OPC Gordie All-Star card

I recently went hog wild on eBay and put my eBay Bucks towards a bunch of 1967 Topps stars. They showed up today but I wanted to get this card posted before I dig into those.

This 1970/71 OPC Gordie Howe All Star is one I've seen a few times and just never got around to bidding on/buying. Then the same Net54 poster that had the Spahn card available had this for sale as well. 

The look on Howe's face is pure 'Gordie Howe'. He looks like he's eyeing the guy who just scored against the Wings and is celebrating a little too much. I'd hate to be that guy. The back of this card is hardly worth scanning, let alone posting. 

It's part of a puzzle (I hate 'puzzle back' subsets) and it shows just a piece of the border and some shadowing. The set had two different puzzles as part of the All Stars, Gordie and Gilbert Perreault of the Sabres. (I could be wrong on this, my memory is lax and I'm too lazy to do any digging right now.)

I did find a pic of the back of this Howe so I avoided having to crank up my cranky scanner.

 What did I tell ya? 😏

Dammit, I miss hockey!

In a normal year, we'd be near the end of the second round of the NHL playoffs right about now.  Things would really be getting good. I'm fairly certain my Rangers would have missed out on the post-season (give us a year though!) but that has never stopped me from enjoying the Stanley Cup trek. I watch hockey, especially playoff hockey, no matter who is involved.

I spent a few days late last year sorting and cataloging my Aeros cards and assorted ephemera. Being a fan of media guides and programs I dug through boxes to see what I had kept. I found that I had five of the six guides. I found the missing guide on eBay and it's on its way now. now in hand!

I also found that my Gordie Howe poster, which he had signed at a promotional event, was missing. Who knows where it went after all these years. So I sought out and grabbed this signed photo. Gordie was the Bob Feller of hockey. He signed relentlessly over the years. He was Mr. Hockey and is still the greatest player I've ever seen. The photo didn't scan very well but you'll have to trust me that it's a beauty.

1972 was the Aeros first season. A lot of my buddies at the University of Houston came from hockey hotbeds, and we hopped on the bandwagon early. One of our group worked in the fledgling ticket office, so we got plenty of passes.

These programs are kind of fragile and I don't want to flatten them on the scanner so all I can show is front covers and a few backs. I also snapped a few pics which I'll sprinkle in. The Aeros' story is an interesting one. They were supposed to be the Dayton Aeros but lack of a suitable arena sent their ownership on a hunt for a good home and luckily they landed here.

The guide is, as you might expect, not very thick, just a dozen pages or so. Front office & coaching staff listings and brief player bios. A roster in the centerfold. Not even a schedule.

The back of the cover has the logos of the original WHA teams.

One of the things that attracted us (or maybe just me) to the WHA was the fact that some old NHL players had gotten second leases on their careers. Old school favorites like Harry Howell and old school enemies like Teddy Green and Norm Ferguson were part of it. Not to mention Bobby Hull.

For their guide the Aeros had a bit more to work with in 73-74 since there was a season under everyone's belts. I'm a bit surprised that there is no mention of the previous (inaugural) season since it had been pretty successful The Aeros had finished second in their division and won the opening playoff round before losing in the semi-finals.

The cover did the obvious, trumpeting the arrival of the Howe family.

That's my friend, Mike, on the left in the middle row on this page.

I used my letter opener to hold the pages open for pics. Interestingly Gordie didn't get a full career stat rundown like everyone else. Maybe they were afraid of running out of ink, or space, or both.

It was certainly huge news here in Houston when he signed to come along with his two boys. There were a few lawsuits as I recall as well. I think the NHL was trying to block the younger Howes from playing. They were underage junior hockey players or some such thing.

But the Howes sparked the Aeros to the first of their back-to-back WHA titles. The 74-75 guide showed off the trophy, the AVCO World Cup. We are somewhere in that crowd. The clinching game is one I'll never forget as the Aeros kept getting power plays and kept converting. A crazy night.

Here's my AVCO Cup story as I posted years ago....

[...]WHA story... It occurred the day after the Aeros won their first AVCO Cup. A good friend who worked at a department store that had a tie-in with the team was headed into work when he spotted the AVCO Cup trophy sitting all by itself on the loading dock. Just sitting there apparently after being delivered by the team for a promo. No one was paying any attention to it as it sat just feet from the morning downtown workers hustling by. Hard to imagine the Stanley Cup in that spot.

