deepbluejacket
Verified Trader,
Why is it Pro Set week? Because I am finally putting all my 1990-91 Pro Set cards away. For years they have been piled up in the boxes they came in, largely unsorted. How many boxes? Forty eight. With more unopened, but let's leave them out of this. So if I'm putting them away, might as well talk about them, no matter where it leads.
If I follow through with this scheme, I'll post:
So let's start with one of my favorite games,
HOW OLD IS THIS PHOTO?!
For those who haven't played before, this set is famous for passing off old photography as new, reaching so far back as attempting to pass off an image from the 1982-83 season. Today's candidate is:
Brent Sutter, long term NYIslander, and well respected by his teammates. So respected in fact, that he is the captain of the team, as his biography informs us.
So where is his captain's "C"? Every other set from 1990-91 features it.
What about 1989-90?
Well, gee, this could take awhile. Let's go to hockey reference and find out when he became captain...1987-88?! Yes, indeed, Denis Potvin relinquished the captaincy and handed it to Sutter, who became the team's full time captain. So Pro Set's photo can't be any more recent than 1986-87.
Except, most captains don't become captain without an apprenticeship. Shouldn't he at least have an "A"?
Why yes, he does. There's no webpage that tracks assistant captaincy...we'll have to keep looking at cards. How about 1985-86? The Topps/OPC card is a headshot, but we do have a sticker and...son of a gun!
What about the '84-85 season?
Okay, no letter but gosh, he looks young. Too young. If this Pro Set photo were from the time before he assumed leadership, why does he no longer look like a kid?
There's something else wrong about this photo, and it's the boards. We can see Maple Leafs on the bench behind him, implying we are in Maple Leaf Gardens. And there's a Coke ad on the boards.
And that wouldn't be there in 1986.
So let's take a closer look at Sutter's equipment. The Vic stick and Supra pants are consistent with '86 or later, but what about the gloves? They are CCMs, but they don't match his gloves from the 1987-88 Topps card. No, they match the 1990-91 Topps card! And when I pull up a video of a Leafs game from 1989-90...there's a Coke ad in front of the bench!
Oh my. This photo is CURRENT! I don't know where the "C" is ... impossible jersey fold? Someone ripped it off in a scrap?...but this photo is quite probably from 1989-90, certainly no later than 1988-89. This entire exercise has been...insane?
Ah, Pro Set. This way madness lies.
Mike
If I follow through with this scheme, I'll post:
- My favorite biographies from Series 1 and 2
- A Case Break
- Esoteric musings on player selection
- An unhinged deep dive into a Series 2 oddity that unnerves even me
So let's start with one of my favorite games,
HOW OLD IS THIS PHOTO?!
For those who haven't played before, this set is famous for passing off old photography as new, reaching so far back as attempting to pass off an image from the 1982-83 season. Today's candidate is:
Brent Sutter, long term NYIslander, and well respected by his teammates. So respected in fact, that he is the captain of the team, as his biography informs us.
So where is his captain's "C"? Every other set from 1990-91 features it.
What about 1989-90?
Well, gee, this could take awhile. Let's go to hockey reference and find out when he became captain...1987-88?! Yes, indeed, Denis Potvin relinquished the captaincy and handed it to Sutter, who became the team's full time captain. So Pro Set's photo can't be any more recent than 1986-87.
Except, most captains don't become captain without an apprenticeship. Shouldn't he at least have an "A"?
Why yes, he does. There's no webpage that tracks assistant captaincy...we'll have to keep looking at cards. How about 1985-86? The Topps/OPC card is a headshot, but we do have a sticker and...son of a gun!
What about the '84-85 season?
Okay, no letter but gosh, he looks young. Too young. If this Pro Set photo were from the time before he assumed leadership, why does he no longer look like a kid?
There's something else wrong about this photo, and it's the boards. We can see Maple Leafs on the bench behind him, implying we are in Maple Leaf Gardens. And there's a Coke ad on the boards.
And that wouldn't be there in 1986.
So let's take a closer look at Sutter's equipment. The Vic stick and Supra pants are consistent with '86 or later, but what about the gloves? They are CCMs, but they don't match his gloves from the 1987-88 Topps card. No, they match the 1990-91 Topps card! And when I pull up a video of a Leafs game from 1989-90...there's a Coke ad in front of the bench!
Oh my. This photo is CURRENT! I don't know where the "C" is ... impossible jersey fold? Someone ripped it off in a scrap?...but this photo is quite probably from 1989-90, certainly no later than 1988-89. This entire exercise has been...insane?
Ah, Pro Set. This way madness lies.
Mike
