So, this is now a DUAL Penguins Relic???

Stanley Cup, here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some Super Cool Cards from 1993-94 Leaf

After seeing a fellow blogger (sorry, I can't remember who) post a cool Mario Lemieux insert from close to 20 years ago, I decided I had to get my hands on it. The card comes from the 1993-94 Leaf Hat Trick Artists insert set and features a posed shot of Lemieux in a darkened arena, surrounded by hats. The truth is, this isn't the first time I have had this card in my possession. I had a copy a few years back, but I have absolutely no idea what happened to it. Needless to say, reacquiring it was a top priority.

This card, in particular, is the title card from the set, which also includes a regular Hat Trick Artists card of Lemieux. The back of the card actually gives the story behind the term, hat trick, teaching the collector some history about the game of hockey. By the way, Alex Kaleta was the unnamed Blackhawk credited with the first "official" hat trick.

Looking at the sellers other items, I also found a Teemu Selanne Gold Leaf Rookie insert from the 1993-94 Leaf set.Now, this is an insert and not an "official" rookie card of Selanne's, but still, that doesn't bother me. For one, it's a player I really have a  lot of respect and appreciation for, and two, it features the classic Winnipeg Jets uniforms.

Well, that's it for that. Usually most of my purchases nowadays involve and autograph or jersey swatch of some kind, but every now and then, it's nice to pick up a couple of cards just because they're pretty cool.

Trade with Plain Gray Swatch

Collecting a high-value player like Sidney Crosby can be difficult at times. His hits are high dollar, and his autographs can be tough to come by, so when I find a fellow blogger pulling one out of a pack, I jump at the chance to grab the card. As I've found out, though, Crosby cards can go one of three ways. A collector doesn't want to part with it because it is such a major pull, he/she will immediately try to flip it on Ebay, due to the potential return value, or in rare instances, the collector will be indifferent to it, and more than happy to trade it away.

Luckily for me, this fit into the third category.

Roy-Z from Plain Gray Swatch pulled was a dual jersey card of Crosby's out of 2012-13 Upper Deck Artifacts from their Treasured Swatches insert set, and was more than willing to trade it to me.  Upper Deck, in my opinion, doesn't seem to make an effort to differentiate the color of their swatches on cards that have multiple relics, and don't really try that hard to even make their patch swatches multi-colored, so to pick up a card with two pieces of a different color is definitely a bonus.

We added a little bit of extra sauce to the trade, too, which also landed me jersey cards of Borje Salming and Tony Gwynn for my Hockey HOF Relic Project and Baseball HOF Relic Project. Salming's name doesn't mean much to non-hockey fans, but to those familiar with the game, he made a huge impact, as one of the first top-notch European players in the NHL. Prior to his arrival with the Toronto Maple Leafs, there was a belief that Europeans didn't possess the toughness needed to play the North American syle of the game. Salming proved them wrong, and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996. His card is from 2009-10 Upper Deck Artifacts. Gwynn is recognized as one of the best hitter's of the modern era, finishing his career with 3,141 hits and a .338 batting average. Gwynn won the National League Batting Title eight times and was a 15-time MLB All-Star. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 and has a bronze statue outside of PETCO Park, which has an address of 19 Tony Gwynn Drive. The card is from 2010 Century Collection, and in addition to the jersey swatch, it also features a postage stamp from 1939, which celebrated the centennial of baseball.

Roy also threw in a few Cubs extras, including an Anthony Rizzo rookie card from 2011 Topps. The only one I have is in my set, so it's definitely nice to have one to add to the player collection. He seems to be the go-to Cub for Topps this year, so I'm sure I'll be adding plenty more of his cards to the collection as the season goes on. Duane Underwood and Josh Conway are 2012 draft picks by the Cubs, it'll be a little while to see if these pan out, and Nick Basto is a White Sox prospect, but nowhere on these cards do they differential Chicago NL from Chicago AL, so it can be tricky to know who goes where.

This was a fantastic trade that added quite a few great items to my various collections. If anyone else has any Crosbys, Cubs, or Hall-of-Famer relic cards for trade, please let me know.

Trade With The Daily Dimwit

I just recently did something I haven't done for a while: complete a trade with Sam at The Daily Dimwit. He is a big Houston Astros collector, and I haven't really been able to build up any Astros hits because, well, as he has lamented on, there simply aren't any. After all, how many Jose Altuve sticker autos does one man need?