This time Gordie got a write-up, bio/vitals, and all the stats.  This was the first really substantial guide they issued, probably due to their recent success. Players get full-page bios, there are all manner of stats, some game action pictures, and playoff summaries. Pinocchio, you're a real boy now!

Another title brought another artistic rendering of the Cup being skated. The Aeros had dominated the playoffs, winning twelve games with only a single loss that came in the first round (to Cleveland and Gerry Cheevers).

With the good times came a really professional media guide. Not only were there write-ups for everyone in the franchise but the stats were extensive. They had pages for opposing teams, on-ice officials rosters, tons of team records and stats for the Aeros, and more.

The Fighting Saints were the Aeros big rivals, at least as far as we were concerned. Of course, the WHA being the goofy, fly-by-night outfit they were most of the time, had a second Minnesota Fighting Saints franchise in 1976. That team had previously been the Cleveland Crusaders.

Here is another story I related in a previous post:

At the Coliseum the visiting team would have to walk a gauntlet of fans between periods and at games end, trudging on their skates up a rubber mat along a path formed by a couple pieces of rope to the locker-room. It passed right through the concession area. Fans would give the Fighting Saints (we had another 'F' word that we used instead of 'Fighting') a real going over. I'm surprised that none of us ever got clobbered with a stick or kicked with a skate.

No 'Cup skate' to show in 1976 since the Aeros had lost in the finals to Bobby Hull and the Winnipeg Jets. They used the same artist to put Gordie on the cover. By now the team had joined the Rockets in the shiny, new arena known as The Summit. The whole vibe of the games had changed. The Sam Houston Coliseum had been a dump, but it was OUR dump, and we missed it.

Gordie was now wearing two hats, President and Chief Thrower Of Elbows In The Corner.

The Aeros were still a good team but not as good as they had been and early exits in the playoffs kind of reflected what was happening off the ice. The merger talks had everyone on a roller coaster. We fully expected to get into the NHL...at first. But the team had changed hand a few times and I suspect the folks in charge of the Aeros as the WHA started coming apart were more focused on the Rockets.

It became a day-by-day thing with nobody knowing what was going to happen. I was at the Houston Post at the time and had become friends with a couple of the writers (one who had covered the team, been hired away by them, and then returned to the paper). They all thought the franchise was going to land on its feet. But when the music stopped the Aeros were the one without a chair. I think there was talk of buying an existing team and moving them here but that was a pipe dream.

This last media guide had a 'cheaper' feel to it. The pages had changed from the glossy paper to plain stock. There was less to crow about so it wasn't as thick. Plus Gordie and his boys had moved on to the Whalers.

We did get a cool pic of tough guy Terry Ruskowski and an oddly disheveled  Bobby Hull.

And then they were gone. The WHA played a final season without the Aeros as part of it. In the 90s the IHL/AHL Aeros were formed and played here for about a decade. They were a Minnesota Wild farm club at the end. I had kids by then, and they fell in love with the 'new' Aeros. I enjoyed them as well, heck, hockey is fun no matter what level you're watching, but nothing could ever compare with those days at the creaky, dank Coliseum.

A Fun Exercise

A few weeks back someone on Net54 started a thread asking folks to name the best player they saw in person.... 1) in the first game they attended and 2) ever (in a game you attended). High school and college games were OK. 'Best player in the first game' meant 'best guy on the field', not necessarily the one who had the best game that day. You were supposed to answer for the Big Four sports but, as is usually the case with internet things, not everyone followed directions. And some replies stated they had never seen a game in a certain sport in person, etc. A few dolts, like me for instance, tossed in an extra sport or two.

I thought it was interesting and it wasn't as easy as it sounded at first.  There were certainly no wrong answers. I was entertained by some of the responses and I also immediately thought it would make a fun blog post if I could find cards of each player I named. Turns out I could. So here it goes.

Best player, first game attended, baseball.

July of 1960 at Yankee Stadium, Yanks vs White Sox. Mickey Mantle

It was a doubleheader and Mantle batted fifth. He whiffed, doubled and singled off Billy Pierce and hit a sac fly in the ninth off Frank Bauman in a 6-3 Sox win. The Yanks were loaded, of course, and the Sox had some big-name stars but Mickey obviously wins as 'best guy to play' in that game. He'd be close to being the best player I saw live, ever. But after some internal debate I have to go with this guy:

Best player, ever seen live, baseball.

