do you feel luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuc-ky?

sometime during the last year i sold all of my hockey card sets, and a few years ago i sent all of my non-pc hockey cards to captain canuck.  i've been doing some more organizing lately, and i've removed all of my pc hockey cards from their binders, except for a couple of players.  one is wayne gretzky and the other is my favorite player - luc robitaille

i found that 1994 sports illustrated for kids card in a nickel box a few months ago, and it resulted in me taking stock of my luc collection.  i realized that i did not have a rookie card of the hall-of-famer, so i corrected that quickly by picking up a 1987-88 topps card

i grew up not only following the dodgers, but the kings as well.  i believe i was actually wearing a kings t-shirt  as a toddler before i ever wore a dodger t-shirt, courtesy of my uncle.  anyway, i generally started following hockey around 1979. my dad and my uncle were big fans, and we used to go to kings games a couple of times each season. my dad took my brother and i to the 1980-81 all-star game at the fabulous forum in los angeles. that was the first time i saw gretzky play. luc obviously wasn't there, but the triple crown line (charlie simmer, marcel dionne, and dave taylor) was.  i thought that gordie howe was there, but i must be thinking of a game we went to the previous season to see him playing with the whalers because i definitely remember seeing number 9 skating with his son, mark (mark was at the all-star game, so that is probably lending to my confusion).  i'm getting off track - i was just trying to establish my legit hockey fandom that stretched from the late 1970's into the late 1990's.

i moved to orange county in time for the gretzky years (i even attended his first regular season game with the kings), and i spent too much money on game tickets and cards during that time.  it was so much fun being a kings fan during those years, as the team was popular and the organization did a lot to connect with the fans.  even though they lost the stanley cup to montreal, it was a great time to be a fan.

when i moved from socal to minny, there was no nhl team in the twin cities.  i did sign up to be a season ticket holder for the wild in their first season along with some friends (just as i had done with the mighty ducks of anaheim back in their inaugural season) and i really enjoyed it.  i was really excited in 2002 when the red wings won the stanley cup because luc was on that team, but my attention span for the nhl was waning.  the lack of a season in 2004-05 pretty much killed my fandom, although i did watch a few stanley cup finals games here and there in subsequent years, including game 6 of the 2011-12 finals that saw the kings finally raise lord stanley's cup.

luc was in the front office then, but it was still a great moment to see him hold the cup as a king.  

robitaille continues to show up in hockey product apparently, but i am not really actively seeking out his cards.  i do have a final tribute from 2006-07 fleer flair showcase

those numbers are ridiculous, including more goals than any other left winger.

i'm definitely keeping my luc collection, and will hold on to the gretzky cards for the time being, but i still have a bunch of hockey cards featuring most of the key players from the late 1980's into the mid 1990's if anyone is interested.

the tradewinds have been blowing

today was the trading deadline.  the non-waiver trading deadline, to be precise.  there's no deadline on trading cards, but there probably is a proper timeframe for posting about those trades. i may have missed the boat on some of these.

not really a trade in the traditional sense, but i did trade a small amount of money for some cards as part of colbey's cardboard collections affordable breaks.

the first one featured 1994 pacific, and i chose the dodgers which netted me some nice cards including jody reed

who is turning two on the back

my assigned team was the blue jays, which resulted in another back side double play with roberto alomar's card

two alomars for the price of one.

the other affordable break i joined featured 2002 upper deck diamond collection and 2003 upper deck 40 man.  i wound up with a card from 2003 upper deck vintage update (included in packs of 40 man) of current manager dave roberts

unfortunately, doc's card came with a badly dinged corner.

it turns out that i already had a complete team set of 2003 40 man - it's 2002 40 man that is lacking in my collection. oh well, it was an affordable break after all.  here's jolbert cabrera

he was the first dodger to wear number 6 since 1982, and it signaled to me that the dodgers were giving up on steve garvey as a hall of famer.  it made sense as his 15 years on the ballot had expired without him being voted in by the bbwa, but it still kinda sucked to see number 6 back on the field.

perhaps the beginning of jim tracy's affinity for players named ja(y)son, here's jason romano

cards like that, featuring a guy who played in 37 games as a dodger and hit .083 in that time, are why i like sets such as 40 man.

finally, here's adrian beltre

getting cards of beltre as a dodger in the mail remind me that he is the one that got away.

mark hoyle sent me some cards, including this derek jeter double play turn

on a 2006 upper deck national card.  it inspired me to add a couple more double play cards to my collection, such as this 2005 upper deck khalil greene card

and this 2016 topps photo variation xander bogaerts card.

back to the trades, tom from angels in order sent me some dodgers.  you don't see 1985 donruss on the blogs much, so here's dave anderson's card

i think that is sid bream in the background.

hey kids! you too may become a big leaguer - alfredo griffin made it, and look at his swing on this 1991 fleer ultra card

plus he's rocking the little league hat-under-helmet look.

i needed this 2016 topps update walmart rookie insert of kenta maeda

if topps starts using the 1988 design in archives before 1978 i will assume that 1978 will never be used.

mr haverkamp came through with some needed 1982 fleer stamps, including the fernando/warren spahn stamp, bill russell, jerry reuss, and burt hooton

plus some bay area dusty baker cards for my post-dodger pc of johnnie b.

fleer and mother's cookies!

jon at penny sleeve for your thoughts reached out with some 2017 topps buybacks

two for the dodgers binders and one for the davey lopes post-dodger pc.

johnny's trading spot provided some great cards including two fleer greats of dodger great duke snider - 2000

and 2004

recycled photo, obviously.

tim, known as tshenson in your comment section, sent a bunch of dodgers in exchange for indians which included a 2016 topps gypsy queen corey seager rookie

and a 1994 sports illustrated for kids mike piazza card

that is a complete team set in and of itself.

thanks to all for the great cards!

i also need to mention that bo at baseball cards come to life sent me some 2002 topps 206 for my set build, although i forgot to scan the cards. thanks bo!

i've still got some trade bounty from nick at dime boxes, matt at bob walk the plank, and julie at a cracked bat to show off (plus a one-card pwe from mr. haverkamp), so i'm not done thanking everyone yet...