Breaking the Seal on 2015 Topps

This weekend looks like the soonest that I will physically get my hands on any 2015 Topps, but I have started with a few saved searches and made one purchase so far. I really can't explain why I am drawn to more obscure players, but the only player I really wanted to collect out of 2015 Topps was Tommy Kahnle. When one of his acetate cards popped up with a reasonable "buy it now" price, I couldn't pass it up.

A Rule V pick-up from the Yankees, Kahnle stuck with the Rockies all season and lead the team with 68 2/3 innings out of the bull-pen, and had a 2.62 ERA from from April until the end of July before a few roughs outing and a trip to DL left him with a 4.19 mark on the year.

Bowman Black Collection - Daniel Winkler

Kind of a bitter-sweet card in Daniel Winkler, who started 2014 with Double-A Tulsa, and proceeded to go 5-2 with a 1.41 ERA over 12 starts, with a 9.1 SO/9 and 2.2 BB/9. The previous season Winkler was just as good with a 13-7 record, 2.98 ERA and 10 so/9 across two levels. Pretty exciting to a pitching starved franchise like the Rockies. Then he hurt his elbow, resulting in Tommy John surgery in June, and then in December was selected by the Braves in the Rule V draft. There is a chance he will be back with the Rockies if the Rule V thing doesn't work out, or maybe he will be a star with the Braves, hopefully he recovers and can continue his career no matter which organization it is with.

Cards from a younger me (pt3)

More cards liberated from my childhood and brought into my current collection. Being a good Canadian boy there is a ton of hockey that should be sorted out one day, but for now just a few gems made it.

1996-97 Collector's Edge Ice The Wall (pt2)

Jim Carey of the Portland Pirates - This was probably the biggest card at the time, Carey was coming off winning the 1995-96 Vezina trophy in his second NHL season, leading the league with 9 shutouts. His career would then take a quick downturn after being traded to the Bruins, sent to the minors, then signing with the Blues. Pretty surprising someone who was the best goalie in the NHL at age 21, would be out of professional hockey by age 24.

Dwayne Roloson of the Saint Johns Flames - The longest NHL career of the goalies in the set playing in 606 NHL games, Roloson had his best year in 2005-06 leading the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Finals, but then got hurt in game 1 and the Oilers eventually lost to the Hurricanes.

Les Kuntar of the Hershey Bears - The only player in this set I didn't recognize, Kuntar played 6 games form Montreal in 1993-94. His wiki page is only 3 sentences long, moving on.

Mike Dunham of the Albany River Rats - Dunham had a better career than I remember, he shared the Jennings trophy as a rookie in 1996-97 with Martin Brodeur, and went on to play in 394 NHL games spending time as the main goalie for both Nashville and the Rangers.

Eric Fichaud of the Worcester Icecats - I remember Fichaud being a bigtime prospect, but I could be mis-remembering or he seriously flamed out only playing in 75 NHL games over parts of 6 seasons.

Kevin Hodson of the Adirondack Red Wings - A young goalie buried behind Chris Osgood on the Red Wings Cup teams in 1997 and 1998. Finished his career with the Lightning playing in 71 career NHL games.

Cards from a younger me: Collector's Edge Ice The Wall (pt1)

Every time I go bad to visit my parents, I try and take some of the cards I have stored in the room I grew up in, this past visit I managed to find room for a few. One of the highlights was a complete set of Collector's Edge Ice "The Wall" inserts, featuring die-cut goalie masks from a minor league set of a long gone company. These are so great I felt I needed to post the whole 12 card set

#1 Ray LeBlanc of the Chicago Wolves - I don't even know were to start with LeBlanc, just check his hockey-reference page, multiple teams, multiple leagues, Winter Olympics, and 1 NHL game. A pro from 1986-2000, but he played in one NHL game, basically so the Blackhawks could protect Dominik Hasek, Jimmy Waite and Ed Belfour in the expansion draft. At least he won the game and was included in 1991-92 Parkhurst and 1992-93 score sets.

Bowman Black Collection - Ryan Casteel

Another Bowman Black Collection auto, this time we have Ryan Casteel from 2014 Bowman Chrome. A power hitting prospect who just finished a full season in Double-A, Casteel had been a full time catcher until 2014 when he started to split time at first and at DH. After playing mostly first in the Arizona Fall League this past season, it looks like he might be moving away from catching full-time, but he might not have the bat to stick at first base. 2015 will be a big year for Casteel to either earn a full time catching job or prove he can hit well enough to land a job manning first base.

Final Zistle Trade of 2014

Just getting around to posting the last Zistle trade of the year, staring off with my favorite card of the batch, a Jim Lachey from 1992 Wild Card. While not a member of the original Hogs Offensive Line, Lachey was one of the better lineman in the league when healthy, and looks like an honorary Hog in this photo.

My Top Acquisitions of 2014

With the end of a year, there are always two things, a chance to look back at the year that was, and lists. Here is a combination of these two things with my top acquisitions of 2014. These are in a sort of order ending with my most favorite, but I decided not to number them as my order would change if I tried to to this again.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Framed Museum Collection Autographs Gold Wilin Rosario - My feels toward Rosario as a baseball player have soured, and he will most likely not be with Colorado when 2015 opens, but there Topps does that is as nice as the Museum Collection metal framed autographs. Scans in now way do these cards justice, they are just amazing.

Zistle Trade #35

A smaller zistle trade of that cards that came from Los Angeles to the frozen Canadian winter. As someone who appreciates a nice set of sideburns, this Eddie Murray card goes into the sideburn Hall of Fame, first ballot. The same photo was re-used for his stadium club card this year, one I still have to track down. Rob Brantly for the catcher collection, and another chef card.

My Black Friday COMC Rundown

While I definitely did not go overboard this year, I picked up a few cool things worthy of showing off. Starting with a card bought a few days before, a 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Chris Cooley, while not a fan of relics, I was sold on this card mostly because of the "21" Sean Taylor patch on the photo and Cooley being one of the last Redskins I actually liked from when the team was just not very good, and not the hot stinking dumpster fire it is now.