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i ended up pulling from the base cards i pulled just one penguin evgeni malkin from the serial numbered cards i pulled a brett hull emerald parallel numbered 31 99 dale hawerchuk sp 593 599 charlie mcavoy ruby rookie 22 399 and alexander nylander rookie 43 999 i was a big fan of hull when i was a kid so that was a great pull and mcavoy was one of the top rookies in the league that season so i did pretty well on these in addition to those four serial numbered cards there is also guaranteed to be one rookie redemption artifacts is released too early in the season to include rookies who would make their debut early in the season so these are inserted with the idea that they will be produced and sent out after they make their nhl debuts i pulled two an emerald parallel numbered to 99 of arizona coyotes right winger nick merkley and a wild card redemption numbered to 999 for ottawa senators center filip chlapik both are currently playing in the ahl the first of my three hits was a dual jersey cards of st louis blues center ivan barbashev numbered 342 999 he has spent parts of the past 3 seasons with the nhl team but so far has played all of 2018 19 with the blues scoring 6 goals and 8 assists in 49 games next is a really cool bob probert dual jersey card numbered 63 99 probert was one of the premier enforcers in the game s history splitting time between the detroit red wings and chicago blackhawks he finished his career with 3 300 penalty minutes and in the final game at joe louis arena his family spread his ashes in the red wings penalty box lastly was i suppose the big hit of the break an emerald parallel numbered to 99 rookie jersey patch card of new jersey devils defenseman will butcher he has proven himself to be an nhl mainstay being with the team for all of the past two seasons and has scored 3 goals and 19 assists in 51 games so far this year well hat s it for this box of cards that i opened up almost a year and a half ago nothing too spectacular but still a nice stroll down memory lane for me posted by matt pederson at 3 29 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday december 15 2018 a visit to wrigley field so after being a chicago cubs fan for almost 30 years i finally made the pilgrimage to the friendly confines of wrigley field i first became a fan of the team way back in 1989 i was almost 9 years old and since we moved around a lot when i was younger due to my dad s job i never really had a home team i played little league just like any young american boy would at that age but 1989 was when i began to consume the game as a fan the cubs were good that year and more importantly they were accessible even though i was living in granbury tx rangers country we had wgn which meant that when i was home from school during the summer break and watching tv during the day i was watching the cubs of course i was 8 1 2 years old and had no idea what i was getting myself into but the cubs quickly became my favorite team fast forward 29 years i am now married 11 1 2 years and counting with three little girls 9 6 and 3 years old my wife of course knows about my love for the team and many times during the early years of my marriage questioned the logic of my loyalty to a team that always fell short i always told her that one say they would win it all and i will have gone into that victory as a loyal long time supporter who never lost faith that dream would come true for me in 2016 and the following year we watched her houston astros win the world series so it has been a good couple of seasons for the pederson household anyway as we began to make our vacation plans for the upcoming 2018 year out of the blue she suggested we should go to chicago i was taken a little by surprise as it would clearly be a trip mostly for me with her along for the ride but when i looked at the calendar it seems as though the stars had aligned in my favor my job has a dupont schedule which means we work on 12 hour rotating shifts switching between days and nights it also ends up working out that we get a week off every 28 day rotation and the st louis cardinals were in town right in the middle of my april week off the decision was made and we begun making our plans our plan was to make a 10 hour drive from moorhead mn to chicago instead of flying to save money we d drive sunday to madison wi then finish the drive monday morning hit up games monday night tuesday night and wednesday afternoon the entire cubs cardinals 3 game series then head back home thursday of course you can never predict the weather especially when a blizzard hits minneapolis and most of wisconsin on your first travel day the 6 1 2 hours it would normally take to get us to madison became 11 hours but luckily the weather was better the next day we made it into chicago checked into our airbnb which was 2 1 2 blocks away from wrigley field and got ready just in time to find out that monday night s game would be postponed to july 21 of course it was a bit of a let down but there were still two games on the schedule so we decided to make the most of the evening at my suggestion we walked over to wrigley field anyway just to check out the area the first things we saw were the pennant shaped chicago cubs sign on the back of the bleachers and the harry caray statue and of course we had to get a picture on the other side of the stadium in front of the iconic red wrigley field sign as we walked around the stadium i couldn t help but realize how different it is from others i have been to there are no parking lots or open areas nearby it is a stadium put down right in the middle of a bustling commercial area with apartments and businesses surrounding it on all sides we ate dinner a block or two away at cozy noodles and rice a cubs themed thai restaurant and then headed back the way we came and stopped at murphys bleachers for a beer i had to hit up murphys at least once on our trip it is a bar right across the street from wrigley and is the go to place for some social interaction before and after games when they showed the reaction shots during 2016 s game 7 of a chicago bar that s the bar they were showing i figured a cold rainy off day would be the best time to go in and have a quick beer just to say i went there after we were done there we kept walking around the outside of the field it was very cold and had rained earlier in the say so when we came across a building that was open we decided to step inside for a minute now the doors to this building were unlabeled but we were able to see a few trophies through the windows when we went inside the receptionist asked can i help you my wife said we just wanted to get warm and take a look at the trophies the receptionist who was very nice about it told us that this was a management office and wasn t open to the public so be quick about it it soon dawned on me that this was the management office as in the one that theo jed and tom run the team out of the trophies on one of the walls were gold glove trophies from various years and the big one in the middle of the lobby was the 2016 national league championship trophy after that we went to a nearby bar in the are that had a free stand up comedy show it was what you would expect from a free show there actually weren t any horrible acts but nothing that had us on the floor either it was then time to call it a night and try for better luck the next day tuesday morning i began checking my