More than one One of One

Most sports card enthusiasts have a player collection or ten, a short list of guys (or gals) that we'll prioritize and stash away as a 'PC'. Some of us even attempt to Super Collect one specific athlete. The Lost Collector(Tino Martinez), Collecting Cutch(Andrew McCutchen) and Zippy Zappy(Luis Torrens) come to mind. CC has ceased his pursuit of all things Cutch and ZZ has divested himself of nearly all his Torrens singles, with good reason. Super Collecting is insane!


I knew this when I started super collecting a former NHL enforcer, but I figured that Peter Worrell would have a manageable amount of cards to collect considering that he had a short career (mostly in south Florida) and was not a star. TCDB doesn't have every Worrell card counted, but a rough estimate puts his card count at about 205-210 unique singles.

Today I'm going to spotlight just two specific sets, to illustrate how chaotic super collecting can get.


2011-12 Enforcers Combatants dual relics had an announced print run of 120 copies per card. Peter Worrell was featured on two of these - one with future Hall of Fame defenseman Zdeno Chara, and one with prototypical pugilist Dennis Bonvie, who holds the career record for penalty minutes in the AHL. 

These cards have rare red parallels (red because.. blood) with a print run of 10 copies per card

Simple, but not easy. The Chara red parallel was a tough one to track down, but once I did it felt like a complete collection of Worrell cards was possible -- aside from One of Ones of course. Hold that thought.

Pete also appears in the 2013-14 Enforcers Combatants set. This was billed as a Series II even though it was released nearly two years later. In The Game used many of the same designs as the 2011-12 set - and many of the same players. Worrell was featured with former Dallas Star Aaron Downey.

The print run was increased to 150 per card for these base relics, but the red parallels were still 10 copies each.

My guy was still appearing on hockey cards ten years after he played his last NHL game. This pleased me as a super collector; I wasn't expecting to have any more of his cards to collect. And I assumed this unlicensed niche set would be the last one I'd have to worry about - especially when In The Game was unable to secure NHL licensing and folded in 2014.

But... two years later, the company liquidated its stock in a 2015-16 release called Final Vault. The cards ITG set aside as replacements were stamped in several different colors, creating "new" cards.

On the plus side, this allowed me to easily acquire Worrell One of Ones.

On the minus side, there were now way too many One of Ones.

In The Game used ten colors for these 1 of 1 stamps. So the base Worrell-Chara now has ten more variations and the red Worrell-Chara has ten variations. Twenty more "unique" Worrell cards to collect!


And twenty more One of Ones of Worrell and Bonvie:

And twenty more One of Ones of Worrell and Downey:

I actually don't have a Vault 1/1 of Downey, so I clicked on over to COMC and that's when I saw this:

There are two Emerald Green One of Ones?!?!? That's unpossible! No wonder In the Game went under.

And that's not the only Peter Worrell One of One that isn't a true One of One! Going back to 2014, In The Game released Ultimate Tough Decade Enfourcers - which included quad relics of the decade's top face-punchers:

These Silver versions had a stated print run of 9 copies per card - though, it should be noted, there is no serial numbering on the cards. I considered myself lucky (and slightly foolish) to secure these for about $40 per card.


The gold versions are One of One, at least according to TCDB. I have assumed this to be true since they were released. How eva..

I have a couple Worrell-related eBay searches set to notify me whenever something hits the site. Just a few days ago I was deleting the same 'Artifacts Petwer' email that yields nothing for me, when I thought to myself that I might never find another Peter card I need. There are very few non One of Ones remaining, and everything that does come up is a show-stamped parallel of the same card I already have.

That's right -- even more One of Ones!!

But this seller had two of the EnFOURcers Superbox quads - the gold versions.

 

I was so.... annoyed. They are asking $50 per card. Plus shipping and tax, that comes to over $110! For two tiny quadrants of a guy who hasn't played in two decades? I already have the silver versions, do I really need these?

Not to mention the fact that I'm planning to attend a card show in three days. If I blow three digits on these two quad cards, what will I have left for the show?


