Hunter Brothers

How do you like this run for the Hunter clan? 

 

Oct 10, 1979: Dave Hunter plays in his first NHL game. Scores a goal.

 

Oct 9, 1980: Dale Hunter plays in his first NHL game. Logs two assists.

 

October 8, 1981: Mark Hunter plays in his first NHL game. Scores a goal.

 

 

Yep, that's right. For three straight seasons, a new Hunter brother appeared in the NHL, and each one produced immediately. 

Their draft positions weren't too shabby, either. 

Dave: First-round pick (17th overall) by the Montreal Canadiens in 1978

Dale: Second-round pick (41st overall) by the Québec Nordiques in 1979

Mark: First-round pick (7th overall) by the Montreal Canadiens in 1981

Mom and dad must have been celebrating all the time back at the homestead in Ontario!

 

And when Edmonton took Dave from Montreal in the 1979 Expansion Draft, it was a Hunter brother takeover of Canadian teams! 

Here they are just a few years later:

1983-84 Vachon #29 Dave Hunter, #46 Mark Hunter, and #66 Dale Hunter

They might have been overshadowed around this time period by the Sutter brothers and the Stastny brothers. But make no mistake—the Hunter brothers were a force. All three were workmanlike. Tough. They could beat you down and score some points before you lifted yourself up off the ice.

Just look at the PIM totals for all three brothers, for example.

 

 

CAREER TOTALS

	DAVE (10 seasons)	DALE (19 seasons)	MARK (12 seasons)
GAMES PLAYED	746	1407	628
GOALS	133	323	213
ASSISTS	190	697	171
POINTS	323	1020	384
PENALTY MINUTES	918	3565	1426
GAME-WINNING GOALS	15	42	19

 

 

BEST INDIVIDUAL SEASON
(Career highs in bold)

	DAVE (1983-84, Edmonton)	DALE (1983-84, Québec)	MARK (1985-86, St. Louis)
GAMES PLAYED	80	77	78
GOALS	22	24	44
ASSISTS	26	55	30
POINTS	48	79	74
PENALTY MINUTES	90	232	171
GAME-WINNING GOALS	3	2	3

 

 

It's pretty impressive that Mark had the most points and most penalty minutes of his career in the same season. It's tougher to put up points when you spend 171 minutes in the box!

Let's cover a little more ground now.

Dave Hunter (LW) played in the NHL from 1979-80 through 1988-89. He was a three-time cup winner with the Oilers, largely overshadowed by the likes of Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, et al. He also suited up for Pittsburgh and Winnipeg.

Dale Hunter (C) played in the NHL from 1980-81 through 1998-99. He received Selke Trophy votes (best defensive forward) quite a few times through his career. However, the cheap shot he put on Pierre Turgeon in the 1992-93 playoffs still upsets a lot of hockey fans—especially on Long Island—and remains a dark mark on Hunter's career. Dale is the all-time leader in career playoff penalty minutes with 731, and sits in second place in career penalty minutes with 3,565. He also played in 186 career playoff games, which, at the time of this writing, places him at #31 all time. And here's a unique distinction: Dale Hunter is the only player in NHL history with 1,000 career points and 3,000 career penalty minutes.

Mark Hunter (RW) played in the NHL from 1981-82 through 1992-93. He was an all-star in 1985-86 with St. Louis, and won the Stanley Cup with Calgary in 1988-89. Overall, he played for Montreal, St. Louis, Calgary, and Hartford. 

 

So why did I add the LW, C, and RW designations for each brother?

Well, I think it's pretty cool that you had a complete forward line of Hunter Brothers.

Do you know what other group of brothers made up a complete forward line in the 1980s? The Stastnys!

How remarkable would it have been if all three Hunter brothers played for Montreal at some point in the early '80s, and faced off against the Stastny brothers with the Nordiques during the season? Or in the playoffs?

 

Or what if Dave and Mark had been traded to Québec to join Dale? The Nordiques could have had one full forward line of Stastny brothers, and the next full forward line of Hunter brothers. That's half of the forwards on the team!

I guess either scenario would have been pretty rough on the play-by-play guy.

