1964-65 Topps Tall Boys #6 - Terry Sawchuk

Let's get back aboard the Tall Boy Train! Since my last post about my fourth one I have added a 6th so here is number 5 and I will share number 6 in my next post. I find this card very interesting for a number of reasons. First of all, it has been loved numerous times probably by numerous people. I suspect this card could have been handled more than a 1970's pay phone. With that being said, it only adds to the character. What I like more about this card is it happens to be an UER but there might be more than meets the eye here too and I am curious to get YOUR take on it.

So when you look this card up in the "bible" it lists the card as an uncorrected error because on the back of the card his name is spelled incorrectly. The correct spelling is on the front of the card "Sawchuk" and on the back they have included a second c spelling it "Sawchuck". How much saw can a saw chuck chuck anyway? Lame? Yeah probably...

But what interests me even more is the front of the card where Terry appears to be wearing a jersey with a number 25 on it. I was perplexed by the situation and did a little research because I always knew Terry to wear 1 or 30. Well it turns out according to Hockey Reference Terry wore other numbers including 29 for the Red Wings in 1968-69 and 24 during the 1964-65 season with the Leafs. I have no idea why he wore 24, Johnny Bower had his number 1 and Terry would switch to 30 the following season so the 24 remains a bit of a mystery to me. However, Terry isn't even wearing 24 in this photo which only adds to my intrigue. So I did a little more digging and it turns out someone else was in the 25 jersey during that season and it was a player named Pete Stemkowski. Pete played about half that season 36 games or so and had 20 points during his "rookie" season that year. So did they put someone's head on someone else's body? No. It turns out Pete was left out of the Tall Boy set and his rookie doesn't appear until the following year. So my best guess is this photo was taken at the start of the season (hence Terry's very tanned neck) and he probably hadn't settled on a jersey and just grabbed the first free one on the pile.

What is also interesting is the following season Topps used the exact same photo and just cropped it so you can't really see the number on the jersey. Enough of my ramblings, on to the cardboard!


1964-65 Topps Tall Boys #6 - Terry Sawchuk

Creases? Sure, but the colour is still sharp and the card has some gloss still!

Not sure why someone wrote 43 on the back of this card but it must have meant something.


Well there you have it, my 5th card from this set. It almost seems like I could actually complete this thing? Well maybe, someday.