Some Really Decent Mail Day Autographs and a yard sale pick up of 4

 Yes there has been some really decent mail this week and some really nice surprises as well. The last batch of autograph requests went out on the 15th of June and there were two that I thought I would get back signed and the other two I was doubtful I would ever see the cards again. I will be posting these newest autographs but first want to discuss other Women's hockey news.

The PWHL had their draft with the number one selection being Caroline "KK" Harvey followed by Abbey Murphy. Harvey was drafted by the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Abbey Murphy going to the Seattle Torrent. It will be interesting next season when the 2026-27 Upper Deck PWHL cards are released with the amount of attention her Young Guns card will receive. It would be really nice to pull her Young Guns Silver or Red Outburst card and the impossibility of pulling the Gold one of one young guns card.

I will be buying some of the 2025-26 Upper Deck PWHL boxes but still not sure how many, I was thinking of buying a case which is 16 boxes and 12 packs a box 6 cards a pack 72 cards multiplied by 16 would be 192 packs and 1,152 cards. Sounds like it would be very fun and the amount of complete sets would be around 15+.

These 2 cards I got back in 9 days from Natalie Darwitz, The card on the left I sent to her and she added the card on the right. The 2005-06 U.S. Women's National Team card I paid $25 for but I felt confident that she would sign and added the inscription HHOF'24 that I asked.

I got a autograph success back and you never really know for sure who the auto is from until you open and see but what I do is I journal and keep all of the players name and addresses and the date of mailing so if the cancellation of the stamp is legible I look to compare the city and state and I am pretty accurate. So Earlier in the year I had an envelope that was lost from Lisa Chesson so I resent with the same cards. Well she sent back those cards and one other and I was very pleased to of got the extra 2 cards she added. I planned on sending her the 2014 Team USA card but she beat me to the punch. She sent the 2014 which is the card on the left and the other card that I never knew existed she sent and auto'd too.

The card on the right is I believe from 2007-08 and I have seen a Natalie Darwitz from the same set. I love the color and design and the backs of the cards are also very bright and show a photo of the player in street clothes.

This is the reverse side of that card and it also list the players height, weight, Birth Place, hometown, high school and college. I also like the trivia did you know about the player depicted. Her first year with the U.S. Women's National Team was 2007 which is why I believe this card to be a 2007-08 date. I will do more research into these cards. If anyone reading this has any info about these cards such as dates, player checklist please contact me ASAP.

The last autograph card I got back this week is from the same set as Natalie Darwitz's the 2005-06 U.S. Women's National Team card of Lyndsay Wall. Lyndsay has signed for me in the past but again I felt confident sending to her. and she did not disappoint.

These cards are much better looking in person as the scanner seems to pick up the vertical lines as you can see in the scan but still I now have 10 autographs from this 2005-06 U.S. Women's National Team Card set of I believe there to be at least 20 different players, I love these challenges but I will add that it is frustrating when you send an auto request to the player and it comes back as a RTS and the address is correct. The player can refuse the item and tell the postal carrier and it comes back with the yellow label. It usually states this: Return to Sender, Not deliverable as addressed, Unable to forward. The RTS I got back someone wrote in red pen ANK MOVED which indicates Address Not Known. You can drive yourself crazy searching for a different address because it is pointless because you do have the correct address but it is the player who just does not want to take the time to sign. 
I sent an auto request to Linda Sinrod. Linda holds the Guiness World's Record for the oldest living player(Female) 84 years 198 days old. Linda will be inducted into the United States 80+ Hall of Fame this fall. I am adding another album of all of the autograph cards I get from these hockey pioneers who are trailblazers. I am in my mid 60's and I could not play hockey now, these players are truly amazing and they love the game and play for as long as they can. Linda did retire on April 7, 2025 because she was told by her doctors that she could tear the tendons she had previously torn. Congrats Linda on your upcoming induction to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

I did pick up these 4 cards for a buck and figured you really can't go wrong with 2 Rose cards a Carew and a Yaz card and the Rose and Yaz are in very nice condition.

Until my next post I hope everyone is having fun collecting and enjoying the hobby!!!

