Show & Tell Contest 11.0 - Week 1! Leg 4 in our Drive for Draisaitl Contest!

[GabbyGuy]

My entry is this....

I sit back and reflect on the hobby that has made me so happy the past 30 years. My passion for hockey card collecting really took off when a kid from Trencin, Slovakia was drafted #3 in 2000 by my "new" team, the Minnesota Wild: Marian Gaborik. He showed promise and actually made the team at age 18. He scored the first ever Wild goal in their first ever game. Right then I knew he was special and I started collecting his cards. It has been a 18 year odyssey and was propelled by one specific card company... In The Game run by Dr. Brian Price. When ITG produced the first ever "Ultimate" cards (it was them people, not Upper Deck), I was hooked. The limited memorabilia and auto cards were top-notch. And I also became hooked on the vintage player selection offered in those cards.

In the 2nd year of BAP Ultimate production (2001-02), ITG offered a cool card concept....the "Made To Order" card. A redemption card where you, the collector, could choose the player and get a 1/1 card made just for you that included a memorabilia piece for the player you selected. That year they only offered 10 total Made To Order cards (and only 8 of the 10 were ever redeemed). Players in the list that year were phenomenal...Gretzky, Lemieux, Roy, Brodeur, Bure...the list goes on. That year my guy Gaborik was not in the product. He was only in his 2nd year at the time. I did see his jersey memorabilia pieces in other ITG/BAP products that year, so was hoping he was in the Ultimate product. But he wasn't. Baron Bedesky was a VP of the company back then and when I acquired one of the ten "Made To Order" redemption cards, I went to him and asked if I could get a card made of Marian Gaborik. I knew they had a jersey of him from earlier products. He said "sure", but was surprised I didn't go after the big guys like Gretzky and Lemieux (like most of the people did) ...players I could turn around and flip the card for big $$. I told him I collected Gaborik and wanted the card made of him. ITG, being a "for the collector" type company, honored my request and I got my first "Made To Order" card of Gaborik (and the only Gaborik card in the BAP Ultimate 2 product). Cards that year were graded by Beckett and I was pumped when the card came back a BGS 9.5 Gem Mint:

BAP2MadeOrder1-1

Baron Bedesky even did an article in Beckett magazine about me getting a personal collection Gaborik card made instead of going after the $$ cards like Gretzky. He then posted in Beckett his Top 10 ITG cards...and this card made his list.

Beckett-Bedesky-Top10

I even met up with Baron and talked to him at the 2004 NHL All-Star Game FANfest when the Minnesota Wild hosted the All-Star Game. I also met Dr. Price for the first time at that event. Here is a photo of me (on left) with ITG's Baron Bedesky at the ITG Booth at the 2004 NHL All-Star Game FANfest. My then 7-year-old son Trevor was with me. He is now 21 and is taller than me!

Me-Baron-ITG-2004

Which brings me to my "In Person" autograph for this contest. In February 2004, Marian was doing a promotion for a communications provider in my town, so I went to get autographs and talk to him. I brought my MTO card. After getting to see him at the table, I showed him the card and explained how I got it. He admired it for about 30 seconds (which in an autograph line is an eternity) and thought it was cool. If you remember, in that product that year, the slabbed cards came packaged in their own velvet sleeve with a velcro flap to hold it in. SO I got Marian to sign the velvet case. Here it is:

BAP2MadeOrderAU-1-SCF

And that's my In Person autograph story.

Thanks for bearing with me.

--Curt

[aweeks]

Does my entry count? I noticed that I out up a link and not the picture.

I'll figure it out.

[pwaldo]

[chihawk19]

1994-95 Pinnacle #288 Sylvain Turgeon (w/young Patrick Kane) signed by Patrick Kane TTM!

[aweeks]

Few more hours to get your entries in!

[creasecollector]

Maaaaan, these entries are just so darn cool.

Loving the jersey autos, the Kane auto's card is sweet, and @GabbyGuy's Gaborik story (and autograph) is awesome.

[GabbyGuy]

Maaaaan, these entries are just so darn cool.

Loving the jersey autos, the Kane auto's card is sweet, and @GabbyGuy's Gaborik story (and autograph) is awesome.

To add to the "In Person" story....Beckett included the story back in 2004 and put the photo of me and Marian at the event he signed the velvet card holder.

curt_gab

--Curt

[Bimola]

Missed out this week but thought I'd post this anyway...

[aweeks]

I’ll get the voting thread and the next theme posted up tomorrow morning.. Crazy busy weekend/Monday for me!

[creasecollector]

To add to the "In Person" story....Beckett included the story back in 2004 and put the photo of me and Marian at the event he signed the velvet card holder.

curt_gab

--Curt

Very cool !

Missed out this week but thought I'd post this anyway...

Now this is super nice. Great job snagging all 3 signatures on this 70's card, especially Dryden's. He's a notoriously tough signer.