He had a Ryne Sandberg bat relic from Triple Threads numbered to 27 that I needed, but I just simply couldn't come across any Astros for him. Then, one day, I had a brilliant idea. Not only is he an Astros collector, but a Houston Texans collector as well. Hey, I'm a Texans collector, too! So, I opened up my Texans collection to him (minus a few "off-limits" cards) and luckily, he found a few he was interested in, and the trade was made.

The Ryno from 2012 Triple Threads was obviously the centerpiece. He was my favorite player growing up, and although most of my collecting effort is dedicated to my Sidney Crosby collection (Base/Hits), I love to pick anything of Ryno's up whenever I can, especially something like this card, numbered 19/27.This card is also serving as Sandberg's representative in my HOF Relic Project.

I also had a couple of other add-ins from his trade bait, the first being a Pierce Johnson card from 2012 Bowman Sterling. Johnson was a first round draft pick of the Cubs in 2012 and split time in 2012 with the Cubs Rookie League Team and the Class A Boise Hawks. There is also a 2012 Goodwin Champions Wendell Clark relic that I had my eye on for quite some time. I'm not a Clark collector in particular, I just thought that the painting on the card is one of the coolest hockey images I've seen on cardboard in quite some time.

Lastly, Sam also threw in a few 2013 Topps inserts. Anthony Rizzo seems to be this year's Starlin Castro, in that Topps seems to be going for him as the token Cub in almost every insert set. Still, I won't complain about the Cubs having a presence in the set. As Sam would tell you, it could be a lot worse. The one non-Rizzo Cub insert was Kerry Wood from Chasing History, which recognizes his 1998 outing where he threw 20 strikeouts against......the Houston Astros. (Sorry, Sam)

Thanks for a great trade, Sam! I'm really looking forward to the Gypsy Queen case break we have coming up, where I'm sure Topps will be adding many more Anthony Rizzos to my collection.

Trade With Beware the Hockey Card Closet

 Kyle from Beware the Hockey Card Closet and I just completed our second trade, which landed me quite a few great cards. I actually managed to part with an Evgeni Malkin autograph in the process, too. Normally, Geno is off-limits, especially an on-card auto, but since Kyle is such a big Malkin fan, I figured I'd make an exception. After all, any time that anybody pulls a Sidney Crosby, I do expect them to trade it to me, so why not help out a Malkin fan? Besides, I still have another one in my collection anyway.

Anyway, Kyle sent me a ton of hockey autographs and relics, plus a few Sidney Crosby cards to add to my collection in exchange for the Malkin and a few other hits from my trade bait folders. Here's the full lot of what I got:

Trade

2009-10 Be A Player Tim Thomas Auto, 11-12 Score Ben Lovejoy IP/TTM, 2008-09 OPC Tyler Kennedy Auto, 1991-92 OPC Premier Jeremy Roenick IP/TTM, 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Sidney Crosby Winter Classic

2009-10 BAP Bryan Allen Auto, Aaron Voros Auto, 2011-12 Certified Bobby Butler Jersey 336/399, Brandon Dubinsky Jersey 393/399

2009-10 Victory Marc-Andre Fleury IP/TTM, 2011-12 Score Jordan Staal IP/TTM, 2011-12 Upper Deck Jordan Staal IP/TTM

2009-10 McDonalds Dion Phaneuf IP/TTM, 1991-92 Upper Deck Glenn Healy IP/TTM, 1996-97 Collector's Choice Corey Hirsch IP/TTM, 1990-91 OPC Keith Crowder IP/TTM, 1991-91 Upper Deck Brad Jones IP/TTM

2013 National Hockey Card Day Canada (x3), 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Season Highlights, 2011-12 Score Supreme Team

2011-12 Victory Stars of the Game, 2009-10 Victory Checklist, 2009-10 MVP Checklist, 2008-09 OPC Gold Brooks Orpik, 2009-10 MVP Evander Kane Rookie

Thanks for another great trade!

The Worst Part About Being a Hockey Collector: The USPS

There are many, many great things about being a hockey fan, and until recently, I thought that there wasn't a single downside to being a fan and collector of the "Coolest Game on Earth." Then, I had to send a few things out via the United States Postal Service.

