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.

Completed Set: 1985 Topps Baseball

 

The two big collecting years of my baseball childhood were 1984 and 1987. Both years I collected Topps, and Topps alone. (Mainly because those were the packs my dad bought for my sister and I.) 

 

And although 1985 falls in between those two years, somehow I didn't collect many cards that year at all. 

 

And that's too bad, because the 1985 Topps baseball set, as I discovered while compiling all the cards recently, is a bit more unique than some of the other sets of the decade. 

Firstly, it's the design. As you look through the cards below I think you might agree that it's better than average. The cards are bright. Bold. Fun. And on top of all that, the colors are very well matched to each team's colors. That's a departure from the previous few years, when Topps chose colors that sometimes provided a nice complement to the team's colors, and other times did not. (For example, 1980 Topps Pirates cards received a purple and orange combo, while 1982 Topps Cardinals cards were hit with magenta and brown.)

Along with the design, another reason I like this set is that the images provide ample evidence that it was issued smack-dab in the middle of the 1980s.

 

There are the bespectacled players.

 

And the bearded players.

 

 

 

And more than enough mustachioed players.

 

 

 

Choking up on the bat was such a common thing in the 1980s that players even worked on it during batting practice, as Dan Gladden demonstrates quite nicely.

 

 

 

The uniforms are also a great indicator of the decade.

 

 

 

And if not the uniforms, consider the warmup jackets.

 

 

 

But that's not all the 1985 Topps set has to offer. Most surprising to me is that there are quite a few cards that portray fierce action.

 

There are pitchers who are straining to their limit.

 

 

 

And hitters who are absolutely swinging out of their shoes.

 

 

 

Through it all there are the steady infielders, ready for any smash that comes their way. 

 

 

 

Some of the stars have cool-looking cards.

 

Reggie: You're the man, Dickie! 

Dickie: No Reggie, YOU'RE the man!

 

 

 

And we can't forget the big rookie cards. (Honorable mention to Bret Saberhagen, Orel Hershiser, Dwight Gooden, and Eric Davis.)

 

 

Now let's go to the subsets, which are also fresh and different.

There are 10 record-breaker cards in this set, which is the most of any set of the decade.

 

 

There's a nice father-son subset.

 

 

 

And hey, Mark McGwire isn't the only Olympian featured in the set. There's an entire USA Olympic Team subset. (Nicely done in red, white, and blue colors.)

 

 

 

Here's a nifty #1 Draft Pick subset, featuring cards of some notable #1 picks from the previous 15 years or so.

 

 

And an example of a card back. Not the easiest color combination for readability, but I do like the trivia questions that appear on some of the cards like this one.

 

 

Finally, here are two versions of the "Winning Pitch" game card Topps issued that year (one per wax pack), plus an example of a checklist.

 

 

And there you have 1985 Topps baseball. It's a nice-looking set. Bright. Colorful. Bold lines. The cards look good in nine-pocket pages. It's also quite affordable—even more so if you've already got the "big three" rookie cards. I'm very happy to have completed this one. 

What are your thoughts on the set? Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading, as always.

Mullen Brothers

Picture the streets of Manhattan in the late-1960s. Tough. Grimy. Steam coming from manhole covers. Taxi cabs. Cars. Buses. Noise. Attitude.

 

Got that image in mind? Okay. Now look down a side street and picture two kids out there playing roller hockey. Does it sound absurd?

 

Well, it happened. And maybe just as absurd, both kids would go on to play in the National Hockey League.

 

Here they are.

 

1991-92 O-Pee-Chee Premier #153 Joe Mullen and #166 Brian Mullen

Joe and Brian Mullen did indeed grow up in Manhattan, playing hockey in the street, using clamp-on roller skates and a roll of electrical tape as a puck.

 

Back when I was learning to play hockey in the early 1990s we did the electrical tape thing too, as I'm sure many kids did. The only factory-made roller hockey puck available at the time came from a company named Mylec. It was bright orange and made of a soft, rubbery/plastic type of material—much too light to glide flat on the concrete or asphalt for very long, and sometimes your slapshot would sail way up in the air and over the goal if it caught a slight breeze. (Mylec also made a bright orange hockey ball, but who wanted to play hockey with a ball?)

In any case, both Joe and Brian give a tremendous amount of credit to those early roller hockey–playing days, noting that the rough playing surface and makeshift pucks helped to develop their stickhandling and shooting skills.

 

As for making the successive leaps from roller hockey to juniors to college to the pros? Well, the first couple of steps went well, but that last part of it didn't come easy. After a fantastic four years at Boston College, for example, older brother Joe actually went undrafted.

