Preview: 2010-11 O-Pee-Chee Hockey (It's Looking WAY Better Than Last Year)

In the interest of full disclosure: I probably give the O-Pee-Chee name a little more of a pass than it sometimes deserves. Call it my personal form of Canadian patriotism mixed with equal parts nostalgia. That said, after a handful of jumbo packs, I was extremely apathetic towards Upper Deck's 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hockey release. The design was pukish, which for a release geared towards set building, was a kiss of death.

But from the early images for 2010-11 O-Pee-Chee Hockey, it looks like Upper Deck has things back on track. The base card design has a fair amount of white space and is probably the most modern since Upper Deck took over the brand. The picture window on the front may end up being too small for some action photos, but the Jarome Iginla shown on the initial promo materials looks very solid - it feels kind of like 2002 Topps Total or 2003 Topps Bazooka Baseball to me. The Marquee Rookies return once again. Although there's no mention of them being short printed, I'd assume they will be as in years past. In all, the base set will have a whopping 600 cards.

As far as inserts go, there's no guarantees with a guaranteed hit in every box. Overall odds have O-Pee-Chee Signatures and O-Pee-Chee Souvenirs each falling at a rate of three per case, or one autograph or memorabilia card in every other box. O-Pee-Chee Souvenirs are quad jersey cards featuring four different players. I like these odds as it emphasizes the set building as the focus of the set, rather than tossing in a bunch of hits for the sake of having them and only driving up the cost.




2010-11 O-Pee-Chee isn't rocking the boat with a lot of changes. Each pack will contain a Retro parallel. One in every four packs will have a Retro Rainbow parallel, while there will be a Black-Bordered Rainbow Retro parallel or two in every hobby box. Boxes also promise one In Action insert and nine additional inserts, although details on these are not yet available.

Packs of 2010-11 O-Pee-Chee Hockey will have six cards with 36 packs in a box. It is scheduled to be released in December, a little before Christmas.

Further Shakedowns at Upper Deck - O-Pee-Chee Metal Gets a (Welcomed) Last-Second Makeover

Read into this as you will, but Blowout cards has just posted the following:

In an attempt to relieve some of the congestion in the upcoming NHL release calendar, we have decided to cancel the release of 09-10 OPC Metal NHL. However, because the OPC brand has such a large and very loyal following, we have decided to take the base OPC cards that were to be a part of the OPC Metal product and create a 09-10 OPC Update factory set. This set will contain the complete 200 cards that finish the set (cards 601-800), and each set will also include a small number of random foil parallel cards of the update set as well.

Fact sheets will be sent out shortly, which will detail price and configuration of the new product. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause, however we feel that this is the prudent move as we look ahead into the next few months. The sets will be allocated. It is our intention to get this update set out by the end of April.

More details to follow……

A couple of thoughts:

* This is the way the set should have been in the first place. I bought all of one pack last year because I thought I wanted to build the Topps Traded-esque update set. Big mistake. The chrome Metal cards made up most of the pack. And judging by the soft prices of last year's boxes, I believe I wasn't alone in my frustration. In fact, I know others felt the same way.


* If this is truly a move "to relieve some of the congestion," it's Upper Deck's own damn fault. Note to McWilliam, your co-exclusive doesn't start until next year. You're the Lone Ranger right now and you're the one who makes up the entire hockey card calendar.


I'm actually happy by this announcement. Although I'm somewhat sour towards this year's O-Pee-Chee set, it is my intention to eventually build it.

Box Break: 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hockey (Blaster Box)

Collecting hockey cards (or any cards for that matter) isn't as popular as it once was. Still, the name O-Pee-Chee remains a household name in Canada. It's longstanding connection with the sport resonates far beyond any hobby shop, online auction or Wal-mart checkout aisle. So is that tradition enough for me to continue buying the set year after year? What can I say? I'm a sucker for continuity, even if the set isn't my favorite this year.

The 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Hockey set was the first new puck and stick set I'd worked in some time. I was turned on by the large set size, low price and the fact that Wal-mart carried rack packs with lots of card in them. While not the prettiest set, it was a fun way to catch up on the sport a little that I've largely lost interest in.

