Completed Set: 1991-92 Score Canadian Bilingual, Series 2

 

Back in 2025, I completed . . . (this is going to be a mouthful)

 

. . . 1991-92 Score Canadian Bilingual hockey, Series 1.  

 

I'd been given a wax box for free, and although all the packs had already been opened, I decided to hand-collate the cards to see how close I'd come to a complete set.

 

Turns out I wasn't far off at all, so I managed to pick up the cards I needed through a few trades on TCDB, and that was that. A junk wax–era hockey set was in the books.

 

I immediately thought about trying to complete Series 2, specifically the old-fashioned way: Purchasing a wax box, opening all 36 packs, and hand-collating the set. 

 

On the negative side, I really didn't need more junk wax cards in my collection. And as for the prospect of finding an insert, the only chance was to pull one of four special Bobby Orr cards.

 

On the positive side, Series 2 wax boxes were quite affordable (under $30, shipped), and it had been years since I'd tried to put a set together by opening packs.

 

Well, thanks in part to some encouraging comments from fellow collectors and bloggers, I finally decided to go for it. And that brings us to this post.

 

 

 

 

 

A few months ago I opened the box, and came impressively close to a complete set. And with a couple of quick trades, I've got the whole thing now!

 

 

Let's get right into the cards, because Series 2 is . . . interesting. It all starts with the color. 

 

Card borders in Series 1 were bright red, which was almost too much to handle after 1991 Donruss Baseball's red borders. Then, as you can see by the color of the wax box above, Series 2 switched to bright blue. Quite a difference! 

 

I'm wondering if Score went with those two colors to give a little nod to the red line/blue line hockey rink design from their inaugural release. 

 

Regardless, I think we all know that Score wasn't exactly bashful about using color back then.

 

Let's talk about what else they weren't bashful about:

 

Starting off Series 2 with plenty of subset cards.

 

 

 

Right off the bat, we get a few cards from the Franchise subset. Some of the Franchise cards appeared in Series 1, as well. I like the strong wink to the 1955 and 1956 Topps baseball sets here.

 

 

 

 

  

Right after that, we get a few cards from the NHL Brothers subset. I wonder where and when the Score photographers were able to stage these photos. Some of those brothers played halfway across the country from each other, or in different conferences. Maybe they did it in the off-season? Or the afternoon before a game between the two teams? Regardless, I think it's a fun idea for a subset.

 

 

 

 

  

Next we jump right into the Top Prospect subset—20 of them in a row, in fact! Can't blame Score for that. Rookies and prospects had swarmed all corners of the hobby by 1991-92.

After the prospects, guess what we have? 

 

  

 

  

More Franchise cards! I think all the dynamic movement you get from the sport of ice hockey lends itself well to the card design.

But guess what? the subsets don't stop there.

 

 

  

Next, we get the Dream Team subset. Score provided us with painterly renditions of the players who they thought were the best of the best: one goalie (Partick Roy), two defensemen (Brian Leetch, Ray Bourque), and three forwards (Luc Robitaille, Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull).

 

 

 

 

  

After that, Score gave us their All-Rookie Team. Same thing. A goalie (Ed Belfour), two defensemen (Rob Blake, Eric Weinrich), and three forwards (Jaromir Jagr, Sergei Fedorov, Ken Hodge). Just look at them as they zoom into action! 

 

 

So now it's time for some quick math. The final card in that All-Rookie Team subset is #383. The first card of Series 2 is #331. That means Score started off Series 2 with 53 STRAIGHT SUBSET CARDS!

 

I wonder if that's a record.

 

In any case, there's some good news: That would be the last of the subsets for the rest of Series 2. 

 

So what do we get when the base cards finally start?  

Similar to Series 1, we find plenty of nicely cropped and framed images. There's not much empty space, but at the same time, the players don't look cramped inside those card borders. Nice job by Score there. Also similar to Series 1, these types of photos do get a bit repetitive. After a while, you're kind of hoping for a simple headshot, or a player standing around during pre-game warmups.

