- Still have a handful of pre 97-98 cards from my last Sportlots purchase to show. This one only set me back a quarter.
- Very early photo of Joe as anyone who collects Sakic would know. The 'A' on his chest is a dead giveaway.
- Different: The three colored stripes on the bottom of the sticker front. Not something that I can ever remember seeing on any kind of card release...
- Robert
- 3 home runs and 2 walks today. Diving catch in the outfield late in the game after it was out of reach. I love watching this man play. I hope he's in a Pirate uniform in 2018.
- The more he plays games like today, the more it just makes me want to add more of his cards to my PC of him. Quickly.
- Not a bad shot of Andrew on the card, looks like he's popped one up on the infield by the expression on his face.
- Career home run #69 was hit off of San Francisco's George Kontos, 7/8/2012. It was a 2 run shot that put the game further out of reach, as the Pirates won 13-2
- Robert
- Part of a recent Sportlots order of 20 Sakic cards from one of my favorite sellers on the site, cttcdork, whom I've ordered from a total of 13 times.
- I'm trying to get as many cards/stickers of Sakic from his early days with the Nordiques. The list from before the 93-94 season is starting to shrink. The Panini stickers are something that I haven't chased much until recently. I regret that now...
- Items such as this I have no problem paying a premium for, even on Sportlots. This was still cheap in my opinion at 50 cents.
- Robert
- Had to check to see how much I paid for this card, because I couldn't remember. I actually bought it on eBay back in 2015 for $4, and it was in February, 2015 which isn't long after series 1 came out, so I think at the time I got a good deal.
- This is serial #'d 28/64. There are currently no copies of this card on COMC. I have also added it to the Trading Card Database as well.
- I would add career home run #72 in this spot, if it had been hit. Brett's career is currently stalled at 71 homers. I'm still hoping that he can latch on somewhere and get another shot.
- Robert
- It didn't show up very well on the scan at all, but this is the rainbow foil version of the base card.
- I thought that I had purchased this card from COMC, but it turns out that isn't the case. I had to check and see how much they were on the site, and was surprised to see just 2 copies, one listed at $1 and the other at $1.75. Maybe a little high...
- This has been added to the Trading Card Database. I was kind of surprised it wasn't there. The submission will put me alone into 2nd place among contributors for Brett Lawrie on the site; this will be the 21st card I've added.
- Robert
- Today's 3 cards feature variations on the 2015 Topps flagship card of Brett. I am also on the last page of his cards to be scanned and shown on the blog.
- I believe that I also have a jersey card or two of Brett that I have to dig up and show on the blog. Final total should reach just about 80 cards.
- Career home run #70 was hit as a member of the White Sox, 6/26/16 against Ricky Nolasco of the Twins. It would tie the game at 1 in the 2nd inning and start the Sox on their way to a 9-5 win.
- Robert
- What a fantastic shot of Thome just as he's about to make contact with the baseball. Or is it right after he's made contact?
- Hunted high and low for the card number on the back, thinking that the 25 in the upper left corner represented his jersey number. This is the 5th card so far on the blog that has had the card number match his jersey.
- I know nothing of this set when it released, but the 5 singles of this card on COMC range from 60 cents to $1.24. Just from the look of the card, that seems to be about right.
- Robert
- When I pulled this card out of the binder I first thought that it was the base card. Then I looked at the rest of the page and saw the 3 versions that I have of the base. So I had to turn this card over to figure out that it was part of the Canadian Greats insert set. Pacific disguised this card very well.
- I've been quite surprised at how many older Sakic cards I've been able to scan in to the Trading Card Database. This card was another one that I was able to add.
- This card is not one that I'm overly thrilled with design wise. Not sure what the thought process was behind the multiple Avalanche logos. If the card celebrates Canadian Greats, why not have multiple red Maple Leafs on the card?
- Robert
- I like the gold on this card. The varying shades and tones of gold weren't done any justice on the scan. It looks, and shines much better in hand.
- I've said it before on this blog, but the eye black that Jim wears really enhances his cards for me. It's the old fashioned grease stick rather than the new stickers that players wear. No worries about getting dirty when Jim goes to work.
- This card represents post #600 on this blog. This is also post #33 for July '17, and I'm pretty sure I'll hit 40 posts this month. I love the quick posts on my PC cards, and I think this blog has helped keep my interest in building them up.
