Mail Day 2026-01: eBay and TCDB Trade

 Well, it's been something of a minute since I last posted hasn't it? Life has a way of derailing the best laid plans, but you know that as well as I do so there's no sense taking up your precious time with lengthy explanations. I'll just summarize by saying cancer = bad, survival = good, collecting cards again = the best.

So with the elephant in the room placed firmly in the corner where it belongs, let's move on to the goods that arrived via the USPS yesterday!

First up was a small trade with a youngster on TCDB. He offered these two 2023 Topps Heritage cards for an equal number of 2026 Topps. I dig the overall aesthetic of these cards, and especially enjoy the busy backs - lots of stats, an auto facsimile, and a few nuggets of trivia.

The addition of these two cards cuts my 2023 Topps Heritage needs down to 14 - including the probably-impossible-to-find Riley Greene and Javier Baez image variants.

The other PWE that arrived was an eBay purchase of Colt Keith's 2024 Bowman Chrome #34. This one completes my base card needs for that set (sure, there were only three Tigers but a win's a win) though I still have a number of blank pages waiting for various insert cards.

And there you have it - short and sweet. Catch ya next time!

Back in Blue

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post, which seems to be a recurring theme on this blog, but to get rolling again I'd like to showcase my latest eBay wins - a couple of Blue Jacket relic cards that I picked up from a seller in Canada for less than $4.25 (including shipping).

The first is this Derick Brassard 2010-11 Upper Deck Game Jersey insert (GJ-BR) from Series 1.

The swatch isn't very exciting (but it was game-used) and the card design, particularly the font, is rather meh, but a jersey card is a jersey card. Brass, who along with Derek Dorsett and R.J. Umberger has become the face of the Blue Jackets since the departure of Rick Nash, isn't having a spectacular year so far. But then again, he's not at all an offensive powerhouse. Although he has only 2 goals this year, his goals-per-game average is actually right on the money when compared to his output from last season.

Next up is this Gilbert Brulé 2005-06 UD Ice Cool Threads insert (CT-GB).

Brulé was a big deal for Jackets fans in the mid 2000's. As the club's first-round pick (6th overall) in the 2005 draft, fans and team executives expected a lot out of the Edmonton native. Instead, Brulé turned in three forgettable and injury-plagued seasons before being shipped off to the Oilers for Raffi Torres (who is also no longer with the team, leading me to consider the G-man one of the worst of the 1st-round busts). The card isn't much more exciting, especially considering that this is a "photo shoot jersey", but as I repeatedly say when dealing with Blue Jackets relic cards - a jersey card is a jersey card.

eBay Score: Jaroslav Balastik

I got this nice on-card auto for just $0.99 from a seller in in York, PA, that I've bought a couple of cards from in the past. He's definitely got some quality items at very reasonable prices (and low shipping).

The design of this Fresh Ink subset of 2005-06 Fleer Ultra is so-so.  I'm not a huge fan of the spilled ink look, but it doesn't do enough to distract away from the player photo so I can live with it. Balastik (or Balaštík) is another of the Blue Jackets' Czech draftees, being taken in the 6th round of the 2002 draft. He emerged from the Czech Extraliga in 2005, playing in 14 games for Columbus' AHL affiliate Syracuse before being elevated to the Blue Jackets for the balance of the season. In 66 games, Balastik was 12-10-22 with 26 PIM, but stood out for his sniping skills during shootouts - 6 of 9 (67% for my fellow math illiterates)! Despite numbers that weren't too terribly off from the team as a whole, the Jackets sent Balastik packing back to Europe where he remains.

The reverse of the card is really rather disappointing. The certificate of authenticity aside, there's really nothing to the back other than the mailing address of Fleer. What the hell do I need that for?

eBay Score: Jordan Pearce

My first foray into the Between the Pipes offering from In The Game comes in the form of this 2011 Jordan Pearce Goaligraph.

During his collegiate career with Notre Dame, Jordan earned the CCHA Goaltender of the Year for the 2008-09 season - after which the Red Wings signed him to a two-year contract. For the last three seasons, Jordan has bounced between the Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL) and Toledo Walleye (ECHL) as the Wings extended his contract through the 2012-13 season - which we all know will soon be completely eliminated.

