I am pleased to announce the upcoming release of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW our tribute to the White House.

We are producing only 240 boxes of this product. Each box will contain six different cards. Two Cut Signatures cards and four limited Base cards.

One of the two Cut Signature cards will be a Presidential Cut, either a single cut or a double cut.

The checklist for the Presidential Cuts is nothing short of spectacular. Cuts of Kennedy, Lincoln, Jefferson, Jackson, Grant and Taylor to name a few.

There will also be a large number of dual autographs featuring Presidents from four subsets; Running Mates, Presidential Couples, Presidential Opponents and Forever Linked.

From the Running Mates subset you can find William Taft/James Sherman, Herbert Hoover/Charles Curtis, William McKinley/Garret Hobart, Ulysses S. Grant/Henry Wilson, Grover Cleveland/Adlai Stevenson to name a few.

From the Presidential Couples you can find Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, William and Helen Taft, Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson, John and Jacqueline Kennedy and Rutherford and Lucy Hayes to name a few.

The Presidential Opponents subset will feature John Kennedy/Richard Nixon, Harry Truman/Thomas Dewey, Ronald Reagan/Walter Mondale, William McKinley/William Jennings Bryan to name a few.

Perhaps the most collectable of the dual cut subsets will be Forever Linked. The dual cuts in this subset include Jimmy Carter/Anwar Sadat, John Kennedy/Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Reagan/John Hinkley, Richard Nixon/Carl Bernstein, Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky and many more.

Remember, there is also a second 1/1 Cut Signature card in each box. The second Cut Signature comes from the following subsets; Cabinet Members, Vice-Presidents, White House Kids, First Lady, White House Visitor and Camelot.

Dolley Madison from the First Lady subset

John Forsyth from the Cabinet Members subset

John Garner from the Vice Presidents subset

There are three Base Card sets, each card is serially numbered to ten.

Presidents

This 42-card Base Card set features every President that called the White House home. Each card is serially numbered out of ten.

Presidential Couples

This 44-card Base Card set features every First Couple that lived in the White House. Each card is serially numbered out of ten.

Presidential Pets

This 10-card Base Card set features Presidential pets that roamed the lawns of the White House. Each card is serially numbered out of ten.

This product will be released mid-February. Contact your Famous Fabrics dealer or distributor to reserve your box now.

Brian Price

In The Game is pleased to announce the long-awaited return of Howe to their products in 2012 and the company is excited to be able to feature him in their celebrated releases.

“It has been several years since Mr. Howe was prominently featured as part of In The Game’s products and we are incredibly pleased to be working with him once again,” said company President Dr. Brian Price. “Our working relationship goes back even farther than that and collectors will be pleased to have an opportunity to get more cards of one of hockey’s greatest icons.”

Howe was part of the first modern era hockey card set from Parkhurst back in 1951-52 and his cards have been highly sought-after ever since. During the 1991-92 season, Dr. Price began working as a sub-licensor under Pro Set and brought back the legendary Parkhurst trading card brand to modern collectors. This extremely popular series not only featured the top stars of the day but also had a special insert set which prominently featured Mr. Howe. At the time, inserts were a relatively new concept with collectors and it was fitting that one of the game’s greatest players be a part of it.

Over the following years, Dr. Price featured Howe in a number of products including collector favorites like the Parkhurst Missing Link. These sets were made up entirely of retired players and paved the way for modern releases, which celebrate the past. Howe was last a part of the In The Game family in 2001-02 and his return to In The Game will allow collectors to obtain all-new cards that celebrate his monumental contributions to the sport.

Howe was born in Floral, Saskatchewan on March 31, 1928 and joined the Detroit Red Wings as an 18-year-old for the 1946-47 season. He quickly became one of the NHL’s top stars and led his club to four Stanley Cup championships in the 1950s. Over 25 seasons in the Motor City, Gordie became the league’s all-time leader in games played, goals, assists and points before retiring for the first time at the end of the 1970-71 campaign. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame soon after.