We Gotcha Bonnie and Thank-You

 I did some more research about Bonnie Shea and I said once I got back her autograph I would post it in my next blog post. Today is that day but let's add a few more tidbits about Bonnie Shea.

Bonnie started playing hockey with the boys primarily because there was no girls teams. She has said to be the first girl to play on a boys team in Duluth, Minnesota. The year was 1951 at the age of 7 where she played for her home town team of all boys. When she was in high school her hockey coach invited her to try out for the high school team. When the High school principal found out he said that girls are not allowed to play on the boy's hockey team. At the age of 15 Bonnie had to stop playing the game she loved because there were no teams where a girl could play hockey.

One day she was watching television and saw an announcement that UMD was starting a club team for Women's hockey. Bonnie was 40 years old and she contacted UMD and said she wanted to play and I am 40 years old. She was told to report because Bonnie did graduate from UMD. Bonnie was a teacher and she would take the time and play floor hockey with some students. One student actually made it to the NHL as a goaltender. That player was Robb Stauber who played 4 years with the Los Angeles Kings and 1 season with the Buffalo Sabres. Stauber played in the 1992-93 play-offs with the Kings winning 3 and losing 1.

Bonnie is now with WHAM (Women's Hockey Association of Minnesota) this is for players who played High School or College hockey and they played against Men's teams. Bonnie was a very gifted scorer and was a quick skater, quick enough to see an opposing player (Man) going to hit her but with her quick speed she was able to avoid the check and the player went hard into the boards.

Bonnie also enjoys watching the NFL and her favorite team is the Minnesota Vikings where she has been a season ticket holder for 20 years. She was chose to blow the Gjallarhorn at a Vikings pre season game.

Bonnie signed the 2 cards I sent her and she did add a nice letter so without further ado here are those 2 auto's.

Another nice addition to my Women in Hockey Autograph Collection. One more thing of importance. Bonnie Shea will be inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame this coming fall 2026. Congrats Bonnie on a amazing career and I hope you are able to continue to play the game that you love and that you continue having fun playing.

These 2 cards are both from  Allen & Ginter. The card on the left is the N-28 while the card on the right is the N-43. The cards could also be found in an album that was made by A&G and they are now a days difficult to locate. The cards cut from the albums are a paper type much thinner but still quite valuable and more valuable if left intact in the album. I owned 2 different albums at one time.

This tobacco card is from the T-201 Mecca double folds and lifting the top of the card straight up you get the other player which with Cobb is Sam Crawford. The backs of the card have a 1 year stats of each player.

This card is the Old Judge card of Del Darling of the Chicago White Stockings. The Old Judges were issued by the Goodwin & Company New York. This is the largest set of tobacco cards issued from 1886-1890 and consists of over 4,500 card variations and slightly over 500 different players. There are numerous poses per player. One player Billy Hoy was Deaf, Dumb and earned the nickname as Dummy Hoy. Hoy played a important part of Baseball the signals were used to communicate with him and that is how the signals used in today's game were introduced back then. Billy Hoy was 99 years old when he passed away in 1961 at that time he was the oldest living major leaguer. I do have his Old Judge card and it is a very highly sought after card. I have seen less that 10 which makes it very valuable and highly sought after.

Will be doing my next post on more Baseball cards from Bubble Gum and other interesting cards and hope I get more Autographs for my Women in Hockey autograph collection. Until then Happy Collecting!!!

What a Beautiful Name for the Game of Hockey

 You know there are many ways to collect cards, autographs, memorabilia but there are different reasons why I collect certain players. Not always because of a player being a superstar as I have others reasons. The player I want to start off with played for the inaugural Minnesota Gophers 1997-98 season. She played that only season for the Gophers and then played 3 seasons with University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Earlier in the year I sent her the 1997-98 Minnesota Gophers card of herself asking if she would autograph the card for me. I got it back and like a lot of her teammates some signed the back of the card because the front of the card is a dark brown almost black background. Signing with a black sharpie can make the autograph difficult to see. So I had one more card of her from that year and I sent it in a bubble mailer and I added a silver sharpie. I asked her if she would please sign the front of the card using the silver sharpie as I got back the first card I sent you where you signed the back and I said I understood why you signed the back of the card. I told her she could keep the silver sharpie. So without further ado here is the card she signed.