I managed to acquire this nicely signed (on-card) specimen from a seller in Warrenton, Virgina for just $0.99 plus a very reasonable shipping charge.

eBay Score: David Vyborny

Sticking with an unintentional Czech theme, I scored this 2008-09 Fleer Ultra Uniformity David Vyborny #UA-DV game-used jersey card (and once more, for the perfectionists - Výborný).  The swatch is rather bland, as are most of the Jackets relics on the market, but the card design isn't too terribly bad. Not necessarily exciting, the subdued wintry accents nevertheless convey a nice hockey "mood".

Originally drafted by Edmonton in the 2nd round of the 1993 draft, Vyborny was a rising star in the Czech Extraliga. He was tearing up the league as a member of Sparta Prague when he joined the Cape Breton Oilers of the AHL for the 1994 season, where he notched up 61 points in 76 games. For reasons that I don't understand, Edmonton didn't keep Vyborny in North America after that season. Although he returned to setting records in the Czech league, it wasn't until the 2000 campaign (the inaugural season of the Jackets) when Vyborny reached the NHL after Columbus signed him to add some offensive pop to the line-up. And pop he did. While not necessarily a superstar, he would set (over the next several seasons) franchise records for plus/minus and consecutive games before eventually returning to the Czech Republic after the 2007-08 campaign - where he continues to play though his numbers have dwindled significantly.

Purchased from a seller in northern Wisconsin for just $0.99 plus a fairly reasonable shipping charge, this pick-up wasn't a bad score.  Booking at $8, there haven't been very many of them on the market lately.

eBay Score: Tomas Popperle

Is it really a "score" when the player is someone that no one (or very few people) have ever heard of? If the card fills a void in your collection, then you bet your ass it is! Which, of course, is the motivation behind my eBay pickup of this 2007-08 SPx #160 Tomas Popperle 573/999 rookie card (or Tomáš Pöpperle, for the perfectionists).

Tomas was a product of the sometimes questionable draft practices employed by the then-GM of the Blue Jackets Doug MacLean. In the 2005 draft, which say the likes of Kris Russell and enforcer Jared Boll become Jackets, MacLean snagged Popperle in the fifth round. While those taken ahead of him in the draft have each laced up their skates several hundred times in the NHL, the Czech native saw action just twice - both times during the 2006-07 campaign. Tomas stayed in the AHL for a part of the following season before returning to the Czech Republic, where he continues to play.

As for the card itself, I'm not a huge fan of the design. Too much of the player is obscured by graphic flourishes, and the "digital" font is just a pain in the ass to read. Yet, it fills a void so the $.099 (plus shipping) I sent to the seller in Quarryville, PA is justified.

eBay Score: September 9th, 2012

When that little brown padded envelope arrived in the mail today, I got to thinking about the month-end eBay posts I've been doing. Originally, having won just a card or two a month, the posts weren't too bad length-wise. I've stepped up my hunt, so the acquisitions have been increasing and the blog posts are getting correspondingly larger. Therefore, I'm going to try posting as the packages arrive - starting today.

The first win of September is a three-card score from hockeycv in York, PA. I apologize for the lousy scan quality, but these foil cards and my scanner don't get along very well.

This Pavel Datsyuk 2005-06 UD Black Diamond #134 books for $8, but there are a number on the Beckett Marketplace for less than a buck. I ventured $0.99 on this card, which in itself isn't a great deal, but I needed multiple items to save on shipping so consider this an insurance purchase.

Next up is this Chris Osgood 2000-01 Be A Player Signature Series #235 Ruby parallel, numbered 35/200.

Booking at $5, this card is showing up for $2.50 on Beckett but not getting a lot of love on eBay. Another $0.99 snag.

Finally is this Marc Rodgers 1999-00 SP Authentic #102 rookie card numbered 368/2000. Booking at $5 and selling between $3.00 and $5 on Beckett, I grabbed it for $0.99.

Marc had a brief NHL career, playing in just 21 games with the Red Wings. His last season on the ice was 2001-02 with the Knoxville Speed of the UHL. This isn't a bad looking card, but if I were Marc, I would have sued over the use of that most unfortunate photo on the reverse.

