The third highest scoring professional hockey player of all-time

Blogging has given me a chance to share a passion with all sorts of people who like the same things I do. This is important because in my life outside of the internet ( I do have one of those, most people do) I don't really have anyone to share it with. Both my boys are too little, though Rhett my 11 month old seems to have a fascination for cards that are shiny, his current favourite are the 13-14 Select cards.

A several years back, a fellow blogger shared a neat post on Guyle Fielder. Growing up I used to spend countless hours memorizing hockey stats from magazines and almanacs. The problem with many of these publications is that they were always NHL stats and NHL focused. Great leagues like the WHL, AHL and WHA all went unnoticed by my young and eager mind. Then the internet grows in popularity and usefulness and all of a sudden a new world is opened to me and I realize there was someone who flew under my radar and carved themselves an amazing minor hockey career (1929 career regular season points). 

Rather than rip off someone else's hard work or reinvent the wheel, check out this great write up and his career stats. 

12-13 ITG Motown Madness Guyle Fielder Auto

Because Guyle only played in 9 career NHL regular season games and 6 post season games he only ever had one card created (57-58 Topps). The fact that ITG included him in their set is amazing because finally the Golden Guyle has a verified auto card on the market and I was able to swoop this up for less than 2 bucks plus shipping.

If Guyle was born a decade or two later and had a chance to play in the NHL during his prime, I think it might be interesting to guess at how well he might have done especially in today's game when small players get a fair shot.

Sometimes an autograph card's best feature isn't the auto.

As I said in the title, sometimes the best feature on an autograph card isn't the autograph. This can be very true for memorabilia cards because teams like Chicago can result in some amazing patches and the auto on the card becomes very secondary:

Brandon Bollig is not going to ever be a superstar but this card is! A sweet patch with some graffiti on it is what this card looks like to me. 

 12-13 ITG Between The Pipes Denis Herron auto

Here is what I am talking about. I saw this card up for auction and had to have it. In the end it was under four dollars with shipping and I feel like I stole it. First off, Denis Herron, not a current household name but he did win a Vezina and a Jennings 1981 and 1982 respectively. Nice to have on the resume, but the player on this card isn't its best feature.  The autograph is solid and far better than most modern signers but still not the best feature on the card. The photo, in my opinion is what solidifies the awesomeness of the card. For those of you that don't know, this is Denis Herron wearing a road Kansas City Scouts uniform. The mask, a cool and simple design that features team colours. I am glad to have an auto from my favourite franchises' first start and while the Scout days are very forgettable, this card isn't. Now I have myself a Scouts auto, a Rockies auto and of course countless Devils autos.  

65-66 Coca-Cola Gordie Howe

Here is my second 65-66 Coca-Cola card and it is every bit as beautiful as the Delvecchio.

Love the posed photo on ice, this is how I always picture Gordie in my head. The card is in amazing shape with the only issue being the bottom right. These cards are also a little thinner than your average card too, I forgot to mention that in the last post.

 Here is the back, again lots and lots of stats and info. I really think it is amazing that he would play another 15 seasons after already what would be a HOF career. Because of his time in the WHA, he would only score another 489 NHL points and 206 of those would be goals. His WHA time would see him compile 174 goals, 334 assists and 508 points. Pretty amazing considering he was 37 when this card came out!

There you have it, my two Coke cards and my oldest Howe in my collection. This card is the most expensive in the set booking for about 60 bucks.

The Final Two HOF Autos

Little talk, just show here. My last two autos are ones I have had for over 20 years, but they are new because of what you are going to see. Brett from My Hockey Card Obsession took these two autos:

Then with his amazing talent turned them into these:

A shortage in disk storage space on my scanning computer resulted in a botched scan so I am using the pics that Brett shared on twitter a little while back. These cards are amazing in person and it is truly a skill to take an auto on a piece of paper and turn it into a piece of art. Thank you very much Brett I really really appreciate it. The Howe is my favourite HOF auto addition in the past year and I look forward to sharing more pick ups in the near future!

Btw if case you are curious, I got the Gordie Howe auto the same night I got this Gordie Howe auto.