- Robert
- The orange streaks show a lot better on the scan than they do in hand. The spaces in between the light bursts are just that, spaces. Makes the card a bit lighter...
- Added this card to the Trading Card Database today. Doing my part to help Sakic collectors everywhere.
- I've started picking up some more Sakic's for my collection. I'm starting to run out of regular base cards to buy and am more into the higher end base cards as well as the cheaper inserts/parallels. Things are about to get a bit more expensive, but I'm enjoying the hunt and I hope to eventually hit 1000 Sakic cards for my PC someday.
- Robert
- Longest. Post title. Ever.
- I've added this card to the Trading Card Database. The site is under 60,000 cards that need to be added to reach 2 million. One more card and I will have the site's 8th highest total of Sakic cards added.
- Didn't find this card until today; I was looking for this last week to post when I posted the other Black Diamond cards, but couldn't figure out where I hid this on myself.
- I searched for a reasonably priced copy of this card for a long time. Every copy I saw was priced at $30 or more, which was way beyond what I wanted to pay. I finally found this for $12 at the Hockey Expo in Toronto several years ago.
- Robert
- I've seen a few cards of Cutch without his armband on the right arm. Love the detail by the artist ensuring that the armband was on this portrait.
- The bio on the back mentions Andrew's gold glove, silver slugger awards and MVP award, but the quote goes into detail about the Roberto Clemente award that he won in 2015. Andrew really is the face of the franchise in Pittsburgh, both on the field and in the community, and it would be a big mistake to trade him.
- Career home run #68 for Andrew was hit 7/8/2012 off of San Francisco's Tim Lincecum. It was a 2 run shot that broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the 1st. The Pirates would score a run in 7 of the 8 innings that they batted, and routed the Giants 13-2.
- Robert
- The right side of the card reminds me of the old analog TV's when the signal wasn't quite perfect and you had lines running through people's faces.
- Chief Wahoo's teeth scanned dark again. I'd love to say something, but I just can't bring myself to do it...
- Bio on the back: "Thome was at it again in 1999, hitting four home runs in his five postseason games. He now counts 16 bombs--2 of them grand slams--among his 40 career playoff hits." 40% of his hits were HR's? Had to find out what his career total was. 17 HR's out of 49 career playoff hits is just under 35%. Wonder if there's anyone with a better ratio in MLB history?
- Robert
- Love this design. Nothing flashy, solid photography as always by Upper Deck. Horizontal layout I believe helps the card.
- Seeing the "Sakic enjoys a record night against the Oilers" on the front made the stat geek in me look up that night. 6 points, 1 goal and 5 assists with a +4 rating. The only Avs goal that Joe wasn't a part of that night was the final one as the Oilers were blown out 7-2 in the old McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.
- Saw the numbers "950" on the boards in the background, figured it was an AM radio station. Sure enough it's KKSE, Altitude Sports Radio in Denver. With the way that radio stations change formats, it's pretty cool to see that the same radio station is still broadcasting Avalanche games 20 years later.
- Robert
- Making a list, and checking it twice: Realized today that the last time I posted 2 versions of the same card for Felix on the same day, I posted different card #'s. Editing issues for sure!
- I'd forgotten how much easier it was to pull an Electric Ice card in 95-96. 1 in every retail pack, 2 in jumbo packs. COMC has a copy of this card at $1.75, not bad. The tougher to pull 94-95 EI card of Felix is listed at over $6. Typical goalie premium.
- I'll have to pay close attention during next years junior tournament. Wonder if the IIHF allows logos on player's equipment now compared to 25 years ago. I'm sure that sponsorship makes the IIHF a lot of money during these tournaments now.
- Robert
- This is actually a reprint of Felix's rookie card, released 5 years earlier. UD released as part of Series 1 in 95-96 a group of players who had cards in the company's original hockey release 5 years earlier.
- 3 of the 4 top RC's from 95-96 UD ($ wise) are French goalies. Jose Theodore, Mathieu Garon and Marc Denis were all part of the big wave of players that came in on the heels of Potvin, all inspired by Montreal's Patrick Roy.
- 95-96 UD was an interesting set, it was a total of 570 cards released in 2 series. Instead of evening out the series in 285 cards apiece, UD had 270 cards in series 1 and 300 in series 2. I wonder what the rationale was behind that, as 2nd series releases are usually less than or equal to the first in size, not bigger.
