Whenever a company makes a set of retired greats, the likelihood is high that a photo used on a card many years ago may find its way back on a card again. Take for instance this photograph of Mike Gartner on his 2000-01 Upper Deck Legends card. I knew I saw it on another card before. You just don’t forget a menacing, pissed-off glare like the one Gartner is giving here — even if it isn’t directed at you.
It turns out, I was right…from a certain point of view, as Obi-Wan Kenobi would say.
While this photo technically wasn’t used before on a card, it was used on an 1988-89 O-Pee-Chee sticker The stickers were affixed to hard backings and measure 2 1/8″ x 3″, so they are sort of like cards.
Here are the two, side by side for comparison. Obviously, the Upper Deck card has brighter colors; that red really pops.
There is a second card in the 2000-01 Upper Deck Legends hockey set, called “Team Foundations,” that coincidentally uses another photo of Gartner that had been seen on a card before.
Recognize the picture of Gartner?
No?
It was previously used on his 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee card, but not cropped as tightly.
Again, here is a side by side comparison, with a zoom of just Gartner’s half of the 2000-01 card alongside his ’83-84 OPC card.
It appears that Upper Deck airbrushed out that blue “blob” on the wall behind and to the left of Gartner’s head.
But getting back to the first card, I am glad that the awesome, “don’t mess with me” pic of Gartner was introduced to a new generation of fans 12 years after it originally appeared.
In fact, we are long overdue for this photo to make a third appearance. Maybe Upper Deck should use it as part of the Marquee Legends subset in an upcoming O-Pee-Chee set. This pic is too cool to not use every decade. ■
What would be interesting to know is how UD got hold of a picture that was previously used by OPC, because in 2000-01 they did not yet own OPC…or did the photographer retain the rights to be able to resell the picture to them…? I wonder if they would still have used it if they knew that OPC had used it previously.
I believe the latter is the case; the photographer owned the rights and re-sold the image.
Also, Upper Deck does not own the O-Pee-Chee name; rather, they lease it from Topps, who bought the O-Pee-Chee brand in, I believe, 1996.