Gretzky and St. Louis Blues memorabilia on cards

[zackmak]

There was a 2011 thread started regarding the same topic, but I wanted to revisit it since 5 years have past.

I have a lot of questions:

1. Does Gretzky have a bunch of his gamers but not releasing them, even to Upper Deck?

2. Did St. Louis keep his game used jerseys, and refuse to sell/donate to whomever?

3. I'm sure at least a couple of his game used jerseys were sold in auction...why wouldn't a card company buy it, since a Gretzky Blues GU jersey card would be like the holy grail of cards (at this point)? It wouldn't be the most expensive jersey a card company would have ever bought, that's for sure.

4. What about his St. Louis gloves, sticks, etc? Are those off limits too, for some reason?

5. Has Upper Deck, or ITG, etc, ever come out and made a statement as to why they haven't produced this type of memorabilia card, and the problems surrounding it?

Card companies sometimes put a gu jersey or item on a card that is not associated with the team or jersey worn by the player on the card. The only GU St. Louis Blues card I've seen is the 2014-15 UD Masterpiece art card, which has a white jersey swatch, and another one has an Easton Aluminum stick (which he did use in St. Louis...but also in LA, and possibly NY)

The jersey swatch is obviously not from St. Louis, as Upper Deck would have announce this loudly (Where is it from, by the way?) But is there a chance the stick is from his Blues playing days? I guess that's wishful thinking, since if that was the case, it would also be noted on the card. No reason to keep it a secret, right?

Anyways, anyone have an update on this situation or any truth to 'why'?

 

[FrozenInferno]

I believe Gretzky originally kept all of his Blues gamers, maybe five or six tops. Legend has it when he left the Blues he didn't leave on very good terms, and on his way out he more or less demanded the equipment guy have his jerseys ready to go so he could pick them up and get the hell out of St. Louis.

I believe one may reside at his restaurant in Toronto (or used to), and the HOF may have one too. I also have it on good authority that someone in the card industry (who will remain nameless) may have one in his personal collection (or know someone who does), though I can't say for sure. The conversation I had with him about the jersey was sort of cryptic

For a long time Gretzky wouldn't even sign anything Blues related, that's how much he wanted to distance himself from his time there. He's come around in recent years though and there are more Blues autos in the market now.

As for the jerseys, who knows if we'll ever see one used in cards. There are VERY few of them in existence and they would sell for insane amounts of one ever hit the market. However I'm confident that Gretzky has most of them under his possession.

 

[zackmak]

It's not the first time someone posted he left St. Louis on bad terms, which might explain why he was hesitant to sign anything Blues related.

As for him keeping some gamers, I think what FrozenInferno said is correct. It makes sense for many players - especially superstars - to keep a lot of them for whatever reason (we're in a day of age where even GU mouthguards have market value).

FrozenInferno mentioned that Gretzky "kept all his gamers" ("five or six tops"). So this makes me think of another question: does the team supply the players with a new jersey for each game, or do they throw in the wash and re-use for a few games? If re-used, then I'm just wondering exactly how many gamers Gretzky would have in total with the Blues, since he only played 18 reg season games, and a bunch of playoff games .

And also, if they are re-used or not, does each player's game-used jerseys go in storage, and kept there until sold/donated, or in Gretzky's case, requested to be given to him?

 

[FrozenInferno]

It's not the first time someone posted he left St. Louis on bad terms, which might explain why he was hesitant to sign anything Blues related.

As for him keeping some gamers, I think what FrozenInferno said is correct. It makes sense for many players - especially superstars - to keep a lot of them for whatever reason (we're in a day of age where even GU mouthguards have market value).

FrozenInferno mentioned that Gretzky "kept all his gamers" ("five or six tops"). So this makes me think of another question: does the team supply the players with a new jersey for each game, or do they throw in the wash and re-use for a few games? If re-used, then I'm just wondering exactly how many gamers Gretzky would have in total with the Blues, since he only played 18 reg season games, and a bunch of playoff games .

And also, if they are re-used or not, does each player's game-used jerseys go in storage, and kept there until sold/donated, or in Gretzky's case, requested to be given to him?

Gretzky is a special case. From what I can gather he had pretty much had free reign over his game worn jerseys and it was nothing for him to have a friend visit him at a game or something and hand the friend the jersey he wore that night as a gift. Kings gamers were handed out fairly often from what I hear. This isn't the norm for most players especially now.

Every team handles jerseys differently, there's no one answer to your question. If the team is part of the Meigray program everything is documented and turned over to Meigray for marketing. Some teams sell gamers on their website, some only auction them off for charity, some teams auction them on NHL.com, some hold equipment sales and sell them there, and some just stockpile them.

Some teams wear a certain number of sets throughout the season, usually two or three. Some teams like Detroit may only use one or two sets for the whole season and playoffs. A few teams might just replace jerseys as needed without following a certain pattern of sets. Every case is a little different.

A player may get to keep certain milestone jerseys or jerseys worn for a period in a special game like the Winter Classic or Stadium Series. Connor McDavid got to keep the jersey he wore in the first period of his NHL debut, the ones worn in the other two periods were pre-sold by Meigray for a total of $60k before he even stepped on the ice.

Basically nowadays it's up to the team to market the jerseys as they see fit because they are team property. Gamers are big business these days so they're not just handed out willy nilly or recycled to other players anymore. Gretzky may have had the power to keep his stuff back in the day but he's not your average example.