- Robert
- Have a couple horizontal cards in a row of Joe to show. Somewhere in my house I have a bronze coin from one of the Mint sets featuring Sakic. Where it is, I don't know at the moment.
- If it weren't for the Avalanche jersey, I would have believed that this was a photo from very early in Joe's career. Must have had a good close shave just before game time that day.
- Priced on COMC anywhere from 65 cents to $1.75, this is no longer found in Beckett's monthly magazine. I would say that $1.75 might be a bit pricey for this card, but anywhere from 65 cents to a buck would be about right.
- Robert
- Just looking at the tattoo on the right arm, just above the elbow. Almost looks like a sleeve, doesn't it? Maybe it is a sleeve for all I know...
- Maybe this is also me, but is the "glow" behind Brett's head a lot less than in previous Ginter releases? I think that the older A&G cards have more of a background behind the player. Not that it matters, just saying.
- This is the last of the Blue Jay cards featuring Brett Lawrie that I own. I have a page worth of A's cards for Brett, then that will be it, unless some other cards come in the meantime. [EDIT: there's actually half a page of A's mixed with a half page of Jays cards to come]
- Robert
- Yes, these 3D motion cards are great in hand, it's always fun watching Joe beat the Rangers goalie 1 on 1. No, the scans on these cards are usually not good, as you can see here.
- I wouldn't want to get hit with this card if someone decided to fling it at me. It's thick and very solid; what did Mom say "someone could lose an eye!"
- Speaking of scoring against the Rangers, Joe had better than a point a game during his career against the Broadway Blueshirts, totaling 41 points over 37 career games.
- Robert
- For me, this card proves that it doesn't have to be costly or memorabilia/autograph related in order to be great. I love the expression on Andrew's face.
- I am very curious to see the reaction of the fans once Starling Marte comes back within the next week or so. I'm also curious to see if the Pirates will take a bit of a leap forward when their #4 hitter comes back into the lineup.
- Interesting price range for this card on COMC. 45 cents is the cheapest, while $1.50 is the most expensive. My guess is the low end is about right for this card.
- Robert
- Something good just happened. Haven't seen any celebration photos on Thome cards until now. Can't say for sure but I'd take a guess that it was from the '99 post season.
- Bio on the back: "...Thome now ranks 7th in club history with 196 home runs." Thome would finish with 337 HRs as an Indian, tops all time, 95 ahead of 2nd place Albert Belle. Thome is also first in Indians history with 14.0 AB/HR
- Career homer #214 was hit off of Detroit's Willie Blair, 6/18/2000. It was a solo shot in the 6th to get the Indians on the board. The Indians would score 3 in the 7th and 5 in the 8th to run away to a 9-4 win.
- Robert
- Usually with similar cards I like to show them at once, kind of get them out of the way. I showed the other 3 Thome cards that look similar to this back on the 4th. Not sure why I did that.
- Check out Chief Wahoo, his teeth look like Heath Ledger in the Patriot after his girlfriend made him drink tea spiked with ink. Funny how the Chrome flaws are a lot more evident on a scan.
- Career home run #213 was hit 6/14/2000 off White Sox starter Kip Wells. It was a solo shot in the first inning to narrow the Sox margin to 5-4. The Sox would score 5 more runs in the 2nd inning and go on to win 11-4.
- Robert
- Love the ad for ticket packages in the background; I recognize that writing from the Skydome, I've been seeing that for years.
- Interesting that you can't see the "Blue Jays" on the front behind his glove arm. Airbrush the logos out and you have a pretty decent Panini card, no?
- Bio on the back: "Lawrie was Toronto's player of the month for August of 2013. He batted .346 with an OPS of .892 while tying for fifth in the American League with 37 hits." The AL Player of the month of August 2013 was Miguel Cabrera, who hit .356 with 11 HR and 31 RBI's.
- Robert
- For me, Diamond Kings will never get old. Cards like this have always been enjoyed. It's a shame about the licensing...
- Bio on the back: "...I always have that mentality of feeling like I can do better." The last 40 games of this season are testament to that. Hitting .403 with 11 HR and 30 RBI with 35 runs and 26 walks. Carry this over a full season he would have 232 hits with 44 HR and 120 RBI.