I sent out three packages today: a trade to Beware the Hockey Card Closet, a trade and group break package to Sportscards from the Dollar Store, and the massive group break loot (equipped with a spectacular autographed 1/1) to Rob PBS. Three packages. Two to Canada and one to the UK, for a total of $36!

Now I'm not complaining about having to send stuff out of the country. If I really felt that way, I wouldn't trade with anyone in Canada, and I would keep my group breaks closed to anyone outside the U.S. What I am complaining about, though, is that every year, we hear the USPS make all sorts of statements about how they're losing money, and how they have to cut staff, and how they have to raise prices. All I'm saying, is that with the INSANE price increases that took effect in February, I don't want to hear these complaints ever again.

I'm sure we'll hear about it again next year, but really, what other options do we have?

2012-13 ITG Motown Madness Box Break

Ever since first discovering In the Game last year, I have been a huge fan of their products, specifically, their high-end releases.  I have previously picked up Decades: 1980s, Captain C, Broad Street Boys, Enforcers, and now I get to add Motown Madness to that list.

In the same way that Broad Street Boys paid tribute to the history of the Philadelphia Flyers, Motown Madness does the same for the Detroit Red Wings. Each box contains 12 cards, which consists of five base cards, four autographed cards, two memorabilia cards, and one manufactured patch card.

Here's what my box gave me:

Base cards: Luc Robitaille, Norm Ullman, Hap Emms, Jason Woolley, Greg Stefan

Autos: Reggie Leach, Danny Grant, Ron Harris, Greg Smith

Memorabilia: Sergei Fedorov Jersey, Greg Stefan Jersey, Danny Gare Replica Patch

I really like how with the Danny Gare, they not only put the swatch of the patch replica, but on the back of the card, they also tell you the exact patch that it represents. Here's a look at the full patch, courtesy of Google Images:

Motown Madness is like a lot of the highly specific products that ITG puts out. If you're a fan of the Red Wings, you'll absolutely LOVE this. If not, then it's still a good product, and for seven hits at this price, you can't go wrong.

Two New Collecting Goals: HOF Relics for Hockey and Baseball

As if I don't have enough different collections already.

Sure there's my two favorite sports, hockey and baseball, along with my favorite teams from those sports, the Penguins and Cubs. Not only that, but I am even going after hits for teams I like, Texans and Rockets, in sports I really don't care that much about, football and basketball.

There's also my "special projects" of 2011 ITG Decades: 1980s Miracle on Ice autos and 2011-12 Dominion autographed patch rookies, not to mention my massive collection of Sidney Crosby cards, that I had to section it off into autos/relics and base/insert cards.

I have now decided to add to that just a little more.

I want to collect a memorabilia card of every player in the Hockey and Baseball Halls of Fame, or at least every player who has had such a card produced.

I already am off to a good start, with 16 Cards in my HHOF Collection and 12 in my BHOF Collection, but I still have a long, LONG way to go, and apart from maybe Mario Lemieux in hockey and Hank Greenberg in baseball, I don't have any of the heavy hitters.

What I'm looking for is any type of memorabilia card. It doesn't matter if it's a jersey, stick, bat, glove, or goalie pad, I think it would be a great way to have pieces of each of those two sports' histories, which would span from the origins of the games to the greats of the present day. The only catch is that I want each of these cards to me just of one player. As great as it would be to have a dual bat card of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, I really want to keep each card separate, purely for organizational purposes.

So for, my progress has already been scanned in and posted in their respective folders, which should be on the right-hand side of this page, but just in case, here are the links:

Hockey Hall of Fame Relic Project

Baseball Hall of Fame Relic Project

I may be getting in over my head with these two ideas, but we'll see how it goes!

Trade With Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle

The trades I make with Greg at Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle aren't  really so much trades, as they are me sending him a pile of cards that I come across whenever I get enough together and feel like making a trip tot the post office, and him sending me a pile of cards that he comes across whenever he gets enough together and feels like making a trip to the post office.

Here's the most recent pile of cards he send me:

2010-11 Zenith Mosaics Cal Clutterbuck, Mikko Koivu, & Niklas Backstrom Dual Jersey (Clutterbuck & Koivu)

2010-11 Luxury Suite Joe Thornton Jersey 107/599

1999 Skybox Molten Metal Supernatural Xplosion Kerry Wood Sample

I also received the winnings from a contest he held back when he was trying to win an autographed Koufax from Beckett:

2012 Topps Tier One Marlon Byrd Auto 128/399

Thanks for another great trade!

