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!!!

A little bit of this, that and some Milk

 This morning I was going through some albums that were in a closet and I found one interesting item that I honestly do not remember buying. Along with some older Topps Baseball cards and of course my Women's hockey cards that I got back signed and some other interesting cards.

I thought I would start off with this ticket since the NHL playoffs are underway. This gem of a ticket is from the 1995 Stanley Cup playoffs where the Bruins played the New Jersey Devils. The Bruins would play the 3 playoff games at the famed Boston Garden as it was set to be closed. The Bruins held a preseason exhibition game between the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins on September 26, 1995. There would be a final even where the Bruins players along with legends Orr and Bird made appearances and there was the final skate where we saw the Bruins greats skating on the ice for the final time. During that preseason exhibition game the final goal scored was by Bruins defenseman Don Sweeney as the Bruins won the game 3-0 over the Montreal Canadiens. The game known as  "The Last Hurrah" was quite sad as it was a goodbye to the Garden. As you can see on the ticket it reads: Thanks for the Memories Boston Garden 1928-1995.

This card is the first series checklist card for the 1968 Topps set. I really was surprised to find this card not checked as a majority from these older sets are marked and these cards were found at a yard sale and a majority of the time they are all checked and colored in. The player pictured on the card looks to be Jim Kaat but I could be wrong as I am only going by memory and my memory is not what it once was so if I am not correct please correct me.

These two cards are from the 1968 Topps of George "Boomer" Scott and Joe Foy. Both players played a big part for the Red Sox making the 1967 Playoffs as the 1967 Impossible dream. These 2 cards are in very nice condition and I paid less than $1 per card and I got over 40 cards all from this 1968 set.

These 2 players really need no introduction as they both went on to having great careers and Don Sutton was elected to the Baseball Hall of fame and never won a world series and never won a Cy Young award. Sutton only had one season as a 20 game winner during the bicentennial year winning 21 games. He won 324 games with 256 losses. Tug McGraw won 2 world series titles the first with the Miracle Mets of the 1969 season and the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1980 season. Tug McGraw is the Father to Country and Western Icon Tim McGraw. Was very glad these 2 cards were in the lot.

This item I found I thought was very interesting as it is a sheet for 1998 Topps Milk Mustache Trading Cards. The fronts of the cards show each player with a milk mustache and the back of the sheet has tips for Basketball and a Milk Tip. The players on the sheet are; Reggie Miller, Jayson Williams, Tim Hardaway, Brevin Knight, Eddie Jones, Kevin Johnson, Glenn Robinson and Dikembe Mutombo. Thought is was odd they did not have 9 cards but the final spot was a description of the cards. Interesting piece!!!

This is the back of the sheet and you can see the Basketball Tip and Milk Tip. The cards are perforated and I am wondering if the mustache on each player are drawn on or are they real?? Two of the players Jayson Williams and Glenn Robinson both look to be on the court like at the free throw lines so would a player have a milk stache during a game?? Doubtful yes maybe though but well I really dunno, Got Milk?

These 2 cards are from the 2009-10 Wisconsin Women's Hockey set of Kyla Sanders and Anne Dronen and I was fortunate to of got both cards autographed and I wanted to show these two cards now since we are talking about Milk.

This card is from the 1994-95 Classic Women of Hockey card of Stephanie Boyd. What is interesting about this set of cards is there are a total of 40 cards 19 from Team USA 20 from Team CANADA with one checklist card depicting the players from team Canada. One thing that I get upset about is there seems to be more cards of the Team Canada players than the Team USA players. Upper Deck has done so many cards of Team Canada but I have found none for Team USA. The only cards I see from Upper deck now are the PWHL cards but I honestly hate Upper Decks cards as their designs are horrid and a lot on the silly side. The one thing that collectors like about Upper Deck's hockey cards are their Young Guns cards which are basically rookie cards. after that for myself they are just a lot of colorful dust collectors. Back to the card of Stephanie Boyd I am showing this card as it is the last card I need to get autographed and it will complete all of the Team USA players all cards being autographed. The big problem is I do not have her address for trying to get a TTM auto because Stephanie was Born in Canada but she did play for Team USA. I believe that was because her Mother was born in the United States. I only have 2 team Canada players from this set autographed as it will be a huge challenge finding their addresses.

