It took a bit of thinking to get where we land this week. How do I move from a set like 80-81 OPC, the first series that jumps out for me in my childhood, in a way that didn’t seem like a drastic shift? While far from instant, coming up with an option didn’t end up being the struggle I anticipated. This was in large part thanks to some plain old reminiscing about what I loved about collecting as a kid and resent about where the hobby has evolved to at present. Boiled down in one sentence, I miss the days where anyone could drop what amounted to pocket change at the corner store and walk away with your favorite players rookie card. A time when you didn’t have to consider if they were in the “entry level" product of $2 to $3 or exclusive to the middle/high end releases, ranging anywhere from $5 to $100 or more. An era when, even if your folks weren’t rolling in cash, the hobby was still accessible by what you might dig up from between the couch cushions or if you happened upon a returnable bottle between home and wherever you were randomly headed that day. We were on a much more level playing field by far…
Somewhere between my childhood and now, my hobby of choice became much more than kids game, evolving into a well oiled business, and settling into what is now best described as an industry built on creating investments. I know the days of a ten, fifteen or twenty-five cent wax pack exist only in the memories of those of us of an age to have been able to budget an afternoon of candy amongst friends with fifty cents in hand. Licensing deals with the leagues are exponentially higher, the quality of the product at a different level, and the demand for rare and memorabilia-based product leading to higher priced, lower production, options beyond what is accessible to many of us. I understand it. Somewhat bastardizes my innocent memories of a simple and fun childhood hobby, but I get it. Just sucks that, much like many kids have been priced out of playing hockey, they are being priced out of a hobby. Take Canadian dollar value. The pack I spent ten or twenty-five cents on in 1980 would be thirty-three to eighty-two cents now if we went purely on inflation rates. Standard entry level pack these days? A minimum $2, more likely $3, for a low end product. And, it is what it is.
So what does this have to do with my revelation about what to highlight for the latest entry? Much of it, quite honestly, is just me complaining uncontrollably as the keyboard doesn’t care how long I vent! The other pieces absent of unhinged ranting, however, do capture some of the childhood magic, albeit in more modern times and their associated costs. I give you the 2016-17 Upper Deck Parkhurst set. This was a curious one for me when I first encountered it late 2016 while still living in the Toronto ‘burbs. What we have is a 400 card base set that was initially marketed as a Wal-Mart Canada exclusive , but that found itself on the shelves of many US store shelves also. The explanation was that.....there was no explanation? Just kind of happened! Anyhow, you could grab these bad boys in one of three ways (blaster box, rack packs/fat packs, single packs from a gravity box), with the different packs offering different insert hits (see below for a break down). Here was what really struck me at the time though: of the 400 card set, 66 were rookies. Of those rookies, none of the big names that year were excluded. Of the packs available at my location (single and fat/rack packs) you were going to pull one or more per pack, with rack packs often seeing two or three per. Cost? Three bucks a single pack, eight bucks a rack pack! I still see rack packs pop up at Wal-Mart on occasion still. Cost now? Six bucks. Hot damn! It’s not 0.83 cents, but it’s bang for your buck in current dollars for sure!
What did this allow for me? A great, cheaper, way to enjoy the hobby with my kids without getting into base UD at the $5-$6 price, while also pretty much guaranteeing them they’d land some type of insert or rookie in the process. It became the hunt for the Auston Matthews rookie! We landed many a Marner, Nylander, Zacha, Werenski and Aho before one day in the summer of 2017 my youngest landed the first, and only, Matthews rookie among us using her hit vibe radar in choosing among the three single packs I grabbed us all to break. That was until a local store put a bunch of $6 rack packs out this fall and I pulled five from them! When it rains it pours, right?
If that’s the anchor card for Dr. Shawn's storytime I suppose it makes sense it'd be the card to add to our ultimate Set this week eh? Here it is!