Hattie Hoff and a beautiful looking autograph and you can see how the silver marker really pops on the dark background. What a perfect name for a hockey player. Hattie for a hat trick and even the last name HOFF just one letter "F" too many for hall of fame. These cards are really beautifully done especially for being done 28 years ago. I love how you can see a shadow outline around the players photo. The backs of the cards are also well done with a brief description about the players career and academics in college.  So this player may never had been a big time scorer but as I said earlier I have many reasons for getting excited about getting certain players whether it be because of things they have done outside of the game or the name itself which is the reason for this autograph. Hattie even has a very beautiful autograph and I am very happy I got this one back signed.

I was glad to have got this one back signed I am currently up to 5 different players signed from the 2014 Team USA hockey set of 25 players. I know there are players who are difficult to get autographs from. The Lamoureux twins are not very easy to get through the mail, I have resent to Monique Lamoureux and I hope this time that 3 is a charm. Lindsey Fry signed the 3 cards from this set and she is another very good signer.

This index card I sent to Kelly Stephens was sent out about a week before I bought the 6 sets from the 2014 Team USA cards. I then sent 3 cards to each player including 3 to Kelly Stephens so I am hoping the 2014 cards come back signed. 

This is another autograph I got back from Ohio State player Olivia Antognoli, she signed both and she has a very nice auto as being consistent each time. The Ohio State players seem to be very good at signing through the mail. I will be doing a post on all of my Ohio state cards I have got back signed, stay tuned!!!

These 2 cards I got back from Kaia Malachino and these cards are from the new 2025-26 Onit  Ohio State Women's Hockey. A lot of players are using their initials signing there name which I am ok with but I have discussed this with other autograph collectors who are not in favor of this.

This is the Kelly Cahill card that I sent out and she did sign the card and again more initials but if that is the way players sign their names I am ok with it. I will say that I would rather get a players autograph through the mail versus in person after a game. When you get a autograph in person after the game the autograph will look hurried and there are ways to tell a in person after game auto is easy to the differences in comparing autographs. Another Ohio State player who signs through the mail.

This card of Bonnie Shea was sent to her for her autograph and I am hoping I get it back signed. Some may ask who is Bonnie Shea?? Bonnie Shea started playing hockey in 1951 at the age of 7 with a boy's hockey team and Bonnie Shea is believed to be the first girl playing organized hockey in Duluth, Minnesota back in 1951.

Bonnie Shea is still playing hockey at the age of 81 years old, she is playing now for The Women's Hockey Association of Minnesota.

She is a legend for Women's hockey and this is another reason as to receiving her autograph would make me very happy to add her autograph to my collection of Women's Hockey autographs. Once I get the card back signed I will do a new post and show the card.

 

Another beautiful uncatalogued card, I keep seeing these types of cards that never indicate who manufactured these cards. My guess is USA Hockey and I never have determined how were they sold or were they given out for the players. They could have been sold at these games in the arena store or bought online or purchased through the mail. This card has great color and I would like to see a checklist as to who the other players cards within this set. I am guessing the year could be 2006-07. She was the team captain for Team USA in 2007-08 and 2008-09 also was the Team USA Olympic captain for the 2009-10 year and since the photo used has no "C" on her jersey I ruled out those 3 years as being captain. Another mystery unsolved and the only way to solve it would be asking the players if they can shed any light.

I look forward to reading your comments or questions so until then I hope you all are enjoying your collection pick-ups. Happy Collecting!!!

As A Autograph Collector you just never know

 As I think about what I want to say in this new blog post I stop and say who am I writing this for?? Are there readers who actually read my blog?? Should I care?? The answer should be obvious because why would the questions arise so yes it does bother me but I then say to myself I can use this blog for my benefit of keeping all of my collecting data here. My want list, my cards that I am proud of by showing a scan. As a collector yourself stop and think about why you collect, is it to show others your collection?? I bet a majority of collectors have done a want list and your a few cards away from having the whole set complete but you need those last 2 cards. You then search more for the cards and finally you have found the last 2 cards for completion. As time moves along you feel great about the achievement being done but don't you love discussing your collection with others?? This is what is missing in today's collecting society being able to discuss your collection with others.

