It is Just Another Mailday Monday

It’s Monday so it must be time to post some mail. Lot’s of yellow packages showed up last week so despite not having a job and crappy weather which played havoc with my allergies it was still a good week.

We start off with a couple of purchases.




Vincent Lecavalier Ice Medallion. It’s such a nice shade of blue, and it’s serial numbered. I’m a sucker for cards with stamped numbers on them.



Vincent Lecavalier OPC Blue Parallel. Again blue and serial numbered.




Carl Crawford Topps Co-Signer. It’s serial numbered, but not as blue. It is, however, quite shiny. So very shiny.

Now onto some trades




Cards on Cards was so good to remind me of those great days when Sammy Sosa donned the orange and white. Today the word “great” means horrible. Yes that is a fancy Joel Skinner 1990 Donruss. Thanks to CoC and Captain Canuck my long, national nightmare is over. I have completed the set. Team collectors live in fear, ‘cause I still have a bunch of doubles to send to you!





Condition Poor sent a ton of cards, due to laziness I’m only posting three. Two new Crawfords for the collection and a 1991 Fleer Ultra Leo Gomez. Leo was almost the selection for my new player collection. Back in my younger and much more athletic days I wore number 10 and sported glasses on the field for a few weeks before I got contacts. That happened to coincide with Leo’s brief run as the O’s third-baseman so my teammates dubbed me Leo.

Thanks for the cards guys. Thank you to Capt. Canuck over at Waxaholic as well. He sent over some Donruss and Upper Deck Hockey that I integrated into my sets before I could scan them.

No game used merchandise this week, but that’s ok. I added to my player collections, knocked off one set and almost knocked out two others.

I’m heading down to Sarasota tomorrow for some Rays vs. O’s action (weather permitting). Hopefully, I’ll have some photos posted in the next day or so.

Mail Day Warning! Cards from Canada!

Today has been a bit gloomy in the TBA what with the weather and the latest ownership debacle surrounding the Hockey club de Tampa Bay. So it was quite nice to see a package in the mail that I knew contained cards. Even better it had a post mark from up north, waaaaay up north.

The Captain has come through with my favorite cards of the year so far. Not because they have patches of shirts or slivers of wood, but because they are all but inaccessible for hockey fans in the south.

We may have sunshine (most of the time) and beaches (look out for the sharks!), but one thing we don’t have – hockey cards at McDonalds! I love McDonalds, I love the convenience, the price, and the French Fries. I love the sheer Americaness of it as well. For $5.00 one can walk in there and get a meal loaded with more calories then the rest of the world sees in a day.

Too much is never enough for this country and that is never better reflected than in McDonalds.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, cards from Captain. You see, up there in Canada Upper Deck and McDonalds team together to sell a set of cards. I don’t think they’re worth a lot of money – most of the cards I’ve looked at on eBay seem to go for about $.99, but good lord are they shiny.

I had mentioned a few months ago that we don’t have the pleasure of acquiring the cards first hand down here in Florida, despite being a town with a major league hockey team so Captain Canuck gracefully declared that he would send some Vinny’s down when they were available.

True to his word – they showed up this week. He even threw in some older versions as well.



The 2009-10 version. This is least Vinny-looking card I’ve ever seen. He has a bit of a distinctive visage and for some reason I don’t see it here. Is Upper Deck selling a card with an imposter on it? Probably not….



The 2006-07 version. He is called an “emerging superstar” by Upper Deck. Or if you prefer the French a “supervedette en devenir”. The information on the back of the card is in French and English, so us poor mono-lingual Americans can actually learn something!




The 2005-06 version. The back mentions his 16 points in 23 playoff games during the Stanley Cup run. Man, those were fond memories.


As anyone who has traded with the captain knows, it’s not a trade unless there is a pack of unopened cards included. My pack this time – 1991-92 Score. Purple borders! The best card out of the bunch:



Patrick Roy Dream Team. Look at that smug look on his face, you would think he was good or something!

Thanks to the Captain and much condolences to Calgary’s loss….not Phaneuf, but
Cuthbert of course!

Grumble, grrrr, SERENITY NOW!!!! There will be peace in little yellow envelopes

I’m going to spare you another hockey column, especially since the Lightning just managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Who gives up goals with less than a second to go? The Lightning. Who can’t score in a shoot-out? The Lightning. Take a deep breath………ok it’s all good. Move on to the next game. They’re just saving their first win for a game I’ll be attending. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

So as I was saying, how about a non-hockey post. Let’s go over some recent acquisitions I’ve received through the mail. In return for some football cards (plenty of good teams still available!) some kind readers have sent cards in return. So let’s crack open a couple of wonderful yellow, padded envelopes!!!

Envelope number one traveled all the way from Norman, OK. Jeremy from the awesomely titled No one's going to read this blog sent some cards from random cards:



Some 2009 Topps to help complete the collection





Some assorted O’s and Ray’s cards including the awesome Kellog’s Jim Palmer Sportflics that has been appearing on quite a few blogs lately.


When I got involved in the online card swapping I didn’t realize how many O’s fans were already out there, and the fact that they are some of the most prolific traders out there. I appreciate anyone who can dig up some cards from Birdland. Thanks Jeremy!

Package number two came from even farther away. Everyone’s favorite Canadian - Captain Canuck!

I found some leftover Cowboys cards and a few hockey cards that I hope he needed and in return….





A sweet Carl Crawford Bowman parallel numbered 178/500.





As always with the Captain He also sent along some wax packs. Here are a couple of the highlights.



Thanks, Captain!

I’ll be back tomorrow with more Lightning news. I really need a night’s sleep before delving further into Thursday nights game. Believe it or not there are some positives to their third loss of the season!