I quickly accepted that I would not be adding any more Worrell to my PC. And then I started to wonder if I was satisfied with my collection as-is. Do I really need any more cards of this long retired 4th-line enforcer? There are so many other things to collect.  

 

And so I pulled the Peter PC box from my closet and thumbed through the cards to appreciate what I had, and to scan the cards you've seen here. 

And that's when I found this:

One of One my ass...

This is the worst case scenario because 1) I know these 1 of 1s aren't 1 of 1s, and 1) I have 1 of the 1 of 1s but I don't have the other 1. If I had both, I'd be thrilled. When I thought I needed both, I decided they weren't worth acquiring at the seller's asking price. But now I only have to spend half of what I expected. Hmmm...


What would you do in this situation - buy the card you don't have and continue super collecting? Or let it go because the Ones of Ones are multiplying so fast that a complete collection will never be possible?

Thanks for reading!



~

All-Time Teams: Panthers

It's opening night of the 2021 NHL season, and I'm sure you'll all be watching the games so this post will be a bit less wordy than the rest of the series. Here's the All-Time roster for the Florida Panthers:

The Panthers reached the Stanley Cup final in their third year of existence. They were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in the summer of 1996 and haven't won a playoff series since.

 

1st Line

Left Wing - Jonathan Huberdeau Third overall pick in 2011 is first in Florida history with 289 assists and 437 points. Won the Calder trophy in 2013 and set a career high with 92 points in 2018-19.

 

Center - Aleksander Barkov Underrated for years, Aleksander Barkov won the Lady Byng trophy and set the Panthers franchise record for points in a season with 96 in 2018-19. The Cats' current captain has the third-most goals and the second-most assists among Panther players. He was the second overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft.

 
Right Wing - Nathan Horton Third overall pick in the 2003 draft is seventh in Panthers' annals with 142 goals and sixth with 295 points. His 14.8 shooting percentage is tied for second-best in franchise history with Pavel Bure (who technically qualifies for Florida, but...)

2nd Line

Left Wing - Viktor Kozlov Set career high with 70 points while centering Pavel Bure's line in 1999-00. Ranks seventh in career assists and points among Panthers players. Played left wing early in his career, and Florida has enough solid centers to move him back to his original position.

 
Center - Olli Jokinen Four-time 30+ goal-scorer for Florida in the 2000s, Jokinen is the franchise record-holder with 188 career markers. He's first in Panthers' annals with 36 game-winning goals and second to Huberdeau in points with 419. Served as Cats' captain from 2003 to 2008.

Right Wing - Scott Mellanby Inventor of the "Rat Trick", Scott Mellanby was the driving force of the Panthers' run to the final in 1996. The second captain in team history, Mellanby is second to Jokinen in goals for Florida with 157. He scored 364 total goals in his 21-year NHL career.

3rd Line

Left Wing - Vincent Trocheck Currently on Carolina, Trocheck ranks ninth on the Panthers' all-time list in career goals, assists, points, and even-strength goals. He set career highs with 31 goals and 75 points in 2017-18.

Center - Stephen Weiss Florida's career leader in games played with 654, Weiss was the fourth overall pick in the 2001 draft. He's third on the franchise's all-time assists list with 249 and ranks third among all Panthers in points and power play goals.

 

Right Wing - Radek Dvorak Czech winger just barely cracks the Panthers' top ten in total points with 268 - two more than Rob Niedermayer. His 155 assists for the franchise are ten behind Niedermayer for tenth in team annals. Only Stephen Weiss played more home games in south Florida than Dvorak.

4th Line

Left Wing - Bill Lindsay Gritty winger is tenth in team history with 506 games played for Florida, fifth in penalty minutes, and tied with Jokinen for the fourth-most short-handed goals in Panthers history. Scored one of the most memorable goals in Panthers history, clinching their first-round win against the Bruins in 1996 with this highlight-reel shot.

