deepbluejacket
Verified Trader,
I was on eBay searching for Rogie Vachon cards when I stumbled upon the 1983-84 Vachon set, still in its original uncut panels. Here's a close up of Mr. Wayne Gretzky:
I have to confess: the seller sold me on it completely with a very compelling write-up of why I would want to own this set. I won't reproduce it, but it really felt that by taking the torch, it would be a hand off from one set collector to another. Anyway, it is every bit as advertised, with each panel in near perfect condition.
So what is this set? It is the only set produced by Vachon Bakery of Quebec. For a food set, it is HUGE, checking in at 140 individual cards. Each Canadian team is represented by 20 players! For an American like myself who was lucky to get 5 players per team out of a Topps set (and sometimes as low as 3 - I'm looking at you 1984-85 Topps!), this is an exciting look at players rarely seen.
Various pastry products came with a panel of 2 cards. The Oilers were paired with the Canucks, the Canadiens with the Nordiques, and the Flames with the Jets. And what of the Maple Leafs? Were they paired with themselves? No, they were paired with the star players of the other 6 teams, resulting in double prints of most of the key players. Therefore, a complete set consists of 80, not 70 panels.
Double prints include Messier, Coffey, Kurri, Peter Stastny, Hawerchuk, Lafleur, and Goulet. Notably absent - Wayne Gretzky. If you want him, you must find him with his Canuck partner, Jere Gillis.
While it is a 1983-84 set, it does not commemorate the 1982-83 season. Players who changed teams in the off season (like Keith Acton) are not pictured and new players on rosters at the start of the 1983-84 season can appear. Another unusual item is that almost all of the photography is of two Canadian teams facing each other. It is very rare for an American team to sneak into a picture. On my perusal, I only saw a goaltender for Chicago and one for Buffalo.
For those of you who weren't around for these seasons, the hockey was incredible. It was just all out offense, mixed with hitting and more than the occasional brawl. Goaltenders were largely small and were unaware of this 'butterfly' so the saves seem so much more dramatic. If you want some end to end hockey, go find Game 7 of the '82 series between Boston and Quebec on YouTube. It's special. And it's extra special for me because I discovered hockey in 1983 and began watching it as this set came out.
A thought occurs to me: which panel has the two best players on it? This is tricky, because I don't want to go on point totals alone. That would leave Wayne Gretzky and almost anyone else as the winner, as he led Peter Stastny by 72 points. Above are some good pairings. Now one would think that since the Maple Leafs are paired with the best players on the six other teams, they'd be the shoe-in to win. Except the Maple Leafs aren't very good. I mean, they had some decent players in 1982-83, but it was still a 68 point team. The Habs and Nordiques just don't seem to sync right, although any Hab paired with a Stastny is in good shape. Peter had 124 points, Anton 92, and Marian ripped off 79 points in just 60 games. But I think I'll go with the Messier/Smyl pairing. This is kind of strange because the players are arranged alphabetically and "M" should be nowhere near "S". But the Oilers had 17 players whose surname began with "M" or lower.
Another weird thing is the set includes the full names of players that didn't go by their full names. Like Craig Lee Ludwig and Alan Jere Gillis, which might be a mistake. Wikipedia lists his name as Jere Alan Gillis.
You know what else is strange? They corrected an error!
The original run has Peter Inhacek's photo in place of Walt Poddubny, so in the next run, they fixed it. They even marked the difference on the card back by calling the fixed card "96-1".
Also note the difference in the card stock. The correct Poddubny has a whiter stock where the color ink pops better.
Okay - next game. Are there any players whose sole cardboard offering is in this Vachon set? The O-Pee-Chee sets of the early 1980s were very thorough, routinely racking up 20 or more players for Canadian teams. But this set was assembled in late 1983 and some faces that started the season were perhaps not worthy of a card by season's end. In fact, there are two such players.
image by Mike Truman, on Flickr
Say hello to Kent Carlson and Brian Ford, two players I'd never heard of. Carlson was a 2nd round pick who played 65 games for the Habs in his rookie season and finished 22nd in team scoring, probably missing the cut when OPC opted for US Olympian Chris Chelios instead. (Good decision, OPC!) Carlson saw spot duty the next two seasons and then largely disappeared from the NHL.
As for Ford, he played all of 3 games for Quebec, all in December. It appears Clint Malarchuk was injured when Vachon sent out its photographer, so he's not in the set despite being the true back-up to Dan Bouchard. Ford played a grand total of 11 games in the NHL with a career GAA of 6.32. Even for 1984, that's...not good.
Speaking of goalies, here's some cool shots of masks rarely seen on cardboard:
I've never seen Wamsley in that mask anywhere before. As for Sevigny, when that mask appears, it's usually from the other side, where it is blue. (See his '83-84 OPC card.)
On a sidenote, the swooping look around the logo is VERY reminiscent of the 1985-86 Topps/OPC look. I would guess it is coincidence.
