To date, there have been 96 numbers retired by individual teams to honour players in the National Hockey League. Some teams have retired numbers in honour of more than one player and some players have had their number retired by more than one team. Only one player has had his number retired by the league.
Wayne Gretzky has his number 99 retired by the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings. In addition, no player on any team will ever be able to wear that number again. A fitting honour, for sure. Mario Lemieux’s number 66 is unofficially out of circulation by the league. However, T.J. Brodie has worn it with the Calgary Flames recently.
Wayne Gretzky has done for the hockey card market what he has done for the game in general. He took the game of hockey to levels never seen before or since. He brought the game to markets that had never before had any interest in hockey. He redefined hockey.
My question is: Should producers of NHL hockey cards ‘retire’ the number 18? Of course, the Wayne Gretzky rookie card was number 18 in both the 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee and Topps series. Although not the most valuable hockey card in existence, by far, it is the most talked about. It is the hockey card that brought a frenzy to the hobby in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s that spawned mass production of brands never seen before.
The act of retiring hockey card number should, by no means, become a regular occurance. If they retired the rookie card numbers of every player that reachs the Hockey Hall of Fame, pretty much the entire 1951-52 Parkhurst series would qualify. If that were the case, each new hockey card series would start at number 106.
The only other number that should be considered in this hypothetical situation is 66. Not because it’s the jersey number of Mario! Number 66 plays a pretty prominent role in the history of hockey cards. It was the rookie card number of both Gordie Howe (1951-52 Parkhurst) and Bobby Hull (1958-59 Topps).
What card number would you retire? In honour of what rookie card (or not rookie card)?