Regardless, it's fun to think about. So here's to the Hunter brothers. Three solid hockey men. Three solid careers, to boot.

A Most Minuscule Blogging Milestone Achieved

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a new number on the right-hand widget bar here on the Nine Pockets blog.

I've got 50 followers!

Huge news, right? Time to update my status to "influencer".

 

 

Jokes aside, noticing the number on that widget did give me pause for thought. A milestone like this would have been a much more meaningful occasion back in the heyday of blogging. I can imagine well-known bloggers from various corners of the internet celebrating every 100 followers they gained, for example. 

 

But in today's online world, there are quite a few additional forms of social content that grapple for our attention:

 

2-sentence posts

10-second video clips

Single-panel memes

News clips 

How-to videos 

City walks

Virtual tours

ASMR videos

Endless sports highlights

Live streams of all sorts of events

Stories that disappear after 24 hours 

Reaction videos

Unboxings

The list goes on and on.

 

And that's not to mention the emergence of the aforementioned influencers, and their millions of followers across various platforms. Put that all together, and it means bloggers aren't exactly pulling in the numbers these days.

But do you know who still reads blogs?

 

You do.

 

You're undeniable proof that blogging is still here. You, and other folks like you, still enjoy reading the unique content that blogs can provide. I'd even like to think that one day, folks might grow tired of the barrage of content and alerts coming in from all those other platforms, reduce the amount of time they spend tapping, swiping, and aimlessly scrolling, and replace it with some quality time reading blogs again. 

 

Sure, it might be naive to think that way. But I'm sticking with it. 

And that's why I'm setting aside a few minutes to celebrate 50 followers.

 

  

As small as our little corner of the internet is, there's a lot of value here—and a lot of great people, to boot.

If you're one of the 50 followers, or even if you just stop by Nine Pockets every once in a while to read through my thoughts about trading cards and the nostalgia they bring about, I'd like to issue a sincere thank you.

Your time spent here means a lot.

 

Keep enjoying the hobby. And if you're a blogger, keep on doing what you're doing.

 

More good content to come.

Is This Custom Card Experienced? Has It Ever Been Experienced?

If you're a fan of a certain guitar legend from the 1960s and you've read the title of this blog post, I think you might have an idea about the contents of the custom card I'm going to share below.

If not, here are some hints:

• The band consisted of a lead guitarist, a drummer, and a bassist
• The lead guitarist's formal first name was James
• They sung about haziness that was purple and a lady who was foxy.

Alright, I guess that's enough clues. Here's the custom card:

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It's the Jimi Hendrix Experience!

Back in 2020, I created a couple of custom cards featuring Jimi Hendrix. But I wanted to give a nod to the entire band, too. The trick was choosing a card template to work with.

I'm not sure if there's ever been another three-man rock band out there with a member who stood out as the headliner more than the Jimi Hendrix Experience. And that's not taking anything away from Noel Redding or Mitch Mitchell. It's just that the other guy was Jimi Hendrix.

So I didn't want to use a standard three-person card template that featured all three members equally. It took a little while for me to figure it out, but eventually the "league leader" cards from 1970 and 1971 Topps came to mind. They'd be perfect, because the league leader got top billing, in a larger frame, while the second- and third-place men were beneath, in smaller frames. I liked the black borders of 1971 better than the grays of 1970, so I went with that one. An easier choice was replacing the baseball team names with the instruments each band member played.

As for the images, I think the blue sky and clouds in the background work nicely. And do you believe those hairstyles? I mean, Noel Redding . . . that's impressive, sir.

As for The Experience, they were only together for three years (1966 through 1969). The group recorded three albums in that time: Are You Experienced in 1967, Axis: Bold As Love in 1968, and Electric Ladyland, later that same year. All three albums went Platinum or multi-Platinum. "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", "All Along the Watchtower", "Foxy Lady". So many hits in just a couple of years. Pretty cool.

But that's just a small part of Mr. Hendrix's story. If you're a fan of rock, blues, metal, and funk, and never listened to the music he released with the Band of Gypsys (Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums), you're doing yourself a great disservice. Search for live versions of songs like "Power of Soul", "Message of Love", "Machine Gun", "Izabella", and "Who Knows". The songs are heavier and harder. More raw. They almost make The Experience albums feel like pop music in comparison.

