Card of the Week: Gary McAdam

Out of the Motor City and into the Flames

It’s been a while since I’ve made fun of a bad hockey card — so here are two hockey cards that are bad on many levels. 

During the 1980-81 season, Gary McAdam was traded from the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Detroit Red Wings.

McAdam skated in 40 games for the Red Wings during the latter half of the 1980-81 season. So, did Topps use a picture of McAdam as a Red Wing for his 1981-82 hockey card? 

No, silly! Instead, Topps just used a photo of McAdam in a Penguins uniform and mushed some red finger paint over it.

1981-82 Topps Hockey #W93 – Gary McAdam

They even had someone render a sketchy Red Wings logo on his sweater. All it needs is a note that says “My first grader painted this.”

And that helmet! Hello, Gary? The Garden Bowl just called. They want their ball back. 

This card is pretty bad, but the O-Pee-Chee version released a few months later is even worse. By then, McAdam was traded to the Calgary Flames for former Calder Trophy winner Eric Vail and a pair of used bowling shoes.

You’d think that someone at O-Pee-Chee would have crudely painted a Flames logo over the crudely-painted Red Wings logo; I mean, both teams wore red, so most of the work was already done. 

Instead, they just covered the Red Wings logo with some white paper and then put the word FLAMES over it. 

1981-82 O-Pee-Chee Hockey #93 – Gary McAdam

Making this card even more ridiculous is the small “Now with Flames” text hovering, almost tauntingly, over McAdam’s shoulder.

It looks like he is staring at that text in disbelief that he had been traded twice in the same calendar year. But he’d get used to it, as McAdam would change NHL teams four more times over the next four seasons. 

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk

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Author: Sal Barry

Sal Barry is the editor and webmaster of Puck Junk. He is a freelance hockey writer, college professor and terrible hockey player. Follow him on Twitter @puckjunk

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