Little has changed for the 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee set. It still has a big checklist, a retro design and lots of basic inserts that bring a bit of shine. While heading down to the city I asked my wife to check for a couple of rack packs and she ended up bringing home a blaster box of 14 regular packs instead. Before I ripped the first pack, the box was already a winner.

Blaster boxes contain 14 packs of six cards with practically no chance of a major hit. That's fine. I just want to work on the set so a few of the 100 short prints would make me happy.

The design has a standard O-Pee-Chee design (at least for the Upper Deck era, now in its fourth year). The brand logo dominates the front. It's way too big, in my opinion as I'd like more focus on the photography. Card backs give complete stats and little else. It's easy, it's simple, it's really quite underwhelming.

The checklist consists of 600 cards, 100 of which are shortprints. Inserted 1:2 retail packs, they make building a set challenging but not impossible. I still need a few from last year but I've been able to pick them up quite cheap. The rookies continue to be a big draw. There's 50 of them. The second half of the shortprints are somewhat disappointing. It's not that I don't like the Legends concept, but many of the ones I got I recall seeing in last year's set. I would have much preferred Upper Deck dug a little deeper into the deep history hockey has.

My blaster box had 67 singles towards the set, including seven shortprints. With no duplicates, I was very happy with this.

The inserts start with two parallel sets. The first is the Retro variations, inserted 1:2 packs. I guess the lawsuit with Topps last year over stealing designs got the best of them. Here's my take: the set already has a retro feel. If an old design can't be used then don't bother. While I like the old school O-Pee-Chee logo, the rest isn't working for me. The white borders don't work with the card stock and action shots. I don't know why this is but I don't like it. My box had the expected seven Retro cards, not that I was extremely excited.

On the more shiny side are the Rainbow parallels. Tougher to find at 1:8 packs, they are the most modern thing in the set. The foil finish, something I'm pretty particular about, compliments the design well. Although I'm not going to even consider going after a set of these, they're one of the highlights from the set for me. I managed to pull two Rainbow cards from my 14 packs. Not a huge leap odds-wise, but still nothing to complain about.

From here on out, this is where the box got a little confusing. The odds on the packs list Canadian Heroes as being 1:72 packs. So when I got one I was pleased. Then I got another and another. When I was done opening the 14 packs I had two members of the Canadian Women's hockey team and a shiny Ray Bourque. A trip to the Upper Deck site revealed the ladies are part of an otherwise unannounced set named Canadian Heroes - Other Sports. What? Since when was women's hockey not hockey? Looking at the checklist it also includes some men who wore the maple leaf as well - and played hockey. It doesn't make sense but the horizontal design is nice and I like that the ladies are getting a little attention too. But "Other Sports"?

2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hockey also has several shiny but not too significant inserts for Team Checklists, All-Stars and In Action. To me, they're really just jazzed up versions of the base cards. They're also really ugly, taking to the Retro design and adding a foil front. Not much of a fan. I pulled two checklists, one In-Action and one All-Star.

Finally, there's the usual jersey and autograph cards, but they're a major longshot. OPC Materials are all quad jerseys and fall 1:1080 packs. OPC Signatures are a little easier but still 1:432 packs (retail). Needless to say, I got none.

Overall, I'd say 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee is a step back from last year. Nothing really jumped out then but it was fun to collect and the design was acceptable. This year the set is boring and uninspiring. It mixes old and new, but not in good ways. I still like opening rack packs but blasters don't offer much more bang.

Inserts

• Retro (1:2):7 (103. Brian Rafalski, 185. Mathieu Garon, 199. Andrei Kostitsyn, 406. Adrian Aucoin, 409. Mike Modano, 492. Scott Clemmensen, 580. Dick Duff)
• Rainbow (1:8): 2 (31. Carey Price, 397. Mike Knuble)
• Canadian Heroes (1:72): 1 (CBH11. Ray Bourque)
• Canadian Heroes - Other Sports: 2 (CB-CL. Charline Labonte, CB-GF. Gillian Ferrari)
• In Action: 1 (ACT5. Bobby Ryan)
• Team Checklists: 2 (TC2. Ilya Kovalchuk, TC6. Eric Staal)
• All-Stars: 1 (AST4. Evgeni Malkin)

Click here for more pictures and a full breakdown.

One of These Things is Doing It's Own Thing, One of These Things Desn't Belong

The day before I disappeared from my home computer a surprise package from Jim at GCRL arrived on my doorstep. I didn't have time to go through them until I came back, despite my pain and suspense.

