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 Tom Johnson 1963-64 Topps #4.
Full list of the 10 cards being auctioned.
The Card
The 1963-64 Topps hockey card was the second last for Tom Johnson during his playing days. The Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman had just one more year of NHL hockey left in him at the time. The card is valued at $12, a far cry from the 1951-52 Parkhurst Tom Johnson rookie card. That card, number 7 in the set, is valued at $125.
The 1963-64 Topps hockey set consists of 66 cards. The set has no real standout cards and is highlighted by Bobby Hull’s card number 33 that is valued at $250.
Go here to see how the auction is going: eBay Hockey Cards
The Player
Tom Johnson played pro hockey from 1947-48 to 1964-65. He played as a regular in the National Hockey League from 1950-51 to 1964-65. Most of his career was spent with the Montreal Canadiens with just his final two years in a Boston Bruins jersey. Previous to 1950-51, Johnson played one regular season game with the Canadiens in 1947-48 and one playoff game with the Habs in 1949-50.
Tom ended his NHL career playing 979 regular season games, scoring just 51 goals and assisting on 213 more for 264 points. The defensive minded defenseman played in 111 playoff games, all with Montreal, scoring eight and assisting on 15 for 23 points.
With the Canadiens, Johnson was part of six Stanley Cup championship teams. In 1958-59, he was awarded the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman. That year, he had is most offensive season with ten goals and 29 assists for 39 points. In pre-Bobby Orr days, those were decent numbers for a blue liner.
he entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1970. The Manitoba born Johnson was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.
The Coach
Tom Johnson spent just a short time in the NHL as a head coach. He took over for Harry Sinden behind the bench for the Boston Bruins in 1970-71. During the regular season that year, the Bruins were probably one of the strongest team’s in NHL history. However, they tanked in the playoffs. The mighty Bruins fell to the Montreal Canadiens in the opening round.
The following year, the Bruins redeemed themselves. The 1971-72 Boston Bruins marched to the Stanley Cup finals and ousted the New York Rangers in six games. It was their last Stanley Cup championship until 2010-11.
Johnson started the 1972-73 season behind the Boston bench but was replaced by Bep Guidolin before the year was up. Tom remained in the Bruins head office for several decades. He passed away in 2007 at 79.
Articles on other cards being auctioned:
Harry Watson 1954-55 Parkhurst 17
Bobby Clarke 1970-71 Dad’s Cookies 15
Philadelphia Flyers team leaders 1974-75 Topps 154
Darryl Sittler 1976-77 Topps 207
Bryan Trottier 1976-77 Topps 67 RB