You see, at the time, most scouts didn't have interest in looking for players in nontraditional markets like Manhattan. Add the fact that Mullen was 5' 9"—which was considered a little small, even back in the 1970s—and the tough road from college to the pros is more easily understood.

 

But in the summer of 1979, after his senior year at BC, two doors opened. Both the US Olympic Team and the St. Louis Blues showed interest. 

 

Mullen opted to sign with the Blues, which meant he had to give up his amateur status and pass up the Olympic opportunity. Can't blame him for that, though, as few would have ever predicted the Miracle run that the 1980 Olympic team made in Lake Placid. 

 

The next year, while he was cutting his teeth in the minors, younger brother Brian was drafted in the 7th round by the Winnipeg Jets. Joe would begin his NHL career soon enough (the 1981-82 season), and Brian started his the very next season.

 

Here are some numbers.

CAREER TOTALS

	JOE (16 seasons)	BRIAN (11 seasons)
GAMES PLAYED	1062	832
GOALS	502	260
ASSISTS	561	362
POINTS	1063	622
PENALTY MINUTES	241	416
GAME-WINNING GOALS	73	29

 

 

BEST INDIVIDUAL SEASON
(Career highs in bold)

	JOE (1988-89, Calgary)	BRIAN (1984-85, Winnipeg)
GAMES PLAYED	79	69
GOALS	51	32
ASSISTS	59	39
POINTS	110	71
PENALTY MINUTES	16	32
POWER-PLAY GOALS	13	8
GAME-WINNING GOALS	7	3

 

Younger brother Brian had a solid career, playing across 11 seasons for Winnipeg, the Rangers, San Jose, and the Islanders. He's part of NHL history, as he was one of the original San Jose Sharks and recorded an assist in their very first game. He'd finish that year second in team scoring, with 18 goals, 28 assists, and 46 points.

A responsible player who was excellent on the defensive side of the game and the penalty kill, he put up 13 career shorthanded goals. If you're looking for other players who had comparable playing styles and numbers, Brian has similarity scores on hockey-reference.com with Mike Ricci, Brandon Dubinsky, Josh Bailey, and Frans Nielsen.

 

As for big brother Joe, you can see from the table above that his career was one for the ages. He played on three Stanley Cup–winning teams (1989 with Calgary, then 1991 and 1992 with Pittsburgh), and was a huge contributor on all three. Here are his numbers during that playoff run with Calgary, for example: 

 

21 games played, 16 goals, 8 assists, 24 points, 4 penalty minutes, 6 power-play goals, 10 even-strength goals, 91 shots

 

Those 16 goals led the league, as did his 10 even-strength goals and 91 shots. He won the Lady Byng trophy that year, as well. (He'd also won it after the 1986-87 season.)

 

Joe became the first American player to score 500 goals and 1,000 points. He was inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000. Over his career he suited up for St. Louis, Calgary, Pittsburgh, and Boston.

 

Overall, two incredible careers from a couple of New York City kids.

Here's to the Mullen brothers. Or as a native would say, Good job, youz guys!

Subset: 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team Rookie Cards

40 years ago today, this was the scene in Lake Placid, New York: 

The next day, this was the headline in the newspaper:

When The Miracle on Ice happened, I was barely a toddler. I didn't even get into the sport of hockey until I was in high school in the 1990s. But the story of this group of college kids, their coach Herb Brooks, and their collective accomplishment still grabs me pretty hard. It always has. It probably always will.

And I think that's really saying something. Time goes on in sports, and often there aren't many details of a championship that cement themselves in our minds. Sometimes we won't even recall who won the championship when we think back to particular seasons. But 40 years later the Miracle is still talked about, largely because it went well beyond the sport of hockey and the Olympic games. 

The Cold War and corresponding arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union had gotten a little more hostile and nuclear, and the world was watching anxiously. The tension couldn't help but spill over to Lake Placid. After all, the world was watching the Olympics, too. And although it might seem like an exaggeration to say this now, back then it was "us versus them", and many Americans felt like the US team almost had to win for the sake of the free world.

To provide just one example of the impact the victory had, there are stories of people across the States who were listening to the game on the radio in their cars, and when the final buzzer sounded they pulled over, got out, and with tears of joy in their eyes began to embrace complete strangers who'd also pulled over—all to the sounds of even more cars passing by and honking rhythmically, U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! 

And to cap off this remarkable story, two days after the Miracle, the US team went on to defeat Finland to claim the Gold Medal.

