The 1954-55 Parkhurst hockey card series is led in value by Gordie Howe ($600) and the rookie card of Johnny Bower ($400). Not far behind is another highly valued rookie card by a not so well known NHL player.
Find 1954-55 Parkhurst hockey cards on eBay, right now!
The number 82 rookie card of Fred Sasakamoose of the Chicago Black Hawks is valued at $125. Sasakamoose played just eleven games for Chicago in 1953-54 and would never play another NHL game after. So – why is Fred’s rookie card so valuable?
Fred Sasakamoose was the first full-blooded native North American to play in the National Hockey League. Coming from a reserve in Sandy Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada that totalled about 200 people, Fred paved the way for the likes of George Armstrong, Reg Leach, Stan Jonathan, Jordan Tootoo and many others.
Sasakamoose played centre for the Black Hawks for eleven games in 1953-54, scoring no goals and assisting on none. He did sit out three minor penalties. Fred toiled in the minors for a few years but ultimately gave up hockey too soon to return to the reserve to be with his wife.
His first NHL game came on the road against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens after being called up from Moose Jaw. According to Fred, he was told to go to the penalty box to take a phone call. It was the legendary announcer Foster Hewitt on the other end of the line asking how in hell is name was pronounced. The experience proved overwhelming as about as many people filled Maple Leaf Gardens as there were in all of Moose Jaw, and certainly
infinitely many more than lived in Sandy Lake.
There is a great article from the Regina Leader-Post from 2007 titled Fast Freddy Made History. This a great and very indepth article/interview with Sasakamoose as he enters the Saskatchewan Hall of Fame.