There's also an album out there called Jimi By Himself, which consists of some quiet home recordings and improvisations Hendrix did. Also worth a listen.

In any case, I'm happy with the way this custom came out. Maybe I'll create a variation for the Band of Gypsys, featuring Hendrix, Cox, and Miles on the 1970 gray-border design.

Any Hendrix fans out there? Band of Gypsys fans?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading.

A Smorgasbord! 1992 Topps Dairy Queen Team USA

From the 1970s through the 1990s, it seemed like you could find your favorite baseball stars on food product packaging everywhere you looked: supermarkets, corner stores, restaurants, and beyond. This past year, in an effort to capture a little more nostalgia, I set a goal to expand my own collection of these "food-issue" cards. In this series I'll show the specific examples I've acquired, and share a little bit of history about the food or beverage sponsor as well. 

Previous entries can be found here.

It's been hot outside. But your Little League team played pretty well today. Had some timely hits. Avoided the big errors. Remembered those baserunning tips from coach. 

It was a close game, but you won by 3 in the end. 

Now you're sitting in the back seat of the car, on the way home, going over some of the highlights of the game in your mind. And you just noticed that Dad turned left on Willow Street.

There's only one reason why he turns left on Willow. There's only ever been one reason.

That's the way to get to the local Dairy Queen!

There's nothing better than when mom and dad take you to DQ after the game. Your purpose there is singular. 

 

Ice cream. 

 

But it's not just ice cream. It's not even just Dairy Queen ice cream.

 

 

It's Dairy Queen ice cream inside of a mini baseball helmet!

 

At this point, it doesn't even matter which teams are available. The distribution folks at DQ have been good to you this summer, so you've already got your favorite team, plus a few more. Now it's compiling time.

The employee slides your sundae and helmet over the counter (Texas Rangers? Cool!) and you dig right in. Life is good.

_____________________________

Skip forward a few years. Your Little League time has finished. You're playing high school ball now, and despite the tougher competition, you've had a decent year. The post-game trips to DQ with with mom and dad don't happen anymore, but one of your buddies just got his drivers license, and a few of you decide to go for old time's sake.

The team helmets are still being offered, which makes you smile. But then you see something else on offer, and it boosts the endorphins even more.

A pack of four Dairy Queen baseball cards!

You find the promotional sign at the counter, and read through it. The packs feature players from the 1984 and 1988 US Olympic teams, as well as some prospects from this summer's 1992 team. In order to receive one, you've got to purchase a sundae in a special Team USA mini helmet.

 

 

Easiest. Decision. Ever. 

Your friends are all-in, too. And a few minutes later, there you are. High school buddies eating sundaes out of mini baseball helmets. (U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!)

And to make it just that much better, you open your pack and find this card inside:

Fresh-faced Will Clark. He's well into his MLB career at this point, but you weren't aware that eight years ago he was part of Team USA at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

 

You flip over to the card back.

 

It's impressive that Topps included the Olympic Team and USA Team stats separately. And all this fanfare reminds you that the 1992 Olympic baseball tournament starts in a couple of weeks. 

You're definitely going to watch now.

As for Will Clark, he sure was a stud, even back in his Team USA days. Just look at those stats on the card back. And read the caption at the bottom!

And hey, would you like to hear one of the coolest Will Clark facts you'll ever hear?

He hit a home run in his very first at-bat at every level of professional baseball: Single-A, Double-A, Triple-A, and the major leagues. To make it even more impressive, that first major league home run came against Nolan Ryan. 

 

Over Mr. Clark's 15-year MLB career, that sweet swing we all know produced 2176 hits, 440 doubles, 47 triples, 284 home runs, 1205 RBI, 1186 runs scored, and a career slash line of .303/.384/.497.

 

He was a six-time All Star, won two Silver Sluggers, one Gold Glove, and was the NLCS MVP in 1989.

 As for Dairy Queen, they've been a classic American fixture for decades. 

It all started with J.F. McCullough and his son Alex, who created a soft-serve type of ice cream in 1938. A friend who owned an ice cream shop agreed to sell it, and on the very first day, more than 1,600 servings were sold! 