Center - Rob Niedermayer Fifth overall pick in 1993 and first draft choice in Panthers history, Rob Niedermayer set career highs with 26 goals and 61 points for the Eastern Conference champs in 1996. He ranks in the team's top ten in games played, goals, assists, game-winning goals, and power play goals. Won a Stanley Cup with his brother Scott as a member of the Ducks in 2007.

Right Wing - Tom Fitzgerald Like his All-Time linemates, Tom Fitzgerald was a member of the original Panthers lineup in 1993-94 and the Stanley Cup finalists in '96. Only Radek Dvorak scored more short-handed goals than Tom's 12. The 17-year veteran is now General Manager of the New Jersey Devils.

 

Spares - Nick Bjugstad, Peter Worrell

One of just thirteen forwards with 100 career assists for the Panthers, Nick Bjugstad played one more season and 85 more games than David Booth, who matched his total of 87 goals for the team. Peter Worrell is second on the Panthers' all-time list with 1,375 penalty minutes in just 342 games for Florida. I don't often get to fit an enforcer on these rosters but the Panthers' lack of left wing depth justifies it here.

Defense Pair 1

Robert Svehla - Aaron Ekblad

Svehla leads all Florida defensemen with 229 assists, 290 points, and 28.3 defensive point shares. His 49.5 total point shares for the Panthers is the highest among non-goalies in franchise annals. Ekblad was the first overall pick in the 2014 draft. He's second to Svehla in DPS, fifth in Florida history with a career plus/minus of +29, and fifth among non-goalies with a point shares total of 40.9. The 2015 Calder trophy winner set career highs with 36 assists and 41 points in 2019-20.

Defense Pair 2

Jay Bouwmeester - Brian Campbell

The Panthers traded down from the #1 selection in the 2002 draft to take Bouwmeester third overall. A veteran of 17 NHL seasons including six in south Florida, Bouwmeester retired from the NHL earlier this week. He's third in Panthers' annals with 21.8 defensive point shares and posted three season of 40+ points for Florida. Campbell, the first defenseman to win the Lady Byng trophy since 1954, holds the Cats' single-season plus/minus record with a +31 in 2015-16. He racked up 175 points over five seasons for the Panthers.

 

Defense Pair 3

Gord Murphy - Dmitry Kulikov

 

Gord Murphy led all Panthers blueliners in points over the team's first two seasons. His DPS rating of 20.6 is fifth in Florida franchise history. Kulikov is one of just three defenseman to play seven years and 400 games for the Panthers - and one of only ten Cats with 100 points and 300 penalty minutes for the team. Tom Fitzgerald signed the Russian rearguard to the Devils in October.

Spare - Paul Laus

Paul Laus (pronounced Laws) played his entire nine year NHL career with the Panthers after they claimed him from Pittsburgh in the expansion draft. Florida's all-time leader in penalty minutes with 1,702 in 530 games (eighth in team history), Laus has the fourth-highest plus/minus rating in franchise annals. I considered Ed Jovanovski for this group, but he had better years elsewhere.

Goalies

Starter - Roberto Luongo

Backup - John Vanbiesbrouck

The greatest player in franchise history, Roberto Luongo leads all Panthers with 124.1 point shares - more than twice as many as the second-place Panther. The team leader in wins and shutouts, Luongo played 572 games for Florida, twice as many as any other goalie and more than all but three skaters in team history. "Beezer" was the first player taken in the 1993 expansion draft and led Florida to the Stanley Cup final three years later. He's second among Panthers goalies in games played, wins, and goals against average.

Head Coach: Jacques Martin  Captain: Olli Jokinen

No head coach has stayed in south Florida longer than three seasons. Jacques Martin is tied with Peter DeBoer in games coached and had a slightly higher winning percentage. Though he couldn't get the Cats to the playoffs I'm going with him over Doug MacLean, the bench boss of the 1996 Panthers. MacLean is fourth in franchise history with 83 wins and a .532 winning percentage.

Jokinen and Scott Mellanby served four seasons each as captain (as did Brian Skrudland, who didn't make this roster). I gave Olli the 'C' here because his captaincy spanned five years - including the 2004-05 lockout.