Well, I lied a touch. What we have here is the red parallel of the Auston Matthew’s rookie card. Base set was an emerald green of sorts, here we have the red (1 in 3 individual packs from gravity or blaster boxes, 4 in 1 fat/rack pack), while a rarer black parallel (1 in 12 blaster packs/10 gravity packs/each fat and rack pack) was also available. In the case of the Matthews card above, the short-print aspect ups the value from the general $20 US to one in the range of $40 to $50 US, condition dependent. If I’m being true to my typical guidelines in instances such as this, I would also not consider this a true rookie card anymore, the reasoning for which I will delve into on another occasion!
So what is there to highlight here? To start, while the design is kept relatively simple in as much as it is an entry level product, that does not mean it is bland by any stretch. Name and rookie badging pop out with the use of metallic-like plates which, rather than exuding the sharpness of a blade, carry the flow and curvature of a high end sports car. The coulouring of red border, as in the case of the green and black, are not flat, but rather carry warmer hues and have a marble-like texture that lend a certain classiness to the presentation. The late December release date allowed for in game photography, and may give us one of the smaller selection of cards for Papi sans the creepy 70’s stache!
The backs of the cards (please forgive my crap photo which will be fixed in the next 24!) do not vary widely in offerings, re-using the photo and borrowing badging to frame in the sections. Nice to see the logo included in tandem with the photo, as well as the Lions stats from his pre-draft play in the Swiss League, but nothing overly special per se. To that point, however, I am not complaining nor suggesting it is lacking in any manner. This set was designed as an entry level product and actually does a great job of not having the cards appear anything less than stylish. At the end of the day it filled the very thing I was looking for which was to share the excitement of some decent hits with my kids without breaking the bank, and making some special memories in the process.
Other Pieces Of The 2016-17 Upper Deck Parkhurst Set
Base Set:
The base set was comprised of 400 cards numbered one to four hundred (1-400). Cards 1-330 comprised of established NHL players, 331-396 of 66 rookies for the 16-17 season (including Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Brown, Kapanen and Hyman from the Leafs, Laine, Aho, Point, Werenski, Mantha, Zacha, Provorov, Konecny, Chabot, and Sergachev , among others)
Parallel Sets
Both red (1 in 3 individual packs from gravity or blaster boxes, 4 in 1 fat/rack pack), and black parallel (1 in 12 blaster packs/10 gravity packs/each fat and rack pack) sets of the 400 card base set were also available
Top 25 Set:
A 25 card foil-like subset featuring active NHL players. Pull odds were 1 per fat/rack pack. Red and black parallel short prints were also available, numbered to 100 and 25, respectively. Pull odds for the parallels were not available.
Protectors of the Net Set
This is an 8-card goalie based foil and embossed set. The pull ratio was 1 in 12.5 individual packs and 1 in 6.25 fat/rack packs.
NHL Centennial Salute Set:
This 24-card foil set highlighted numerous moments from the history of the league. They are inserted at a ratio of 1 in 4 individual packs and 1 in 2 fat/rack packs.
Letter on the Sweater Set:
This 8-card set is comprised of foil-based cards of various Captains in the league. Pull odds were 1 in 12.5 individual packs and 1 in 6.25 fat/rack packs.
All-Star Favourites Set:
This 10-card set is comprised of foil-based cards of various Captains in the league. Pull odds were 1 in 10 individual packs and 1 in 5 fat/rack packs.
Rookie Parade Set:
This was a 33-card set of rookies were numbered out of 999. Cards were only available from blaster and gravity box packs. Red (short-printed to 199; Gravity box packs only) and gold (short-printed to 99; Blaster boxes only) were also available, as were 1 of 1 proofs for each of the cards.
Blue Rookie Parade Set:
This was a 29-card set of rookies were numbered out of 999. Cards were only available from blaster and gravity box packs. Red (short-printed to 199; Gravity box packs only) and gold (short-printed to 99; Blaster boxes only) were also available, as were 1 of 1 proofs for each of the cards.