Jim sent an awesome bunch of cards, mostly Expos but a couple John Jaha inserts and even a Canadian or two thrown in for good measure. I've got a few highlights and observations but first, a game. Play the video here and follow the instructions (just alter "cookie" for "baseball player" and ignore quantity). There's something strange about one of these below. Can you guess? They're arranged in numerical order, so as not to give any hints.

These cool little pieces aren't cards but rather mini-posters from 1981 O-Pee-Chee. Jim included seven of the 24 cards in the set, which I'm guessing are divided between 12 Expos and 12 Blue Jays. I looove fun little oddball finds, especially when they're Canadian in origin.

Moving on to some more goodies Jim sent, were these four cards. Have you ever stopped to notice how cool Rondell White is? The guy just oozes with it - at least he did for the era. I'm not sure if the lines in his fair are quite back yet. Jim included four different Ronell's and in each one he just has this aura of cool about him. Take a peak:

So if you need tips on cool and you can't find Rico Suave, I'm sure Rondell can be tracked down and offer some pointers.

While there were oodles of neat cards from Jim, this is my favorite:

That would be Ron Hunt making an awkward "action" pose for the camera. It's not a traditional baseball card but rather a postcard. I'd imagine it's from the early 1970s as Hunt was an Expos for less than four seasons between 1971 and 1974. From the shadowy bright lights, to the simple background, to the awkward look on Hunt's face to the facsimile autograph, this postcard just reeks of good simplicity.

Over the years I've amassed a few similar postcards but the Hunt is one I know I have not seen until now.

Thanks again, Jim, for the awesome bunch of cards!

Upper Deck Sticks It to Topps One More Time

In light of the whole Upper Deck paying homage to Topps O-Pee-Chee lawsuit, including the 2009 O-Pee-Chee parallels that were supposed to mimic the 1971 design, I find this card from 2009 SP Legendary Cuts a little funny:

So do you think the card containing the disappearing ink penmanship to be from 1971 Topps Baseball or 1971 O-Pee-Chee Baseball?

Holy cow is that one ugly card. Ugly signature. Face cut off to protect image rights. Blech. The "new" part of the card has Martin on the Yankees but the not-so-obvious "inner card" has him on the Tigers. I love the clean stamp look of this year's SP Legendary Cuts but this card is pretty bad. But it can be found on eBay for a penny less than $175.

2009 O-Pee-Chee Baseball Bait and Switch?

It's funny to think that a couple of hours ago I was thinking about scrounging some funds together to get a couple boxes of 2009 O-Pee-Chee Baseball. As of right now, I'm leaning in the other direction. Why? The old bait and switch that pisses me off, even when it's not the main content of a set I'm going after.

Case in point, Upper Deck's sales materials featured a vintage-esque 1971 O-Pee-Chee parallel that looked a little like this:

Then Topps decided to take Upper Deck to court. Both sides exchange press releases saying they're sticking to their guns. So I'm looking at A Pack to Be Named Later and I see this monstrosity:

(HT: APTBNL)

What the heck? I may be jumping the gun here but it looks like Upper Deck caved under pressure. And rather than admit it publicly, they went ahead and continued to sell, sell, sell without acknowledging somewhere along the line that the vintage parallel that had many people excited was being replaced with a much more generic black-border parallel. Again, I could be wrong but if the early eBay listings are any indication, the 1971 parallels are no more.

I wasn't planning on going after the parallel set, but I'm ticked nonetheless based on the apparent bait and switch. It's to the point where I don't really want to get anything from this set now - one that I've been looking forward to since I was shocked to hear it announced. Upper Deck took away a key ingredient without announcing it. Good reason for cancelling them or not, all it would have taken is a press release and a couple of emails and there'd be some disappointed folks but I have a hunch most would be understanding. It's called communication. If virtual Derek Jeter can sign some virtual autographs, would it really be that hard to get word out about the change? Isn't that what the Upper Deck blog, website or Facebook page might be good for?

This isn't the first bait and switch in this hobby, nor will it be the last. However, I feel it's one of the bigger ones.

Smoke Screens Abound in Topper Deck Suit

I just read this interesting article from the Wall Street Journal about the Topps/Upper Deck (Topper Deck) suit. While there hasn't been any movement and the release of 2009 O-Pee-Chee Baseball still appears to be on, it does list some interesting points.