After two seasons on the sidelines, Howe returned to action with the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association and played alongside two of his sons, Mark and Marty. Over the course of six WHA campaigns, the trio ranked among hockey’s biggest stars and he continued to put up strong numbers. They signed with the New England Whalers in 1977 and went back to the NHL two years later as members of the expansion Hartford Whalers. The 1979-80 season was his last but he would skate in his final NHL All-Star Game and made a memorable return to Detroit to score his 801st and final regular season goal on April 6, 1980.

Despite retiring soon after, Howe was still active in the hockey world and once the sports memorabilia industry took off, he became a popular show guest. In 1997-98, he became the first player to skate in a professional game in six different decades when he took to the ice with the Detroit Vipers of the International Hockey League. In 2008, he became the first person to be awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the NHL. Adored by fans everywhere, his career is spoken of in reverent tones for being a complete player that could score, lead and play without fear.

Collectors can expect to find autograph and game-used memorabilia cards of Howe in many of the products that are part of In The Game’s 2012 lineup starting with Heroes and Prospects, which releases on February 23.

Brian Price

With only 14 more days left until the release of this product, I thought it might be time for an update.

Enforcers might be the toughest hockey card set to collect in the history of hockey trading cards.

In what other product can you find player after player who distinguished themselves for their toughness and their selfless role in protecting teammates.

The image above has been created using mock-ups of the Tough Nameplates cards that will be found in the product. These are letters cut from the nameplates of game-worn jerseys of the Enforcers. Each card is a 1/1.

When these Tough Nameplates cards are added to the 1/1 Tough Patches cards there is a lot for hi-end collectors to chase.

Production of Enforcers is in full swing and the product will be released on time.

Orders yours now as this product is sure to be sold out.

Oh by the way, is this Georges Laraque in the picture below in a cameo role in the movie Goon?

Just wondering!

Brian Price

There are only 7,000 boxes being produced so make sure you don’t get shutout and order yours now.

By now most collectors are aware of the position that Georges Laraque has taken on this product, so no need to repeat it here in my BLOG.

However, Stu Grimson also weighed in on the subject in this interview:

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2011/12/16/bloody-fuss-over-hockey-trading-cards

Enough about the controversy and more about this great product.

We have just completed a great new addition to the Enforcers product, the Tough Patch cards. Large pieces of game-used jerseys from many of the players in this product. These 1/1′s will be really “tough” to collect.

“Tough” to collect but worth the effort. Some of the nicest patch cards we have ever made.

Checklists for the Base Card set, Autograph Card set and Game-Used Memorabilia sets will be posted on our website (www.itgtradingcards.com) this week.

Remember the Release Date – January 19, 2012.

Enforcers – it’s going to be a tough set to collect.

Brian Price

Bob Probert was as tough as any player who ever laced on a pair of skates.

He had an outstanding career playing 935 games over 16 seasons for Chicago and Detroit and accumulating 3300 penalty minutes including 231 fights. His battles on the ice against Wendel Clark, Link Gaetz, Stu Grimson and Tie Domi were legendary.  Everyone has their own favorite Bob Probert fight.

Bob Probert will headline the checklist of players featured in In The Game’s – Enforcers. We will even have limited numbers of Probert autograph cards with Chicago, Detroit and dual autograph cards of some of his greatest battles.

Bob Probert epitomizes what our Enforcers product is all about.

Each pack of Enforcers will contain five authentic autographs. There will be over 80 different Enforcers on the authentic autograph checklist including; Dave Semenko, Joey Kocur, Georges Laraque, Dave Manson, Basil McRae, Rob Ray, Marty McSorley, Brad May, Jim Kyte, Chris Nilan, and many, many more.

