Lanny McDonald Jersey Card

I'm a sucker for hockey players, defunct teams, winners, and amazing mustaches, so you can imagine how much I value any Lanny McDonald collectible, let alone one that isn't from a ''pure'' hockey set, such as this one, from Upper Deck's 2010 World Of Sports set (card #ASA-36 of the All-Sports Apparel sub-set) showing him wearing Team Canada's red 1970s uniform (most probably from the inaugural 1976 Canada Cup) with a small white jersey swatch:

The back of the card claims the jersey was ''used in an official hockey game'', though it's unclear if that's internationally or in the NHL, which it wouldn't be allowed to name in this set because it's not an officially licensed product. I acquired it in a trade about a year ago. That's one thing I've learned from Hockey History: always trade for Lanny McDonald (even if it costs you a couple of Anze Kopitar cards).

This is the fifth time I've featured McDonald here, and maybe the fifth time I'll mention he captained the 1989 Calgary Flames, the only visiting team in the history of the NHL to ever win the Stanley Cup on the Montréal Canadiens' home ice. Ever.

He was one of the Toronto Maple Leafs' all-time best players, but the uniform I'm fondest of him in is that of the Colorado Rockies. I had a signed card of his from that era when I was a kid, but I think I lost in in a flood in 1998.

He was elected to the Hall Of Fame in 1992, the first former Flame to receive that honor. I only mention it because earlier today, he was named its Chair of Board of the famed institution. Congratulations!

Lanny McDonald Jersey Card

Regular readers of this blog know the tremendous amount of respect I have for Lanny McDonald, first and foremost because he was a great hockey player who made it into the Hall Of Fame, and because he was a tremendous leader for the Colorado Rockies and Calgary Flames. And because he left the Toronto Maple Leafs on bad terms.

Unfortunately, since I can never get swatch cards of him with the Rockies or Flames (though I came close once), this will be my third jersey card of him with the Leafs:

Like the Jacques Lemaire card from a couple of days ago, it's from Upper Deck's 2013-14 Series 1 set (card #GJ-LM from the UD Game Jersey sub-set). It contains a plain white swatch, which probably explains why my winning bid was under two bucks.

Still, we're talking about a player who made it to the Hall, won a Stanley Cup as part of the only visiting team ever to win on the Montréal Canadiens' home ice with the Flames in 1989, has 500 goals, over 500 assists and over 1000 points in over 1100 NHL games (plus another 44-40-84 in 117 playoff games with two trips to the Finals playing in an era with no less than three dynasties: the 1970s Habs, the 1980s New York Islanders, and the 1980s Edmonton Oilers).

And, of course, the card comes with this season's ghost guarantee (Richard McWilliam died early last year) that the jersey is game-worn:

Lanny McDonald Swatch Card

As many of you know, I'm a big fan of Lanny McDonald - both the player and the mustache. I received a TTM answer from his last year, resulting in these three signed cards; I also pulled this jersey card a year or two ago.

I also got this one around the same period, perhaps in 2011, from a pack of Upper Deck's 2009-10 Trilogy set:

It's card #HS-LM in the set (the Honorary Swatches sub-set), and features two decent-sized swatches of ''NHL game-used memorabilia'', one blue and one white, obviously from his days with the Toronto Maple Leafs, despite picturing him with the Calgary Flames on the card. And since it was released the same year as the Champs card I mentioned earlier, it's probably from the exact same jersey.

I don't mind that UD would use the same jersey to stock cards from different sets, but I really don't like their habit of not associating the player with that team on their card. It makes you doubt the validity of their white swatches at all... say they purchase a white Atlanta Thrashers jersey of Chris Chelios, likely at a bargain price, but insert pieces of it in cards of his with teams in which he mattered, like the Montréal Canadiens (Stanley Cup, Norris, co-captain, first American-born captain), Chicago Blackhawks (captain, Norris, hometown hero) or Detroit Red Wings (multiple Stanley Cups), wouldn't it alter the intrinsic value of the cards themselves? Doesn't the guarantee of being ''game-worn'' lose a tad of its credibility, since it wasn't worn with the team labeled on the card? How far do they have to stretch the truth before it becomes a lie?

I really didn't want to use a Lanny McDonald card to make this point, because I respect him so much, as one of the two Flames I identify as their all-time best captains (along with Jarome Iginla, of course). But I've been siting on this card for so long because of that exact point, so I figured I might as well get it off my chest.

Lanny McDonald Jersey Card

I don't have much to add after writing about Lanny McDonald merely five months ago, but as I am classifying my valuable cards in binders, alphabetically, I've run across this minuscule game-worn swatch from Upper Deck's 2008-09 Champ's set (card #CT-LM, Mini Threads sub-set).

It shows him wearing the Toronto Maple Leafs' uniform, although I remember him mostly as a member of the Calgary Flames myself. I do understand, however, that you can't deny 7 seasons in a career, particularly three 40-goal seasons, and four 85-plus-point seasons. But, you know: the Leafs. Urgh.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992.

Lanny McDonald: 3 Autographed Cards

Lanny McDonald was a legend as much for his on-ice play as for his world-class mustache, bushy and flamy-red. The Toronto Maple Leafs made him the 4th overall pick of the 1973 draft, and he arguably had the best NHL career of anyone else chosen that year apart from 1st pick Denis Potvin. Other 1973 draft alumni include Bob Gainey, Blaine Stoughton, André Savard, Dave Lewis and Rick Middleton.

But like many other former Leafs greats of the 70s and 80s, McDonald was mistreated by management - he was traded to the Colorado Rockies just because he was friends with Darryl Sittler, who had refused to waive his no-trade clause, angering GM Punch Imlach. McDonald and Joel Quenneville went to the Rockies for Wilf Paiement and Pat Hickey, prompting Leaf fans to protest outside Maple Leaf Gardens.

McDonald scored 66 goals in 142 games with the Rockies, split in parts of 3 seasons, before being moved to the Calgary Flames. In his first full season with the team in  1982-83, he scored 66 goals - a team record that still stands today. He captained the team for their lone Stanley Cup win in 1989, the only visiting team to ever win the Cup on the Montréal Canadiens' home turf, the Forum. And he did so in McDonald-esque fashion, having been scratched for 3 games, coming back in the decisive game and scoring the goal that would propel the Flames to victory, breaking a 1-1 tie. A world-class moment from a world-class player.

I sent McDonald these three cards and a fan letter - care of the Flames' alumni - on January 31st, 2012 and got them all back signed in blue sharpie on March 29th, 2012. They all show him wearing the Flames' red (away) uniform. The card on the left is from the 1984-85 Topps set (card #26), that I traded 12 Dave Andreychuk cards to get my hands on; the card in the middle is from Topps' 1988-89 O-Pee-Chee set (card #234), which I've had since I was a kid; and the card on the right is from the 1987-88 Topps set (card #20), a card I had the OPC version of as a kid but traded for its Topps equivalent as a teen because, as a Montrealer, American cards were more rare in my neighbourhood. The latter two not only show his wearing the captain's ''C'', but also a patch on the right shoulder commemorating the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.