An autographed blue parallel of 29 cards was also available, pulled at a rate of 1 in 240 blaster packs and 1 in 216 gravity box packs.
Tis the Season Set:
This was an unannounced insert lacks pull info and ratios. Anywhere from an 18 to 20 card set.
Other Pieces Of The Ultimate Set Build To Date
1980-81 O-Pee-Chee
80-81 Base
20008 UD Champs
Champ’s Mini Signatures
2017 Upper Deck Toronto Maple Leafs Centennial
Maple Leafs Marks
Positive vibes to you all. Please put some care into you and yours this beautiful day and look out for one another where possible! Our impact on others with even the smallest of actions, is far greater than we tend to realize. My best your way…
________________________________________________________________________
Do you have a piece of treasured memorabilia that has a great story behind it? Let me know and you can be featured in an article. Doesn't matter how big or small the piece is, how valuable it may be, or whether it's a common item or more oddball. If you think it has a story, contact me via the information below and we'll chat. In the meantime, check out some previous "Display Case" articles via the links below to see what others have submitted in the past...
______________________________________________________________________
Shawn Gates
[email protected]
Facebook: ShawnMcShawn
_________________________________________________________________________
Previous “Ultimate Set Build” Articles
1980-81 O-Pee-Chee
80-81 Base
20008 UD Champs
Champ’s Mini Signatures
2017 Upper Deck Toronto Maple Leafs Centennial
Maple Leafs Marks
Previous “Who Am I?” Articles
#1,
#2,
#3,
#4,
#5,
#6,
#7,
#8,
#9,
#10,
#11,
#12,
#13,
#14,
#15,
#16,
#17,
#18,
#19,
#20,
#21 ,
#22 ,
#23,
#24,
#25,
#26,
#27,
#28,
#29,
#30,
#31,
#32,
#33,
#34,
#35,
#36,
#37,
#38,
#39,
#40,
#41,
#42,
#43,
#44,
#45,
#46,
#47,
#48,
#49,
#50,
#51,
#52,
#53,
#54
Previous “Ultimate Set Build” Articles
1980-81 O-Pee-Chee
80-81 Base
20008 UD Champs
Champ’s Mini Signatures
2017 Upper Deck Toronto Maple Leafs Centennial
Maple Leafs Marks
Previous ”The Display Case” Posts
#1: The “Frankenstick!”
#2: Your desk has the right to remain collectable!
#3: Have Pads, Will Travel
#4: Pick a Pekka (Rinne) Autographed Mask
#5: Ted Lindsay Gets Kronwalled?
#6: The Only Thing We Have To Fehr Is Fehr Himself
#7: “Hungary” For Team Canada Swag
#8: The Soldiers Kid and “The Kid”
#9: Fan Appreciation & Player Humility Via The '72 Series
#10: Bobby Orr and....Birth Control?!?!?!
#11: Johnny Bower The “Portrait” Of Health At 88!!!
#12: Scotty Bowman – Stick Detective!!!
#13: Touch 'Em All Joe!!!
#14: Joey and Sergei's European (Lockout) Adventure!!!
#15: I’d Give The Jersey Off My Back For You…
#16: The Case Of The 1940’s Era Leafs
#17: Scrapping The History Of The Isles...
#18: Gretzky “Re-Signs” in Edmonton
#19: Gilmour Is Such A Caricature!!!
#20: Toys In The Attic
#21: The Right King Place At The Right King Time
#22: Momma Bear Takes On A “Killer”!!!
#23: Leafs Lunch Stool
#24: The 50 Goal Stub
#25: Scoring From The Rafters
Previous ”Random Hockey & Hobby Randomness” Posts
Gump, Game Used Beer, Ebay & Hevy Devy
Selling Kayfabe, Card Pics and Paper Babies
Previous Random Hockey Musings
Oh? Canada? A Hockey History…
Previous “Top Shelf Cards” Articles
Auston Matthews UD Premier Mega Patch
Join the Discussion:
»