Weird Little Collections: Original Six Favorites #6 The Rangers!!!

By the time this post is published the Rangers/Flyers 1st Round Series will be history. So I'll be either batshit crazy happy or pissed off enough to stab my cat. No reason I can think of to explain why I've mellowed so much as a fan in every aspect of sports EXCEPT when it comes to the New York Rangers.

Which brings us to this, the final installment of a small series of posts in which I've featured a favorite player from each of the Original Six NHL teams. Like everyone else I choose to ignore the fact that the 'Original Six' are far removed from actually being the first NHL franchises. But I digress.

I think one reason my affinity for my Blueshirts is so strong is that as I grew up they were the only team that everyone close to me 'agreed' on as a rooting interest. In baseball I was an Orioles fan, my Dad was a Yankee fan and my best friend and my closest cousin were devotees of the Giants and Braves respectively. In football I held the Baltimore Colts dear while my father was a football Giants guy and my buddy rooted for the Browns.

But when it came to hockey I don't even think I knew anyone who wasn't a Rangers fan. My family, my friends and their families, everyone at school, my coaches and all my NY/NJ clan of relatives lived and died (mostly died) with the guys on Broadway.

That might explain why as I type this on Tuesday evening I just told my grown son to "turn down the bleepin' TV or close the bleepin' door so I can't hear the bleepin' game cause the score is bleepin' me off". Yes, I'm a grown man who won't listen to a playoff game in which my team is losing 4-0. Yes, I'm that immature stupid.

But here I am attempting to sooth my soul with a posting of Rangers cards. These cards are not of themselves from the Original Six 'era' which ended in 1967, but all the players here are favorites of mine from back in the days of Bruins hatin' rage. Most of them came just the other day from (who else?) Mark Hoyle, a fine Boston lad (ha!) who sprinkles his dupes and vintage gems among all of us in the blogging community. Mark, I salute you!

First up is Eddie Giacomin. Fast Eddie was simply a god to me during his reign as the Rangers' goalie. He was up there with Johnny Unitas, Brooks Robinson and John Mackey in my personal Mt. Rushmore of sports heroes.

These two cards, from 73/74 and 74/75 represent the end of the 'Giacomin Era'. He was waived in October of 1975 and picked up by the Red Wings. I was working at the old Houston Post and a friend there told me of the deal. I had to read it for myself on the ticker. I'm pretty sure I didn't cry but I likely would have had I not been in the middle of a busy sports department full of tough old veteran writers. Even though I knew his days were numbered with my team I was crushed by the news. Ironically Eddie's very first game as a Red Wing came against the Rangers a coupe of nights later in Madison Square Garden. Ranger fans cheered him like the hero he was and someplace I have a picture of him skating across the Garden ice with his head down as he cried with the emotion of it all. I'd have given anything to have been there!

Rod Gilbert was smooth, classy and the Rangers best scorer. I had his poster on my wall (I never could find a Giacomin poster, Eddie was the kind of guy that they made posters of). His number '7' was the number I wanted as a little leaguer.

Jean Ratelle, Vic Hatfield (we called him 'Two Sticks'... number 11, get it?) and Walt Tkaczuk were scoring forwards for the Blueshirts. All are among my top Rangers favorites.

And last, but not least:

The great Hall of Famer, Brad Park. His debut was much anticipated among Ranger fans after he was 'drafted' in 1966. I saw Park get his first career goal..... the last goal in a 9-0 pasting of the Bruins early in 1969. He had been playing well but I remember that there was a lot of talk about his inability to score that first goal.

Like Eddie Giacomin Park was dealt away by the Rangers but unlike Eddie Park had a lot of hockey left. I always thought his #2 should have been retired by the Rangers. It was later, but only after it was won by the great Brian Leetch. Park had the bad luck to come along as a defenseman during Bobby Orr's career. Even when Orr retired his shadow loomed over everyone else at that position for awhile.

Thanks again, Mark. I love these and the Big E cards you sent.

Weird Little Collections: Original Six Favorites #5

I'm not sure there is anything I can say that will adequately describe Bobby Orr. As a Ranger fan I know I was supposed to 'hate' and I'm sure I said I did back in the day. But truth be told I doubt even the staunchest Blueshirt Believer would have hesitated to sell his own mother to slave-traders to have Orr on Broadway.

Orr changed the way the game was played. He did stuff with the puck that no defenseman had ever done with it. Like going end to end on the ice and leave opponents wondering what the hell was going on. Don't believe me? Ask anyone that saw him play. It's a great shame that his knees took so much abuse and took such a toll on him. 

This is the 1969/70 O-Pee-Chee Bobby Orr. I only wish the card looked as good in my hand as it does in the scan. You can see the fuzzy borders. Why do so many O-Pee-Chee cards look like they were cut from sheets using a butter knife? And the corners are not as sharp as they appear but overall I'm glad this card survived. I had completely forgotten I owned it and went out an bought a 72/73 Orr a couple of years ago. I guess you can't have too many Bobby Orr cards.

Pick a video to watch. This one features music by Carly Simon.

Here is one set to a song by Creed. Creed? I haven't thought of Creed in a decade.

This one has his Top Ten highlights. 

Or go find Legends of Hockey Bobby Orr on YouTube. It's a three parter and well worth the time.

Weird Little Collections: Original Six Favorites #3

I cheated on this one. Back in the day I was a Frank Mahovlich fan when he played for Detroit. But since I... 1) love these '63/'64 Parkhursts and 2) didn't really have a fave among the Leafs back then, I chose to have "The Big M" fill this spot.

And it's not like he didn't do much for the Leafs. On the contrary he is one of the great players in their history. He played 11+ seasons in Toronto and was the Calder Trophy winner as Rookie of the Year in 1958. He made six NHL All Star squads with the Leafs (nine overall) and won four Stanley Cups with them (six overall).

