The Card
On the evening of Wednesday, April 17, 2013, I’ll be listing 10 vintage hockey cards of decent value on eBay for the incredible low opening bid price of just 1 cent! Included in the ten is the Bobby Clarke 1970-71 Dad’s Cookies number 15.
Full list of the 10 cards being auctioned.
The 1970-71 Dad’s Cookies set consisted of 144 cards with an unusual size, measuring 1 7/8″ wide and 5 3/8″ tall. The set was produced in conjunction with the National Hockey League Player’s Association (NHLPA). The players appear on the front, not in their regular NHL jerseys, but in a standard NHLPA jersey.
I remember as a youngster in the 1970’s, some kids trying to pawn these off in trades for regular O-Pee-Chee cards. No fool would take the deal. Now, they’re still not as valuable as the O-Pee-Chee and Topps cards from that year but they are at least respected.
Go here to see how the auction is going: eBay Hockey Cards
The Player
Bobby Clarke is not stranger to hockey fans around the world. Clarke played in the NHL from 1969-70 to 1983-84, all with the Philadelphia Flyers. He was a second round pick of the Flyers at the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft, 17th overall. Despite the amazing talent he displayed as a junior with the Flin Flon Bombers, teams were hesitant to draft Bobby because of his issues with asthma.
Clarke had led the WCHL in points in 1967-68 and 1968-69, earning the Brownridge Trophy. Since, the Brownridge Trophy has been renamed the Bob Clarke Trophy and is handed out each season to the player in the WHL with the most points during the regular season. In that 1969 NHL Draft, two players drafted above him never played in the NHL. Out of the whole draft, only he and two others would go on to play over 1,000 games in the NHL. The other two were Ivan Boldirev (round 1, 11th overall by the Boston Bruins) and Butch Goring (round 5, 51st overall by the Los Angeles Kings).
Bobby played 1,144 regular season games in the NHL and another 136 in the playoffs. He captained the Flyers to two Stanley Cup championships in 1973-74 and 1974-75. He won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP three times during his career. Clarke is ranked 42nd overall for career points with 1,210, 24th overall for assists with 852 and 14th all-time with 32 regular season short handed goals.
To this day, Clarke remains Philadelphia’s all-time leader for games played, assists and points. For all he did for the Flyers, the team retired his number 16 in 1984. In 1987, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Back in 1975, Clarke was honoured with the Lou Marsh Award as Canada’s top athlete. At the time, he was just the third hockey player to win the award, behind Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. Just Guy Lafleur, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby have won since.
Articles on other cards being auctioned:
Harry Watson 1954-55 Parkhurst 17
Philadelphia Flyers team leaders 1974-75 Topps 154
Darryl Sittler 1976-77 Topps 207