All hockey all...well, today at least

Highlights:

Any day I can get to highlight Toronto and insert content is a win by itself. The O Pee Chee inserts were coming quickly when the Santa Lot was first picked into, but I did trade some of them away to Trevor  for a bunch of goodies. I don't think he has much need for many more as he was moving along nicely on his 2008-09 O Pee Chee master set.

The rest
Keepers:

I still like the 2008-09 design so much better than the follow up 2009-10 design. The brown at least stand out much more versus the grey.

Traders:


Plenty of dupes unfortunately, but when it is 20 cards and they are all from a sport I collect, I take it. When there has been so much unwanted football and basketball cards have been the standard, this is a nice change.

Through 12840 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 4 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- Complete 2007-08 Topps Basketball Base Set

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 5) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie) (x 2)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	209	27
Inserts / Var Kept	388	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2515	368
Doubles/Sell	2361	280	2298	3300	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	190	5	233	222

Heroes or Prospects

Highlights:

I think this is the most of the Heroes and Prospects set I've seen in one go through the Santa Lot breakout. Not sure I will hold on to these for too long, but for now, they are keepers (I think one of the next things I may do is whittle down the collection goals and keepers, but another day...).

Lowlight:

Hopefully this is the last lowlight of the Lot, and the typical gum stain issue, but atleast not a card I needed anyway.

The rest
Keepers:

Have to love a checklist, that not only is in the base set, but is part of the legends and rookies subset section, so is short printed like the rest of the cards in the subset (at least, I expect it is short printed like the rest). Not sure on a set like this where it is short prints, how much shorter it really is. They might as well serial number the cards or something obvious, but that would be too easy.

Traders:


Through 12820 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 4 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- Complete 2007-08 Topps Basketball Base Set

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 5) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie) (x 2)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	208	27
Inserts / Var Kept	386	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2512	368
Doubles/Sell	2347	280	2298	3300	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	190	5	233	222

Dollarama Repack - Part 2 Deja Vu

Let's get right to it and see which was better, the half yesterday or today...

Blue Jays

You can guess which one of the three is new to me. Still, awesome getting three more Jays today - well above average. As for Thigpen, he played about 50 games for Toronto over 2007 and 2008, and that was his extent in the majors - his entire career in a Jays uniform.

Inserts / Parallel Keepers

A bit of a cheat since technically the Thigpen card above is also an insert, but just the one additionally one to highlight here. The World Baseball Classic was not something that I really got into following or watching too closely - MLB is enough for me to follow.

Keepers



Awesome to get a 1981 Rickey Henderson card noting his 100 stolen bases in 1980, and nice getting a couple more very early 80s cards.

The other awesome card here has to be the Fleer Greats Robin Yount. This is one of those sets I have seen a few cards of, and it makes me want to see more....nice old school look, great card stock feel, and unique in all the right ways for design.

Traders



The down side of these repacks is sometimes the high repetitiveness. Well, at least it's a late 70s Topps card this time. Ray Lankford is another one as I have seen him almost as much as Cliff Floyd! Quintana was also in the first half yesterday...I hope this isn't a trend on the other packages I have.

Get Rid Ofs

Yeah - unfortunately, every now and then, there is a card of very poor quality that comes out of these repacks. One look at the back of the card and you can see the gum damage, and if you look closely on the front, you can see the big welt around where the gum was. Won't be keeping or giving this one away...

Dollarama Repack - First 40 find some vintage

Been long enough since the last one of these, so I figured this weekend is as good enough as any to break into one.

Having opened a few of these, there is some standard stuff we see - usually a couple older cards - pre-1985, a few inserts, a couple Blue Jays cards, and for me right now with how my junk wax era sets are filling in, about 50/50 on total cards being needed versus those that are duplicates. With that baseline in mind, let's have a look at what we have in the first half of the pack today.

Blue Jays content:

So averaging out, only expect one Jay for every 40 cards or so, so this keeps us ahead of the curve. The best part is the sweet 2008 Documentary card as I don't have many of those at all. I dislike the reuse of photos, but understand that it may be difficult to use a picture from each actual game. A unique set in context, and nice to have game 81 documents (at which point the Jays were a woeful 38-43 - not too far below .500, but last in the division.