Because of all this, and because this is a trading card blog, I'd like to show the first hockey card of each player from that US Olympic team who went on to play in the NHL. We'll go in chronological order.

Dave Christan, forward (defenseman during the Olympic tournament)
Warroad, Minnesota / University of North Dakota
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 0 G, 8 A, 8 PTS, 6 PIM
NHL career: 1009 GP, 340 G, 433 A, 773 PTS, 284 PIM

Christian played for 5 teams across 15 seasons: Winnipeg, Washington, Boston, St. Louis, and Chicago. His best season was 1985-86 with Washington (80 GP, 41 G, 42 A, 83 PTS). Remarkably, Dave's father Bill and uncle Roger were members of the 1960 US Olympic hockey team that also won a gold medal. The family owned and operated the Christian Brothers hockey stick company for many years.

Fun fact: Similar to a few of the other Olympians, Dave Christian began playing for his NHL team just a few days after the Olympic tournament ended. And on his very first shift—seven seconds into it—he scored his first NHL goal. As of this writing it's still a record for the quickest goal into an NHL career.

Steve Christoff, forward
Richfield, Minnesota / University of Minnesota
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 2 G, 1 A, 3 PTS, 6 PIM
NHL career: 248 GP, 77 G, 64 A, 141 PTS, 108 PIM

Christoff played with Minnesota, Calgary, and Los Angeles across five NHL seasons. It must have been amazing to suit up for his hometown North Stars right after the Olympic tournament. Along with Olympic teammate Dave Christian, Christoff received some consideration for the Calder Memorial trophy. (Awarded to the rookie of the year.)
 

Jim Craig, goaltender
Easton, Massachusetts / Boston University
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 6-0-1, 2.14 GAA, .916 SV%
NHL career: 30 GP, 11 W, 10 L, 7 T, 3.78 GAA, .857 SV% 

Craig was the big hero in goal for the Olympic team, starting every game and standing tall against some incredible international talent. After the tournament he'd play parts of three seasons for Atlanta, Boston, and Minnesota. 

As you've noticed by now, the 1980-81 cards for each Olympian received the special "USA Hockey Team" stamp—on the Topps and O-Pee-Chee versions. It certainly provides some indication of how big the US victory was. 

Mark Johnson, forward
Minneapolis, Minnesota / University of Wisconsin–Madison
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 5 G, 6 A, 11 PTS, 6 PIM (led team in points)
NHL career: 669 GP, 203 G, 305 A, 508 PTS, 269 PIM

Johnson was a talented forward who bounced around the NHL for 11 seasons and had success wherever he went, reaching the 20- and 30-goal mark a bunch of times. He scored two goals against the Soviet team in the Miracle game. He also played for the US National Team in numerous World Cups and Canada Cups throughout the 1980s, putting up pretty good point totals there, too.

Rob McClanahan, forward
Saint Paul, Minnesota / University of Minnesota
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 5 G, 3 A, 8 PTS, 2 PIM
NHL career: 224 GP, 38 G, 63 A, 101 PTS, 126 PIM

McClanahan played for Buffalo, Hartford, and the Rangers across five NHL seasons. His best season was 1982-83 with the Rangers (78 GP, 22 G, 26 A, 48 PTS, 46 PIM). Guess who coached that team? Yep. Herb Brooks. Know who else was on that team? Fellow Olympic teammates Bill Baker, Dave Silk, and Mark Pavelich.

Ken Morrow, defenseman
Davison, Michigan / Bowling Green State University
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 1 G, 2 A, 3 PTS, 6 PIM
NHL career: 550 GP, 17 G, 88 A, 105 PTS, 309 PIM

Morrow is the most decorated of this group—not for the personal point totals, but for the team accomplishments. How's this for a story: A few days after winning the gold medal in February of 1980, the NHL team that drafted you, the New York Islanders, calls and tells you they need another defenseman to shore up their blue line for their upcoming playoff run. You step into the lineup and play in the final 18 regular-season games, then blast through the playoffs and help your team win its first Stanley Cup. And then you'd win the next three Stanley Cups as well. The guy's feet probably never touched the ground from 1980 to 1984.

One personal stat I would like to point out is Morrow's career plus/minus totals. He's plus 142. That's top 60 all-time for defensemen. I know the legitimacy and value of plus/minus has been criticized over the past few years, and with reason, as it's not a perfectly accurate indicator. But still, if you're a defensive-minded guy like Morrow, it's a pretty good number, and still means you're doing well at preventing goals from going into your net while helping your team score into the other net. It's even more impressive considering Morrow accumulated that number across only 550 games. 

