Here I was thinking that I was running low on blogging material/ideas and suddenly a big ol' envelope arrived from up Canada way. I came from Chris who does a couple of great blogs, Diamond Cuts and Wax Stains being the main one. He is also collecting and blogging the 1964/65 Topps Hockey Tall Boys set. He had told me he was sending a couple of cards. Turns out he sent a huge lode of vintage Rangers, Orioles and even a few Man U cards. More than I can do justice to in one post.
That Ron Stewart is a 1968/69 OPC. At least the head is Ron Stewart. Chris is better at this stuff than I am so he might be able to ID the body. I run hot and cold on this set. I think they are kind of a mess but maybe a mess in a good way. Everyone else seems to love 'em so they must have something appealing. I do like the 'papa bear-mama bear-baby bear' feel of the three dark shirted skaters in the drawn background.
There is something disturbing about this '73 OPC Steve Vickers card. I guess it's his expression. I can't put my finger on it but he looks like someone plucked from the 1973 version of Times Square and asked to pose for a hockey picture card. If you remember Times Square from back then you know what I mean.
Topps didn't even bother using their own picture of Ranger tough guy Orland Kurtenbach for his 1969 card. They cribbed this one from the Rangers Blue Book (media guide) of a couple of years previous. I've wondered when exactly hockey players decided not to tie their sweater laces. I have a couple of Rangers sweaters and I still tie them up. If I don't I feel the same as I would if I didn't tie my shoes.
Here is Rod Gilbert from that same set. He was the guy that all the girls swooned over. He ALWAYS looked like this.... calm, classy, impeccable. Hell, I saw him on the tube last month and he still looks like this. Fabulous hockey player. He never had enough help on the Rangers. When he got the help i.e. Brad Park, management traded it off for used up stars (I'm looking at you, Phil Esposito).
1978 OPC Walt Tkaczuk. He was high up on the Rangers scoring list for awhile. I never remember him with a beard. In that era of Rangers history it certainly wasn't a 'playoff beard'. And one day I'd like to run into the guy who decided that changing the Rangers look to this horrific clown suit would be a good idea. I came close to weeping when I saw this stuff.
Anyway, that's a few of the cards from Chris' bounty. I'll switch to some of the Orioles in my next look at the cards he sent but I haven't yet scanned the very best of the vintage hockey. I'll get to that soon.
I just received a very similar package from Chris. Men as filled with OPeeChee Btpruins and Redsox.and a few Stoke soccer cards. Very cool stuff from north of the border. I actually like the 68/69 set
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about Times Square, and yes, he does.
ReplyDeleteI also want to that Vickers, in that photo, reminds me of a particular rock musician, but I can't think of whom.
Maybe it's because I largely missed sweater laces the first time around, but I absolutely hate them, especially on the current batch of jerseys. I couldn't even tell you why, I just can't stand the way they look. At least they were functional in the 1960's, the current batch is just a pathetic attempt to make Reebok sweaters look traditional.
That's a nice bunch of Ranger cards, a couple of which I've added to my wantlists.
Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd.
Deletehttp://files.sydbarrettpinkfloyd.com/uploaded_images/ed_imgsyd_barrett_130296a-734035.jpg
Lou Reed
DeleteI find that '68-69 is hit-or-miss card by card. Where it works, it really works. Where it doesn't, bleah.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many head swaps in that set and most of them are laughable. I never realized Ron Stewart was one of them because it's one of their better efforts. I don't know what this says about me (nothing good, I think), but the second you pointed it out I knew who the body was. It's Phil Goyette's. I did check it to make sure. Funny thing is that the body doesn't work much better on Phil than on Ron.
Glad the cards found a good home. It was a metric couple of cards. :)