibly expensive. Small market regional releases of players who weren't included in the "all star assortment" are waaaay out of my budget.

I almost bought a Magic Johnson, but then I noticed the figure didn't lay flat and retracted my offer. However, they had another piece that looked much sharper:

This Clyde Drexler fit my budget ($7.00 + shipping) and makes my inner child happy because it's an out-of-market "unpopular" team. Also, it's from the very limited 1990 set. Not limited in the production run neccesarily (although I never saw any of these around) but in the checklist -- just 17 subjects:

My camera is crud so here's the complete list: Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Charles Barkley, Dominique Wilkins, Spud Webb. Drexler, Chris Mullin, John Stockton, Karl Malone, David Robinson, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Byron Scott, and Tom Chambers. That's it.

 

I'm not opening the "Glide" yet but if I do, it will add a much needed non-center to my SLU shelf -- and two new cards to my basketball card box.

The second SLU I got myself for Christmas was a bit more expensive. Probably not opening this, either:

Dan Marino was one of the two dozen NFL stars I had in my collection as a kid - mostly quarterbacks, but a few running backs, receivers, and linebackers when I could find them. I've never had a sealed Marino figure as an adult and settled on the 1989 piece rather than replace the long-lost '88 or '90 figures I once had.


This one cost three times more than the Drexler and it's bent at the bottom, but I'm happy with it.

None of my NFL figures are open. I'm not sure if I'll buy a loose lot this year or continue hoarding sealed pieces. For now I need to buy a paper background for these figures (and maybe a better camera.)

This was kind of a sneaky "SLU Showcase" post; I'll be back to baseball cards this weekend.



Thanks for reading!




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