Each pack of Enforcers will contain two authentic game-used memorabilia cards. There are several different insert sets; Instigators, Dual Combatants, Quad Tough Franchise, Fight Straps, 1/1 Fight Strap Dome Fastener cards, 1/1 Enforcer Nameplates. The checklist includes Stu Grimson, Wendel Clark, Kelly Chase, Enrico Ciccone, Lyle Odelein, Gino Odjik, Jeff Odgers, Terry O’Reilly, Bob Nystrom, Clark Gilles and many, many more.

Each pack of Enforcers will contain five non-memorabilia inserts. There will be four different subsets; Tale of the Tape, Record Holders, Bloody Battles and Tough Franchises in the 90 card Non-Memorabilia Insert checklist.

Enforcers will be released mid-January 2012 and production will be limited, order yours now.

Brian Price

A product dedicated to hockey’s tough guys, the players that open up the ice for the superstars.

Enforcers will be released mid-January and due to a small production run, it might be as tough to find as it will be to collect.

In The Game does not put redemption cards in their products for autographs, so the checklist will be announced prior to release date as the autographs are received.

Count these five Enforcers in:

Wendel Clark – a fan favorite from the start in Toronto, Clark exhibited a great deal of toughness and played every game like it was his last. The opposition never wanted to mess with him because they knew he wasn’t about to back down from anyone.

Stan Jonathan – while he wasn’t anywhere near being the biggest member of any team he played on, it could be argued that Jonathan had the biggest heart of them all. His memorable tussle with the much-larger Pierre Bouchard of the Montreal Canadiens is still shown to this day as he unleashed a flurry of punches that brought down the big defender.

Joe Kocur – the Detroit Red Wings were loaded with tough and talented players in the 1980s and Kocur proved to be among the game’s elite enforcers. He paced all players with 377 penalty minutes in 1985-86 and is a three-time Stanley Cup champion!

Jimmy Mann – when John Ferguson was rebuilding the Winnipeg Jets after the death of the World Hockey Association, one of his key building blocks was Mann, who he selected in the first round of the 1979 NHL Entry Draft. He was an instant hit at the pro level as he led the league in penalty minutes during his rookie season of 1979-80.

Dave Semenko – if Semenko had never played for the Edmonton Oilers, opposing teams might have run over players like Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri, so it was his job to ensure that the offensive dynamos around him were protected. Considering that he once stepped into the ring to fight Muhammad Ali in an exhibition bout, there is little doubt in regard to his overall toughness and atleticism.

I am also pleased to reveal two more exciting game-used memorabilia insert sets. The first is what you would expect from Enforcers, game-used Fight Straps. Each Fight Strap card will be numbered out of 8.

The next game-used memorabilia insert set will be a 1/1 Fight Strap Dome Fastener. On each card the piece of memorabilia will come right through the card (front to back). We’ve never done this before.

These two insert sets join the three others that have been announced in a previous Blog; Instigators, Combatants and Tough Franchise.

Enforcers will be a real hockey fan’s product. It’s not the same top 50 players that are put in product after product. Enforcers is going to be a tough set to collect, but it will be worth the effort.

Brian Price

Just the thought of Schultz, McSorley, Twist, Brashear in action scares the heck out of me.

Fighting in hockey is as old and important as the blueline. It’s the one event in a game that always brings the crowd to its feet and Enforcers will celebrate the blue-collar players who toil in the trenches and work to give the stars more skating room.

How many goals would Gretzky have without Semenko?

Each box of Enforcers will feature 5 autograph cards, that’s right 5 autograph cards of some very tough customers.

Also included in each box will be 2 game-used memorabilia cards. Featuring the following insert sets; Instigator, Combatants (Dual), Fight Strap (1/8) Fight Strap (1/1 – big surprise), Tough Franchise (Quad).

Each box of Enforcers also will contain 5 limited base cards. Subsets of the base card set include; Record Holders, Tale of the Tape, Bloody Battles and Tough Franchise.

