Thursday, July 13, 2017

85-86 OPC Kirk Muller Rookie

So when I was a kid just getting started into collecting, I always had an eye for "vintage". Of course the concept of time was still relative so for me anything that was older than 90-91 was considered vintage by my little developing mind. One card I remember distinctly on my want list was the 85-86 OPC Kirk Muller Rookie. It didn't book for much at the time 4-5 dollars and even today it still doesn't book for much $4.00 in the most recent Beckett Hockey Monthly. So when I was at a card shop back in like 1991, the same one where I shelled out 8 dollars for an Upper Deck Ed Belfour Star Rookie, I saw a Kirk Muller rookie for $5.00.

I still remember it like it was yesterday, it sat there in the display case in a 10 count card holder and the card had a bit of curl to it. Later in life I'd learn it's called the OPC curl and basically all the OPC card if left for a long extended period of time outside a toploader or other case it would start to curl on you a bit. So I brought my purchase home with me and was perplexed by why it had curled and figured that I could just flatten it out and shove it into a toploader and that's just what I did. However, in the process of flattening it I created a new problem and that was I damaged the card in a new way...wrinkles/ripples in the center of the card. I was pretty bummed out but still enjoyed owning the rookie card of the best Devils player ever (at that point) and over the years somehow that card managed to disappear.

Several years ago, I was able to build an 85-86 Topps set which got me another Muller rookie this time in Topps form. However, a hole was still there from my childhood and about 2 years ago I was at the LCS and the owner had a bunch of new stock which included a bunch of vintage cards and in there I found myself an 85-86 OPC Kirk Muller rookie in fantastic non-curled shape in the 3 for 5 bin. You better believe I left with it.

85-86 OPC Kirk Muller Rookie
While I always believed that we should have been the ones to get Mario Lemieux and it should be him in this jersey, things still worked out ok and in the end it would be a trade that sent Kirk Muller to Montreal that helped them win a Cup and eventually us win a Cup too. Glad to have you back in the fold Kirk and I promise to just leave you as is.

4 comments:

  1. Great looking card. I started collecting in the early 90's... right around the hockey card boom and the arrival of my beloved SJ Sharks. At the time I worked at a card shop and the owner had a decent hockey display case. There were a bunch of 80's rookies in it... including the Lemieux. I remember staring at it and thinking... what an awesome design. Not sure if he had the Muller or not. But you sure have a great looking card.

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    1. Thanks Fuji. That in some ways would be my dream job and likely what I'd do if I ever won the lottery as I know I probably would lose money monthly working that job. Lemieux is a gem from that set for sure and one of my favourite cards ever created. Definitely a less is more design if you ask me, but many may disagree with use and go to the standard 80's favourite 84-85 which is alright in my books but I do prefer a few others over that set.

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  2. Great card Dave but even better story. The best cards in my opinion are the ones you can tie to your personal past in some way...

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    1. Thanks Shane. Hope to continue to share a few more stories and I appreciate your kind words. Hope the trip overseas was fantastic!

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