2010 Topps Marquee Pack Break + A Few Extras From My LCS

I wne to my LCS a week or so ago with a couple bucks burning a hole in my pocket. I didn't have enough at the time for a whole box, but I did have enough to try my luck on a pack of 2010 Topps Marquee. I remember doing a case break of the stuff a while back with Colbey from Cardboard Collections and thought that there were some great looking cards and some really cool hits.

Each pack contains three base cards, one serial-numbered parallel, and one aoutograph or memorabilia card. Here's what my pack got me.

Base: Johnny Mize, Hanley Ramirez, Brandon Phillips

 Parallel: Andre Ethier Bronze 173/199

 Autograph: Ervin Santana 129/300

Nothing earth-shattering, but I suppose I could have done a lot worse than Santana for my hit. It's a great looking card and features the all-important on-card autograph.

I also picked up these singles from the $2.50 auto/relic box:

2012 Topps Tier One Adam Lind Auto 85/399 (already traded)

2011-12 Certified Freshman Signatures Brian Strait
(As it turns out, I already had this card, so it is up for trade)

And some Texans autos:
2012 Rookies & Stars Case Keenum 76/999, 2012 Certified New Generation Keshawn Martin 20/350, 2012 Eite Whitney Mercilus 435/599 & Jared Crick 547/599

And finally, some redemptions to hopefully play Redemption Replacement Roulette in 4 months:
2012 Certified Freshman Fabric Michael Egnew /499 & 2012 Prime Signatures Gold Dontari Poe /25

When all was said and done, I was ok with my Marquee pack and pretty happy with these affordable singles. Any of the Marquee cards, as well as the Strait, are up for trade, so if those cards, or anything in my trade bait folder, interests you, just let me know.

Redemption Replacement Roulette - It was Bound to Happen at Some Point: 2011-12 Limited Joe Vitale Phenoms Auto

As I've mentioned before, one of my favorite card-related games to play is Redemption Replacement Roulette, where i take a redemption card that I care little to nothing about, and see if I can get it replaced with a card that I really like from one of my favorite team (OK, it's almost always the Pittsburgh Penguins, but still...).

The latest one come courtesy of 2011-12 Panini Past & Present Basketball. Due to issues with last year's NBA lockout, similar to what hockey card collectors are dealing with this year, there was to rookie class in 2011-12 products. What they decided to do instead, was include redemption cards which would be good for 2012-13 rookie cards of those players, or at least I think that's how it works out.

Anyway, I picked up a box of Past & Present, simply because I hadn't purchased any basketball in a while and like to add to the collection from time to time. I pulled a jersey card of a guy I've never heard of two Elusive Ink autos, and a redemption for a rookie autograph. The subject of the auto was unknown at the time, only going by a four letter code, XRCE, which would be determined at some point in the fall. When the time came to assign the players to the codes, this one turned out to be MarShon Brooks of the Brooklyn Nets. I had held on to the card, just in case it ended up being someone like Kyrie Irving, but MarShon Brooks?

Well, the customary four month waiting period had passed, so game on!

As per usual, I requested a Penguin, and received a Joe Vitale Phenoms auto from 2011-12 Limited, numbered 184/299.

This is a great card, and I love the on-fabric autograph, but the only problem is, I already have this card. Now, I can't really hold it against Panini. I purchased the card myself late December to go with the Silver Spotlight parallel that Panini sent me as a replacement for a previous redemption.

That being said, I still consider it to be a good swap. Instead of an autograph of a player I haven't heard of from a team I don't care about, I get a cool-looking autograph from my favorite team of a player who appears to be a mainstay with the Penguins' fourth line.

2012 Topps Golden Moments Die Cut Josh Hamilton

For the past couple of years, I have been pretty active in the various on-line promotions that Topps has put forth. I had a great time with the Million Card Giveaway and went crazy with their Diamond Giveaway, but I really reigned it in with the 2012 Golden Giveaway. I don't know what it was. Maybe it was all the codes I redeemed for fictitious coins, but I just didn't get into it hardly at all. Still, I was able to redeem one card, an Eddie Murray, which I quickly swapped for my current favorite baseball player, Josh Hamilton.

So, with the deadline fast approaching, I placed my order, pad my shipping, and a couple of weeks later, this showed up in my mailbox.