 

 

 

 

  

You'll also find some good action scattered throughout. And it's hockey-specific action, which I like. A slap shot, a referee caught in the middle of two players mucking it up, and a player hopping over the boards. Nice work again by Score here.

 

  

 

 

  

You'll also find some guys skating hard, with the faces to show it.

 

  

 

 

 

Goalies got nice cards, too. I've said it before, but I appreciate that the Score photographers seemed to be aware that goaltending was such a dynamic position, and that the guys deserved better than just a "skating around in warmups" photo. 

 

 

 

  

Another odd similarity to Series 1 is the horizontal base card design. Only two cards got the treatment in Series 1, and the card you see above is the only horizontal card in Series 2. I find it a bit peculiar that Score would go through the trouble of creating a horizontal design just to use it once or twice like that. I mean, the action shown on the card is great. Why not use it a little more?

 

 

Anyhow, here's an example of a card back.

 

 

 

The write-ups are excellent, which was par for the course for Score during this time period. And because this is the Canadian Bilingual version, you get those write-ups in English and French.

 

I like the overall design, too. The player name appears in a big color bar across the top, with his position listed directly below. This is important, because player positions are not included on the card fronts. We're also treated to a full-color headshot on the right, which is nice. Just check out Bernie Nicholls up there. He gives us just one of many opportunities throughout the set to appreciate some good hockey hair. Look here: 

 

 

So much hockey hair.

 

But let's get back to the card fronts now. Series 2 also gives us some traded players in their new uniforms. 

 

 

 

Scott Stevens went from the Blues (Series 1) to the Devils (Series 2).

 

  

 

 

Todd Krygier went from the Whalers (Series 1) to the Capitals (Series 2).

 

  

 

 

And here's a different one. Mark Messier's card with his former team, the Oilers, doesn't appear until Series 2 (#505). So when he was traded to the Rangers, Score added another card for him (#635).

 

In all these cases, I guess you can say that Series 2 acted like an "update" set. Upper Deck did a similar thing with their high number releases at the time.

 

 

 

Speaking of updates, Score got ahead of the game by creating a special card that featured logos of the two expansion teams that would join the NHL the following season. I remember many of us thinking that an NHL team located as far south as Florida was absolutely wild. Now there are two teams there—and both have won Stanley Cups!

 

 

 

 

Finally, here's one of the four Bobby Orr insert cards that collectors could pull from packs. Unfortunately, I didn't find any in my wax box.

 

So that's 1991-92 Score Canadian Bilingual Series 2, finished. It was definitely fun to put this set together the old-fashioned way, and although it's rather junky in its junk-waxiness, Score did a pretty good job overall. The numerous subsets meant the chance to pull plenty of cards of the big NHL stars, and plenty of cards in general (660 total). And with the bright red or blue borders, you could spot them from a mile away. I'm happy to have Series 1 and Series 2 both completed now.

  

What are your thoughts on this set? 

 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading! 

Bill Stein: Pinch Hitter

 

Have a look at this run of Donruss cards that feature Major Leaguer Bill Stein. 

  

 

 

(That 1984 version is a custom job I whipped up, because Donruss didn't issue a card for Mr. Stein that year.)

 

Bill Stein showed his versatility during these later years of his career, logging plenty of games at first base, second base, shortstop, and third base. It's evident by the "Infield" player position Donruss chose to use on most of those cards.

 

But let's take another look at Stein's 1985 issue.  

That's a pleasant smile on a sunny day at the ballpark. (Nice mustache, too.) What's of most interest to me, however, is the player position on the bottom.

 

 

 

   

PH

 

Pinch hitter.

 

I'm not sure I've ever seen this on a baseball card. I mean, what sort of pinch-hitting prowess does one need to have for a trading card company to designate him as a pinch hitter on his baseball card?

 

Most baseball stat guys would agree that Bill Stein wasn't exactly a Manny Mota. Or a Smoky Burgess. Or a Rusty Staub. And none of those players ever had a card with a "PH" designation.

