More cards from Canada

I thought it would be appropriate on the day that the NHL playoffs begin that I feature the junk wax packs that I received from Captain Canuck at Waxaholic.

But first I wanted to mention that by sending one card, he answered one of the many nagging questions that I have had about cards that were issued during the time I wasn't collecting. This one relates to the Upper Deck Vintage cards released in 2002. The design mimics the 1971 Topps cards, except that the information is on the bottom of the card instead of the top.

As we found out yesterday, UD has landed itself in court because Topps says that some of UD's 2009 inserts look like past Topps designs. I don't know why Topps filed a lawsuit now when UD was doing this back in 2002.

But anyway, that's not the question. The question relates to the back of the 2002 UD Vintage card.

The back looks almost identical to the 1971 Topps card, except in one key area. It's yellow instead of the familiar dark green '71 backs that everyone knows. "Yellow?" I thought. "What is with the yellow?"

Well, Captain Canuck answered the question by sending me this 1971 O-Pee-Chee Jeff Torborg card. The front looks identical to the 1971 Topps cards, as virtually all of the OPC cards did back in the '60s, '70s and '80s.

Here is the familiar dark green back of the 1971 Topps Torborg card. But that's not the back of the card that I received from Captain Canuck.

This is the back. And there's the yellow that I saw in the 2002 Vintage. I don't know if Upper Deck went with the O-Pee-Chee yellow in its 2002 Vintage on purpose to avoid further mimicry of Topps or if it was a coincidence. But the shades of yellow seem pretty similar.

Anyway, I don't pretend to have any ability to lend insight into the current Topps lawsuit. I have no legal knowledge whatsoever. I just thought the whole intermingling of Topps and Upper Deck and O-Pee-Chee over the last few years has been very interesting.

And thanks to Captain Canuck for providing the Torborg card. It's very cool.

Meanwhile, on a completely different subject, the Captain sent me lots of junk wax packs. I opened them on Easter, which was a much preferable gift for me than jelly beans. (I find black, purple and pink jelly beans horrid. Red, orange and green are safe. Yellow and white are OK. It really seems like a candy that they haven't perfected yet. It needs to be recalled).

What I am going to do here is feature the package wrapper and then show you the best cards I pulled from each pack. It's all late '80s, early '90s fluff, so you've probably seen it all before. But still, opening 20-year-old packs is a rush.

I'll start with a product known only for the brightness of its cards. At least they didn't make the wrappers bright yellow. A combination of yellow wrappers with yellow cards might have shorted out the electricity in any store that sold the cards.

Best out of the pack: Jamie Moyer, who is still kicking with the Phillies. I think. And a Superstar Special-like card of Ryne Sandberg and Cecil Fielder.

1990 Fleer. One of my least favorite sets. I did very little collecting in 1990 and I'm glad I didn't, because with the exception of Upper Deck, the look of the cards was icky that year.

The pack was icky, too, except for this card. Boggs was the man during the era of overproduction.

A rack pack of 1989 Score. This is the first one of these I've ever opened. Where I lived, they had only the regular packs.

That's a fine trio right there. A dark photo of Rickey Henderson, one of the last cards of Ron Guidry, and one of the first of Randy Johnson. All cards I need, too.

The one pack that I received in which I have an opportunity to pull a Dodger card that I don't have. Let's see how I did.

YAY! That's pretty good for only 7 cards in the pack. Also pulled a Rickey, Eck, and ex-Dodger Pedro Guerrero.

This pack came a bit too late in my quest to complete 1991 Topps. I finished off the set a day or two before the pack arrived.

Best of the bunch was Randy Johnson and a Dave Walsh card that I once thought I had, but didn't, then thought I had doubles of, but didn't. Now I have 3 or 4 of the card, so that's a load off my mind.

The best for last. Twenty-nine bubble gum cards of 1989 Topps, a set that I have already, but is near and dear to my heart.

I did pretty good there didn't I? Rookie card of Smoltz, the Hammer, a Future Star card of Alomar Jr., an Ozzie Smith All-Star, and two Boggs cards. I didn't even include the Gil Hodges turn back the clock, Dodgers team leaders, Ozzie Guillen or the Danny Jackson All-Star. A very nice memory lane pack.

So, that's all. All you hockey fans, enjoy the playoffs. My Sabres are out of it, so I need another team. Most of the teams from the East I dislike. So I'll probably be rooting for Calgary. Hometown boy is on the team.