yave1964 Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 I am 48 and collect hockey cards. There, I said it. Not just picking up the occasional pack, I am talking several hundred thousand cards, going back to the 1950s with a few even older. I have: A card for every single player who has played for the Red Wings since 1970 who had a card printed. Every Kansas City Scout and Cleveland Barons card At least 95 per cent or more of every card from the old WHA My favorite and a tough run to build, I have a card from every single player who has his name on the Stanley Cup going back to 1952. twenty nineplayers have appeared on the cup during that time with no cards, I found a gentleman from Quebec through ebay who prints homemade cards, he made me a card of all of them as well. An exhausting one: Every player who appears in the NHL I immediately go to Beckett or Ebay or one of the biggies and find a card on him, college, AHL, something. I have also a very nice collection of AHL cards as well. I have an autographed card of every member of the 1997 and 1998 back to back Stanley Cup champion teams. I build sets that interest me. A card of every black player, missing two or three but getting there. And memorabilia. Don't get me started. I collect to collect, I collect because I love to, not for the money end of it but to be quite honest what I have has a nice monetary value, though I cannot think of anything that for the life of me would consider selling it off. Occasionally I sell triples or quadruples from the seventies on ebay to buy more current cards that I want. I have a wonderful, understanding wife who encourages my hobby. When we travel along with scouting on line the antique malls she plans on hitting she looks up the card shops for me. She patiently browses and even helps me look for items. Old Hockey News or Hockey Digest. Once a year we make a pilgrimage to the Hall of Fame and hit the shops in Toronto, usually winding up in Montreal as well. We are going mid October this year and coming back down through the New England states to see New England in the fall, something I have always wanted to do. So there, my secret is out, I am a junkie, an addict, a flat out card nerd for the love of collecting. Anyone else out there get into this still or did the glut of the nineties burn you out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 @yave1964 Back in the day, I lived for card collecting. I spent every red cent I had in childhood on comics and cards. I remember being 4-6 (approx 1969-71) and using thousands of cards on that dreadful game where you shoot cards at the wall and try and get them to land leaning up. Whoever *leans* one first gets all the cards that were thrown at the wall. I think the game was actually named "leanzies" LOL! I could cry when I think about how much those cards/sets are worth today. We didn't know back then, it was just a fun game of skill for us....ha ha. Even worse, back in 1991, I got ripped off for a photo album that I put all my valuable cards in. We are talking 10 Gretzky rookies, some in perfect shape, rookies for Clarke, the Esposito brothers, Lafleur it went on and on. Every card ever made of Bobby Orr was in there also...it was just devastating. Part my childhood died when the went missing. The sad part, I know who it was, I put them in the back of his cab of his truck, but we witnessed a horrific accident on the way to his house, and he let me out and I forgot to retrieve them....he then claimed he never saw them, that somebody must have lifted them out of the back when he left it unlocked. Never talked to him again, but I heard he's in jail now, so a bit of karma coming back my way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted September 21, 2013 Author Share Posted September 21, 2013 oh, I also collect European cards, I have cards from nine countries, not counting North America. And my former NHLer and AHLer book of players now playing in Europe is pretty extensive too.... Good lord someone call for an intervention Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 @yave1964 Is it fair to assume that most cards post 1990 are not worth much? That seemed to be around the time when all the bandwagoners started collecting. I figured there was so much sheer volume from those years, that everybody and their mother have a lot of full O'Pee Chee sets sitting around, like they are gold....ha ha. My favourite year is the card Pods has for his avatar, they all had those lights in the background. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilldoc Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 used to collect them as a kid. Even during my college days. Stopped along time ago. Just got to darn expensive. My prize card is a signed Mario Lemieux rookie card.I also have rookie cards of T. Aikman / E. Smith / M. Irvin I used to collect baseball / football / hockey. I have some completed sets. Not many. I have baseball and football cards dating back to the 1970's. They are stashed away somewhere in my basement. @jammer2 Sorry to hear about your loss in regards to the cards that you had. That totally sucks. Sounds like you had a gold mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 @pilldoc basement is usually not a great place to store them, might get wet and even if it does leak, most basements are musty and not a good storage option. Unless it's finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilldoc Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 @pilldoc basement is usually not a great place to store them, might get wet and even if it does leak, most basements are musty and not a good storage option. Unless it's finished.Thanks for the info...I do have a finished basement complete with dehumidifier......(I have them on a nice metal shelf several feet above the floor). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polaris922 Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 I collected a lot until I got out of the military. My life largely changed at that point, and I let go of some things I wish I hadn't. I still have some great cards from before then, but it hasn't been a true hobby of mine for two decades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyercanuck Posted September 22, 2013 Share Posted September 22, 2013 I've kept some cards but not many. More for nostalgia than worth. I've got an autographed Lindros from when he played for Oshawa. Probably worth more then than now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TretiakCCCP20 Posted September 23, 2013 Share Posted September 23, 2013 (edited) I have a hand written note from "Terrible Ted" Lindsey adressed to my dad. I have a typed letter from Wayne Gretzky as well. When my brother and I were kids along with my dad we use to send these custom frames to famous NHL players. Basically we take a thing of cardboard and glue different kinds of hockey cards of that player on the cardboard and basically make a collage. Afterwards, we would frame it and send it to the players. Sometimes we would get responses back. We got a response back from Gretzky. We got hand signed photos back from John Leclair, Valeri Bure, Roman Turek, Mike Modano, Bill Guerin, Mark Recchi, Pierre Turgeon, Mike Vernon, Luc Robitaille, Peter Bondra, Joe Sakic, Kevin Dineen, Marty McSorely, Jean Beliveau, Ted Kennedy, Glenn Hall, Bobby Orr, Kim Johansson, Gordie Howe, Maurice Richard, Keith Tkachuk. I also got autographed photos from David Legwand, he sent some autographed wooden mini sticks as well. Tommy Salo also sent us back an auto picture and a typed letter telling us that he would hang the frame in his restaurant in Sweden. Was definitely a pretty cool hobby but it got very expensive. Edited September 23, 2013 by TretiakCCCP20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabs1993 Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 I'm 18 years old and I've been collecting since I was about 12. Right now, I have over 3 full binders of cards. If I had to guess, that's about 800 cards. It's just a ton of fun ripping open a pack (or 20) and getting excited about who you've found. Personally, I like the odd cards such as the Canadiens Alex Kovalev captain card, or the Vincent Lecavalier card that has him sporting the #8. I hope to collect for the rest of my life, finances permitting lol... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 @ihabs1993 Welcome to the board, great to get another Hab fan in here, we have 3 or 4 now I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabs1993 Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 @jammer2 Thanks buddy, glad to be here! Can't wait to be around here during the season Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 @ihabs1993 You've gotta be pumped up having Toronto as your first game, huh? No matter where these teams are in the standings, it's always great exciting hockey to watch!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabs1993 Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 @jammer2 Oh you know it! Especially since they won't have Clarkson to stand up for kessel when he decides to take a swing at one of those pesky Canadiens' forwards! At least 50 penalty minutes between the two clubs!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammer2 Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 @ihabs1993 I believe there will be many fights, both teams will be looking to establish physical superiority. Lot's of goons will dress for that game, I'm betting they might even let Ryan White center the 4th line in the opener to get another forward in there that will drop the mitts, even though Prust and Parros will dress for sure. The Leafs will counter with Orr and McLaren....and maybe even Jamie Devane or the Brolldozer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BorntobeWild11 Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 I just started collecting Minnesota Wild Autographed 8x10 photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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