August eBay Wins

Now that more than a month has passed since my last post here at Hockey Card Fanatic, I suppose it's high time that I get it in gear and write about something. Besides all of the typical excuses for posting so rarely, I suppose a lot of the problem rests with the state of disarray that my collection always seems to be in. I've been acquiring cards without pause over these summer months, but getting them organized, scanned, and on the blog tends to be where the logistics break down. I suppose that's just something I'll have to add to my New Year's Resolution list.  Until then....

August was a slightly more productive month on the eBay front, as I snagged nearly half a dozen cards at quite reasonable prices. First up is Fredrik Norrena's 2006-07 SP Game Used Edition #112. Numbered to /999, mine is relatively high at 812.

This RC is just a base card, but the design is pretty slick in a sci-fi sorta way. It books for $8 but there seem to have been very few on the market recently, with just one selling in July for $2 + shipping. I picked this one up for $2.24 (including shipping). From the same seller, and also for a total of $2.24, I picked up Norrena's 2006-07 SPx #157 jersey card. The numbering here was much better, coming in at 64/1999.

Also considered a rookie card, this piece also features a sci-fi motif that doesn't come across as tasteful as the previous card. The jersey swatch, which of course is certified as having been worn during an "official" photo shoot, is also nothing to write home about. Still, I'm happy with the bargain since the card books at $10 and seems to run between $3 and $6 on BIN listings. Norrena seemed to be on the rise as the SEL star took over the starting job in Columbus from Pascal Leclaire in the 2006 season. His grip on the position would soon be pried away by up-and-coming flash-in-the-pan Steve Mason. Displaced back to the AHL, Norrena eventually made his way back to Europe where he currently plays in the SEL.

Next up is Kyle Wilson's 2010-11 Donruss #265 Rated Rookie card.

This is definitely not a very remarkable card, but shelling out $2.07 including shipping for a card that books at $5 and lists between $2 and $5 on eBay was a fairly good bargain. The Ontario native suited up for 32 games with Columbus during the 2010-11 season (plus another 23 with Springfield) before moving on to Nashville for the 2011-12 campaign. From the same seller that I acquired the Wilson card comes my two Red Wing pickups of the month.

This Jimmy Howard 2010-11 Donruss The Goalies #9 card is a pretty sweet little find. You really can't tell from the scan, but it's mostly a clear plastic deal with an opaque splash of color along the lower third. Booking for $4 and listing on eBay for around $3, I obtained mine for $2.07. Making it a three-card deal is this Joey Kocur 2010-11 Donruss Tough Times #3 insert.

I really dig the vintage look of these inserts. Joey is the only tough guy that I need from this set, so the $2.07 I paid for a card that books at $4 and has been going as high as $2 on eBay is a fair bargain in my mind.

July eBay Wins

I thought I'd break up the monotony of my pack rips with a showcase of my eBay successes for the month of July. My hockey card buying on eBay is sporadic at best, mostly because I hate paying two to three times the cost of a card just for shipping, but this summer has been surprisingly bleak as far as trades are concerned. Of those who have cards that I want in their trade list, I'm encountering precious few who are interested in parting with them. Oh well. That's what eBay is for. Starting off my wins is a pair of Blue Jacket gems, literally.

This Steve Mason 2008-09 Upper Deck Black Diamond Rookie Gem could certainly fetch a decent price back in the day, and still books for around $15, but has been going for around a buck on eBay lately - which is what I snagged it for (plus shipping) from a seller in Maine.

Next up, and from the same seller, is this Derick Brassard 2008-09 UD Black Diamond Rookie Gem. Also booking at $15, Brass has also not been getting much love from collectors these days. Well, probably ever. But such is the joy that comes from being a Blue Jackets collector and my wallet is only .99 lighter because of it.

My highlight acquisition of the month, though for July it's not such a huge honor, is this moderately low-numbered 2002-03 Upper Deck Honor Roll dual jersey card featuring Mikael Samuelsson and Sergei Fedorov. As you can see from the card's reverse, the Fedorov swatch is from an actual game-worn jersey while Samuelsson's is from an "official" photo shoot - a fact that doesn't bother me since I picked this up for the Fedorov relic. Ironically, Samuelsson will don the winged wheel just a couple of years later while Fedorov soon departs for Anaheim. This card books at $30 and has been spotted as a BIN and in the Beckett Marketplace at around $8-$10. I picked it up for less than a buck from DNA Sportscards in PA.