Willie Mays

I considered Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, and some others but Willie was Willie. There wasn't anything he couldn't do on a ballfield. I was fortunate enough to have seen him while he was still in his prime in the early 60s. Interestingly one of the responders had these same two guys but in the opposite category. I know there are no 'wrong' answers here but ...whatever.


Best player, first game attended, football.

Circa 1961 Nutley N.J. High School games. Ben Hawkins

My original answer was Keith Lincoln. I was thinking of pro sports exclusively at first and he was likely the best player in the first pro game I saw, an Oilers-Chargers affair in 1967.

Then I remembered that I had seen plenty of football in the Nutley Park Oval growing up. I can't specifically recall seeing him but Ben Hawkins was the star at Nutley High in those days. He went on to glory at Arizona Stae and had some great days in the NFL with the Eagles. He led the NFL in yards in 1967.

Best player, ever seen live, football.

John Unitas

I wouldn't even venture a guess as to how many football games I've witnessed. From high school (even disregarding coaching), University of Houston games since 1970, Giants game with my Dad, Oilers, and Texans as a season ticket holder, etc.. I've seen plenty. I never saw Jim Brown play in person but I have seen about everyone else in the modern game, Brady, Gale Sayers, Manning, Marino, Lawrence Taylor, Earl Campbell and so on. None of them tops Johnny Unitas. I don't care how many rings any of them wear. Unitas is the best I've ever seen at imposing his will on a game. Are there better quarterbacks? Maybe. Better FOOTBALL PLAYERS? Nope.

Best player, first game attended, basketball.

Circa 1965 NBA doubleheader, old Madison Square Garden at 49th and 8th. Wilt Chamberlain

 My uncle, the Secaucus pharmacist, used to get tickets to everything through his connections. But he wasn't a sports fan at all and those tickets got passed to my father and so I saw plenty of games I ordinarily wouldn't have. Lots of Knicks games, for example. They used to have NBA doubleheaders at the Garden in the early/mid-60s. You'd see Pistons-Sixers and then the Knicks and Hawks or someone.

I wouldn't want to guess what year I saw the game but I remember Wilt and his Philadelphia crew playing in that old, dank' dingy Garden.

Best player, ever seen live, basketball.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Here's why: "Abdul-Jabbar was Rookie of the Year, a member of six NBA championship teams, a six-time NBA MVP, a two-time NBA Finals MVP, a 19-time All-Star, a two-time scoring champion and a member of the NBA 35th and 50th Anniversary All-Time Teams."

That's not even considering that he was clearly the best high school player and best college player prior to his pro career. His skyhook was unstoppable. You want Jordan? I'll take Jabbar.

Best player, first game attended, hockey.

1959-60/1960-61 Leafs-Rangers at the old MSG. Dave Keon

I'm not sure which Leafs-Rangers game I attended. I remember the Rangers lost. Davey Keon was a Leafs legend. I looked at the rosters for both teams during those seasons. Keon was no doubt the best player on either team.

Best player, ever seen live, hockey.

Gordie Howe.

Saw him with the Wings and Aeros. He's Mr. Hockey. I could have put Bobby Orr here, he was astounding and changed the game. I never saw Gretzky live. But no matter...it's Gordie.

Best player, first game attended, soccer. 

At Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands w/the Cosmos circa 1975/76. Pele

I can't pin down which game it was I attended with my father and uncle but I remember that it rained a bit and Pele was a huge deal. LOL

Best player, ever seen live, soccer.

Pele.

Like Gordie Howe, he's the all-time face of his sport, at least IMHO. I've seen Lionel Messi play, he's a magician on the pitch and maybe one day I will put him in this spot. But not yet.

That was kind of fun to put together. I dug up some fun memories for myself.

It's hockey, baby

Tonight is Game Six of the Western Semifinals with the Blues leading the Sharks 3-2. As is usually the case the semis produce some of the most outstanding games of the playoff season (Boston-Carolina this year being the exception).

I'll likely head to Houston's Midtown and watch at the hockey bar there. I have a friend from St. Louis who will be there and it's fun to watch with a crowd.

