Hockey cards, collectibles and culture
You are probably asking yourself, who are “Those Guys” – those two middle-aged men clad in yellow polo shirts.
Are they the team’s owners? Coaches? Equipment guys?
The ushers? Ticket takers? Concession stand workers?
Nope – they are the guys who produced a team set of minor league hockey cards. This might be the most self-serving hockey card of all time.
It’s been a little over a week, but the Puck Junk Podcast is back and at least as good as the last time! In this episode, Sal Barry and Tim Parish talk about the upcoming restart of the NHL season, as well as the NHL Awards nominees. Then they take an in-depth look at the 1992-93 Bowman Hockey card set that is often overlooked because it was relatively underproduced. Plus, those gosh darn gold-foil single prints make it a pain to complete. This episode weighs in at 1 hour 40 minutes of hockey goodness.
Show Notes, Links and Images:
Game Dated Moments for Week 40 (Upper Deck Blog)
President’s Choice “Journey” cards (President’s Choice Trading Cards)
Every 1992-93 Hockey Card Set Ranked (Puck Junk)
1993-94 Topps Stadium Club All-Star insert cards (Puck Junk)
1992-93 Bowman Hockey checklist (Trading Card DB)
1992-93 Bowman Hockey card images:
#74 – Patrick Roy
FYI, this set uses the same design as 1992 Bowman Baseball.
#74 – Patrick Roy (back)
Click the image to see the “potato sack texture.”
#329 – Vincent Damphousse
#329 – Vincent Damphousse (back)
#11 – Garry Galley.
With special guest Wayne Gretzky
#162 – P-Dork!!!!
#302 – Jaromir Jagr
#32 – Guy Hebert RC
Hands-down the best rookie card in the set.
#356 – Dan Lambert
Rockin’ the rec specs!
Not listed on your checklist: #442 – Eric Lindros
#207 – Wayne Gretzky All-Star (Gold Foil)
#207 – Wayne Gretzky All-Star (Gold Foil) (back)
Even the foil All-Star cards got the “potato sack” treatment.
#241 – Kevin Stevens All-Star (Gold Foil)
#440 – Mario Lemieux Conn Smythe Trophy (Gold Foil)
#440 – Mario Lemieux Conn Smythe Trophy (Gold Foil) (back)
Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.
Follow Tim Parish on Twitter @TheRealDFG.
Podcast music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.
Subscribe to the Puck Junk Hockey Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podchaser, PocketCasts, Castbox , Castro,
Overcast, TuneIn and SoundCloud.
Love hockey? Join the new Puck Junk Facebook Group and subscribe to Puck Junk on YouTube.
Support this podcast and buy a shirt from the Puck Junk Online Shop. ■
In the latest — and dare we say greatest? — episode of the Puck Junk Hockey Podcast, Sal Barry and Tim Parish look back at the “ugly baby” known as the 1992-93 Topps Hockey card set. They also discuss all the latest hockey happenings (or lack thereof) going on over the past week. Spoiler alert: they get off topic for a bit and talk about The Love Guru. You have been warned. This week’s show clocks in at 1 hour 49 minutes.
Show Notes, Links and Additional Images:
Puck Junk Podcast about NBC firing Jeremy Roenick (Puck Junk)
The National Sports Collectors Convention statement on COVID-19 (NSCC)
2019-20 Upper Deck Game Dated Moments Week 26 cards (Upper Deck)
1992-93 Topps Hockey Checklist (Trading Card DB)
Every 1992-93 Hockey Card Set Ranked (Puck Junk)
Tim Parish’s blog (The Real DFG)
1992-93 Topps Hockey card images:
#1 – Wayne Gretzky, first card in the set
#529 – Eric Lindros, last card in the set
#166 – Mike McNeil, taking a sip
#318 – Dino Ciccarelli, scrumming it up
#318 – Dino Cicarelli, card back
#318 – Dino Ciccarelli, Gold Parallel
#318 – Dino Ciccarelli, Gold Parallel back
#414 – Denis Savard, just standing around
#406 – Gaetan Duchesne, sitting somewhere
#364 – Dan Lambert, wearing glasses
#501 – Bryan Marchment, wearing a half-cage
#522 – Frank Pietrangelo, in a deep crouch
#9 – Nicklas Lidstrom Super Rookie
#265 – Mario Lemieux All-Star
#67 – Jim Thomson (RC). He later appeared in the 2009 film The Love Guru
1992-93 Topps Hockey sell sheet (via Trading Card DB):
1992-93 Topps Hockey Poster:
Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.
