Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Old Hockey Cards: Waxing Nostalgic
I was going through my old hockey card collection the other day and I came across this beautiful 1971 O-Pee-Chee card of Gump Worsley.
Worsley was a roly-poly goalie who was a hero to all non-athletic fat guys everywhere in Canada. He played 861 games and won the Vezina and Calder trophies, all while possessing the physique of the Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man.
I mean, just look at that goofy face? Gump was the kind of guy that you could sit down and have a beer with�during the 1st intermission!
And look at the back of the card? During the 70�s, O-Pee-Chee cards typically had a little comic on the back of each card. They actually paid someone to draw up a little descriptive comic on the back of EACH and EVERY player card.
These little pictures would give you a little background detail or tidbit about the player in question, and it added a cool characteristic to the stats and vitals. (Such as Worsley tossing the mask aside)
It�s been quite a few years since I�ve actually purchased a pack of new hockey cards, so I don�t know if any company has gone �retro� for real�but I�d love to see a newer set that was cheap in price, and had a little comic drawing on the back of each card.
You could have a picture of Alexei Yashin with a cocky little smirk, smoking a cigar and sitting on those comic-book money bags (The ones with the $ symbol to tell you there is money inside), with a caption �Alexei signed a 10-year, 87.5$million contract�
�or a picture of Pavel Bure: �Pavel has had 23 knee operations�, complete with a sad-looking Bure walking with crutches.
Now, that would be cool�
