1954-55 Topps Hockey
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The 1954-55 Topps hockey set was Topps' first attempt at producing trading cards for the National Hockey League. At the time, the league consisted of six teams known as the Original Six. Topps included all four American teams in this popular 60-card set - Boston, Chicago, Detroit, and New York.
Each card in this set measures approximately 25⁄8" x 33⁄4", and features a player photo, team logo, team name, position, and a facsimile autograph. As is typical of most trading cards, the back of the card features biographical information, statistics from the 1953-54 season, and a few notes featuring hockey facts.
While the set is printed in the United States, a large portion of the actual print run found its way to Canada, as baseball was America's national pastime.
As far as the hobby of trading cards is concerned, this set features only three Rookie Cards, including #18 Doug Mohns, #32 Camille Henry, and #35 Don McKenney. The inclusion of a very early Gordie Howe card is one of the main draws of this set, and the card can be seen trading in the $2000 range when in Near Mint condition.
[edit] Checklist
The checklist for this set is as follows:
- Dick Gamble
- Bob Chrystal
- Harry Howell
- Johnny Wilson
- Red Kelly
- Real Chevrefils
- Bob Armstrong
- Gordie Howe
- Benny Woit
- Gump Worsley
- Andy Bathgate
- Bucky Hollingworth
- Ray Timgren
- Jack Evans
- Paul Ronty
- Glen Skov
- Gus Mortson
- Doug Mohns
- Leo Labine
- Bill Gadsby
- Jerry Toppazzini
- Wally Hergesheimer
- Danny Lewicki
- Metro Prystai
- Fern Flaman
- Al Rollins
- Marcel Pronovost
- Lou Jankowski
- Nick Mickoski
- Frank Martin
- Lorne Ferguson
- Camille Henry
- Pete Conacher
- Marty Pavelich
- Don McKenney
- Fleming Mackell
- Jim Henry
- Hal Laycoe
- Alex Delvecchio
- Larry Wilson
- Allan Stanley
- George Sullivan
- Jack McIntyre
- Ivan Irwin
- Tony Leswick
- Bob Goldham
- Cal Gardner
- Ed Sandford
- Bill Quackenbush
- Warren Godfrey
- Ted Lindsay
- Earl Reibel
- Don Raleigh
- Bill Mosienko
- Larry Popein
- Edgar Laprade
- Bill Dineen
- Terry Sawchuk
- Marcel Bonin
- Milt Schmidt
Cards #1 and #60 are considered to be condition sensitive for two reasons. The first is their placement on the sheet during printing, and the second reason is due to the "rubber band" factor. The "rubber band" factor occurs when a tight rubber band is used to hold a stack of trading cards together, thus damaging the first and last cards in the stack. And in the case of complete sets, this would be cards #1 and #60.