Follow Tim Parish on Twitter @TheRealDFG.
Podcast music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.
Subscribe to the Puck Junk Hockey Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Podchaser, PocketCasts, Castbox , Castro,
Overcast, TuneIn and SoundCloud.
Love hockey? Join the new Puck Junk Facebook Group
Support this podcast and buy a shirt from the Puck Junk Online Shop. ■
This is the Eric Lindros card that flew under most hockey card collectors’ radar. While seasoned collectors are familiar with Lindros’ rookie card from the 1990-91 Score set, or the numerous other Lindros cards from the early 1990s, this one is a hidden gem. It is the first-ever card to picture Lindros in a Philadelphia Flyers uniform and was both a giveaway and an insert, but not particularly easy to get either way.
Continue reading “1992-93 Score Eric Lindros Press Conference Promo Card”
Trading card companies continued to raise the stakes during the 1992-93 season, as the hockey card market continued to boom. Fleer entered the marketplace with its premium “Ultra” set, while Score doubled down, making truly unique sets for the U.S. and Canadian markets. Coincidentally, for the first time in their 25-year partnership, Topps and O-Pee-Chee released hockey sets that were different in design from one another. Meanwhile, Upper Deck continued to thrive, while Pro Set barely limped to the finish line. A lot happened with hockey cards 25 years ago.
However, the biggest news in hockey collectibles at the time was that 19-year old rookie Eric Lindros was going to make his NHL debut. Up until that point, only Score could legally include Lindros in its sets, due to an endorsement deal he signed with Score in 1990. That deal expired once Lindros became an active NHL player. With his debut imminent, but no photo of Lindros in a Flyers uniform readily available, the card companies had to figure out how they were going to include “The Next One” in its hockey card sets.
Here are my rankings of all 13 major hockey card sets released during the 1992-93 season. I count Score Pinnacle “U.S.” and “Canadian” (or “English” and “Bilingual,” if you prefer) as separate sets for reasons I’ll explain later. Also, this list does not include Panini stickers, because most collectors don’t consider those as “cards.” Nor does this list include small sets like McDonald’s, or oddball stuff like Season’s Action Patches.
So, will Upper Deck be number one for three years in a row?
Continue reading “Greg Smyth Was One of Hockey’s Last Helmetless Players”
The Los Angeles King gave a collectible holiday greeting card to their season ticket holders in December of 1992. How do we know that it is collectible? Because it has the Upper Deck logo and a serial number. In your face, Hallmark!
By the way, I should start serial-numbering all of the Christmas cards that I send out so that people save them for future collectibility and/or investment value. Of course, that would mean that I would have to actually send out Christmas cards in the first place.
Anyway, the front of the card shows a group of Kings celebrating a win at the old Great Western Forum. Robb Stauber (#35) looks eager to mess up fellow goalie Kelly Hrudey’s hair some more, as if that was possible. But the other side of the card is way better. It has a detailed illustration of Continue reading “1992 Los Angeles Kings Holiday Card”
Back in the 1990s, many unlicensed hockey cards were made by those looking to quickly — and illegitimately — cash in on the booming sports trading card industry. Some of the more notable fake cards that circulated include a card of Wayne Gretzky as a member of the WHA’s Indianapolis Racers, and another that featured Eric Lindros, Sergei Fedorov and Ed Belfour.
Allegedly, a men’s clothing store called “Man In Black” put out a cheap-looking, six-card set that featured popular Pittsburgh Penguins players. While the Penguins in the 1990s were great, these cards of them are awful.
Continue reading “Pittsburgh Penguins “Man In Black” Promo Cards”
Editor’s Note: Rob Joncas is a new Puck Junk contributor. Please welcome him with a comment below.
The 1992-93 NHL season stands as one of the greatest in history for several reasons:
Today we are taking a look at the 1992-93 Kraft NHL Set, which came with a special album. To some it was a perfect marriage Kraft products and hockey cards.
Player not working? Listen to the podcast on Soundcloud.
In Puck Junk Podcast #2, Sal and Tim discuss:
Card images, as well as a map of the NHL teams, after the jump. Continue reading “Puck Junk Podcast #2 – May 20, 2015”