This week I've got a trio of hard signed autographs to show from the 2012-13 Panini Classics Signatures set. All three guys are inducted, though their names may not come to mind when the average fan thinks Hall of Fame.
Joe Mullen was undrafted out of college but quietly put together an impressive NHL resume. After a few solid seasons to begin his career with St. Louis in the early '80s, Mullen really found a home in Calgary in the latter part of the decade. He was a key member of the '88-89 Stanley Cup winning team there.
As time has passed everyone seems to remember the stronger personalities from that '88-89 Calgary team, guys like Al MacInnis, Doug Gilmour, Lanny McDonald and Joe Nieuwendyk, but it was Mullen who led the team in regular season scoring with a career-best 110 points! He was one of only 9 players in the NHL to top the 100-point plateau that season. In the playoffs Joe stepped up his game and paced the entire league with 16 goals during the Cup run.
Fast forward a couple of seasons and Mullen found himself an integral part of back-to-back championship Pittsburgh Penguin teams. Joe was the first American-born player to reach both the 500 goal and 1,000 point mark in the NHL, pretty much cementing his status as a USA Hockey legend.
Like the Mullen above, this Billy Smith card's got a pretty great signature. I love the jersey number incorporated within the S. Billy is of course most well known for being the man between the posts for four consecutive Islanders Stanley Cup wins to begin the '80s. He was selected in 1993, the only goalie to be honored with an induction in the '90s.
Last but not least, Rod Langway's large, somewhat sloppy autograph. Rod's a local guy (sort of), having grown up in Randolph, Massachusetts. He was born in Taiwan though (his father was a serviceman), and is technically the only player born in the Republic of China to make the NHL. Won a Stanley Cup with the Canadiens, as well as back-to-back Norris trophies!
There you have it, three more from my favorite hockey set of 2012-13. This takes me to 105 posted now from this set, and still a few more yet to come. In fact, I just picked up my latest addition yesterday and am expecting it in the mail this coming week...
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4 comments:
Never would have known Smith was the only HHOF goalie inducted in the 90's. Nor that Langway was born in China. Great info.
Mullen had a hell of a career. Very quiet, being overshadowed by the other huge names on the teams he played. But man - that guy was nothing but consistent year after year.
Three great signatures. How many do you have left in the set?
Thanks! Well there are 149 total autographs in the set, but of course they had to ruin it with short prints and super short prints. I'll never touch an SSP, seen them sell from $150 to over $300 each, some I've never even seen at all. There are 22 of those, so that takes it down to 127.
Then you have the SPs, 14 of those and I've even seen some of them go for over $50 or even $100...
Take those out, and you've got 113 standard autographs, which is what I'm chasing...
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