First, the obvious. Topps isn't liking the look of the O-Pee-Chee stuff. It's a little to deja vu.

Upper Deck's response: the 1970s Topps cards were posed. Theirs will feature action shots. Can we say smoke screen? I dunno, but I consider the design elements come from, well, the design, not so much the photo that sits around it. Don't get me wrong, the picture is key to any card, but color, fonts, borders, etc - those are the keys to design here. With that sort of argument Topps might as well counter and say that both cards are in English, therefore they're the same and Upper Deck should pay up.

I'm still under the belief that this suit's going to come down to the license Topps and O-Pee-Chee had. Did OPC own their borrowed designs or were they licensed. There's no doubt in my mind that Upper Deck is lifting Topps' designs. They're also lifting O-Pee-Chee's designs. But who do they ultimately belong to? And quite frankly, with a new O-Pee-Chee set on the horizon, I'm fine with letting the millionaires duke it out in court.

1971 O-Pee-Chee (Topps) Baseball

Notice the clear use of a posed photo.

2009 O-Pee-Chee (Upper Deck) Baseball Parallels

This card is soooo different. Forget the stylistic use of lower case letters, theblack borders holding a white frame, the upper case team name, that annoying dot. It's an action photo so it's not copying. End of story.

And in a 2-for-1 double post, here's the card of the day:

1971 Topps 5. Thurman Munson

 

 

I'm loving the crazy action shot. Dust in the air, immediate emotions on the face. I wonder if the unnamed Athletics player is safe or out. You couldn't pose something like this.

 

Preview: 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hockey

Even though the Stanley Cup finals don't start until later today, it's already time to start looking ahead to next hockey card season. Upper Deck appears to be taking an approach of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" with their base brand 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hockey. But that's not stopping them from making the base set a little nicer to look at.

The configuration of the set appears to be the same as last year: 600 cards including "Marquee Rookie" and "Legends" shortprints appearing at a rate of 1:2 packs. The look has a modern-vintage sort of feel to it. While I find there's still a whole lot of border, it looks a lot cleaner to me than the 2008-09 incarnation. Regular set Gold parallels will fall 1:4 packs.

Retro Variation and Retro Variation Rainbow parallels return, although Upper Deck hasn't announced what design they'll be paying tribute to. Retro variations will be one per pack, while collectors can expect to find one or two Retro Rainbows per box.

Upper Deck has announced that there will be a Canadian Heroes insert set with an average of one in every box. There's not much else to go with other than the fact that you won't find any European or American stars. My guess is they will replace the Winter Classic inserts from the 2008-09 set.

The emphasis on O-Pee-Chee is that it's for set builders, but even set builders like some hits. OPC Quad Materials return with four jersey pieces embedded. Look for lots of team combinations such as the Avalanche card below or a Penguins card featuring Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and Marc-Andre Fleury. OPC Quad Materials will be a moderately tough find at one-in-four hobby boxes, or three per case. The set will also have some tough-to-find autographs inserted at two per case, or one-in-six boxes. Besides the gorgeous Gretzky shown below, the checklist of signers also includes Gordie Howe, Crosby, Carey Price and Jarome Iginla.

Hobby boxes will hold 36 packs of six cards. Twelve boxes make up a case.

Upper Deck and the Curious Case of Lost Originality

When Upper Deck burst onto the scene in 1989 they revoltuionized the hobby with the slick cardstock, holograms and buck-a-pack pricepoint. Over the past couple of decades they've been in the middle of some the hobby's biggest innovations: in-pack autographs in 1990, winking holograms in the mid-1990s, jersey swatches in 1997 (although I believe it was Press Pass that first had memorabilia cards a year-or-so earlier), the intorduction of the mega-premium "pack" with the launch of Exquisite. The list is a pretty big and respectible one.

But today I'm disgusted by their lack of originality and their insistance on copying their main competitor and dancing around the fact that they're doing so. I'm pretty stocked about 2009 O-Pee-Chee Baseball, but I also recognize that while the parallel inserts may mimic the O-Pee-Chee design, one also has to acknowledge that these were originally Topps designs. It's a blatant rip-off in my books, even if they do own all things O-Pee-Chee.

