Little surprises

From my collecting days in the 80's, sometimes you would receive a surprise with your autograph return. Sent to Dennis Owchar. Selected by Pittsburgh in the 1973 draft in the 4th round, #55 overall. Played for Pittsburgh and Colorado Rockies. GP 288  G 30 A 85 TP 115  PIM 200. Sent his 75/76, 76/77, 77/78 and 78/79 cards to be autographed. Also received this hand written note from Vicki. (office staff)

Note that my signed cards are being returned and he played senior A hockey for the 1989 Thunder Bay Twins Allan Cup Champs. It appears I sent the request in the early 90's. It's the little things like this that make this hobby enjoyable.

Better late than never

On Feb 7, 1976 Maple Leaf captain Darryl Sittler set an NHL record for most points in one game  G 6 A 4 TP 10. This was set against Dave Reece of the Bruins in an 11-4 Leaf victory. That season he became the first Leaf to score 100 points in a season.


Box score of game.

Notice that two of the goals were scored at 10:27 and 9:27. It's just numbers right.

Front of Leaf postcard autographed by Darryl in light blue pen.

From  the stats on back, it appears that is is a 75/76 issue Leafs postcard. Skyine Marina Ltd rubber stamp on back. Obtained this at a garage sale in the 90's. Since my wife knows me as a miser, tightwad etc, I doubt I paid more than a quarter for this. Though some of the details are sketchy,vthe memory remains the same. Signing off.

Bobby Hull--IP

Welcome back readers. My uncle used to work for Simpson Sears(department store) in the advertising department. In 1965, they created a sports advisory council who signed athletes to endorse their line of sports equipment.

They included NHLer's Pierre Pilote, Glenn Hall and Bobby Hull. All members of the Chicago BlackHawks (hmm  Sears Roebuck based in Chicago--coincidence??). Also on the council were football player John Barrow, ski pro Dick Townsend and physical fitness advisor (and wrestler) Johnny Powers. Anyhow, my uncle gave me some b/w photos that were used in the store for advertising.

Flash forward to 1985. Bobby Hull's sons, Bobby Jr and Blake were playing senior A hockey for the Brantford Motts Clamatos. Bobby was making an appearance and was scheduled to sign autographs. Along with some cards, I pulled the now 20 year old photo out to bring along. As always, Bobby was smiling and signing. Here is the result.

Personalised photo signed in black marker. Gee, what are the odds this may be  a 1/1. Still have the Hall and Pilote. Maybe I should try and get those signed also.

Autographs IP--Brantford

The details are kind of hazy. There was a slo-pitch game involving NHL players in Brantford during the 80's. There was a reception after that I couldn't attend but a friend did. Knowing that I collected autographs, I received this afterwards.

An 8x10 b/w photo from Wayne Gretzky Night when he was named Sportsman of the Year. Presented to him by Brantford boxer Gary Summerhays. Signed in blue ball-point pen by both men.

Back signed by other celebrities in attendance. NHLer's Doug Jarvis, Pat Hickey, Derek Smith, minor leaguer Brian Cross and two autographs I can't make out. Think I am going to have to check this out some more to find out more information. But there you have it. From my personal archival collection, an early Wayne Gretzky IP autograph.(with no number 99).

Hockey Autographs TTM(continued)--Lorne Ferguson

As discussed in previous post, there was not a lot of choice when sending away TTM during the 80's. Besides what I sent (57/58 Topps #40 shown as a member of the Red Wings) , I also requested a business card or picture postcard of the player. Here is the result of one such request.
Lorne Ferguson played for the Bruins, Red Wings and BlackHawks.  GP 422  G 82 A 80 TP 162 PIM 193 . Received my card back signed plus his business card.

Business card from Labatts Breweries and hand written note on back. More treasures from the past in upcoming posts. See you then.

Hockey autographs TTM--Palaeozaic era

I want to take you back to the old days of autograph collecting (the 80's). There were not a lot of cards to be signed as the explosion of the 90's had not yet hit. We kind of knew of team issued items but in the pre-internet days, stuff was hard to find. To help jazz up the plain old index card, I custom created mine. I would cut out the little head shots  (no blind side ones here) of the player, glue them on the index card and send away to the player to sign. Star players had cards but the role players did not. For example, Glen Cochrane. Selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1978 draft, 3rd round, 50th overall. Played 10 NHL seasons,  GP  411   G 17  A 72 TP 89  PIM 1556. He was in the 85/86 and 86/87 Canucks player postcard sets, the 87/88 Blackhawks player postcard set, the Oilers 88/89 player postcard set, the 87/88 Kraft player drawing set and finally in the 02/03 Fleer Throwback set. So without much further ado, for your viewing pleasure, late 80's custom Glen Cochrane.

Feb 2--Groundhog Day

There are 23 former and active NHL players who share birthdays on this day. Lets look at Kjell Dahlin, Feb 2, 1963. Played 3 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, 1985/86-1987/88. Rookie season played 71 games with 32 goals and 39 assists for 71 points. Also won Stanley Cup with some other rookie named Patrick Roy. Injuries plagued him the next two seasons, limiting him to 89 GP 25 G  20A  45 PTS. Returned to Sweden and played 6 years for Farjestads BK Karlstad. I don't remember the year (late 80's) but wrote to him asking if he could autograph his cards for me. I sent an 1986/87 OPC #15 player card and #262 Rookie scoring leader card. He returned these signed in blue ballpoint pen and a 4"x6" team postcard signed in blue marker on the back (finger print smudge included). I have the envelope somewhere still. Happy Birthday Kjell.