The men paired up, and the first official Dairy Queen location opened in Joliet, Illinois, in 1940. Malts, shakes, and banana splits appeared on the menu within the first decade or so, and through a franchising system, things took off quickly after that. 

You might be familiar with popular DQ items such as the Dilly Bar, Buster Bar, Peanut Buster Parfait, and, of course, the Blizzard. Many locations also sell hot foods, such as burgers and grilled sandwiches.

Today there are more than 7,000 DQ locations spanning 20 countries!

But let's get back to those vintage days. Here's a DQ commercial full of nostalgia:

How about you readers and collectors?

Do you have any Dairy Queen memories from your youth—or more recently?

Any mini helmets in your collection? I don't have any, but now I kind of want to search one out.

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading.

Classic Baseball on the Radio: 1980s Style

A few years ago, I shared a YouTube channel here on the blog called Classic Baseball on the Radio. As you can gather by the name, the channel shared full radio broadcasts of Major League Baseball games from past decades.

For a long while, the broadcasts ranged from the 1970s all the way back to the 1930s. And that's amazing, don't get me wrong. I've thoroughly enjoyed listening to games from those eras.

 

But at some point this past year, I noticed that a few broadcasts from the 1980s started appearing on the channel. And then more. And then even more. 

 

And that's the decade of my childhood. 

 

So I wanted to post an update here, for all you fellow '80s kids and '80s baseball lovers.

 

Just think about it for a moment. The decade gave us a lot.

• You had Big League Chew, the San Diego Chicken, The Baseball Bunch, and bullpen carts that were essentially giant baseballs wearing giant baseball caps.  
• You had managers taking risks with hit-and-run plays, stolen bases, and squeeze bunts. (And don't forget all their heated confrontations with umpires.)
• You had guys who played for keeps. Pitchers threw high and tight. Baserunners slid hard to break up a double play. And if there was a play at the plate? You'd better be ready.

What an amazing combination of goofiness, fun, excitement, and toughness!

And now you can listen to all of that '80s goodness on Classic Baseball on the Radio.

Think of the player names you haven't heard in ages. The legendary broadcasters you haven't thought of in ages. The way they called the game. Those guys were studs. You didn't analyze what they were saying. You didn't pick apart their commentary.

 

You just listened. And appreciated. And enjoyed the game.

Part of the reason was that they didn't bombard you with data and analytics for two and a half hours. But a larger part of it was because they were entertaining. You looked forward to the actual game, sure, but you also looked forward to hearing those guys on the radio, because you knew they were going to make the game that much better—thereby making your day better. And it wasn't limited to certain teams or regions. It seemed like every team back in the '80s had legendary voices. Phil Rizzuto for the Yankees, Bob Murphy for the Mets, Harry Kalas in Philadelphia, Vin Scully for the Dodgers, Bill King in Oakland, Bob Uecker in Milwaukee, Jack Buck in St. Louis, and of course Harry Caray for the Cubs, drinkin' a beer and callin' the game.

 

And whether you were sitting in a lawn chair with a cold drink on the ground beside you, working on the car in the garage, or driving home from your shift, guess what? As long as you had even the simplest little transistor radio, those broadcasters were right there with you.

 

And you just listened. And appreciated. And enjoyed the game.

Even if you were a little kid, opening packs of cards on a Saturday afternoon with one ear listening out for the ice cream man. . . 

. . . you still listened. And appreciated. And enjoyed the game.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that baseball was more simple back then. Life was more simple back then. And that's one reason why channels like Classic Baseball on the Radio mean so much to me. Open up a game from any of the playlists. Listen to some legendary broadcasters describe the sights and sounds of baseball.

For a short amount of time, life will be simple again.

If you haven't checked out the channel yet, I hope you will. 

  

Now a question for you:

Did you have a favorite baseball radio broadcast back then? If so, what was the radio station's call sign? Who were the broadcasters? 

In my area we had the Yankees on WABC 770 AM, and the Mets on WHN 1050 AM and WFAN 660 AM.

Share yours in the comment section, and thanks for reading!