- I think there's 12 variations of this card. Wow. I'd love to know if even the most ardent Cutch collector has them all...
- Robert
- I'm glad that Upper Deck chose to use a different photo of Sakic for the Premium Cut inserts. Using the original photo would have been too tedious.
- The Premium Cut cards aren't even listed in the Beckett magazine anymore. All that is listed is the base set; the double, triple and quadruple multipliers are also not listed.
- Surprisingly the prices on COMC for this card are cheaper than I thought. One copy listed as low as 94 cents, while the high end is $2.75.
- I still need the double and triple diamond versions of this card. I managed to snag a reasonably priced copy of the quad diamond a few years back.
- Robert
- Surprisingly, both the refractor and pink refractor versions of this card weren't added to the Trading Card Database. I took care of both of those today. The site is just under 78,000 scans below 2 million.
- I like the pink refractor. The color is not overpowering, but there's enough of it there to let you know of the difference.
- The big killer for player collectors is the number of different types of refractors from this set. I count 11 of them, just for the base. More than a page worth is a bit of overkill.
- Robert
- In hand, you get the shiny. On the scan, not so much. Past releases for Topps Chrome the scans on refractor cards came out much better than this one did. Not sure why...
- Bio on the back: "He was the first Pirates player since Roberto Clemente from 1960-67 to be invited to the MLB All-Star Game five straight times." Andrew is the face of the Pirates, no doubt about it. Trading him would be a mistake in my opinion.
- Career home run #64 was hit 6/23/2012 off of Detroit's Max Scherzer. It was a 3 run shot that broke a scoreless tie in the 4th. The Pirates would go on to win 4-1 behind Brad Lincoln's 6 innings of 2 hit pitching.
- Robert
- On the third post of the day, I had to figure out who the Calgary player was trying to check Joe. It turns out that the Flame is Todd Simpson, who played 580 games over 10 season for 7 different clubs. You could have some fun watching Simpson fights on you tube. I found one here for your entertainment.
- Triple diamond, gold color with the three diamonds on the lower right. Tough to pull, I remember having to pay about $4 to add this to my collection.
- Joe's 215th career goal was his last of the shortened 94-95 season, as he and the Nordiques beat the Whalers 4-1 to end the season 30-13-5.
- Robert
- I was shocked to find that this was not added to the trading card database. That problem has been taken care of.
- I haven't followed Black Diamond much in recent years, but I liked back then how they made the parallels a different color. Also, they added a 2nd diamond in the lower right hand corner of the card. Made it real easy to tell the difference.
- Career goal #214 came 4/30/1994 on the road in New Jersey. It was too little too late, as Jersey had already staked themselves to a 4-0 lead and wound up winning 4-2.
- Robert
- Will do a few posts for Joe Sakic today as it is his 48th birthday. Happy Birthday Joe!!
- This was one of the few higher end products that I bought a lot of back in the day. I really enjoyed chasing the Black Diamond parallels, which you'll see more of later.
- Career goal #213 came against the New York Islanders, 4/18/95. It was a shorthanded goal, but not enough as the Nordiques fell 5-2 in Long Island.
- Robert
- Love this insert. Simple photo, has the name of the insert in the background, has the year of the card in the upper right corner, and a nice bio on the back.
- Speaking of bio on the back: "Potvin avoided a sophomore slump in 1993-94, building on a rookie campaign that saw him pace the league in Goals Against Average (2.50)" Now just imagine in today's NHL, a GAA of 2.50 would be considered middle of the pack and more than half a goal a game worse than the elite. The game has changed over the past two decades for sure.
- Career win #18 for Felix came on March 6th, 1993 versus the Winnipeg Jets. Felix would stop 24 shots in a 4-2 at home for the Leafs, with Dave Andreychuk (now in the HHOF, congrats Dave!) scoring his 41st goal of the season to ice the win.
- Robert
- Caption: "Only you can prevent sports card fires!"
- For a lower price point release, Opening Day usually does a decent job with their inserts. I would put the fired up cards into that category...
- Getting close: I only have another page and a half of Lawrie cards to post, then my online checklist will be complete. I still have quite a long way to go to finish off Sakic and Thome, while McCutchen and Potvin still have a few dozen posts before they are complete.