 

But here's what I discovered: From 1980 through 1985, Mr. Stein was rather proficient in the role. You might even say he excelled. Check out these impressive little facts:

 

• Stein's career batting average as a starter was .267. As a pinch hitter, it was .282.
• His 50 career pinch hits came along with 36 RBI, many of which occurred late in the game when his team really needed some runs.
• Because of this, his manager, Don Zimmer, relied on Stein to pinch-hit regardless of whether the opposing pitcher was a lefty or a righty. 
• In 1981, he set the American League record for consecutive pinch hits, with 7.
• Games appearing in the lineup specifically as a pinch hitter: 1980 (12), 1981 (22), 1982 (35), 1983 (19), 1984 (15), 1985 (25)

And here's what might have pushed Donruss over the edge: In 1984, Stein only started 8 games: 6 at second base, and 2 as a designated hitter. But he appeared in the lineup specifically as a pinch hitter in 15 games. So that season, he really was more of a pinch hitter than a position player. 

 

I've written before about the difficulties of coming into the game cold—often more than halfway through the game—and getting that clutch hit. So I think Donruss was pretty observant and appreciative here.  

 

And I've got to say, I do love stories like this.

 

You know, the utility guy who's underappreciated by the fans. His teammates and coaches, though? They appreciate the heck out of him. They know he works just as hard as anyone on the team, but he doesn't get the chance to show it on the field every day. However, when he's called in to pinch-hit late in the game and delivers that crucial hit, the dugout comes alive.

 

ATTA BABY, BILL!

 

Yeah. They know all about Bill Stein.

 

And the man had a more than respectable career, too. In 959 total games across 14 seasons, Mr. Stein put up 751 hits, 122 doubles, 18 triples, 44 home runs, 311 RBI, and 16 stolen bases. His slash line was .267/.313/.370.

 

His best season came in 1977 with the Mariners—their inaugural season. As the starting third baseman (he played 147 games in that position), he totaled 144 hits, 26 doubles, 5 triples, 13 home runs, 67 RBI, and 3 stolen bases. His slash line was .259/.299/.394. 

 

And get this: He led all third basemen in the major leagues with 146 putouts.

 

More than Brett, Nettles, Cey, Schmidt, or Rose. 

 

Yeah. Bill Stein worked hard. 

 

So here's a question for you readers and collectors:

Do you know of any other cards that list the player as a pinch hitter? There must be some out there, right?

If you know of any, please share in the comment section. Thanks for reading!

The 1989-90 OPC Hockey Sticker Album Project: Packs 25–30

We're going back to the 1989-90 NHL season, where young Gregory Ninepockets has been bitten by the hockey bug and is attempting to complete the current year's hockey sticker album. Previous entries in this series available here. 

 

 

It's the middle of October. School has been back in session for more than a month now, and young Gregory has been acclimating well. Just this past Friday he scored a perfect 10 out of 10 on a science quiz. And even more exciting, the new hockey season is underway!

 

Now it's time to open more packs of O-Pee-Chee hockey stickers. Gregory goes for the top-left portion of the box, and takes out the remaining six packs. 

Let's get right to it.

 

Pack 25

Sweet start! 

 

But hang on a minute. Gregory feels like he's pulled these three stickers before—as well as the other three stickers in the pack. He flips through the pages in his album to check, and sure enough, they're all in there already. 

 

But hey, two different Mario Lemieux duplicates and a Brett Hull duplicate? Nothing to complain about.

Pack 26

 

  

Ooh, that Al MacInnis sticker is new, for sure. The defenseman won the Conn Smythe trophy (playoff MVP) last year for a very good reason. In 22 games, he scored 7 goals and added a league-leading 24 assists to help his Flames win the Stanley Cup. As if that weren't impressive enough, 4 of those 7 goals were game winners. The Scott Young Future Star sticker back is a new one as well, and so is the David Volek rookie sticker. 

Pack 27

  

More new additions here! That Maple Leafs player on the top left is Vincent Damphousse. Young Gregory recently learned that the correct surname pronunciation is not "damp house". It's actually pronounced dom-FOOSE.