Meanwhile, here are some hockey cards. Up top is the Howe 'family' card from the 1974-75 OPC set. It's one of my favorites. I posted it when I picked it up back in 2015. Lot's of great memories wrapped up in that one.

these next are new to me. They are part of an oddball set called the Superstar Heroes Inc set from 1992. I've seen these on a blog I think but I can't find them now. I picked this 12 card set up from a dealer's table at the last TriStar show for a few dollars.

These are so Broder-ish! And the backs are better produced than the fronts.

And Go Blues!! I guess. I am a Joe Thornton fan so I could get into him playing for the Cup in the Finals. 

Eaton's Gordie Howe Postcard

This is one of my favorite pickups in recent months. It's a postcard-sized promotional piece of hockey legend Gordie Howe from the mid-60s. It was issued on behalf of Eaton Department Stores which I've come to find out was a big retail chain in Canada back then.

Gordie, who was a spokesman for Truline Sports Equipment, is pictured in his All-Star uniform. Just a great photo. I consider myself fortunate to have seen Mr. Hockey play many times. I witnessed a handful of his games with the Red Wings in New York against my Rangers. When he came to Houston to play for four seasons with the Aeros and his sons my friends and I (and frequently my father) were there as often as possible. For the first two years of Gordie's time here the Aeros played at the dearly departed  Sam Houston Coliseum. I'm not sure I've ever enjoyed sports more than I did then.

Doing my quick research for Eaton's I found that a book was written about the chain.

Note the photo of Gordie on the cover in his Eaton's red blazer. He must have been to Eaton's what Ted Williams was to Sears down here. I also found many magazine ads that he was showcased in and some other interesting items.

Truline hockey gloves endorsed by the GOAT.

There is at least one other Gordie/Eaton's postcard. I may have to go find one for myself.

 And Truline made baseball gloves that carried Gordie's seal of approval!

#9 Dream

Daniel, over on his It's Like Having My Own Card Shop blog, is having a contest to celebrate nine years of blogging. He has asked other bloggers to enter by concocting a nine card post, theme TBD. That sounded easy enough to complete and a post of cards I've scanned/blogged of players who wore the number 9 popped to mind. I haven't gone through the other entries so it's highly possible that this isn't the only such entry but so be it.

Anyway...here they are. (I wanted to hit the Big Four sports but a basketball entry eluded me. Outside of Bob Pettit (look him up, kids) I can't even think of a hoopster who wore that number much less find a scan of a card of one so I went with the other sports.) These are in no particular order other than this is how I came across them.

Roger Maris came to mind quickly and I was going to use the card from Topps' 1961 MVP subset but that scan was awful. I considered his 1959 card but he wore #3 with the Athletics so I went with my third choice. The 1960 All-Star cards have grown on me since I built the set.

In my mind the #9 in baseball means Ted Williams. His '58 All-Star card is likely the first career-era Teddy Ballgame card I owned as an adult collector.

Here is a Dexter Press postcard of my favorite #9 Orioles player, Don Buford. He was an underrated member of the great Orioles teams of 1969-71. These DP postcards (anything by Dexter Press actually) are things of beauty.

Reggie Jackson wore #9 in his brief Orioles stint. Here he is, my least favorite Oriole wearing their worst uni combo on a modern Topps card.

Moving on to football we find "Two Minute" Tommy Kramer, the pride of San Antonio, Texas. He was my first 'stud' fantasy football player.

Jim McMahon on a Pro Set wearing a Chargers uniform. This looks wrong.

I'm a huge fan of Philly Gum football cards. This is the 1967 Sonny Jurgensen.  If you don't know much about him you could do worse than spend some time checking out this NFL Films feature. He was a great one.

And now on to hockey for a pair of cards.

Adam Graves has his #9 in the Madison Square Garden rafters. We are currently working on plans for a fall trip to the East Coast and at least one Rangers game in on the agenda. I can't wait.

And finally Mr. Hockey. Nowadays you can't read a sports-related article in print or online without some clown throwing the 'G.O.A.T.' label on somebody. Just know this.....if someone uses it in reference to Gordie they are correct.

So there are my nine cards, all of players who wore that number. Congrats to Daniel on his milestone. Nine years of blogging is something to celebrate for sure.

And what better way to wrap up this contest entry than with my favorite John Lennon song. The same song that inspired the title of this post.