After opening a couple of packs of 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Update Hockey, the ripoff status has reached an entirely new level. Not only do you get a 1978-79 Retro variation in every pack (another old school Topps/OPC ripoff) but the composition of the set is exactly like the Topps Traded sets from 2001 and 2002. Every pack has a second parallel named OPC Metal. Topps Chrome anyone? And what's Topps Chrome without your refrectors. But wait, the refractor name is copyright. So instead they're Metal X parallels. Sounds an awful lot like the format for 2001 Topps Traded Baseball. Actually, that's exactly like 2001 Topps Traded Baseball. Who are they trying to kid that "Chrome" is different from "Metal"?

Give me a break! Following hobby trends is one thing. Creating entire sets that copy just about everything from your competitors is lazy, boring, insulting and just plain lame. Does Upper Deck not understand that by "borrowing," "paying homage," "tributing," whatever polite term you want to call it, from your competitor and their history that you make yourself look like a joke. It only makes what they do seem better.

Upper Deck needs to understand that they need to balance building from ideas and just plain taking others' ideas. By copying Topps to this extent they're losing their own brand identity. Topps has the market for nostalgia and history sets. Get over it and do your own thing. Upper Deck has built a fanbase for their high-end products. That's their angle. And just like Upper Deck normally fails at "old time" sets, Topps often does the same with high-end product.

My venting comes partially from the fact that this year's cards are pretty boring. There's nothing new going on in any of the sports that I can see. With the economic downturn and several licenses coming to pass, the era of risk-taking is gone. Instead it's A throwing B's poop against the wall, pretending it's C's and hoping that some of it sticks.

I want to see a little risk-taking for once. Something that doesn't involve Photoshopping in a politician. Something that doesn't copy a competitor. Something that's been missing for a while now - originality.

2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Update Hockey:

You've got your base cards, Metal parallel and Metal X. Seems familiar.

2001 Topps Traded Baseball:

 

base cards, Metal Chrome parallel, Metal X Refractors (or Retrofrators as Topps called them for a year or two)

I'm In Love: O-Pee-Chee Edition

It's been probably five years since I've worked on a current hockey set. Baseball is my first love and when it came time to pare down the card buying, hockey went quickly. To add to my disinterest, Upper Deck got an exclusive license. While they're not doing a horrible job, it's made things a little too boring and predictable. When they acquired the O-Pee-Chee brand three years ago I was in shock and disbelief. I'm a sucker for tradition and O-Pee-Chee always belonged with Topps in my mind. I still have a hard time accepting that Upper Deck is now making OPC cards, kind of like I'm not buying TSN using the old Hockey Night in Canada theme.

That said, 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Hockey has me collecting the sport again. Specifically, it's the no-frills 38-card rack packs I'm finding at Wal-Mart that have me collecting hockey again. With a 600-card base set, OPC is a monster to piece together. That's without getting into the final 100 cards being short prints. But at six bucks a pop, these rack packs make set building fun and managable. My wife doesn't object or even give me a dirty look when I slip a couple packs into the cart - that's how impressive the set is.

I'm making the purchase knowing full well there's no autographs, game-used or buybacks. I could care less. Give me a reasonably priced set with a huge checklist and I'm going to look at building it. Even when the design is merely "M'eh" like this set. I want to track the current rosters, last year's stats and learn new players. I want to sort and organize. I want to enjoy the set. There's a few inserts, but they're pretty mundane and add a simple flash to the packs. And while I normally loath players in one uniform and the logo being another, it's part of the OPC tradition. I think the traded lines would have made the touch even better, but I'm not complaining too much.

What these packs show, though, are just how much we're paying for autographs and game-used. Wal-mart has six-card regular packs with the slim possibility of hits at $3.00 a pack. That's $0.50 per card. The rack packs are 38 cards for $6.00. That's about $0.16 per card. So for a chance at a hit, which in all likelihood won't pay for two more packs, you're paying triple the price. You'll probably get more short prints and inserts, but it's not worth three times the price - at least to this set collector. So there's a little number crunching to show what the cost of hits are - even when the majority are plain white jersey swatches and signatures from average players with little upside.

If, by chance, you're working on the 2008-09 OPC set too, I've got a handful of doubles if you want to send me your list. My wants are still pretty big but can be found here.