1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Bobby Hull #228 First Team All-Star Chicago Black Hawks

Description

1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Bobby Hull #228 First Team All-Star Chicago Black Hawks Own a vivid piece of hockey’s most explosive era with the 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Bobby Hull #228 First Team All-Star Chicago Black Hawks card. The front captures “The Golden Jet” in game action wearing Chicago’s classic red sweater, with the bold vertical NHL All Star caption and star-shaped First Team left-wing designation creating one of the set’s most recognizable designs. This is not Hull’s regular player card from the release; it belongs to the set’s First Team All-Star subset and commemorates his selection for the 1971-72 season. The action photography, tan border, yellow name bar and period Chicago Black Hawks branding deliver pure early-1970s appeal. Hull was already an established sporting icon when this card appeared. His fearsome slap shot, exceptional skating speed and blond star image made him one of hockey’s first true crossover celebrities. He helped Chicago win the 1961 Stanley Cup, captured the Hart Trophy twice and the Art Ross Trophy three times, and finished his NHL career with 610 goals and 1,170 points. His move to the Winnipeg Jets in 1972 also gave the rival World Hockey Association immediate legitimacy and changed the economics of professional hockey. Hull later won WHA championships with Winnipeg and entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. His major honours and NHL/WHA totals are summarized by the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame [1](https://mbhockeyhalloffame.ca/people/bobby-hull/). That larger history gives this All-Star card appeal beyond team collecting: it represents a superstar at the exact moment the traditional NHL order was being challenged by the WHA. The card’s reverse is equally evocative. Card number 228 appears beside a bilingual NHL All-Stars heading, a Black Hawks skate illustration and Hull’s year-by-year All-Star Game record through 1971-72. This is an original Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual statistics back, with English and French wording and “Printed in Canada” along the edge. It is explicitly not a puzzle back. O-Pee-Chee’s Canadian production, textured card stock and bilingual presentation distinguish the issue from American hockey releases and make it a natural fit for Canadian vintage collections. The supplied sleeve scans show four intact corners with mild rounding and touches of fibre wear, most visible at the upper-right and lower corners. The top and side edges show scattered light chipping and the characteristically rough O-Pee-Chee cut, while the bottom edge has modest whitening. The front retains strong red, black and cream colour, with several tiny print or surface flecks in the dark photo area and light age toning in the tan border. The reverse has even toning, small scattered specks and mild perimeter wear, but no writing, paper loss or wax staining is visible. Centering appears approximately 50/50 left to right and about 52/48 top to bottom. No definite crease, wrinkle or pinhole is visible in either scan, although the protective sleeve can conceal very fine surface defects. A conservative EX 5 estimate is appropriate: the card presents cleanly and is reasonably centred, but the corner softness, edge wear, toning and small surface marks keep it below EX-MT. This Bobby Hull card combines a Hall of Fame subject, a popular All-Star subset and unmistakable Canadian O-Pee-Chee character. It is an attractive raw example for Black Hawks collectors, vintage set builders and fans of hockey’s NHL-versus-WHA turning point. Grade Estimate: EX 5