I love the card, and got pretty excited about it, until I looked at the scan and noticed a pretty severe mark in the lower right hand corner. I immediately took the card out for closer examination, and luckily, it was just the protective coating that Topps puts on the card's surface.

There you go. Much better.

It's a great looking card, with die cut sides, and a fantastic addition to my collection. Now I just need the Ryne Sandberg and Starlin Castro cards from this set and I'll be good to go.

By the way, if there are any Rangers fans out there looking to dump their Hamiltons, let me know. I will gladly take them off your hands.

Trade with Nomo's Sushi Platter

I'm getting really behind on my trade posts, as evidence from this one from Spiegel at Nomo's Sushi Platter. The trade was completed so long ago that I don't even remember what it was that I had sent him. Either way, I was happy to receive the following cards for my collection.

2006 Upper Deck Jim Thome Amazing Greats

2004 Topps Lance Berkman Jersey

Some Cubs (including this 2010 Bowman Platinum Hak-Ju Lee), 1983 Donruss Hall of Fame Heroes Jackie Robinson, 1987 Bo Jackson, and some 2012 Allen & Ginter cards to go with the set I'm building.

Thanks for another great trade!

Patience Pays Off: 2011-12 Black Diamond Sidney Crosby Championship Rings: All-Time Greats

I FINALLY got my hands on something I have been after for months: A Sidney Crosby Championship Rings card from 2011-12 Upper Deck Black Diamond.

The card has an acetate base with the player photo printed on it, and the rest of it is placed on top in a separate layer to give it somewhat of a 3D effect. It's impossible to show just how great this card looks in person with just a computer scan, but the jewels on the ring (as well as the Upper Deck logo) are done in a rainbow foil that changes color, depending on the angle that the lights hits the card.

This has been one of my most sought after cards for quite some time. It's well over a year old, and the Championship Rings cards were only inserted in every seven boxes, so the Crosby is pretty scarce. Not only that, but by now, I'm sure most of the ones that have changed hands are with people who wish to keep them.

I checked Ebay, and any of these cards that were auctioned off went for $25, on average. The only problem, though, was that for a few months running, nobody auctioned them off. There were a couple of BINs, but they were all listed at around $75, and to make matters worse, somebody actually purchased one with a BIN of $75, and another was $79/OBO, with an offer that was accepted. With prices beginning to inflate, I figured my hope at a $25 Sidney Crosby Championship Rings card was over.

The truth is, I would have even paid more. I'm not a very patient person, and I would have no problem paying $40-$50 for it if I had to. Supplies were drying up and it would have been worth that much to me, just to be able to lock it up for my collection. But $75? No way.

Luckily, I didn't have to make that decision, because sure enough, one was listed a couple of weeks ago with a $.99 opening bid and no reserve. Game on. Someone placed the opening bid, so I put down the minimum $1.04 to keep it on the top of my "Now Bidding" page, and waited. A few days went by, and with the end of the auction coming up and a few more bids having been placed, I put down a bid of $50, just to make sure I would get it, thinking there would be no way it would get that high, and sure enough, the card was mine at a cool $26.77 plus shipping.

Some people say that patience pays off, but forget that. Sometimes patience just saves you a crap-load of money.

2013 National Hockey Card Day Canada Complete Set

Since I wasn't able to participate in Upper Deck's National Hockey Card Day promotion (for obvious reasons), I did the next best thing, and purchased the full set off of Ebay. On Feb. 9 of this year, collectors were able to gotheir Canadian LCS and pick up a 5-card pack of the product. The regular set contains 15 cards and their is a card #16 that was not included in packs, and just given out to customers who made a purchase.

The regular set is broken up into 3 5-card subsets: Canada's Rookies (rookies, obviously), Pride of Canada (current players), and Hockey Heroes (retired players). Card #16 is a Memorable Moments card of Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky from when they played together during the 1987 Canada Cup.
NHCD Canada

Here's a quick look at the full 16-card set:

Canada's Rookies: 1 - Jaden Schwartz, 2 - Tyson Barrie, 3 - Carter Ashton, 4 - Mark Stone, 5 - Casey Cizikas

Pride of Canada: 6 - Sidney Crosby, 7 - Jarome Iginla, 8 - Jordan Eberle, 9 - John Tavares, 10 - Martin Brodeur

Hockey Heroes: 11 - Bobby Orr, 12 - Joe Sakic, 13 - Eric Lindros, 14 - Mario Lemieux, 15 - Wayne Gretzky

Memorable Moments: 16 - Lemieux & Gretzky 1987 Canada Cup 

It's a pretty cool set that can be had for a pretty cheap price, and being an American, Ebay was pretty much the only way for me to get my hands on it. Maybe my LCS has a few packs left over and I can try build the NHCD America set.