Insert Content:

Hard to even consider these inserts as most Bowman products are so heavy on these things, but it is what it is. Two is about par for a half, so number is fine, but I'd take so many more things above Bowman prospects.

Keepers:


I'd say one or two cards from the pre-1985 year for a half pack is ahead of the curve, so getting four cards, including two from 1978 is way better than I would expect. The only down side - the Mike Schmidt card has two small noticeable nicks in the back of the card, still, can't complain.

Traders:



A bit high on the number of traders for my liking, but a bit of that is bad luck as a lot of 1988 Topps is still stuff I need, just not these ones. Even the Slaten (yeah, I guess I really had three inserts, but doesn't really count if I can;t keep it) is a dupe which is shocking for how few such Bowman cards I have.

Overall - the 2008 Documentary card wins this, but also good marks for the Eckersley Gallery card circa 1996, and if I were to pick a third best card of the bunch...the Billy Hunter for concept and layout of the front would be next.

Second half tomorrow!

Tossed a new Toskala

Highlights:

Can't complain about getting a couple Leafs in one go. The Toskala is new, and more 2008-09 keepers are still a good thing.

The rest
Keepers:

Which is why these are also a nice add!

Traders:


Well, not going to quite make it, but another 2004-05 Ultra knocked off the need list and some more McDs in case anyone is interested in those either, just let me know.

Just a quick go through today then I guess!

Through 12800 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 4 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- Complete 2007-08 Topps Basketball Base Set

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 5) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie) (x 2)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	208	27
Inserts / Var Kept	386	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2502	368
Doubles/Sell	2340	280	2295	3300	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	190	5	233	222

Still being a player

Highlight:

This set has really grown on me over the last couple years. Not sure what exactly, but with about 25% of the set (closer to 40% if you don't include all the short print rookie cards in the base set).  The only big complaint I have is, typical of many cards these days, the stats are only up to 5 years instead of all years like what O Pee Chee at least works to continue to do in those sets.

The rest
Keepers:

Speaking of which....that was good timing.

Traders:


So, all that waiting, and with these cards, I am actually only a handful of rookie cards at the end of the 135 card base set 2007-08 Topps Basketball, of having a second full complete base set. Well, that was quick...

Through 12780 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 4 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- Complete 2007-08 Topps Basketball Base Set

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 5) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie) (x 2)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	206	27
Inserts / Var Kept	386	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2499	368
Doubles/Sell	2336	280	2288	3300	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	186	5	233	222

Little seen SPx

Highlight:

As the Santa Lot winds down, wanted to at least highlight one more non-keep set. Have not seen many of these 2000-01 SPx cards, and the design is pretty nice. The foil on the front is a bit tough to see, but it reminds me of Electric Ice parallels.

The rest
Keepers:

Still able to add a number of 2005-06 Upper Deck base cards to the set which continues to grow. I definitely have a few ideas for when the Santa Lot is done. Not sure which I am going to tackle first, be it just working on getting rid of dupes more, reduce what I am ekkping and try to focus on sets I want to finish, or forget the sets and just work on the collections themselves...so much to think about, but I know I need to focus. Ah well, will think on that and share another day.

That was a bit of a tangent.

Traders:



Through 12760 cards:

Specific Accomplishments:

- Complete 2003-04 SP Authentic Basketball (90 card pure base)

- Complete 2005 Upper Deck Classics (100 card pure base)

- 4 Complete 2007-08 UD McDonald's Hockey Checklist Subsets (6 cards)

- 1973-74 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #30 Bobby Orr (All-Star)

- 2004-05 Upper Deck Legends Classics Platinum #64 Marcel Dionne Platinum 06/10

- Complete 2007-08 Topps Basketball Base Set

- 2007-08 Topps Base (x 5) and 1957-58 Variations Basketball  #112 Kevin Durant (Rookie) (x 2)

- 2009-10 Topps #321 Stephen Curry (Rookie)

	Hockey	Baseball	Basketball	Football	Austin Powers	Other
Toronto	206	27
Inserts / Var Kept	386	65
Error	19	3
Keep	2495	368
Doubles/Sell	2333	280	2277	3298	312	45
Doubles Inserts / Var	186	5	233	222