- Robert
- The only difference I see from the base card and this: "limited edition" on the front. Parallel I guess? I'm not aware if these were sold in separate packs from the base set.
- I actually have a 4th card featuring the same photo as the 3 I've posted today. I'll save the Topps Chrome for the next day of Thome posts.
- Currently, the prices for 2000 Topps cards of Jim are backwards (in my opinion) on COMC. the Limited Edition, which you would think would cost more, is currently listed for as low as 74 cents. The base card? $2.75!
- Robert
- A couple of differences between the Opening Day card and the base Topps that I posted this morning: The dashes and the lettering are in silver instead of gold. Also, the very large and bulky 2000 Opening Day logo.
- Bio on the back: " during a visit to see the NFL's Cleveland Browns practice last summer, Jim gave linebacking great Chris Spielman one of his jerseys. Soon after, injuries forced Spielman to retire, whereupon he immediately mailed one of his #54's to Thome." I love how athletes in the same city often get together and do things like this, and support one another.
- Career home run #211 was hit 6/2/2000 off of the late Darryl Kile of the St. Louis Cardinals. It would be the only run that the Indians would get in a 5-1 loss. Kile pitched 8 innings of 3 hit ball and struck out 9 for his 8th win of the season.
- Robert
- Happy 4th of July to everyone!! Have fun today, but please stay safe while doing so.
- Amazing what a scan does to a card. The area below the Indians logo is actually red on the card, but the scan turns it to orange.
- I don't know if it's just me, but is that an older couple sitting/standing in the dugout behind Jim? They have great seats if they are in the dugout...
- Robert
- Looks like someone's tall cold one on the glass there could be in peril with one good bodycheck. Alcohol abuse is what I'd call it.
- #48 in the background? None other than Scott Young, who spent 5 years with Quebec/Colorado. Just a guess, but I believe that the Avs were playing in Buffalo that night, only because I'm pretty sure that is a Tops supermarket ad on the boards (Tops never stops saving you more).
- There are 3 different parallels of this card, Dominion Series (#'d to 150), Provincial Series (#'d to 750) and the Provincial Series Players Club. I don't have any of them as of yet.
- Robert
- One word for the scan result: Fabulous! I've scanned a few of these over the years, but never had one turn out quite as well when scanned as this one did.
- Bought this for just 55 cents off of COMC. I had some good luck with Lawrie cards at the beginning of 2016 on the site...
- I'm at the point in a couple of my player collections where I have one card with several versions that I need to post. So you may see more multiple card days on this blog in the not too distant future.
- Robert
- The color unfortunately didn't come out as well as I would have liked. The blue border looks really good in hand.
- Remember buying this off of COMC because the serial number was so low (# 3/199). I thought that 85 cents was a fair enough deal as well.
- Added this card to the Trading Card Database as well. As of this writing, the site was less than 85,000 images away from hitting the 2 million mark. Still trying to do my part...
- Robert
- Didn't even know this was the refractor version until I looked at the back of the card. Just another reason that I need to pay closer attention to the cards I buy/own.
- Added this card to the TDCB today. This is the 15th card of Brett that I have added, tying for 6th among all collectors that have submitted images. The next two cards that I'll show will vault me into 5th spot.
- A bit of a different photo of Brett throwing the ball, he's a bit off balance. Still like how Topps managed to capture the ball at the top of the frame.
- Robert
- I can still remember when the Pirates called him up in 2009. June 4, 2009 against the Mets, Cutch starts his career 2 for 4 with a walk and a RBI in a 11-6 win. That same day, Randy Johnson became the 24th pitcher to win 300 games.
- His first month would see him hit 4 doubles and 5 triples (!), 1 homer and drive in 18 runs.
- I love this card, and I enjoyed collecting the starting points set. There were some great pictures of players in their first season, and looking at the backs I learned a lot about some of the players. The best part was, it was affordable to finish!!
- Robert
- Andrew just does not look happy on this card. It's definitely in the minority, as most of Andrew's cards show him with his trademark smile.
- Congrats to Andrew and his wife, they announced to the public yesterday that they are expecting their first child in December.
- Player of the month for June? Andrew hit .411, OPS of 1.193 with 6 HR and 23 RBI. Andrew also had 13 multi hit games. He certainly has a chance...
- Robert
