1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Ed McAneeley #242 Rookie Card California Golden Seals

Description

1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Ed McAneeley #242 Rookie Card California Golden Seals Few uniforms in hockey history are as instantly collectible as the California Golden Seals, and this rookie card puts that famous yellow and green sweater front and centre. The 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee Ed McAneeley #242 Rookie Card California Golden Seals shows the young defenceman in a relaxed studio pose against the vibrant magenta backdrop, with the Seals crest and the sweeping script wordmark rendered in the saturated inks that make the 1972-73 O-Pee-Chee issue such a favourite among vintage buyers. McAneeley was born in Cranbrook, British Columbia in 1950 and was drafted by the Seals out of junior in the 1970 amateur draft, spending his first professional seasons in the minors before earning a look with the big club as the organization reshuffled its blue line for 1972-73. His NHL career was short, which is true of many players from this chaotic era when the arrival of the World Hockey Association scattered rosters across two leagues and opened doors that closed just as quickly, but the card itself endures because it is a genuine first year issue from the tough high number series of a 341 card Canadian set. Collectors of defunct franchises drive this market. The Golden Seals folded in 1976 after moving to Cleveland, and their merchandise, logos, and cardboard have developed a devoted following far larger than the team's modest on ice results ever suggested. Add the fact that 1972-73 is the Summit Series season, the year Canada and the Soviet Union met in the most important hockey series ever played, and every card from this set carries a layer of historical resonance. The reverse is an authentic Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back in cream and orange, with English and French biography paragraphs describing him as a good checking defenceman who is always willing to throw his weight around, a cartoon panel, and a career record box reading NOT IN N. H. L., the hallmark of a true rookie. It is a bilingual statistical back and not a puzzle back, with Printed In Canada at the base.