Anyway, very cool set and I'm glad I have it. I will leave you with some brotherly love, including two Hunters on one panel.
Mike
I have to confess: the seller sold me on it completely with a very compelling write-up of why I would want to own this set. I won't reproduce it, but it really felt that by taking the torch, it would be a hand off from one set collector to another. Anyway, it is every bit as advertised, with each panel in near perfect condition.
So what is this set? It is the only set produced by Vachon Bakery of Quebec. For a food set, it is HUGE, checking in at 140 individual cards. Each Canadian team is represented by 20 players! For an American like myself who was lucky to get 5 players per team out of a Topps set (and sometimes as low as 3 - I'm looking at you 1984-85 Topps!), this is an exciting look at players rarely seen.
Various pastry products came with a panel of 2 cards. The Oilers were paired with the Canucks, the Canadiens with the Nordiques, and the Flames with the Jets. And what of the Maple Leafs? Were they paired with themselves? No, they were paired with the star players of the other 6 teams, resulting in double prints of most of the key players. Therefore, a complete set consists of 80, not 70 panels.
Double prints include Messier, Coffey, Kurri, Peter Stastny, Hawerchuk, Lafleur, and Goulet. Notably absent - Wayne Gretzky. If you want him, you must find him with his Canuck partner, Jere Gillis.
While it is a 1983-84 set, it does not commemorate the 1982-83 season. Players who changed teams in the off season (like Keith Acton) are not pictured and new players on rosters at the start of the 1983-84 season can appear. Another unusual item is that almost all of the photography is of two Canadian teams facing each other. It is very rare for an American team to sneak into a picture. On my perusal, I only saw a goaltender for Chicago and one for Buffalo.
For those of you who weren't around for these seasons, the hockey was incredible. It was just all out offense, mixed with hitting and more than the occasional brawl. Goaltenders were largely small and were unaware of this 'butterfly' so the saves seem so much more dramatic. If you want some end to end hockey, go find Game 7 of the '82 series between Boston and Quebec on YouTube. It's special. And it's extra special for me because I discovered hockey in 1983 and began watching it as this set came out.
A thought occurs to me: which panel has the two best players on it? This is tricky, because I don't want to go on point totals alone. That would leave Wayne Gretzky and almost anyone else as the winner, as he led Peter Stastny by 72 points. Above are some good pairings. Now one would think that since the Maple Leafs are paired with the best players on the six other teams, they'd be the shoe-in to win. Except the Maple Leafs aren't very good. I mean, they had some decent players in 1982-83, but it was still a 68 point team. The Habs and Nordiques just don't seem to sync right, although any Hab paired with a Stastny is in good shape. Peter had 124 points, Anton 92, and Marian ripped off 79 points in just 60 games. But I think I'll go with the Messier/Smyl pairing. This is kind of strange because the players are arranged alphabetically and "M" should be nowhere near "S". But the Oilers had 17 players whose surname began with "M" or lower.
Another weird thing is the set includes the full names of players that didn't go by their full names. Like Craig Lee Ludwig and Alan Jere Gillis, which might be a mistake. Wikipedia lists his name as Jere Alan Gillis.
You know what else is strange? They corrected an error!
The original run has Peter Inhacek's photo in place of Walt Poddubny, so in the next run, they fixed it. They even marked the difference on the card back by calling the fixed card "96-1".
Also note the difference in the card stock. The correct Poddubny has a whiter stock where the color ink pops better.
Okay - next game. Are there any players whose sole cardboard offering is in this Vachon set? The O-Pee-Chee sets of the early 1980s were very thorough, routinely racking up 20 or more players for Canadian teams. But this set was assembled in late 1983 and some faces that started the season were perhaps not worthy of a card by season's end. In fact, there are two such players.
image by Mike Truman, on FlickrSay hello to Kent Carlson and Brian Ford, two players I'd never heard of. Carlson was a 2nd round pick who played 65 games for the Habs in his rookie season and finished 22nd in team scoring, probably missing the cut when OPC opted for US Olympian Chris Chelios instead. (Good decision, OPC!) Carlson saw spot duty the next two seasons and then largely disappeared from the NHL.
As for Ford, he played all of 3 games for Quebec, all in December. It appears Clint Malarchuk was injured when Vachon sent out its photographer, so he's not in the set despite being the true back-up to Dan Bouchard. Ford played a grand total of 11 games in the NHL with a career GAA of 6.32. Even for 1984, that's...not good.
Speaking of goalies, here's some cool shots of masks rarely seen on cardboard:
I've never seen Wamsley in that mask anywhere before. As for Sevigny, when that mask appears, it's usually from the other side, where it is blue. (See his '83-84 OPC card.)
On a sidenote, the swooping look around the logo is VERY reminiscent of the 1985-86 Topps/OPC look. I would guess it is coincidence.
Anyway, very cool set and I'm glad I have it. I will leave you with some brotherly love, including two Hunters on one panel.
Mike
