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1980-81 O-Pee-Chee #289 – Mark Messier Rookie Card

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mark messier 1980-81 o-pee-chee rookie hockey card edmonton oilersUnlike other players that came to the NHL from the World Hockey Association for the 1979-80 season as part of the merger, Mark Messier did not get on a hockey card in the 1979-80 set. After playing in just 47 games with the WHA’s Cincinnati Stingers in 1978-79 and scoring only one goal, maybe Messier wasn’t expected to make a career of it in the NHL. He entered the 1979 NHL Entry Draft and, despite his year of professional experience, the Edmonton Oilers didn’t take him until the third round, 48th overall.

Messier did play for the Oilers during the 1979-80 season and Mark did make a career of it. A legendary career, in fact. Six Stanley Cups, two Hart Memorial Trophies as the NHL’s MVP, one Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, two Lester B. Pearson Awards as NHL MVP as voted by the Player’s Association and fifteen All-Star games. Not a bad career, at all! On top of all those accolades, Messier was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007.


Messier’s 1980-81 O-Pee-Chee Rookie Card #289 is understandably quite sought after. Beckett Hockey Monthly values the card at a low of $60 and a high of $120, a value that has risen from $50 / $100 in the past year. The card is considered UER or an uncorrected error card. O-Pee-Chee accidentally printed on the back of the card that Messier shoots right when he is, in fact, a left-handed shot. The error was minor and never corrected.

Perhaps adding to the value of the card is the fact that Topps didn’t produce a Messier card for their 1980-81 series. Typically, O-Pee-Chee and Topps were a mirror of each other but not in this case.

 

The Messier card is the most valuable in the 1980-81 series. The rookie card of Ray Bourque also appears in this set and shares the same upper value of $100 with a lower value of $40. The Bourque card also appears in the Topps series and has a high value of $80 (Topps are printed for the U.S. market and have always been printed in higher quantities than the Canadian O-Pee-Chee, thus the value difference).

Mark currently holds a position at the head office of the NHL’s New York Rangers. The Rangers were one of three teams that Messier played with during his NHL career. The other two teams were the Vancouver Canucks and, of course, the Edmonton Oilers. Messier enjoyed two stints as a player with the New York Rangers, bringing the first Stanley Cup to Madison Square Garden since 1940.

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Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM
1978-79 Indianapolis Racers WHA 5 0 0 0 0
1978-79 Cincinnati Stingers WHA 47 1 10 11 58
1979-80 Houston Apollos CHL 4 0 3 3 4
1979-80 Edmonton Oilers NHL 75 12 21 33 120
1980-81 Edmonton Oilers NHL 72 23 40 63 102
1981-82 Edmonton Oilers NHL 78 50 38 88 119
1982-83 Edmonton Oilers NHL 77 48 58 106 72
1983-84 Edmonton Oilers NHL 73 37 64 101 165
1984-85 Edmonton Oilers NHL 55 23 31 54 57
1985-86 Edmonton Oilers NHL 63 35 49 84 68
1986-87 Edmonton Oilers NHL 77 37 70 107 73
1987-88 Edmonton Oilers NHL 77 37 74 111 103
1988-89 Edmonton Oilers NHL 72 33 61 94 130
1989-90 Edmonton Oilers NHL 79 45 84 129 79
1990-91 Edmonton Oilers NHL 53 12 52 64 34
1991-92 New York Rangers NHL 79 35 72 107 76
1992-93 New York Rangers NHL 75 25 66 91 72
1993-94 New York Rangers NHL 76 26 58 84 76
1994-95 New York Rangers NHL 46 14 39 53 40
1995-96 New York Rangers NHL 74 47 52 99 122
1996-97 New York Rangers NHL 71 36 48 84 88
1997-98 Vancouver Canucks NHL 82 22 38 60 58
1998-99 Vancouver Canucks NHL 59 13 35 48 33
1999-00 Vancouver Canucks NHL 66 17 37 54 30
2000-01 New York Rangers NHL 82 24 43 67 89
2001-02 New York Rangers NHL 41 7 16 23 32
2002-03 New York Rangers NHL 78 18 22 40 30
2003-04 New York Rangers NHL 76 18 25 43 42
NHL Totals 1756 694 1193 1887 1910
WHA Totals 52 1 10 11 58
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