As a autograph collector I have found this to be a bumpy road with some smoother roads and some with potholes but the last few weeks I am seeing a turn around with players as far as being a more positive route.  I was very fortunate to buy a nice collection of 2014 Women's National team USA sets, six to be exact. The set consists of 25 different players so I decided to try and get the entire set autographed, I sent to 22 of the 25 players and yes I do know this will not be an easy task but I am willing to try. When I write to a player I always am very honest and courteous and there are players who will sign 99% of the time just as there are players who refuse to sign at all. The first thing I do every morning is I go to my informed delivery to see if I have any autographs coming in the mail. Today I see 3 possibly a fourth as one is written in pen addressed to myself but my return envelopes I use my own address labels so I think I know who it is from. The last 3 mail days I have received 10 autograph successes and it appears to be from the new set I am attempting to complete. Here are some of my latest autograph through the mail successes.

There are some players who are very good about signing and some that take a long time and many who just do not sign. This player though has gone above and beyond. The first time I sent her an auto request I did not own any of her cards so I sent her 2 index cards to sign. When I got back her auto request she did not sign the 2 index cards but she went ahead and signed 4 cards of hers, I never knew the cards existed. The 3 cards above were from that ebay purchase that I sent out on the 19th of May and I got them back 10 days later. As you can see she signed 2 in silver and one in gold, the gold one actually in person looks easier to see. She is one of the best signers through the mail.

This was actually the first time sending to Gigi Marvin but I am pleased with the result. This is another card from the 2014 Team USA Women's Hockey set of 25 cards. So now I am at 3 signed and I know it will be a huge challenge getting them all signed but I enjoy the challenge as it keeps me wondering daily who I will get back as a success.

This card is from the 2005-06 U.S. Women's National Team card of Kristin King and this is another set that I am working on trying to complete. As you can see the front is not signed but she did sign the back of the card.

as you can see in this scan. I prefer the front of the card signed and I know why some sign the back as it is because they only have a black sharpie. I am glad she signed though but her thoughtfulness I am ok with what she did.

These 3 cards are of Alex Carpenter who currently plays for the Seattle Torrent of the Professional Women's Hockey League. Alex also played in this years Winter Olympics taking home her third Gold Medal with Team USA. Her and Hilary Knight have both won three Gold medals for team USA.

Here is another card from the 2005-06 U.S. Women's National Team of Sarah Parsons. Earlier in the year I sent to her 2 index cards and she signed them both and added a nice note. She said that she did have cards but they were at her Parent's home. So I got to thinking I wonder if she was in either of those 2 sets I am currently working on. Sure enough she was as I found the card on ebay and sent it to her in which see did sign. I now am at 8 cards signed for the 2005-06 U.S. Women's National Team set.

This card is not one that is seen very often as this card is the 1995 Globe Semic Manon Rheaume card. The back of this card is written in both English and Swedish. This shows her playing for Team Canada. This is one of her more tougher cards to locate. A majority of her cards were made by Classic cards which are commonly found but her inserted auto's by classic are not as easily found. I may try and send this one off for her autograph but the reason I have not is because she has changed how her autograph looks. She used to sign her full name but now she only signs her initials. She has one of the nicest looking autographs and is very consistent with it looking identical each time.

This is another card that I someday want to get signed by both players. I only have one card that has been signed by the two players depicted on the card. The main reason I do not have many is because you may get the first players auto send to the other player and never get it back. The easiest way would be in person but living where I live we do not see many players at card shows signing in person. I may try sending to some of the show promoters when the correct player is available. This card would be beautiful signed, maybe someday.

This card is from a relative of mine as we both share the last name and this card is the 1997 1st Bowman card of Chris Reitsma. Chris played for 3 teams, the Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves and Seattle Mariners. Chris was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the first round 34th overall in the 1996 MLB draft.

As some who read my blog I have slowed down quite a bit as my Wife is going through some medical issues and will be having surgery June 18th. Once this is behind us and we hope everything turns out positive I plan on getting more blog posts done but until then I still enjoy the hobby but I love my Wife much more than the hobby. Until the next post, Happy Collecting!!! 