That’s right 12 cards per box. This product will be hand-packed by In The Game to insure that each box contains the exact number of cards noted above. There are no redemptions to wait for or substitutions to accept, just the toughest hockey card set ever.

This product will be limited and allocations to distributors will be based on pre-orders. Contact your distributor or your local card shop to let them know that you have dropped your gloves and will be collecting Enforcers by In The Game.

Coming early 2012.

In The Game – The history of hockey on trading cards. Licensed by collectors.

Brian Price

The hockey world was buzzing this summer with the return of NHL hockey to the city of Winnipeg and while the new club is reborn from the ashes of the Atlanta Thrashers, there is certainly enough of a long-standing tradition there that dates back almost 40 years.

In 1972, the World Hockey Association was formed as a rival to the NHL and its first group of franchises included the Winnipeg Jets. The team signed some great talents like Joe Daley and Ab McDonald early on, but the biggest name of them all was Bobby Hull – a figure that gave the new league instant credibility. The Golden Jet flew into Winnipeg that summer and was presented with an over-sized check which signified that the WHA meant business and was ready to help players get the wages they deserved. The team had a great inaugural season and went to the Avco Cup Final but lost to the New England Whalers.

The 1974-75 saw the team act as ground-breakers as they began to bring in top European talents such as Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson and Lars-Erik Sjoberg. This gave them a solid nucleus which helped them win their first of three Avco Cup titles the following year. As many of the other teams in the league suffered great financial losses, the Jets remained a powerhouse and even absorbed top talent like Morris Lukowich and Terry Ruskowski once the Houston Aeros folded.

A merger with the NHL loomed at the end of the 1978-79 campaign and Winnipeg won the final Avco Cup tournament over the Edmonton Oilers, who had a young Wayne Gretzky in their lineup at the time. They were welcomed into the NHL for the 1979-80 season but had to pay a heavy price as the senior loop reclaimed players whose rights they held. The Jets were temporarily grounded, and things went from bad to worse as they had a horrible 1980-81 campaign where they won just nine games and finished last in the league.

Their reward for ineptitude helped them get the biggest prize in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft – a hot prospect named Dale Hawerchuk. He was an instant hit and helped turn their fortunes around alongside up-and-comers like Dave Babych, Doug Smail, Paul MacLean and Thomas Steen. For the rest of the 1980s, they remained contenders and had some great seasons together.

At the dawn of the 1990s, the winds of change began to blow in Winnipeg and new stars were rising like Keith Tkachuk, Bob Essensa and Alexei Zhamnov. The brightest of them all, however, was Teemu Selanne, who set NHL standards for most goals and points by a rookie in 1992-93.

In 1995-96, things were starting to look grim for Jets fans as it was becoming apparent that the team could not survive there. Factors like a weak Canadian dollar and skyrocketing salaries didn’t help and despite an outporing of public support, the team ended up moving to Phoenix to become the Coyotes. An era had ended, but the city never forgot their team.

Over the years, these same fans kept the home fires burning and rumors often circulated that the NHL would come back again. Those dreams became reality in 2011 and In The Game has created a special collection in the Ultimate Memorabilia 11th edition celebrating some of the greatest players to ever skate in Winnipeg. With two, three or four pieces of game-used memorabilia, these cards are sure to be appreciated by hockey fans everywhere!

The Boys Are Back in UM-11. The only Ultimate.

Brian Price

Vintage memorabilia at its very best, only from In The Game.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking:

When There Were Six – Team

Shooters

Idols

All-Stars

Lord Stanley’s Mug

Goalie Generations

I think the pictures speak for themselves. UM-11 is a very special product.

Releases November 10, 2011.

Brian Price

Ultimate Patch/Auto Card

Future Star Auto

Triple Auto

Ultimate Goalie Legend

Dual Auto

Auto Stick/Jersey

Goalie Auto/Jersey

So what do you think? Excited as we are?

Ultimate Memorabilia 11th Edition releases November 10, 2011.

Brian Price