 

[Justcards]

I know of at least 1 Gretzky St. Louis jersey out there, he did have one at his restaurant as of October, while he left not all in the best of terms I do not know why it wouldn't still be there.
The Hall has 1 if I remember correctly and not sure how many he left with, but the story is true of him telling the equipment manager to package up his stuff.
Only way to really find out what is where or how many there are is to ask him directly. He only really knows

 

[FrozenInferno]

I know of at least 1 Gretzky St. Louis jersey out there, he did have one at his restaurant as of October, while he left not all in the best of terms I do not know why it wouldn't still be there.
The Hall has 1 if I remember correctly and not sure how many he left with, but the story is true of him telling the equipment manager to package up his stuff.
Only way to really find out what is where or how many there are is to ask him directly. He only really knows

If the HOF has one they must not display it often, I've been there three times and never saw a Blues gamer. The Gretzky display seems pretty consistent in terms of what they have out. When I was in Toronto back in September I meant to try and get to Gretzky's restaurant just to see the Blues jersey but we never made it there.

 

[TurcoCollector3]

Gretzky is a special case. From what I can gather he had pretty much had free reign over his game worn jerseys and it was nothing for him to have a friend visit him at a game or something and hand the friend the jersey he wore that night as a gift. Kings gamers were handed out fairly often from what I hear. This isn't the norm for most players especially now.

Every team handles jerseys differently, there's no one answer to your question. If the team is part of the Meigray program everything is documented and turned over to Meigray for marketing. Some teams sell gamers on their website, some only auction them off for charity, some teams auction them on NHL.com, some hold equipment sales and sell them there, and some just stockpile them.

Some teams wear a certain number of sets throughout the season, usually two or three. Some teams like Detroit may only use one or two sets for the whole season and playoffs. A few teams might just replace jerseys as needed without following a certain pattern of sets. Every case is a little different.

A player may get to keep certain milestone jerseys or jerseys worn for a period in a special game like the Winter Classic or Stadium Series. Connor McDavid got to keep the jersey he wore in the first period of his NHL debut, the ones worn in the other two periods were pre-sold by Meigray for a total of $60k before he even stepped on the ice.

Basically nowadays it's up to the team to market the jerseys as they see fit because they are team property. Gamers are big business these days so they're not just handed out willy nilly or recycled to other players anymore. Gretzky may have had the power to keep his stuff back in the day but he's not your average example.

The above is very accurate in regards to Gretzky and his Kings jerseys. I have an uncle with a Gretzky Kings gamer that he got after a game here against the Jets back in 93.

 

[zackmak]

That's too bad about his experience in St. Louis. Was this 'bad blood' ever documented in some sort of article, interview, book, etc? Just wondering how some members know of this story, or is it a case of "he said, she said"? I thought I was pretty good at reading up about Gretzky through all his playing/post-playing years, but the St. Louis thing is puzzling.

This reminds me about the time Gretzky got traded to LA and there were all these stories/rumours as to why it happened. The truth never really got out to the general public until years later, through interviews and bio books on Gretzky.

Thanks for the info so far, guys!

 

[Boom Boom]

Gretzky has eluded to the fact that he felt somewhat betrayed or thrown under the bus by some people in the Blues organization during his time in St Louis. His play was less than stellar and some in the organization turned on him in his eyes. He never named any names but some insight into this may have come years later when Gretzky himself basically ran Brett Hull out the door and into retirement after only 5 games when both were with the Coyotes.

 

[zackmak]

Man, this whole Gretzky-St. Louis drama has a lot of insightful assumption and unofficial confirmation...but it helps understand possibly why things are the way they are. Thanks everyone that posted, so far.

Maybe it will all be written out in a book down the road and things will finally be clear.

Regarding game-used sticks...when a person or company buys one, I can't believe EVERY stick is marked or advertised with an exact date/game that it was used in. Sometimes just the year is indicated.

On that note, then, if an Easton silver stick was sold as a game-used Gretzky stick used in 1996, how can anyone prove with 100% that it wasn't used by him in a St. Louis game?

Therefore, going back to my first post, talking about the 2014-15 UD Masterpiece St. Louis art card, which has a swatch of an Easton Aluminum stick...who's to say that it cannot be a St. Louis stick (no different than someone can also say it could be from a game in LA or NY)? The back of the card only says that it was used by Gretzky.

Shouldn't the possibility of this being a St. Louis stick on a St. Louis Gretzky card make the card highly desirable?

(I think I'll post this idea as a thread on its own, as I'm sure people will have much to say about not just this card, but the whole concept of not putting memorabilia that matches the athlete's jersey/era pictured on the card)

 

[dannzac]

He never named any names but some insight into this may have come years later when Gretzky himself basically ran Brett Hull out the door and into retirement after only 5 games when both were with the Coyotes.

The part about Hull is false. They are and always have been friends according to everything I've read. In the book "100 Things Every Blues Fan Should Know" by Jeremy Rutherford, there is a section on the Gretzky "era". In short, Keenan blew up on Gretzky to the media following a Blues 2nd round game against Detroit where Gretzky was -4. Keenan tried to apologize after the fact but Gretzky didn't accept. Blues eventually lost in 7. According to Hull, Gretzky told him that he couldn't play in that type of environment and moved on to the Rangers (for less money than the Blues supposedly offered).