Wow What A Huge Find!!!

 As I start writing this blog I still can not believe that I actually found these cards. I found 6 complete sets of the 2014 Women's National Team USA cards. This set is large with 25 players and this set does not have a checklist card. The backs of the cards show no card number but the front and back of the cards show the players jersey number. I will list the cards by jersey number order. This set of cards shows no manufacturer which is consistent with all of the other Women's National Team USA cards.

These cards are not as plentiful as say a Upper Deck type of cards and as a youngster growing up in the 60's our cards did not have the UV coating. I will say that I hate the UV coating. The reason I dislike the UV coating on cards is because the cards if left in a count box or stacked they tend to stick together. These cards did stick but were very easy to get apart and there was no card damage. Let's look at all 25 cards.

This card is Lee Stecklein and is the first card in the checklist. Lee Stecklein is currently playing for the Minnesota Frost of the PWHL. She also won a Gold medal with team USA at this years winter Olympics.

This card is of Jincy Dunne who plays for the Minnesota Frost from the PWHL. She played 22 games for the New York Sirens then traded to the Frost. Yes she is the older sister of Joy Dunne who plays for Ohio State and has one more year there next season.

This card is of Monique Lamoureux who in the 2014 Winter Olympics went on to win a Silver medal with team USA. She won a Gold medal with Team USA in the 2018 Winter Olympics.

This card is of Megan Bozek who went on to win 2 Silver Medals with Team USA.  She was a standout player for the University of Minnesota.

This caid is of Meghan Duggan who went on to win 2 Silver Medals and 1 Gold Medal in the Winter Olympics. The Gold she got in the 2018 Winter Olympics with team USA. One of the best players in Women's hockey.

This card is of Lisa Chesson who had a great career with Ohio State University and also player in the Winter games in 2009-10 winning a Silver Medal. She won two World Championships in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 winning gold each year. She was a very gifted player who could score anytime and she did it playing defense. She was a very offensive defenseman. 

This card is of Julie Chu who needs no introduction. Julie won 3 Silver medals in the Winter Olympic games and a Bronze medal in the Winter Olympics. She also played in 9 World Championships winning 5 Gold Medals and 4 Silver Medals. She hopefully gets inducted soon the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada.

This card is of Brianna Decker who is one of the greatest players in Women's hockey. She has won 2 Silver and 1 Gold Medal in the winter Olympics. She was a leading scorer during her college days with the University of Minnesota. She is very popular with collectors as she is great to the fans for signing autographs. Her cards have sold at high premiums and I remember the time I sent her 2 index cards to autograph for me. What did she do, you ask?? She never signed the 2 index cards instead she signed 4 cards of her own and I was much happier getting the cards signed over the index cards.

This card is of Anne Schleper who won a Silver medal during the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was a very tough and rugged defenseman. One of the better defenseman during her days at the University of Minnesota.

This card is of Kelli Stack who played college hockey for Boston College and Kelli won 2 Silver medals in the Winter Olympics and also played in 6 World Championships winning 5 Gold Medals and 1 silver Medal.

This card is of Jocelyne Lamoureux who played in 3 winter Olympics winning 2 Silver medals and 1 Gold medal during the 2018 games. She has a twin Sister Monique who also played the same years in the winter Olympics. Both Sisters played for the University of North Dakota and both Sister played for the university of Minnesota during the 2008-09 season. I will add that they are not easy autographs to acquire by mail, I failed a few times, I really will never understand why players refuse to sign for the fans.

This card is of Lyndsey Fry who played 4 years at Harvard University and won 1 Silver Medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics. She has also been a broadcaster for the Arizona Coyotes of the NHL.

This card is of Gigi Marvin who had a very long career playing in several leagues and she played her college hockey for the University of Minnesota and has also played professionally with the Boston Blades, Boston Pride, Minnesota Whitecaps and the inaugural season of the PWHL Boston Fleet.

This card is of Kate Buesser who played her college days with Harvard University and also played for the Boston Blades and the Connecticut Whale.

