The Ultimate Hockey Card Set - The First Four Cards

I think most collectors are familiar with the idea of a "franken-set". This is the concept of building a numerically ordered set from a variety of different individual sets. Many of us did this in our collecting binders as kids. In recent years I've seen Ben Henry do it with 80's baseball cards (in "The 792"), dayf do it with his Allen & Ginter minis, and even Night Owl has recently embraced this concept for his night cards set. So, this idea is definitely nothing new.

I was thinking that it would be a fun lifetime project (not to mention interesting posting material) to compile a franken-set called The Ultimate Hockey Card set. This will basically be a virtual franken-set of my all-time favorite hockey cards. Following the standard rules, there can only be one card of each number, 1 through ??? For example, if I come across a great card that's #14 in it's set, but have already chosen a card #14, I'll have to bump out my previous choice in order to replace it with the new one. You know the drill. The only other rule is that I have to own any card that I select. So, you won't be seeing a Bobby Orr rookie, even though you think it may belong.

I'll start things off by selecting 4 cards for the set in this initial post. Up first is a duo from the 1979-80 Topps set:

Card #18 - 1979-80 Topps - Wayne Gretzky (RC)

Card #175 - 1979-80 Topps - Gordie Howe

I couldn't think of a better pair of cards to kick things off. In fact, can you think of a better tandem of cards from any one set than these two? You have the rookie card of the sport's all-time leading scorer, and in the very same set the final card of the game's best player to that point in time. Sort of a symbolic "passing of the torch" from one generation's greatest player to the next's. Another reason that the 1979-80 set is one of the greatest ever released. Maybe I'm biased as a Hartford Whalers fan, but I think most would agree that these are two of the best cards in one of hockey's best all-time sets.

Card #100 - 1972-73 Topps - Bobby Orr

Unlike the first two cards, this is one I have not shown previously on the blog. It seems like a pretty easy choice, it's my oldest Bobby Orr card and was released just a bit after the Bruins won the 1972 Cup. This one's got a tough spot to hold onto though, #100 is a number often reserved in a set for a card of significance, just like this one. We'll see how it does in the coming months...

Card #440 - 1990-91 Score - Eric Lindros Future Superstar

This was an easy selection for a couple of reasons. First, it's #440, so it's not going to get any competition from vintage sets or even many modern sets. Secondly, I don't care who you are, if you were collecting hockey cards in 1990-91 you wanted this card. Multiple concussions leave us asking what may have been had Lindros been able to stay healthy his entire career, but in 1990 the sky was the limit for this guy.

So, there are the first four cards in my Ultimate Hockey Card Set. You can track the set here, I will also have a link to it in my sidebar going forward. So, what do you think? Any suggestions?