 

 

I hope you'll join us tomorrow for our next All-Time Team, the Los Angeles Kings.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

~

 

Winter Wonderland

We're supposed to get a blizzard later today and I will probably get out of work early - at which point I will either take a nap or work on my short story. The first part is almost done.. which would be good timing since I need to make more progress on my NHL All-Time Teams series. 

And, since the forecast has me in a winter sports mood, here are my COMC hockey card purchases from the past year.

Two more Exquisite base cards for my 30-card set build. Now that I've added Nate MacKinnon and Zdeno Chara..

 

I'm down to just four needs - Toews, Seguin, Price, and Ovechkin. I also needs some penny sleeves and top loaders for these super-thick cards.

I picked up this Pat LaFontaine rookie year card for $10. I'm just 59 cards away from completing this set in PSA 9 or better (with two exceptions). This is an admittedly foolish pursuit; if money were no object and I bought every slabbed single I've seen for sale.. I'd still need about 40 "low pop" cards. 

Here's another project that I will never complete, but it's cheaper and brings me more joy than the PSA set.

Fuji asked his readers for their hobby highlight of 2020. That's an easy one for me. I found seven new Peter Worrell needs on COMC alone, including these five show stamped parallels. Over the past few years I've only added an average of one or two new Worrell cards per year to my collection, and there were some years when I didn't add any at all.

These two have eluded me for more than 15 years. By print run they were the most abundant singles I didn't have - the OPC Red parallel is numbered to 100. I'm still amazed that I found either one of them after years of scrolling through saved searches. Bringing them both home at the same time was a minor miracle. 

For all intents and purposes I only need four or five more Worrell cards. However, since TCDB lists every damn show stamped parallel, regional issue, and 1 of 1.. I actually need 58 more cards. :o

Now for the Devils portion of the post.

 

Allure is one of my favorite newer hockey sets, though it's far from perfect. Yes, Nikita Gusev was a Golden Knights prospect, but he's clearly a Devil now - and he's listed as such on his "base" card in this same set.

 

Nico Hischier is the one current Devil I've collected as he's the closest thing Jersey has to a "franchise" player.

That is, until Jack Hughes gains some experience. Hopefully he spent the nine-month layoff filling out that slight frame of his. Jesper Boqvist was a non-factor as a rookie but he's still got time to make an impact.

 

Assorted Devils including a Clear Cut Foundations insert of Hischier and Kyle Palmieri. The Taylor Hall Signature Swatch auto was $7.00 while the rest were cheapies. Each Canvas card cost just 26 cents.

 

These two Subban cards were also 26 cents. The Chronology Jason Arnott auto was $4.19, the same price as the Clear Cut card above. I was at the "St. Marty's Day" game on March 17, 2009 when Brodeur broke the all-time record for goalie wins. He got to cut out the net shortly after this celebration.

Eight new cards of the Great Eight, including another memorable moment that happened here in Jersey.

Just before Covid hit, Alex Ovechkin scored career goal #700 against the Devils. I had a feeling he'd score against our craptacular team, but I couldn't convince anyone to get tickets to that one. At the time I posted that several all-time great scorers lost dozens of goals to labor disputes. Ovechkin is one of them - and the shutdown probably swiped another dozen or more from his tally.

Toronto and Edmonton were "bubble" cities for the 2020 playoffs, which meant that the Stanley Cup was finally raised on Canadian soil! These guys will try to make that happen for real in 2021.

More cheapies I picked up over the past year, including my first Elias Petterson card (40 cents) and the only card from Upper Deck's 30th Anniversary insert set that interested me. The 1993-era Patrick Roy on a 2002-03 design cost an appropriate 30 cents.

And finally some irresistible shiny cards. The Bobrovsky red die-cut cost 33 cents. Kucherov cost 31 cents. Everything else in this scan was 27 cents each.

If you read this post (or you scrolled through it quickly) you deserve a reward. 

Way to go, Wild Bill!

Thanks for reading!



 

~