This card is of Hilary Knight and she does not need any introductions. Hilary has won 3 Silver and 2 Gold medals in the winter Olympic games she also has appeared in 15 World Championship games winning 10 Gold Medals and 5 Silver Medals. It was her game tying goal in this years Winter Olympics Final against team Canada that allowed Megan Keller to slip a behind the back shot five hole to win the 2026 Winter Olympics and earn her second Olympic Gold Medal.

This is the card of Kacey Bellamy who played 4 years at the University of NH. Kacey won 3 Medals during her 3 years in the winter Olympics winning 2 Silver Medals and 1 Gold Medal during the 2018 Winter Olympics.

This card is of Michelle Picard who played 4 years at Harvard University and won a Silver Medal during the 2014 Winter Olympics with team USA.

This card is of Josephine Pucci who played 4 years at Harvard University. Josephine also won a Silver Medal during the 2014 Olympic games.

This card is of Alex Carpenter who played 4 years at Boston College. She has won 2 Silver Medals in the Olympics and 1 Gold Medal in this years Winter Olympics. She has appeared in 10 World Championships winning 7 Gold Medals and 3 Silver Medals. She currently plays for the Seattle Torrent of the PWHL.  Alex is another one that enjoys signing for her fans.

This card is of Kendall Coyne who played 4 years at Northeastern University. She went on to win 4 medals during the Olympics, capturing 2 Silver and 2 Gold Medals and the last was at this years Winter Olympics . Currently she plays for the Minnesota Frost of the PWHL.

This card is of Annie Pankowski who played 4 years at the University of Wisconsin. A 3 time World Championship Gold Medalists.

This card is of Amanda Kessel who played 4 years at the University of Minnesota and her junior year scored 101 points in 2012-13. A 3 time Olympian winning 2 Silvers and 1 Gold with team USA. She has 2 brothers that played in the NHL Blake and Phil. Phil Kessel went on to win 3 Stanley Cups 2 with Pittsburgh and one with Vegas. He should be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

This card is of Brianne McLaughlin who played 4 years for Robert Morris University. She won 2 Silver Medals in the Winter Olympics. She was a very small goalie but quick in the crease.

This is the card of Molly Schaus who played 4 years at Boston college. Molly won 2 Silver medals with team USA in the Winter Olympic games. She was a a very competitive goalie who flashed the leather with lightning quick reflexes. She is very good to autograph collectors as she signed some items for me in the past.

This card is of Jessie Vetter who played 4 years at the University of Wisconsin. She has won 2 Silver medals in the winter Olympics. I have tried to get a card signed before with no success and I will try getting two of these cards signed.

This is what the backs of the cards look like and you can see the nice photo of the players without their gear on. The beauty of these cards is how the colors all blend so nicely giving the cards more eye appeal. The cards are not numbered per card so I have n umbered them 1-25 and I designated the first card of Lee Stecklein as the first card in the set by using the players uniform number as hers is the lowest at #2 and followed that way throughout the check listing.

2014 National Women's Team USA Checklist (Cards will be numbered by players uniform #)

1.) Lee Stecklein #2

2.) Jincy Dunne #3

3.) Monique Lamoureux #7

4.) Megan Bozek #9

5.) Meghan Duggan #10

6.) Lisa Chesson #11

7.) Julie Chu #13

8.) Brianna Decker #14

9.) Anne Schleper #15

10.) Kelli Stack #16

11.) Jocelyne Lamoureux #17

12.) Lindsey Fry #18

13.) Gigi Marvin #19

14.) Kate Buesser #20

15.) Hilary Knight #21

16.) Kacey Bellamy #22

17.) Michelle Picard #23

18.) Josephine Pucci #24

19.) Alex Carpenter #25

20.) Kendall Coyne #26

21.) Annie Pankowski #27

22.) Amanda Kessel #28

23.) Brianne McLaughlin #29

24.) Molly Schaus #30

25.) Jessie Vetter #31

I am still stoked about finding these cards as their beauty truly does shine with the UV coating which I am not a huge fan of. The UV coating will stick the cards together if left stacked or in a count box. They do fine if you house your cards in card sleeves and a binder.

My next blog will be on some baseball and my newest autograph pick-ups through the mail. I look forward to your comments and as always "Happy Collecting".