You know who's got an even better career plus/minus? The next guy in our list. He's at plus 203.

Mike Ramsey, defenseman
Minneapolis, Minnesota / University of Minnesota
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 0 G, 2 A, 2 PTS, 8 PIM
NHL career: 1070 GP, 79 G, 266 A, 345 PTS, 1012 PIM

Ramsey is another member of the Olympic team who played in more than 1,000 NHL games. He suited up for 18 seasons total, mostly with Buffalo (then a couple with Pittsburgh and three with Detroit). Ramsey was selected 11th overall by Buffalo in the 1979 Entry Draft, and was talented enough to be named to four NHL All-Star teams. 

While with Detroit, he was teammates with defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov, who was on the 1980 Soviet Olympic team. Oh, to be a fly on the wall when the two of them were reintroduced in that locker room. I wonder what sorts of conversations they had about their Olympic experience over the years. And speaking of his time in Detroit, if Ramsey could have just lengthened his career a few more months and stuck around for the 1996-97 season and playoffs, he would have hoisted the Stanley Cup with those Red Wings, and with Fetisov.
 

Neal Broten, forward
Roseau, Minnesota / University of Minnesota
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 2 G, 1 A, 3 PTS, 2 PIM
NHL career: 1099 GP, 289 G, 634 A, 923 PTS, 569 PIM

The third player on this list to have played in more than 1,000 NHL games, Broten logged 17 NHL seasons, 13 of those with Minnesota. He won the Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 1994-95, where he put up 7 goals and 12 assists in 20 playoff games. Four of those goals were game-winners. 

His best season was 1985-86 (80 GP, 29 G, 76 A, 105 PTS, 47 PIM). Across his career he received Calder, Selke, and Lady Byng consideration. 

Fun fact: Broten went back to college after the Olympics, helped Minnesota to an NCAA championship, and won the Hobey Baker award as the best NCAA hockey player of the year. That means he's an NCAA champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and a Stanley Cup champion. Ed Belfour is the only other person to have done that. Additionally, Broten is the only person to have won a Hobey Baker award, Olympic Gold, and Stanley Cup.

Mark Pavelich, forward
Eveleth, Minnesota / University of Minnesota Duluth
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 1 G, 6 A, 7 PTS, 2 PIM
NHL career: 355 GP, 137 G, 192 A, 329 PTS, 310 PIM

Pavelich was superbly talented, as evidenced by his near-point per game totals across his career. He played in 7 NHL seasons, 5 with the Rangers. Have a look at these goal totals in his first three NHL seasons: 33, 37, 29. 

During the 1982-83 season he scored 5 goals in one game (and he's still the only US-born player to have done so). Injuries reduced his game totals and scoring totals after his first few seasons, however.

Bill Baker, defenseman
Grand Rapids, Minnesota / University of Minnesota
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 1 G, 0 A, 1 PTS, 4 PIM
NHL career: 143 GP, 7 G, 25 A, 32 PTS, 175 PIM

Baker suited up for Montreal, Colorado, St. Louis, and the Rangers. It doesn't seem like he got much of a chance to be an everyday player until he was reunited with coach Herb Brooks in 1982-83 with the Rangers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he put up his best personal totals that year, playing almost a full NHL season for the first time (70 GP, 4 G, 14 A, 18 PTS, 64 PIM).


 

Jack O'Callahan, defenseman
Charlestown, Massachusetts / Boston University
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 0 G, 1 A, 1 PTS, 2 PIM
NHL career:  389 GP, 27 G, 104 A, 131 PTS, 541 PIM

O'Callahan played games across seven NHL seasons, all with Chicago and New Jersey. He had a great playoff run with Chicago in 1984-85, the year this card was issued (15 GP, 3 G, 5 A, 8 PTS, 25 PIM).

Dave Silk, forward
Scituate, Massachusetts / Boston University
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 2 G, 3 A, 5 PTS, 0 PIM
NHL career: 249 GP, 54 G, 59 A, 103 PTS, 271 PIM

Silk was hampered a bit by injuries over his seven-year NHL career, but still played a respectable amount of games with the Rangers, Boston, Detroit, and Winnipeg. His best season was perhaps with Boston in 1983-84, where in only 35 games he scored 13 goals and 17 assists for 30 points.


Here are the team members who did not earn an NHL trading card:

Mike Eruzione, forward
Winthrop, Massachusetts / Boston University
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 3 G, 2 A, 5 PTS, 2 PIM
Scored the famous game-winning goal against the Soviets. No playing record after the Olympics.