 

Also in this pack was another new Future Star sticker back, plus a special award sticker featuring Montreal Canadiens player Guy Carbonneau. Last year he won the Selke trophy, which is awarded to the forward who "demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game".

 

Gregory stops to check all six stickers in this pack against his album, and . . . yes! He needs all of them.

Pack 28

Another pretty good pack here! There's star goalie Partick Roy on the left, featured in a nice action shot. In the middle, it's Joe Mullen. Last year Gregory learned that Joe and his brother Brian grew up playing roller hockey on the streets of New York City. Very cool! And on the right, it's a Brian Leetch Future Star sticker back. We're definitely chipping away at completing the sticker back subset!

Pack 29

Two pretty good additions to the album here, with Mark Messier on the left and Dave Gagner on the right. Mr. Gagner is one of Gregory's favorite players, wearing one of his favorite uniforms.

Pack 30

What a way to finish! Chris Chelios is another one of young Gregory's favorite players, so it'll be nice to put his base sticker in the album. Next to Mr. Chelios, there's another two sticker backs needed to complete the subset. As for the bottom row, it's a Patrick Roy All-Star sticker and a Vezina Trophy sticker. The Vezina is awarded to the goalie who's judged to have been the best in the league across the season. Guess who won it in 1988-89? Yep, Patrick Roy.

 

Gregory hasn't checked every single sticker from these six packs against his album, but he has a pretty good feeling that a lot of them are needs. 

Favorite Page

 

 

 

Another completed page, and this time it's the New York Rangers!

 

 

Now here's the updated summary for the set build:

Main Set (182 total panels)

 

New panels: 31

New duplicates: 5

 

Total panels: 140

Total duplicates: 40

 

Panels needed: 42

Set completion: 77%

 

 

Future Star/All-Star Backs (34 total)

 

New backs: 6

New duplicates: 0

 

Total backs: 27

Total duplicates: 6

 

Backs needed: 7

Set completion: 79%

That's some good progress! Gregory has 18 packs to go, and he's pretty psyched that he's more than three-quarters of the way to completing both the sticker album and the sticker back subset.

 

Best Stickers

The Brian Leetch Future Star sticker back, the Al MacInnis All-Star sticker back, and the Patrick Roy all-star subset sticker. 

 

Which were your favorites this time? 

1982 Topps Baseball: A Redesign

A couple of months ago, I completed the 1982 Topps baseball set. And I've got to say, looking through all those cards as I wrote the set completion post gave me plenty of time to think about the design.

 

Right from the outset, it's important for me to mention that I really like the original. The racing stripes and colors are fun, vibrant, and very "period correct" for the early 1980s. 

 

However, I'm befuddled with the overall color choices that Topps decided to go with. I think you'll see why if we separate them into three categories.

 

 

The Teams That Aced It (3)

 

  

On three occasions, Topps did very well with their color matching. The Royals are just about perfect, while the Rangers and Brewers are close enough to feel like a concerted effort was made. If you're lenient, you can add the Red Sox to this group. Topps gave them red and blue, but they're rather far from official Red Sox team red and blue.

 

 

 

The "Halfway" Teams (10)

 

  

More often, Topps selected one team color and paired it with a complementary one. That brown in the Astros card is a handsome addition to the dark orange, while the magenta on Rickey's card is just plain fun when paired with the green. As for the Blue Jays cards, they received a purple color that's pleasant and easy on the eye.

 

 

 

The Teams That Went Off the Rails (12)

 

  

The other 12 teams in the set contain color combinations that don't seem to make sense at all. And again, this is totally fine. I actually like the orange and brown on Pete Mackanin's card, for example. But let's say you were a young Twins fan in 1982, opening your first packs of Topps cards. If you saw some orange and brown Twins and then discovered that Royals cards had such good team colors, you might have wondered why Topps did your team so dirty.

  

In any case, all of this research and philosophizing was enough for me to want to redesign each team—even the few that already matched well. 

 

And now the job is done.

