Wow, has it been 800 posts already? Let's celebrate with the best modern day card IMHO.

When I started this blog nearly 7 years ago, I didn't have much in the way of expectations. I thought I might share a few packs, a few finds and perhaps make a few trades. Instead I have exceeded all those expectations of myself and 800 posts and many new friends later I wanted to bring myself back to the point where my collecting really began.  1990-91 Upper Deck.

Modern day cards in my opinion really began in 1990 when there was a huge collecting boom and it wasn't just Topps or OPC as options. In those 26 years, so many different card companies have come and gone and many set ideas and designs have also succeeded and failed. I want to use this post to share my favourite card created since 1990 and perhaps call it the best card in the past 30 years.

1990-91 Upper Deck #241 Wayne Gretzky Promo

When I started collecting cards everyone was gaga for Upper Deck. The little holograms on the back, the insert stereograms and rookies galore were the draw of these cards. Even their "tamper-proof" packs offered something different than previous card companies products. This was a set to be "invested" into to. Time flies and sadly there are more Roenick and Jagr rookies to go around to all who want them and it wasn't exactly the investment people thought. Partially because the number of people collecting cards hasn't really matched what they were back then and secondly production run was probably a "little" higher than the demand. With that being said, I just remember going to store and seeing the 90-91 UD Low series box on the shelf and I would get butterflies in my tummy wondering who I might open in that pack. 400 cards made up the low series and another 150 were added to the high series. Despite all the packs I would open, one card on the box was never in the packs and that was the Wayne Gretzky promo. I remember seeing that card on the box and I thought, wow that is a cool looking card. Wayne in all black almost looked like he was part of "The Empire" and the look on his face is much like the Mona Lisa. Is Wayne smiling? What is he thinking?

The card had me hooked and when I saw the Gretzky in the pack, dressed in his white "home jersey", I was let down. Don't get me wrong, the regular base Gretzky is a nice card but I wanted my all black Gretzky. As time went by, I would add cards and complete both the low and high series sets. I can't remember the last card I needed to complete the high series but the last card I did need to finish the low series was Ed Belfour. Later in life, during my second incarnation as a collector I was able to land my Wayne Gretzky promo. In fact, I was able to pick up two!

What makes this card so perfect in my opinion is the front, there is no fault I could find with the card. It truly is a work of art that I hope to turn into a work of art and someday I hope to share the final product if all goes well! The backside is able to support my claims as well. The photo on the back shows a home game where Wayne emerges from a scrum/war which has John Tonelli being mugged by Dean Kennedy and Wayne leaving with what I believe are his eyes locked on the puck. I even love the view you get of Wayne's iconic Titan TPM 2020 and Daoust skates.

For the keen eyed, there is a small error on the back too which is just icing on the cake if you ask me as the notation for feet and inches are inverted and list Wayne as 6" 0'. Also in view on the back is the greatest regular season point total the NHL has ever seen 215 points in 80 game. When you combine all the factors above, and the fact that there are no "gimmicks", or swatches or anything added to this card, it is one of my absolute favourite cards of all-time and in my opinion the best card made since 1990. What are your thoughts? Do you have a favourite modern day card?

Thanks goes out to all of you who read my posts and an extra special thanks to those who comment and have reached out to me over the years to make trades or chat cards. All the best and here hopes I have another 800+ posts in me!  

1990 Pro Set Hockey

1990 was the first time I ever opened a pack of cards. I had been interested in hockey for a couple of years but to that point I only ever did the Panini stickers and hockey cards were a foreign concept to me. One day my parents came home from somewhere and I had been baby-sitting my siblings when they showed up with a couple of packs of hockey cards as reward for watching my brother and sisters.

I sat down and looked at the package and saw :

The first card I saw in the pack was "Ray Borque" Needless to say the whole set of cards were full of errors when you can't even spell Bourque's name right.

I never completed the series 1 set, but I may try at some point in my life because the fact is now 20 years later I appreciate the set more now than I did back then.

90 Pro Set was my marijuana to card collecting. It was my "gateway" drug. Even though I never collected it much past 91-92 it lead to other sets and like many of you lots of dollars spent!

Recently I made a trade with Chris from http://hkycardaddict.blogspot.com/ and one card that was apart of our deal was the 90-91 Pro Set Promo Card. I felt I needed this card to help symbolize what got me into collecting and it is the second most valuable card from that set. The most valuable is the Stanley Cup hologram which is the holy grail for Pro Set hockey collectors. If you want to see it check out this link, Sal has a couple of those gems. http://www.puckjunk.com/article.php?artid=20090009

Here is the front of the card

Here is the back. Needless to say, Pro Set even managed to make an error on their promo card. They have an incorrect birth date and games played in the 87-88 season.

Over time, this set look a little better to me than it once did but maybe that is nostalgia setting in.

For all you collectors out there, what set got you into collecting?