John Harrington, forward
Virginia, Minnesota / University of Minnesota Duluth
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 0 G, 5 A, 5 PTS, 2 PIM
Played the 1980-81 season for Lugano in Switzerland (38 GP, 40 G, 54 A, 94 PTS, 22 PIM). Played for the US National Team from 1981 to 1983 and the US Olympic Team in 1984.

Steve Janaszak, goaltender
Saint Paul, Minnesota / University of Minnesota
1980 Olympic Tournament: 0 GP
Played one game with the North Stars and two games with Colorado. Played in the minor leagues through the 1982-83 season.

Buzz Schneider, forward
Grand Rapids, Minnesota / University of Minnesota
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 5 G, 3 A, 8 PTS, 4 PIM
Spent the 1980-81 and 1981-82 seasons playing with SC Bern in Switzerland.

Eric Strobel, forward
Rochester, Minnesota / University of Minnesota
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 1 G, 2 A, 3 PTS, 2 PIM
Played part of one season with the Rochester Americans of the AHL.

Bob Suter, defenseman
Madison, Wisconsin / University of Wisconsin–Madison
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 0 G, 0 A, 0 PTS, 6 PIM
Played for the US team at the 1981 Ice Hockey World Championships. In 1981-82 played one full season in the CHL with the Nashville South Stars.

Phil Verchota, forward
Duluth, Minnesota / University of Minnesota
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 3 G, 2 A, 5 PTS, 8 PIM
Played the 1980-81 season for Jokerit in Finland. Played with the US National Team in 1982-83, and the US Olympic Team in 1984.

Mark Wells, forward
St. Clair Shores, Michigan / Bowling Green State University
1980 Olympic Tournament: 7 GP, 2 G, 1 A, 3 PTS, 0 PIM
Played the 1980-81 season and then the 1981-82 season with a few different teams in the minor leagues.


I hope you can see that some of the players from the 1980 US Olympic Team had really great (and perhaps overlooked) professional careers. And for those who didn't make the NHL ranks, it wasn't the end of the world. The team was made up of humble guys who grew up in small towns or on farms and ranches, enjoyed playing hockey, and came together to be part of a magical experience. If playing in the pros didn't work out after that, they moved on with their lives. It adds another amazing note to the whole story. 

If you want even more evidence of the scale of the victory, almost all 12 of the cards shown above mention something about the 1980 Olympics on the back. 

On Jim Craig's card, for example: 

Helped U.S. Team to stunning upset victory over Soviets
in the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. 

And even on Jack O'Callahan's 1984-85 card, five years after the event: 

Played on US Gold Medal team in 1980 Olympics.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Finally, if you'd like some additional inspiration, I can make four recommendations:

(1) The 2004 film Miracle. Disney did an excellent job telling the story, despite some moments that were perhaps enhanced and "Disney-fied" a little bit. Kurt Russel did a fantastic job playing the role of coach Herb Brooks, and the game-action scenes throughout the film are really well done and quite realistic. A main reason is that the actors who portrayed the members of the team were accomplished hockey players themselves.

(2) If you want the story without Disney-fication, a great book is The Boys of Winter. Author Wayne Coffey delves much deeper into each player, their humble backgrounds, and how the team came together to carry out one of the biggest upsets and greatest sports stories of the 20th century.

(3) The December 22, 1980 issue of Sports Illustrated. Since 1954, the ultra-popular magazine bestowed a "Sportsman of the Year" award to one athlete. The Miracle on Ice was so special, however, that for 1980 the editors changed the title of the award to Sportsmen of the Year so they could award it to the entire US Olympic hockey team. Here's a link to that issue in The SI archive, where you can read a fantastic article about the award (beginning on page 30). You'll not only get an excellent look into the 1980 team and the Olympic tournament, but also what was going on in the world at the time.

(4) The actual game. Search YouTube and you'll find highlights from the ABC television broadcast with Al Michaels and Ken Dryden. And here's the call from ABC radio, synced with the video footage. I like that one the most, because the commentator was right there in the crowd, and his commentary is just so raw and jubilant. You can also find highlights from games the US played against other teams throughout the tournament. (For example, the final game against Finland that clinched the Gold Medal was just as good.)


Whether you're a hockey fan or not, I hope you'll do at least some of that reading and watching as a way of celebrating the incredible victory 40 years later.

Thanks for helping me pay tribute to the event for a little while here on the blog.