If you are ever looking to get some cheap autographs look no further than 97-98 Be A Player. Boxes of these are still out on the market for about 32 bucks which will land you 16 autographs. The one knock against this set is NO Wayne, Mario or Patrick autos. I was looking at two auctions the other day on Ebay. One was for 3 unopened packs which had a buy it now for 8 bucks or a lot of 10 which was up for auction and I won with a 6 dollar bid. So having won the bid, I decided not to take a chance on the 3 packs and instead won another auction on some sweet vintage which I will share next week!
Here is my haul which tallies for 60 cents a card.
Steve Washburn Rookie.
Autograph isn't the finest I have ever seen but it isn't an initial either. Steve had a short NHL career with the best season being his 3rd where he had 19 points in 58 games. Steve kicked around a few pro leagues but never met the expectations on him from junior where he had a great career with the '67s.
Scott Walker was a bit of a late bloomer like Ray Whitney. Had a couple of decent seasons with Nashville and Carolina with the best being 03-04 when he had 25 goals and 67 points.
Janne Niimimaa
I like that Janne numbered his autograph, and I wish more players did that! Janne started his career off well with the Flyers and Oilers before making himself disappear in Montreal (which I am sure isn't easy). He reappeared in Europe where he is currently a star defenceman with Lulea HF of the Swedish Elite League.
Aaron Miller may have some seriously bad luck. His rookie season he played just 5 reg season games, meanwhile, the Avalanche would then win the Stanley Cup but that meant no ring for Aaron because he played no playoff games and only 5 regular season he hadn't played enough games to qualify as a Stanley Cup member. Then the next time Colorado would win is in 2001. Well half way through the season Aaron found himself traded to Los Angeles. This deal was important because Rob Blake found himself in Colorado which used their top notch defence to beat the defending champion NJ Devils. So again no ring for Aaron. Aaron was also a member of the 2002 USA Olympic team which lost in the gold medal game to Canada. Don't worry Aaron, you are a winner in my heart!
Dan McGillis
As a former Devil, I was happy to get this autograph. However, we had him buried in the minors before the season was out with us and he never played in the NHL again. Not one of Lou's best signings that is for sure.
Vladamir Malakhov
Speaking of bad signings, Malakhov is also a former Devil. The first time around he was picked up was before the trade deadline and along with Mogilny were they were very instrumental in the Devils winning their second Stanley Cup. Lou signed him in 05 for another go with the club and the season didn't quite go as planned as Malakhov had trouble playing well after the lockout and was traded to the Sharks in 06 as a measure to get his salary off the books. It cost NJ a first rounder and in exchange we were given players who are either in Russia or some beer league right now.
Ken Belanger
Don't let the mullet fool you, he was a tough guy! Averaged almost 3 PIM a game for his career. Interesting auto too!
Poor bastard was apart of the Gretzky trade that sent Wayne to St. Louis. Couldn't live up to expectations and only broke double digits for goals twice.
Jeff Brown
This card was the main reason for purchasing the whole lot. I liked Jeff Brown a lot as a kid and always felt he was underrated! 747 games played and he finished with 585 points, not bad for a d-man and made one Cup final with Vancouver. Neat auto too!
Another Cup winner with NJ. A part of the Devils '95 win but only played a few playoff games. Bounced around between the NHL and AHL but made it for a total of 331 games. Nice to get another auto from the lot of former Devils players.
As you can see, 10 autographs for pretty cheap. Many wouldn't be my first choice and I already have Malakhov from a previous pack but to me Brown, Niimimaa, Ward and Dean are worth the price alone and the others are as good as freebies.
Goes to show that TTM's aren't the only way to get cheap autos, keep an eye on some Ebay auctions and you might find there are other deals to be had!
this 97/98 bap set, do the auto cards have a certification on the back saying congratulations like all the newer sets do?
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