What I Purchased with Funds from the Barry Zito World Series Relic Card

A few weeks back, I wrote about my box of 2013 Topps Series 1, and one of the amazing cards I pulled from the box, a boring, yet valuable, Barry Zito World Series Champions jersey card.  I was surprised by the card, simply because for being a plain gray swatch, the amount of money that it, and other jersey cards from that insert set, were going for on the secondary market. It was a decent card, and if not for the value, I would have had no problem keeping it, but I figured with the funds I could get, I could turn that one card into a few that I want even more.

Here is what I got with those funds

1. 2013 Topps Miguel Cabrera Triple Crown Relic
I'm not much of a Tigers fan, and not really a Miguel Cabrera fan either, but I am a fan of baseball's history, and that's really what this card represents for me. There hadn't been a Triple Crown in baseball since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. It was a huge deal historically, but for some reason, it didn't really seem like that big of a deal was made of it. Either way, I thought it was a big deal and think it's cool that Topps is recognizing it as such with a 10-card relic set dedicated to Cabrera's feat.

The weird thing, though, is that a seemingly basic relic card is produced as a redemption. I don't know if they had to make some last-minute production changes to get the card produced, or if they simply didn't have enough memorabilia to fit the amount of cards being produced, but for some reason we have a redemption here. Does anyone else out there know the answer?

2. Sidney Crosby Jumbo Jersey from 2012-13 Limited 35/99
Despite being a HUGE fan of Panini Limited, I still have yet to bust open a pack of this year's hockey product. Still, I haven't completely deprived myself, though, picking up this fantastic jumbo jersey card of Sidney Crosby. The past couple of years featured similar horizontal designs, but they decided to shake things up this year, going vertical with the card and featuring a close up of the player with a white background instead of a more full-body shot with a black background.

3. 2012-13 Panini Limited 2-Box Break Entry
I may not have bought any packs of Limited Hockey yet, but I did find a great deal on a Penguins slot for a 2-box break of the product. Unfortunately for me, though, this was all I got:

4. 2012-13 Panini Limited Henrik Lundqvist/Jimmy Howard net/jersey 78/99
I love the net cards and was lucky enough to pull a Tim Thomas/Rick Nash one from last year. Like the year before, these Net Assets cards are designed around a piece of the goal netting from the previous year's All Star Skills Challenge. The only difference this time around is that Panini added in pieces of jersey from each of the featured players. This one has one of my favorite current NHL goaltenders, Henrik Lundqvist, along with one of the best young goaltenders in the game today, Jimmy Howard. The only trick with this card is finding a suitable case that it will fit.

There it is. Three cards that I got for the Zito, and truthfully, I would have been willing to trade for any of the three individually, had I not discovered the Zito's inflated value. Still, I will never skip out of a good deal, and I was able to turn one card that I like into three cards that I love.

$8 Target Hockey Card Re-Pack

It was either a case of sheer boredom, ro not wanting to leave Target empty-handed, but I grabbed up one of those discount re-pack boxes of hockey cards. $8 got me 10 packs, but All I knew was that two of those packs would be 2010-11 Donruss and a rack pack of 2010-11 Upper Deck.

Much to my surprise, there wasn't a whole lot of junk wax. In fact, there wasn't a single pack of Pro Set cards to be found. The closest thing to it was one pack of 1991 Ultimate, but the rest was from the late 2000s, which could give the potential for some pretty good cards.

Here's a look at the packs:

2007-18 Hot Prospects, 2010-11 O-Pee-Chee, 2008-09 Victory, 2007-08 Fleer Ultra, 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee, 1991 Ultimate

2010-11 Upper Deck Series 1 Rack Pack, 2010-11 Upper Deck, 2010-11 Donruss, 2008-09 Upper Deck Series 2

I won't go into a whole lot of specifics on everything I got, but I will at least give you some highlights, with the best single cards from OPC, Victory, and Ultimate, and the top 3 cards from the other 6 packs:

Not a bad way to spend $8. Little risk, little reward, but still a fun way to open up some packs.