I Wanted to show this card because it is one of my favorite cards I love the name and these cards have a beautiful border and the puck with the team info is nice. However what I do not like is the dark background because when you send to these players, they sign the back of the cards instead of the fronts because most do not have a silver or gold paint pen. So I did get Hattie Hoff's autograph back but signed on the cards back. I plan on sending this card to her and ask her to sign the front in a color that will show, I might even send her a paint pen in a bubble mailer along with the card hoping I get it back signed and when I do I will show it here in an upcoming blog post.

This is the autograph of Hattie Hoff on the cards reverse and she really has a nice autograph which is why it is easy for me to have already made up my mind on sending my last card of her for her autograph on the cards front and in silver paint pen. I only have the one card of her but this card I will keep here as it is the second card of her.

I am showing a drawing I did a couple of years ago. It is a drawing of a covered bridge near where I grew up. The Bridge is called The Blair covered Bridge and the river is the Pemigewasset. This drawing took some time and I am hoping I can get back to drawing as I developed trigger finger over the winter months hoping it gets better so I can get back to drawing.

These 2 drawings I did and they are of our dog Piper. Both were done using a Q-tip and Charcoal, the first drawing Piper was playing in the mud so I called it "Dirty Face". I love to draw and I have been drawing for over 57 years.

Well I hope you all enjoyed this post as I found some interesting pick-ups and auto's. I hope I have a better week this week for getting back lots of autographs through the mail. Until next time, Happy Collecting!!!

GOLD, GOLD, GOLD!!!

It appears that Gold is much popular with card collectors so much that some collectors seem to have put together complete sets. One of those sets was a 1996 Danbury Mint Gold set of 50 cards. These cards were purchased by paying payments and it reminded me of being in a club. I never did this but I acquired a complete set but to be honest I sure am glad I did not buy these cards. These cards came with their own binder and the sheets were included with the players name etched in gold lettering at each slot.

This card is of Tyrus Cobb of the Detroit Tigers and as you can see each card came housed in its own plastic case. These cards were very difficult to read on the cards back. You have to shift the card around in the light to see the players stats. I still say that Ty Cobb was the greatest hitter all-time but I know others feel differently. Cobb won a total of 12 batting titles. In 1909 Ty won the triple Crown and went on to win MVP honors in 1911 and finished that season with an amazing 419 batting average.

This card is the 1996 Danbury Mint Gold card of Babe Ruth who needs no introduction. Looking at these cards you can figure out where the cards images were from. There are other cards that are similar, the 1933 Goudey of Ruth is one of my favorites.

This card is from the same set of Lou Gehrig and when you look at these cards the holder is actually bendable with a inset groove around the entire card.

This last card from the 1996 Danbury Mint is of Fred Lynn as a member of the Boston Red Sox. Fred was one of my favorite ball players along with Jim Rice and in 1975 they were the Gold Duct twins. Lynn won the American League MVP and Rookie of the year with Jim Rice finishing third for the American League MVP award and second to the Rookie of the year.

Now jumping to hockey this card is the 1992-93 Topps Gold card of Don Sweeney. These cards were one of my favorite card designs and the card having the players name plate in Gold. In comparison to the 1996 Danbury Mint cards I would choose the 1992-93 Topps Gold over the 1996 Danbury Mint  cards. The backs of the cards backs much easier to read and the Danbury Mint cards have so much glare you need to shift the card in the light to see the player.

This card is the 2023 Upper Deck Team Canada Women's Go To The Top Gold card of Sarah Fillier. These cards are a glossy foil gold card and you can see more of the cards background with rainbow colors.

This card is the 2023 Tim Horton's Legends card of Nancy Drolet. This card I did get autographed and it is not an easy autograph to get. A tough signer for me but Try Try Try again until you succeed.

I just got this autograph card back from Tara Mounsey who was newly inducted in the United states Hockey Hall of Fame. She even added the inscription USHHOF '25. My next blog will be discussing some very old tobacco cards. Look forward to reading your responses and if you like the blog please give us a follow. 

Happy Collecting!!!