  

I created one example for each team, and they're shown below in alphabetical order by city. (There's a special bonus card at the end, too.) As with other redesigns, I selected the specific card for each team based on content: It had to feature good action, a classic pose, sweet '80s uniforms and hairstyles, or something else that seemed to match the era well. 

 

Here we go. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were 26 MLB teams back in 1982, so I needed one more card to fill that 27th slot. The all-star subset was an easy choice. I really like how the redesign came out, showcasing patriotic colors for the stars and stripes. 

 

With all the other cards in the original set having white borders, it's pretty unlikely that Topps would have gone with blue borders for a subset card back then. But hey, maybe Bucky Dent's example up there could have been an early box bottom test proof, or something.

 

So, what do you think? If you follow a particular baseball team, did I do it justice here? Which designs do you like the best? My current favorites are Atlanta, Montreal, and Pittsburgh.

 

Let me know in the comment section, and thanks for reading! 

 

High School Hockey Stats

A few months ago, I shared some awards from my high school hockey days. As fun as it was to look back on those times and link them to card collecting, I also briefly lamented at the fact that many of us didn't keep detailed records of our sporting experiences back then, and how I wished I had more mementos from that time.

It's because we're talking about an era before the internet, and before every local sports league was posting scores and stats on websites, down to its youngest age groups. It was also a time before every parent recorded every second of every game on their phones and then shared highlights all over their social media pages. 

Recreational hockey leagues like ours provided a simple schedule printout at the beginning of every year, and kept paper scoresheets for each game, but that's about all. After the game was over, those scoresheets likely went into a file cabinet, and who knows where after that? 

It's a shame. 

But guess what?

Recently I decided to rummage through some more boxes in the attic, wondering if I could find any other keepsakes from my young hockey days. I knew I didn't have any jerseys from way back then. I wish I still had a couple of them, but it wasn't a big loss. (The jerseys were one-color lightweight mesh, with a screen-printed sponsor's logo on the front and a simple number on the back. It was the same for every team, aside from the color. Very basic. We received a new one every year.) 

 

What I was really hoping to find, at the very least, was a photo or two. 

Well, within about 10 minutes of rummaging, I found a couple of 3-subject notebooks from my high school days.

I was on the right track. 

Not long after, I found a manila folder containing some doodles and notes from the same time period. 

I had some goofball tendencies, for sure.

And then I found another folder. 

 

Do you see the pink, yellow, and white sheets that are peeking out from the right-hand side? That's what got me excited. 

 

They're examples of those printed-out hockey schedules I mentioned earlier!

 

I didn't find a schedule from my freshman year, but the pink one was from my sophomore year, and the yellow one was from my junior year. As for the white one, that's something different from my senior year. We had a pretty cool coach that season who actually kept track of our stats, and wrote out the totals at the end of the season! (I'm not going to show them here on the blog, because they include some personal information like phone numbers and names of friends.)

 

In any case, the initial hit of nostalgia was strong. The schedules contained a separate row for each game we played, including the date, time, location, and opponent. Just looking at the names of the different hockey rinks we traveled to brought me right back to those glory days.

 

And as I looked over each page, something else kicked the nostalgia into overdrive:

 

 

 

 

Next to each game, in the margin, there were hand-written notes from young Gregory! I included any goals or assists I scored, along with some notes on how I played. It was so much fun to read through them that I decided to transfer everything over to Word documents. 

First, here are my high school hockey stats: 

 

 

NCHL Record 

 

Season	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
1991-92	No data available
1992-93	Devils	13	6	9	15	0
1993-94	Lightning	15	6	9	15	0
1994-95	Devils	12	5	7	12	2
Totals		40	17	25	42	2

 

 

Hey, a point-per-game player is not bad! 

 

I didn't have a big shot, but I was a good setup guy and had some speed. My best skill may have been anticipation. I killed penalties a lot, and was the kind of player who stole passes, blocked shots, got the puck out of the zone, and tried to keep it there. I really enjoyed those aspects of the game.