phone every 10 or 15 minutes to see if that game was being postponed as well it was still cold but no rain so it looked like we would be in luck we bundled up for a cold evening game that would only get colder and walked the 2 1 2 blocks to wrigley field we didn t do much earlier in the day because i wanted to be sure we got there extra early this being my very first game i wanted to be sure i had time to take it all in wrigley was a ghost town the night before but on game day the whole neighborhood was full of life there were memorabilia vendors on every street corner and tourists like us taking pictures there was red and blue as far as the eye could see and the wrigley faithful were ready for a great day of baseball of course we had to say hello to some old friends grabbing photos of the four statues of cubs legends ernie banks harry caray ron santo and billy williams the cool thing about the statues apart from their remarkable likenesses is that the metal was colored in but just on the red and blue parts and once more the obligatory in front of the red sign photo although this time with a much livelier atmosphere when we make it into the stadium i head right over to the cubs authentic store i wanted to mark this momentous occasion with a specific souvenir and pre order a game used ball from my very first game at wrigley field of course i also checked out a few other items there which included balls from previous games used hats and bats and a rack of reasonably priced team issued jerseys i decided to just get the ball and then we made our way to get first game item number two a custom my first visit certificate this item would be short lived though as beer not mine ended up being spilled two rows behind us and dribbled down to where it lay of course i got us bleacher seats and paid a pretty decent price considering they were playing the cardinals i guess it helps when you are planning for an early season april game we settled in on the third row of the third section over in the left field and got our first look at the inside of the friendly confines having seen games in the somewhat recent past in minneapolis s target field and houston s minute maid park what struck me right away was the difference between those modern parks and one that has lasted for generations the it really is an open field with a just a few video screens to bring it into the 21st century and of course there s the iconic manually operated scoreboard in centerfield keeping fans updated on the day s scores from across the league as well as three flag poles that signify the standings of the three national league divisions i was sure to get there early wanting to catch batting practice and maybe a bp ball or two but unfortunately neither team took bp right before the game as the game time grew nearer i did get an up close view of tyler chatwood warming up with willson contreras baseball is always a great game to watch in person and especially at such a ballpark i live in minnesota and the cubs haven t had any interleague games here in quite a while so this was my first chance to see guys like kris bryant anthony rizzo kyle schwarber and ben zobrist in person it was a close game for the most part until a three run 8th inning by the cardinals sealed the deal on a 5 3 cubs loss we did get to see a javy baez home run thought and my wife even got me another gift at the end of the third inning i left my seat to go get another beer as well as make room in my bladder for said beer now between innings one of the coaches would come out from the bullpen area and throw the ball around with schwarber who was playing left field as the inning would begin they would throw the ball into the stands someone very close to where we were sitting caught it and my wife who is way bolder then i could ever be asked the guy if she could have it for her husband who is a huge cubs fan the guy actually gave it to her as just catching one was enough of a thrill for him and needless to say i got quite the surprise when i returned to my seat with my bud light this along with the gamer that i preordered before the game made two baseballs i would be going home with this one may not have technically been used in in game action but it was handled by kyle schwarber needless to say it was a great experience for my first game at wrigley field and after barely escaping hypothermia it was time to head back to our place and get ready for one more game the next day or so we thought weather would strike once again as the second game out of three would be cancelled due to weather the cold temperature combined with a heavy morning rain made it a not so great day for baseball it could have been a major bummer but fortunately for us the game was rescheduled for the very next day at noon now we were planning on thursday morning to head back home but we decided that the best thing for us to was to check out of our place in the morning pack up our car and head to the game leaving for home just a little bit later than we originally planned i would get another game at wrigley field but more importantly i would get a day game as we did monday we decided to make the most of our change of plans after researching different attractions around the city as well as which would be most accessible we decided to head to the shedd aquarium since this was basically a trip for me and my lifelong dream of seeing wrigley field our off day was given to her she loves taking our girls to the zoos we have up here so when the opportunity came to see a different type of wildlife it wasn t a tough decision to make the aquarium itself is really interesting like most you have a lot of the smaller fish tanks with aquatic wildlife from all over the world we also saw penguins otters rays and dolphins the big draw for this aquarium though are the beluga whales we were lucky enough to catch them at feeding time where the five whales each go to their specific trainer who they can identify based on a placard attached to their feeding bucket and the trainers got them to even do a few tricks we closed out the aquarium and before having dinner at giordano s and i made sure we got a picture with the cloud gate sculpture thursday would be a new day in more ways than one as the rain stopped the clouds opened up and the sun came out wrigleyville was buzzing and it was a great day for baseball after checking out of our airbnb and loading up our car we headed back to the ballpark for a wrigley field day game wrigley didn t have lights until i think 1988 and still keep the day game tradition going and it is still a big draw for the team the weather was still cool but with the sun out and softer wind it was perfect we sat in pretty much the same spot as before and got an up close look at jon lester warming up for his start the game itself was great the floodgates really opened from the cubs bats as a jason heyward home run and several well placed hits with runners on put the cubs up to a 8 1 lead by the end of the fifth inning st louis tried to rally scoring four more in the seventh but it wasn t enough as the cubs came away with a 8 5 win time was running short on us as we had a long drive ahead but there was one more stop i had to make the motorola trophy room it is located near the park right outside wrigley where they have a two story team shop and a few other businesses it houses a few really cool pieces of cubs history like john lester and javy baez s 2016 nlcs co mvp trophies and the...