After his time with Toronto he played for Detroit (where he is planted in my memory) playing on a line with Gordie Howe, and with Montreal. After his NHL days he played four seasons in the WHA. I saw him play for four different clubs as a pro (maybe five but I don't recall him from any Ranger-Montreal games I went to). He was a great scorer and a tough guy in the corners but during his career he suffered from depression and missed games due to that and assorted issues.

Wikipedia lists some of his accomplishments:

• Calder Memorial Trophy winner in 1958.
• Played in 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, and 1974 NHL All-Star Games.
• Selected to the NHL First All-Star Team in 1961, 1963, and 1973.
• Selected to the NHL Second All-Star Team in 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1969, and 1970.
• Stanley Cup champion in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1971 and 1973.
• Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1981.
• Inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.
• In 1998, he was ranked number 27 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
• Inaugural inductee into the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame as a “Legends of the Game” in 2010

Those old Parkhurst cards are classic. The set contains Leafs, Canadiens and Red Wings. The Leafs all have the Canadian flag as a background (the version of the flag that was in play at the time) the Wings have the U.S, flag behind them but the Habs have a silly pattern of bars or lines. Weird and I don't know why but I guarantee one of you hockey card experts can fill me in.

My Mahovlich has seen better days but I don't mind picking up old beat-up cards if they are as cool as this old Parkie.

Weird Little Collections: Original Six Favorites #2

Jean Beliveau is one of the most revered players to ever skate in the NHL. Montreal loved him and still does as far as I can tell. Supposedly, as a young player in the Quebec amateur leagues, Beliveau was reluctant to be bound to the Canadiens as his only option for a pro career but Montreal decided to just buy the league Beliveau was in and in essence bind him to play for them.

I've read that story four times today and in each case the details vary a bit, some say Beliveau's father was instrumental in the workings of it all. No matter, Jean Beliveau went on to a rather spectacular career in Montreal winning TEN Stanley Cups as a player and SEVEN more as a team executive. That is a bit mind-boggling.

I saw the Montreal Canadiens play in the old Madison Square Garden in the early 60s. It was one of my first 'live' hockey games. I wish I could say I have memories of seeing Jean Beliveau but the fact it the only player I remember is the Rangers' goalie Jacques Plante. I don't even remember who won the game.

What I saw of Beliveau that I can remember comes from watching tape-delayed Rangers games on an old black and white TV in our basement on Saturday nights with my father. My Dad always had something to say about Beliveau.

This is a 1971-72 O-PEE-CHEE Jean Beliveau special. It's the last card in the checklist coming right after the Gordie Howe retirement special card. It's a pretty neat set and one I would consider putting together some day. I have a handfull of them already including this 'well rounded' Beliveau special. I have a bid in on a cheap but decent copy of the Howe special. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

Weird Little Collections: Original Six Favorites #1

Putting together mini collections is kind of fun. No, not mini sized card collections like Night Owl has (although that's fun as well) but little bitty theme collections and small subsets out of big sets. The inspiration for these things comes out of the blue sometimes and sometimes from other blogs or from a card I see on the net.

I collected the NHL players born in Texas as an example of the small theme collection and the 1960 Topps managers cards as an example of the subset type.

My latest of the tiny theme type collections is "Favorite Player From Each Original Six" hockey team. It was going to be just six cards. But I couldn't always decide one one card of a player and I had no chance on deciding on my favorite Rangers player so the collection actually is a few more than 6 plus a bunch of Rangers. 

Here is the first one, a 1974/75 Topps Stan Makita.

Back in about 1969 or 1970 a buddy and I went in to Manhattan from New Jersey to watch the Ranger play the Black Hawks on a Sunday afternoon. When it was over we did what we could never do after an evening game. We went and stood on the Eighth Avenue curb outside Madison Square Garden near the Black Hawks' charter bus hoping to spot players. I ended up getting Bobby Hull to sign a game program along with a sig from Tony Esposito. Bobby Hull, as was his custom, stood outside the idling bus and signed for every kid that asked while the rest of the team sat and waited in their seats.

I'm guessing that if they had a complaint they kept it to themselves because a) Bobby Hull was their meal ticket and they knew it, and b) if they said anything he was quite capable of kicking their ass without too much effort. Hull was that not known as a fighter the way Gordie Howe was, but he was a guy I bet nobody would want to mess with. The thing was, as much as I admired Bobby Hull, the guy on the Black Hawks team I really wanted a signature from was Stan Mikita.

Maybe a old time Black Hawks fan could help me here but I always got the impression that Mikita was to most popular guy among their fans. He was tough, fast and talented. He was as good a 'faceoff guy' as I've ever seen. And he used a wickedly curved stick, which we thought was very cool. He played with 'flair'. And he definitely stood out when he took to wearing a helmet on ice in a time when not very many players would.

I thought so much of him that I never held against him the fact that when I saw him sitting in a window seat on that bus he totally ignored me when I tapped on the glass. At least, since the window was closed, he didn't have the chance to slam it closed like a couple of the other players did. My friend lost a program when Dennis Hull (we think) closed his window and trapped the program in it.

But back to that card. Ol' Stan is decked out in full gear posed in front of a paneled wall with his skates planted firmly on linoleum tile. How damn awesome is that? This set is just chocked full of 'hallway' poses with players in full body shot or portrait in front of what appears to be a painted wall, paneled wall or brick wall. There are some action shots but it's these card photos that look like they were taken in the basement of Mount Sinai Hospital that make this set fun. I believe I have at least one more to show later in this series of posts.

Here is my other Mikita card. It's a '72/'73 Topps