As for that missing first year of stats, I think our team was called the Flyers. And it would be my guess that my personal stats weren't as solid. I'd only been playing hockey of any kind (i.e., roller hockey) for a couple of years at that point, and I had a lot to learn about positioning and skating. I had a lot to learn about everything. So maybe it's not such a bad thing that my scoring stats don't exist for that first year.

Regardless, I was determined to improve, and the season schedules provide evidence of how I maintained that determination over the years. Here are a few examples of the notes that I wrote to myself after each game:

 

 

1/3/93:      0G, 0A   Could have done better.

12/28/93:  1G, 0A   Game-tying goal. Good forechecking on penalty late in the game with 3–2 lead. 

1/10/94:    0G, 0A   Good game. Good, hard work. Almost a couple of assists.

1/24/94:    0G, 1A   O.K. Need to get in a better mindset.

1/31/94:    1G, 1A   Got in a better mindset! Nice goal.

I'm so glad I took those notes. They provide such a fun look at the ups and downs throughout the seasons.

 

To the Moms and Dads Out There

Now that I'm older, it completely stuns me to look through those hockey schedules. Many of the games didn't start until 8:00pm—or even sometimes 9:00! And quite a few of them were held at outdoor rinks throughout the county, with almost no indoor seating for spectators. 

I'm trying to imagine being a parent like my mom. You come home from a long day of work, get dinner ready, and then instead of relaxing, you have to get your winter coat back on, drive your teenager to a game, cheer from a cold seat, and get home around 10:30 or 11:00pm, only to go right back to work the next morning. 

 

There was one week during the 1993-94 season when we actually had three consecutive games during the week—Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. 

 

Dang! I definitely don't remember such a rigorous schedule.

So to all the moms and dads out there who support their children with their sporting endeavors, an enormous thank you.

Fun News

 

I did find one photo.

 

 

There I am, likely during one of those weeknight games, on an outdoor rink. It sure seems like I'm wide open. 

 

When I zoom in and look closely at some of the equipment I'm wearing—specifically the gloves and the skates—I'm going to conclude that this was my first season of rec league hockey. 1991-92. Freshman year of high school. I'd really love to find more photos, but for now I'm happy to have at least this one.

And like I mentioned in the hockey trophy post, I'm happy to have played most of those seasons with a few of my high school friends. That senior year—when our coach tabulated all our stats—was a good one. The four of us finished 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 7th in team scoring. (I was 3rd.) It felt good to represent our high school like that.

 

Other Fun Stuff

 

Here's a clip featuring the video game my hockey-loving friends and I would have played the most:

 

 

 

And here are a few more hockey cards we would have been excited to find in packs. (Brands like Finest, Flair, Upper Deck SP, and Leaf Limited had joined the party—each with some inserts that were rather scarce for the time.)

 

 

1992-93 Score USA Greats #8 Brian Leetch, 1993-94 Upper Deck Silver Skates #R6 Steve Yzerman, 
1993-94 Stadium Club Finest #1 Wayne Gretzky

 

  

The Big Cliché 

At this point of the post, it's almost too easy to say something like, "Where does the time go?" or, "It feels like just yesterday". But you know what? There's a reason why so many folks say things like that.

It's true. 

Those were such fun times, and looking back on those stats and the hand-written notes has filled me more so with good energy than with sadness or a longing for a time gone by. I'd love to go back, sure, but in quite a few ways I still am that teenage kid inside. 

 

And I'm proud of high school Gregory for his laser focus. There can be a lot of distractions in high school, not to mention all the chemical and biological stuff going on inside your body as you go through adolescence. But high school Gregory was determined to play hard and improve his skills on the ice, and to work equally hard in school. He wouldn't let anything stop him. Good stuff. 

 

As for collecting? By the time I reached my senior year, I'd lost interest. And that means I missed out on many of the inserts, autographed cards, and relics that would flood the hobby in the mid- to late-1990s.

 

But it was fine. I had a new challenge coming up the next year: 

 

College hockey tryouts. 

I know I've got at least a few mementos from that time. Could be a mission for my next rummage through the attic. 

 

Stay tuned, and thanks again for reading along.