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Andy Bathgate 1953-54 Parkhurst Rookie Card

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andy bathgate new york rangers 1953-54 parkhurst rookie hockey cardIf ever there was a guy with an under-valued rookie card, Andy Bathgate is your man. Bathgate had an amazing hockey career playing for some not great hockey teams.

The Andy Bathgate rookie card appears as number 56 in the 1953-54 Parkhurst set and is valued at $150. The set consists of 100 hockey cards and the full collection is valued at $4,500. The top rookie cards in the set belong to Jean Beliveau ($600) and Gump Worsley ($400).

Bathgate played his junior hockey with the New York Rangers sponsered Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters. He played for the Biltmores from 1949-50 to 1951-52. Guelph won the Robertson Cup as OHA champs in 1949-50 and 1951-52. In his final season with the club, the team continued on to the Memorial Cup and defeated the Regina Pats in four games.

Andy played in the National Hockey League from 1952-53 to 1967-68 and returned for one more full season in 1970-71. Along with the Rangers, he also played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins. In 1974-75, he briefly returned to major league hockey, appearing in eleven games with the Vancouver Blazers of the World Hockey Association.


Andy Bathgate Collection:

1953-54 parkhurst button

topps 1957-58 button

 

1958-59 topps button

topps 1961-62 button

 

1962-63 topps button

1963-64 topps button

1966-67 topps button

opc 1968-69 button

 

1970-71 o-pee-chee button

 


Individually, 1958-59 was a major pinnacle of his career. The Rangers missed the playoffs by a single point but Bathgate was still deemed the NHL’s most valuable player and was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy. His 88 points were a career high and placed him third in the league behind Dickie Moore and Jean Beliveau of the Montreal Canadiens. With his 88 points, Bathgate had a point on 44% of all New York’s goals that season.


He led the Rangers in points for eight straight seasons, from 1955-56 to 1962-63. However, in 1961-62 he led the league. Andy tied Bobby Hull of the Chicago Black Hawks with 84 points. Unfortunately, the tie-breaker was based on total goals and Hull had 50 to Bathgate’s 28 and was awarded the Art Ross Trophy. To date, it is just the third time that two players have tied in the race for the Art Ross.

The Rangers moved Andy to the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1963-64 season and he was an integral part of Toronto’s third consecutive Stanley Cup championship. Toronto ousted Detroit in the finals. All three series in that year’s playoffs went the full seven games. It would prove to be the only time Bathgate’s name would be inscribed on the Cup. During the regular season, between the two teams, Bathgate managed to lead the NHL in assists and finish fourth in points.

Toronto didn’t keep him long. Bathgate was part of an eight player deal that sent him to the Detroit Red Wings for the start of the 1965-66 season. Andy totaled just 47 points while playing the full 70 games. Detroit reached the Stanley Cup finals but were shot down by the Montreal Canadiens in six games.

He was picked up in the 1967 NHL Expansion Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bathgate played with Pittsburgh for the 1967-68 and 1970-71 season, spending time with the WHL’s Vancouver Canucks in between.

Andy Bathgate was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978, along with Jacques Plante and Marcel Pronovost. His jersey number 9 was retired by the New York Rangers in 2009, an honour shared with Adam Graves. To date, he still ranks fourth on New York’s all-time list for goals, assists and points.

Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM
1949-50 Guelph Biltmores OHA 41 21 25 46 28
1950-51 Guelph Biltmores OHA 52 33 57 90 66
1951-52 Guelph Biltmores OHA 34 27 50 77 0
1952-53 Guelph Biltmores OHA 2 2 1 3 0
1952-53 New York Rangers NHL 18 0 1 1 6
1952-53 Vancouver Canucks WHL 37 13 13 26 29
1953-54 New York Rangers NHL 20 2 2 4 18
1953-54 Cleveland Barons AHL 36 13 19 32 44
1953-54 Vancouver Canucks WHL 17 12 10 22 6
1954-55 New York Rangers NHL 70 20 20 40 37
1955-56 New York Rangers NHL 70 19 47 66 59
1956-57 New York Rangers NHL 70 27 50 77 60
1957-58 New York Rangers NHL 65 30 48 78 42
1958-59 New York Rangers NHL 70 40 48 88 48
1959-60 New York Rangers NHL 70 26 48 74 28
1960-61 New York Rangers NHL 70 29 48 77 22
1961-62 New York Rangers NHL 70 28 56 84 44
1962-63 New York Rangers NHL 70 35 46 81 54
1963-64 New York Rangers NHL 56 16 43 59 26
1963-64 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 15 3 15 18 8
1964-65 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 55 16 29 45 34
1965-66 Detroit Red Wings NHL 70 15 32 47 25
1966-67 Pittsburgh Hornets AHL 6 4 6 10 7
1966-67 Detroit Red Wings NHL 60 8 23 31 24
1967-68 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 74 20 39 59 55
1968-69 Vancouver Canucks WHL 71 37 36 73 44
1969-70 Vancouver Canucks WHL 72 40 68 108 66
1970-71 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 76 15 29 44 34
1974-75 Vancouver Blazers WHA 11 1 6 7 2
NHL Totals 1069 349 624 973 624
WHA Totals 11 1 6 7 2

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