Back Checking - 1981-82 OPC Reggie Lemelin Rookie

Remember back to a time when you used to scour your collection to try and find those "rare" error cards? Errors that were caught very early by the manufacturers could be worth hundreds of times more than their corrected counterparts. For example, Mike Krushelnyski's 90-91 Pro Set card is hardly worth the paper it is printed on. However, his error card, that is a completely different story. There are none of them for sale on eBay as of now, but I have seen some in the past listed for well over $50 dollars which is a fair bit more than the book value of 5 cents for the corrected version.

Other errors are very common and sometimes the errors are never corrected. Recently I was thumbing through rookies and I gave Reggie Lemelin's an extra close look.

1981-82 OPC Rejean Lemelin Rookie

 Here is the front of the card. I promise not to go on about how awesome 81-82 OPC cards are, but they are pretty great. Reggie looks like he is taking a lap or two around the rink before he is finding a comfy spot on the bench.

Here is the back side of the rookie. Lots of neat and strange things back here. First off, Reggie didn't get a rookie card printed until he was 27 years old! I find that really hard to believe and if you see the back, he played in 3 part seasons before he was granted number 44 in the 81-82 OPC set. His FTC (first Topps Card) wouldn't happen until 1984-85. If I were to guess when he SHOULD have had his rookie printed I would have figured 79-80 OPC given he played in nearly a 1/4 of the NHL season but alas with many changes going on in the NHL with that set, it is easy to see how he was overlooked.  After you get past his age and his stats, I did find a small error in the bottom facts. The problem isn't statistical but rather a small "typo" with the word "clubb". Very easy mistake to make and very easy to overlook. Now the Beckett doesn't list this as an uncorrected error (UER) but without having another copy I really don't know if there was a corrected version or not.

If you happen to have a Reggie Lemelin rookie and a free moment, take a look. I am curious if OPC ever caught the error and fixed it or if it remained as a typo for all to observe.